"You imply they didn't die from these bites."
"No. From strangulation."
"Not a vampire, then." His tone put it beyond question.
"Why not?"
"If a vampire had been feeding from these women, they would have been drained instead of strangled. They wouldn't have been wasted like that."
Just when I was beginning to be comfortable with Bill, he'd say something so cold, so vampirey, I had to start all over again.
"Then," I said wearily, "either you have a crafty vampire with great self-control, or you have someone who's determined to kill women who've been with vampires."
"Hmmm."
I didn't feel very good about either of those choices.
"Do you think I'd do that?" he asked.
The question was unexpected. I wriggled in his pinioning embrace to look up at him.
"You've taken great care to point out how heartless you are," I reminded him. "What do you really want me to believe?"
And it was so wonderful not to know. I almost smiled.
"I could have killed them, but I wouldn't do it here, or now," Bill said. He had no color in the moonlight except for the dark pools of his eyes and the dark arches of his brows. "This is where I want to stay. I want a home."
A vampire, yearning for home.
Bill read my face. "Don't pity me, Sookie. That would be a mistake." He seemed willing me to stare into his eyes.
"Bill, you can't glamor me, or whatever you do. You can't enchant me into pulling my T-shirt down for you to bite me, you can't convince me you weren't ever here, you can't do any of your usual stuff. You have to be regular with me, or just force me."
"No," he said, his mouth almost on mine. "I won't force you."
I fought the urge to kiss him. But at least I knew it was my very own urge, not a manufactured one.
"So, if it wasn't you," I said, struggling to keep on course, "then Maudette and Dawn knew another vampire. Maudette went to the vampire bar in Shreveport. Maybe Dawn did, too. Will you take me there?"
"Why?" he asked, sounding no more than curious.
I just couldn't explain being in danger to someone who was so used to being beyond it. At least at night. "I'm not sure Andy Bellefleur will go to the trouble," I lied.
"There are still Bellefleurs here," he said, and there was something different in his voice. His arms hardened around me to the point of pain.
"Yes," I said. "Lots of them. Andy is a police detective. His sister, Portia, is a lawyer. His cousin Terry is a veteran and a bartender. He substitutes for Sam. There are lots of others."
"Bellefleur..."
I was getting crushed.
"Bill," I said, my voice squeaky with panic.
He loosened his grip immediately. "Excuse me," he said formally.
"I have to go to bed," I said. "I'm really tired, Bill."
He set me down on the gravel with scarcely a bump. He looked down at me.
"You told those other vampires that I belonged to you," I said.
"Yes."
"What exactly did that mean?"
"That means that if they try to feed on you, I'll kill them," he said. "It means you are my human."
"I have to say I'm glad you did that, but I'm not really sure what being your human entails," I said cautiously. "And I don't recall being asked if that was okay with me."
"Whatever it is, it's probably better than partying with Malcolm, Liam, and Diane."
He wasn't going to answer me directly.
"Are you going to take me to the bar?"
"What's your next night off?"
"Two nights from now."
"Then, at sunset. I'll drive."
"You have a car?"
"How do you think I get places?" There might have been a smile on his shining face. He turned to melt into the woods. Over his shoulder he said, "Sookie. Do me proud."
I was left standing with my mouth open.
Do him proud indeed.
Chapter 4
H ALF THE PATRONS of Merlotte's thought Bill had had a hand in the markings on the women's bodies. The other 50 percent thought that some of the vampires from bigger towns or cities had bitten Maudette and Dawn when they were out barhopping, and they deserved what they got if they wanted to go to bed with vampires. Some thought the girls had been strangled by a vampire, some thought they had just continued their promiscuous ways into disaster.
But everyone who came into Merlotte's was worried that some other woman would be killed, too. I couldn't count the times I was told to be careful, told to watch my friend Bill Compton, told to lock my doors and not let anyone in my house... . As if those were things I wouldn't do, normally.
Jason came in for both commiseration and suspicion as a man who'd "dated" both women. He came by the house one day and held forth for a whole hour, while Gran and I tried to encourage him to keep going with his work like an innocent man would. But for the first time in my memory, my handsome brother was really worried. I wasn't exactly glad he was in trouble, but I wasn't exactly sorry, either. I know that was small and petty of me.
I am not perfect.
I am so not-perfect that despite the deaths of two women I knew, I spent a substantial amount of time wondering what Bill meant about doing him proud. I had no idea what constituted appropriate dress for visiting a vampire bar. I wasn't about to dress in some kind of stupid costume, as I'd heard some bar visitors did.
I sure didn't know anyone to ask.
I wasn't tall enough or bony enough to dress in the sort of spandex outfit the vampire Diane had worn.
Finally I pulled a dress from the back of my closet, one I'd had little occasion to wear. It was a Nice Date dress, if you wanted the personal interest of whoever was your escort. It was cut square and low in the neck and it was sleeveless. It was tight and white. The fabric was thinly scattered with bright red flowers with long green stems. My tan glowed and my boobs showed. I wore red enamel earrings and red high-heeled screw-me shoes. I had a little red straw purse. I put on light makeup and wore my wavy hair loose down my back.
Gran's eyes opened wide when I came out of my room.
"Honey, you look beautiful," she said. "Aren't you going to be a little cold in that dress?"
I grinned. "No, ma'am, I don't think so. It's pretty warm outside."
"Wouldn't you like to wear a nice white sweater over that?"
"No, I don't think so." I laughed. I had pushed the other vampires far enough back in my mind to where looking sexy was okay again. I was pretty excited about having a date, though I had kind of asked Bill myself and it was more of a fact-finding mission. That, too, I tried to forget, so I could just enjoy myself.