Before you left LeBlanc's, you told Earl you were quitting, he didn't seem too upset. He understood after you told him about the amount of money you would get at your new job. Not a new job actually, just one that you're revisiting. You didn't give Eric an answer when he asked, but you knew the position would still be open. Even if it has been a few weeks since you quit. You quit the same day you came in for dinner, and when you arrived at home Sarah was in the living room. You gave her her food and told her about what you did, she looked a little disappointed but seemed to understand. Even if you don't understand. You called Layla and Dalia the day after you quit, both of them were mad at you but they understood. Neither of them has quit a job for a man but if they found a good one, they just might. You're not doing it entirely for him though, you're doing it for the money too. And the money is good.
You're getting ready for work now, after you get dressed and stuff you'll call Fangtasia. You're just doing it now cause you know they'll let you come in for work. The sun began to go down when you started getting ready, that's when you took a shower. Now it's dark outside, you're standing in front of your closet and searching for some clothes to wear. You clutch at your towel, using your other hand to push some T-shirts out of the way. You decide on wearing a tight long-sleeved black dress, casual compared to something Margot or Pam would be wearing. You pair this with black heels, you don't put on any makeup though. You don't feel like it, you're not very good at it, and you look just fine without it.
You don't wear heels often, but you know how to walk in them without looking like Bambi or something. And they're not long, only about 3 inches or so. You've worn bigger heels. But you knew your feet would hurt in the morning. Unless you spend most of the time sitting down, you hope so.
Before leaving the house, you call Fangtasia. You're holding your keys in your other hand, ready to leave, "Finally decided to take your job back?" Pam drawls into the phone teasingly, you roll your eyes and regret your decision for a moment. But you would go anyway, you wanted to. It's not like being a waitress or roller skating, it's easier and you'll earn more money. You never even finished your first day as an assistant, you were attacked in the middle of it. But it doesn't put you off at all, you're thinking about the money. And Eric, but just a little. Money is your main priority, you couldn't be involved with Eric. You'd just end up dead, in a cemetery or walking around, running actually. You should keep your distance, as much as you can. You'd have to change your sleep schedule again, it'd be like being a vampire, but not at all. You fixed it when you started working at LeBlanc's, it felt amazing to wake up in the morning instead of late in the afternoon. If it ever gets too tough on you, you could always quit or something, "You gonna say something?" She asks impatiently. Oops.
"Yeah, I'll be there soon." You nod even though she can't see you, leaning against the countertop. Pam sighs in relief and hangs up on you after this, you pull the phone away from your ear and put it back up on the wall. You don't know what you expected her to say, but you expected something. When you close the front door, you do it quietly because Sarah's asleep down the hall. She came home from work an hour ago, ranted about someone she was training, and then fell asleep. You lock it behind you, don't want a repeat of the Jenna situation, something that hasn't been resolved yet. Sadie's still missing too, Earl had to file a missing persons report because none of her family members came forward. You don't know Sadie or her family but you think it's unfortunate none of them called or came by to check on her. If you were them, you'd be feeling guilty. But not guilty enough to come by the station, clearly.
As you drive down the dark road lit occasionally by streetlights, you think about how weird it feels to be inside that bar. And how weird it felt to have your throat ripped out. That was crazy. But you could break a chair or something if it ever happened again, make a stake out of one of the legs. Or you could just make one yourself, all you need is a stick. The smaller the better, it would be less noticeable that way. Eric's furniture is too expensive to be broken easily anyway, only a vampire could do that. Or a human on vampire blood. You don't want to drink any though, the sex dreams are weird and you don't want to have them anymore. Not if it's because of someone's blood. You have no idea how the bar is still running smoothly, considering it's full of vampires every night. And Eric's on a power trip or something. You wonder if Henry will be at the bar when you arrive, you missed him, a little. A very small part of you.
When you arrive you park in the spot you usually do, in front of the entrance next to Eric's expensive car. If you could, you would sell it. He would probably murder you, maybe. He doesn't seem like he cares about his car. You don't even think you've seen him driving it. You want to drive it, if he'd let you. If he ever sent you to the store for something, you would be taking his car. A fair trade in your opinion. He would just have to deal with it. Pam isn't standing behind the velvet rope this time, she probably complained and got a better job because of it. As she should. Henry is behind the rope, looking as bored as ever. So the same as always, but amplified, which seemed impossible considering he always looked bored.
"You look happy," You comment dryly, crossing your arms as you take the vampire in. He's wearing a satin black button-up shirt with black slacks and black dress shoes. Not his best work, but he doesn't look horrible. He glares at you, his scowl deepening. He looks like he's being tortured or something, you think he's being dramatic. But you can't blame him for feeling that way, you would be bored out of your mind if you were in his position. Luckily you're not. And you're not surprised he has a job here, you're surprised he isn't a bartender or a bodyguard or something. But maybe they get buff vampires for that. Henry isn't muscular, maybe slightly, he's more tall and skinny. But he's old, which means he's stronger than most of the vampires in the bar.
He laughs humorlessly and allows you to walk into the bar. The line to get inside is the longest you've ever seen, which made sense once went in. It seemed like the entire population of Shreveport was in Fangtasia, grinding on each other, dancing, and... smelling each other? You shake your head and make your way through the crowd of people, toward the bar so you can get a drink before you start working. If you got murdered tonight, or almost murdered, you didn't want to be sober. You almost get knocked over in the process, but eventually, you sit down on one of the barstools, panting. The air felt more humid the further you went into the bar and getting jostled around didn't help matters. You're sitting close to Margot, she's busy though, she'll probably greet you in a moment. You didn't want to sit near Longshadow, you don't know him very well.
You look over your shoulder in the direction of the stage, where Eric should be sitting. Unfortunately, you can't see him because of the number of people and the fact that you're sitting. Standing and staring would be obvious, you don't want to get lumped in with his fangirls either. So you would just drink and go into the office to work, "Hey," Margot says to you as she pours vodka into a few shot glasses for the people waiting next to you. She slides them across the counter, "Did you want something?" She asks, you glance over at the people beside you as they gulp down the shots. They seem to have the right idea.
"Yeah, I'll take 2 shots of vodka," You say with a shrug. She narrows her eyes but doesn't say anything as she pours the liquor into the glasses. She puts them down in front of you, "Thanks." You say, grabbing the first small glass and bringing the rim of it up to your lips. You take a deep breath before gulping it down, wincing at the feeling in the back of your throat. It burns, like smoking your first-ever cigarette.
When you drink the second one, it's even worse. By the time you've swallowed it, you can feel a warmth spreading through your body. Margot nods her head at you and you stand up, sliding the two glasses over to her. She's busy pouring another when you push through the crowd and make your way over to the office. When you get inside you remember the time you were told someone was tied up in here. Around the time you found out about vampires. He would never be tied up in Eric's chair, it's too expensive, Eric wouldn't let that happen. With those thoughts in mind, you sit in Eric's seat. It's far more comfortable than the other two, and a dying man was never tied to it. When you sit down in front of his desk, you look down at all the loose papers and folders in front of you. You don't know what to do. There's no morning coffee to be picked up, nothing he needed from the store. To your knowledge, an assistant is a personal shopper, a secretary, and pretty much everything you can think of.
While you're busy having no idea what to do, Eric enters the room and leaves the door open for a reason unknown to you, "Hi!" You call over the music playing from in the bar, it's not as loud as it would be but it's still very loud. You know you don't have to shout, he would hear you if you whispered, but it was instinctual.
"You can't stay in here alone," He's next to you, leaning over slightly so you can hear him over Robert Smith's voice, "Come with me." He says, standing up straight and holding out his hand for you to take. You don't take it, you walk past him through the door. But you let him get in front of you while you walk to the stage, everyone stepped away as soon as he started walking through the crowd. Taking his hand would've felt weird, and your hands were sweaty, that embarrassed you. You felt even more embarrassed when you almost tripped on the small staircase next to the stage. Everyone's watching you and Eric, well not everyone. Some people don't care, and Margot and Longshadow are busy doing their jobs. Eric's fangirls were angry, you could tell. He has some fanboys too apparently.
You can see them when you sit down in the chair next to his throne, it's comfortable but not as comfortable as his office chair. You're fine with this, some part of you wants to be closer to Eric. And another part of you knows that it's for the best, he could protect you. And if he was gone, you could maybe go with him or hang out with Margot behind the bar. You think he should take you with him, most of his errands are business related, and you're his assistant. He sits down after you, settling into his chair casually and resting his chin against his palm. You do what he's doing, look out into the crowd. You could see everything from here, he must've seen you as soon as you walked in. When you think about that you wish you had drank more when you were at the bar earlier. You felt almost too aware of his presence, you couldn't stay still. You're sure he notices but he doesn't say anything about it, he continues to watch the crowd.
"I'm hungry." He says simply, glancing over at you lazily. You're tempted to just tilt your head and let him have his dinner, but you know what he means. Pick someone for me to eat. And you will, even if you want him to eat you instead. You never thought you would want that, but you do, even if it feels wrong. After all those times he let you drink from him, you want to return the favor, but you're his employee. And the last time a vampire drank from you, the one time, it hurt a lot.
You look over at the group of men and women crowded around the stage, trying to impress Eric or simply catch his attention. Some of them are dancing, others are just staring at him. In your opinion, none of them are good enough for him. But it's not your place to say that, so you'll pick someone out. Because he employed 3 of your doppelgangers, you would find him someone that looked like you. And if he happens to notice, you hope he won't say anything, "That one." You say and discreetly point at one of the women staring at him, she has the same hair color as you and similar facial features. You're not sure if this is what an assistant should be doing, but it's not the hardest job you've ever had. Physically.
He looks over at you with an expression you can't decipher, "Is that what you want?" He asks. That's not what you want, but you won't say that. You nod at him and he stares at you for just a second too long before he stands up. You don't watch him after that, you can't bring yourself to do it. Instead, you stare at Margot, she's shaking a cocktail shaker using her vampire speed. You're impressed, even if she seemed like she was judging you for drinking. You're not an alcoholic by any means, so she shouldn't be worried. But you don't care about that right now, you just want something else to focus on. Out of the corner of your eye, you see the office door close and you shake your head, allowing yourself to look away from Margot.
When you scan the crowd, you notice some people staring at you, and it makes you uncomfortable so you don't do it for long. Some of the girls at the front of the stage look angry, but others look like they expected it. You're not expecting what comes next, one of them begins marching up the steps, her high heels clicking against the black staircase. Her eyebrows are furrowed, and so bushy that they cover the tops of her eyes. She's wearing a short dark purple dress with a long slit down the side of it. She looks good, "Why didn't you pick me?" She demands in a growl, resting her hands against the armrest of your chair and leaning toward you. Never mind, she doesn't look good. She looks awful, on the inside and the outside. You don't know what she's expecting you to say to her, you won't say anything. You'll just do what you want to do, what feels right. It would draw attention, but it would be worth it. You look over her shoulder at Margot, she's staring at the two of you, no longer pouring a drink or shaking a cocktail. She looks like she's waiting for something.
"Answer me!" She shouts, slamming her palms down on the armrest. You glare up at her and stand up, she starts to back away when you do, allowing you to speak with her face-to-face. She's taller than you with her heels on, but that doesn't matter. She still looks angry, but she wouldn't in a few seconds. She would be scared soon. You're still glaring at her but she doesn't look phased at all, she looks even angrier than before. But it doesn't change anything.
She starts to get closer to you, raising a hand. Before she can strike, you do, kicking her in the stomach as hard as you can.
She falls backward and tumbles off the stage, groaning as she hits the floor. Your foot hurts and you curse yourself for putting on heels. If she was seriously injured you would be in trouble. Never mind, it seems like no one cares about what happened. She sits up, glancing at you and then at the floor. There's some blood in the corner of her mouth, and her dress is dusty from your shoe and her time on the floor. With the help of some random vampire, she stands up, swaying as she does. You stop paying attention to her after that, your hands are trembling from adrenaline. You should be paid double just for that. You look back over at Margot, she takes a second to grin at you before getting back to work.
When you look away from the woman and back at the office, the door opens. The woman you picked is rushing out, tears streaming down her face. She slams the door behind her and makes her way through the crowd, she continued to cry, even as she was leaving. You notice she doesn't have any marks on her and she isn't wearing a scarf, so you don't think Eric drank from her. But you don't know why. All you know is that he must have rejected her, that's probably why she was sobbing. Eric appears a second later, you can't see his face but he has his arms crossed over his chest. Soon he's next to you, the crowd parted so he could walk to the stage. It reminded you of what a cult would be like if you ever encountered one.
"You didn't like that one?" You ask once he's sitting next to you. His eyebrows are furrowed and if his forehead could be wrinkled, it would be. He seems frustrated. You didn't know vampires could experience some sort of erectile dysfunction. He doesn't answer you.
