Sookie 05 Dead As A Doornail by Charlaine Harris Read Free Book Online Page A

bar. My driving seemed to make him a little uneasy—though possibly his unease was due to simply being in a car. Some of the pre–Industrial Revolution vamps loathe modern transportation. His eye patch was on his left eye, on my side, which gave me the curious feeling I was invisible.
    I'd run him by the vampire hostel where he'd been living so he could gather a few things. He had a sports bag with him, one large enough to hold maybe three days' worth of clothes. He'd just moved into Shreveport, he told me, and hadn't had time to decide where he would settle.
    After we'd been on our way for about forty minutes, the vampire said, "And you, Miss Sookie? Do you live with your father and mother?"
    "No, they've been gone since I was seven," I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a hand gesture inviting me to continue. "There was a whole lot of rain in a real short time one night that spring, and my dad tried to cross a little bridge that had water already over it. They got swept away."
    I glanced to my right to see that he was nodding. People died, sometimes suddenly and unexpectedly, and sometimes for very little reason. A vampire knew that better than anyone. "My brother and I grew up with my grandmother," I said. "She died last year. My brother has my parents' old house, and I have my grandmother's."
    "Lucky to have a place to live," he commented.
    In profile, his hooked nose was an elegant miniature. I wondered if he cared that the human race had gotten larger, while he had stayed the same.
    "Oh, yes," I agreed. "I'm major lucky. I've got a job, I've got my brother, I've got a house, I've got friends. And I'm healthy."
    He turned to look at me full-face, I think, but I was passing a battered Ford pickup, so I couldn't return his gaze. "That's interesting. Forgive me, but I was under the impression from Pam that you have some kind of disability."
    "Oh, well, yeah."
    "And that wouldbe . . .? You look very, ah, robust."
    "I'm a telepath."
    He mulled that over. "And that would mean?"
    "I can read other humans' minds."
    "But not vampires."
    "No, not vampires."
    "Very good."
    "Yes, I think so." If I could read vampire minds, I'd have been dead long ago. Vampires value their privacy.
    "Did you know Chow?" he asked.
    "Yes." It was my turn to be terse.
    "And Long Shadow?"
    "Yes."
    "As the newest bartender at Fangtasia, I have a definite interest in their deaths."
    Understandable, but I had no idea how to respond. "Okay," I said cautiously.
    " Were you there when Chow died again?" This was the way some vamps referred to the final death.
    "Um . . . yes."
    "And Long Shadow?"
    "Well . . . yes."
    "I would be interested in hearing what you had to say."
    "Chow died in what they're calling the Witch War. Long Shadow was trying to kill me when Eric staked him because he'd been embezzling."
    "You're sure that's why Eric staked him? For embezzling?"
    "I was there. I oughta know. End of subject."
    "I suppose your life has been complicated," Charles said after a pause.
    "Yes."
    "Where will I be spending the sunlight hours?"
    "My boss has a place for you."
    "There is a lot of trouble at this bar?"
    "Not until recently." I hesitated.
    "Your regular bouncer can't handle shifters?"
    "Our regular bouncer is the owner, Sam Merlotte. He is a shifter. Right now, he's a shifter with a broken leg. He got shot. And he's not the only one."
    This didn't seem to astonish the vampire."How many?"
    "Three that I know of. A werepanther named Calvin Norris, who wasn't mortally wounded, and then a shifter girl named Heather Kinman, who's dead. She was shot at the Sonic. Do you know what Sonic is?" Vampires didn't always pay attention to fast-food restaurants, because they didn't eat. (Hey, how many blood banks can you locate off the top of your head?)
    Charles nodded, his curly chestnut hair bouncing on his shoulders. "That's the one where you eat in your car?"
    "Yes, right," I said. "Heather had been in a friend's car, talking, and she got out to walk