"Yes?" said a cool voice.
Thank goodness. I'd been scared the new girlfriend, Selah, would answer.
"Bill, this is Sookie. Eric and Pam are out of touch, and I have a problem."
"What?"
Bill has always been a man of few words.
"There's a young man in town we think is a vampire. Have you met him?"
"Here in Bon Temps?" Bill was clearly surprised and displeased.
That answered my question. "Yes, and Clancy told me they hadn't farmed out any new vamps to Bon Temps. So I thought maybe you'd encountered this individual?"
"No, which means he's probably taking care not to cross my path. Where are you?"
"We're parked outside the Auberts' house. He's interested in the daughter, a teenager. We've pulled into the driveway of a house for sale across the street, middle of the block on Hargrove."
"I'll be there very soon. Don't approach him."
As if I would. "He thinks I'm stupid enough - " I began, and Amelia already had her "Indignant for You" face on when the driver's door was yanked open and a white hand latched onto my shoulder. I squawked until the other hand clamped over my mouth.
"Shut up, breather," said a voice that was even colder than Bill's. "Are you the one that's been following me around all night?"
Then I realized that he didn't know Amelia was in the passenger's seat. That was good.
Since I couldn't speak, I nodded slightly.
"Why?" he growled. "What do you want with me?" He shook me like I was a dustcloth, and I thought all my bones would come disjointed.
Then Amelia leaped from the other side of the car and darted over to us, tossing the contents of a Ziploc on his head. Of course, I had no idea what she was saying, but the effect was dramatic. After a jolt of astonishment, the vampire froze. The problem was, he froze with me clasped with my back to his chest in an unbreakable hold. I was mashed against him, and his left hand was still hard over my mouth, his right hand around my waist. So far, the investigative team of Sookie Stackhouse, telepath, and Amelia Broadway, witch, was not doing a top-flight job.
"Pretty good, huh?" Amelia said.
I managed to move my head a fraction. "Yes, if I could breathe," I said. I wished I hadn't wasted breath speaking.
Then Bill was there, surveying the situation.
"You stupid woman, Sookie's trapped," Bill said. "Undo the spell."
Under the streetlight, Amelia looked sullen. Undoing was not her best thing, I realized with some anxiety. I couldn't do anything else, so I waited while she worked on the counterspell.
"If this doesn't work, it'll only take me a second to break his arm," Bill told me. I nodded ... well, I moved my head a fraction of an inch ... because that was all I could do. I was getting pretty breathless.
Suddenly there was a little pop! in the air, and the younger vampire let go of me to launch himself at Bill - who wasn't there. Bill was behind him, and he grabbed one of the boy's arms and twisted it up and back. The boy screamed, and down they went to the ground. I wondered if anyone was going to call the police. This was a lot of noise and activity for a residential neighborhood after one o'clock. But no lights came on.
"Now, talk." Bill was absolutely determined, and I guess the boy knew it.
"What's your problem?" the boy demanded. He had spiked brown hair and a lean build and a couple of diamond studs in his nose. "This woman's been following me around. I need to know who she is."
Bill looked up at me questioningly. I jerked my head toward Amelia.
"You didn't even grab the right woman," Bill said. He sounded kind of disappointed in the youngster. "Why are you here in Bon Temps?"
"Getting away from Katrina," the boy said. "My sire was staked by a human when we ran out of bottled blood substitute after the flood. I stole a car outside of New Orleans, changed the license plates, and got out of town. I reached here at daylight. I found an empty house with a FOR SALE sign and a windowless bathroom, so I moved in. I've been going out with a local girl. I take a sip every night. She's none the wiser," he sneered.
"What's your interest?" Bill asked me.
"Have you two been going into her dad's office at night?" I asked.
"Yeah, once or twice." He smirked. "Her dad's office has a couch in it." I wanted to slap the shit out of him, maybe smacking the jewelry in his nose just by accident.
"How long have you been a vampire?" Bill asked.
"Ah ... maybe two months."
Okay, that explained a lot. "So that's why he didn't know to check in with Eric. That's why he doesn't realize what he's doing is foolish and liable to get him staked."
"There's only so much excuse for stupidity," Bill said.
"Have you gone through the files in there?" I asked the boy, who was looking a little dazed.
"What?"
"Did you go through the files in the insurance office?"
"Uh, no. Why would I do that? I was just loving up the girl, to get a little sip, you know? I was real careful not to take too much. I don't have any money to buy artificial stuff."
"Oh, you are so dumb." Amelia was fed up with this kid. "For goodness' sake, learn something about your condition. Stranded vampires can get help just like stranded people. You just ask the Red Cross for some synthetic blood, and they dole it out free."
"Or you could have found out who the sheriff of the area is," Bill said. "Eric would never turn away a vampire in need. What if someone had found you biting this girl? She's under the age of consent, I gather?" For blood "donation" to a vampire.
"Yeah," I said, when Dustin looked blank. "It's Lindsay, daughter of Greg Aubert, my insurance agent. He wanted us to find out who'd been going into his building at night. Called in a favor to get me and Amelia to investigate."
"He should do his own dirty work," Bill said quite calmly. But his hands were clenched. "Listen, boy, what's your name?"
"Dustin." He'd even given Lindsay his real name.
"Well, Dustin, tonight we go to Fangtasia, the bar in Shreveport that Eric Northman uses as his headquar ters. He will talk to you there, decide what to do with you."
"I'm a free vampire. I go where I want."
"Not within Area Five, you don't. You go to Eric, the area sheriff."
Bill marched the young vampire off into the night, probably to load him into his car and get him to Shreveport.
Amelia said, "I'm sorry, Sookie."