July 14

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The fever broke this morning and the day had been warm but not so stifling that you felt as though you were breathing underwater. Violet, Renee, Westexan and I were on the upper balcony, painting the scraped and repaired parts of Bill’s house. We patiently scraped around the windows and recaulked the lead poured windows and while we waited for them to dry, we began to paint the porch. The inside of the house was complete and we were pretty proud of the way it had come out.

Barrister and God Speed were on the scaffolding around the side of the house. Sweat glistened on them as they scraped and pied away rotten areas and replaced them with new clean wood. I went into the house and down stairs. Fairy and Minnie were hemming the drapes in the dining room and Linzy and Lina were polishing some old silver frames we found hidden away. There were some pictures Bill had which had no frames and we were happy to have found the wonderful collection of brass and silver frames. Bella and Scarlett were putting together a green salad for dinner with baked and seasoned chicken to sprinkle on it.

Aolani was hanging multi colored sun catchers. They were pretty to look at but they were also magikal as she had charmed each and every one to protect the house. She even did Jessica a favor and did some wards around the house to keep unfriendly people out of the house. It may not keep the oldest or strongest Vampires out, but they would have to fight with the magik to get in and that would give Jessica time to get out or down the rabbit hole to the guest area where she might be able to hide.

“Hey,” I said.
“Hey Aslinn,” said Scarlett. “How goes the painting?”
“Pretty good,” I said. “This old house looks great.”
“We still have the landscaping yet,” said Bella. She sniffed loudly. Poor Bella, the most sensitive of Bill girls, she felt Bill’s absence the strongest.
“We still have plenty of work to do, plenty enough to see us busy til Bill comes back,” I said. “I got a six pack of cold water and put another in to chill. “Have we heard from Butter yet?”
“Not yet, hope she is ok,” said Scarlett.
“Me too,” I said. Butter was busy having the Honey Bun, the little lump of a boy the Viking loved rubbing. Since Butter was his spirit wife, he felt free to put his hands on her belly and rub it as it grew larger and larger. “Hopefully, we will know real soon.”

I took the cold water up and gave everyone cold water and then reached around the side of the house to the men on the scaffolding and handed them water. I could hear Body Guard, Jen and Sweet and Wild and Raki on the main porch, painting and laughing and talking. We worked for three hours more and then, one at a time, we tipped off for a shower and put on clean cool clothes.

We took our dinner outside to eat in the back garden. It was freshly mowed but there were still a lot of things to be done. The wild Irish rose needed to be trimmed back to get it to bloom again and there was horse grass and nettles and vegetable garden, long gone to seed, to be dug and plowed out and sown with grass seed. Dude had uncovered an old ornamental pond which had been put in some thirty years ago that could be refilled and stocked with koi. But that was weeks down the road.

After supper, as the sun began to go down, we lit the torches. Fairy and Scarlett went to heat bottles of Tru:Blood for Eric, Pam, and Jessica when they finally rose. I could hear Fairy’s voice say ‘Hey Jessica!’ and I knew the young Vampire was moving around in the darker interior of the house. She would wait til the sun was completely down to come out of the house. Last night, she had come out when the sun was still a little over the horizon and got the bleeds and felt sort of bad, so she would be careful from now on. Eric took her into the house with Godspeed and showed her how to have a quick healing sip in case she would ever need it.

Eric had been nice to us since I talked to him on Monday. He had sent some fresh flowers to the house. I doubted the florist would come very often after Bill returned, but while we were here, we had fresh flowers sent to the house to cheer us up. Flowers and a good kick in the ass from the Viking had straightened me out. Sure, I still felt bad when I thought about Bill’s predicament, but I felt stronger after my little pep talk with the Sheriff. We would have a lot to discuss tonight. Sunday’s adventure had been exciting and next Sunday promised to be equally intriguing and I was eager to talk about it.

There were loud shouts and yells from the garden and Jessica came to the screen door of the back of the house. There was a loud boom and God Speed called out that everything was okay. He had shot the rattlesnake with his shotgun. Jessica’s eyes, so much stronger and clearer than our own human ones were glued on the dark reptile with the ragged end where the head once was.

“We have to get some moth balls to spread around out here,” he said, throwing the snake out into the high weeds of the forest. Alcide drove up, flooding the back garden with the splash of his truck lights. Body Guard went to greet Alcide. They walked up into yard.
“Hungry Alcide?” asked Lina. Lina had better be careful being nice to the were in front of the Sheriff.
“I ain’t hungry but I could do with a cold beer,” he said. Barrister went over to the steel wash tub and fished out an ice cold Bud and brought it over to the were. “Thanks man.”
“No worries, mate,” he said in his London accent. The appearance of the Sheriff signaled to Jessica it was safe to come out and she did, a warm Tru:Blood in her hand. Fairy came out and gave the Viking his bottle, he rewarding her with a kiss.

“Where is Pam?” I asked.
“She will not be here tonight,” he answered.
“Is she in ….custody?” I asked.
Eric said nothing but the cold look of his eyes and the even set of his mouth was answer enough.
“She is…in jail?” asked the Barrister.
“Yes,” he said. “So I am heading to Jackson after our meeting.”
“Why didn’t you tell us she was being held?” asked God Speed.
“Because there is nothing any of us can do for her,” said Eric. “Except get Bill back to Bon Temps.”
Vi took a breath. Renee looked coldly at Eric as he walked around and took a seat. Kellie sat down on the parched grass by her mom’s chair and Jessica joined her. We all began to putt our chairs around and form our circle, as we had in other times and other places.

Pam usually began the meeting and our discussion so I was surprised when Jessica sat up straight.
“We should get our meeting started,” said the young Vampire. Jessica stepped into the breach; she was a fledged Vampire, feeling her difference and the need for her to step in to do her duty. God Speed looked proud of her.

“Everything you see Bill do that seems negative is what he has to do,” said Eric. “He has to play his role and try to get out of his situation and for Pam’s sake, I have to help him. I have to have Bill Compton alive.”
“Eric, since Bill has forsworn his fealty to Queen Sophie Anne, can he help you?” asked Dude.
“Yes, he can,” said Eric. “I cannot say anything disloyal about Sophie Anne because I am one of her subjects. Bill can. He can testify to the fact that he knows about the V and this will drive the stake in her heart.”

“What about Russell Edgington? Will you be able to charge him to the Magister for giving his own blood, his royal blood, his ancient royal blood, to werewolves?” asked Barrister.
“If Bill and I can come together and get our stories straight, we can thwart both the king and queen. We in effect can kill our own monarchs and get what we both want,” said Eric.
“If Queen Sophie Anne is deposed, who will take her place? And if King Russell Edging is deposed, who will take control of Mississippi? Can we guarantee there will be a good monarch here and there?” asked Renee.
“We don’t know who would be the ones to take their place,” said Eric.

“Nan Flanagan?” said Scarlett.
“Perhaps,” said Eric. “She would consolidate her power as the public face of our kind, the head of the American Vampire League and if she is so inclined, she might be the queen of either states.”
“But that would not be good for you,” said Sweet and Wild. “She does not care much for you; she even threatened you with the loss of your area.”

“Would you want to be the King of Louisiana?” asked Kellie.
“No dearest, I have no desire to be the king ,” said the Vampire.

“Alcide, what would the Vampires do to that pack using V?” asked Linzy. “Would they be abjured?”
“I do not know, we would have to refer the matter to the pack master,” he said.
“Colonel Flood.” I said. “When do we meet him?”
“Very soon,” said Eric. Suddenly the Sheriff of Area Five looked tired, worried. He looked decades older than his human age of something like 27 or 28 (even Eric was not sure of how old he was when he was made Vampire).

“Eric, you look tired,” I said. I reached out and patted his hand.
“I am fine,” he said.
“Is Lafayette to continue selling V?” asked Westexan.
“That is something I have not given much thought about,” he said. “Whatever he is has is all there is.”
“Where was Sophie getting that Vampire blood?” asked Lina. “Was she draining Vampires, or setting drainers on Vampires to get that much blood?”
“I don’t know,” said Eric.

“How is Sookie Alcide?” asked Dude.
“She is okay, Bill breaking up with her was rough, but she is determined to get to the bottom of things,” said Alcide. “I wished I could have talked her into coming back to Bon Temps.”
“As do I,” said Eric. “We could have put her in your protection.” He nodded toward us to indicate we were the ones he would trust with Sookie’s safety. “As it is, I will have to help her.”
“What about Tara?” asked Fairy. “And that Franklin?”
“Franklin is working for the King of Mississippi,” said Barrister. “That much is clear and he was sent to procure Sookie. That means he wants her there in Mississippi. Does that mean he intends to give her to Lorena or does wish to have her for himself, as an asset, like Sophie Anne?”
“Perhaps as a tool to control both Bill and have something Sophie Anne wanted and keep Lorena off his back. Did you notice Lorena looked a little worried when Edgington left the limo that night?” asked Fairy.
We all nodded. “She knows the King is up to something, and the King knows Bill is holding back, that is why they wanted Bill to join them at supper,” said Renee. “They want to make sure his hands are dirty.”

“He is in the Heart of Darkness,” said Barrister. “Bill is on his own journey back down a long violent path he longed to put behind him. It makes his enmity with Lorena that much more complete. The king distracts Bill with his hate for her while he plans to acquire the thing Sophie Anne wants. Be careful, he may distract you as well.”
“How do you mean?” asked Eric
“You have a vendetta with those weres, do you not?” asked Barrister. “If you lose sight of your most immediate goal, to get Bill out to help you with the Magister, to get Pam out of trouble, and help Sookie get home safe you will fail. You have far more responsibilities than your own vengeance. I think that is what Godric meant; you have to master your rage to get to the next place in your mission of vengeance.”

Eric looked uncomfortable under Barrister’s words. “If I am to get to Jackson, I have to leave.” The Viking stood up and looked at us. “Take care and call me when you know about Butter.”
“Be careful Eric and good luck,” said God Speed. The Viking kissed his spirit wives and patted the Bill girls with his cool smooth hand. We all wished him luck and he headed into the shadows, taking Alcide with him. He went to his truck and Eric slid into his corvette and they roared away.

We were quiet for moment. Finally Scarlett said, “So, what do you think will happen with Sam and his family?”
“I think Sam is going to find out just how white trash his family really is,” said Westexan. “And I think they used Tommy, used a bused him, that is why they don’t really want him out of their grips and he really hates them.”
“But he is of age, isn’t he?” asked Sweet and Wild.
“He is of age, but he is a shifter. They have probably ingrained in him the fact that he is not a normal human. They have probably played up the idea that because he is white trash and a weird human, he is all alone. A life time of teaching cannot be undone in a matter of minutes,” I said.

“Very true,” said Renee. “I am very worried about Tara. She is in a terrible spot. I felt sorry for her when she asked Bill to help her and he refused.”
“He can’t help her right now though Renee,” said Jessica. “Hopefully he will be able to help her but for now, Tara has to rely on her wits.”
“How did it feel to start the meeting this evening, Jessica?” I asked her.
“I miss Pam,” she said. “I even miss Bill, though he was so gloomy and serious all the time.”
“Do you like working for Sam?” asked Kellie.
“He’s okay…and pretty cute too, but I hate being 17 forever. I wished I could at least be 21,” she complained. God Speed smiled at her and winked. Obviously he did not mind she was 17 forever. Neither did Barrister.

“Have you ever been more disgusted with Jason?” said Aolani. “I mean really, black mailing Andy to get a cop job?”
“I have a feeling the deeper he gets into Hot Shot, the worse it is going to be for him. Karma is a bitch,” said Renee.
“And sometimes, she has puppies,” said Aolani. “Do you think we will meet the packmaster?”
“I think they will meet him very soon,” said Body Guard. “Sookie and Alcide will have to know what to do with that pack.”

“The Vampires really should have stayed in the coffin,” said Barrister. “They will be sucked dry by the true drainers…the human government.”
“Very true,” we said.