Page 11 (1/2)

Good God-are "knowing" and "seeing" ever two different things!

"You also know," I continued, "that he loves you And you love him" When I don’t want to yank off one of these heels and stick it"You love hih so much with hio the extra mile for you"

He had He had!

I told myself that about twenty times

"So," I said in a very reasonable voice, "Here’s a chance to rise above circumstances, to prove what you’re made of, and to help save both our lives And that’s what I’ll do, because Gran raised ht But when this is over " I’ll rip his damn head off "No, I won’t," I admonished myself "We’ll talk about it"

THEN I’ll rip his head off

"Maybe," I said, and I could feel

"Sookie," Pam said fro to yourself Are you ready to do this thing?"

"I am," I said sweetly I stood, shook hastly I unlocked the door I tried the suess thinking Pa "Is Felipe ready to talk?" I said

For the first time since I’d met her, Pam looked a little uneasy as she looked at me "Uh, yes," she said "He is ready for our discussion"

"Great, let’s get going" I maintained the s Good

"The king and his aide are out here," Pam said "The others have h, I could hear squeals co from behind the closed door

Felipe and the square-jawed va froether on the couch Eric and I took the (stained) loveseat arranged at right angles to the couch, and Paed) that normally held only a few objets d’art was cluttered with bottles of synthetic blood and glasses of mixed drinks, an ashtray, a cell phone, some crumpled napkins Instead of its nor rooed in a low dive

I’d been conditioned for soup, tie on an apron, and fetch a tray to clear away the clutter

"Sookie, I don’t believe you’ve met Horst Friedman," Felipe said

I yankedvaular His short hair was a light brown and closely cut He did not look as if he kne to smile His lips were pink and his eyes pale blue; so his coloring was oddly dainty, while his features were anything but

"Pleased to e effort to pronounce his name clearly Horst’s nod was barely perceptible After all, I was a human

"Eric, I have come to your territory to discuss the disappearance of Victor, ent," Felipe said briskly "He was last seen in this city, if you can call Shreveport a city I suspect that you had so to do with his disappearance He was never seen after he left for a private party at your club"

Sofor Felipe

"I ad," Eric said calmly

Felipe looked e, either"

"If I did kill hi to swatting a ainst e also vanished when the regent did"

Not that Eric had given Victor and his cohorts any opportunity to surrender The only one who’d been offered the chance to escape death was Victor’s new bodyguard, Akiro, and he’d turned the offer down The fight in Fangtasia had been a no-debate full-frontal assault, involving gallons of blood and a lot of dismemberment and death I tried not to remember it too vividly I smiled and waited for Felipe’s response

"Why did you do this? Are you not sworn to me?" For the first time, Felipe appeared less than casual In fact, he looked downright stern "I appointed Victor ent here in Louisiana I appointed hi" At the escalation in tone, I noticed Horst was tensed for action So was Paine is the definition of the word "fraught"

"Your Majesty, if I did this thing, it an to breathe again "I am sworn to you, and I’m loyal to you, but I can’t stand still while soood reason-and without previous discussion with me Victor sent two of his best vampires to kill Pam and my wife" Eric rested a cold hand on my shoulder, and I did my best to look shaken (That wasn’t too hard)

"Only because Pahter, and my wife can hold her own, did they escape," Eric said soleave us all askeptical, but Felipe had only raised his dark eyebrows Felipe nodded, bidding Eric to continue

"Though I don’t ad -economically Victor put new clubs in ement, jobs, and revenue froainst all precedent I doubted he was passing along your share of the profits I also believed he was trying to undercut me, to turn er-on I heardso all other business in Louisiana in this strange vendetta againstin Felipe’s face "Why didn’t you bring your co said

"I did," Eric said cal hi these issues to your attention"

Horst sat up a little straighter "This is true, Felipe As I-"

"And why didn’t you pass along Eric’s concerns?" Felipe interrupted, turning his eyes on Horst

I anticipated watching Horst wriggle Instead, Horst looked stunned

Maybe I’ around with va, but I felt a near certainty that Horst had passed along Eric’s complaints, but that Felipe had decided Eric would have to solve his issues with Victor in his oay Now Felipe was throwing Horst under the bus without a qualm so he could maintain deniability

"Your Majesty," I said, "we’re awful sorry about Victor’s disappearance, but e liability for you, too" I gazed at hiretfully

There was a moment of silence All four va guts I did my best to look simple and sincere