feel_human | saturday night and the moon is out

Tucked away off the road in Bon Temps, there's a road house. Warm light spills from its windows, and the sound of a jukebox playing drifts out into the muggy Louisiana night. The regular assortment of trucks and Hail-Mary-please-keep-this-lemon-goin'-just-a-little-longer cars sit in the dirt parking lot; what amounts to about half the town's small population... or, at least, of those of the 'drinking age and above' persuasion.

Inside, it's a bar of the type scattered all across the American South: homey, no-nonsense. Booths and tables. A man in a plaid flannel shirt wiping the bar; a crossdresser in the kitchen singing Gospel hymns and rolling his hips in time with the words just to scandalize the prep cook. A handful of waitresses, bustling about.

Sookie makes her way briskly through it all, a tray balanced on her palm and her eyes kept stubbornly front, as voices swarm around her. Aloud, and... less so.

...I’m just going to have one beer tonight Jesus one beer that’s all...

...better not gripe about me eating fries not after what I did for him last night...

...I cannot wait to get the hell out of this podunk town...

"Well, make sure you do, and before it’s too late," she responds, thoughtless, to the young man. "Because every year you wait? You just get more and more stuck here. Believe me, I know."

He stares at her. So do his parents.

So does the other table. And she realizes, too little too late, that he hadn't said that out loud, not at all. She laughs, uncomfortable. "I’ll get y'all some ketchup," she says, brightly, and flees, ponytail swinging against the nape of her neck as she goes.

Stupid, Sookie, she chides herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

feel_human

She gives him a lightly scandalized glance, but holds her tongue and waits in silence as he works at the lock.

From:

gavemea_45

One by one, the tumblers click, and the lock gives way. The door swings open. Sam hastily puts his tools away and pushes it wider, scanning the interior in the available light.

From:

feel_human

The door opens to a wide, bare hall. Rooms lay off to the side, and a staircase climbs up against the wall, leading up to the second floor. The house is cool and quiet – and empty.

She peers inside, but can hear nothing, not with either her ears or any other sense.

From:

gavemea_45

"Stay behind me," Sam mouths to her, and pulls a miniature penlight from his back pocket. He switches it on and leads the way through the door, starting to clear the ground floor first, room by room.

From:

feel_human

She nods, and follows him, creeping like a mouse.

The ground floor seems to be mainly living areas: there's a large, high-ceilinged room with sofas and side tables, set up like a sitting room around a big old-fashioned fireplace. The hearth is cold, but there are fresh ashes in it, and several books and a radio sit out on the coffee table, along with a few battery powered lamps and candles.

There's an enormous dining room with a large table in pride of place, and an old-fashioned kitchen that looks clean, if untouched, and then an assortment of closets and pantries, all of which are neat and empty.

From:

gavemea_45

Sam crouches down by the fireplace and stirs the ashes slightly, then shakes his head and goes to the table to examine the candle wicks and books.

"Looks like someone's been spending time here at night," he breathes, quietly still.

From:

feel_human

"Well, I guess that would make sense," she murmurs, just barely audible. "If he really is stayin' here."

The house is empty, sure, and quiet, but it doesn't seem shut up the way it ought to be, if no one has been here in a year.

From:

gavemea_45

"Even if he has been he may not be here now." Not now that he knows a hunter's in town, anyway. "But let's finish the sweep. Upstairs next."

From:

feel_human

She follows him up the graceful old staircase and winces at every squeaky board, but the upstairs proves as empty as the down. Here, too, the rooms are furnished, sparsely but with a hint of luxury. Like the king-sized, four-poster bed and its rich coverings, or the clawfoot tub in the bathroom.

There's even soap and shampoo, which Sookie looks at, curious. "Guess I never thought a vampire would need to wash their hair."

The bedroom contains a closet in which hang several neatly-pressed shirts and slacks, and a bureau which holds shirts like the one Bill had been wearing last night.

Edited Date: 2022-09-23 11:50 pm (UTC)

From:

gavemea_45

"If he's trying to blend in for whatever reason, he would." Sam sighs, realizing he might need to be more clear about things. "No, they do. Some of them do. Blend. It's how they lure prey."

Sam looks around, then shakes his head. "Unless this place has a basement or attic of some kind, something like that, I don't think he's here."

From:

feel_human

"It might," she says, but she's dubious. "But an old place like this, I imagine the basement floods. That wouldn't be such a good spot for him, would it?"

Edited Date: 2022-09-23 11:57 pm (UTC)

From:

gavemea_45

"He might not find it comfortable, but it's not like he needs to breathe." Sam shuts the closet and shakes his head. "No, you're probably right."

From:

feel_human

"We could still check," she says, watching him. "Since we're here, and all."

Though she still doesn't like the idea of doing anything to Bill if they did find him. Sam's convinced he's after her, she knows, but... well, couldn't he have bitten her last night? And he didn't?

From:

gavemea_45

Sam debates it for a second or two, then nods. "But be careful," he cautions. "If we find one. Up here it's easy enough to break a window. Underground's more dangerous."

From:

feel_human

She nods back, and follows him out onto the landing and back down the stairs.

There is a cellar, it turns out, entered by a door in the kitchen and down a set of wooden steps, but it's just an old root cellar, with some dusty shelves set into the walls and the pervasive scent of damp. Sookie blows out a breath and gives him a wry look. "Dead end?"

From:

gavemea_45

"Looks like." Sam returns her look with a rueful glance. "Let's head back. Talk to your grandmother, then maybe head into town?"

From:

feel_human

She nods and heads back up the stairs and into the foyer of the house, then out onto the porch, where she waits for Sam to join her, her smile wry.

"Well, it wasn't exactly what I was hopin' to do this mornin', but at least you got a little town history, if nothin' else."

Edited Date: 2022-09-24 12:30 am (UTC)

From:

gavemea_45

He relocks the door and comes over to her. "What time do you have to be at work?"

From:

feel_human

"Five-thirty."

She heads down the stairs, glancing at him as they head back to the walkway. "So there's plenty of time to take you into town, for a little bit."

From:

gavemea_45

"If you want... I thought maybe you might still like to let me buy you that coffee?"

Sam looks over at her, smiling.

From:

feel_human

"Really?"

There's honest surprise in her voice. "Even with... all of this, that's goin' on?"

From:

gavemea_45

"Yes?" Sam suddenly looks uncertain. "Unless you don't want to? I mean, it's okay if you don't--"

From:

feel_human

"No, I do," she says, quickly. "I mean... I'd been kinda thinkin'... but doesn't it feel a little weird, to go do somethin' so... normal?"

From:

gavemea_45

"Is it?" He sounds hesitant. "I -- maybe I'm just used to it."

From:

feel_human

"I don't know," she admits. "I don't exactly go on a lot of dates to begin with, and... well, it's my first time tryin' to figure out what's appropriate when we're dealin' with a vampire, too. I mean..."

She slips her hands into the pockets of her skirt. "Won't you be kinda... distracted?"