All Together Dead

Exquisitely decorated suites on the highest levels, blah blah blah. Staff thoroughly trained in vampires’ needs. Does that mean they’re all willing to be blood donors or fuck buddies?”
    Amelia was so cynical. But now that I knew who her father was, that kind of made sense.
    “I’d like to see the very top room, the tip of the pyramid,” I said.
    “Can’t. It says here that that’s not a real guest floor. It’s actually where all the air conditioner stuff is.”
    “Well, hell. Time to go,” I said, glancing at my watch.
    “Oh, yeah.” Amelia stared gloomily at the screen.
    “I’ll only be gone a week,” I said. Amelia was definitely a person who didn’t like to be by herself. We went downstairs and carried my bags to the car.
    “I got the hotel number to call in case of emergency. I got your cell phone number, too. You pack your charger?” She maneuvered down the long gravel driveway and out onto Hummingbird Road. We’d go right around Bon Temps to get to the interstate.
    “Yeah.” And my toothbrush and toothpaste, my razor, my deodorant, my hair dryer (just in case), my makeup, all my new clothes and some extras, lots of shoes, a sleeping outfit, Amelia’s traveling alarm clock, underwear, a little jewelry, an extra purse, and two paperbacks. “Thanks for loaning me the suitcase.” Amelia had contributed her bright red roller bag and a matching garment bag, plus a carry-on I’d crammed with a book, a crossword puzzle compendium, a portable CD player, and a headset, plus a small CD case.
    We didn’t talk much on the drive. I was thinking how strange it was going to be, leaving Amelia alone in my family home. There had been Stackhouses in residence on the site for over a hundred and seventy years.
    Our sporadic conversation died by the time we neared the airport. There didn’t seem to be anything else to be said. We were right by the main Shreveport terminal, but we were going to a small private hangar. If Eric hadn’t booked an Anubis charter plane weeks ago, he would’ve been up a creek, because the summit was definitely taxing Anubis’s capabilities. All the states involved were sending delegations, and a big hunk of Middle America, from the Gulf to the Canadian border, was included in the American Central division.
    A few months ago, Louisiana would have needed two planes. Now one would suffice, especially since a few of the party had gone ahead. I’d read the list of missing vampires after the meeting at Fangtasia, and to my regret, Melanie and Chester had been on it. I’d met them at the queen’s New Orleans headquarters, and though we hadn’t had time to become bosom buddies or anything, they’d seemed like good vamps.
    There was a guard at the gate in the fence enclosing the hangar, and he checked my driver’s license and Amelia’s before he let us in. He was a regular human off-duty cop, but he seemed competent and alert. “Turn to the right, and there’s parking by the door in the east wall,” he said.
    Amelia leaned forward a little as she drove, but the door was easy enough to see, and there were other cars parked there. It was about ten in the morning, and there was a touch of cool in the air, just below the surface warmth. It was an early breath of fall. After the hot, hot summer, it was just blissful. It would be cooler in Rhodes, Pam had said. She’d checked the temperatures for the coming week on the Internet and called me to tell me to pack a sweater. She’d sounded almost excited, which was a big deal for Pam. I’d been getting the impression that Pam was a wee bit restless, a bit tired of Shreveport and the bar. Maybe it was just me.
    Amelia helped me unload the suitcases. Amelia had had to take a number of spells off the red Samsonite before she could hand it over to me. I hadn’t asked what would have happened if she’d forgotten. I pulled up the handle on the rolling bag and slung the carry-on bag across my shoulder. Amelia took the hanging bag and opened the door.
    I’d never been in an airplane hangar before, but it was just like the ones in the movies: cavernous. There were a few small planes parked inside, but we proceeded as Pam had instructed to the large opening in the west wall. The Anubis Air jet was parked outside, and the coffins were being loaded onto the luggage belt by the uniformed Anubis employees. They all wore black relieved only by a stylized jackal’s head on the chest of the uniform, an affectation that I found irritating.