Deadlocked

“You’re absolutely right. I can’t decide if Eric is genuinely trying to discourage her or if he’s driving up his price.”

I felt like Bil had slapped me.

He said instantly, “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I should have kept my mouth shut.” He sounded genuinely contrite, but I didn’t trust anyone anymore.

“You real y think Eric’s capable of that?”

“Sookie, you know Eric’s capable of that, and much more.” Bil shrugged. “I won’t be less than honest with you. And I won’t sugarcoat this situation. From my point of view, Eric’s involvement with Freyda is a wonderful thing. But for your sake, I hope Eric is so deeply devoted to you that he’s determined to drive Freyda to a more amenable mate.”

“He loves me.” I sounded like a terrified child tel ing her father that she really, really wasn’t afraid of the dark. I despised that in myself.

“Yes, he does,” Bil agreed readily.

That conversation was clearly over, and it was one we wouldn’t have again.

I had a fantasy that when we got to my house, Eric would be sitting on the back steps waiting for me. He would have ditched al his Nevada company. He would be waiting to assure me that he had sent Freyda packing, that he’d told her how much he loved me, that he never wanted to leave me no matter how much power and wealth she offered him. He would be shooting a final bird at his maker, Appius Livius Ocel a. Al the vampires in his sheriffdom would be happy about his decision because they liked me so much.

As long as I was having a fantasy, I decided to build on it. In the daylight, Claude would return to my house with Nial . Nial would say that he had brainwashed Claude, and that Claude was now an agreeable person who regretted any of his past deeds that had offended others. They both embraced Dermot as an equal and took him back to Faery with them, along with al the other fae at Hooligans. I could be sure they would be happy forever, since it was a fairy tale.

Then I mental y married off Jason and Michele and gave them three little boys. I married off Terry and Jimmie and gave their Catahoulas many litters. I named Alcide packmaster for life and threw in a happy marriage to Kandace and a resultant daughter. I gave the du Rone twins ful scholarships to Tulane, and for Sam … I simply couldn’t think of the best gift for Sam. Of course, the bar would prosper, but with his tendency to fal for women on the supernatural side … wel , the bar would prosper. Quinn would live happily ever after with his tigress, Tijgerin, and she would be able to rehabilitate the unpleasant Frannie, who would become a nurse.

I was probably skipping a few people. Oh, yeah, Hol y and Hoyt. They’d have a girl and a boy, and Hol y’s son by her first marriage would love his stepdad and his new siblings. Hoyt’s lifelong friendship with my brother would never come between the couple again, because my brother would never drag Hoyt into trouble. Again.

India would find some fine young woman, and the state of Louisiana would pass a bil to enable them to get married legal y. No one would ever, ever make lesbian jokes or misquote scripture at them … as long as I was fantasizing.

“Bil , what’s your favorite fantasy?” I asked. Weirdly enough, I felt much better after designing al these happy endings.

Bil glanced over at me quizzical y. We were almost to my house. “My favorite fantasy? You come down into my daytime resting place stark naked,” he said, and I could see the gleam of his teeth as he smiled. “Oh, wait,” Bil said. “That’s already happened.”

“There’s gotta be more to it,” I said. Then I could have bitten off my tongue.

“Oh, there is.” His eyes told me exactly what happened after that.

“And that’s your fantasy? That I come into your house naked and have sex with you?”

“After that, you tel me that you have sent Eric on his way, that you want to be mine forever, and that to share my life you wil permit me to make you a vampire like me.”

The silence now was thick, and the fun had drained out of the fantasy.

Then Bil added, “You know what I’d say when you told me this? I’d tel you I would never do such a thing. Because I love you.”

And this, ladies and gentlemen, concluded our evening’s entertainment.

Chapter 14

When I woke up in my own bed, the sun was glaring outside. I did not have to work today; getting to skip on your special day was a Merlotte’s rule.

Last night had been an incredible night, al in al . I’d rescued two hostages, helped to get a bunch of bad rogue Weres off the streets, and begun unraveling a conspiracy. Hard to top that!

I’d also been kidnapped and bitterly disil usioned.

I wanted to look good because my spirits were so low. When I was getting dressed to run errands and to go to an appointment I’d made days before, I put on my makeup and brushed my hair up into a ponytail that cascaded down from the crown of my head. While I was cleaning out my purse in the process of finding a pair of earrings, my hand closed around the cluviel dor. I pul ed it out and gazed down at it, the pale green soothing any anxiety I had about the day to come. I rubbed it between my hands and enjoyed the warmth and the smoothness.

I wondered (for the fiftieth time) if I needed any special spel to activate its magic. On the whole, I figured not. My grandmother would have passed such a spel along to me, though as a staunch Christian she disapproved of magic. But she wouldn’t have neglected some element I might find necessary for my protection.

I should put it back into my makeup drawer with the usual light camouflage. But I didn’t. After a brief debate, I slid the round object into my skirt pocket. I understood, final y, that having it was no good if it was inaccessible. Leaving it in the drawer was equivalent to having an unloaded gun when burglars broke into your house.

From now on, the cluviel dor went where I went.

If Eric … if he decided to leave with Freyda, would I use it? According to Mr. Cataliades, since I loved Eric, if I