All Together Dead

who started it,” he said. “The king did his best to trap the queen in an indiscretion, but he didn’t, thanks to our Sookie. When his plot didn’t work, he resorted to a simple frontal attack.” Eric added, “I haven’t seen Jennifer in twenty years. She’s risen fast. She must be ruthless.”
    Andre had stepped to my right and within my line of vision, which was a relief. He nodded. Again, all the vampires in the room made a little group movement, not quite in unison but eerily close. I had seldom felt so alien: the only warmblood in a room full of animated dead creatures.
    “Yes,” Andre said. “Ordinarily the queen would want a full contingent there to support her. But since we’re forced to practice economy, the numbers going have been cut.” Again, Andre came near enough to touch me, just a brush of my cheek.
    The idea triggered a kind of mini-revelation: This was how it felt to be a normal person. I hadn’t the slightest idea of the true intentions and plans of my companions. This was how real people lived every day of their lives. It was frightening but exciting; a lot like walking through a crowded room blindfolded. How did regular people stand the suspense of day-to-day living?
    “The queen wants this woman close to her in meetings, since other humans will be there,” Andre continued. He was speaking strictly to Eric. The rest of us might as well not have been in the room. “She wants to know their thoughts. Stan is bringing his telepath. Do you know the man?”
    “I’m sitting right here,” I muttered, not that anyone paid any attention but Pam, who gave me a sunny smile. Then, with all those cold eyes fixed on me, I realized that they were waiting for me, that Andre had been addressing me directly. I’d become so used to the vamps talking over and around me that I’d been taken by surprise. I mentally replayed Andre’s remarks until I understood he was asking me a question.
    “I’ve only met one other telepath in my life, and he was living in Dallas, so I’m supposing it’s the same guy—Barry the Bellboy. He was working at the vamp hotel in Dallas when I picked up on his, ah, gift.”
    “What do you know about him?”
    “He’s younger than me, and he’s weaker than me—or at least he was at the time. He’d never accepted what he was, the way that I had.” I shrugged. That was the sum total of my knowledge.
    “Sookie will be there,” Eric told Andre. “She is the best at what she does.”
    That was flattering, though I faintly recalled Eric saying he’d encountered only one telepath previously. It was also infuriating, since he was implying to Andre that my excellence was to Eric’s credit instead of my own.
    Though I was looking forward to seeing something outside of my little town, I found myself wishing I could think of a way to back out of the trip to Rhodes. But months ago I’d agreed to attend this vampire summit as a paid employee of the queen’s. And for the past month, I’d been working long hours at Merlotte’s Bar to bank enough time so the other barmaids wouldn’t mind covering for me for a week. My boss, Sam, had been helping me keep track of my overage with a little chart.
    “Clancy will stay here to run the bar,” Eric said.
    “This human gets to go while I have to remain?” the red-haired manager said. He was really, really unhappy with Eric’s decision. “I won’t get to see any of the fun.”
    “That’s right,” Eric said pleasantly. If Clancy had thought of saying something else negative, he took one look at Eric’s face and clamped down on it. “Felicia will stay to help you. Bill, you will stay.”
    “No,” said that calm, cool voice from the corner. “The queen requires me. I worked hard on that database, and she’s asked me to market it at the summit to help recoup her losses.”
    Eric looked like a statue for a minute, and then he moved, a little lift of his eyebrows. “Yes, I’d forgotten your computer skills,” he said. He might have been saying, “Oh, I’d forgotten you can spell cat ,” for all the interest or respect he showed. “I suppose you need to be with us, then. Maxwell?”
    “If it’s your will, I will stay.” Maxwell Lee wanted to make it clear that he knew a thing or two about being a good underling. He glanced around at the assemblage to underscore his point.
    Eric nodded. I guessed that Maxwell would get a nice toy for Christmas, and Bill—whoops, Nameless—would get ashes and switches.