Sam and Anne Marie were both quiet in the car as they drove home from Fangtasia. It was about four-thirty in the morning, and Sam felt exhausted. Working at the vampire bar had been a lot more stressful than tending his own. Anne Marie pulled a huge pile of money out of her pocket and looked at it. She wasn't nearly as tired as Sam, he could tell.
"Vampires tip good," she said with satisfaction.
"Yeah? You did okay?" Sam had stuffed his share of tips in his pocket without bothering to even estimate how much might be there.
"Woulda bin fun, not for all de drama," she said wistfully. "I feel bad for Peggy, me. Dealin' wid dat bitch Eric so hot for."
"I don't think he's so hot for her now that you told him she was taking V," Sam said grimly.
"Guess we find out tomorrow."
The last they had seen, Eric had taken Elise by the wrist and dragged her out of Fangtasia. Peggy and Bill had followed, and none of them had returned. After that, the business in the bar had been easy enough to handle. Sam had asked Pam about what had happened, but she had provided only a vague answer.
When they got home to Bon Temps, Gran-mawmaw Boudreaux was sitting on the front porch of their trailer, rocking little Belle on her lap. The baby was half asleep, but woke immediately and began to wiggle when her parents arrived. Chuckling, Gran-mawmaw set her on her sturdy little legs and she toddled over, holding up her chubby arms. Her red-gold hair curled around her face and her eyes were large and green like her mother's. She was dressed in a little pink nightie.
Sam scooped her up and swung her around. "Here's my princess!"
"Daddy!" Belle squealed happily.
"You been behaving for Gran-mawmaw?" Sam asked, grinning widely.
"Uh-huh."
All the problems of the whole night melted away in this moment. He looked over at Anne Marie and she was smiling just as much as Sam was. The pale glow of the light in Merlotte's parking lot was behind her, framing her red curls and making them gleam in a halo around her sweet face.
"Oh, dat's a good chile," said Gran-mawmaw, "M'happy to keep her, me. But what I wants to know is, why you two smell so nasty?"
Sam and Anne Marie both drew in a great big sniff simultaneously. Sam's mind whirled as he dissected the different smells clinging to them both. He forced himself to ignore the rich, seductive smell of the wood behind the trailer, the sweet flowers that his wife had planted in the yard, the spicy smell of his grandmother-in-law and other things that were the common, pleasant smells of home.
Clinging to him and Anne Marie both were the bar smells – alcohol, cleaning solution, the tangy, metallic whiff of True Blood. The dry smell of vampires, a bare whisper to the nose. Human sweat.
"Well, you know we was at Fangtasia, Gran-mawmaw," said Anne Marie.
"I know, I know – I 'spected to be smellin' vampers on you."
"Dere somepin else?"
"Somepin rotten," said Gran-mawmaw. "Bad juju."
Sam and Anne Marie exchanged a glance and said at once, "Elise."
"Who Elise is?" asked Gran-mawmaw.
"She's a waitress at Fangtasia," said Sam diplomatically.
"She Eric Northman's new toy, her," said Anne Marie, a bit less so.
"Dat Eric Northman – you tink livin' a thousand years give a man some sense." Gran-mawmaw sighed, shaking her gray head. "Tell him I says throw dat girl in de swamp."
"Certainly make her smell better," said Anne Marie. Belle let out a little shriek and reached out for her mother, so Sam passed her over.
"What is it, Gran-mawmaw? Do you know what she is?"
"She a human, her," said Gran-mawmaw.
"Gran-mawmaw," Anne Marie said gently, "If she a human, why do she smell so rotten?"
"And why do the vampires like it?" Sam added. He ran a hand through his reddish-gold hair, causing it to stick up at odd angles. Sam stifled a yawn. He needed to get to bed.
"Fairy blood," said Gran-mawmaw.
"Fairy blood?" This was the night for Sam and Anne Marie to have identical reactions and say the same thing at once, Sam guessed.
"Uh-huh," said Gran-mawmaw.
"I never met a fairy, me," said Anne Marie. "Dey really stink like dat?"
"No, no, chile," said Gran-mawmaw. "Their blood just rot real fast."
"That explains why Eric can't keep his hands off of her," said Sam thoughtfully. "But I thought you said she was human."
"Don' you listen, Sam Merlotte?" said Gran-mawmaw, "Dis Elise, she been drinkin' rotten fairy blood. It a new fang-banger trick to attrack vampers. M'surprise a one of 'em ain't ate her up yet."
"Dat explain why she been avoidin' the vampires in the club," said Anne Marie. "She only after Eric."
"Well," said Sam thoughtfully, "At least we can let Eric know what's going on."
"Not til tonight," said Anne Marie, and Sam realized that the sun was starting to rise.
"We also need to find out where she's getting fairy blood and put a stop to it," said Sam.
"You do," said Gran-mawmaw, nodding.
"But first, we need to get some sleep," Sam said. Anne Marie nodded in agreement.
"No," said Gran-mawmaw.
"No?" Sam and Anne Marie formed their own choir again.
"I am not lettin' you set foot in dis trailer smellin' like dat. Give me dat baby, and y'all go run through dat wood and jump in de lake. Come back when you clean."
Two minutes later, a collie and a dachshund were loping through the woods, the light of the rising sun kissing them through the trees. Sam let out a happy bark. This was the best he'd felt in three days. Despite being low to the ground, the dachshund had no trouble keeping up with him. Trees, ivy, rabbits in the brush. It all smelled so wild and good and delicious.
Sam reached the lake and went sailing off of the dock in his dog form. He went underwater and came up a human. Anne Marie was waiting for him, smiling, when he emerged. He tried not to stare at her breasts, but failed spectacularly. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind.
"You owe me, Sam," she said, swimming towards him. "Next time, you do a cat."
"All right," he said, pulling his wife into his arms. "I suppose I can give it a shot. It just doesn't seem like as much fun."
"I show you how much fun it is," she promised, and then she kissed him, long and slow, and Sam forgot that there was anything in the world besides the two of them, this lake, and the gentle caress of the rising sun dappling through the trees.
Together Sam and Anne Marie bobbed in the water, arms and legs wrapped around each other. The kisses and caresses went on and on, unhurried, unrushed, with nothing to hurry them or stop them. Sam gave in to the perfect happiness of this moment. His life had changed so much since Anne Marie had come into his life. The loneliness of his past seemed like a distant memory.
"Sam?" she murmured in his ear, her voice husky.
"Yes, cher?" His hand swept slowly down the curve of her hip, the water lapping around them.
"You happy?"
"Do you have to ask?" he said in a teasing tone. His lips moved over her cheek, his tongue teased her ear, and he was pleased when she gasped. "Are you happy?"
"Oh yes," she sighed, "But Sam… I…"
She wanted something, he thought. "What is it?"
"You think… you think we might have another baby?"
Sam felt a little shock go through him. To tell the truth, he'd never thought about it. Belle had come along by accident, but he had never regretted that, not for one second. Their daughter was the apple of his eye. She had made his relationship with Anne Marie stronger and deeper than anything he had ever dreamed of sharing with any woman. Sam took a deep breath before he answered her.
"Just one?"
Anne Marie put her head in the crook of his neck and sobbed. "Really?"
"Let's have a dozen," Sam said. She lifted her head, smiling, tears of happiness staining her round cheeks.
"Well, dat may be a lot."
"We can have as many as you want," Sam promised.
"I love you, Sam Merlotte," said Anne Marie.
"We can start making them right now," he promised, and began to kiss her again.
"I like dat idea," said Anne Marie, and her tears melted away as the naughty look he loved so well came into her green eyes.
Sam pulled his wife up out of the water onto the dock and began to show her exactly how serious he was.