Dead to the World

“Chow and Gerald will know, too.”
    Eric said, “Do you know where her brother is?”
    Startled, I stepped away from Pam.
    Pam looked equally taken aback. “No, Sheriff.”
    “It occurred to me that you might have taken him hostage to ensure she didn’t betray me.”
    The idea had never crossed my mind, but it should have. Obviously, I had a lot to learn about being devious.
    “I wish I’d thought of that,” Pam said admiringly, echoing my thoughts with her own twist. “I wouldn’t have minded spending some time with Jason as my hostage.” I couldn’t understand it: Jason’s allure just seemed universal. “But I didn’t take him,” Pam said. “If we get through this, Sookie, I’ll look for him myself. Could it be Hallow’s witches have him?”
    “It’s possible,” I said. “Claudine said she didn’t see any hostages, but she also said there were rooms she didn’t look into. Though I don’t know why they would have taken Jason, unless Hallow knows I have Eric? Then they might have used him to make me talk, just the way you would have used him to make me keep silent. But they haven’t approached me. You can’t use blackmail on someone who doesn’t know anything about the hold you have on them.”
    “Nonetheless, I’ll remind all those who are going to enter the building to watch out for him,” Pam said.
    “How is Belinda?” I asked. “Have you made arrangements to pay her hospital bills?”
    She looked at me blankly.
    “The waitress who was hurt defending Fangtasia,” I reminded her, a little dryly. “You remember? The friend of Ginger, who died ?”
    “Of course,” said Chow, from his place against the wall. “She is recovering. We sent her flowers and candy,” he told Pam. Then he focused on me. “Plus, we have a group insurance policy.” He was proud as a new father about that.
    Pam looked pleased with Chow’s report. “Good,” she said. “You have to keep them happy. Are we ready to go?”
    I shrugged. “I guess so. No point in waiting.”
    Bill stepped in front of me as Chow and Pam consulted about which vehicle to take. Gerald had gone out to make sure everyone was on the same page as far as the plan of battle.
    “How was Peru?” I asked Bill. I was very conscious of Eric, a huge blond shadow at my elbow.
    “I made a lot of notes for my book,” Bill said. “South America hasn’t been good to vampires as a whole, but Peru is not as hostile as the other countries, and I was able to talk to a few vampires I hadn’t heard of before.” For months, Bill had been compiling a vampire directory at the behest of the queen of Louisiana, who thought having such an item would be very handy. Her opinion was certainly not the universal opinion of the vampire community, some of whom had very strong objections to being outed, even among their own kind. I guess secrecy could be almost impossible to give up, if you’d clung to it for centuries.
    There were vampires who still lived in graveyards, hunting every night, refusing to recognize the change in their status; it was like the stories about the Japanese soldiers who’d held out on Pacific islands long after World War II was over.
    “Did you get to see those ruins you talked about?”
    “Machu Picchu? Yes, I climbed up to them by myself. It was a great experience.”
    I tried to picture Bill going up a mountain at night, seeing the ruins of an ancient civilization in the moonlight. I couldn’t even imagine what that must have been like. I’d never been out of the country. I hadn’t often been out of the state, for that matter.
    “This is Bill, your former mate?” Eric’s voice sounded a little . . . strained.
    “Ah, this is—well, yes, sort of,” I said unhappily. The “former” was correct; the “mate” was a little off.
    Eric placed both his hands on my shoulders and moved in close to me. I had no doubt he was staring over the top of my head at Bill, who was staring right back. Eric might as well have stuck a SHE’S MINE sign on top of my head. Arlene had told me that she loved moments like this, when her ex saw plainly that someone else valued her even if he didn’t. All I can say is, my taste in satisfaction runs completely different. I hated it. I felt awkward and ridiculous.
    “You really don’t remember me,” Bill said to Eric, as if he’d doubted it up until this moment. My suspicion was confirmed when he told me, as if Eric wasn’t standing there, “Truly, I thought this was an elaborate