A Creeping Distress

At first Ana was slightly weary of the whole arrangement but once she saw how both Pam and Eric treated Sonny, she realized that Sonny’s charm had worked once again. The first show Sonny set up was small but lucrative. As the weeks passed Fangtasia became one of the most popular bars in town despite the whole parking lot of protestors. Eric was pleased with the great job Sonny seemed to be doing more so with the certain energy she brought to the bar. It had been weeks of working and Sonny grew to love Louisiana the longer she stayed.

While in town early morning Sonny was walking along the market streets when she ran into someone carrying a crate of vegetables who in turn began to curse. Immediately she knelt down to help the man in the plaid shirt get his things back into the crate.

“I‘m sorry,” Sonny says sincerely as she handed him an onion. The man with salt and pepper hair looked up at her. If he were being honest, he hadn’t expected to see the brunette with murky green eyes that were bright with life. Sonny smiled at the boyishly handsome man apologetically. “No reason to cry over dropped onions.”

“Sam Merlotte,” he replies with a big smile.

“Sonny Novak.”

“Yer not from around here are ya?”

“Is this when you tell me you don‘t like my kind around these here parts and that I got a purty mouth?” she counters with a teasing smile. Sam let out a throaty chuckle and shook his head.

“Not all us Southerners are like the movie Deliverance.”

“Oh but a girl can dream. What are you doing with so many vegetables?”

“I own a restaurant down in Bon Temps called Merlotte’s Bar and Grill,” Sam smiles.

“Never been,” Sonny admits.

“Have yew had breakfast yet?”

“I haven‘t, why do you ask?”

“We have a great breakfast menu at Merlotte’s,” he says as the pair stood up. Sonny gave a smile and shook her head gently.

“How does lunch look?” Sonny inquires then looked down at her attire from the previous night. She was slightly exhausted being that she still hadn’t slept from her long night of work.

“The lunch is good too. Maybe I‘ll see you there.”

“It was nice meeting you Sam,” she smiles.

The pair went their separate ways and Sam couldn’t help but watch Sonny as she walked away. He hoped that she would be coming by Merlotte’s but he wasn‘t sure if that would happen. Driving back to Bon Temps, Sam spent the day working the bar whilst Arlene and Holly worked the tables. It was a little after seven at night when in walked Sonny. Her long chestnut brown hair contrasted with the ivory sundress she wore with light brown gladiator style wedge heels. Being that Bon Temps was a small town, they stared at the stranger thinking of dozens of stories as to why she was there. Sonny gave a friendly smile and made her way to one of the empty booths. Arlene was the one to take Sonny’s order and the redhead scurried on over to the kitchen to place the order for the brunette.

“Well she sure as hell ain‘t from the south,” Arlene says putting the ticket on the rotator.

“This is true but Sam seems to know her,” Lafayette responds pointing his spatula in the direction of Sam who leaned against the booth smiling down at the brunette.

“I thought you‘d be here sooner,” Sam teases lightly.

“I‘m here now aren‘t I?”

They engaged in conversation whilst the people of the bar wondered who the brunette was. Arlene was quick to grab the food ordered and headed over towards the booth where Sam was still talking to the woman. She gave a superficial smile at Sonny as she set the plate of food on the table.

“Thank you,” Sonny smiles.

“So how do yew two know each other?” Arlene inquires.

“I was Sam‘s high school English teacher,” she counters.

“Aren‘t yew a little young?”

“Nothing keeps you young like selling your soul to the devil,” Sonny replies straight faced. Arlene looked at the brunette wide eyed and Sonny responded with a big smile.

“She‘s only kiddin‘ we met this morning in Shreveport,” Sam chuckles. Arlene gave a nervous laugh and left the pair.

“This looks really good.”

“Well I hope you enjoy,” he smiles before leaving the table. Sonny sat eating the closest thing to a home cooked meal that she has had in about a month. Once she was done she was coaxed into staying to drink at the bar. It honestly was nice to relax at Merlotte’s instead of being surrounded by vampires and horny humans who wanted to be meals. She liked talking to Sam because he seemed genuine and also because he was something special. The other employees thought Sonny was humorous and kind. As Sonny was sharing a laugh with Sam, Pam walked into the establishment. Sam stiffened immediately and took a defensive stance upon seeing the blonde vampire who wore pink.

“What do you want?” Sam questions rather hostilely. Pam smirked at Sam as well as the patrons of the bar. Without even turning in her seat Sonny knew Pam had come into Merlotte’s.

“Pamela don‘t instigate with that ridiculous smirk of yours,” Sonny says as she picked up the glass of beer.

“Is this better?” Pam replies flashing her fangs at Sonny who turned and gave her an unimpressed look.

“You‘re ridiculous,” she states with a slight chuckle.

“So I see you prefer being here than at Fangtasia.”

“Believe it or not Pam but I do need to eat food to sustain life. Not to mention anything with a pulse at Fangtasia is some vapid masochist interested in one thing. Sometimes I do like the company of people who are mildly sane every once in a while.”

“Sonny you know her?” Sam questions giving Sonny an incredulous look.

“We work together.”

“You work at that place?” Arlene blurts out. Sonny just downed what was left of her beer and pulled out money for her tab.

“Thanks for the company and good food,” Sonny smiles knowing the amount discomfort everyone was feeling with Pam around. Pam took this as a sign that they were leaving and she headed towards the exit. Sam didn’t know what to think only that he didn’t want Sonny to go with Pam. Sonny tossed the keys to the car to Pam and she looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “If you are going to bother me on my night off then you might as well be somewhat useful. Besides you know this area better at night.”

“You know generally I kill people who talk to me like that,” Pam counters with a teasing smile.

“Yes well lets refrain from that, lord knows Ana would destroy you soon after, leaving me with hardly any time to enjoy death without you in it,” she retorts.

“Well played.”

“Fuckin‘ fanger!” one of the patrons exclaims as he pulled out a gun. It all happened too fast for anyone to know what was going to occur. Sonny disarmed the man and twisted his arm in such a manner that she slammed his face onto the table. The man groaned in pain and began cursing up a storm.

“She did nothing wrong, unless she killed your family or took your blood, you have no god damn right to shoot her,” Sonny says, “I will be taking this seeing as that you do not have the mental capacity for it. ”

“Well now I haven‘t had my honor defended in quite a while. Is this you accepting my advances Sonny?” Pam comments with a smile tugging on her lips.

“Just wait in the fucking car Pam.”

“All right fine,” she replies rolling her eyes and leaving out the exit. Once Pam was gone Sonny looked at the man who’s nose was bleeding and she gave an empathetic look. She let out a grunt of annoyance knowing that she was acting a bit brash.

“Here, have your gun, everyone has a right to bear arms but that does not mean you have a right to shoot people especially people who have the strength to literally rip you from limb to limb. Trust me, knowing Pam she would have done worse,” Sonny explains. The man stared at her for a long time and she remained unwavering gazing back at him. She leaned in ever so carefully then gave a calm eerie statement. “There are consequences for killing a person and I‘m not talking about jail time.”

There was something frightening about her low eerie tone and placidness in her eyes that the man nodded in agreement just to get her away. Sonny gave him his gun back and stood back up straight. The room was at a standstill as she moved towards the exit.

Sam watched as the brunette left out the door and Sonny turned to give one last smile at him. He looked down at the bar top to see the napkin Sonny had folded into an origami dog. A part of him felt like she knew what he was and the other part just thought it was impossible for her to know; that it was simply coincidence. With what happened to Sookie, he knew it was stupid to get involved with someone who was involved with vampires and he figured it’d be the last time he’d see her.

Once Pam started driving, Sonny busied herself putting in a CD into the stereo. It was only playing for about fifteen minutes before Pam turned it down. Sonny responded by just sitting back into her seat and turning to look out the window.

“Sam Merlotte has certainly taken a shine to you,” Pam comments.

“Shouldn‘t you be at Fangtasia?”

“I told Eric we were having a girls‘ night.”

“I‘m guessing he took that well,” she replies as Pam gave a slight chuckle whilst she drove down the desolate highway. The night was spent shopping or rather Pam ordering retail workers to hurry their slow asses to get her size in some designer shoes. Her aggressive nature was somewhat admirable to Sonny, it made her laugh on more than one occasion. Being that Pam was in a rather good mood she decided to buy Sonny a pair of designer heels as well.

Two days passed and Sonny found herself heading to Merlotte’s with a batch of cupcakes as a peace offering of sorts. Sam was taking supplies into his restaurant when Sonny pulled up into the parking lot. He was surprised to see her get out of the vehicle and even more surprised to see her holding a white box that she balanced much like a waitress would with it resting on the palm of her hand. Sonny planned on dropping the cupcakes off at the door with a note but just as she was doing so Sam appeared.

“Whatcha got there?”

“I made cupcakes,” Sonny responds.

“Yew made me cupcakes?”

“I figured I‘d bring them over since the only people I know in Louisiana are vampires. Plus I attacked one of your customers‘ the other night so it couldn‘t hurt to bring you cupcakes just to show I‘m not a complete bitch.”

“Yer not a bitch,” Sam counters, “If yew were a bitch yew wouldn‘t be here tryin’ to make it up to me by bringin‘ cupcakes.”

“When you say it like that, the more ridiculous I feel for bringing you cupcakes,” she replies with an embarrassed laugh.

“I take it this isn‘t something you always do.”

“I try to avoid doing these sorts of things, generally when I try to be nice something awful happens.”

“Is that so?” he smiles.

“I‘ll have to steal some salt and pepper shakers to be sure I don‘t face any consequences for my kindness,” Sonny states causing Sam to let out a laugh.

“Why don‘t you come in?”

Sonny nodded her head and followed Sam into the empty restaurant. She set the box on the bar whilst Sam put away the crate in the back kitchen. Coming back to the front Sam saw Sonny leaning against the bar with a tired look on her face. Her eyes drifted to Sam and she stood up straight.

“Coffee?”

“Sure,” Sonny says.

“So where have you been staying?”

“My good friend Ana.”

“The same Ana that would rip Pam to shreds if you were harmed?”

“Yes Ana is a vampire, and no I’m not a fang banger, no one has even taken a nibble out of me,” she responds knowing just what he was thinking. He set down the cup of coffee in front of Sonny and remained quiet for a little while.

“Can I ask you something,” Sam inquires.

“Sure.”

“Do you sense anything off about me?”

“You mean if I think you are different,” Sonny says putting sugar into the coffee. Once she was done mixing the coffee she took a sip of the hot caffeine beverage. “I know there is a big possibility that you may have some supernatural tendencies but I can tell you are genuine.”

“Not a whole lot of people know what I am.”

“Sure they do, you‘re a person, perhaps a person with more abilities than most but you are a person.”

“I‘m a shape shifter,” Sam explains giving her a look.

“Like I said you just have more abilities than most,” she smiles.

“Yer not like anyone I‘ve ever met.”

“Perhaps you should get out more.”

“And do you have more abilities than normal?” he counters.

“Not really just sensing that others are special.”

“What about warding off vampires from biting you?”

“Actually that is something I have to work at since apparently I smell good,” Sonny states with a chuckle.

“You do smell nice,” Sam admits sheepishly.

“Thank you.”

Sonny’s vision shook ever so quickly, signaling her need to take her medication. It was worse than before and the warning came with a shot of pain to the back of her neck upwards to her brain. Sam leaned against the bar gathering up the courage to ask Sonny out on a date.

“Would you want to go out with me tomorrow?”

“I need to get something from the car,” Sonny says shakily as she stood up. She hadn’t even heard what Sam had asked her, there was a loud ringing in her ears that prevented her from doing so. Without saying another word she rushed out of the restaurant. Reaching the car she searched in her purse for her medication but it was nowhere to be seen. Sam sensed something was wrong and he went outside to see if everything was alright with Sonny. He saw her frantically searching through her purse. Sonny sat on the ledge of the car seat with her head in her hands. The pain began to worsen and she closed her eyes hoping that it would go away.

“Sonny is everything alright?”

“Sorry Sam, but I have to go,” she mutters getting back up. “Here.”

“What‘s this?” Sam responds looking at the small card.

“My brother got me a ton of these for Christmas, it does have my real number on it. Enjoy those cupcakes,” Sonny says as she got into the driver’s seat.

“Alright, are you sure you‘re okay?”

“Yeah, I‘m fine, see you or something.”

Sam watched as she drove off in a hurry. He looked down at the card and smiled slightly, although she didn’t confirm a date, he got her number. A part of him did wonder however, she left in such a hurry with distress written all over her face, he thought something may be wrong with her. She seemed to be in some sort of trouble or at least that’s what he thought.