Eric's Human.

"Bia!"

"God damn Bia, would you quit that damn spacing out and wait some damn tables."

I could hear Arlene and her thick Bon Temps accent screaming at me a mile away. All damn day, that women had been yelling at me, and I was getting to the point where I had, had enough. I had moved to Bon Temps from Virginia a little over 5 months ago and started working as a waitress at Merlotte's bar. Frankly, this hick town creeped me out to no extent. I mean, hey, I'm all aye okay with vampire equality...but there was something more to this town...Something, that I, couldn't even figure out.

"BIA. MOVE YOUR GOD DAMN, GOOD FER NOTHING ASS!" Arlene continue to yell, as she sat on a stool with her feet prompted up on the bar, filing her red fingernails.

"Would ya' cut it out, Arlene? Give her a break. I mean, god damnit Arlene, you bitch when I don't have enough staff and then you bitch when I do." Sam, the owner of Merlotte's, replied.

When it came to my opinion of Sam and Arlene, Sam was something different, something not normal. But I, yet again, couldn't figure it out. And as for Arlene, Arlene was just a nasty, lazy, back woods, redheaded, bitch. She had made it her goal to pick on me ever since Sam had hired me.

"Sam. What time is Sooki supposed to come in?" I asked, as I untied my apron.

"Uh, around 'bout six I believe...Why?"

"Because I FUCKIN' quit. It's nothing against you, Sam. As a matter of fact, I truly believe you run a fine establishment. And fuck you, Arlene. You're world class trailer trash at it's finest."

"Uh. I beg your pardon! I do NOT live in a trailer, you bitch. Sam, are you gon' let her talk to me like this!?"

Sam placed one hand on the bar and the other held in the air as if he were taking an oath on a bible.

"Now, Bia...Don't you think this is a tad bit rash. I mean I'm short on staff enough as it is, especially with Sooki coming and going as she pleases."

"Sam, I'm sorry. Like I said, it's nothing against you or the bar. This just isn't my scene."

"THEN LEAVE BITCH. GO ON BACK TO 'GINIA WHERE YOU BELONG." Arlene said, as she got some courage to stand directly in front of my face.

I continued to untie my apron and then I threw it in Arlene caked up face. Then something strange happened. The apron began to tie around her mouth...by itself.

I watched Arlene's face grow with panic, along with everyone else in the bar, who had been watching Merlotte's latest drama. I slapped my hand over my mouth and ran out of the bar as fast as I could.

With tears streaming out of my eyes, I felt like a freak. As a child, I knew I was different. Weird. I remember being in kindergarten and seeing a marker another kid had. I remember I would look at it and then look at my hand, and sure enough it would be there instantly.

I had reached my car and felt a firm, calloused hand stop me from unlocking my door.

"How in the hell did you do that, BIA? What are you?" Sam said, as the redness in his face died down from embarrassment.

"I-I...I don't know, Sam! Now just let me be." I said in a rush.

But Sam's hand did not move from mine.

"It's okay. I know how you feel."

"How do you know how I feel, Sam? I'm a fucking freak. You and everyone else in this small, simple-minded down just saw what I did. How the fuck do you know how I feel, Same Merlotte?"

"Well for starters, Bia Von, I'm abnormal myself!" Sam placed both hands on his hips, proudly.

"So what, maybe you've got a few grays in your hair. That's not abnormal!"

Sam quickly looked into his reflection on my car mirror.

"I got grays...Wait, no, NO, no. Listen, that's not what I'm saying....I'm a shape-shifter."

Sam looked me directly in the eyes.

"I use to think just like you. I thought my gift made be a freak. I was scared. I was scared for anyone to know what I was and what I could do. But then I realized, I have a gift. I've got something special."

"Get out!"

"No, really...I can show you if you'd like but that'd involve me being naked..."

"I thought me and Sooki were the only ones with...Well you know."

"So you and Sooks, have talked about it?" Sam said as he scratched his forehead with his index finger.

"We both sensed each others differences."

"Well, see, you aren't alone in this world, Bia."

"That doesn't change a thing, Sam. I just don't belong at Merlotte's. I'll see you around."

I quickly got into my car and drove off. Within five minutes of leaving, Sooki had already heard I quit and had called me. The people who worked at Merlotte's were the only people in Bon Temps of whom I actually knew. And Sooki and Tara were my only friends. Especially Sooki.

I wish I knew what ha made me leave everything in Virgina and move to Louisiana. But that was just another thing I couldn't figure out. It was almost like I had been summoned here.

I had been living in a hotel room until Sooki and Tara invited me to be one of there roommate. I gratefully took the offer. I pulled up to the old house and proceeded upstairs. Home alone. Both Tara and Sooki had clocked in after I quit. I now needed to find another job.

I was in a new area, out of my element, jobless, and lonely. In Virginia, I was never boyfriend-less, and although I got plenty of male attention here in Bon Temps, none of them interested me. Not even Sook's brother, Jason. I always wanted to date a vampire. Sooki said there were basically the same except with a colder body temperature, more mysterious, and better at sex. She had lost her virginity to her vampire boyfriend Bill, but she said she believed that no human man could amount to the pleasure a girl would get from a vampire.

I walked into the kitchen, sat at the table and flipped through the job section of the newspaper. I noticed the last job opening in the smallest print.