The Guily Ones

Rain of Ashes

A/N: Don't forget to vote ;)

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We all needed a moment after that. To catch our breath, mostly... to calm down and think of a really cold shower? Maybe in my particular case...

After a few moments of unusual silence at Merlottes, the sheer volume that followed seemed unnaturally loud. Everybody was talking at once.

„-nothing but trouble since those damn vamps appeared. Moved to town even!"

"When there'd be a zombie apocalypse they'd kill them freaks right away. Why keep them fangers alive I wonder. They are just as dead, you know?!"

"Jeez, that blond guy? I'd take him straight to my trailer. You've seen him staring at me, right?"

With the mentioning of the Viking, they got my attention.

"Well, I saw how he looked at Ash!"

My head turned involuntarily, eyes wide open, to where I heard them gossip about me. A woman so unnaturally blond wearing nothing more than a pink push-up Bikini and jeansshorts leanded over the table to talk to her girlfriend with a meaningful look in her eyes. Her bottle-red friend gave me a dirty look a rolled her eyes.

"Honey, I think he was more interested in the new barmaid the way she rubbed up against him...", she moved her head in my general direction. "Probably just another fang-banger like Sookie. All just skanks working here.", she told her friend while my jaw dropped by the shear amount of nasty.

The blond one seemed to mull that over before shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, if they're all just looking like THAT, count me in. Vampire or not... You know Dawn once told me the vamp she fucked was the best she ever had..." she sighed drifting into daydreaming when nasty-redhead bitch interrupted her.

"And where did she end up? Inside a grave!"

Than she turned back towards me, seizing me up before plastering a fake smile on her lips. With a raised hand she'd let me know she wanted to order. Apparetly she assumed I didn't hear her talk smack about me before.

Wait a minute...

How did I hear her from the other side of the bar, being surrounded by all those noises before? Their table was at the far end...Had probably something to do with the architecture of the place or something.

I took a deep breath, swallowed my pride that would have loved to slap that fake grin of her face and walked over to the table. Inside my head I repeated my mantra:

Don't cause a scene. Adjust. Be as invisible as possible.

I'd done so well the last couple of month. I never talked back, stayed polite, said 'Yes' and 'Amen' (-literally! I even started attending church, which almost killed me) to everything. Even my closet had gotten a make-over. Black leatherjacket, ripped jeans and dark red, purple or black lacey tops over black bras where part of my past. Part of Ashley Johnnson, the gal from the system with a slaughtered boyfriend in New York.

Ashley Simmons, my new me I had created for my revengeplan, liked plain, white basic shirts always with a hint of beige, maybe every now and then a knee long flower dress and pig tales. Ashley Simmons was a young woman, who needed a change after her grandma's death in Washington. I had adjusted the pigtail part, after meeting Sookie, who had that whole good girl thing working for her. Usually I had my hair just hanging around my face, stuffed under a hoodie, but with a pigtail I just looked -  well all sweet and innocent I hoped. 

And the Grandma-thing was a good cover actually! Whenever the grieve over what happend to Tom caught up with me and I ended up being unable to conceal my pain, people naturally assumed that I was grieving over my grandmother. Which even gave me more sympathy with many of the town folks. A big city girl staying in touch with her family, caring deeply. She couldn't be all bad then, they agreed and just like that, I was adopted into this homey towns society... which weirdly enough felt really good - Too good almost. Like they had become a part of my non-existing family.