Deadlocked: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

How are you? Come in!”
    Niall smelled wonderful—fairies do. To some extra-sensitive vampire noses, I have a faint trace of the same odor, though I can’t detect it myself.
    My ex-boyfriend Bill had told me once that to him the fae smelled like his memory of the taste of apples.
    Enveloped in my great-grandfather’s overwhelming presence, I experienced the rush of affection and amazement I always did when I was with him. Tall and regal, clad in an immaculate black suit, white shirt, and black tie, Niall was both beautiful and ancient.
    He was also a dab unreliable when it came to facts. Tradition says fairies can’t lie, and the fairies themselves will tell you so—but they sure skirt the truth when it suits them. Sometimes I thought that Niall had lived for so long that his memory simply skipped a beat or two. It was a struggle to remember this when I was with him, but I forced myself to keep it in my mind.
    “I’m well, as you see.” He gestured at his magnificence, though to do him credit I believe he simply intended to draw my attention to his unwounded state. “And you are beautiful, as always.”
    Fairies are also somewhat flowery in their speech—unless they’ve been living among humans for a long time, like Claude.
    “I thought you were sealed off.”
    “I widened the portal in your woods,” he said, as if the action had been a casual whim of his. After the big deal he’d made about sealing the fae in for the protection of humanity, severing all his business ties with the human world, and so on, he’d enlarged an opening and comethrough … because he wanted to check on my well-being? Even the fondest great-granddaughter could smell a rat.
    “I knew that portal was there,” I said, because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
    He cocked his head. His white-blond hair moved like a satin curtain. “Was it you who put the body in?”
    “I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anywhere else to put it.” Corpse disposal was not one of my talents.
    “It was consumed entirely, if that was your purpose. Please abstain in the future. We don’t want there to be crowding around the portal,” he said in gentle admonishment, rather as though I’d been feeding pets from the dinner table.
    “Sorry,” I said. “So—why are you here?” I heard the bluntness of my words and felt myself turning red. “I mean, to what do I owe the honor of your visit? Can I get you a drink or something to eat?”
    “No thank you, dearest. Where have you been this evening? You smell of the fae and humans and many other things.”
    I took a deep breath and tried to explain Ladies Only night at Hooligans. With every sentence, I felt more of a fool. You should have seen Niall’s face when I told him that one night a week, human women paid to watch men take their clothes off. He sure didn’t get it.
    “Do men do this also?” he asked. “Go in groups to special buildings, pay to watch women undress?”
    I said, “Yes, men much more often than women. The other nights, that’s what happens at Hooligans.”
    “And Claude makes money this way,” Niall said wonderingly. “Why don’t the men just ask the women to take their clothes off, if they want to see their bodies?”
    I took another deep breath but let it out without attemptingfurther explanation. Some topics were just too complicated to tackle, especially with a fairy who’d never lived in our world. Niall was a tourist, not a resident. “Can we bypass this whole discussion until another time, or maybe until never? Surely there’s something more important you want to talk about?” I said.
    “Of course. May I sit?”
    “Be my guest.” We sat on the couch, angled forward so we were looking into each other’s faces. There’s nothing like having a fairy examine you to make you acutely aware of your every flaw.
    “You’ve recovered well,” he said, to my surprise.
    “I have,” I said, trying not to glance down, as if my scarred thigh would show through my