Annabelle took a hesitant step after Jannalynn and Alcide. That was going to be a happy ride back to Shreveport. “Someone will come get him tonight,” Jannalynn called over her shoulder. “So there’ll be activity in your woods. Don’t be alarmed.” When Annabelle glanced back, I noticed she was bleeding from one corner of her mouth. I felt the vampires come to attention. In fact, Alexei stepped away from Jason and would have followed her if Appius Livius hadn’t kept his grip on the boy.

“Should we cover him back up?” Jason said.

“If they’re sending a crew to get him, that seems like wasted effort,” I said. “Eric, I’m so glad you sent Heidi. Otherwise . . .” I thought hard. “Listen, if he was buried on my land, it was so he could be found here, right? So there’s no telling when someone’s going to get a tip to come looking for him.”

The only one who seemed to follow my reasoning was Jason, who said, “Okay, we got to get him out of here.”

I was flapping my hands in the air, I was so anxious. “We’ve got to put him somewhere,” I said. “We could just set him in the cemetery!”

“Naw, too close,” Jason said.

“What about the pond behind your house?” I said.

“Naw, dammit! The fish! I couldn’t ever eat those fish again.”

“Aaargh,” I said. Really!

“Is your time with her usually like this?” Appius Livius asked Eric, who was smart enough not to answer.

“Sookie,” he said. “It won’t be pleasant, but I think I can fly carrying him if you can suggest a good place to put him.”

I felt like my brain was running through a maze and hitting all the dead ends. I actually smacked myself on the side of the head to jog an idea loose. It worked. “Sure, Eric. Put him in the woods right across the road from my driveway. There’s a little bit of a driveway left there, but no house. The Weres can use the driveway as a marker when they come to retrieve him. Cause someone’s coming to find him, and coming soon.”

Without further discussion, Eric leaped into the hole and rewrapped Basim in the sheet or whatever the wrapping was. Though the lantern showed me his face was full of disgust, he scooped up the decomposing body and leaped into the air. He was out of view in a second.

“Damn,” said Jason, impressed. “Cool.”