I felt Eric come to bed just after the sun came up. I was already quite gone but was able to come back for a minute. "Who did you kill?" I asked softly.
"Nobody, my love."
"Then who did you shoot?"
"Nobody, mon chere."
"Where did you get that gun?"
"The Feds gave it to me. I was just trying it on for size. Was it sexy?"
I died for the day before I could answer.
"Sookie, will you quit your lolly-gaggin and get out of bed. I have got some serious work to do." Pam stood above my bed with Vogue-quality make-up and her hair in curlers. She wore a pale pink satin robe that made her look like she was headed to a Victoria's Secret photo shoot.
"Are we having a pillow-fight?"
"Are you serious? The ball is in two hours and we've got to do something with your hair." She was very frank and I jumped out of bed, noticing something crumpled up in my hand.
"Fine! I'm in the shower!" I went to the fridge and uncapped a True Blood first, putting it in the microwave. Since learning how to move at vamp-speed, I had started to race the microwave to see just how much I could get done in 90 seconds. I closed the bathroom door behind me and opened up the piece of paper that had been in my hand when I woke. See you at the ball. All my love, Eric.
I heard the microwave's timer go off as I was stepping out the of shower. I gave my hair a rough towel-dry and wrapped myself in one of the other towels. Mmmm… one of the things I had grown to appreciate with my uber-senses was a luxurious plush towel. I even replaced my own at the house with some from a fancy hotel catalogue. No more Wal-mart towels for this girl! I stepped out, my hair styled most elaborately in a turban to dry it as quickly as possible and found that Pam had stepped out again. The silver dress and a pair of matching shoes hung neatly by the door and Pam's make-up collection sat at the desk. I had been getting frequent pointers from my big sister, Pam, and I felt at least mildly able to put on my own make-up for special events. I started with the basics- concealer, foundation, and a pale pink blush. Octavia and Amelia's charms had done wonders for my skin. I thanked my stars every time I looked in the mirror and saw a fresh, clean complexion, much unlike the graying sunken face I had turned in to during my last days as a human. Vampires are stuck forever looking the exact way they did when they died. Since I had been turned I had met vampires that were stuck with zits, hairy moles and receding hairlines forever and I felt even more blessed each time I met another vampire with a less than ideal physique.
"If you're just going to stare at yourself, at least have the decency to close my mascara. It's a MAC."
I turned to face her, apparently with a confused expression.
She sighed. "It's expensive. Let me do your make-up." Letting Pam think you absolutely could not go on without her fashion sense was the biggest ego-ride she could ever know. She adored making people up and even performed such rituals as highlighting my brow-bone and lining my eyes at a painfully slow human-pace to make it last a little longer. I know for a fact she also puts on her high heels at a slow pace, followed by a slow-motion hair-flip in case anyone is watching. I let my mind wander around tonight's ball and what it could possibly be like. I briefly imagined descending a tall staircase in silver gown, a tiara and glass slippers as Eric stood at the bottom, crooning songs from Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. After about 20 minutes of evil step-sisters (both of them somehow played by Pam) and pumpkin-carriages, I heard Barry's thoughts buzzing as he approached the door. I was quite aware that I was still in my sexy towel and turban so I quickly excused myself to throw on my satin robe, which was identical to Pam's except for the color. Mine was lavender- she would never allow anyone else to share in pink, the color she claimed was simply made for her.
"Are we good to go over the game plan?" Barry asked, slowly opening the door that Pam had left cracked open.
"We're ready if that's what you mean by 'game'." Pam drawled, her raised eyebrow making her look something between hell-bound and pensive. Barry sat down on my bed and shifted uncomfortably. I nodded to say that I for one was ready.
"The Feds are…um…contained as per the plan, and we've got weres guarding the doors to the hotel and then the doors to the ballroom." I was able to dig around in his thoughts for what he considered contained. He really meant that they had been rounded up with machine guns by Pharaoh Ramses, Dracula, and Eric last night and trapped in a meeting room with no access to the outside world and strict instructions that they should not be let out. Just to ensure that they stayed contained, two burly and heavily tattooed weres stood outside the door, grimacing at passersby. Point made, thankyouverymuch. Barry continued. "I've got the schedule here-" he handed us each a half sheet of paper, "doors open at 8, waiters start getting people seated at 8:30, the Queen starts at 9. She'll talk for about half an hour, then we have a 'thanks for coming' thing from all the British officials, the ball starts after that with the international welcome and I think the ceremony is going to happen around mid-"
Pam cut Barry off mid-sentence. My interests were peaked, but I was easily sidetracked after Pam's shrug and brief description of "blah, official stuff, blah, don't bite humans in the hotel. Like I said, official stuff."
Barry listened closely to see if anyone was standing outside the door. He leaned towards us and started in a low whisper. "I know these guys want this Malia bitch alive, but Eric and Dracula want her dead. I don't care how it gets done, who gets it done, or if it gets done in the middle of Trafalgar Square and slaughters a thousand nuns in the process, get it done. That's straight from Ramses."
Pam's serious face cracked a smile. "I think we might be able to handle that, especially now that the Feds won't be bothering us."
She picked up her eyeliner again and resumed her work as Barry snuck out of the room, his thoughts terrified, excited, and ready.