When I got home, Bubba pulled in right behind me in his amazing car. I saw that Dawson’s truck was there, too. I wasn’t surprised. Dawson worked as a bodyguard from time to time, and he was in the area. Since Alcide had decided he wanted to help, Tray Dawson was an obvious choice, regardless of his relationship with Amelia.

Tray himself was sitting at my kitchen table when Bubba and I came in. For the first time since I’d known him, the big man looked seriously startled. But he was smart enough not to blurt anything out.

“Tray, this is my friend Bubba,” I said. “Where’s Amelia?”

“She’s upstairs. I got some business to talk with you.”

“I figured. Bubba’s here for the same reason. Bubba, this is Tray Dawson.”

“Hey, Tray!” Bubba shook hands, laughing because he’d made a rhyme. He hadn’t translated real well. The spark of life had been so faint by the time a morgue attendant of the fanged persuasion had gotten hold of him, and the drugs in his system so pervasive, that Bubba had been lucky to survive the bringing over as well as he had, which wasn’t too well.

“Hey,” Tray said cautiously. “How are you doing . . . Bubba?”

I was relieved Tray’d picked up on the name.

“I’m real good, thank you. Got me some blood in the cooler out there, and Miss Sookie keeps some TrueBlood in the refrigerator, or at least she used to.”

“Yes, I have some,” I said. “You want to sit down, Bubba?”

“No, ma’am. I think I’ll just grab me a bottle and settle down out in the woods. Bill still live across the cemetery?”

“Yes, he does.”

“Always good to have friends close.”

I wasn’t sure I could call Bill my friend; our history was too complicated for that. But I was absolutely sure that he’d help me if I was in danger. “Yes,” I said, “that’s always good.”

Bubba rummaged around in the refrigerator and came out with a couple of bottles. He raised them to me and Tray, and took his leave smiling.

“Good God Almighty,” Tray said. “That who I think it is?”

I nodded and took a seat opposite him.

“Explains all the sightings,” he said. “Well, listen, you got him out there and me in here. That okay with you?”

“Yes. I guess you’ve talked to Alcide?”

“Yeah. I’m not trying to get in your business, but it would have been better to hear all this from you directly. Especially since you talked to Amelia about this guy Drake, and Amelia’s all upset because apparently she’s been blabbing to the enemy. If we’d known about your troubles, she would have kept her mouth shut. I would have killed him when he first introduced himself. Saved all of us a lot of trouble. You think about that?”