From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse #8)(40)
Author: Charlaine Harris

"And Quinn rescued her and killed them all, though he was just a kid, and he went in debt to the local vampires to get them to help him clean up the scene and get his mom away."

I knew Quinn’s mother’s sad history. I was nodding frantically by now, because I wanted to get to something I hadn’t heard yet.

"Okay, well, my mom was pregnant with me after the rape," Frannie said, glaring at me defiantly. "So she had me, but she was never right in the head, and growing up with her was kinda hard, right? Quinn was working off his debt in the pits." (Think Gladiator with wereanimals.) "She never got right in the head," Frannie repeated. "And she’s kept getting worse."

"I get that," I said, trying to keep my voice level. Bill seemed on the verge of thumping Frannie to speed up her narrative, but I shook my head.

"Okay, so she was in a nice place that Quinn was paying for outside Las Vegas, the only assisted-living center in America where you can send people like my mom." The Deranged Weretiger Nursing Home? "But Mom got loose, and she killed some tourist and took her clothes and caught a ride into Vegas and picked up a man. She killed him, too. She robbed him and took his money and gambled until we caught up with her." Frannie paused and took a deep breath. "Quinn was still healing from Rhodes, and this about killed him."

"Oh, no." But I had a feeling I hadn’t heard the bottom line on this incident yet.

"Yeah, what’s worse, right? The escape, or the killing?"

Probably the tourists had had an opinion on that.

I vaguely noticed that Amelia had entered the room, and I also realized that she didn’t seem startled to see Bill. So she’d been awake when Bill had taken Pam’s place. Amelia hadn’t met Frannie before, but she didn’t interrupt the flow.

"Anyway, there’s a huge vampire cartel in Vegas, because the pickings are so rich," Frannie told us. "They tracked down Mom before the police could catch her. They cleaned up after her again. Turns out that Whispering Palms, the place that lost her, had alerted all the supes in the area to be on the lookout. By the time I got to the casino where they’d grabbed Mom, the vamps were telling Quinn that they’d taken care of everything and now there was more debt for him to work off. He said he was coming off a bad injury and he couldn’t go back in the pits. They offered to take me on as a blood donor or a whore for visiting vamps instead, and he just about took out the one who said that."

Of course. I exchanged a glance with Bill. The offer to "employ" Frannie had been designed to make anything else look better.

"Then they said they knew of a really weak kingdom that was just about up for grabs, and they meant Louisiana. Quinn told ’em they could get it for free if the King of Nevada would just marry Sophie-Anne, her being in no position to argue. But it turned out the king was right there. He said he detested cripples and no way would he marry a vampire who’d killed her previous husband, no matter how sweet her kingdom was, even with Arkansas thrown in." Sophie-Anne was the titular head of Arkansas as well as Louisiana since she’d been found innocent of her husband’s (the King of Arkansas’s) murder in a vampire court. Sophie-Anne hadn’t had a chance to consolidate her claim, because of the bombing. But I was sure it was on her to-do list, right after her legs grew back.

Bill flipped his phone open again and began punching in numbers. Whoever he called, he didn’t get an answer. His dark eyes were blazing. He was absolutely revved up. He leaned over to pick up a sword he’d left propped against the couch. Yep, he’d come fully armed. I didn’t keep items like that in my toolshed.

"They’ll want to take us out quietly and quickly so the human news media won’t catch on. They’ll concoct a story to explain why familiar vampires have been replaced with strange ones," Bill said. "You, girl – what part does your brother have to play in this?"

"They made him tell them how many people you-all had and share what else he knew about the situation in Lousiana," Frannie said. To make matters perfect, she began to cry. "He didn’t want to. He tried to bargain with them, but they had him where they wanted him." Now Frannie looked about ten years older than she was. "He tried to call Sookie a million times, but they were watching him, and he was scared he’d be leading them right to her. But they found out anyway. Once he knew what they were going to do, he took a big risk – for both of us – and sent me on ahead. I was glad I’d got a friend to get my car back from you."

"One of you should have called me, written me, something." Despite our current crisis, I couldn’t stop myself from expressing my bitterness.

"He couldn’t let you know how bad it was. He said he knew you’d try to get him out of it somehow, but there was no way out."

"Well, sure I would have tried to get him out of it," I said. "That’s what you do when someone’s in trouble."

Bill was silent but I felt his eyes on me. I’d rescued Bill when he’d been in trouble. Sometimes I was sorry I had.

"Your brother, why is he with them now?" Bill asked sharply. "He’s given them information. They are vampires. What do they need with him?"

"They’re bringing him with them so he can negotiate with the supe community, specifically the Weres," Frannie said, sounding suddenly like Miss Corporate Secretary. I felt sort of sorry for Frannie. As the product of a union between a human and a weretiger, she had no special powers to give her an edge or to provide her with a bargaining chip. Her face was streaked with smeared mascara and her nails were chewed down to the quick. She was a mess.

And this was no time to be worried about Frannie, because the vampires of Vegas were taking over the state.

"What had we better do?" I asked. "Amelia, have you checked the house wards? Do they include our cars?" Amelia nodded briskly. "Bill, you’ve called Fangtasia and all the other sheriffs?"

Bill nodded. "No answer from Cleo. Arla Yvonne answered, and she had already gotten wind of the attack. She said she was going to ground and would try to work her way up to Shreveport. She has six of her nest with her. Since Gervaise met his end, his vampires have been tending the queen, and Booth Crimmons has been their lieutenant. Booth says he was out tonight and his child, Audrey, who was left with the queen and Sigebert, doesn’t answer. Even the deputy that Sophie-Anne sent to Little Rock is not responding."

We were all silent for a moment. The idea that Sophie-Anne might be finally dead was almost unimaginable.

Bill shook himself visibly. "So," he continued, "we might stay here, or we might find another place for you three. When I’m sure you’re safe, I have to get to Eric as soon as I can. He’ll need every pair of hands tonight if he’s to survive."