My Name Is Death

You stood in the doorway, looking down at the pretty blonde with the worried expression on her face. As worried as she looked, you were even more confused. Me too? you thought, puzzled. You honestly had no idea what she was talking about—unless she was referring to the night before, but there was no way she could know about that, could she? There was something very off with Sookie today, though you couldn’t quite put your finger on it.

“I’ll explain on the way to Merlotte’s,” she said, shaking her head. “Oh, I can’t believe him.”

“Sookie, what the hell—” you began, and then gave up. You didn’t have it in you to give her an attitude this morning, especially when it seemed like she was on your side. Especially when she obviously knew something about what you had gotten yourself into. “Yeah, I guess just explain on the way. Thanks for driving me. I would have had a hell of a time riding my bike today.”

“Because you can’t drive,” she stated matter-of-factly, nearly causing you to drop your keys while you were trying to lock your door.

You hesitated before answering. “Right…”

Sookie looked sheepish for a moment and didn’t speak again until you were both seating yourselves in her little silver car. “Oh, I guess I should start with me.”

As if you had any idea what that meant. You raised an eyebrow in a gesture for her to continue, feeling extremely patient for once in your life and not really sure why.

She started the car. “Well, I can sort of, um, hear people’s thoughts.”

“Bullshit,” you called, and crossed your arms over your chest.

Sookie sighed and gave you a look before continuing. “Right now you’re wondering why you aren’t feeling like you want to—oh honey, you’ve got to control those anger issues. That’s just not healthy.”

Your mouth dropped open. You had been wondering why you weren’t ready to strangle an alligator or something along those lines… you’d definitely been through enough to feel like that, and under normal circumstances, you’d still be boiling. You’d be screaming at Sookie for lying to you…

“Well I’m glad you aren’t doing that,” she commented.

Suddenly you knew what was different this time. “Sookie!” you exclaimed. “I don’t have a headache!”

She looked confused for a moment, and then understanding came over her face. “And you usually have one around me… because I’m ‘screwing with your mind.’”

“Well, shit,” you said. “You really can read minds.” You wanted to snicker at the fact that she had directly quoted you, but you were too much in awe of her to do it. But still, that didn’t explain why your brain wasn’t beating at the edges of your skull…

“Oh, that’s because Eric gave you his blood,” Sookie chimed up. “Though he didn’t give you much… shame on him; this could have been so much easier on you. It’ll probably wear off soon.”

You frowned. “He said it was ‘useful’ in situations like that—I’m assuming you know what happened”—Sookie nodded—“so that means it heals wounds? Then why would it wear off on my headaches?”

She gave you a sympathizing look. “It’s more like it speeds up the body’s own healing abilities, so…”

You sighed, knowing what was coming next. “Right. Scar tissue. Damn. Why couldn’t this have happened eleven years ago?” Sookie shrugged and looked genuinely sorry for you, but it wasn’t a pitying look, so it didn’t grate on your nerves like usual. The car came to a stop, and you snapped off your seatbelt. With your hand on the door handle, you thanked Sookie again for the ride. “Um… I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to anyone.”

“Of course,” she agreed, pressing a button on her keys to lock the doors as the two of you stepped out into the afternoon glare. “But Leona—you should be careful around Eric. I’m not sure what he’s up to with you, and hell, he’s already got me going to Dallas for him because of… well, nevermind. Anyway… stay safe, okay?”

You were touched, but her cryptic trailing off had left you wishing you could read minds as well. Still, you offered her a weak smile and gestured to the restaurant. “I think I can handle myself. Well… off to the guillotine, then?”

She smiled and put her hand on your shoulder and began to walk you in. “I think Sam will understand.”

You nodded and only hoped that he would. Like hell if you were losing this job because some ridiculous vampire wanted to “call on you again.”

--------

Luckily for you, Sam had understood. You barely had to mumble out the words “bloody” and “emergency” and his eyes had gone wide and he’d waved you off to work on what was left of the afternoon shift. He’d obviously not wanted to deal with what kind of hell he’d imagined you causing if something went wrong if he upset you, not today anyway. And you weren’t entirely sure he’d imagined the same type of emergency you had been talking about, but then again, you’d been purposefully vague to freak him out.

Still, Sam had seemed on edge even before you’d opened your mouth.

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“I said order up, bitch,” came your favorite short order cook’s voice, shattering what little concern you had for Sam and whatever the hell was up his ass. “You gon’ do yo job or not?”

You stuck your tongue out as far as it would go before tossing your frizzy bob of hair over your shoulder and sweeping off with the plates. You probably should have rethought the hair toss, but then again, the food was going to a rowdy bunch of rednecks.

“Alright, I’ve got the cheeseburger deluxe, no pickles, with seasoned French fries; the chicken strips and a side of mashed potatoes; a salad with a side of ranch dressing; and three beers. Anything else I can get for you?” you said cheerily, like a waitress should, while setting each plate and bottle down in front of their respective customers.

“Well, just a strawberry milkshake, little missy,” the largest one at the table said, stroking his patchy flesh-colored beard.

Astounding yourself and your fellow employees, you smiled sweetly. “I’ll see what I what I can do,” you said, and sauntered back to Lafayette. He grinned as you leaned against the counter where he was passing plates through to Arlene and Sookie, because the second you had turned around, your face had fallen into a very angry scowl. “I need a large strawberry milkshake, extra spit, please.”

“I don’t think dat’s what he meant,” Lafayette said, winking at you as he flipped another burger.

“I’m going to dump it on his head,” you growled.

Lafayette nodded in approval and pointed his spatula in your direction. “You see? Now you learnin’.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, Leona, but I think there is hope for you after all,” Sam praised, coming up behind you and putting his hand on your shoulder, obviously having missed your last comment. “Why don’t you head home?”

You snorted at his walking on eggshells around you. “I’m not going to drop dead, Sam, I think I can handle another shift like every other capable adult here.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it—go home and rest up and we’ll see if we can’t get you back on your normal schedule tomorrow.”

Your hands found your hips almost involuntarily as you stared up at him. “Are you serious?”

“Sookie talked to me,” he stated understandingly.

“Damn it. That doesn’t mean—”

“Do you want to keep your job?”

You huffed. “Okay Sam, I’ll play along with you this time, but if you keep babying me I’m gonna start flipping tables or something.”

“See you tomorrow, Leona.”

You rolled your eyes at Lafayette, who was giving you a very wary look. “Did you see that?” you asked, trying to lighten the subject.

His expression didn’t change. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at you. “What is Sookie doing talking to Sam for you?”

You smacked your hand against your forehead. He was acting awfully paranoid. “Not you too.”

“I ain’t fuckin’ wit you, Cherry, why the fuck would Sookie need to get you time off from your job?”

You just couldn’t catch a break, could you? Everyone who you’d thought wasn’t going to be in and out of your business was getting all up in your face about it. Throwing your hands up in defeat, you lost just a little bit of your composure. “Well, if I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably because she wants me to go home with her, so she can get me there before dark.”

Lafayette’s face darkened even more. “The hell she wanna do that foh, Cherry? You go and git yourself involved in some vamp scandal?”

You looked at him in disbelief. He was really blaming you for all this, wasn’t he? He didn’t even know shit about it. “I didn’t do it on purpose! I went to get my idiot brother from Fangtasia—”

“Please tell me you ain’t involved wit those motherfuckers at Fangtasia,” he interrupted you, pinching his temples and letting the food he was preparing get a little too blackened.

You ignored him and continued, your voice growing quieter and more shrill with each word. “—and it just so happened that some idiot tried to kill one of the owners or something, and I was shot, okay? I was shot. I could have died! And then Eric fucking Northman saved my life with his blood or some shit and now apparently he thinks he owns me because they can’t glamour me and—”

“They can’t glamour you?” he interrupted again, this time confused.

“No,” you said, at a normal level and tone of voice. You inhaled slowly and closed your eyes, speaking again when you were calm. “And I think I know why. But don’t ever think I did this on purpose, because I sure as hell never want to see that bastard again. And I don’t want Sookie trying to mother me—I moved here to get away from my parents! I’m a grown woman and I think I can make this sort of decision on my own.”

Lafayette was one of the few people in Bon Temps you’d decided you could and wanted to get along with right away, and it had been a blessing to meet him after more than a week of going through the motions at work and trying not to explode on the customers. So it had been a nasty shock when he’d turned all accusatory all of a sudden. You had calmed down, sure, but that still didn’t make it acceptable. You’d thought for sure that he, of all people, wouldn’t have went there. You bit back the tears that were threatening to come spilling down your face—oh yeah, the blood is definitely wearing off.

He could see that you were extremely upset, and this time it was his turn to put his hands up in surrender. “Oh hell. Look, I ain’t tryin’ to accuse you of nothin’, I just think you should listen to Sook and accept her givin’ you a ride for now. Eric Northman ain’t someone you wanna be getting’ mixed up wit, trust me.”

There was a look in his eyes that told you he wasn’t kidding, that he’d had a very bad experience with the vampire in question, but you ignored it. “Well, thanks for your concern, but I don’t need a chauffeur. I can just as well walk myself.” You turned and began to walk stiffly away.

“Bitch, you walk home now, the sun gon’ set befoh you even get outta sight of Merlotte’s!” He was waving his spatula at you. Obviously, he meant well, but you weren’t having it.

“Your burgers are burning,” you said icily after spinning around to face him, flicking your wrist at the four skinny pillars of smoke that were rising off of the grill. “And don’t call me a bitch.”

“Fucking patties!” he exclaimed angrily as you trudged out onto the street.

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Lafayette had been right, of course—you probably should have found Sookie and ridden home with her, but the sun had gone down at least ten minutes ago, and you’d been taking your own sweet time walking. You were still a good quarter of an hour from your house, but you’d been fine so far, hadn’t you?

“You know, it’s not really safe for a woman with your sensitive disposition to be walking alone at night.”