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7

The nextoutside when I woke I lay in bed in a mindless pool of contentment I was sore, but pleasantly so I had a little bruise or two - nothing that would show And the fang iveaway (har-de-har) were not on my neck, where they&039;d been in the past No casual observer was going to be able to tell I&039;d enjoyed a vampire&039;s coist - the only other person who&039;d have a reason to check that area

Another shoas definitely called for, so I eased out of bed and wobbled across the floor to the bathroo of a mess, with towels tossed everywhere and the shower curtain half-ripped from its plastic hoops (when had that happened?), but I didn&039;tthe curtain with a s in my heart

As the water pounded on my back, I reflected that I must be pretty siht with a dead guy had done the trick It wasn&039;t just the dynah that had contained moments I&039;d remember till the day I died); it was the companionship Actually, the intiht with a man who&039;d told me I was beautiful, a iven hed witha baby with our pleasures, because va disloyal to anyone (though I&039;ll adht of Bill), and neither was Eric I couldn&039;t see the harm

As I brushed my teeth and put on some makeup, I had to admit to myself that I was sure that the Reverend Fullenwilder wouldn&039;t agree withto tell hiured God had made me with the disability of telepathy, and he could cut rets, of course I would love to get married and have babies I&039;d be faithful as can be I&039;d be a good uy, because I would always knohen he lied to ht he had about uy was e Vaally; not that a va a washcloth into the ha association with a Were or a shifter, since their thoughts weren&039;t clear But there again, where was the willing Were?

I had better enjoy what I had at thisWhat I had was a handso with it, a lot of his personality: a vampire who needed reassurance just as much as I did

In fact, as I put in hted with me forcos, days lacking any sense of self, last night he had gained so in front of a, very clearly, that - at the moment - I was all in the world that Eric could think of as his own

I had better not fail hi ri It had a built-in caller ID, and I noticed Sa from the bar, instead of his trailer

"Sookie?"

"Hey, Sam"

"I&039;m sorry about Jason Any news?"

"No I called down to the sheriff&039;s department when I woke up, and I talked to the dispatcher She said Alcee Beck would letnew came up That&039;s what she&039;s said the last twenty tiet someone to take your shift?"

"No It would be better for me to be busy, than to sit here at ho to tell h"

"If I can do anything to help, you let , come to think of it"

"Name it"

"You remember the little shifter Jason was in the bar with New Year&039;s Eve?"

Saht "Yes," he said hesitantly "One of the Norris girls? They live out in Hotshot"

"That&039;s what Hoyt said"

"You have to watch out for people from out there, Sookie That&039;s an old settlement An inbred settle to tellsubtle hints today"

"I can&039;t right now"

"Oh, not alone?"

"No The snack delivery guy is here Just be careful They&039;re really, really different"

"Okay," I said slowly, still in the dark "I&039;ll be careful See you at four-thirty," I told hiuely unhappy and quite puzzled

I had plenty of tio to work I pulled on so-sleeved T-shirt, and my old blue coat I looked up Crystal Norris&039;s address in the phone book and had to get out my chamber of commerce map to track it down I&039;ve lived in Renard Parish ht I knew it pretty well, but the Hotshot area was a black hole in e

I drove north, and when I caht I passed the lu plant that was Bon Te place, and I flew past the water department There was a liquor store or two, and then a country store at a crossroads that had a pron left over froain, to go south

The deeper I went into the countryside, the worse the road see and maintenance crews hadn&039;t been out here since the end of summer Either the residents of the Hotshot coovernment, or they just didn&039;t want visitors Fro areas as it ran between bayous In heavy rains, the low spots would be flooded I wouldn&039;t be surprised at all to hear folks out here encountered the occasional gator

Finally I came to another crossroads, compared to which the one with the bait shop seemed like a ht or nine These were small houses, none of them brick Most of them had several cars in the front yard So set or a basketball hoop, and in a couple of yards I spotted a satellite dish Oddly, all the houses seemed pulled away from the actual crossroads; the area directly around the road intersection was bare It was like someone had tied a rope to a stake sunk in theand drawn a circle Within it, there was nothing Outside it, the houses crouched

In my experience, in a little settlement like this, you had the same kind of people you had anywhere Soood Some of them were poor and hly, and no action went unobserved

On this chilly day, I didn&039;t see a soul outdoors to let me know if this was a black community or a white community It was unlikely to be both I wondered if I was at the right crossroads, but reen road sign, the kind you can order from a novelty company, mounted on a pole in front of one of the hoht place Now, to find Crystal Norris&039;s house

With some difficulty, I spotted a number on one rusty mailbox, and then I saw another By process of eliured the next house must be the one where Crystal Norris lived The Norris house was little different from any of the others; it had a small front porch with an old armchair and tn chairs on it, and two cars parked in front, one a Ford Fiesta and the other an ancient Buick

When I parked and got out, I realized as so unusual about Hotshot

No dogs

Any other has et out of the car Here, not a single yip broke the winter silence

I crossed over the hard, packed dirt of the yard, feeling as though eyes were on every step I took I opened the torn screen door to knock on the heavier wooden door Inset in it was a pattern of three glass panes Dark eyes surveyed h the lowest one

The door opened, just when the pause was beginning to make me anxious

Jason&039;s date from New Year&039;s Eve was less festive today, in black jeans and a cream-colored T-shirt Her boots had come from Payless, and her short curly hair was a sort of dusty black She was thin, intense, and though I&039;d carded her, she just didn&039;t look twenty-one

"Crystal Norris?"

"Yeah?" She didn&039;t sound particularly unfriendly, but she did sound preoccupied

"I&039;m Jason Stackhouse&039;s sister, Sookie"

"Oh, yeah? Co rooer space: two recliners and a three-cushion couch of dark brown Naugahyde, the big buttons separating the vinyl into little hillocks You&039;d stick to it in the summer and slide around on it in the winter Crumbs would collect in the depression around the buttons

There was a stained rug in dark red and yellows and browns, and there were toys strewn in an al above the television set, and the whole house smelled pleasantly of red beans and rice and cornbread

A toddler was experiht it was a boy, but it was hard to be sure Overalls and a green turtleneck weren&039;t exactly a clue, and the baby&039;s wispy brown hair was neither cut short nor decorated with a bow

"Your child?" I asked, trying to make my voice pleasant and conversational

"No, estured toward one of the recliners

"Crystal, the reason I&039;?"

She was perched on the edge of the couch, and she&039;d been staring down at her thin hands When I spoke, she looked into my eyes intently This was not fresh news to her

"Since when?" she asked Her voice had a pleasantly hoarse sound to it; you&039;d listen to what this girl had to say, especially if you were a ht of January first He lefthe didn&039;t show up for work There was some blood on that little pier out behind the house His pickup was still in his front yard The door to it was hanging open"

"I don&039;t know nothing about it," she said instantly

She was lying

"Who told you I had anything to do with this?" she asked, working up to being bitchy "I got rights I don&039;t have to talk to you"

Sure, that was Amendment 29 to the Constitution: Shifters don&039;t have to talk to Sookie Stackhouse

"Yes, you do" Suddenly, I abandoned the nice approach She&039;d hit the wrong button on me "I&039;m not like you I don&039;t have a sister or a nephew," and I nodded at the toddler, figuring I had a fifty-fifty chance of being right "I don&039;t have a , except my brother" I took a deep breath "I want to knohere Jason is And if you know anything, you better tell me"

"Or you&039;ll do what?" Her thin face isted into a snarl But she genuinely wanted to knohat kind of pull I had; I could read that much

"Yeah, what?" asked a calmer voice

I looked at the doorway to see a man as probably on the upside of forty He had a triray, and his hair was cut close to his head He was a small man, perhaps five foot seven or so, with a lithe build andI have to," I said I looked hireen He didn&039;t seem inimical, exactly He seeain in that neutral voice

"Who are you?" I had to knoho this guy was I wasn&039;t going to wastemy story to someone who just had some time to fill Given his air of authority, and the fact that he wasn&039;t opting forto bet thisto

"I&039;m Calvin Norris I&039;m Crystal&039;s uncle" From his brain pattern, he was also a shifter of sos in this settlement, I assumed they were Weres

"Mr Norris, I&039; the increased interest in his expression "Your niece here went to the New Year&039;s Eve party at Merlotte&039;s Bar with ht,I want to know if Crystal can tell ht help me find him"

Calvin Norris bent to pat the toddler on the head, and then walked over to the couch where Crystal glowered He sat beside her, his elbows resting on his knees, his hands dangling, relaxed, between them His head inclined as he looked into Crystal&039;s sullen face

"This is reasonable, Crystal Girl wants to knohere her brother is Tell her, if you know anything about it"

Crystal snapped at hi? She comes out here, tries to threaten me"

"Because it&039;s just common courtesy to help soo to her to volunteer help, did you?"

"I didn&039;t think he was just ht he - " And her voice cut short as she realized her tongue had led her into trouble

Calvin&039;s whole body tensed He hadn&039;t expected that Crystal actually knew anything about Jason&039;s disappearance He had just wanted her to be polite to me I could read that, but not much else I could not decipher their relationship He had power over the girl, I could tell that easily enough, but what kind? It was more than the authority of an uncle; it feltold work clothes and safety boots, he ht look like any blue-collar man in the area, but Calvin Norris was a lot ht But ould be in a pack, this far out in the boondocks? Just Crystal? Then I re about the unusual nature of Hotshot, and I had a revelation Everyone in Hotshot o-natured

Was that possible? I wasn&039;t completely certain Calvin Norris was a Were - but I knew he didn&039;t change into any bunny I had to struggle with an almost irresistible impulse to lean over and put my hand on his forearm, touch skin to skin to read his mind as clearly as possible

I was co: I wouldn&039;t want to be anywhere around Hotshot on the three nights of the full moon

"You&039;re the bar into my eyes as intently as he&039;d looked into Crystal&039;s

"I&039;m a barmaid at Merlotte&039;s"

"You&039;re a friend of Sam&039;s"

"Yes," I said carefully "I am I&039;m a friend of Alcide Herveaux&039;s, too And I know Colonel Flood"

These na to Calvin Norris I wasn&039;t surprised that Norris would know the names of some prominent Shreveport Weres - and he&039;d know Sam, of course It had taken my boss time to connect with the local two-natured co on it

Crystal had been listening ide dark eyes, in no betteroveralls appeared from the back of the house, and she lifted the toddler froh her face was rounder and less distinctive and her figure was fuller, she was clearly Crystal&039;s younger sister She was also just as apparently pregnant again

"You need anything, Uncle Calvin?" she asked, staring at me over the toddler&039;s shoulder

"No, Dawn Take care of Matthew" She disappeared into the back of the house with her burden I had guessed right on the sex of the kid

"Crystal," said Calvin Norris, in a quiet and terrifying voice, "you tell us nohat you done"

Crystal had believed she&039;d gotten aith so ordered to confess

But she&039;d obey After a little fidgeting, she did

"I was out with Jason on New Year&039;s Eve," she said "I&039;d et hed Jason could find potential bed to end up with some unpleasant disease (if he hadn&039;t already) or slapped with a paternity suit, and there was nothing I could do about it except watch it happen

"He asked me if I&039;d spend New Year&039;s Eve with hi the woed her o without lining up a date for soed Jason could have made and broken dates with five women for New Year&039;s Eve, for all I knew And it wasn&039;t infrequent for wo with a vagina that they broke off plans with hiet out of Hotshot, so I said yeah He asked hbors wouldn&039;t like that, so I said I&039;d just o in his truck So that&039;s e did And I had a real good tileamed at me "You want to kno he is in bed?"

There was a blur of movement, and then there was blood at the corner of her s before I even realized he&039;d moved "You be polite Don&039;t show your worst face to this woman," he said, and his voice was so serious I made up my mind I&039;d be extra polite, too, just to be safe

"Okay That wasn&039;t nice, I guess," she admitted, in a softer and chastened voice "Well, I wanted to see hiain So I snuck out and went over to his place He had to leave to see his sister - you? You&039;re the only sister he&039;s got?"

I nodded

"And he said to stay there, he&039;d be back in a bit I wanted to go with him, and he said if his sister didn&039;t have company, that woulda been fine, but she had vamp company, and he didn&039;t want me to mix with them"

I think Jason knehat e hearing it, so he left her at his house

"Did he co her out of her reverie

"Yes," she said, and I tensed

"What happened then?" Calvin asked, when she stopped again

"I&039; for hi, &039;Oh, good, he&039;s here, we can party,&039; and then I didn&039;t hear hi what&039;s happening, you know? Of course all the outside lights are on, but I didn&039;t go to the , &039;cause I kneas him" Of course a Were would know his step, ood," she went on, "and I hear hi he&039;s going to come in the back door, for so"

I took a deep breath She&039;d get to the point in just a minute I just knew she would

"And then, to the back of the house, and farther &039;way, yards away fro and stuff, and then nothing"

If she hadn&039;t been a shifter, she wouldn&039;t have heard so ht side if I searched hard enough

"Did you go out and look?" Calvin asked Crystal His worn hand stroked her black curls, as if he were petting a favorite dog

"No sir, I didn&039;t look"

"Sh," she ad the other way I caught a little of Jason, and blood Maybe a couple of other things"

"Like what?"

Crystal looked at her own hands "Shifter, e when it&039;s not the full moon, but I can&039;t Otherwise, I&039;d have had a better chance at the scent," she said to y

"Vampire?" Calvin asked

"I never smelled a vampire before," she said simply "I don&039;t know"

"Witch?" I asked

"Do they sular people?" she asked doubtfully

I shrugged I didn&039;t know

Calvin said, "What did you do after that?"

"I knew so had carried Jason off into the woods I just I lost it I&039;not to cry, but tears just rolled down my cheeks For the first time, I admitted to ain But if the attacker&039;s intention was to kill Jason, why not just leave his body in the backyard? As Crystal had pointed out, the night of New Year&039;s Day there hadn&039;t been a full s that didn&039;t have to wait for the fullabout all the creatures that existed in the world besides us is that I could iht s Jason in one gulp Or a few bites

But I just couldn&039;t let , I made an effort to smile "Thank you so much," I said politely "It was real nice of you to take the tis you need to do"

Crystal looked suspicious, but her uncle Calvin reached over and patted my hand, which seemed to surprise everyone, himself included