"How are you?" I asked brightly. "It's been too long."
"Oh, you know, same old same old," she said. She beamed up at me, but there was caution in her eyes. Her hair was a very dark brown, rather than black, and it was coarse and abundant. Her skin was the color of a milky caramel, and she had dark freckles. Generous lips were painted an outstanding fuchsia. She had big white teeth, flashing at me in her wide smile. I glanced down at her feet. Flat red shoes.
"Hey, come outside with me while I have a cigarette," she said.
Francie Polk was looking more satisfied.
"Luna, can't you see your friend needs to go to the doctor?" she said righteously.
"You do have a few bumps and bruises," Luna said, examining me. "Have you fallen down again, girl?"
"You know Mama always tells me, 'Marigold, you're as clumsy as an elephant.'"
"That mama of yours," Luna said, shaking her head in disgust. "Like that would make you less clumsy!"
"What can you do?" I said, shrugging. "If you'll excuse us, Francie?"
"Well, sure," she said. "I'll see you later, I guess."
"Sure will," said Luna. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."
And with Luna, I strolled out of the Fellowship of the Sun meeting hall. I concentrated ferociously on keeping my gait even, so Francie wouldn't see me limp and become even more suspicious.
"Thank God," I said, when we were outside.
"You knew me for what I was," she said rapidly. "How did you know?"
"I have a friend who's a shapeshifter."
"Who is he?"
"He's not local. And I won't tell you without his consent."
She stared at me, all pretence of friendship dropped in that instant.
"Okay, I respect that," she said. "Why are you here?"
"What's it to you?"
"I just saved your ass."
She had a point, a good point. "Okay. I am a telepath, and I was hired by your vampire area leader to find out what had become of a missing vampire."
"That's better. But it ain't my area leader. I'm a supe, but I ain't no freaking vampire. What vamp did you deal with?"
"I don't need to tell you that."
She raised her eyebrows.
"I don't."
She opened her mouth as if to yell.
"Yell away. There're some things I just won't tell. What's a supe?"
"A supernatural being. Now, you listen to me," Luna said. We were walking through the parking lot now, and cars were beginning to pull in regularly from the road. She did a lot of smiling and waving, and I tried to at least look happy. But the limp was no longer concealable, and my face was swelling like a bitch, as Arlene would say.
Gosh, I was homesick all of a sudden. But I thrust that feeling away to pay attention to Luna, who clearly had things to tell me.
"You tell the vampires we have this place under surveillance - "
"'We' being who?"
"'We' being the shapeshifters of the greater Dallas area."
"You guys are organized? Hey, that's great! I'll have to tell... my friend."
She rolled her eyes, clearly not impressed with my intellect. "Listen here, missy, you tell the vampires that as soon as the Fellowship figures out about us, they will be on us, too. And we aren't going to mainstream. We're underground for good. Stupid freakin' vampires. So we're keeping an eye on the Fellowship."
"If you're keeping such a good eye, how come you didn't call the vampires and tell them about Farrell being in the basement? And about Godfrey?"
"Hey, Godfrey wants to kill himself, no skin off our teeth. He came to the Fellowship; they didn't go to him. They about peed their pants, they were so glad to have him, after they got over the shock of sitting in the same room with one of the damned."
"What about Farrell?"
"I didn't know who was down there," Luna admitted. "I knew they'd captured someone, but I'm not exactly in the inner circle yet, and I couldn't find out who. I even tried buttering up that ass**le Gabe, but that didn't help."
"You'll be pleased to know that Gabe is dead."
"Hey!" She smiled genuinely for the first time. "That is good news."
"Here's the rest. As soon as I get in touch with the vampires, they're going to be here to get Farrell. So if I were you, I wouldn't go back to the Fellowship tonight."
She chewed on her lower lip for a minute. We were at the far end of the parking lot.
"In fact," I said, "it would be perfect if you would give me a lift to the hotel."
"Well, I'm not in the business of making your life perfect," she snarled, recalled to her tough cookie persona. "I got to get back in that church before the shit hits the fan, and get some papers out. Think about this, girl. What are the vampires gonna do with Godfrey? Can they let him live? He's a child molester and a serial killer; so many times over you couldn't even count. He can't stop, and he knows it."
So there was a good side to the church... it gave vampires like Godfrey a venue to commit suicide while being watched?
"Maybe they should just put it on pay-per-view," I said.
"They would if they could." Luna was serious. "Those vampires trying to mainstream, they're pretty harsh to anyone who might upset their plan. Godfrey's no poster boy."
"I can't solve every problem, Luna. By the way, my real name is Sookie. Sookie Stackhouse. Anyway, I've done what I could. I did the job I was hired to do, and now I have to get back and report. Godfrey lives or Godfrey dies. I think Godfrey will die."
"You better be right," she said ominously.
I couldn't figure out why it was my fault if Godfrey changed his mind. I had just questioned his chosen venue. But maybe she was right. I might have some responsibility, here.
It was all just too much for me.
"Good-bye," I said, and began limping along the back of the parking lot to the road. I hadn't gotten far when I heard a hue and cry arise from the church, and all the outside lights popped on. The sudden glare was blinding.
"Maybe I won't go back in the Fellowship Center after all. Not a good idea," Luna said from the window of a Subaru Outback. I scrambled into the passenger's seat, and we sped toward the nearest exit onto the four-lane road. I fastened my seat belt automatically.
But as swiftly as we had moved, others had moved even more swiftly. Various family vehicles were being positioned to block the exits from the parking lot.
"Crap," said Luna.