Dead to the World

without a shirt or shoes?” I asked, thinking it was time to get down to brass tacks.
    Much exchanging of glances between the two subordinates. I looked down at Eric, pressed up against my legs. He seemed to be as interested in the answer as we were. His hand firmly circled my ankle. I felt like a large security blanket.
    Chow decided to take a narrative turn. “We told them we would discuss their threat. But last night, when we went to work, one of the lesser witches was waiting at Fangtasia with an alternative proposal.” He looked a little uncomfortable. “During our initial meeting, the head of the coven, Hallow, decided she, uh, lusted after Eric. Such a coupling is very frowned upon among witches, you understand, since we are dead and witchcraft is supposed to be so . . . organic.” Chow spat the word out like it was something stuck to his shoe. “Of course, most witches would never do what this coven was attempting. These are all people drawn to the power itself, rather than to the religion behind it.”
    This was interesting, but I wanted to hear the rest of the story. So did Jason, who made a “hurry along” gesture with his hand. With a little shake to himself, as if to rouse himself from his thoughts, Chow went on. “This head witch, this Hallow, told Eric, through her subordinate, that if he would entertain her for seven nights, she would only demand a fifth of his business, rather than a half.”
    “You must have some kind of reputation,” my brother said to Eric, his voice full of honest awe. Eric was not entirely successful at hiding his pleased expression. He was glad to hear he was such a Romeo. There was a slight difference in the way he looked up at me in the next moment, and I had a feeling of horrid inevitability—like when you see your car begin to roll downhill (though you’re sure you left it in park), and you know there’s no way you can catch up to it and put on the brakes, no matter how much you want to. That car is gonna crash.
    “Though some of us thought he might be wise to agree, our master balked,” Chow said, shooting “our master” a less than loving glance. “And our master saw fit to refuse in such insulting terms that Hallow cursed him.”
    Eric looked embarrassed.
    “Why on earth would you turn down a deal like that?” Jason asked, honestly puzzled.
    “I don’t remember,” Eric said, moving fractionally closer to my legs. Fractionally was all the closer he could get. He looked relaxed, but I knew he wasn’t. I could feel the tension in his body. “I didn’t know my name until this woman, Sookie, told me it.”
    “And how did you come to be out in the country?”
    “I don’t know that either.”
    “He just vanished from where he was,” Pam said. “We were sitting in the office with the young witch, and Chow and I were arguing with Eric about his refusal. And then we weren’t.”
    “Ring any bells, Eric?” I asked. I’d caught myself reaching out to stroke his hair, like I would a dog that was huddling close to me.
    The vampire looked puzzled. Though Eric’s English was excellent, every now and then an idiom would faze him.
    “Do you recall anything about this?” I said, more plainly. “Have any memories of it?”
    “I was born the moment I was running down the road in the dark and the cold,” he said. “Until you took me in, I was a void.”
    Put that way, it sounded terrifying.
    “This just doesn’t track,” I said. “This wouldn’t just happen out of the blue, with no warning.”
    Pam didn’t look offended, but Chow tried to make the effort.
    “You two did something, didn’t you? You messed up. What did you do?” Both Eric’s arms wrapped around my legs, so I was pinned in place. I suppressed a little ripple of panic. He was just insecure.
    “Chow lost his temper with the witch,” Pam said, after a significant pause.
    I closed my eyes. Even Jason seemed to grasp what Pam was saying, because his eyes got bigger. Eric turned his face to rub his cheek along my thigh. I wondered what he was making of this.
    “And the minute she was attacked, Eric vanished?” I asked.
    Pam nodded.
    “So she was booby-trapped with a spell.”
    “Apparently,” Chow said. “Though I had never heard of such a thing, and I can’t be held responsible.” His glare dared me to say anything.
    I turned to Jason and rolled my eyes. Dealing with Chow’s blunder was not my responsibility. I was pretty sure that if the whole story was told to the