DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TRUE BLOOD!

Divine Intervention

Chapter 1

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

How had it come to this, Anamaria thought hard as she sat in her car, looking out the window towards the open door of the club, its name glowing red on a neon sign. Fangtasia. Such a terrible, and kind of funny, name. Anamaria went clubbing with her friends from time to time, but tonight would be like nothing she had ever experienced. If you hadn't guessed right away, Fangtasia was no ordinary bar; it was a vampire bar. And why was Anamaria, a mere Performing Arts student and part-time bartender, sitting outside a vampire bar with a man – a vampire – she hardly knew and didn't really like? That was a long and complicated story.

"Ana." Bill Compton, her vampire companion for the evening, asked from beside her. She turned her head to look at him. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She looked back at the bar's entrance, catching sight of her reflection in the glass of the car door window. Dressing for the evening had been difficult, almost impossible. Anamaria was not a Goth-y person, and didn't have much in the way of black leather, which she could already see was what everyone in the club seemed to be wearing. In the end, she'd chosen black skinny jeans, sky-high red stilettos, a red long-sleeved blouse with a low V-neck and a black half-corset from her theatre collection to go over it. Not quite black leather and a dog collar, but it would have to do. For her hair, nothing could be done. No matter what she wore, she knew she wouldn't fit in with the 'fang-bangers' in the club – she was known in the small town of Bon Temps as being the only girl with a none-natural hair colour, and she doubted vampire bars saw many people with brightly coloured hair. To her, her hair was another form of self-expression and art; she'd had her pastel blues, greens, purples, oranges and pinks ever since she turned sixteen. It drove Adele mad, but the kindly lady said nothing about it.

Turning back to Mr Compton, she answered in her slightly accented voice, "I don't want to do this. But I have to. I owe it to Jason; he's practically my brother."

Bill looked slightly troubled, but nodded and exited the car. He headed around to her side and opened the door for her; he could be a true Southern gentleman at times, even if he did creep her out a little. She couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what it was about him that unnerved her. Whether it was his overly charming demeanour, or the way he looked at her when he didn't think she was paying attention; something about him just didn't seem right, so she kept a polite distance from him. Not that that helped much; he had developed a habit of coming into Merlotte's – the bar/restaurant she worked at – or dropping by her home to ask if she'd like to take a walk with him.

Getting him to accompany her to Fangtasia that night had been an awkward experience for her. Two women in Bon Temps had been murdered in the past week, and her close friend Jason Stackhouse was a prime suspect and in police custody. Both women also had vampire bites on their bodies. Never being a girl with an everything-will-work-itself-out attitude, Anamaria had taken it upon herself to investigate the possibility of a vampire murderer, and she'd heard about Fangtasia, the most famous vampire bar in the whole of Louisiana. Knowing it would be dangerous to go alone, she'd asked Bill Compton – the only vampire she knew – to accompany her. His face had lit up when she'd asked him, even when she'd firmly told him that it wasn't going to be a date, but his enduring smirk had said it all.

Anamaria climbed out of the car, making sure to not take Bill's offered hand as she did so – he mustn't think it was a date! He closed the door for her and she locked the car, and then the two of them headed into the bar. As they were walking in, Bill slipped his arm around Anamaria, gripping her hip in his cold hand. She turned her head toward him and glared. Don't touch me. She subtly, but firmly, pushed his hand off her, then looked around the bar. Oh yes. Definitely a vampire bar.

"Bill." A woman came to stand in front of them. Absolutely beautiful, and dressed in a corseted black dress, Anamaria could tell she was a manager for the bar. "Haven't seen you here in a while."

"Yes. I've been mainstreaming."

"Good for you." The woman, clearly a vampire, turned to Anamaria, her eyes roving the young girl's body. "Who's the doll?"

"Pam, this is Anamaria. Anamaria, this is Pam."

"Nice to meet you." She didn't offer her hand to shake, her gut telling her it wouldn't be taken. The look on Pam's face only confirmed that thought.

"Can I see your I.D?"

Anamaria hesitated for a second, but recovered and pulled out her purse. "Yeah, sure. Who would've thought, being carded in a vampire bar?" She joked as she removed her driver's licence from her purse and handed it to Pam.

"I can no longer tell human ages. We must be careful we serve no minors, in any capacity."

"Oh, I get that; I'm a bartender." She chatted, taking back her I.D.

"Twenty-three, huh? How sweet it is." Pam drawled, her silky voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well you can't be much older, right?" Anamaria joked, intending it as a compliment to the vampire. Pam said nothing, only walked away. "Okay then…" Bill gently nudged her forward with a hand on the small of her back and led her deeper into the bar. As Anamaria took in the overly Gothic and dark décor of the bar, an amusing thought struck her. "This kind of seems like what Vampire Bar would look like if it were a ride at DisneyWorld. Look, they're even selling t-shirts!" She pointed to a corner of the bar where an employee was selling a shirt and cap to a customer.

"Well don't get too comfortable; it tends to get more authentic as the night goes on. May I get you a drink?" She nodded and allowed him to escort her to the bar. They waited for only a minute before a vampire bartender served them.

"How's it going, Bill?"

"Well, thank you."

"I'll say," He looked at Anamaria, his fangs extending with lust on his face, "This your meal for the night?"

Anamaria raised an eyebrow at him, knowing her usual response of 'fuck you!' wouldn't go down well.

"This is my friend Anamaria. Ana, this is Long Shadow."

Long Shadow? Really? "Nice to meet you." Anamaria toned flatly, no enthusiasm in her voice. "Gin and tonic, please."

"And I'll have a bottle of O-neg." Bill added. As Long Shadow began to prepare their drinks, Anamaria caught Bill's eye, nodding her head to the bartender. Bill gave her a minute nod. "Long Shadow, Anamaria would like to ask you a few questions. Is that acceptable to you?"

When the bartender didn't respond, Anamaria reached into her bag and pulled out the two photos she'd brought with her, one of each of the murdered women. "I'd just like you to look at these photos, see if you know these women?" She placed them down in front of the creepy vampire, who looked them over.

"Yeah, I've seen them here before."

A lead! "Great! And do you know, maybe, who they were with? If they left with anyone?"

Long Shadow leant in and whispered harshly, "That's something we don't notice here."

So much for that… "Well thanks anyway, I appreciate it."

He picked up the photo of Maudette Pickens, the first woman to be found dead. "This one, she wanted to die."

Anamaria hesitated. She had never known Maudette was suicidal, or even depressed. She had always seemed a bit lonely, but suicidal? "When you say 'die', do you mean 'actually die' or 'become a vampire'?" Long Shadow just stared at her, his intense gaze making her skin crawl. "Okay then."

Bill paid the bartender and picked up their two drinks as Anamaria took back the two photos of the murder victims. Moving through the bar, they found seats and sat down. Keeping her bag in her lap, Anamaria took a drink to try to distract herself from the stares she was receiving. She should have worn a black wig or something…

"How's your drink?" Bill asked, twisting open the cap of his Tru Blood.

She smiled dully. "A gin and tonic's a gin and tonic, no matter where you drink it."

He returned her smile as he took a sip of his blood. "I know exactly what you mean." Amused by his joke, Anamaria lifted her glass and clinked it with his in a bizarre and sarcastic toast. "Any idea what you're looking for?"

"Not really. Beyond coming here and asking around, I don't have much of a plan…" She trailed off. He nodded and sat quietly, giving her the chance to lower the walls in her mind that blocked out everyone else's thoughts. Anamaria was a telepath; she was able to hear and listen to people's thoughts. Hardly anyone knew, but most people in Bon Temps knew there was something 'freakish' about her. Over the years, she'd worked on building 'walls' in her mind, letting her block out everyone's ramblings, but she never found any peace. Keeping her walls up was taxing, and after a while, her strength began to weaken and thoughts started slipping through the cracks in her walls.

The second she lowered her walls, the noise of people's inner monologues hit her, and she grimaced. Bill looked concerned, but by now knew not to touch her. For some reason, Anamaria couldn't hear vampire thoughts, perhaps because vampires weren't technically alive, and had no brain waves. That was Bill's only redeeming feature for Anamaria, that she could have some semblance of quiet when she was around him.

'Oh my god, he's so beautiful, so powerful. The closer I get to him, the more beautiful he gets! You can do this, just go up there and offer yourself to him.'

Anamaria looked around the club, looking for whoever had thought that, intrigued and slightly disturbed by the images that flashed through the man's mind. As she looked around, she paused when she found him, and the object of his thoughts. The bar had a stage of sorts, with a wooden throne on it. Lounging in that throne was a man, beautiful and powerful, just as the man had thought. Long blonde hair shielded his face from full view, but Anamaria could feel that he would be heartbreakingly handsome.

"Who's that?" Anamaria asked Bill, nodding her head to the man in the throne.

Bill sulked. "Oh, you noticed him, did you?" He sounded annoyed, like a child whose friend was playing with another child. "Everyone does. That's Eric. He's the oldest thing in this bar."

As he spoke, the man from before – a middle-aged bald man, quite pathetic looking – crawled to Eric's throne, clearing 'offering himself' to the vampire. The blonde vampire merely kicked him back, the force of his blow sent the man flying back through the bar, crashing into a table. Vampires around him immediately scented the blood from a cut on his head, their fangs extending. A female vampire shot in front of him, offering him her hand as she spoke to him, but Anamaria was too far away to hear what she said.

"Still think you're in DisneyWorld?" Bill asked sarcastically. Anamaria looked back to him and shook her head, taking a nervous sip of her drink. A little time passed after that show, and Anamaria and Bill just sat quietly as she listened to people's thoughts.

'How come no-one'll fuck me? I've got a dog collar too!'

'Hey Morticia, how'd you like me to rip that tape off your tits?'

'Is it gay if the guy's a vampire?'

'I'm gonna get kicked outta my frat if I don't fuck a vampire tonight!'

Bill broke through the run of thoughts. "Are we going to sit here all night?"

She glared at him weakly. "You didn't have to come with me. And I don't think anyone here will have anything useful to say. They're probably only thinking sex." Anamaria obviously knew exactly what every person – every human at least – was thinking, but she hadn't told Bill about her little 'ability', and she had no plans to either.

He smiled back at her. "One needn't be psychic to pick up on that." He drank from his Tru Blood, but then froze. "Uh-oh."

She turned her back to him. "'Uh-oh'? Don't say 'uh-oh'! Vampires don't say 'uh-oh'!" She ordered with a pointed finger.

"It's Eric." He nodded his head towards the vampire sitting in the throne. "He's scanned you twice; he's going to summon us."

Anamaria snapped her head around to look at the vampire in question. Pam was now standing next to his throne, both vampires looking directly at her. "He can do that?" She asked incredulously.

"He can indeed." And just like that, the blonde vampire lifted a hand and beckoned them over. "See?" Bill sounded resigned, already standing up.

"Can I finish my drink first?" Anamaria snapped sarcastically, still facing Eric, knowing his super-powered vampire hearing would let him hear her question, even from across the loud bar. The blonde vampire didn't react, just kept staring at her. "That's a 'no' then." She sulkily stood up, putting her bag on her shoulder and picking up her still half-full drink. A discreet look on Bill's face told her she was pushing her luck by taking her drink with her. She didn't care. "What? He won't let me finish it in private, and you paid $10 for it." Taking a long drink for courage, Anamaria let Bill lead her through the bar towards Eric's throne, his hand on the small of her back.

As they got closer to the blonde vampire, an odd feeling started growing within Anamaria. A feeling of…right. It was right that she was getting closer to him, that she would talk to him and be near him. It was also wrong that Bill Compton was touching her. It was an unsettling feeling, considering she had never even seen Eric before, but now all she wanted was to be near him.

Anamaria and Bill stood in front of the two vampires, and waited. Now that she was closer to him, Anamaria felt something in her reaching out to Eric, like an invisible hand reaching out to him from within her. As Eric's eyes settled on hers, she felt something come from him too.

"Bill Compton, it has been a while." He spoke softly, still keeping his eyes on hers. He had a slight accent; Swedish? Norwegian? Anamaria couldn't place it.

"Yes." He spoke awkwardly. "I've been-"

"Mainstreaming, I hear." Eric's face was blank, but the smirk in his voice was obvious. "I see that is going well for you." He looked back to Anamaria, his gaze intensifying.

"Yes, of course. Eric, this is my friend-"

He interrupted, "Anamaria Santiago."

The rainbow haired girl demanded, "How do you know my name?"

"I never forget a pretty face." Pam smirked. "You're in my vault." She touched her temples and winked at the girl.

"Great. That's just great." She drawled sarcastically. "Nice to meet you." She said to Eric, drinking from her gin and tonic again, hoping it would give her courage.

"Well aren't you sweet."

"Not really." She snapped from behind her glass. From beside her, Bill pinched her hip. It was clearly a warning not to antagonise Eric, but she just glared at the Southern man.

In front of her, Eric smirked and spoke to Pam in a strange language, who replied in kind. Although Anamaria hadn't understood a single word of what they'd said, she could feel that it was about her. Switching back to English, Eric spoke. "Miss Santiago, I hear you've been asking questions about some of my customers."

"Yes, I have."

"If you have anything to ask, you should ask it of me." He said firmly, giving her strong eye contact.

Feeling chastened but not wanting to appear weak, she nodded and reached into her shoulder bag, pulling out the two photos of Maudette and Dawn. "Alrighty then. Have you ever seen these girls before?"

He took the photos and looked at them closely. He hummed. "This one," Maudette, "Offered herself to me, but I found her too pathetic for my attentions." He looked at Dawn's photo. "Now this one, however, I have tasted."

A strange roll of jealousy shot through Anamaria, but she tried to push it down. Unsuccessfully. Eric smirked; he clearly knew how she felt.

Pam spoke up, cutting through the tension between Eric and Anamaria, "I remember them both."

"From your vault?" Anamaria snapped sarcastically. Bill pinched her hip again, more firmly that time. Eric's eyes darkened briefly, but Anamaria ignored him.

"Never had either of them though. They weren't really my type."

"Mine neither." Anamaria joked, hoping to offset them by making a joke. It didn't work, both vampires remained impassive. Did vampirism destroy someone's sense of humour? "Well thank you very much," She snatched back the photos from Eric, "That's all your time I need." She turned to walk away, but Eric's voice stopped her dead.

"I'm not finished with you."

"Of course not." She mumbled. She turned back and plastered on a smile.

"Please, sit." His polite tone didn't hide the order behind it. Downing the rest of her drink, Anamaria settled into the chair on Eric's right, crossing her legs delicately. From behind her, she could feel Pam's gaze on her shapely jean-clad legs. "Well Bill," Eric started, still examining Anamaria closely. She made sure to keep eye contact with him, "Are you quite attached to your friend?" His sultry tone made Anamaria's heart beat faster.

"She is mine!"

Fury flooded Anamaria, her head snapping up to glare at Bill. "What did you just say?"

"I just meant-"

"I am no-one's!" With her eyes on Bill's face, she didn't see Eric's delighted look. "I don't know who you think you are, Bill Compton, but you do not own me." She snarled, her eyes filled with rage.

Eric chuckled next to her. "Why don't you join us, Bill? We have catching up to do, you and I." His eyes briefly left Anamaria's face to look at Bill, but the moment the Southerner had sat down on Eric's other side, the blonde vampire looked back to Anamaria, his eyes slowly moving over her body in a clear inspection of her Latina curves.

'Where the fuck is my back-up? They were supposed to be here ten minutes ago! Fuck! I can't handle this club on my own!'

Anamaria's head spun around as she flicked her eyes throughout the bar, eventually determining who that worrying thought belonged to; a man in a baseball cap, clearly nervous and fidgeting as he tried to dance casually with a young vampire.

"I have to go." She stood up, swinging her bag onto her shoulder.

"Ana-" Bill cautioned, tensing in his seat.

"Eric, the cops are coming; there's going to be a raid." She explained in a hushed tone.

"Are you an undercover cop?" He demanded menacingly.

"No, but the guy in the baseball cap is." She said as she looked down at him.

Eric and Pam glanced over at the nervous man. "Even if you're right, we do nothing illegal here."

Quickly scouting the bar with her telepathy, a strong image hit Anamaria. The man who had offered himself to Eric, only to be kicked across the bar, was being fed on by the vampire who had helped him up after he had flown into a table. "The guy you kicked before is in the bathroom, being fed on by a vampire named Taren." She said coldly and smoothly.

Before Eric could ask her any more questions, the front door to the bar burst open and riot police swarmed through the club. The bar's customers cried and screamed in fright as the police surged through the bar space, pushing people around fiercely.

"Come with me." A cold large hand took hold of her wrist and pulled her back. Before she even turned around, Anamaria knew that it was Eric who was holding her. Turning quickly before she fell over in her heels, she followed him, Pam and Bill off the stage, along a back corridor and out a door into the night air.

"Pamela, watch the raid from the tree line; stay hidden until it blows over. Compton, return to your home."

The Southerner turned to the blonde vampire, looking at the man's hand as it remained on Anamaria's wrist. "Eric, I can take Anamaria-"

"Go. Now." He ordered firmly, his cold tone leaving no room for argument. Without waiting for a response, Eric scooped the Latina into his strong arms. Anamaria didn't know what happened next, as they were suddenly airborne and flying at an alarming rate. Anamaria gave a startled squeak of fear – she had never flown in airplane before, let alone in a man's arms! – and wrapped her arms tightly around the vampire's neck.

Eric said nothing for the whole flight, and Anamaria didn't dare to. She didn't know who this Eric was, what he was like, or what he was capable of; she didn't want to say or do anything to upset or anger him. Keeping her eyes closed for the journey, she let out a sigh of relief when she felt Eric slow down and land on solid ground. He walked for a minute before stopping, freeing his neck from her grip with one hand while supporting her with his other arm. Was he that strong that he could lift her using only one arm?

As he put her down, she wobbled a little in her heels and took a step back to look at his smirking and beautiful face. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Santiago. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other in the future." With a wink full of dark promise, he shot into the sky, leaving her alone.

In her disorientation, it took Anamaria a minute to steady herself, her head spinning from the night's events and the dizzying flight with the vampire. When she turned to look at her surroundings, she was both relieved and confused when she saw her house, the porch light on so she could safely let herself in. Stumbling up the stairs onto the porch, she fumbled with her keys before letting herself into the house as quietly as she could, locking the door behind her. Taking off her stilettos and leaving them by the door so she wouldn't wake Adele, Anamaria headed upstairs to her bedroom, collapsing onto the bed with an exhausted sigh.

What the hell had just happened?