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I laughed Just a little "Yeah, it sounds nuts And I get your point I don&039;t entirely trust Claude, even if he is a little bit fa in On the other hand, I don&039;t believe he means to hurt me or you And he&039;s not quite as ether a few more theories about Basim&039;s death, but we could punch too many holes in all of our theories It passed the time until we arrived

The house Alcide had e two-story brick ho The - estate? manor house? - was in a very nice area of Shreveport, of course In fact, it wasn&039;t too far fro of Eric so close to me but in so h our blood bond was ht There were soback and forth It wore me out emotionally Alexei was the worst He was a very dead little boy, that was the only way I could put it: a child locked in a perrayness, a child who experienced only occasional flashes of pleasure and color in his new "life" After days of experiencing what a inon the life of Appius Livius, Eric, and now me He siphoned off a little every day

Apparently, Appius Livius was so used to Alexei&039;s draining him that he accepted it as part of his existence Maybe - possibly - the Roman felt responsible for the trouble Alexei caused, since he&039;d brought hiht he was absolutely correct I was sure that bringing Alexei to Eric, thinking the presence of another "child" would soothe Alexei&039;s psychosis, was a last-ditch effort to cure the boy And Eric,with all the proble Victor

I felt less and less like a good person every day As alked from the driveway to Alcide&039;s front door, I adtasia, I foundthat all of them would die - Appius Livius, Alexei, Victor

I had to shove all that into a ame to enter a house full of Weres Jason put his ar "Someti this," he said "Because I think I kind of forgot"

I laughed, which hat he&039;d wanted I put up a hand to ring the bell, but the door swung open beforethere in a sports bra and running shorts (She always ca shorts showed concave dips by her hipbones, and I sighed "Concave" was not a word I&039;d ever used in relation tointo the new job?" Jason asked her, stepping forward Jannalynn had to either back up or block his way, and she chose to back up

"I was born for this job," the young Were said

I had to agree Jannalynn see out violence At the same time, I wondered what job she could hold in the real world She&039;d been bartending at a Were-owned bar in Shreveport when I&039;d first seen her, and I knew the owner of that bar had died in the struggle between the packs "Where are you working now, Jannalynn?" I asked, since there shouldn&039;t be any need to keep that secret that I could see

"IThe ownership passed to Alcide, and he felt I could handle the job I have some help," she said, which was a confession that surprised me

Ha across the foyer by the opened doors to the living room He patted my shoulder and introduced his conized her as one of the wo Tooth pack in surrender after the Were war, and I tried to focus on her But hed and said, "It&039;s quite a place, isn&039;t it?"

I nodded in silent agreement I&039;d never been in the house before, and my eyes were drawn to the French doors on the other side of the big rooe backyard, which not only was enclosed by a fence that had to be seven feet tall, but was also lined outside with those quick-growing cypresses that shoot up like spears In thea drink easy if you&039;d turned into a wolf There was a lot of wrought iron furniture set around on the flagstones, too Wow I&039;d known the Herveauxes ell-to-do, but this was i roolossy dark leather and paneling, and the fireplace was as big as fireplaces got in this day and age There were aniht was kind of a Everyone seemed to have a drink in hand, and I located the bar at the center of the thickest cluster of Weres I didn&039;t spot Alcide, who because of his height and his presence was usually a standout in any crowd

I spotted Annabelle She was in the center of the rooh she was not constrained in any way There was an empty space all around her

"Don&039;t approach," Ham said quietly as I took a step forward I stopped in my tracks

"You can talk to her later, probably," Patricia whispered It was the "probably" that bothered me But this was pack business, and I was on pack land

"I&039;ood look at Annabelle&039;s situation "What do you want, Sook?"

"You need to go upstairs," Jannalynn said very quietly "Don&039;t drink anything else Alcide&039;s got a drink for you" She jerked her head toward the stairs to ether, and Jason looked as though he were going to protest, but she jerked her head again

I found Alcide in a study at the head of the stairs He was looking out theThere was a glass of cloudy yellow liquid sitting on the desk blotter

"What?" I said I was getting an even worse feeling about this evening than I&039;d already had

He turned to face me His black hair was still in a tu to do with the charisma that surrounded him like a cocoon I didn&039;t know if the role had enhanced the rown into the role, but Alcide had couy I&039;d o

"We don&039;t have a shaman anymore," he said with no preamble "We haven&039;t had one for four years It&039;s hard to find a Were who&039;s willing to take the position, and you have to have the talent for it to even consider it anyway"

"Okay," I said, waiting to see where he was going

"You&039;re the closest we&039;ve got"

If there&039;d been druround, they would&039;ve started an ominous roll "I&039;m not a shaman," I said "In fact, I don&039;t knohat a shaman is And you don&039;t have me"

"That&039;s a term we use for a ift for interpreting and applying ic It sounded better to us than &039;witch&039; And this e knoe&039;re talking about If we had a pack shalass and be able to help us deteruilt of everyone involved Then the pack would decide on proportionate justice"

"What is it?" I asked, pointing at the liquid

"It&039;s as left over in the last sha," he said "But before you walk out, let me tell you that the last sha ill effect"

"Lasting"

"Well, he had stoo back to work the day after that"

"Of course, he was a Were, and he&039;d be able to eat things I can&039;t eat anyway What does it do to you? Or rather, ould it do to ives you a different perception of reality That&039;s what the guy told me And since I clearly wasn&039;t shaman material, that&039;s all he told enuinely curious

"Because othere&039;ll never get to the bottouilty person I can see is Annabelle Sheunfaithful to me I hate that, but she doesn&039;t deserve to die for it But if I can&039;t find out who killed Basiround, I think the pack will condemn her, since she&039;s the only one as involved with hi Basially, and I wouldn&039;t have blamed you"

I knew that was true

"They&039;ll put her to death," he said, harping on the point that would have theAl my hands on theet a clear thought from Weres" Alcide said it almost sadly "Sookie, I&039;d hoped we&039;d be a couple one day Now that I&039;m packuess that&039;ll never happen I thought we hts that clearly Since I know that, I don&039;t think I can rely on you laying on your hands and getting an accurate reading"

He was right

"A year ago," I said, "you wouldn&039;t have asked this of o," he answered, "you wouldn&039;t have hesitated to drink"

I crossed to the desk and tossed it down