(10) Law of the Paw

Tony woke up alone in the bed. He had been covered with a sheet and a blanket.

There was a note left on the nightstand: Daydreaming of my sexy wolf. Meet you at sundown. -Pam.

She must have thought that Sandra was watching and wanted to piss her off some more. That note would keep the jealous button pressed alright.

He got dressed. When he went into the bathroom, there was another note: Food is in the kitchen.

There was a variety of food available; a few pieces of fruit, muffins, pastries, cereal. None of the food required cooking. Not that he could have cooked anything.

There was no cookware, no utensils, and no plates. There weren't any bowls either, so cereal was out of the question. Hey, they couldn't think of everything.

He grabbed a muffin, a pastry and some fruit. There was orange juice in the icebox. Vampire Bill's kitchen did have glasses, so Tony had some O.J. too.

Tony leaned against a counter as he ate. He pondered his next move. He wanted to check out the Stackhouse property, but going there might tip off Sandra.

His thoughts drifted to his recent vampire encounters. He had never spent more than five minutes with one, until this situation reared up. Vampires had more self control than he had thought they were capable of. They were capable of good manners too... Twice, Tony had fallen asleep while a vampire was present. Last night the vampire straddled him, both of them buck necked, as he drifted off to sleep. What did that tell him? He was fucking stupid. Maybe. Maybe there was something in his drink or he had been cursed again... Nah... He wanted to believe that, because he couldn't believe it'd happened. Maybe the regular level of hostility would resume once he and Pam weren't faking a relationship. It was fun though... stop that!

Tony snapped out of his musing when his cell phone rang. It was Sandra. She hadn't moved in on Sookie's home.

"Hey honey. Where are you?"

"In a vampire nest." He knew that would goad her.

"You're not working today?"

"I will be over at the Herveaux house in a bit. You left a lot of damage."

Sounding like an overemotional and defensive teenager, she responded. "Her scent was all over. It had to go!"

"Where are you Sandra?" Keeping his voice calm was a challenge. But he managed.

Silence.

"Sandra, you need to turn yourself in. You damaged pack property, the pack master's property."

"I... I'll meet you at the house as soon as I can."

He hung up. Would she really be at the house?

Tony went to the upstairs bathroom, a windowless room. He found a bag with magic pouches and put one pouch around his neck. He tucked it under his shirt.

He headed for the office.

Tony hopped down from his truck and turned to close the door. Sandra was standing just a few yards away. Was she supposed to be invisible to him?

He feigned not seeing her and went to the house.

Sandra left the area as Tony opened the door. She must have wanted to make sure he wasn't on guard duty.

He sent a text message to alert his buddies.

The next hour was torture for Tony. It would be for any wolf. A fight was about to go down, or was going down and he couldn't be there. He'd rather be exposed to silver in his wolf form than to miss a fight.

Finally the call came. Sandra was in custody. She broke into the house carrying a wooden stake and medical equipment. Sandra was going to drain Sookie and then stake Eric and try to make it look like they'd killed one another. She tried to use magic on her "brothers", but it didn't work thanks to Sookie's friends.

Most of the pack was on its way back to Shreveport. A few stayed behind to clean up the mess made when they apprehended Sandra. They'd gather at ten for her trial. Sookie and Eric were invited to join.

Tony spent the next few hours cleaning up after Sandra's mess at the construction house, pondering her fate.

Tony didn't like her at all; she had always had a mean streak. She had used magic to snare him. Did the other Pelts know? Probably. Maybe that is why Alcide stuck with Debbie like he did. He hated her more than he thought possible. But he'd never say that to Gordon.

Gordon. Shit, if she lived, Sandra would be abjured. That was a given. If she was abjured from the pack, then her rights to visit Gordy would vanish. Tony didn't give a shit about her rights, but Gordy would want to see his mother. For that matter, abjurement was a pack issue. It would be just like Sandra to turn to the human court system to get what she wanted.

And if Sandra died? What then? Gordy was only four. Too young to understand. What could he say?

Gordy was just old enough to be near his relatives when they were changed, but he'd never seen them do more than play while in wolf form. Gordon had many years to go before his first transformation. Becoming a wolf was a process. He knew nothing yet of life and death. Would his first introduction to death be at his mother's sentence?

Pups had, at times, been present when a parent was killed by the pack. Sandra deserved that. Gordon didn't.

Tony spent the rest of the day in a funk.

The sun neared the horizon and Tony headed for Bill Compton's. They needed to be told about Sandra. Voice mail messages were sent, but they didn't always get through in a timely manner.

Tony sat on the front steps of the Compton home when he heard the first sounds of life. Sookie ran to a bathroom. A vampire, probably Eric, heated something in the microwave.

Eric opened the door, True Blood in hand. Tony turned to look at him. He tried to keep an impassive face but was too melancholy. Eric scrutinized his face, "The bitch is dead?"

"No. She's in custody. In Shreveport. The pack is gathering at ten, you and Sookie may join."

Eric looked at his watch then invited Tony in for a drink.

The wolf, vampires and human sat in the living room as the wolf related reports of Sandra's capture.

When he was done, Sookie left the room. Eric followed.

Their conversation was anything but private. Eric asked what was wrong. Sookie said it was Tony. She didn't know for sure what he was thinking, but he was very sad and hurt. Her guess was that it was because of his boy Gordy. It made her want to cry. Muffled sounds indicated that she did cry.

Tony left the house.

He stood on the gravel for a moment trying to decide what to do. There was so much tension in him he might explode.

Pam came out and stood next to him. "Take your clothes off. We're going for a run. See if you can catch me."

They spent the next two hours roaming the woods. They sprinted, raced, and chased. He howled and bayed.

The twosome returned to Compton's driveway. Eric held Sookie as she watched her friends approach. She looked a little bit relieved.

Ten minutes later, human-form Tony was dressed and ready to drive to Shreveport.

Eric and Sookie got into the corvette.

Tony looked at the dead blond and asked her if she was coming.

"I was under the impression that I was not invited."

"We worked on this together, you're a friend of Sookie's, and her mate is your maker..." He was pulling excuses out of his ass... Sookie smiled at the exchange. Pam raised an eyebrow and let Tony finish. "I don't see why my cousin would have a problem with you being there."

Pam looked to Eric and he nodded approval.

The corvette followed the pickup to a field on the outskirts of Shreveport.

There were many cars parked in the field. Aside from the cars, nothing was within eyesight. Not even the road they turned off of. Eric parked his corvette and flew himself and Sookie the rest of the way once it was clear that they would not be driving on a road.

The entire pack was present. Two septs of the pack were present as well. Sam was there too.

This was not a quiet gathering like many vampires were accustomed to. There was a din. A bonfire crackled, people in groups talked on all manner of subjects (the most common topics being the Pelts and past pack trials) ice crunched and drink bottles opened.

The foursome approached the pack master. Alcide nodded to Eric and Sookie. He paused when he saw Pam.

Sookie caught Alcide's attention and pulled him away for a moment before he said a word.

Gordy ran and jumped into Tony's arms. He started to tell Tony about all the cool stuff he did with his auntie and uncle.

Alcide watched the exchange with a grim smile on his face.

In as low a voice as she could produce, Sookie whispered to Alcide that she thought he should let Pam stay. Pam was a nice person. And right now, she was helping Tony to keep it together. Alcide didn't look disgusted but did look surprised.

Alcide nodded his acceptance of Pam, and then greeted Tony with a significant look followed by a familial hug.

The trial was about to start.

Sookie was alarmed. "What about Gordy?"

"Sookie darling," Eric tried to calm her "he is a pack member and the decision tonight will affect him."

"But he's only four years old!"

"That is unfortunate." He softly kissed her forehead.

Tony remained silent. The whole situation sucked.

Gordy tugged on his dad's shirt. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is mommy in time-out?"

That almost made him laugh. "Mommy did some very bad things. We have to make sure she doesn't do them again."

"Is she in trouble because of the baby?"

Everyone nearby immediately quieted. A wave of quiet rippled through the field until only Gordy and his father were talking.

"Baby?" Oh god, what did Gordon know? What did he see?

"Mommy brought a baby home. It cried a lot."

He swallowed. "What did Mommy do?"

"Nothing. She didn't want it." He looked up at his father, looking guilty. "I gave her some milk when mommy wasn't looking."

Tears came to the surface of his eyes. "That was very kind of you. Son, do you know where she is?"

He shook his head. "Was she a baby vampire?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Mommy. She said vampires love babies."

"No. She was not a baby vampire."

"Is Mommy in a lot of trouble?"

Tony nodded and drew his son close.

The trial was starting. The pack stood in large circle. In the middle of the circle, drawn on the terrain, was a Wiccan symbol inside a circle.

A section of the standing observers parted for Sandra and her escorts. One escort was directly in front of her, one on each side of her and two behind. They paused before reaching the Wiccan symbol.

Sandra grew anxious, but the guards would not budge.

No one in the circle saw the pack master. Where was Alcide?

A moment passed as onlookers watched Sandra and her guards as her anxiety built.

A crashing sound from outside the circle caused some of the observers to turn away. That sound was followed by a curious howl.

Sandra and her entourage moved to the Wiccan symbol and stopped when she was standing on it. She was outraged. "What is the meaning of this? Magic? How dare you?!"

She continued screaming as the crowd parted to admit the pack master. Two cloaked figures walked near him. He walked into the circle and stared down Sandra. "How dare you?"

The cloaked figures dropped their hoods. Sandra's face fell.

Witches Louis and Octavia stood before her. Sandra had just tried a spell on Alcide, and these two witches stopped it from happening. Sandra began to panic.

The trial began. Alcide recounted her troubled history with the pack, including some of her past sentences. He next enumerated her known crimes of just the past few days. Sandra nearly started a war, she made multiple attempts on the life of a Friend of the pack, she destroyed property, set wheels into motion that may still lead to a vampire civil-war, she used spells to carry out her misdeeds... the worst crime she committed was the killing of a human baby. She had drained so much blood from the child, it could not have survived. He then looked at her, his face filled with rage. "Does her family even know she's dead?"

Sandra growled, "They can fuck again and make another one." Any doubt as to Sandra's innocence was gone that instant.

The pack deliberated. All were saddened for Gordy, but Sandra could not be allowed to live. Keeping her alive would be too dangerous. The pack unanimously concluded that the pack should take her out. Ultimately, the decision lay with Alcide.

Alcide looked long and hard at his pack, his cousin Tony holding Gordy, and at Sandra. Sandra would be taken by way of the pack.

Tony said that while Sandra certainly deserved it, he couldn't be part of killing his son's mother.

Eric was welcome to join as he was Sookie's man. That brought a nasty smile to his lips. He stepped forward.

Sam made his way to Sookie. He walked with her to stand with Gordy, Tony and Pam.

The small group of five moved to the outskirts of the circle as others undressed.

In her panic, Sandra began to change to her wolf form. Her clothes stretched and tore.

Octavia and Louis joined Sookie's group.

Sookie and Gordy huddled with their supe friends.

Sandra-the-wolf snarled and snapped from her Wiccan holding place.

The wolves moved in on Sandra. Eric and Alcide got to her first as was their right by the law of the paw.

Her screams were deafening. She was not killed with one quick blow. Sandra was bit, clawed, gorged, torn, and stretched for a good minute before the screaming ended. It was relatively quick, but they didn't make it painless.

Eric held her severed head by it hair and called to Sookie. "I told you I'd have her head." He made an apologetic face, tossed the head and strode over to her. "You'll always be safe with me lover. Never forget it." She pulled him close and kissed him.

The group disbanded. Sookie and Eric went home. Gordon cried as Tony packed some items in his truck.

Pam looked at the boy. "Why do you cry?"

"I want my mommy."

"You're mama was a bad person. She's not coming back."

"I love my mommy. I want Mommy!"

"Hmm. I've loved some bad people too Gordy."

He sobbed. "Yeah?"

"Mm hmm."

Gordy hugged Pam. Pam was very uncomfortable.

"Aunt Pam?" Pam blinked. This was different.

"Yes Pup?"

"I like you."

"You do?"

He nodded his head.

There was an awkward silence. Pam smiled uneasily sat Gordy, then addressed Tony. "I'll run home from here."

Gordy tugged on Pam's sleeve. She looked down at him.

"Do you have to leave too?"

Tony and Pam locked eyes. They shared a silent conversation.

Pam answered Gordy, "No. I do not."

That night Pam witnessed events that she hadn't seen when she was alive. A young boy readied himself for bed, and was tucked in by Daddy. Neither felt like reading a book tonight.

Gordy cried himself to sleep.

Tony and Pam were in Tony's Shreveport home. It was a new home by area standards; it had been built in the past decade. It was a large ranch with porches front and back. The back porch was screened in and much larger than the open porch in the front. The inside had every modern amenity. The furniture was modern too.

They sat on a cushiony couch, facing a blank television screen. Tony smiled grimly. "Thank you for tonight."

"Normally I'd say it was fun, but..." she let the sentence dangle.

"Yeah."

They quietly regarded each other.

She broke the silence. "We're still hearing news of Queen Levana's people coming after Sookie."

"Sandra... The bitch whose influence just doesn't die."

"Perhaps we should keep up appearances."

"I'm listening."

"If Queen Levana were to learn of a scandalous relationship, she would try to capitalize on it."

"It's not like it's a secret Pam. The whole of Bon Temps knows about the vampire and the wolf."

"Do they? Do they know that you are a werewolf?"

"Anyone that knows I'm Alcide Herveaux's cousin might."

"I doubt that any of them know shit about the Shreveport pack... But there are the panthers."

He grimaced, "they don't get out much."

"That might work. We could continue seeing each other in Bon Temps."

"Any spies would think that we chose Bon Temps so that my pack-mates and your nest-mates wouldn't find out... I'm up for it." He paused, "But I would need to tell Alcide. He would not tell anyone."

"I'll have to clear it with Eric. We'll probably have to tell Castro." She turned to Tony. "You should get some sleep."

They stood up. She gazed at him and smiled a bit. He was still feeling gloomy, but a smile tugged on his lips as he looked at her. "I'll call you after sunset."

She left and he went to bed.