Look Before You Leap [True Blood]

31: Welcome To The Fun House

"Nope."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Who knows."

I looked around the room again, this time taking it all in. Silver doors lined the walls, like drawers in a morgue; I assumed those were the sleeping arrangements. There were barely enough spots for the people who were currently sitting in this room. Either there were other holding rooms like this one, or we weren't expected to be around for very long. From what I had seen in the white room, I had a feeling it was the latter.

The door that we'd come through was like an airlock. But, instead of keeping oxygen in, it kept the vampires separated from the guards. That door opened and three vampires walked into the room, one I recognized immediately. "Jessica?"

The red head turned surprised and practically threw herself at me. "Lily, thank god." She hugged me tightly and I hugged her back. "They put me in a white room with racquet balls and shot at us."

I nodded. "Us too."

"I almost didn't make it." Jessica was twitching and running her fingers through her hair incessantly.

"Jess, are you ok?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I ate four fairy girls, I'm so fucked up." The other vampires were glancing at us, so Tara moved our conversation to the corner of the room. Jess pulled her knees to her chest and I rubbed her back. "Bill is trying to save us, to save all of the vampires. But what if we don't deserve to be saved?"

"Don't be talking crazy," Tara said.

"I didn't have to kill those girls, but I wanted to."

"Ok, maybe you did, but fairy blood is like a drug. I've seen it affect vampires first hand," I told her.

She shook her head fiercely. "I'm a horrible person. I deserve to die."

"Jessica, look at me," I instructed her. "Calm down."

She blinked and nodded. "Calm down," she mumbled. Her legs dropped to the floor and she leaned her head against the wall. I sighed in relief and turned to Tara, who nodded approvingly.

Vampires started to line up at a window and get their ration of TruBlood. Tara, Jessica, and I joined them. Tara and I slung ours back. It was watered down, but it was better than nothing. "I don't want mine," Jess said, offering us her vial. Suddenly half a dozen vampires were surrounding us.

"Enough!" Someone commanded. The vampires backed down. A tall woman with an accent approached us. "What's wrong with her?" She asked.

"She's fine," Tara and I said at the same time.

The woman shrugged. "I guess this means you owe me."

"Who was that?" Jessica asked when she walked away. Tara and I shrugged.

"I am so over this place," I mumbled.

"Tara? Lily?"

"Willa?" Tara sprinted to the door. Willa was taken down the hall.

"Burrell's daughter is a VIP, she doesn't mix with the likes of you," the guard on the other side said.

"What the hell is she doing here?" Tara asked whirling on me.

I took a step back. "Eric turned her. He was hoping that Governor Burrell would stop this madness if he saw his daughter was still the same. Clearly, it didn't work."

"That's why the two of you weren't talking last night." I nodded. "That piece of shit." I wasn't sure if she was talking about Governor Burrell, Eric, or both.