Dead to the World

collection of half thoughts and abortive impulses in the next sixty seconds. They all led to a dead end.
    If I ran inside and yelled, “Parton, Chelsea, Jane—out!” that would alert the coven to the impending attack. Some of my friends—or at least my allies—would die.
    If I hung around and tried to tell the vampires that three of the people in the building were innocent, they would (most likely) ignore me. Or, if a bolt of mercy struck them, they’d have to save all the witches and then cull the innocent ones out, which would give the coven witches time to counterattack. Witches didn’t need physical weapons.
    Too late, I realized I should have kept a hold of Holly and used her as my entrée into the building. But endangering a frightened mother was not a good option, either.
    Something large and warm pressed against my side. Eyes and teeth gleamed in the city’s night light. I almost screamed until I recognized the wolf as Alcide. He was very large. The silver fur around his eyes made the rest of his coat seem even darker.
    I put an arm across his back. “There are three in there who mustn’t die,” I said. “I don’t know what to do.”
    Since he was a wolf, Alcide didn’t know what to do, either. He looked into my face. He whined, just a little. I was supposed to be back at the cars by now; but here I was, smack in the danger zone. I could feel movement in the dark all around me. Alcide slunk away to his appointed position at the rear door of the building.
    “What are you doing here?” Bill said furiously, though it sounded strange coming out in a tiny thread of a whisper. “Pam told you to leave once you’d counted.”
    “Three in there are innocent,” I whispered back. “They’re locals. They were forced.”
    Bill said something under his breath, and it wasn’t a happy something.
    I passed along the sketchy descriptions Holly had given me.
    I could feel the tension in Bill’s body, and then Debbie joined us in our foxhole. What was she thinking, to pack herself in so closely with the vampire and the human who hated her most?
    “I told you to stay back,” Bill said, and his voice was frightening.
    “Alcide abjured me,” she told me, just as if I hadn’t been there when it happened.
    “What did you expect?” I was exasperated at her timing and her wounded attitude. Hadn’t she ever heard of consequences?
    “I have to do something to earn back his trust.”
    She’d come to the wrong shop, if she wanted to buy some self-respect.
    “Then help me save the three in there who are innocent.” I recounted my problem again. “Why haven’t you changed into your animal?”
    “Oh, I can’t,” she said bitterly. “I’ve been abjured. I can’t change with Alcide’s pack anymore. They have license to kill me, if I do.”
    “What did you shift into, anyway?”
    “Fox.”
    That was appropriate.
    “Come on,” I said. I began to wriggle toward the building. I loathed this woman, but if she could be of use to me, I had to ally with her.
    “Wait, I’m supposed to go to the back door with the Were,” Bill hissed. “Eric’s already back there.”
    “So go!”
    I sensed that someone else was at my back and risked a quick glance to see that it was Pam. She smiled at me, and her fangs were out, so that was a little unnerving.
    Maybe if the witches inside hadn’t been involved in a ritual, and hadn’t been relying on their less-than-dedicated sentry and their magic, we wouldn’t have made it to the door undetected. But fortune favored us for those few minutes. We got to the front door of the building, Pam and Debbie and I, and there met up with the young Were, Sid. I could recognize him even in his wolf body. Bubba was with him.
    I was struck with a sudden inspiration. I moved a few feet away with Bubba.
    “Can you run back to the Wiccans, the ones on our side? You know where they are?” I whispered.
    Bubba nodded his head vigorously.
    “You tell them there are three local Wiccans inside who’re being forced into this. Ask if they can make up some spell to get the three innocent ones to stand out.”
    “I’ll tell them, Miss Sookie. They’re real sweet to me.”
    “Good fella. Be quick, be quiet.”
    He nodded, and was gone into the darkness.
    The smell around the building was intensifying to such a degree that I was having trouble breathing. The air was so permeated with scent, I was reminded of passing a candle shop in a mall.
    Pam said, “Where have you sent