"Bill Compton? Who's that?" You ask Sarah after she's finally awake, "You said his name earlier." You add thoughtfully. Sarah's in Pam's coffin eating a burger Eric picked up from Mcdonald's. After you found this out, you giggled at the thought of a vampire as old as him ordering fast food. When Henry mentioned Bill's name earlier, Eric growled, a low sound in his throat. He knows the man, and Pam does too because Eric knew him. He must have been the one who was standing in the middle of the road earlier. She told you so, too. Sarah takes a sip of the crack, I mean, McDonald's Sprite to wash down the taste of her burger. She has fries too, but she let you have them.

It's about 2 in the morning now, Pam and Eric are in the office making calls, arguing with each other, or talking about Bill. Probably the latter. Bill must be a pain in Eric's ass, based on his reaction. Margot is on the couch next to you, flipping through a magazine that was on the side table next to the couch. The couch is pink, like Pam's coffin, and it's very comfortable, it's soft. Henry is doing— well you don't know where he is or what he's doing. He could be at Sarah's house, but you're not entirely sure of that. Didn't he say he was looking for another place to stay? Maybe he's underground in the cemetery laying in a coffin.

She sighs before she answers, "Some Confederate vampire that tried to find out my weaknesses." She says through gritted teeth, looking down at the burger in her hand with a glare. That horse didn't do anything to her, but she wasn't angry at the burger. She was angry at the thought of all the things they tried to do to her. They tried Wolfsbane, of course. It didn't work. Truth is, shifters don't have any real weaknesses. They're just like normal humans, only they can turn into whatever animal they want to, and they can heal faster than normal humans. Or Sarah could. She never explained any of it to you, she just said that she was special in some way.

"Are you okay?" You ask her, and she raises an eyebrow at you. She didn't seem okay, she would probably need more therapy. You wondered why Sarah's necklace could be so important to Bill. It didn't make sense to you, it's just some ashes inside a fuckin' necklace. Nothing special about them, except for the fact that they're Sarah's cousin Jenna's ashes. She takes another bite of the burger before answering you, mumbling from behind her hand, "I'll need more therapy after this, that's for sure." She snorts, swallowing her mouthful of burger. She takes another sip of her Sprite.

"If your therapist doesn't know about supernaturals, you can make an appointment with my old one," Margot suggests, looking up and then back down the magazine, flipping the pages. Sarah appreciated that, but Dr. Nicholson already knows about vampires and the suspicious circumstances of Jenna's death. She also knows that Sarah is a shifter. She knows about you, but she hasn't heard from Sarah since you arrived. So the doctor had no idea you were staying with Sarah.

Sarah looks up at her, a little surprised, "Thank you, but she knows." She says, looking a little apologetic, taking another bite of her burger. You grab a few fries out of the box and pop them into your mouth. McDonald's Fries are your favorite, they always salt them perfectly and the soggy ones are the best. You shake your head, ridding your mind of thoughts of fries and salt. It didn't seem appropriate to think about that right now, not while your friend is reliving her trauma.

Margot blinks once and smiles at her politely and then goes back to reading her magazine, it feels a little awkward. But not for long, Pam enters the room and Sarah's head snaps up toward the vampire. They almost kissed earlier, or something, you're not sure. Hopefully, they were. Pam could probably make Sarah happy. She'd still be in danger, but she would be happy with her.

Pam glances over at Sarah and then at you and Margot, "Eric wants to speak with you." She says to you briefly, walking over to Sarah and sitting on the closed coffin lid. With your fries in hand, you stand up and stroll over to the door, pulling it open and disappearing into the porn section in the basement. You wonder what he wants to talk to you about, hopefully, it's nothing bad. But knowing Eric, it probably would be bad.

You walk up the concrete stairs, push the door open, and walk through the bar toward the office. When you enter the room, Eric is sitting in his chair, reading through a file opened in front of him. You close the door behind you and sit in one of the chairs across from him, anxiously wringing your hands together, "What did you need?" You ask, trying to calm your racing heart.

"You're not gonna like this," He warns, closing the folder and dropping it onto the desk, you glance at it and look back up at him, "If Bill's involved, I don't want you to be a part of this anymore, it's too dangerous for you," He pulls open a drawer in his desk, pulling a checkbook out. As he says the words, your heart drops into your stomach, and your throat burns, "We will fill your position. And I'll give you this before you go." He says flippantly, pulling a pen out of the mug next to him, he scribbles out his signature and some more things but you don't care. Without another word, without taking the check from him, you leave the office, slamming the door behind you. You felt like you couldn't breathe. But the rational part of you knows you can. Once you're safely in your car, you let the tears fall from your eyes. You drive to the hotel, thanking God or whoever that you remembered to retrieve the key to your room.

It hurts so bad, but you were expecting it. Not this late, you expected it to happen earlier. But you wouldn't give up. You have a plan, and you're going to see it through, even if it kills you. You couldn't just leave after finding out about the existence of vampires, you can't just leave Pam. Margot's too nice, you could get her on your side. Pam probably had no idea what Eric wanted to talk to you about, but all of the vampires heard your conversation. It wasn't much of a conversation, it was more of him talking and you being too upset to comprehend his words. You heard him, but you weren't listening. You were expecting him to fire you, but not for it to hurt this bad. You felt empty now, you wished you could go back to Sarah's house and garden to get your mind off of things.

It doesn't take long to get to the hotel and when you do, you open the door and lock it behind you. You throw yourself onto the couch and try to fall asleep. After shutting your eyes for 20 minutes to no avail, you groan and get up from your position on the couch. The couch is comfortable, but you didn't think you would be able to sleep, not at that moment. Tomorrow night, you'd execute your plan, go to the bar looking as hot as possible and pray that Eric tells you he's in love with you and he wants to fuck you. It wasn't a very good plan, you'd probably end up dead because of one of the random vampires. But he would feel your panic and maybe he would show up and save you. That wouldn't help your case. You were trying to prove you could handle yourself, so he wouldn't "worry" about you. If anything, you being attacked again would worry him more. But you want that damn job, you don't care about the money anymore. It took you a little too long to realize it, but maybe you like Eric. Some part of your brain says, no, you don't like him. It's just his blood. But having a crush on Eric wouldn't last, you knew that. With all the women in front of him earlier at the bar? That man is not single.

Eventually, you do fall asleep, dreaming of Eric yet again. Except this time, it was a nightmare. Like one of the ones you've had before

"He broke up with me man!" You joke with a groan, closing your eyes. Sarah's doing your eyeshadow, she raises one of her eyebrows. It's about 8 o'clock, the night after Eric fired you. You're sitting on the couch, and Sarah is sitting on the coffee table in front of you, pulled closer so she can reach you.

"You were never together?" She says it like it's a question, swirling the brush around in the palette and tapping it against the side. After a moment, she brings the soft brush up to your eye and applies the black pigment to your lids. You're wearing a dress she provided for you, a dark purple one that looked similar to the one Margot was wearing last night. Except not as expensive. You didn't put any necklaces on, because all the ones you own are silver. Sarah is already ready for a night at the bar, dressed in a purple leather skirt and a low-cut black shirt. She would spend the night dancing and keeping an eye on you, she wasn't interested in being with any vampires. And they didn't like the way she smelled, she's like garlic. If garlic hurt vampires. It doesn't, apparently.

"I know, but it hurts more than I thought it would," You say, and Sarah frowns. She's done with your eyeshadow, you open your eyes and she's digging in her makeup bag to look for something, the eyeshadow palette still resting in her lap. You shake your head. You didn't want to tell Sarah you thought Eric was attractive and wanted him to be attracted to you too, a lot of words to explain a crush, but it was the truth. That's the only reason you're going to the bar in the first place. Maybe you could Kill Bill instead. That probably wouldn't go over well, but you'd be willing to do it.

"So you knew you'd get fired?" She asks, shaking the tube of black eyeliner, you close your eyes as she opens it. You could do eyeliner, but not well. But you tried once or twice in high school. You remember Eric writing a check last night, you want to kick yourself for not taking it. But you could find another job. Maybe Sarah's grandpa still needs a new waitress.

"Yeah, at some point I guess I did. But he didn't exactly fire me, he just said Bill is dangerous and he doesn't want me around anymore." You could quote him if you wanted to, his words are ingrained in your mind. Bastard. It was clearly his blood making you feel this way. You aren't sad about it anymore, you're a little irritated instead.

Your friend scoffs, "You can take care of yourself, you've killed like 4 people already." She shakes her head as she applies the eyeliner to your upper lid. You hear her close the tube and shake it again, it must be running out. But she had more, she left them next to the bathroom sink so she could put eyeliner on every morning. So you trusted her with doing yours.

"And I didn't even say anything, he tried to write me a check and I just left." You grunt out as Sarah moves on to your other eye. Sarah's eyebrows raise and she pauses for a moment before continuing to apply the black liquid.

"I can't believe you didn't take his money, are you feeling okay?" She asks, turning your head so she can look at you. You open your eyes and roll them at her before closing them again. She lets your chin go and grabs the top of your head so she can better apply the eyeliner. The only reason you wanted to keep working at the bar was for money, Sarah knew that. You're not greedy, well not really. You just struggled a lot as a child and didn't like the feeling of not having any money on hand. Sarah knew that, and she could relate. But she didn't become a little greedy like you did.

"He caught me off guard, I had to get out of there Sarah." You say, wanting to shake your head. But you didn't, because Sarah's trying to draw a straight line in the corner of your eye. You did have to get out of there, you probably would've cried if you spoke to him. Maybe while you're at the bar you can sneak into the office and grab the check, unless Eric threw it away. You hoped he didn't, the farewell money would probably be good and you needed it. Well not really, you wanted it.

"Then why are we going right now?" She asks with a sigh, closing the tube of eyeliner. You open your eyes and smile timidly at her, your cheeks red. She furrows her eyebrows and leans away from you, placing the tube on the coffee table next to her. She tilts her head up and stares down at you through her long eyelashes.

Suspiciously, "Do you like Eric?" She asks, no sign of a smile on her lips. She looks more concerned than anything and it gives you pause. Of course, being attracted to Eric isn't strange, it's normal. Sarah could admit that he's attractive and she's gay.

"I just think he's hot, he smells good, and his voice is nice. I can cut it off before it gets too bad." You reassure her, but she doesn't look like she believes you much. But you believe in yourself and your ability to stop having a crush on the vampire before you fall in love or something crazy.

Sarah sighs and leans toward you, "Should we just stay here?" She asks softly, taking a bobby pin out of her hair and dropping it onto the table next to her. Her long brown hair falls from the elegant bun once pinned to her head, cascading down her back, ending at the middle of her back.

"I think so." You say, sighing as well. If you wanted to stop liking him, you couldn't go into his bar and stare at him from across the room or something. You would have to just move on and forget about him, go work at LeBlanc's, Sarah's grandpa's restaurant. Rollerblading over to cars at Sonic is similar to being a waitress at a restaurant. The same skills were applied, but it was a little harder to skate around a parking lot. You had to carry a drink tray and food trays, and 4 of those milkshakes can be heavy after a long day of roller skating back and forth. Your wrist would be aching by the end of the day and you would be making minimum wage instead of what you made at the bar. Not a very good trade but you could get comfortable at the restaurant.

"Fuck it, let's go to a Blockbuster and get a few movies," Sarah suggests, standing up and walking over to the kitchenette to grab her keys. Oh yeah, your car accident. It seemed stupid in comparison to getting fired because you were in the way. Damn it, Sarah doesn't have heat in her car.

"Alright," You stand up, watching as she opens the door, "Wearing this?" You ask, looking down at your outfit. Seemed like it was too much for just going to a video store, you tug at the fabric uncomfortably.

Sarah rolls her eyes and just walks out the door, leaving it open so you follow her. And you do, begrudgingly. When you step outside you shiver, making you wish you changed even more. It's too cold to be wearing a dress. Sarah doesn't seem to mind, she unlocks her car and gets in the driver's seat, "I got the heat and the a/c fixed." She says once you're buckled into the passenger seat.

You nod, "Good, I won't freeze my ass off on the way. I should have changed." You say, crossing your arms. The car didn't take long to heat up, and when it did, it smelled like burnt paper. Not unusual, the dust inside is burning. It didn't matter whether you changed clothes or not you wouldn't be out of the car for long, it doesn't take long to rent movies.

Sarah has to drive to Bon Temps because the other Blockbuster in Shreveport is too far away. And Pam and Eric changed their business. It makes you a little nervous, it reminds you of your time working at Eric's Blockbuster. Where you found out about vampires. You arrive at the video store shortly, slamming the car door a little too hard, Sarah raises an eyebrow at you from over the top of the car.

You smile at her reassuringly and step onto the curb to head inside the store. Another day, another slay.