Page 15 (1/2)

I went down the stairs on Alcide&039;s ar taken an illegal drug for the first time in ly warhtful side effect of the shaman&039;s drink was that I couldn&039;t feel Eric and Alexei and Appius Livius with nearly as much immediacy, and the relief was incredible

A less pleasant side effect was that s didn&039;t feel quite real underneath rip on my arm I remembered what he&039;d said about his forht it ht be nice to kiss him and remind myself what it felt like Then I realized I&039;d better channel those war out the answers to the puzzles facing Alcide I directed s, which was an excellent decision I was so proud of my excellence I could have rolled in it

The sha all this dreae effort to sharpen up Inroom had swollen in numbers; the whole pack was here I could feel the totality of it, the completeness

Eyes turned to look at us as we descended the stairs Jason looked alar must have been off about it, because his face didn&039;t smooth out

Alcide&039;s second went to stand by the kneeling Annabelle Jannalynn threw back her head and gave a series of yips Noas standing byon to

"Geez," Jasonyour hand in the air or ringing a triangle?" I could assu was not a summons in the panther pride That was okay I smiled at Jason I felt a lot like Alice in Wonderland after she took a bite of the mushroom

I was on one side of the empty space around Annabelle, Alcide on the other He looked around to collect the pack&039;s attention "We&039;re here tonight with two visitors to decide what to do about Annabelle," he said without a prea to do with the death of Basim, or if that death can be laid at the door of anyone else"

"Why are there visitors?" asked a woman&039;s voice I tried to find her face, but she was standing so far in the back I couldn&039;t see her I estimated there were perhaps as e froan after puberty) to seventy Ham and Patricia were to my left, about a quarter of the circle away Jannalynn had stayed by Annabelle The few other pack h the crowd

"Listen hard," Alcide said, looking directly at e received I closed -lutely aaze swept the assembled pack members by the ripple of fear that followed I could see the fear It was dark yellow "Basim&039;s body was found on Sookie&039;s land," Alcide said "It was planted there in an attempt to blaht after we ree of surprisefrom almost everyone

"You moved the body?" Patricia said My eyes flew open Why had Alcide elected to keep that a secret? Because it had been a total shock to Patricia, and to a few others, that Basi Jason moved up behind me and put his beer down He knew he needed his hands free My brother ood instincts

I was a up the scene I hts that clearly, but Were emotionsThat hat he was after Now that I was concentrating, focusing on the creatures in the room, almost out of my body with the intensity of it, I saw Alcide as a ball of red energy, pulsing and attractive, and all the other Weres were circling around him I understood for the first time that the packleader was the planet around which all others orbited in the Were universe The pack members were various shades of red and violet and pink, the colors of their devotion to hi streak of intense criht as Alcide himself Even Annabelle was a watery cerise, despite her infidelity

But there were a few spots of green I heldthe rest of the world to stop while I considered this new interpretation of perception

"Tonight Sookie is our shaman," Alcide&039;s voice boonore that I could follow the colors, because they betrayed the person

Green, look for the green Though my head remained still and reen people Hareen I looked the other way There was one reen one, but he fluctuated between pale yellow and faint green Ha! Ambivalent, I told myself wisely Not a traitor yet, but doubtful about Alcide&039;s leadership The wavering inificant I looked at Annabelle again Cerise still, but flickering with ah her loyalty

I opened et theh the pack like a balloon through the trees Finally, I was right in front of Ham and Patricia This here the hands would cohed a little

"Sookie?" Hao of hi at her She flinched, ready to run, but a dozen hands grabbed her and held her firers on his cheeks If I&039;d had soer paint, he&039;d have looked like a movie Indian on the warpath "So jealous," I said "Ha on the stream and that hy the pack needed to run in my woods You invited those men, didn&039;t you?"

"They - no"

"Oh, I see," I said, touching the tip of his nose "I see" I could hear his thoughts as clearly as if I were inside his head now "So they were froather infor bad the packs ht have done They asked you to bribe an enforcer, a second To describe all the bad stuff he&039;d done So they could push through that bill, the one that&039;ll require you-all to register like aliens Hamilton Bond - shame on you! You told theotten him kicked out of the Houston pack"

"None of this is true, Alcide," Ha Serious Man, but to me he sounded like a squeaky little mouse "Alcide, I&039;ve known you ht that Alcide would make you his second," I said "Instead, he picked Basiot thrown out of Houston," Hah, pulsing in gold and black

"I&039;d ask hiht? Because you killed hiround" Actually, it hadn&039;t been all that cold, but I felt I was due a little artistic license MyI could see so much! I felt like God This was fun

"I didn&039;t kill Basi our packleader&039;s girlfriend! I couldn&039;t stoers over his cheeks We needed to know so else, didn&039;t we? Some other question had to be answered

"He ht," Ham blurted "He, I don&039;t knohat he talked about"

"What kind of creature?"

"I don&039;t know So like hi He had long hair, really pale long hair, and he was there one one the next He talked to Basim while Basim was in his wolf form Basim was by himself After we ate the deer, I&039;d fallen asleep on the other side of so The other guy was trying to fra to hi to kill someone and bury him on your land, and then call the cops That would take care of you, and then the fair " Ham&039;s voice died away

"You kneas a fairy," I said, s at Ham "You knew So you decided to do the job first"

"It wasn&039;t soht, Alcide?"

Alcide didn&039;t answer, but he was pulsating like a skyrocket on the periphery of my vision

"And you told Patricia And she helped," I said, stroking his face He wanted to make me stop, but he didn&039;t dare

"Her sister died in the war! She couldn&039;t accept her new pack I was the only one as nice to her, she said"

"Aw, you&039;re so generous to be nice to the pretty Were wo so the a reward froet a reward froht?" I let et out frouys You wanted the money just because you wanted the money"

"Basim owed a blood debt in Houston," Ham said "Basim wouldn&039;t have talked to the anti-Were people for any reason I can&039;t go to my death with that lie ona human as a friend of the pack It was an accident, while Basim was in wolf form The human poked him with a hoe, and Basim killed him"

"I knew about that," Alcide said He hadn&039;t spoken until now "I told Basiuess he wanted to earn it himself," Ham said ht he&039;d ain, find out exactly what the fairy wanted hiet a body from a mortuary or a drunk&039;s body from some alley, and plant it on Sookie&039;s land That would fulfill the letter of what the fairy wanted No haran sobbing, and his color turned all washed-out gray, the color of faded faith

"Where were you going to et youryou didn&039;t" I was proud of how fair I was being Fairness was blue, of course

"I was going to meet him at the same spot in your woods," he said "On the south side by the ceood," I murmured "Don&039;t you feel better now?"

"Yes," he said, without a trace of irony in his voice "I do feel better, and I&039;ment of the pack"

"I&039;m not," Patricia cried "I escaped death in the pack war by surrendering Let ain!" She fell to her knees, like Annabelle "I beg forgiveness I&039; man" Like Annabelle Patricia bowed her head, and her dark braid fell over one shoulder She put her clasped hands to her face Pretty as a picture

"You didn&039;t love enuinely shocked "We screwed You were upset with Alcide because he didn&039;t pick you to bed I was upset with Alcide because he didn&039;t pick me as his second That was the sum total of e had in cohter now," I observed The passion of theircombustible I tried to summarize to myself what I&039;d learned, but it all came out a jumble Maybe Jason could helpI felt that soon I would be depleted, as if the end of a race were in sight "Ti at Alcide, whose brilliant red gloas still steady

"I think Annabelle should be disciplined but not cast out of the pack," Alcide said, and there was a chorus of protest

"Kill her!" said Jannalynn, her fierce little face deter I wondered if Sa out with such a ferocious thing He see," Alcide said cal to them," and he pointed at Hauilt is awith twoone of them she was faithful We don&039;t knohat she told Basim"

Alcide spoke the truthat least, the truth as he saw it I looked at Annabelle and saw her all: the disciplined woman as in the Air Force, the practical woman who balanced her pack life with the rest of her life, the woman who lost all her practicality and restraint when it caht now, none of the white line of relief that Alcide did not plan to kill her

"As for Ham and Patricia Ham is the e, he took the path of stealth That would call for severe punishment, maybe death We should consider that Basim was a traitor - not only a packto deal with soainst the pack interests and against the good name of a friend of the pack," Alcide continued

"Oh," I murmured to Jason "That&039;s me"

"And Patricia, who promised to be loyal to this pack, broke her vow," Alcide said "So she should be cast out forever"

"Packmaster, you&039;re too merciful," Jannalynn said vehemently "Ham clearly deserves death for his disloyalty Ha buzz of discussion I looked around the roohtfulness (brown, of course) turning into all kinds of shades as passions rose Jason put his arms around me from behind "You need to back out of this," he whispered, and I could see his words turn pink and curly He loved h out loud We stepped backward; one step, two, three, four, five Then ere standing in the foyer

"We need to leave," Jason said "If they&039;re going to kill two good-looking gals like Annabelle and Patricia, I don&039;t want to be around to see it If we don&039;t see anything, on&039;t have to testify in court, if it co I think Annabelle will see tomorrow Alcide will let Jannalynn persuade him to kill Haaped at me "I don&039;t knohat you took or set out of here now"

"Okay," I said, and suddenly I realized I felt pretty damn bad I made it outside to Alcide&039;s shrubbery before I threw up I waited for the second wave to roll overinto Jason&039;s truck

"What would Gran say aboutbefore I saw the results of what I&039;d done?" I asked him sadly "I left after the Were hen Alcide was celebrating his victory I don&039;t kno you panthers celebrate, but believe me, I didn&039;t want to be around when he fucked one of the Weres It was bad enough seeing Jannalynn execute the wounded On the other hand " I lost h this one wasn&039;t as violent

"Gran would say you&039;re not obliged to watch people kill each other, and you didn&039;t cause it, they did," Jason said briskly I could tell that h sy me all the way home with my stomach so jittery

"Listen, can I just drop you by Eric&039;s?" he said "I know he&039;s gotta have a bathroom or two, and that way my truck can stay clean"

Under any other circued situation But I felt shaky, and I was still seeing colors I cheo antacids frolove compartment and rinsed my mouth out repeatedly with soree that it would be better if I could spend the night in Shreveport

"I can co," Jason offered "Or ive you a ride to Bon Temps"

Bobby Burnham would rather transport a flock of turkeys

While I hesitated, I discovered that now that I wasn&039;t surrounded by Weres, I felt the est, most active ean to swell as unhappiness and physical pain overwhelmed him

Jason opened his mouth to ask questions about what I&039;d taken before the pack"Get &039;s wrong"

"There, too?" he said plaintively, but we roared out of Alcide&039;s driveway

I was practically shaking with anxiety e stopped at the gate so Dan the security guard could give nized Jason&039;s truck

"I&039; to act nor "It&039;s been a while"

When we pulled into Eric&039;s driveway, I saw that his garage door was open, though the garage light was off In fact, the house was in total darkness Maybe everyone was over at Fangtasia Nope I knew Eric was there I simply knew it

"I don&039;t like this," I said, and sat up a little straighter I struggled against the effects of the drug Though I was a little closer to norh I were experiencing the world through gauze

"He don&039;t leave it open?" Jason peered out over his steering wheel

"No, he never leaves it open And look! The kitchen door is open, too" I got out of the truck, and I heard Jason get out on his side His truck lights stayed on autoot to the kitchen door easily enough I always knocked at Eric&039;s door if he didn&039;t expect me, because I never kneould be there or what they&039;d be talking about, but this time I simply pushed the door even wider I could see a short distance into the kitchen because of the truck lights The wrongness rolled out in a cloud, that feeling a mixture of the sense I&039;d been born with and the extra layer of senses the drug had iht behind , way too fast and noisy

"Eric," I said, very quietly

No one answered There was no sound of any kind

I stepped into the kitchen just as Jason&039;s truck lights went off There were streetlights out on the street, and they supplied a dilow "Eric?" I called "Where are you?" Tension

"In here," he said from farther in the house, and my heart clenched

"Thank you, God," I said, and my hand went out to the wall switch I flicked it down, flooding the rooht I looked around The kitchen was pristine, as always

So the awful things hadn&039;t happened here

I crept fro room I knew immediately that someone had died here There were bloodstains everywhere Some of them were still wet Some of them dripped I heard Jason&039;s breath catch in his throat

Eric was sitting on the couch, his head in his hands There was no one else alive in the roo me, I was by him in a second "Honey?" I said "Look at ash across his forehead He&039;d bled copiously from the head wound There was dried blood all over his face When he straightened, I could see the blood on his white shirt The head wound was healing, but the other one"What&039;s under the shirt?" I said

"My ribs are broken and they&039;ve coh," he said "They&039;ll heal, but it&039;ll take time You&039;ll have to push them back into place"

"Tellvery hard to sound caluy over here," Jason called "Human"

"Who is it, Eric?" I eased his bare feet up onto the sofa so he could lie down

"It&039;s Bobby," he said "I tried to get hi he could do to help me" Eric sounded incredibly tired

"Who killed his in this house, and I alasped at ht he left his room when Ocella came in here to talk to me I knew Bobby was still in the house, but I sier Felicia was here, too, and Pam"

"Why was Felicia here?" I asked, because Eric didn&039;t ask his staff to his house, as a rule Felicia, the Fangtasia bartender, had been lowest on the va Bobby He had son, and she&039;d just come over with him"

"So Felicia?"

"Part of a vampire left over here," Jason called "Looks like the rest has flaked away"

"She&039;s gone to her final death," Eric told me

"Oh, I&039;m so sorry!" I put my arms around him, and after a second, his shoulders relaxed I had never seen Eric so defeated Even the awful night we&039;d been surrounded by the vaht he&039;d thought we ht all die, he&039;d had that spark of deteror But at the er and helplessness Thanks to his da back a traumatized boy fro e "Where&039;s Appius? Is he still alive?" To hell with the two-nareat if Alexei had been helpful enough to kill the old vampire, save me the trouble

"I don&039;t know" Eric sounded coenuinely shocked "He&039;s your maker, buddy! You&039;d know if he died If I&039;ve been feeling you three for a week, I know you&039;ve been feeling hi the day of Lorena&039;s death, though she hadn&039;t understood what it , maybe it would actually cause him physical har Appius should live until Eric recovered froo find him!"

"He asked me not to follohen he went after Alexei He doesn&039;t want us all to die"

"So you&039;re just going to sit home because he said so? When you don&039;t knohere they are or what they&039;re doing, or who they&039;re doing it to?" I didn&039;t knohat I wanted Eric to actually do The drug was still coasting throughcolors where they shouldn&039;t be every now and then But I had very little control over et Eric to act like Eric And I wanted hi And I wanted Jason to come push Eric&039;s bones back in because I could see the out

"Ocella asked this of lared at me

"So, he asked? That doesn&039;t sound like a direct order to ," I said, as snarkily as I could

"No," Eric said through clenched teeth I could feel his anger rising "It was not a direct order"

"Jason!" I yelled My brother appeared, looking very grim "Please push Eric&039;s ribs back in," I said, which is another sentence I never thought I&039;d hearWithout a word, but with a hard-setwound He looked at Eric&039;s nose, and said, "Ready?" Without waiting for an answer, he pushed in

Ericstopped and the healing began Jason looked down at his reddened hands and went to find a bathroo Eric an open bottle of TrueBlood that had been left on the coffee table He onna do?"

"Later on we&039;ll have words about this," he said He gave ht back and went off on an irrational tangent "And while you&039;re listing the things you should be doing, where&039;s the cleaning crew?"

"Bobby " he began, and then stopped short

Bobby would have called the cleaning crew for Eric

"Okay, how&039;s about I do that part," I said, and wondered where to find a phone book

"He kept a list of iht-hand desk drawer in my office," Eric said, very quietly

I found the na service based ster Cleanup Since it was vampire run, they&039;d be open A male answered the phone immediately, and I described the probleuarantee us a safe sleeping place in case the job runs over," he said

"No proble where the other two resident vampires were or if they&039;d survive to return before the dawn If they did, they could all sleep in Eric&039;s big bed or in the other light-tight bedrooht there were a couple of the fiberglass pods stashed in the laundry room, too

Now the carpets and the furniture would be cleaned We just had toup I felt super efficient but strangely e that had been in ht, I floated when I walked Okay, ht

Then it suddenly hit me - Eric had said that Pam was in the house, too Where was she? "Jason," I yelled, "please, please - find Pa roo around to face s: Arrogant, quick thinking, strong willed, secretive, and tricky were only the short list But he&039;d never been indecisive, and he&039;d never been hopeless