Thanks for the reviews!
This one is hot off the presses, so forgive any typos. I'm on vacation next week, so see you in a fortnight. Enjoy!
Puzzle Pieces
Sookie was stiff in my arms. She stepped away as soon as we were on the ground, turning towards the street without a word. The path was dark to human eyes, so I kept pace with her, my hand hovering by her elbow until we got to the sidewalk and she put more space between us.
I didn't object. Tonight had been a scouting mission on two fronts, and I had much to consider, not just the mystery of the vampire who appeared to be helping Hector and his renegade wolves. Sookie was a puzzle too, one that was far more enjoyable to ponder.
I was cautiously optimistic after the insight I'd gathered from her actions. Strangely, it wasn't her staring when I just happened to step out of the shower as she walked into the motel room, nor was it her very flattering reaction while we were pressed together in that closet that inspired my optimism. As she said herself, she and I had always shared big, big lust.
That had never been our problem.
Whilst it was gratifying to know that spark still burned – and I wasn't above using it to get what I wanted either – other things were more telling.
First, the completely natural way she told me off after her impromptu 'elevator' ride, even at ease enough in my company to hit me. Second, the way we had communicated instinctively, often without words, during Forester's interrogation. Those both spoke of a connection borne of familiarity, a deeper understanding.
Something more than the physical.
And that, ultimately, was what I wanted to win from Sookie. Although something physical would be a fantastic bonus. It had tested my willpower, staying still in that closet.
But I had, because I'd decided tonight was for fact-finding. Feeling her out, not feeling her up. I would move to overt flirting once I was sure it would tease her closer, not push her away. Perhaps tomorrow night.
I was looking forward to it.
We walked a block silence, and I didn't break it. Thalia caught up with us. She didn't speak either, not until we were back at the SUV, the one Russell had had delivered to the motel sometime in the day. There were advantages to being here at his invitation, albeit unofficially.
Sookie took the back seat. I didn't object to that either.
Once we were under way, I turned to Thalia, "So what are the Jackson police up to?"
She snorted. "Stumbling in the dark. They have nothing. Their informants have nothing. Forensics can only tell them the bare minimum. It was shapeshifters. Large canines, probably wolves, and at least two."
"You heard all that from gossip in the back alley?" Sookie murmured, leaning forwards.
Thalia's lip curled as it always did when a human asked a question she considered too stupid to acknowledge.
Which Sookie's was if you knew Thalia well. She would never waste her time in an alley, passively listening to beat cops who would know less than nothing, maybe only wild rumours. With her age and stealth, Thalia would have no problem getting into the building, tracking down someone senior and extracting more accurate information.
Perhaps not even with glamour. There were other ways.
I was careful not to ask. Technically, Thalia wasn't my subject. Technically I wasn't even here, so I couldn't have ordered her to glamour an officer of the law. If she had and there was fallout from it, Thalia knew it would be on her head.
I would pay the fine though.
I didn't explain any of that to Sookie. Instead, I asked Thalia what the local cops were planning to do.
"Haul in every wolf with a rap sheet and grill them till they fess up." Thalia pulled a sour face as she gave a passable imitation of the local accent. "Not literally. Sadly."
"They have to work within the law," I said with a shrug, and we exchanged a look that expressed our complete disdain for human interrogation techniques. In the mirror, Sookie rolled her eyes and I thought for a moment that she was indicating a disapproval of vampires, but apparently her disdain was directed elsewhere.
"Well hell," she muttered, "won't that just make the twoeys as mad as box of frogs." Thalia turned her head to reply, her lip curling again, but Sookie snapped, "That's not literal either, Thalia. I know Weres can't shift into frogs."
Thalia faced front again and whispered too quietly for human hearing, "Some of them are slimy enough."
I gave her a pointed look, and then met Sookie's eyes in the mirror. "You are worried."
"You betcha. I spent the afternoon around the sort of twoeys who have rap sheets a yard long, and they're already plenty distrustful of the cops. Arresting folks willy-nilly is only going to make them more distrustful. And they ain't the type to lodge a protest at City Hall. They'll fight back, tooth and nail." She shook her head and snorted. "Guess that's where Daisy's friends got that stupid name."
"Perhaps," I said, grinning. The SUV's headlights swept the lot as I pulled into the motel. Clearspring's granddaughter and the bear were getting out of a pickup. "Ah, the others are back. Let's hope their hunt was more successful than ours."
…
I doubted that would prove to be the case once I saw the grim set of Daisy's mouth. But I could also smell her brother's anger from across the lot. He was busy locking his vehicle, and not meeting her eyes. Perhaps an argument was to blame.
I cocked an eyebrow at Sookie, and nodded at the bear as we walked over. She frowned, and then got that set, distant look that meant she was using her gift. A second later, she pulled a face and shrugged: nothing to worry about, or something not immediately relevant.
"Everything okay, Daisy?" Sookie said quietly when we reached them.
Daisy made an irritated gestured. "Inside."
They lead the way up the stairs. Thalia and I followed, the bear bringing up the rear and scowling at his boots. The wards Daisy had set on the motel rooms were impressive, but it only took her a second to take them down. Sookie unlocked the door and we followed her inside.
Using the room Sookie and Daisy were sharing was fine by me. Even with the lingering scent of fast food, it was far more pleasant than the bear's.
Sookie removed her shoes and jacket, and sat on the end of her bed. She rubbed her forehead once, but she seemed less weary than I remembered she did after prying deeply into someone's mind the way she'd done with Forester. Daisy and her brother took the table, and Thalia leaned against the wall by the door. I considered sitting on the other bed, closer to Sookie, but she didn't look like she'd welcome that. In fact, she was avoiding my eyes.
So I took a central position, leaning against the piece of furniture the TV sat on and stretching my legs out before I asked Daisy, "Did you find the den? You do not look pleased."
Her brother bristled, and harsh words in their native tongue exploded from his mouth. "Don't defer to him. He's not in charge."
I understood every word, and kept my face blank.
"Bearwalking," Daisy admonished, slapping the table. Sookie jumped. "Hold your tongue."
He growled. "I came for you, sister. Not them. I don't trust them."
"We need Northman to get into Texas. That's the end of it." She glared at him. "And he speaks our tongue."
The bear''s head whipped round and he snarled at me, "Where did you learn that, vampire?"
I smirked. "Your grandmother."
Was that a worse taunt than your momma? I thought it might be given the flare of heat in his eyes and the way he tensed to spring.
"Enough," Daisy snapped. "Bickering gets us nowhere. This is bigger than the past."
She gave me an intense look, and I checked those hazel eyes. No trace of Clearspring. Good. Even for a vampire, it had been uncanny, talking to a dead woman who was looking out of the wrong eyes, wearing the wrong body. And Clearspring's pity over my scars had been unwelcome. I didn't welcome pity from anyone, ghost or not.
Her offer to avenge me had tempted me briefly though. The thought of a spirit hunting down Nadia in whatever afterlife had low enough standards to take her had a certain appeal.
But it was the granddaughter before me now and who said, "We must work together. Is it not so, Northman?"
"It is," I said calmly and repeated my question. "Did you find the den?"
"Yes, easily enough," she replied. "Our three little wolves were squatting in an abandoned house. The neighbours – the ones that would talk – said they kept to themselves. Haven't been seen since the murder."
"Scent was cold," the brother growled out in reluctant agreement. "Two, three days old. They gutted the place 'fore they left too. Nothing there."
"Y'all didn't find any trace of Hector?" Sookie asked, keeping her eyes on the bear.
"Nope. No-one else I knew from Texas, neither," he said, frowning. "But from what the neighbours said, they matched what you got from that guy in the diner. Sure as shit, it was the same three wolves."
I raised an eyebrow. "But we have nothing definite linking these wolves to Hector, or the murder?"
"They left at the right time," the bear said, folding his arms and glowering. "Covered their tracks too. Must've been up to something."
"Not enough," Thalia said, with a nasty smile. "How do we know they're the wolves we're looking for?"
"These aren't the droids you're looking for," Sookie murmured, then bit her lip, trying not to smile.
"He can go about his business," I said with a smirk. I couldn't resist handing her the next line, and it broke the tension simmering between the bear and Thalia. Plus it was worth it just to see Sookie's incredulous smile.
"Did you just quote Obi-Wan Kenobi to me, Eric Northman?" she drawled, amusement lilting her voice.
"Of course. Best damn scene in the movie."
She laughed. "You would think that. I bet you pretended you had Jedi mind powers for months."
"I don't know what you mean." I winked. I might have done that. Once or twice.
Daisy and her brother were looking between us, perplexed. Thalia sneered, and said, "What are you talking about?"
"A movie," Sookie said, unabashed. "You must have been to one. They show 'em at night, in nice dark cinemas full of juicy humans."
Fuck, I loved her sass. Nobody spoke to Thalia like that, except maybe Pam and she only got away with it because she was sheriff. Thalia screwed her nose up like she'd scented a six-month-old corpse, and I laughed at her. She hissed back, and I ignored her.
I was a safer target for her temper than the bear. She wouldn't actually attack me.
Probably.
Time to get back to business. "Did you find any hint of what these wolves were up to?" I said, serious again.
Daisy pulled a face. "Not as such. There was an outbuilding. Thick walls, no windows." She shared a dark look with her brother. "Something happened there."
"Something?"
"Couldn't tell you what. Just a feeling."
If she was anything like Clearspring, that feeling could be trusted.
"It was spotless. Too clean," the bear said slowly. "Like the house. Three guys shoulda made more mess. And there was this smell..." He stared into the distance, his hand moving back and forth over his chin.
I didn't wait for whatever he was trying to retrieve from his tiny brain. "We could try an endoplasmic reconstruction–"
"No," Daisy cut across me. She worked her jaw as if to spit, and disgust flavoured her next words. "The place had been salted."
Thalia and I both stiffened. Sookie looked between us, confused. "Salted?" she asked. "Like how conquering armies salted fields so no crops could grow?"
Daisy shook her head. "Not quite. It's a ritual, an old one. Quells the energies of a place. Certain spells won't take there, not until it fades. Not for months."
"Oh. Someone wanted their secrets kept real bad," Sookie said. She looked around the room. "So what does that mean?"
"It means," I said slowly, "a witch."
"Well, Tooth 'n Claw worked with a witch before," Sookie said, nodding at Daisy.
"That ritual takes power," Daisy said. "Aren't many witches I know of that could do it alone."
"Maybe this witch is a Were." Sookie looked at me and added quietly, "Like Hallow."
"Stonebrook?" Daisy said sharply. "I heard she was dead."
"She is," I said simply.
"Stonebrook … Riverstone." Sookie swallowed. "Y'all ain't related?"
Daisy's lip curled, which told me all I need to know about how she regarded Hallow. "No. A coincidence. Water and rock are powerful the world over."
"Right. I guess she'd be the wrong sort of Were, anyway."
I was impressed that Sookie had noticed the difference. Then I wondered if shapeshifters like Daisy's brother felt different to her telepathy, but before I could ask Daisy said, "Yes. Hallow's line goes back to Europe."
"That's it!" The bear, it seemed, had finally hit pay-dirt digging into his grey matter. "The smell. It was M.R.E.s. Field rations. Chilli and mac. Remember Dave bought some to take hunting, after Katrina? Tasted like shit."
"Hm. So our wolves might be ex-military," I suggested. The bear had proved useful after all. "That fits what you said about the thorough clean-up too."
Daisy sucked her teeth. "Ex-military or desperate. There was no power to the house, no way to heat food. Maybe that's why they were eating rations."
"Wait a minute," the bear said. "Didn't Hector know someone ex-military? That skinny guy. Met him at that cookout, at Frank's place."
Daisy looked at him blankly, but Sookie leaned forward and said, "A skinny guy, dark hair? That could be one of our three Weres. Show me his face."
He coughed, flushing. "I don't know as I remember it real well. But I can sure try." He closed his eyes, his forehead wrinkling as if he was considering a complicated chess strategy.
Sookie closed her eyes to concentrate too, and I revelled in the opportunity to drink her in. Her hair, her jaw, the curve of her shoulder, the flare of her waist, the lines of her arm as she leaned on the edge of the bed, her hand clutching at the bedding...
That brought a deluge of memories that made me want to pounce on her.
All too soon, she sat up and sighed. "Can't tell. Might be him, might not."
"We need go to Houston then." Daisy said decisively. "Someone will remember him."
"Someone?" I tilted my head, inviting her to share further.
Her face closed. "Someone we will ask in the day, vampire. You don't need to know."
So she was still loyal to her former allies among the wolves. A loyalty that was admirable and gave me an excuse: if she was holding out on me, she could hardly complain if I did the same to her. That could be useful. Our partnership here was temporary after all. No need to tell each other everything.
"Very well," I said. "We go to Houston tomorrow."
"Yes. Now, I've shared what we found. Your turn, Northman."
I outlined what Thalia had learnt at Jackson PD, and what Sookie and I had discovered at the Clarion, the information leaked to Forester, and the vampire who seemed to be working with the wolves.
"A vampire?" Daisy said, mouth set.
Sookie was looking at the bear, her brow creased. "You don't think Hector would have worked with one."
That wasn't a question, so I gathered she'd picked his mind. I pointed out, "We don't know that the vampire is connected to the wolves. He or she may be work a separate agenda."
"Yes," Daisy sneered. "There are enough night-walkers who would broadcast this to the press just to cause twoeys harm."
"Not all of us," I said lightly. "Those of us with sense can see that is not in our own interests."
Sookie shook her head. "But this vamp knew there'd be a killin' here in Jackson. They must be working together."
"Not necessarily," I said, an idea beginning to form. "He or she may have tracked the wolves here."
Sookie raised an eyebrow. "So you mean this vamp stumbled on them accidentally and took advantage. 'Cus y'all are so opportunistic."
"We are, indeed," I said with a grin, only too happy to agree and move the conversation on before anyone ask how our vampire was taking advantage. I had a hunch, and I wasn't ready to share. "Speaking of which, I brought a vampire database with me. Care to take a look, Sookie?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Okay. I only saw the eyes though. That won't be much use, right?"
"Oh, this one has an excellent search function," I said casually as I moved towards my bag, still on the floor near her bed. I squatted beside it, and refrained from showing off Sookie's favourite part of my anatomy. Teasing her with an audience would only make her uncomfortable, not the reaction I wanted to inspire.
I pulled out the tablet I'd brought for this – Sanjay had set it up for me, it had some basic programs and nothing I wouldn't mind loosing, unlike the laptop I'd sent home with Goro – and sat beside Sookie, noting gleefully that she didn't move away or stiffen. She did glance down at my hand, and the signet ring I was still wearing in case my gift misbehaved – not that it had, not even when we had to hide in that closet.
Clearly surprise, excitement and lust were not emotions that triggered it. Perhaps only anger would do that.
Sookie made no comment on the ring. Just as I hadn't commented on the fact that she wasn't wearing Quinn's piece of silver junk any longer. I had a feeling that if I asked her, she would just say that she'd removed it while she was undercover, even though I was sure there was more to that story.
I started up the database and typed in the security key. The main menu opened and Sookie leaned in to look at the screen with interest.
"Wow. Bill really improved this."
"Oh, it's not Bill's."
"It isn't?"
"No. This is the Melrose one."
She cocked her head. "Shouldn't y'all be using Bill's? I mean, as he's your subject. He gives you a discount, I'm sure."
"This one is faster. Melrose is a New Yorker, he may pay his king a cut, but he knows quality at a reasonable price is what sells." I leaned a little closer, and she didn't move away.
"Oh. I guess Bill didn't patent his, or whatever you do for stuff like that."
"He couldn't, apparently. Something about using standard database tools." I pulled a face. "Sanjay, my tech expert, explained it, but …" I shrugged.
She chuckled. "Still hate computers, huh?"
"They leave me cold. But they have their uses. Ah. Here we go. What colour?"
"Colour?" She looked at the options on the screen. "Oh. Brown, muddy brown. I guess that's hazel."
"We can choose both, brown and hazel. Another advantage of this one – it has a more sophisticated search."
She looked impressed. "Okay. Skin, pick white. And hair... The eyelashes were pale. Fair I guess, but it could be red, or light brown."
"Every detail narrows it down." I waited a second for the results, and shook my head. "But that is still too many. Let me filter by state." I picked Louisiana and Mississippi, as our friend had been in Jackson and managed to get crime scene photos from Shreveport. That brought it down to three dozen or so.
"Look through them, see what you find." I handed her the tablet and showed her how to scroll through the list. While she was doing that, I pulled out my phone and sent a flurry of messages to Stan and Russell, updating them on our travel plans and warning Russell to put a tail on Forester, all while I watched Sookie out of the corner of my eye.
She was absorbed in the photos, biting her lip in concentration, a curtain of hair between us as she bent over the tablet. I wished I could reach out and tuck it behind her ear. She cussed softly after a few minutes and looked up, treating me a much better view of those blue eyes.
"This is no good, Eric. I can't see the eyes well enough in half these pictures to be sure. Sorry."
"You did your best." Recognising a face from the eyes alone was difficult enough, but there was a good chance this vampire was one who hid in the shadows and kept off the databases. As I took the tablet back to save the search, Daisy, who'd been talking to her brother in a low voice, looked over and caught my eye.
"That has magic on it," she said.
"It does." I judged she was curious, but not suspicious enough to accuse me of – of what I wasn't sure, but there was a hint of disapproval in her tone.
"I cannot cast on such things. They are dead to my magic."
Ah. Professional jealousy.
"What can I say? I know a woman who knows a woman." I made it light and joking to deflect further questions. I should have considered that she might sense Poppy's touch on the tablet. And on other things. That was a miscalculation.
As was forgetting that Sookie was listening.
"That would be the witch Pam knows, right?" Her eyes flashed with annoyance. "The one who makes necklaces."
"Yes. She's an interesting girl."
The hint that the rival witch was based in Area 5 must have been enough for Daisy and she didn't press further. But she did tilted her head, eyes narrowed as she shot me a piercing look. I got the distinct impression she was wondering what other secrets I was hiding, and I gave her my blandest expression in return.
I had solidified my theory about exactly what opportunity our mysterious vampire saw in these killings, and how deep his or her exploitation of the killers went. It was a theory that Daisy would not like at all.
Fortunately, I was under no obligation to tell her.
…
Thalia set her jaw and crossed her arms in a way that made me want to drop fang.
We were almost done finalising our travel arrangements. Or rather, I was laying out the plans I had already put in motion, and haranguing everybody to agree to them.
I hadn't expected an argument from the only other vampire in the room.
I had expected resistance from Daisy and her brother. He was a shapeshifter, they'd both made their distrust of vampires clear, so I was fully prepared to press the point until they admitted everybody staying in the same hotel would save time and made sense.
I had overcome their objections in a matter of minutes.
I'd expected resistance from Sookie too – I was footing the bill and she might consider that too great a price for her pride – but she'd acquiesced relatively easily. Maybe she'd gotten used to having her expenses paid during the summit.
Or maybe it was because I pointed out that The Elysium had far tighter security than the motel room we were currently arguing in.
Either way, I'd been relieved when the debate over accommodation ended quickly and I was allowed to confirm the hotel booking. Next, I'd booked a commercial flight to Houston for the three breathing members of our merry little band of investigators.
By that time, Sookie had relaxed enough to chuckle at the name of the hotel. I wasn't surprised that she knew the Elysium Fields were a part of Hades, land of the dead – an appropriate name for Houston's premier vampire hotel.
Or perhaps not. As Sookie had pointed out, impressing Thalia no end, the fields were supposed to be a paradise set aside for the children of the gods and the souls of heroes.
I doubted many of the Elysium's guests fitted into those two categories.
It was only when I announced that Thalia and I would fly down separately with Anubis that the tiny Greek became a huge pain in my ass.
She wanted us to travel under our own steam for the remainder of tonight's darkness, sleep in the ground somewhere on route – which I was loathe to do – and travel on at sunset. She swore she was fast enough to reach Houston by midnight.
I didn't care. I wanted to rise in Houston tomorrow night. Who knew what trouble Sookie could find before the sunset, and I wanted be close at hand if some of Daisy's less salubrious associates took offence at a telepath nosing around, rooting out their secrets.
Thalia did not feel the same urgency on this as I did. She glowered at me. "If you won't do it that way, we should catch a flight now. Tonight."
"No," I said sharply, ignoring her defiant stance. I had used up my supply of tact on the others. "Planes get delayed. We cannot guarantee landing before dawn. Flying in the day is the most efficient use of our time."
"I do not like it," she said sullenly. "It puts us in danger."
"Anubis is perfectly safe," I said coldly. Sookie better not mention that Bill had gotten himself snatched from under their noses at Jackson airport, the very one that we would be flying out of.
We would not be getting kidnapped. That had only happened because Lorena had Russell's unspoken permission, I was sure. I did not think kidnap was what Thalia feared anyway. "What is it that bothers you? Is it the coffin?" I asked, a disdainful eyebrow raised.
"No," she said stiffly. "I do not like flying those tin cans."
Ah. She feared a crash landing, a fiery end while she was dead for the day that she could do nothing to escape. Why she was objecting now, when she hadn't objected to the flight down here, was another matter and one I didn't understand.
Perhaps she hadn't fulfilled her quota of belligerence for the night and needed to fight me on something. In which case, I knew how to handle her. I shrugged. "If you are not up to guarding my back, I can find someone else."
She drew herself up, looking ready to spit. "I will come," she growled out.
Sookie yawned just then, and Thalia relaxed even as her lip curled. "We should leave now, so the breathers can sleep."
It was long past midnight. I had no reason to linger, however delightful the thought of sneaking into bed with a sleepy Sookie was. And it wasn't so delightful when I remembered Daisy was in the next bed.
I had been sure to book them separate rooms in Houston.
"We should go," I agreed, standing and grabbing my bag. "Anubis will pick us up from Russell's. I must speak to him anyway, and I have calls to make before dawn."
"So do I," Sookie mumbled, rubbing her face tiredly.
To Quinn, I realised. I had no wish to stay around for that.
…
I called Pam from the SUV, and she answered in a flat, bored tone. "Your majesty."
"Sheriff," I replied solemnly. My feelings of betrayal had faded, and I'd tucked any lingering doubt over her loyalty somewhere in the depths of my blood before I placed the call. Instead I thought of my evening, and said cheerfully, "How is the nightly grind?"
"Terrible. Having fun, are we?"
I chuckled. "Yes. That is the point of playing hooky, is it not?"
"Alright for some," she huffed.
"I left you Oskar as a punching bag. Surely you didn't pass that up."
She laughed. "No, I did not. What do you need, Eric? I didn't expect to hear from you until you returned."
"Ah. Back to the grindstone then. Oskar filled you in on the Were situation?"
"Yes."
"Good. I need your contacts in Shreveport PD. A journalist here was mailed crime scene photos of our dead pastor."
She swore softly.
"Yes, quite. And there is vampire involvement."
"Who?"
"Unknown, as yet. At least one. The journalist here had been glamoured."
"Fuck a zombie. They probably glamoured their way to those photos too. I don't think any of my residents would dare, I make it clear what would happen if they messed with the cops. I'll send Heidi out, see if she can track down any non-residents who've been skulking in Area 5. The last sweep she did was clear, but you never know."
"Good. It might not have been glamour at your end. Find out who in Shreveport PD had access to the evidence, and who might bear the shapeshifters enough of a grudge to leak this to the press."
"That's probably half of them, given the fuss some of them made about Maxwell attending crime scenes. I'll put him on that right away. And warn Indira. How much fallout are we expecting?"
"Russell will make sure the photos don't come out, but at least one newspaper has already mentioned the Shreveport murder. Someone will pick that up. Expect questions to be asked."
"Great. I'd better warn Alcide."
"Yes. Tell him to keep a tight leash on his pack."
"Do you have any idea who the vampire is?"
"No." I turned my theory over, examined its angles. I couldn't see a fault. "But the more I think about it, the more I think this is not about a grudge with the Weres."
She was silent for a long moment, until I felt a slight change in our connection. "Oh," she said softly. "Of course."
Good, she'd guessed at what I meant. I did not want to say more, not over an unsecured line. "Call me when you have results, Pam."
"I will, Eric."
…
Russell met us on the porch. He was wearing slacks and a white silk shirt, which was as casual as I'd ever seen him. "You're leaving Mississippi already." I nodded, and he offered, "A warm meal perhaps? In the tradition of Southern hospitality."
"Bottled will be fine," I said. "We need to speak."
"Oh dear," he drawled, "Bernard will be disappointed. He was hoping to share."
I rolled my eyes. "Perhaps Thalia will partake." It might put her in a better mood.
She gave what might have passed for a smile on a shark. "Bernard will be eating alone. I don't share."
Russell laughed. "I bet you share with the Reckoner. He's a dark horse, that one. How long have you known him?"
Thalia snorted. "Long enough. Where's this meal?"
Russell waved a hand. "Bernard will show you. Come, Eric. Let's go to my office. Stan called, he wants to be kept in the loop."
It wasn't much later that I found myself leaning back on one of Russell's over-stuffed couches, sipping warm blood. Stan had joined us by virtue of a screen on the wall, and he was currently thinking over what I'd told them. They'd taken our lack of progress better than I expected.
Russell leaned back in his chair, fingers laced behind his head. "Hm. I agree Forester is our best lead here, if, and I stress if, this vampire approaches him again. I will keep a tail on him and" – his eyes glittered – "I guarantee those pictures won't make it to the presses."
"And you can influence Jackson's finest, persuade them to go softly, softly with our furry friends?" I asked.
"I can bring some pressure to bear. But that will only go so far, especially if someone digs deeper and links the murders." He gave me a long, considered look. "What do you make of this vampire, Eric? You have had longer to think this over."
I finished my blood, and stretched to put the glass down on the end table beside me before I answered. "It is possible someone else has connected the cases, and just wants to make certain the blame falls on the Weres. But I think it is more than that. I think this vampire, or his master, has taken over Hector's campaign and twisted it to fit their purpose."
They exchanged a look and Russell said, "Go on, Eric."
I leaned back and spelt out my reasoning. "The deaths in New Mexico, Austin and Little Rock – the ones up to last July, the ones before Hector disappeared – they were carefully hidden, and the victims were all linked to the Chosen in Houston. Since then there has been a change. The killers are actively seeking publicity. Three murders in four months, all the victims are public figures, soft targets as they call them. In Shreveport, Amarillo and Jackson. I expect the next to be in Oklahoma."
Stan stiffened. "This is aimed at us, our alliance."
"Felipe?" Russell asked, half to himself. "Or Ohio and Tennessee."
"I lean towards Felipe," I said. "He has more interest in the South than Ohio."
"And has for long enough to seed plenty of his spies here," Stan agreed. "But it could be Tennessee. He could have heard of the killings by chance, and if he is truly pissed about Nadia's defeat that explains an attempt to destabilise all our states."
Russell shrugged. "Felipe will hold us all responsible for his loss of Louisiana, so by your argument it could just as easily be him."
"Whoever it is," I said, "I suggest we all watch our backs. And our local newspapers."
"I will warn Isabel," Stan said. "Did you tell the witch about this?"
I shook my head. "She might refuse to work with us if I did. She has little trust for vampires as it is."
"Let's hope you turn something up in Houston. Did the witch say who she wants to question?"
I grimaced. "No. She named no names."
"I could have her followed. See who she speaks to in the day."
"No. That is a bad idea." If Daisy spotted a tail, she would be furious. "Don't spook her, Stan. If Felipe or Ohio are behind this, we need her."
…
I had half-expected Russell to put our travel coffins in the room I had shared with Sookie after she was staked, but it seemed he was uncomfortable allowing Anubis access to his home during the day. Instead, I found myself in a parlour on the ground floor, where two state of the art coffins were ready and waiting for us.
Thalia was muttering about the flight, but I wasn't listening, busy checking my messages before dawn. It paid to do that, because there was always one idiot who waited to the last minute to send bad news.
But there was no such idiot tonight, so I stowed my tablet and phones in the coffin ready for the flight. One of the perks of travelling with Anubis – no-one would handle them if they were inside there with me.
I fished the compass Poppy had given me out of my bag. Thalia went still when I dropped my fangs, but she didn't speak until I pierced a finger.
"Your blood," she said, inhaling and licking her lips. "I know that scent. You have fed on something old. Wild."
Ah. Emmett. If anyone was going to recognise satyr blood, it would be Thalia. I stared back at her, waiting to see which way she jumped. Would she want to know who it was, to feed from him too? Or had I offended some piece of her human heritage that she still held dear?
"Be wary," she said at last. "There are those who would punish you for taking such a gift."
"It was given willingly."
"That may not be enough."
I shrugged. "What's done is done."
She watched silently as I coated a compass needle in blood and spoke the incantation Poppy had taught me. The spell created a sympathetic link between the compass and a tiny ampoule of my blood embedded in the phone I'd given to Sookie. The ampoule was disguised, just in case a certain telepath got curious. Poppy had bewitched it to disintegrate if the phone was tampered with too. Witches could do things with blood, things I had no wish to experience. I had overseen what Poppy did with mine personally.
A smile of sorts split Thalia's face. "A tracking spell. On the telepath."
"Yes." I held the compass in my fist, and it pulled in the direction of the motel. There. I would be able to find her, as long as she kept the phone with her. Even if it was off – an easy way to defeat a tracking program. I would not be surprised if Sookie noticed one and disabled it by switching her phone off. She was no fool.
This was more reliable. And all without sneaking my blood into her. She need never know.
"She will be angry," Thalia said as she got into her coffin.
"Better angry than dead," I said, tucking the compass into my pocket and climbing in. "I do not trust her to keep out of trouble."
I pulled the lid closed, engaged the lock and smiled into the darkness. Sookie could find trouble in a closet.
