“They have to be put down,” I said. Like a dog with rabies.

“Yes.” Eric looked away.

“But that’s not going to happen to me. And you won’t ever turn me.” I was absolutely serious.

“No. I won’t ever force you into subservience. And I will never turn you, since you don’t want it.”

“Even if I’m going to die, don’t turn me. I would hate that more than anything.”

“I agree to that. No matter how much I may want to keep you.”

Right after we’d met, Bill had not changed me when I had been close to death. I’d never realized he might have been tempted to do so. He’d saved my human life instead. I put that away to consider later. Tacky to think about one man when you’re in bed with another.

“You saved me from being bonded to Andre,” I said. “But it cost me.”

“If he’d lived, it would have cost me, too. No matter how mild his reaction, Andre would have paid me back for my intervention.”

“He seemed so calm about it that night,” I said. Eric had persuaded Andre to let him be his proxy. I’d been very grateful at the time, since Andre gave me the creeps and he didn’t give a damn about me, either. I remembered my talk with Tara.If I’d let Andre share blood that night, I’d be free now, since he’s dead . I still couldn’t decide how I felt about that—probably three different ways.

Tonight was turning out to be a huge one for realizations. They could just stop coming any old time now.

“Andre never forgot a challenge to his will,” Eric said. “Do you know how he died, Sookie?”

Ah-oh.

“He got stuck in the chest with a big splinter of wood,” I said, swallowing a little. Like Eric, I didn’t always tell the whole truth. The splinter hadn’t gotten in Andre’s chest by accident. Quinn had done that.

Eric looked at me for what seemed like a very long time. He could feel my anxiety, of course. I waited to see if he’d push the issue. “I don’t miss Andre,” he said finally. “I regret Sophie-Anne, though. She was brave.”

“I agree,” I said, relieved. “By the way, how are you getting along with your new bosses?”

“So far, so good. They’re very forward-thinking. I like that.”

Since the end of October, Eric had had to learn the structure of a new and larger organization, the characters of the vampires who made it work, and how to liaise with the new sheriffs. Even for him, that was a big bite to chew.

“I bet the vamps you had with you before that night are extra glad they pledged loyalty to you, since they survived when so many of the other vamps in Louisiana died that night.”

Eric smiled broadly. It would have been really scary if I hadn’t seen the fang display before. “Yes,” he said with a whole bunch of satisfaction. “They owe me their lives, and they know it.”

He slid his arms around me and held me against his cool body. I was content and sated, and my fingers trailed through the happy trail of golden hair that led downward. I thought of the provocative picture of Eric as Mr. January in the “Vampires of Louisiana” calendar. I liked the one he’d given me even more. I wondered if I could get a poster-sized blowup.

He laughed when I asked him. “We should think of producing another calendar,” he said. “It was a real earner for us. If I can have a picture of you in the same pose, I’ll give you a poster of me.”

I thought about it for twenty seconds. “I don’t think I could do a nude picture,” I said with some regret. “They always seem to show up to bite you in the ass.”

Eric laughed again, low and husky. “You talk a lot about that,” he said. “Shall I bite you in the ass?” This led to a lot of other things, wonderful and playful things. After those things had come to a happy completion, Eric glanced at the clock beside my bed.

“I have to go,” he whispered.

“I know,” I said. My eyes were heavy with sleep.

He began to dress for his return to Shreveport, and I pulled down the covers and snuggled into the bed properly. It was hard to keep my eyes open, though watching him move around my bedroom was a sweet sight.

He bent to kiss me, and I put my arms around his neck. For a second, I knew he was thinking of crawling back in the bed with me; I hoped it was his body language and his murmur of pleasure that cued me to his thoughts. Every now and then, I got a flash from a vampire mind, and it scared me to death. I didn’t think I’d last long if vampires realized I could read their minds, no matter how seldom that occurred.

“I want you again,” he said, sounding a little surprised. “But I have to go.”

“I’ll see you soon, I guess?” I was awake enough to feel uncertain.

“Yes,” he said. His eyes were bright and his skin glowed. The mark on his wrist was gone. I touched where it had been. He leaned over to kiss the place on my neck where he’d bitten me, and I shivered all over. “Soon.”

Then he was gone, and I heard the back door close quietly behind him. With the last bit of energy in my muscles, I rose and passed through the kitchen in the dark to shoot the dead bolt. I saw Amelia’s car parked by mine; at some point, she’d returned home.

I went to the sink to get a drink of water. I knew the dark kitchen like the back of my hand, so I didn’t need a light. I drank and realized how thirsty I was. As I turned to go back to bed, I saw something move at the edge of the woods. I froze, my heart pounding in a very unpleasant way.

Bill stepped out of the trees. I knew it was him, though I couldn’t see his face clearly. He stood looking up, and I knew he must have watched Eric take flight. Bill had recovered from the fight with Quinn, then.

I expected to be angry that Bill was watching me, but the anger never rose. No matter what had happened between us, I could not rid myself of the feeling that Bill had not simply been spying on me—he had been watching over me.

Also—more practically—there was nothing to be done about it. I could hardly throw open the door and apologize for having male company. At this moment, I wasn’t the least bit sorry I’d gone to bed with Eric. In fact, I felt as sated as if I’d had the Thanksgiving feast of sex. Eric didn’t look anything like a turkey—but after I had a happy mental image of him lying on my kitchen table with some sweet potatoes and marshmallows, I was able to think only of my bed. I slid under the covers with a smile on my face, and almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

I should have known my brother would come to see me. I should only have felt surprised that he hadn’t appeared earlier. When I got up the next day at noon, feeling as relaxed as a cat in a pool of sunshine, Jason was in the backyard on the chaise I’d used the day before. I thought it was smart of him not to come inside, considering we were at odds with each other.

Today wasn’t going to be nearly as warm as the day before. It was cold and raw. Jason was bundled in a heavy camo jacket and a knit cap. He was staring up into the cloudless sky.

I remembered the twins’ warning, and I looked at him carefully; but no, it was Jason. The feel of his mind was familiar, but maybe a fairy could impersonate even that. I listened in for a second. No, this was definitely my brother.

It was strange to see him sitting idle and even stranger to see him alone. Jason was always talking, drinking, flirting with women, working at his job, or working on his house; and if he wasn’t with a woman, he nearly always had a male shadow—Hoyt (until he’d been preempted by Holly) or Mel. Contemplation and solitude were not states I associated with my brother. Watching him stare at the sky as I sipped my mug of coffee, I thought,Jason’s a widower now .

That was a strange new identity for Jason, a heavy one he might not be able to manage. He’d cared for Crystal more than she’d cared for him. That had been a new experience for Jason, too. Crystal—pretty, stupid, and faithless—had been his female counterpart. Maybe her infidelity had been an attempt to reassert her independence, to struggle against the pregnancy that had tied her more securely to Jason. Maybe she’d just been a bad woman. I’d never understood her, and now I never would.