"Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse 03 - Club Dead" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harris Charlaine)

gets hereтАФEric, or Chow, or Miss Pam, or even Clancy. So if you go to work, I go with you. And I
take care of anyone who bothers you."

There was no point in questioning Bubba further, putting strain on that fragile brain. He'd just get
upset, and you didn't want to see that happen. That was why you had to remember not to call him by his
former name тАж though every now and then he would sing, and that was a moment to remember.

"You can't come in the bar," I said bluntly. That would be a disaster. The clientele of Merlotte's is
used to the occasional vampire, sure, but I couldn't warn everyone not to say his name. Eric must have
been desperate; the vampire community kept mistakes like Bubba out of sight, though from time to time
he'd take it in his head to wander off on his own. Then you got a "sighting," and the tabloids went crazy.
"Maybe you could sit in my car while I work?" The cold wouldn't affect Bubba.

"I got to be closer than that," he said, and he sounded immovable.
"Okay, then, how about my boss's office? It's right off the bar, and you can hear me if I yell."
Bubba still didn't look satisfied, but finally, he nodded. I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been
holding. It would be easiest for me to stay home, call in sick. However, not only did Sam expect me to
show up, but also, I needed the paycheck.
The car felt a little small with Bubba in the front seat beside me. As we bumped off my property,
through the woods and out to the parish road, I made a mental note to get the gravel company to come
dump some more gravel on my long, meandering driveway. Then I canceled that order, also mentally. I
couldn't afford that right now. It'd have to wait until spring. Or summer.
We turned right to drive the few miles to Merlotte's, the bar where I work as a waitress when I'm
not doing Heap Big Secret Stuff for the vampires. It occurred to me when we were about halfway there
that I hadn't seen a car Bubba could've used to drive to my house. Maybe he'd flown? Some vamps
could. Though Bubba was the least talented vampire I'd met, maybe he had a flair for it.
 A year ago I would've asked him, but not now. I'm used to hanging around with the undead now.
Not that I'm a vampire. I'm a telepath. My life was hell on wheels until I met a man whose mind I couldn't
read. Unfortunately, I couldn't read his mind because he was dead. But Bill and I had been together for
several months now, and until recently, our relationship had been real good. And the other vampires need
me, so I'm safeтАФto a certain extent. Mostly. Sometimes.
Merlotte's didn't look too busy, judging from the half-empty parking lot. Sam had bought the bar
about five years ago. It had been failingтАФmaybe because it had been cut out of the forest, which loomed
all around the parking lot. Or maybe the former owner just hadn't found the right combination of drinks,
food, and service.
Somehow, after he renamed the place and renovated it, Sam had turned balance sheets around.
He made a nice living off it now. But tonight was a Monday night, not a big drinking night in our neck of
the woods, which happened to be in northern Louisiana. I pulled around to the employee parking lot,
which was right in front of Sam Merlotte's trailer, which itself is behind and at right angles to the
employee entrance to the bar. I hopped out of the driver's seat, trotted through the storeroom, and
peeked through the glass pane in the door to check the short hall with its doors to the rest rooms and
Sam's office. Empty. Good. And when I knocked on Sam's door, he was behind his desk, which was
even better.

Sam is not a big man, but he's very strong. He's a strawberry blond with blue eyes, and he's
maybe three years older than my twenty-six. I've worked for him for about that many years. I'm fond of
Sam, and he's starred in some of my favorite fantasies; but since he dated a beautiful but homicidal
creature a couple of months before, my enthusiasm has somewhat faded. He's for sure my friend, though.

"'Scuse me, Sam," I said, smiling like an idiot.