Sookie 10 Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris Page B

me well enough to call me that. I guess you-all have someone watching Eric’s house.”
    “We do. When we saw you two leaving together, it seemed like a good time to take care of a few things.”
    Corinna hadn’t spoken still, but she was looking around her warily, and I realized she didn’t know where Pam had gone. I grinned. “For the life of me, I don’t know why you’re doing all this. It seems like Victor should be glad to have someone as smart as Eric working for him. Why can’t he appreciate that?”
And leave us alone.
    Bruno took a step closer to me. The light was too poor for me to make out his eye color, but I could tell he was still looking serious. I thought it was strange when Bruno took the time to answer me, but anything that bought us more time was good. “Eric is a great vampire. But Eric will never bow to Victor, not really. And he’s accumulating his own power at a pace that makes Victor anxious. He’s got you, for one thing. Your great-grandfather may have sealed himself away, but who’s to say he won’t come back? And Eric can use your stupid ability whenever he chooses. Victor doesn’t want Eric to have that advantage.” And then Bruno had his hands around my neck. He’d moved so quickly I couldn’t possibly react, and I knew vaguely over the pounding in my ears that there was a sudden and violent commotion going on to my left. I reached behind me to pull the knife, but we were suddenly down in the tall, wet grass at the edge of the shoulder, and I kicked my leg up and over, and pushed, trying to get on top. I kind of overdid it, because we began rolling down into the drainage ditch. That was a pity, because it was filling with water. Bruno couldn’t drown, but I sure could. Wrenching my shoulder with the force of my effort, I yanked the knife out of my skirt when I rotated to the top, and as we rolled yet again I saw dark spots in front of my eyes. I knew this was my last chance. I stabbed Bruno up under his ribs.
    And I killed him.

Chapter 4
    Pam yanked Bruno’s body off me and rolled him all the way down into the water coursing through the ditch. She helped me up.
    “Where were you?” I croaked.
    “Disposing of Corinna,” literal-minded Pam said. She pointed to the body lying by the white car. Fortunately, the corpse was on the side of the car concealed from the view of the rare passerby. In the poor light it was hard to be sure, but I believed Corinna was already beginning to flake away. I’d never seen a dead vampire in the rain before.
    “I thought Bruno was such a great fighter. How come
you
didn’t take him on?”
    “I gave you the knife,” Pam said, giving a good imitation of surprise. “He didn’t have a knife.”
    “Right.” I coughed and, boy, did that hurt my throat. “So what do we do now?”
    “We’re getting out of here,” Pam said. “We’re going to hope that no one noticed my car. I think only three cars passed since we pulled over. With the rain and poor visibility, if the drivers were human, we have a very good chance that none of them will remember seeing us.”
    By then we were back in Pam’s car. “Wouldn’t it be better if we moved the Lexus?” I said, wheezing out the words.
    “What a good idea,” Pam said, patting me on the head. “Do you think you can drive it?”
    “Where to?”
    Pam thought for a moment, which was good, because I needed the recovery time. I was soaked through and shivering, and I felt awful.
    “Won’t Victor know what’s happened?” I asked. I couldn’t seem to stop asking questions.
    “Maybe. He wasn’t brave enough to do this himself, so he has to take the consequences. He’s lost his two best people, and he has nothing to show for it.” Pam was enjoying the hell out of that.
    “I think we get out of here right now. Before some more of his people come to check, or whatever.” I sure wasn’t up for fighting again.
    “It’s you who keeps asking questions. I think Eric will be here soon; I’d better