“Here’s the deal. Someone attacked Dermot, and he’s hurt, and I need to know if there’s anything I should or shouldn’t do to an injured fairy. Anything besides what you do for a human.”

“Who has hurt him?” Bellenos’s voice was sharper.

“Two human guys who broke into the house coming for me. I wasn’t here, but Dermot was, and there was machinery running, and he couldn’t hear too well, and they seem to have hit him on the head. I don’t know what with.”

“Has the bleeding stopped?” he asked, and I could hear Claude’s voice in the background.

“Yes, it’s clotted.”

There was a buzz of voices while Bellenos consulted with various people, or at least that was what it sounded like.

“I’m coming,” Bellenos said at last. “Claude tells me he’s not welcome in your home right now, so I’m coming in his stead. It’ll be nice to get out of this building. No other humans around besides you? I can’t pass.”

“No one else besides me, at least now.”

“I’ll be there soon.”

I relayed this information to Dermot, who was simply looking puzzled. He told me a couple of times he didn’t understand why he was on the floor, and I began to get worried about him. At least he seemed content to stay there.

“Sookie!” Before it had started raining, Dermot had opened the windows because of the sanding. I could hear Bill clearly.

I trailed over to the window with my fringe swaying.

“How is he?” Bill asked, staying well away. “How can I help?”

“You’ve been wonderful,” I said, meaning it. “One of the fae from Monroe is coming over, Bill, so you better go back to your house. When my clothes get dry, could you just leave them on my back steps sometime when it’s not raining? Or if you just put them on your front porch, I can pick ’em up any time.”

“I feel I’ve failed you,” he said.

“How come? You gave me a place to hide; you cleared my driveway; you checked out the house so no one could ambush me again.”

“I didn’t kill them,” he said. “I’d like to.”

I didn’t feel hardly creepy at all at his admission. I was getting used to drastic pronouncements. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” I assured him. “Someone will, if they keep doing stuff like this.”

“Did you form any idea of who had hired them?”

“I’m afraid not.” I really regretted that. “They were going to tie me on some vehicle and take me somewhere.” I hadn’t seen the vehicle in their thoughts, so that part was fuzzy.

“Where was their car parked?”

“I don’t know. I never saw one.” I hadn’t exactly had time to think about it.