March 10 Meeting

Twelve and a half weeks. My God but the time is a confusing mixture of fast and slow. It seems like yesterday we were at 40 weeks and now we had only a matter of three months. We had been through news droughts and revolutions and now a visit from the Fellowship of the Sun and we were still anxiously, painfully waiting for the new adventures. We were starved for news but we found some comfort in our open relationship with our counselors.

In the beginning, things were cloaked, couched in terms that hid their real faces, separated by the walls that kept us from them and them from us. Now it was a comfort to know that there were some days, like today, when there was a counselor sleeping in the cozy wicker coffin I had found, or some evenings they just came to be quiet, like Eric, who sat on the couch in the quiet of the parlor, listening to the Celtic music CD in the hard drive as I worked on things for the forum, a small fire popping in the fireplace. It would be spring soon, but I would never forget the way his eyes stared into the fire and seemed to be somewhere else.

We were waiting for a time when we would feel the heat of the bayou, and hear the humming of living things and know that there were creatures hunting. We never feared for ourselves, Eric had promised me that he would take care of us all as we followed them on their adventures, and that is something I trusted implicitly. And there was nothing for me like the comfort of Bill on our Tuesday night visits and the way he was gentle and sweet and passionate. I am sure it was like that for all of us when we got to be alone with our counselors.

It was still strange when I would come into the meeting room, our parlor, and see Renee, Aolani, and Lina sitting around the computer with Pam, looking at shoes, and picking things out they would like to have. Or find Jessica and Kid there, head to head looking at their ipods and phones and laughing. Or Eric, hunched over a hand of poker with GS and Dude and Sal and Mikeylikesit. Or Bill, reading something from the shelves of just talking quietly with Vi or Renee or smiling his sweet closed lip smile at something Scarlett had said to him.

Vi and Lina was making some good Spanish food, using peppers and cilantro and other spices that co-marry and create the smells that made your stomach rumble. I knew there would be enchiladas and quesadillas and other treats set out before us for our supper. I sat down on the couch and tried to imagine who might be in the coffin. It was like a surprise, a Vampire jack-in-the-box. More often than not it was Eric. Sometimes his little missions (whatever they were) caught him out late with dawn looming. But sometimes, I think he liked going to his daytime rest here because he was lonely in his nice house in Northern Louisiana and liked knowing that though he was asleep, he was surrounded by humans who cared about him and would keep him safe to the best of their ability.

God Speed came in and sniffed the air and made what can only be construed as a yummy noise. He sat down at the computer. “Did you see the new smilies?” he said to the room in general. We had, of course. The humpy smilies and the monkey peeing smilie was great, though I had warned everyone that we could not have

Bill Pee or Eric Pee . That would simply be nastiness for nastiness sake.

Plus we were just proud that our forum had celebrated its first month. Tonight we had a few things to discuss, but we would also be celebrating. Lina picked up a big bottle of Mescal.
“Good Lord, where did we get that?” I asked.
“Eric left it,” she said. “Isn’t he sweet!”
“Oh yeah, a real darling,” I said. I suspected he liked to serve mescal. The drunk was smooth and it rarely made you sick and it would come back if you drank anything cold the day after. I suspected that of all the alcoholic drinks, this was the one Eric enjoyed being in the blood the most. The great rogue.

Westexan came in, the Kaiser in her arms. I suspect this was a show of solidarity since the meeting with the Fellowship of the Sun. It made Westexan mad they would accuse our Vampires of wanting to harm a child, particularly because the two men had been parents at one time themselves. Right now he was asleep. I arraigned some pillows around the couch and Westexan laid the baby in his blankets and he continued his own version of the daytime rest. I think all babies look like little drunks sleeping off a milk bender.

Linzy and Fairy and Bella came in, laden with sweets. Jebus, I was glad that we somehow managed to keep up the nervous energy enough to burn off our calories because we really enjoyed some food around here. I sniffed the goodies they had brought in. Minnie came in armed with more goodness and I felt like I could faint from the treats.

Soon though, we were all eating and laughing and talking, leaning against counters, sitting at the bar and the table and did not notice which of the Vampires woke from their rest till we heard the Kaiser snuffling and I saw Bill cuddling the baby against his silent chest. He cooed to the baby and rubbed his back. Westexan looked up.

“Is he wet Bill?” she asked.
“I think he is hungry,” said the dark haired Vampire. He looked down at the baby and stood with him and brought him over to Westexan, who had heated a bottle for him. Westexan took him and Bill kissed her on the cheek and gently stroked the Kaiser’s hair with his long fingers.

“Are you hungry Bill?” I said. He nodded and kissed me gently on the mouth. I got up and picked out four bottles of Tru:blood and heated them in the microwave. Fairy and GS and Nicky came and stood nearby to fetch their favorites their drinks when they came in. And it was not long. They came in and Tru:Blood bottles were whisked away promptly to the incoming Vampires. I took Bill’s his. “Bon Appetite,” I said.
“Well, it isn’t as nice as the wonderful little meal you gave me last night, but it will do,” he said, giving me another little kiss. Aw shucks….

“They have found Calvin,” said Eric, putting the Kaiser on his towel covered shoulder. He began to pat the baby gently on the back as he sat down and sipped his Blood. “We are nearly ready for the adventures to begin.
“Do you think they will start Jason’s story this soon?” asked Vi, sitting down by Bill.
“I don’t know, but perhaps the Source is pulling that story in quicker,” said the Viking. “It will be quite entertaining.”
“Poor Jason,” said Bella. “He never gets an even break.”
“You pay for the life you lead,” said the Viking.

“And as you know, we will be meeting Eric’s father,” said Fairy. We were pleased to be able to see Eric and his life before, but we all suspected, what with rumors of the ancient grudge Eric was bearing, that this was going to be another enlightening but painful look into Eric’s life. I felt sorry for him, despite my desire to see it.

But I still worried about Bill and Jessica. They were out of the frying pan and into the fire, the both of them. Was the episode with the trucker just a onetime thing, never to be repeated? Or was she some sort of weird bulimic, binging then starving herself. It did not escape my attention that GS and Sal and Scarlett often had to coax her into finishing a whole bottle of Tru:Blood. And Bill, he was kidnapped and being held though we were not sure as to how things would come out for him, would Lorena finally get down to torturing him (Which would be painful for me and my sister wives to watch).

There was of course the spot of bother about Alcide, tramping about in areas he had no business tramping about in. I wondered how far that would go and how angry would Eric be and how his wives would be busy keeping him in check while they may or may not appreciate the “mutt” as Eric called him.

“What are you thinking about Aslinn?” asked Bill. I looked at him.
“Oh I was thinking about the adventures. I can hardly wait for them to begin,” I said.
“You are like a Viking before battle dearest,” said the Viking, holding the baby now in his arms, snoozing against the creature I heard a woman call demonic. “You can’t wait to get into the fight.”
“She’s Irish Eric, and Cherokee,” said Bill. “She has her own savage spirit.”
“That is what I like about Americans, you all carry the spirits of all cultures inside you,” he said, looking down at the Kaiser. “Even the boy here has all the spirit of his people.” Westexan laughed.
“You act as though you are the father of this baby Eric,” she said, teasing the Viking.
“Well, I am his strange godfather,” he said.

“Imagine some crazy woman saying you would eat our children,” said Butter, rubbing her honey bun.
“But there are Vampires who would, our friend Franklin Mott for example. He is a very backward thinking Vampire. He will do things that other Vampires won’t,” said Pam.
“So I don’t suppose he will be invited to be a counselor, will he?” asked Scarlett.
“No, but if you are approached by him, or if you ever go to Merlotte’s do not get around him,” said Pam, her voice stern. We nodded. We knew that there were some Vampires we could not ever trust. We remembered Liam, Diane and Malcolm very well.

“How will you all deal with him?” I asked.
“By the most harsh means at out disposal,” said Eric.
“How about at Fangtasia, will he be there?” asked Bella.
“You do not have to worry about him misbehaving at Fangtasia, I will not allow it,” said Eric. The Kaiser cried a little and the Viking looked at him.
“Give him Eric, he probably needs a change,” said Westexan. The Sheriff handed the little tea cup over to his momma. West went off to the loo to change him.

“Aslinn, Aolani, what do we know about werewolves?” said Minnie.
“Well, the first rule of thumb is never to assume you know everything about any of the supernatural beings we have encountered or have yet to encounter,” said Aolani.
“What we do know is that wereanimal stories are as far flung as Vampire stories. The lore becomes pretty exotic, but there are kernels of truth in them,” I said.
“We shall probably learn a lot about the weres from Alcide,” said Linzy.
“Not too much though chere,” said the Viking, stroking her shoulder. Linzy had a brief flirtation with the “mutt” as Eric had called him.
“How do they differ from Sam?” asked Minnie.
“Sam is a shifter. He is a were animal, but unlike werewolves, he can imprint on an animal and become that animal. Werewolves only shift into wolves,” I explained.
“The Connection was not very clear on her explanation,” said God Speed.
“Well, that is why we have our girls here,” said Bill.

“Besides Sookie, will we be seeing any other faeries?” asked Fairy.
“Hum, I wished,” said Pam. “They are very yummy.”
“Oh yeah, I can imagine,” I said. She grinned at me with her toothy grin.
“I think we will be. The Source is looking for Claudine,” said Linzy.
“Of course Sookie will be looking for her other family, trying to understand what she may be,” said Bill.
“As Aslinn has said before, this season’s theme is family, the way the family works or interacts or finds each other,” said Eric.
“Well, family can mean a lot of things to a lot of people,” said Renee. “And we have a tight knit little family here.”
“Very true, you will need to support each other as the adventure begins, these may be very difficult days for you,” said Bill.

Difficult days. Twelve and half weeks before the new adventures begin. We humans took a collective breath. And held it.