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Fallen Twilight Chapter 9: Blood of a Millennium

Axel can hardly process what he has just heard.

"You...want me to drink your blood?" He asks, his voice slightly shaky.

"Yes...I don't like the idea of it either, but if I plan to guard you properly, I will need to be able to find you and know when you are in danger. With my blood, I can do that." Eric replied as Sookie begins to shake her head.

"What do you really hope to gain from this Eric? I know you and you are not this "charitable"" She said as Eric's eyes flashed to her.

"There is a great many things you do not know about me Mrs. Stackhouse, you would do well to remember that." He said as he looked towards Axel.

"So, shall we get this over with?" He asks as he stands up and walks over to Axel, making his heart start to beat faster and realize just how tall Eric is.

The closeness to Eric makes Axel realize just how GOOD he smells. He had been expecting him to smell....well, DEAD! But he smells anything but. He smells like a mixture of male musk and surprisingly, roses. The combined smell is causing Axel to react in a way he had HOPED wouldn't happen until AFTER he had some of Eric's blood....at least then he would have a reason for his response.

"Axel.....you're sure about this?" Sookie asks, Axel's eyes practically glued to Eric's.

"Yes, I'm sure Sookie....I don't want to involve anymore people than I have too" Jason replies, glancing back at Sookie with a reassuring smile.

"Al-alright....I'll be right outside....Eric, if you hurt him, so help me...."She says as she walks to the door, opening it and showing Pam standing just outside of it.

"Let me know when they are done, Pam." Sookie says, walking out of view, with Pam smirking.

"Enjoy." Pam chuckles, shutting the door.

With the silence permeating the room, Axel turns to look back at Eric's face with a small bit of lust in it, made all the more apparent from the bulge showing from his jeans. Without a word, Eric brings his arm up to his mouth, opening it to reveal his appearing fangs, then bites doing with a slight popping sound from the skin, bloodying his mouth nearly instantly.

"Here, drink before the wound closes." Eric says, sitting on his desk to allow Axel a more comfortable way of sitting,
Axel walks forward slowly and places himself beside the same side as the bitten arm, taking it into his hands and slowly lowering his head down to the open would. The smell of the blood wafts into Axel's nose and instantly, he is assaulted by the powerful and heightened smell of Eric and without thinking, attaches his lips to the wound, sucking the delicious crimson liquid into his mouth greedily.

For a long time, the only sound in the empty office is the sound of Axel sucking the free-flowing blood out of Eric's ancient veins. As Axel continues to drink the blood, he becomes less aware of his surroundings and solely focused on the pleasure that the blood is giving him and how strong it's making him feel. When Eric's hand begins to gently pull Axel away from the wound, he lets out a snarl in response.

"My...quite to possessive one aren't you?" Eric asks, with Axel raising his head to look at Eric with his lips and part of his face painted in blood.

It's not until he begins to regain part of his consciousness lost from drinking the blood, that Axel realizes he had been grinding his hips against Eric and with a slight blush he apologizes with his head bowed in embarrassment. His head being tilted down allows him to see the wound on Eric's arm heal almost instantly with no sign of damage done to it.

"Woah..." He whispers to himself.

Axel doesn't look up at Eric until he feels a cloth slowly pushed to his face. Looking up, he sees that Eric is only intending to wipe the blood off him.

"Here....use this to clean yourself up." He says as he stands, gripping Axel's shoulders to stand him up as well.

"Th-thanks." Axel replies, wiping the remnants of the blood off his face, while at that moment, Sookie walks in with Pam.

"The fleshies are restless, Eric." Pam says, a constant smirk on her face, no doubt having heard whatever happened in the room.

"Alright then." Eric replies, looking at Axel. "I will come by the bar to work out times for you perform here." Eric says, walking out of the room with Pam, leaving Axel and Sookie alone in the office.

She walks towards Axel and looks at him with a look that is between concern and irritation.

"You really didn't need to do that hunny...We could have just asked Jason to get Alcide's pack to look after you....they owe me enough." She said as Axel wipes a finger across his lips getting a small bit of the blood on it and licking it, savoring the last bit of the blood.
"I know, Sookie but I....I feel better having Eric protecting me....and this way, less people will get involved...I just wouldn't feel right getting an entire group of people involved in something as slight as this, and at least this way, I have a job that allows me do something I love." Axel replies, placing the bloodied up cloth on Eric's desk.

"I just don't don't trust him is all...."

Axel nods in understanding.

"I know Sookie, I'm not saying he's just misunderstood or your distrust is misplaced....I'm just saying that for right now, we NEED to trust him, and don't worry...I won't let my guard down either...I've gotten through too much just to die from a stroke of stupidity now." He says as he hugs her.

"Now...why don't you say we go home and make a nice dinner.....I think we deserve it after this."

With that, they both walk out of the bar, which was now beginning to be filled with the nightly crowd, some humans that Axel can read, but for the most part, his mind picks up the dull hums of Vampires.

Axel walks towards the bar, placing his tray on it.

"I need a rum and coke Tara." He says, looking back at the man he's waiting on.

"You sure he needs anymore? He looks about ready to have his head meet the table." Tara asks, reaching under the bar and grabbing out the rum.

"He's good....I'll be cutting him off after this one though." Axel replies, reading the mans mind for any signs of being ready to pass out....or worse.

"Alright...but if he pukes on the table, I am NOT cleaning that shit up." Tara says, giving Axel a look that says she isn't kidding.

Axel chuckles as Tara takes the glass on Axel's tray and ours some rum into it.

"Alright, Tara." He says, looking around the mostly empty bar, No Doubt's "Hella Good" playing quietly in the background.

A smile on his face, Axel enjoys the lack of chatter in the bar.....in both the heard and mostly unheard kind. A few days had gone by since he and Sookie had gone to Fangtasia and in those few days, Axel had proved that Eric had not misplaced his judgement in allowing Axel to be the bar's new main attraction.

Not only had he been well received.....in terms of vampires since they didn't make their disinterest vocal, though Axle figured that also had to do with Eric being in charge of the bar, but the small bit of humans he had heard in the bar had enjoyed his singing, no matter how drunk they were.

Drunken minds are a very interesting thing. While it may seem that a person is in control of their actions, they are just like a backseat driver. Always seeing everything happen but unable to control how they react......it made Axel think of the books he used to read as a kid...Animorphs and the Yeerks controlling a person. The person could scream and fight all they wanted in their head but they couldn't control themselves.

Brought back from his thoughts by Tara placing the cup on his tray, Axel turns to her and smiled.

"Thanks, Tara." He says, walking over to the man in his section.....who is currently barely keeping himself together and from succumbing to his drunken state.

Wordlessly, Axel set down the drink, then turned back around and walked back to the bar, setting his tray on the bar and sitting on a stool.

"Mind getting me a Pepsi out, Tara?" He asks

With a nod, Tara gets the requested drink and sets it in front of Axel who takes the drink and pops open the can, taking a long sip of it.

"So...mind telling me when you and Sookie planned on telling me you made a deal with that bloodsucker in Shreveport?" Tara asks, as Axel ends up choking on his drink and takes a moment or two to get over the bouts of coughing.

"W-when did you find that out?!" He asks, his voice a little hoarse from the drink going down wrong.

"Sookie can't hide everything from me....I may not be able to read minds like you guys, but I have intuition.....so spill."

At that precise moment, Sookie comes in from the back room and sees the interrogating look in Tara's eyes.

"Tara, leave the poor boy alone." She says, a tired sound in her voice, her hands on her hips.

"When were you planning on telling me you went to that vampire bar? I thought you were done with vamps, Sook."

Sookie shakes her head, making her ponytailed hair bob back and forth.

"That is so none of your business, Tara."

"I think it is if it means you're both in trouble. I already have enough fucked up shit in my life and I don't need my best friend dying on me to add to it." Tara fires back as Axel gets up from his spot and walks away from the bar, towards Sam's office, quietly avoiding the slight argument brewing.

Sam is sitting at his desk, looking over papers that probably have to do with bills and the like. When Axel walks in, he raises his head and gives a small smile.

"You taking off?" He asks as Axel takes off his apron and throws it in the laundry hamper.

"Yep, Sookie and I are planning on just hanging out before I have a thing I need to be at tonight." Axel replies, grabbing his very small wallet that Sookie had gotten for him so he would have his money on hand, and sliding it into his front pocket, feeling much safer knowing it would be harder for people to steal it from the front than the back.

"Anything you can tell me about this "thing" you need to go to tonight?" Sam asks, turning around in his chair and leaning forward, resting his elbows on his legs and folding his hands together, resting his head on-top of them.

Axel slowly turns around, and eyebrow raised.

"Why would you want to know?" He asks, treading carefully. He doesn't want to read Sam's mind since he had finally got the hang of the mental barriers Sookie had been talking about.

"It wouldn't be up in that bar in Shreveport would it? That vampire bar." Sam asks, as Axel begins to feel a little uncomfortable.

"What makes you think that?" He asks.

"Because Tara told me you went there a few days ago....with Sookie. You aren't getting mixed up with some vampire are you, Axel? They're dead and if Sookie is any indication.....they aren't nothing more than cold, heartless, killers." He says, a slight disdain showing through in his voice.

"Not all vampires are like that Sam....they're just like us in many ways. One could be cold and calculating.....murderous. While the other could marvel in the wonders of life. Just because a few are like doesn't make all of them that way. Otherwise, we might as well label humans as nothing but mindless animals too since we have been the ones waging all the wars before." Axel says, his mind flashing an image of Eric in it.

Without another word, Axel walks out of Sam's office and back to the bar, grabbing a hold of Sookie's wrist.

"Come on, I don't really wanna be here any longer than I need to right now." He says as she nods and walks away from the bar with a wave to Tara.

Walking out to the car, Sookie looks at Axel.

"You alright hun?" She asks as they get into the car.

Axel doesn't answer for a moment as he does up his seatbelt, then he sighs.

"I'm fine. I just....wasn't expecting everyone to know that we went to the bar is all.....who would have seen us, Sookie?" He asks as Sookie puts her keys into the ignition, turning on the car with it's sputtering noise that brings it to life.

"I don't know hun, but if people are knowing about it, we may need to be more careful." She replies as she pulls the car out of the dirt parking-lot, kicking up the dry dirt as the tires spin.

Later that Night:

Axel and Sookie walking into Fangtasia, looking around for Eric or Pam in the currently empty bar.

Before either of them can call for them, Pam is in front of Axel in a flash. The first time she had done that, Axel had cried out in shock but after her doing it a few more times, he had managed to keep himself from jumping and keeping it to just a small twitch of surprise.

"Good, you're here." She says, holding up a set of leather pants and a jacket.

"Uhhhh....what is THAT for?" Axel asks, pointing to the set.

"I sincerely hope you are being funny, because it should be obvious." Pam says, raising an amused eyebrow. "Eric thinks that you need to show a little more skin to attract more of our kind into the bar."

Axel raises a brow and shakes his head as Sookie is rendered speechless.

"I don't know if I am the most attractive person to be put on display for vampires." He says as Pam scoffs.

"It's not because you're attractive.....it's so they see more of the skin that holds that...sweet smelling blood inside you. You have nothing to worry about though as Eric has instructed me to assure you he will be watching the performance for your safety.....but just remember, you're an attraction to this bar now, and if more people want to see you, that means more money for the bar."

"So you want to practically dress me up and put me on display as a bloodbag?!" Axel yelps.

"Hardly."

Axel turns his head towards Eric's voice.

"I did not give my blood to you on a whim, nor did I do it only to have you killed by some pathetic excuse for a vampire who cannot keep their hunger in check." Eric says as he walks over to Pam, taking the leather outfit.

Axel blushes as he remembers his shock at seeing himself the morning after he had drank Eric's blood. His hair, normally flat and dull, had been full of life and bright, showing off the brilliant brown that it is. In addition to that, he had found himself able to react to things much faster, his senses improved as he had managed to catch a beer bottle falling from his tray before it hit the ground when he was working at Merlotte's

It had gained him a few shocked looks and raised eyebrows, the more memorable of which were from Sam and Alexia.

In addition to heightened senses and improved hair....Axel had also noticed an increase in....his sex drive. Without fail, Axel had dreamed of Eric every night, leaving Axel with a very annoying hard-on that he had to slip to the bathroom to take care of, though it never took to long.

"Now, I would appreciate it if you wore this tonight. You are by no means average, Axel.....and it appears my blood has done wonders for you." Eric says, breaking Axel from his train of thought and thrusting the outfit into his hands.

"Pam will take you to the washroom to help you with it, should you need any."

Without another word, Eric speeds out of the room and into his office, the door closing surprisingly quietly.

Sookie looks at Axel with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I don't need to tell you what I think about this, but it's also your decision." She says as Axel nods.

"Yep, I know. I'm gonna do this, it's not like he's stringing me up and hanging me over a pit of snapping vamps so I can't argue." He says, Pam's mouth twitching slightly, but not enough to show amusement or annoyance.

"Let's go and get you changed, Eric wants you to be performing before the crowd gets here, so we have reason to charge them." Pam says, walking towards the bathrooms, her heel clicking against the concrete floor.

"I'll just be in front of the stage waiting for you to come out, Axel." Sookie smiles, walking to a table and sitting down.

Axel stayed where he was for a moment, taking a breath before he walks towards the washroom and walking in, seeing Pam primping herself in the mirror.

"They're in the stall." Is all she says, pursing her lips together, then forcing them apart with a pop, finishing the application of a new layer of lipstick.

"That outfit...is more conservative than I would have chosen. Eric, however, was adamant that it be enough to bring people into the bar and not make you bait to our kind." She says as Axel slips into the stall and closes it, not bothering to lock it since doing so would be pointless if Pam really wanted to get in.

Finally picking up the outfit and giving it a look-over, he scoffs.

"This is "conservative"?" He says, to which Pam, surprising, chuckles. instead of a calming tone to it though, it just sets Axel even more on edge.

"It was either that, or you would have nothing to leave to the imagination." She replies, as Axel mutters a "thanks" and starts undressing from his clothes, neatly folding and placing them on the toilet in front of him.

As Axel is slipping on the outfit, Pam begins pacing the bathroom, the clicking of her heels echoing in the confined room.

"Perhaps you can....enlighten me to something." She says, an amused tone in her voice.

"And what....would you need enlightening to?" Axel asks, sliding the smooth, black leather pants up his legs and feeling slightly exposed with the generous amount of skin they show.

"It continues to evade me as to how Eric could have POSSIBLY become so enamored with you. I have never seen Eric show an interest in any human before, save for Sookie, and the same goes for anyone else......what about you is so special?" She asks, as Axel's heart leaps at the thought of Eric being even remotely interested in him in.....that way.

Axel, choosing his words carefully, slides on the leather jacket, leaving his mid-drift exposed, but thankfully allowing him to zip it up, covering his chest.

"I've never noticed his interest in me before, Pam....I only just met you both." He says as Pam huffs in frustration.

"How could you not realize that he gave his blood to you because he wants you to himself?!" She asks, her voice conveying shock and mocking.

"I don't understand....." Axel replies, paused in his current task.

"You really don't know how things work....do you?"

Axel flinches slightly at the demeaning tone to Pam's voice.

"I'll take that as a no." She says, Axel having resumed his task of getting dressed, sliding the boots on and tying them up.

"Would....could my blood possibly have had any affect on his attraction to me?" He asks.

"Did you hear a thing I said? He let you drink his blood, only because he wants to constantly know where you are....to our kind, you BELONG to him now." Pam laughs.

"But....what will his blood do to me then?" Axel asks, coming out of the stall and looking at Pam with a look of "How do I look?"

Pam scoffs to herself and walks to Axel, running her hands through his hair, messing it up.

"Your sense will be keener, your strength will increase, and you should feel....healthier, as well as a more active.....libido." She says, stepping back and appraising her work on Axel's now messy hair.

"Anything else I should know?"

"I don't care about what you do, but if this information will prevent you from doing something stupid that will endanger Eric and I, then fine. If you drink from Eric once, he gains a connection to you and your emotions, sensing when you are in trouble. You develop an attraction to him. Second time drinking from him will increase the link between you, and the third time solidifies it into a blood bond, Unbreakable until the death of the human."

"Why the human? Why not the vampire" Axel asks, Pam laughing in response.

"Two points." She says, holding up two fingers for emphasis.

"Point one. This is Eric, you are talking about....you wouldn't even be able to blink before he could rip your throat out. Point two. The blood bond is meant to last for the duration of the human's life, not the vampire's. The catch to this, is that even if the vampire dies, the bond will still exist and in most cases, will cause the human to go insane." Pam says, Axel standing in the same spot, unblinking.

"The bond YOU currently have with, Eric, is one sided and therefore, will fade within a six month to twelve month period."

Axel sighs in relief.

"That's a relief, thanks, Pam." Axel's face changes to one of reluctance as he asks his next question.

"Not to look a gift horse in the mouth.....but why did you answer any of my questions?"

"Sookie cares for you, and for some reason I can't comprehend, Eric does too. So I feel I can trust you on SOME level.....but don't prove me wrong...."Pam says, grabbing Axel in a burst of blurring speed, her fangs popping out.

"Or I will rip your fucking throat out and use it as a straw." She says, hissing. Fear flashes in Axel's eyes as he gulps and nods, Pam's fangs receding into his mouth with the sound of bone hitting bone.

Pam, letting Axel go, smirks.

"Come." She says, walking out of the restroom, with Axel quickly grabbing his clothes from the stall and following after her.

Walking to the stage, Sookie gets out of her seat and looks at Axel with appraising eyes.

"Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be at least." She says, Axel smiling in thanks.

"Thanks, Sookie." Axel says, pulling her into a quick hug.

(And don't worry, Pam, Eric and I will make sure we look out for any trouble....so just worry about singing. On a plus side, you won't be "hearing" as many people here as you would at Merlotte's) Sookie thinks, Axel smiling wider.

(True....thanks again Sookie.) He says as they pull away from the hug and Axel walks to the stage, Eric appearing on the stage alongside him.

"I have gotten vampires with a satisfactory knowledge of music, so you only need to worry about your singing." He says, Axel noticing the four vampires on the stage with varying kinds of instruments.

"Th-thank you, Eric." He says, looking to microphone on the stage and walking to it.

"You are, hopefully, my new form of income in the bar and thus I will provide the resources needed to you." Eric says as Axel begins shuffling songs through his mind that he wants to do.

"Well....what do you say we get started then?" He says, having thought of the perfect song to start with.

Description
Fallen Twilight Chapter 9: Blood of a Millennium

Axel can hardly process what he has just heard.

"You...want me to drink your blood?" He asks, his voice slightly shaky.

"Yes...I don't like the idea of it either, but if I plan to guard you properly, I will need to be able to find you and know when you are in danger. With my blood, I can do that." Eric replied as Sookie begins to shake her head.

"What do you really hope to gain from this Eric? I know you and you are not this "charitable"" She said as Eric's eyes flashed to her.

"There is a great many things you do not know about me Mrs. Stackhouse, you would do well to remember that." He said as he looked towards Axel.

"So, shall we get this over with?" He asks as he stands up and walks over to Axel, making his heart start to beat faster and realize just how tall Eric is.

The closeness to Eric makes Axel realize just how GOOD he smells. He had been expecting him to smell....well, DEAD! But he smells anything but. He smells like a mixture of male musk and surprisingly, roses. The combined smell is causing Axel to react in a way he had HOPED wouldn't happen until AFTER he had some of Eric's blood....at least then he would have a reason for his response.

"Axel.....you're sure about this?" Sookie asks, Axel's eyes practically glued to Eric's.

"Yes, I'm sure Sookie....I don't want to involve anymore people than I have too" Jason replies, glancing back at Sookie with a reassuring smile.

"Al-alright....I'll be right outside....Eric, if you hurt him, so help me...."She says as she walks to the door, opening it and showing Pam standing just outside of it.

"Let me know when they are done, Pam." Sookie says, walking out of view, with Pam smirking.

"Enjoy." Pam chuckles, shutting the door.

With the silence permeating the room, Axel turns to look back at Eric's face with a small bit of lust in it, made all the more apparent from the bulge showing from his jeans. Without a word, Eric brings his arm up to his mouth, opening it to reveal his appearing fangs, then bites doing with a slight popping sound from the skin, bloodying his mouth nearly instantly.

"Here, drink before the wound closes." Eric says, sitting on his desk to allow Axel a more comfortable way of sitting,
Axel walks forward slowly and places himself beside the same side as the bitten arm, taking it into his hands and slowly lowering his head down to the open would. The smell of the blood wafts into Axel's nose and instantly, he is assaulted by the powerful and heightened smell of Eric and without thinking, attaches his lips to the wound, sucking the delicious crimson liquid into his mouth greedily.

For a long time, the only sound in the empty office is the sound of Axel sucking the free-flowing blood out of Eric's ancient veins. As Axel continues to drink the blood, he becomes less aware of his surroundings and solely focused on the pleasure that the blood is giving him and how strong it's making him feel. When Eric's hand begins to gently pull Axel away from the wound, he lets out a snarl in response.

"My...quite to possessive one aren't you?" Eric asks, with Axel raising his head to look at Eric with his lips and part of his face painted in blood.

It's not until he begins to regain part of his consciousness lost from drinking the blood, that Axel realizes he had been grinding his hips against Eric and with a slight blush he apologizes with his head bowed in embarrassment. His head being tilted down allows him to see the wound on Eric's arm heal almost instantly with no sign of damage done to it.

"Woah..." He whispers to himself.

Axel doesn't look up at Eric until he feels a cloth slowly pushed to his face. Looking up, he sees that Eric is only intending to wipe the blood off him.

"Here....use this to clean yourself up." He says as he stands, gripping Axel's shoulders to stand him up as well.

"Th-thanks." Axel replies, wiping the remnants of the blood off his face, while at that moment, Sookie walks in with Pam.

"The fleshies are restless, Eric." Pam says, a constant smirk on her face, no doubt having heard whatever happened in the room.

"Alright then." Eric replies, looking at Axel. "I will come by the bar to work out times for you perform here." Eric says, walking out of the room with Pam, leaving Axel and Sookie alone in the office.

She walks towards Axel and looks at him with a look that is between concern and irritation.

"You really didn't need to do that hunny...We could have just asked Jason to get Alcide's pack to look after you....they owe me enough." She said as Axel wipes a finger across his lips getting a small bit of the blood on it and licking it, savoring the last bit of the blood.
"I know, Sookie but I....I feel better having Eric protecting me....and this way, less people will get involved...I just wouldn't feel right getting an entire group of people involved in something as slight as this, and at least this way, I have a job that allows me do something I love." Axel replies, placing the bloodied up cloth on Eric's desk.

"I just don't don't trust him is all...."

Axel nods in understanding.

"I know Sookie, I'm not saying he's just misunderstood or your distrust is misplaced....I'm just saying that for right now, we NEED to trust him, and don't worry...I won't let my guard down either...I've gotten through too much just to die from a stroke of stupidity now." He says as he hugs her.

"Now...why don't you say we go home and make a nice dinner.....I think we deserve it after this."

With that, they both walk out of the bar, which was now beginning to be filled with the nightly crowd, some humans that Axel can read, but for the most part, his mind picks up the dull hums of Vampires.

Axel walks towards the bar, placing his tray on it.

"I need a rum and coke Tara." He says, looking back at the man he's waiting on.

"You sure he needs anymore? He looks about ready to have his head meet the table." Tara asks, reaching under the bar and grabbing out the rum.

"He's good....I'll be cutting him off after this one though." Axel replies, reading the mans mind for any signs of being ready to pass out....or worse.

"Alright...but if he pukes on the table, I am NOT cleaning that shit up." Tara says, giving Axel a look that says she isn't kidding.

Axel chuckles as Tara takes the glass on Axel's tray and ours some rum into it.

"Alright, Tara." He says, looking around the mostly empty bar, No Doubt's "Hella Good" playing quietly in the background.

A smile on his face, Axel enjoys the lack of chatter in the bar.....in both the heard and mostly unheard kind. A few days had gone by since he and Sookie had gone to Fangtasia and in those few days, Axel had proved that Eric had not misplaced his judgement in allowing Axel to be the bar's new main attraction.

Not only had he been well received.....in terms of vampires since they didn't make their disinterest vocal, though Axle figured that also had to do with Eric being in charge of the bar, but the small bit of humans he had heard in the bar had enjoyed his singing, no matter how drunk they were.

Drunken minds are a very interesting thing. While it may seem that a person is in control of their actions, they are just like a backseat driver. Always seeing everything happen but unable to control how they react......it made Axel think of the books he used to read as a kid...Animorphs and the Yeerks controlling a person. The person could scream and fight all they wanted in their head but they couldn't control themselves.

Brought back from his thoughts by Tara placing the cup on his tray, Axel turns to her and smiled.

"Thanks, Tara." He says, walking over to the man in his section.....who is currently barely keeping himself together and from succumbing to his drunken state.

Wordlessly, Axel set down the drink, then turned back around and walked back to the bar, setting his tray on the bar and sitting on a stool.

"Mind getting me a Pepsi out, Tara?" He asks

With a nod, Tara gets the requested drink and sets it in front of Axel who takes the drink and pops open the can, taking a long sip of it.

"So...mind telling me when you and Sookie planned on telling me you made a deal with that bloodsucker in Shreveport?" Tara asks, as Axel ends up choking on his drink and takes a moment or two to get over the bouts of coughing.

"W-when did you find that out?!" He asks, his voice a little hoarse from the drink going down wrong.

"Sookie can't hide everything from me....I may not be able to read minds like you guys, but I have intuition.....so spill."

At that precise moment, Sookie comes in from the back room and sees the interrogating look in Tara's eyes.

"Tara, leave the poor boy alone." She says, a tired sound in her voice, her hands on her hips.

"When were you planning on telling me you went to that vampire bar? I thought you were done with vamps, Sook."

Sookie shakes her head, making her ponytailed hair bob back and forth.

"That is so none of your business, Tara."

"I think it is if it means you're both in trouble. I already have enough fucked up shit in my life and I don't need my best friend dying on me to add to it." Tara fires back as Axel gets up from his spot and walks away from the bar, towards Sam's office, quietly avoiding the slight argument brewing.

Sam is sitting at his desk, looking over papers that probably have to do with bills and the like. When Axel walks in, he raises his head and gives a small smile.

"You taking off?" He asks as Axel takes off his apron and throws it in the laundry hamper.

"Yep, Sookie and I are planning on just hanging out before I have a thing I need to be at tonight." Axel replies, grabbing his very small wallet that Sookie had gotten for him so he would have his money on hand, and sliding it into his front pocket, feeling much safer knowing it would be harder for people to steal it from the front than the back.

"Anything you can tell me about this "thing" you need to go to tonight?" Sam asks, turning around in his chair and leaning forward, resting his elbows on his legs and folding his hands together, resting his head on-top of them.

Axel slowly turns around, and eyebrow raised.

"Why would you want to know?" He asks, treading carefully. He doesn't want to read Sam's mind since he had finally got the hang of the mental barriers Sookie had been talking about.

"It wouldn't be up in that bar in Shreveport would it? That vampire bar." Sam asks, as Axel begins to feel a little uncomfortable.

"What makes you think that?" He asks.

"Because Tara told me you went there a few days ago....with Sookie. You aren't getting mixed up with some vampire are you, Axel? They're dead and if Sookie is any indication.....they aren't nothing more than cold, heartless, killers." He says, a slight disdain showing through in his voice.

"Not all vampires are like that Sam....they're just like us in many ways. One could be cold and calculating.....murderous. While the other could marvel in the wonders of life. Just because a few are like doesn't make all of them that way. Otherwise, we might as well label humans as nothing but mindless animals too since we have been the ones waging all the wars before." Axel says, his mind flashing an image of Eric in it.

Without another word, Axel walks out of Sam's office and back to the bar, grabbing a hold of Sookie's wrist.

"Come on, I don't really wanna be here any longer than I need to right now." He says as she nods and walks away from the bar with a wave to Tara.

Walking out to the car, Sookie looks at Axel.

"You alright hun?" She asks as they get into the car.

Axel doesn't answer for a moment as he does up his seatbelt, then he sighs.

"I'm fine. I just....wasn't expecting everyone to know that we went to the bar is all.....who would have seen us, Sookie?" He asks as Sookie puts her keys into the ignition, turning on the car with it's sputtering noise that brings it to life.

"I don't know hun, but if people are knowing about it, we may need to be more careful." She replies as she pulls the car out of the dirt parking-lot, kicking up the dry dirt as the tires spin.

Later that Night:

Axel and Sookie walking into Fangtasia, looking around for Eric or Pam in the currently empty bar.

Before either of them can call for them, Pam is in front of Axel in a flash. The first time she had done that, Axel had cried out in shock but after her doing it a few more times, he had managed to keep himself from jumping and keeping it to just a small twitch of surprise.

"Good, you're here." She says, holding up a set of leather pants and a jacket.

"Uhhhh....what is THAT for?" Axel asks, pointing to the set.

"I sincerely hope you are being funny, because it should be obvious." Pam says, raising an amused eyebrow. "Eric thinks that you need to show a little more skin to attract more of our kind into the bar."

Axel raises a brow and shakes his head as Sookie is rendered speechless.

"I don't know if I am the most attractive person to be put on display for vampires." He says as Pam scoffs.

"It's not because you're attractive.....it's so they see more of the skin that holds that...sweet smelling blood inside you. You have nothing to worry about though as Eric has instructed me to assure you he will be watching the performance for your safety.....but just remember, you're an attraction to this bar now, and if more people want to see you, that means more money for the bar."

"So you want to practically dress me up and put me on display as a bloodbag?!" Axel yelps.

"Hardly."

Axel turns his head towards Eric's voice.

"I did not give my blood to you on a whim, nor did I do it only to have you killed by some pathetic excuse for a vampire who cannot keep their hunger in check." Eric says as he walks over to Pam, taking the leather outfit.

Axel blushes as he remembers his shock at seeing himself the morning after he had drank Eric's blood. His hair, normally flat and dull, had been full of life and bright, showing off the brilliant brown that it is. In addition to that, he had found himself able to react to things much faster, his senses improved as he had managed to catch a beer bottle falling from his tray before it hit the ground when he was working at Merlotte's

It had gained him a few shocked looks and raised eyebrows, the more memorable of which were from Sam and Alexia.

In addition to heightened senses and improved hair....Axel had also noticed an increase in....his sex drive. Without fail, Axel had dreamed of Eric every night, leaving Axel with a very annoying hard-on that he had to slip to the bathroom to take care of, though it never took to long.

"Now, I would appreciate it if you wore this tonight. You are by no means average, Axel.....and it appears my blood has done wonders for you." Eric says, breaking Axel from his train of thought and thrusting the outfit into his hands.

"Pam will take you to the washroom to help you with it, should you need any."

Without another word, Eric speeds out of the room and into his office, the door closing surprisingly quietly.

Sookie looks at Axel with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I don't need to tell you what I think about this, but it's also your decision." She says as Axel nods.

"Yep, I know. I'm gonna do this, it's not like he's stringing me up and hanging me over a pit of snapping vamps so I can't argue." He says, Pam's mouth twitching slightly, but not enough to show amusement or annoyance.

"Let's go and get you changed, Eric wants you to be performing before the crowd gets here, so we have reason to charge them." Pam says, walking towards the bathrooms, her heel clicking against the concrete floor.

"I'll just be in front of the stage waiting for you to come out, Axel." Sookie smiles, walking to a table and sitting down.

Axel stayed where he was for a moment, taking a breath before he walks towards the washroom and walking in, seeing Pam primping herself in the mirror.

"They're in the stall." Is all she says, pursing her lips together, then forcing them apart with a pop, finishing the application of a new layer of lipstick.

"That outfit...is more conservative than I would have chosen. Eric, however, was adamant that it be enough to bring people into the bar and not make you bait to our kind." She says as Axel slips into the stall and closes it, not bothering to lock it since doing so would be pointless if Pam really wanted to get in.

Finally picking up the outfit and giving it a look-over, he scoffs.

"This is "conservative"?" He says, to which Pam, surprising, chuckles. instead of a calming tone to it though, it just sets Axel even more on edge.

"It was either that, or you would have nothing to leave to the imagination." She replies, as Axel mutters a "thanks" and starts undressing from his clothes, neatly folding and placing them on the toilet in front of him.

As Axel is slipping on the outfit, Pam begins pacing the bathroom, the clicking of her heels echoing in the confined room.

"Perhaps you can....enlighten me to something." She says, an amused tone in her voice.

"And what....would you need enlightening to?" Axel asks, sliding the smooth, black leather pants up his legs and feeling slightly exposed with the generous amount of skin they show.

"It continues to evade me as to how Eric could have POSSIBLY become so enamored with you. I have never seen Eric show an interest in any human before, save for Sookie, and the same goes for anyone else......what about you is so special?" She asks, as Axel's heart leaps at the thought of Eric being even remotely interested in him in.....that way.

Axel, choosing his words carefully, slides on the leather jacket, leaving his mid-drift exposed, but thankfully allowing him to zip it up, covering his chest.

"I've never noticed his interest in me before, Pam....I only just met you both." He says as Pam huffs in frustration.

"How could you not realize that he gave his blood to you because he wants you to himself?!" She asks, her voice conveying shock and mocking.

"I don't understand....." Axel replies, paused in his current task.

"You really don't know how things work....do you?"

Axel flinches slightly at the demeaning tone to Pam's voice.

"I'll take that as a no." She says, Axel having resumed his task of getting dressed, sliding the boots on and tying them up.

"Would....could my blood possibly have had any affect on his attraction to me?" He asks.

"Did you hear a thing I said? He let you drink his blood, only because he wants to constantly know where you are....to our kind, you BELONG to him now." Pam laughs.

"But....what will his blood do to me then?" Axel asks, coming out of the stall and looking at Pam with a look of "How do I look?"

Pam scoffs to herself and walks to Axel, running her hands through his hair, messing it up.

"Your sense will be keener, your strength will increase, and you should feel....healthier, as well as a more active.....libido." She says, stepping back and appraising her work on Axel's now messy hair.

"Anything else I should know?"

"I don't care about what you do, but if this information will prevent you from doing something stupid that will endanger Eric and I, then fine. If you drink from Eric once, he gains a connection to you and your emotions, sensing when you are in trouble. You develop an attraction to him. Second time drinking from him will increase the link between you, and the third time solidifies it into a blood bond, Unbreakable until the death of the human."

"Why the human? Why not the vampire" Axel asks, Pam laughing in response.

"Two points." She says, holding up two fingers for emphasis.

"Point one. This is Eric, you are talking about....you wouldn't even be able to blink before he could rip your throat out. Point two. The blood bond is meant to last for the duration of the human's life, not the vampire's. The catch to this, is that even if the vampire dies, the bond will still exist and in most cases, will cause the human to go insane." Pam says, Axel standing in the same spot, unblinking.

"The bond YOU currently have with, Eric, is one sided and therefore, will fade within a six month to twelve month period."

Axel sighs in relief.

"That's a relief, thanks, Pam." Axel's face changes to one of reluctance as he asks his next question.

"Not to look a gift horse in the mouth.....but why did you answer any of my questions?"

"Sookie cares for you, and for some reason I can't comprehend, Eric does too. So I feel I can trust you on SOME level.....but don't prove me wrong...."Pam says, grabbing Axel in a burst of blurring speed, her fangs popping out.

"Or I will rip your fucking throat out and use it as a straw." She says, hissing. Fear flashes in Axel's eyes as he gulps and nods, Pam's fangs receding into his mouth with the sound of bone hitting bone.

Pam, letting Axel go, smirks.

"Come." She says, walking out of the restroom, with Axel quickly grabbing his clothes from the stall and following after her.

Walking to the stage, Sookie gets out of her seat and looks at Axel with appraising eyes.

"Well, it's not as bad as I thought it would be at least." She says, Axel smiling in thanks.

"Thanks, Sookie." Axel says, pulling her into a quick hug.

(And don't worry, Pam, Eric and I will make sure we look out for any trouble....so just worry about singing. On a plus side, you won't be "hearing" as many people here as you would at Merlotte's) Sookie thinks, Axel smiling wider.

(True....thanks again Sookie.) He says as they pull away from the hug and Axel walks to the stage, Eric appearing on the stage alongside him.

"I have gotten vampires with a satisfactory knowledge of music, so you only need to worry about your singing." He says, Axel noticing the four vampires on the stage with varying kinds of instruments.

"Th-thank you, Eric." He says, looking to microphone on the stage and walking to it.

"You are, hopefully, my new form of income in the bar and thus I will provide the resources needed to you." Eric says as Axel begins shuffling songs through his mind that he wants to do.

"Well....what do you say we get started then?" He says, having thought of the perfect song to start with.