Disclaimer: Still don't own the characters and still am not making any money from this story.

Chapter 9

Andre's POV

As soon as I end the call with Compton, I hear my Queen's wheedling voice from inside the lounge. "Andre, sweetling, what did Bill say about my telepath?"

"He was able to confirm that she's the real deal, but she can't hear vampires." I reply as I reenter the room. I shouldn't be surprised when she squeals like a schoolgirl meeting their favorite pop star and flings her arms around me in a crushing embrace. Hadley's childish behavior has really rubbed off on her these past few months. I weep for the future of this kingdom.

After releasing me, Her Majesty sweeps Hadley into a passionate embrace and kisses her. "Oh, Hadley, my dear, I knew you'd never lead me wrong!" Hadley giggles coquettishly between fangy kisses. Waldo rolls his eyes at me from the corner. I return the gesture. It's hard to say which of us loathes the little harlot more at this moment. Sigebert and Wybert crack smiles at the Queen's excitement and move to polish off the bottle of Royalty from earlier.

"Bill also discovered that Sookie Stackhouse is immune to his glamor." I interrupt. This throws a wrench in our plan. I guess Bill's Southern gentleman routine will be put to its greatest test yet. It may be awhile before my queen gets to meet her new toy.

"What a shame." Sophie-Anne responds. "I guess now we'll see how if Bill's seduction skills are up to par." She doesn't seem terribly upset at the delay this will entail.

Hadley makes a face. "Urk! Poor Sookie! It would be so much easier if Creepy Compton could just glamor her into coming here with him. Then she could get down here to faster and have other more attractive vampires to choose from." I have to wonder what Hadley's planning for her cousin. She does enjoy attempting to play matchmaker. She's rarely successful, but it doesn't stop her from trying. Her greatest success story is setting up Wybert with his current pet, Caroline, who is nearly as dumb as he is.

She's tried to pair me up with several of the palace donors in the past, but I'm resistant to her efforts. I'm not romantically interested in blood whores. In truth, I only have eyes for one woman: my maker. I know she prefers the fairer sex for now, but she goes in cycles. I think Hadley has figured that out too and sees me as a threat. Or she did before the Queen's marriage negotiations with Threadgill made me a nonissue. It was a nasty shock for Hadley that no amount of crying and whining could change the Queen's mind about the marriage. Sophie-Anne placated her by promising to turn her before the nuptials.

Part of me is tempted to get in touch with Threadgill's people and suggest that he make refusing to turn Hadley a condition of their marriage, but the Queen would surely find out my involvement and punish me severely for such meddling. Or worse, she might make me turn Hadley myself. I've long since resigned myself to the fact that I'll likely be welcoming a new sister to the fold before long. Better a sister than a child of my own. Hadley would be more difficult to manage than Eric Northman's shopaholic brat, Pam.

"Oh my sweet, surely Bill isn't all bad." The Queen cajoles. "And I can order him to relinquish her as soon as she gets here so that she'll be available for someone better." She adds with a wink, leaving little doubt in my mind about who that someone better will be. Sookie isn't prohibited under the betrothal contract like Hadley. I wonder how Hadley's going to take being replaced by her "freak" cousin.

Hadley sniffles. "I wish ya'll could at least glamor her to forget being with him that way. I hope she isn't scarred for life." She didn't seem too concerned about Sookie's wellbeing before now. I wonder what caused the shift.

"Just because Bill can't glamor her, doesn't mean we won't be able to." I point out. "He's a fairly young vampire compared to the Queen and myself. His powers are as nothing compared to ours."

"Like I'd want you glamoring my little cousin, Andre!" Hadley bites out.

I level a fierce glare at her. She returns it without hesitation. She knows I can't touch her with Sophie-Anne around.

"Oh, behave, both of you." Sophie-Anne laughs, ignoring the tension in the air. "This is a happy occasion. We should celebrate!"

Celebrate? Isn't that what we've been doing all week? We can't afford much more excess, no matter how much the Queen wants to ignore the financial issues plaguing the kingdom. I know that three of her credit cards are already maxed out this month, so she can't do too much more damage right now.

Hadley grins at her. "I saw the cutest shoes at the mall yesterday. Let me pull them up online and show you!" Hadley figured out long ago that the Queen being in a celebratory mood translates into gifts for those close to her. I roll my eyes again. The childish side of me wants to get in line in hopes of getting a present too, but the responsible part of me knows that asking for that Lamborghini I've wanted for ages right now would not be right. I really could afford to buy it myself. I also know that the Queen would probably never give me my true heart's desire: getting rid of Hadley. As much as I wish she'd love me again, I'd be thrilled for getting rid of the current thorn in my flesh. Sophie-Anne and I have forever to get back together.

I can always hope Hadley's turning fails. That can happen even to the most experienced makers. My queen would be crushed, no doubt, but the arrival of her telepath would lift her right out of her depression and Hadley would likely be forgotten within a fortnight.

I'm snapped out of my musings by more girly giggling from the corner of the room where Hadley and the Queen sit looking at Hadley's laptop.

"These are just darling! You really know my taste in shoes, love. " Sophie-Anne exclaims.

"We should each get a pair, so that we can match!" Hadley squeals.

"Then we need to get matching dresses to wear them with too!" the Queen laughs.

"We could wear them to the Fourth of July ball!" Hadley adds. Oh dear, another party in the works in addition to the wedding? What am I going to do?

I don't want to look at the shoes they're talking about so that I won't see the price. I'm sure I'd feel some duty to give another lecture about financial responsibility that would fall on deaf ears. I sigh and resign myself to dealing with yet another maxed out credit card before the night is out. I'll have to figure out how to pay these bills down soon so that we aren't hit with outrageous amounts of interest.

Sometimes I pay off the Queen's bills from my personal finances to keep her from suffering the consequences of her irresponsible spending habits. As much as I complain about her shopping sprees, I really do like seeing her happy, and I do what I can to make sure she stays that way. I'm probably not doing her a favor in the long run, I know, but it's so hard to see the person you love unhappy and know you could have prevented it. At least my accounts are in good shape right now. I'm a shrewd investor and the market has been kind to me lately.

"Andre, darling, has Eric paid his tithe for this quarter yet?" Sophie-Anne asks. The arrival of Eric's tithe always boosts our accounts nicely. That trashy bar of his really brings in the cash.

"Yes, your majesty, it posted earlier this evening." The bank we use is vampire-owned and doesn't keep normal human business hours, so Eric's payment didn't post until sometime during the concert earlier, which is why I didn't mention it in my earlier meeting with the Queen.

"Excellent! So now you can't fuss at me for a little shopping!" She gives me her most winning smile.

I open my mouth to object, but can't bring myself to rain on her parade when she smiles at me like that. At least she thought about the finances this time before shooting them to hell again. One step forward, two steps back.

"I really hope Eric doesn't find out about Sookie." Hadley interjects. "That'd be trouble. Sookie would think Eric's crazy hot if she wasn't scared to death of him. She always liked the blonde, blue-eyed guys at school."

"There's no reason Eric should find out about this endeavor." I reply. "Bill might have to check in with him if he has to stay in Bon Temps too long, but I think we've provided enough of a cover story that Eric won't ask too many questions. He knows better than to question the Queen's motives. And we can always send Bill antiquing again if Eric starts sniffing around too much. The Viking knows how much the Queen likes antique furniture."

"He also knows that I thrive on small town gossip." Sophie Anne adds. "I hope Bill sends me a report soon. Little towns like that have the juiciest drama going on in them." The thought of Compton snooping in the private lives of the denizens of Bon Temps to dig up gossip for the Queen is entertaining.

"Bill said he'd try to have a report emailed to you by sunrise." I hope Compton comes through on that one. The Queen really does relish the petty dramas that go on with humans. She has a subscription to every tabloid in existence and spends hours regaling us with the most salacious and absurd bits of gossip she can find in those rags. I'm sorely tempted to hunt down some of the idiots that frequent the pages of such publications and drain them so that I won't have to hear about them anymore.

Alas, but it makes the Queen happy, so I play along. I really hope she makes Threadgill do things like that once they're married. That moron doesn't deserve her, not even this airheaded version of herself that she's morphed into recently. If I have to suffer through this phase, I hope he does too. It reminds me of her flapper phase in the 1920's, only more extreme. She pulls stunts like this about once a century. The ennui of an eternity of night gets to us all at times. I guess she's getting it out of her system early for the 21st century. I just hope that she goes back to being the shrewd businesswoman and regal monarch that I know and love very soon. Her subjects aren't always as tolerant of this silliness as I am, and I'm getting concerned that there may be a revolt if this persists.

"Hadley, darling, how are you coming on that genealogy project I gave you last week?" the Queen asks out of the blue. At my suggestion, she's having Hadley research her family history before turning her in hopes of finding out if she or Sookie have any supe blood. It was really a delay tactic on my part. With my gift, I could find out Hadley's heritage with a single drop of blood. Sophie-Anne doesn't like to share, though, so I've never suggested that she let me nibble on Hadley. I'm certain Hadley would object violently to that too, and the Queen wouldn't force her to do it against her will. I suggested the project hoping that it would take Hadley until the wedding to complete and then Sophie-Anne would be out of time to turn her. The marriage contract with Threadgill says that Hadley cannot be Sophie-Anne's donor or lover after the wedding. Turning her would count as using her as a donor under vampire law because Sophie-Anne will have to nearly drain her in order to turn her.

I don't think my Queen suspects me of being up to anything by suggesting the project. She was quite enthusiastic about it, actually, hoping it would provide evidence that Hadley might be an especially gifted vampire, as humans with supe blood often become. Hadley wasn't too thrilled with the project, though. She actually has to do work! The horror! I'm glad the topic is coming up now instead of as a topic for their pillow talk. Right now I have the chance to defend myself against any accusations Hadley makes, if she's going to suggest that I had ulterior motives for suggesting the project.

"Oh, I found something really cool on Daddy's side of the family!" Hadley babbles. "Supposedly he was a descendant of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo queen of New Orleans! That means I am too! I just wish there was a way I could know for sure." She seems genuinely thrilled at this. I didn't see that one coming. Sophie-Anne looks surprised too.

"But there is a way you could find out." Waldo interrupts from his corner. "She's buried close to here in St. Louis Cemetery Number 1. There's a ritual you could perform that'll call her spirit if you really are related to her." I'm familiar with this ritual, but know it can only work once Hadley's a vampire, as it requires the blood of the dead. Waldo left this fact out. I wonder if he's setting a trap for her. He didn't seem surprised at Hadley's revelation like the Queen and I were either. I know Waldo's jealousy of Hadley is of the especially poisonous variety, and I've often wished he would hurry up and act on it. Perhaps he finally is.

Hadley raises a brow at Waldo's suggestion. Even she is smart enough to be a little suspicious when a bitter enemy tries to be helpful all of a sudden. Sophie-Anne, who is always inclined to believe the best of her children, replies "we'll have to consider trying it sometime." I think she's heard of the ritual and likely knows that Hadley will have to be turned first, but she does sound genuinely curious. I refrain from commenting, though I could throttle Waldo for tipping his hand like that. Offing Hadley would be suicide for him, though I'm sure the Queen would torture him extensively beforehand. And now she'll have reason to suspect him if something bad happens to Hadley.

"Anything of note on your mother's side of the family?" the Queen continues.

"Nope, not at all. Just generations of boring Stackhouses and Hales." Hadley replies.

"What a shame. Nothing to explain your cousin's gift at all?"

"No, nothing unusual."

I figure that if there's a supe ancestor in the mix, they'll be hidden behind a boring name or a secret affair. Sophie-Anne likely suspects the same. Perhaps I'll use my gift to find out once Sookie is here.


I'm having fun with Sophie-Anne here. I hope I haven't made her too silly. She comes off as fairly superficial in the books, so making her a little more absurd, especially with Hadley around, didn't feel like too much of a stretch.

Pretty please with a cherry on top leave a review on your way out! Reviews keep me writing.