things hung in the balance, when the bar could have turned into a bloodbath. None of my fellow humans seemed to quite comprehend how strong vampires were, or how ruthless. Bill had moved in front of me, a fact registered by every citizen in Merlotte’s.

“Well, if we’re not wanted . . .” Malcolm said. His thick-muscled masculinity warred with the fluting voice he suddenly affected. “These good people would like to eat meat, Diane, and do human things. By themselves. Or with our former friend Bill.”

“I think the little waitress would like to do a very human thing with Bill,” Diane began, when Malcolm caught her by the arm and propelled her from the room before she could cause more damage.

The entire bar seemed to shudder collectively when they were out the door, and I thought I better leave, even though Susie hadn’t shown up yet. Bill waited for me outside; when I asked him why, he said he wanted to be sure they’d really left.

I followed Bill to his house, thinking we’d gotten off relatively lightly from the vampire visitation. I wondered why Diane and Malcolm had come; it seemed odd to me that they would be cruising so far from home and decide, on a whim, to drop in Merlotte’s. Since they were making no real effort at assimilation, maybe they wanted to scotch Bill’s prospects.

The Compton house was visibly different from the last time I’d been in, the sickening evening I’d met the other vampires.

The contractors were really coming through for Bill, whether because they were scared not to or because he was paying well, I didn’t know. Maybe both. The living room was getting a new ceiling and the new wallpaper was white with a delicate flowered pattern. The hardwood floors had been cleaned, and they shone as they must have originally. Bill led me to the kitchen. It was sparse, naturally, but bright and cheerful and had a brand-new refrigerator full of bottled synthetic blood (yuck).

The downstairs bathroom was opulent.

As far as I knew, Bill never used the bathroom; at least for the primary human function. I stared around me in amazement.

The space for this grand bathroom had been achieved by including what had formerly been the pantry and about half the old kitchen.

“I like to shower,” he said, pointing to a clear shower stall in one corner. It was big enough for two grownups and maybe a dwarf or two. “And I like to lie in warm water.” He indicated the centerpiece of the room, a huge sort of tub surrounded by an indoor deck of cedar, with steps on two sides. There were potted plants arranged all around it. The room was as close to being in the middle of a very luxurious jungle as you could get in northern Louisiana.

“What is that?” I asked, awed.

“It’s a portable spa,” Bill said proudly. “It has jets you can adjust individually so each person can get the right force of water. It’s a hot tub,” he simplified.

“It has seats,” I said, looking in. The interior was decorated around the top with green and blue tiles. There were fancy controls on the outside.

Bill turned them, and water began to surge.

“Maybe we can bathe together?” Bill suggested.

I felt my cheeks flame, and my heart began to pound a little faster.

“Maybe now?” Bill’s fingers tugging at my shirt where it was tucked into my black shorts.

“Oh, well. . . maybe.” I couldn’t seem to look at him straight when I thought of how this—okay, man—had seen more of me than I’d ever let anyone see, including my doctor.

“Have you missed me?” he asked, his hands unbuttoning my shorts and peeling them down.

“Yes,” I said promptly because I knew that to be true.

He laughed, even as he knelt to untie my Nikes. “What did you miss most, Sookie?”

“I missed your silence,” I said without thinking at all.

He looked up. His fingers paused in the act of pulling the end of the bow to loosen it.

“My silence,” he said.

“Not being able to hear your thoughts. You just can’t imagine, Bill, how wonderful that is.”

“I was thinking you’d say something else.”

“Well, I missed that, too.”

“Tell me about it,” he invited, pulling my socks off and running his fingers up my thigh, tugging off the panties and shorts.

“Bill! I’m embarrassed,” I protested.

“Sookie, don’t be embarrassed with me. Least of anyone, with me.” He was standing now, divesting me of my shirt and reaching behind me to unsnap my bra, running his hands