Merlotte's Bar and Grill's huge light was flashing at me in this warm and sticky July night. I can't even believe I was back here and everything in my body was screaming at me to walk far, really far away from here. Not to mention the approximately fifty people's thought I could hear from outside the bar. I took a deep breath and gagged at the horrible smell that filled my lungs.

As I walked into Merlotte my mind was invaded by dozen of thoughts. It kind of took me by surprise. I never knew how to control those invasions in my head. A tall redhead smiled at me and welcomed me.

"Welcome to Merlotte, my name is Jessica I will be your waitress tonight. Do you want to take a seat at the bar?" Jessica said almost automatically.

"Hi There" I said shyly. "Is Sookie working tonight?" I asked hoping for a positive answer. Jessica looked disappointed by my question, almost offended.

"Look I know I am a vampire but I am quicker and more effective for that matter…" Jessica said quickly.

"I am sorry… It's not what I meant. I have nothing against vampire, I am just looking for Sookie, she's my cousin"

"Belle?" I heard my name being called through the noise in my head "Oh my goodness, Belle is that you" Sookie called dropping two plates onto a table and coming toward me. She gave me a big hug. "Jessica, this is Belle Stackhouse, Belle you met Jessica" I nodded at the vampire as she grinned and hugged me as well.

"Sorry about earlier, so nice to meet you" Jessica added.

Sookie took my hand and dragged me to the bar.

"Oh my lord Belle, what are you doing here? Is everything ok?" She asked while grabbing a beer from behind the bar but I stopped her before she could open it.

"Oh no Doll, alcohol makes the voices even worst."

Oh lord she is a fairy too Sookie thought she can't stay here if they find out they will kill her like they tried to kill me.

"Sookie stop please, you are giving me a headache." I told her

"Sorry" She said shyly. "Do you want to go the house I should be finished in a couple of hours. It's quiet there"

"That would be great, Thanks" I said relieved.

I parked in front of grandmamma Stackhouse. We used to play in the backyard all summer long when Sookie, Jason, Hadley and I were kids. Seeing the place brought back so many good memories. Somebody was leaning against the poll in front of the house. Well well who is that I heard the tall blonde man thinking as I approached. Great! I thought sarcastically.

"Hi there" I said waving my hand slowly.

"Who are you?" he said coldly, his blue eyes piercing mine in a hot gaze.

"Who are you?" I asked back. His lip twitched in a wicked smile.

"I asked first" I might as well play with her for a while, Sookie wont be back for at least two hours.

"You know Sookie" I asked

What's that smell? He thought looking at me more closely.

"Don't bother, the smell is not coming from me" I snapped, "something must have died nearby" I looked around then back at him. "Tell me your name and I'll tell you mine" He smiled wider.

"Humans don't really win when playing with me" he stood straight and looked behind me. "I'm Eric" He added "Eric Northman" He added like I should know what it means. I arched an eyebrow

"Vampire?" I asked

She must be from out of state if she doesn't know me. How does she know Sookie, what does she want from her, what the fuck is that smell

"Sorry if I don't know all the vampire of this state" I snapped, suddenly his eyes changed filled with surprise.

"How do you know…"? He said surprise "Who the fuck are you?"

"Belle Stackhouse, Sookie's cousin" I opened the door of my cousin's house and walked in but Eric followed me in, and before I could say anything I was pinned on the floor, his hand around my throat.

"What are you?" He growled. Smelling me. "a human by any other name would smell as sweet…" He slowly licked my neck and hummed. "you are a fairy" He added.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you" I said. "get off me"

He laughed slowly and smelled my hair.

"Ok, I have enough of you" I closed my eyes and managed to put my right hand on his chest. When his fang came out an electric shock went through his body and jerked him out against the entry door.

Sookie ran through the door and found Eric sitting on the floor his back against the wall.

"What happened?" She asked looking at me and then Eric Belle what did you do, what's wrong with him

"Relax Sook, Eric here tried to make a snack out of me" I said standing up smoothing my dress and my hair "he's fine. Just shocked" I dismissed him with my hand and walked to the sitting room. "he'll wake up soon enough. I knew how much he meant for you, according to the things you guys been doing, he has pretty dirty thoughts"

"You can hear his thoughts?" Sookie asked in shock

I took a deep breath. I am definitely back in Bon Temps.

"Sookie, cous, I am so happy to see you, it's been too long" I said hoping to change the subject. "This place hasn't change a bit"

"I am happy to see you too Belle, things are a bit crazy here" She said Holy shit she can hear Eric's thought, why can't I, I would give anything to hear what's going on in his head.

"don't sweat it, there is nothing much in his mind, pretty one track mind if you ask me" I wink at her

"eww, gross. Don't"

"I had to leave Venice, things were getting too noisy over there" I said "you know how it is, with the flood and all, too much suffering it was driving me crazy"

"I heard it was pretty bad over there" She said bringing some lemonade from the kitchen

"Can I stay here for a bit? I need to find a job. Which is pretty hard with all those thoughts going on in my head"

"So you can hear people's thoughts too?" She asked surprised.

"Sookie, I know you can too, it's in our blood"

"Can you hear vampires?" She asked.

"Yeah, but less loudly"

Eric moaned and slowly stood. He took a step toward us but Sookie quickly stopped him. Eric looked at me then her.

"The buzzing will pass quickly" I said with a grin. His fangs came out and he growled

"Eric" Sookie said sharply "My cousin Belle here needs a job. Do you have a waitress position for her" She asked him like she could make him do anything she wanted.

He looked at me and I knew what he thought, little did he know that he wouldn't get it from me.

"Send her to the club in the morning." He said before disappearing.

Sookie sat in the couch in front of me and sighed.

"You like him?" I said with a smile

"I thought I did" She said softly "but it turned out it was only chemical, I had a bit of his blood"

Millions of thoughts ran threw her head, so much suffering, physically and emotionally. I was aching for her.

"I won't be any trouble, once I can afford my own house, I will leave"

"I am glad you are here" She said "I missed you"

The next morning I walked into Fangtasia. Sookie told me all about the place, Vampire Bar. To be honest it was the only place I could bare to work, vampire thoughts were much less louder than humans and easier to handle.

Eric was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, a glass full of red liquid in his hand. Blood I presumed.

"Belle" he said seriously "You're late"

"I am.. sorry" I said surprise

Here is that smell again he thought. He looked at me attentively without saying a word. Can you hear my thoughts? I chose to ignore his question. He didn't need to know that, it was not relevant to the purpose of my visit. I don't even know where to start with you, maybe the basement. I looked around for a second, the place was empty.

"There is nobody here" Eric said standing and walking toward me. "So Belle Stackhouse, Cousin of Sookie Stackhouse, grand daughter of Earl Stackhouse" He said slowly.

"I didn't know you needed a background check to get a job in a bar" I said, I knew he would soon smell it. Vampires are like sharks; they smell emotions, fear, or the lack of it. I was not afraid. I had no reason to be. "I worked for two years at Cassidy's bar down in Venice and.."

"Your resume does not interest me" He said touching my blonde hair. He slowly pushed a piece that was falling in front of my face behind my ear and stroked my neck "I don't need a waitress" He had and confusion came across my face.

"Then why am I here" I said looking at his hand pushing my hair off my shoulder exposing my neck

"You are different" He said leaning toward me "What are you?"

"What do you mean" I asked

"You are not human" Eric said suddenly grabbing my neck pulling me toward him. "You are alone, in a strange place, with a ten century old vampire who has his hand on your throat and yet, I smell no fear, only that intoxicating scent that I have never smelled before. I want to taste you" He said between his teeth has his fangs came out.

"I wouldn't recommend it Eric" I said holding on his gaze. "I don't taste good, and to answer your question, I am human, you are a smart man, or vampire I should say and if you know what's good for you, you will find something else to feed from. I have no interest in getting into any kind of trouble. So if you have no job for me I will show myself out."

Eric released me and stepped away.

"You are starting tonight, I will put you on the night shift for the next two weeks. You are my new obsession Belle Stackhouse. I will have my eyes on you" He said with a grin.

"You gotta do what you gotta do" I said. "uniform?" I asked

"Ginger will drop it at Sookie's today" Eric said with a grin.

I came back to gran's house after passing by the grocery store. Sookie and Jason were sitting at the kitchen table.

"Belle!" Jason shouts standing up and sweeping me off my feet Damn she is hot

"Eww Jason, you are such a pervert" I said as he put me down

"What are you doing here?" he said

"Belle is staying here with me now" Sookie said putting a fresh pot of coffee on the table.

" I just got a job at Fangtasia" I said emptying the groceries. Jason looked at Sookie then me.

"Are you crazy, you just arrive here and you are already playing with the fangers" He said obviously mad.

"it's a job, they won't touch me" I said

"that's what they do, they fuck with your mind, they fuck with you, they drink your blood and throw you away when they are done" He said quickly. "I am sick and tired of seeing people I love getting killed"

"You know what Jay… If I die, you don't have to come to my funeral, deal?" I said giving him a hug. "What is with this town, everybody is so jumpy"

"A lot of weird things are happening here Belle" Sookie said taking a sip of coffee "And Eric Northman and Bill Compton are usual at the center, with me"

"I will keep it in mind" I said

Later that the day. Sookie and I were laying in our bathing suit on a blanket in the yard.

"Lord this is relaxing" I said taking a deep breath.

Lord I want to see Bill, I miss him, I shouldn't have broke up with him, maybe he misses me, what I am saying he is probably banging somebody else by now.

"Sookie, what happened to you?" I asked. Obviously I needed to be put up to speed.

"Ooh Belle, I wouldn't even know where to start from, I really messed up" She spent the next three hours explaining to me the past four years. I couldn't believe what happened to her. "You will probably figure it out yourself but Eric is not someone you can trust, he is vicious and ruthless"

"Thanks for the tip doll, I will keep my eyes open"

The sun went down soon enough and I walked into Eric's office. He was doing paperwork a tall blonde woman standing next to him. She was beautiful and was wearing a long leather dress split from the thigh with killer Louboutins pumps and a cleavage to die for. I stood in front of him wearing a trench coat. He looked up and smirked.

"I would like to discuss my uniform" I said seriously.

"Pam leave us" He said without taking his eyes from me. He stood and walked around his desk and sat on it in front of me. "Show me" He ordered.

I opened my trench coat and took it off. I was wearing a strapless bandage Herve Leger black dress with an A-line cleavage and arriving about 5 inches underneath my butt and a pair of red strappy wedges. It was so tight I could see my goose bumps.

"I see nothing wrong with it" He said.

"Eric, I am here to work, if you need a sexual object, there are ten girls begging for it on the parking lot"

"You disdain is very attractive Belle" He whispered, "I like that you are not afraid of me"

"I have no reason to be afraid of you Eric, there is nothing you can do to me" I said pulling on my dress, which resulted in the cleavage going down.

"Don't under estimate me Miss Stackhouse, you obviously don't know who you are talking to"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a letter opener from the desk. He looked at me with extreme attention. I slowly cut my palm, not wincing thanks to what I was about to demonstrate to him. Abruptly I grabbed his forearm my blood touching his skin. Suddenly he winced with pain as smoke came out of his skin where my hand was touching him. I released his arms and a burn mark appeared.

"I guess that answers the question of what am I" I said my voice low as Eric was growling with pain. "I am a freak" holding my hand up, his eyes opened wide when the wound just closed by itself