Deadlocked (Sookie Stackhouse #12)(50)
Author: Charlaine Harris

Bellenos’s hand shot across me, and he gripped Aelfgifu’s shoulder. Their eyes met. In the weird light and shadows cast by the headlights, her eyes looked just as black as his.

"I don’t know what side that is," I said, to break the moment up. It seemed to work, because she laughed and slid an arm underneath me, and I sat up. "You’re not hurt," she said. "Dermot will be pleased. He loves you."

Bellenos put an arm around me, too, so our little trio was suddenly positioned in an uncomfortably intimate little scene there on the deserted road. Bellenos’s teeth were awfully close to my flesh. Sure, I was used to Eric biting, but he didn’t rip off flesh and eat it.

"You’re shaking, Sister," Aelfgifu observed. "You can’t be cold on a hot night like tonight! Is it the shock of your little accident?"

"You can’t be frightened of us?" Bellenos sounded mocking.

"You turkey," I said. "Of course I’m scared of you. If you’d spent a while with Lochlan and Neave, you’d be scared, too."

"We’re not like them," Aelfgifu said in a much more subdued voice. "And we’re sorry, Sister. There are quite a few of us who endured their attentions. Not all lived to tell others about it. You’re very fortunate."

"Did you have the magic then?" Bellenos asked.

This was the second time the elf had referred to my having magic. I was very curious to know why he said that, but at the same time, I hated to expose my total ignorance.

"Could I drive you two back to Monroe?" I asked, staving off Bellenos’s question.

"I couldn’t bear to be shut up in an iron box," Gift said. "We’ll run. May we come to hunt on your land tomorrow night?"

"How many of you?" I thought I should err on the side of caution, here.

They helped me to my feet, consulting with each other silently as they did so.

"Four of us," Bellenos said, trying not to sound as if he were asking me.

"That would be okay," I said. "Long as you let me explain where the boundaries are."

I got simultaneous kisses on both sides of my face. Then the two fae leaped down in the ditch, bent over to get a grip below the hood of my car, and pushed. The car was back up on the road in seconds. Aside from the severed seat belt, it didn’t seem to be much the worse for the experience: dirty, of course, and the front fender was a little dented. Gift waved at me cheerfully as I took my place behind the wheel, and then the two were off, heading east toward Monroe … at least while I could see them. My car started up, thank God, and I turned around at the next driveway and headed home. My excursion was over. I was completely jangled.

As I pulled up, I could tell the vampires were still there. When I glanced at my car clock, I saw that only twenty minutes had passed since I’d left. Suddenly, I began shivering all over when I thought of the incident-the panicked deer, the swift and deadly pursuit, the faes’ overly loving solicitousness. I turned off the car and got out slowly. I was going to be stiff all over the next morning, I just knew it. Of course Bill and Eric had heard me return, but neither of them came rushing out to see how I was. I reminded myself they didn’t have any idea something had happened to me.

I stepped out of the car and thought I’d go flat on my face. I was having some kind of reaction to the whole bizarre incident, and I couldn’t stop replaying the running figures in my mind. They had looked so alien, so very, very … not-human.

And now I knew that someone suspected I had some powerful fae magic. If the fae suspected it was contained in an item, I didn’t like my chances of keeping it, or of keeping my life, for that matter. Any supe would want such a thing, especially the hodgepodge of fae trapped at Hooligans. They were yearning for the homeland of Faery, no matter how they’d come to be trapped in our world. Any power they could acquire would be more than they had now. And if they had the cluviel dor … they could wish the doors of Faery open to them again.

"Sookie?" Eric said. "Lover, what’s happened to you? Are you hurt?"

"Sookie?" Bill’s voice, equally urgent.

I could only stand staring straight ahead, thinking hard about what would happen if the rogue fae opened the portals to Faery. What if humans could walk into that other country? What if all fae could come and go as they pleased? Would they accept that state of affairs, or would there be another war?

"I had a wreck," I said, belatedly realizing that Eric had picked me up and was carrying me inside. "I never got to Sam’s. I had a wreck."

"That’s all right, Sookie," Eric said. "Don’t worry about going to Sam’s. That can wait. We can make some other arrangement. At least I’m not smelling any blood," he said to Bill.

"Did you hit your head?" Bill asked. I could feel fingers working through my hair. Then those fingers stilled. "You reek of fairy."

I could see the hunger rising in his face. I glanced at Eric, whose mouth was compressed tight as a mousetrap. I was willing to bet his fangs had popped out. The entrancing Eau de Fae-it acted on vampires like catnip on cats.

"You guys need to leave," I said. "Out you go, before you both use me as a chewy toy."

"But, Sookie," Eric protested. "I want to stay with you and make love to you at length."

You couldn’t get any more frank than that.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but with me smelling like a fairy, I’m afraid you might get a little carried away."

"Oh, no, my lover," he protested.

"Please, Eric, some self-control. You and Bill need to git."

It was my mention of self-control that did it. Neither of them would admit to a failure of the trait vampires prized so highly.

Eric went to stand at the edge of the woods. He said, "While you were gone, Thalia called me. I’d sent her to talk to the human, Colton, at his job. When she got there, they reported he hadn’t come in for work. Thalia went to his trailer. A fight had taken place inside. There was a small amount of blood. Colton was gone. I think Felipe has found him." While Eric was still maintaining deniability over the death of Victor, Colton had actually been in Fangtasia the night Victor had died. He knew the truth, and he was human and, therefore, could be made to talk.

Bill took a step toward me. "It’ll be okay," he said reassuringly, and even though he was a vampire, I could tell that he simply wanted to be closer.

"Okay, we’ll talk about that tomorrow," I said hastily. At this point, I was sure that all I could do for Colton was pray for him. There was certainly no way to find him tonight.

Very reluctantly, and with many good-byes and hopeful requests that they be called if I felt unwell during what remained of the night, Eric and Bill went their separate ways.