Rachel--POV
I lay face down in the grass beneath the steel tower. I had to rest. My progress was agonizingly slow. I was traveling—as far as I could tell from my compass and a state map I had picked up at a gas station—in a diagonal line slanting southeast. I was expecting any minute for them to catch up with me. I kept away from roads and civilization as much as I could, but there were signs that I was being followed from the air. I had been afraid of that. I tried to stay under the cover of trees as much as possible. I was hoping, now, that the energy given off by the electrical tower might bother whoever was tracking me enough to confuse them.
The only up side was that I still had plenty of True Blood. With Pam's voice roaring like a blitzkrieg through my mind every few hours or so, I had very little appetite. I drank just enough to keep myself from collapsing and worked on casting a protective circle around myself.
That wore me out, too; I was out of practice. From childhood, both Billy and I were taught to ignore our savvy as much as possible. Poor Mama wanted so much to have two normal kids…even Pastor Bob had trouble getting her to relax enough not to hound us all the time. Billy thought our savvy was a gift from God. I don't know about that—if mine were like his, I might think so, too, but I all I ever do is scare people to death. I learned circle casting from Pastor Bob, even though he didn't call it that. He called it the Swords of Angels. "Whenever you feel scared, Rachel", he would tell me, "close your eyes and imagine God's angels surrounding with you with the Swords of the Heavenly Host. In the middle of them, you are always safe. See the golden blades, the fire leaping from the tips."
It wasn't until I was a teenager that I learned that there were other people like Billy and me, and that they weren't Satan-worshippers or cursed somehow. In fact, now that I'm grown up, I think savvy is kind of like being left-handed or having red hair: something passes through the genes. I also know that I can control it if I take deep breaths and focus. It helps if I stand on the earth without my shoes on.
When I was made into a vampire, I thought maybe my savvy would disappear. A person with savvy is like a battery…things flow through them, through their bodies and brains. If your body is dead, how can the energy move through you? But for whatever reason, my savvy seems to be pretty intact, if rusty. Unlike Billy, I never exercised it much. I can see the point of his—knowing the future and about people and all—but not of mine.
Billy…I know he's with them. I can feel it. You'd think I'd feel betrayed, but I don't. Billy would always come if I were in trouble.
I don't even know where I'm going now.
If Billy's with them, he will have told them about the cottage. I have to pick a new direction.
I have an image in my head of mountains.
Sookie—POV
We stopped at a McDonald's with a gas station to re-fuel the vehicles and so the Duprees and I could eat. Pam was gassing up Eric's car when he walked out of the trees behind the restaurant. Obviously, he couldn't just plop down in the middle of everybody.
"Well?" she asked.
"She's changed direction. Almost due east now. I haven't been able to get a visual for some reason" he arched an eyebrow at Bill. "Is there something I don't know about our Rachel?"
"We didn't know it ourselves until a few hours ago" Bill said. "Apparently, the family has witch blood. You've heard Billy Dupree refer to it as 'savvy'".
"Ah."
"If she don't want to be seen, you won't see her" Billy said flatly. "All we can do is follow her line until she gets too tired to hold up. She don't use her savvy much, so she shouldn't be able to keep it up forever."
"That would be a good plan if we had an indefinite amount of time" Eric said, "but unfortunately, she's crossed into were territory, and we don't have time to involve their packmasters. Vampires are pretty much unwelcome in the part of Mississippi she's in. We need to intercept her. Pam?"
"Don't look at me" Pam jerked the nozzle of the gas pump from Eric's tank and put it back into place. "I've been doing everything I can, and all I've got for my trouble is the headache from hell."
Unexpectedly, the Pastor spoke. He was standing with the Duprees a few feet away. "I might be able to help you there. My people used to range from the Carolinas all the way to Texas, and we know the people you call 'weres'. I know a few of the packmasters, and if I call them and invoke our treaty, they'll help."
"Very well" Eric shrugged—when there was a problem to be solved, he never quibbled much about the way to solve it—"See if you can get passage for three vampires and her family."
"I want something in return."
"Yes?"
"Your word of honor as Sheriff of your territory that no harm will come to her."
A momentary look of surprise flashed across Eric's face. The Pastor nodded. "I know who you are. I counsel some of the vampires of your territory. And I know that among you, a word given in the name of authority is unbreakable."
"You surprise us, Reverend." Pam said, her eyebrows had shot up.
"I don't claim to know why you exist" the Pastor said calmly. "But I believe that God never creates anything without a reason. Vampires, weres, the fey…you are all part of His great design, just as we are."
Mrs. Dupree had gone very quiet. She was standing with her hands folded and her eyes closed. She was praying, and even though I saw Pam roll her eyes, I didn't. I believe in prayer. Mr. Dupree merely watched us all.
Eric was silent for a long time. Then he nodded. "You have my word. But you must understand that there has to be consequences. She is under our care—mine and Pam's—and while I understand that we have made a grave mistake, no orphan vampire is ever allowed to just roam around on their own. It's too dangerous."
"I understand. And I'm here to offer you a possible solution. If you will release Rachel into my custody, I will take her onto our tribal lands. We have a responsibility towards her, too. And our law is not necessarily always that of the U.S. government."
"I appreciate that, Reverend, but I have already decided what the consequences will be. When Rachel is found, she and Pam will share a living space for the full five years it takes for Rachel to classify as independent. She will be Pam's child, just as if Pam had turned her."
"Now wait just a minute…!" Pam protested.
"No, you listen!" Eric said, more angrily than I'd ever heard him speak to her, "Because of your lack of patience, we have a situation that could easily cause a war, not to mention the embarrassment that will come to our queen, the other sheriffs, and myself! I hate to look stupid, Pam. You made this mess, and you will clean it up!"
"How?! How am I responsible?! Did you not say yourself that the most important thing was to remove Rachel so we could question the Allen girl? She was defying me, Eric! You would never have stood for—"
"I would never have said something so abysmally stupid!"
"Maybe you'd better ask her." I said.
Everyone looked at me.
"It seems to me" I went on, "that the best thing y'all could do to make it up to Rachel is to ask her what she wants to do. And I bet it won't be to live with Pam. Your best option is probably gonna be to either let her come back home and live with her family or let her go with the Pastor. She's got no reason to trust any of the rest of us."
None of the vampires spoke. After all, what could they say?
Pam—POV
Much as I hated to admit it, Sookie had a point. And it would solve my problem…
Or would it?
For the first time in over a hundred years, I felt regret. I didn't think I could anymore.
Eric was right. I had been stupid.
I thought of Rachel. Normally, I don't bother to try to walk in anyone's shoes but my own. It bogs you down, confuses you; it makes you unable to make good decisions. But even I could see that Rachel had decided that wasn't safe with us, and probably wouldn't be safe anywhere, and had taken steps to take care of herself. Would I have done any differently, in her place? Not bloody likely.
"It's all right" I said, sighing. "If we can get her home, I'll abide by the terms."