I was sitting at the table in the parlor with Renee, Shannon and the Sheriff of Area Five, playing poker. I could feel the weight of the question I wanted to ask. It hung over me like a thunder cloud. I looked at the Sheriff with stormy eyes. I wanted to reach over and shake the answer out of him. But he was not the only one I wanted to shake.
I hate sounding like Sookie, but I was actually pretty fed up with being left out of the loop, particularly if we were going to be dealing with Vampire problems and trying to have meaningful relationships with these people. How can you do that when the players seem to be changing their positions. Eric looked cool as a cucumber, studying his cards til he happened to look over at me.
"What?" he said. I hesitated and then, I thought no, why should I.
"Screw this...Eric, why didn't you and Bill tell us he had become the effing king of Louisiana! That is messed up!!!" I declared.
"Please, don't hold back Aslinn, be frank," said the Viking.
"I would really like to give the both of you a piece of my mind," I answered tersely. Eric looked up at Renee and shrugged as if to say, 'hey, it wasn't me.'
"Well, the mind is the largest sex organ, so I would enjoywhatever...part of you...you give to me," he said, fiddling with his cards. "I call."
"Aces and Eights," said Renee as she began to pull the sizable pot of Eric's money toward her. "Come to momma baby, she needs a new pair of shoes."
"See, you distracted me," said Eric, smiling that implacable Mona Lisa smile, wrinkling his nose just a fraction to do it.
"Don't give me any of your smarm Eric. It might work on doe eyed telepathic waitresses but it does fuck all for me," I said. Eric sat back and looked at me.
"Articulate as ever Aslinn, you never mince words, I like that," he said. "As to why Bill and I did not tell you, you will have to ask him."
"Oh don't worry, I plan to," I said.
"I never worry Aslinn," he said.
"Did Michael know?" Eric's eyes raised to a point somewhere behind me and I knew my Barrister was there behind me. I looked up. "Did you?"
"Yes, I knew, at the very end, but I knew," he said.
"Son of a..." I swore.
"Bill!" said Shannon, leaping up from the table to greet the Vampire in question. Shannon had finally consummated her sister wife-dom to Bill just recently. She hugged and kissed him and then went to heat him a Blood. He walked over and kissed Renee and then came over to do the same to me. I pulled away from a bit. Eric made to get up.
"Don't you dare buster!" I said. "I want answers from the both of you."
"Perhaps we should convene a meeting," said King Bill.
"As you wish...your majesty..." said Eric in a soft mocking tone which implied 'enjoy it while you may Bill Compton'.
I got up and walked over to one of the big overstuffed chairs and sat down. I was mad at both Vampires. I had not made up my mind about Barrister. Fairy and Raki sat down by Eric and Renee and Vi and Shannon sat near Bill. Westexan came and sat by me. She was a bit diffident about the things she had seen and she was trying to make up her mind about whether she liked them or not. Pam came in and sat on the other side. She gave me a smile that said...'We're girls now,' and I just looked away. I gave her my "Don't Help Me" look and she just smiled wider. Sugar and Butter and Minnie and Sweet and Linzy and Lina and Aolani sat on the other couch, across from Eric.
"I suppose I should begin by apologizing to you for keeping the fact I had ascended to the Throne of Louisiana from you," began Bill. "Nan Flanagan requested we keep this a secret."
"But we are your friends, we could have used this knowledge to help Eric and the rest of us get out of trouble with the Authority for killing those Vampires," I said.
"Believe me, my position did negate what was going to happen," he said. "I know it looked very desperate but I knew nothing would have happened to any of us, including Eric. The trial was a test, to show the authority you are humans of value. Eric and I have repeatedly expressed your superiority and they simply needed evidence."
"And Michael knew?" I asked.
"Not until the very end, when Eric gave his statement to the Authority," said Bill. "We knew your gamble would work."
"And what if I hadn't had that big idea?" I said. "They had already sentenced you, all of you."
"We had faith in the Council," said Eric. "I trust you with my afterlife."
"Don't be mad Aslinn," said Jessica. "We knew you guys could do it."
"So, did we prove your point?" I asked.
"You did, and we need the council's advice once more," he said.
"The Fae...can they move in and out of this world?" asked Pam.
"There is no reason to believe they can't," I said. "She only closed the one portal."
"And the witches?" asked Bill.
"The witches are a real Vampire problem," I said. "They are practicing necromancy."
"It's simply talking to the dead, isn't it?" asked Fairy.
"No, there are two types of communication with the dead. You can be a psychic sensitive and the dead freely communicate with you. Then there is necromancy and that is forcing the dead to speak to you," said Aolani. "It can lead to all sorts of things: hauntings, possessions, other things."
"Can you and the witches protect us?" asked Bill.
"The more involved in this coven you become, the more danger you will be in," said Aolani. "If you are not careful with how you deal with this coven, the more danger you will be in."
"Advice heard," said Eric.
"Look, Eric, for lack of a better word, you guys have 'good' witches in this group willing to do whatever we can to protect you," said Aolani. "But all our good intentions are pretty worthless if you don't do as we say. These witches are under the influence of a 'bad' witch, Marnie. The other witches look to me to be fairly innocent, particularly our friend Lafayette."
"Are they Wiccans?" asked Bill. "I confess I am a bit confused."
"Wiccans are fairly peaceful. They are a nature religion. Not all Wiccans are witches, not all witches are Wiccan," she explained. "A lot of covens use the word Wiccan as a short hand term."
"Are you ladies Wiccans?" asked Eric.
"Perfect case in point, Eric. All religions have some supernatural or magikal factor in them. I am a Wiccan. Aslinn, Renee, Fairy, they practice a form of very ancient Christian Craft, something the mainstream Christian religions disregard or simply call miracles. Jessica is practicing just pure witchcraft, for lack of a better way of explaining it. She is a peculiar thing, she is a Vampire studying the craft, so she has no religion per se. Let's just say she is spiritual and drawing on her own supernatural energy."
"That is how they can harm us," said Bill.
"Yes," I said. "You, Eric, Pam, Jessica, are all creatures of the supernatural, you are pure magikal energy and witches do their work by manipulating energy. They can harm you, they can possess you, they can steal your light."
"That is what Claudine said about Vampires and Sookie," said Linzy.
"All creatures, Vampire, Weres, Shifters, Fae, us, we all have a light," said Aolani. "The concept of light is not simply fae."
"It's our souls," I said. "The thing that makes us who we are."
"Have you forgotten Aslinn?" asked Eric. "I am dead, I have no soul."
"I have had just enough out of you," I said. "One cannot define the living sentient self based on the beating of a heart. Trees do not have a heart, yet they live. The water does not have a heart and it is a living thing that covers 2/3 of the planet. So don't give me that...I am dead, I don't have a soul bullshit!!!" Bill looked at me. It was a discussion we often had when we chatted about their place in the universe. I don't know if they liked being considered souless, or if they simply believed the hype thrust upon them, or they simply saw it as a human frailty they were well rid of.
Butter looked around, trying to find a topic. "So, what about Sookie's brother," she said.
"Jason will have to work out his own problems with Hot Shot," said Bill."The community is certainly a blight on Bon Temps."
"It's not their fault," said Westexan.
"I know, but honestly, what can I do?" he asked.
"Nothing," I said. "They are more closed off than the usual were or shifter community."
"And Tara," said Raki.
"Or Toni, whatever the hell name she is going by these days," said Linzy.
"What are you going to do abut Sookie's house?" asked Violet.
"There is nothing much to be done about Sookie's house. The house is mine...and so is she," said Eric, snicking out his fangs. Bill gave Eric a very unloving look.
"What are you up to, Jessica," asked Michael.
"That is none of your business," she said, looking at me.
"Jessica!!!" said Bill.
"Oh don't bother," I said. Michael had not been spending so much time with her as he had, though I knew she paid Pam a visit from time to time...which was fascinating because I knew Pam was not ordinarily interested in men, but she seemed to be enjoying Michael's company. "Keep your hair on Jess."
"Sorry Aslinn," she said.
"I'm sorry too," I said.
"Well, what about that baby of Arlene's," asked Fairy. I gave her a look of gratitude. "Is it really a devil baby?"
"That remains to be seen," said Aolani...
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
June 22, 2011
The Louisiana sun was high in the sky as we painted the front of Fangtasia. The paint practically dried as soon as we rolled it on...I was assured it was practically graffiti proof.The next time someone spray painted Fangers go to Hell the words would trickle down the side of the wall. I hoped the sales clerk was correct, I would hate to think Eric was paying this much for the paint and we were getting sunburned in the process. I dipped my roller in and carefully rolled on the dark grey paint over the words Take the Un out of Undead....assholes.
Ginger, Fangtasia's resident screamer and fang cushion, brought us out more cold sodas and offered to make us some peanut butter and butter sandwiches. I don't know why she thought that would be a nice lunch but we had already decided to order from Huey's House of Barbeque for lunch then we would troop to Bill's house and shower and change and head for the meeting at sundown at Fangtasia. Afterwards we would party hardy with the Viking and his patrons by way of celebrating our successful adventure.
I took a short break and lit a cigarette and sipped my soda. I was sure glad to see the bad bits being covered up and then I realized I was standing right on the spot where Eric nearly met his demise, burning up like an earthworm on the pavement. I was more than glad he had survived. Imagine burning like that? I shivered. Fairy went over and stood by me.
"Took some nerve," she said, reading my mind...
"Yeah, it did, your boy has balls," I agreed.
"He sure does.....Now, what do you think Bill is up to?" she asked. Renee sidled up to us when she heard Bill's name mentioned.
"Dunnoe...I think he might be the Magister, or something close to that sort of title of authority. He must have proved himself in some way to be selected, I mean he does have a reputation for being a breather-lover....." Butter stretched her back and stepped back to look at the work.
"Looks better," she said. "We should paint some sort of mural on the fence."
"They are just gonna paint over it," I said. "Paint something nice on there and they will just graffiti it."
"Cast a spell on it...Like if someone paints over it, they will get splotches on their face or something," suggested Westexan.
That might work," I said. I went over to Aolani to chat about it and Raki came over.
"Did you see that witch shoppe as we came to Fangtasia?" she asked.
"Yeah, Aolani, Aslinn and I are going to go and check it out sometime soon." said Renee. "We need to find out some things, get a feel for it."
"Eric won't like that, you guys going without a Vampire."
"It's not for him to like or dislike," said Westexan. "You know they would realize they had a Vampire there."
"Go with us, Raki, you can use your empath powers and see what sort of impression you get from them," suggested Renee. I rejoined the group.
Empathy was the power to sense over all emotion and apparently Raki and I were sharing something with Aolani in common. Maybe it was the fact we could always do it, but never thought about it, but since we had been together, we realized we were really feeling a lot of emotions, sort of like when women live together, their hormones get in sync and they have their periods at the same time? Anyway, mine was coming out because it was just the next gift in my witchcraft life, but Raki's like Aolani's was coming from her heredity. Raki had a sensitive in her family. A great aunt that had the ability to talk to the dead and see the spirits of those who have gone on.
Which is way different from necromancy, which was one of the topics of our meeting.
Unlike telepathy, which is reading someone's thoughts, we could actually sense Vampire emotions. Well, their stronger emotions. We could all do that at some level with the bond, but Aolani, Raki and I were sensing more than just the bond, it was clearer and sharper and sometimes as intrusive as telepathy. We would just have to work through it.....
"Aolani said she would see what she could come with," I said. "Yeah, Raki, you should come and check out the shop with us."
Lina and Linzy came over and they were laughing at something the Viking had said one night. "What are you two possums grinning about?" I asked. These girls were like two peas in a pod. I knew virtually nothing about them and I wondered about them. They told us very little about their lives. Through the empath energies, I could feel a wild sort of sensation, like walking by an electric fence and you can feel the electrical charge. And they were nearly perfectly matched. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before, so I made a mental note of it and turned my mind to other things.
We got the front of Fangtasia painted and brought our lunches into the bar and ate. I needed a shower in the worst way and my Barrister did as well. It was our second summer together and I was looking forward to the fall. For personal reasons...Otherwise I was content in the hot steamy summer and the adventures we would be watching.
Alcide the werewolf came in. Alcide Herveaux did not like doing favors for Vampires and Eric had a doggie bone to pick with him over a couple of the girls, Sugar and Jen who looked excited when he came and sat down between them and grabbed a fork and proceeded to sample goodies from both girl's plates. He was 6'8" and big and dark and handsome in an earthy hot blooded way. Both girls still loved the Viking but they were double dipping in the Supernatural pool so to speak and this led to some tension and a wrecked lap top for the blond Vampire.
After lunch some of us went to Bon Temps and Bill's house. I loved Bill's house. It was a wild mix of both modern and antebellum but right now, I loved Bill's shower the most. The man in question was still in his day rest somewhere. As was his ward Jessica.
I went into Bill's room and got dressed, Barrister was already dressing in jeans and a white shirt. I was wearing purple, a little silky purple handkerchief blouse and a matching skirt and strappy brown leather sandals. My skin was dark and I had been liberal with the lotion and it fairly glowed. I put in dangly copper and purple jeweled earrings and a matching necklace and grabbed my little bag of crazy and headed downstairs. The sun was almost down.
The others went to Eric's house in Shreveport. Everything in the sheriff's house was made to accommodate the big man who lived there. Eric was the sort of man that sucked up all the space in a room. Even a room as bright and colorful as the living room. His pale skin and blond hair and bright eyes that seemed to borrow whatever color he had on would suck the colors from the room and that is what they did when the Vampire appeared from his resting place, dressed in his Fangtasia clothes, black pants, black tank top and leather jacket. Leather...in this heat? Well, being a Vampire meant never having to stay cool.
He saw Fairy there by the counter, waiting for the microwave to ding signalling the Tru:Blood she was warming for him was a balmy 98.6. He turned her around and kissed her, softly at first and then more passionately. "Hello dearest," he breathed, trailing his lips along her neck in a way that made Fairy shiver.
"Sleep well?" she asked.
"When I was not dreaming of what you did to me last night," he whispered. One of his big hands swatted her on the behind and pulled her close to him.
"Behave yourself," she said, though her eyes told him a different command. Does 'Take me you big Viking' ring a ding?
Reluctantly he let her go and took the bottle from her and drank it and made a face. No Vampires liked Tru:Blood and drank it only out of necessity. Raki came out of the bathroom and was all combed and curried and Eric grabbed her for a kiss and he repeated it with Butter. Eric had more wives than Solomon.
"How did the painting go?" he asked.
"We got it done for you," said Sweet and Wild. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her.
"I appreciate it. What time is the meeting?" he asked.
"Pretty soon," said Lina.
Fangtasia would not open for another hour, so we were able to sit leisurely and have our meeting. Sugar and Jen came with Alcide and the rest of us appeared with Bill and Jessica. God Speed sat down and Pam appeared and we all took our places.
"So, tell us about Necromancers," said Bill.
"There are all sorts of ways to talk to the dead," began Aolani. "You can be a sensitive and just see and hear dead people and chat with them, or you can do a ritual and actually conjure the dead, whether they wish to appear or not."
"And these would be?" asked Eric.
"These could be both," said Aolani. "They could be doing both, and this is pretty dangerous. Witches do not normally conjure the dead, it's rude and it opens you up to all sorts of nastiness, astrally speaking."
"How do you mean?" asked Pam
"Well, if you conjure the dead, you rip a hole through the veil of life and death and the dead can come into our world without effort. They can be very strong and they can do things to the living. And the Undead."
This was a strange dichotomy with the Vampires among us. They were in grey area spiritually. They were dead but very lively. They weren't zombies, zombies were subject to the natural decay of the body. Vampires were in stasis so to speak. Eric was a thousand years old and yet looked like he might be in his late twenties, early thirties. Bill was 176 years old and he looked maybe forty. But his life had been difficult with the end of the civil war and while he looked wonderful and strong and handsome, you could tell he had a hard road before he was made Vampire. Pam was a well kept 20 something from about the same time period as Bill and Jessica would always be 17 and look it...I wished I had been turned at 17...I was sort of a nerdy hottie...
"Like what?" asked Pam, breaking me from my thoughts.
"They can possess, they can haunt, they can be controlled," said Aolani. "To am extent, depending on the abilities of the necromancer."
Eric and Bill looked thoughtful. They were carefully considering Aolani's words. We council members knew something of what would be happening because of the Connection and the Source, but we could say nothing. What we did do is try to give them information we could to help them struggle through the inevitable goings on. It was all we could do. We could not interfere in this world.
"So, Bill, what are doing this summer?" asked Violet.
"I am not at liberty to say. Suffice it to say, I do have more responsibilities in the Vampire community, after what Russell Edgington did, we are having to shore up our public image." Eric made a slight derisive sound. Eric thought little of Bill and Bill personally hated Eric. He had tried to off him last summer.
"And Sookie?" asked Fairy.
"She is still gone," said Bill. We nodded, we knew she had been gone for a while and what she was experiencing was a mystery to the two fangy suitors in her life. But I had my eyes on the fairies...they troubled me...
"I am wondering about Andy and Jason and Hot Shot," said Minnie. "Do you think Andy will get into V?"
"I don't know," said Shanny Girl, my little sis. Shannon was here from England and was Barrister's sister and the newest of the sister wives to Mr. B. Compton... It was nice to have another Bill wife on the scene. Her nights were Wednesday night..."But he should be careful with stuff."
"And Tara is in that witch mess," said Linzy. "You would think she would not get involved as anti supernatural as she is."
"Who knows, you know it has to be Lafayette and Hey Soos," said Renee. "They are pulling her into this. You won't hurt her will you, Eric?"
"Not much," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, looking a tad unconcerned. I rolled my eyes.
"And Arlene, poor soul," said Minnie Mouse.
"Yeah, she's in a mess isn't she," said Barrister.
We chatted and speculated and then the bar opened and we went and got our drinks from Chow, the barman.
"Gonna be a long hot summer, Aslinn," said the fangy bartender.
"It most assuredly is," I said, sipping my beer and watching my friends and lovers party one last time before the trouble began.
Ginger, Fangtasia's resident screamer and fang cushion, brought us out more cold sodas and offered to make us some peanut butter and butter sandwiches. I don't know why she thought that would be a nice lunch but we had already decided to order from Huey's House of Barbeque for lunch then we would troop to Bill's house and shower and change and head for the meeting at sundown at Fangtasia. Afterwards we would party hardy with the Viking and his patrons by way of celebrating our successful adventure.
I took a short break and lit a cigarette and sipped my soda. I was sure glad to see the bad bits being covered up and then I realized I was standing right on the spot where Eric nearly met his demise, burning up like an earthworm on the pavement. I was more than glad he had survived. Imagine burning like that? I shivered. Fairy went over and stood by me.
"Took some nerve," she said, reading my mind...
"Yeah, it did, your boy has balls," I agreed.
"He sure does.....Now, what do you think Bill is up to?" she asked. Renee sidled up to us when she heard Bill's name mentioned.
"Dunnoe...I think he might be the Magister, or something close to that sort of title of authority. He must have proved himself in some way to be selected, I mean he does have a reputation for being a breather-lover....." Butter stretched her back and stepped back to look at the work.
"Looks better," she said. "We should paint some sort of mural on the fence."
"They are just gonna paint over it," I said. "Paint something nice on there and they will just graffiti it."
"Cast a spell on it...Like if someone paints over it, they will get splotches on their face or something," suggested Westexan.
That might work," I said. I went over to Aolani to chat about it and Raki came over.
"Did you see that witch shoppe as we came to Fangtasia?" she asked.
"Yeah, Aolani, Aslinn and I are going to go and check it out sometime soon." said Renee. "We need to find out some things, get a feel for it."
"Eric won't like that, you guys going without a Vampire."
"It's not for him to like or dislike," said Westexan. "You know they would realize they had a Vampire there."
"Go with us, Raki, you can use your empath powers and see what sort of impression you get from them," suggested Renee. I rejoined the group.
Empathy was the power to sense over all emotion and apparently Raki and I were sharing something with Aolani in common. Maybe it was the fact we could always do it, but never thought about it, but since we had been together, we realized we were really feeling a lot of emotions, sort of like when women live together, their hormones get in sync and they have their periods at the same time? Anyway, mine was coming out because it was just the next gift in my witchcraft life, but Raki's like Aolani's was coming from her heredity. Raki had a sensitive in her family. A great aunt that had the ability to talk to the dead and see the spirits of those who have gone on.
Which is way different from necromancy, which was one of the topics of our meeting.
Unlike telepathy, which is reading someone's thoughts, we could actually sense Vampire emotions. Well, their stronger emotions. We could all do that at some level with the bond, but Aolani, Raki and I were sensing more than just the bond, it was clearer and sharper and sometimes as intrusive as telepathy. We would just have to work through it.....
"Aolani said she would see what she could come with," I said. "Yeah, Raki, you should come and check out the shop with us."
Lina and Linzy came over and they were laughing at something the Viking had said one night. "What are you two possums grinning about?" I asked. These girls were like two peas in a pod. I knew virtually nothing about them and I wondered about them. They told us very little about their lives. Through the empath energies, I could feel a wild sort of sensation, like walking by an electric fence and you can feel the electrical charge. And they were nearly perfectly matched. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before, so I made a mental note of it and turned my mind to other things.
We got the front of Fangtasia painted and brought our lunches into the bar and ate. I needed a shower in the worst way and my Barrister did as well. It was our second summer together and I was looking forward to the fall. For personal reasons...Otherwise I was content in the hot steamy summer and the adventures we would be watching.
Alcide the werewolf came in. Alcide Herveaux did not like doing favors for Vampires and Eric had a doggie bone to pick with him over a couple of the girls, Sugar and Jen who looked excited when he came and sat down between them and grabbed a fork and proceeded to sample goodies from both girl's plates. He was 6'8" and big and dark and handsome in an earthy hot blooded way. Both girls still loved the Viking but they were double dipping in the Supernatural pool so to speak and this led to some tension and a wrecked lap top for the blond Vampire.
After lunch some of us went to Bon Temps and Bill's house. I loved Bill's house. It was a wild mix of both modern and antebellum but right now, I loved Bill's shower the most. The man in question was still in his day rest somewhere. As was his ward Jessica.
I went into Bill's room and got dressed, Barrister was already dressing in jeans and a white shirt. I was wearing purple, a little silky purple handkerchief blouse and a matching skirt and strappy brown leather sandals. My skin was dark and I had been liberal with the lotion and it fairly glowed. I put in dangly copper and purple jeweled earrings and a matching necklace and grabbed my little bag of crazy and headed downstairs. The sun was almost down.
The others went to Eric's house in Shreveport. Everything in the sheriff's house was made to accommodate the big man who lived there. Eric was the sort of man that sucked up all the space in a room. Even a room as bright and colorful as the living room. His pale skin and blond hair and bright eyes that seemed to borrow whatever color he had on would suck the colors from the room and that is what they did when the Vampire appeared from his resting place, dressed in his Fangtasia clothes, black pants, black tank top and leather jacket. Leather...in this heat? Well, being a Vampire meant never having to stay cool.
He saw Fairy there by the counter, waiting for the microwave to ding signalling the Tru:Blood she was warming for him was a balmy 98.6. He turned her around and kissed her, softly at first and then more passionately. "Hello dearest," he breathed, trailing his lips along her neck in a way that made Fairy shiver.
"Sleep well?" she asked.
"When I was not dreaming of what you did to me last night," he whispered. One of his big hands swatted her on the behind and pulled her close to him.
"Behave yourself," she said, though her eyes told him a different command. Does 'Take me you big Viking' ring a ding?
Reluctantly he let her go and took the bottle from her and drank it and made a face. No Vampires liked Tru:Blood and drank it only out of necessity. Raki came out of the bathroom and was all combed and curried and Eric grabbed her for a kiss and he repeated it with Butter. Eric had more wives than Solomon.
"How did the painting go?" he asked.
"We got it done for you," said Sweet and Wild. He pulled her into his lap and kissed her.
"I appreciate it. What time is the meeting?" he asked.
"Pretty soon," said Lina.
Fangtasia would not open for another hour, so we were able to sit leisurely and have our meeting. Sugar and Jen came with Alcide and the rest of us appeared with Bill and Jessica. God Speed sat down and Pam appeared and we all took our places.
"So, tell us about Necromancers," said Bill.
"There are all sorts of ways to talk to the dead," began Aolani. "You can be a sensitive and just see and hear dead people and chat with them, or you can do a ritual and actually conjure the dead, whether they wish to appear or not."
"And these would be?" asked Eric.
"These could be both," said Aolani. "They could be doing both, and this is pretty dangerous. Witches do not normally conjure the dead, it's rude and it opens you up to all sorts of nastiness, astrally speaking."
"How do you mean?" asked Pam
"Well, if you conjure the dead, you rip a hole through the veil of life and death and the dead can come into our world without effort. They can be very strong and they can do things to the living. And the Undead."
This was a strange dichotomy with the Vampires among us. They were in grey area spiritually. They were dead but very lively. They weren't zombies, zombies were subject to the natural decay of the body. Vampires were in stasis so to speak. Eric was a thousand years old and yet looked like he might be in his late twenties, early thirties. Bill was 176 years old and he looked maybe forty. But his life had been difficult with the end of the civil war and while he looked wonderful and strong and handsome, you could tell he had a hard road before he was made Vampire. Pam was a well kept 20 something from about the same time period as Bill and Jessica would always be 17 and look it...I wished I had been turned at 17...I was sort of a nerdy hottie...
"Like what?" asked Pam, breaking me from my thoughts.
"They can possess, they can haunt, they can be controlled," said Aolani. "To am extent, depending on the abilities of the necromancer."
Eric and Bill looked thoughtful. They were carefully considering Aolani's words. We council members knew something of what would be happening because of the Connection and the Source, but we could say nothing. What we did do is try to give them information we could to help them struggle through the inevitable goings on. It was all we could do. We could not interfere in this world.
"So, Bill, what are doing this summer?" asked Violet.
"I am not at liberty to say. Suffice it to say, I do have more responsibilities in the Vampire community, after what Russell Edgington did, we are having to shore up our public image." Eric made a slight derisive sound. Eric thought little of Bill and Bill personally hated Eric. He had tried to off him last summer.
"And Sookie?" asked Fairy.
"She is still gone," said Bill. We nodded, we knew she had been gone for a while and what she was experiencing was a mystery to the two fangy suitors in her life. But I had my eyes on the fairies...they troubled me...
"I am wondering about Andy and Jason and Hot Shot," said Minnie. "Do you think Andy will get into V?"
"I don't know," said Shanny Girl, my little sis. Shannon was here from England and was Barrister's sister and the newest of the sister wives to Mr. B. Compton... It was nice to have another Bill wife on the scene. Her nights were Wednesday night..."But he should be careful with stuff."
"And Tara is in that witch mess," said Linzy. "You would think she would not get involved as anti supernatural as she is."
"Who knows, you know it has to be Lafayette and Hey Soos," said Renee. "They are pulling her into this. You won't hurt her will you, Eric?"
"Not much," he said, crossing his arms over his chest, looking a tad unconcerned. I rolled my eyes.
"And Arlene, poor soul," said Minnie Mouse.
"Yeah, she's in a mess isn't she," said Barrister.
We chatted and speculated and then the bar opened and we went and got our drinks from Chow, the barman.
"Gonna be a long hot summer, Aslinn," said the fangy bartender.
"It most assuredly is," I said, sipping my beer and watching my friends and lovers party one last time before the trouble began.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Cleaning Day at the Parlor
I stepped into the parlor and set my bag down on the office chair and walked across the floor. It seemed like forever since we were in the parlor. I really didn't expect anyone to be there, we had just gotten home and I just wanted to come in and dust and make coffee and air the place out and get ready for the summer's adventures. And for the greater part of the evening, I did just that. I turned on the TV and put it on VNN and fluffed pillows and couch blankets, all made by our Minnie Mouse and picked the dried leaves off the huge Boston ferns and watered them and straightened our coffee table books and stacked the old newspapers by the fire place in the basket there.
I opened the fridge door and regretted it. It was full of left overs now taking on a slightly mossy appearance but since I had, I grabbed the trash can and began to simply toss things. We would have to go to the store and stock up before the regular meeting. We needed everything. Then I wiped the fridge down and closed it and tied up the garbage bag for one of the guys to carry on out to the dumpster.
We had planned to go to Fangtasia and help get the front repainted. Some bigots had painted nasty stuff on the front of Fangtasia and we had planned to paint over it, but then everyone got sick and we got side tracked and it was never done. So, Eric asked us to paint it over and afterwards we would have our meeting and then go to the bar and party hearty. I was all for it. I was ready to have a great time before the summer's adventures. We knew it was going to be exciting from the first second to the last...
Barrister and I knew for sure the witches had arrived. We went to Shreveport to drop things off and we saw a sign for that Witch Shoppe, the one owned by Marnie Stonebrook. We looked at one another and though we ached to say something later that evening when we met Eric at Deux Poisson we decided not to, we could not interfere with the coming adventure. That was a whole other world we had no influence in. But knowing what I knew about Eric's susceptibility to magik, it was a hard thing.
I was sitting at the computer, working on some stuff when Bill came in. He leaned down and kissed me and sat on the edge of the desk. "How are you sweetheart, have you been able to rest?"
"I am fine, Bill," I said. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," he said. "Have you been cleaning?"
"Spritzing and cleaning out the fridge. I am sorry I don't have any Tru:Blood to offer you, I had to throw out the ones that were in the fridge, they were gone over," I said.
"That's fine," he said. "Have you heard from Eric?"
"No, I imagine he is reconnecting with sister wives," I said, smiling a bit ruefully.
"He does have his hands full," said Bill.
"Way full," I said. "He needs a twin brother, take up the slack."
"Could you imagine two...of him?" said Bill.
"No," I said incredulously. "One is enough in the world."
"I concur," said Bill. "Would you like to go somewhere with me?"
"Where?" I asked.
"Anywhere you like," he said.
"Are you asking me out?" I said.
"Yes," he said. "We can go and have supper at the Cajun Kitchen and then somewhere quiet..."
"Sure," I said.
I shut down the computer and stood up. I shoved the chair under the desk and turned out the desk lamp. I turned off the TV and looked around. The parlor was ready for Truebies and discussions and speculations about this summer's adventures and the adventure to come after that? Well that was something else all together. I went to Bill and took his hand we headed out, shutting the door on the parlor.
See you all on Wednesday...
I opened the fridge door and regretted it. It was full of left overs now taking on a slightly mossy appearance but since I had, I grabbed the trash can and began to simply toss things. We would have to go to the store and stock up before the regular meeting. We needed everything. Then I wiped the fridge down and closed it and tied up the garbage bag for one of the guys to carry on out to the dumpster.
We had planned to go to Fangtasia and help get the front repainted. Some bigots had painted nasty stuff on the front of Fangtasia and we had planned to paint over it, but then everyone got sick and we got side tracked and it was never done. So, Eric asked us to paint it over and afterwards we would have our meeting and then go to the bar and party hearty. I was all for it. I was ready to have a great time before the summer's adventures. We knew it was going to be exciting from the first second to the last...
Barrister and I knew for sure the witches had arrived. We went to Shreveport to drop things off and we saw a sign for that Witch Shoppe, the one owned by Marnie Stonebrook. We looked at one another and though we ached to say something later that evening when we met Eric at Deux Poisson we decided not to, we could not interfere with the coming adventure. That was a whole other world we had no influence in. But knowing what I knew about Eric's susceptibility to magik, it was a hard thing.
I was sitting at the computer, working on some stuff when Bill came in. He leaned down and kissed me and sat on the edge of the desk. "How are you sweetheart, have you been able to rest?"
"I am fine, Bill," I said. "How are you?"
"I'm fine," he said. "Have you been cleaning?"
"Spritzing and cleaning out the fridge. I am sorry I don't have any Tru:Blood to offer you, I had to throw out the ones that were in the fridge, they were gone over," I said.
"That's fine," he said. "Have you heard from Eric?"
"No, I imagine he is reconnecting with sister wives," I said, smiling a bit ruefully.
"He does have his hands full," said Bill.
"Way full," I said. "He needs a twin brother, take up the slack."
"Could you imagine two...of him?" said Bill.
"No," I said incredulously. "One is enough in the world."
"I concur," said Bill. "Would you like to go somewhere with me?"
"Where?" I asked.
"Anywhere you like," he said.
"Are you asking me out?" I said.
"Yes," he said. "We can go and have supper at the Cajun Kitchen and then somewhere quiet..."
"Sure," I said.
I shut down the computer and stood up. I shoved the chair under the desk and turned out the desk lamp. I turned off the TV and looked around. The parlor was ready for Truebies and discussions and speculations about this summer's adventures and the adventure to come after that? Well that was something else all together. I went to Bill and took his hand we headed out, shutting the door on the parlor.
See you all on Wednesday...
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