saturday night and the moon is out

[feel_human]

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.

 

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[feel_human]

Sam, on the other side of the bar, is almost preternaturally still as he stares at the newcomer, and when Sookie retrieves her pad and pen, his hand shoots out to snatch her around the wrist. She tries to shake him off, startled. "Sam! That hurts!"

"Somethin's off about that guy," Sam says, his blue eyes fixed on the newcomer. "Leave him be."

She rolls her eyes and extracts herself. "You are the worst business owner I've ever met," she scolds. "If you'll excuse me, I've got a job to do. One you pay me to do, if you remember."

Turning in a flick of her ponytail, she makes her way to the newcomer's table, her practiced smile already curving her lips, only for her steps to slow as she comes close.

He's... silent. Not quiet, or muffled like Sam Winchester. Dead silent. She can't even begin to explain it.

[gavemea_45]

Sam braces himself to leap to Sookie's defense if the newcomer makes any funny moves - even the slightest hint of a funny move. If they're as fast as the lore says he won't have much time to act.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the other Sam's frozen and watching with near-feral intensity. That's weird, or would be, if-- maybe the other guy's a hunter, too? He wouldn't be the first to hide in plain sight, as it were, and having a place like this's sure a good way to keep an eye on what's going on in the area.

[feel_human]

There's a faint buzzing in her ears as she moves slowly toward the newcomer. His eyes are on hers and he watches her with an unblinking stare as she comes closer, step by step.

For some reason, she's suddenly very conscious of her own heartbeat, pushing blood through her body. It stutters, then picks up the pace, and she could swear that for a second the stranger's glance drops to her throat in response.

He studies her as she draws up beside his table, pad at the ready, a bewildered smile on her lips. "Hi," she says, finally, and almost laughs at herself. "Welcome to Merlotte's. Can I... what can I get you?"

There's a moment as he looks at her, before his mouth finally opens. "A glass of red wine," he says. His voice is pleasantly smooth, and his accent is pure Bon Temps. "Thank you."

[gavemea_45]

For a second he thinks that's torn it, as he watches the - man? sure, why not, call it that, good enough - as he watches the stranger's eyes fasten on Sookie's throat. Sam tenses in his seat, only to hold himself still as the other looks up again and answers her question. Probably an order, Sam'd assume, anyway, although what the hell one of them would be ordering in a bar he's got no idea.

Good enough. He leans to the side and gives a little wave, trying to keep it abashed and not demanding - but trying to get Sookie's attention and draw her away.

[feel_human]

The newcomer doesn't seem to blink at all, and his eyes draw her right in, inexorably closer as her curiosity runs wild – until a motion off to the side catches her eye and she blinks.

"Comin' right up," she promises the man, and turns to make her brisk way back over to Sam, who'd lifted his hand. "Hi again."

She's smiling more tonight than she has in... well, who's counting? "Need somethin'?"

[gavemea_45]

"Only if it's not any trouble," Sam tells her, frantically trying to think of something. "Um, a piece of pie? When you have a chance?"

He lowers his voice a little, careful not to glance over, and asks, "Hey, do you know that new guy? Is he from around here?"

[feel_human]

"No trouble," she promises. "We got apple, peach, pecan, and chess. What kind d'you like?"

He lowers his voice a little and it means she has to lean in. Being closer, she gets a kind of... buzz from his thoughts, but she can't quite make them out. "Oh, him?"

She glances over her shoulder at the newcomer, then back at Sam, shaking her head. "Never seen him before in my life. But he sure sounds like he's from around here. Why?"

[gavemea_45]

Well, if he'd been hoping the vampire wouldn't hear him asking about it, that's over and done with. Sam lies, "He just looked familiar, is all. Like someone I knew back in Kentucky. Like a cousin or something, maybe, so I just wondered."

He smiles at her. "Pecan sounds good. Is it?"

[feel_human]

"The best around," Sookie promises him with a smile. "Except for my Gran's."

She nods at his glass. "Want another beer?"

[gavemea_45]

"I'll give it a try, then. And sure, thanks--"

A second beer won't do enough to even take his edge off, and he's going to need a reason to stick around as long as he can, now.

"--listen, Sookie, um, I don't suppose you've got a break coming up, or anything like that?" Sam looks earnestly up at her. "Although I guess you might not want to spend it talking to me, and that's okay if you don't, it really is--"

[feel_human]

Surprised warmth rushes up into her cheeks. "Oh, um – "

She can feel the eyes of her co-workers and of curious townsfolk on her back, and it makes her face heat a little more as her smile turns bashful. "I get a break in about half an hour – "

Which is true, although she almost never takes it. " – Since I'm closing tonight."

[gavemea_45]

Closing. Of course she is. Hell.

Sam smiles at her. "I'll be here."

[feel_human]

"Okay." She's a little flustered as she returns his smile, but her own is bright and sweet even through her confusion. "I'll just... I'll get you that pie. Back in a tick."

She retreats in the next second, her mind awhirl, and hardly notices how she crosses the bar floor back to where Sam and Tara are waiting. Sam's still rubbing down the bar – the same spot as before, she notices, and there's something gone tight and unhappy at his jaw.

"A Bud," she tells him. "And a... oh, a glass of red."

[gavemea_45]

He neatly stacks his side plate on the main and sets them aside, then turns the beer around in his fingers. To all observers he's pretty sure he just looks like a guy lost in thought.

Hopefully Mr. Trouble only thinks that, anyway. Sam does his best to keep an eye on him out of the corner of his own without giving himself away. What the hell is he doing here, anyway?

[feel_human]

She slips into the kitchen to retrieve the piece of pie and blushes furiously at Lafayette's teasing. "If you decide you don't want him," he drawls, flipping a towel over his shoulder and dancing with a roll of his hips until Terry Bellefleur laughs. "You just let me know. I could just eat – him – up."

"Hands off," Sookie says, with spirit, and flees with the plate of pie, then stops at the bar to collect the beer and glass of wine.

The newcomer's table is on the way to Sam's; she stops and sets his wine down for him. "Sure you don't want anythin' else?" she asks, as the man turns his dark, intent gaze back onto her face.

For a second, he just watches her, long enough that she can feel a blush start to pink her cheeks again. "As a matter of fact, I was hopin' you'd be able to tell me a little about the town," he says, finally. There's an old-fashioned slant to his manners, and his voice is smooth and polite. "I have just moved here and I am tryin' to get my bearings."

"Oh?" She can't help her curiosity. "Moved to where?"

He tips his head. "A few miles south. Just past the churchyard."

Recognition sparks in her glance. "The old Compton place? Why – " She can't help her grin. "That's just across an old field from me."

[gavemea_45]

Sookie's voice is bright and cheerful and happy - and clear. Sam's glad of it, as it makes eavesdropping easier, even though he wants to wince as what she's saying.

The old Compton place. He makes a mental note. Hopefully there's a library, or hadn't she said something about a history center? Something to give him an edge.

He can't help but wish Dean were here, but there's no point in it. He'll just have to go this one alone.

[feel_human]

"Imagine that," he says, in his smooth voice. The way he says it, it's like he's not surprised at all, but it goes right over Sookie's head, so pleased is she.

"I guess we'll be neighbors," she says, happily, and holds out her hand, frank and friendly. "So I oughta introduce myself. I'm Sookie. Sookie Stackhouse."

His fingers are cool in hers as he shakes her hand. "Bill," he says, and doesn't give a last name.

Not that it matters so much. Her smile widens. "Well, nice to know you, Bill," she tells him. "Welcome to Bon Temps."

He nods to her, and she's still smiling as she turns to make her way back over to Sam, amused and delighted by this coincidence in equal measure.

[gavemea_45]

"You look cheerful," Sam observes, with a smile of his own. "Good news, I hope?"

[feel_human]

"I guess we'll see," she says, practical even though she's smiling as she sets down his pie and fresh glass of beer. "That fellow you were wondering about? Turns out he just moved into town, just abut next door to me. Isn't that funny?"

Not funny ha-ha, funny odd. "Gran'll be thrilled. There hasn't been anyone near us in years, not for miles."

[gavemea_45]

"How about that," he marvels, while a litany of silent, dismayed curses sears through his mind. "Looks like you've got a new neighbor. Or two? He got a family, did he say?"

[feel_human]

His thoughts are muffled and quiet, but every now and again something sneaks through... like a feeling of frustration that's at complete odds with the clear, friendly look on his face.

Her smile falters, a little, and she looks at him a little more closely. "No, he didn't."

But if he had a family, she'd have expected him to bring them in. There's almost no one comes in to Merlotte's to eat by themselves, aside from drifters like Sam himself, or Andy Bellefleur, and that's because no one can stand to be around him for the length of a meal. "But I guess I'd have heard if a family was movin' to town. Still, it's a big place for just one man."

[gavemea_45]

Something about her expression shifts, and Sam realizes that his expression must be letting something of what's behind it leak through. He shakes his head and smiles again, warm and a little sheepish. "Sorry, I guess that's pretty nosy of me to be asking," he half-apologizes. "Especially with me being new around here myself."

[feel_human]

"Bein' nosy is practically a competitive sport around here." At least Maxine's not around. "But if you're curious, why not ask him yourself?"

She leans down to collect his empty plates and old glass, pitches her voice to a low, amused whisper. "I don't think he bites."

[gavemea_45]

What he wants to do is bury his face in his hands at that. Looks like Sookie's instincts are a hell of a lot sharper than she realizes, even if she doesn't know just how wrong she is.

What he does is let out a slightly strained laugh that fades into something truly rueful. "Might as well," he decides, and lifts his beer to the stranger in what looks like an invitation. After all, it's not like he hasn't already been spotted.

He's very, very careful not to meet his eyes, however.

[feel_human]

At his table, Bill studies Sam and his motion, then inclines is head in a nod. Sookie smiles, bright and pleased, and straightens with her laden tray. "Then I may as well introduce you," she says, and half-turns so she can see both tables. "Bill, this is Sam," she says, looking from one man to the other. "Sam, this is Bill. Y'all are both new in town, so you've got that in common already."

Along with... other things she can't explain.

Bill touches his glass of wine and lifts it in greeting. "Evenin'."