"I'm not sure. It was over the phone. Money was put in a locker for me at a Greyhound station." So the Newlins feel okay with calling up the underworld (metaphorical not actual) and ordering kidnaps. Good to know. What was the mission? "Abduct a human with the Compton party and bring her to the church." Sookie has the balls, God love her, to get offended: "Do you [even] know my name?" Nope, didn't even know she was a lady 'til you got off the plane talking about drunk dollhouses. "All I know is a vampire's using a human to find a vampire, Godric." And of course he doesn't know where Godric is, but I'm startin' to feel like I do.

Bill smiles kindly. "You did very well. I'm sure your employers will be pleased." Leon looks at him lovingly, happy for the approval. "Think so?" Knows so. "What could you do? We never arrived. It's not your fault..." Sookie stares, drawn down deep enough into their life, and the stakes, that she can honestly love this. She's fascinated, she's drawn in. It's part of her disability, after all; it's the opposite of what she does. Bill corrects his memory: the flight arrived, they weren't on it. "I got so nervous for nothing!" Leon giggles. Bill laughs, suddenly scary; Sookie follows suit, happily. Has she become like they are?

Watch them, swaying like snakes, brightness hot in their eyes. Watch the pretty lady smile, and laugh, and check her lover's eyes for support. The Black Queen. Watch the silly, funny Black King, looking into their pawn's eyes with such affection. Watch the way they set his greatest fears, his worst nightmares, to rest: You're doing so well. I'm sure your employers will be pleased. What could you do? It's not your fault. You got so nervous for nothing!

See here now: Texas, the chessboard. Nobody's right, nobody's wrong; everybody's at the behest of forces, pains, desires they don't understand: vengeance, power, primacy. Balanced and equal, armies of light and darkness. And each depends on the other for its survival, and for its destruction, and that is the truth of war. Stay only one thing, and your triumph and your tragedy will be change; you will starve, become a skeleton, have your heart torn out. Become everything at once, and you will be reborn a black-eyed child of the night. In the Harryhausen films, the skeletons are armies, born of violence and a miraculous wine.