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By Root 6573 0

and that encounter pretty much started it on the downslope. I trudged to the elevators, determined to find the damn infirmary. The queen hadn’t buzzed me, so presumably she was hobnobbing with other vampires, trying to find out who had hired the weather witch, and generally reveling in her relief. No more trial, a clear inheritance, the chance to put her beloved Andre in power. Things were coming up roses for the Queen of Louisiana, and I tried not to be bitter. Or did I have a right to be? Hmmm, let’s see. I’d helped stop the trial, though I hadn’t counted on it stopping as finally and completely as it had for, say, the hapless Henrik. Since she’d been found innocent, she’d get the inheritance as promised in her marriage contract. And who’d had the idea about Andre? And I’d been proved right about the witch. Okay, maybe I could be a little bitter at my own unbenevolent fortune. Plus, sooner or later I’d have to choose between Quinn and Eric, through no fault of my own. I’d stood holding a bomb for a very long time. The Ancient Pythoness was not a member of my fan club, and she was an object of reverence to most of the vampires. I’d almost been killed with an arrow.

Well, I’d had worse nights.

I found the infirmary, which was easier to locate than I’d thought, because the door was open and I could hear a familiar laugh coming from the room. I stepped in to find that Quinn was talking to the honey bear-looking woman, who must be Bettina, and the black guy, who must be Hondo. Also, to my astonishment, Clovache was there. Her armor was not off, but she managed to give the impression of a guy who’d loosened his tie.

“Sookie,” said Quinn. He smiled at me, but the two shape-changers didn’t. I was definitely an unwelcome visitor.

But I hadn’t come to see them. I’d come to see the man who’d saved my life. I walked over to him, letting him watch me, giving him a little smile. I sat on the plastic chair by the bed and took his hand.

“Tell me how you’re feeling,” I said.

“Like I had a real close shave,” he said. “But I’m gonna be fine.”

“Could you all excuse us a moment, please?” I was at my most polite as I met the eyes of the three others in the room.

Clovache said, “Back to guarding Kentucky,” and took off. She might have winked at me before she vanished. Bettina looked a bit disgruntled, as if she’d been student teaching on her own and now the teacher had returned and snatched back her authority.

Hondo gave me a dark look that held more than a hint of threat. “You treat my man right,” he said. “Don’t give him no hard time.”

“Never,” I said. He couldn’t think of a way to stay, since Quinn apparently wanted to talk to me, so he left.

“My fan base just gets bigger and bigger,” I said, watching them go. I got up and shut the door behind them. Unless a vampire, or Barry, stood outside the door, we were reasonably private.

“Is this where you dump me for the vampire?” Quinn asked. All trace of good humor had vanished from his face, and he was holding very still.

“No. This is where I tell you what happened, and you listen, and then we talk.” I said this as if I was sure he’d go along with it, but that was far from the case, and my heart was thudding in my throat as I waited for his reply. Finally he nodded, and I closed my eyes in relief, clutching his left hand in both of mine. “Okay,” I said, bracing myself, and then I was off and running with my narrative, hoping that he would see that Eric really was the lesser of two evils.

Quinn didn’t pull his hand away, but he didn’t hold mine, either. “You’re bound to Eric,” he said.

“Yes.”

“You’ve exchanged blood with him at least three times.”

“Yes.”

“You know he can turn you whenever he feels like it?”

“Any of us could be turned whenever the vampires feel like it, Quinn. Even you. It might take two of them to hold you down and one to take all your blood and give you his, but it still could happen.”

“It wouldn’t take that long if he made up his mind, now that you two have swapped so often. And this is Andre’s fault.”

“There’s nothing I can do about that now. I wish there