Patrick Furnan was the last person Crystal reached. “Why, of course I know you,” he said heartily, beaming at me as if we’d danced at a wedding together. “This here’s Alcide’s girlfriend,” he said, making sure he was heard by everyone in the room. “Alcide’s the son of the other candidate for packmaster.”
There was long silence, which I would definitely characterize as “charged.”
“You’re mistaken,” I said in a normal conversational tone. “Alcide and I are friends.” I smiled at him in such a way as to let him know he better not be alone with me in an alley anytime soon.
“My mistake,” he said, smooth as silk.
Calvin was receiving a hero’s welcome home. There were balloons and banners and flowers and plants, and his house was meticulously clean. The kitchen had been full of food. Now Maryelizabeth stepped forward, turned her back to cut Patrick Furnan dead, and said, “Come this way, honey. Calvin’s ready to see you.” If she’d had a trumpet handy, she’d have blown a flourish on it. Maryelizabeth was not a subtle woman, though she had a deceptive air of mystery due to her wide-spaced golden eyes.
I guess I could have been more uncomfortable, if there’d been a bed of red-hot coals to walk on.
Maryelizabeth ushered me into Calvin’s bedroom. His furniture was very nice, with spare, clean lines. It looked Scandinavian, though I know little about furniture—or style, for that matter. He had a high bed, a queen-size, and he was propped up in it against sheets with an African motif of hunting leopards. (Someone had a sense of humor, anyway.) Against the deep colors in the sheets and the deep orange of the bedspread, Calvin looked pale. He was wearing brown pajamas, and he looked exactly like a man who’d just been released from the hospital. But he was glad to see me. I found myself thinking there was something a bit sad about Calvin Norris, something that touched me despite myself.
“Come sit,” he said, indicating the bed. He moved over a little so I’d have room to perch. I guess he’d made some signal, because the man and the woman who’d been in the room—Dixie and Dixon—silently eased out through the door, shutting it behind them.
I perched, a little uneasily, on the bed beside him. He had one of those tables you most often see in hospitals, the kind that can be rolled across the bed. There was a glass of ice tea and a plate on it, steam rising from the food. I gestured that he should begin. He bowed his head and said a silent prayer while I sat quietly. I wondered to whom the prayer was addressed.
“Tell me about it,” Calvin said as he unfolded his napkin, and that made me a lot more comfortable. He ate while I told him what had happened in the alley. I noticed that the food on the tray was the chicken-and-rice casserole I’d brought, with a dab of mixed vegetable casserole and two of my biscuits. He wanted me to see that he was eating the food I’d prepared for him. I was touched, which sounded a warning bell at the back of my brain.
“So, without Dawson, there’s no telling what would’ve happened,” I concluded. “I thank you for sending him. How is he?”
Calvin said, “Hanging on. They airlifted him from Grainger to Baton Rouge. He would be dead, if he wasn’t a Were. He’s lasted this long; I think he’ll make it.”
I felt terrible.
“Don’t go blaming yourself for this,” Calvin said, his voice suddenly sounding deeper. “This is Dawson’s choice.”
“Huh?” would’ve sounded ignorant, so I said, “How so?”
“His choice of professions. His choice of actions. Maybe he should have leaped for her a few seconds earlier. Why’d he wait? I don’t know. How’d she know to aim low, given the poor light? I don’t know. Choices lead to consequences.” Calvin was struggling to express something. He was not naturally an articulate man, and he was trying to convey a thought both important and abstract. “There’s no blame,” he said finally.
“It would be nice to believe that, and I hope some day I do,” I said. “Maybe I’m on my way to believing it.” It was true that I was sick of self-blame and second-guessing.
“I suspect the Weres are going to invite you to their little packleader shindig,” Calvin said. He took my hand. His was warm and dry.
I nodded.
“I bet you’ll go,” he said.
“I think I have to,” I said uneasily, wondering what his goal was.
“I’m not going to tell you what to do,” Calvin said. “I have no authority over you.” He didn’t sound too happy about that. “But if you go, please watch your back. Not for my sake; that don’t mean nothing to you, yet. But for yourself.”
“I can promise that,” I said after a careful pause. Calvin was not a guy to whom you blurted the first idea in your head. He was a serious man.
Calvin gave me one of his rare smiles. “You’re a damn fine cook,” he said. I smiled back.
“Thank you, sir,” I said, and got up. His hand tightened on mine and pulled. You don’t fight a man who’s just gotten out of the hospital, so I bent toward him and laid my cheek to his lips.
“No,” he said, and when I turned a little to find out what was wrong, he kissed me on the lips.
Frankly, I expected to feel nothing. But his lips were as warm and dry as his hands, and he smelled like my cooking, familiar and homey. It was surprising, and surprisingly comfortable, to be so close to Calvin Norris. I backed off a little, and I am sure my face showed the mild shock I felt. The werepanther smiled and released my hand.
“The good thing about being in the hospital was you coming to see me,” he said. “Don’t be a stranger now that I’m home.”
“Of course not,” I said, ready to be out of the room so I could regain my composure.
The outer room had emptied of most of its crowd while I talked to Calvin. Crystal and Jason had vanished, and Maryelizabeth was gathering up plates with the help of an adolescent werepanther. “Terry,” Maryelizabeth said with a sideways inclination of her head. “My daughter. We live next door.”
I nodded to the girl, who gave me a darting look before turning back to her task. She was not a fan of mine. She was from the fairer bloodstock, like Maryelizabeth and Calvin, and she was a thinker. “Are you going to marry my dad?” she asked me.
“I’m not planning on marrying anyone,” I said cautiously. “Who’s your dad?”
Maryelizabeth gave Terry a sidelong look that promised Terry she’d be sorry later. “Terry is Calvin’s,” she said.
I was still puzzled for a second or two, but suddenly, the stance of both the younger and the older woman, their tasks, their air of comfort in this house, clicked into place.
I didn’t say a word. My face must have shown something, for Maryelizabeth looked alarmed, and then angry.
“Don’t presume to judge how we live our life,” she said. “We are not like you.”
“That’s true,” I said, swallowing my revulsion. I forced a smile to my lips. “Thank you for introducing me around. I appreciate it. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“We can take care of it,” said Terry, giving me another look that was a strange combination of respect and hostility.
“We should never have sent you to school,” Maryelizabeth said to the girl. Her wide-spaced golden eyes were both loving and regretful.
“Good-bye,” I said, and after I recovered my coat, I left the house, trying not to hurry. To my dismay, Patrick Furnan was waiting for me beside my car. He was holding a motorcycle helmet under his arm, and I spotted the Harley a little farther down the road.
“You interested in hearing what I’ve got to say?” the bearded Were asked.
“No, actually not,” I told him.
“He’s not going to keep on helping you out for nothing,” Furnan said, and my whole head snapped around so I could look at this man.
“What are you talking about?”
“A thank-you and a kiss ain’t going to hold him. He’s going to demand payment sooner or later. Won’t be able to help it.”
“I don’t recall asking you for advice,” I said. He stepped cl
oser. “And you keep your distance.” I let my gaze roam to the houses surrounding us. The watchful gaze of the community was full upon us; I could feel its weight.
“Sooner or later,” Furnan repeated. He grinned at me suddenly. “I hope it’s sooner. You can’t two-time a Were, you know. Or a panther. You’ll get ripped to shreds between ’em.”
“I’m not two-timing anyone,” I said, frustrated almost beyond bearing at his insistence that he knew my love life better than I did. “I’m not dating either of them.”
“Then you have no protection,” he said triumphantly.
I just couldn’t win.
“Go to hell,” I said, completely exasperated. I got in my car and drove away, letting my eyes glide over the Were as if he weren’t there. (This “abjure” concept could come in handy.) The last thing I saw in my rearview mirror was Patrick Furnan sliding his helmet on, still watching my retreating car.
If I hadn’t really cared who won the King of the Mountain contest between Jackson Herveaux and Patrick Furnan, I did now.
15
I WAS WASHING THE DISHES I’D USED AS I COOKED FOR Calvin. My little duplex was peaceful. If Halleigh was home, she was being quiet as a mouse. I didn’t mind washing dishes, to tell you the truth. It was a good time to let my mind drift around, and often I made good decisions while I was doing something completely mundane. Not too surprisingly, I was thinking of the night before. I was trying to remember exactly what Sweetie had said. Something about it had struck me wrong, but at the moment I hadn’t exactly been in a position to raise my hand to ask a question. It had something to do with Sam.
I finally recalled that though she’d told Andy Bellefleur that the dog in the alley was a shapeshifter, she hadn’t known it was Sam. There wasn’t anything strange about that, since Sam had been in a bloodhound shape, not his usual collie form.
After I’d realized what had been bothering me, I thought my mind would be at peace. That didn’t happen. There was something else—something else Sweetie had said. I thought and thought, but it just wouldn’t pop to the top of my brain.
To my surprise, I found myself calling Andy Bellefleur at home. His sister Portia was just as surprised as I was when she answered, and she said rather coldly that she’d find Andy.
“Yes, Sookie?” Andy sounded neutral.
“Let me ask a question, Andy.”
“I’ll listen.”
“When Sam was shot,” I said, and paused, trying to figure out what to say.
“Okay,” Andy said. “What about it?”
“Is it true that the bullet didn’t match the others?”
“We didn’t retrieve a bullet in every case.” Not a direct answer, but probably as good as I was going to get.
“Hmmm. Okay,” I said, then thanked him and hung up, uncertain if I’d learned what I wanted or not. I had to push it out of my mind and do something else. If there was a question there, it would eventually work its way to the top of the heap of the issues that burdened my thoughts.
What remained of the evening was quiet, which was getting to be a rare pleasure. With so little house to clean, and so little yard to care for, there would be lots of free hours to come. I read for an hour, worked a crossword puzzle, and went to bed at about eleven.
Amazingly, no one woke me all night. No one died, there weren’t any fires, and no one had to alert me to any emergency.
The next morning I rose feeling better than I had in a week. A glance at the clock told me I’d slept all the way through to ten o’clock. Well, that wasn’t so surprising. My shoulder felt nearly healed; my conscience had settled itself. I didn’t think I had many secrets to keep, and that was a tremendous relief. I was used to keeping other people’s secrets, but not my own.
The phone rang as I swallowed the last of my morning coffee. I put my paperback facedown on the kitchen table to mark my place and got up to answer it. “Hello,” I said cheerfully.
“It’s today,” Alcide said, voice vibrating with excitement. “You need to come.”
Thirty minutes my peace had lasted. Thirty minutes.
“I’m guessing you mean the contest for the position of packmaster.”
“Of course.”
“And I need to be there why?”
“You need to be there because the entire pack and all friends of the pack have to be there,” Alcide said, his voice brooking no dissent. “Christine especially thought you should be a witness.”
I might have argued if he hadn’t added the bit about Christine. The wife of the former packmaster had struck me as a very intelligent woman with a cool head.
“All right,” I said, trying not to sound grumpy. “Where and when?”
“At noon, be at the empty building at 2005 Clairemont. It used to be David & Van Such, the printing company.”
I got a few directions and hung up. While I showered, I reasoned that this was a sporting event, so I dressed in my old denim skirt with a long-sleeved red tee. I pulled on some red tights (the skirt was quite short) and some black Mary Janes. They were a little scuffed, so I hoped that Christine would not look down at my shoes. I tucked my silver cross into my shirt; the religious significance wouldn’t bother the Weres at all, but the silver might.
The defunct printing company of David & Van Such had been in a very modern building, in an equally modern industrial park, largely deserted this Saturday. All the businesses had been constructed to match: low gray stone and dark glass edifices, with crepe myrtle bushes all around, grass medians, and nice curbing. David & Van Such featured an ornamental bridge over an ornamental pond, and a red front door. In the spring, and after some restorative maintenance, it would be as pretty as a modern business building could get. Today, in the fading phase of winter, the dead weeds that had grown high during the previous summer waved in a chilly breeze. The skeletal crepe myrtles needed pruning back, and the water in the pond looked stagnant, with trash floating dismally here and there. The David & Van Such parking lot contained about thirty cars, including—ominously—an ambulance.
Though I wore a jacket, the day suddenly seemed colder as I went from the parking lot and across the bridge to the front door. I was sorry I’d left my heavier coat at home, but it hadn’t seemed worth bringing for a brief run between enclosed spaces. The glass front of David & Van Such, broken only by the red door, reflected the clear pale blue sky and the dead grass.
It didn’t seem right to knock at a business door, so I slipped inside. Two people were ahead of me, having crossed the now-empty reception area. They passed through plain gray double doors. I followed them, wondering what I was getting into.
We entered what had been the manufacturing area, I suppose; the huge presses were long gone. Or maybe this cavern of a room had been full of desks manned by clerks taking orders or doing accounting work. Skylights in the roof let in some illumination. There was a cluster of people close to the middle of the space.
Well, I hadn’t gotten the clothes thing right. The women were mostly wearing nicer pants outfits, and I glimpsed a dress here and there. I shrugged. Who could have known?
There were a few people in the crowd I hadn’t seen at the funeral. I nodded at a red-haired Were named Amanda (I knew her from the Witch War), and she nodded back. I was surprised to spot Claudine and Claude. The twins looked marvelous, as always. Claudine was wearing a deep green sweater and black pants, and Claude was wearing a black sweater and deep green pants. The effect was striking. Since the two fairies were the only obvious non-Weres in attendance, I went to stand with them.
Claudine bent and kissed me on the cheek, and so did Claude. Their kisses felt exactly the same.
“What’s going to happen?” I whispered the question because the group was abnormally quiet. I could see things hanging from the ceiling, but in the poor light I couldn’t imagine what they were.
“There will be several tests,” Claudine murmured. “You’re not much of a screamer, right?”
I never had been, but I wondered if I’d br
eak new ground today.
A door opened on the far side of the room, and Jackson Herveaux and Patrick Furnan came in. They were naked. Having seen very few men naked, I didn’t have much basis for comparison, but I have to say that these two Weres weren’t my ideal. Jackson, though certainly fit, was an older man with skinny legs, and Patrick (though he, too, looked strong and muscular) was barrel-like in form.
After I’d adjusted to the nakedness of the men, I noticed that each was accompanied by another Were. Alcide followed his father, and a young blond man trailed Patrick. Alcide and the blond Were remained fully clothed. “It would’ve been nice if they’d been naked, huh?” Claudine whispered, nodding at the younger men. “They’re the seconds.”
Like in a duel. I looked to see if they carried pistols or swords, but their hands were empty.
I noticed Christine only when she went to the front of the crowd. She reached above her head and clapped her hands one time. There hadn’t been much chatter before this, but now the huge space fell completely silent. The delicate woman with her silver hair commanded all attention.
She consulted a booklet before she began. “We meet to discern the next leader of the Shreveport pack, also called the Long Tooth pack. To be the leader of the pack, these Weres must compete in three tests.” Christine paused to look down at the book.
Three was a good mystical number. I would have expected three.
I hoped none of these tests involved blood. Fat chance.
“The first test is the test of agility.” Christine gestured behind her at a roped-off area. It looked like a giant playground in the dim light. “Then the test of endurance.” She pointed at a carpeted area to her left. “Then the test of might in battle.” She waved a hand at a structure behind her.
So much for no blood.
“Then the winner must mate with another Were, to ensure the survival of the pack.”
I sure hoped part four would be symbolic. After all, Patrick Furnan had a wife, who was standing apart with a group that was definitely pro-Patrick.
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