Dead Reckoning

back-and-forth with a little light conversation.
    “How are the new vamps working out?” I said.
    “They come in when they’re supposed to and put in their bar time,” he said unenthusiastically. Three vampires who’d ended up in Eric’s area after Katrina had asked Eric for permission to stay in Area Five, though they wanted to nest in Minden, not Shreveport itself.
    “What’s wrong with them?” I said. “You don’t seem very excited about the addition to your ranks.” I slid into my seat. Eric walked around the car.
    “Palomino does well enough,” he admitted grudgingly as he got in on the driver’s side. “But Rubio is stupid, and Parker is weak.”
    I didn’t know the three well enough to debate that. Palomino, who went by one name, was an attractive young vampire with freaky coloring—her skin was a natural tan tone, while her hair was pale blond. Rubio Hermosa was handsome, but—I had to agree with Eric—he was dim and never had much to say for himself. Parker was as nerdy in death as he had been in life, and though he’d improved the Fangtasia computer systems, he seemed scared of his own shadow.
    “You want to talk to me about the argument between you and Pam?” I asked once I’d buckled up. Instead of his Corvette, Eric had brought Fangtasia’s Lincoln Town Car. It was incredibly comfortable, and given the way he drove when he was in the Vette, I was always glad when we had an evening out in the Lincoln.
    “No,” said Eric. He was instantly brooding and emanating worry.
    I waited for him to elaborate.
    I waited some more.
    “All right,” I said, trying hard to regain my sense of pleasure in being out on a date with a gorgeous man. “Okeydokey. Have it your way. But I think the sex will be a few degrees less spectacular if I’m worried about you and Pam.”
    That bit of levity earned me a dark look.
    “I know that Pam wants to make another vampire,” I said. “I understand there’s a time element involved.”
    “Immanuel shouldn’t have talked,” Eric said.
    “It was nice to have someone actually share information with me, information directly pertaining to people I care about.” Did I have to draw a picture?
    “Sookie, Victor has said I can’t give permission for Pam to make a child.” Eric’s jaw snapped shut like a steel trap.
    Oh. “Kings have control over reproduction, I guess,” I said cautiously.
    “Yes. Absolute control. But you understand that Pam is giving me hell about this, and so is Victor.”
    “Victor isn’t a king, really, is he? Maybe if you went directly to Felipe?”
    “Every time I bypass Victor, he finds a way to punish me.”
    There was no point in talking about it. Eric was being pulled in two different directions as it was.
    So on the way to Victor’s club, which Eric said was called Vampire’s Kiss, we talked about the visit of the antiques dealers the next day. There were lots of things I would have liked to discuss, but in view of Eric’s overwhelmingly difficult position, I didn’t want to bring up my own problems. Plus, I still had the feeling that I didn’t know everything there was to know about Eric’s situation.
    “Eric,” I said, and knew I was speaking too abruptly and with too much intensity. “You don’t tell me everything about your business, am I right?”
    “You’re right,” he said, without missing a beat. “But that’s for many reasons, Sookie. Most important is that some of it you could only worry about, and the rest of it might put you in danger. Knowledge isn’t always power.” I pressed my lips together and refused to look at him. Childish, I know, but I didn’t completely believe him.
    After a moment of silence, he added, “There’s also the fact that I’m not used to sharing my daily concerns with a human, and it’s hard to break the habit after a thousand years.”
    Right. And none of those secrets involved my future. Right. Evidently, Eric read my stony self-possession as grudging acceptance, because he decided our tense moment was over.
    “But you tell me everything, my lover, don’t you?” he asked teasingly.
    I glared at him and didn’t answer.
    That wasn’t what Eric had expected. “You don’t?” he asked, and I couldn’t figure out everything that was in his voice. Disappointment, concern, a touch of anger . . . and a dash of excitement. That was a lot to pack into a couple of words, but I swear it was all there. “That’s an unexpected twist,” he murmured. “And yet,