He had never been happier to see Pam than he was that night when he returned to Fangtasia.

Victor had kept his word, and Fangtasia hadn't been touched. No one in his area had been injured or killed. Some of them had been aching for a fight, and Clancy, especially, was sore about the surrender. However, once he had gathered them in the bar and explained the situation, their disappointment was replaced by relief and gratitude. There was some small satisfaction in the fact that Pam had made sure that several of the invaders never went home. Going back into his office and unpacking his travel bag of emergency items seemed rather anti-climactic. He had traded cell phone numbers with Victor, and now there was nothing to do but wait.

He left the bar and drove to Wal-Mart to return the unnecessary windshield wipers he had run in to buy earlier. While he was there, he visited the electronics department and purchased a new cell phone and accessories for Sookie. Her job didn't pay her enough to allow her an unexpected expense like replacing a phone. Back at Fangtasia, he called Cellular South to activate the phone on Sookie's account, and he paid for half a year's service in advance. He scrawled off a quick note to her, enclosed everything in a small box, and told one of the humans to have it shipped with the first mail pick-up.

One more item on the to-do list, he thought as he glanced at the time. He dialed Home Depot and arranged to have a new door installed at Sookie's house. The tiger had broken it, but Eric suspected that if he himself didn't replace it, no one else would.

Dawn was creeping up too quickly for him to fly home, so he slept once again at the bar. When he rose the following night, it was late. He could hear music thumping in the bar as he stumbled into the shower adjoining his office. Clean and refreshed, he pulled his wet hair back into a ponytail, stepped into some worn jeans, and went back into his office to get a Fangtasia t-shirt. Pam was waiting for him.

"I see your extra beauty sleep served you well," she said, looking him up and down with approval.

"Hmm," he grunted. "Any calls?"

"No calls, but Victor's here in person. He's waiting out in the bar. You ready to see him?"

Eric gave her a half smile as he sank into his chair. "As ready as could be expected. Show him in."

Victor wore sharp business attire, making Eric feel shabby and underdressed. With him was an unpleasant female with drawn cheeks, cold eyes, and hair pulled back so tightly it almost stretched her face up. She looked down her nose at everything around her, even when she was looking up, as she did when Eric rose to greet them. He realized too late that he was still barefoot, so he stayed behind his desk.

"Eric," Victor said cheerfully, "this is Sandy Sechrest. She'll be Felipe's right hand man – woman, rather – here in Louisiana. A regent, you might say."

Sandy didn't wait for a greeting. "Let me go ahead and tell you now, Mr. Northman, that if this had been up to me, you and your little band of allies would have died last night with the rest. I tried to persuade the king of the danger of leaving any of you alive, but he disagreed, partly thanks to Victor here." She paused to give Victor a venomous glare, but he seemed unfazed. "Your associations with Weres and humans are not something I approve of," she continued, "but in this, too, I am overruled. Just know that I'll be watching you closely. If I hear or see anything suspicious, Felipe will hear of it. Do you have any questions?"

"None." He was careful to let his expression give nothing away.

"Brief and to the point," she said with a nod. "I like that. Victor, let's go. It's time for you to get to New Orleans."

Excluding that encounter, the night passed as any other night would. Sandy didn't return until the next evening, and once again she stayed only a few minutes. Pam hated her, scowling at her each time she saw her in and out of the office. He still hadn't heard from Sookie about the new phone and door. It might have worried him if he hadn't been used to Sookie's silence when it came to gifts from him. Then again, she wouldn't have needed them if he hadn't gone to her house that night.

Only a call from Sookie could have put him in a good mood about hearing the voice of "Elvira," the latest incompetent employee, on his phone.

"Sookie Stackhouse on line two for you, Master," she simpered.

He smiled and pressed the blinking red button on his phone. "This is Eric. Is this my former lover?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said, and then she launched into a matter of business. Halfway through, she paused. "Are you okay?"

The genuine concern in her voice touched him, even if it had taken her a few moments of cold detachment to summon it. "Yes. Yes, I am… coping with this. We are very, very lucky we were in a position to…" He wondered suddenly if Sandy had bugged his office or if she were spying on him in some other way. "We're very lucky," he concluded briefly.

Her soft sigh of relief was the only clue that she cared one way or the other, because she went immediately back to business. Copley Carmichael wanted to transfer his construction contracts from Sophie-Anne to the new person in charge. Eric's ignorance of the new hierarchy made him feel off-balance, but he suspected that Sandy would be the person to contact.

"Sandy, huh?" Sookie laughed when he told her.

"Yes. She is not a bit funny, Sookie."

"Okay, okay, I get it. Let me call his daughter, she'll call him, he'll call Fangtasia. It'll all get set up, and I've done my favor for him."

"This is Amelia's father?" he guessed. He knew that the witch had a powerful father, but he hadn't connected the two because of their different surnames.

"Yes. He's a jerk. But he's her dad, and I guess he knows his building stuff."

He was done with Copley Carmichael. It was time to remind her that they had unfinished business of their own. "I lay in front of your fire and talked to you about your life," he said. Even when I didn't know who I was or who you were, I cared about you.

"Uh…" She cleared her throat. "Yeah. We did that."

He grinned. "I remember our shower together."

"We did that, too," she said, clipping her words.

He closed his eyes and plumbed his new memories for some of his favorite moments. "We did so many things," he said. He could sound powerfully sexy when he wanted to. Right now he wanted to very much.

"Uh… yeah, okay." She was trying to sound nonchalant, but her voice trembled.

"In fact," he smiled, "if I didn't have so much to do here in Shreveport, I would be tempted to visit you all by myself to remind you how much you enjoyed those things."

"If memory serves, you kind of enjoyed them, too."

"Oh, yes," he purred. Ohhh, yes.

"Eric, I really need to go," she said abruptly. Shakily. "I gotta get to work."

"Goodbye," he told her, filling the word with wonderful promises he would take pleasure in keeping.

"Goodbye."

* * *

Sandy Sechrest apparently found it necessary to visit Fangtasia every night, and Pam began to find it just as necessary to make faces and decidedly unladylike gestures behind Sandy's back. More to Eric's annoyance, Sandy's visits got longer and longer each time. On the night Sam Merlotte called, she had already been with him for twenty miserable minutes. When he told her he had to leave for Bon Temps, her lips pursed up as if someone had pulled an invisible drawstring. She reminded him that Felipe's arrival in Louisiana was imminent and that the king wouldn't stand for such inefficiency. Teeth clenched, Eric stated his regrets in a measured tone as he saw her out. "Bitch," Pam mouthed across the room as she watched him walk back to his office, and he replied with a wink.

The shifter hadn't been specific about what Sookie needed; he had only assured Eric that it wasn't an emergency. Emergency or not, Sookie rarely – if ever – admitted that she needed him, so he intended to waste no time getting to her.

He wondered if it had to do with Niall; the fairy had contacted him the night before, angry that Eric had stopped Sookie from calling on the fae to help her. Eric had explained his reasoning, and Niall had seemed somewhat pacified.

Sookie was serving customers when he arrived at the bar. Almost as good as seeing her was feeling her. His blood always danced through him when she was close, and tonight was no exception. After Sandy's coldness and the anxiety of his precarious new position, Sookie's presence was a warm fire.

He nodded and smiled at her before walking back to Sam's office. Whatever she needed, he didn't intend to discuss it in the middle of the shifter's redneck patrons. Sam was bent over his desk, punching numbers into a calculator.

"I am here," Eric said. "Why did Sookie ask you to call me?"

Sam spun his chair around to face Eric. "She didn't, actually. She doesn't even know that I did it." Eric crossed his arms and prepared to express himself with some choice language, but Sam held up one hand. "One sec." He leapt up and signaled to Sookie out in the bar, then closed the door once she had joined them. "What's wrong?" he asked her.

She looked as taken aback as Eric felt. And there was definitely something wrong with her. He felt a begrudging kind of gratitude to the shifter for calling him, and he made an encouraging motion to her with his hand.

Her eyes brimmed over. "I broke Calvin Norris' hand into bits," she told them, her voice catching in her throat, "w-with a brick."

Why in hell would she do that? Granted, she had a bad temper, but she would never do something like that.

Beside Eric, Sam was nodding with sudden understanding. "Then he was… He stood up for your sister-in-law at the wedding." Eric looked back and forth between them and waited for someone to tell him what the fuck was going on. "She had to break his hand, which represents his claws in panther form," Sam explained to him. "She stood up for Jason."

Eric returned the shifter's gaze darkly, recognizing in the other man's face his own desire to wring Jason Stackhouse's neck. Then Sam's expression changed into one of expectation, and Eric frowned at him, puzzled.

Sookie turned on Sam, her cheeks flushed with anger. "I don't belong to him! Did you think Eric coming would make me all happy and carefree?"

"No, but I hoped it would help you talk about whatever was wrong," the shifter said. Eric could tell that Sam was trying to be calm and understanding, but the flash in his eyes gave him away.

He liked Sam, he realized, especially since the shifter had bothered to call him here. Unlike Bill, who seemed to be in love with the idea of loving Sookie, Sam actually loved her. It made him a rival, to be sure, but Eric had never minded a little competition.

Sookie took a slow, deep breath. "What's wrong. Okay. What's wrong is that my brother arranged for Calvin and me to check on Crystal, who's about four months pregnant, and he fixed it so we'd get there at about the same time." Her chin was trembling, but she didn't let any of the tears in her eyes escape. "And when we checked, we found Crystal in bed with Dove Beck, as Jason knew we would."

Still trying to put things together, Eric exchanged another look with Sam. "And for this," he said, turning back to Sookie, "you had to break the werepanther's fingers." Irrational, ridiculous, archaic, fucking Weres.

"Yes, Eric, that's what I had to do. I had to break my friend's fingers with a brick in front of a crowd," she told him as if he were slow.

"And I thought you'd be such a big help," Sam added.

"I have a few things going in Shreveport – including hosting the new king," he reminded them, holding back his own impatience. Neither of them seemed to give a shit that he'd placed Sookie above everything else.

"Fucking vampires," Sam mumbled.

Eric refrained – admirably, he thought – from pointing out that Sookie was upset because of asinine Were and shifter customs, not because of anything the vampires had done.

"Well," Sookie said with a fake smile and sarcastic cheer, "thanks, guys. This has been a lot of fun. Eric, big help there. I appreciate the kind words." Without waiting for a reply from either of them, she stormed out and slammed Sam's door behind her.

They stood there dumbly for a moment before Sam broke the silence. "Sorry I wasted your precious time, Eric." He flopped heavily back into his desk chair and reached for his calculator.

"I'm glad you called me here," Eric said. "She is never a waste of time."

The shifter turned and looked at him in surprise, but Eric didn't elaborate. He left the office and exited the bar through the back door. He had done a pathetic job of helping Sookie; he knew that. He had been too focused on understanding the thing that had made her upset, and he had done nothing to comfort her – which was, after all, the whole point.

Soon she would be able to leave work. He leaned against her small car, enjoying the sharp cold that quickly penetrated his clothes through the metal. Such cold was uncomfortable for humans, but for his kind, it felt invigorating, clean, and fresh. Apart from country music on the jukebox and an occasional loud laugh coming from inside the bar, he was able to enjoy quiet. "Peace and quiet" was the human phrase. Peace was something he hadn't known in many, many years, yet it was always close to him now. Sookie was probably carrying around drink orders on a tray right now, completely oblivious to the fact that she was the only peace he knew. He closed his eyes and reached for her through the blood bond; the connection to her was relaxing, and the time passed quickly.

She caught sight of him the moment she emerged from the bar. He could see each of her breaths as small puffs in the air. She was shivering, but she looked happy to see him there. A few feet away from him, she stopped and looked up at his face, waiting.

"It's been nice to be by myself for a while," he told her. It was a luxury having someone to talk to.

Sookie stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket and rocked forward slightly on her toes. "I guess at Fangtasia you're always surrounded." Her words, warm wisps of air, were quickly swallowed by the cold.

He nodded. "Always surrounded by people wanting things." In fact, she was the only person who asked nothing of him. The irony was that she was also the only person to whom he wouldn't mind giving anything and everything.

"But you enjoy that, right?" She smiled at him a little. "Being the big kahuna?"

Another one of her colorful expressions. He didn't know what a "kahuna" was, but he got the idea. "Yes, I like that," he admitted. "I like being the boss. I don't like being…" He paused, searching for the right word. "Overseen. Is that a word?" She nodded. "I'll be glad when Felipe de Castro and his minion, Sandy, take their departure. Victor will stay to take over New Orleans."

"What's the new king like?" she asked.

"He's handsome, ruthless, and clever."

She smiled again. "Like you."

"But more so. I'll have to keep very alert to stay ahead of him." Not to mention Sandy. And Victor.

Naturally, the king chose that moment to make himself known. "How gratifying to hear you say so," Felipe said, emerging from the shadows. He sounded more amused than angry, much to Eric's relief, and Eric greeted him with a long, low bow.

Sookie introduced herself in a nervous, over-bright voice and offered her hand before she realized it was the wrong thing to do. "Excuse me," she said, stepping back and a little closer to Eric.

"Miss Stackhouse," Felipe said. He acknowledged her with a slight nod and a smile.

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry to meet you and run, but it's really cold out here, and I need to get home." She said all of this very fast, then turned to Eric. "Goodbye, Eric." She laid one hand on his chest as she tip-toed to kiss his cheek, and he blinked with a mixture of surprise and pleasure at the affectionate gesture. "Give me a call when you have a minute… unless you need me to stay for some crazy reason?" Her eyes searched his, and he realized that she was asking him if he needed her help.

He reached for her hands and pressed them between his. She was freezing. "No, lover," he said gently. "You need to go home and get into the warmth. I'll call you when my work permits."

She nodded, gave Felipe an odd little curtsy, and got into her car.

"I am not sure what to make of that one," Felipe mused as they watched her car disappear. Eric smiled but didn't reply. "You are perhaps wondering why I came here."

"Yes," Eric said.

"I went to your club to meet with you, and I was told that you had come here. Your child told me where to find the place. The human woman… she is yours?"

"She works for us."

"I see," said Felipe slowly, studying Eric's face. Eric got the distinct impression that Felipe really did see, but the king said nothing further about Sookie. "Sandy has met with the shifter who owns this bar. He would be a valuable ally for us, so it bodes well that you know him already. You are on good terms with him?"

"Yes, I am, all things considered."

"Good, good. This is good. My reason for--"

Felipe never finished his sentence because heavy silver chains flew around his neck and brought him down. Eric's fangs descended in an instant as he saw Sigebert rush out from the trees.

"Traitor!" the former bodyguard shouted, pointing at Eric. "You will die with your new king!"

Eric growled and charged him, but he was no match for Sigebert. Moments later, he was sprawled on the ground beside Felipe. His arm was broken, and he grimaced with the pain, which was compounded when Sigebert began securing the two of them with the burning silver.

"Hey, what's going on out here? Don't make me call the…"

From the corner of his eye, Eric saw Sam Merlotte stop in his tracks at the scene in his parking lot. The shifter tried to run for it, but Sigebert was too fast for him. Once Sam was tied up and out of the way, Sigebert returned for Felipe and Eric. Now he wielded a large knife.

At some point during the cutting and kicking, Eric lost consciousness. He had been slipping in and out of awareness for a few minutes before he passed out altogether. He didn't know how much blood he had lost, but he did know that he was seeing double and that he was in tremendous pain. When he came to again, it was to the sound of screeching tires. He raised his head slightly and saw Sigebert standing above him, his filthy pants down around his ankles. He had been about to... Then Sigebert ran at the car.

Sookie's car.

Sookie, why are you here?

She had felt his suffering through the blood bond. It was the only explanation. And she had never been one to place self-preservation over helping someone who needed her… even two powerful vampires. He was furious with her for endangering herself, and he was furious at himself for being the cause of it.

Sookie hit him hard, and Sigebert rolled over the top of the car and landed on the ground behind it. Sookie backed up and rolled over him, pinning him beneath the car. Then she flung open the car door and ran towards them as the shifter yelled at her to hurry. She ran to Eric first. He watched her in wordless shock and pain as she tried to free him. Her hands were shaking too much to accomplish anything, so she ran over to cut Sam loose with the knife that Sigebert had dropped. With him helping her, she seemed to gather herself a little, and her fingers were much steadier when she returned to Eric. She freed his legs first, and he didn't complain, though the silver binding his hands had burned almost through to the bone.

He heard the creak and groan of metal and turned his head to see Sigebert lifting Sookie's car off of himself. No, he thought, enraged. They would not be overtaken a second time. He quickly pushed Sookie back, seized the knife at her feet, and flew to Sigebert. Baring his fangs, he gripped the bodyguard's hair to hold his head up.

"Go to your maker," he hissed, and he sliced cleanly through Sigebert's thick neck.

Sookie gasped and sank to the ground with one hand pressed to her heart. "Oh, wow," she exhaled. Her breaths came short and fast as she met his eyes and stared.

He dropped the knife with a clatter and walked back over to her to see if she had been hurt. To his relief, there wasn't a scratch on her; her trembling was due only to fear and cold. He groaned slightly as the broken bone in his arm began to heal itself. He had lost a lot of blood from the wounds on his head, and he could feel that his connection to Sookie was weaker than it had been.

Felipe, who had been freed and helped to his feet by the shifter, stood almost bare-chested. Sigebert's knife had cut away most of his shirt, and the cape he had been wearing was long gone.

"I am Felipe de Castro, King of Nevada," he told Sam, regal in spite of everything.

"Sam Merlotte," the shifter replied with a nod.

Felipe turned to Sookie. "Miss Stackhouse, I am in your debt."

"It's okay," she murmured. Her heart still hadn't slowed to its normal beat. Eric could hear it thumping madly.

"Thank you. If your car is too damaged to repair, I will be very glad to buy you another one."

Eric regarded the king with a new level of respect. Many a vampire king or queen would have shrugged off the human's damaged car as merely the price to be paid for the honor of saving royalty. Felipe had the capacity for gratitude, and it made him, no doubt, a good leader.

Sookie took the hand Eric offered her and rose to her feet. "Oh, thanks," she said, looking relieved. She should have known that if Felipe didn't replace her car, then Eric would. "I'll try to drive it home tonight." She glanced at it and crinkled her nose. "Do you think the body shop would believe I ran over an alligator?"

The shifter advised her to take the car to a local mechanic named Dawson, and Felipe waved his hand casually. "Do what is necessary. I will pay," he said. "Eric, would you care to explain what just happened?"

The fuck I will. "You should ask your crew to explain. Didn't they tell you Sigebert, the queen's bodyguard, was dead?" He motioned to the headless body. "Yet here he is."

"An excellent point," Felipe conceded. "So that was the legendary Sigebert. He's gone to join his brother, Wybert."

Sookie swayed on her feet, and Eric swept her up into his arms, holding her close against his chest. He couldn't warm her, but at least he could block out some of the cold in the air. She leaned her head against his shoulder and exhaled. Her breath was warm on his neck.

"How'd he get the jump on three strong guys like you all?" she asked them.

Felipe frowned and looked frustrated with himself as he told her what had happened.

"We were too involved in our discussion to be wary," Eric added. And I was too distracted by pain to block it from you. It will not happen again.

"Ironic, eh," Felipe said with a wry smile, "that we needed a human girl to rescue us!"

Eric clenched his jaw. "Yes, very amusing." It was the second time she had saved his life at great risk to her own. He tightened his arms around her and said quietly, "Why did you return, Sookie?" He doubted that she would confess her love for him then and there in front of others, but perhaps it would make her think.

"I felt your… anger at being attacked," she replied.

Oh, Sookie, that's not what I asked, he thought as Felipe raised one eyebrow and looked back and forth between them.

"A blood bond," he mused. "How interesting."

"No, not really," she said lightly, almost as if the topic bored her. "Sam, I wonder if you'd mind driving me home. I don't know where you gentlemen left your cars, or if you flew." She paused a moment. "I do wonder how Sigebert knew where to find you."

That was, indeed, the question. "We'll find out, and then heads are going to roll," Eric assured her as he set her back on her feet. He kept one hand at the small of her back in case she was still unsteady.

Once she was safely in the truck with Sam, Felipe said, "Tell me the truth this time. Is she your woman?"

"The truth?" Eric looked at the new king and shook his head. "You would have to ask her."

"Interesting," Felipe said again. "I will offer her the formal protection of my kingdom. You will deliver this news to her and explain to her what it means." Eric, though taken aback, managed to nod. Sophie-Anne had been fond of Sookie, but this was a step that even she had not taken. "And now," Felipe continued, "I will go to New Orleans and have a talk with Victor. I mean to find out how the bodyguard escaped with his life. Indeed, who is to say that your former queen did not escape as well?"

"I had thought of that. But I don't think she would have. She didn't want to live."

"I was told that her injuries were… what is the word? Extensive."

Sophie-Anne had lost Hadley. She had lost her city to Hurricane Katrina. And then she had lost Andre. "Yes," Eric said. "Her injuries were extensive."

* * *

"I've never heard of a human being placed under our formal protection," Pam remarked the next night as Eric parked in front of Merlotte's Bar. "Have you?"

"It isn't unheard of, but it's rare."

Pam examined herself in the mirror and patted her hair, then they both got out of the car. "It's ridiculous how giddy you are right now," she said.

"What?"

"You forget," she said, smiling sweetly, "that your child can feel you, too. Not just Sookie."

He had no answer for that. He tossed his keys up in the air, caught them, and put them in his pocket.

The bar was crowded, but his eyes found Sookie easily. He could see that she had felt his presence because she turned to the door just as they walked in. She motioned to the section of the bar that she was serving, and he and Pam took their seats at a small table, ignoring the stares of the other patrons. While they waited for her to return with their True Bloods, they listened to the conversations around them: anti-vampire sentiments spoken loudly and drunkenly.

"I thought I'd have a night with nothing to annoy me if I went with you to escape Sandy, and lo and behold, we walk into this," Pam muttered. "They're actually wearing Fellowship t-shirts."

Sookie arrived with the drinks, and Eric could tell that she was working hard to block out unpleasant thoughts from the other customers. She forced a smile. "Want mugs for your drinks?"

"The bottle will be fine. I may need it to smash some skulls," he said.

Her eyes widened, and she leaned closer to him to whisper. "No, no, no. Let's have peace. We've had enough war and killing."

"Yes. We can save the killing for later," Pam said with a smile that showcased her fangs.

Sookie gave Pam a look, but she couldn't hide a smile of her own. "I'm happy to see both of you, but I'm having a busy evening. Are you all just out barhopping to get new ideas for Fangtasia, or can I do something for you?"

Is it so impossible that we simply wanted to see you?

"We can do something for you," Pam suggested. She stared at the anti-vampire customers and made a big show of drinking – and enjoying – her bottle of blood.

Sookie looked exasperated. "Pam! For goodness' sake, stop making it worse," she hissed, and Pam responded with a grin so lascivious it would have made a nun blush.

Enough. "Pam," he said sternly. Once she had settled down, he thanked her and turned his attention to Sookie. "Dear one…" He had never called her that before, not out loud. "That's you, Sookie," he clarified, though she seemed unfazed. "You so impressed Felipe de Castro that he has given us permission to offer you our formal protection. This is a decision only made by the king, you understand, and it's a binding contract. You rendered him such service that he felt this was the only way to repay you."

"So… this is a big deal?" she asked.

He couldn't hold back a short laugh. "Yes, my lover, it is a very big deal." Growing serious again, he went on, "That means when you call us for help, we are obliged to come and risk our lives for yours. This is not a promise vampires make very often, since we grow more and more jealous of our lives the longer we live. You'd think it would be the other way around."

"Every now and then you'll find someone who wants to meet the sun after a long life," Pam interjected.

"Yes, every now and then. But he offers you a real honor, Sookie."

If this news affected Sookie in any real way, she gave no outward indication of it. She had been listening quietly, and now she simply nodded. "I'm real obliged to you for bringing the news, Eric, Pam," she said, looking at each of them.

Pam batted her eyelashes. "Of course, I'd hoped your beautiful roommate would come in."

"Well," Sookie said, laughing, "she's got a lot to think about tonight."

They waited for her to elaborate, but just then, one of the vampire haters shoved her aside and almost knocked her over. Eric leapt to his feet and bared his fangs, which proved quite unnecessary, as Sookie herself bashed the man over the head with her tray. Eric watched, amused, as the man stumbled back to the sound of other customers applauding Sookie. No one looked very sorry to see the trouble-makers leave.

"Well done," Pam said, and she raised her bottle to Sookie. "We're going to be good little vampires and stay in here instead of going after them." Then she winked. "For now."

"Sookie, your car has been taken care of?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, Felipe is paying for it like he said."

He nodded with satisfaction and downed the rest of his drink. While Pam took her time finishing hers, he chatted with her idly and watched Sookie serve other customers. He pulled out his wallet and unfolded a couple of bills to pay for the blood and leave Sookie a good tip. He paused at the door on his way out, caught Sookie's eye, and blew her a kiss. It would have to do for now.