Dead and Gone (Sookie Stackhouse #9)(49)
Author: Charlaine Harris

Tray regarded me steadily. "No, I want the job," he said, and even though he was a Were, I could tell that his real goal was keeping Amelia safe. Since she lived with me, he could kill two birds with one stone by getting paid for protecting me. "For one thing, I owe that Drake payback. I never knew he was a fairy, and I don’t know how he managed that. I got a good nose."

Tray’s pride had been bruised. I could understand that. "Drake’s dad can mask his smell, even from vampires. Maybe Drake can, too. Also, he’s not completely fae. He’s half-human, and his real name is Dermot."

Tray absorbed this, nodded. I could tell he felt a little better. I was trying to figure out if I did.

I had misgivings about the arrangement. I thought of calling Alcide and explaining why Tray might be a less than perfect bodyguard, but I decided against it. Tray Dawson was a great fighter and would do his best for me … up to the point where he had to make a choice between Amelia and me.

"So?" he said, and I realized I’d been quiet for too long.

"The vampire can take the nights and you can take the days," I said. "I should be okay while I’m at the bar." I pushed back my chair and left the kitchen without saying anything else. I had to admit that instead of feeling relieved, I was even more worried. I’d thought I’d been so clever asking for an extra layer of protection; instead, now I was going to worry about the safety of the men providing that layer.

I got ready for bed slowly, finally admitting to myself that I was hoping Eric would put in an appearance. I’d love to have his brand of relaxation therapy to help me sleep. I expected to lie awake anticipating the next attack. As it turned out, I was so tired from the night before that I drifted off to sleep very quickly.

Instead of my usual boring dreams (customers calling me constantly while I hurried to catch up, mold growing in my bathroom), that night I dreamed of Eric. In my dream, he was human and we walked together under the sun. Oddly enough, he sold real estate.

When I looked at the clock the next morning, it was very early, at least for me: not quite eight o’clock. I woke up with a feeling of alarm. I wondered if I’d had another dream, one I didn’t remember. I wondered if my telepathic sense had caught something even while I slept, something wrong, something askew.

I took a moment to scan my own house, not my favorite way to start the day. Amelia was gone, but Tray was here and in trouble.

I put on a bathrobe and slippers and stepped out into the hall. The moment I opened my door, I could hear him being sick in the hall bathroom.

There are some moments that should be completely private, and the moments when you’re throwing up are at the top of that list. But werewolves are normally completely healthy, and this was the guy who’d been sent to guard me, and he was obviously (excuse me) sick as a dog.

I waited until a lull in the sound. I called, "Tray, is there anything I can do for you?"

"I’ve been poisoned," he said, choking and gagging.

"Should I call the doctor? A human one? Or Dr. Ludwig?"

"No." That sounded definite enough. "I’m trying to get rid of it," he gasped, after another bout of retching. "But it’s too late."

"You know who gave it to you?"

"Yeah. That new girlfriend …" He faded out for a few seconds. "Out in the woods. Vampire Bill’s new f**k."

I had an instinctive reaction. "He wasn’t with her, right?" I called.

"No, she – " More awful noises. "She came from the direction of his house, said she was his …"

I knew, without a doubt, that Bill didn’t have a new girlfriend. Though it embarrassed me to admit it to myself, I was so sure because I knew he wanted me back. I knew he wouldn’t jeopardize that by taking someone else to his bed or by permitting such a woman to roam in the woods where I might encounter her.

"What was she?" I said, resting my forehead against the cool wood of the door. I was getting tired of yelling.

"She was some fangbanger." I felt Tray’s brain shift around through the fog of sickness. "At least, she felt like a human."

"The same way Dermot felt human. And you drank something she handed you." It was kind of mean of me to sound incredulous, but honestly!

"I couldn’t help it," he said very slowly. "I was so thirsty. I had to drink it."

He’d been under some kind of compulsion spell. "And what was it? The stuff you drank?"

"It tasted like wine." He groaned. "Goddammit, it must have been vampire blood! I can taste it in my mouth now!"

Vampire blood was still the hot drug on the underground marketplace, and human reactions to it varied so widely that drinking the blood was very much like playing Russian roulette, in more ways than one. Vampires hated the Drainers who collected the blood because the Drainers often left the vampire exposed to the day. So vampires also loathed the users of the blood, since they created the market. Some users became addicted to the ecstatic sensation that the blood could offer, and those users sometimes tried to take the blood right from the source in a kind of suicide attack. But every now and then, the user went berserk and killed other humans. Either way, it was all bad press for the vamps who were trying to mainstream.

"Why would you do that?" I asked, unable to keep the anger out of my voice.

"I couldn’t help it," he said, and the bathroom door finally opened. I took a couple of steps back. Tray looked bad and smelled worse. He was wearing pajama pants and nothing else, and a vast expanse of chest hair was right at my eye level. It was covered in goose pimples.

"How come?"

"I couldn’t … not drink it." He shook his head. "And then I came back here and got in bed with Amelia, and I tossed and turned all night. I was up when the K – when Bubba came in and went to bed in your closet. He said something about a woman talking to him, but I was feeling really bad by then, and I don’t remember what he said. Did Bill send her over here? Does he hate you that bad?"

I looked up then and met his eyes. "Bill Compton loves me," I said. "He would never hurt me."

"Even now that you’re screwing the big blond?"

Amelia couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

"Even now that I’m screwing the big blond," I said.

"You can’t read vampire minds, Amelia says."

"No, I can’t. But some things you just know."

"Right." Though Tray didn’t have enough energy to look skeptical, he gave it a good shot. "I have to go to bed, Sookie. I can’t take care of you today."

I could see that. "Why don’t you go back to your own house and try to get some rest in your own bed?" I said. "I’m going to work today, and I’ll be around someone."