chapter thirty-

five

                Bon Temps for Christmas was promising to be a cold and rainy one but most people could have cared less. Their lives were busy and full of plans for friends and family and the holidays. Everyone was making last moment gift purchases. On December 22, there was an ice storm threatening to freeze everyone in for the Christmas holiday but the south being the south, the sun came out and though it was still chilly, it did not freeze. The vampires and the weres and shifters of Renard Parish may not be universally embraced but these insular little societies pulled closer.

                Luna and the rest of the Two Natures Unity organization were at the Tolerance center, wrapping gifts for the underprivileged with Sky and Rachel. Luna was still fighting morning sickness, and Rachel gave her some candied ginger. She munched on the ginger and had to admit she felt much better. “This is so nice,” said Rachel. “Bill always sends a check to the Salvation Army or Toys for Tots.”

                “Well, I just like wrapping the presents,” she said. “I grew up poor, got gifts a lot of the time from charities.”

                “Wrapping them makes it a little more personal,” said Sky.

                “How is married life?” asked Luna.

                “It is wonderful,” said Sky. “He is so…different.” Rachel nudged her, reminding her of the bugs. “He is just really good to me. We are looking forward to the holidays.”

                “Yeah,” said Luna. “Well, that has it done.” She put the package in the garbage bag, closed it, and snugged another bag over it.

                “You need help taking these back to the bar?” asked Rachel.

                “No, I have Sam’s jeep. I wished we could afford a big place like this,” said Luna.

                “Well, we have a vacant office, it is huge, has meeting spaces and all that. Why don’t you think about moving in with us, that is if the community doesn’t mind sharing space with us,” said Rachel. Sky was nodding. “I mean it is a secure space and safe.”

                “I will have to talk to my people about that,” said Luna. She liked these women and their men were tolerable as vamps go, but she was not sure her community would approve of this sort of chumminess.

                “Take your time,” said Rachel.

               

                Luna left the center and went straight to Merlotte’s. She thought about the empty building but she was not sure about it. She parked the jeep and carefully sprinted onto the covered porch and opened the door. She could smell hot burgers and fries and for the first time had an appetite. Sam was at the bar. He was drawing a beer for Holly to take back to one of her tables. “Hey, how are you?”

                “Pretty good,” said Luna. “I am actually hungry. Rachel gave me some candied ginger.”

                “Well, sit down there and I will order you something,” said Sam.

                “I’ll just have chicken strips and fries,” said Luna. “Sam, Rachel made me an offer.”

                “Oh yeah?” he asked.

                “Yeah, they have that big shop there on the end, the nurse and scrub shop, and she wants to offer it to Two Natures,” she said.

                “Well, that is a nice big building and you could do a lot more there,” said Sam.

                “True,” said Luna. “And I know there are a few of our members who are signed up at the beginning of the year to take those yoga classes and tai chi classes. Some even for the night classes even with the vampires.”

                “Well, I personally would take them up on it. I mean you can’t even have meetings at the office you have you have to have them at the house or somewhere else. I would talk to them about it, the group and Rachel and Sky,” said Sam. “They are good people.”

                “The girls are great,” said Luna.

                “So it’s the vampires?” said Sam.

                “Yeah, I hate to say it, but yeah,” said Luna. “I still have trouble trusting them.”

                “Well, I understand that, but look; we want people to accept us, for who we are. How are we supposed to ask for acceptance if we can’t accept other people who are just as supernatural as we are?” said Sam.

                “True,” she said. “I will bring it up next month at the meeting,” said Luna. “It would like to have that space. They have a kitchen area and they have a lot of space and private offices. It would be really

cool. And safe. They have security 24/7.”

                “I know I would feel safer to have you somewhere there are guards,” said Sam. Holly brought Luna her chicken strips and fries and Sam poured her a glass of 7UP.

                Bill was gently licking Rachel’s neck cleaning her wounds. He then pierced his fingertip and healed his marks and kissed her on the spot. Rachel looked up at Bill and stoked his face. “What are you thinking about?”

                “Just how much I love you and how good you make me feel,” she said.

                “I try my best,” he said. “I am getting really excited about our marriage.”

                “Simple, short and to the point,” she said. “Just friends and family.”

                “That is all sweet heart,” he said. “I have some presents at the call center for you.”

                “I have a pile of presents as it is,” she said.

                “I like to give you things,” he said. “They are small things, just things I think you will like.”

                “Thank you,” she said. “Do you have to go to Fangtasia?”

                “No, Eric said he would come here and chat with me in my new home office,” said Bill.

                “Good,” she said. “Let me up babe and I will get cleaned up and heat some TrueBlood.”

                “Eric will be a while. He is still honeymooning. I have never seen him so content,” said Bill.

                “Maybe the king will leave us alone, maybe he will decide he will be more prosperous if he leaves Eric alone,” said Rachel.

                “No sweet heart, he is still planning and plotting,” said Bill. “We must never let our guard down.” Rachel hugged Bill harder and cuddled closer to him. “Don’t worry, you will be safe.”

                “I just want you to be to be safe,” she said.

                Eric had his head on the small of Sky’s back. He ran his hand up her thigh to the curve of her butt and patted it gently. He kissed her on the little dimples of her hips and gave her a sharp little slap. She kicked her feet a little and he laughed. She turned over and Eric watched her firm breasts bounce a little in an enticing way. He raised up and gently cupped one of them in his hand. “You beautiful little wench, my red haired wife.”

                “You were an absolute animal,” she said putting one of her feet on his cool chest. He turned and kissed her ankle.

                “You love it when I grab you and ravish you,” he said. His fangs were running out again. He leaned down and kissed her inner thigh.

                “I do,” she said. He leaned up to her and sucked on one upturned nipple and then the other. She put her hand on the back of his head and savored the sucking and pulling and gentle little nips of his fangs. He growled deep in his throat and his hand cupped her and she flexed her hips into his palm. He stopped and sat up.

                “You are very tasty,” said Eric. “But I have to go see Bill at his house. Would you like to come with me?”

                “I would,” said Sky. “I want to take some of that nice wine you keep bringing home.”

                “That would be nice,” said Eric, still toying with Sky. She arched her back and let out a gasp. He loved to watch her struggling in pleasure. He stopped short and she moaned.

                “Eric,” she said.

                “Hum?” he said, reaching out to stroke her breasts and back down to her belly.

                “Don’t leave me like this,” she said. He leaned down and kissed her.

                “Like what?” he said.

                “Wanting,” she whispered.

                “Wanting what?” he said.

                “Wanting you,” she said. Eric moved gracefully between her legs and put himself against her.

                “Tell me Sky,” he whispered.

                “Love,” she moaned, and he pushed into her.

                De Castro listened to the listening device recordings and he frowned. “These women have invited a shape shifter to share space with vampires?”

                “That is what it appears,” said Ayres.

                “That is unconscionable. Sharing space with mere animals,” said De Castro.

                “What do you plan to do?” asked Ayres.

                “There is nothing I can do until they actually do it. The shifter they were talking to said she would discuss it. I need some vampires in that center. How many of our people are working at the call center?”

                “There are twelve of our people in the call center,” said Sandy Seacrest. She had been the contact person in Louisiana when they first took it over.

                “Select three and contact them. Tell them to join and be quiet. When we discover what the shifter decides to do, we will arrange an action. Get ready and when I tell you, contact some of our friends in the fang press.”

                “Yes your majesty,” said Sandy.

                “I think it is time for Regent Northman and his second to get some orders from their king,” said De Castro.

                “Yes your majesty,” said Sandy.

                “Where is Palomino,” asked De Castro.

                “She is in the other room,” said Sandy.

                “Get her,” said De Castro.

                Sandy walked out and was not surprised to see Palomino standing there, listening. She nodded at her and walked on by. Palomino waited a moment and then walked in.

                “You wanted to see me your majesty?”she asked.

                Eric and Bill were having a chat at the kitchen island while the girls were chatting in the living room. “I want to begin picking off the Take Back the Night people,” said Eric quietly.

                “When do you want to do that?” asked Bill.

                “After the New Year, but there is one I don’t want to see the New Year,” said Eric.

                “Reynolds?” he asked. Eric nodded.

                “I am picking him up tomorrow,” said Eric. “I will take care of him then.”

                “Christmas Eve,” said Bill.

                “It is, isn’t it,” said Eric. “Then I will just hold him and wait until after Christmas night.”

                “He might be missed,” said Bill. Eric shrugged.

                “Then he will be missed.”

                “Fine,” said Bill.

                “We are going to be summoned to De Castro after the New Year. I got a call from his second,” said Eric. “Is it okay if Sky comes to stay with Rachel? I would like Heidi to stay with them, during the night and she will need light tight quarters.”

                “Our guest rooms are light tight,” said Bill.

                “They will be able to open their center after the first of the year. I am sending Heidi in to clean up the bugs in the center. He has heard enough of nothing,” said Eric.

                “I agree,” said Bill.

                “When do your mother and father-in-law come for the holidays?” asked Eric.

                “They arrive tomorrow afternoon,” said Bill. “We are taking them to Deux Poissons for supper.”

                “Excellent choice,” said Eric.

                “Why don’t you join us?” asked Bill.

                “You should confer with Rachel. You may be just enough vampire for her parents,” said Eric.

                “Rachel sweet heart, do you think it would be too much for Richard and Celeste if Eric and Sky were to accompany us to supper?” asked Bill.

                “No, I was just telling Sky we would have to have them over to meet mom and dad before the wedding,” said Rachel.

                “It is settled then,” said Eric. “Let me make this my gift to Rachel’s parents,” said Eric. He shook his head. “You and I have not had an agreeable relationship, but the women in our lives are fast friends and you are my second in command. I would really prefer to leave you here when I go to see De Castro, but he demands both of us.”

                “I understand. I actually welcome seeing him on his turf. I want to see who is around him, who he will allow in our presence,” said Bill.

                “I have not heard from our friend in any meaningful way. She is still there but she has not given me any information in a while,” said Eric frowning.

                “Have we heard from our guardian friend?” asked Bill. “Antonio?”

                “He has texted me that he is still my ally,” said Eric. “But I am not sure of who is texting me so I do not answer.”

                “Surely he is not texting your regular phone,” said Bill.

                “Of course not, he is texting a secure phone which cannot be traced,” said Eric.

                “So perhaps it is good we take a trip,” said Bill. “Do you want me to make the travel arrangements?”

                “When I get the date. I was just told that it would be after the first of the year. Very likely we will get word a day before and have to fly out as soon as we wake,” said Eric.

                “With the flower exchange by Sky and his tasting her though you expressly told him no, he has declared a silent war. In chat, the other monarchs were disgusted, though Isaiah said he didn’t understand your anger, that all you had to do was let him drink from her and there would have been no conflict,” said Bill.

                “Fucking moron,” said Eric. “Let’s kill him just for fun.”

                “Let’s just keep him from telling everything he knows,” said Bill. “Of all of our allies, he is the one I worry about the most.”

                “We should contact Russell, have him assure him,” said Eric.

                “I will email him tonight,” said Bill.

                “I have heard the Pythoness is going to be ready to hear my case in March, so that is when we will want to have our meeting with our friends. She will be in Massachusetts,” said Eric.

                “Are you prepared?” asked Bill.

                “I am and Cataliades is accompanying us,” said Eric. “And he has all my paperwork.”

                “Cataliades was De Castro’s lawyer,” said Bill.

                “Not any more. His brother-in-law Simon is taking care of him. He lives in Arizona, so it makes better sense,” said Eric.

                “That is good,” said Bill. “Are you sure you wish to do this?”

                “Yes,” said Eric. “It is the right way. The killings have been justified because they were breaking vampire law and they were encroaching on my kingdom.”

                “When is she in the country?” asked Bill.

                “She will be here in America on the 10^th,” said Eric. “We will see her on the 13^th.”

                “That Friday,” said Bill. Eric laughed.

                “A superstitious vampire,” he said. “That is funny.”

                “Call me cautious,” said Bill.

                “Bring your four leaf clover,” he said. “Sky dearest, are we ready?”

                “Whenever you are,” she said. “I will see you tomorrow night.”

                “I can’t wait,” said Rachel. “Eric, good seeing you again. Married life has improved your disposition.” He leaned down to kiss her cheek.

                “Sky will either be the making of me of the true death of me, I have not decided,” he said. “Good night Rachel…Bill.”

                “Good night Eric,” said Bill. He joined Rachel at the door. She closed it and Bill gathered her in his arms. “Time for bed young woman.”

                “Come join me old man?” she asked.

                “I would, doing something interesting with you would be a far happier pursuit than chatting with a lot of whiny monarchs, but I am expected in our chat meeting,” said Bill.

                “Okay,” she pouted. “Give me a kiss and I will run along.”

                “This will be the last bit of work before the holidays,” said Bill. “Then you have my full attention.”

                “Did you and Eric get sorted out?” she asked.

                “We got as sorted as we are going to get until after the holidays,” he said. “Rachel, Eric and I have to go see De Castro after the first of the year.”

                “When?” she asked. Bill shrugged.

                “It will be a couple of days after the first. He will call here and leave a message that we are to leave. It will be spur of the moment,” said Bill. “An attempt to wrong foot us.”

                “I don’t want you to go,” she said, running her hand up his back and laying her head on his silent chest. He put his hand on her head and tightened his embrace.

                “I know but I have to. We think he is just anxious to see if we will follow his instructions. He wants us to begin taking action that will compromise us,” he said.

                “Like kill people?” she said.

                “People, shifters,” he said. “But yes. I won’t lie to you.”

                “I meant it Bill. Do whatever you have to but come home to me,” she said.

                “I will,” he said. “I should have told you a little later. I have upset you before you go to bed.”

                “I will have a cup of chamomile tea and some valerian,” she said. Bill kissed her on the head. He did not like tasting the traces of the astringent root in her blood but he preferred it to narcotics.

                “Okay,” he said. “Not too much, though.”

                “Not too much,” she said.

                Nelson Reynolds had just logged off his radio show and he was tired. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was extremely happy. He had gotten rid of that bitch and her vampire loving friends and he had talked the chancellor into letting him start his own intervention center. He targeted former blood bags and fang and fucks and blood whores. Not that he cared about these creatures. He could care less if they got their self-esteem back or if they felt empowered by knowing they were not alone. What he did like was it would compete with that red haired whore’s little center. He had plans for her. She thought she was too good to be around humans, well he would show her.

                Reynolds hauled himself to his feet. He picked up his cigarettes and realized the pack was empty. He remembered he had smokes in his car. He opened his front door and stepped out. The old Pontiac was sitting in front of his house. He padded barefoot on the cold frozen ground. The ice was gone but the earth was freezing cold. He unlocked his door with the remote and opened it and leaned in for the pack of cigarettes. He felt a sharp pain on his rear end like being kicked by a powerful pony.

                “What the fuck,” he said. Standing there was Eric Northman.

                “Language Mr. Reynolds,” he said. “I want you to come with me.”

                “Fuck you fanger,” he said.

                “The overuse of obscenities is a sign of a low vocabulary, thus a sign of low intelligence,” said Eric. “No wonder the educational system is so poor in this country.”

                “Look, it is against the law for you to harass me,” said Reynolds. Eric sped up to him, his face so close Reynolds thought the vampire would kiss him, or worse.

                “I have not begun to harass you,” Eric was looking into his eyes. “I want you to come quietly and get in this car with me. I want you to comply with everything I tell you to do from now on.” Eric was using glamour on him.

                “Okay, sure whatever you want,” he said.

                “Take the cigarettes with you,” said Eric.

                “You are letting me smoke?” he asked.

                “No, I thought I would light them and burn you with them. Would that be okay with you?” he asked.

                “I think that sounds great,” he said.

                “Very good, maybe I can think of some other things to do to you while we are driven to a special place I have for you,” said Eric.

                “Okay,” he said. Eric led the glamoured man to the car. Eric opened the back door and Reynolds climbed in. India waggled her fingers at him. “Hey who’s the broad?”

                “That is my granddaughter. If you touch her she will rip your penis off,” said Eric in an affable way.

                “Cool,” said the glamoured man.

                “Shut up ass hat and get in before I sic my wife on you,” she said, pointing to Pam.

                “Okay,” he said. Eric laughed and got in beside the prick who tormented his wife.

                The next morning, Rachel got up, kissed Bill on the shoulder and pulled the blankets up higher on him and stroked his hair from his face. He smiled a little in his day sleep and she kissed him again on the mouth and jumped up out of bed. She went to the bathroom, then came out and pulled out some clothes for the day and took off her nightgown and slid into yoga pants and a tunic. She went downstairs and did her yoga routine and did a short version of tai chi. She then made herself some coffee and some scrambled eggs and sausage and toast with honey and then went to work making cookies. She already had a Bellefleur cake ordered but she wanted to make some cookies so it would perfume the house before her parents got there. She mixed the gingerbread first, adding a jigger of rum to the recipe and once she put them in the oven, she washed her bowl and started her death by chocolate chocolate cookies her dad loved. Once she had spooned the dough on the baking sheet and traded the gingerbread for the chocolate chips, she made her sugar pecan cookies with pinch of cinnamon in the dough. Once all her cookies were done, she cooled them and then transferred them to a large plate. Bill said smelling those cookies made him wish he could taste them.

                She then went up and took a quick shower and dried her hair and put on jeans, sweater, and socks and padded down. She made a pot of coffee because her dad would want a cup right away and she picked up her torrid romance. Sky had shared this book with her because a vampire wrote it. So far, it was pretty good, but the writer was really into describing the blood. It reminded her of the time she went to an art show and she heard someone say the artist was exhausting his reds. The writer was definitely exhausting her reds. She turned on her stereo, played her Christmas CDs, and read until there was a buzz at the gate. She got up and peered out and saw her mother and dad’s car. She buzzed them in and they drove through and parked in the carport. Rachel went to the side door in the kitchen and opened it to greet her parents.

                “Rachel darling, the house is beautiful,” said her mother, embracing her.

                “Come on in,” she said. Her father was pulling the suitcase after him.

                “Do I smell cookies and coffee?” he asked as he stepped in.

                “You do indeed,” said Rachel. “All of your favorites.”

                Rachel settled them in their room and she took them on the tour. “Bill is still sleeping of course, so you will have to wait to see the master suite but this is the house.”

                “It is lovely and so unexpected,” said Celeste.

                “What sort of house did you think we would have?” she asked.

                “I don’t know, sort of goth,” said her mother.

                “Well, Bill is not goth; he in fact likes a very traditional home. Of course he has the torture chamber downstairs but I promised I would not take you down there,” she said. Celeste looked a little shocked.

                “You are kidding me,” she said. Rachel waggled her eyebrows at her mother as she poured her a cup of coffee.

                “We are going to have supper at Deux Poissons tonight with Sky and Eric,” said Rachel.

                “That is your friend, the one who married a vampire,” said Richard.

                “Yeah,” she said. “And her husband is going to officiate our wedding. I just thought you would like to meet them in a more intimate venue before you meet them at the wedding.”

                “I think that is a great idea,” said Richard. “What does Eric do?”

                “He runs a vampire tourist bar, Fangtasia and he is sort of the…administrator for the vampires of the state,” said Rachel. Richard ambled over to the fireplace mantel.

                “Look at these old pictures,” he said, putting his glasses up on the top of his head. “Hey this looks a lot like Bill.”

                “That’s because it is Bill dad,” she said snickering.

                “No shit,” he said. “Who are the woman and the rug rats?”

                “His first wife and his children,” said Rachel.

                “Oh…” he looked at Rachel and back at the picture. “Sorry. Man, this is so freaky.”

                “So he is up there asleep,” said her mother looking toward the bedroom door where Bill slept. “Does he dream?”

                “He says he does,” she said. “The vampires call it day death or death sleep, but he says he can feel me beside him and he says he can smell me and the closer it is to his waking, he can hear me. So I just call it day sleep or day rest. I don’t think of him as dead.”

                “Does he go to church?” asked Richard.

                “He was brought up Methodist, but he said once he was vampire, religion sort of became…abstract to him. He said he would take us to Midnight Mass if we wanted. He said he liked listening to the music. He plays the piano,” said Rachel.

                “If he feels comfortable about it, that would be fine,” said Celeste.

                “I’ll let him know,” she said.

                “We have our Christmas presents and our wedding gifts in the car. I had a really hard time finding something for Bill. What did you get him?” asked her mother.

                “I bought him the usual things you get for a guy but I got him like driving gloves and I bought him a new cover for his iPad and I got him some books and things,” said Rachel. “If you think buying gifts for a vampire his age is tough, you should have seen how much I worried over Eric’s gift from us. But I found it.”

                “What did you get him?” asked Richard.

                “Well, Eric is a thousand years old and he is a Viking. So, I found him a leather bound copy of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf,” she said. “Sky was so jealous, because I found it first. I offered to give it to her so she could give it, but she turned me down.”

                “What a lovely gift,” said Richard.

                “But I bought Bill some nice things, at least I hope he likes them,” said Rachel. “So what did you get him?”

                Celeste Westnight was fascinated with Eric. He was like being in the presence of a huge lion who talked and wore clothes. Sky, who had become Rachel’s closest friend in recent months was warm and intelligent and very much her own woman. Celeste wondered what Eric thought of his strong willed woman. He probably liked that very much seeing the way he was. All that was missing from Eric’s head was a crown. She said as much to Eric.

                “I was a prince in my human life. My father was a leader of a clan and was the second son but my elder brother died and I of course died to my human life while my father still lived. I suppose my younger brother became the chieftain of our clan,” said Eric.

                “Did you hear about the Viking expedition to the New World?” asked Richard.

                “I heard stories and rumors, what began primarily as legends and tall tales, well as far as we thought. Then I was vampire before I knew of trips across the sea,” said Eric.

                “When did you come to America?” asked Richard.

                “About 200 years ago, give or take a decade. Traveling for vampires then was very difficult. There was no way for us to be absolutely safe and there was the issue of food. Some of us who were as old as me, could spend our entire voyage in our containers and not eat, it was uncomfortable but it was a way of staying safe as one traveled. I lay in my day sleep of course during the day, a vampire has to lie down and sleep in the day. But at night, I went into downtime and interiorized my thoughts. I did not need much blood, and I was able to feed very well before I began my journey and then the more still I was and the more I rested, I didn’t need to feed,” said Eric.

                Dinner came and the discussion was suspended and Bill and Eric drank the synthetic blood while the humans ate. “How much blood do you have to have?”

                “Maybe that is a personal question, Richard,” said Celeste.

                “No, it is okay,” said Eric. “I drink about three table spoons a week. I am so old I rarely have to drink blood anymore for my health. The average vampire about Bill’s age would drink say six to eight ounces. If I need to heal I may drink more. Mostly, the synthetic blood takes care of our nutrition, but not what we call our thirst. The thirst is for real blood, and that is what prevents any of us to be totally dependent on TrueBlood and not take any human blood at all. I may go for some time drinking only TrueBlood, but I still need the real thing to be myself,” said Eric. “But I try to be considerate of Sky and not drink too deeply or too often.”

                “Bill, how have you been dear, have you been working hard?” asked Celeste. Bill smiled.

                “Not terribly,” said Bill. “I have shut down my call center for the holidays, and I am just looking forward to sharing time with you and Richard. And of course the wedding.”

                “For Bill and me to be married is very important for our kind. We are the first vampires to actually put the marriage law to the test,” said Eric.

                “I heard there is some sort of opposition. I read it in the legislative journal and the Louisiana Bar magazine,” said Richard.

                “There is, I have made preparations for Sky so she will still inherit my wealth and property should something happen to me even if our human marriage is made null and void,” he said, putting his hand over hers. “And my lawyer is ready to help her with a name change, but we are hoping our human marriage will be valid and we will not have to do any legal maneuvering. “

                “You should know Louisiana law is based on Napoleonic law. We are the only state like it. The French actually have a legal precedence for your sort of marriage. There was a case, where a woman had been in a short but very intense relationship and he died before they were able to be married. She petitioned Napoleon to allow her to marry her lover though he was dead. Since the premise of the protest of the law is you and Bill are technically dead, then you can use that as a precedence,” said Richard.

                “I did not know that. I am very tempted to call Cataliades, my lawyer, and discuss why he had not suggested this before,” said Eric.

                “Napoleonic law is a snake tangle of obscure laws,” said Richard.

                “Thank you very much,” said Eric.

                After dessert, Eric and Sky and Bill and Rachel and her parents were gathered in the parking lot. Suddenly a vampire approached Eric and fell on one knee. “Regent, there is trouble you should know of,” said the vampire.

                “Yes,” he said.

                “A cross has been burned in front of our nest,” said the vampire, glancing at the humans.

                “Did you call the human sheriff’s office?” asked Eric.

                “Yes, Regent, but no one has come and the cross has burned to a stump,” said the vampire.

                “Richard, I hate to impose on you but could you drive the ladies to Bill and Rachel’s house while Bill and I look into this situation?” asked Eric.

                “Not at all,” said Richard. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

                “Just take care of the ladies please. Sky, call Pam and have her send Heidi and Rasul to the house to be on the outside,” said Eric. He kissed her on the forehead and he and Bill went to get into Eric’s car and Rachel and her family and Sky got into his car to go home.

                “Where are we going first?” asked Bill.

                “We are going to see Sheriff Dearborn. The cross is burned down, the problem is abated. I want to see what seems to be the trouble with this sheriff,” said Eric.

                Everlee was surprised when she saw Bill Compton and that Shreveport vampire walk into the sheriff’s office. “Hello, Ms. Mason, is Sheriff Dearborn in his office?” asked Bill

                “He sure is, but he is busy right now,” said the receptionist.

                “If you could announce us, we would be much obliged,” said Bill softly, connecting with her eyes. Bill was glamouring her. She swallowed and motioned for them to follow her and she led them to the back office of Sheriff Bud Dearborn. He looked up with his mashed in Pekinese face and blew out his breath, giving Everlee an evil look. “What can I help you gentlemen with?”

                “We have been approached by a vampire just now who told us a cross was being burned in their front yard and you were not very interested in taking their statement or investigating the scene,” said Eric.

                “Of what interest is it of yours, you don’t live in Bon Temps, you live in Shreveport, a completely different parish,” said Dearborn.

                “What happens to vampires anywhere in this state is of my concern. I am troubled by your lack of empathy for our kind,” said Eric.

                “Your kind have no need of our empathy Mr. Northman. You have latched onto the human neck and been draining it from time in memorial,” said Dearborn. “If anything, I have empathy for all the poor lost souls you have had drained dry and left where you found them. Besides that, your emergence caused the death of one of the most wonderful women in this parish and killed her granddaughter and I have no more patience with you.”

                “You are bound to uphold the law,” said Bill. Dearborn smiled.

                “I know you killed the Rattrays, and you had something to do with the death of Bartlett Hale and you had something to do with the burning of that cabin that killed Jan Fowler and her friends. I can’t prove it and I would not know how to go about doing anything about it if I did. But know this, if anyone disappears from this parish I will know where to lay the blame,” said Dearborn. “Now get out of my office. If I had the power, I would send you out of this parish.”

                “There will come a time when you are not the sheriff of this parish,” said Eric.

                “There may be,” he said. “But until then, there is nothing you can do about how I run it.”

               

                Bill and Eric stepped out on the sidewalk and stopped. “We need to put listening devices in the Sheriff’s office. I suspect he is in league with the Take Back the Night group,” said Eric.

                “I will arrange it,” said Bill.

                “And whatever it takes, please get Andy Bellefleur in office,” said Eric. Bill grinned.

                “I will try my best,” he said. They drove out to the big house where the vampires had their nest. They had done an admirable job refurbishing the house and two vampires were cleaning up the remains of the cross. Many of the residents worked at Bill’s call center and were home for the holidays. They saw Eric and were very respectful of him and called him Regent. They were impressed Eric would take an interest in such a matter, they had actually thought Bill would come alone or the sheriff perhaps. Eric listened to their grievances and promised them something would be done. While they were there, Rachel called Bill.

                “Bill, we got some more calls,” said Rachel. “There have been other crosses burned. One in front of Merlotte’s, one on the cleared off site of our buildings and one in front of Fangtasia and one in front of the call center and one in front of the Tolerance Center and one in front of the Two Natured center.”

                “Dammit,” said Bill. He hung up and looked at Eric.

                “I know,” he said, taking out his phone and calling Fangtasia. “Pam, is everything okay at Fangtasia?”

                “Yes, a couple of cars were burned when the cross fell, but that is all,” said the vampire.

                “Close the bar and have all our friends there. I will be leaving Sky at Bill’s for the evening,” said Eric. “I will leave Rasul and send Heidi back to you to sniff around. Is our friend still secure?”

                “Yeah,” she said.

                “Very good, I will want to have a chat with him,” said Eric.

                “Very well, Regent,” said Pam. Eric clicked off.

                “Bill, go home and take care of everyone, and tell Rachel and Sky what is going on,” said Eric. “Then go out and make sure you have photographed the scene. Tell Sky I will sleep at home but she is to stay there until I can come and get her and bring her home.”

                “I will,” said Bill. “Be careful.”

                “Aren’t I always,” said Eric.

                Sam was mad and sad at the same time. Something must have happened to cause this to happen. He did not know there were other cross burnings until he was called by Kevin who told him there had been others, including one at the “shifter place” as he called it. He called Alcide Herveaux.

                “Sorry, I can’t help you right now, the Hair of the Dog is going up in smoke as I speak. They tried to burn a cross here in the side lot and the damned thing fell over and burned the place down. I barely got my wolves out in time,” said Alcide.

                “Damn,” said Sam.

                “So, do the best you can and tell Luna to get ready to move to that Tolerance center. Them vamps are right, they will be more secure there, they burned a cross there but they had to tie it up on the wrought iron gate to do it,” said Alcide. “And any were who complains will answer to me.”

                “I agree,” said Sam.

                “You may want to call Eric or Pam or Bill and talk to him, they will want to know,” said Alcide. “I don’t know that this has anything to do them or their troubles, but they should know.”

                “I agree,” said Sam.

                Bill came in and found only Sky and Rachel. “Mom and dad went on up to bed,” she said.

                “That is fine,” said Bill. “Sky, Eric asks you be a guest in our home till he picks you up tomorrow evening.”

                “Okay, that is fine,” said Sky.

                “I’ll get you something comfortable to wear. Bill has some lounge pants that would fit you better than mine and I can get you a tee shirt and socks,” said Rachel.

                “Thanks,” she said. “So, what has happened? I mean we know about the crosses burned everywhere, but is it De Castro?”

                “We think so,” said Bill. “We believe De Castro wants to order us to kill some humans he believes are involved in the hate crimes. We can’t do that of course, but if we can hold him off for a while, we will be able to get him before the judge of our kind.” Bill did not explain about the Ancient Pythoness, he had not told Rachel about her and her importance and what Eric was going to do, so he kept it simple. Sky nodded.”Don’t be worried.”

                “I’m not, I am just angry that we could not even be given our holiday,” said Sky.

                “Sentiment means nothing to De Castro. This time of year is just another time in the year, but he knows they are important to you and you are important to us,” said Bill. “The only thing we can do is celebrate the best we can and not allow this to disturb us.”

                “Yeah,” said Sky. Rachel came back and brought her a pair of very masculine black and green flannel lounge pants and a matching tee shirt and a pair of her thick socks. She took them and kissed Rachel on the cheek and then Bill on the cheek. “I’m going to take a bath and go to bed.”

                “There is soap and shampoo there and there are some new toothbrushes and toothpaste under the sink,” she said.

                “Thank you. I will see you in the morning,” said Sky.

                “My dad will be up likely and making pancakes,” said Rachel.

                “I’ll see you then,” she said.