“No. I won’t ever force you into subservience. And I will never turn you, since you don’t want it.”

“Even if I’m going to die, don’t turn me. I would hate that more than anything.”

“I agree to that. No matter how much I may want to keep you.”

Right after we’d met, Bill had not changed me when I had been close to death. I’d never realized he might have been tempted to do so. He’d saved my human life instead. I put that away to consider later. Tacky to think about one man when you’re in bed with another.

“You saved me from being bonded to Andre,” I said. “But it cost me.”

“If he’d lived, it would have cost me, too. No matter how mild his reaction, Andre would have paid me back for my intervention.”

“He seemed so calm about it that night,” I said. Eric had persuaded Andre to let him be his proxy. I’d been very grateful at the time, since Andre gave me the creeps and he didn’t give a damn about me, either. I remembered my talk with Tara. If I’d let Andre share blood that night, I’d be free now, since he’s dead. I still couldn’t decide how I felt about that—probably three different ways.

Tonight was turning out to be a huge one for realizations. They could just stop coming any old time now.

“Andre never forgot a challenge to his will,” Eric said. “Do you know how he died, Sookie?”

Ah-oh.

“He got stuck in the chest with a big splinter of wood,” I said, swallowing a little. Like Eric, I didn’t always tell the whole truth. The splinter hadn’t gotten in Andre’s chest by accident. Quinn had done that.

Eric looked at me for what seemed like a very long time. He could feel my anxiety, of course. I waited to see if he’d push the issue. “I don’t miss Andre,” he said finally. “I regret Sophie-Anne, though. She was brave.”

“I agree,” I said, relieved. “By the way, how are you getting along with your new bosses?”

“So far, so good. They’re very forward-thinking. I like that.”

Since the end of October, Eric had had to learn the structure of a new and larger organization, the characters of the vampires who made it work, and how to liaise with the new sheriffs. Even for him, that was a big bite to chew.

“I bet the vamps you had with you before that night are extra glad they pledged loyalty to you, since they survived when so many of the other vamps in Louisiana died that night.”

Eric smiled broadly. It would have been really scary if I hadn’t seen the fang display before. “Yes,” he said with a whole bunch of satisfaction. “They owe me their lives, and they know it.”