“How are your accommodations?” Sophie-Anne asked politely.
“Fine. I’m rooming with a . . . girlfriend of Gervaise’s,” I said.
“With
Carla
? Why?” Her brows rose up like dark birds in a clear sky.
“The hotel’s crowded. It’s no big thing. I figure she’ll be with Gervaise most of the time, anyway,” I said.
Sophie-Anne said, “What did you think of Johan?”
I could feel my face harden. “I think he belongs in jail.”
“But he will keep me out of it.”
I tried to imagine what a vampire jail would be like, gave up. I couldn’t give her any positive feedback on Johan, so I just nodded.
“You are still not telling me what you picked up from him.”
“He’s very tense and conflicted.”
“Explain.”
“He’s anxious. He’s scared. He’s fighting different loyalties. He only wants to come out alive. He doesn’t care for anyone but himself.”
“So how does that make him different from any other human?” Andre commented.
Sophie-Anne responded with a twitch of one side of her mouth. That Andre, what a comedian.
“Most humans don’t stab women,” I said as quietly and calmly as I could. “Most humans don’t enjoy that.”
Sophie-Anne was not completely indifferent to the violent death Johan Glassport had meted out, but naturally she was a little more concerned with her own legal defense. At least, that was how I read her, but with vampires, I had to go on subtle body language rather than the sure knowledge right out of their brains. “He’ll defend me, I’ll pay him, and then he’s on his own,” she said. “Anything might happen to him then.” She gave me a clear-eyed look.
Okay, Sophie-Anne, I got the picture.
“Did he question you thoroughly? Did you feel he knew what he was doing?” she asked, returning to the important stuff.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said promptly. “He did seem to be really competent.”
“Then he’ll be worth the trouble.”
I didn’t even let my eyes flicker.
“Did Cataliades tell you what to expect?”
“Yes, ma’am, he did.”
“Good. As well as your testimony at the trial, I need you to attend every meeting with me that includes humans.”
This was why she was paying me the big bucks.
“Ah, do you have any schedule of meetings?” I asked. “It’s just, I’d be ready and waiting if I had any idea when you needed me.”
Before she could answer, there was a knock at the door. Andre rose and moved to answer it so smoothly and fluidly that you would have sworn he was part cat. His sword was in his hand, though I hadn’t seen it before. The door opened a bit just as Andre reached it, and I heard Sigebert’s bass rumble.
After they’d exchanged a few sentences, the door opened wider, and Andre said, “The King of Texas, my lady.” There was only a hint of pleased surprise in his voice, but it was the equivalent of Andre doing cartwheels across the carpet. This visit was a show of support for Sophie-Anne, and all the other vampires would notice.
Stan Davis came in, trailing a group of vamps and humans.
Stan was a nerd’s nerd. He was the kind of guy who you checked out for a pocket protector. You could see the comb marks in his sandy hair, and his glasses were heavy and thick. They were also quite unnecessary. I’d never met a vamp who didn’t have excellent vision and very precise hearing. Stan was wearing a wash ’n’ wear white shirt with a Sears brand logo and some navy Dockers. And brown leather moccasins. Hoo, boy. He’d been a sheriff when I’d met him, and now that he was king, he was maintaining the same low-key approach.
Behind Stan came his sergeant at arms, Joseph Velasquez. A short, burly Hispanic with spiky hair, Joseph never seemed to crack a smile. By his side was a red-haired female vamp named Rachel; I remembered her, too, from my trip to Dallas. Rachel was a savage one, and she didn’t like cooperating with humans in the least. Trailing the two was Barry the Bellboy, looking good in designer jeans and a taupe silk T-shirt, a discreet gold chain around his neck. Barry had matured in an almost scary way since I’d last seen him. He’d been a handsome, gawky boy of maybe nineteen when I’d first spotted him working as a bellboy at the Silent Shore Hotel in Dallas. Now Barry had had a manicure, a very good haircut, and the wary eyes of someone who’d been swimming in the shark pool.
We smiled at each other, and Barry said,
Good to see you. Looking pretty, Sookie.
Thanks, and likewise, Barry.
Andre was doing the proper vampire greeting thing, which did not include handshaking. “Stan, we are pleased to see you. Who have you brought to meet us?”
Stan gallantly bent to kiss Sophie-Anne’s hand. “Most beautiful queen,” he said. “This vampire is my second, Joseph Velasquez. And this vampire is my nest sister Rachel. This human is the telepath Barry Bellboy. Indirectly, I have you to thank for him.”
Sophie-Anne actually smiled. She said, “Of course, I am always delighted to do you any sort of favor in my power, Stan.” She gestured to him to sit opposite her. Rachel and Joseph took up flanking positions. “It’s so good to see you here in my suite. I had been concerned that I wouldn’t have any visitors at all.”
(“Since I’m under indictment for killing my husband, and since I’ve also sustained a staggering economic blow,” was the subtext.)
“I extend my sympathies to you,” Stan said with a completely inflectionless voice. “The losses in your country have been extreme. If we can help . . . I know the humans from my state have helped yours, and it’s only right that the vampires do likewise.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” she said. Sophie-Anne’s pride was hurting in a major way. She had to struggle to paste that smile back on her face. “I believe you know Andre,” she continued. “Andre, you now know Joseph. And I believe all of you know our Sookie.”
The phone rang, and since I was closest to it, I answered it.
“Am I speaking to a member of the Queen of Louisiana’s party?” the gruff voice asked.
“Yes, you are.”
“One of you needs to come down to the loading bay to get a suitcase that belongs to your party. We can’t read the label.”
“Oh . . . okay.”
“Sooner the better.”
“All right.”
He hung up. Okay, that was a little abrupt.
Since the queen was waiting for me to tell her who had called, I relayed the request, and she looked equally puzzled for all of a millisecond. “Later,” she said dismissively.
In the meantime, the light eyes of the King of Texas were focused on me like laser beams. I inclined my head to him, which I hoped was the correct response. It seemed to be adequate. I would have liked to have had time to go over the protocol with Andre before the queen began receiving guests, but truthfully, I hadn’t expected there to be any, much less a powerful guy like Stan Davis. This had to mean something good for the queen, or maybe it was a subtle vampire insult. I was sure I’d find out.
I felt the tickle of Barry in my mind.
She good to work for?
Barry asked.
I just help her out from time to time,
I said.
I still have a day job.
Barry looked at me with surprise.
You kidding? You could be raking it in, if you go to a good state like Ohio or Illinois where there’s real money.
I shrugged.
I like where I live,
I said.
Then we both became aware that our vampire employers were watching our silent exchange. Our faces were changing expression, I guess, like faces do during a conversation . . . except our conversation had been silent.
“Excuse me,” I said. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I just don’t see people like me very often, and it’s kind of a treat to talk to another telepath. I beg your pardon, ma’am, sir.”
“I could almost hear it,” Sophie-Anne marveled. “Stan, he has been very useful?” Sophie-Anne could talk to her own children mentally, but it must be as rare an ability among vampires as it was among people.
“Very useful,” Stan confirmed. “The day that your Sookie brought him to my attention was a very good day for me. He knows when the humans are lying; he knows what their ulterior motives are. It’s wonderful insight.”
I looked at Barry, wondering if he ever thought of himself as a traitor to humankind or just as a vendor supplying a needed good. He met my eyes, his own face hard. Sure, he was conflicted about serving a vampire, revealing human secrets to his employer. I struggled with that idea myself from time to time.
“Hmmm. Sookie only works for me on occasion.” Sophie-Anne was staring at me, and if I could characterize her smooth face, I would say she was thoughtful. Andre had something going on behind his pink-tinged teenage facade, and it was something I had better watch out for. He wasn’t just thoughtful, he was interested; engaged, for want of a better description.
“Bill brought her to Dallas,” Stan observed, not quite asking a question.
“He was her protector at the time,” Sophie-Anne said.
A brief silence. Barry leered at me hopefully, and I gave him an in-your-dreams look. Actually, I felt like hugging him, since that little exchange broke up the silence into something I could handle.
“Do you really need Barry and me here, since we’re the only humans, and it might not be so productive if we just sat around and read each other’s minds?”
Joseph Velasquez actually smiled before he could stop himself.
After a silent moment, Sophie-Anne nodded, and then Stan. Queen Sophie and King Stan, I reminded myself. Barry bowed in a practiced way, and I felt like sticking out my tongue at him. I did a sort of bob and then scuttled out of the suite. Sigebert eyed us with a questioning face. “The queen, she not need you?” he asked.
“Not right now,” I said. I tapped a pager that Andre had handed me at the last minute. “The pager will vibrate if she needs me,” I said.
Sigebert eyed the device mistrustfully. “I think it would be better if you just stayed here,” he said.
“The queen, she says I can go,” I told him.
And off I went, Barry trailing along behind me. We took the elevator down to the lobby, where we found a secluded corner where no one could sneak up on us to eavesdrop.
I’d never conversed with someone entirely in my head, and neither had Barry, so we played around with that for a while. Barry would tell me the story of his life while I tried to block out all the other brains around me; then I’d try to listen to everyone else
and
to Barry.
This was actually a lot of fun.
Barry turned out to be better than I was at picking out who was thinking what in a crowd. I was a bit better at hearing nuance and detail, not always easy to pick up in thoughts. But we had some common ground.
We agreed on who the best broadcasters in the room were; that is, our “hearing” was the same. He would point at someone (in this case it was my roommate, Carla) and we would both listen to her thoughts, then rate them on a scale of one to five, five being the loudest, clearest broadcast. Carla was a three. After that agreement, we rated other people, and we found ourselves reacting almost as one over that.
Okay, this was interesting.
Let’s try touching,
I suggested.
Barry didn’t even leer. He was into this, too. Without further ado, he took my hand, and we faced in nearly opposite directions.
The voices came in so clearly, it was like having a full-voice conversation with everyone in the room, all at once. Like pumping up the volume on a DVD, with the treble and bass perfectly balanced. It was elating and terrifying, all at once. Though I was facing away from the reception desk, I clearly heard a woman inquiring about the arrival of the Louisiana vamps. I caught my own image in the brain of the clerk, who was feeling delighted at doing me a bad turn.
Here comes trouble,
Barry warned me.
I swung around to see a vampire advancing on me with not a very pleasant expression on her face. She had hot hazel eyes and straight light brown hair, and she was lean and mean.
“Finally, one of the Louisiana party. Are the rest of you in hiding? Tell your bitch whore of a mistress that I’ll nail her hide to the wall! She won’t get away with murdering my king! I’ll see her staked and exposed to the sun on the roof of this hotel!”
I said the first thing that came into my head, unfortunately. “Save the drama for your mama,” I told her, just like an eleven-year-old. “And by the way, who the heck are you?”
Of course, this had to be Jennifer Cater. I started to tell her that her king’s character had been really substandard, but I liked my head right where it sat on my shoulders, and it wouldn’t take much to tip this gal over the edge.
She gave good glare, I’d say that for her.
“I’ll drain you dry,” she said, harshly. We were attracting a certain amount of attention by then.
“Ooooo,” I said, exasperated beyond wisdom. “I’m so scared. Wouldn’t the court love to hear you say that? Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t vampires prevented by—oh, yes—the
law
from threatening humans with death, or did I just read that wrong?”
“As if I give a snap of my fingers for human law,” Jennifer Cater said, but the fire was dying down in her eyes as she realized that the whole lobby was listening to our exchange, including many humans and possibly some vampires who’d love to see her out of the way.
“Sophie-Anne Leclerq will be tried by the laws of our people,” Jennifer said as a parting shot. “And she will be found guilty. I’ll hold Arkansas, and I’ll make it great.”
“That’ll be a first,” I said with some justification. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi were three poor states huddled together, much to our mutual mortification. We were all grateful for each other, because we got to take turns being at the bottom of almost every list in the United States: poverty level, teen pregnancy, cancer death, illiteracy. . . . We pretty much rotated the honors.