dead until dark | Page 3

to give me a hug. He knows that women
like a man who's good to his family and also kind to the disabled, so hugging me is a double whammy of
recommendation. Not that Jason needs many more points than he has just by being himself. He's
handsome. He can sure be mean, too, but most women seem quite willing to overlook that.
"Hey, sis, how's Gran?"
"She's okay, about the same. Come by to see."
"I will. Who's loose tonight?"
"Look for yourself." I noticed that when Jason began to glance around there was a flutter of female
hands to hair, blouses, lips.
"Hey. I see DeeAnne. She free?"
"She's here with a trucker from Hammond. He's in the bathroom. Watch it."
Jason grinned at me, and I marvelled that other women could not see the selfishness of that smile. Even
Arlene tucked in her T-shirt when Jason came in, and after four husbands she should have known a little
about evaluating men. The other waitress I worked with, Dawn, tossed her hair and straightened her
back to make her boobs stand out. Jason gave her an amiable wave. She pretended to sneer. She's on
the outs with Jason, but she still wants him to notice her.
I got really busy—everyone came to Merlotte's on Sat­urday night for some portion of the evening—so
I lost track of my vampire for a while. When I next had a moment to check on him, he was talking to
Denise. Mack was looking at him with an expression so avid that I became worried.
I went closer to the table, staring at Mack. Finally, I let down my guard and listened.
Mack and Denise had been in jail for vampire draining.
Deeply upset, I nevertheless automatically carried a pitcher of beer and some glasses to a raucous table
of four. Since vampire blood was supposed to temporarily relieve symp­toms of illness and increase
sexual potency, kind of like pred-nisone and Viagra rolled into one, there was a huge black market for
genuine, undiluted vampire blood. Where there's a market there are suppliers; in this case, I'd just
learned, the scummy Rat Couple. They'd formerly trapped vampires anddrained them, selling the little

vials of blood for as much as $200 apiece. It had been the drug of choice for at least two years now.
Some buyers went crazy after drinking pure vam­pire blood, but that didn't slow the market any.
The drained vampire didn't last long, as a rule. The drain­ers left the vampires staked or simply dumped
them out in the open. When the sun came up, that was all she wrote. From time to time, you read about
the tables being turned when the vampire managed to get free. Then you got your dead drainers.
Now my vampire was getting up and leaving with the Rats. Mack met my eyes, and I saw him looking
distinctly startled at the expression on my face. He turned away, shrugging me off like everyone else.
That made me mad. Really mad.
What should I do? While I struggled with myself, they were out the door. Would the vampire believe me
if I ran after them, told him? No one else did. Or if by chance they did, they hated and feared me for
reading the thoughts con­cealed in people's brains. Arlene had begged me to read her fourth husband's
mind when he'd come in to pick her up one night because she was pretty certain he was thinking of
leaving her and the kids, but I wouldn't because I wanted to keep the one friend I had. And even Arlene
hadn't been able to ask me directly because that would be admitting I had this gift, this curse. People
couldn't admit it. They had to think I was crazy. Which sometimes I almost was!
So I dithered, confused and frightened and angry, and then I knew I just had to act. I was goaded by the
look Mack had given me—as if I was negligible.
I slid down the bar to Jason, where he was sweeping DeeAnne off her feet. She didn't take much
sweeping, pop­ular opinion had it. The trucker from Hammond was glow­ering from her other side.
"Jason," I said urgently. He turned to give me a warning glare. "Listen, is that chain still in the back of the
pickup?"
"Never leave home without it," he said lazily, his eyes scanning my face for signs of trouble. "You going
to fight, Sookie?"
I smiled at him, so used to grinning that it was easy. "I sure hope not," I said cheerfully.
"Hey, you need help?" After all, he was my brother.
"No, thanks," I said, trying to sound reassuring. And I slipped over to Arlene. "Listen, I got to leave a
little early. My tables are pretty thin, can you cover for me?" I didn't think I'd ever asked Arlene such a
thing, though I'd covered for her many times. She, too, offered