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.