Satan Said Dance

I groaned. "Guys, what are we doing here?"

"Abby," chided Isabel, "I've told you this 'bout five times now; if you're moving to that po-dunk town then you're going to have at least one more night of fun with your girls."

I glared at her. "Izzie, I'm moving, not dying. And a vampire bar, really? Hardly the place to have a good time if we have to be on guard all night."

Bess cut in. "It's only you that will be on guard, Abby, and once we've got a few drinks in you it'll be fine."

"Oh yeah," I said as we entered the bar. I pulled off my coat and hugged it into my side with my forearm, "because True Blood is so my drink of choice."

They both rolled their eyes. "I'm going to find a table," Izzie stated.

"Great idea," said Bess, grabbing my wrist, "We're going to the bar!"

"Why?" I groaned, drawing out my y.

"Get me an apple martini!" Izzie yelled as Bess dragged me out of sight with her.

"You know I hate clubs and bars, Bess," I continued to pester her, "Everyone's so loud. It wears my head out."

Bess sighed. "Abby, could you at least try to turn that off and have a good time with us? Please? You know how much we're going to miss you."

I scoffed, "You're just going to miss me making guys like you so you could get laid." I said as I rested my elbow on the dark mahogany surface of the bar.

Bess grinned. "That too," she said as she rose her hand up and waved, attempting to get the bartender's attention. Immediately there was a medium sized, pale, dark haired man standing in front of us.

"What can I get you two morsels?" he asked, his smirk showing the tips of his fangs. I shuddered as I sensed a wave of lust rush off of him. I already knew that my slight talent, being able to detect and manipulate people's exact emotions, was going to majorly get in the way of my 'fun evening' tonight.

"I'll just have a rum and Coke, please," I said dryly, sending him the meanest look I could muster.

"And I'll have a Cosmo and an apple martini," Bess said, flashing her head-turning, toothy smile, oblivious to the vampire's feelings toward her, though I doubt she'd hardly even mind if she did know. Bess was very... promiscuous, to say the least.

We got our drinks and after three butt squeezes and millions of red flashes from other people's lust rushing through my head, I was in need of a time out. "Guys," I sighed, "I'm going to smoke a cigarette outside."

"You don't have to, this place is smoking."

I glared at Bess, "I'm going outside to smoke a cigarette".

Izzie turned to Bess and said "I think that's code for 'my head really fucking hurts'."

I rolled my eyes. "One point for Isabel," I sneered then I grabbed my purse and wormed my way through the crowd to the door. I squeezed out and immediately rummaged through my purse, pulling out my Marlboro Milds. I popped one in my mouth and lit it almost simultaneously. Inhaling a long drag, I closed my eyes, finally feeling relaxed for the first time that night. Exhaling, I surveyed my surroundings and saw an extremely tall, blond haired man standing no more than six feet beside me.

He turned his head toward me and I whipped my head forward, blushing because I got caught staring. I heard the man snigger. I turned to look at him again, but he had already turned away. He was facing a couple walking toward him. One, a short, tanned, blond, woman and the other a pale, sharp featured man a few inches taller than the girl. The blond man that I was originally staring at towered above them both. I tried to pick up emotions from them, just being curious, but I only picked up the girl's emotions, and this frightened me. I threw down my cigarette and rushed back inside without thinking.

"Who is she?" I heard a girl's voice ask. And, I couldn't help it, I put my ear to the door. I was the topic of conversation anyway, right? I had the right to listen.

"I don't know," I heard a low voice reply.

"Well, she's not normal," the girl said in a hushed tone, her Louisiana accent thick.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," the girl started, "that she was picking up something from us. I tried to read her mind and all I saw was colors..."

"Sookie," another male's voice, I guessed the shorter one, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that she was somehow reading my mind!" she seethed.

I had heard enough by then and rushed back to Izzie and Bess. "Guys," I huffed, being out of breathe from fighting my way through the crowds, "We need to go."

"Dammit! Why, Abby?" Izzie whined.

"Because I think I'm in trouble! This chick read my mind, somehow, and figured out I was reading her mind."

They both stared at me with confused eyes, their thoughts muddled with alcohol. "What are you talking about, Abby?"

"I'm saying we need to leave!" I practically yelled at them.

I felt a cold hand grasp my shoulder and the air rushed out of my lungs. "I don't think you need to go anywhere just yet, Miss. We'd like to ask you some questions."

"What the fuck?" Bess questioned, the drinks in her creating liquid courage that added to her already outgoing nature. "She's not going anywhere with you, we're leaving and she's coming with us."

"Eric!" Accent girl yelled at the man gripping my shoulder, "If you scared the livin' daylights out of her, she's never gonna comply with you." She then turned to me. "We just wanna ask you a few questions about your gift."

I looked at the hand still on my shoulder and shrugged it off sharply. "Well, when you put it that way, I'd be delighted."

"Follow us," the man named Eric said gruffly.

I started to do just that when Bess grabbed my arm. "What are you doing?" she whispered frantically.

I pulled her hand of my arm. "Look, Bess. I've been living with this... thing by myself for a long time. I want some answers. Plus," I glimpsed at the tall man as he turned around to wait for me. "I couldn't hear his feelings, or the other man with them, and I wanna know why."

Bess crossed her arms and glared at me. "If you get killed, it's so not my fault."

Izzie rolled her eyes. "We'll be waiting for you here, Abby. Be safe."

I nodded, then turned and took my place next to Eric. "Lead the way."

---

The second after I was led into a dimly lit room that was obviously an office, questions bombarded me. What's your name? What do you do for a living? Where are you from? Do you live close?

I held up both my hands in a sign of defeat. "Slow down! One question at a time or my brain will explode."

Eric held no hesitation and asked the first question. "What's your name?"

"That's an easy one, my name's Abernathy Rae Hastings."

"How do we know you're not using an alias?" asked the woman.

"Last time I checked, Sookie wasn't the most popular name, and if you want to make sure I'm not using an alias, why don't you just read my mind?" I asked sarcastically.

The dark haired man's eyes narrowed at me. Sookie saw this and grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry, I had no reason not to believe you."

Eric coughed, interrupting. "Anyway... where are you from?"

"Originally? Jacksonville, Florida. I'm moving to a town not to far from here, though, called Bon Temps."

Eric stared at me. "Why on earth would you want to live there?"

I sighed. "I have no choice. I'm in debt and about to lose my house. My grandmother left me her house in her will so I'll be moving up there. She also set up a job for me at the library, but I'll be looking around before I go to work there. My friends brought me here for one last night out before they go back to Jacksonville, though I don't know why they picked here."

Eric gave me a dirty look. "What's wrong with my club?"

I mirrored his look. "Nothing's wrong, clubs and bars just make my head hurt. Too many emotions at once."

"Speaking of emotions," said the short, dark haired man with Sookie, his accent as thick as her's, if not more, "What exactly is your gift?"

"I can pick up people's emotions, but I see them in colors. Angry is red, so is lust. Sadness is blue, confusion is green, and so on."

"That is very interesting," Eric mused.

"That's not all," I continued. "I can also alter people's emotions, but it takes a lot of concentration, and it wears me out quickly."

I darted my eyes between the three of them and cleared my throat. "So... you wouldn't happen to know anything about my ability, would you?" I asked in a hopeful tone.

"Surprisingly, no," answered Eric. "But I would love to know more," he paused, and I could see in his eyes that he was pondering something. "You said you were looking at your options before you took the library job, correct?"

"That's right..." I said hesitantly.

"Well why don't you just take a job here, then?" He asked me hopefully, flashing me a smarmy grin.

My mind immediately flashed to the scantily clad girls that were pole dancing on the small stage just outside the office. "I don't know if that's the right job for me," I replied. "I'm not looking for a career in exotic dancing," I added sarcastically.

Eric barred his fangs at me in a soft growl, and I shifted back in my seat in spite of wanting to keep a cool exterior.

I heard a snort for the short man standing with Sookie, "What's the matter, Eric? Not used to being told no?" He shot him a hard glance. I noticed Sookie roll her eyes when Eric responded with a snarl. He turned back to me.

"Bill, please. Don't interrupt the poor girl," she chided.

"I didn't mean to employ you as a dancer, I was thinking more a bartender. You do know how to pour drinks, don't you?"

I glared at him. "Of course I do!" I contemplated his offer, and the tips I would receive instantly popped in my head. I would make more money here than at a small town library. "Fine," I said, staring him straight in the eyes, "I'll take up your offer. But I'm going have to commute a lot so I better be compensated!"

I heard Sookie chuckle from behind Eric. "Eric, if she'll stand up to your arrogant ass, then I like her already!"

He shot her a look, then turned to me. "Alright then," he smiled and extended his hand. "We have a deal."

The second I grasped his icy hand a shiver ran up my spine. I shook his hand once then dropped it as fast as I could. I turned to looked at Sookie and Bill and saw Sookie's brow was furrowed, then I picked up a wave of purple nervousness radiate off of her. Was she nervous for me? Fortunately I didn't have to ponder that very long, because after a millisecond she muttered in a hopeless tone:

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Abby."

---

After that strange forewarning, I excused myself from the office after I agreed to be back at Fangtasia at seven o'clock tomorrow night. I worked my way through the bustling and found Bess and Izzie.

"So what happened?" Izzie asked me, wide-eyed.

"Did you get any answers?" Bess chimed in.

I looked at then both with a hesitant look. "No," I stated slowly. "But I did get a job."