Jerry began licking a spot at the base of Bill’s neck. Keeping my guard up was proving to be more than I could handle. Since three present were vampires, whose thoughts I couldn’t hear, and Janella was fully occupied, that left Jerry. I listened and gagged.
Bill, shaking with temptation, was actually bending to sink his fangs into Jerry’s neck when I said, “No! He has the Sino-virus!”
As if released from a spell, Bill looked at me over Jerry’s shoulder. He was breathing heavily, but his fangs retracted. I took advantage of the moment by taking more steps. I was within a yard of Bill, now.
“Sino-AIDS,” I said.
Alcoholic and heavily drugged victims affected vampires temporarily, and some of them were said to enjoy that buzz; but the blood of a human with full-blown AIDS didn’t, nor did sexually transmitted diseases, or any other bugs that plagued humans.
Except Sino-AIDS. Even Sino-AIDS didn’t kill vampires as surely as the AIDS virus killed humans, but it left the undead very weak for nearly a month, during which time it was comparatively easy to catch and stake them. And every now and then, if a vampire fed from an infected human more than once, the vampire actually died—redied?—without being staked. Still rare in the United States, Sino-AIDS was gaining a foothold around ports like New Orleans, with sailors and other travelers from many countries passing through the city in a partying mood.
All the vampires were frozen, staring at Jerry as if he were death in disguise; and for them, perhaps, he was.
The beautiful young man took me completely by surprise. He turned and leapt on me. He was no vampire, but he was strong, evidently only in the earliest stages of the virus, and he knocked me against the wall to my left. He circled my throat with one hand and lifted the other to punch me in the face. My arms were still coming up to defend myself when Jerry’s hand was seized, and his body froze.
“Let go of her throat,” Bill said in such a terrifying voice that I was scared myself. By now, the scares were just piling up so quickly I didn’t think I’d ever feel safe again. But Jerry’s fingers didn’t relax, and I made a little whimpering sound without wanting to at all. I slewed my eyes sideways, and when I looked at Jerry’s gray face, I realized that Bill was holding his hand, Malcolm was gripping his legs, and Jerry was so frightened he couldn’t grasp what was wanted of him.
The room began to get fuzzy, and voices buzzed in and out. Jerry’s mind was beating against mine. I was helpless to hold him out. His mind was clouded with visions of the lover who had passed the virus to Jerry, a lover who had left him for a vampire, a lover Jerry himself had murdered in a fit of jealous rage. Jerry was seeing his death coming from the vampires he had wanted to kill, and he was not satisfied that he had extracted enough vengeance with the vampires he had already infected.
I could see Diane’s face over Jerry’s shoulder, and she was smiling.
Bill broke Jerry’s wrist.
He screamed and collapsed on the floor. The blood began surging into my head again, and I almost fainted. Malcolm picked Jerry up and carried him over to the couch as casually as if Jerry were a rolled-up rug. But Malcolm’s face was not as casual. I knew Jerry would be lucky if he died quickly.
Bill stepped in front of me, taking Jerry’s place. His fingers, the fingers that had just broken Jerry’s wrist, massaged my neck as gently as my grandmother’s would have done. He put a finger across my lips to make sure I knew to keep silent.
Then, his arm around me, he turned to face the other vampires.
“This has all been very entertaining,” Liam said. His voice was as cool as if Janella wasn’t giving him a truly intimate massage there on the couch. He hadn’t troubled himself to budge during the whole incident. He had newly visible tattoos I could never in this world have imagined. I was sick to my stomach. “But I think we should be driving back to Monroe. We have to have a little talk with Jerry when he wakes up, right, Malcolm?”
Malcolm heaved the unconscious Jerry over his shoulder and nodded at Liam. Diane looked disappointed.
“But fellas,” she protested. “We haven’t found out how this little gal knew.”
The two male vampires simultaneously switched their gaze to me. Quite casually, Liam took a second off to reach a climax. Yep, vampires could do it, all right. After a little sigh of completion, he said, “Thanks, Janella. That’s a good question, Malcolm. As usual, our Diane has cut to the quick.” And the three visiting vampires laughed as if that was a very good joke, but I thought it was a scary one.
“You can’t speak yet, can you, sweetheart?” Bill gave my shoulder a squeeze as he asked, as if I couldn’t get the hint.
I shook my head.
“I could probably make her talk,” Diane offered.
“Diane, you forget,” Bill said gently.
“Oh, yeah. She’s yours,” Diane said. But she didn’t sound cowed or convinced.
“We’ll have to visit some other time,” Bill said, and his voice made it clear the others had to leave or fight him.
Liam stood, zipped up his pants, gestured to his human woman. “Out, Janella, we’re being evicted.” The tattoos rippled across his heavy arms as he stretched. Janella ran her hands along his ribs as if she just couldn’t get enough of him, and he swatted her away as lightly as if she’d been a fly. She looked vexed, but not mortified as I would have been. This was not new treatment for Janella.
Malcolm picked up Jerry and carried him out the front door without a word. If drinking from Jerry had given him the virus, Malcolm was not yet impaired. Diane went last, slinging a purse over her shoulder and casting a bright-eyed glance behind her.
“I’ll leave you two lovebirds on your own, then. It’s been fun, honey,” she said lightly, and she slammed the door behind her.
The minute I heard the car start up outside, I fainted.
I’d never done so in my life, and I hoped never to again, but I felt I had some excuse.
I seemed to spend a lot of time around Bill unconscious. That was a crucial thought, and I knew it deserved a lot of pondering, but not just at that moment. When I came to, everything I’d seen and heard rushed back, and I gagged for real. Immediately Bill bent me over the edge of the couch. But I managed to keep my food down, maybe because there wasn’t much in my stomach.
“Do vampires act like that?” I whispered. My throat was sore and bruised where Jerry had squeezed it. “They were horrible.”
“I tried to catch you at the bar when I found out you weren’t at home,” Bill said. His voice was empty. “But you’d left.”
Though I knew it wouldn’t help a thing, I began crying. I was sure Jerry was dead by now, and I felt I should have done something about that, but I couldn’t have kept silent when he was about to infect Bill. So many things about this short episode had upset me so deeply that I didn’t know where to begin being upset. In maybe fifteen minutes I’d been in fear of my life, in fear for Bill’s life (well—existence), made to witness sex acts that should be strictly private, seen my potential sweetie in the throes of blood lust (emphasis on lust), and nearly been choked to death by a diseased hustler.
On second thought, I gave myself full permission to cry. I sat up and wept and mopped my face with a handkerchief Bill handed me. My curiosity about why a vampire would need a handkerchief was just a little flicker of normality, drenched by the flood of my nervous tears.
Bill had enough sense not to put his arms around me. He sat on the floor, and had the grace to keep his eyes averted while I mopped myself dry.
“When vampires live in nests,” he said suddenly, “they often become more cruel because they egg each other on. They see others like themselves constantly, and so they are reminded of how far from being human they are. They become laws unto themselves. Vampires like me, who live alone, are a little better reminded of their former humanity.”
I listened to his soft voice, going slowly through his thoughts as he made an attempt to explain the unexplainable to me.
“Sookie, our lif
e is seducing and taking and has been for centuries, for some of us. Synthetic blood and grudging human acceptance isn’t going to change that overnight—or over a decade. Diane and Liam and Malcolm have been together for fifty years.”
“How sweet,” I said, and my voice held something I’d never heard from myself before: bitterness. “Their golden wedding anniversary.”
“Can you forget about this?” Bill asked. His huge dark eyes came closer and closer. His mouth was about two inches from mine.
“I don’t know.” The words jerked out of me. “Do you know, I didn’t know if you could do it?”
His eyebrows rose interrogatively. “Do . . . ?”
“Get—” and I stopped, trying to think of a pleasant way to put it. I’d seen more crudity this evening than I’d seen in my lifetime, and I didn’t want to add to it. “An erection,” I said, avoiding his eyes.
“You know better now.” He sounded like he was trying not to be amused. “We can have sex, but we can’t make children or have them. Doesn’t it make you feel better, that Diane can’t have a baby?”
My fuses blew. I opened my eyes and looked at him steadily. “Don’t—you—laugh—at—me.”
“Oh, Sookie,” he said, and his hand rose to touch my cheek.
I dodged his hand and struggled to my feet. He didn’t help me, which was a good thing, but he sat on the floor watching me with a still, unreadable face. Bill’s fangs had retracted, but I knew he was still suffering from hunger. Too bad.
My purse was on the floor by the front door. I wasn’t walking very steadily, but I was walking. I pulled the list of electricians out of a pocket and lay it on a table.
“I have to go.”
He was in front of me suddenly. He’d done one of those vampire things again. “Can I kiss you good-bye?” he asked, his hands down at his sides, making it so obvious he wouldn’t touch me until I said green light.
“No,” I said vehemently. “I can’t stand it after them.”
“I’ll come see you.”
“Yes. Maybe.”
He reached past me to open the door, but I thought he was reaching for me, and I flinched.
I spun on my heel and almost ran to my car, tears blurring my vision again. I was glad the drive home was so short.
Chapter 3
THE PHONE WAS ringing. I pulled my pillow over my head. Surely Gran would get it? As the irritating noise persisted, I realized Gran must be gone shopping or outside working in the yard. I began squirming to the bed table, not happy but resigned. With the headache and regrets of someone who has a terrible hangover (though mine was emotional rather than alcohol induced) I stretched out a shaky hand and grabbed the receiver.
“Yes?” I asked. It didn’t come out quite right. I cleared my throat and tried again. “Hello?”
“Sookie?”
“Um-hum. Sam?”
“Yeah. Listen, cher, do me a favor?”
“What?” I was due to work today anyway, and I didn’t want to hold down Dawn’s shift and mine, too.
“Go by Dawn’s place, and see what she’s up to, would you? She won’t answer her phone, and she hasn’t come in. The delivery truck just pulled up, and I got to tell these guys where to put stuff.”
“Now? You want me to go now?” My old bed had never held on to me harder.
“Could you?” For the first time, he seemed to grasp my unusual mood. I had never refused Sam anything.
“I guess so,” I said, feeling tired all over again at the very idea. I wasn’t too crazy about Dawn, and she wasn’t too crazy about me. She was convinced I’d read her mind and told Jason something she’d been thinking about him, which had cause him to break up with her. If I took that kind of interest in Jason’s romances, I’d never have time to eat or sleep.
I showered and pulled on my work clothes, moving sluggishly. All my bounce had gone flat, like soda with the top left off. I ate cereal and brushed my teeth and told Gran where I was going when I tracked her down; she’d been outside planting petunias in a tub by the back door. She didn’t seem to understand exactly what I meant, but smiled and waved anyway. Gran was getting a little more deaf every week, but I realized that was no great wonder since she was seventy-eight. It was marvelous that she was so strong and healthy, and her brain was sound as a bell.
As I went on my unwelcome errand, I thought about how hard it must have been for Gran to raise two more children after she’d already raised her own. My father, her son, had died when I was seven and Jason ten. When I’d been twenty-three, Gran’s daughter, my Aunt Linda, had died of uterine cancer. Aunt Linda’s girl, Hadley, had vanished into the same subculture that had spawned the Rattrays even before Aunt Linda had passed away, and to this day we didn’t know if Hadley realizes her mother is dead. That was a lot of grief to get through, yet Gran had always been strong for us.
I peered through my windshield at the three small duplexes on one side of Berry Street, a run-down block or two that ran behind the oldest part of downtown Bon Temps. Dawn lived in one of them. I spotted her car, a green compact, in the driveway of one of the better-kept houses, and pulled in behind it. Dawn had already put a hanging basket of begonias by her front door, but they looked dry. I knocked.
I waited for a minute or two. I knocked again.
“Sookie, you need some help?” The voice sounded familiar. I turned around and shielded my eyes from the morning sun. Rene Lenier was standing by his pickup, parked across the street at one of the small frame houses that populated the rest of the neighborhood.
“Well,” I began, not sure if I needed help or not, or if I did that Rene could supply it. “Have you seen Dawn? She didn’t come to work today, and she never called in yesterday. Sam asked me to stop by.”
“Sam should come do his own dirty work,” Rene said, which perversely made me defend my boss.
“Truck came in, had to be unloaded.” I turned and knocked again. “Dawn,” I yelled. “Come let me in.” I looked down at the concrete porch. The pine pollen had begun falling two days ago. Dawn’s porch was solid yellow. Mine were the only footprints. My scalp began to prickle.
I barely registered the fact that Rene stood awkwardly by the door to his pickup, unsure whether to stay or go.
Dawn’s duplex was a one-story, quite small, and the door to the other half was just feet away from Dawn’s. Its little driveway was empty, and there were no curtains at the windows. It looked as though Dawn was temporarily out of a neighbor. Dawn had been proud enough to hang curtains, white with dark gold flowers. They were drawn, but the fabric was thin and unlined, and Dawn hadn’t shut the cheap one-inch aluminum blinds. I peered in and discovered the living room held only some flea-market furniture. A coffee mug sat on the table by a lumpy recliner and an old couch covered with a hand-crocheted afghan was pushed against the wall.
“I think I’ll go around back,” I called to Rene. He started across the street as though I’d given him a signal, and I stepped off the front porch. My feet brushed the dusty grass, yellow with pine pollen, and I knew I’d have to dust off my shoes and maybe change my socks before work. During pine pollen season, everything turns yellow. Cars, plants, roofs, windows, all are powdered with a golden haze. The ponds and pools of rainwater have yellow scum around the edges.
Dawn’s bathroom window was so discreetly high that I couldn’t see in. She’d lowered the blinds in the bedroom, but hadn’t closed them tightly. I could see a little through the slats. Dawn was in bed on her back. The bedclothes were tossed around wildly. Her legs were spraddled. Her face was swollen and discolored, and her tongue protruded from her mouth. There were flies crawling on it.
I could hear Rene coming up behind me.
“Go call the police,” I said.
“What you say, Sookie? You see her?”
“Go call the police!”
“Okay, okay!” Rene beat a hasty retreat.
Some female solidarity had made me not want Rene to see Dawn like that, without Dawn’s consent. And my
fellow waitress was far beyond consenting.
I stood with my back to the window, horribly tempted to look again in the futile hope I’d made a mistake the first time. Staring at the duplex next door to Dawn’s, maybe a scant six feet away, I wondered how its tenants could have avoided hearing Dawn’s death, which had been violent.
Here came Rene again. His weatherbeaten face was puckered into an expression of deep concern, and his bright brown eyes looked suspiciously shiney.
“Would you call Sam, too?” I asked. Without a word, he turned and trudged back to his place. He was being mighty good. Despite his tendency to gossip, Rene had always been one to help where he saw a need. I remembered him coming out to the house to help Jason hang Gran’s porch swing, a random memory of a day far different from this.
The duplex next door was just like Dawn’s, so I was looking directly at its bedroom window. Now a face appeared, and the window was raised. A tousled head poked out. “What you doing, Sookie Stackhouse?” asked a slow, deep, male voice. I peered at him for a minute, finally placing the face, while trying not to look too closely at the fine, bare chest underneath.
“JB?”
“Sure thing.”
I’d gone to high school with JB du Rone. In fact, some of my few dates had been with JB, who was lovely but so simple that he didn’t care if I read his mind or not. Even under today’s circumstances, I could appreciate JB’s beauty. When your hormones have been held in check as long as mine, it doesn’t take much to set them off. I heaved a sigh at the sight of JB’s muscular arms and pectorals.
“What you doing out here?” he asked again.
“Something bad seems to have happened to Dawn,” I said, not knowing if I should tell him or not. “My boss sent me here to look for her when she didn’t come to work.”
“She in there?” JB simply scrambled out of the window. He had some shorts on, cut-offs.
“Please don’t look,” I asked, holding up my hand and without warning I began crying. I was doing that a lot lately, too. “She looks so awful, JB.”
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