Chapter Twenty-One

When Eric and I arrived at my house, there was a milling crowd of humans and vampires quietly conversing. It was a vast assortment of creatures, most from my own den, but quite a number from the Fellowship of the Sun, including William Compton. I saw in this latter group a few of the humans who I had granted a stay of execution, who now understood that not all vampires were as bloodthirsty and depraved as Steve Newlin painted us to be.

As I walked through the crowd, a hush descended over them and followed me into the den, where Stan and Isabel stood waiting for me.

I took the chair that sat empty, and as settled Stan came and said to me, "Welcome home, sheriff. We are all very relieved."

If I had been in a different mood, or if it had been another night but tonight, his insincerity would have disgusted and offended me, but tonight I didn't care. Stan's ardour for power and status was endless, and as much a part of him as his fangs and bloodlust. That was why he would never become sheriff: he wanted it too much.

I turned my attention to the line of humans and vampires that was growing behind Stan. First in line was Jason Stackhouse.

"Uh, I just wanna say, I'm real sorry for what the Fellowship put you through." Everything about Jason was uncomfortable. His shy speech, his stance, with hands in the pockets to stop them from fluttering nervously. He turned away after speaking, sure I had nothing to say to him. But I had much to say to him.

"You saved many lives today, Mr. Stackhouse. Please know that you have friends in this area whenever you visit."

"Thanks, man," Jason replied with a lopsided smile, "but, uh, I don't know if I'll be wanting to come back anytime soon."

I couldn't blame the man for his sentiment. It was the most truthful thing anyone had said to me the entire night.

A few others came forth to welcome me back, but I hardly heard them. I gave them automatic answers which they seemed content with, wishing that each being was the last one.

Whispers broke out at the back of the line, then Isabel pushed her way through the congregation, Hugo with her.

"Here is the one who betrayed us." She pushed Hugo forward, and he stumbled and fell to his knees. I locked eyes with Isabel, and I could see how much this was hurting her, but also an iron determination to do whatever was best for the nest.

Though I knew the answer, I inquired, "Hugo...he is your human, is he not?"

"Yes, he is."

"Do you love him?"

Determination wavered, and her voice cracked only just a little. "I-I thought I did."

"It appears you love him still."

Unconsciously, her gaze flickered to the man grovelling before me on the floor. Her face crumpled. "I do. I'm sorry. But you are my sheriff. Do with him as you please." She tensed her spine in preparation for the blow that I was to deliver.

To the traitor I said, "You are free to go." For in this world, love, even between a loyalist and a traitor, was far too rare to take away. I couldn't break Isabel's heart.

"What?"

I turned to Stan, the begetter of the outcry. "The human is free to go..." And don't you dare try to make it otherwise. "...and do not return," I added to Hugo. "I fear it is not safe for you here."

"This is a travesty."

"This is my verdict, Stan. Eric, escort Hugo and Isabel out. Make sure he leaves unharmed."

Eric sketched a hint of a bow. "Yes, Godric."

As Hugo, Eric, and Isabel left, a sudden exhaustion overcame me. I didn't want to see anyone else tonight, or talk anymore, or sit around to be looked at and whispered about. I wanted to be alone, away from prying eyes.

Eric returned quickly, and a twitch of his head cleared everyone else out of the den. As soon as they were gone, he came and knelt next to me.

"Hugo's been dispatched. I told him not to stop driving until he reaches the Mexican border." His blue eyes looked like winter moonlight playing upon an icy Nordic sea. He smiled hopefully at me. "I arranged for an AB-negative human for you. Extremely rare."

I sighed. "Thank you, but I'm not hungry."

"You have to feed eventually. I doubt the Fellowship had anything to offer." I saw in his face this need to be hopeful, to pretend that what happened in the car never happened, that things would be all right and I would revert back to my normal self. But when I said nothing to him, his hope quickly vanished, leaving only desperation and fear in its place. And despair. "Why won't you talk to me? Why didn't you leave when I first came for you?"

"I told you, they didn't hold me against my will. And they didn't treat me badly. You'd be shocked at how ordinary most of them are. Steve was the only rabid one, truly."

"They do nothing but fan the flames of hatred for us."

"Let's be honest," I admonished, "we are frightening. After thousands of years, we haven't evolved. I tried, and look what it got me: disbelief and disdain, from vampires and humans alike. And I understand why ‒ we have only grown more brutal, more predatory, more selfish. I don't see the danger in treating humans as equals. The Fellowship of the Sun arose because we never did so, and I fear it will soon be too late to ever reach a peace between vampires and humans if we keep on as we have kept on."

"Is that why you wouldn't fight?"

"That is only part of the reason... I could have killed every last one of them within minutes. And what would that have proven? Only that we are iniquitous beasts who deserve to be put down."

"But why were you willing to kill‒"

Before he could finish that laden question, a commotion broke out in the outer room. It sounded like some sort of fight between Sookie Stackhouse and another woman about William Compton. I went to find out, and was confronted with the sight of a female vampire holding Sookie down, her fangs out and prepared to strike, and William standing uselessly nearby.

After all my effort to make amends to humans for the wrongs vampires have done them, to see a vampire abusing a human so lightly infuriated me. I snatched the female vampire off of Sookie before she could harm the girl. "Retract...your...fangs. Now."

The vampire's fangs slid back, and she stared at me with caution in her eyes. It seemed she wasn't used to being handled as a puppet by someone so much older than her.

"I neither know–nor care–who you are," I said to her. "But in this area, and certainly in this nest, I am the authority. Do you understand?

Carefully, she answered. "Yes, sheriff."

"Sookie has proven to be a courageous and loyal friend to our kind. And yet you treat her like a child does a dragonfly: pulling off wings for sport. No wonder they hate us."

"She provoked me."

My hand tightened on her throat. "And you have provoked me. You disrupted the peace in my own home. I could snap you like a twig, and yet I haven't. Why is that?"

She swallowed deeply, her throat moving against my palm. "It's your choice."

"Indeed it is. You're an old vampire, I can tell. You've had hundreds of years to better yourself, yet you are still a savage." I became aware that I had an audience. There wasn't a person in the vicinity who wasn't watching with rapt attention. "I fear for us all, humans and vampires, if this behaviour persists."

I looked to William, who had remained very still during the course of events. "You. You seem to know her."

"Yes, sheriff."

"Escort her from the nest." To the female I warned, "I wish you out of my area before dawn."

William took her quickly away, and seemed embarrassed to be associated with her. A child, ashamed of his Maker. I had realized what she was to him, and felt pity for William to have such a Maker as she.

My own child was coming to me again, with his face set in grim determination, and I knew what he was determined to do. However, before he reached me, a male human walked into the centre of the room, and calling notice to himself.

"Excuse me, everyone. If I could have your attention. My name is Luke McDonald. I'm a member of The Fellowship of the Sun, and I have a message for you all, from Reverend Steve Newlin."

Curious, I progressed toward the boy, when he unzipped his jacket. Underneath, he had a bomb harnessed to his body, bound by objects of silver.

I looked at Eric but I could not say anything, for the bomb exploded.