Essentially Immortal

Chapter Three

Sookie and Ariane pulled into the parking lot of Fangtasia, the vampire bar in Shreveport that Dawn and Maudette were known to frequent. Sookie pulled into a spot and cut the engine to her yellow Civic.

She turned and looked at Ariane. "Are you ready for this?"

Ariane gave her friend a smile. "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Sookie took a deep breath and nodded, opening the driver's side door.

She and Ariane stepped out of the car and walked toward the bar. The building itself was a nondescript brick building with a little awning above the door and a neon sign across the window advertising "Fangtasia" in red neon cursive. The line stretched down the length of the building and everyone waiting to get in was clad scantily in black, leather, lace or some variation of all three.

Ariane noted that there was a very real possibility that she and Sookie would stand out like a sore thumb in the middle of all this black and skin. Sookie was wearing a white sundress with red flowers and white wedges while Ariane was wearing a short red lace dress and black pumps. They looked like vampire bait.

Unfortunately, to get to the back of the line, she and Sookie had to walk by the front door and the female vampire playing bouncer. As they were walking by, the girls caught the vampire's attention and she crooked a finger toward them to approach. The girls walked over and stopped a few feet from her.

She grinned at them. "Well don't you two smell lovely," she said, raking her eyes up and down their bodies. It made Sookie feel rather uncomfortable.

"ID's?" the vampire asked, hand out. "I can no longer tell human ages and we can't serve alcohol to minors."

Both girls dug in their purses and handed the vampire their driver's licenses.

She glanced at them. "25, hmm? You're both so young still." She looked up at them, her smile full of teeth. "Welcome to Fangtasia, ladies," she said as she handed their ID's back to them and let them in.

She grabbed Ariane's arm as she walked by and said, "Tell the bar Pam sent you and you're first drink is on the house." Pam's eyes looked Ariane up and down again before letting go and turning her attention back to the line of fangbangers that were very vocal in voicing their displeasure until Pam literally growled at them.

Ariane and Sookie squeezed their way through the sweaty throng of humans and vampires to the bar. A grizzled-looking Native American vampire was pouring shots. He was covered in tribal tattoos and at least had the decency to wear a leather vest in lieu of a shirt.

He eyed the girls with thinly veiled disgust as they sat at the bar.

"Can I get a gin and tonic, please?" Sookie asked.

The vampire grunted and made her one with inhuman speed, setting it in front of her.

"Um, if you wouldn't mind, could you maybe look at a couple of pictures and tell me if you've seen these girls around here before?" Sookie asked, fishing the pictures of Dawn and Maudette out of her purse and setting them on the bar top.

The vampire begrudgingly took a look at the pictures. "I've seen both of them here. One about two weeks ago and the other about a week ago."

"Do you know what they were doing here?"

The vampire chuckled mirthlessly. "They came her for what every human comes here for," he said. "Death." With that, he walked down to the other end of the bar.