A/N: As always, the same game: I'd love to hear your comments, votes, and, of course, new followers if you enjoy the story! :)

Ashley's POV:

James, seemingly bored with his gun, was now toying with a switchblade, which, like any self-respecting psychopath, he always had on him. He was using it to clean his nails. I hoped he'd jab that thing right into his nail bed.

I toyed briefly with the pedal, letting my foot hover over the brake, trying to calculate the angle the knife might take if I slammed on the brakes. Then I sighed and let the thought go, focusing back on the road. Knowing my luck, I'd probably end up with the knife in my thigh or something. Best to avoid that.

I had decided, for now, to go along with James's whims and drive wherever he wanted me to go. If his plans at our destination were too crazy, I could always try to make a run for it then. For the moment, James didn't seem like an immediate threat. Not more than usual, anyway. The guy was a damn unpredictable powder keg with psychotic tendencies. Silently, we drove out of Bon Temps along the highway, passing tall trees and navigating the poorly paved road while the music did a poor job of covering the awkward silence.

I sighed again.

When a car cut me off on the highway, I braked sharply, causing the car to jolt. I cursed, jumping in my seatbelt. My maneuver had caused James to nick himself slightly with the knife. Unfortunately, not enough to do any real damage. Instead, he was pissed. In response, he stabbed the knife vertically into the center console, just millimeters from my arm.

"Goddamn it, Ashley, do that again and I'll drive myself and throw you in the trunk!" he shouted, sucking on his cut like a baby on a bottle.

My heart raced. Because of the near accident, James's reaction, and his yelling. "Sorry, James." I queaked, hating how timid he'd made me sound. No matter how far I'd come on my own during the last couple of years, some people you just fell right into the same patterns with. 

Toxic, unhealthy patterns.

James muttered more curses under his breath, shaking his hand before his gaze locked challengingly with mine.

"Let me drive!" he demanded, but I knew James's temper behind the wheel would only make things worse. And even now, his knife had almost ended up in my arm.

"I promise to be more careful, James," even though it wasn't my fault someone had nearly run us off the road. James's eyes narrowed, and for a second, I thought he'd rip my throat out with the way he was staring. But then he just nodded and leaned back in his seat.

"Then I hope you had a coffee earlier. It's gonna be a long drive, sweetheart!"

I looked at him, puzzled. "Where are we going?"

James pulled a cap from his back pocket and placed it over his face.

"Dallas, baby!"

Dallas. Great.

This was really not my night.

Eric's POV:

Leaving the little disaster in his room behind, Eric strolled down to the bar, where he had already stirred up more trouble the night before. Well, maybe not trouble, since Lorena was too insignificant for that, but... inconveniences. Yet, for him, it was a necessary evil.

She was primarily a problem for Bill. And Sookie. More specifically, Bill's "relationship" with Sookie. He grinned. A monogamous relationship with a human... what could one say to that? Even when Eric had been human, something he rarely liked to remember, he hadn't been "monogamous." Then again, he had made mistakes in his thousand years, with princesses and nuns, on warm beaches of the Ivory Coast or high in the northern Italian mountains, with women dark as night or pale like him, with blonde hair flowing like gold over their shoulders—

He conjured the image before he could stop himself, and so he shook his head slightly, focusing back on what he could actually see, not what was long gone.

The woman to his right seemed to be undressing him with her eyes, but he had lost his appetite. For blood and the quick screw he had left his room for.

What was wrong with him? He felt drained and tired. Irritable. Had he contracted HepV? He'd been feeling... strange for a few days. Maybe he'd consult Dr. Ludwig once he got back. Speaking of which, he pulled out his phone.

"Yes, Eric!" quipped a bored voice on the other end, almost sarcastic.

"Pam. Check on Ashley Simmons. Remind her she owes us a favor and get a cozy bed."

"A bed?" Her voice no longer sounded bored.

"I'm sure Ms. Simmons already has a bed. And if not, the new couch is probably perfect for sex with the blonde, " she purred. "I'm ready to test that out!"

"No sex, just a bed!" he instructed, and the other end went silent.

Eric walked back to his room impatiently, phone still in hand (not without first taking a small detour past Bill's room and listening: Lorena was doing her job, wonderful!), when he saw her.

It was time to end the call.

"Pam?"

"I... don't understand!" she admitted, genuinely confused. He didn't have time for this.

"Just do it!"

And with that, he hung up.

"Isabel."

The vampire who seemed almost vulnerable looked up and approached him at the mention of her name. She appeared tense.

"Eric?"

He was curious, a feeling that rarely overcame him anymore.

"Your human... Heinz?" Like the ketchup? It was something like a food...

"Hugo," she corrected him. Like the strange modern drink he had recently added to his bar menu, right.

"Right. He's with Sookie at the Fellowship of the Sun Institute, correct?"

Isabel nodded warily. "Maybe we should take a look at the Institute?"

"The Institute" looked even more ridiculous from the outside than the name suggested. Eric grumbled. "This is a joke. Their army? Frightened little boys with bows and arrows?"

"Don't underestimate them! Their movement grows daily with self-righteous, misguided individuals all too ready to sacrifice themselves for their cause."

Eric snorted. A Tuesday evening for him. "That can be arranged!" Maybe he could burn off some of the pent-up energy that seemed to be coursing through him.

"Not until we're sure the Institute has Godric," Isabel tempered his plans for the evening. Shame. But she was right. There were other factors to consider. Factors like the little blonde waitress who smelled like sunshine and honey spilled on her. Eric hadn't solved her mystery yet and would hate to give up his new challenge so soon.

"What about your boy... and Sookie. We haven't heard from them in a while," he found himself asking. Purely out of concern for the threat level, of course. As a warrior, one had to plan.

"They're fine. I felt something briefly earlier, but it's been quiet for a while now." How... annoying. Like a background hum or tinnitus that would fade over time. Of course, he had bonded with humans before, but more as impulsive, unthought-out decisions in bed (he might be an undead, thousand-year-old Viking prince-warrior, but he was still a man, occasionally thinking with his lower head) or to heal someone who could still be useful to him. Not out of... He grimaced as a bitter taste spread over his taste buds... love.

"Tell me, what's so appealing about a relationship with a human?" he asked the now slightly head-tilting Isabel, a question that had been nagging him all evening. He had had many relationships with humans, but long-term ones? That was beyond him.

"They feel everything so much more intensely than we do. Everything is important, exciting. Maybe because their lives are so short..." she mused, looking into the distance. "Their fervor, their enthusiasm... it's contagious!"

There it was again. The image in his mind of the only woman who had made him question his solitary existence twice that evening. An image from his not-too-distant past, but a lifetime away for a human.

Eric suppressed a snort and followed Isabel's gaze.

"Yes, they definitely don't age well!"

The snort Eric had suppressed now came from Isabel, followed by a grin. Eric began to like her, which probably led him to probe further.

"Don't you find the idea of them aging, becoming ill, and deteriorating repulsive?"

Isabel didn't take long to respond. Vampires never did. But her answer surprised Eric.

"No, I find it interesting. Like a science project!" She smiled almost gently. But her gentle demeanor hid a shrewd vampire. Her next question was targeted: "How does Bill feel about your interest in Sookie?"

Damn. His fascination with Sookie was becoming an open secret. He couldn't explain it himself. There was something about her, a quality that intrigued him. Like the fact that he couldn't glamour her. Or the kind of friends she surrounded herself with. Lafayette, Ashley, the shapeshifter. A relationship with a vampire. He had lived long enough to know that supernatural beings were automatically drawn to other supernatural beings. Maybe a trick of nature. In any case, there was more to the pretty package than met the eye. If he couldn't get to her from the outside, then maybe from the inside. He had given Lafayette his blood, Ashley too. Bringing her friends to his side seemed like a good idea. But it also had its price. He almost regretted the confusing blonde. How could a small-town waitress have such an emotional life? It was draining. He kept finding himself wondering what she was doing when her emotions were once again on a rollercoaster, disrupting his routine. Right now, she seemed annoyed. And that even though he wasn't even near her. That he could feel her so intensely despite the distance was a problem for later. The one he still needed to win over was Sookie.

"I have no interest in Sookie!" Lie. "And even less in how Bill feels." No lie. Fucking Bill Compton. Nothing but trouble because of him. "My only interest is in finding Godric."

Maybe he could shed some light on what was going on with him.

Isabel turned her head to him, her expression knowing, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course."

Even without Eric turning his head towards her, he felt the schadenfreude emanating from her.

"Don't look at me like that!" he snapped, and she obediently looked forward again. But the grin on her lips remained. Eric ignored it.

Fucking blonde waitresses in Bon Temps.

A/N:

So, do you want to know where Eric's thoughts wander when a picture of a blonde in Northern Italy appears in his mind? Then check out IN ANOTHER LIFE.