I shut the front door, and turned to walk towards my bedroom. Since it seemed I was no longer going out, I'd need to change my clothes. I didn't want to risk having anything happen to my brand new outfit before I had the chance to wear it OFF my own property. I changed into some comfy jeans and a t-shirt, and put my necklace and earrings back in my jewelry box.
I was just making my way towards the kitchen when I heard a knock on my front door. Having learned my lesson from earlier, I did a quick mental scan, and discovered that my caller was a vampire. "Give me a break! Isn't this night ever going to end?" I mumbled to myself as I walked to the door. I took a quick glance through the peephole, extremely annoyed to see that Eric had returned. I opened the door and eyed him suspiciously. I detected a faint smell of smoke in the air, and wondered why I hadn't noticed it before, but pushed that thought aside.
"What now, Eric?"
"Have you recently received a message from the Queen?"
I was a little disconcerted. "What? No. What message would she have for me?"
"I would assume it would be in regards to your cousin's final death."
I was back to being confused. "How did you know about that?"
"Sookie, as Sheriff, it is my duty to know when the Queen is in my area, and what she is here for. I was informed of her visit here, and of what happened during that visit."
Okay, so, he knew that Waldo killed Hadley, and that the Queen and her lawyer, Mr. Cataliades, brought Waldo here for punishment. I could handle him knowing that. I think.
"Well, I haven't heard from any of them since that night, Eric. Why do you ask?"
Instead of answering my question, Eric pulled out his cell phone and began dialing. After a moment, he began speaking. "This is Eric Northman, Sheriff of Area 5. I need to speak with Mr. Cataliades immediately." He paused a moment, and I tried to get his attention so he could tell me what the hell was going on! But, he began speaking again. "Cataliades, tell me, did you send a messenger to my area recently?"
He nodded as, I assumed, Mr. Cataliades answered his question. "Yes, well, I assure that Miss Stackhouse received no message." He was silent for another moment, listening, and then said, "I have already taken care of that. She was here, on the property." After yet another moment of silence, he said, "I will see to it personally," and hung up.
"Eric, would you mind telling me just what is going on, please?"
He began pacing my front porch, which worried me more than anything else. A nervous Eric was not a good sign. "It appears that someone is trying to keep you away from New Orleans, my dear. Cataliades sent a messenger, his niece Gladiola, to you. She should've arrived here no later than Wednesday evening. However, as you have previously indicated, she never delivered her message. As I was flying back to Shreveport, I noticed something troubling in some bushes, so I stopped to investigate. It seems someone used a very sharp object, I would guess a sword, and cut the young woman in half."
I think I felt my jaw hit my feet, it dropped so suddenly. "She was murdered? On my property?"
"Obviously."
I decided to ignore the condescending tone of his voice. "Well, what do we need to do with her body? Is Mr. Cataliades going to send someone for it?"
"Gladiola was part demon, so, her body would not decompose as human remains would. The only way to dispose of a body with demon blood is to burn it, which I have already done."
Well, that explains the smell of smoke. "What about the message she was supposed to deliver?"
"I saw no trace of it. Cataliades said it was enchanted, so only you could open it. Obviously, whoever killed Gladiola didn't need to see the message themselves, just ensure that you didn't see it, either."
"Did he tell you what it said?"
"Yes. It was to inform you that he would arrive here on Sunday to take you to New Orleans. He seems to have a strong desire for you to go through your cousin's things as soon as possible."
I sat down on the top step of the porch, and ran my hand over my eyes. Why couldn't I just have one, normal, supe free weekend? Was that really too much to ask? Eric surprised me, yet again, when he sat down next to me, and began rubbing circles between my shoulder blades in a comforting way.
"Sookie, I understand that you are overwhelmed right now. But, it is very important that we do everything possible to determine who is responsible for this. Do you remember anything odd at all about Wednesday evening?"
I thought about it for a moment. "Yes, I do, actually." I turned my face to look at him. "I was in the kitchen, and I had the window open because it was such a nice night. Out of nowhere, all of the sounds of the critters and bugs just suddenly stopped, like they were all scared of something that was out there."
Eric gazed out towards the woods, and I could tell that he was thinking about what I'd said. He stayed quiet for a long time, and if his hand wasn't still moving on my back, I'd have thought he'd slipped into down time. Finally, he stood, walked off the porch, and then turned back to look at me.
"I will be here tomorrow shortly after dark. Be ready to depart for New Orleans."
"I have to work tomorrow night, Eric."
"Then you'd better have your things packed before your shift starts. We will be departing the moment you arrive home." I was too tired to argue with him.
As he turned once again to leave, I said, "Eric, wait! Bill said he wanted to go to New Orleans with me when I went."
His back stiffened slightly, and he looked over his shoulder and simply said, "No. His presence is not needed." I shrugged my shoulders, stood up, and made my way back toward the front door. I paused when he said, "Sookie, one more thing." I turned and gasped, finding that he'd used his vampire speed, and was standing right in front of me. He gently placed his hands on my face, cupping my cheeks, and leaned in and placed a soft, slow kiss to my lips. I'd be lying if I said it didn't make something deep inside me thud with desire. When he finally pulled his lips from mine, he smiled, and simply said, "Until tomorrow, then." And with that, he was gone.
I had no trouble getting to sleep that night, simply because I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. When I woke the next morning, I began mentally compiling a list of things I needed to do before leaving for New Orleans. I thought about phoning Jason to have him pick up my mail, but, decided against it. With Crystal having just miscarried, he didn't need another responsibility to take care of. Instead, I called Tara, and she agreed to do it. I had just finished putting a load of clothes into the washer when the phone rang.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hey, babe." It was Quinn.
"Quinn, I'm so glad you called. Listen, I'm really, really sorry about last night. I really was looking forward to our date."
"I guess when you told me that by dating you, I'd be stepping on someone's toes, you meant Eric, right?"
"Yeah. Quinn, listen, Eric and I are not together, okay. We were once, a few months ago, but that's over, now. It was a bit of an awkward situation though, and there's kinda still some weirdness there." I hoped that made sense.
"Oh, um, okay. So, are you his now?"
What was it with supes? Did I absolutely have to belong to someone? Couldn't I just belong to myself? "No, Quinn, Eric is not my boyfriend. But, he did ask for permission to um, court me, and I told him yes. But, that doesn't mean I don't want to spend time with you, too."
He was silent for a minute. "So, let me see if I understand this correctly. Eric wants you, and you've given him permission to pursue you. But, you've also given me permission to pursue you. Right?"
"More or less, I guess that's it."
"Okay. I think I can deal with that, for now. I'm heading to Texas today, but, I should be back by Monday. Can I see you, then?"
"Um, unfortunately, I probably won't be here. I have to go to New Orleans."
"How come?" he asked.
I told him everything about Hadley's apartment, and the untimely end of the part-demon messenger, Gladiola. I took his cell phone number, and we agreed that I would call him when I was back in Bon Temps.
I finally had my bag packed, and I put it in the living room by the front door as I left to go to Merlotte's. The first couple of hours of my shift passed by quickly, because we were busy. It was a Saturday night, after all. We were just busy enough that I was able to avoid talking to Sam about his new employee, Tanya. I could tell that he was happy about how things were working out with her, but I couldn't feel the same. I wasn't sure what it was, something about her just rubbed me the wrong way.
When things slowed down a bit, I asked Sam if I could talk to him for a minute.
"Sam, listen, I need a few days off."
"Why, Sook? What's up?"
"I have to go to New Orleans to clean out my cousin's apartment."
He looked a little shocked. "Does that have to be right now? Tanya just started, and we're a little short-staffed as is."
"Well, sort of." I really didn't want to get into the whole story while we were at the bar, you never know who'd overhear you. "If you need to let me go and find someone new, I'll understand."
"Sookie, stop. You know I would never do that. If you absolutely need to go now, we'll handle it."
I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, thanked him, and went back to work. I didn't need to be a telepath to know that Tanya wasn't happy about the kiss. Lucky for me, the daggers her eyes were shooting at me wouldn't harm me.
I wasn't entirely surprised when Bill came into the bar that night. I actually wanted to speak with him, anyway. He sat at a table in my section, and I went over to take his order the first chance I got. When I brought his bottle of blood to him, I said, "Listen, Bill, I know you said you wanted to go with me to New Orleans when I went, but, it's really not necessary. I'm leaving tonight right after my shift is over."
"Well, if you'd told me sooner, I would've been prepared to come along."
"I didn't really have much choice in the matter. Mr. Cataliades sent a messenger to me saying he'd pick me up tomorrow, but, someone killed the messenger in my woods."
"Is he picking you up tonight instead, then?"
"Oh, no. Um, I have another ride down there, now." I was hoping to get around this piece of information, but I could tell Bill wasn't going to let it drop. "Eric is driving me. He's actually the one that found Gladiola's body."
"Hmm, well, that does explain why I smelt smoke last night. Sookie, I don't really think that you going to New Orleans with Eric is such a good idea."
I was about to say something, when I noticed his attention go to the door. I turned and look, and saw Selah Pumphrey walking into the bar. I tried, unsuccessfully, to hide my contempt. "Well, Bill, it's a good thing then that your opinion doesn't really matter in this case."
I turned and walked away just as Selah was getting there. I asked Arlene to take the table for me, feeling very relieved when she agreed. I was not in the mood to deal with Selah. I was already in a bad mood, and my back was beginning to ache. I was wondering what was causing the back ache, when I felt a familiar sensation, and realized that my monthly visitor had arrived. I glanced over at Bill and caught him staring at me, his nostrils flaring. He could smell the blood. A wave of acute embarrassment rolled over me, turning my face red. If Bill could smell it, that meant Eric would as well. Great, that's all I needed to add to the fun of riding with him to New Orleans.
I was very relieved when the time came for the bar to close, and I said goodbye to Sam while I grabbed my purse, and headed out to my car. Suddenly, my mental alarm went off. Somewhere close, there was a lot of hostility and evil intent. I didn't even have time to turn around, before I felt a burly arm wrap around my stomach, and a hand clamped down on my mouth, silencing my scream.
