August 4, 2010
We were excited. The counselors would be back after being absent from our meetings. I woke at the Compton house to a note from Bill, saying thanks and he would see us all at the meeting. I was relieved and as I left his house with Violet that afternoon, I looked back at the stairs and the door at the top where I knew the Vampire was sleeping, his first day rest in his refurbished home.
There was still plenty to do, but I knew we could work on it over the hiatus. We were over the hump and we were now moving downhill toward the end of the adventure, but I knew that we were in for more excitement. Westexan was waiting for us to come out. We were going to go and have lunch at Merlotte’s as we made our way back to the parlor and set things up for the meeting tonight. Renee was fixing chicken fried steak and gravy and mashed potatoes and green beans. Minnie had a huge spice cake waiting for us I could not wait to sink my teeth into.
Merlotte’s was not crowded and we parked in the front and got out and went in. I wanted a Burger Lafayette and fries. Sam nodded to us in greeting and motioned for us to seat ourselves. He was drawing a couple of cold beers. Well, I wasn’t driving, so I decided to have a cold one. Arlene, a bit frazzled, came up.
“Hey Arlene,” I said. “Give me the Burger Lafayette, fries and a cold beer.”
“I’ll have the chicken strips and fries and a little garden salad, ranch dressing and sweet ice tea,” said West.
“I’ll have the…chili and a garden salad with ranch and some…corn bread on the side,” said Vi. “And I’ll have a cold beer too.”
“I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks,” she said, smiling a little weakly. I lit a cigarette and looked around the bar. Andy was at a booth, reading a newspaper; Hoyt was at a booth with his new GF who was talking at him as he eyeballed Tommy, bussing a table recently vacated by a lunching couple. Uh oh… that could not be good. Sam brought us our beers and West’s iced tea.
“Hey Sam, how’s Sookie?” I asked. I genuinely liked Sam. He was slender built, a little shorter than Bill with a ruddy, friendly complexion and strawberry blond hair with a little grey at the temples. He had an easy smile and a slow way of talking with just enough twang to make him what he was, a good old southern boy with southern good old boy manners. He was carrying a couple of beer bottles in one hand and an iced tea, the house wine of the south, in the other. He carefully set Westexan’s tea in front of her and my and Vi’s beers in front of us.
“Hey Aslinn, Vi, Westexan,” he said. “Well, according to Lafayette, Bill healed her, and she is going to get come home real soon, but they are still puzzled about that thing with her blood.” We nodded at him but said no more. We knew things that Sam didn’t need to know. “I was thinking that she has had a lot of Vampire blood. Do you think it could effect her blood type? “
“I would not be surprised, Sam,” I said. “How’s your brother?”
“He’ll be okay,” said Sam.
“Yeah, we all have whiskey tango elements in our families Sam,” I said.
“You all enjoy your lunches,” he said.
“Okay, so what do you think will come out of all this?” asked Westexan. “Do you think Tommy will be able to settle here in Bon Temps?”
“I have no idea,” said Violet. “Dog fighting….did you see the way poor Tommy looked when they shot that poor dog and then threw him on that pile?”
“Barbarous practice,” said Westexan.
“Like the gladiators in Rome,” I said. “But I liked how Sam threw down with Joe Lee and Melinda that was great. And did you see the way Tommy was looking at him? It was like he was thinking ‘I got a big brother’ you know?”
“I hope things work out for him,” said Westexan. “I wonder how Pam is?”
“I think she will be okay,” said Vi. “I was so surprised when Russell moved so fast to chain up the Magister.”
“Is that because he is so old?” asked West.
“I would say so,” I said. “That means they will have to be very careful with the king. Eric is still in danger. Now that he has Pam back and presumably safe, he will be focused on this thing with the past.”
We stopped our discussion when Arlene brought our food. We salted and peppered our food and dug in for a bit, getting a few good bites in and contemplated the next thing to come out.
“So what is the deal with Lafayette’s mom? Did she bust out?” asked West.
“She must have. This thing with Jesus must be serious. You would think Lafayette would be more wary about him,” said Vi.
“I don’t think Lafayette is falling in so soon into this thing with Jesus, but I think he will definitely have to think things over with his mom coming to him to warn him. Of course I don’t think he will consider his mother a reliable witness to anything, being who she is,” I said.
“I feel sorry for Lafayette,” said Vi. “He is so open to the world of mysticism, but he doesn’t trust anything.”
“I think he could be getting into this,” said West, swizzling a fry in a glob of ketchup. “He seems to reach into his soul and pull things out, like when they got Tara out and he recited that bit from the Bible and then prayed that Inuit prayer. Lafayette is listening, he just has to hear.”
“Hopefully, he will be listening carefully about Jesus,” I said.
We paid our checks and tipped Arlene and headed out to the parlor.
God Speed was sitting at the computer and Minnie and Renee and lo and behold Spookie Tooth, my mom, was in the parlor. A true devotee to our adventures but a technology illiterate and content to remain so, I had started her own thread so she could put down her responses on what she saw in the show and many of the members of the True Blood Anonymous group enjoyed her observations. She pestered me about attending a meeting and was pleased when I told her she was more than welcome.
Barrister, his left hand carefully wrapped in gauze was reading the latest offering of The American Vampire League’s magazine The Blood Bar: Vampire Legal Issues. I went over and sat my big bag of crazy, a large nylon bag from Eric’s Tru:Blood distributor, down on the large coffee table and I leaned over and kissed him. I then walked over to mom.
“Whatcha doing mom?” I asked.
“Just baking some biscuits for supper,” she said.
“Welcome to your first meeting,” I said.
“So when do the Vampires get here?” she asked. She was champing at the bit to see real Vampires, though she was one of those people who did not like being bitten. Still she was interested in Eric in a way that irritated me and I knew she was especially interested in meeting the Vampire Sheriff of Area Five.
“When the sun goes down. You know they can’t go out in the sunlight,” I said.
“Did you see Bill?” she asked.
“No, but he is there, he left us a note that he was home,” I said. I poured a glass of wine and looked at the hazy hot day outside…I was wondering when it would rain. I was just about ready for fall to come, but not yet, not til our adventure was done.
Supper was called when the biscuits came out and I prepared Barrister’s plate, cutting his steak for him and bringing it to him with a big glass of honey wine Raki had brought in. Renee was sitting next to Spooky Tooth and they were chatting away like old friends with Jen on the other side. God Speed sat next to her, chatting with Body Guard and Aolani across the table. Westexan, Scarlett, Bella and Vi were filling out the rest of table. Fairy sat one end and the other werewolf Alcide was sitting at the other. I liked that were, he had helped with Bill and he could not help but be ignorant of Bill when he and Tara kicked him out of his truck.
Lina and Linzy and Butter and Minnie were in the parlor with Sweet and Sugar. We took our time eating and drinking and when supper was done, we cleaned the kitchen and put the dishes to washing and Minnie brought out the cake while GS put the coffee on. It was while we were eating our dessert that Jessica came in, slowing down so we could see her. Scarlett got out five bottles of Tru:Blood and began heating them. She sat down by me.
“Mom, I want you to meet Jessica Hamby. Jessica, this is Spookie Tooth,” I said. Jessica snickered at the screen name and held out her cool hand. My mom took it and shook it, marveling at the cool hand in hers. Scarlett brought the red headed girl her blood and she took a drink of it.
“Wow, you really are a Vampire,” she exclaimed.
“Yes ma’am,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, I am really excited to meet one at last,” said Spookie Tooth. I patted her on the back and left her to chat with the young Vampire. Kellie came in, late, and greeted her mom and went over to speak to her fanged bff and make my mother’s acquaintance. She had some stuff for Eric on a disc. Kellie was Eric’s personal secretary of sorts. I didn’t know what she was doing but I understood it entailed long phone calls and a few late night meetings between the two I did not think Renee fully approved of.
Pam came in next. She was greeted with cheering and clapping and she stopped for a moment to acknowledge us and walked up to Scarlett and kissed her on the mouth and accepted the blood from her. She was introduced my mother by Scarlett. My mom was getting her fill of the fanged set this evening. But I know Eric was the one she really wanted to see.
She was rewarded when both Bill and Eric came into the parlor together. Vi ran up to Bill and hugged him. He held her to him for a long time as Eric made his way to the counter where mom and his child and Jessica and Scarlett were chatting.
“Hello there,” said the tall blond. My mother is not short for a woman, but she still looked up into the Vampire’s face. “I am Eric, and who are you, dearest?”
“I am Spookie Tooth, I’m Aslinn’s mom,” she said.
“Aslinn’s mother, excellent,” he said. “Welcome to our group.”
“Great to be here,” she said, breathlessly. “I can’t believe I am finally meeting you after all the things Aslinn has told me.”
“I hope she gave me a favorable endorsement,” said the Viking, pouring on the smarm, I mean charm.
“She did,” said mom.
While the Sheriff was charming the white cotton bloomers off my mother, (Eric, I better not find fang marks on my mom) I walked up to Bill. He took me in his arms and kissed me softly. “Do you like your house, Bill?”
“It is beautiful,” said the Vampire in his soft southern voice. “Thank you so much.”
“We all did it,” I said. “These six weeks have been long and rough for us without you.”
“Can we please get on with our meeting?” asked Pam. She always started the meetings. We all took our places in the circle. Eric presented my mom with a premium seat the Vampire seated himself by Butter and took the little monkey out her arms and cuddled him to his silent chest and gave him a cool finger to clutch and even put to his rose bud lips and sample. He laughed a little at the pink bundle.
“Okay,” said God Speed. “Eric, you are holding out on us, who is The Authority?”
“It is true we have not been forthcoming about the Vampire world, but since Russell has made it an issue out in the open, I can tell you that The Authority is a Vampire power structure who installs all our royalty and marries the kings and queens and writes our laws.”
“We figured that much out,” said Body Guard. “What specifically are they?”
“We, that is Eric and Pam and I, have decided to let you explore that as you get through the adventures,” said Bill. “I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for working on my home. It was very generous of you.”
“Not a problem Bill,” we said.
“So, the King and Sophie Anne are married. Will the Vampire community accept their marriage? And how much authority does Russell have?” asked Barrister.
“Considerable, even if it is in the interim. He can force Sophie Anne to issue edicts in her name, make money, gather minions to himself,” said Eric. His mouth had that straight determined set to it and it made me worry. Eric was a calculating and deliberate Vampire, stubborn and head strong when it had to do with what he wanted. And he had waited 1000 years to get this prize.
“What will happen when it is found that the Magister is dead, and given final death in your bar Eric?” asked Fairy.
“What do you think will happen?” asked Eric. “I want to hear your opinion.”
“Well, if Sophie Anne really wants your help and you want to get out of any culpability, you could kill Russell Edgington and then to get out of the situation, you could swear fealty back to Sophie Anne and then it is a matter of getting your stories straight. I mean who was there really? Just you and Pam and Russell Edgington, and the Magister himself,” explained God Speed.
“This is true,” said Eric.
“How far do you intend to go to get your revenge?” asked Body Guard.
“I will do whatever I must to get what is rightfully mine,” he said.
“Well, according to the Connection, also known as CH, Sophie Anne does kill her hubby and this drags her before the Vampire tribunal,” said Spookie Tooth. “What if the Source is reaching that far into the future and bringing things a little closer into the adventure?” I looked at my mom, amazed and then my eyes darted to Eric who had a strange look fleet across his face and then disappear.
“That would not be difficult to imagine,” said the Vampire at last.
“And what about Debbie? Alcide, you should have dealt with her,” said Lina. “She is just going to get in the way and try to cause more havoc.”
“I just could not bring myself to do it,” said the were. I understood. How could you kill someone you cared about?
“So now we come to it,” I said. “Sookie’s lineage. So now you know.”
“Who says I know?” said Eric.
“C’mon Eric, don’t be coy,” said Fairy. “You know.”
“And why are you getting all up in this thing with Bill and Sookie?” asked Renee.
“It should be apparent why,” said Eric. He smiled his lopsided grin and his eyes flickered at Bill, who looked murderous.
“And Lorena is dead,” said Barrister. “Will Sookie be held responsible? Will more of Edgington’s weres appear in Bon Temp for Sookie for some twisted notion of justice because she killed Lorena while trying to rescue Bill?”
“Bill won’t let anything happen to Sookie because of this,” said Linzy. “I think that is why he is getting Jessica ready, to get ready to be a useful if they have to have a war with him and his weres.”
“You won’t let anything happen to her will you Bill?” asked God Speed.
“I will try my best to keep her safe,” he said. “I am well aware of my short comings as a Maker.”
“Is Franklin still alive?” asked Minnie, our quietest member.
“She did not stake him or cut off his head or expose him to sunlight or drain him. As you can see, from Bill, a Vampire can be nearly drained and still survive,” said Pam. “It may take him a while but he can be healed.”
“Yeah just long enough for Tara to relax a little and then when she least expects it, he pops back up,” said Butter. She leaned over and caught a curl of the baby’s hair and rolled it around her finger to train it to curl.
“Yeah like a scorching case of herpes,” I said. “Will you guys be doing something about him, please?”
Bill seemed to look guilty. He had to walk away from Tara when she was brought to Mississippi by Franklin and she was taking it pretty hard.
“Coot is dead,” said Sweet. “Which is a good thing. But what happens now?”
“I think we will see someone become packmaster,” said Body Guard.
“Do you think so?” said Westexan.
“You know, Debbie is so mean, what if…” My eyes cut to Alcide. I was thinking about the possibility that Debbie would do anything to Alcide to hurt him now, perhaps even harm his mom and dad, the mother who she helped plant tomatoes and the father who she played horseshoes with. I closed my eyes and prayed that she would not go that far. “Alcide, why do you not want to have children? Do you hate being a werewolf?”
“It ain’t that,” he said. “Being a kid is rough enough without being a were. It gets rougher with every generation. I just ain’t sure that would be the best thing.”
“What if you all came out in the open?” asked Sugar.
“We could, but we don’t think we would get the same reception as the Vampires. We are afraid we would be put in ghettos and made zoo animals and circus freaks. Vampires just get to be sexy and famous and rich,” said Alcide.
“As it should be,” mumbled Eric to no one, except maybe the baby he was holding, the baby now asleep in his arms.
“Bill, I want you to know that we, that is the group, understand that you would not have harmed Sookie had you been in your right mind,” said Barrister. “We can’t begin to understand what that is like, but we can try to understand.”
“Thank you Barrister,” said Bill.
“Well, we have to get some things finished before we go to ground,” said Pam. “Excellent work this evening.”
It was good to have our Vampires back with us, but I worried about them still. They were still in danger, our Vampires, our Werewolf and shifters, our telepath and her friends and family. Five more weeks of adventure to go.
We were excited. The counselors would be back after being absent from our meetings. I woke at the Compton house to a note from Bill, saying thanks and he would see us all at the meeting. I was relieved and as I left his house with Violet that afternoon, I looked back at the stairs and the door at the top where I knew the Vampire was sleeping, his first day rest in his refurbished home.
There was still plenty to do, but I knew we could work on it over the hiatus. We were over the hump and we were now moving downhill toward the end of the adventure, but I knew that we were in for more excitement. Westexan was waiting for us to come out. We were going to go and have lunch at Merlotte’s as we made our way back to the parlor and set things up for the meeting tonight. Renee was fixing chicken fried steak and gravy and mashed potatoes and green beans. Minnie had a huge spice cake waiting for us I could not wait to sink my teeth into.
Merlotte’s was not crowded and we parked in the front and got out and went in. I wanted a Burger Lafayette and fries. Sam nodded to us in greeting and motioned for us to seat ourselves. He was drawing a couple of cold beers. Well, I wasn’t driving, so I decided to have a cold one. Arlene, a bit frazzled, came up.
“Hey Arlene,” I said. “Give me the Burger Lafayette, fries and a cold beer.”
“I’ll have the chicken strips and fries and a little garden salad, ranch dressing and sweet ice tea,” said West.
“I’ll have the…chili and a garden salad with ranch and some…corn bread on the side,” said Vi. “And I’ll have a cold beer too.”
“I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks,” she said, smiling a little weakly. I lit a cigarette and looked around the bar. Andy was at a booth, reading a newspaper; Hoyt was at a booth with his new GF who was talking at him as he eyeballed Tommy, bussing a table recently vacated by a lunching couple. Uh oh… that could not be good. Sam brought us our beers and West’s iced tea.
“Hey Sam, how’s Sookie?” I asked. I genuinely liked Sam. He was slender built, a little shorter than Bill with a ruddy, friendly complexion and strawberry blond hair with a little grey at the temples. He had an easy smile and a slow way of talking with just enough twang to make him what he was, a good old southern boy with southern good old boy manners. He was carrying a couple of beer bottles in one hand and an iced tea, the house wine of the south, in the other. He carefully set Westexan’s tea in front of her and my and Vi’s beers in front of us.
“Hey Aslinn, Vi, Westexan,” he said. “Well, according to Lafayette, Bill healed her, and she is going to get come home real soon, but they are still puzzled about that thing with her blood.” We nodded at him but said no more. We knew things that Sam didn’t need to know. “I was thinking that she has had a lot of Vampire blood. Do you think it could effect her blood type? “
“I would not be surprised, Sam,” I said. “How’s your brother?”
“He’ll be okay,” said Sam.
“Yeah, we all have whiskey tango elements in our families Sam,” I said.
“You all enjoy your lunches,” he said.
“Okay, so what do you think will come out of all this?” asked Westexan. “Do you think Tommy will be able to settle here in Bon Temps?”
“I have no idea,” said Violet. “Dog fighting….did you see the way poor Tommy looked when they shot that poor dog and then threw him on that pile?”
“Barbarous practice,” said Westexan.
“Like the gladiators in Rome,” I said. “But I liked how Sam threw down with Joe Lee and Melinda that was great. And did you see the way Tommy was looking at him? It was like he was thinking ‘I got a big brother’ you know?”
“I hope things work out for him,” said Westexan. “I wonder how Pam is?”
“I think she will be okay,” said Vi. “I was so surprised when Russell moved so fast to chain up the Magister.”
“Is that because he is so old?” asked West.
“I would say so,” I said. “That means they will have to be very careful with the king. Eric is still in danger. Now that he has Pam back and presumably safe, he will be focused on this thing with the past.”
We stopped our discussion when Arlene brought our food. We salted and peppered our food and dug in for a bit, getting a few good bites in and contemplated the next thing to come out.
“So what is the deal with Lafayette’s mom? Did she bust out?” asked West.
“She must have. This thing with Jesus must be serious. You would think Lafayette would be more wary about him,” said Vi.
“I don’t think Lafayette is falling in so soon into this thing with Jesus, but I think he will definitely have to think things over with his mom coming to him to warn him. Of course I don’t think he will consider his mother a reliable witness to anything, being who she is,” I said.
“I feel sorry for Lafayette,” said Vi. “He is so open to the world of mysticism, but he doesn’t trust anything.”
“I think he could be getting into this,” said West, swizzling a fry in a glob of ketchup. “He seems to reach into his soul and pull things out, like when they got Tara out and he recited that bit from the Bible and then prayed that Inuit prayer. Lafayette is listening, he just has to hear.”
“Hopefully, he will be listening carefully about Jesus,” I said.
We paid our checks and tipped Arlene and headed out to the parlor.
God Speed was sitting at the computer and Minnie and Renee and lo and behold Spookie Tooth, my mom, was in the parlor. A true devotee to our adventures but a technology illiterate and content to remain so, I had started her own thread so she could put down her responses on what she saw in the show and many of the members of the True Blood Anonymous group enjoyed her observations. She pestered me about attending a meeting and was pleased when I told her she was more than welcome.
Barrister, his left hand carefully wrapped in gauze was reading the latest offering of The American Vampire League’s magazine The Blood Bar: Vampire Legal Issues. I went over and sat my big bag of crazy, a large nylon bag from Eric’s Tru:Blood distributor, down on the large coffee table and I leaned over and kissed him. I then walked over to mom.
“Whatcha doing mom?” I asked.
“Just baking some biscuits for supper,” she said.
“Welcome to your first meeting,” I said.
“So when do the Vampires get here?” she asked. She was champing at the bit to see real Vampires, though she was one of those people who did not like being bitten. Still she was interested in Eric in a way that irritated me and I knew she was especially interested in meeting the Vampire Sheriff of Area Five.
“When the sun goes down. You know they can’t go out in the sunlight,” I said.
“Did you see Bill?” she asked.
“No, but he is there, he left us a note that he was home,” I said. I poured a glass of wine and looked at the hazy hot day outside…I was wondering when it would rain. I was just about ready for fall to come, but not yet, not til our adventure was done.
Supper was called when the biscuits came out and I prepared Barrister’s plate, cutting his steak for him and bringing it to him with a big glass of honey wine Raki had brought in. Renee was sitting next to Spooky Tooth and they were chatting away like old friends with Jen on the other side. God Speed sat next to her, chatting with Body Guard and Aolani across the table. Westexan, Scarlett, Bella and Vi were filling out the rest of table. Fairy sat one end and the other werewolf Alcide was sitting at the other. I liked that were, he had helped with Bill and he could not help but be ignorant of Bill when he and Tara kicked him out of his truck.
Lina and Linzy and Butter and Minnie were in the parlor with Sweet and Sugar. We took our time eating and drinking and when supper was done, we cleaned the kitchen and put the dishes to washing and Minnie brought out the cake while GS put the coffee on. It was while we were eating our dessert that Jessica came in, slowing down so we could see her. Scarlett got out five bottles of Tru:Blood and began heating them. She sat down by me.
“Mom, I want you to meet Jessica Hamby. Jessica, this is Spookie Tooth,” I said. Jessica snickered at the screen name and held out her cool hand. My mom took it and shook it, marveling at the cool hand in hers. Scarlett brought the red headed girl her blood and she took a drink of it.
“Wow, you really are a Vampire,” she exclaimed.
“Yes ma’am,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, I am really excited to meet one at last,” said Spookie Tooth. I patted her on the back and left her to chat with the young Vampire. Kellie came in, late, and greeted her mom and went over to speak to her fanged bff and make my mother’s acquaintance. She had some stuff for Eric on a disc. Kellie was Eric’s personal secretary of sorts. I didn’t know what she was doing but I understood it entailed long phone calls and a few late night meetings between the two I did not think Renee fully approved of.
Pam came in next. She was greeted with cheering and clapping and she stopped for a moment to acknowledge us and walked up to Scarlett and kissed her on the mouth and accepted the blood from her. She was introduced my mother by Scarlett. My mom was getting her fill of the fanged set this evening. But I know Eric was the one she really wanted to see.
She was rewarded when both Bill and Eric came into the parlor together. Vi ran up to Bill and hugged him. He held her to him for a long time as Eric made his way to the counter where mom and his child and Jessica and Scarlett were chatting.
“Hello there,” said the tall blond. My mother is not short for a woman, but she still looked up into the Vampire’s face. “I am Eric, and who are you, dearest?”
“I am Spookie Tooth, I’m Aslinn’s mom,” she said.
“Aslinn’s mother, excellent,” he said. “Welcome to our group.”
“Great to be here,” she said, breathlessly. “I can’t believe I am finally meeting you after all the things Aslinn has told me.”
“I hope she gave me a favorable endorsement,” said the Viking, pouring on the smarm, I mean charm.
“She did,” said mom.
While the Sheriff was charming the white cotton bloomers off my mother, (Eric, I better not find fang marks on my mom) I walked up to Bill. He took me in his arms and kissed me softly. “Do you like your house, Bill?”
“It is beautiful,” said the Vampire in his soft southern voice. “Thank you so much.”
“We all did it,” I said. “These six weeks have been long and rough for us without you.”
“Can we please get on with our meeting?” asked Pam. She always started the meetings. We all took our places in the circle. Eric presented my mom with a premium seat the Vampire seated himself by Butter and took the little monkey out her arms and cuddled him to his silent chest and gave him a cool finger to clutch and even put to his rose bud lips and sample. He laughed a little at the pink bundle.
“Okay,” said God Speed. “Eric, you are holding out on us, who is The Authority?”
“It is true we have not been forthcoming about the Vampire world, but since Russell has made it an issue out in the open, I can tell you that The Authority is a Vampire power structure who installs all our royalty and marries the kings and queens and writes our laws.”
“We figured that much out,” said Body Guard. “What specifically are they?”
“We, that is Eric and Pam and I, have decided to let you explore that as you get through the adventures,” said Bill. “I would like to take a moment to thank all of you for working on my home. It was very generous of you.”
“Not a problem Bill,” we said.
“So, the King and Sophie Anne are married. Will the Vampire community accept their marriage? And how much authority does Russell have?” asked Barrister.
“Considerable, even if it is in the interim. He can force Sophie Anne to issue edicts in her name, make money, gather minions to himself,” said Eric. His mouth had that straight determined set to it and it made me worry. Eric was a calculating and deliberate Vampire, stubborn and head strong when it had to do with what he wanted. And he had waited 1000 years to get this prize.
“What will happen when it is found that the Magister is dead, and given final death in your bar Eric?” asked Fairy.
“What do you think will happen?” asked Eric. “I want to hear your opinion.”
“Well, if Sophie Anne really wants your help and you want to get out of any culpability, you could kill Russell Edgington and then to get out of the situation, you could swear fealty back to Sophie Anne and then it is a matter of getting your stories straight. I mean who was there really? Just you and Pam and Russell Edgington, and the Magister himself,” explained God Speed.
“This is true,” said Eric.
“How far do you intend to go to get your revenge?” asked Body Guard.
“I will do whatever I must to get what is rightfully mine,” he said.
“Well, according to the Connection, also known as CH, Sophie Anne does kill her hubby and this drags her before the Vampire tribunal,” said Spookie Tooth. “What if the Source is reaching that far into the future and bringing things a little closer into the adventure?” I looked at my mom, amazed and then my eyes darted to Eric who had a strange look fleet across his face and then disappear.
“That would not be difficult to imagine,” said the Vampire at last.
“And what about Debbie? Alcide, you should have dealt with her,” said Lina. “She is just going to get in the way and try to cause more havoc.”
“I just could not bring myself to do it,” said the were. I understood. How could you kill someone you cared about?
“So now we come to it,” I said. “Sookie’s lineage. So now you know.”
“Who says I know?” said Eric.
“C’mon Eric, don’t be coy,” said Fairy. “You know.”
“And why are you getting all up in this thing with Bill and Sookie?” asked Renee.
“It should be apparent why,” said Eric. He smiled his lopsided grin and his eyes flickered at Bill, who looked murderous.
“And Lorena is dead,” said Barrister. “Will Sookie be held responsible? Will more of Edgington’s weres appear in Bon Temp for Sookie for some twisted notion of justice because she killed Lorena while trying to rescue Bill?”
“Bill won’t let anything happen to Sookie because of this,” said Linzy. “I think that is why he is getting Jessica ready, to get ready to be a useful if they have to have a war with him and his weres.”
“You won’t let anything happen to her will you Bill?” asked God Speed.
“I will try my best to keep her safe,” he said. “I am well aware of my short comings as a Maker.”
“Is Franklin still alive?” asked Minnie, our quietest member.
“She did not stake him or cut off his head or expose him to sunlight or drain him. As you can see, from Bill, a Vampire can be nearly drained and still survive,” said Pam. “It may take him a while but he can be healed.”
“Yeah just long enough for Tara to relax a little and then when she least expects it, he pops back up,” said Butter. She leaned over and caught a curl of the baby’s hair and rolled it around her finger to train it to curl.
“Yeah like a scorching case of herpes,” I said. “Will you guys be doing something about him, please?”
Bill seemed to look guilty. He had to walk away from Tara when she was brought to Mississippi by Franklin and she was taking it pretty hard.
“Coot is dead,” said Sweet. “Which is a good thing. But what happens now?”
“I think we will see someone become packmaster,” said Body Guard.
“Do you think so?” said Westexan.
“You know, Debbie is so mean, what if…” My eyes cut to Alcide. I was thinking about the possibility that Debbie would do anything to Alcide to hurt him now, perhaps even harm his mom and dad, the mother who she helped plant tomatoes and the father who she played horseshoes with. I closed my eyes and prayed that she would not go that far. “Alcide, why do you not want to have children? Do you hate being a werewolf?”
“It ain’t that,” he said. “Being a kid is rough enough without being a were. It gets rougher with every generation. I just ain’t sure that would be the best thing.”
“What if you all came out in the open?” asked Sugar.
“We could, but we don’t think we would get the same reception as the Vampires. We are afraid we would be put in ghettos and made zoo animals and circus freaks. Vampires just get to be sexy and famous and rich,” said Alcide.
“As it should be,” mumbled Eric to no one, except maybe the baby he was holding, the baby now asleep in his arms.
“Bill, I want you to know that we, that is the group, understand that you would not have harmed Sookie had you been in your right mind,” said Barrister. “We can’t begin to understand what that is like, but we can try to understand.”
“Thank you Barrister,” said Bill.
“Well, we have to get some things finished before we go to ground,” said Pam. “Excellent work this evening.”
It was good to have our Vampires back with us, but I worried about them still. They were still in danger, our Vampires, our Werewolf and shifters, our telepath and her friends and family. Five more weeks of adventure to go.
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