Fangtasia

The debrief

The sun was setting by the time I was following the sat nav from Central Shreveport to the industrial district, and Fangtasia. I guess I came away from the meeting with Sookie with a not too negative feeling. She hadn't said no, which was great as far as I was concerned, and I was hopeful for when I would see her later.

So although I wasn't on cloud 9, I'd had a great sun filled day that stayed on my skin, making it tingle. Luckily it didn't quite feel like a burning tingling, just a glow you can get when you've exercised for just the right amount of time. I also took the time to include some shopping with the money Eric had given me. I did have a pang of chargrin as I remembered Bobby's comment of 'buying something pretty' but really, why the hell shouldn't I? It wasn't like I was earning anything – although it wasn't like I was paying out anything either. Pam's fridge was always mysteriously stocked with food and drink for Grace and me and we certainly weren't paying for accommodation. I was, however, nervous about spending the remaining of my trip money, hoping that we would eventually move on and spend time in another town, or preferably state, even if there was a vampire lover in tow.

Making the most of my sun time before I returned to the dark, I wound all the windows down so there was a warm gale as I drove along, and put the volume up in the car. My ipod was plugged in and I quickly found the song I had been waiting to come on and sang along to it loudly. I always used to have a song in my head and was either singing or humming along to something or other. It used to drive Grace insane. I guess I'd stopped since I started hanging out with vampires, I really didn't want to do anything that they may find aggravating but God damn it, I'd make up for it now, and I sang away to myself as I drove along.

I was surprised, and a bit sad, that a simple thing like being independent enough to drive a car where I wanted and enjoy the sun was something I found so... moving. But I guess that was to be expected when I had spent the better part of a month in the darkness. Soaking up the last rays of the richly golden sun, I found it hard to remember what was so appealing about the dark.

'Eric' was the little word that crept around my mind, but could he really compete with this, I wondered? I realised I honestly didn't know and so with a growing sense of foreboding I turned into the now familiar industrial park. I was hoping the chills I had were from the dropping temperature with the setting sun. I suddenly did not want to go inside the bar. So I didn't. I turned off the engine and sat back in my seat, breathing deeply. I could almost taste the sun disappearing, and suddenly I was out of the car and following the slowly retreating patch of sunlight, as the shadows moved over the car park. I ended up stood against the opposite wall to the main Fangtasia door, leaning against the warm brickwork. I must have looked like a crazy lady. When the shadow of the building enveloped me, the red Fangtasia light flickered on, like it knew there was nowhere else for me to go. With a sigh and a little shiver I grabbed a new jumper and pulled it on over my vest, locked the car and headed inside, feeling genuinely sad that my day had ended.

"Ginger!" I shouted as I entered through the staff entrance at the back, knowing it would travel to the bar as it was quiet and completely empty. When I heard nothing, I walked past the locker room and Eric's office into the main bar area. None of the lights were on which made me think she wasn't in yet. Another quick yell confirmed it for me. I smiled as I realised I was completely alone in the bar and started to sing the song in earnest, loving letting my hair down and singing loudly.

I started pouring myself a glass of soda water. Just reaching the crescendo of the song (and being very pleased that I reached the high note) I turned to head back to the office only to come face to face with Long Shadow.

I swallowed and felt my own throat contract at the closeness of him. I had never actually been that close to the guy and the sneer on his face reminded me why; I didn't like him. I know you couldn't really trust any of them, and Lord knows I had argued with myself that you couldn't really get to know any vampire here, but at least Pam and Eric could pretend to be sociable. Long Shadow seemed like the kind of guy who didn't like to pretend, or didn't see why he should. He was proud to be a vampire and liked to have people know that he could rip their throats out.