March 3

Thirteen and a half weeks til our new adventures and we were restless. I often found myself pacing the length of the parlor, feeling the ache of my addiction. The Source was teasing us, mainly by not speaking at all of the adventures and then being blasé about it and not telling us what we might expect when he did. Not to mention the fact that the last summers adventures were being enjoyed by our friends overseas. I should really stop drinking coffee after 11:00 am, it does nothing for my nerves. Maybe I should start drinking wine. It was a breakfast drink somewhere, right?

God Speed came in and sat down at the computer. He sniffed and looked around the computer. “Damn it, I wished they would clean up their Tru:Blood bottles when they finish, that crap stinks to high heaven,” he grumbled.

“That was Jessica and the Kid, I am sorry to say,” I said, lighting another Turkish blend cigarette. Eric had planted several boxes around with cigarettes in them, all of them the sweet Turkish blend I enjoyed so much. “They were downloading some music last night.”

GS simply frowned, took the bottle to the sink, gave it a rinse and threw it in the glass recycling container. He came back and sat down. “How does Renee like that relationship?”

“Don’t get her started. Bill and Renee are trying to co-parent but I don’t think that is working out. Bill is many things, a good parent, though, he is not,” I said. I sat down and looked at the thing I had bought for the visiting night creatures. The late 1800’s wicker coroner’s coffin, lined in heavy wool filler felt and Chinese silk, was a beautiful thing. My dad had repaired and lined it, making it light tight and cozy. The trick was finding one for a 6 ½ foot tall Viking. When I found a seven footer in an antique shop in Kentucky, I knew I had to have it. Folded inside was Minnie’s quilt and there was a pillow in the same Chinese silk. I picked up a magazine, VQ, and began to leaf through it. One of the nice things about having Vampires in your social circle is that you get to look at all the Vampire stuff. We had a sizable stack of magazines and newspapers and catalogs that appealed to the fanged set.

Scarlett Harlot came in and flopped down beside me and laid her head on my shoulder. “What’s the matter chere?” I said, handing her my cigarette.
“I am hiding out,” she said. “Is there coffee?”
“Yes there is,” I said. “And there are sausage and biscuits in the oven if you are peckish.”
“Yum,” she said. “What is that?” she pointed at the large wicker basket.
“Coffin,” I said.
“Nah uh, no way,” she said. She opened it and looked down. “Well, what do you know, it is a coffin.”
“Told you,” I said. “I figured this would be better than having a real wooden coffin in here.”



“Is it true what I heard?” asked Scarlett.
“About what?” asked GS.
“The Fellowship of the Sun wants a meeting with us?” she asked.
“That is what Pam said. Apparently, they are trying to visit all the forums, try to get into our heads, convert us, I guess,” said GS.
“Are we going to let them?” asked Scarlett.
“Pam says we should,” I said. “I guess they want us to dig into them and see what they are up to, maybe give us a clue about the next adventures.”
“Can we get them to come at night?” asked GS. “Then one of our Vampires could be in the coffin and listening.”
“That is something I have Raki trying to work out with them, I am too much of a hot head to deal with them,” I said.

Fairy came in, looked around and was a little disappointed there was no Sheriff napping on the couch and went to the kitchen. She began to unload the fixings for roasted rosemary chicken. Having a kitchen assured us of a great meal each Wednesday.

Renee came in in a bad mood. “Aslinn, will you please speak to Bill about Jessica?” she began.
“This is your problem chere, you and Bill have to work this out,” I said.
“But Jessica had the Kid out all night, they glamoured some poor old guy out of his car and took it joy riding, then they maxed out my credit cards on some clothes the Kid can’t wear til her father goes through menopause, and she wants…she is saying….” she hesitated.
“Let me guess, she wants to be Vampire?” I said.
“Yes,” she said.
“I thought Bill explained all that to her, about how sad and lonely it is and how it really is a painful process,” I said.
“Well, that would be okay, I think but then, Jessica and Kid were at Joe’s having a hot dog and a soda and a Tru:Blood and Eric just happened to appear out of nowhere and extolled the virtues of the Vampire life and she came home absolutely stoked!!!” she said miserably. Joe’s was a local joint catering to the human/Vampire set.
“I thought you had a pact with Eric,” said Scarlett.
“I do, and he hasn’t put his toe across that line, but it is so hard to say, ‘No, you may not become a Vampire,’” she finished.
“Okay, I will chat, but the person I think I need to chat with is Eric,” I said.
“I can’t do this again with him,” said Renee.” He stands directly on my last nerve.”

Raki came in. She looked frazzled. “Is it too early to hit the bottle?”
“Tough day at the office dear?” I asked.
“Those Fellowship people said they would not meet us at dark. They are smarter than we thought,” she said.
“When do we meet them?” I asked.
“Here on Saturday,” she said.
“Good, racists for lunch,” I said.

That was the sub-theme of True Blood and the Books, the hardships faced by the supernatural communities while they try to mainstream. I was usually impatient with the prejudice I saw in both the world we lived in and the “real” world. And this season, we were going to see both, making the underlying themes more obvious. Tara was going to experience it both as a black woman and as a human who was in a relationship with a backward thinking Vampire and Sookie was going to bear the brunt (presumably) of anti-Vampire attitudes in the tale. I sighed. I doubted my ability to stay calm in the presence of these people.

I worked on the computer for a while, and I posted some mythology. The members began to filter in. Sal was staying out of GS’s way (probably to keep from having to hold GS’s hand) Aolani, Linzy and Lina, Vi and Bella, Minnie and Butter and her honey bun, Jen and our Val, Westexan and Dude were all there, eating dinner and chatting.

We just managed to have our dinner cleared away and the dishes chugging merrily in the dish washer when Bill and Jessica came in. GS jumped up to get the Tru:Blood I was warming in the microwave. He grabbed a bottle and took it to Jessica who favored him with a kiss. I gave Bill his bottle and he kissed me gently on the mouth, his fangs run out a little. “See you on Tuesday?” I said.

“Of course Sweetheart,” he said, kissing me again. He turned with a sweet smile and sat down beside Vi, my sister wife.

Nicky came in holding hands with Pam. She came up to claim a T:B for her Vampire Sweetie and returned, sitting next her. The last one to come in was the Sheriff. Eric met Butter at the door and hugged her closely to him. The bun must have kicked him because he put his hand briefly on her belly and rubbed it and smiled at her. Fairy brought him a bottle. He sat down by Val and gave her a tender kiss, because she looked as though she needed it. He looked over at the object lying there along the wall under the window.

“What is that?” asked the Viking.
“I know what it is, if you don’t Northman,” said Bill.
“Why don’t you enlighten me,” said Eric.
“It is a coroner’s coffin, if I am correct, late 19th century,” he said.
“Give that man a Tru:Blood,” I said. “I found it and my dad lined it to make it light tight.” I opened it and revealed the beautiful red silk lining. All of the Vampires leaned forward to look at it.
“That is wonderful and long enough for Eric to rest in,” said Pam.
“Of course, and yourself, you aren’t exactly short you know,” I said to the blonde vampire.
“Thank you dearest,” said Eric.
“You are welcome Eric…at least you won’t be taking up couch space when you come here to sleep,” I said.

“So, have our friends negotiated a time to visit you?” asked Pam.
“Yeah, 12 noon here on Saturday. They simply would not do it at night,” said Raki.
“We knew that was likely the case,” said Bill. “Just be careful with them.”
“What do you think they want?” asked Westexan.

“I have been thinking about this, and at first, I thought it was just my suspicious mind about technology,” said Eric. “But what would you say if I were to suggest there are some forums dedicated to us to create dissent in the Vampire/Human coexistence community.”
“Eric, I swear, you sound like a paranoid human,” said Pam.
“Perhaps,” said the Viking, unhappily. “But you have all been banned from a forum which had been successful til now, even innocent ones like my Minnie and Westexan and Aolani. They have done nothing wrong and still they were banned.”
“So, you think that what they do is get people strung out on the forums, then cause some sort of dissent and they all walk away…for what reason?” I said. “It isn’t logical.”
“They were very confident that theirs was the only place you would want to be, that if you lost that haven, you would simply walk away. They never banked on you being so clever and as strong willed to create this wonderful place,” said Bill.
“I think it is funny that all of a sudden you get contacted by the FoTS when you are about to celebrate your month anniversary,” said Jessica. “Bill, I could stay here, I could lay in the basket and just listen.”

“You are too young a Vampire. You could not defend yourself if they opened the casket and decided to stake you. Pam, Eric and I could defend ourselves to some extent, but you could not, the grips of day time sleep would be too heavy upon you,” he said.

“I will lie down here dawn Saturday, “said Eric. “I will be able to listen.”

“Nope, I can’t let you,” I said. “There is nothing you can do here, and we can hear as well as you, what they have to say.”

“Sweetheart,” said Bill.

“They are not going to do anything,” I said.

“Then allow me to send someone else,” said Eric.

“Who?” I asked.

“Sookie Stackhouse and Sam Merlotte,” he said.