That explained the delay in Eric’s cal ing me … but it didn’t make me feel any better. “What makes Freyda so wel -known?” I bypassed al the obvious conversational openings that Bil ’s little speech presented to lock in on what was most interesting to me. I was al too aware that Bil could see how desperate I was to know more about her, and I just didn’t care.
Bil kindly looked down at his hands as he told me, “She’s beautiful, of course. Ambitious. Young. She’s not content to sit on her throne and let things hum along. By the way, she had to fight for that throne. She kil ed her predecessor, and he didn’t make it easy. Freyda has worked hard to extend the business dealings of Oklahoma. The only thing slowing her progress is her lack of a strong and loyal second. If she acquires the strong vampire she needs to serve as her right hand, she’l always have to watch her back against that vampire’s ambition. If she marries this right hand, he can’t succeed her. His loyalty wil be assured, because his fate is bound to hers.”
I pondered this for a few minutes, while Bil sat in silence. Vampires are great at that. I caught his eyes on my face. I got the impression that Bil felt sorry for me. A worm of panic twisted in my stomach.
“Freyda’s strong, active, and determined,” I said. “Like Eric. And you say she needs a good fighter, a good second. Like Eric.”
“Yes, like Eric,” he said deliberately. “Freyda would be a great match for him. Practical y speaking, he’d escape from the political situation created by his murder of Victor. The king’s going to have to do something to Eric. Felipe real y can’t afford to be perceived as ignoring Victor’s death.”
“Why not?”
He looked at me blankly.
“Felipe let Victor get away with whatever the hel Victor wanted to do,” I said. “Why shouldn’t he be perceived that way?”
“He doesn’t want to lose the loyalty of the vampires who serve him,” Bil said.
“That’s ridiculous!” I thought steam would come out of my ears. “You can’t have it al different ways!”
“But he’l try. I don’t think you’re real y angry about Felipe. You’re real y angry about the hard practicality of Eric marrying Freyda.” I winced, but Bil continued ruthlessly. “You have to admit that her character is much like Eric’s and that they’d make a good team.”
“Eric’s my team,” I said. “He loves me. He wants to stay here.” I realized that I was, so to speak, batting with another hand now. I’d been just as sure the night before that Eric would leave, that he loved power more than he loved me.
“But … Sookie, you must see … staying might be the death of him.”
I could read a mixture of pity and tough love in Bil ’s attitude. “Bil , are you sure you’re able to judge that?”
“I hope that I have your best interests in my heart, Sookie.” He paused, as if considering whether he should go on. “I know you’l suspect everything I say about this situation—because I love you, and I don’t love Eric. But truly, I want your happiness, above almost everything else.”
Almost everything else. I found myself wondering what came ahead of that. His own survival?
I heard the screen door bang, and Dermot hurried out to his car.
“Got to get to the club,” he cal ed.
“Drive careful,” I cal ed back. He was gone before I could say anything more. I turned back to Bil , who was staring at the spot where Dermot had stood, a wistful expression on his face. No wonder Dermot had hurried; he’d surely known a vampire was in the backyard and that his scent would be attractive. “Let’s get back to the Kym Rowe issue,” I said, to get Bil ’s attention. “What can I do to help you find out who kil ed her?”
“The first person we’d want to talk to is Mustapha, and he’s vanished. Tel me exactly what he said when he was here.”
“Which time? When he was here before the night of the party, or when he was here after the party?”
“Tel me about both visits.”
I related the first conversation to Bil , though there was surprisingly little to tel . Mustapha’d been here. He’d relayed Pam’s warning, which I hadn’t understood until I’d met Freyda. He’d warned me about Jannalynn. The second time he was here, he’d been worried about Warren.
“You’ve told Eric this?” he asked.
I snorted. “We’re not exactly having lengthy heart-to-hearts these days. My conversation with Freyda was longer than any talk I’ve had with Eric.”
Wisely, Bil didn’t comment. He recapped. “So Mustapha comes to your house, though he’s been missing ever since the girl died. He tel s you that he wants to talk to Alcide, but he’s afraid to cal him or approach him directly since Jannalynn might be around to intercept him.”
I thought that was a fair summary. “Yes, and I’ve passed that message along to Alcide,” I said. “Plus, what’s most important to Mustapha, his friend Warren is missing. I think someone abducted Warren, and they’re holding him in return for Mustapha’s good behavior.”
“Then finding Warren would be a good thing,” Bil said, and I winced when I heard his voice. I’d screwed up.
“I get that it was dumb for me not to have mentioned this first of al ,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“Tel me about this Warren.”
“You haven’t ever seen him?”
Bil shrugged. “No. Why would I?”
“He’s a shooter. He was stationed outside Fangtasia the night we kil ed Victor.”
“So that was Warren. Skinny little guy, big eyes, long hair?”
“Sounds right.”
“What are he and Mustapha to each other?”
It was my turn to shrug. “I have no idea. They were in prison together, I think.”
“Mustapha was in prison?”
I nodded. “Yeah, his real name is KeShawn Johnson. I got that out of his head.”
Bil look puzzled. “But … do you remember the vampire who decapitated Wybert at the beginning of the brawl at Sophie-Anne’s monastery?”
“I’l never forget that. Thin, dreadlocks?”
“His name was Ra Shawn.”
We were just swapping expressions. It was my turn to do Puzzled. “No, I don’t recol ect that at al . Oh … wait, yeah. Andre told me his name.”
“You don’t think it’s an interesting coincidence? Ra Shawn and KeShawn? Both black? Both supernaturals?”
“But one’s a werewolf, and the other was a vampire. Ra Shawn could have been born hundreds of years ago. I guess they could be related.”
“I think that’s just possible.” Bil was giving me a long-suffering look.
“The database,” I suggested, and he pul ed a little bunch of keys from his pocket. There was a black rectangle attached to the key ring.
“I have it right here,” he said, and I was amazed al over again at Bil ’s plunge into the modern world.
“And that would be a what?” I asked.
“This is a jump drive.” Bil looked quizzical.
“Oh, sure.” I’d had enough of feeling dumb for the evening. We went inside so Bil could use my computer. Bil carried over a chair for me and then took his seat in the rol ing chair directly in front of the screen.
He inserted the little stick into a slot I hadn’t even realized was on the side of my computer. After a couple of minutes, he had The Vampire Directory on the screen.
“Wow.” I looked at the opening, some very dramatic graphics. A pair of Gothic gates hung closed, a giant lock on them. The background music was dark and atmospheric. I hadn’t paid any attention when I’d used a stolen copy of the database before, because I’d been so conscious of my guilt. Now I could appreciate the graveyard humor in Bil ’s presentation. A written introduction appeared superimposed on the gates in many different languages. After you selected the language you wanted, a solemn voice read the introduction out loud. Bil skipped through al that. He touched a few keys, and the Gothic gates creaked open to show al our options. As Bil explained, you could sort the vampires in different ways. You could look for vampires in Yugoslavia, for example, or you could look for female vampires in the St. Louis area. Or al vampires more than a thousand years old in Myanmar.