Chapter Ten

I ran down the corridor as fast as I could. My hose covered feet had no traction, so I slammed into the wall at the end of the hall. Figuring it was better to get out of sight, I went through the door to my left and slammed it shut behind me.

I had no idea what I'd done to Felipe or how long I had before he'd be after me, but this was my one shot to get out of here. I listened at the doorway, trying to keep my breathing as quiet as possible, but everything was quiet on the other side for now. I reached out with my mind, and the only hole I sensed must have been Felipe, but something about the signature was off, though maybe that was due to my lightheadedness.

I looked around the room and saw two other doors. Maybe one of them led outside. I slumped against the door and slid to the floor, putting my hand to my neck. I'd stopped bleeding, but the lack of food combined with feeding Felipe had me feeling too lightheaded to move at the moment. I knew I wouldn't make it out on my own, but I was all I had at the moment.

I must have dozed off for a bit, because the next thing I knew there was a loud commotion on the other side of the door I'd come through. I sensed at least seven vampires and something else that was like a vampire, but fainter. If they were searching for me, it wouldn't be too hard for the vamps to follow the scent of my blood. I had to move. I chose one of the other doors and went through. It led downstairs, which was ominous at best, but a quick second guess revealed the other room to be a closet, so I took my chances on the stairs.

The passage at the bottom was dark, dank and cold, especially with the rip right up the middle of my dress. I couldn't sense anyone else, vampire or otherwise, in the passage, so I stumbled on until I found another door. There were two mental signatures behind it, one human and one Were. That must have been Frannie and Quinn. Though I really didn't think I was up to an heroic rescue attempt in my current state, I couldn't just leave them there, especially not after everything that happened earlier. I concentrated as hard as I could to be sure no one else was with them. I tested the handle, sure the door would be locked, but it wasn't, so I went in.

The room was dimly lit, but I could clearly make out two figures. A massive form, Quinn, lay slumped and still in one corner of the room, with two long chains trailing up to the middle of the wall. He was still naked, and his body looked bruised and bitten. In the other corner huddled a small, whimpering figure. Frannie. She looked up at me and then charged. For a moment I was worried she was turning into a tiger herself, she moved so fast and the snarls coming from her were so viscous.

"You bitch!" she shouted. "You bitch! It's all your fault! Bitch!"

I stumbled backwards as the chain connecting to Frannie's leg went taught. She grabbed a handful of my dress and yanked me forwards. Luckily, I fell down just out of reach of her claws. No, they were still just hands, but there was definitely a tiger raging inside her whether it could manifest on the outside or not.

"Frannie, shhhh..." I begged. "Please, shut up. We have to get out before they find us." I tried to keep my voice low and urgent, but I wasn't sure she could even hear me over her own cries. She tugged at the fabric in her hands, and my dress ripped further up. I rolled away from her and out of it, so I was lying on the floor in just my underwear. Well, I was still three pieces of clothing up on Quinn, I supposed.

Suddenly, Frannie looked up, and her cries stopped instantly. Her eyes glazed over, and she slumped on the floor. She'd been glamoured.

"Sookie, what the hell are you doing? You have to get out. Now," said Heidi.

I was too stunned to move. I was also trying to figure out if I was caught or not, but the pressure for my brain was just too much. After all, it'd been a pretty rough few hours.

"Come on," she said, pulling me to my feet. "We have to move quickly."

"You're helping me?" I asked, still trying to process the situation and not making much progress.

"Yes," she said simply, "But I can only help you until he recovers. How did you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Come on," Heidi said, pulling me again.

"We have to get them out," I said pointing to Frannie and Quinn.

"Sookie, we don't have time. If he orders me to, I'll kill you. Now come on." She was pulling me back towards the door.

"No." I said, planting my feet. I couldn't see Heidi's expression too well in the dim light of the room, but I could hear the desperation in her voice. Though it might have been smarter to leave without them and hope to be able to send a super rescue squad back later, I just couldn't do it. "I won't leave without them," I said firmly.

Heidi dropped my hand and her eyes scanned the room. She grabbed a jingle of keys and threw them to me. "Silver chains," she explained.

As quickly as I could, I rushed over to Quinn. His breathing was weak, but he was definitely alive. I unlocked the ring around Quinn's neck. I could almost see the difference it made. Silver hurt vampires far worse, but it appeared to be pretty unfriendly to weres as well. His breathing deepened and his eyes fluttered almost open.

"Come on, Quinn," I whispered in his ear, "We're getting out of here." His eyes fixed on mine for a brief moment before he was out again. "He won't be able to walk," I said to Heidi. "Can you carry him?"

I thought I heard her sigh, but she came over to us. "Get the girl," she said. I quickly unchained Frannie and pulled her along after me like a rag doll. Heidi lifted Quinn over her shoulder, despite the fact that he was three times her size. Slowly, with Heidi leading the way, we crept out into the dark passage.

If I'd been able to think, I probably would have wondered why the dozens of vampires in the compound weren't searching everywhere for us. I also might have realized that there was no way we could escape detection with Heidi carrying a 200—pound unconscious Quinn and me dragging a semi-conscious Frannie. Luckily, my brain wasn't up to thinking, so I just went along with it.

We passed a first set of stairs, the ones I must have come down, but continued along to a second stairway. Heidi set Quinn down at the bottom of the stairs while she darted up to check that our path above was clear.

"When we get outside, run straight to the white Lincoln," she said when she came back. "The keys are inside." I nodded and firmed up my grip on Frannie's wrist.

When Heidi said "Go", I ran up the stairs with the Frannie doll dragging behind me. We came out outside, on the far side of the building. It only took a second to locate the cars, and barely another to find my target. I threw Frannie into the back seat and ran around to the driver's side. The keys were in the ignition, just as Heidi said they would be. She lowered Quinn into the back, banging his bald head on the door, ceiling and window in turn. He had so many bruises already, I doubt he'd notice the difference.

"Get in," I shouted to Heidi, but she shook her head.

"I can't," she said. "The second he recovers, I'll turn on you. I won't have a choice."

Looking at Quinn and Frannie in the back seat and thinking of their mom, I realized what Heidi might be sacrificing to help us, or rather, who. "Heidi," I said, "What will happen to your son?" I didn't think I could bear another loss like Quinn's mom on my conscience, but I also didn't think I had a choice.

"Don't worry. Eric keeps him safe," she said with a soft smile. "Now go."

I started the car and drove. Two vampires came out of the front doors as we were pulling away, but they didn't follow us for long. Maybe Heidi fought them off, or maybe they just didn't feel like giving chase. Either way, I didn't care as long as we were moving far away from that place. I ran two red lights and a stop sign, but it was late enough there weren't any other cars or cops on the road. That was a very good thing since I wasn't sure how to explain the fact that I was wearing nothing but some skimpy underwear while driving around with a large naked man and catatonic teenager.

After maybe 5 minutes, the glamour wore off, and Frannie was no longer catatonic.

"Frannie, calm down!" I tried to shout over her, but it was pointless. She was hysterical. Her screams in my ears and in my mind were too much, and despite how much I wanted to keep driving away, I had to stop the car. I felt for Eric, but his presence didn't calm me down. He was beyond rage now.

Eventually Frannie calmed down to a heaving sob. She seemed to have realized we were out of immediate danger and that I was the reason. Though she still hated me with a fierceness you'd never have guessed she possessed with her small frame, she was willing to go along quietly, at least for now.

We'd been idle long enough. I started the car and drove down the road to who knows where. I'd never been to Little Rock and I hadn't been much for studying maps, but I knew we were north of Louisiana, so when I saw signs for I-530 south, I took it without a second thought. The freeway ended at a smaller highway, but it still went south, so I was content to continue along it. Frannie had quieted down to a few sporadic sniffles, soothed by the sound of Quinn's snores. Subconsciously, I synchronized my breathing to his, and slowly drifted to sleep.

"Sookie!"

I swerved and hit the brakes, screeching the car to a halt. Quinn's massive form pressed into the seat from behind me. I looked over at my new passenger, who's eyes were almost as full of shock and fear as mine.

"Claude," I said, relief washing over me.

He leaned across the armrest, pulling me into a tight embrace. He kissed my face and neck over and over and over, the way a mother soothes a child waking from a bad dream. Each kiss sent a warm current through me, and my heart beat strengthened. He was healing me, if only a little. Claude pulled back to look at me, leaving his hands on either side of my neck.

"That was close," he said. I didn't think he meant me dozing off at the wheel. After a minute, his gaze left my face and he looked me over. A smile quirked at the corner of his mouth. "Cutting loose a little, Cousin?"

Suddenly the realization of what I was wearing, or rather what I wasn't wearing, hit me and I pulled away from him, trying to cover myself as best I could with my arms.

"Can I borrow your shirt?" I asked.

Claude looked down at his own designer clothes with a pained expression, but he pulled his shirt over his head all the same, handing it to me. Gratefully, I climbed inside it. I still didn't have pants or shoes, but at least I was mostly covered now. Claude, now shirtless, was glowing faintly. It wasn't like a vampire glow, but there was definitely something magical about it.

"Where's Eric?" I asked him. I wasn't sure why, but I had a feeling he would know.

"The blood bond got confused when you were drained. He couldn't track you," he said. I knew his expressions well enough to know there was more the he wasn't telling me.

"Then how could you?"

"That's different," he said with a shrug.

"Claude, please, do you know where Eric is?"

"He's in Nevada," Claude said at last. "He's killing every vampire he crosses, searching for you." That explained what I was feeling through the bond.

"Good," I said. Though I might feel differently in the morning, right now I was pretty sure the world was a better place with fewer vamps in it. I would have happily let the Viking go on about his pillaging, except that I needed him here, with me. "Do you have a cell phone?"

"Not on me, but I can find him," he said. "Sookie, don't get bitten again."

At first I thought he was being a smart—ass, but his expression was gravely serious. "I didn't exactly volunteer," I said, defensively.

"And don't take blood from anyone other than Eric." Again, he was completely serious. I nodded, not sure how else to respond. "Keep driving south," he said. He kissed me on the forehead again and vanished. I just stared at the empty passenger's seat beside me.

"What the hell?" asked a stunned Frannie. I'd forgotten she and Quinn were in the car with us.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, turning around to check on Quinn.

"Who was that?" She was fine. Quinn's body acted as a pretty effective seatbelt. When his snoring resumed, I figured he was okay, too.

"My cousin," I said, and got back onto the highway.

About an hour later, we crossed the Louisiana State Line. I'd felt a calming through the bond a little while back, so I figured Claude had gotten to Eric. We must have been within an hour or so of Shreveport, but I couldn't go any further. The clock in the car read 5:37am, and the sky was already starting to lighten. I knew Eric wouldn't make it back tonight, either, so I pulled into a Motel 6. None of us had any money, but Frannie, the only one of us who was properly dressed, managed to talk us into a room for the night, well, morning, by leaving the car keys as collateral.

I pulled in front of a room at the back of the strip, away from the eyes of the sleepy desk clerk. Quinn had recovered enough to stagger into the room, with me and Frannie supporting as much of his weight as we could. He dropped onto the floor as soon as we were inside, and we just left him there with a pillow and blanket. Frannie went to give the desk clerk the car keys, and I crawled into one of the beds. I heard maybe two snores before I was out.

The sun was streaming in through a gap in the curtain when I woke up. I basked in the warmth for a several seconds before opening my eyes. I was alone in the room, but I heard the shower running. I was still speckled with dried blood, but apparently I had to wait for the shower. I had taken off Claude's shirt before crawling into bed, so I had something close to clean to wear. Looking down at what I could see of myself, I decided to wait and put it back on after I showered. I unhooked my garter belt so I could take off the blood stained hose that were now glued to my feet. While I was prying them off, the water in the bathroom stopped.

Quinn emerged, wrapped in a towel that barely offered enough coverage. I looked up at him, not sure what to say. We stared at each other for a minute until the nudity finally got the better of me. I took the sheet off the bed to wrap around me, turning away to give him what privacy I could in the tiny room.

"Sookie," he said, now standing right behind me. I could feel the damp warmth radiating off his body. I turned around to face him.

"Quinn, I'm so sorry–" but I didn't finish saying it before his lips were crushing mine. His hands wrapped around me, pulling me to him and off the floor.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't respond a little, but it felt all wrong. No matter how much I wanted to be comforted right now, it was Eric I wanted, and no one else would do. I felt Quinn's need and read the terrible mix of emotions coming off him, but I couldn't give him what he needed. Gently, I pushed against his shoulders, and he slowly put me back on my feet.

"I'm sorry," I said. I didn't think I was up to enumerating all the things I was sorry for, so I just left it at that.

He sighed. "I know who's responsible, Sookie, and he will pay." Quinn picked the fallen towel up from the floor and sat on the opposite bed, draping it across his lap. I tried not to look at the tent, and I hoped like hell it went down before his sister got back. I sat down on my bed, pulling the sheet higher around me.

"Where's Frannie?" I asked.

"She went to get us some clothes," he said.

I looked at the table between the beds but there was no phone. I figured when Frannie got back I could use the one in the front office to call Michael, Eric's day man. I was sure he'd be able to sort this out better than I could. I looked back at Quinn whose eyes were still burning. I could hear the battle in his head and knew he wanted to kiss me again.

"I better go shower," I said, taking the sheet and Claude's shirt with me.

I examined my battered body in the bathroom mirror. I'd been worse. The bruise on my cheek was purple and puffy, and my eyes were looking about the same from lack of blood and sleep. I couldn't tell how bad off my neck was, because it was still covered in dried blood. I dropped the sheet to the floor and removed what little clothing I had on. The water pooling at the drain was pink at first, but after a few minutes, it ran clear again. I felt for Eric through the bond, though I knew he was dead for the day.

Part of me was ready for a full force break down, but I knew it wasn't time for that yet. I heard chatter in the room when I turned off the shower and figured Frannie was back. I wiped the steam from the mirror after I'd dried off. The marks on my neck were a little more bruised than I'd expected, but then maybe that was because I'd been bitten only by Eric for so long that I forgot how bad vampire bites can be if the vampire isn't careful. I slipped back into Claude's shirt, which came down far enough, but only just, and wrapped my wet hair in the towel. For a moment I smiled at the realization that I was probably the only woman in the world annoyed that Claude liked his shirts fitted a little too snuggly.

I was too drained of energy to wonder how exactly Frannie had planned on getting us clothes with no money or credit cards. If I had thought about it, I might have been suspicious enough to listen to the thoughts of the people on the other side of the bathroom door. If I'd done that, then it might have given me pause to do something smarter than trot back into the bedroom, barely covered, with my trademark Sookie smile plastered on my face. However, in my exhausted state, that's exactly what I did.

And a large man with a taser gun was waiting for me when I stepped into the room. I had all of three seconds to register Frannie's frantic argument with another man and Quinn's fallen form before I was once again rendered unconscious.

In the last 36 hours, I'd been drugged, beaten, bitten and now tasered, most of which while bereft of proper clothing. I had no idea where I was, how I'd gotten there or who was behind it, though I was pretty sure I needed to have a long conversation with Frannie.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was a halo of white hair surrounding a dark, sharp face.

"Octavia?" I said, stunned.

"Oh, Sookie," she said, looking down at me. "I'm so sorry."

I wasn't sure what exactly she was sorry about, but finding out wasn't my first priority.

"Where are we?" I asked. I looked around the stark room. There was an exposed lightbulb hanging above us, and from the light it looked like we were in a large cell of some sort. There were two cots, the one I was lying on and another a little ways off against the opposite wall. There was a curtain hanging around what I guessed was a make—shift bathroom. The floor was cement, with a big, old oriental rug covering most of the middle. Really, it might have passed for a spartan bedroom if not for the bars along the one wall.

"Those fool fanatics have us locked in a basement," she said. "Somewhere near Shreveport I'd guess, but I can't say for sure."

I started to sit up, and she pulled me into a hug. "I'm so sorry, my dear." She meant it, I could tell, but I still had no clue why she was apologizing to me. I was pretty sure she hadn't been in on the latest kidnapping, but she seemed to think she'd done something horrible and that it directly affected me. I searched around her mind a little, but she threw up a barrier as soon as she felt me sifting around.

"I suppose I owe you the story," she said in a soft voice, pulling back from the embrace. "You must believe me, Sookie, I didn't know what they were planning." She was begging me to believe her, and I could read that she was telling the truth. Without a clue as to what she was talking about, I nodded for her to continue.

"When I went to Louis's house that night, before the coven meeting," she began, "it was all a wreck. I knew that something bad had happened, so I cast a spell to find him. I should have told the others what was happening, but I was worried there wasn't time. The spell was strong, but his essence felt weak, so I thought he must be near death. I rushed after him," she said, shaking her head slightly.

"When I found them, they had him tied up, and it looked like they'd beaten him up a bit, too. The woman, their leader, she told me they needed magic that he wouldn't give them. She said they'd kill him if he didn't do it. He looked so beaten. I told her I could do whatever they needed, if they let him go. I didn't know." She shook her head again. "I didn't know."

"What did Yvonne want?" I asked. I'd gotten a clear picture from Octavia's mind when she recalled her.

"She had a draught that made vampires ill," she said, "but only if they ingested it by feeding off a human. She wanted me to make it stronger. To make it deadly." The regret and remorse coming off of her was overwhelming. "It went against all my better judgment, but Louis's life depended on it, so I agreed to do it."

If I'd been more alert, I'm sure I would have figured out what she was telling me sooner, but as it was I was struggling to keep up. I did at least get the main point.

"You started the vampire flu?"

"No, but I certainly helped it along," she said. She was pissed about something, but we hadn't gotten there just yet. "Sookie," she looked me straight in the eyes, and hers were full of pity and remorse. "I didn't know how she wanted to use it. I swear. I thought they just wanted to protect themselves. Even with Louis's life in the balance, I would never have done it if I'd known."

Finally, things started clicking into place. "They drugged me?" I sat upright on the cot, swinging my legs over the edge of it. "That's what was in the soup? But . . . that doesn't make any sense . . ." I stopped dead.

"I'm so sorry, Sookie," she said again. Tears were forming in her eyes. Whatever reaction Octavia was expecting from me, it certainly wasn't the one she got.

I doubled over laughing hysterically. For a good long minute, I thought I might suffocate. I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe. I looked up at Octavia's distraught face, and it just made the fit worse. "She wanted to poison Eric," I said through my laughter. It wasn't funny, not really, but I couldn't stop. Eventually the indescribable expression on Octavia's face brought me around.

"Octavia," I said, running my hand along the marks on my neck, "Eric didn't do this. He didn't bite me." Then I sobered up suddenly, thinking of how close we'd been, so many times. But it wasn't Eric who'd bitten me, it was Felipe. And now – I tried to stifle another giggling fit – he had the flu!

"What?" she said, and it was her turned to be stunned. "But . . ."

"Felipe," I said. "He had me kidnapped yesterday. He was trying to turn me, to overthrow Eric. He bit me, and then he just collapsed." The satisfaction of knowing his fate and the reason for it was almost enough to drive away the tension from knowing how close it came to being Eric.

Octavia smiled a little smile.

"He's going to die?" I asked, openly gleeful at the prospect.

"In a few days, most likely," she said. "Eric hasn't bitten you?" she asked.

"No, Octavia, he's fine. He would have, but the timing was just always wrong." I couldn't help but laugh again, and this time Octavia joined me. She'd been thinking she was responsible for killing Eric, and the guilt was gnawing at her something awful. I relished in the relief that swept over her.

Unfortunately, when the reality of our situation started sinking back in, my mood sank with it.

"If they still have you here, where's Louis?" I asked when I was back to my senses.

"Oh, he's here, too," she said. Now that her guilt was dissolved, Octavia's primary emotion was righteous anger. Louis had betrayed her to the Fellowship of the Sun.

"But why?" I asked. She knew I'd read her mind, she'd let me after all, and understood the question.

"After Katrina," she said, and her voice was a little softer, a little more compassionate, "he was found by a nest. They were trapped under a building, and he tried to free them. But they kept him, and . . ." She didn't need to explain, I was watching Louis recount the story in her memory, and his expression told me all I needed to know. "He began it," she said, talking about the vamp flu, "but he wanted it stronger. He tried everything he could think of, but nothing would make it lethal."

"Silver," I said, echoing Octavia's thoughts.

"After Amelia discovered a way to break the bond between you and Eric, he realized the same magic would probably work for the draught."

"But y'all never told anyone how y'all did it, so he couldn't do it on his own."

"No, and he thought I wouldn't do it for him," she said. Her voice was fully of regret. She might have, if he'd asked her, and that knowledge was eating away at her conscience. "So they came up with a plan."

"I'm sorry," I said, placing my hand on hers. I could feel her pain at the betrayal. She let her anger overwhelm her hurt, but the hurt was there and it was a powerful thing.

"Sookie," Octavia's voice was suddenly urgent, "you have to get out of here." No kidding.

"Any ideas how I go about doing that?" I asked with a dash of sarcasm in my voice.

"The woman, Yvonne, she wants Eric dead. She's set on it. Sookie, if he comes here to find you . . ." And I saw it in her head. They'd all taken the draught. If Eric came here and bit any one of them, he'd die. And he would come, I was sure of it. He would find me as soon as the sun set, and he'd kill anything in his path. One bite, that's all it would take.

"Is there a cure?" I asked her, but I'd already read the answer in her mind.

"No."