Eric eventually finds the vampire you met in the forest, his name is Henry and he tells you he's 300 years old. Sarah came in with them too, she was worried when you didn't come home that night. She hugs you when she sees you and whispers angrily in your ear about "disappearing". You promise to never do it again, she didn't deserve that. She told you she understood, you met Elvis last night. She had the same reaction, but she wasn't asleep for hours afterward. She had a chance to introduce herself at least.

They came in after you got a few hours of sleep, Sarah shook you awake and pulled you upstairs by your arm. Into the office where that man used to be. After Pam ate him, and Eric probably. You hoped he wasn't dead somewhere, but at home with his wife or whoever. Innocent people didn't deserve to die, but guilty people? You don't know if they do either. You believed in the death penalty, if the crime was bad enough. But you weren't the one throwing the switch, though you would if you had to.

You didn't expect Henry to be so flippant about telling you his age, but it motivated you to ask Pam and Eric how old they were. Not now though. It wouldn't be appropriate. You're all gathered in Eric's office, sans Pam. Eric says she's doing "business" in New Orleans. Always the mysterious one. Eric is behind his desk, a large fancy wooden one with a lamp on top. Henry is leaning against the wall behind Sarah near the door, looking disinterested. Sarah's in the seat next to you, you're both across from Eric. Your friend tried to politely offer her seat to Henry but he declined. That irritated Sarah a little, you could tell by the way she clenched her jaw and forced a smile.

"Do you have any idea who that woman was?" You ask Henry, turning in your seat to look at him. He's still wearing a black cape over his dark clothing. But a different pair of shoes this time, black snakeskin dress shoes. His long soft looking hair is tied in a low ponytail, and loose hairs frame his face.

He looks at you for a moment, calculating, "No, but I know someone who can help us find her." He says matter-of-factly, crossing his arms.

"Why did she want your blood so bad?" You can't help asking. Eric never told you the significance of vampire blood, you just know it makes you have sex dreams. So you're not keen on trying to drink more, that would end badly for you.

Henry looks down at his feet, and a dark look passes on his face, "We call them drainers," he explains, looking at you and Sarah, "They lure us in with their blood and tie us with silver. They want it because our blood will heighten your senses, increase your strength, and heal any wounds." You notice he doesn't mention the sex thing, and you're glad. At least you knew a way to stop vampires now, silver. You thought that was a werewolf thing.

But he's not done, "Drinking from a vampire can bond you. So, if you're in danger, the vampire can tell. They can sense it, as well as your emotions." This comforted you a little, Pam was scary and mean. She could probably save you from anything. Still, you weren't comfortable with her "sensing" your emotions.

"It also increases your libido, but don't get any ideas. Selling or buying V is illegal." Eric pipes up, you look at him, sneering. After the dream you had, you wouldn't even think about doing that. Illegal? Did a new law get passed? But you knew what he meant, recalling his title "Sheriff of Area 5" he said. You couldn't help but think of the Western movie section outside the door. The sheriff of Shreveport, or the vampire sheriff. That would take some getting used to.

Sarah scoffs, "We're not stupid, we don't need an addiction on top of all this mess." She leans back in her chair, crossing her arms defiantly. You furrow your brows, addiction? That made sense. When you tried Pam's blood, you felt stronger than ever before, and that made you realize you wouldn't have more if you couldn't help it. But if you were on the verge of death, you'd most likely need it.

Eric raises his eyebrows slightly, a face he made when he was thinking. Henry nods his head, "Good, we'll need your help with finding the woman. And you won't be able to help if you're dead." The 300-year-old vampire says, and you lean back in surprise, at his blunt words and at the fact that you can help.

You look over at Sarah, "How would we be able to help? We're human." You say, shocked, looking back at Eric. His chin is resting on his palm, and he looks amused like he's watching a show.

Sarah stands up and you look at her, startled. She unbuttons her jeans and you stare wide-eyed as she slips them down her legs, stepping out of them. Henry looks like he expected this, looking disinterested as Sarah slips her shirt off. And then she disappears and you look down at her clothes on the floor. You watch, frozen, as a rat crawls out from underneath her shirt, your jaw is practically on the floor.

Hesitantly, you lean down and scoop Sarah off the floor. She stands on her hind legs and squeaks at you, waving her tiny hands around. You weren't disgusted, rats weren't common pests that showed up inside your house. You'd be worse off if she turned into a cockroach, probably would've stepped on her. And you wouldn't have felt bad either, cockroaches are the bane of your existence.

She thumps her back leg against your palm and you set her down gently on the floor. She turns back into Sarah, naked on the floor in the same position she was before. She pulls her shirt on and looks over at you, "I'm a shapeshifter. Sorry that I didn't tell you before. I can use my sense of smell to track the woman that stabbed you." This was the most shocking thing you've heard all month, and that was saying something. You groan and rest your head in your hands, feeling tired all over again.

"I thought your senses were sharper, doesn't that include smell?" You ask, a little confused. Eric rolls his eyes at this, at Sarah's superiority. That must be why she's so useful to Pam and Eric, why they keep her around.

He leans forward, "It does, but hers is better. And because she's a shapeshifter, she smells different than other humans. Kind of like a wet dog." He sneers at Sarah, who rolls her eyes and waves a hand dismissively. You didn't think you needed that detail, he only said it to tease Sarah. It worked.

"So all I gotta do is sniff around the forest and you'll kill this lady?" Sarah asks flippantly like she wasn't talking about murder. You didn't want her to die, but if she did you wouldn't cry or anything. You would move on and probably forget about her, thinking about it made you sad.

You hold your hand up, "Do we have to kill her?" You ask, watching everyone's reactions. Sarah looks at you with disbelief, Eric is confused, and Henry still looks bored. He must be in his teenage vampire angst phase. At least his hair is nice.

Henry looks up from his chipped black nail polish, "An eye for an eye and the world goes blind." He seems to agree with your not wanting to kill the woman. Even if he is quoting someone, you're glad to have him on your side. He was even more mysterious than Eric, an impressive feat considering your history with the blonde vampire.

Eric thinks for a moment, "You're right, I'll capture her and chain her up in the basement." Your eyes widen, that was worse than killing her. They'd feed on her for days and days until she was too weak, and then they would heal her wounds and glamour her. Most likely to forget everything that happened, forget how much vampire blood is worth. It didn't seem so bad the more you thought about it. She probably knew other people that drained vampires, so she could be useful.

"Well she might know other drainers, you could interrogate her," Sarah suggests. You're glad she said that, you wouldn't have. Being in that room felt like meeting a relative you never met before. Or when your mom sees someone she knows and talks to them for 20 minutes.

You clear your throat, "When are we gonna... find her?" It was hard to find the words, but you didn't know what to say. Would've felt weird to say track her. Now you could come up with all these nicknames to call Sarah. Detective was your first thought, then you started thinking about all the rats you'd seen in movies.

Sarah clears her throat, "I think we should look for her tomorrow night, the earlier the better." She suggests. You can't help but agree, you didn't want to do it tonight, you were still a little tired.

Eric leans back in his chair, satisfied, "Yes, that's a good idea," He looks at Sarah and Henry, "Leave us for a moment." Your friend tries to protest, but Eric gives her a look and she huffs and follows Henry out of the office. You wonder how long Sarah has known Eric. The door closes behind the two and the blonde man stares at you with a blank expression.

"I imagine this is stressful for you," He takes a breath, "With all the dangers of our world you're being introduced to." He says, sounding understanding. He's not wrong either, nobody's ever tried to kill you before you moved to Shreveport. Or nobody's ever acted on it. You made some enemies back in New Orleans but never supernatural ones, and you knew that was inevitable as long as you knew Eric and Pam. You were already making human enemies. It couldn't get any worse.

You scoff, "Don't worry about me, I'm doing just fine." You say, standing up and smoothing out your shirt. It was half a lie, you weren't completely fine. But you were managing it. He could probably hear your heart skip but he didn't acknowledge it, he's not your therapist.

He nods and stands up as well, following you to the door. You pull it open and see Sarah and Henry. Sarah's holding a movie in her hand and most likely explaining it to him. Henry looks a little less bored now, you didn't think that was possible.

You wander over to the pair, "Is this the stray you found on the side of the road?" You say, thickening your accent and gesturing over at Henry, who pretends to be offended.

"Mama please can we keep him!" Sarah pleads, grabbing both of your hands and shaking them. You look at him warily, with fake disgust.

And then you sigh, "Darlin' as long as you take care of him, we can keep him. But he might have fleas." This time Henry looks offended, and you break character, shrugging at him. This was something you and Sarah did sometimes, pretend to be cast members of Gone With the Wind. It was easy enough, you already had a slight accent. Sarah didn't, but she grew up around people that did.

Sarah grabs Henry by his wrist, "But seriously, can you come home with us in case she's waiting inside?" Sarah asks, switching back to her normal voice. You were thinking the same thing, she could've followed you and Sarah home.

Henry looks up for a moment, likely thinking, "I will, for a price." He says deviously. You curse under your breath, what could he possibly want? Sarah seems to know.

"I'm not letting you eat my friend." She crosses her arms, stepping away from the long-haired man. He scoffs like that was the worst thing she could've suggested. He even looks disgusted. And for that you're offended.

You furrow your brows, "Hey I probably don't taste bad. Don't look so disgusted." You can't believe those words came out of your mouth. A new insecurity to think about.

He sighs, "No, you smell fine. Good even. I'm a vegetarian, I only eat animals." He explains, glaring at someone behind you. You turn around, it's Eric's turn to look disgusted. You don't like the idea of a vegetarian vampire, animals dying always made you feel sad. But at least he wasn't murdering people.

"Alright, we'll owe you. Now let's go." Sarah demands, walking to the door without any more words. You and Henry make eye contact, shake your heads, and follow her out the door. Before you close it behind you, you glance back at Eric. He's out of your sight. You shrug and turn around, closing the door behind you. Sometimes you wondered what Eric did every day after you left. Probably nefarious things. He seemed like the type to yearn for dangerous situations. The thought of catching the woman seemed to excite him.

You're in the parking lot, looking for Sarah's car. She coughs awkwardly, "I uh, ran here. So let's take your car." She couldn't have made it as a rat, you wonder if she can turn into any animal she wants. If she did you'd ask her to turn into a dog instead of a rat.

You feel around for the keys in your pocket, you find them and unlock your car. You were thankful Sarah didn't bring her car, she didn't have air conditioning or heat. It didn't bother you that much, but it was colder than usual outside and you'd need a heater. She could just turn into a heater herself. You wished you had some sort of power like that. Would've been useful for listening to gossip.

Sarah's in your car first, in the passenger seat. You get in the driver's side and Henry gets in behind you. Henry asks you to turn the radio on, you don't mind. You were too tired to talk, and silent drives are always awkward. It's pretty dark outside, but you look at the trees anyway. One of the things you love about Louisiana. Forests cover about 50% of the entire state. And as a child, you often entertained yourself in one with just your imagination. Something you didn't need to do anymore considering your current situation. When you were about 13 you and Sarah would pretend to be mermaids at the public pool, vampires too. You wondered how your life would be if you knew of their existence at that time. Maybe mermaids are real too. You hope so.

"So," you turn the radio down so everyone can hear you better, "if you don't have anywhere to go," you say slowly, looking at Henry in the rearview mirror, "and if Sarah doesn't mind, you can stay with us." You suggest, shrugging and looking back at the road. There aren't many cars out tonight, surprisingly.

It wasn't polite to invite someone to a house that isn't yours, but Sarah didn't seem to mind. She was comfortable around vampires, "Is there a light-tight spot anywhere?" Henry asks, considering the offer. You didn't know if there was, but Sarah had vampire friends. You figured there would be a spot for him. This was the first time you got confirmation on whether or not vampires burned in the sun, it surprised you. Is there no way to stop it? You would have to never see the sun again, you were itching to tan. You liked winter, but not as much as spring or summer.

"Yeah and it's not a closet, don't worry," Sarah says, looking back at Henry for a moment. He nods at her and the conversation is over. Awkward. You turn the music back up to fill the tension in the air. It's a little hard to drive, you're so tired, mentally and physically. But you've driven long hours before, and you know how to keep yourself awake. It wasn't hard after learning your friend could turn into a rat.

You had a feeling Henry wouldn't have cared either way, he just wanted a place to rest. And he would be able to soon, you were pulling into Sarah's driveway. Sarah has a lot of land so her driveway is long, "Wait. Stop." You hear Sarah say, and you brake, putting the car in park. Henry's out of the car before Sarah is, unsurprisingly.

He's over by the front door, which is wide open. Sarah gets out of the car and starts undressing. You sigh and get out of the car, heading toward the front door. Henry's already inside, whooshing everywhere. Probably trying to pick up a scent. Sarah passes you, she changed into a dog. A golden retriever with blonde fur. She trots over the broken glass in the doorway and begins sniffing.

You decide to stay out of the way and sit on a swing near the end of the porch. You swing back and forth, almost falling asleep a couple of times before you stand up and stretch. Sluggishly, you make your way off the porch and back to the car to turn it off. Don't wanna kill the battery. That would be pretty shitty given everything that was going on. You take the keys out and exit the car, locking the door and going back over to the porch.

Henry and Sarah step out of the house, "Two men and one woman," Sarah informs you, looking angry, "We can't stay here." She concludes, closing the door, sending broken glass across the floor.

You groan and look up, exhausted.

"I'll stay here and listen for anything." Henry offers, looking through the broken window in the door. That sounds like a pretty good idea to Sarah and you. It was better than you and Sarah sleeping there. You knew someone followed you home, not at the time but afterward it was pretty clear. And you can see clearly now, the rain is gone.

You agree and unlock your car again, Sarah holds up a hand, "Wait, I have to make a phone call." She smirks, opens the front door, and steps inside. Henry's inside as well, checking out his room for however long he stays. What could be so fucking important right now? It was important, you could hear Sarah raising her voice at whoever she was on the phone with. You felt bad for whoever it was. Sarah could be scary when she wanted to be.

After about 5 minutes she's outside again, looking pleased with herself. You cock an eyebrow and she just walks over to your car, on the driver's side this time. You're thankful and you toss her the keys once you're close enough. The both of you get in the car and you nod off once she starts driving.