Living Dead in Dallas

Bill came in and took the brush from my hand.
    “Let me do that, darling,” he said tenderly. “How are you? Slide off the shirt, so I can check your back.” I did anxiously hoping there weren’t cameras in theoffice—though from Pam’s account, I might as well relax.
    “How does it look?” I asked him over my shoulder.
    Bill said briefly, “There will be marks.”
    “I figured.” Better on my back than on my front. And being scarred was better than being dead.
    I slipped the shirt back on, and Bill began working on my hair, a favorite thing for him. I grew tired very quickly and sat in Eric’s chair while Bill stood behind me.
    “So why did the maenad pick me?”
    “She would have been waiting for the first vampire to come through. That I had you with me—so much easier to hurt—that was a bonus.”
    “Did she cause our fight?”
    “No, I think that was just chance. I still don’t understand why you got so angry.”
    “I’m too tired to explain, Bill. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay?”
    Eric came in, along with a vampire I knew must be Chow. Right away I could see why Chow would bring in customers. He was the first Asian vampire I’d seen, and he was extremely handsome. He was also covered—at least the parts I could see—with that intricate tattooing that I’d heard members of the Yakuza favored. Whether Chow had been a gangster when he was human or not, he was certainly sinister now. Pam slid through the door after another minute had passed, saying, “All locked up. Dr. Ludwig left, too.”
    So Fangtasia had closed its doors for the night. It must be two in the morning, then. Bill continued to brush my hair, and I sat in the office chair with my hands on my thighs, acutely conscious of my inadequate clothing. Though, come to think of it, Eric was so tall his shirt covered as much of me as some of my short sets. I guess it was the French-cut bikini panties underneath that made me so embarrassed. Also, no bra. Since God wasgenerous with me in the bosom department, there’s no mistaking when I leave off a bra.
    But no matter if my clothes showed more of me than I wanted, no matter if all of these people had seen even more of my boobs than they could discern now, I had to mind my manners.
    “Thank you all for saving my life,” I said. I didn’t succeed in sounding warm, but I hope they could tell I was sincere.
    “It was truly my pleasure,” said Chow, with an unmistakable leer in his voice. He had a trace of an accent, but I don’t have enough experience with the different characteristics of the many strains of Asians to tell you where he came from originally. I am sure “Chow” was not his complete name, either, but it was all the other vampires called him. “It would have been perfect, without the poison.”
    I could feel Bill tense behind me. He laid his hands on my shoulders, and I reached up to put my fingers over his.
    Eric said, “It was worth ingesting the poison.” He held his fingers to his lips and kissed them, as if praising the bouquet of my blood. Ick.
    Pam smiled. “Any time, Sookie.”
    Oh, just fantastic. “You, too, Bill,” I said, leaning my head back against him.
    “It was my privilege,” he said, controlling his temper with an effort.
    “You two had a fight before Sookie’s encounter with the maenad?” Eric asked. “Is that what I heard Sookie say?”
    “That’s our business,” I snapped, and the three vampires smiled at each other. I didn’t like that one bit. “By the way, why did you want us to come over here tonight, anyway?” I asked, hoping to get off of the topic of Bill and me.
    “You remember your promise to me, Sookie? That you would use your mental ability to help me out, as long as I let the humans involved live?”
    “Of course I remember.” I am not one to forget a promise, especially one made to a vampire.
    “Since Bill has been appointed investigator of Area 5, we have not had a lot of mysteries. But Area 6, in Texas, has need of your special asset. So we have loaned you out.”
    I realized I’d been rented, like a chainsaw or backhoe. I wondered if the vampires of Dallas had had to put down a deposit against damage.
    “I won’t go without Bill.” I looked Eric steadily in the eye. Bill’s fingers gave me a little squeeze, so I knew I’d said the right thing.
    “He’ll be there. We drove a hard bargain,” Eric said, smiling broadly. The effect was really disconcerting, because he was happy about something,