Dead to the World

table of drunken tree-trimmers than be first in the line of battle.
    “Read the minds of the witches inside while we get into position. If they detect us approaching, we lose the surprise of it, and we stand a greater chance of sustaining serious injury.” When she got excited, Pam had a slight accent, though I’d never been able to figure out what it was. I thought it might just be English as it had been spoken three hundred years ago. Or whatever. “Can you count them? Is that possible?”
    I thought for a second. “Yes, I can do that.”
    “That would be a big help, too.”
    “What do we do when we get in the building?” asked Sid. Jittery with the thrill of it all, he was grinning, his pointed teeth showing.
    Pam looked mildly astonished. “We kill them all,” she said.
    Sid’s grin faded. I flinched. I wasn’t the only one.
    Pam seemed to realize she’d said something unpalatable. “What else would we do?” she asked, genuinely amazed.
    That was a stumper.
    “They’ll do their best to kill us, ” Chow pointed out. “They only made one attempt at negotiation, and it cost Eric his memory and Clancy his life. They delivered Clancy’s clothes to Fangtasia this morning.” People glanced away from Eric, embarrassed. He looked stricken, and I patted his hand with my free one. His grip on my right hand relaxed a little. My circulation resumed in that hand, and it tingled. That was a relief.
    “Someone needs to go with Sookie,” Alcide said. He glowered at Pam. “She can’t go close to that house by herself.”
    “I’ll go with her,” said a familiar voice from the corner of the room, and I leaned forward, searching the faces.
    “Bubba!” I said, pleased to see the vampire. Eric stared in wonder at the famous face. The glistening black hair was combed back in a pompadour, and the pouty lower lip was stretched in the trademark smile. His current keeper must have dressed him for the evening, because instead of a jump-suit decked with rhinestones, or jeans and a T-shirt, Bubba was wearing camo.
    “Pleased to see ya, Miss Sookie,” Bubba said. “I’m wearing my Army duds.”
    “I see that. Looking good, Bubba.”
    “Thank you, ma’am.”
    Pam considered. “That might be a good idea,” she said. “His, ah—the mental broadcast, the signature, you all get what I’m telling you?—is so, ah, atypical that they won’t discover a vampire is near.” Pam was being very tactful.
    Bubba made a terrible vampire. Though stealthy and obedient, he couldn’t reason very clearly, and he liked cat blood better than human blood.
    “Where’s Bill, Miss Sookie?” he asked, as I could have predicted he would. Bubba had always been very fond of Bill.
    “He’s in Peru, Bubba. That’s way down in South America.”
    “No, I’m not,” said a cool voice, and my heart flip-flopped. “I’m back.” Out of an open doorway stepped my former flame.
    This was just an evening for surprises. I hoped some of them would be pleasant.
    Seeing Bill so unexpectedly gave me a heavier jolt than I’d figured. I’d never had an ex-boyfriend before, my life having been pretty devoid of boyfriends altogether, so I didn’t have much experience in handling my emotions about being in his presence, especially with Eric gripping my hand like I was Mary Poppins and he was my charge.
    Bill looked good in his khakis. He was wearing a Calvin Klein dress shirt I’d picked out for him, a muted plaid in shades of brown and gold. Not that I noticed.
    “Good, we need you tonight,” Pam said. Ms. Businesslike. “You’ll have to tell me how the ruins were, the ones everyone talks about. You know the rest of the people here?”
    Bill glanced around. “Colonel Flood,” he said, nodding. “Alcide.” His nod to Alcide had less cordiality. “I haven’t met these new allies,” he said, indicating the witches. Bill waited until the introductions were complete to ask, “What is Debbie Pelt doing here?”
    I tried not to gape at having my innermost thoughts spoken aloud. My question exactly! And how did Bill know Debbie? I tried to remember if their paths had crossed in Jackson, if they’d actually met face-to-face; and I couldn’t recall such a meeting, though of course Bill knew what she’d done.
    “She’s Alcide’s woman,” Pam said, in a cautious, puzzled sort of way.
    I raised my eyebrows, looking at Alcide, and he turned a dusky red.
    “She’s here for a visit, and she decided to come along with him,” Pam