A/N - Your reviews and PMs continue to inspire and overwhelm me. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you! You're the greatest!

As always, the characters (except the ones you don't recognize from the books) are the property of Ms. Harris. I am simply borrowing them for our amusement and I hope she doesn't mind sharing with us.

CHAPTER 12

I was disappointed that I couldn't get any hints from Victor as to what he was thinking or planning. Even though I shuddered at the prospect, I was going to have to dance with him again tonight or find some other way to ingratiate myself to him. I needed to get up and mingle around, maybe even listen in on Gavin's thoughts and see what I could learn.

When I roused from my musings, Eric was leaned over the table, embroiled in a discussion with Pam about one of Fangtasia's liquor suppliers. I thought this was supposed to be an entertaining evening. I poked him in the ribs, eliciting a mildly disgruntled look. "Excuse me, but could you let me out, please? I need to visit the ladies room."

"What?" His voice contained just a hint of irritation. You would have thought I had disturbed an international treaty hearing at the U.N. or something.

"You know...human needs?"

"Oh, sorry." Eric stood to the side of the booth, taking my hand to help me out. As I started to walk away, he grabbed my arm and spun me back to him. Wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me close, Eric kissed me with skill that could only be learned with a thousand years of practice. "One for the road," he said with a wink.

I was more than a little unsteady on my feet as I walked toward the door leading to the back hallway, a combination of the lingering effects of Eric's kiss, three-inch heels, and way too much gin. I passed by the Willing Donors, and hard as I tried to put my shields up, a few of their thoughts sneaked through.

'My god, did you see the way he kissed her? I'd give anything to be in her shoes..."

'She is one lucky bitch...wonder if they're into threesomes...'

'Sure wish I could have been a fly on the wall earlier while he was doing her...'

I hurried my step toward the door so I could get past their ugly thoughts. Even after a lifetime of hearing people's dark and nasties, some things could still turn my stomach.

The employee restroom was empty so I went in and locked the door behind me. I carefully examined myself in the mirror. Outwardly, Claudine's magic was still miraculously intact. A few more tendrils of hair may have escaped my updo, but they only added to its softness. Surprisingly, my makeup wasn't noticeably smudged after Eric's and my little office episode. I probably would have felt better if I splashed some cold water on my face, but I didn't want to ruin all of Claudine's hard work. Instead, I took care of business, washed my hands, and freshened my lip gloss.

With one last look in the mirror, I was out the door and headed back down the hallway.

When I returned to the bar, I headed to the buffet table to check out the food. I figured I should probably put something solid in my stomach to soak up a little of the alcohol I had swilled down. The food smelled and looked wonderful. I filled a small plate with a couple of stuffed mushrooms, a couple of pieces of rumaki, and a few small meatballs in barbeque sauce. I stood off to the side and regarded the crowd while I munched.

I silently watched the mingling bodies; some of them I recognized as Fangtasia regulars, some of the unknowns I was sure were friends of the new regime.

I was just starting to feel a little more collected when a big, black cloud disguised as one Bill Compton made its way through the crowd to rain on my parade. He stopped in front of me and leaned in to kiss my cheek. He stood back abruptly; the look of disgust on his face was unmistakable. "My god, Sookie, you reek of fairy and fucking! What have you been up to?" What the hell happened to Southern manners? He noticed the fang marks on my neck and the look on his face said if he were human he would have thrown up, right there in the middle of the bar.

"Hello to you, too, Bill," I replied in my best drier-than-the-Sahara voice. "It's so nice to see you...and it's none of your fucking business what I've been up to...or with whom," I added for emphasis. It wasn't really my nature to drop F-bombs, especially at a social gathering, but I was running on an overabundance of both adrenaline and gin, and something about seeing Bill here tonight brought out the worst in me.

To further punctuate my irritation at his unwelcome intrusion, I stuffed a piece of rumaki in my mouth and chewed with slow and deliberate exaggeration, just inches from his face. "Mmm mmm mmm," I swallowed dramatically and licked my lips slowly. The only thing that might have made the moment any better would have been a liberal dose of garlic on the rumaki.

There was no way for Bill to disguise the revulsion he was feeling from my eating in front of him. It had always made him uncomfortable while we were dating; I'd even had to brush my teeth after eating before he would kiss me.

All of this paled in comparison, though, as my memory whisked me back to the humiliation and revulsion I felt during our trip to Dallas, when Bill brought another human to our hotel room to feed. I had waited in the bedroom, but the closed door between us hadn't been enough to block the sounds coming from the other room. The bile rising in my throat at the recollection just pushed more hostility for Bill to the surface.

"So, what is it you want, Bill?" I asked him sharply.

He shuffled uncomfortably before answering. "I just wanted to say hello and see how you were." His voice was so low I could barely hear it over the band. He already knew how I was – he practically stalked my house every night, under the pretense of watching over me.

Debra picked that moment to walk past and I called out to her. "Could you be a dear and bring another gin and tonic, please?" I thought I'd been done with alcohol for the night, but my encounter with Bill had me doing a complete one-eighty.

The redhead smiled and nodded as she headed to the bar. I felt so punchy I'd purposely disregarded good manners and didn't ask Bill if he wanted Debra to bring him a blood.

"Heard from Selah since she moved to Little Rock?" My words dripped with sarcasm.

"Sookie, please. I did not mean to upset you. I only wanted to tell you..."

I put my hand to his lips before he could continue. "Nope, not, no way. We are so not going to have this conversation here tonight."

Bill reached up for my hand and placed a kiss in my palm before lowering it. Sadness and resignation filled his eyes. "If you would only let me explain..."

I pulled my hand back as if I had been burned. My piercing look stopped him mid-sentence. "Bill, no. No apologies, no excuses. We had our time, now it's over. I belong to Eric now. Deal with it."

"I will never be able to deal with the thought of you being with another..." Bill began, but was interrupted by Debra's return with my drink. This girl was officially my hero.

"Well, Bill, it's been a slice, but I have mingling to do." I smiled at him breezily and left him standing with his arms hanging dejectedly at his sides and his jaw somewhere in the vicinity of the floor.

I meandered slowly around the bar, sipping my drink and doing my best to block the thoughts of the humans in the crowd. As I neared the door to the back hallway, I saw it open slightly and a familiar head half-peeked through the crack.

"Sookie, over here," Bubba whispered frantically.

I quickly stepped through the door and led Bubba down the hallway and into the supply closet, closing the door behind us. "I haven't seen you all night, Bubba. What's going on?"

"I've just been trying to keep a low profile...you know...see if I can pick up anything." I saw Bubba sniff the air once and a sheepish look came over his face. "Uh, Sookie, this is really embarrassing, and I, um, wouldn't say this except, uh, you've been wandering around in a bar full of vampires and, uh...why do you smell like sex and fairies?"

I cringed, thinking the scent must be really bad for Bubba to mention it. "Long story, Bubba." Time to change the subject – quick. "Any luck with the recon so far?" I hoped he was faring better than I was.

"Not so far, at least not tonight," he answered. "But I was hiding out in the lobby of the Bon Nuit this morning and overheard Gavin McPherson talking on his cell to someone named Justin. I heard him mention Miami and he said something about meeting with Victor on Wednesday."

"That doesn't give us much time to find out what's going on, Bubba." I hesitated a minute before I continued, knowing Bubba would balk at what I was going to ask him.

"You know, Bubba, this would be a lot easier if we let Eric in on what's going on."

"No way, Sookie." Bubba shook his head furiously. "If anyone else finds out about me, it'll be all over for Bubba." He pointed at himself to punctuate his fear.

"Bubba, listen to me," I tried to reason with him. "You can trust Eric. I know he'll keep your secret. He doesn't like Victor any more than you do."

I could sense Bubba's resolve start to crack, so I pressed on. "Eric is very powerful, Bubba. He knows a lot of people. We stand a much better chance of averting a disaster if we let him help us."

Bubba leaned back against the wall and looked upward as if he were seriously considering my request. "I don't know, Sookie..." he said skeptically.

"Please, Bubba," I pleaded. "I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't think it was really necessary."

"Okay, okay, let's tell him." The look in Bubba's eyes told me the jury was still out on the okay part.

Bubba's concession took a huge weight off my shoulders, and I reached over and hugged him. "Wait right here, I'll go get Eric." I left the storeroom and headed back to the bar.

I spied Eric once again talking with Victor, Michel, and Gavin. There was another vamp with them, someone else I didn't recognize. Eric saw me walking toward them and frowned a little at my fresh drink, but held out his hand to me. I took it and he pulled me close to his side. My little encounter with Bubba had a sobering effect and I was feeling a little more steady as I greeted the crowd.

Eric introduced me to the new vampire. "My dear, this is Edward Burroughs, Sheriff of Area Four. Edward, may I present Sookie Stackhouse."

"I'm happy to meet you, Mr. Burroughs." I nodded my head in vampire greeting.

Edward returned my nod with a genuine look in his eyes. "Miss Stackhouse, it is my pleasure." His smile was warm and friendly; green eyes sparkled under a cap of unkempt auburn hair. The pallor of his face was accentuated by a sprinkling of freckles on his nose and cheeks. He appeared to have been turned when he was very young, maybe fifteen or sixteen.

I thought briefly about Sophie-Anne, how young she had been when she was turned, and how she had ascended to the rank of Queen of Louisiana before her final death. The thought of her demise made my loathing for Victor increase tenfold. I fought back a scowl as I glanced at him.

Eric glanced down at me with sparkling eyes before turning his attention to the crowd. His arm tightened around my waist. "Gentlemen, now that we're all here, I have an announcement." Eric paused. "Sookie...is my bonded."

Shut the fuck up...

TBC