Ahhh, noo. they killed Tina

I knew they would

Chapter 11


MY NERVES WERE raw the next day. When I got to work and told Arlene what had happened, she gave me a hard hug, and said, "I'd like to kill the bastard that did that to poor Tina!" Somehow, that made me feel a lot better. Charlsie was just as sympathetic, if more concerned with the shock to me rather than the agonized demise of my cat. Sam just looked grim. He thought I should call the sheriff, or Andy Bellefleur, and tell one of them what had happened. I finally did call Bud Dearborn.
"Usually these things go in cycles," Bud rumbled. "Ain't nobody else reported a pet missing or dead, though. I'm afraid it sounds like some kind a personal thing, Sookie. That vampire friend of yours, he like cats?"
I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I was using the phone in Sam's office, and he was sitting behind the desk figuring out his next liquor order.
"Bill was at home when whoever killed Tina threw her on my porch," I said as calmly as I could. "I called him directly afterward, and he answered the phone." Sam looked up quiz­zically, and I rolled my eyes to let him know my opinion of the sheriff's suspicions.
"And he told you the cat was strangled," Bud went on ponderously.

"Yes."
"Do you have the ligature?"
"No. I didn't even see what it was."
"What did you do with the kitty?"
"We buried her."
"Was that your idea or Mr. Compton's?"
"Mine." What else would we have done with Tina?
"We may come dig your kitty up. If we had had the liga­ture and the cat, maybe we could see if the method of stran­gulation matched the method used in killing Dawn and Maudette," Bud explained ponderously.
"I'm sorry. I didn't think about that."
"Well, it don't matter much. Without the ligature."
"Okay, good-bye." I hung up, probably applying a little more pressure than the receiver required. Sam's eyebrows lifted.
"Bud is a jerk," I told him.
"Bud's not a bad policeman," Sam said quietly. "None of us here are used to murders that are this sick."
"You're right," I admitted, after a moment. "I wasn't being fair. He just kept saying 'ligature' like he was proud he'd learned a new word. I'm sorry I got mad at him."
"You don't have to be perfect, Sookie."
"You mean I get to screw up and be less than understand­ing and forgiving, from time to time? Thanks, boss." I smiled at him, feeling the wry twist to my lips, and got up off the edge of his desk where I'd been propped to make my phone call. I stretched. It wasn't until I saw the way Sam's eyes drank in that stretch that I became self-conscious again. "Back to work!" I said briskly and strode out of the room, trying to make sure there wasn't a hint of sway to my hips.
"Would you keep the kids for a couple of hours this eve­ning?" Arlene asked, a little shyly. I remembered the last time we'd talked about my keeping her kids, and I remem­bered the offense I'd taken at her reluctance to leave her kids with a vampire. I hadn't been thinking like a mother would think. Now, Arlene was trying to apologize.
"I'd be glad to." I waited to see if Arlene would mention Bill again, but she didn't. "When to when?"
"Well, Rene and I are gonna go to the movies in Monroe," she said. "Say, six-thirty?"
"Sure. Will they have had supper?"
"Oh, yeah, I'll feed 'em. They'll be excited to see their aunt Sookie."
"I look forward to it."
'Thanks," Arlene said. She paused, almost said something else, then appeared to think again. "See you at six-thirty."
I got home about five, most of the way driving against the sun, which was glaring like it was staring me down. I changed to a blue-and-green knit short set, brushed my hair and secured it with a banana clip. I had a sandwich, sitting uneasily by myself at the kitchen table. The house felt big and empty, and I was glad to see Rene drive up with Coby and Lisa.
"Arlene's having trouble with one of her artificial nails," he explained, looking embarrassed at having to relay this feminine problem. "And Coby and Lisa were raring to get over here." I noticed Rene was still in his work clothes— heavy boots, knife, hat, and all. Arlene wasn't going to let him take her anywhere until he showered and changed.
Coby was eight and Lisa was five, and they were hanging all over me like big earrings when Rene bent to kiss them good-bye. His affection for the kids gave Rene a big gold star in my book, and I smiled at him approvingly. I took the kids' hands to lead them back to the kitchen for some ice cream.
"We'll see you about ten-thirty, eleven," he said. "If that's all right." He put his hand on the doorknob.
"Sure," I agreed. I opened my mouth to offer to keep the kids for the night, as I'd done on previous occasions, but then I thought of Tina's limp body. I decided that tonight they'd better not stay. I raced the kids to the kitchen, and a minute or two later I heard Rene's old pickup rattling down the driveway.
I picked up Lisa. "I can hardly lift you anymore, girl, you're getting so big! And you, Coby, you shaving yet?" We sat at the table for a good thirty minutes while the children ate ice cream and rattled off their list of achievements since we'd last visited.
Then Lisa wanted to read to me, so I got out a coloring book with the color and number words printed inside, and she read those to me with some pride. Coby, of course, had to prove he could read much better, and then they wanted to watch a favorite show. Before I knew it, it was dark.
"My friend is coming over tonight," I told them. "His name is Bill."
"Mama told us you had a special friend," Coby said. "I better like him. He better be nice to you."
"Oh, he is," I assured the boy, who had straightened and thrust out his chest, ready to defend me if my special friend wasn't nice enough in Coby's estimation.
"Does he send you flowers?" Lisa asked romantically.
"No, not yet. Maybe you can kind of hint I'd like some?"
"Ooo. Yeah, I can do that."
"Has he asked you to marry him?
"Well, no. But I haven't asked him, either."
Naturally, Bill picked that moment to knock.
"I have company," I said, smiling, when I answered the door.
"I can hear," he said.
I took his hand and led him into the kitchen.
"Bill, this is Coby and this young woman is Lisa," I said formally.
"Good, I've been wanting to meet you," Bill said, to my surprise. "Lisa and Coby, is it all right with you if I keep company with your aunt Sookie?"
They eyed him thoughtfully. "She isn't really our aunt," Coby said, testing the waters. "She's our mom's good friend."
"Is that right?"

"Yes, and she says you don't send her flowers," Lisa said. For once, her little voice was crystal clear. I was so glad to realize that Lisa had gotten over her little problem with her r's. Really.
Bill looked sideways at me. I shrugged. "Well, they asked me," I said helplessly.
"Hmmm," he said thoughtfully. "I'll have to mend my ways, Lisa. Thank you for pointing that out to me. When is Aunt Sookie's birthday, do you know?" ,
I could feel my face flushing. "Bill," I said sharply. "Cut it out."
"Do you know, Coby?" Bill asked the boy.
Coby shook his head, regretfully. "But I know it's in the summer because the last time Mama took Sookie to lunch in Shreveport for her birthday, it was summertime. We stayed with Rene."
"You're smart to remember that, Coby," Bill told him.
"I'm smarter than that! Guess what I learned in school the other day." And Coby was off and running.
Lisa eyed Bill with great attention the whole time Coby spoke, and when Coby was finished, she said, "You look real white. Bill."
"Yes," he said, "that's my normal complexion."
The kids exchanged glances. I could tell they were decid­ing that "normal complexion" was an illness, and it wouldn't be too polite to ask more questions. Every now and then children show a certain tactfulness.
Bill, initially a little stiff, began to get more and more flexible as the evening wore on. I was ready to admit I was tired by nine, but he was still going strong with the kids when Arlene and Rene came by to pick them up at eleven.
I'd just introduced my friends to Bill, who shook their hands in an absolutely normal way, when another caller ar­rived.
A handsome vampire with thick black hair combed into an improbable wavy style strolled up out of the woods as Arlene was bundling the kids into the truck, and Rene and Bill were chatting. Bill waved acasual hand at the vampire, and he raised one in return, joining Bill and Rene as if he'd been expected.
From the front porch swing, I watched Bill introduce the two, and the vampire and Rene shook hands. Rene was gap­ing at the newcomer, and I could tell he felt he'd recognized him. Bill looked meaningfully at Rene and shook his head, and Rene's mouth closed on whatever comment he'd been going to make.
The newcomer was husky, taller than Bill, and he wore old jeans and an "I Visited Graceland" T-shirt. His heavy boots were worn at the heel. He carried a squirt bottle of synthetic blood in one hand and took a swig from time to time. Mr. Social Skills.
Maybe I'd been cued by Rene's reaction, but the more I looked at the vampire, the more familiar he seemed. I tried mentally warming up the skin tone, adding a few lines, mak­ing him stand straighter and investing his face with some liveliness.
Oh my God.
It was the man from Memphis.
Rene turned to go, and Bill began steering the newcomer up to me. From ten feet away, the vampire called, "Hey, Bill tells me someone killed your cat!" He had a heavy Southern accent.
Bill closed his eyes for a second, and I just nodded speech­lessly.
I said "Well, I'm sorry about that. I like cats," the tall vampire id, and I clearly got the idea he didn't mean he liked to stroke their fur. I hoped the kids weren't picking up on that, but Arlene's horrified face appeared in the truck window. All the good will Bill had established had probably just gone down the drain.
Rene shook his head behind the vampire's back and climbed into the driver's seat, calling a good-bye as he started up the engine. He stuck his head out the window for a long last look at the newcomer. He must have said some­thing to Arlene because she appeared at her window again, staring for all she was worth. I saw her mouth drop open in shock as she looked harder at the creature standing beside Bill. Her head disappeared into the truck, and I heard a screech as the truck pulled away. "Sookie," Bill said warningly, "this is Bubba." "Bubba," I repeated, not quite trusting my ears. "Yep, Bubba," the vampire said cheerfully, goodwill ra­diating from his fearsome smile. "That's me. Pleased to meetcha."
I shook hands with him, making myself smile back. Good God Almighty, I never thought I'd be shaking hands with Him. But he'd sure changed for the worse.
"Bubba, would you mind waiting here on the porch? Let me explain our arrangement to Sookie."
"That's all right with me," Bubba said casually. He settled on the swing, as happy and brainless as a clam.
We went into the living room, but not before I'd noticed that when Bubba had made his appearance, much of the night noise—bugs, frogs—had simply stopped. "I had hoped to explain this to you before Bubba got here," Bill whispered. "But I couldn't."
I said, "Is that who I think it is?"
"Yes. So now you know at least some of the sighting sto­ries are true. But don't call him by his name. Call him Bubba! Something went wrong when he came over—from human to vampire—maybe it was all the chemicals in his blood." "But he was really dead, wasn't he?" "Not... quite. One of us was a morgue attendant and a big fan, and he could detect the tiny spark still left, so he brought him over, in a hurried manner." "Brought him over?"
"Made him vampire," Bill explained. "But that was a mis­take. He's never been the same from what my friends tell me. He's as smart as a tree trunk, so to make a living he does odd jobs for the rest of us. We can't have him out in public, you can see that."
I nodded, my mouth hanging open. Of course not. "Geez," I murmured, stunned at the royalty in my yard.
"So remember how stupid he is, and how impulsive ... don't spend time alone with him, and don't ever call him anything but Bubba. Also, he likes pets, as he told you, and a diet of their blood hasn't made him any the more reliable. Now, as to why I brought him here ..."
I stood with my arms across my chest, waiting for Bill's explanation with some interest.
"Sweetheart, I have to go out of town for a while," Bill said.
The unexpectedness of this completely disconcerted me.
"What... why? No, wait. I don't need to know." I waved my hands in front of me, shooing away any implication that Bill was obligated to tell me his business.
"I'll tell you when I get back," he said firmly.
"So where does your friend—Bubba—come in?" Though I had a nasty feeling I already knew.
"Bubba is going to watch you while I'm gone," Bill said stiffly.
I raised my eyebrows.
"All right. He's not long on..." Bill cast around. "... anything," he finally admitted. "But he's strong, and he'll do what I tell him, and he'll make sure no one breaks into your house."
"He'll stay out in the woods?"
"Oh, yes," Bill said emphatically. "He's not even supposed to come up and speak to you. At dark, he'll just find a place from which he can see the house, and he'll watch all night."
I'd have to remember to close my blinds. The idea of the dim vampire peering in my windows was not edifying.
"You really think this is necessary?" I asked helplessly. "You know, I don't remember you asking me."

Bill sort of heaved, his version of taking a deep breath. "Sweetheart," he began in an overly patient voice, "I am trying very hard to get used to the way women want to be treated now. But it isn't natural to me, especially when I fear you are in danger. I'm trying to give myself peace of mind while I'm gone. I wish I didn't have to go, and it isn't what I want to do, but what I have to do, for us."
I eyed him. "I hear you," I said finally. "I'm not crazy about this, but I am afraid at night, and I guess ... well, okay."
Frankly, I don't think it mattered a damn whether I con­sented or not. After all, how could I make Bubba leave if he didn't want to go? Even the law enforcement people in our little town didn't have the equipment to deal with vampires, and if they were faced with this particular vampire, they'd just stand and gape for long enough for him to tear them apart. I appreciated Bill's concern, and I figured I better have the good grace to thank him. I gave him a little hug.
"Well, if you have to go off, you just be careful while you're gone," I said, trying not to sound forlorn. "Do you have a place to stay?"
"Yes. I'll be in New Orleans. There was a room open at the Blood in the Quarter."
I'd read an article about this hotel, the first in the world that catered exclusively to vampires. It promised complete security, and so far it had delivered. It was right smack dab in the middle of the French Quarter, too. And at dusk it was absolutely surrounded by fang-bangers and tourists wait­ing for the vampires to come out.
I began to feel envious. Trying not to look like a wistful puppy who's being pushed back in the door when its owners leave, I yanked my smile back into place. "Well, you have a good time," I said brightly. "Got your packing done? The drive should take a few hours, and it's already dark."
"The car is ready." I understood for the first time that he had delayed leaving to spend time with me and Arlene's kids. "I had better leave." He hesitated, seemed to be searching for the right words. Then he held out his hands to me. I took them, and he pulled a little, just exerted a tiny pressure. I moved into his embrace. I rubbed my face against his shirt. My arms circled him, pressed him into me.
"I'll miss you," he said. His voice was just a breath in the air, but I heard him. I felt him kiss the top of my head, and then he stepped away from me and out the front door. I heard his voice on the front porch as he gave Bubba some last minute directions, and I heard the squeak of the swing as Bubba got up.
I didn't look out the window until I heard Bill's car going down the driveway. Then I saw Bubba sauntering into the woods. I told myself, as I took my shower, that Bill must trust Bubba since he'd left him guarding me. But I still wasn't sure who I was more afraid of: the murderer Bubba was watching for, or Bubba himself.
WORK THE next day, Arlene asked me why the vam­pire had been at my house. I wasn't surprised that she'd brought it up.
"Well, Bill had to go out of town, and he worries, you know ..." I was hoping to let it drop at that. But Charlsie had drifted up (we weren't at all busy: the Chamber of Com­merce was having a lunch and speaker at Fins and Hooves, and the Ladies' Prayers and Potatoes group were topping their baked potatoes at old Mrs. Bellefleur's huge house).
"You mean," Charlsie said with starry eyes, "that your man got you a personal bodyguard?" I nodded reluctantly. You could put it that way. "That's so romantic," Charlsie sighed. You could look at it that way.
"But you should see him," Arlene told Charlsie, having held her tongue as long as she could. "He's exactly like—!"
"Oh, no, not when you talk to him," I interrupted. "He's not at all the same." That was true. "And he really doesn't like it when he hears that name."
"Oh," said Arlene in a hushed voice, as if Bubba could be listening in the broad daylight.
"I do feel safer with Bubba in the woods," I said, which was more or less true.
"Oh, he doesn't stay in the house?" Charlsie asked, clearly a little disappointed.
"God, no!" I said, then mentally apologized to God for taking his name in vain. I was having to do that a lot lately. "No, Bubba stays in the woods at night, watching the house." "Was that true about the cats?" Arlene looked squeamish. "He was just joking. Not a great sense of humor, huh?" I was lying through my teeth. I certainly believed Bubba en­joyed a snack of cat blood.
Arlene shook her head, unconvinced. It was time to change the subject. "Did you and Rene have fun on your evening out?" I asked.
"Rene was so good last night, wasn't he?" she said, her cheeks pink.
A much-married woman, blushing. "You tell me." Arlene enjoyed a little ribald teasing.
"Oh, you! What I mean, he was real polite to Bill and even that Bubba."
"Any reason why he wouldn't be?"
"He has kind of a problem with vampires, Sookie." Arlene shook her head. "I know, I do, too," she confessed when I looked at her with raised eyebrows. "But Rene really has some, prejudice. Cindy dated a vampire for a while, and that just made Rene awful upset."
"Cindy okay?" I had a great interest in the health of some­one who'd dated a vamp.
"I haven't seen her," Arlene admitted, "but Rene goes to visit every other week or so. She's doing well, she's back on the right track. She has a job in a hospital cafeteria."
Sam, who'd been standing behind the bar loading the re­frigerator with bottled blood, said, "Maybe Cindy would like to move back home. Lindsey Krause quit the other shift be­cause she's moving to Little Rock."
That certainly focussed our attention. Merlotte's was be­coming seriously understaffed. For some reason, low-level service jobs had dropped in popularity in the last couple of months.
"You interviewed anyone else?" Arlene asked. "I'll have to go through the files," Sam said wearily. I knew that Arlene and I were the only barmaids, waitresses, servers, whatever you wanted to call us, that Sam had hung on to for more then two years. No, that wasn't true; there was Susanne Mitchell, on the other shift. Sam spent lots of time hiring and occasionally firing. "Sookie, would you have a look through the file, see if there's anyone there you know has moved, anyone already got a job, anyone you really rec­ommend? That would save me some time."
"Sure," I said. I remembered Arlene doing the same thing a couple of years ago when Dawn had been hired. We had more ties to the community than Sam, who never seemed to join anything. Sam had been in Bon Temps for six years now, and I had never met anyone who seemed to know about Sam's life prior to his buying the bar here.
I settled down at Sam's desk with the thick file of appli­cations. After a few minutes, I could tell I was really making a difference. I had three piles: moved, employed elsewhere, good material. Then I added a fourth and fifth stack: a pile for people I couldn't work with because I couldn't stand them, and a pile for the dead. The first form on the fifth pile had been filled out by a girl who'd died in a car accident last Christmas, and I felt sorry for her folks all over again when I saw her name at the top of the form. The other application was headed "Maudette Pickens."
Maudette had applied for a job with Sam three months before her death. I guess working at Grabbit Kwik was pretty uninspiring. When I glanced over the filled-in blanks and noticed how poor Maudette's handwriting and spelling had been, it made me feel pitiful all over again. I tried to imagine my brother thinking of having sex with this woman—and filming it—was a worthwhile way to spend his time, and I marvelled at Jason's strange mentality. I hadn't seen him since he'd driven off with Desiree. I hoped he'd gotten home in one piece. That gal was a real handful. I wished he'd settle down with Liz Barrett: she had enough backbone to hold him up, too.
Whenever I thought about my brother lately, it was to worry. If only he hadn't known Maudette and Dawn so well! Lots of men knew them both, apparently, both casually and carnally. They'd both been vampire bitten. Dawn had liked rough sex, and I didn't know Maudette's proclivities. Lots of men got gas and coffee at the Grabbit Kwik, and lots of men came in to get a drink here, too. But only my stupid brother had recorded sex with Dawn and Maudette on film.
I stared at the big plastic cup on Sam's desk, which had been full of iced tea. "The Big Kwencher from Grabbit Kwik" was written in neon orange on the side of the green cup. Sam knew them both, too. Dawn had worked for him, Maudette had applied for a job here.
Sam sure didn't like me dating a vampire. Maybe he didn't like anyone dating a vampire.
Sam walked in just then, and I jumped like I'd been doing something bad. And I had, in my book. Thinking evil of a friend was a bad thing to do.

"Which is the good pile?" he asked, but he gave me a puzzled look. I handed him a short stack of maybe ten applications. "This gal, Amy Burley," I said, indicating the one on top, "has experience, she's only subbing at the Good Times Bar, and Charlsie used to work with her there. So you could check with Charlsie first."
"Thanks, Sookie. This'll save me some trouble."
I nodded curtly in acknowledgment.
"Are you all right?" he asked. "You seem kind of distant today."
I looked at him closely. He looked just like he always did. But his mind was closed to me. How could he do that? The only other mind completely closed to me was Bill's, because of his vampire state. But Sam was sure no vampire.
"Just missing Bill," I said deliberately. Would he lecture me about the evils of dating a vampire?
Sam said, "It's daytime. He couldn't very well be here."
"Of course not," I said stiffly, and was about to add, "He's out of town." Then I asked myself if that was a smart thing to do when I had even a hint of suspicion in my heart about my boss. I left the office so abruptly that Sam stared after me in astonishment.
When I saw Arlene and Sam having a long conversation later that day, their sidelong glances told me clearly that I was the topic. Sam went back to his office looking more worried than ever. But we didn't have any more chitchat the rest of the day.
Going home that evening was hard because I knew I'd be alone until morning. When I'd been alone other evenings, I'd had the reassurance that Bill was just a phone call away. Now he wasn't. I tried to feel good about being guarded once it was dark and Bubba crawled out of whatever hole he'd slept in, but I didn't manage it.
I called Jason, but he wasn't home. I called Merlotte's, thinking he might be there, but Terry Bellefleur answered the phone and said Jason hadn't been in. I wondered what Sam was doing tonight. I wondered why he never seemed to date much. It wasn't for want of offers, I'd been able to observe many times.
Dawn had been especially aggressive.
That evening I couldn't think of anything that pleased me.
I began wondering if Bubba was the hitman—hitvam-pire?—Bill had called when he wanted Uncle Bartlett bumped off. I wondered why Bill had chosen such a dim-witted creature to guard me.
Every book I picked up seemed wrong, somehow. Every television show I tried to watch seemed completely ridicu­lous. I tried to read my Time and became incensed at the determination to commit suicide that possessed so many nations. I pitched the magazine across the room.
My mind scrabbled around like a squirrel trying to get out of a cage. It couldn't light on anything or be comfortable anywhere.
When the phone rang, I jumped a foot. "Hello?" I said harshly.
"Jason's here now," Terry Bellefleur said. "He wants to buy you a drink."
I thought uneasily about going out to the car, now that it was dark; about coming home to an empty house, at least a house I would have to hope was empty. Then I scolded my­self because, after all, there would be someone watching the house, someone very strong, if very brainless.
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute," I said.
Terry simply hung up. Mr. Chatterbox.
I pulled on a denim skirt and a yellow T-shirt and, looking both ways, crossed the yard to my car. I'd left on every outside light, and I unlocked my car and scooted inside quick as a wink. Once inside the car, I relocked my door.
This was sure no way to live.

I AUTOMATICALLY PARKED in the employee lot when I got to Merlotte's. There was a dog pawing around the Dumpster, and I patted him on the head when I went in. We had to call the pound about once a week to come get some stray or dumped dogs, so many of them pregnant it just made me sick.
Terry was behind the bar. "Hey," I said, looking around. "Where's Jason?" "He ain't here," Terry said. "I haven't seen him this eve­ning. I told you so on the phone."
I gaped at him. "But you called me after that and said he had come in."
"No, I didn't."
We stared at each other. Terry was having one of his bad nights, I could tell. His head was writhing around on the inside with the snakes of his army service and his battle with alcohol and drugs. On the outside, you could see he was flushed and sweating despite the air conditioning, and his movements were jerky and clumsy. Poor Terry.
"You really didn't?" I asked, in as neutral a tone as pos­sible.
"Said so, didn't I?" His voice was belligerent.
I hoped none of the bar patrons gave Terry trouble tonight.
I backed out with a conciliatory smile.
The dog was still at the back door. He whined when he saw me.
"Are you hungry, fella?" I asked. He came right up to me, without the cringing I'd come to expect from strays. As he moved more into the light, I saw that this dog had been recently abandoned, if his glossy coat was any indicator. He was a collie, at least mostly. I started to step into the kitchen to ask whoever was cooking if they had any scraps for this guy, but then I had a better idea.
"I know bad ol' Bubba is at the house, but maybe you could come in the house with me," I said in that baby voice I use with animals when I think nobody's listening. "Can you pee outside, so we don't make a mess in the house? Hmmm, boy?"
As if he'd understood me, the collie marked the corner of the Dumpster.
"Good fella! Come for a ride?" I opened my car door, hoping he wouldn't get the seats too dirty. The dog hesitated. "Come on, sugar, I'll give you something good to eat when we get to my place, okay?" Bribery was not necessarily a bad thing.
After a couple more looks and a thorough sniffing of my hands, the dog jumped onto the passenger seat and sat look­ing out the windshield like he'd committed himself to this adventure.
I told him I appreciated it, and I tickled his ears. We set off, and the dog made it clear he was used to riding.
"Now, when we get to the house, buddy," I told the collie firmly, "we're gonna make tracks for the front door, okay? There's an ogre in the woods who'd just love to eat you up."
The dog gave an excited yip.
"Well, he's not gonna get a chance," I soothed him. It sure was nice to have something to talk to. It was even nice he couldn't talk back, at least for the moment. And I didn't have to keep my guard up because he wasn't human. Relaxing. "We're gonna hurry."
"Woof," agreed my companion.
"I got to call you something," I said. "How about... Buffy?"
The dog growled.
"Okay. Rover?"

Whine.
"Don't like that either. Hmmm." We turned into my drive­way.
"Maybe you already have a name?" I asked. "Let me check your neck." After I turned off the engine, I ran my fingers through the thick hair. Not even a flea collar. "Some­one's been taking bad care of you, sweetie," I said. "But not anymore. I'll be a good mama." With that last inanity, I got my house key ready and opened my door. In a flash, the dog pushed past me and stood in the yard, looking around him alertly. He sniffed the air, and a growl rose in his throat.
"It's just the good vampire, sugar, the one that's guarding the house. You come on inside." With some constant coax­ing, I got the dog to come into the house. I locked the door behind us instantly.
The dog padded all around the living room, sniffing and peering. After watching him for a minute to be sure he wasn't going to chew on anything or lift his leg, I went to the kitchen to find something for him to eat. I filled a big bowl with water. I got another plastic bowl Gran had kept lettuce in, and I put the remains of Tina's cat food and some leftover taco meat in it. I figured if you'd been starving, that would be acceptable. The dog finally worked his back to the kitchen and headed for the bowls. He sniffed at the food and raised his head to give me a long look.
"I'm sorry. I don't have any dog food. That's the best I could come up with. If you want to stay with me, I'll get some Kibbles 'N Bits." The dog stared at me for a few more seconds, then bent his head to the bowl. He ate a little meat, took a drink, and looked up at me expectantly. "Can I call you Rex?" A little growl. "What about Dean?" I asked. "Dean's a nice name." A pleasant guy who helped me at a Shreveport bookstore was named Dean. His eyes looked kind of like this collie's, ob­servant and intelligent. And Dean was a little different; I'd never met a dog named Dean. "I'll bet you're smarter than Bubba," I said thoughtfully, and the dog gave his short, sharp bark.
"Well, come on, Dean, let's get ready for bed," I said, quite enjoying having something to talk to. The dog padded after me into the bedroom, checking out all the furniture very thoroughly. I pulled off the skirt and tee, put them away, and stepped out of my panties and unhooked my bra. The dog watched me with great attention while I pulled out a clean nightgown and went into the bathroom to shower. When I stepped out, clean and soothed, Dean was sitting in the door­way, his head cocked to one side.
"That's to get clean, people like to have showers," I told him. "I know dogs don't. I guess it's a human thing." I brushed my teeth and pulled on my nightgown. "You ready for sleep, Dean?"
In answer, he jumped up on the bed, turned in a circle, and lay down.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" I'd certainly talked myself into that one. Gran would have a fit if she could know a dog was on her bed. Gran had believed animals were fine as long as they spent the night outside. Humans inside, animals outside, had been her rule. Well, now I had a vampire outside and a collie on my bed.
I said, "You get down!" and pointed at the rug.
The collie, slowly, reluctantly, descended from the bed. He eyed me reproachfully as he sat on the rug.
"You stay there," I said sternly and got in the bed. I was very tired, and not nearly so nervous now that the dog was here; though what help I expected him to be in case of an intruder, I didn't know, since he didn't know me well enough to be loyal to me. But I would accept any comfort I could find, and I began to relax into sleep. Just as I was drifting off, I felt the bed indent under the weight of the collie. A narrow tongue gave my cheek a swipe. The dog settled close to me. I turned over and patted him. It was sort of nice having him here.
The next thing I knew, it was dawn. I could hear the birds going to town outside, chirping up a storm, and it felt won­derful to be snuggled in bed. I could feel the warmth of the dog through my nightgown; I must have gotten hot during the night and thrown off the sheet. I drowsily patted the animal's head and began to stroke his fur, my fingers running idly through the thick hair. He wriggled even closer, sniffed my face, put his arm around me. His arm?
I was off the bed and shrieking in one move.
In my bed, Sam propped himself on his elbows, sunny side up, and looked at me with some amusement.
"Oh, ohmyGod! Sam, how'd you get here? What are you doing? Where's Dean?" I covered my face with my hands and turned my back, but I'd certainly seen all there was to see of Sam.
"Woof," said Sam, from a human throat, and the truth stomped over me in combat boots.
I whirled back to face him, so angry I felt like I was going to blow a gasket.
"You watched me undress last night, you ... you ... damn dog!"
"Sookie," he said, persuasively. "Listen to me." Another thought struck me. "Oh, Sam. Bill will kill you."
I sat on the slipper chair in the corner by the bathroom door.
I put my elbows on my knees and hung my head. "Oh, no," I
said. "No, no, no."
He was kneeling in front of me. The wirey red-gold hair of his head was duplicated on his chest and trailed in a line down to ... I shut my eyes again.
"Sookie, I was worried when Arlene told me you were going to be alone," Sam began.
"Didn't she tell you about Bubba?"
"Bubba?"
"This vampire Bill left watching the house."
"Oh. Yeah, she said he reminded her of some singer."
"Well, his name is Bubba. He likes to drain animals for fun."

I had the satisfaction of seeing (through my fingers) Sam turn pale.
"Well, isn't it lucky you let me in, then," he said finally.
Suddenly recalled to his guise of the night before, I said, "What are you, Sam?"
"I'm a shapeshifter. I thought it was time you knew."
"Did you have to do it quite like that?"
"Actually," he said, embarrassed, "I had planned on wak­ing up and getting out before you opened your eyes. I just overslept. Running around on all fours kind of tires you out."
"I thought people just changed into wolves."
"Nope. I can change into anything."
I was so interested I dropped my hands and tried to just stare at his face. "How often?" I asked. "Do you get to pick?"
"I have to at the full moon," he explained. "Other times, I have to will it; it's harder and it takes longer. I turn into whatever animal I saw before I changed. So I keep a dog book open to a picture of a collie on my coffee table. Collies are big, but nonthreatening."
"So, you could be a bird?"
"Yeah, but flying is hard. I'm always scared I'm going to get fried on a power line, or fly into a window."
"Why? Why did you want me to know?"
"You seemed to handle Bill being a vampire really well. In fact, you seemed to enjoy it. So I thought I would see if you could handle my... condition."
"But what you are," I said abruptly, off on a mental tan­gent, "can't be explained by a virus! I mean, you utterly change!"
He didn't say anything. He just looked at me, the eyes now blue, but just as intelligent and observant.
"Being a shapeshifter is definitely supernatural. If that is, then other things can be. So..." I said, slowly, carefully, "Bill hasn't got a virus at all. Being a vampire, it really can't be explained by an allergy to silver or garlic or sunlight... that's just so much bullshit the vampires are spreading around, propaganda, you might say ... so they can be more easily accepted, as sufferers from a terrible disease. But re­ally they're ... they're really ..."
I dashed into the bathroom and threw up. Luckily, I made it to the toilet.
"Yeah," Sam said from the doorway, his voice sad. "I'm sorry, Sookie. But Bill doesn't just have a virus. He's really, really dead."


I WASHED MY face and brushed my teeth twice. I sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling too tired to go further. Sam sat beside me. He put his arm around me comfortingly, and after a moment I nestled closer, laying my cheek in the hollow of his neck.
"You know, once I was listening to NPR," I said, com­pletely at random. "They were broadcasting a piece about cryogenics, about how lots of people are opting to just freeze their head because it's so much cheaper than getting your whole body frozen." "Ummm?"
"Guess what song they played for the closing?"
"What, Sookie?"
" 'Put Your Head on My Shoulder.' "
Sam made a choking noise, then doubled over with laugh­ter.
"Listen, Sam," I said, when he'd calmed down. "I hear what you're telling me, but I have to work this out with Bill. I love Bill. I am loyal to him. And he isn't here to give his point of view."
"Oh, this isn't about me trying to woo you away from Bill. Though that would be great." And Sam smiled his rare and brilliant smile. He seemed much more relaxed with me now that I knew his secret.
"Then what is it about?"
"This is about keeping you alive until the murderer is caught."
"So that's why you woke up naked in my bed? For my protection?"
He had the grace to look ashamed. "Well, maybe I could have planned it better. But I did think you needed someone with you, since Arlene told me Bill was out of town. I knew you wouldn't let me spend the night here as a human."
"Will you rest easy now that you know Bubba is watching the house at night?"
"Vampires are strong, and ferocious," Sam conceded. "I guess this Bubba owes Bill something, or he wouldn't be doing him a favor. Vampires aren't big on doing each other favors. They have a lot of structure in their world."
I should have paid more attention to what Sam was saying, but I was thinking I'd better not explain about Bubba's ori­gins.
"If there's you, and Bill, I guess there must be lots of other things outside of nature," I said, realizing what a treasure trove of thought awaited me. Since I'd met Bill, I hadn't felt so much need to hoard neat things up for future contempla­tion, but it never hurt to be prepared. "You'll have to tell me sometime." Big Foot? The Loch Ness Monster? I'd always believed in the Loch Ness monster.
"Well, I guess I better be getting back home," Sam said. He looked at me hopefully. He was still naked.
"Yes, I think you better. But—oh, dang it—you... oh, hell." I stomped upstairs to look for some clothes. It seemed to me Jason had a couple of things in an upstairs closet he kept here for some emergency.
Sure enough, there was a pair of blue jeans and a work shirt in the first upstairs bedroom. It was already hot up there, under the tin roof, because the upstairs was on a separate thermostat. I came back down, grateful to feel the cool con­ditioned air.
"Here," I said, handing Sam the clothes. "I hope they fit well enough." He looked as though he wanted to start our conversation back up, but I was too aware now that I was clad in a thin nylon nightgown and he was clad in nothing at all.
"On with the clothes," I said firmly. "And you get dressed out in the living room." I shooed him out and shut the door behind him. I thought it would be insulting to lock the door, so I didn't. I did get dressed in record time, pulling on clean underwear and the denim skirt and yellow shirt I'd had on the night before. I dabbed on my makeup, put on some ear­rings, and brushed my hair up into a ponytail, putting a yel­low squnchy over the elastic band. My morale rose as I looked in the mirror. My smile turned into a frown when I thought I heard a truck pulling into the front yard.
I came out of the bedroom like I'd been fired from a cannon, hoping like hell Sam was dressed and hiding. He'd done one better. He'd changed back into a dog. The clothes were scattered on the floor, and I swept them up and stuffed them into the closet in the hall.
"Good boy!" I said enthusiastically and scratched behind his ears. Dean responded by sticking his cold black nose up my skirt. "Now you cut that out," I said, and looked through the front window. "It's Andy Bellefleur," I told the dog.
Andy jumped out of his Dodge Ram, stretched for a long second, and headed for my front door. I opened it, Dean by my side.
I eyed Andy quizzically. "You look like you been up all night long, Andy. Can I make you some coffee?"
The dog stirred restlessly beside me.
'That would be great," he said. "Can I come in?"
"Sure." I stood aside. Dean growled.
"You got a good guard dog, there. Here, fella. Come here." Andy squatted to hold out a hand to the collie, whom I sim­ply could not think of as Sam. Dean sniffed Andy's hand, but wouldn't give it a lick. Instead, he kept between me and Andy.
"Come on back to the kitchen," I said, and Andy stood and followed me. I had the coffee on in a jiffy and put some bread in the toaster. Assembling the cream and sugar and spoons and mugs took a few more minutes, but then I had to face why Andy was here. His face was drawn; he looked ten years older than I knew him to be. This was no courtesy call.
"Sookie, were you here last night? You didn't work?" "No, I didn't. I was here except for a quick trip in to
Merlotte's."
"Was Bill here any of that time?" "No, he's in New Orleans. He's staying in that new hotel in the French Quarter, the one just for vampires." "You're sure that's where he is."
"Yes." I could feel my face tighten. The bad thing was coming.
"I've been up all night," Andy said. "Yes."
"I've just come from another crime scene."
"Yes." I went into his mind. "Amy Burley?" I stared at his eyes, trying to make sure. "Amy who worked at the Good Times Bar?" The name at the top of yesterday's pile of pro­spective barmaids, the name I'd left for Sam. I looked down at the dog. He lay on the floor with his muzzle between his paws, looking as sad and stunned as I felt. He whined pa­thetically.
Andy's brown eyes were boring a hole in me. "How'd you know?"
"Cut the crap, Andy, you know I can read minds. I feel awful. Poor Amy. Was it like the others?"
"Yes," he said. "Yes, it was like the others. But the punc­ture marks were fresher."

1 thought of the night Bill and I had had to go to Shreve­port to answer Eric's summons. Had Amy given Bill blood that night? I couldn't even count how many days ago that had been, my schedule had been so thrown off by all the strange and terrible events of the past few weeks.
I sat down heavily in a wooden kitchen chair, shaking my head absently for a few minutes, amazed at the turn my life had taken.
Amy Burley's life had no more turns to take. I shook the odd spell of apathy off, rose and poured the coffee.
"Bill hasn't been here since night before last," I said.
"And you were here all night?"
"Yes, I was. My dog can tell you," and I smiled down at Dean, who whined at being noticed. He came over to lay his fuzzy head on my knees while I drank my coffee. I smoothed
his ears.
"Did you hear from your brother?"
"No, but I got a funny phone call, from someone who said he was at Merlotte's." After the words left my mouth I re­alized the caller must have been Sam, luring me over to Merlotte's so he could maneuver himself into accompanying me home. Dean yawned, a big jaw-cracking yawn that let us see every one of his white sharp teeth.
I wished I'd kept my mouth shut.
But now I had to explain the whole thing to Andy, who was slumped only half-awake in my kitchen chair, his plaid shirt wrinkled and blotched with coffee stains, his khakis shapeless through long wear. Andy was longing for bed the way a horse longs for his own stall.
"You need to get some rest," I said gently. There was something sad about Andy Bellefleur, something daunted.
"It's these murders," he said, his voice unsteady from ex­haustion. "These poor women. And they were all the same in so many ways."
"Uneducated, blue-collar women who worked in bars? Didn't mind having a vampire lover from time to time?"
He nodded, his eyes drooping shut.
"Women just like me, in other words."
His eyes opened then. He was aghast at his error. "Sookie..."
"I understand, Andy," I said. "In some respects, we are all alike, and if you accept the attack on my grandmother as intended for me, well, I guess then I'm the only survivor." I wondered who the murderer had left to kill. Was I the only one alive who met his criteria? That was the scariest thought I'd had all day.
Andy was practically nodding over his coffee cup. "Why don't you go lie down in the other bedroom?" I suggested quietly. "You have to have some sleep. You're not safe to drive, I wouldn't think."
'That's kind of you," Andy said, his voice dragging. He sounded a little surprised, like kindness wasn't something he expected from me. "But I have to get home, set my alarm. I can sleep for maybe three hours."
"I promise I'll wake you up," I said. I didn't want Andy sleeping in my house, but I didn't want him to have a wreck on die way to his house, either. Old Mrs. Bellefleur would never forgive me, and probably Portia wouldn't either. "You come lie down in this room." I led him to my old bedroom. My single bed was neatly made up. "You just lie down on top of the bed, and I'll set the alarm." I did, while he watched. "Now, get a little sleep. I have one errand to run, and I'll be right back." Andy didn't offer any more resis­tance, but sat heavily on the bed even as I shut the door.
The dog had been padding after me while I got Andy situated, and now I said to him, in a quite different tone, "You go get dressed right now!"
Andy stuck his head out the bedroom door. "Sookie, who are you talking to?"
"The dog," I answered instantly. "He always gets his col­lar, and I put it on every day."
"Why do you ever take it off?"
"It jingles at night, keeps me up. You go to bed, now."
"All right." Looking satisfied at my explanation, Andy
shut the door again.
I retrieved Jason's clothes from the closet, put them on the couch in front of the dog, and sat with my back turned. But I realized I could see in the mirror over the mantel.
The air grew hazy around the collie, seemed to hum and vibrate with energy, and then the form began to change within that electric concentration. When the haze cleared, there was Sam kneeling on the floor, buck-naked. Wow, what a bottom. I had to make myself close my eyes, tell myself repeatedly that I had not been unfaithful to Bill. Bill's butt, I told myself staunchly, was every bit as neat.
"I'm ready," Sam's voice said, so close behind me that I jumped. I stood up quickly and turned to face him, and found his face about six inches from mine.
"Sookie," he said hopefully, his hand landing on my shoul­der, rubbing and caressing it.
I was angry because half of me wanted to respond. "Listen here, buddy, you could have told me about your­self any time in the past few years. We've known each other what, four years? Or even more! And yet, Sam, despite the fact that I see you almost daily, you wait until Bill is inter­ested in me, before you even..." and unable to think how to finish, I threw my hands up in the air. Sam drew back, which was a good thing. "I didn't see what was in front of me until I thought it might be taken away," he said, his voice quiet.
I had nothing to say to that. 'Time to go home," I told him. "And we better get you there without anyone seeing you. I mean it."
This was chancy enough without some mischievous person like Rene seeing Sam in my car in the early morning and drawing wrong conclusions. And passing them on to Bill.
So off we went, Sam hunched down in the backseat. I pulled cautiously behind Merlotte's. There was a truck there; black, with pink and aqua flames down the sides. Jason's. "Uh-oh," I said.
"What?" Sam's voice was somewhat muffled by his po­sition.
"Let me go look," I said, beginning to be anxious. Why would Jason park over here in the employees' parking area? And it seemed to me there was a shape in the truck.
I opened my door. I waited for the sound to alert the figure in the truck. I watched for evidence of movement. When nothing happened, I began to walk across the gravel, as frightened as I'd ever been in the light of day.
When I got closer to the window, I could see that the figure inside was Jason. He was slumped behind the wheel. I could see that his shirt was stained, that his chin was resting on his chest, that his hands were limp on the seat on either side of him, that the mark on his handsome face was a long red scratch. I could see a videotape resting on the truck dash­board, unlabelled.
"Sam," I said, hating the fear in my voice. "Please come here."
Quicker than I could believe, Sam was beside me, then teaching past me to unlatch the truck door. Since the truck had apparently been sitting there for several hours—there was dew on its hood—with the windows closed, in the early summer, the smell that rolled out was pretty strong and com­pounded of at least three elements: blood, sex, and liquor.
"Call the ambulance!" I said urgently as Sam reached in to feel for Jason's pulse. Sam looked at me doubtfully. "Are you sure you want to do that?" he asked.
"Of course! He's unconscious!"
"Wait, Sookie. Think about this."
And I might have reconsidered m just a minute, but at that moment Arlene pulled up in her beat-up blue Ford, and Sam sighed and went into his trailer to phone.
I was so naive. That's what comes of being a law-abiding citizen for nearly every day of my life.
I rode with Jason to the tiny local hospital, oblivious to the police looking very carefully at Jason's truck, blind to the squad car following the ambulance, totally trusting when the emergency room doctor sent me home, telling me he'd call me when Jason regained consciousness. The doctor told me, eyeing me curiously, that Jason was apparently sleeping off the effects of alcohol or drugs. But Jason had never drunk that much before, and Jason didn't use drugs: our cousin Hadley's descent into the life of the streets had made a pro­found impression on both of us. I told the doctor all that, and he listened, and he shooed me off.
Not knowing what to think, I went home to find that Andy Bellefleur had been roused by his pager. He'd left me a note telling me that, and nothing else. Later on, I found that he'd actually been in the hospital while I was there, and waited until I was gone out of consideration for me before he'd handcuffed Jason to the bed.

265

Hah, that chapter was one of the best.

So... Sam is a shape shifter? =0

Chapter 12

SAM CAME TO give me the news about eleven o'clock. "They're going to arrest Jason as soon as he comes to, Sookie, which looks like being soon." Sam didn't tell me how he came to know this, and I didn't ask.
I stared at him, tears running down my face. Any other day, I might have thought of how plain I look when I cry, but today was not a day I cared about my outsides. I was all in a knot, frightened for Jason, sad about Amy Burley, full of anger the police were making such a stupid mistake, and underneath it all, missing my Bill.
"They think it looks like Amy Burley put up a fight. They think he got drunk after he killed her."
"Thanks, Sam, for warning me." My voice came from way faraway. "You better go to work, now."
After Sam had seen that I needed to be alone, I called information and got the number of Blood in the Quarter. I punched in the numbers, feeling somehow I was doing a bad thing, but I couldn't think how or why.
"Bloooooood ... in the Quarter," announced a deep voice dramatically. "Your coffin away from home."
Geez. "Good morning. This is Sookie Stackhouse calling from Bon Temps," I said politely. "I need to leave a message for Bill Compton. He's a guest there."
"Fang or human?" "Ah ... fang." "Just one minute, please."
The deep voice came back on the line after a moment "What is the message, madam?" That gave me pause.
"Please tell Mr. Compton that... my brother has been ar­rested, and I would appreciate it if he could come home as soon as his business is completed."
"I have that down." The sound of scribbling. "And your name again?"
"Stackhouse. Sookie Stackhouse." "All right, miss. I'll see to it that he gets your message." "Thanks."
And that was the only action I could think of to take, until I realized it would be much more practical to call Sid Matt Lancaster. He did his best to sound appalled to hear Jason was going to be arrested, said he'd hurry over to the hospital as soon as he got out of court that afternoon, and that he'd report back to me.
I drove back to the hospital to see if they'd let me sit with Jason until he became conscious. They wouldn't. I wondered if he was already conscious, and they weren't telling me. I saw Andy Bellefleur at the other end of the hall, and he turned and walked the other way. Damn coward.
I went home because I couldn't think of anything to do. I realized it wasn't a workday for me anyway, and that was a good thing, though I didn't really care too much at that point. It occurred to me that I wasn't handling this as well as I ought, that I had been much steadier when Gran had died.
But that had been a finite situation. We would bury Gran, her killer would be arrested, we would go on. If the police seriously believed that Jason had killed Gran in addition to the other women, then the world was such a bad and chancy place that I wanted no part of it.
But I realized, as I sat and looked in front of me that long, long afternoon, that it was naivete like that that had led to Jason's arrest. If I'd just gotten him into Sam's trailer and cleaned him up, hidden the film until I found out what it contained, above all not called the ambulance ... that had been what Sam had been thinking when he'd looked at me so doubtfully. However, Arlene's arrival had kind of wiped out my options.
I thought the phone would start ringing as soon as people heard.
But no one called.
They didn't know what to say.
Sid Matt Lancaster came about four-thirty.
Without any preliminary, he told me, "They've arrested him. For first-degree murder."
I closed my eyes. When I opened them, Sid was regarding me with a shrewd expression on his mild face. His conser­vative black-framed glasses magnified his muddy brown eyes, and his jowls and sharp nose made him look a little like a bloodhound.
"What does he say?" I asked.
"He says that he was with Amy last night."
I sighed.
"He says they went to bed together, that he had been with Amy before. He says he hadn't seen Amy in a long time, that the last time they were together Amy was acting jealous about the other women he was seeing, really angry. So he was surprised when she approached him last night in Good Times. Jason says Amy acted funny all night, like she had an agenda he didn't know about. He remembers having sex with her, he remembers them lying in bed having a drink afterward, then he remembers nothing until he woke up in the hospital."
"He was set up," I said firmly, thinking I sounded exactly like a bad made-for-TV movie.
"Of course." Sid Mail's eyes were as steady and assured as if he'd been at Amy Burley's place last night. Hell, maybe he had.
"Listen, Sid Matt." I leaned forward and made him meet my eyes. "Even if I could somehow believe that Jason had killed Amy, and Dawn, and Maudette, I could never believe he would raise his finger to hurt my grandmother."
"All right, then." Sid Matt prepared to meet my thoughts, fair and square, his entire body proclaimed it. "Miss Sookie,
let's just assume for a minute that Jason did have some kind of involvement in those deaths. Perhaps, the police might think, your friend Bill Compton killed your grandmother since she was keeping you two apart."

I tried to give the appearance of considering this piece of idiocy. "Well, Sid Matt, my grandmother liked Bill, and she was pleased I was seeing him."
Until he put his game face back on, I saw stark disbelief in the lawyer's eyes. He wouldn't be at all happy if bis daughter was seeing a vampire. He couldn't imagine a re­sponsible parent being anything but appalled. And he couldn't imagine trying to convince a jury that my grand­mother had been pleased I was dating a guy who wasn't even alive, and furthermore was over a hundred years older than me.
Those were Sid Mart's thoughts. "Have you met Bill?" I asked.
He was taken aback. "No," he admitted. "You know, Miss Sookie, I'm not for this vampire stuff. I think it's taking a chink out of a wall we should keep built up, a wall between us and the so-called virus-infected. I think God intended that wall to be there, and I for one will hold up my section."
"The problem with that, Sid Matt, is that I personally was created straddling that wall." After a lifetime of keeping my mouth shut about my "gift," I found that if it would help Jason, I'd shake it in anybody's face.
"Well," Sid Matt said bravely, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his sharp nose, "I am sure the Good Lord gave you this problem I've heard about for a reason. You have to learn how to use it for his glory."
No one had ever quite put it that way. That was an idea to chew over when I had time.
"I've made us stray from the subject, I'm afraid, and I know your time is valuable." I gathered my thoughts. "I want Jason out on bail. There is nothing but circumstantial evi­dence tying him to Amy's murder, am I right?"
"He's admitted to being with the victim right before the murder, and the videotape, one of the cops hinted to me pretty strongly, shows your brother having sex with the victim. The time and date on the film indicate it was made in the hours before her death, if not minutes."
Damn Jason's peculiar bedroom preferences. "Jason doesn't drink much at all. He smelled of liquor in the truck. I think it was just spilled over him. I think a test will prove that. Maybe Amy gave him some narcotic in (he drink she fixed him."
"Why would she do that?"
"Because, like so many women, she was mad at Jason because she wanted him so much. My brother is able to date almost anyone he wants. No, I'm using that euphemism."
Sid Matt looked surprised I knew the word.
"He could go to bed with almost anyone he wanted. A dream life, most guys would think." Weariness descended on me like fog. "Now there he sits in the jail."
"You think another man did this to him? Framed him for this murder?"
"Yes, I do." I leaned forward, trying to persuade this skep­tical lawyer by the force of my own belief. "Someone en­vious of him. Someone who knows his schedule, who kills these women when Jason's off work. Someone who knows Jason had had sex with these gals. Someone who knows he likes to make tapes."
"Could be almost anyone," Jason's lawyer said practically.
"Yep," I said sadly. "Even if Jason was nice enough to keep quiet about exactly who he'd been with, all anyone'd have to do is see who he left a bar with at closing time. Just being observant, maybe having asked about the tapes on a visit to his house ..." My brother might be somewhat im­moral, but I didn't think he'd show those videos to anyone else. He might tell another man that he liked to make the videos, though. "So this man, whoever he is, made some kind of deal with Amy, knowing she was mad at Jason. Maybe he told her he was going to play a practical joke on Jason or something."
"Your brother's never been arrested before," Sid Matt ob­served.
"No." Though it had been a near thing, a couple of times, to hear Jason tell it. "No record, upstanding member of the community, steady job. There may be a chance I can get him out on bail. But if he runs, you'll lose everything."
It truly had never occurred to me that Jason might skip bail. I didn't know anything about arranging for bail, and I didn't know what I'd have to do, but I wanted Jason out of that jail. Somehow, staying in jail until the legal processes had been gone through before the trial... somehow, that would make him look guiltier.
"You find out about it and let me know what I have to do," I said. "In the meantime, can I go see him?" "He'd rather you didn't," Sid Matt said. That hurt dreadfully. "Why?" I asked, trying really hard not to tear up again.
"He's ashamed," said the lawyer. The thought of Jason feeling shame was fascinating. "So," I said, trying to move along, suddenly tired of this unsatisfactory meeting. "You'll call me when I can actually do something?"
Sid Matt nodded, his jowls trembling slightly with the movement. I made him uneasy. He sure was glad to be leav­ing me.
The lawyer drove off in his pickup, clapping a cowboy hat on his head when he was still in sight.
When it was full dark, I went out to check on Bubba. He was sitting under a pin oak, bottles of blood lined up beside him, empties on one side, fulls on the other.
I had a flashlight, and though I knew Bubba was there, it was still a shock to see him in the beam of light. I shook my head. Something really had gone wrong when Bubba "came over," no doubt about it. I was sincerely glad I couldn't read Bubba's thoughts. His eyes were crazy as hell.
"Hey, sugar," he said, his Southern accent as thick as syrup. "How you doing? You come to keep me company?"
"I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable," I said.
"Well, I could think of places I'd be more comfortable,
but since you're Bill's girl, I ain't about to talk about them."
"Good," I said firmly.
"Any cats around here? I'm getting mighty tired of this bottled stuff."
"No cats. I'm sure Bill will be back soon, and then you can go home." I started back toward the house, not feeling comfortable enough in Bubba's presence to prolong the con­versation, if you could call it that. I wondered what thoughts Bubba had during his long watchful nights; I wondered if he remembered his past.
"What about that dog?" he called after me.
"He went home," I called back over my shoulder.
'Too bad," Bubba said to himself, so softly I almost didn't hear him.
I got ready for bed. I watched television. I ate some ice cream, and I even chopped up a Heath Bar for a topping. None of my usual comfort things seemed to work tonight. My brother was in jail, my boyfriend was in New Orleans, my grandmother was dead, and someone had murdered my cat. I felt lonely and sorry for myself all the way around.
Sometimes you just have to roll in it.

Bill didn't return my call.
That added fuel to the flame of my misery. He'd probably found some accommodating whore in New Orleans, or some fang-banger, like the ones who hung around Blood in the Quarter every night, hoping for a vampire "date."
If I were a drinking woman, I would have gotten drunk. If I'd been a casual woman, I would have called lovely JB du Rone and had sex with him. But I'm not anything so dramatic or drastic, so I just ate ice cream and watched old movies on TV. By an eerie coincidence, Blue Hawaii was on.
I finally went to bed about midnight
A shriek outside my bedroom window woke me up. I sat up straight in bed. I heard thumps, and thuds, and finally a voice I was sure was Bubba's shouting, "Come back here, sucker!"
When I hadn't heard anything in a couple of minutes, I pulled on a bathrobe and went to the front door. The yard, lit by the security light, was empty. Then I glimpsed move­ment to the left, and when I stuck my head out the door, I saw Bubba, trudging back to his hideout.
"What happened?" I called softly.
Bubba changed direction and slouched over to the porch.
"Sure enough, some sumbitch, scuse me, was sneaking
around the house," Bubba said. His brown eyes were glow­ing, and he looked more like his former self. "I heard him minutes before he got here, and I thought I'd catch ahold of him. But he cut through the woods to the road, and he had a truck parked there."
"Did you get a look?"
"Not enough of one to describe him," Bubba said shame­facedly. "He was driving a pickup, but I couldn't even tell what color it was. Dark."
"You saved me, though," I said, hoping my very real grat­itude showed in my voice. I felt a swell of love for Bill, who had arranged my protection. Even Bubba looked better than he had before. "Thanks, Bubba."
"Aw, think nothing of it," he said graciously, and for that moment he stood up straight, kind of tossed his head back, had that sleepy smile on his face... it was him, and I'd opened my mouth to say his name, when Bill's warning came back to shut my mouth.
JASON made bail the next day.
It cost a fortune. I signed what Sid Matt told me to, though mostly the collateral was Jason's house and truck and his fishing boat. If Jason had ever been arrested before, even for jaywalking, I don't think he would have been permitted to post bond.
I was standing on the courthouse steps wearing my hor­rible, sober, navy blue suit in the heat of the late morning. Sweat trickled down my face and ran between my lips in that nasty way that makes you want to go jump in the shower. Jason stopped in front of me. I hadn't been sure he would speak. His face was years older. Real trouble had come to sit on his shoulder, real trouble that would not go away or ease up, like grief did.
"I can't talk to you about this," he said, so softly I could barely hear him. "You know it wasn't me. I've never been violent beyond a fight or two in a parking lot over some woman."
I touched his shoulder, let my hand drop when he didn't respond. "I never thought it was you. I never will. I'm sorry I was fool enough to call 911 yesterday. If I'd realized that wasn't your blood, I'd have taken you into Sam's trailer and cleaned you up and burned the tape. I was just so scared that was your blood." And I felt my eyes fill. This was no time to cry, though, and I tightened up all over, feeling my face tense. Jason's mind was a mess, like a mental pigsty. In it bubbled an unhealthy brew compounded of regrets, shame at his sexual habits being made public, guilt that he didn't feel worse about Amy being killed, horror that anyone in the town would think he'd killed his own grandmother while lying in wait for his sister.
"We'll get through this," I said helplessly.
"We'll get through this," he repeated, trying to make his voice sound strong and assured. But I thought it would be awhile, a long while, before Jason's assurance, that golden certainty that had made him irresistible, returned to his pos­ture and his face and his speech.
Maybe it never would.
We parted there, at the courthouse. We had nothing more to say.
I sat in the bar all day, looking at the men who came in, reading their minds. Not one of them was thinking of how he'd killed four women and gotten away with it so far. At lunchtime Hoyt and Rene walked in the door and walked back out when they saw me sitting. Too embarrassing for them, I guess.
Finally, Sam made me leave. He said I was so creepy that I was driving away any customers who might give me useful information.
I trudged out the door and into the glaring sun. It was about to set. I thought about Bubba, about Bill, about all those creatures that were coming out of their deep sleep to walk the surface of the earth.
I stopped at the Grabbit Kwik to buy some milk for my morning cereal. The new clerk was a kid with pimples and a huge Adam's apple, who stared at me eagerly as if he was trying to make a print in his head of how I looked, the sister of a murderer. I could tell he could hardly wait for me to leave the store so he could use the phone to call his girlfriend. He was wishing he could see the puncture marks on my neck.
He was wondering if there was any way he could find out how vampires did it.
This was the kind of trash I had to listen to, day in, day out. No matter how hard I concentrated on something else, no matter how high I kept my guard, how broad I kept my smile, it seeped through.
I reached home just when it was getting dark. After putting away the milk and taking off my suit, I put on a pair of shorts and a black Garth Brooks T-shirt and tried to think of some goal for the evening. I couldn't settle down enough to read; and I needed to go to the library and change my books anyway, which would be a real ordeal under the circum­stances. Nothing on TV was good, at least tonight. I thought I might watch Braveheart again: Mel Gibson in a kilt is al­ways a mood raiser. But it was just too bloody for my frame of mind. I couldn't bear for that gal get her throat cut again, even though I knew when to cover my eyes.
I'd gone into the bathroom to wash off my sweaty makeup when, over the sound of the running water, I thought I heard a yowl outside.
I turned the faucets off. I stood still, almost feeling my antenna twitch, I was listening so intently. What... ? Water from my wet face trickled onto my T-shirt. No sound. No sound at all.
I crept toward the front door because it was closest to Bubba's watch point in the woods.
I opened the door a little. I yelled, "Bubba?" No answer. I tried again.
It seemed to me even the locusts and toads were holding their breaths. The night was so silent it might hold anything. Something was prowling out there, in the darkness.
I tried to think, but my heart was hammering so hard it interfered with the process. Call the police, first.
I found that was not an option. The phone was dead. So I could either wait in this house for trouble to come to me, or I could go out into the woods.
That was a tough one. I bit into my lower lip while I went around the house turning out the lamps, trying to map out a course of action. The house provided some protection: locks, walls, nooks, and crannies. But I knew any really determined person could get in, and then I would be trapped.
Okay. How could I get outside without being seen? I turned off the outside lights, for a start. The back door was closer to the woods, so that was the better choice. I knew the woods pretty well. I should be able to hide in them until daylight. I could go over to Bill's house, maybe; surely his phone was working, and I had a key.
Or I could try to get to my car and start it. But that pinned me down to a particular place for particular seconds. No, the woods seemed the better choice to me. In one of my pockets I tucked Bill's key and a pocketknife of my grandfather's that Gran had kept in the living-room table drawer, handy for opening packages. I tucked a tiny flashlight in the other pocket. Gran kept an old rifle in the coat closet by the front door. It had been my dad's when he was little, and she mostly had used it for shooting snakes; well, I had me a snake to shoot. I hated the damn rifle, hated the thought of using it, but now seemed to be the time. It wasn't there.
I could hardly believe my senses. I felt all through the closet.
He'd been in my house! But it hadn't been broken into.
Someone I'd invited in. Who'd been here? I tried to list them all as I went to the back door, my sneakers relied so they wouldn't have any spare shoelaces to step on. I skinned my hair into a ponytail sloppily, almost one handed, so it wouldn't get in my face, and twisted a rubber band around it. But all the time I thought about the stolen rifle.
Who'd been in my house? Bill, Jason, Arlene, Rene, the kids, Andy Bellefleur, Sam, Sid Matt; I was sure I'd left them all alone for a minute or two, perhaps long enough to stick the rifle outside to retrieve later.
Then I remembered the day of the funeral. Almost every­one I knew had been in and out of the house when Gran had died, and I couldn't remember if I'd seen the rifle since then. But it would have been hard to have casually strolled out of the crowded, busy house with a rifle. And if it had vanished
then, I thought I would have noticed its absence by now. In fact, I was almost sure I would have.
I had to shove that aside now and concentrate on outwit­ting whatever was out there in the dark.
I opened the back door. I duckwalked out, keeping as low as I could, and gently eased the door nearly shut behind me. Rather than use the steps, I straightened one leg and tapped the ground while squatting on the porch; I shifted my weight to it, pulled the other leg behind me. I crouched again. This was a lot like playing hide and seek with Jason in the woods when we were kids.
I prayed I was not playing hide and seek with Jason again. I used the tub full of flowers that Gran had planted as cover first, then I crept to her car, my second goal. I looked up in the sky. The moon was new, and since the night was clear the stars were out. The air was heavy with humidity, and it was still hot. My arms were slick with sweat in minutes.
Next step, from the car to the mimosa tree. I wasn't as quiet this time. I tripped over a stump and hit the ground hard. I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from crying out. Pain shot through my leg and hip, and I knew the edges of the ragged stump had scraped my thigh pretty severely. Why hadn't I come out and sawed that stump off clean? Gran had asked Jason to do it, but he'd never found the time.
I heard, sensed, movement. Throwing caution to the winds, I leaped up and dashed for the trees. Someone crashed through the edge of the woods to my right and headed for me. But I knew where I was going, and in a vault that amazed me, I'd seized the low branch of our favorite childhood climbing tree and pulled myself up. If I lived until the next day, I'd have severely strained muscles, but it would be worth it. I balanced on the branch, trying to keep my breathing quiet, when I wanted to pant and groan like a dog dreaming.
I wished this were a dream. Yet here I undeniably was, Sookie Stackhouse, waitress and mind reader, sitting on a branch in the woods in the dead of night, armed with nothing more than a pocket knife.
Movement below me; a man glided through the woods. He had a length of cord hanging from one wrist. Oh, Jesus. Though the moon was almost full, his head stayed stubbornly in the shadow of the tree, and I couldn't tell who it was. He passed underneath without seeing me.

When he was out of sight, I breathed again. As quietly as I could, I scrambled down. I began working my way through the woods to the road. It would take awhile, but if I could get to the road maybe I could flag someone down. Then I thought of how seldom the road got traveled; it might be better to work my way across the cemetery to Bill's house. I thought of the cemetery at night, of the murderer looking for me, and I shivered all over.
Being even more scared was pointless. I had to concentrate on the here and now. I watched every foot placement, mov­ing slowly. A fall would be noisy in this undergrowth, and he'd be on me in a minute.
I found the dead cat about ten yards south east of my perching tree. The cat's throat was a gaping wound. I couldn't even tell what color its fur had been in the bleaching effect of the moonlight, but the dark splotches around the little corpse were surely blood. After five more feet of stealthy movement, I found Bubba. He was unconscious or dead. With a vampire it was hard to tell the difference. But with no stake through his heart, and his head still on, I could hope he was only unconscious.
Someone had brought Bubba a drugged cat, I figured. Someone who had known Bubba was guarding me and had heard of Bubba's penchant for draining cats.
I heard a crackle behind me. The snap of a twig. I glided into the shadow of the nearest large tree. I was mad, mad and scared, and I wondered if I would die this night.
I might not have the rifle, but I had a built-in tool. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind. Dark tangle, red, black. Hate.
I flinched. But this was necessary, this was my only pro­tection. I let down every shred of defense.
Into my head poured images that made me sick, made me terrified. Dawn, asking someone to punch her, then finding out that he'd got one of her hose in his hand, was stretching it between his fingers, preparing to tighten it around her neck. A flash of Maudette, naked and begging. A woman I'd never seen, her bare back to me, bruises and welts covering it. Then my grandmother—my grandmother—in our familiar kitchen, angry and fighting for her life.
I was paralyzed by the shock of it, the horror of it. Whose thoughts were these? I had an image of Arlene's kids, playing on my living room floor; I saw myself, and I didn't look like the person I saw in my own mirror. I had huge holes in my neck, and I was lewd; I had a knowing leer on my face, and I patted the inside of my thigh suggestively.
I was in the mind of Rene Lenier. This was how Rene saw me. Rene was mad.
Now I knew why I'd never been able to read his thoughts explicitly; he kept them in a secret hole, a place in his mind he kept hidden and separate from his conscious self.
He was seeing an outline behind a tree now and wondering if it looked like the outline of a woman. He was seeing me.
I bolted and ran west toward the cemetery. I couldn't listen to his head anymore, because my own head was focused so fixedly on running, dodging the obstacles of trees, bushes, fallen limbs, a little gully where rain had collected. My strong legs pumped, my arms swung, and my breath sounded like the wheezing of a bagpipe.
I broke from the woods and was in the cemetery. The oldest portion of the graveyard was farther north toward Bill's house, and it had the best places of concealment. I bounded over headstones, the modern kind, set almost flush with the ground, no good for hiding. I leaped over Gran's grave, the earth still raw, no stone yet. Her killer followed me. I turned to look, to see how close he was, like a fool, and in the moonlight I saw Rene's rough head of hair clearly as he gained on me.
I ran down into the gentle bowl the cemetery formed, then began sprinting up the other side. When I thought there were enough large headstones and statues between me and Rene, I dodged behind a tall granite column topped with a cross. I remained standing, flattening myself against the cold hardness of the stone. I clamped a hand across my own mouth to silence my sobbing effort to get air in my lungs. I made myself calm enough to try to listen to Rene; but his thoughts were not even coherent enough to decipher, except the rage he felt. Then a clear concept presented itself. "Your sister," I yelled. "Is Cindy still alive, Rene?" "Bitch!" he screamed, and I knew in that second that the first woman to die had been Rene's sister, the one who liked vampires, the one he was supposedly still visiting from time to time, according to Arlene. Rene had killed Cindy, his wait­ress sister, while she was still wearing her pink-and-white hospital cafeteria uniform. He'd strangled her with her apron strings. And he'd had sex with her, after she was dead. She'd sunk so low, she wouldn't mind her own brother, he'd thought, as much as he was capable of thinking. Anyone who'd let a vampire do that deserved to die. And he'd hidden her body from shame. The others weren't his flesh and blood; it had been all right to let them lie.
I'd gotten sucked down into Rene's sick interior like a twig dragged down by a whirlpool, and it made me stagger. When I came back into my own head, he was on me. He hit me in the face as hard as he could, and he expected me to go down. The blow broke my nose and hurt so bad I almost blanked out, but I didn't collapse. I hit him back. My lack of experience made my blow ineffectual. I just thumped him in the ribs, and he grunted, but in the next instant he retali­ated.
His fist broke my collarbone. But I didn't fall.
He hadn't known how strong I was. In the moonlight, his face was shocked when I fought back, and I thanked the vampire blood I'd taken. I thought of my brave grandmother, and I launched myself at him, grabbing him by the ears and attempting to hit his head against the granite column. His hands shot up to grip my forearms, and he tried to pull me away so I'd loose my grip. Finally he succeeded, but I could tell from his eyes he was surprised and more on guard. I tried to knee him, but he anticipated me, twisting just far enough away to dodge me. While I was off-balance, he pushed, and I hit the ground with a teeth-chattering thud.
Then he was straddling me. But he'd dropped the cord in our struggle, and while he held my neck with one hand, he was groping with the other for his method of choice. My right arm was pinned, but my left was free, and I struck and clawed at him. He had to ignore this, had to look for the strangling cord because that was part of his ritual. My scrab­bling hand encountered a familiar shape.
Rene, in his work clothes, was still wearing his knife on his belt. I yanked the snap open and pulled the knife from its sheath, and while he was still thinking, "I should have taken that off," I sank the knife into the soft flesh of his waist, angling up. And I pulled it out.
He screamed, then.
He staggered to his feet, twisting his upper torso sideways, trying with both hands to stanch the blood that was pouring from the wound.
I scuttered backward, getting up, trying to put distance between myself and man who was a monster just as surely as Bill was.
Rene screamed. "Aw, Jesus, woman! What you done to me? Oh, God, it hurts!"
That was rich.
He was scared now, frightened of discovery, of an end to his games, of an end to his vengeance.
"Girls like you deserve to die," he snarled. "I can feel you in my head, you freak!"
"Who's the freak around here?" I hissed. "Die, you bas­tard."
I didn't know I had it in me. I stood by the headstone in a crouch, the bloody knife still clutched in my hand, waiting for him to charge me again.
He staggered in circles, and I watched, my face stony. I closed my mind to him, to his feeling his death crawl up behind him. I stood ready to knife him a second time when he fell to the ground. When I was sure he couldn't move, I went to Bill's house, but I didn't run. I told myself it was because I couldn't: but I'm not sure. I kept seeing my grand­mother, encapsuled in Rene's memory forever, fighting for her life in her own house.
I fished Bill's key out of my pocket, almost amazed it was still there.
I turned it somehow, staggered into the big living room, felt for the phone. My fingers touched the buttons, managed to figure out which was the nine and where the one was. I pushed the numbers hard enough to make them beep, and then, without warning, I checked out of consciousness.
1 KNEW I was in the hospital: I was surrounded by the clean smell of hospital sheets.
The next thing I knew was that I hurt all over.
And someone was in the room with me. I opened my eyes, not without effort.
Andy Bellefleur. His square face was even more fatigued than the last time I'd seen him.
"Can you hear me?" he said.
I nodded, just a tiny movement, but even that sent a wave of pain through my head.
"We got him," he said, and then he proceeded to tell me a lot more, but I fell back asleep.
It was daylight when I woke again, and this time, I seemed to be much more alert.
Someone in the room.
"Who's here?" I said, and my voice came out in a painful rasp.
Kevin rose from the chair in the corner, rolling a cross­word puzzle magazine and sticking it into his uniform pocket.
"Where's Kenya?" I whispered.
He grinned at me unexpectedly. "She was here for a cou­ple of hours," he explained. "She'll be back soon. I spelled her for lunch."
His thin face and body formed one lean line of approval. "You are one tough lady," he told me.
"I don't feel tough," I managed.
"You got hurt," he told me as if I didn't know that.
"Rene."

"We found him out in the cemetery," Kevin assured me. "You stuck him pretty good. But he was still conscious, and he told us he'd been trying to kill you."
"Good."
"He was real sorry he hadn't finished the job. I can't be­lieve he spilled the beans like that, but he was some kind of hurting and he was some kind of scared, by the time we got to him. He told us the whole thing was your fault because you wouldn't just lie down to die like the others. He said it must run in your genes, because your grandmother ..." Here Kevin stopped short, aware that he was on upsetting ground.
"She fought, too," I whispered.
Kenya came in then, massive, impassive, and holding a steaming Styrofoam cup of coffee.
"She's awake," Kevin said, beaming at his partner.
"Good." Kenya sounded less overjoyed about it. "She say what happened? Maybe we should call Andy."
"Yeah, that's what he said to do. But he's just been asleep four hours."
"The man said call."
Kevin shrugged, went to the phone at the side of the bed. I eased off into a doze as I heard him speaking, but I could hear him murmur with Kenya as they waited. He was talking about his hunting dogs. Kenya, I guess, was listening.
Andy came in, I could feel his thoughts, the pattern of his brain. His solid presence came to roost by my bed. I opened my eyes as he was bending to look at me. We exchanged a long stare.
Two pair of feet in regulation shoes moved out into the hall.
"He's still alive," Andy said abruptly. "And he won't stop talking."
I made the briefest motion of my head, indicating a nod, I hoped.
"He says this goes back to his sister, who was seeing a vampire. She evidently got so low on blood that Rene thought she'd turn into a vamp herself if he didn't stop her. He gave her an ultimatum, one evening in her apartment. She talked back, said she wouldn't give up her lover. She was tying her apron around her, getting ready to go to work as they were arguing. He yanked it off her, strangled her... did other stuff."
Andy looked a little sick.
"I know," I whispered.
"It seems to me," Andy began again, "that somehow he decided he'd feel justified in doing that horrible thing if he convinced himself that everyone in his sister's situation de­served to die. In fact, the murders here are very similar to two in Shreveport that haven't been solved up until now, and we're expecting Rene to touch on those while he's rambling along. If he makes it."
I could feel my lips pressing together in horrified sympathy for those other poor women.
"Can you tell me what happened to you?" Andy asked quietly. "Go slow, take your time, and keep your voice down to a whisper. Your throat is badly bruised."
I had figured that out for myself, thanks very much. I murmured my account of the evening, and I didn't leave anything out. Andy had switched on a little tape recorder after asking me if that was all right. He placed it on the pillow close to my mouth when I indicated the device was okay with me, so he'd have the whole story.
"Mr. Compton still out of town?" he asked me, after I'd finished.
"New Orleans," I whispered, barely able to speak.
"We'll look in Rene's house for the rifle, now that we know it's yours. It'll be a nice piece of corroborative evi­dence."
Then a gleaming young woman in white came into the room, looked at my face, and told Andy he'd have to come back some other time.
He nodded at me, gave me an awkward pat on the hand, and left. He gave the doctor a backward glance of admiration. She was sure worth admiring, but she was also wearing a wedding ring, so Andy was once again too late.
She thought he seemed too serious and grim.
I didn't want to hear this.
But I didn't have enough energy to keep everyone out of my head.
"Miss Stackhouse, how are you feeling?" the young woman asked a little too loudly. She was brunette and lean, with wide brown eyes and a full mouth.
"Like hell," I whispered.
"I can imagine," she said, nodding repeatedly while looking me over. I somehow didn't think she could. I was willing to bet she'd never been beaten up by a multiple murderer in a graveyard.
"You just lost your grandmother, too, didn't you?" she asked sympathetically. I nodded, just a fraction of an inch.
"My husband died about six months ago," she said. "I know about grief. It's tough being brave, isn't it?"
Well, well, well. I let my expression ask a question.
"He had cancer," she explained. I tried to look my con­dolences without moving anything, which was nearly impos­sible.
"Well," she said, standing upright, returning to her brisk manner, "Miss Stackhouse, you're sure gonna live. You have a broken collarbone, and two broken ribs, and a broken nose."
Shepherd of Judea! No wonder I felt bad.
"Your face and neck are severely bruised. Of course, you could tell your throat was hurt."

I was trying to imagine what I looked like. Good thing I didn't have a mirror handy.
"And you have lots of relatively minor bruises and cuts on your legs and arms." She smiled. "Your stomach is fine, and your feet!"
Hohoho. Very funny.
"I have prescribed pain medication for you, so when you start feeling bad, just ring for the nurse."
A visitor stuck his head in the door behind her. She turned, blocking my view, and said, "Hello?"
"This Sookie's room?"
"Yes, I was just finishing her examination. You can come in." The doctor (whose name was Sonntag, by her nameplate) looked questioningly at me to get my permission, and I man­aged a tiny "Sure."
JB du Rone drifted to my bedside, looking as lovely as the cover model on a romance novel. His tawny hair gleamed under the fluorescent lights, his eyes were just the same color, and his sleeveless shirt showed muscle definition that might have been chiseled with a—well, with a chisel. He was look­ing down at me, and Dr. Sonntag was drinking him in.
"Hey, Sookie, you feelin' all right?" he asked. He lay a finger gently on my cheek. He kissed an unbruised spot on my forehead.
"Thanks," I whispered. "I'll be okay. Meet my doctor." JB turned his wide eyes on Dr. Sonntag, who practically
tripped over her own feet to introduce herself. "Doctors weren't this pretty when I was getting my shots,"
JB said sincerely and simply. "You haven't been to a doctor since you were a kid?" Dr. Sonntag said, amazed.
"I never get sick." He beamed at her. "Strong as an ox." And the brain of one. But Dr. Sonntag probably had smarts enough for two.
She couldn't think of any reason for lingering, though she cast a wistful glance over her shoulder as she left.
JB bent down to me and said earnestly, "Can I bring you anything, Sookie? Nabs or something?"
The thought of trying to eat crackers made tears come to my eyes. "No thanks," I breathed. "The doctor's a widow."
You could change subjects on JB without him wondering why.
"Wow," he said, impressed. "She's smart and single." I wiggled my eyebrows in a significant way. "You think I oughtta ask her out?" JB looked as thoughtful as it was possible for him to be, 'That might be a good idea," He smiled down at me. "Long as you won't date me, Sookie. You're always number one to me. You just crook your little finger, and I'll come running."
What a sweet guy. I didn't believe in his devotion for a minute, but I did believe he knew how to make a woman feel good, even if she was as sure as I was that I looked breathtakingly bad. I felt pretty bad, too. Where were those pain pills? I tried to smile at JB.
"You're hurting," he said. "I'll send the nurse down here." Oh, good. The reach to the little button had seemed longer and longer as I tried to get my arm to move.
He kissed me again as he left and said, "I'll go track that doctor of yours down, Sookie. I better ask her some more questions about your recovery." After the nurse injected some stuff into my IV drip, I was just looking forward to feeling no pain when the door opened again.
My brother came in. He stood by my bed for a long time, staring at my face. He said finally, heavily, "I talked to the doctor for a minute before she left for the cafeteria with JB. She told me what-all was wrong with you." He walked away from me, took a turn around the room, came back. More staring. "You look like hell."
"Thanks," I whispered.
"Oh, yeah, your throat. I forgot."
He started to pat me, thought the better of it.
"Listen, Sis, I gotta say thank you, but it's got me down that you stood in for me when it came time to fight."
If I could have, I'd have kicked him.
Stood in for him, hell.
"I owe you big, Sis. I was so dumb, thinking Rene was a good friend."
Betrayed. He felt betrayed.
Then Arlene came in, to make things just peachy keen.
She was a mess. Her hair was in a red tangle, she had no makeup, and her clothes were chosen at random. I'd never seen Arlene without her hair curled and her makeup loud and bright.
She looked down at me—boy, would I be glad when I could stand up again—and for a second her face was hard as granite, but when she really took in my face, she began to crumble.
"I was so mad at you, I didn't believe it, but now that I'm seeing you and what he did... oh, Sookie, can you ever forgive me?"
Geez, I wanted her out of here. I tried to telegraph this to Jason, and for once I got through, because he put an arm around her shoulders and led her out. Arlene was sobbing before she reached the door. "I didn't know..." she said, barely coherent. "I just didn't know!"
"Hell, neither did I," Jason said heavily.
I took a nap after trying to ingest some delicious green gelatin.
My big excitement of the afternoon was walking to the bathroom, more or less by myself. I sat in the chair for ten minutes, after which I was more than ready to get back in bed. I looked in the mirror concealed in the rolling table and was very sorry I had.
I was running a little temperature, just enough to make me shivery and tender-skinned. My face was blue and gray and my nose was swollen double. My right eye was puffy and almost closed. I shuddered, and even that hurt. My legs... oh, hell, I didn't even want to check. I lay back very carefully and wanted this day to be over. Probably four days from now I'd feel just great. Work! When could I go back to work?
A little knock at the door distracted me. Another damn visitor. Well, this was someone I didn't know. An older lady with blue hair and red-framed glasses wheeled in a cart. She was wearing the yellow smock the hospital volunteers called Sunshine Ladies had to don when they were working.
The cart was covered with flowers for the patients in this wing.
"I'm delivering you a load of best wishes!" the lady said cheerfully.
I smiled, but the effect must have been ghastly because her own cheer wavered a little,
"These are for you," she said, lifting a potted plant deco­rated with a red ribbon. "Here's the card, honey. Let's see, these are for you, too..." This was an arrangement of cut flowers, featuring pink rosebuds and pink carnations and white baby's breath. She plucked the card from that bowl, too. Surveying the cart, she said, "Now, aren't you the lucky one! Here are some more for you!!"
The focus of the third floral tribute was a bizarre red flower I'd never seen before, surrounded by a host of other, more familiar blooms. I looked at this one doubtfully. The Sun­shine Lady dutifully presented me with the card from the plastic prongs.
After she'd smiled her way out of the room, I opened the little envelopes. It was easier to move when I was in a better mood, I noticed wryly.
The potted plant was from Sam and "all your coworkers at Merlotte's" read the card, but it was written in Sam's hand­writing. I touched the glossy leaves and wondered where I'd put it when I took it home. The cut flowers were from Sid Matt Lancaster and Elva Deene Lancaster—pooey. The ar­rangement centered with the peculiar red blossom (I decided that somehow the flower looked almost obscene, like a lady's private part) was definitely the most interesting of the three. I opened the card with some curiosity. It bore only a signa­ture, "Eric."
That was all I needed. How the hell had he heard I was in the hospital? Why hadn't I heard from Bill?
After some delicious red gelatin for supper, I focused on the television for a couple of hours, since I hadn't anything to read, even if my eyes had been up to it. My bruises grew more charming every hour, and I felt weary to my bones, despite the fact that I'd only walked once to the bathroom and twice around my room. I switched off the television and turned onto my side. I fell asleep, and in my dreams the pain from my body seeped in and made me have nightmares. I ran in my dreams, ran through the cemetery, afraid for my life, falling over stones, into open graves, encountering all the people I knew who lay there: my father and mother, my grandmother, Maudette Pickens, Dawn Green, even a child­hood friend who'd been killed in a hunting accident. I was looking for a particular headstone; if I found it, I was home free. They would all go back into their graves and leave me alone. I ran from this one to that one, putting my hand on each one, hoping it would be the right stone. I whimpered.
"Sweetheart, you're safe," came a familiar cool voice.
"Bill," I muttered. I turned to face a stone I hadn't yet touched. When I lay my fingers on it, they traced the letters "William Erasmus Compton." As if I'd been dashed with cold water, my eyes flew open, I drew in a breath to scream, and my throat gave a great throb of pain. I choked on the extra air, and the pain of the coughing, which pretty much hurt every single thing I'd broken, completed my awakening. A hand slipped under my cheek, the cool fingers feeling won­derfully good against my hot skin. I tried not to whimper, but a little noise made its way through my teeth.
"Turn to the light, darling," Bill said, his voice very light and casual.
I've been sleeping with my back to the light the nurse had left on, the one in the bathroom. Now I rolled obediently to my back and looked up at my vampire. Bill hissed.
"I'll kill him," he said, with a simple certainty that chilled me to the bone.

There was enough tension in the room to send a fleet of the nervous running for their tranquilizers.
"Hi, Bill," I croaked. "Glad to see you, too. Where you been so long? Thanks for returning all my calls."
That brought him up short. He blinked. I could feel him making an effort to calm himself.
"Sookie," he said. "I didn't call because I wanted to tell you in person what has happened." I couldn't read the ex­pression on his face. If I'd had to take a shot, I would've said he looked proud of himself. He paused, scanned all visible portions of me. "This doesn't hurt," I croaked obligingly, extending my hand to him. He kissed that, lingered over it in a way that sent a faint tingle through my body. Believe me, a faint tingle was more than I'd thought I was capable of. "Tell me what has been done to you," he commanded. "Then lean down so I can whisper. This really hurts." He pulled a chair close to the bed, lowered the bed rail, and lay his chin on his folded arms. His face was maybe four inches from mine.
"Your nose is broken," he observed. I rolled my eyes. "Glad you spotted that," I whispered. "I'll tell the doctor when she comes in." His gaze narrowed. "Stop trying to deflect me." "Okay. Nose broken, two ribs, a collarbone." But Bill wanted to examine me all over, and he pulled the sheet down. My mortification was complete. Of course, I was wearing an awful hospital gown, in itself a downer, and I hadn't bathed properly, and my face was several different shades, and my hair hadn't been brushed.
"I want to take you home," he announced, after he'd run his hands all over and minutely examined each scrape and cut. The Vampire Physician.
I motioned with my hand to make him bend down. "No," I breathed. I pointed to the drip bag. He eyed it with some suspicion, but of course he had to know what one was.
"I can take it out," he said.
I shook my head vehemently.
"You don't want me to take care of you?"
I puffed out my breath in exasperation, which hurt like hell.
I made a writing motion with my hand, and Bill searched the drawers until he found a notepad. Oddly enough, he had a pen. I wrote, "They'll let me out of the hospital tomorrow if my fever doesn't go high."
"Who'll take you home?" he asked. He was standing by the bed again, and looking down at me with stern disap­proval, like a teacher whose best pupil happens to be chron­ically tardy.
"I'll get them to call Jason, or Charlsie Tooten," I wrote. If things had been different, I would have written Arlene's name automatically.
"I'll be there at dark," he said.
I looked up into his pale face, the clear whites of his eyes almost shining in the gloomy room.
"I'll heal you," he offered. "Let me give you some blood."
I remembered the way my hair had lightened, remembered that I was almost twice as strong as I'd ever been. I shook my head.
"Why not?" he said, as if he'd offered me a drink of water when I was thirsty and I'd said no. I thought maybe I'd hurt his feelings.
I took his hand and guided it to my mouth. I kissed the palm gently. I held the hand to my better cheek.
"People notice I am changing," I wrote, after a moment. "I notice I am changing."
He bowed his head for a moment, and then looked at me sadly.
"You know what happened?" I wrote.
"Bubba told me part of it," he said, and his face grew scary as he mentioned the half-witted vampire. "Sam told me the rest, and I went to the police department and read the police reports."
"Andy let you do that?" I scribbled.
"No one knew I was there," he said carelessly.
I tried to imagine that, and it gave me the creeps. I gave him a disapproving look.
"Tell me what happened in New Orleans," I wrote. I was beginning to feel sleepy again.
"You will have to know a little about us," he said hesi­tantly.
"Woo woo, secret vampire stuff!!" I croaked. It was his turn to give me disapproving. "We're a little organized," he told me. "I was trying to think of ways to keep us safe from Eric." Involuntarily, I looked at the red flower arrangement.
"I knew if I were an official, like Eric, it would be much more difficult for him to interfere with my private life." I looked encouraging, or at least I tried to. "So I attended the regional meeting, and though I have never been involved in our politics, I ran for an office. And, through some concentrated lobbying, I won!"
This was absolutely amazing. Bill was a union rep! I won­dered about the concentrated lobbying, too. Did that mean Bill had killed all the opposition? Or that he'd bought the voters a bottle of A positive apiece?
"What is your job?" I wrote slowly, imagining Bill sitting in a meet ing. I tried to look proud, which seemed to be what Bill was looking for.
"I'm the Fifth Area investigator," he said. "I'll tell you what that means when you're home. I don't want to wear you out."
I nodded, beaming at him. I sure hoped he didn't take it into his head to ask me who all the flowers were from. I wondered if I had to write Eric a thank-you note. I wondered why my mind was going off on all these tangents. Must be the pain medication.
I gestured to Bill to draw close. He did, his face resting on the bed next to mine. "Don't kill Rene," I whispered. He looked cold, colder, coldest.
"I may have already done the job. He's in intensive care. But even if he lives, there's been enough murder. Let the law do it. I don't want any more witchhunts coming after you. I want us to have peace." It was becoming very difficult to talk. I took his hand in both of mine, held it again to my least-bruised cheek. Suddenly, how much I had missed him became a solid lump lodged in my chest, and I held out my arms. He sat carefully on the edge of the bed, and leaning toward me, he carefully, carefully, slid his arms under me and pulled me up to him, a fraction of an inch at a time, to give me time to tell him if it hurt.
"I won't kill him," Bill said finally, into my ear.
"Sweetheart," I breathed, knowing his sharp hearing could pick it up. "I missed you." I heard his quick sigh, and his arms tightened a little, his hands began their gentle stroking down my back. "I wonder how quickly you can heal," he said, "without my help?"
"Oh, I'll try to hurry," I whispered. "I'll bet I surprise the doctor as it is."
A collie trotted down the corridor, looked in the open door, said, "Rowwf," and trotted away. Astonished, Bill turned to glance out into the corridor. Oh, yeah, it was the full moon, tonight—I could see it out of the window. I could see some­thing else, too. A white face appeared out of the blackness and floated between me and the moon. It was a handsome face, framed by long golden hair. Eric the Vampire grinned at me and gradually disappeared from my view. He was fly­ing.
"Soon we'll be back to normal," Bill said, laying me down gently so he could switch out the light in the bathroom. He glowed in the dark.
"Right," I whispered. "Yeah. Back to normal."

The End

Okay, the whole book is up now.

If you're reading, i'd be interesting to read what you think.

and if you find a mistake, maybe that I double posted something or a piece is missing. Don't hesitate to tell.

I'm gonna read the last chapter now

I'm reading the final chapter and just got to the part where they revealed the killer. Omgz =00

Just finished it.

What a great book, I absolutely loved the chase scene. if they manage to put it well on screen, it will absolutely blow my mind all over again.

Grade: A

Did you type this out or copy and paste from somewhere?

I didn't read on here, I hate reading books in non-book form. I bought the book the other day and I'm nearly through it. It's really, really good so far and right now I've probably made it to the point that will be episode 8 or 9.

I cannot wait to start the next books, tomorrow after work I'm going to buy two and three if I can find them.

BTW, you should change the thread title, the book is called "Dead Until Dark".

Holy shit! I just finished the book.

It was aweeesome.

I know

and yeah, I copied it.

Ima read the second book after Season 1 is ovah.

Just finished it.
It's awesome =D I'm gonna start reading the second after the first season, just like JD =)

You should post the next book

Hah, I liked the first book, that's a shock

Maybe one day =[

Post the second and the third before the new season please