AN: So this is an AU story starting before even the events of season 1. Vampires have come out of the coffin and are presenting themselves as mainstreamers. Eric Northman is the Sheriff of Area 5. This is the story of what would happen if Jessica were to never have been turned but stumble into the world of vampires by accident and meet Eric.

They all laughed as the car took off, so she'd laughed for a moment too – thinking that they'd turn around after just a second or stop and let her run to catch up. But seconds turned into moments and moments turned into nearly fifteen minutes and they weren't coming back. They'd left her out there on her own.

She swallowed thickly. If her momma found out that she was out on her own on a night like this, she'd be beside herself and if her father found out – she'd be dead. She took a deep breath and frowned, she'd told them both she was sleeping at a friend's and studying for tests they had the next week. She hadn't let on to the fact that the popular kids had invited her out for the night and she'd said yes.

How stupid of her.

She took off walking in the direction of home, frowning when her legs felt as though they were going to give out. It was then that she heard noises just before she turned the corner and noticed the music playing and the crowd outside of the establishment. She circumvented the line and walked to the bouncer, clearing her throat. "Excuse me, I don't reckon I'm really old enough to be inside but could I please use a phone?" she asked politely, the way her parents would have been proud of.

"Only let paying customers in, darlin'" he drawled, leering at her.

She glanced down at her feet. "Well, I can't drink but I could buy a soda pop or something if I could just use the phone."

"How about this – you go in, use the phone, then come back out here to talk to me a bit and we'll work something else out for the…drink."

She smiled gratefully at the bouncer. Grateful and naïve before she started to take a step inside but before she could even plant her foot back down; she collided with a hard, cool body.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" She glanced up at the source of the voice and was about to respond before she realized that the question was not meant for her but rather the bouncer. "Well, Longshadow?" The man she'd collided with was tall, statuesque even. He was long blonde hair and pale skin that made her want to reach out and touch – to see if he felt like marble since he looked as though he might.

"She needed to use the telephone," the bouncer replied easily.

"You don't think that convincing humans that we're mainstreaming will be much more difficult if we let in a tiny under-aged blood bag?"

All of the words suddenly clicked into place and she looked up, her eyes finally finding the sign on the building. Fangtasia. She had been so oblivious. She'd just needed a phone and now she was going to die and…

"Calm down," the tall blonde man snapped in her direction before glowering at the vampire he'd called Longshadow. "Get inside and tend bar. Everyone get inside!" he'd roared to those waiting on line to enter or fooling around against the wall of the establishment. She moved to take a step but a strong hand touched her shoulder, "Not you," he said calmly before heaving a sigh. "You can calm down, your fear smells intoxicating and if you'd prefer not to be dinner – I'd take a breath."

At first, his reasoning made her worry even more until the last few words. "You sighed," she pointed out and he stared at her, perplexed. "You sighed but you didn't really have to because you don't breathe, isn't that right?"

"Do you know who I am?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. I'm sorry and I also don't mean to be getting this bar or your kind into any sort of trouble. My momma and daddy may be very intolerant against mainstreaming vampires, but I say – so long as you're not going to kill me, it's okay with me."

He ignored her, "I am Eric Northman." He said it as though that should bear some sort of strong impact on her. "Sheriff of Area 5," he elaborated before realizing she wasn't going to react. "I strongly advise you go home, little girl."

"I'm not a little girl," she insisted defiantly. "Do you know who I am? I'm Jessica Hamby. There's no fancy title to go along with it, but there will be one day, just wait and see Sheriff Northman." There was a pause and she looked down at her feet, "Besides I don't know how to get home at the moment. My friends thought it would be very funny to let me get home on my own from the movie theatre a few miles west of here."

"With humans like that, how could one ever go hungry?" Eric mused; he knew he should have forced the girl away. She smelt delectable – he could smell the innocence on her and that was dangerous. It was dangerous because he was hungry and because he was trying to maintain Fangtasia as a respectable way to mainstream for the public eye.

"Could I please use your phone?"

"I can't let you in there, Jessica Hamby, with no fancy title," he insisted before reaching into the pocket of his black slacks and handing her his cell phone. "Make it fast."

Jessica stared at the phone in his hand and frowned, realizing she didn't even know who she should call.

Growing frustrated with the young girl, her meek mannerisms and her uncertainty, he snatched the phone back. "Or you could walk home and we'll just hope none of the stragglers who close out their tab will smell you and hunt you down."

That was when he saw it, the flash of defiance in her eyes. She glowered up at him before ticking an eyebrow up. "A pleasure to meet you then, Sheriff," she all but snarled before walking off.

He let her get about fifty feet before he moved to catch up with her, getting there in the blink of an eye. His speed frightening her so much that she jumped and screamed. "Or if it pleases you to increase your chances of living to see your twentieth birthday, we could provide you a way to get home."

She looked up at him, "Are all vampires like you?"

"No," he responded, not bothering to inquire what she really meant by that. He didn't necessarily like the way this human was looking at him and while normally, he would not have hesitated in dragging her around back and draining her, he somehow felt the need to refrain.

"What are other vampires like?"

"Are you always this annoying?"

"I've heard you should never answer a question with another questions." It was clear that she was enjoying this idiotic conversation but didn't feel as though she was trying to instigate him. He never understood humans – at least not since being turned long ago. They seemed so desperate; the fangbangers that frequented his bar were so desperate for attention and a sick form of companionship that they endangered their lives. Eric briefly remembered that the girl's "friends" had left her behind and he frowned, supposing that perhaps Jessica Hamby was desperate for conversation and companionship and too stupid to realize she should not be trying to banter with a vampire sheriff.

He watched as she shook some hair from her face as a breeze swept through. Her bright vibrant hair swirled around her with the breeze and he caught her scent in his nostrils, a low growl in his throat.

She heard it and, for the first time, looked as terrified as she should have been from the very start.

He wondered if he should tell her he wasn't going to feed on her, yell at her to leave, or sink his fangs into her neck when he heard glass shattering from inside then howls of pain as two young vampires were thrown from the front of the establishment – Longshadow and a woman walking slowly out after them as a crowd gathered behind them.

"I won't have any of that fighting here. If you want to kill one another and make a mess, you do it somewhere I won't have to clean it," the woman sneered. The two vampires had just been turned and were not too happy about being throttled and kicked out of the bar. Whatever fight they'd had amongst each other was quickly forgotten and they charged at the woman and Longshadow.

Jessica watched, her eyes wide. Their fighting was so quick that if you blinked, you missed it. She gasped and watched with intrigue. She was about to turn to ask Eric another question when she realized he was gone, now standing closer to the building with a hand wrapped around each young vampire's throat. "Enough!" he roared before tossing them onto the ground.

Another breeze blew through the night, doing nothing to chill or cool the already dead vampires frequenting Fangtasia. A few humans scurried inside but all vampires turned their attention to the sweet, innocent smell of the seventeen year old standing only thirty feet away.

Another young one had the nerve to actually move towards her but Eric quickly got in between them. "The girl is mine," he hissed and the other vampires quickly cowered away.

"Excuse me?" Jessica asked incredulously, the redhead's defiance coming out once more, but Eric ignored it. She felt eyes on her and turned to find the woman, or rather – the female vampire - staring out her curiously.

"Pam, I'm going to be taking Miss. Hamby home. I trust you to look after the bar."

Pam gave him a questioning look before bobbing her head obediently and going inside, clearly wanting to question Eric's judgment but knowing better than to voice it.

Eric slowly turned to Jessica and peered down at her. "Come on, tiny human. Let's get you home," he replied dully. "Can't have your parents sending out a search party and finding you hear. The AVL has threatened me with the true death often enough."

Jessica looked at him uncertainly and, she could have sworn his lips twitched into a brief smirk. Something about being near Eric Northman made her insides flutter and turn over and she wasn't sure why.

Okay, that was a lie.

She knew why. He was handsome as sin. He stood in front of her like a Greek God. But she also knew that the longer she stayed near him, the more upset her parents would be if they found out. Her parents had always been strict with her and for all seventeen years of her life, she'd been obedient if not down right subservient. Never stepping too far out of line – knowing what her father would do if she did.

He seemed to be looking at her expectantly. "Well, are you coming?" he finally asked, exasperation in his voice.

She bobbed her head and followed him around the corner towards a parking lot. He reached into his pocket and, a moment later, the lights flashed on a convertible, signaling the doors were unlocked.

"Vampires drive?" she asked curiously.

"Not often, but a car is a nice luxury and we do like to…indulge," he flashed a smirk at her before climbing in to the driver's seat and waiting for her to join him in the car. Once she was seated, he buckled his seatbelt and waited for her to give him some indication of where he lived.

"I could have called a cab," she pointed out once they were already on the road.

"Did you have money for a cab?"

Her silence answered his question. She contemplated talking to him more, asking more questions. But instead she sat silently, with her hands in her lap, and only spoke to give him soft directions. He pulled over a block before her home and turned to look at her, "Jessica, look at me for a moment."

She met his eyes.

"Jessica, it was very dangerous for you to come to a vampire bar tonight. Not just for you, but for me and my business. You will never come back to Fangtasia. Vampires, while they don't want to hurt you now that they are mainstreaming, are not your friends. In fact, you will forget about the events that transpired there tonight entirely and go about your life."

He never broke eye contact with her, glamouring was a simple fix – he couldn't have under aged girls thinking it was okay to come around his place of work.

"How am I going to forget?"

Eric blinked, staring at her for a moment.

She looked at him expectantly, "Why were you just looking at me and talking to me funny?"

His eyes narrowed and he inhaled through his nose. She smelt perfectly human. "What…are you?" he asked softly and when she looked at him with confusion he heaved another sigh.

"There you go, breathing when you don't have to again. But it's okay, Sheriff Northman, I didn't mean to wind up there. I was left there by my friends." She ignored his scoff. "But I won't be visiting again anytime soon. Scouts honor. Thank you for the ride home," she said softly before easing out of the car and moving to walk the short distance down the block to her home. It was late and she knew she was in for it once she slipped inside.

She turned around at the end of her driveway, but the car had already sped off.

AN: So I know Jessica is a little bit different, but that's because she's still inhibited by her humanity. The reason why she's immune to glamouring is the same reason why canon!Jessica is so good at glamouring humans. But more on that later.

Coming soon: Pam questions Eric about the pretty little blood bag from outside the bar. Jessica breaks her promise and returns to Fangtasia.