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IT WAS MIDAFTERNOON WHEN WE ARRIVED IN Rhodes There was an Anubis truck waiting to onload the coffins and transport them to the Pyramid of Gizeh I looked out the limo s every second of the ride into the city, and despite the overwhel presence of the chain stores we also saw in Shreveport, I had no doubt I was in a different place Heavy red brick, city traffic, row houses, gli to look in all directions at once Then we ca The day wasn&039;t sunny enough for the bronze glass to glint, but the Pyrah, there was the park across the six-lane street, which was seething with traffic, and beyond it the vast lake

While the Anubis truck pulled around to the back of the Pyrae, the limo swept up to the front of the hotel As we daytime creatures scooted out of the car, I didn&039;t knohat to look at first: the broad waters or the decorations of the structure itself

The main doors of the Pyrae uniforuardians, too There were two elaborate reproductions of sarcophagi placed in an upright position, one on each side of the , and I would have enjoyed the chance to exa by the staff One man opened the car door, one exauests - not human reporters, curiosity seekers, or assorted fanatics - and another pushed open the door of the hotel to indicate we should enter

I&039;d stayed in a vauards and the lack of ground floor s The Pyra more of an effort to look a bit like a huh the walls held ht with artificial light and horribly perky with piped-in music - "The Girl from Ipanema" in a vampire hotel

The lobby was busier than the Silent Shore&039;s, too

There were lots of hu around purposefully, lots of action at the check-in desk, and so around the hospitality booth put up by the host city&039;s vaone with Sam to a bar supply convention in Shreveport once when he was shopping for a new pueneral setup Somewhere, I was sure, there would be a convention hall with booths, and a schedule of panels or demonstrations

I hoped there would be a map of the hotel, with all events and locations noted, in our registration packet Or were the vampires too snooty for such rauests and scheduled tours This hotel was numbered in reverse order The top floor, the penthouse, was nuest floor - the human floor - was numbered 15 There was a mezzanine between the hue convention rooular less projection that had looked so odd in the Internet picture

I eyed people scurrying through the lobby - uards, valets, bell around to get things ready for the undead conventioneers (Could you call them that, when this was billed as a summit? What was the difference?) I felt a little sour when I wondered why this was the order of things, when a few years ago, the va, and that was back into a dark corner where they could hide Maybe that had been the o join the Fellowship, if that was how I really felt I&039;d noticed the protesters in the little park across the street frons referred to as "The Pyramid of Geezers"

"Where are the coffins?" I asked Mr Cataliades

"They&039;re coh a basement entrance," he said

There had been a metal detector at the hotel door I&039;d tried hard not to look when Johan Glassport had eone off like a siren when he&039;d passed through "Do the coffins have to go through a metal detector, too?" I asked

"No Our vampires have wooden coffins, but the hardware on them is metal, and you can&039;t empty the vampires out to search their pockets for other metal objects, so that wouldn&039;t make any sense," Mr Cataliades answered, for the first ti impatient "Plus, some vampires have chosen the modern metal caskets"

"The demonstrators across the street," I said "They have me spooked They&039;d love to sneak in here"

Mr Cataliades set in here, Miss Sookie There are other guards that you can&039;t see"

While Mr Cataliades checked us in, I stood to his side and turned to look around at the other people They were all dressed very nicely, and they were all talking About us I felt instantly anxious at the looks ere getting frouests and staff reinforced e of the queen who had been one of the most powerful vampire rulers in America Now she was not only weakened econo her husband I could see why the other flunkies were interested - I would&039;ve found us interesting - but I was uncomfortable All I could think about was how shiny my nose must be, and how much I wanted to have a few moments alone

The clerk went over our reservations very slowly and deliberately, as if to keep us on exhibit in the lobby for as long as possible Mr Cataliades dealt with hietting strained after tenat a discreet distance during the process, but when I could tell the clerk - fortyish, recreational drug user, father of three - was just fucking us over to entertain himself, I took a step closer I laid a hand on Mr C&039;s sleeve to indicate that I wanted to join in the conversation He interrupted hiive us our keys and tell us where our vamps are, or I&039;ll tell your boss that you&039;re the one selling Pyramid of Gizeh items on eBay And if you bribe a maid to even touch the queen&039;s panties, much less steal &039;em, I&039;ll sic Diantha on you" Diantha had just returned froly revealed her sharp, pointed teeth in a lethal s display of blood flow patterns "Yes, ma&039;am," he stammered, and I wondered if he would wet hih his head, I didn&039;t much care

In very short order, we all had keys, we had a list of "our" va our luggage in one of those neat carts That re

Barry, I said in my head You here?

Yeah, said a voice that was far fro one it had been the first time I&039;d heard it Sookie Stackhouse?

It&039;sin I&039;?

Good, personally But Louisianawe&039;ve had the hurricane, and we&039;ve got the trial I guess you know all about that?

Yeah You saw so ifacross inof how people must feel when they were faced with me

I&039;ll see you later, I told Barry Hey, what&039;s your real last naift out into the open, he told me My real name is Barry Horowitz Now I just call istered, if you forgetwith you

Same here

And then Barry and I both turned our attention to other things, and that strange tickling feeling of one

Barry&039;s the only other telepath I&039;ve ever encountered

Mr Cataliades had discovered that the humans - well, the non-vampires - in the party had each been put in a room with another person Some of the vampires had roommates, too He hadn&039;t been pleased that he hi a room with Diantha, but the hotel was extre about a lot of other things, but thata room with Gervaise&039;s squeeze, and as I slid the card into the slot on the door, I wondered if she&039;d be in She was I&039;d been expecting a wotasia, but Carla Danvers was another kind of creature entirely

"Hey, girl!" she said, as I entered "I figured you&039;d be along soon when they brought your bags up I&039;irlfriend"

"Nice tohands Carla was a prom queen Maybe she hadn&039;t been, literally;queen, either, but she&039;d surely been on the court Carla had dark brown chin-length hair, and big brown eyes, and teeth that were so straight and white that they were an advertisement for her orthodontist Her breasts had been enhanced, and her ears were pierced, and her belly button, too She had a tattoo on her lower back, soreen leaves in the middle I could see all this because Carla was naked, and she didn&039;t seehtest idea that her nudity was a little on the "too much infor together long?" I asked to cae how uncomfortable I was

"I o He said it would be better for ht have to have businesswhile I&039; city stores! And I wanted sos so he won&039;t ask ave uish

"Okay," I said "Sounds good" It really didn&039;t, but Carla&039;s progra forthat ood dresses was already in the closet Carla had left me exactly half the closet space and drawer space, which was decent She had brought about twenty times more clothes than I had, which irlfriend are you?" Carla asked She was giving herself a pedicure When she drew up one leg, the overhead light winked on sos Co dress on the hanger

"I&039; er," I said "He&039;s arranging the cere guy, shaved head," I said

Her face brightened "Oh, yeah, I saw hi breakfast in the restaurant when I was checking in"

"There&039;s a restaurant?"

"Yeah, sure Though of course it&039;s tiny And there&039;s room service"

"You know, in vampire hotels there often isn&039;t a restaurant," I said, just to make conversation I&039;d read an article about it in American Vampire

"Oh Well, that an another

"Not from a vampire point of view"

Carla frowned "I know they don&039;t eat But people do And this is a people world, right? That&039;s like not learning English when you erate to America"

I turned around to check out Carla&039;s face, make sure she was serious Yeah, she was

"Carla," I said, and then stopped I didn&039;t have any idea what to say, how to get across to Carla that a four-hundred-year-old vae for ood that there&039;s a restaurant here," I said weakly

She nodded "Yeah, &039;cause I need oing without it Course, when you date a vain at three or four in the afternoon" She laughed

"True," I said I&039;d finished unpacking, so I went over to ourand looked out The glass was so heavily tinted that it was hard to make out the landscape, but it was seeable I wasn&039;t on the Lake Michigan side of the hotel, which was a pity, but I looked at the buildings around the west side of the hotel with curiosity I didn&039;t see cities that often, and I&039;d never seen a northern city The sky was darkening rapidly, so between that and the tinted s I really couldn&039;t see too much after ten minutes The vain

Though she kept up a sporadic stream of chatter, Carla didn&039;t ask what my role was at this summit She assuht with me Sooner or later, she&039;d find out what my particular talent was, and then she&039;d be nervous around me On the other hand, now she was a little too relaxed

Carla was getting dressed (thank God) in what I thought of as "classy whore" She earing a glittery green cocktail dress that almost didn&039;t have a top to it, and fuck- Well, she had her working clothes, and I hadclothes were so conservative

For tonight, I had chosen a chocolate brown lace handkerchief dress I put in s and slid into brown pumps, put on sopurse, I headed to the front desk to find out which suite was the queen&039;s, since Mr Cataliades had told me to presentthe way, but I didn&039;t see hide nor hair of hi so busy all the tiht not promise as much fun on the side as I&039;d hoped

The desk clerk blanched when he saw , and he looked around to see if Diantha iththe queen&039;s roo hand, I looked around me with more attention

There were security cameras in a few obvious locations, pointed at the front doors and at the registration desk And I thought I could see one at the elevators There were the usual ar selling point for any vauests Otherwise, vampires could stay more cheaply and centrally in the special vampire rooms of mainstream hotels (Even Motel 6 had one vaht about the protesters outside, I really hoped the security crew here at the Pyramid was on the ball

I nodded at another human woman as I crossed the lobby to the central bank of elevators The rooathered, since there were fewer on the floor The queen had one of the fourth floor suites, since she&039;d booked for this event a long tio, before Katrina - and probably while her husband was still alive There were only eight doors on her floor, and I didn&039;t have to see the nuebert was standing in front of it Sigebert was a boulder of a uarded the queen for hundreds of years, as had Andre The ancient vampire looked lonely without his brother, Wybert Otherwise, he was the salo-Saxon warrior he&039;d been the first tiy beard, physique of a wild boar, rinned at reeting

"Sigebert," I said, carefully pronouncing it "See-yabairt" "Are you doing okay?" I wanted to convey sy into too-sentiebert said proudly "In battle"

I thought of saying, "You must miss him so much after a thousand years" Then I decided that was exactly like reporters asking the parents of hter," I said instead, and that was exactly what Sigebert wanted to hear He clapped round Then his look got a little absent, as if he were listening to an announcement

I&039;d suspected that the queen could talk to her "children" telepathically, and when Sigebert opened the door for lad she couldn&039;t talk toable to coether all the tiet old in a hurry Plus, Sophie-Anne was a heck of a lot scarier

The queen&039;s suite was lavish I&039;d never seen anything like it The carpet was as thick as a sheep&039;s pelt, and it was off-white The furniture was upholstered in shades of gold and dark blue The slanting slab of glass that enclosed the outside as opaque I have to say, the large wall of darkness made me feel twitchy

In the midst of this splendor, Sophie-Anne sat curled on a couch S brown hair swept up in a chignon, the queen earing a raspberry-colored silk suit with black piping and black alligator heels Her jewelry was heavy, gold, and sie-appropriate wearing a Gwen Stefani LAMB outfit She&039;d died as a human when she&039;d been maybe fifteen or sixteen In her tirooman and mother In our time, that made her a mall rat To modern eyes, her clothes were too old for her, but it would take an insane person to tell her so Sophie-Anne was the world&039;s erous had her back Andre was standing right behind Sophie-Anne, as always When he&039;d given h look, and the door had closed behind me, he actually sat beside Sophie-Anne, which was souess Andre and his queen had both been drinking TrueBlood, and they looked rosy as a result - almost human, in fact

"How are your accommodations?" Sophie-Anne asked politely

"Fine I&039;irlfriend of Gervaise&039;s," I said

"With Carla? Why?" Her brows rose up like dark birds in a clear sky

"The hotel&039;s crowded It&039;s no big thing I figure she&039;ll be with Gervaise most of the time, anyway," I said

Sophie-Anne said, "What did you think of Johan?"

I could feel s in jail"

"But he will keep ine what a vaive her any positive feedback on Johan, so I just nodded

"You are still not telling me what you picked up from him"

"He&039;s very tense and conflicted"

"Explain"

"He&039;s anxious He&039;s scared He&039;s fighting different loyalties He only wants to come out alive He doesn&039;t care for anyone but himself"

"So how does that make him different from any other human?" Andre commented

Sophie-Anne responded with a twitch of one side of her mouth That Andre, what a comedian

"Most humans don&039;t stab women," I said as quietly and calmly as I could "Most humans don&039;t enjoy that"

Sophie-Anne was not completely indifferent to the violent death Johan Glassport had meted out, but naturally she was a little al defense At least, that was how I read her, but with vae rather than the sure knowledge right out of their brains "He&039;ll defend me, I&039;ll pay hiht happen to hiave ot the picture

"Did he question you thoroughly? Did you feel he knehat he was doing?" she asked, returning to the important stuff

"Yes, ma&039;am," I said promptly "He did seem to be really competent"

"Then he&039;ll be worth the trouble"

I didn&039;t even let my eyes flicker

"Did Cataliades tell you what to expect?"

"Yes, ma&039;am, he did"

"Good As well as your testi withs?" I asked "It&039;s just, I&039;d be ready and waiting if I had any idea when you needed me"

Before she could answer, there was a knock at the door Andre rose and moved to answer it so smoothly and fluidly that you would have sworn he was part cat His sas in his hand, though I hadn&039;t seen it before The door opened a bit just as Andre reached it, and I heard Sigebert&039;s bass rued a few sentences, the door opened wider, and Andre said, "The King of Texas, my lady" There was only a hint of pleased surprise in his voice, but it was the equivalent of Andre doing cartwheels across the carpet This visit was a show of support for Sophie-Anne, and all the other varoup of vamps and huuy who you checked out for a pocket protector You could see the colasses were heavy and thick They were also quite unnecessary I&039;d never met a vamp who didn&039;t have excellent vision and very precise hearing Stan earing a wash &039;n&039; hite shirt with a Sears brand logo and some navy Dockers And brown leather moccasins Hoo, boy He&039;d been a sheriff when I&039;dthe saeant at arms, Joseph Velasquez A short, burly Hispanic with spiky hair, Joseph never seemed to crack a smile By his side was a red-haired female vamp named Rachel; I ree one, and she didn&039;t like cooperating with hu the tas Barry the Bellboy, looking good in designer jeans and a taupe silk T-shirt, a discreet gold chain around his neck Barry had matured in an almost scary way since I&039;d last seen hiawky boy ofas a bellboy at the Silent Shore Hotel in Dallas Now Barry had had a ood haircut, and the wary eyes of so in the shark pool

We s pretty, Sookie

Thanks, and likewise, Barry

Andre was doing the proper va "Stan, we are pleased to see you Who have you brought to allantly bent to kiss Sophie-Anne&039;s hand "Most beautiful queen," he said "This vampire is my second, Joseph Velasquez And this vampire is my nest sister Rachel This human is the telepath Barry Bellboy Indirectly, I have you to thank for him"

Sophie-Anne actually shted to do you any sort of favor in estured to hi positions "It&039;s so good to see you here in my suite I had been concerned that I wouldn&039;t have any visitors at all"

("Since I&039;economic bloas the subtext)

"I extend my sympathies to you," Stan said with a completely inflectionless voice "The losses in your country have been extreme If we can helpI know the huht that the vampires do likewise"

"Thank you for your kindness," she said Sophie-Anne&039;s pride was hurting in a le to paste that smile back on her face "I believe you know Andre," she continued "Andre, you no Joseph And I believe all of you know our Sookie"

The phone rang, and since I was closest to it, I answered it

"A to a ruff voice asked

"Yes, you are"

"One of you needs to cos to your party We can&039;t read the label"

"Ohokay"

"Sooner the better"

"All right"

He hung up Okay, that was a little abrupt

Since the queen aiting for me to tell her who had called, I relayed the request, and she looked equally puzzled for all of a millisecond "Later," she said dis of Texas were focused on me like laser beams I inclined my head to him, which I hoped was the correct response It seeo over the protocol with Andre before the queen began receiving guests, but truthfully, I hadn&039;t expected there to be any, uy like Stan Davis This had to ood for the queen, or maybe it was a subtle vampire insult I was sure I&039;d find out

I felt the tickle of Barry in ood to work for? Barry asked

I just help her out from time to time, I said I still have a day job

Barry looked atit in, if you go to a good state like Ohio or Illinois where there&039;s real ed I like where I live, I said

Then we both beca our silent exchange Our faces were changing expression, I guess, like faces do during a conversationexcept our conversation had been silent

"Excuse me," I said "I didn&039;t mean to be rude I just don&039;t see people like me very often, and it&039;s kind of a treat to talk to another telepath I beg your pardon, ma&039;am, sir"