stand so much freezing cold on your sinus cavity.
'Why'd Josephus have to send for freakin' werewolves?' Luna muttered into my ear. But I knew they'd heard; Sam heard everything, and he was by no means as powerful as a true werewolf. Or at least, that was my evaluation. To tell you the truth, until this moment, I hadn't been sure werewolves actually existed.
'I guess,' I said tactfully and audibly, 'he thought they could defend us best if we're attacked again.'
I could feel the creatures in the front seat prick up their ears. Maybe literally.
'We were doing okay,' Luna said indignantly. She twitched and fidgeted on the seat beside me like she'd drunk sixteen cups of coffee.
'Luna, we got rammed and your car got totaled. We were in the emergency room. 'Okay' in what sense?'
Then I had to answer my own question. 'Hey, I'm sorry, Luna. You got me out of there when they would've killed me. It's not your fault they rammed us.'
'You two have a little roughhouse tonight?' asked the passenger, more civilly. He was spoiling for a fight. I didn't know if all werewolves were as feisty as this guy, or if it was just his nature.
'Yeah, with the fucking Fellowship,' Luna said, more than a trace of pride in her voice. 'They had this chick stuck in a cell. In a dungeon.'
'No shit?' asked the driver. She had the same hyper pulsing to her—well, I just had to call it her aura, for lack of a better word.
'No shit,' I said firmly. 'I work for a shifter, at home,' I added, to make conversation.
'No kidding? What's the business?'
'A bar. He owns a bar.'
'So, are you far from home?'
'Too far,' I said.
'This little bat saved your life tonight, for real?'
'Yes.' I was absolutely sincere about that. 'Luna saved my life.' Could they mean that literally? Did Luna shapeshift into a … oh golly.
'Way to go, Luna.' There was a fraction more respect in the deeper growly voice.
Luna found the praise pleasant, as she ought to, and she patted my hand. In a more agreeable silence, we drove maybe five more minutes, and then the driver said, 'The Silent Shore, coming up.'
I breathed out a long sigh of relief.
'There's a vampire out front, waiting.'
I almost ripped off the blindfold, before I realized that would be a really tacky thing to do. 'What does he look like?'
'Very tall, blond. Big head of hair. Friend or foe?'
I had to think about that. 'Friend,' I said, trying not to sound doubtful.
'Yum, yum,' said the driver. 'Does he cross-date?'
'I don't know. Want me to ask?'
Luna and the passenger both made gagging sounds. 'You can't date a deader!' Luna protested. 'Come on, Deb—uh, girl!'
'Oh, okay,' said the driver. 'Some of them aren't so bad. I'm pulling into the curb, little Milkbone.'
'That would be you,' Luna said in my ear.
We came to a stop, and Luna leaned over me to open my door. As I stepped out, guided and shoved by her hands, I heard an exclamation from the sidewalk. Quick as a wink Luna slammed the door shut behind me. The car full of shapeshifters pulled away from the curb with a screech of tires. A howl trailed behind it in the thick night air.
'Sookie?' said a familiar voice.
'Eric?'
I was fumbling with the blindfold, but Eric just grabbed the back of it and pulled. I had acquired a beautiful, if somewhat stained, scarf. The front of the hotel, with its heavy blank doors, was brilliantly lit in the dark night, and Eric looked remarkably pale. He was wearing an absolutely conventional navy blue pinstripe suit, of all things.
I was actually glad to see him. He grabbed my arm to keep me from wobbling and looked down at me with an unreadable face. Vampires were good at that. 'What has happened to you?' he said.
'I got … well, it's hard to explain in a second. Where is Bill?'
'First he went to the Fellowship of the Sun to get you out. But we heard along the way, from one of us who is a policeman, that you had been involved in an accident and gone to a hospital. So then he went to the hospital. At the hospital, he found out you had left outside the proper channels. No one would tell him anything, and he couldn't threaten them properly.' Eric looked extremely frustrated. The fact that he had to live within human laws was a constant irritant to Eric, though he greatly enjoyed the benefits. 'And then there was no trace of you. The doorman had only heard the once from you, mentally.'
'Poor Barry. Is he all right?'
'The richer for several hundred dollars, and quite happy about it,' Eric said in a dry voice. 'Now we just need Bill. What a lot of trouble you are, Sookie.' He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and punched in a number. After what seemed a long time, it was answered.
'Bill, she is here. Some shapeshifters brought her in.' He looked me over. 'Battered, but walking.' He listened some more. 'Sookie, do you have your key?' he asked. I felt in the pocket of my skirt where I'd stuffed the plastic rectangle about a million years ago.
'Yes,' I said, and simply could not believe that something had gone right. 'Oh, wait! Did they get Farrell?'
Eric held up his hand to indicate he'd get to me in a minute. 'Bill, I'll take her up and start doctoring.' Eric's back stiffened. 'Bill,' he said and there was a world of threat in his voice. 'All right then. Good-bye.' He turned back to me as if there'd been no interruption.
'Yes, Farrell is safe. They raided the Fellowship.'
'Did … did many people get hurt?'
'Most of them were too frightened to approach. They scattered and went home. Farrell was in an underground cell with Hugo.'
'Oh, yes, Hugo. What happened to Hugo?'
My voice must have been very curious, because Eric looked at me sideways while we were progressing toward the elevator. He was matching my pace, and I was limping very badly.
'May I carry you?' he asked.
'Oh, I don't think so. I've made it this far.' I would've taken Bill up on the offer instantly. Barry, at the bell captain's desk, gave me a little wave. He would've run up to me if I hadn't been with Eric. I gave him what I hoped was a significant look, to say I'd talk to him again later, and then the elevator door dinged open and we got on. Eric punched the floor button and leaned against the mirrored wall of the car opposite me. In looking at him, I got a look at my own reflection.
'Oh, no,' I said, absolutely horrified. 'Oh, no.' My hair had been flattened by the wig, and then combed out with my fingers, so it was a disaster. My hands went up to it, helplessly and painfully, and my mouth shook with suppressed tears. And my hair was the least of it. I had visible bruises ranging from mild to severe on most of my body, and that was just the part you could see. My face was swollen and discolored on one side. There was a cut in the middle of the bruise over my cheekbone. My blouse was missing half its buttons, and my skirt was ripped and filthy. My right arm was ridged with bloody lumps.
I began crying. I looked so awful; it just broke what was left of my spirit.
To his credit, Eric didn't laugh, though he may have wanted to. 'Sookie, a bath and clean clothes and you will be put to rights,' he said as if he were talking to a child. To tell you the truth, I didn't feel much older at the moment.
'The werewolf thought you were cute,' I said, and sobbed some more. We stepped out of the elevator.
'The werewolf? Sookie, you have had adventures tonight.' He gathered me up like an armful of clothes and held me to him. I got his lovely suit jacket wet and snotty, and his pristine white shirt was spotless no more.
'Oh, I'm so sorry!' I held back and looked at his ensemble. I swabbed it with the scarf.
