Our Independence Day

It was not quite sundown when we arrived at Merlotte’s. Merlotte’s by the way is in Bon Temps. Louisiana and is about 45 minutes from Shreveport where Eric Northman, the Sheriff of Area Five resides and runs his bar, Fangtasia. I had been working on the home of Bill Compton, along with my sisters: Renee, Bella, Vi and Westexan and my fiancé, Barrister and anyone else I could rope into holding a paint brush or driving a nail.

After baths and suppers, usually right here at Merlotte’s or prepared in Bill’s small kitchen, we worked on Bill’s Vampire data base and made notes on any of the interesting things we found in the books we had taken from the library of an English Vampire and half brother to the Magister of North America. We killed that English Vampire, well, Eric did, and we inherited ourselves of select collections from his library. We worked hard at anything that would get us through this time without Bill. We ladies missed him dreadfully.

But when the Fourth of July rolled by, we were invited to Merlotte’s to eat and dance and relax. Sam had been so good about us, and even extended the invitation to Eric and Pam, though this would not please his chef. I hoped it would not put Lafayette off his clam chowder. I wanted to eat Eric’s weight in the creamy stuff. I had called Alcide Herveaux, who had been filling in for Bill at our Countdown meetings and had offered us some insight into the pack Sookie was having to deal with in her search, but he was already in Jackson with the telepath and he could not leave her there, the best he could promise to come to the meeting on Wednesday.

Which, that was probably a good thing, really. There were a lot of women of our group who loved Eric with a passion but would not be opposed to a little howling with the werewolf. Eric, a 1000 year old Vampire, was extremely jealous as they well knew, and was careful not to be too friendly, but there were times I saw them looking at the 6’7” frame of the dark werewolf. I just hoped Eric never saw it. I remember his anger over New Years (so did Fairy, by the way). I kind of liked that were.

But he was not the only were in our midst. Body Guard was a were as well, and had been instrumental in helping us through two big adventures we had with our Vampires as we waited to watch the adventures. We also had a couple of witches and a fairy half breed. We really belonged in Renard Parish, land of the Vampire, home of the were…

Barrister pulled up to Merlotte’s but Sam hopped out and motioned for him to park around back. Merlotte’s wasn’t opened, and he wanted us to park us in the rear to discourage people from stopping. We were strangers to the people of Bon Temps, distant people with strange accents from all over the world who stopped in from time to time. And really, that was all we wanted to be. We knew so much about this world, and we could do nothing but tip our hand. So a visit to Bon Temps was a treat.

I got out and stretched my legs. I was growing harder and leaner with the hard work I was doing on Bill’s house. We had to tear out some of the lovely plaster and lathe walls where rain had come in over the years. We finally found a friend of Alcide’s that did that type of quality work. While he was at it, I asked to him to recast some of the plaster ornamentation in the center of the ceiling that had been ruined. He agreed. But first the walls and ceiling.

I walked in through the rear of the bar and said hey to Lafayette.
“Hey Sweetness!!! How’s it going at Vampire Bill’s house?” he asked with all of his swagger.
“Pretty good Lafayette. How’s that clam chowder coming?” I asked, stepping into the doorway of Lafayette’s kingdom.
“Come in and taste some creamy loveliness,” he said lewdly. I stepped into the clean kitchen and he ladled me out about half a ladle. I picked up a spoon from the sorted bin of clean cutlery and tasted the chowder.
“Oh my God Lafayette, I think I have fallen in love….” I said.
“Well, trade me your hot man over there and I’ll cook chowder for you anytime, girl,” he said.
“I would not have a problem with that, but I am afraid he would struggle a little too much for you to really get to enjoy him Lafayette,” I said, winking at him.
“Did you have to invite that Vampire?” he asked me. I looked into the mascaraed almond shaped eyes.
“I’m sorry Lafayette, I know this was a real sacrifice for you to come out and be with us while Eric and Pam are here. But I promise they will be nice. I won’t let them hurt you,” I said.
“Well...alright then…I just don’t get it, what do you all see them in them bloodsuckers?” he asked.
“Well, I like all of them, but I am crazy about one of them,” I said.
“I just think you is crazy,” he said turning back to his work of stirring a huge pot of jambalaya.
“Do you need a sous chef?” I asked.
“Sure, grab a knife and chop them onions and peppers,” said Lafayette.

I put on an apron, grabbed a knife and went to the door and kissed my lover. He went out to help Sam and Terry put out a few more tables and wipe down the folding chairs. I chopped and chatted with Lafayette about cooking and he trusted me to start water boiling and to mix a cup of onions and cup of peppers together to begin cooking the gumbo. He put two helpings of butter on the hot steel pan and when it was melted and hot he put in the peppers and onions and threw in a couple of table spoons of flour to start his rue. He began adding spices and sauces so fast I could not keep up and he added some fish broth and let it reduce.

Soon, the kitchen was full of women, being directed by Lafayette about chopping, slicing and battering for frying. I stepped out, untying my apron, and grabbing my smokes. Sam and God Speed and Sal were working over the huge grill. They had chicken and ribs and steaks and burgers and dogs and sausages and corn cooking. Tara and Barrister were bartending with Raki, and Chris and Scarlett were spreading the table clothes and Renee was putting down citronella candles and Hoyt and Jason were staking the oil torches around the picnic area. Music for WDED was playing. It was almost time for Vlad, the first of the sundowners...another nice euphemism for Vampire…to begin his show.

The first Vampire to show up was Jessica. She loved the beautiful room we had made for her. Barrister and God Speed showed off a hidden talent by papering Jessica’s light tight bedroom with heavy silk brocade paper from Italy. It was a beautiful medium light pink. The wainscoting and chair rail was done in cherry wood and the furniture was furniture found in Bill’s attic. Though Jessica usually hated anything she deemed “Bill’s Old Stuff” she loved the bed when she saw it. Barrister and my dad had taken it home and he had carefully stripped, repaired, sanded and stained and sealed the 180 year old bed. With a new pillow top mattress and fresh Egyptian cotton sheets, dried in the sun, and a cream brocade bead spread, the bed had a new life and she fell in love with it.

“Hey,” she said to me.
“Hey Jessica… did you just get here?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said.
“Do you still like your room?” I asked.
“Yeah, Kellie is going to stay with me after the party,” she said.
“Well, go see our boy,” I said to her, nodding toward Barrister. He reached into a warming bath for a Tru:Blood and raised it to her. She made a disparaging sound.
“No trouble you,” I said.
“Yes, ma’am,” she said, grumpily. Being in charge of Bill’s “ward” was a real chore. I knew that Kellie and Renee had sort of taken over with her, and all of us kept an eye on her, but she was a Vampire, on her own and she could get into serious trouble. But I didn’t want to think about that, I was here to party and I was determined to party as best I could, considering the circumstances.

Pam was the next Vampire to appear. She was wearing capri pants and a tank top with stars and stripes on it. I looked at her as I handed her a warm Tru:Blood. “I didn’t know you were that patriotic, Pam.”
“I am not patriotic, but I do like to dress to match the occasion,” she said. “Do I look appropriate?”
“As always, you are flawless?” I said. I grabbed a cold beer and walked back around the bar. “Where is your other half?”
“Of whom do you speak?” she asked.
“The big blonde you work for?” I said.
“Ah, Eric, he is taking care of a few things at Fangtasia, he will be around shortly?” she said casually.
“It’s not basement business is it?” I asked. That could mean one of two things…either he is interrogating a human or a Vampire who has pissed him off, or he is performing his other favorite duty and have mind bending, groin grinding, hip thrusting sex with someone topped off by a good solid feed.
“Not when I left, he was in the office on the phone,” she said.
“You ever have a Vampire lover Pam?” I asked.
“Several,” she said. “Not long term, of course, but they are fun while they last.”
“Do you all like to drink Vampire blood yourselves?” I asked.
“It really depends on the Vampire,” she said. “I don’t just drink from any Vampire.”
“You and Eric ever get together…for old times sake? A little stress reliever?” I asked.
“Not in a long while,” she said.

Butter came up to us and I chatted with her. She was getting bigger by the day. Pam looked her over.

“How are you this evening Butter?” she asked.
“Very well,” she said. “The bun is really kicking the hell out of me tonight.”
“You are certainly getting bigger,” she said. “Eric acts as though he put that baby there.”
“Well, I sometimes feel like I have a Viking baby marauding around in there,” said the momma. I went around the bar and got her a cold soda and she took it.

Lafayette came out with a steaming pot of crabs and corn and God Speed was piling up the huge steel pans with sausages and ribs and steaks and chicken. Terry was bringing out big pans of French fries and onion rings and deep fried pickles. I was waiting for the chowder and gumbo, poured over a steaming mound of rice.

When Eric arrived finally, we were all sitting down for our dinner. He looked happy and relaxed in track pants and a tank top and flip flops. He grabbed a Tru:Blood from the warm water bath and sat down next to Raki and Butter, giving the bun a good going over with his hand, nipping Butter’s neck with his white, even teeth. We all settled down with our plates.

I looked around at all the faces. Renee and Kellie, Jessica and Scarlett, Fairy and Raki and Linzy and God Speed and Jen, Aolani and Body Guard, Vi and Bella and Westexan, Butter, Minnie and Lina, Sweet and Wild and Sal and Pam, Eric and Butter and Barrister and Sam, Lafayette and Terry, Tiff and Dude and Sugar. All those faces that I loved, and one I missed dreadfully imprinted in my heart. But we’re all here, our own nation, united we stood against all forces and we formed our most perfect union. Like America, there had been revolutions and a cry of independence, and like America, we came from everywhere. We were a strange melting pot, but the dish we served up tasted like freedom, happiness and love. And as I watched all my friends in the candle and torch light, some of them human, some of them not, I felt like I understood what it all meant to be a part of a nation…a tribe of people with their own identity and own culture and language though we are all different. It must have felt the same for those new born Americans with all of their different accents and hues and colorings.

So, on this July 4th, I was proud of who we were, and the struggle to get here and I thanked God for the unity I had found in these people, and I celebrated with my friends and I know, that no matter what, we will always be a part of one another, a new nation.

Happy Birthday America and happy (almost) birthday TBC…I love you all and I am proud of all of you.

Aslinn