Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Books 1-8) - Charlaine Harris [120]
He looked cold, colder, coldest.
“I may have already done the job. He’s in intensive care. But even if he lives, there’s been enough murder. Let the law do it. I don’t want any more witchhunts coming after you. I want us to have peace.” It was becoming very difficult to talk. I took his hand in both of mine, held it again to my least-bruised cheek. Suddenly, how much I had missed him became a solid lump lodged in my chest, and I held out my arms. He sat carefully on the edge of the bed, and leaning toward me, he carefully, carefully, slid his arms under me and pulled me up to him, a fraction of an inch at a time, to give me time to tell him if it hurt.
“I won’t kill him,” Bill said finally, into my ear.
“Sweetheart,” I breathed, knowing his sharp hearing could pick it up. “I missed you.” I heard his quick sigh, and his arms tightened a little, his hands began their gentle stroking down my back. “I wonder how quickly you can heal,” he said, “without my help?”
“Oh, I’ll try to hurry,” I whispered. “I’ll bet I surprise the doctor as it is.”
A collie trotted down the corridor, looked in the open door, said, “Rowwf,” and trotted away. Astonished, Bill turned to glance out into the corridor. Oh, yeah, it was the full moon, tonight—I could see it out of the window. I could see something else, too. A white face appeared out of the blackness and floated between me and the moon. It was a handsome face, framed by long golden hair. Eric the Vampire grinned at me and gradually disappeared from my view. He was flying.
“Soon we’ll be back to normal,” Bill said, laying me down gently so he could switch out the light in the bathroom. He glowed in the dark.
“Right,” I whispered. “Yeah. Back to normal.”
LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS
ACE BOOKS, NEW YORK
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Living Dead in dallas
AN ACE Book / published by arrangement with the author
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2003 by Charlaine Harris
This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.
For information address:
The ACE Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is http://www.penguinputnam.com
ISBN: 0-7865-4099-0
AN ACE BOOK®
ACE Books first published byACE Publishing Group,
a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
ACE and the “A” design are trademarks belonging to
Penguin Putnam Inc.
Electronic edition: August 2003
This book is dedicated to all the people
who told me they enjoyed Dead Until Dark.
Thanks for the encouragement.
My thanks go to Patsy Asher of Remember the Alibi in San Antonio, Texas; Chloe Green of Dallas; and the helpful cyber-friends I’ve made on DorothyL, who answered all my questions promptly and enthusiastically. I have the greatest job in the world.
Chapter 1
ANDY BELLEFLEUR WAS as drunk as a skunk. This wasn’t normal for Andy—believe me, I know all the drunks in Bon Temps. Working at Sam Merlotte’s bar for several years has pretty much introduced me to all of them. But Andy Bellefleur, native son and detective on Bon Temps’s small police force, had never been drunk in Merlotte’s before. I was mighty curious as to why tonight was an exception.
Andy and I aren’t friends by any stretch of the imagination, so I couldn’t ask him outright. But other means were open to me, and I decided to use them. Though I try to limit employing my disability, or gift, or whatever you want to call it, to find out things that might have an effect on me or mine, sometimes