Charlaine Harris-Dead Until Dark

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Chapter 1

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i'd beenWAITING for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar.
Ever since vampires came out of the coffin (as they laugh-ingly put it) four years ago, I'd hoped one
would come to Bon Temps. We had all the otherminorities in our little town—why not the newest, the
legally recognized undead? But rural northern Louisiana wasn't too tempting to vam-pires, apparently; on
the other hand, New Orleans was a real center for them—the whole Anne Rice thing, right?
It's not that long a drive from Bon Temps to New Orleans, and everyone who came into the bar said
that if you threw a rock on a street comer you'd hitone. Though you better not.
But I was waiting for my own vampire.
You can tell I don't get out much. And it's not because I'm not pretty. I am. I'm blond and blue-eyed and
twenty-five, and my legs are strong and my bosom is substantial, and I have a waspy waistline. I look
good in the warm-weather waitress outfit Sam picked for us: black shorts, white T, white socks, black
Nikes.
But I have adisability. That's how I try to think of it.
The bar patrons just say I'm crazy.
Either way, the result is that I almost never have a date. So little treats count a lot with me.
And he sat at one of my tables—the vampire.
I knew immediately what he was. It amazed me when no one else turned around to stare. They couldn't
tell! But to me, his skin had a little glow, and I just knew.
I couldhave danced with joy, and in fact I did do a little step right there by the bar. Sam Merlotte, my
boss, looked up from the drink he was mixing and gave me a tiny smile. I grabbed my tray and pad and
went over to the vampire's table. I hoped that my lipstick was still even and my ponytail was still neat. I'm
kind of tense, and I could feel my smile yanking the corners of my mouth up.
He seemedlost in thought, and I had a chance to give him a good once-over before he looked up. He
was a little under six feet, I estimated. He had thick brown hair, combed straight back and brushing his
collar, and his long sideburns seemed curiously old-fashioned. He was pale, of course; hey, he was dead,
if you believed the old tales. The politically correct theory, the one the vamps themselvespublicly
backed, had it that this guy was the victim of a virus that left him apparently dead for a couple of days
and thereafter al-lergic to sunlight, silver, and garlic. The details depended on which newspaper you read.
They were all full of vampire stuff these days.
Anyway, his lips were lovely, sharply sculpted, and he had arched dark brows. His nose swooped down
right out of that arch, like aprince's in a Byzantine mosaic. When he finally looked up, I saw his eyes
were even darker than his hair, and the whites were incredibly white.
"What can I get you?" I asked, happy almost beyond words.
He raised his eyebrows. "Do you have the bottled synthetic blood?" he asked.
"No, I'm so sorry! Sam's got some on order. Should be in next week."

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"Then red wine, please," he said, and his voice was cool and clear, like a stream over smooth stones. I
laughed out loud. It was too perfect.
"Don't mind, Sookie, mister, she's crazy," came a familiarvoice from the booth against the wall. All my
happiness de-flated, though I could feel the smile still straining my lips. The vampire was staring at me,watching the life go out of my face.
"I'll get your wine right away," I said, and strode off, not even looking at Mack Rattray's smug face. He
was there almost every night, he and his wife Denise. I called them the Rat Couple. They'd done their
best to make me miserable since they'd moved into the rent trailer at Four Tracks Cor-ner. I had hoped
that they'd blow out of Bon Temps as sud-denly as...