Club Dead

may be after you, too. That’s why Eric sent Bubba.”
    I couldn’t answer. I was struggling to control myself.
    Sam had returned, I suppose when he saw how upset I was. From about an inch behind my back, he said, “Someone tried to grab Sookie on her way into work tonight. Bubba saved her. The body’s out behind the bar. We were going to move him after we’d closed.”
    “So quickly,” Pam said. She sounded even unhappier. She gave Sam a once-over, nodded. He was a fellow supernatural being, though that was definitely second best to him being another vampire. “I’d better go over the car and see what I can find.” Pam took it quite for granted that we’d dispose of the body ourselves rather than doing something more official. Vampires are having trouble accepting the authority of law enforcement and the obligation of citizens to notify the police when trouble arises. Though vamps can’t join the armed services, they can become cops, and actually enjoy the hell out of the job. But vamp cops are often pariahs to the other undead.
    I would a lot rather think about vampire cops than what Pam had just told me.
    “When did Bill go missing?” Sam asked. His voice managed to stay level, but there was anger just under the surface.
    “He was due in last night,” Pam said. My head snapped up. I hadn’t known that. Why hadn’t Bill told me he was coming home? “He was going to drive into Bon Temps, phone us at Fangtasia to let us know he’d made it home, and meet with us tonight.” This was practically babbling, for a vampire.
    Pam punched in numbers on a cell phone; I could hear the little beeps. I listened to her resultant conversation with Eric. After relaying the facts, Pam told him, “She’s sitting here. She’s not speaking.”
    She pressed the phone into my hand. I automatically put it to my ear.
    “Sookie, are you listening?” I knew Eric could hear the sounds of my hair moving over the receiver, the whisper of my breath.
    “I can tell you are,” he said. “Listen and obey me. For now, tell no one what’s happened. Act just as normal. Live your life as you always do. One of us will be watching you all the time, whether you think so or not. Even in the day, we’ll find some way to guard you. We will avenge Bill, and we will protect you.”
    Avenge Bill? So Eric was sure Bill was dead. Well, nonexistent.
    “I didn’t know he was supposed to be coming in last night,” I said, as if that was the most important fact I’d learned.
    “He had—bad news he was going to tell you,” Pam said suddenly.
    Eric overheard her and made a disgusted sound. “Tell Pam to shut up,” he said, sounding overtly furious for the first time since I’d known him. I didn’t see any need to relay the message, because I figured Pam had been able to hear him, too. Most vampires have very acute hearing.
    “So you knew this bad news and you knew he was coming back,” I said. Not only was Bill missing and possibly dead—permanently dead—but he had lied to me about where he was going and why, and he’d kept some important secret from me, something concerning me. The pain went so deep, I could not even feel the wound. But I knew I would later.
    I handed the phone back to Pam, and I turned and left the bar.
    I faltered as I was getting into my car. I should stay at Merlotte’s to help dispose of the body. Sam wasn’t a vampire, and he was only involved in this for my sake. This wasn’t fair to him.
    But after only a second’s hesitation, I drove away. Bubba could help him, and Pam—Pam, who knew all, while I knew nothing.
    Sure enough, I caught a glimpse of a white face in the woods when I got home. I almost called out to the watcher, invited the vampire in to at least sit on the couch during the night. But then I thought, No. I had to be by myself. None of this was any of my doing. I had no action to take. I had to remain passive, and I was ignorant through no will of my own.
    I was as wounded and as angry as it was possible for me to be. Or at least I thought I was. Subsequent revelations would prove me wrong.
    I stomped inside my house and locked the door behind me. A lock wouldn’t keep the vampire out, of course, but lack of an invitation to enter would. The vampire could definitely keep any humans out, at least until dawn.
    I put on my old long-sleeved blue nylon gown, and I sat at my kitchen table staring blankly at my hands. I wondered where Bill was now. Was he even walking the earth; or was he