Wednesday March 24

Wednesday, March 24

The parlor was abuzz with chatter. Even with the virtual news blackout, there were things to discuss. The Source was teasing us with little clips at the end of the encore of the last summer’s adventures, little previews of the things that might happen and the first one featured Eric. It was exciting but we Bill girls were bereft without word of what might be happening to Bill. I was going to miss him at the meetings. When that time came, I was going to invite someone into the parlor with us. I wondered what the reaction would be.

Still, as I stirred the pot full of chicken chowder and checked the corn bread baking in the oven, I felt that antsy, itchy feeling that comes from my addiction. I sprinkled a little sea salt into the pot and tasted the broth and found it fine and turned down the gas a bit. I checked the corn bread. It was golden and ready so I took it out and set it on the trivet on the dark marble countertop and put a clean tea towel over it to keep it warm. I sat down at the computer and checked my mail and the forum.

Jen came in. She looked as though she resented the cold that had snuck back into our little preview of spring. She came over and stood in front of the fire, warming her bum. “Whatcha doing Aslinn?”

“Just eyeballing the lack of news,” I said.
“That Alan Ball, that was not a nice thing to do to us,” she said.
“Yeah, but he had it right, waiting sucks,” I said. “And not in that really cool, totally Vampire way.”
“How much longer do we have?” she asked.
“Well, only ten and a half weeks til June first, but add two weeks to that,” I said.
“Oh I don’t want to do that,” she said. “It is long enough without having to add two weeks to it. I will follow your count, it is more positive, affirming.”

Scarlett came in. She plopped down on the couch and grabbed the ashtray and sat back, putting it on her stomach and lighting a smoke.
“Hiding out?” I asked. Scarlett nodded. Scarlett liked working, but her boss and coworkers often got on her nerves, so throughout the day, she would pop in and have a smoke to get a grip on the situation her situation was in. Renee came in as well. She sat down opposite Scarlett and looked at her.
“Scarlett, would you please just blow your secondhand smoke at me,” she said.
“There are cigarettes in that box on the coffee table,” said Scarlett.
“Yeah, I know, but I quit smoking around ten years ago, and I really don’t want to start again,” she said. “What smells good?”
“Aslinn is cooking chicken chowder,” said Jen.
“Good, it is an ugly grey day,” said Renee. She looked at the wicker coffin. “Anyone at home?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “They must have made it home last night.”

“Aslinn, are you sure Bill said he would not be here for part of the adventures to counsel with us?” asked Renee.
“That is what he said,” I said miserably. “He said he would be back as quickly as possible but I don’t know when that will be.” Renee laid her head back on the couch and looked at the ceiling.
“Well that purely sucks,” she said.
“It does,” I agreed.

I worked steadily through the afternoon and members came and went checking in, checking out, sniffing the soup. Finally, as quitting times began to announce themselves, the room began to fill up. Westexan brought in some raisin and oatmeal cookies. Minnie came in with some rolls and some home churned butter. Renee had brought in some cloudberry jam she had made. GS and Jen brought in some chocolate chip muffins.

Everyone came in and began to settle down to eat. I poured wine and tea for everyone and passed bread around. We were still eating when Eric came in. Fairy went to get him a bottle of Tru:Blood and he came over and stood by Jen and Butter, giving each a little kiss.

“How are all of our friends this evening?” he asked.
“We are pretty frustrated, Eric,” I said simply.
“All you have to do is call me dearest, I could take care of that for you,” he said, that lopsided grin on his face.
“Not that kind of frustrated,” I said. “Frustrated with the lack of news.”
“Well, that I have no control over,” he said, accepting the bottle from Fairy with a kiss.

“Eric,” said Pam with no preamble as she walked into the room. “There was a call at the bar for you from the person you called yesterday.”
“Did he accept my invitation?” asked the Vampire.
“He said he would talk it over with his people but he wants assurances that nothing would happen to him,” said Pam.
“Tell that flea bitten son of a bitch that he has my word he will be fine,” said Eric.
“Wait, who are you talking about Eric?” asked GS.
“You shall have to wait and see. We are bringing in someone who may be able to help you,” said Eric.
“Is he a Vampire?” asked Renee.
“No, he is not a Vampire,” said Eric taking a drink of Tru:Blood.
“If he isn’t a Vampire, what is he?” asked Minnie. Eric smiled at her and kissed her cheek.
“I could care less about this person, but he is heavily involved with the adventures this summer and with Bill unable to join us,” he said. As if he had spoken of the devil, Bill and Jessica came into the room. Vi went to heat a couple of bottles of Blood. She made the offer silently to Pam and she nodded.
Bill came and stood by me at the counter where I had been eating my supper. “Do you know about this?” I asked him.
“About what?” he said.
“Eric has done some jack assing and said he is bringing someone in while you are away and now he is being obtuse by not telling us who it is, or what he is, or what we are supposed to do with him,” I said.
“And that is so uncool Eric,” said Sal. “You know how sensitive we are right now, with things being so quiet and we are so anxious.”
“All I can ask you to do is be patient. When the time comes, everything will be made clear. This person is not my first choice, but he will do for the time being,” said Eric. “As to how you interact with him, that is up to you.”
“Let’s begin our meeting, shall we?” suggested Pam.

Sal sat down and was joined on the couch by Jessica. “Are you hungry?” he asked her.
“No, Bill made me eat before we came,” she said, giving Bill an unloving look. Linzy sat down beside her and the Viking sat down next to her. Fairy took her place on the other side. Bill and Vi sat on an ottoman together and she leaned on him, her hand on his shoulder, her chin on her hand. Renee, Scarlett and I sat down next to Pam.

The rest ranged around us, casting glances at the Vampires. Something was afoot and it added to the tension already in the room.
“So, any new opinions about the review of the adventures?” asked Pam, trying to pull us into the discussion and distract us from the tension.

“Well, Sookie was a little reactionary, as usual,” said Lina.
“To be fair though, Bill should have told her about Jessica,” said Minnie.
“No rebuttal here,” I said. “I totally agree.”
“How should Bill have handled this situation?” asked Eric.
“Well, he may have dropped Jessica off for a day or so, but he should have told her what he was forced to do to make up for Long Shadow,” I said. “Sorry, Bill, you should have.”
“I concur,” he said.
“Why didn’t you?” asked GS.
“I thought that Jessica would remain in the care of Eric, but then Eric reneged on his deal,” said Bill.

“No, we get that,” said Dude. “Why not tell Sookie what you had to do?”
“Would you have told Sookie that your punishment was to turn a 17 year old girl into a Vampire?” asked Bill.
“It would have been better if you had,” said GS. “You had to know this little situation with Eric would not be permanent.”
“Vampires have a little trouble with trusting humans,” said Eric.
“No doubt,” I said, looking at the Viking. “Were you afraid that Sookie would judge you?”
“She tends to do that,” said Bill. “She sees me as more human than I can ever be.”
“Oh, well, I think you proved you are very human,” said Sal. “Humans have a great facility for hiding the truth.”

“Hey wait,” said Renee. “Wait a minute. Bill did a bad thing, I won’t deny that, but it wasn’t just to lie to her for the sake of lying to her. He hides things from her because she sees the world one way and Vampires see it another, their sense of justice is very different. Now, he was wrong about Jessica, he should have told her that evening that he had to make her. But Uncle Bartlett, I will not hold against Bill.”

“I don’t either,” I said. “Eric what would you have done if one of your humans told you that story, that some evil person had abused them?”
“Nothing for just any human, but for one of you? I would take my time. What I did to Royce in the basement would be a slap on the hand compared to what I would do to someone who would harm or had harmed one of you,” said the Viking.

“Jessica, how did you feel about what happened to you?” asked Minnie.
“Well, “she began. “I didn’t have a great family life, as you all know. But I was terrified when I was brought to that place and I met Bill. He tried not to hurt me, I guess, I got that much from him. But then I clawed myself out of the ground he was so mean. I mean, I guess he had to be to wake me up to my situation. But I did hate him for a long time.”
“And now?” asked GS.
“Well, I am getting sort of used to this whole Vampire thing,” she said, looking a bit sad. She seemed to be thinking about what was on all of our minds, but had difficulty speaking about in front of her and the Jessica Boys. Jessica was perhaps in big trouble and I worried about the redheaded girl as she laid her head on Sal’s shoulder.

“We will have to wait to see what happens,” said Dude sadly.
“And waiting sucks,” said Fairy.