Deadlocked: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel

I had to do a speed speech in my head.
    I knew I wasn’t Eric’s only drinking fountain. (One person could not be the sole food source for a vampire; or rather, not for a vampire who doesn’t supplement with synthetic.)
    Not his fault he needed food, blah blah.
    When it’s freely offered, why not take it, blah blah.
    But.
    He knew I was due to arrive.
    He knew I would let him drink.
    He knew the fact that he chose to drink from another woman would hurt me deeply. And he did it, anyway. Unless there was something I didn’t know about this woman, or something she’d done to Eric that had triggered this reaction, this signaled that he didn’t care about me as deeply as I’d always thought.
    I could only think, Thank God I broke the blood bond. If I’d felt his enjoyment while he was sucking on her, I’d have wanted to kill him.
    Eric said, “If you hadn’t broken our blood bond, this would never have happened.”
    I had another solar flare in my head. “This is why I don’t carry a stake,” I muttered, and swore long and fluently to myself.
    I hadn’t told Pam not to speak. After eyeing me intently to assessmy mood, she said, “You know that in a while, you’ll adjust. This was a question of timing, not of unfaithfulness.”
    After I took a long moment to resent the hell out of her conviction that I was going to accommodate Eric’s behavior, I had to nod. I wasn’t necessarily agreeing with the premise behind her words—that when I’d calmed down I wouldn’t mind what Eric had done. I was simply acknowledging the fact that she had a point. Though it made me scream inside, I pushed aside all the things I wanted to say to Eric, because something more urgent was happening here. Even I could see that.
    “Listen, here’s the important stuff,” I said, and Pam nodded. Eric looked surprised, and his back stiffened. He looked more like himself, more alert and intelligent.
    “That girl didn’t just wander in here out of the blue; she was sent,” I said.
    The vampires looked at each other. They shrugged simultaneously. “I’d never seen her before,” Eric said.
    “I thought she came in with Felipe’s pickups,” Pam said.
    “There’s a new guy at the gate.” I looked from one to the other. “Where’d Dan Shelley go, tonight of all nights? And after Pam called me and told me to be here at nine, Mustapha called me right back and told me to be here an hour later. Eric, I’m sure that girl tasted different to you?”
    “Yes,” he said, nodding slowly. “I’m still feeling the effects. She was extra …”
    “Like she’d had some kind of supplement?” I suppressed another surge of hurt and anger.
    “Yes,” he agreed. He got up, but I could see that standing wasn’t easy. “Yes, as if she’d had a Were-and-fairy cocktail.” His eyes closed. “Delicious.”
    Pam said, “Eric, if you hadn’t been hungry, you would have questioned such an opportune arrival.”
    “Yes,” he agreed. “My mind isn’t yet clear, but I see the sense of your words.”
    “Sookie, what did you get from her thoughts?” Pam asked.
    “She was earning money. But she was excited that she might die.” I shrugged.
    “But she didn’t.”
    “No, I got here in time to interrupt what would have been a fatal feeding. Right, Eric? Could you have stopped?”
    He looked profoundly embarrassed. “Maybe not. My control was almost gone. It was her smell. When she came up to me, she seemed so ordinary. Well, attractive because of the Were blood, but nothing really special. And I certainly didn’t offer her money. Then, suddenly …” He shook his head and gulped.
    “Why did her attraction suddenly increase?” Pam was nothing if not pragmatic. “Wait. I apologize. We don’t have time to get lost in the whys and wherefores. We must get through this tonight, us three,” she said, looking at me and at Eric in turn. I nodded again. Eric gave a jerk of his head. “Good,” she said. “Sookie, you got here just in time. She wasn’t here by accident. She didn’t smell and taste that way by accident. A lot of things happened here tonight that reek of a plot. My friend, I’m going to repeat myself—you have to put aside personal pain for tonight.”
    I gave Pam a very direct look. If I hadn’t gone into the bedroom, Eric might have drained the woman, and the woman herself had considered that result. I had a hunch something had been set in motion to catch Eric red-handed—red-fanged, more appropriately.
    “Go