Sookie Stackhouse Boxed Set (Books 1-8) - Charlaine Harris [903]
There was another, shorter pause.
“I accept the sovereignty of your king,” Eric said, his voice flat.
“Bill Compton?” Victor asked.
Bill looked at me, his dark eyes dwelling on my face. “I accept,” he said.
And just like that, Louisiana had a new king, and the old regime was gone.
Chapter 13
I felt the tension whoosh out of me like the air out of a punctured tire.
Eric said, “Victor, call your people off. I want to hear you tell them.”
Victor, beaming harder than ever, whipped a tiny cell phone from his pocket and called someone named Delilah to give her his orders. Eric used his own cell to phone Fangtasia. Eric told Clancy about the change in leadership.
“Don’t forget to tell Pam,” Eric said very clearly, “lest she kill off a few more of Victor’s people.”
There was an awkward pause. Everyone was wondering what came next.
Now that I was pretty sure I was going to live, I hoped Quinn would change back to his human form so I could talk to him. There was a lot to talk about. I wasn’t sure I had a right to feel this, but I felt betrayed.
I don’t think the world is about me. I could see he’d been forced into this situation.
There was always a lot of forcing around vampires.
As I saw it, this was the second time his mother had set Quinn up, quite inadvertently, to take her fall with the vamps. I got that she wasn’t responsible; truly, I did. She’d never wanted to be raped, and she hadn’t chosen to become mentally ill. I’d never met the woman and probably never would, but she was surely a loose cannon. Quinn had done what he could. He’d sent his sister ahead to warn us, though I wasn’t exactly sure that had ended up helping so very much.
But points for trying.
Now, as I watched the tiger nuzzle Frannie, I knew I’d made mistakes all the way down the line with Quinn. And I felt the anger of betrayal; no matter how I reasoned with myself, the image of seeing my boyfriend on the side of vampires I had to regard as enemies had lit a fire in me. I shook myself, looking around the room.
Amelia had made a dash for the bathroom as soon as she could decently let go of Frannie, who was still crying. I suspected the tension had been too much for my witchy roommate, and sounds from the hall bathroom confirmed that. Eric was still on the phone with Clancy, pretending to be busy while he absorbed the huge change in his circumstances. I couldn’t read his mind, but I knew that. He walked down the hall, maybe wanting some privacy to reassess his future.
Victor had gone outside to talk to his cohorts, and I heard one of them say, “Yeah! Yes!” as if his team had scored a winning goal, which I supposed was the case.
As for me, I felt a little weak in the knees, and my thoughts were in such a tumult they could scarcely be called thoughts. Bill’s arm went around me, and he lowered me to the chair Eric had vacated. I felt his cool lips brush my cheek. I would have to possess a heart of stone not to be affected by his little speech to Victor—I hadn’t forgotten it, no matter how terrifying the night had been—and my heart is not made of stone.
Bill knelt by my feet, his white face turned up to me. “I hope someday you’ll turn to me,” he said. “I’ll never force myself or my company on you.” And he got up and walked outside to meet his new vampire kin.
Okey-dokey.
God bless me; the night wasn’t over yet.
I trudged back to my bedroom and pushed the door open, intending to wash my face or brush my teeth or make some stab at smoothing my hair, because I thought it might make me feel a little less trampled.
Eric was sitting on my bed, his face buried in his hands.
He looked up at me as I entered, and he looked shocked. Well, no wonder, what with the very thorough takeover and traumatic changing of the guard.
“Sitting here on your bed, smelling your scent,” he said in a voice so low I had to strain to hear it. “Sookie . . . I remember everything.”
“Oh, hell,” I said,