Chapter 62

L.O.D.I. (Legion Of Deplorable Idiots)

We arrived at the park where Carlotta Amera had been drained and left to burn in the sun. A vampire that had survived five hundred years only to be done in for her blood and the money it was worth to V-Dealers and addicts. No one had bothered to find out that she was a dedicated mainstreamer and wouldn't even feed from a willing donor. No one had cared to know that she had been the benefactor to many children's charities in the Greater Shreveport Area or that she was a supporter of the local arts, even funding the Children's Ballet troupe single-handedly. No, they had only researched enough to find out that she was at least 100 years old and that made her blood much more potent, thus increasing the value of it.

I stepped out of the car and was shocked to smell the horrible odor of burned skin. This had occurred weeks ago. I felt angry, too angry. My rage would unbalance me and I needed to reign it in. I felt Eric step up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Close your eyes, Sookie. Listen very carefully, not with your ears but with your mind. Sometimes you can hear the crime replay, hear a name, just a small clue to get started." That seemed way too slow for me. I had other idea's.

"Fuck that! I wish I could SEE exactly who murdered Carlotta Amera, how they did it and where they are right now!"

Someone pressed play on the horror of the crime. I saw it all just like it was happening right in front of me. Three men, one of them wearing a L.O.D.I. T-shirt were dragging her from the black SUV they had been driving, She was bound with heavy ropes of silver and I could hear the flesh sizzling beneath the metal. Her face was streaked red with tears but she wasn't speaking. I could hear agonized strangling sounds come out of her throat but no words.

"Jesus Christ, Luke, I thought you said the metal in her mouth would shut her up!" They had shoved a silver cross into her mouth to gag her. I winced when I thought of how horribly painful that must have been.

"Well, that's what Newlin told me to do. I can't help it, this ain't getting any easier no matter how many times we do it! Craig, stop gagging and grab her legs, we need to get this shit done and get out of here."

The one who's name I hadn't heard yet spoke next. "Damn but that stinks! Why do we have to drain her? I don't understand. Did The Reverend say what he was gonna do with the blood?"

"Who the hell cares, he's the leader and I just follow orders, Garrett. Now get the shit we need out of the car and let's get this over with."

I stood by helplessly and watched as they drained almost every last drop of her blood. She was silently pleading with them, her eyes begging. She never had a chance. They finished taking her blood and unwound the silver from her. It didn't matter, she would be too weak to move. They loaded everything up in the car.

"Eric, can you see this?"

"Yes."

"Let's follow their path, I think we'll head straight to them this way."

We followed the vision just as if we were following a real car to a destination. I should have wished to be able to hear what was said in the car but I wasn't thinking clearly. We were almost back into Shreveport when the car took a hard left off of the main road onto a private drive. "Stop here, Eric. We shouldn't go any further. I think I can project myself from here." Before he could protest I spoke out loud.

"I wish I could see where they were going and why there were here." I suddenly found myself in the back seat of the black SUV next to the one called Garrett. The driver was stopping at a large gate manned with an armed guard.

"Can you let Reverend Newlin know we're here with the package he sent us after?" The guard picked up the gate house phone and called someone, then opened the gate and we drove through.

"Luke, do you think he does V? Would Newlin do V-juice himself?"

"Don't be a moron. He's high on god! What would he need V for? Stupid idiot, what the hell are you thinking, Craig?"

I was thinking that Craig could be on to something. Wouldn't that be ironic? The leader of the biggest anti-vampire movement hooked on Vampire blood.

"Sorry, Luke. Hey don't tell him I asked that, okay? It was dumb. I don't know what I was thinking. Just tired I guess."

"We're soldiers of god and righteousness! We can't afford to be tired, numb nuts!"

The SUV stopped in front of the huge house and the front door opened. The very recognizable Reverend Steve Newlin stepped outside in a bathrobe and fuzzy bunny slippers.

"Well, hello boys! Did you carry out your mission? Do you have what I requested?"

"Yes sir, we do. Garrett, hand it to me." Garrett reached down in the floorboard and handed up the duffel bad they had stuffed the blood filled I.V. Bags into.

"Excellent! This will go a long way to further our studies about more efficient ways to kill Vampires." What a fucking liar! It was going to go a long way to get him good and high.

Luke elbowed Craig in the side and gave him an I told you so glare.

"All right, fantastic job. You boys have earned a crown in heaven by doing God's work tonight. Praise his holy name!"

Like mindless automatons, all three of the men in the SUV repeated, in sync, "Praise his holy name!"

"Now, go back to the dormitory and get some rest. You have a busy day tomorrow, your training is imperative if we are to succeed in our ultimate goal! We only have two more weeks before we have to head back to headquarters in Dallas, you know." Jiminy Christmas, THIS wasn't even their main home, but a weekend getaway?

The SUV was headed back down the long driveway and I wished my consciousness back into the corvette.

"I know where the men are. They're staying at the Light of Day Institute dorms on the Fellowship's Shreveport campus. I remember seeing them in a documentary about the Fellowship they showed on CNN one night." Eric looked at me with disgust. "Hey! I had insomnia and I thought it would put me to sleep!" I said, shrugging.

"Did you gather all the names?"

"Just first names, Luke, Craig and Garrett." Eric was thinking hard about something, I hoped he would let me in on it. "Garrett, although not a highly unusual name, makes me wonder something. I need to call Pam." He dialed her number and got her voice mail. This didn't make him happy, he expected her to be at his beck and call. He tried Chow next. Luckily the Asian answered.

"Chow, can you send me the pictures of those seven Fellowship members who were slain in the Old Bon Temps cemetery? Yes, just forward them to my phone."

It wasn't two minutes later that I heard his phone signal that he had received a text message. He opened the files and we looked through them together.

"That's the one named Craig! He was one that got killed the night Pam called them to the cemetery? Oh wait! Go back one, yeah that's Garrett, the one in the back. I don't see the other one, the one named Luke." I could have slapped myself, I'd almost forgotten to tell Eric what I had learned. "You'll never guess who does V! Reverend Steve Newlin, himself. That's why those boys drained Carlotta, they took the blood straight to him and he gave them this BS story about research. Research, my ass! He was going straight into the house and getting high with it! I bet that trashy whore he calls a wife is on it too."

"Very interesting, although Newlin is untouchable. For now at least."

"Why? He's doing V, ordering the draining of Vampires! He's breaking both human and vampire law!"

"Sookie, he is the head of an organization that is out to prove how evil vampires are. Would we not be making a martyr out of him and proving his point by killing him? As much as I would like to turn him in to the authorities, how could we prove his guilt without exposing your talents? They would try to take you away from me and I can't allow that."

"Who would try?" I was a little unsettled by the thought of being dragged away from Eric, screaming.

"Everyone."

"Okay, I can see your point there." I pondered silently, trying to think of anyway to get Newlin prosecuted for his crimes but came up empty. "Well we do have one criminal that we can mete out some justice to. Luke of the L.O.D.I. And he's at the dormitory. I have a plan if you don't mind letting me take the lead on this one."

"I'm anxious to see what you do." Eric gave me his sexiest smile and I melted. I was ready to impress him, I really didn't think he believed that I would feed on a human and end a life. He couldn't be more wrong.

"Get me to a pay phone, and on the way, see if Chow can't get me the number to the Light of Day dormitories."

While Eric was busy dialing and driving, I went over my plan a hundred times in my mind. I was abuzz with excitement, I couldn't wait to exact some vengeance for Carlotta Amera.