Dead to the World

short of sensational. In the improved lighting of the bar, I could see that Claudine’s strategically rounded body was packed into an orange knit dress, and her long legs ended in the highest of high heels. She looked like a scrumptious slut, super-sized.
    Nope, she couldn’t be an angel—at least, as I understood angels.
    Looking from Claudine to Pam, I decided it was massively unfair that they looked so clean and appealing. Like I needed to feel unattractive, in addition to being worn out and scared and confused! Doesn’t every gal want to walk into a room side by side with a gorgeous woman who practically has “I want to fuck” tattooed on her forehead? If I hadn’t caught a glimpse of Sam, whom I’d dragged into this whole thing, I would’ve turned around and walked right out.
    “Claudine,” said Colonel Flood. “What brings you here?”
    Pam and Gerald were both staring at the woman in orange intently, as if they expected her to take off her clothes any second.
    “My girl, here”—and Claudine inclined her head toward me—“fell asleep at the wheel. How come you aren’t watching out for her better?”
    The colonel, as dignified in his civvies as he had been in his skin, looked a little startled, as if it was news to him that he was supposed to provide protection for me. “Ah,” he said. “Uh . . .”
    “Should have sent someone to the hospital with her,” Claudine said, shaking her waterfall of black hair.
    “I offered to go with her,” Eric said indignantly. “She said it would be too suspicious if she went to the hospital with a vampire.”
    “Well, hel-lo, tall, blond, and dead, ” Claudine said. She looked Eric up and down, admiring what she saw. “You in the habit of doing what human women ask of you?”
    Thanks a lot, Claudine, I told her silently. I was supposed to be guarding Eric, and now he wouldn’t even shut the door if I told him to. Gerald was still ogling her in the same stunned way. I wondered if anyone would notice if I stretched out on one of the tables and went to sleep. Suddenly, just as Pam’s and Gerald’s had done, Eric’s gaze sharpened and he seemed fixed on Claudine. I had time to think it was like watching cats that’d suddenly spotted something skittering along the baseboards before big hands spun me around and Alcide gathered me to him. He’d maneuvered through the crowd in the bar until he’d reached me. Since his shirt wasn’t buttoned, I found my face pressed against his warm chest, and I was glad to be there. The curly black hair did smell faintly of dog, true, but otherwise I was comforted at being hugged and cherished. It felt delightful.
    “Who are you?” Alcide asked Claudine. I had my ear against his chest and I could hear him from inside and outside, a strange sensation.
    “I’m Claudine, the fairy,” the huge woman said. “See?”
    I had to turn to see what she was doing. She’d lifted her long hair to show her ears, which were delicately pointed.
    “Fairy,” Alcide repeated. He sounded as astonished as I felt.
    “Sweet,” said one of the younger Weres, a spiky-haired male who might be nineteen. He looked intrigued with the turn of events, and he glanced around at the other Weres seated at his table as if inviting them to share his pleasure. “For real?”
    “For a while,” Claudine said. “Sooner or later, I’ll go one way or another.” No one understood that, with the possible exception of the colonel.
    “You are one mouthwatering woman,” said the young Were. To back up the fashion statement of the spiked hair, he wore jeans and a ragged Fallen Angel T-shirt; he was barefoot, though Merlotte’s was cool, since the thermostat was turned down for the rest of the night. He was wearing toe rings.
    “Thanks!” Claudine smiled down at him. She snapped her fingers, and there was the same kind of haze around her that enveloped the Weres when they shifted. It was the haze of thick magic. When the air cleared, Claudine was wearing a spangled white evening gown.
    “Sweet,” the boy repeated in a dazed way, and Claudine basked in his admiration. I noticed she was keeping a certain distance from the vampires.
    “Claudine, now that you’ve shown off, could we please talk about something besides you?” Colonel Flood sounded as tired as I felt.
    “Of course,” Claudine said in an appropriately chastened voice. “Just ask away.”
    “First things first. Miss Stackhouse, how is Maria-Star?”
    “She survived the ride to