Chapter Thirteen

As Carly approached Eric's house, she noticed that a small green sphere rotated above his mailbox. The sun would be setting shortly in New York City, so she could wait a few minutes and call Jean-Jacques to see if he had some explanation for these things. Did a green sphere mean that this address was safe? Or that her association with this address was unknown? Or did it mean that Maureen, Jean-Jacques's progeny, the witch, had somehow insulated it from discovery?

Although she was tempted to call Octavia—or her helper who answered the phone—she decided that she would hold on and be patient, no matter how tempted she was to ask for local help. She didn't know a damn thing about witches, but she guessed that they would feel proprietary about their spells and wouldn't want others meddling. After she pulled her car into the garage, her cellphone rang—it still seemed to be without any rotating sphere whatsoever (which made sense, since it was still in her mother's name). When Sookie's name displayed, Calry answered.

"Hi Sookie."

"Oh," the young woman on the other end paused for a second, "hi! I always forget cell phones say who is calling."

"How are you?"

"Um...I'm okay. I didn't have to work today, so I decided to go for a drive."

"That's nice. Where are you?"

"A little ways out of Bon Temps on I-20."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just needed some time to myself. Gran is doing fine with Jenya around and all, so I told her I would get out and get some time to think-you know-really think."

Carly surmised that she was likely thinking about whatever conversation she had with Godric in the pre-dawn hours. "What are you thinking about?"

"Well," Sookie paused before picking up again. "I need to think about what to do about Godric."

"Have you talked with him?"

"He called before sun-up this morning, and I couldn't go back to sleep once we'd talked. That's when I decided I needed to get out and get some space from everything."

Of course, the first thing that Carly thought of was that with space came danger. "Where are you now?"

"A truckstop. But Carly, I don't need you coming out and getting me. I just need to talk for a minute."

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"I think," Sookie stopped again and took a deep breath, "I don't know if Godric really loves me as much as he says he does."

"Is that what he told you when he called? That he loved you?"

"Yes, he told me he loved me, and that he would wait for me to make my decision about him, but that he wanted me to come to New Orleans and live with him. But what if how I feel isn't because of him, what if it's just because he's a vampire and he's quiet to me?"

"Why would that be?"

"Well, it just doesn't seem like it could be real." Sookie started to cry.

"Sookie," Carly presumed that Sookie felt unworthy of love, but she didn't know how to talk to her about it without condescending. "Sookie, does it feel real? When you are with him? Does it feel like he loves you, like you love him?"

"Yes, but he's so..."

"So what?"

"So important, and smart, and patient with me. How can he really love me if he doesn't seem to want me?"

"Want you?"

"Yeah, I mean, like Eric wants you."

Carly started to laugh. "I don't think that Eric is a good baseline to measure against, Sookie."

"Why? Isn't he passionate?"

"Oh, yes, that is one way to describe it. And don't take this the wrong way, Sookie, but," Carly paused to speak with as much discretion as possible, "I think that Godric doesn't want you to feel forced into a sexual relationship."

"Eric forced you?"

And that was exactly what Carly feared Sookie would say. "No, he didn't force me, but he was persistent and clear that was what he wanted from the outset. I think that Godric might be more restrained in that regard. But this is a conversation that you need to have with him, Sookie, not me."

Silence weighed down the line, and Carly could hear the background noise from the truckstop.

"Well, you're right. I should talk about this with him." Sookie seemed clipped, perturbed. "Maybe I need to find out how I feel around other people."

"Talk to him, Sookie. Get to know him more. Remember, he is an hour away from anywhere in Louisiana. He can come out to you, and I know he will if you just ask him to."

"For a conversation." Sookie sounded defeated. "Well, I better let you go."

Sookie hung up the phone without waiting for an acknowledgement.

Carly felt sudden anger that she wasn't expecting and was disgusted with the other woman. "What the fuck, Sookie? What the hell do you want?"

Despite her desire to pick up something and throw it against the wall, Carly found her way to Eric's bedroom, where she found him splayed out on the bed, one arm over his head, his legs spread wide, and, as he usually was in bed, naked. She took off her own clothes and squeezed into the empty space next to him—with some difficulty—so that as much of her body touched his as possible. With each breath, she relaxed a little more, until all her muscles went limp against him, and she surrendered to sleep—or the facsimile of it she now enjoyed. Without hesitation, her mind fell into dream.

Her hair stirred in a light breeze, and fibers spun through her fingers as the weight of a drop-spindle pulled them into a fine thread. The fibers were fine and long, with the prickliness of hemp rather than the oiliness of wool. She sat on a stool with a post beside it, the mass of hemp hanging on a hook. The sun was high in the sky, but clouds moved across it quickly, with the velocity of a storm, even though she only felt the lightest of breezes against her neck.

Shirtless in the sunlight, Eric used a planer. He pushed it along a long plank of wood, shaping it into a gentle curve. Beside him, resting on sawhorses, she saw the keel of a long boat. A few feet from Eric, the white wolf lounged in the sun, and a figure in gray sat feeding a raven that pecked the ground. The figure spoke, although it never raised its face into view.

"You'd forgotten you knew how to do this, hadn't you, Ulfricson?"

"Yes, but it comes back to me. The wood, its smell, its bend."

"And the sun? Do you enjoy the feel of it on your back?"

"Yes. I felt it when I drank the fairy's blood, so I have not forgotten it."

"You needn't fear the sun..."

And the figure was beside Carly, the brim of his hat resting on her shoulder, obscuring his face from her. "You are his sun, Valkyrie, a sun that burns any who must be destroyed..."

"And who is that?"

"Any who spill your blood."

"But Eric?"

"Your vampire drinks," the figure laughed, "he does not spill."

And he was at her other side. "Weave his sails tight, Valkyrie."

Carly woke as Eric stretched, pushing her legs off the side of the bed. "Thank you, lover," Eric said as he kissed her and caressed her back.

Carly pulled away from Eric's kiss, but held on tightly to him. "I dreamt of you."

"And our ship? I seem to be making progress on it." Eric laughed and then sat up in bed, pulling Carly to straddle him. "Are you ready for our adventure?"

"Did we dream together?"

"If it was a dream." Eric kissed her from her clavicle to the top of her ear and then whispered, "I want to be inside you—in my Valhalla."

Carly shifted so that he could penetrate her and she wrapped her legs all the way around him, so they could be as close as they could be to one another. "Please...please don't call it that."

"Why not?" Eric began to move as he kissed her. "Aren't you my reward?"

"But isn't Valhalla..." Carly struggled to concentrate as Eric moved faster against her, within her. "Isn't it about the final battle...What if it is a trick? Can we trust him?"

Eric stopped and pushed her backward. "He's Odin! Why shouldn't we trust him?"

"Isn't he fickle? Blessing warriors at one moment and then pulling away his favor so that they die?" Carly held is face in both hands. "I don't ever want to lose you."

"You won't, Carly." Eric resumed moving, finally shifting her over onto her back, lifting her legs up high so that he could bite her thigh as he plunged inside her. He drank hungrily, and at the moment where she felt her head begin to spin, he released her and ripped into his own wrist for her to drink.

As she drank Eric's blood, Carly felt buoyed, felt a fire within her, and a whirlwind rose up around them, lifting them from the bed. As the two of them crested into orgasm, a flash of light emanated from her, and Eric began to glow. When the light finally subsided, Eric laughed and they sank down to the bed as winds dispersed.

Eric hummed, and Carly recognized the tune and started to laugh as well.

"So I'm your sunshine?"

"My only sunshine."

They showered and dressed and shifted into the kitchen. Although she knew she didn't really need to eat or drink, Carly wanted a cup of tea and a little time to talk over the day's developments.

"I think Maureen's spell is working. I see these little globes over things—my office phone and your mailbox."

"Our mailbox, Carly."

"Have you added my name to any documents related to the house?" Carly didn't know whether Eric had changed anything legally, and all of Carly's banking information still went to her mother's house. Since she had moved in with Eric, she hadn't really spent any money at all, apart from the occasional lunch.

"No," Eric added, "I've procrastinated." He reached across the counter to take her hand. "There is a ceremony that solemnizes marriages between vampires. We should probably discuss it."

She felt her heart grow ten times at the prospect, but then recalled Godric's scheme. She shook her head. "Don't we have to keep up appearances that we're going to link ourselves to Godric?"

"That wouldn't prevent us from marrying first." Eric released her hand and swept imaginary crumbs from the counter. "In fact, a third person may only be added to an existing union." He fidgeted again. "Although that isn't exactly how it would work. Legally, you would have two husbands, but Godric would govern us both. This sort of arrangement is only allowed in circumstances such as ours, which you can imagine are exceptionally rare."

Carly tried to recall the details of her class on kinship systems, but couldn't find anything close to an analogy, where a wife was shared between a father and son, although she recalled systems where one woman would marry two brothers. "I guess it's like Adelphic polyandry, but with a significant twist."

Eric squirmed uncomfortably. "Yes, we are slightly more than brothers."

"But I would have to be a vampire."

"Yes, kings may only marry other vampires, although I am certain that the Pythia would allow an exception, although you would likely need to begin living as a vampire since it is a public ceremony."

"But this isn't going to happen, right?" Carly still had a sinking feeling about Godric's claim, that somehow the political advantages that might accrue to him would be more important than her own desires.

"No, it won't. I'm certain that Godric set the seven year timeframe to ensure he wouldn't be held to it." Eric kissed her hand. "You are mine, mine alone, Carly."

Eric's cellphone buzzed with a message from Pam, which he displayed to Carly. Fangtasia has visitors—from New York and Bon Temps.

"What the hell is she doing?"

"Sookie?"

"Yes, she called me right after work," Carly popped off of the barstool, rinsed out the teacup and teapot and put away the pitcher of cream. "She's got some idea that Godric isn't really in love with her."

"Well," Eric tipped his head to the side, "he is probably not pursuing her as she expected."

"He's being wonderful to her!" Carly surprised herself with her vehemence and Eric began to laugh at her. "What?"

"If I didn't know better," he moved toward her and pulled her close to him, "I would say you were smitten."

"Don't tease me about this, Eric!"

"It is just teasing, my love." He leaned down and kissed her. "He has been respectful, kind, generous, and patient. I suspect that Sookie does not expect men to have these traits."

"Why?"

Eric put on his jacket and took his car-keys from the hook. "Perhaps she can tell you, but I'm frankly much more interested in what Maureen—I'm presuming the witch waiting for us—has to say."

After they got into the car and pulled out of the garage, Carly felt a surge of guilt. "I think that I may have said something that gave Sookie the wrong idea about you."

"Did you tell her I was impotent and terrible in bed?" Eric winked at her. "I think I can survive any other threat to my reputation apart from that."

"I said that Godric didn't want to force her into sex and she assumed that meant you had."

"I did try, Carly."

Their life together had become so fulfilling, so joyful, and their love-making was so transformative, Carly forgot that first night together in a Memphis hotel room and his effort to glamour her into sleeping with him. "It wasn't exactly force."

"The force of my will, Carly. But you are right, Godric has never made a habit of that. He would prefer to go without rather than to suspect that his partners might be unwilling."

"That never bothered you?"

"No, because I made sure that they felt pleasure and that they remembered it. I used that as an excuse, I'm sure."

"Have you and Godric talked about his feelings for her?"

"We did a little last night after we fed." Eric chuckled and added, "He'd asked Adele for a reading list, so he's been devouring Sookie's favorite books. He told me he was actually a little distressed by their romantic heroes."

"Why?"

"In his interpretation, the heroes seemed abusive, either emotionally distant, or controlling or duplicitous, and," Eric laughed more heartily this time, "Godric found them historically inaccurate."

"So the heroes stalked women at archeological sites, gave them their blood in secret, and then tried to seduce them?" Carly teased now.

"Yes," Eric let go of the gear-shift long enough to grab her hand and kiss it, "scandalous rogues."

When they arrived at Fangtasia, Carly said, "Wait, I need to do something before we go in." She concentrated, taking everything she wished to conceal from Sookie—the Lilith cult, Salome, Godric feeding from her, his oath to take her and Eric as consorts, Godric's book reviews—and drew it into a pile in her mind and erected a barrier—her own crystalline latticework-that kept Sookie away from her mind. "I need to make sure Sookie can't poke around in here." She tapped her temple and left the car.

"Before we go out there," Eric said as they entered his office, "let me call Godric so that he knows Sookie is here. We need to know what he wants us to do."

Godric's phone went straight to voicemail without even ringing, a sure sign that it was off. Melissa answered Godric's office phone.

"Hi Eric, I was expecting you to call."

"Why?"

"Adele called a few minutes after sunset to see if we'd heard from Sookie. Godric called Merlotte's and the cook said that Sookie had the night off and was planning to drive to Shreveport to see Carly."

"I don't think that Sookie made that clear to Carly," Eric replied and gestured to the speaker-phone. Carly shook her head, "No."

"Well, in any case, Godric said that an envoy from New York was going to come to talk with you, so he might as well come too. He put on quite an outfit and then shot off."

"How long ago?"

"About forty-five minutes ago. I don't know how long it will take him to get there."

"Not much longer. Thank you, Melissa."

Carly gestured that she wanted a turn on the phone. "Hi, Melissa. How are you?"

"I'm fine—a little confused by everything that is going on, but I'm trying to stay focused."

"How is the plan for the dorm?"

"It's going well. We signed the contract on an apartment building, and Jason started working with the architect today. I kind of hate to admit it, but he did really well in the first meeting. He asked really good questions."

"Why do you hate to admit it?"

"He keeps laying it on pretty thick—he is a ridiculous flirt-and I don't want to jump into anything. If he actually turns out to be smarter than he seems, it's going to be harder to say 'no' every time I see him." Melissa laughed sweetly. "I think I have some growing up to do before I get involved with anyone seriously, especially someone who is such a player."

"I know the feeling," Carly commisserated. Eric made a theatrical gesture that suggested, Me, a player?

Once they'd hung up with Melissa, they called Jean-Jacques.

"Bon soir, mes amis," the king of New York answered his phone on the second ring, "I was expecting to hear from you. I apologize that I didn't give you more notice. Have you met my friend?"

"Not yet," Eric admitted. "Is there anything that we should know before we do?"

"Only that she too is a friend of the Pythia and my brother, and I had not realized that our friend Thalia, too, is in Shreveport these days. Please give her my regards." Although he was being guarded, Jean-Jacques's implications about the mystery were clear to Carly and Eric.

"Yes, she is. She gave Carly a lovely crystal. We will give her your best. Thank you, Jean-Jacques."

"As always, a pleasure to speak to you, Eric. Kiss Carly for me and let her know her mother and Abdullah are well taken care of and well defended."

"I will. Bon soir."

Eric hung up the phone. "Did you hear all that?"

"I'm very grateful for the last part."

"As am I. I thought of them last night after we returned from New Orleans." Eric gathered Carly up into an embrace and whispered, "We have responsibilities that call."

"I know." Carly kissed him and said, "I wonder how Sookie is doing, although I don't really want to talk with her right now. But she might be a target out there on her own."

"Pam will have kept an eye on her," Eric reassured her. "But we can just go to the stage and watch for a few minutes before we have an audience with Maureen."

Even though it was still early, and a Thursday, the nightclub was packed. As they emerged from the hallway, Carly spotted Sookie, at the bar, talking intently to Thalia, who rested one hand on Sookie's arm. Without being able to see her face, Carly couldn't tell if Thalia was being protective or predatory, and when she thought of it, she couldn't recall Thalia ever touching anyone, other than Jimmy.

From the center of the stage, where she sat at Eric's feet, Carly could survey the entire room. Besides Thalia and Jimmy, she recognized other familiar faces, some human, some vampire. Even in the short time the club had been open, it already had human "regulars" who seemed to be treating it as a hangout, if not a "neighborhood bar." Pam stood at the front, chatting affectionately with the local fire inspector and his wife, with whom she seemed to be well acquainted, if not involved with sexually.

At the end of the bar closest to the door, a woman Carly didn't recognize met her gaze and then raised her glass in greeting. She was conspicuously a New Yorker-all-black outfit, severe turtle-shell glasses, and bob haircut. She could have been in any West Village bookstore, skulking around, judging others' bad taste in poets.

Carly tapped Eric's leg to get his attention and he stroked her head in acknowledgment. I see her as well, Carly. She doesn't seem hurried.

The witch tipped her glass toward Sookie and shook her head slowly. Carly tried to find her mind within the sea of others in the club, but struggled, catching bits and pieces of thoughts—

Not as scary as my mom said they would be...just like everyone else...

That bartender is hot...

...smells so good...

Need to order more gin...

Took you long enough, Valkyrie.

Maureen?

Yes. Is that Godric's girl Thalia has hold of?

That's Sookie, yes.

But whether she is Godric's is still a question?

Something like that.

How do you know Thalia?

She was at my initiation—apparently she's related to the Pythia somehow. But keep that to yourself. I don't know why, but they conceal the connection.

I will. Are you in a hurry?

No, but I do need a place to stay tonight. The courier who brought me already went back—he left me in a locked closet at the airport. Bastard. Never using them again. And another travel coffin...I kind of took my anger out on it.

Carly saw Maureen's memory clearly. She'd beaten the aluminum case until it was unrecognizable, nearly flattened. With such a close connection between their minds, Carly couldn't contain her curiosity. What do the spheres mean?

You see them? I didn't know whether you would or not. Your aunt isn't too expressive, and she's kind of a bitch, so she hasn't given me a clear idea of what she can see—whether magic is visible to her. And she just fawns all over Jean-Jacques anyway.

I saw two—a red one at work and a green one at Eric's home.

Must be your home too if it was there.

Yes, it's my home too. He's my home.

Awww, how sweet. Maureen took a swig and put down the glass and turned her back to Carly. They're color coded. Red means that Salome and her goons have accessed the information and used it. Where was the sphere? Mailbox or phone?

Phone.

So they've called it.

And green?

Green spheres hover over things I've hidden. Jean-Jacques gave me a list of thirty or so addresses around the world. Your man is loaded, by the way, do you know that? And I've secured your mother's two homes. No one can touch her in either house and she can't grant entrance to any new vampires. Only Jean-Jacques can bring them into the house now.

I work with a woman—

Octavia's cousin, Tracy, yeah, I have a list of everyone in your office. Did she see the trace?

Yes, but...

She could be just as powerful as her cousin. I met Octavia about thirty years ago, when we were both young, and she was scary powerful then...it would be interesting to see her again...but no one can know that Jean-Jacques has managed this...so I have to stay away from other witches. They'll be pissed...or jealous. Don't know which is worse.

Carly was distracted from her question about Octavia's plan to secure the office. How did he do it?

Still don't know entirely to be honest. I was ready just to live as a vampire..our best guess is that it happened because I drained myself by magic. I was kind of squeamish and didn't want him to bite me...Now...well, I'd love it if he bit me...but that is another story...horny vampires with a celibate maker can be pretty pathetic...

I'm sorry...

I do okay...don't pity me. And the Reb and I have had a good thing over the years...

Reb?

Rabbi... It's me, Jonas, and the rabbi out on the island. Jean-Jacques's New York babies. We are our own joke...the scientist, the witch, and the rabbi can't walk into a bar...

When? How?

Benjamin is the oldest of us three—Jean-Jacques turned him in 1918 right after his wife died. He lived with Jean-Jacques for a long time, but when Jonas was turned, he needed company, so they secured the island. Ben's a good man. I'm supposed to bring back that book of Godric's, also, so he can take a look at it.

Eric pulled Carly up onto his lap and whispered in her ear. "Are you talking to someone?"

"Maureen. She seems like a real character." Carly kissed his cheek and added, "She needs to stay overnight."

"We'll make arrangements for her."

Suddenly Eric straightened up, and Carly felt Godric's presence at the back of the bar. "We need to stand, Carly, to acknowledge Godric."

With only a second or two to spare before Godric emerged from the hallway to Eric's office, they descended the stairs from the stage. Carly knew that she should be respectful, but she struggled against an impulse to smile. Unlike his typical breezy linen clothing, Godric wore a black silk button down shirt that was open to the top of his abdomen, with the sleeves rolled up so that his tribal tattoos were visible. He wore tight leather pants and motorcycle boots and looked threateningly sexy.

"Does it meet with your approval?" Godric asked Eric and Carly.

"I can tell you are here on a mission, maker," Eric smiled slightly and lowered his head respectfully.

After giving Carly and Eric a nod of acknowledgement, he responded, "I give you permission to listen in if you wish." Godric proceeded across the room to Sookie, the crowd parting for him as he traversed the distance. Sookie seemed oblivious to his approach.

Eric reached down and grasped Carly's bracelet, and a tentacle of their shared consciousness followed along with Godric.

When he reached Sookie, Godric placed his hands on her shoulders, and she jumped slightly, trying to turn to confront whoever it was who touched her. Thalia removed her hand and retreated down the bar to sit with Maureen.

Godric put his head against hers so that he could speak into her ear. "Have you decided to replace me already?"

"Godric!"

Sookie struggled to face him, but he kept her immobilized. "I wasn't expecting you to find Thalia so attractive, although she does have her charms. She certainly knows how to pleasure another woman."

"No, it isn't like that," Sookie objected. "Can you let me go so I can look at you?"

"No. If I release you, I won't have such ready access to your neck." Godric kissed behind her ear. "Were you planning to let Thalia and her young friend bite it? Or elsewhere? Perhaps your thigh?"

"No," Sookie sighed a little bit, aroused, "Godric, I just wanted to get a little time out of Bon Temps, and I needed to talk to Carly."

"I see you talking to another vampire instead. I need to talk to you as well, although I realized that perhaps you don't want me to talk." He switched over to whisper in her other ear. "Perhaps my patience has confused you, or I need to make my intentions toward you clear more forcefully."

Sookie's voice trembled a little. "What do you mean forcefully?"

"I've been reading those books you like so much. I understand you have expected seduction rather than courtship. So, if Thalia hasn't already managed to seduce you, that is what I've come here to do."

He reached down and turned the barstool around, grasped her by her neck and kissed her. Sookie reciprocated fully and with excitement.

"So, Sookie Stackhouse, are you mine and mine alone?"

Breathlessly, Sookie answered, "Yes. I am yours."

Godric scooped her off of the barstool and rushed back into Eric's office.

Eric released his hold on Carly's bracelet, and their shared awareness evaporated.

"Oh, good grief," Carly said, exasperated.

"We will have to accommodate additional guests, it appears."

Thalia summoned Carly and Eric over to the bar with a sharp wave, and they obliged her.

"That girl is a fool," Thalia said without preamble when they reached the bar. "If we were not here, she would have been devoured."

"Thank you for looking out for her." Carly smiled weakly and added, "I'm sure Godric is grateful to you."

"My obligation, not desire." Thalia pointed toward Maureen, "Carly, you have met, but not Eric. Sheriff, this is Maureen Donnelly, Jean-Jacques's progeny. I would like to talk with her too—maybe the basement, since Godric is fucking his idiot in the office?

"Thalia," Carly objected, "that seems a little harsh."

"I am. Ask your man."

Maureen laughed, "Thalia, you make an impression. I'm not in any hurry, since I'm stuck here, but we can talk now. Do you have a phone line in the basement?"

"Through the utility box down there, but that's it," Eric replied.

"That's enough. I just want to show you what I've done, so you know what to expect." Maureen picked up a bag that had been concealed behind her and put the strap over her shoulder. "After you, sheriff."

Once in the basement, Eric opened a door into a secondary room that Carly now realized housed all the utilities and that had a fortified external door, probably so that workmen could come into the basement without seeing Eric's dungeon. Maureen hauled a laptop out of her bag and plugged a modem into the phone jack. Within a few moments, her computer was online.

"Okay, so Jean-Jacques told me that the Authority would be trying to track down your date of birth and would likely also be trying to track your movements to come up with a plan to kidnap you. I've shielded your mother and her boyfriend so no one can touch them, so they'll have to come straight at you."

"Thank you."

"No problem, I like your mom. I don't anything happen to her." Maureen typed a few strokes on her keyboard. "Arianna can take care of herself, so I've left her alone."

"I didn't see anything around Fangtasia like I saw at home or work," Carly continued, "so how does your spell work?"

"Fangtasia is a public place, so there isn't a whole lot I can do with it. No one can touch you at any private address I've protected, and I've protected every property having to do with Eric, and all of his lawyer's properties as well."

"Thank you," Eric said. "I'm grateful you had that foresight."

"But how are you tracking their efforts? Godric told us you are a computer programmer too." Carly asked, "Can you tell who is trying to find out about me?"

Maureen turned her computer screen so that they could see it. "This map," Maureen's screen showed what looked like a red spiderweb, shows every piece of information that has your name, your birthdate, a picture, a publication, an old address, a yearbook, a newspaper announcement, everything. If I click on a node, I get all the IP addresses that accessed that information since the last full moon. This is the number at your office." She rotated the computer back to face her and clicked on a dot, which pulled up a box with three IP addresses. "Now, I could just look up the addresses, but then I wouldn't be a witch, I'd just be a hacker." Maureen put the cursor over one of the IP addresses and a eerie green box appeared above the computer. Evelyn, the volunteer coordinator from the nursing home, appeared within it.

"That's Evelyn. I know her from a local nursing home." Carly asked, "How do you know where these people are?"

Maureen clapped her hands once, and a globe appeared in the box and slowly zoomed in until the nursing home was visible. "Satellites see everything."

"How did you get her picture?" Eric asked.

"In this case, from the security camera on the network, but most of the time it's from the webcam on the computer. No one covers them."

"Glad I don't have one," Eric replied. "Who are the others?"

"Well, this is the one we should care about." Maureen moved her mouse down and a new box appeared over her laptop.

"Nora," Eric recognized her. "Is she the only person from the Authority tracking Carly?"

"So far, she's the only one who has tried to access your information—either of your information. I decided I should put trackers on you, your progeny, and Godric as well. I hope you don't mind, sheriff."

"Ordinarily," Eric groaned slightly, "I would mind a great deal, but in these circumstances, it seems prudent."

Thalia finally spoke up. "Is Nora searching from Chicago or has she been elsewhere?"

"So far," Maureen replied, "she hasn't left New Orleans."

"But it was a Chicago area code that called my phone," Carly objected.

Maureen typed a few more keystrokes. "She has a day-man we need to watch as well. Aaren Eze. Nigerian, has been in the United States for about five years, good credit score, no family, blood slave to Nora, on the payroll for a corporate entity called Chicago Logistics."

"Is that a front for the Authority?"

"I think so, sheriff. They have 87 employees, 22 of whom are licensed to carry concealed weapons, so I'm guessing it is." Maureen typed a little bit more and called up a satellite image of the Chicago Logistics facility. "This isn't the building that serves as the streetfront office for the Authority, but Chicago Logistics has owned it for fifteen years. The company is incorporated in Vatican City, which sounds pretty suspect to me." A few more keystrokes brought up a split screen with security camera footage that flashed four screens at a time. "But they're pretty damned stupid with their computers."

"Are those bedrooms?" Eric asked as screens flashed by. "Wait, stop the screen!"

Maureen typed complicated combinations of keystrokes into the computer and the screen stopped flashing and only one camera's feed filled the screen.

"Can you zoom in any further?" Eric asked, pointing at a detail in the screen that Carly couldn't see.

"No—it's very low resolution. And before you ask, no, I don't know the layout of the building."

"Carly," Eric drew her over to stand in front of the screen. "Isn't that the room where Salome sacrificed those people." In a grainy image, Carly could see the high contrast from the white stone, but in the top corner, she saw a vessel where some kind of fluid churned. As they watched the screen, Salome came into view. She raised her hands, knelt, and then rested her head against the stone. All of them watched through Maureen's computer as Salome venerated the blood. Finally, she rose and left.

"It's liquid now," Maureen said. "We can probably track it—watch how long it takes to dry out, predict how often it needs a sacrifice."

"What do you need," Thalia asked, "to know where it is?"

Maureen shook her head. "I don't think that I'll be able to figure that out. I tried to send a spell into the building, but it was repelled. All of this," Maureen waved her hand around, "is just standard hacker fare. Their computer security is really terrible. All of these cameras were installed by a private company, and I found a back door in about ten minutes. I had access before I even climbed into the stupid travel coffin."

"The company must have records of their installation," Eric suggested.

Maureen shrugged. "Damn it, you're right. I'll work on that later."

"So what is your overall goal?" Eric took Carly's hand as he asked Maureen the question.

"Well," Maureen paused before she answered, "I don't think that you're going to like this, but my goal is to keep your family safe and to give you as much advanced notice of their kidnapping attempt as possible. I don't think that we'll be able to figure out how to get close to it unless you get inside."

"I'm bait—or a Trojan horse." Carly sighed.

"I'm afraid so," Maureen agreed. "The biggest thing is that we have to make sure that Eric isn't hurt when they take you."

A wave of terror and nausea rose up, and Carly felt her throat tense nearly closed. "No, we can't let them hurt him, or Godric."

Eric pulled her close to him and kissed her head. "I will be fine, Carly. We'll outsmart them."

"Yes, we will outsmart them," Thalia agreed.

Carly reached over and grasped Thalia's hand and squeezed it. "I do feel better knowing you are on the team, Thalia."

Thalia looked down at Carly's hand, and then Carly experienced a displacement in time and space, a displacement in consciousness.

She stood on a plateau blanketed over with stars, the air so dry she felt her skin contract. Flying off into the distance, a vampire, holding onto two others, one under each arm, cackled and taunted. At her feet, she saw a puddle of blood, clothes growing wet as they sat in it. And sorrow, and rage—she felt such grief. The loss of her maker.

"I swore I would be avenged on all the Scythian's line. You have killed Edgington. And Salome has killed her master, so she alone remains. The last witness to my maker's death." Thalia stood a little taller. "You wish to destroy Lilith, but I wish to destroy the monster who provoked my maker's death."

"Were you in Israel? Or, I guess, what is Israel now?" Carly asked as gently as possible, since she didn't know how Thalia would react when she discovered she'd seen the flash of memory.

"No, but near. The Romans called it Syria Phoenice, but I think it is Lebanon today. My maker had heard stories of the pious in that land, men who left their families and went off into the desert, and he was curious. Like the others of his line, he wanted to know the truth, and wanted to seek an eternity for it, and knew his obligations to the mystery." Thalia got a far-off look in her eyes, then closed them and raised her fists to each side of her face. "He took me from a temple to Artemis—my family gave me to her when I was three, and I planned to die a virgin in her service."

"So we're cousins or something?" Maureen chuckled faintly, but seemed sincere.

"Perhaps that would be the name—my maker shared a maker with the Pythia, who made your maker's maker." Thalia seemed about to rage. "But we encountered the three of them—Edgington, his progeny, and Salome—in Tyre, and my maker objected to the violence they caused. Christians were blamed for their violence, and homes burned. Many died. And Salome suggested a challenge."

"They fought? Edgington and your maker?" Eric asked.

"That was planned. Edgington drew a circle in the sand at the top of the plateau with a stick while Salome distracted my maker. Edgington staked him without warning or provocation." Thalia released her fists and whispered, "She is as much his murderer as Edgington."

"Yes," Eric agreed. "She is, and the scope of her violence is truly incomprehensible."

"Do you know when she killed her own maker?" Carly was still trying to put together the timeline.

"They were in France in about 1000, where Letitia was made, but then they went on to the horn of Africa. Her maker was an Egyptian—he was Edgington's first progeny."

Maureen followed up on Thalia's thread. "If they were in the horn of Africa, maybe we need to look there for Lililth's origins—or for the origin of whatever is in that vessel."

Godric's voice echoed down from the top of the basement stairs, "I agree with your conclusions." He came down the stairs rapidly, taking two and three steps at a time, his shirt open entirely, but otherwise dressed. When he joined them around the computer, he nodded at Maureen and added, "I apologize for my delay. It is good to meet you, Maureen."

"Good to meet you, my king," Maureen lowered her head. "My maker sends his regards."

"I won't impose on you to repeat all you have discussed, but do we have a plan of action?" Godric looked to Eric, Carly, and Thalia in sequence before returning to Maureen.

"Vigilant waiting, I think, right now," Maureen replied. "I don't think we have a clear sense of what they plan to do. We do know that Nora is still in New Orleans while Salome has returned back to her weird temple."

"Nora is?" Godric seemed pained again. "That is troubling, especially since she did not ask for permission to stay. Do you know her location?"

Maureen typed into her keyboard again and another phantom green box appeared above the computer. Nora's face appeared in the screen, apparently the image from her webcam. People were moving behind her, and she seemed to be sitting on some kind of industrial furniture. Maureen squinted at text moving rapidly across the top of the green box and said, "Ok, well, she's in an airport now." She typed more into her computer, cursed faintly, and then said, "A plane chartered by Chicago Logistics is scheduled to land in New Orleans in about a half hour. This is peculiar, though..."

"What?" Eric asked.

"It's origin point was Miami, and its manifest says it already has three passengers."

"Perhaps my fellow King of the Caribbean is not quite as innocent as he pleads," Godric surmised. "Or they could be entirely unrelated to him."

"This palace intrigue stuff is not my thing at all." Maureen shook her head vigorously. "Ok, but we know that Nora is not an immediate threat."

"Carly," Godric focused his attention on her, "I think it is important for your safety if Maureen and Thalia have a full sense of what you can do, and what you and Eric can do together."

"I'm not entirely comfortable with that disclosure, my king," Eric objected.

"They are both initiates," Godric reminded Eric, "and they are our allies. You will not share this with Jimmy or anyone else, Thalia? And you will only share this with Jean-Jacques, Maureen?"

"Jimmy is worthy of initiation," Thalia added coldly, "but I will tell him nothing. Although he has seen what Eric and Carly can do together—he saw what they become."

"He did?" Eric seemed surprised. "He was barely alive."

"And those at the edge of death see between worlds," Thalia replied ominously.

"And Maureen?" Godric was going to extract an oath no matter what.

"Of course," Maureen smiled at Carly and Eric. "Also, I know that Carly can read minds, even of vampires. I know that she can transport herself and objects across space. I know that she is a valkyrie. She and Eric have been given magical gifts..."

"You know that?" Eric seemed startled.

"Yes," Maureen pointed at the bracelet."But I'm guessing that's not the only one."

"Anything else?" Carly prompted.

"Lots of fire—I've seen lots and lots of fire, and some kind of scary squid thing."

"Can you make that appear on your computer?" Eric asked.

"No," Maureen crossed her arms, "just in my head."

"Do you have any questions, Thalia?" Godric asked.

"Yes," Thalia squared herself up to face Godric, "why are you taking this fairy?"

"You do not approve?"

"No."

"Thank you for your honesty, Thalia." Godric nodded. "I know that she is young, and has little experience, but I love her, and have sworn to protect her. And she is now mine."

"And you know that you cannot turn her?" Thalia challenged Godric again, getting even closer to him.

"Yes, I do. The mystery forbids it."

"How will you hide her from Salome?" Maureen asked. "She's an even better target than Carly, to be honest."

"I will not notify the Authority of our connection," Godric began, "and she has agreed to move to New Orleans to live in the palace. None of the members of the Authority will be allowed into the New Orleans palace again. From now on, I will only meet with them in Jackson."

"Okay," Maureen conceded. "I guess that is a start. Keep her away from here. If Thalia hadn't had a hold on her, at least half a dozen vampires would have scooped her up and headed out the door."

"Her social obligations will be minimal, and she will not be present at any state visits." Godric returned his attention to Carly and Eric. "Is there anything that you need from me, my children?"

"The book?" Carly remembered Maureen's request. "The Alphabet. Maureen needs it."

"Perhaps you can return to New Orleans with me tomorrow, Maureen, and then return to New York from there?" Godric asked. "I will make all necessary arrangements."

"Sounds good." Maureen shut her laptop and disconnected it from the phone line.

"Now, in the meantime," he focused on Eric, "may I borrow a vehicle so that I can take Sookie somewhere more private? Would you mind if we stayed with you, Eric?"

"Not at all," Eric headed up the stairs, but Godric lingered.

"Thank you, Carly," Godric kissed her cheek. "I owe you for this happiness."

"How?"

"Had I not seen your joy with Eric, not tasted it, felt it, I never would have believed this possible."

Carly placed her hand on Godric's cheek. "I wish the two of you every happiness."