The insertion of a key. The turning of a lock. The knob slowly turning, the hinges creaking ever so slightly, heels clicking on the tile floor; those were the sounds I heard as my eyes shot open, waking abruptly from my three hour long slumber. A human's scent wafted through the air. Female. A worker, perhaps? But, why would Eric hire a…ah, whatever.

Returning to human form and dressing quickly, pulling on my jeans and the tank I had worn under my button down, I left Eric's room, and stepped into the hall. Before entering the bar area, I extended my claws, and pressed my middle and index fingers into my throat, simulating a vampire bite. I walked quietly out into the bar, clinging to the shadows. A terribly skinny blonde girl stood behind the counter, fussing around with glasses, wiping things down, humming quietly to herself.

I leaned against the wall, watching her. The girl's body is full of vampire bites, and she looks positively emaciated. She must be Eric and Pam's personal little blood bag.

I snickered. Humans.

Her head shot up.

Shit. The girl's eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of her head, and her expression would have made me laugh had she not reached under the counter and pulled out a handgun, and aimed it at my face. Great, just great. Not that it would kill me, but it's annoying having your head blown to bits. It's happened before. The girl waved the gun around, demanding to know who I was.

I tossed my hands up defensively. "Hey, hey, relax! I'm with Eric."

She pulled a face. "How do I know you're not just saying that?"

"You want me to go wake sleeping beauty? He can vouch for me," I said. "Just put the gun down. Not here to cause anything. Just heard someone walking around and wanted to make sure no one was breaking in," I walked over to the bar and stepped behind the counter. She backed away nervously.

"Where'd you come from? You one of his girls?" she narrowed her darkened eyes at me.

"Something like that…and his room."

She turned around toward the door leading to Eric's room. "You heard someone from in there?"

I shrugged. "Good hearing, I guess."

"Yeah…so, you're human, right?" she asked, the gun still aimed at my face. "Cause I heard that there's been problems with werewolves lately, and I wanna make sure you're not one of them."

"Well…I'm not a werewolf, but I'm not human, either," I stifled a yawn. I haven't rested in quite some time, a few weeks maybe, and that short nap didn't quite cut it. I looked the frail girl in the eyes and concentrated.

"Ooh," She said, stumbling backward, blinking wildly. "Got a little dizzy."

"You alright?" I asked, not breaking eye contact. "Maybe you should eat something."

"Yeah…I just feel really weak," She slid to the floor.

Not surprising. I'm draining the energy from your body. "Well, eat, like I said. Your blood sugar might be low."

She nodded, and rummaged around looking for food. This search lasted a good five minutes before she found a loaf of bread and a jar of some fruit preserves stashed away in the far corner of the cabinet underneath the bar. Voraciously she ate, as if she hadn't touched food in weeks, and held the bread up, her way of asking if I wanted any. I declined. I can eat human food, but I don't have much of a taste for it.

Blood, flesh, a person's energy…that's all I need to feed off of. And usually, if feeding off of energy, I draw from multiple sources at once so that no one experiences a complete depletion of their strength. Unfortunately for her, she's the only one around.

Feeding is going to be difficult around these vampires, too. I can't draw any energy from them, or other supernaturals. Hopefully, being around Sookie, she'll be in the company of other humans.

I looked down. The girl stared expectantly at me. She must have been talking. "Hmm?"

"Want any coffee?" she asked.

I blinked. "Oh. Uh, no thanks."

"You sure? It might be the cheap stuff, but it's good," She said, wagging the can of coffee in front of me. "You gotta have something."

"I'll live."

"Well, there'll be some here if you want any."

"Thanks. Maybe I'll have a cup later," I smiled.

She pulled herself up from the floor, and swung her hand over the bar top, accidentally knocking a few items to the ground. A container of salt clattered to the floor, spilling around her, covering the small distance between us. The salt grains reached the tip of my toes, and I backed up quickly, growling, fangs exposed. With how far the salt had actually spread out, I found myself backed into a wall, unable to move forward, anywhere really, even back to Eric's room.

"Oh, fuck.." I muttered.

The girl began to shake, fear building inside of her. The blonde's pulse pounded in my ears, muffling her apologies and pleas not to for me to kill her. I shuddered violently, and felt myself begin to shift. I glowered at the smaller girl, my thirst for blood rising. She trembled on the floor, tears and eyeliner trailing down her cheeks. My clothes tore from my body, landing on the tile in a smoldering pile.

"Oh, my god…what are you?" she cried.

I snapped my teeth at her. "I'll be the fucking end of you if you don't clean this up!" I growled.

The blonde scrambled to clean the salt up, using her hands to pull the small white grains into a sloppy pile. Both Eric and Pam burst through the door now, each of them hissing, baring their teeth. My Keeper turned to me.

"What the fuck is going on here?" He shouted at the smaller girl.

"I-I don't know, we were talking and I was going to make coffee, a-and I spilled the salt all over the floor on accident…oh my god.." She broke down into a fit of sobs.

"Clean this shit up." Pam ordered. "Last thing we need is a dead human.."

"Adrian," Eric said sternly.

I ignored him, my eyes fixated on the dumb fucking human laying on the floor a few feet away from me. She crawled toward me to clean up the last of the salt. I stepped forward. An inch away from her face, I snapped, causing her to fly backward in fear. The white powder slipped from her small hands, some of it making contact with my skin. It burned. A guttural roar let loose from deep within me, causing even the vampires to back away.

My skin began to heat up, smoke covering my body like a veil. Another moment passed, and my frame was covered in flames.

"Adrian…" Eric said slowly. "Relax."

I turned toward Eric. "Get her out of my sight before I kill her."

He looked at Pam, spewing commands in another language. She nodded and scooped up the trembling girl, and in less than a second they were gone. Eric crouched in front of me, coaxing me into relaxing.