From Dead to Worse (Sookie Stackhouse #8)(71)
Author: Charlaine Harris

Amelia was clearing her conscience by spending money on Bob. I had no issue with that. She should be doing so; and I hoped Bob would find his folks, or at least discover what had happened to them, where they were living now.

Before I left for work, I stood in the doorway of the kitchen for a minute or two, looking at the three of them. I tried to see in Bob what Amelia had seen, the element that had attracted her so powerfully. Bob was thin and not particularly tall, and his inky hair naturally lay flat to his skull. Amelia had unearthed his glasses, and they were black-rimmed and thick. I’d seen every inch of Bob, and I realized Mother Nature had been generous to him in the man-bits department, but surely that wasn’t enough to explain Amelia’s ardent sexcapades with this guy.

Then Bob laughed, the first time he’d laughed since he’d become human again, and I got it. Bob had white, even teeth and great lips, and when he smiled, there was a kind of sardonic, intellectual sexiness about him.

Mystery solved.

When I got home, he would be gone, so I said good-bye to Bob, thinking I’d never see him again, unless he decided to return to Bon Temps to get revenge on Amelia.

As I drove into town, I wondered if we could get a real cat. After all, we had the litter box and the cat food. I’d ask Amelia and Octavia in a couple of days. That would surely give them time to stop being so antsy about Bob’s cat-dom.

Alcide Herveaux was sitting at the bar talking with Sam when I came into the main room ready for work. Odd, him turning up again. I stopped for a second, and then made my feet move again. I managed a nod, and waved to Holly to tell her I was taking over. She held up a finger, indicating she was taking care of one customer’s bill, and then she’d be out of there. I got a hello from one woman and a howdy from another man, and I felt instantly comfortable. This was my place, my home away from home.

Jasper Voss wanted another rum and Coke, Catfish wanted a pitcher of beer for himself and his wife and another couple, and one of our alcoholics, Jane Bodehouse, was ready to eat something. She said she didn’t care what it was, so I got her the chicken tender basket. Getting Jane to eat at all was a real problem, and I hoped she’d down at least half of the basket. Jane was sitting at the other end of the bar from Alcide, and Sam jerked his head sideways to indicate I should join them. I turned Jane’s order in and then I reluctantly went over to them. I leaned on the end of the bar.

"Sookie," Alcide said, nodding to me. "I came to say thank you to Sam."

"Good," I said bluntly.

Alcide nodded, not meeting my eyes.

After a moment the new packleader said, "Now no one will dare to try to encroach. If Priscilla hadn’t attacked at the moment she picked, with us all together and aware of the danger we faced as a group, she could have kept us divided and kept picking us off until we’d killed each other."

"So she went crazy and you got lucky," I said.

"We came together because of your talent," Alcide said. "And you’ll always be a friend of the pack. So is Sam. Ask us to do a service for you, any time, any place, and we’ll be there." He nodded to Sam, put some money on the bar, and left.

Sam said, "Nice to have a favor stashed in the bank, huh?"

I had to smile back. "Yeah, that’s a good feeling." In fact, I felt full of good cheer all of a sudden. When I looked at the door, I found out why. Eric was coming in, with Pam beside him. They sat at one of my tables, and I went over, consumed with curiosity. Also exasperation. Couldn’t they stay away?

They both ordered TrueBlood, and after I served Jane Bodehouse her chicken basket and Sam warmed up the bottles, I was headed back to their table. Their presence wouldn’t have rocked any boats if Arlene and her buddies hadn’t been in the bar that night.

They were sneering together in an unmistakable way as I put the bottles in front of Eric and Pam, and I had a hard time maintaining my waitress calm as I asked the two if they wanted mugs with that.

"The bottle will be fine," Eric said. "I may need it to smash some skulls."

If I had been feeling Eric’s good cheer, Eric was feeling my anxiety.

"No, no, no," I said almost in a whisper. I knew they could hear me. "Let’s have peace. We’ve had enough war and killing."

"Yes," Pam agreed. "We can save the killing for later."

"I’m happy to see both of you, but I’m having a busy evening," I said. "Are you-all just out barhopping to get new ideas for Fangtasia, or can I do something for you?"

"We can do something for you," Pam said. She smiled at the two guys in the Fellowship of the Sun T-shirts, and since she was a wee bit angry, her fangs were showing. I hoped the sight would subdue them, but since they were ass**les without a lick of sense, it inflamed their zeal. Pam downed the blood and licked her lips.

"Pam," I said between my teeth. "For goodness’ sake, stop making it worse."

Pam gave me a flirty smile, simply so she’d hit all the buttons.

Eric said, "Pam," and immediately all the provocation disappeared, though Pam looked a little disappointed. But she sat up straighter, put her hands in her lap, and crossed her legs at the ankle. No one could have looked more innocent or demure.

"Thank you," Eric said. "Dear one – that’s you, Sookie – you so impressed Felipe de Castro that he has given us permission to offer you our formal protection. This is a decision only made by the king, you understand, and it’s a binding contract. You rendered him such service that he felt this was the only way to repay you."

"So, this is a big deal?"

"Yes, my lover, it is a very big deal. That means when you call us for help, we are obliged to come and risk our lives for yours. This is not a promise vampires make very often, since we grow more and more jealous of our lives the longer we live. You’d think it would be the other way around."

"Every now and then you’ll find someone who wants to meet the sun after a long life," Pam said, as if she wanted to set the record straight.

"Yes," Eric said, frowning. "Every now and then. But he offers you a real honor, Sookie."

"I’m real obliged to you for bringing the news, Eric, Pam."

"Of course, I’d hoped your beautiful roommate would come in," Pam said. She leered at me. So maybe her hanging around Amelia hadn’t been entirely Eric’s idea.

I laughed out loud. "Well, she’s got a lot to think about tonight," I said.

I’d been thinking so hard about the vampire protection that I hadn’t noticed the approach of the shorter of the FotS adherants. Now he pushed past me in such a way that he rammed my shoulder, deliberately knocking me to the side. I staggered before I managed to regain my balance. Not everyone noticed, but a few of the bar patrons did. Sam had started around the bar and Eric was already on his feet when I turned and brought my tray down on the ass**le’s head with all the strength I could muster.