Let me Bring You Songs from the Wood

Let me bring you songs from the wood:
To make you feel much better than you could know...
Hold you steady as you go.
Join the chorus if you can:
It'll make of you an honest man.
Let me bring you love from the field:
Poppies red and roses filled with summer rain.
To heal the wound and still the pain...
Greetings well met fellow, hail!
I am the wind to fill your sail.
I am the cross to take your nail:
A singer of these ageless times.
With kitchen prose and gutter rhymes.
Songs from the wood make you feel much better.

Songs from the Wood- Jethro Tull

I love England in the fall. Everyone talks about England in the spring, but I love her in the fall. It smells crisp and clean and the woods around Barrister’s family estate seemed to whisper to me in the cool breeze: Come and See. So I took off in the early morning, with a light fog on the ground and with my game bag slung across my chest, I set about six wire traps and hunted for morels which grew in the forest and was treasured by chefs all over Europe but was the secret of our home.

I set a trap and sprinkled the dull wire with leaves. I was working my way back to where I started and now I would check my traps. We were covered in rabbits. They were a nuisance but I knew Minnie and Aolani had Thumper Guilt and would never eat of the succulent garden rabbits. The rest would fall on their roasted carcasses like a hungry Vampire. I was now approaching the first trap I had set and there was a big buck rabbit, about six pounds, and I field stripped it and packed away the entrails to dispose of later and laid the naked bunny in my game bag. I followed the path around the meadow where we were taking advantage of the mild temperatures and the basically dry weather before the real weather with its chilling rain and the kisses of frost were too cold to tolerate even in our over done lean toos with real roofs and wooden floors with old faded rugs from the main house and old camp beds made comfortable with those temprapedic mattresses and electricity and wifi…Roughing it we weren’t. We even had a shower house and toilets with hot water and a fridge in the enclosed outdoor kitchen. I could not hear the camp but I knew our Vampires were sleeping in the light tight bungalow we had prepared for them and Eric was well but a bit moody. But he was alive and we would rather have him alive and a little pensive than definitely dead and us mourning a deep loss.

I picked up and cleaned the rabbits as I went, so far a rabbit for every trap. We were getting ready for Mabon, the Wiccan celebration of the second harvest, what some people called Harvest Home. Renee was to be made a witch in the second degree. Jessica, our little witch Vampire, had her plate full during the last season and she was a little behind, but we thought maybe Beltaine or even Yule she would be caught up and we could initiate her into the second degree. She was a quick learner and though we had to tailor her lessons to fit her Vampire energies, she was a dedicated and successful little witch. I hitched up my bag a little and headed to the next trap.

I was wearing a hoodie and a Henley and jeans and my favorite lace up boots. I carried a silver dagger in my boot, a habit of many a Vampire mission, and I carried another knife, a bowie hunting knife. This I used to dispatch the still rambunctious rabbits. The trail was coming back around to the last trap. It was still early morning and I could salt and season my rabbits and put them in the fridge to rest before they were spitted. I prepped the last rabbit, six for six and headed back into the meadow. I walked past the hooch where our Vampires were asleep and into the main camp. There were several camp chairs around and couple of lounges. There was a huge circle of deep sand Barrister had trucked in and a giant fire pit. The sandy circle and the fire pit were surrounded by a raised platform eight feet deep and thirty feet in circumference. We could lounge there on blankets and yoga pads and there were heavy waterproof cushions we could lean back on. Aolani and Len and Barrister were placing leaves around the little table we designated our altar and there were baskets of fruit and the last of the berries and wild flowers and huge orange and gold and purple candles. In the center of the table were the white candles flanking the purple candle we would use for our initiation ceremony. Minnie was standing away to judge the symmetry of the altar decorations. Most of us were Christians but Aolani and Eric and, I suppose, Jessica were pagans.

Minnie passed me the plate of cookies during our tea. The Americans in our group were embracing the ritual of tea. I poured a tea cup for Renee and passed it to her. We would dedicate her initiation ritual in thanks for Eric’s healing and the return of our Bill. He was still haunted and I encouraged him to write about his experience and now the Vampire was pouring all his confusion and angst and final redemption in a book. He often shared chapters with us and we offered advice and cleared up any facts he may have overlooked. He was working it out his own way. But I missed him in our discussion circle. We would sit in the dark meadow, the only light from the fire and talk and tell stories but Bill would sit at the little wooden table in the kitchen area, writing under the bare bulb on his laptop and absorbed completely in his book. We let him be. He was working it out as well as writing about the things that happened in the AVL, his conversion and bringing on the disappearance of Tru:Blood and even contributing of the disaster that was Vamp Camp and the LAVTF. He was confessional and self punishing much of the time.

In England where the Vampire community was surprisingly small, there were no outbreaks of HEP V, so we were relatively safe from sick Vampires but there were hungry Vampires roaming around and they often had to be sent on their way when they heard our voices and smelled our human blood. There had been wolves around, but Len said not to worry, they would avoid us if they could.

The rabbits were roasting on green wood splints by the time our Vampires rose. The first were Jessica and James. It was nice to see her so obviously happy with this young man who was made Vampire some 45 years ago in Haight Ashbury during the late 60’s. He had a guitar with him and he often sang for us in a clean clear tenor voice. He was made Vampire by a pretty little hippy chick who meant only feed him a little peyote and have a little buzz with her supper but he tasted so delicious she could not stop till it was almost too late and she turned him. He traveled with his maker for twenty or so years and they parted ways when she decided to head to a commune in Northwest Canada. He still got cheerful letters from her and she never offered to interfere in his life. James was a pretty well adjusted Vampire and had a good experience with his Vampire life and his maker had been kind and gracious. I think Tara and Willa were a tiny bit jealous of that. But he was getting used to us and the way we accepted him in our little group and he settled in nicely. He liked the Irish songs I sang when we were relaxing and he was learning Stretched On Your Grave and Parting Glass and other Hibernian folk songs. He was even learning some U2 songs. He did Stay and Red Hill Mining Town and Desire. I would sing with him though my voice was a terrible excuse for singing when he sang so well.

The next two Vampires to come out were Tara and Willa. Tara was the Vampire daughter of Pam and Willa was the daughter of Eric, his youngest daughter. She was still pretty pissed at Eric that he left her to begin with. And Tara was still a little pissed at Pam for abandoning her but they were happy Eric was well, and that would ease their anger. Eric and Willa spent time together alone for a little while every evening. Tara was a harder nut to crack.

The next Vampire to come out was Bill. He had his computer under his arm and went into the kitchen where we were cooking to get a precious bottle of Tru:Blood. The Vampires could have hunted, or called the professional feeders but they declined the offer. Dr. Ludwig sent a number and referral for the local Hobbit, Dr. Sweeney. I don’t think she was a real Hobbit, but since I didn’t really know what she was, Hobbit was what I called her and her various counterparts all over the world. Dr. Sweeney had ordered Eric to have one human blood meal once a week and the agency sent a feeder to the house.

The next Vampire who came out was Pam. She looked great in jeans and a Fangtasia tee shirt and tennis shoes and a zip front hoodie. Finally her maker came out. Eric was neatly dressed in an oatmeal colored Ayran sweater and jeans and tennis shoes. Minnie brought him a Tru:Blood and he kissed her warmly. He did not speak to Bill. His grief was still profound and whether he was right or wrong to do so he still blamed Bill for not saving Nora. We said nothing about the rift. We were in no position to defend Bill about anything he did or did not do. We just hoped things would work out.
Pam came and sat at the kitchen table, pointedly ignoring Bill. She did not like Bill particularly but she did not precisely hate him. He had, after all, saved them from the burning light of the sun. She said it had been wonderful to move around in the day but she said one could not dwell on what was but to look forward to the future. Pam was an optimist and a realist and she was a sunny disposition if you can forgive me the obvious contradiction in terms.

“What’s for supper?” she asked.
“For you, Tru:Blood in a bottle, for us, roast rabbit and stuffing and rice and a salad and wine and some cookies after the Ritual,” I said.
“Ritual, what kind of Ritual?” asked James. He had not been with us for long but because of what he did for both Jessica and Bill we were happy to include him in our eccentric little family. He was just learning about us and we let him discover things as he went along as far the world of the House where we had been living for the past year on and off.
“Renee, Aslinn and Jessica and I are witches,” explained Aolani. “It is the celebration of Mabon, Harvest Home, and we are initiating her to the second degree.”
“You are a witch?” asked James, looking at Jessica.
“Yeah, do you mind?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “Not at all, I just didn’t know.”

That was another thing about James, he just didn’t care much what we were or what we believed so long as he could stick around with Jessica. She was dressed like a little throw back. I let her raid my closet and she was wearing a pretty white peasant top with Dutch Tyrolean delph blue designs and a denim full tail skirt and lace up moccasin boots and my aluminum silver tone bracelets and hoop earrings with tiny bells. James thought she was awful cute dressed as a hippy girl. All that was missing was the smell of patchouli and cannabis.

Len turned suddenly and his eyes glowed. Eric and Bill and Pam became alert with Tara and Jess and James and Willa filling in the ranks. Four figures were standing on the periphery of our camp. “Heart beats,” said Pam. “Not Vampires.”
“Weres,” said Len. “Come forward.” The figures came into the light of the fire and the torches that were lit around our camp.
“I know them, but I did not know they are were,” said Barrister. “They are from the estate next door, the Staffords.”
“Ah, Michael, there you are,” said the older man. “Charles Stafford.” He came up to us and looked at the group. “Brother.” He acknowledged Len as one of his own.
“Len,” said Barrister. “This is Charles Stafford, his wife Elaine, his children Carradine and Robert.” Charles was a tall rangy man with the ruddy skin of a man who liked the outdoors and horses. Elaine was an elegant sort, I thought maybe we had met at one of the numerous occasions we had worked on parties and fund raisers. I had met so many of Barrister’s mum’s friends I could not keep them straight. “This is my wife Aslinn, and our friends, Len, who you have met, and his wife Aolani, and Renee, and Minnie,” he pointed to each of us.
“And the Vampires, they have names?” he asked. You could tell he was anxious to meet these people.
“These are our friends, Eric, his daughters Pam and Willa, and his granddaughter Tara. This is Bill and his daughter Jessica and James her boyfriend.” The were was sniffing the air.
“I beg your pardon, but we have scented a Vampire in the woods and we did not recognize the scent. It did not smell of any of the local Vampires,” said the were, though he stared at Eric a long time. “Though he does smell something like you.” He nodded toward Eric.
“I have been recovering from a severe injury and I am not quite myself,” said Eric.
“Still isn’t your scent,” the boy said. Robert was 18 and thin like his dad and elegant of features like his mom. “Carradine and I were concerned, with the troubles with the Vampires.”
“None of us are ill, like I have explained, I had been injured, burned actually in the sun and I have been healing,” explained Eric.
“He meant nothing by it,” said the wolf. “Just be careful, especially you humans, you don’t want to be Vampire food.”
“We know,” I said. “Would you all like something to drink, beer, wine, tea?”
“That would be lovely,” he said. “Carradine, would you help your mother and Aslinn in preparing us some drinks.” Carradine shot her father a look that suggested she would rather eat a dead walrus’s anus than help with drinks while her brother got to play big bad werewolf, but she followed her mother as we walked toward the kitchen.
The rest of the group took places around the fire, new weres sitting close to the edge of the fire. “From where do you hail Len?” asked the were.
“I live in Washington State. I belong to the Moon Runner Pack,” he said. “But I am an associate to the Long Tooth pack in Shreveport, Louisiana.”
“I ‘m the Packmaster to the Harrow Collective,” he said. “We call ourselves collectives here.”
“Good to know you,” said Len.
“Are all of you yanks?” asked Charles.
“Yes, most of our friends are from the US. All of our Vampires are from Northern Louisiana, some in a round about way, and of course Aslinn is a British Citizen now,” said Barrister.
“Is that witchcraft in the air I scent?” asked Robert.
“There could be,” said Len.
“I told you dad, they won’t want to admit to much,” said Robert.
“Robert, let’s give them the doubt,” said Charles. “We had some trouble with the witchcraft community around here over the right to hunt around what they considered their worship place. They failed to understand we owned the land they celebrated their Sabats on.”
“We have only been here a week,” said Bill, still not admitting anything.
“Just checking, can’t be too careful,” said Charles. He eyed Eric again. “What is it about you I can’t sort out.”
“I am a very old Vampire,” he said.
“There is more than that,” said the were. Eric shrugged.
“How long have you been scenting this strange Vampire?” asked Bill.
“For about the last week,” he said. “We suspect it has been hunting the deer.”
“Vampires don’t drink animal blood, we can’t,” said Jessica.
“We didn’t say it had been fed upon, just killed and the head taken and set up in some sort of strange way,” said Charles.
“In what way?” asked Eric.
“Like it was some sort of offering. We thought maybe it was witches,” offered Charles.
“Witches would not kill an animal,” said Aolani. “The deer are physical representations of the Horned God.”
“I just thought it was strange,” said the were. “Especially with the scent of Vampire on it.”
“Vampires do like to chase animals, but we would not kill it,” said Eric. “But none of us have been in the woods.” We ladies had returned with cold sodas and beers and another round of Tru:Blood for the Vampires and we sat down to listen to the talk. I could tell Charles was a little pensive.
“Could you come out in the woods with us and see what we are talking about?” asked Charles.
“We could do that,” said Len. Eric and Bill stood up.
“Pam, you and Jessica and Tara and Willa stay here and watch the camp, we should be back soon,” said Eric.

In the dark of the woods, the weres and Vampires moved carefully but not exactly quietly among the trees and talked. “How long are you staying?” asked Charles.

“I suppose until Michael decides he is thoroughly sick of us lounging around on his estate,” said Eric.
“Very likely at least through Christmas,” said Bill. “We have had a long year, we are looking for downtime.”
“This is a good place for that,” said Charles. “Here is the carcass, then the head is up there on the boulder.” They stood there and studied the rock and the head and the area. Eric flared his nostrils and scented the Vampire’s smell.
“Strange,” he said. Eric moved around the stone and looked at the stone and positioning of the deer’s head. He stood there and then looked all around him. “I will be right back, don’t move.” He blurred away into the tree line and came back about ten minutes later.
“What do you think Eric?” asked Bill.
“I am not for sure,” he said. “Let’s go back, I don’t like being away from our friends. You can rest assured you will not have any trouble out of our group, we are living on Tru:Blood presently and our witches do not have a problem with you and yours.”
“We’ll walk back with you then,” he said.

After the neighbors left, we had our initiation and celebrated and we made plans to clean up the camp and move back to the house, we were ready for the start of the holidays and celebrating with our family.

Lightening Crashes

On the night Warlow died, Pam came to the House and pounded frantically on our door. We let her in and she looked at us. “What the fuck happened to me?”
“Warlow is dead, you no longer have your UV protection,” I said.
“Eric?” she asked.
“You haven’t felt him?” asked Minnie, her large eyes brimming with tears.
“I can’t swear to it, but I think I felt something,” she said.
“Is he dead?” asked Barrister, asking the question none of us wanted to ask.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know if he is dead or just hurt.”
“Where in Sweden would he go?” I asked.
“He would go to Are, that windswept shit hole he loves so much,” she said. “But I could never find him.”
“Yes you can,” I said. There was a frantic pounding on the door. Jessica and James came in.
“What has happened to us?” she asked.
“You are no longer sun proof, you are now nightwalkers again,” said Len.
“Is everyone okay?” she asked.
“We don’t know about Eric,” I said.
“Well what are we going to do?” she said. “Where is he?”
“We know he is in Sweden, and we are going to go and find him,” I said. “Barrister, call Anubis Air and get us tickets to Stockholm and contact the Vampire embassy and that hotel we stayed in a couple of summers ago and make us reservations. Renee, call Dr. Ludwig and ask her what we can do to treat a Vampire who maybe partially burned and frozen.”
“I will call the wolves in Stockholm and make arrangements to get us on that mountain,” said Len.
“Aolani, I want you to go upstairs under our bed and pack that natron and all the herbs and all the Vampire Book of the Dead, not the one we had published with that crazy Vampire, the one we took from that Renfield,” I said.
“You can’t mean you are going to…”said Aolani.
“Yeah, I will resurrect him if I have to,” I said. “I won’t let the world be without Eric. I wouldn’t have let it with Bill, I won’t let it for Eric.”
“But won’t that make Eric crazy like Dracula?” asked Jessica.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said. Aolani did not like it but she went to my room and did as I asked. Jessica grabbed James and towed him with her to the back bedroom.
“What is she talking about?” asked James.
“I can’t explain it right now, but Aslinn thinks she can resurrect Eric using this spell and this stuff and I don’t know….I have to call Bill,” she said.
“Well, call him,” he said.
“Call Tara and Willa and see if they will come,” said Jessica.

Aolani brought down the small wooden chest with the book on top of it. I grabbed it and I grabbed a computer bag and began to transfer everything in the bag. “I don’t know if we will have to use it, but I want to have it in case we need it. It may even heal him if we find a body.”
“Aslinn, think about this,” said Barrister.
“I can’t let Eric be dead, he is my best friend and I would like to think he would save me, no matter what, he would make me Vampire and save me,” I said.
“You know he would, but what if he comes back wrong? What then?” he asked.
“Then I will end him,” I said.
“Will you?” he asked.
“I can’t let him be gone without trying everything,” I said.

“She what?” asked Bill.
“You have to come,” said Jessica. “You have to help us with her, she is talking about resurrecting him like they did with Dracula, and he may come back crazy like he did. You have to come.”
“I’ll be right there,” he said.

Our tickets were ready and I had Pam get the travel coffins out and Anubis Air was bringing more travel coffins. We would get Anubis Air Sweden to give us one for Eric when we brought him back. Pam then ran to get clothes for both Eric and herself and Willa and Tara appeared.

“Where are we going?” asked Tara.
“Sweden, Eric is hurt and we are going after him,” said Minnie.
“Going after him?” asked Willa.
“Willa, can you feel Eric?” asked Renee.
“I am not sure, I felt a shiver, but I don’t know what it means,” she said.
“Do you feel alone in your body?” asked Renee. “Do you feel Eric?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Maybe when she gets closer to him,” said Len. “You girls need to get some clothes for yourselves and James and Jessica if you are going with us.” Tara and Willa dashed back out and headed towards Bon Temps.

Barrister called our house in England and had the house opened up and the caretakers check to see if that pre-trouble Tru:Blood was still at the house.

“If we get…”
“When we get,” I corrected. Minnie nodded. “When we get…”
“When we get Eric healed, we can let him convalesce in England and he has plenty of Tru:Blood on hand for him and our friends to drink,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. There was a knock on the door. It was Bill.

“Tara and Willa are at my house packing bags for themselves and Jessica and James. Do you mind telling me where you are going?” he asked.
“We are going to get Eric,” I said.
“Where is Eric?” he asked.
“He is in Sweden,” I said. “And he could be hurt.”
“Aslinn, Eric could be dead if he was in the sun when the blood died,” he said.
“And I will find him, a drop of his blood is all I need,” I said.
“That is your pain talking,” he said.
“Bill, I was prepared to resurrect you if you had died,” I said. “Eric is my best friend, and he would come to me if I needed him, we have to go to him if he is hurt.”
“Aslinn, look into my eyes,” he said.
“No!” I said struggling away. Minnie yanked me out of his grip.
“We have to get to him, we at least have to know for sure. If he has gone, we have to try to get his remains and show our respect to him,” said Minnie. “If you didn’t want us to resurrect you, we would at least gather your remains what we could and put you to rest.”
“Minnie, sweetheart,” he said. “Eric would not want you to do this, Vampires die and disappear, that is the way we have to be, we don’t get to rest in peace like humans do.”
“Funerals are not for the dead, they are for the living,” said Barrister. “I don’t like it any better than you but we have to let the girls have this, this is closure.”
“This is futile,” said Bill. “Aolani, do you want to take the chance that Eric will be a monster like Vlad Tepes?”
“I don’t know,” said Aolani. “He is nothing like Vlad Tepes, maybe if he is resurrected, he will be himself. Eric is good, Bill, he is good, like you, like Pam, like Jessica and Tara and Willa. At first I was scared, but I was thinking maybe it is the character of the Vampire that creates the monster, and there is enough good in Eric’s soul that he would come back to us good. I support Aslinn, and I will help her.”
“Me too,” said Renee.
“Me too Bill,” said Jessica. “I don’t think we can leave this this way.” Bill cursed under his breath.
“Fine,” said Bill. “When do we leave?”
“Five am, so you have time to pack a bag and come back,” I said. “Bring your computer and your credit cards.”
“Fine,” he repeated. “I will be back in an hour.”

The Air Anubis limo came to get us at the house at dawn. I left instructions for Ginger to stay home and Pam sent her a couple months pay to cover her while Fangtasia is still closed and then called Chow to have him do nightly checks on the property. I guess Fangtasia was done for, but it was still Eric’s. Pam had gone by Eric’s and gotten his clothes and had locked up his house and the garage where his corvette sat waiting for her owner to rev her up and take her out. Bill had brought Tara and Willa back and he parked his car and they got their bags out. James and Jessica prepared to get into their travel coffins.

“Don’t we need passports?” he asked.
“We do, you guys don’t,” I said. I turned to Bill.
“Sweetheart, I want to apologize,” he said.
“I know Bill, but I can’t just go and leave him and not find out for sure,” I said. “He may be praying for us to come to him.”
“Eric pray?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said.

Somewhere in Sweden in an icy cave

Eric shivered. His skin was still burning. He had fallen into the snow and though he was terribly burned, he was still alive but he was freezing. When night fell, he crawled out of the saving snow and towards an ice cave. He would not be conscious much longer and he would be frozen. He looked around in the cave. There was a glowing shape before him. “Godric.”
“Sleep my son, they are coming for you,” he said.
“There’s no one,” he said, shivering violently. “They won’t know where I am.”
“Eric, they are coming,” he said.
“Go to them, guide them, please Godric,” he said.
“Nora is here with me,” he said. “Can’t you see her?”
“Nora? With you?” he said. He shivered again; he felt the last bit of his blood turning to ice.
“Yes, she is,” he said. “Rest my son, sleep, when you wake, you will be healed by your friends.”

The plane was blessedly uncrowded, there was just another human companion and her Vampire’s coffin in the bay. She was traveling in a private compartment. I looked at Renee.
“So what did Dr. L say?”
“She said that if there is a body, to bathe it in increasingly warmer water, starting with room temperature water and working up to blood temperature water,” she said. “She gave me a number for her Swedish counterpart, a Dr. Mikael something Swedish with an o with a hash mark through it and an umlaut and three consonants all strung together….” I chuckled.
“Well, we will call him Dr. Mike,” I said.
“That will work,” she said.
“The wolf pack said they had three wolves that were avid climbers and they will take us where you think they might be,” said Len. Barrister was looking at a map of Sweden.
“I have no idea of where to find that mountain,” said Barrister. I closed my eyes and laid my head on his shoulder. I was nearly asleep when Aolani gasped.
“Godric,” she said.
“What? You think we should call up Godric?” asked Renee.
“No, Godric is there,” she said, pointing at the front of the galley. I stood up and looked where she was pointing. There standing in a luminescent halo was Eric’s maker.
“Hello my friends,” he said.
“Godric, is Eric with you?” asked Aolani.
“No, he is not with me, but I know where he is,” said Godric.
“Can you show us on this map?” asked Aolani.
“Of course,” he said. He walked down the aisle and came to a stop by Barrister. His finger stroked a spot on the map and Barrister circled it. “There is an ice cave there, he had fallen into a drift of snow and he was terribly burned, so when you see him, don’t be shocked. He will be frozen but he is still there. We don’t really die of freezing, we eventually die of starvation, but it takes us a long time to starve. But he is badly burned. He knows you are coming, I told him. He did not believe me.” Godric smiled his enigmatic smile.
“So he was alive when you saw him?” asked Minnie.
“Yes, dear one, he was alive,” said Godric. “He knows you are coming. He will be very hungry, so have plenty of human blood ready.”
“We will,” said Aolani.
“I will go back to him and wait with him till you have him,” said Godric. “Nora is with him now, sitting with him so he will not be alone.”
“Thank you Godric,” I said.
“Thank you for coming for my son,” he said. “Be careful and be well.”

And he disappeared.

We deplaned just at nightfall in Stockholm. We headed for the hotel and headed for our suite. The wolves of Stockholm were coming to us to meet us in a coffee bar down the street. Bill and Pam and Jess and the rest rose and we called in their room service for them and us. The Tru:Blood Hep V epidemic was not happening because of the remoteness of the country and the small population of Vampires. We had the foresight to take our vampire’s blood to show they did not have Hep V and we were flagged through with our Vampires with no trouble. Six feeders arrived. One was tall and blonde like Eric and my heart ached. I know it was affecting Minnie and Aolani, and we just chinned up, Eric was still alive, frozen and waiting for us. Dr. Mike came to us while the Vampires were off in their rooms having supper.

“So this Vampire is terribly burned and starved?” he said.
“Yes,” said Aolani.
“Well, you will have to thaw him and that will be very painful,” said the doctor. “I have only thawed two Vampires in my career and they suffered a great deal, but if he can get through it, he will heal and he will be good as new.”
“Is there anything we can do to alleviate his pain or lessen it?” asked Renee.
“Some Vampires get some benefits from drinking human blood laced with morphine,” he said. “But it has to be a lot,” said the doctor. “I can get you the blood and the morphine; show you how to mix it. How heavy is he when he is whole?”
“About 230 pounds,” said Aolani.
“It will take a lot, and this will be expensive,” said the doctor.
“Money is no object,” said Sean.
“Fifty thousand kronor per bag,” said the doctor.
“About eight grand in US money,” I said.
“You will need at least ten pints of blood,” he said. “I can arrange for it to be AB neg for no extra cost.”
“Will you take AMEX?” asked Barrister.
“Of course,” he said.
“Let’s do a paper exchange then,” said Barrister.
“I will call in the blood and the morphine and have it delivered to you before I leave,” he said. He whipped out the phone and punched in a number and stepped away. Bill and the rest came out.
“What is going on?” he asked.
“I’ll tell you in a moment,” I said. Barrister then walked the Hobbit out to go downstairs and do the exchange with his credit card. “Godric came to us Bill and showed us where Eric was.”
“Eric is alive?” he asked.
“Frozen in an ice cave, burned terribly and frozen but he is here and we know where he is, Godric showed us on a map,” I said.
“And that thing on the phone,” asked Bill.
“That is Dr. Ludwig’s Swedish counterpart,” said Renee. “He is fixing us up with morphine laced blood, to try to take the edge off Eric’s pain as we thaw him out.”
“We better go if we are going to meet with the wolves,” said Len.
“Grab the map,” I said. “Wait for Barrister.”
“Do you want us to go with you?” asked Bill.
“No, just wait for us here, the wolves may not too comfortable with a bunch of Vampires converging on them right away,” I said.

The wolves were big Swedes dressed in leather and fur and they were something else. One was named Aron, and the other was named Tamar. They spoke English with a thick accent.
“So your friend Eric, he is Vampire?” he asked.
“You have a problem with that?” I asked.
“No, I do not,” he said. “We work with her majesty Queen Gerda here.”
“Should we present ourselves to her majesty?” asked Barrister.
“No, that is not necessary,” he said. “We don’t do this for free you know.”
“We are prepared to pay,” I said.
“Two million kronor,” he said.
“Around 300K in US dollars,” I said.
“Is that too much?” he asked.
“Is that enough?” asked Barrister.
“Ample,” he said. “We will take a helicopter to this place. We will have to do this in the day, but we will take protective coverings for your Vampire. We can take three of you. We prefer one of our own and we prefer men only, we don’t want to take women because it is a dangerous thing we do.”
“That is not going to set well for our friends,” I said.
“Sorry,” he said.
“Len and I will be with you, when can you leave?” asked Barrister.
“In the morning,” said the were.
“Dawn?” he asked.
“Earlier the better,” said the were.
“We will see you at dawn,” he said. “I will have half the payment in the morning and half when we get back and bonus.”
“Sounds like a deal,” he said.

“So you ladies will all be staying here,” said Len.
“I want to go though,” said Minnie.
“It is the way they want it. But they won’t get paid until we get back with Eric,” said Barrister. “We have to go in the day, they said they would put on a protective cover for him. We will bring him back here and we can begin to work on him. The sooner we get him with us, the sooner we can get him healed and get him home.”
“It will be okay, these are top helicopter and rescue men,” said Len.
“If that is the way it has to be,” I said.

Barrister and Len went to bed and I sat up. I stared into the fire. It was cold already in Sweden at night and I stared into the gas fire and thought about my friend. Bill came and sat down with me. “Are you cold?”
“Yeah,” I said. I moved to put my head on Bill’s chest and he put his arm around my shoulders.
“You know, I am a dismal failure as a hot water bottle,” he said. I chuckled.
“That’s okay,” I said. “I am glad you are back.”
“I know you love Eric,” he said. “I don’t like it, but I understand. You talk to him, you care for him. He was there for you when I was unavailable.”
“You have it all wrong,” I said. “I do love Eric, but I am not in love with him. I…feel connected with him that is different from the way I thought I could ever be connected with him. He is always on the make, he is who he is, but you know, he just doesn’t try that hard anymore, it sort of a friendly joke we have with each other. He is everything I thought would be wonderful about being a Vampire, especially a Vampire as old as he is. He is an amazing person, an amazing man, and I admire him, how could I not love a man like that?”
“You could not,” he said.
“But, Bill, you know if it had been you, I would be doing the same, going through whatever extreme to get you back to us,” I said. “I do love you, and it is the kind of love I share with my husband. But I know, you love me, but you are in love with Sookie.”
“That is complicated,” he said.
“No it isn’t,” I said. “Someday, if you are lucky enough, you will get her back and you won’t want me. Sookie is the love of your afterlife. But that is okay…if it happens, it will be okay. I will not be sad when I have to let you go. Renee on the other hand…”
“Renee will not like me much,” he said. “I will always love you though, you and Renee, even if we have to go our separate ways or redefine our relationships with each other.”
“And I will always love you,” I said. “I just want to give Eric a chance at being rescued. I want to have him home, with us, playing poker, and making dirty suggestions and I want this winter to be quiet and I want us to have Samhain and Christmas and just be there for one another. No matter what happens in the second world, you will always be a part of our lives, and you will always be our friends, no matter what.”
“In the alternate world you created…you made me and Eric very happy,” he said.
“And you deserve that happiness. It made me happy to make you and Eric happy,” I said.
“You are our maker,” said Bill.
“And you and Eric are my boys, all of our boys,” I said. I leaned back and he kissed me. Bill and I had not slept together in a long time and that night, we went to his room and we reconnected in that lovely way we had not in a long time, because while he was not quite himself, I felt he was a stranger, but Bill was returned to me and I knew it, felt it and we reunited and strengthened our blood bonds and fell asleep.

We were all up at dawn, except for our Vampires and we saw Barrister and Len off and we began to make preparations for Eric. We had a suite with a special handicapped tub and shower. We brought in loads of towels and Renee had already doped the blood and we had it in the hotel fridge in our suite. The doctor said we could begin thawing and just keep it in the fridge until we used it. We had twelve pints and he said the Queen of Sweden would pay for ten more to help us heal Eric after the wolves told her about Eric and their rescue mission. I sent her a message through her day time staff and thanked her.

The snow was blinding as the helicopter flew over the mountain ridge. They had plotted the flight and they knew where the ice caves were on this particular spot but there was more than one. There were six wolves with them. They were in cold weather jumpsuits and they were in harness. The pilot hovered over the area.

“This is it,” said Barrister.
“I recognize it,” said Len. They were speaking through the headsets and the pilot turned the helicopter around the face the crags of the mountain.
“Well, at least the caves are grouped together,” said Tamar. They then spoke in Swedish to their team and the four weres carefully went out the port and climbed down. When the last were was down the helicopter climbed a little and they took off.

It was a bit of a slog, the snow was wet and heavy. They moved carefully and went toward the craggy cave openings. They checked first one and then another. In the third one, they found something.

“Jesus Christ but this poor bastard is surely dead,” said the were. “He is burned up, very bad, his skin looks terrible. There is no way they could heal this.”
“That is not our concern,” said Aron. “They want his body, wrap it up and secure it, make sure it is covered completely up and I will send the basket down.”
Barrister and Len watched as the basket came down and they laid the curled up object covered in blankets and tied securely with rope in the basket and the pilot let down the ladder as the basket was hoisted up to the undercarriage of the helicopter. The weres were in.
“What does he look like?” asked Len.
“Terrible, as if he was in hell,” said the wolf.

When Barrister called, we were ready. We had two bags of blood doped and warming and we had the tub filling with lukewarm water. When they knocked, we opened the door. They had a bundle tied up in blankets on a luggage cart. They came in and we stood there.

“Is that Eric?”
“Yes, he was curled up in the floor of the cave and listen…he is in really bad shape, in fact…they say he is really monstrous to look at,” said Barrister.
“We knew it would be really really bad,” said Aolani.
“Let me and Len take him in and untie and uncover him and get him in the tub for you and then you girls can come in when we leave and start to work on him,” said Barrister.
“Okay,” I said.

Len was a werewolf and former police officer and Barrister’s father was a doctor and he had looked at medical books and his father had shown him pictures of stupid people who drove drunk. Then there was his sister’s death. Nothing could have prepared them for Eric. His skin was frozen but oozing in spots. His hair was gone, burned away. One of his eyes were slitted open and his whole body was a raw blister. His hands were twisted and looked melted to his body his legs were drawn up and his ankles crossed.

“Jesus wept,” said Len.
“Let’s get him in the tub,” said Barrister. “Just lay him down in the water and well, he can’t drown, so just try to get him to thaw so they can get that doped blood in him.”
“Do you think he can actually come back from this?” asked Len.
“I don’t know, he is a real old Vampire, he is a strong Vampire and he is a strong man, with a…I don’t know, a real desire to live, if you can say that about a dead man…Let’s get him in there and see what happens.” Barrister and Len lifted Eric and they gently as they could laid him the tub and came back out.
“Girls, he looks really bad. I don’t know if this is gonna be a good thing. He is just awful looking,” said Barrister.
“Does he look the way Bill did when he went into the sun after Sookie?” asked Minnie.
“Worse honey, he looks worse. He has no hair. His skin is charred and blistered, his fingers are deformed and he is curled up in a ball. One of his eyes are slitted open so you may want to put a pad on his eye just to protect it. It looks intact, but I don’t know, it may help him,” he said. “He smells bad, like burned meat and he is oozy, so you may want to have us help you periodically take him out and clean the tub. Maybe that will help him too.”
“But girls, he looks so bad, I think he may not make it. Now, he’s a strong guy, but I don’t know, I don’t think we should have our hopes up,” said Len.
“Okay,” said Renee. “Eyes on the prize girls and we will save our buddy.”

Aolani and Renee and Minnie and I walked into the bathroom. In the bottom of the tub lay Eric, the water covering most of his body. “Oh, Eric,” said Minnie, choking back her tears.
“Steady,” said Renee. “Let’s take a real good look at him. Burns are nasty, but, we have to look at him.”
We went to the tub and we gently put our hands under him. “Jesus he is frozen near solid,” said Renee.
“Let’s just get him up and look him over,” said Aolani. We gently as we could sat him up. Eric was pretty rough looking, in fact he looked nothing like my best friend.
“Oh Eric,” I said, echoing Minnie.
“He is already thawing out,” said Renee. “See the oozing?” She pointed out the area. “And see, the skin is already healing.” She smeared the thawed and viscous blood to reveal new tender skin.
“Okay, there is something to hold onto,” I said. “Let’s lay him down and let him thaw on this side and dip our wash cloths and just wring it out over him and then turn him over and do the other side and then have the boys help us with him and run water just a little warmer.”

We worked over him for two hours on one side and then turned him over but not before we saw more new skin under the blood. We rinsed the blood and saw even more healed skin. “Renee, can we start to give him that blood?” asked Minnie. “I don’t want him to be in pain.” Renee ran her fingers on his carotid arteries and she shook her head.
“Not yet, they are getting suppler, but they aren’t yet. When his arms and legs are suppler, and we can lay him on his back, we can get a line in him and start him on the blood,” she said. We spent two more hours rinsing the water over him. Barrister came in.
“Wow, he looks so much better already. Is that new skin?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s real delicate, but it is new skin, he is already healing on the surface,” said Aolani. “Ask Len to come in…we will lay the towels out for him and you can lift him out and we will clean the tub and refill it with a little warmer water.”

The boys lifted him out and he was already limbering up. They laid him down and he slowly slid flat on his back. “Well his works are still intact,” said Barrister.

“Let us get his bath ready and we will trade you, just keep squeezing water over him and don’t rub, his skin is pretty delicate,” said Renee.
We cleaned the tub and then ran warmer water and called the boys back in. They crouched down to pick him up and a slight moan escaped from his lips.
“Eric?” said Barrister. We rushed to him.
“Lay him down,” said Renee. They laid him back on the towels and Renee gently palpated his artery in his throat. “His skin is as thin as a baby. I don’t think it is thick enough to take an IV.”
“Can we trickle some of it down his throat?” asked Minnie.
“Can we do a nasogastric feed?” I suggested. I had been offered a nasogastric tube and I refused it when I was ill because I did not want to be a vegetable and have a feeding tube.
“We can try,” said Renee. Aolani grabbed one of the two bags we had kept warming and the tubing packaging. She opened the tubing and took off the IV stump and with one hand she spread one of Eric’s nostrils gently and with the other she began to feed the tubing into his nose. “Aslinn, this is where I would be telling Eric to swallow, just put your finger all the way to the back of his throat and tell me when you feel the tubing.” I opened his mouth and Eric moaned again and I slid my finger to the back of his throat. He seemed to gag a little. Renee pushed gently and I felt the tubing.
“I feel it,” I said.
“Okay now this is tricky. I have to get it in his belly and I have no guide. I have to do this by intuition,” she said. “Just put your finger on the back of his tongue and sort of put pressure on it so it doesn’t fall back as I thread the tube down.” I pressed on the back of his tongue and Eric’s eyes twittered in the sockets. “Just a little longer buddy.” Renee was concentrating carefully. She kept feeding the tubing until she felt some imperceptible thing. “Okay, let me run a little water in there and we will see…If it is in the trachea and not in the stomach, he will cough.” Barrister got her a cup of warm water and she dribbled a couple of drops into the tub and she tapped the tubing. When Eric did not cough, she handed Barrister the cup. “Okay, let’s get him back in the water and we will start tube feeding him the doped blood and you boys can rinse him down and we will have something to eat.”
“He almost looks like Eric,” said Barrister, gently picking him up again. Len had his legs and they gently laid him back in the tub. He moaned again with the warmer water. “Sorry Eric, just try to relax, you are getting better mate.” Renee hooked the warmed blood up and hung it on the shower head and adjusted the feed.

We went out and flopped down. We had been working over Eric for five hours and we were wasted. “It is two hours before dark,” I said.
“Bill and Pam and Jess and then can take turns with him then through the night,” I said.
“Let’s order supper and get showers and change clothes ourselves and then see what we need to do next,” said Aolani. “Minnie, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I feel better seeing him heal and waking a little even though he is in pain,” said Minnie. “It means we are doing something right.”
We ordered dinner and had it brought up and took showers and changed our clothes. Pam was the first up. “Did you get him?”
“Yeah, he looks a lot better already and we are feeding him through a tube in his nose going to his belly,” said Renee. “Barrister and Len are with him.” Pam blurred away. Willa and Tara came out. We gave them the same report.
“We’ll wait for Pam to finish her visit,” said Tara. “Is he awake at all?”
“A little, but we are hoping the morphine will keep him asleep and take the edge off his pain,” said Aolani.
“Did he look really bad?” asked Willa.
“He did, he still looks….really weird…but he is way better than when they brought him in. He was a nightmare,” said Renee. “A real train wreck.”
Pam knelt by the tub. Hair was beginning to sprout on his naked scalp. His hands were articulate. She reached for his hand. “Gently Pam, Eric’s skin is very new and thin so don’t squeeze,” said Len.

“Eric,” she said. “Can you hear me?” Eric’s eyes moved under his eye lids. His fingers moved a fraction. “Are you in pain?” He exhaled and nodded minisculely. “Can you tolerate it?” He nodded. “Are you hungry?” He shook his head. And lifted his eyes to the IV bag. “They are giving you blood and morphine Eric.” He nodded again. Pam gently touched his cheek. “We have you back, you will be healed and strong.” He nodded. He looked at her but his eyelids were heavy. “Sleep Eric, we have you.”
“Can you take over in a couple hours, you and Tara and Willa and Jessica?” asked Len.
“Yeah, just tell us what to do,” said Pam.
“We are just wringing water over him, over and over, and we take him out in two hours and run water just a little bit warmer than we had it,” said Barrister. “When we take him out we rinse and wipe the tub with these Clorox wipes. We will show you how to change the IV bags and all that.”
“When can he come out of the tub?” asked Pam.
“Well you guys are supposed to be 65 degrees, and Eric is right around 40, so he has a while yet to warm up, but Renee and the girls think once you get him up to 50 you can take him out and we can bundle him up and put humans in bed with him and share body warmth with him and bring his temp up that way, by then his skin should be thick enough to tolerate the pressure,” said Len. Len was standing up and Eric reached out and grabbed his hand.

“Thank you,” he mouthed.
“You owe me big time,” said Len. “And you really owe Barrister.”
“We’ll settle up when you are well,” said Barrister.

The boys left and let Pam work over him and Willa and Tara went in. Bill and Jess and James were having Tru:Blood. “I am happy Eric is doing better, and he seems to be healing so well,” said Bill.
“He has a while to go yet, but we may be able to get him to England in a week,” said Renee.
“Well, his golden glory is coming back in, fine as a baby’s but it is coming,” said Barrister. “We showed Pam everything about the feeding tube and we went on and changed the bag and showed her how and she is going to do the bathing for two more hours and drain the tub then we will show her how hot to run the water for the next bath.”
“Did you tell her about the Clorox wipes?” asked Minnie.
“Yeah, they know,” said Barrister. “Oh and he communicated with us, well Pam at first and then to us.”
“Did he speak?” asked Minnie.
“He mouthed ‘thank you’ but he didn’t actually say the words,” said Barrister.
“Can I go see him?” asked Jess. Pam said something. “She says for me to get my narrow ass in there, she’s so pleasant.”
“You better get your narrow ass in there, before she comes after you,” said Bill.
“Yes sir,” she said and blurred away.
“I am worn out, I will go to bed,” I said.
“Go love, I will be there in a couple of hours,” he said.
“Make sure to eat something,” I said. I kissed him and then kissed Bill. I went in and flopped on the bed and slept till dawn.

After a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee we went back in and Pam and Jessica were sent in to go to day rest. “We just changed the water and the blood and he was awake a little while, about 20 minutes, but we think he is in normal day rest,” Pam said. “Willa said she could feel him much stronger now.”
“Good, that is good,” said Renee. “Go on to bed, get some rest, grab a Tru:Blood and have something first before you sleep.”
“I haven’t said thank you,” said Pam.
“Well, we would do this for you,” said Aolani. “His hair is growing out.” Eric had hair in a thick stubble like a high and tight. It was light blonde and soft like duck fluff. We settled ourselves down and began our shift.

A Week Later

“Gerry, help us with this coffin please and let’s try not to jostle him much,” said Barrister.
“These them Vamps you had here a while back?” he asked.
“Yeah, and a few more,” said Barrister.
“Good thing you got all that artificial blood then,” he said.

Eric’s recovery had been remarkable. He was walking three days after being frozen solid and burned to a blister and though he was weak, we were able to take the tube out and do a regular IV. He was still very sore and painful and we cared for him like a baby, rubbing his skin with lotion and laying in bed with him all bundled up and our arms around him. He slept a lot both day and night and woke only when he was uncomfortable. The morphine was keeping the worse of his pain away but he asked for Tru:Blood to sip and make himself warmer. His temperature was between 55 and 60 degrees, so we were happy.

The groundsman and his boys carried the coffins carefully down in the light tight coffins and then helped us lift Eric out and Aolani and Minnie got in bed with him and wrapped their arms around him and went to sleep. We went to bed too, tired as we were. I was glad to be back in England but Bill was champing at the bit to return to America. There were a lot of things happening and he wanted very much to be back. He had begun writing his book and he was more than a little edgy as he wrote it. He gave us various chapters and we helped him with the chain of events.

The days were cool in England and the coming of fall was close at hand.

And Eric was well.

Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover but Zero Ways to Leave your Grief

If you leave I won't cry
I won't waste single day
But if you leave, no don't look back
I'll be running the other way

OMD - If You Leave Lyrics

He was standing there, in the sun, feeling its warmth but not its burning but he could take no joy in it. He had killed....without mercy....and still the pain was there and he felt surrounded by it. It stung, like a million bees puncturing his flesh and injecting feverish poisons into his body. The poison was the bitterness of his grief and the belief there was nothing good for him to feel anymore, not the touch of a lover, the handshake of a friend, the warmth of someone embracing you when they danced next to you or the heat of sex. He was never warm physically speaking, but Eric for all the fact his heart did not beat, was a warm person to those he deemed worthy of his friendship.

He continued to stand there. They were dancing. It just made him remember the song they sang in the streets during the time of plague, the song that reminded him of his sister before she was reborn in the life after death: Rings around the Rosies, Pockets full of Posies, Ashes, ashes, they all fall down.....He could not even take joy in their celebration for their freedom and the fact they were in the sun. If this had happened before, he would have been giddy, like a child, and played in the sun, as he had when he drank that fairy and he was swimming in the pond and the sun and the water danced on his cool skin and he was Aegir and he was the king of the sea in his mind and he was again the child who played by the North Sea when he was human and he had the love and warmth of his people and his family around him. They were gone now too.

Still standing there. He was thirsty. Vampire blood was not nourishing to Vampires and he had not fed not really. Warlow's blood had made him able to stand there in the golden day, but had not fed him. He watched Pam. She was like a little girl. He supposed only a Vampire could overlook the savage fangs and her bloody mouth and see her happiness in the sun. He was relieved nothing more serious had not happened to her and she had made a deal with the doctor to get out of solitary and do what she had to do. Pam was a survivor. She did what she had to do and he was pleased she was able to get her revenge. But even that pleasure was short lived. He loved her, but even she would not be able to bridge the chasm he felt in his own heart.

He spared a thought to Bill. He had just come out, he had survived his near draining and he was still walking in the sun and they were clapping. For all of his distrust and anger with Bill that he could not save Nora, he was content that Bill had survived. If he hadn't he would not have cared, but since he did...that was fine too. He wondered if he would have fed Eric had he been there. He decided he likely would have. As despicable as Steve Newlin was, Bill wanted to feed him too, but Eric could not have that.

That is when she saw him. Pam turned, looking for the one man she truely loved, that she did not treat like a john and he never treated her like a whore, his child, his daughter, his one time lover, his hunting partner. They did sport themselves among the humans and rank their fill together and they did laugh and frolic as only Vampires can with full bellies and bloody grins, but there had been tenderness between them too. See, the blood was just that, blood, but the connection he had with her was close to the connection he had with Nora, his sister. Nora did not understand Pam, not until the end.

She stood there, seeing him, loving him. He knew she loved him. Even though he had released her, he knew she loved him and he truly did love her and that was why he had to fly away from her. He could not stand losing her. He knew this mess was not over. He felt cowardly...not willing to stay by her side to see if she lived or died the true death.

Don't you Dare Leave Me!

And he was gone.

Your Own Personal Jesus

They want you to play Jesus
They’ll go down on one knee
They’ll want their money back
If you’re alive at 33
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me- U2

Aolani and Minnie were standing on the stoop of the house, about to go in when they saw Eric. He stopped there in the middle of the street, the sun shining on his white face and making the red blood look over bright and unreal. “Eric, come in,” said Minnie. He shook his head and sped away. They came into the house. I was at the computer, working on the forum, muttering at how slow the internet was.

“What should we do Aolani?” asked Minnie.
“I don’t think there is anything we can do,” said Aolani.
“Did he whiz by?” I asked.
“Yeah,” said Minnie, downhearted. “I wished we could have gotten him to come in.”
“Does this mean they are now permanently daywalkers?” asked Len. I shrugged.
“Bill has been doing it a while, but I don’t know if it ever wears off,” I said. “Maybe.” The phone rang. Barrister answered the phone.
“It’s Sookie,” he said. I took the phone.
“What?” I asked.
“Well that was abrupt,” she said.
“You want a friendly hello, call the local time, otherwise, we are a little busy here,” I said.
“I have to talk to someone, someone who knows what is going on,” she said.
“Come on over,” I said. “I don’t know what we can tell you, but come on over.” I hung up. Renee looked at me.
“Don’t know why you are inviting her over for,” she said.
“I don’t know either,” I said. “I don’t know what is going on, I don’t know what we can do to help.”

An hour later, there was a knock. Barrister went to the door and opened it. “Come in.” Sookie came in and looked around at the steampunk inspired room. Minnie had made brownies, no not her famous special brownies, but regular yummy gooey chocolate richness. There was coffee and tea made. Barrister helped Sookie with her jacket and took her purse and hung them on the hanger. “Won’t you sit down?”
“So, Eric did all this?” she asked. I guess she was trying to understand that the same person who had gone to cemefaerie had cleaned and restored her house and had built this place for us.
“Yeah, Eric did this,” I said. “Coffee?” She nodded and I poured her a cup. “Crème? Sugar?” She nodded and I added a dollop of Devonshire Crème and put a couple of packets of sugar in her cup and stirred it. I grabbed a plate with a brownie on it and took it to her. I went back and we got our cups and returned to talk to the telepath. “What can we do for you Sookie?”
“I don’t know, I guess I just need to talk to someone who knows what is going on,” she said. “I am sort of lost.”
“About what?” asked Aolani.
“I have this decision to make and I don’t know how to make it,” she said. “You know about Warlow, right?”
“Yeah,” said Len.
“What would you guys do?” asked Sookie.
“I would do whatever it took to save Eric,” said Minnie. And this is something we knew was true.
“Or to help Bill,” said Renee. And this too, we knew was true.
“So you guys would be a Vampire?” asked Sookie. I looked at her and sipped my coffee. I lit a cigarette.
“Sure,” I said. “Being a Vampire is not a bad thing to be.”
“Do you think it is a bad thing to be?” asked Barrister.

“I don’t know,” she said. “You know, I hate being what I am, I hate being a telepath, I hate knowing what people are thinking. I wished everyone knew your spell or whatever so I didn’t have to hear what people think. I hate being different.”
“Well, I am sure it is tough being what you are,” I said.
“Don’t you wish you were normal?” she asked.
“I am normal…well, as normal as I am ever going to be,” I said. “I am what I am, and I accept everything about myself, even the weird parts of myself.”
“Would you be a Vampire?” she asked.
“I would. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being a Vampire. Vampire is just another sort of person,” I said. “You just have to decide what sort of Vampire you want to be.”
“Do you think being a Vampire is bad?” asked Len.
“The Vampires I have known have been so …dishonest…with me,” she said. “Bill, Eric, Russell Edgington, they are all monsters.”
“Warlow?” I added. “And yet, you seem to like to have sex with them. Is it only because you can’t hear their heads?” Sookie sipped her coffee.
“Probably, that is part of it,” she said.

“How can you have sex with something you think is intrinsically wrong?” asked Renee. Sookie shrugged.
“And do you care anything for them? Bill, Eric, Pam, Tara, Jessica?” asked Aolani.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“You know, these Vampires, especially Bill and Eric, have done things to save you,” said Minnie. “Bill walked into the sun for you a long time ago, remember?”
“I do,” she said. “Back when I thought he really loved me.”
“Had Bill not loved you, if he was only after your gift, he would have stayed right there and let you fight your own way out,” said Minnie.
“And Eric protected you. He offered his life for yours when he was chained to an altar,” said Aolani. “And he believed in you, he knew you would come back and he saved your house and then gave it back.”
“If they didn’t care about you, they would have never been there and saved you and believed in you,” said Barrister.
“And Tara has been your friend for years, as damaged as she is, and she has been Jason’s friend. She loved him for so long,” said Renee. “They are in deep trouble.”

“How bad?” she said. “Really, how serious is this?”
“It is serious,” I said. “They could die. And then how would feel?”
“What about Warlow?” asked Sookie.
“What is he to you?” I asked. “Is he anything to you? He says he has loved you for six thousand years but does he really love you or the idea of you? The idea there is someone set aside for him.” Sookie shook her head. “Sookie, ask him about Niall.”
“What about Niall?” she asked.
“Ask him about Niall?” I said. “That is all I can tell you. But think of this, if you help Bill and Eric, they will not just let Warlow take you away against your will. Bill is mad, but really, he is not mad at you. Eric hit a nerve with Bill concerning you, and Bill hit one right back. Not saying that was right or a good thing, but when you play Jesus, you must make a sacrifice and if you don’t, then everyone doubts you and you lose faith, even in yourself.” I looked at her. “You were the one thing Bill would not sacrifice just to salve Eric’s grief.”

“Bill is not god,” she said.
“No, he is not god, but there are martyrs everywhere, so ask yourself: is it really worth his sacrifice to you?” asked Aolani. “Could you live in a world without him? Or Eric?”
“This isn’t fair,” she said.
“Who says life is fair?” I said.