Dead to the World

were standing in the open doorways into the other rooms.
    The vampires were there: Pam, Chow, Gerald, and at least two more I recognized from Fangtasia. The two-natured were represented by Colonel Flood, red-haired Amanda (my big fan), the teenage boy with spiked brown hair (Sid), Alcide, Culpepper, and (to my disgust) Debbie Pelt. Debbie was dressed in the height of fashion—at least her version of fashion—which seemed a little out of place for a meeting of this kind. Maybe she wanted to remind me that she had a very good job working at a law firm.
    Oh, good. Debbie’s presence made the night just about perfect.
    The group I didn’t recognize had to be the local witches, by the process of elimination. I assumed that the dignified woman sitting on the couch was their leader. I didn’t know what her correct title would be—coven master? Mistress? She was in her sixties, and she had iron gray hair. An African American with skin the color of coffee, she had brown eyes that looked infinitely wise and also skeptical. She’d brought a pale young man with glasses, who wore pressed khakis with a striped shirt and polished loafers. He might work in Office Depot or Super One Foods in some kind of managerial position, and his kids would think that he was out bowling or attending some church meeting on this cold January night. Instead, he and the young female witch beside him were about to embark on a fight to the death.
    The remaining two empty chairs were clearly intended for Eric and me.
    “We expected you earlier,” Pam said crisply.
    “Hi, good to see you, too, thanks for coming on such short notice,” I muttered. For one long moment, everyone in the room looked at Eric, waiting for him to take charge of the action, as he had for years. And Eric looked back at them blankly. The long pause began to be awkward.
    “Well, let’s lay this out,” Pam said. All the assembled supes turned their faces to her. Pam seemed to have taken the leadership bit between her teeth, and she was ready to run with it.
    “Thanks to the Were trackers, we know the location of the building Hallow is using for her headquarters,” Pam told me. She seemed to be ignoring Eric, but I sensed it was because she didn’t know what else to do. Sid grinned at me; I remembered he and Emilio had tracked the killers from the bridal shop to the house. Then I realized he was showing me he’d filed his teeth to points. Ick.
    I could understand the presence of the vamps, the witches, and the Weres, but why was Debbie Pelt at this meeting? She was a shifter, not a Were. The Weres had always been so snobby about the shifters, and here was one; furthermore, one out of her own territory. I loathed and distrusted her. She must have insisted on being here, and that made me trust her even less, if that was possible.
    If she was so determined to join in, put Debbie in the first line of fire, would be my advice. You wouldn’t have to worry about what she was doing behind your back.
    My grandmother would certainly have been ashamed of my vindictiveness; but then (like Alcide) she would have found it almost impossible to believe that Debbie had really tried to kill me.
    “We’ll infiltrate the neighborhood slowly,” Pam said. I wondered if she’d been reading a commando manual. “The witches have already broadcast a lot of magic in the area, so there aren’t too many people out on the streets. Some of the Weres are already in place. We won’t be so obvious. Sookie will go in first.”
    The assembled supes turned their eyes to me at the same moment. That was pretty disconcerting: like being in a ring of pickup trucks at night, when they all turn on their headlights to illuminate the center.
    “Why?” Alcide asked. His big hands gripped his knees. Debbie, who’d slumped down to sit on the floor beside the couch, smiled at me, knowing Alcide couldn’t see her.
    “Because Sookie is human,” Pam pointed out. “And she’s more of a natural phenomenon than a true supe. They won’t detect her.”
    Eric had taken my hand. He was gripping it so hard that I thought I could hear my bones grinding together. Prior to his enchantment, he would have nipped Pam’s plan in the bud, or maybe he would’ve enthusiastically endorsed it. Now he was too cowed to comment, which he clearly wanted to do.
    “What am I supposed to do when I get there?” I was proud of myself for sounding so calm and practical. I’d rather be taking a complicated drink order from a