The Far Reach (Southern Vampire Mystery)

Chapter 9 - Massing the Fleet

Nautical Note: Massing the Fleet is a maneuver where all ships that will be traveling under a single command are brought together and orders of sailing are coordinated. This can be done for parade purposes but more traditionally was done to assure mutual protection.

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Sookie and Twy kept talking until they had hammered out the details. Then Sookie had Twy send for Sonder to commit their agreement to writing. "I will ask my attorney to put this in more formal fashion," Twy said. "I can have it emailed to you."

"You can have it emailed to my attorney. I'll make sure I get you his information." Twy's eyebrow arched and Sookie arched her own eyebrow in return. As Sookie left she could hear Twy barking orders at Sonder about the coming evening.

Sookie found her energy waning. She walked into the corridor, found her first set of stairs and started climbing. When she reached the top she headed back into the corridor and kept walking until she found the open stairs that led to the roof. She could feel the signatures of the two were guards, Charles and Stuart, and knew if she'd kept on walking she would have found them outside their rooms around the next corner. But for now all she could think of was the lure of sun and shade and a soft chaise lounge.

Sookie wasn't sure how much time had elapsed when she found herself being shaken awake. "Mistress? Mistress?" The voice was punctuated with a touching and pressure against her shoulder. Sookie found herself swimming up toward the voice and finally opening her eyes. She recognized the voice as belonging to Meg, the young woman she had met that morning in Devrah's kitchen downstairs.

"Yes? What is it?" Sookie mumbled.

"There is a gentleman here to see you. He says he is your attorney."

"Mr. Cataliades?" Sookie asked. Meg handed over a card and Sookie recognized the elegant design with its heavy black ink and dark red signature border. "Is he downstairs?"

"Yes, Mistress. Would you like me to bring him up here?"

Sookie shrugged. "I don't know. How bad do I look?"

Meg smiled, "Too beautiful for someone having slept on a lounge for hours," she said.

Sookie could see herself in the woman's mind and the picture was not pretty, never mind beautiful. "Here is good. I'm going to duck back to my own room for a minute. Tell him I'll be joining him if I'm not back. Oh, and can you bring up some ice tea with lots of sugar on the side. And do we have any cookies that have ginger or molasses in them?"

Meg shrugged. "If we don't, Mistress it will be easy to secure them. This is New Orleans after all!" Sookie smiled and got herself up as she watched Meg's back disappear down the staircase. Sookie was pleased to find that she didn't have any protesting muscles, but then again she never did regardless of how or where she slept. She thought it was probably a side effect of the blood. With one long last stretch she walked down the stairs and headed to where she could still feel the guards. She was pulling her hair back as she rounded the corner but she could still 'hear' Charles' disapproval coming through loud and clear and Stuart's speculation that she'd been fucking in the donor area.

As Sookie walked past them and through the door that Charles had opened for her she said, "If you must know, I was catching some shut eye on the roof. Get your minds out of the gutter!" She heard their surprise and a quick flash of anger from Stuart. Then she headed straight to the combination kitchenette and half bath in the corner. She turned on the light and assessed the damage. It wasn't bad; nothing a brush and a splash of cold water wouldn't cure.