Dead in the Family

large square coffee table with inlaid woodwork on the top and elaborately carved legs. The table was scattered with things Eric had been enjoying recently: the manuscript of a book about the Vikings that he’d been asked to endorse, a heavy jade cigarette lighter (though he didn’t smoke), and a beautiful silver bowl with a deep blue enamel interior. I always found his selections interesting. My own house was kind of . . . cumulative. In fact, I hadn’t picked out anything in it but the kitchen cabinets and appliances—but my house was the history of my family. Eric’s house was the history of Eric.
    I brushed a finger across the inlaid wood. “Day before yesterday,” I began, “I got a call from Alcide Herveaux.”
    I wasn’t imagining that the two vampires had a reaction to my news. It was minute (most vampires aren’t given to extravagant expressions), but it was definitely there. Eric leaned forward, inviting me to continue my account. I did, telling them that I’d also met some of the new additions to the Long Tooth pack, including Basim and Annabelle.
    “I’ve seen this Basim,” Pam said. I looked at her with some surprise. “He came to Fangtasia one night with another Were, another new one . . . that Annabelle, the brown-haired woman. She’s Alcide’s new . . . squeeze.”
    Though I’d suspected as much, it was still a little astonishing to me. “She must have hidden assets,” I said, before I thought.
    Eric raised an eyebrow. “Not what you thought Alcide would pick, my lover?”
    “I liked Maria-Star,” I said. Like so many other people I’d met in the past two years, Alcide’s previous girlfriend had met an awful end. I’d grieved for her.
    “But before that, he had long associated with Debbie Pelt,” Eric said, and I had to struggle to control my face. “You can see that Alcide’s catholic in his pleasures,” Eric continued. “He carried the torch for you, didn’t he?” Eric’s slight accent made the outmoded phrase sound exotic. “From a true bitch, to a startling talent, to a sweet photographer, to a tough girl who doesn’t mind visiting a vampire bar. Alcide has very variable taste in women.”
    That was true. I’d never put it together before.
    “He sent Annabelle and Basim to the club for a purpose. Have you been reading the newspapers lately?” Pam asked.
    “No,” I said. “I’ve been enjoying not reading the papers.”
    “Congress is thinking of passing a bill requiring all the werewolves and shifters to register. Legislation and issues regarding them would then fall under the Bureau of Vampire Affairs, as laws and lawsuits pertaining to us, the undead, do now.” Pam was looking very grim.
    I almost said, “But that’s not right !” Then I understood how that would sound—as if I thought it was okay to require the vampires to register, but Weres and shifters shouldn’t have to. Thank God I didn’t open my mouth.
    “Not too surprisingly, the Weres are furious about this. In fact, Alcide has told me himself that he thinks the government has sent people to spy on his pack, the idea being that they would then give some kind of secret report to the people in Congress who are considering this bill. He doesn’t believe it’s only his pack that’s being singled out. Alcide has good sense.” Eric sounded approving. “But he believes he’s being watched.”
    Now I understood why Alcide had been so concerned about the people camping on his land. He’d suspected they weren’t what they appeared to be.
    “It would be awful to think your own government was spying on you,” I said. “Especially after you’d been thinking of yourself as a regular citizen your entire life.” The enormity of the impact of this piece of legislation was still sinking in. Instead of being a respected and wealthy citizen in Shreveport, Alcide (and the other members of his pack) would become like . . . illegal aliens. “Where would they have to register? Could the kids still go to school with all the other children? What about the men and women at Barksdale Air Force Base? After all these years! Do you think the bill really has a chance of passing?”
    Pam said, “The Weres believe it does. Maybe it’s paranoia. Maybe they’ve heard something through the members of Congress who are two-natured. Maybe they know something we don’t know. Alcide sent this Annabelle and Basim al Saud to tell me they might be in the same boat with us soon. They wanted to know about the area