Look Before You Leap [True Blood]

20: The Gangs All Here

"Nice to meet you," Sookie said. Lily and I just mumbled.

"What can I do for you all?" Dug asked.

"We just need to ask you a few questions," Sookie walked over towards the spot where Russell had been dug up. Sookie, Lily and I grabbed hands and then added Dug into our circle; he looked confused but followed along anyways. "What do you remember about that night?"

"Not much," he said. Sookie sent a pulse of her fairy magic through the circle and it was like his blocked memory had been unlocked to us. We watched a lady dig up Russell. "Ew," I murmured when a creepy bloody body was pulled out. The lady turned just slightly, we couldn't see her face but a pendant flashed.

Lily gasped. "That's the Authority symbol. The woman that dug Russell up is in the Authority!" She whirled around breaking our circle. "Which one is it then? The crazy southern lady or Salome?"

Bill ignored her and turned to Eric. "You told Nora. You told Nora and now we're all going to be killed because of your mistake."

"Oh, I guess she's a possibility too," Lily said unhappily.

"Who's Nora?" I asked. No one said anything and I sighed; I had gone from being in the in crowd to being on the fringes in a matter of days.

"Come on, let's go," Sookie said ushering us all into one of the Herveaux construction trucks. I stuffed myself between Alcide and Sookie in the front seat and Dug sat on the other side of Sookie. Lily climbed in the back with the vampires. I lay my head against the back wall and tried to read Lily's mind so I could hear what was going on but she was totally closed off to me.

LPOV

I sat in the back of the truck with Eric and Bill on the drive to wherever it was that Russell had been taken. They were arguing over whether Nora was behind this or not. I had to admit I kind of agreed with Bill but of course I wasn't going to say that in front of Eric. Nora hated me, I wouldn't put it past her to hand me over to Russell. Though she hadn't know I would be coming, but that was beside the point. Nora was a bitch.

"What do you think, Lily?" Bill asked.

"Maybe she did it, maybe she didn't. I don't really want to go pointing fingers unless we know for sure. You get a little to trigger happy sometimes, Bill," I said trying to quiet the argument.

"Nora was trying to help us," Eric said.

"That's what she said she was trying to do; we all know Nora is a traitor and a liar, just like her brother," Bill said. Eric jumped towards Bill fangs out.

"Would you two stop it?" I yelled. Bill's phone rang then and we all stopped moving. "Well answer it!" Bill opened the phone and talked quietly to the person on the other end. A little light flashed under Bill's shirt and I turned to see the same light on Eric. "Well fuck," I mumbled.

"We don't have much time," Bill said to us when he hung up. The truck came to a stop and Eric opened the door and helped me out. We were standing in front of a creepy old building.

"Why is it that the battle scenes never take place somewhere fun like a mall? Of course we'd find Russell in an abandoned hospital," Rachel said coming to stand next to me.

"I think it's better if you three girls stay outside with Dug and Alcide," Bill said.

I snorted "I'd just like to point out my head is also up on the chopping block if you two fail so I'm going with you, and I'm pretty sure that Rachel and Sookie will feel the same way."

"I'm tougher than I look," Rachel said. "You should know that by now."

I grabbed Rachel and the two of us walked into the creepy hospital together. Sookie followed behind us with Dug so we'd know where to turn. Alcide followed protectively behind Rachel, his hand resting on her back. Alcide sniffed around, "Wolves have been here."

"Wolves you know?" Rachel asked looking at him.

"Maybe, it's hard to tell."

"Probably those freaks that hung out with Marcus."

I realized that even though Rachel and I had been apart for just a few days we both had entirely different lives already. We walked through another door into a room that probably used to be a waiting room. Sookie pushed back a curtain and a terrible smell hit me I moved to see what was in the room, piles of dead bodies covered in rats lay rotting and I gagged at the smell. "Seems we're in the right place," Eric commented.

"Come on," Sookie said leading us down another hallway. There was a loud noise and Dug screamed and turned around and ran off. Sookie and Alcide ran after him. The turned into a room and there was more screaming.

"Ugh why does everyone insist on yelling when I have a headache?" Rachel groaned before pulling me down the hallway towards the others. In the room people hung from the ceiling several of the looked dead but a few of them were moving and others were yelling. Sookie twisted me and Rachel back around and led us down another hall.

"Are you ready?" Bill asked us. We all nodded once before pushing ahead. As we went through a final door I slipped ahead of Rachel and Sookie and stood between Eric and Bill. Rachel grabbed Alcide's hand behind me. On the bed in front of us a very worn out looking Russell was stretched out, though he looked significantly better than he did in the glimpse I'd gotten from Dug. I took a step towards him and he looked over at me.

"Oh Miss Compton, well I don't believe we've met before. Your sister was a lovely guest to have, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Fuck off," I said.

He chuckled and then coughed. "That isn't very nice." There was a growl behind me and I turned just in time to see Alcide disappear and hear Rachel scream.