Sookie 10 Dead in the Family (8 page)

Pam said, “The Weres believe it does. Maybe it’s paranoia. Maybe they’ve heard something through the members of Congress who are two-natured. Maybe they know something we don’t know. Alcide sent this Annabelle and Basim al Saud to tell me they might be in the same boat with us soon. They wanted to know about the area representative for the BVA, what kind of woman she is, how they could deal with her.”

“Who is the rep?” I asked. I felt ignorant and ill-informed. Obviously I should have known this, since I was intimately involved with a vampire.

“Katherine Boudreaux,” Pam said. “She likes women somewhat more than men, like I do.” Pam grinned a toothy grin. “She also loves dogs. She has a steady lover, Sallie, who shares her house. Katherine is not interested in having a side affair, and she is unbribable.”

“You’ve tried, I take it.”

“I tried to interest her sexually. Bobby Burnham tried the bribe.” Bobby was Eric’s daytime man. We disliked each other intensely.

I took a deep breath. “Well, I’m real glad to know all this, but my real problem came after the Weres used my land.”

Eric and Pam were looking at me sharply and with great attention, all of a sudden. “You let the Weres use your property for their monthly run?”

“Well, yeah. Hamilton Bond said there were people camping out on the Herveaux land, and now that I’ve heard what Alcide’s told you—and I’m wondering why he didn’t tell me all this—I can see why he didn’t want to have a run on his own land. I guess he thought the campers were government agents. What would the new agency be called?” I asked. It wouldn’t be BVA, would it? If the BVA was still only “representing” vampires.

Pam shrugged. “The legislation going through Congress proposes it be called the Bureau of Vampire and Supernatural Affairs.”

“Get back to your issues, my lover,” Eric said.

“Okeydokey. Well, when they were leaving, Basim came to the front door and told me he’d smelled at least one fairy and some other vampire traveling through my land. And my cousin Claude says he wasn’t the fairy.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Interesting,” Eric said.

“Very odd,” Pam said.

Eric ran his fingers over the manuscript on the coffee table as if it could tell him who’d been traipsing around my property. “I don’t know the credentials of this Basim, except that he was thrown out of the pack in Houston and Alcide took him in. I don’t know why he was expelled. I expect it was for some disruption. We’ll check on what Basim told you.” He turned to Pam. “That new girl, Heidi, says she’s a tracker.”

“You got a new vamp?” I asked.

“This is one sent us by Victor.” Eric’s mouth was set in a grim line. “Even from New Orleans, supposedly, Victor is running the state with a tight hand. He sent Sandy, who was supposed to be the liaison, back to Nevada. I suspect Victor thought he didn’t have enough control over her.”

“How can he get New Orleans up and running if he travels around the state as much as Sandy did?”

“I’m assuming he’s leaving Bruno Brazell in charge,” Pam said. “I think Bruno pretends Victor is in New Orleans, even when Victor isn’t. The rest of Victor’s people don’t know where he is half the time. Since he killed off all the New Orleans vampires he could find, we’ve had to rely on the information of our one spy who survived the massacre.”

Of course I wanted to veer off and discuss the spy—who would be that brave and reckless, to spy for Eric in the bailiwick of his enemy? But I had to stick to the main subject, which was the sneakiness of Louisiana’s new regent head honcho. “So Victor likes to be in the trenches,” I said, and Eric and Pam looked at me blankly. Older vampires don’t always have a complete grasp of the vernacular. “He likes to see for himself and do for himself, rather than rely on the chain of command,” I explained.

“Yes,” Pam said. “And the chain of command can be quite heavy and literal, under Victor.”

“Pam and I were talking about Victor on the drive over here. I wonder why Felipe de Castro chose Victor to be his representative in Louisiana?” Victor had actually seemed okay the two times I’d met him face-to-face, which only went to show that you can’t judge a vampire by his good manners and his smile.

“There are two schools of thought about that,” Eric said, stretching his long legs out in front of him. I had a flash of how those long legs looked spread wide on crumpled sheets, and I forced my mind back to the current subject of discussion.

Eric gave me a fangy smile (he knew what I was feeling) before he continued. “One is that Felipe wants Victor as far away as he can get him. I believe that Felipe feels that if he gives Victor a big chunk of red meat, he won’t be tempted to try to snatch the whole steak.”

“While others of us,” Pam said, “think that Felipe simply appointed Victor because Victor is very efficient. That Victor’s devotion to Felipe is possibly sincere.”

“If the first theory is correct,” Eric said, “there isn’t perfect trust between Felipe and Victor.”

“If the second theory is correct,” Pam said, “and we act against Victor, Felipe will kill us all.”

“I’m getting your drift,” I said, looking from First Theory (shirtless with blue jeans) to Second Theory (cute vintage suit). “I hate to sound really selfish, but the first thought that popped into my mind is this. Since Victor wouldn’t let you come to help me when I needed you—and incidentally I know that I owe you big-time, Pam—that means Victor’s not honoring the promise, huh? Felipe promised me that he would extend his protection to me, which he ought to have, because I saved his life, right?”

There was a significant pause while Eric and Pam considered my question.

“I think Victor will do his best not to openly cause you harm, until and if he decides to try to become king in his own right,” Pam said. “If Victor decides to make a grab for the kingship, all promises made by Felipe are so many words without meaning.” Eric nodded in agreement.

“That’s just great.” I probably sounded petulant and selfish, because that was the way I felt.

“This is all assuming we don’t find a way to kill him first,” Pam said quietly. And we were all silent for a long moment. There was something that creeped me out, no matter how much I agreed that Victor should die, about the three of us talking about murdering him.

“And you think this Heidi, who’s supposed to be such a great tracker, is here in Shreveport to be Victor’s eyes and ears?” I said briskly, trying to throw off the chill that had fallen on me.

“Yes,” said Pam. “Unless she’s here to be Felipe’s eyes and ears, so Felipe can keep track of what Victor is doing in Louisiana.” She had that ominous look on her face, the one that said she was going to get her vampire game on. You did not want Pam to look that way when your name entered the conversation. If I were Heidi, I would take care to keep my nose clean.

“Heidi,” which conjured up braids and full skirts in my imagination, seemed like a very perky name for a vampire.

“So what should I do about the Long Tooth pack’s warning?” I said, to bring the discussion back to the original problem. “You’re going to send Heidi to my place to try to track the fairy? I have to tell you something else. Basim scented a body, not a fresh one, buried very deep at the back of my property.”

“Oh,” Eric said. “Whoops.” Eric turned to Pam. “Give us some alone time.”

She nodded and went out through the kitchen. I heard the back door shut.

Eric said, “I’m sorry, my lover. Unless you’ve buried someone else on your property and kept it from me, that body is Debbie Pelt’s.”

That was what I’d been afraid of. “Is the car back there, too?”

“No, the car is sunk in a pond about ten miles south of your place.”

That was a relief. “Well, at least it was a werewolf who found it,” I said. “I guess we don’t have to worry about it, unless Alcide can identify her scent. They won’t go digging the body up. It’s none of their doings.” Debbie had been Alcide’s ex-girlfriend when I’d had the misfortune to meet her. I don’t want to drag out the story, but she’d tried to kill me first. It took me a while, but I’m over the angst of her death. Eric had been with me that night, but he hadn’t been in his right mind. And that’s yet another story.

“Come here,” Eric said. His face held my very favorite expression, and I was doubly glad to see it because I didn’t want to think too much about Debbie Pelt.

“Hmmm. What will you give me if I do?” I gave him a questioning eye.

“I think you know very well what I will give you. I think you love me to give it to you.”

“So. you don’t enjoy it at all?”

Before I could blink he was on his knees in front of me, pushing my legs apart, leaning in to kiss me. “I think you know how I feel,” he said, in a whisper. “We are bonded. Can you believe I’m not thinking of you while I work? When my eyes open, I think of you, of every part of you.” His fingers got busy, and I gasped. This was direct, even for Eric. “Do you love me?” he asked, his eyes fi xing mine.

This was a little difficult to answer, especially considering what his fingers were doing. “I love being with you, whether we’re having sex or not. Oh, God, do that again! I love your body. I love what we do together. You make me laugh, and I love that. I like to watch you do anything.” I kissed him, long and lingeringly. “I like to watch you get dressed. I like to watch you undress. I like to watch your hands when you’re doing this to me.
Oh!
” I shuddered all over with pleasure. When I’d had a moment of recovery, I murmured, “If I asked you the same question, what would your answer be?”

“I would say exactly the same thing,” Eric said. “And I think that means I love you. If this is not true love, it’s as close as anyone gets. Can you see what you’ve done to me?” He didn’t really have to point. It was pretty damn obvious.

“That looks painful. Would you like me to nurse it?” I asked, in the coolest voice I could manage.

In reply, he simply growled. We switched places in an instant. I knelt in front of Eric, and his hands rested on my head, stroking. Eric was a sizable guy, and this was a part of our sex life that I’d had to work on. But I thought I was getting pretty good at it, and he seemed to agree. His hands tightened in my hair after a minute or two, and I made a little noise of protest. He let go and gripped the couch instead. He growled, deep in his throat. “Faster,” he said. “Now, now!” He shut his eyes and his head fell back, his hands opening and closing spasmodically. I loved having that power over him; that was another thing I loved. Suddenly, he said something in an ancient language, and his back arched, and I moved with increased purpose, swallowing down everything he gave me.

And all this with most of our clothes on. “Was that enough love for you?” he asked, his voice slow and dreamy.

I climbed into his lap and wound my arms around his neck for an interlude of cuddling. Now that I had recovered my pleasure in sex, I felt limp as a dishrag after a session with Eric; but this was my favorite part, though it made me feel very “women’s magazine” to admit it.

As we sat holding each other, Eric told me about a conversation he’d had with a fangbanger at the bar, and we laughed about it. I told him about how torn up Hummingbird Road was while the parish was patching it. I suppose this is the kind of thing you talk about with someone you love; you figure they’ll care about trivial topics, since those things are important to you.

Unfortunately, I knew that Eric had more business to get through that night, so I told him I’d go back to Bon Temps with Pam. Sometimes I stayed at his place, reading while he worked. It’s not easy to arrange alone time with a leader and businessman who’s awake only during the hours of darkness.

He gave me a kiss to remember him by. “I’ll send Heidi to you, probably night after next,” he said. “She’ll verify what Basim says he smelled in the woods. Let me know if you hear from Alcide.”

When Pam and I left Eric’s house, it had started raining. The rain put a little chill in the air, and I turned the heat on low in Pam’s car. It wouldn’t make any difference to her. We drove for a while in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. I watched the windshield wipers fan back and forth.

Pam said, “You didn’t tell Eric about the fairy staying with you.” “Oh, gosh!” I put my hand over my eyes. “No, I didn’t. There was so much else to talk about, I completely forgot.”

“You realize Eric won’t like another man living in the same house with his woman.”

“Another man who is my cousin and also gay.”

“But very beautiful and a stripper.” Pam glanced over at me. She was smiling. Pam’s smiles are somewhat disconcerting.

“You can strip all you want to—if you don’t like the person you’re looking at while you’re naked, it’s not going to happen,” I said tartly.

“I kind of understand that sentence,” she said, after a moment. “But still, having such an attractive man in the same house. It’s not good, Sookie.”

“You’re kidding me, right? Claude is
gay
. Not only does he like men, he likes men with beard stubble and oil stains on their blue jeans.”

“What does that mean?” Pam said.

“That means he likes blue-collar guys who work with their hands. Or their fists.”

“Oh. Interesting.” Pam still had an air of disapproval. She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Eric hasn’t had anyone like you in a long, long time, Sookie. I think he’s levelheaded enough to keep on course, but you have to consider his responsibilities. This is a perilous time for the few of us in his original crew remaining since Sophie-Anne met her final death. We Shreveport vampires doubly belong to Eric, since he’s the only surviving sheriff from the old regime. If Eric goes down, we all go down. If Victor succeeds in discrediting Eric or somehow eating into his base here in Shreveport, we’ll all die.”

I hadn’t put the situation to myself in terms that dire. Eric hadn’t spelled it out to me, either. “It’s that bad?” I said, feeling numb.

“He is male enough to want to look strong in front of you, Sookie. Truly, Eric’s a great vampire, and very practical. But he isn’t practical nowadays—not when it comes to you.”

“Are you saying you don’t think Eric and I should see each other anymore?” I asked her directly. Though generally I was very glad that vampire minds were closed to me, sometimes I found it frustrating. I was used to knowing more than I wanted to know about how people were thinking and feeling, rather than wondering if I was right.