Dead Reckoning Book Eleven

Synopsis of Dead Reckoning

Sookie and Claude and Dermot are still sharing the old Stackhouse place and Sookie and her fam go up and clean out the storage room of her attic. They pile up most of the stuff to be burned but some things she keeps, including an old desk and some boxes with letters and papers and pictures she intends to go through later. When she sees Sam, she tells him about the stuff out of her attic and they make a date to go to Shreveport and see a lady who owns an antique shop. Sam is still dating Jannalynn and Sookie is of course still with Eric.

During the evening, someone fire bombs Merlotte's and no one is hurt and the damage is minimal but through their bond, Eric sensed her fear and flew on out to see what had happened her. He sees she is essentially unhurt except for a few minor burns and her hair is burnt a little. Eric is more aggravated that she is in danger.

She goes home with Eric to her house and Pam and a young man are there, Eric has ordered a hair dresser to cut Sookie's hair and Pam is more than down in the dumps. She has fallen for a human woman who is dying of leukemia and Pam wants to turn her before she is too sick and Victor, Filipe De Castro's right hand man and present regent of Louisiana refused permission and Pam is pretty desperate.

Eric begins arguing with Sookie to leave her home and Merlotte's and come and live with him. But she postpones that chat for later. Right now she is thinking the person who threw that fire bomb was not human.

Pam and Eric seem to be at odds with one another. Part of it has to do with her human and part has to do with the situation with the regent, Victor and Filipe De Castro being out of reach. Eric and Pam actually even go at each other in a violent episode with Sookie and the shocked hair dresser looking on. Since they are human, they stand back a bit and let the Vampires at it.

Sookie finds out the hair dresser is the brother of Pam's human companion and he tells her all about the situation. Sookie lets the two battle it out a bit longer and finally separates them by dumping water on them. She is pretty put out with them and she sends them home.

Dermot and Claude come home and she tells them the nutshell version of the story and is a bit puzzled they would ask her if she wanted them to sleep with her. It was an odd fairy thing she didn't quite get and she was more than interested in exploring…Once she got some sleep.

The next morning, Sam wakes her, ready to go to Shreveport which she thought he would not be interested in doing since the fire and everything. So Sookie gets ready and they drive to Shreveport. Sookie tells Sam her suspicions about the firebomber and then Sam tells her that he read up on fairies in a special shifter database that he can tell her little snips about but he can't let her see…Which pisses Sookie off.

They meet with the antiques people and they make a date for them to come and look at her stuff. On the way back they talk about Sam's relationship with Jannalynn and she gets a call from Remy Savoy, Hunter's dad and he asks Sookie to attend a meet and greet at Hunter's school in preparation for his first day.

Sookie is beginning to think Dermot and Claude are hanging around for a reason, and she suspects it is to make her a little more fae by virtue of hanging around them. Sam says he will check out the info in the were/shifter data base but the people she should really speak to is Claude and Dermot. So the go to Hooligans.

They find that Hooligans is full of the fae, like they are having a meeting or some sorts. Sam and Sookie are met at the door by Bellenos, an elf. She also meets Nella Jean, another cousin. Sam comes right out and asks Claude why Sookie is feeling more fae, and Claude is a little secretive but he agrees that Sookie should know and he promises to tell her.

Sookie goes home, takes a glamor bath and gets dressed for work. Work has been slow these days because of the hate for the shifters and the fire bombing and some white trash competition. Holly is planning her wedding to Hoyt and coming to terms with Jason's friendship with him. Claude and Dermot never do come home for their little chat with Sookie.

That night, Eric meets Sookie on her porch. He tells her we wants to take her to Victor's bar, the Vampire Kiss. They have been ordered there by Victor. But the meeting is a fiasco because Pam's human is there and all drugged up and is being fed upon….which is bad for Pam and Eric is having his nose rubbed into the fact Vampire's Kiss is competition to Fangtasia and Victor ties to feed Pam and Eric Fae blood. Sookie is told this by a waiter named Colton who thought to her not to let the Vampires drink from the glasses because of the blood. Sookie sends Eric a negative order through the connection and he declines drinking from the tainted glass and Pam follows his lead.

They are dismissed and Pam is allowed to take her human home with her. In the car, Eric and Pam get into a fight and Eric orders Pam to be still and Sookie to drop the matter with Victor. This of course pisses Sookie off and she sends Eric home when he drops her off. But Sookie wonders where Victor got the fairy blood.

The next morning Claude and Dermot are cornered by Sookie. She tells them about the fairy blood and they said one of their fairies went missing. The they tell her about how Niall had come to check out Fintan's children looking for what they called the essential spark. They said she was the one who had it. Then, she finds out Niall had contacted Eric that should she need anything, Eric was to contact him. The result was Claudine was sent to be her fairy godmother. They said she was whithering, that was, she was aging and that was part of why they were staying with her, to share their essence with her to keep her healthy and feeling and looking young.

They then told her a little bit about the portal. There is a portal just in her woods, a thin place where the fae can go in and out and this place was still left ajar. Dermot then asks Sookie if he can have the big room in the attic now it is cleaned out. Sookie agrees.

When the appraisers come to look at her stuff, they find something hidden in a big desk. Sookie tucks it away to look at later .

That evening, Sookie was working at the bar and helping Sam with his paperwork for the insurance company about the fire. Jack and Lily Leeds appear and tells her that Sandra Pelt was out of jail and may come gunning for Sookie. Sookie is also told that should she need legal advice, she was to go to Mr. Cataliades when suddenly out of nowhere, four guys come in and hey make it quite clear they are here for Sookie. Andy, Danny Prideaux, and Sam jump in and subdue them.

The morning, Sookie took time to look at the thing they found in the desk. First she calls Mr. Cataliades to see what he knows about Sandra Pelt and then she calls her witch friend Amelia. Amelia says she and Bob got back to together and they offer to come down and strengthen the wards around her house. She then gets to the things found in the desk. It was a letter hidden in a dress pattern envelope and a velvet bag. The letter was from her grandmother. Basically she tells Sookie about her affair with Fintan and something called a cluviel dor. It is a fairy love token and Adele was given the token when Fintan died by Niall.

The Cluveil Dor was basically a thing a person could use to make a wish for someone they love. Sookie wonders if the cluveil dor is the thing that has drawn her fairy cousins Dermot and Claude to the house.

She went to work the next day. She has heard from Amelia and she said she was on her way up and she had information about her c.d. Tara had also sent out an email about the baby and this reminded Sookie about the shower she was throwing for her. At work, Sookie talks to Andy who tells her that Halleigh is pregnant and asks her to tell Bill about it. Andy is still coming to grips with Bill being a part of the Bellefleur family.

Andy has heard Bill has a Vampire girlfriend. This is Judith, Bill's Vampire sister who came to give him blood and has stayed a while with Bill.

Just then, as Sookie is thinking about love and Sam and Vampires and the like, Sandra Pelt comes striding in and she is ferociously pissed. She screams at Sookie, asking her why she just won't be dead. Terry Bellefleur attacks Sandra Pelt and holds her while Bud and Andy do their duty and haul her away. That is when Terry, shell shocked as he was, confesses that he had been approached by a tall blond and a man who shined. Eric and Niall. He had been asked to keep an eye on Sookie, even when she dated Bill and Terry then says he met Bubba in her woods. He said they promised nothing would happen to his dogs and he would stop having bad dreams.

Eric was waiting for her outside the bar. Eric comes to her and tells her he wants her to move in with him, that worries about her constantly They go to her house to discuss it more fully. She tells him she is honored and flattered he would ask her to live with him. But she then sort of points out that he did wrong by having Terry keep an eye on her and the underhanded way he got her to marry him. She asks him if he would want her to live with him if he didn’t have a bond with her. Eric is confused. Did she think he would not want her so much if he was not so closely bound with her.

And then she talks about his general attitude about things. Like Appius having sex with Alexi, which troubles Sookie. Another problem was the fact she is mortal and he will outlive her. Eric then offers to turn her. Her silence suggests she would not want that. He asks her why she wouldn't want that, to live forever with him.

Sookie tells him she doesn't know. But she adds she feels that he would not want to stick around when she started to look old. Just when the conversation was about to come to a sad end, there is a knocking on the door and Sookie sees it is Amelia and Bob. Sookie explains to Eric she was having Amelia strengthen the wards around the house.

Amelia and Bob turn in and Sookie goes to her kitchen to lock up and was surprised by a knock at the back door. She goes to the door and it is Bill Compton. She goes out to talk to him.

He tells her about Judith, his Vampire sister. She had been turned because she looked so much like his mortal wife. The two had stayed away from each other because of Lorena and because they thought one hated the other. But when Bill got sick form silver poisoning, Sookie contacted her to so she could heal him. She had been staying with Bill and now she wants to be with him. Judith had an overwhelming obsession with Bill and he just simply didn't care for her that way and now she was there. He had sex with her to show his gratitude to her and to try to free himself from his love for Sookie, but now he was ready for her to be gone.

Unbeknownst to him Judith has been listening to them. She says she will leave and not trouble Bill anymore and she turns on her heels and leaves. Sookie is about to go into the house when the phone rings. It is Sheriff Dearborn who tells her Sandra has escaped. Bill offers to stand watch over her. He still loves her.

The next day, Sookie accompanies Remy and Hunter to school for the welcoming party. Remy is tense because Hunter is a telepath like Sookie and he wants to help the little boy transition into a world where he will be surrounded by busy minds, minds he may be tempted to blurt out loud about.

They got to the different rooms and there is one room Hunter does not want to go into. That is because the teacher is not a very nice person and she likes to make people she considers bad people to fear her and she likes to hurt them. This extends to kids as well. Sookie confronts her and then Sookie tells Hunter not to worry, he won't ever have to have her as a teacher and he should call her should he have a problem.

Sookie then tells Remy she was the recipient of Hadley's will and though she didn't leave much, she did have the jewelry and if he wanted it to sell and put together for Hunter's future, she would be happy to give it to him. Sookie tells him she thinks Hadley did not mention her son in her will because she did not want other Vampires to know about Hunter.

Sookie goes home and finds Amelia and Bob doing their witchy stuff around her house so she decided to take a walk around in the woods behind her house and see if she could not spot a portal or thin spot. She very much wanted to speak to her grandfather Niall.

She spots the portal and stoops down and begins to speak into it, addressing the portal as if she had Niall right there. She tells him she misses him and she asks him some questions and tells him she is having troubles. Nothing happens but since it is getting toward dark and she has Sandra pelt in her face and troubles with Vampires, she decided to go on to the house.

Amelia tells Sookie she can break the blood bond with Eric. Sookie makes sure the spell would not harm Eric. She tells her it wouldn't and Sookie lets her do it. Immediately Sookie feels free of Eric's emotional static . Seconds later, the phone rings and it is Eric and he is frantic. He felt the bond let go as well and it terrified him. The Vampire marriage was some protection but it was the bond that was their truest protection and now she had severed it. He was very angry with her and he said he did not want to see her til he calmed down.

The next night, Sookie sees Eric. Eric tells her that he was very angry with her last night and he is now terrified something will happen to her and he won’t know it. Sookie tells him she loves him and they make fierce, passionate love on her porch swing. After, Sookie catches up with Eric. She asks about Miriam, Pam's human companion, and Eric tells her she is recovered from the blood drinking and the drugs Victor had given her. Eric then tells her Vampire blood is great with wounds but it does not cure disease. It can offer relief but it cannot cure them. That was why Pam was so desperate to turn her but Victor would not give her permission.

Eric tells her Filipe would allow her to turn Miriam but he wants to stay as neutral as he can because of Victor. With Filipe's territory so large, his influence is a little thin and he is having some competition from a couple of monarchs. One of them is the Queen of Oklahoma and the other is the king of Arizona.

Sookie tells him she wished Eric was more like an ordinary Vampire, and he suggests she wishes he was more like Bill, less political. Sookie counters that Bill is not an average Vampire, what with his database. She suggests a business man type like Maxwell.

Eric is still worried about the bond and Victor, afraid he will interpret this as Eric releasing Sookie and therefore no longer interested in her. He tells Sookie he loves her and he worries that if Miriam dies, Pam may leave. Turning her and loving Sookie was two of the great decisions of his existence.

Sookie then asks Eric about his plan for Victor. He says every plan he has just seems to fall apart. Eric tells Sookie about the ruthlessness of Victor against a Vampire named Chico, who had talked back to him. He brought Chico's mother to him and in front of him he tore the woman's tongue out and forced Chico to eat it. He was violently ill and was unable to heal his mother. Eric then tells her he would never want something like that to happen to her.

Sookie suggests they go and talk to the server at Vampire's Kiss, the one who warned her about the fairy blood. Eric tells her he replaced Bobby Burnham with a guy well recommended by Bubba. He is a werewolf and this sounds dodgy to Sookie as weres and Vampires do not get along. But the werewolf hates Victor and he keeps his mouth shut.

They spot the waiter coming out of the bar and they stop him. He takes them to the trailer he shared with Audrina Loomis, a girl her brother used to date. They chat and Colton, the waiter, tells Sookie that Heidi, the Vampire who found the body of Basim al Saud on her property, told him about her. Colton goes on to tell her that he once worked in a club in Reno for Filipe De Castro and then reveals he is the brother of Chico, the Vampire Victor punished by killing his mother.

Eric thanks Colton for warning Sookie and then asks him if there is anything he can do for them in way of repayment. He says kill Victor…That sounds like a good idea to Eric.

But this bugs Sookie because though it is a great idea, all they do is talk about it and it is starting to get old. Sookie suggests they have a meeting with Audrina and Colton and he and Pam and make a move. Sookie goes home with Eric to sleep at his house. Sookie has a terrible dream of her and Eric and Pam and Amelia in her house and the house was burning and Sookie had to pull them out if they are to survive.

When she went home she found someone in her bed.

It was Alcide. Alcide was naked and waiting for Sookie to come home. She was shocked and angry he was there . He was there because the bond with Eric was broken and he wanted to try his hand at getting her. Sookie finds out Amelia had told him about the bond being broken. Sookie is in a ferment and orders him out of the house. Claude had let him in the house and let him go in Sookie's room. The she finds out that part of Alcide being there was strategic, that if she would be his girlfriend, she could act as the shaman for the pack. She tells Alcide to leave.

Then she sees Eric's day guy. He is here to pick up Eric's car and Sookie plays twenty questions with the were. He is named Mustapha Khan and he was once named KeShawn Johnson but he changed it. She gave him Eric's keys.

Claude and Dermot are up cooking breakfast. She has just about enough of them. Amelia and Bob are making breakfast.

Sookie confronts Amelia about blabbing to Alcide about the bond and the fact Claude thought it was a good idea about Alcide being in her bed. Sookie runs them off, telling them to eat their breakfast and get the hell out. After 45 minutes, Sookie is alone and she finds Dermot still there, sitting on her back stoop. Sookie takes pity on him and lets him stay. He is happy and Sookie gives him money to get things he needs to work on the attic and he goes shopping.

When Sookie gets ready to go work, she tells Dermot that Eric and Pam and two other people are coming to the house for a meeting. Dermot says he can go into the woods for a while and be out of the house for the meeting. This convinces Sookie even more the cluviel dor was what drew them to the house, not her trace of fairy blood.

Sookie goes to work and comes home, with groceries in hand and is attacked by two men. She takes off running, being soaked by sudden rain storm and runs to Bill's house. She decides to hide there, but if she went in as she was, she would track water around and this would lead them to her. So she undresses and goes into Bill's house and climbs down into Bill's hidey hole.

Bill is in his day sleep, naked as a jay bird and he wakes up momentarily to the presence of Sookie in his hiding place. He goes back to sleep. Sookie could hear two men in the house. They have encountered Dermot at her house and they know he is not human. Sookie can not figure out if Dermot is hurt or dead.

Bill keeps waking and is amused at finding a naked Sookie in the hidey hole with him. He suggests Sookie did this on purpose to be with him again. She tells him she had to hide from the two men in his house and he tells her since she is not going let him have sex with her, he would go out and check out what was going on.

Sookie waits for a few moments and then follows him and wraps a shawl around her. Bill comes in and makes a few remarks about her being in the shawl then he asks her if the two men were the ones who took her clothes off her and then asks if she is okay, if they harmed her.

She tells him why she was naked and tells him where her clothes are and he goes out and gets them and they put them in the drier. Bill drives her home and they go to see about Dermot. Bill is immediately struck by the scent of Dermot's blood and asks Sookie to feed him but instead he heads out with much effort as Sookie looks after Dermot.

Sookie calls Hooligans and gets Bellenos the elf and asks him to come and help her with Dermot. He does and he cures Dermot by breathing into him. She finds out the reason they were able to get into the house and attack him was they removed Amelia's wards and were going to replace them with fae wards which were stronger. They just had not done that yet.

Bellenos tells Sookie Dermot will be fine in a moment and then the two of them would have things they needed to do. They were going on a hunt. Bellenos was outside chanting fae wards to protect the house. After they all leave, Sookie showers and gets ready for the meeting. She sort of falls asleep and they show up. Pam sniffs the air and scents a fairy and elf and Bill. While they contemplate the visitors to Sookie's house, someone knocks at the door and Pam answers it. It was Bellenos and Dermot and they have the heads and identification papers of the men who tried to abduct her. Sookie thinks Sandra pelt sent them.

Suddenly Eric gets a call from King Filipe and he is strained when he walks into the other room to take the call. Sookie begs Pam to tell her what is going on and she says she can't but Sookie should be looking after herself. The only thing Sookie could imagine was Eric had someone else.

Eric orders Pam out of the house after hanging up the phone with DeCastro and he sits down and tells Sookie Appius had made an arranged marriage for Eric that he would have to set Sookie aside to marry her and he would have to consummate the marriage, of course. Eric said eh was trying everything he could to stop this and get out of it, but he felt that since Oklahoma was trying to muscle in on De Castro, he may go on ahead and make the arrangement valid.

But they would have to defer their conversation til later because Bubba had shown up. Bubba had come in because he saw Pam outside and he wanted to check on Sookie, to make sure Eric was not hurting her. About that time, Audrina and Colton showed up to start their planning meeting.

They bandy about a few ideas that are nixed for one reason or other, but Sookie comes up with a dandy plan. It is because of something she had seen at the Vampire's Kiss…Apparently…Victor was an Elvis fan.

With issues between Sookie and Eric still unresolved, Sookie tells Bill about the situation with Eric and the arranged marriage. Bill tells her it is hard thing to go against your maker and your ruler and he tells her he loves her and Sookie says that is what you all keep saying but she doesn't find happiness.

The next day, Sookie goes about getting ready for the baby shower. Sookie is working the premise that she may not live through the night to see to the shower so she is making every preparation. While she is working, her uncle Dermot comes home and Sookie gives him the once over and is pleased he is well. He heads back up to the attic and goes to work.

After Sookie gets her house work done she sits down with the box of photos and works them up in some sort of order. As she looks at them, Dermot comes down and shows Sookie that sometimes the man in the picture was not her grandfather Mitchell but her true grandfather, Fintan.

Sookie finishes all the party stuff and feels satisfied she has done all she could. She keeps thinking about Sam and she makes a decision to help him out with the bar to keep it going. She writes a check and heads to Merlottes. Sookie gives Sam the check and tells him that he can pay her back but to take it and use it to keep the bar going. Now all she had to do is kill Victor.

She goes home to get ready for the evening's massacre. She goes to her computer and sees she has two emails. One from Amelia and one from Mr. Cataliades.

Cataliades said he had known her grandfather Fintan and there were some things he had to tell her about that and he warned her to be careful how she used it. And Amelia apologized for the thing with Alcide and she told Sookie some more about the Cluviel Dor.

Sookie thinks about all that and begins to wonder how she could use it. She thought about simply wishing Victor dead, but that was a shabby way to use a love token. The she thought she could take away Hunter's telepathy or even her own. That certainly got her head to spinning.


She got in her car and headed toward Fangtasia. The bar was packed. Everyone was ready for the evening. When Sookie sees Eric he is seemingly calm but she notices Pam is not. Her human companion was dead. Everyone was taking their places and getting ready for the big scene. Bill had spent time with Bubba, taking for a ride in an antique car, horse back riding and a cat hunt and now he was ready to do his stuff.

Soon Victor and his cortege arrive and they are seated and after a short wait and a silent maneuvering around of Eric's people around the king and his people, the show begins. One of the problems is a body guard named Akiro and he is a very good fighter and swordsman. Bubba is in rare form and he begins to sing ballads, which totally captivates the audience and carefully and silently, some of Victors people are taken out.

When Bubba changes and begins to sing more upbeat songs, the crowd becomes impatient and that is when Eric decides to strike. The bar erupts into fighting and they are all furiously going after one another. Eric is fighting Victor, Indira gets her arm chopped off at the shoulder and Thalia is battling away.

Bubba is confused and Bill helps him outside. Audrina is killed. Victor goes for Pam and she urges Sookie to kill him. Sookie swings a sword and cuts into him and incapacitates him and Pam finishes him off.

They help Indira get her arm back and they are exhausted . Pam is elated but Sookie is sure there will be trouble with Filipe De Castro. Sookie is not rejoicing as with the Vampires. She is sad for all the violence and the blood. And this is something that confuses Eric . Eric was wounded and needed blood and Sookie gave him some. He did not finesse it, he simply clamped down on her. She felt this was turning point of her relationship with Eric. Sookie had to stop Eric's feeding and she said Bill was going to take her home.

Bill and Sookie talk a little about the battle and Sookie's feelings about it and she tells him about Appius arranging a marriage for Eric. Sookie tell him she broke the bond with Eric and she asked if Bill had ever made a bond with a human and he said yes, a long time ago but he doesn't tell her anything about it.

They finally get to Sookie's and Bill bids her good night and she goes to bed.

The next day is Tara's baby shower. This is when Cataliades decides to show up and tell her about her connection to the fairies. Cataliades said she had a the essential spark and he bestowed a gift upon her, something that would mark her as different. He gave her telepathy. She also finds out that the cluviel dor cannot be used to take away her telepathy.

Cataliades also warns her not to let the fairies at Hooligans know she has the love token or they would kill her for it.

After Cataliades left, Sookie gets a call from Sam. Sam tells her someone left a package for her. Sookie asks him to bring it to her. She knows it is not a package and she knows it is a person and she has Sam and Jannalynn. She gets out her gun and waits for Sam to drive up.

Just as she suspected, it was Sandra Pelt. She had Sam and Jannalyn. They fight for a bit and she is wounded and Sam and Sookie take her to the portal and throw her in. They hear some growling and snarling and they know that whatever got her left nothing behind.

Whatever happened next was somewhere in the future…Right now, Sookie was going to relax and watch a little Jeopardy.

Dead Reckoning
Timeline

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006. Sookie decides to take advantage of the fact that
Dermot and Claude are still staying at her house and enlists the pair to help her
clean out the attic. Setting aside the family photos, documents, and other items
Sookie thinks might be worth selling in the living room, they eventually pile the
most obviously dilapidated and worthless in the driveway to be burned. At work at
Merlotte’s that evening, Sookie tells Sam of their activity, and much to her surprise,
he is able to recommend a shop in Shreveport that appraises and purchases
antiques. Sam tells her that he needs to stop in to look for a birthday gift for
Jannalynn, so they make plans to visit the shop the next day.

Business is sparse that night. Not only has Sam come out as two-natured, but
there is also a new bar nearby that is drawing a crowd. Kennedy Keyes and Danny
Prideaux come in for a drink just as it is getting dark, and Sookie is closing the front
curtains when she sees suspicious activity in the parking lot. A Molotov cocktail is
thrown through the window, setting a table on fire and scattering flaming napkins
through the bar. Sam grabs the fire extinguisher to extinguish the flames. As
customers race out of the bar through the back door, Sookie grabs pitchers of tea
and water to put out the small fires created by the burning napkins. Sam sees
Sookie’s hair catch on fire and sprays her with the fire extinguisher before she even
realizes what has happened. Together, they are able to douse the blaze before the
fire department arrives. Eric storms in a few minutes later, having felt Sookie’s
distress through their bond, and insists on taking Sookie home; however, she
convinces him to allow Sheriff Bud Dearborn and the fire chief to question her for
their investigation into the arson.

Eric contacts Pam to bring a hairdresser to Sookie’s house, and the female
vampire is waiting with Immanuel Earnest, a stylist from Shreveport, when Eric
and Sookie arrive. Immanuel sets up in the kitchen and gets to work, cutting off
several inches of Sookie’s hair while Eric glowers.

While showering, Sookie thinks about the firebombing and suspects that the
being that did it was not human. She returns to the kitchen, and Immanuel cuts
again, evening out her hair. Pam, who is in a bad mood after receiving a text,
begins complaining about Victor still being in charge, then she shifts her annoyance
to the items from the attic piled in Sookie’s living room and driveway. She finally
questions Eric on what kind of husband he is, allowing his wife to live with other
men, and Eric attacks her. Immanuel pulls Sookie out of the kitchen while the two
vampires battle it out. The hairdresser reveals that Pam is frustrated because she
wants to turn her lover, Miriam—Immanuel’s sister who is suffering from leukemia
—but has not been given permission to make her own child. Sookie finally has
enough, fills a pitcher from the bathroom with cold water, goes into the kitchen,
and throws it on the two vampires rolling around on the floor, then leaves the two
to settle down. When Eric and Pam finally emerge, Sookie sends everyone home,
shooing the vampires out of the front door as Claude and Dermot arrive home from
work and enter from the back. Exhausted, Sookie heads off to bed.

THURSDAY, MAY 25. Sookie is awakened by someone knocking and finds Sam
at her door, ready to head to Splendide, the antique shop in Shreveport. Sam is
dismayed at the mess left in Sookie’s kitchen from Pam and Eric’s fight, but Sookie
tells him she expects Eric will replace any damaged items. They straighten up, and
then Sam shares donuts with Dermot while Sookie showers. As Sookie and Sam get
into his truck to head to Shreveport, he comments on how well Dermot treats
Sookie. Sam tells her that he has researched fairies in the library of information kept
by shifters about supes and that a familial connection would not deter a fairy from
pursuing a possible relationship. Sookie assures him that she doesn’t think of
Dermot that way, and that they regard themselves as family only. The conversation
shifts when they both admit that they believe that the arsonist was a twoey.
Although Sam doesn’t think that it was a hate crime targeted at shifters and their
supporters, he does feel that there is hatred involved. The question is whose.

They arrive at Splendide, and Sookie pokes around while Sam picks out a gift
for Jannalynn, who loves antiques. He finally selects a pair of earrings, with
Sookie’s input, and then she makes an appointment for the shop owners to come to
her house to appraise the items from her attic. After leaving the shop, Sam suggests
that they stop for lunch. He expresses concern about his relationship with
Jannalynn, worrying that they are not on the right track, and then Sookie expresses
her own concern about the side effects of her proximity to her fae family. She asks
Sam if he could do more research for her in the shifter library, but he suggests
going right to the source and asking Claude and Dermot in person. They decide to
detour to Claude’s club, Hooligans, on the way back. Remy Savoy calls while they
are at the restaurant and asks Sookie if she can babysit Hunter for the weekend, but
she isn’t sure of her work schedule and is unable to commit. After asking Sam
about her schedule, she calls Remy back to tell him she can’t babysit, and he takes
the opportunity to ask her to accompany him and Hunter to kindergarten
orientation. Sookie is surprised but agrees.

Sookie and Sam are greeted at Hooligans by an elf named Bellenos and taken to
Claude’s office. Dermot accompanies them. Sam cuts to the chase, bluntly asking
why Sookie is feeling more and more fae. He reprimands the two fairies for not
educating Sookie about her heritage and suggests that they have ulterior motives
for staying with her. Instead of answering, Claude leads them farther into the club,
which is filled with beings of varying degrees of fae blood. One of them welcomes
her as one of their own, but Sookie declines the invitation and leaves the room,
asking Claude and Dermot what is going on. Dermot tells her that he and Claude
will speak with her that evening when they get home. She quietly mourns her
gullibility on the way back to Bon Temps.

Sookie works the late shift again and stays up for a while after getting home to
wait for Dermot and Claude, who do not come home at all.

FRIDAY, MAY 26. Sookie works the early shift but stays an extra two hours
when her replacement suffers a flat tire, and Eric is waiting for her by the time she
gets to her house. He has a dress for her and tells her they are going to Vampire’s
Kiss, Victor’s new dance club. Immanuel arrives to do her makeup and hair. On the
way to the club, Sookie finds out from Eric that it is Victor who has forbidden Pam
from turning Miriam.

Sookie and Eric arrive at Vampire’s Kiss to find that Pam has been assaulted by
Victor’s minions for trying to get into the club to make certain it is safe for Eric. He
is furious, as is Pam. Once inside, they see that Victor has brought Miriam there to
provoke Pam. Sookie finds out that Victor is also the owner of Vic’s Redneck
Roadhouse, the new bar that is drawing patrons from Merlotte’s. Victor serves Eric
and Pam bottled blood along with glasses. The server “thinks” to Sookie not to
allow her vamps to use the glasses, as they have been rubbed with fairy blood.
Sookie sends a wave of negativity to Eric, who drinks from the bottle. Pam follows
suit.

After exchanging words with Victor, Eric, Sookie, and Pam leave, taking
Miriam with them. They are approached in the parking lot by two of Victor’s
followers, who claim they wish to ally themselves with Eric, but he sends them
away, believing they are trying to trap him. When Sookie comments on the tension
between Eric and Pam, Pam blurts out that Eric has received a letter. Before she can
continue, Eric grabs her throat and orders her to be silent. As he is driving at the
time, Sookie is disturbed on many levels. He tells Sookie to leave it be. When they
arrive at her house, Sookie does not invite the vampires in.

SATURDAY, MAY 27. Dermot and Claude are home when Sookie wakes, and
they are ready for their talk. They mention troubles at the club, and Sookie guesses
that a fairy is missing and tells them about the fairy blood Victor used the night
before. The two fairies are angry to have lost a female, Cait, to the vampires.
The fairies tell her that Niall was able to arrange a visit with Jason when he was
a baby and realized that he lacked the “essential spark.” Niall assumed Sookie
would also lack any fairy traits and didn’t attempt to contact her, but eventually he
thought to ask Eric, with whom he had business dealings, to check up on her. It
was Eric who informed Niall that she wasn’t a normal human. Niall first sent
Claudine and then decided to meet Sookie himself. Unfortunately, it was Niall’s
interest in his great-granddaughter that precipitated the fairy war and the sealing
off of Faery, leaving not just the two of them but others outside. Claude and
Dermot acknowledge that Sookie is gaining power from them and that the fae are
all gaining power from each other. They are greater than the sum of their parts.

Claude and Dermot also reveal that there is still a fairy portal in her woods. Sookie
continues to question their motives, but they all finally settle down in an uneasy
truce. They discuss the firebombing at Merlotte’s, and Sookie asks them to let her
know if they hear any talk about it at Hooligans.

Dermot helps Sookie clean the attic and suggests that she could partition off
another bedroom while still leaving an area for storage. To her shame, Sookie
realizes that she did not give any consideration to Dermot and Claude having to
share a bedroom. Dermot has actually been sleeping on a cot in the sitting room.
They discuss what to do, and Dermot is excited at the prospect of having his own
space.

The owners of Splendide, Brenda Hesterman and Donald Callaway, arrive to
appraise the goods from the attic. Donald finds a secret cubby in the big desk and
gives Sookie its contents, a faded letter in an old envelope and a velvet bag. She
immediately recognizes the handwriting on the letter as her grandmother’s and
puts it aside to read privately later. The partners buy several pieces, taking a few
items with them and arranging for one of their trucks to pick up the rest.

Jack and Lily Leeds, the private investigators who questioned Sookie about
Debbie Pelt’s death, come into Merlotte’s while Sookie is working that night to give
her a warning about Sandra Pelt. Sandra is still obsessed with Sookie. The Leedses
reveal that the attorney for Sandra’s parents’ estate, Mr. Cataliades, instructed them
exactly when to arrive at Merlotte’s to speak with Sookie, and she instantly realizes
that Mr. Cataliades somehow knows there is going to be trouble and sent the
Leedses in as backup. Sure enough, four toughs come into the bar, high on vampire
blood. Sam, who is standing behind the bar talking with Jannalynn, tries to calm
the situation even as both he and Jannalynn react instinctively to the danger. Most
of the patrons move away, with the exception of the Leedses, Andy Bellefleur, and
Danny Prideaux. The thugs indicate that they are after “the blonde,” and weapons
are drawn on both sides. There is a short struggle, resulting in one bullet wound, a
few minor injuries, and several broken bones. The four thugs are subdued, the
police are called, and Lily takes Jack, who took the bullet, to the hospital. Because
Lily and Sookie were standing together when the comment was made about “the
blonde,” the police assume Lily was the intended target, and Sookie breathes a sigh
of relief.

SUNDAY, MAY 28. Sookie wakes to an empty house. After going over the
events of the previous evening, she calls Mr. Cataliades but is only able to leave a
message on his machine. She then calls Amelia to ask if she can help locate Sandra
Pelt, and Amelia decides to come up, bringing Bob Jessop, who is back in her life, to
help out and renew the wards around the house. Sookie decides to read the letter
from her grandmother, which explains, to the best of Adele’s knowledge and
ability, Fintan’s involvement in her life. According to the letter, the object in the
velvet bag is a cluviel dor, a gift from Fintan delivered to Adele by a stranger
whom Sookie recognizes from the description: Mr. Cataliades. A fairy gift, the
cluviel dor holds a powerful spell that will work only one time. Sookie feels an
attachment to the object and gains pleasure in holding it. Worried about its
potential, she hides it in her makeup drawer.

MONDAY, MAY 29. Andy, who is in Merlotte’s with Bud for lunch, tells Sookie
that he and his wife, Halleigh, are expecting a girl, whom they will name Caroline
Compton Bellefleur, and that his sister, Portia, is pregnant as well. He shyly asks if
Sookie will tell Bill, who is his great-great-great-grandfather, the good news. After
Andy leaves to take Halleigh a milkshake, Sandra Pelt storms into the bar and
screams at Sookie. Sandra admits her attempts to harm Sookie and asks what it will
take to kill her. Sam passes the wooden bat he keeps behind the bar to Terry
Bellefleur, who hits Sandra as she pulls a gun on Sookie. Terry freaks out, and
Sookie comforts him as he mumbles about the shining man and the blond man who
told him to keep watch over Sookie and keep her safe. The EMTs give Terry a shot
to calm him, and she and Sam take him to Sam’s trailer to sleep off the effects. Terry
whispers that the men promised to protect his dog and make his dreams stop.

Having again felt Sookie’s fear through their bond, Eric is waiting for her
outside Merlotte’s. They go to her house to talk about the blood bond, their
marriage, and their future. Eric is amazed when Sookie tells him that she doesn’t
want to be a vampire. Amelia and Bob arrive, interrupting the discussion, and Eric
soon leaves. Tired from their drive, Amelia and Bob turn in. Sookie hears a quiet
knock at the back door and opens it to find Bill, who asks her to come outside to
talk with him. Thanks to the blood of his “sibling,” Judith, he is healed from the
silver poisoning he suffered while rescuing Sookie from the fae, but he explains
that he had not contacted Judith himself because she had previously been
somewhat obsessed with him. Once she arrived, he hoped to love her and that a
relationship with her would free him from Sookie, but he still doesn’t have feelings
for Judith. Having followed him to listen in, Judith overhears his words and, with
great dignity, announces that she will leave and will get over her attachment to Bill.
When Bud Dearborn calls with the news that Sandra has escaped from the hospital
where she was taken for treatment, Bill tells Sookie that he will guard her house
that night.

TUESDAY, MAY 30. Sookie works half of the early shift so that she can attend
Hunter’s kindergarten introduction with Hunter and Remy in Red Ditch. She and
Hunter both get a reading from one of the prospective teachers, and Sookie advises
Remy to make sure Hunter is not assigned to that classroom. They stop at Dairy
Queen afterward for Blizzards and run into Erin, Remy’s new girlfriend, who joins
them. Sookie ask Erin to sit with Hunter for a moment and takes Remy outside to
offer the money from Hadley’s estate for Hunter, but Remy turns her down. He
prefers to provide for the child Hadley left behind himself.

Sookie arrives home to find Amelia and Bob renewing the wards around her
property. Sookie wanders off to find the fairy portal, which she locates in a clearing
less than a quarter mile from her house. Over dinner Amelia tells Sookie that she
knows how to break the blood bond, and the trio performs the ceremony at sunset.
Eric calls almost immediately, concerned that Sookie has suddenly been cut off
from him. He is furious that Sookie has intentionally severed the link, and he
ultimately hangs up on her.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31. Sookie goes to work but is so distracted that Sam
sends her home early. She asks Bob and Amelia to go to the movies, certain Eric
will come by. He arrives after sundown. They reaffirm their love for each other and
have passionate monkey sex on the front porch swing. Afterward, they discuss the
situation concerning Pam and Miriam, and the vampire politics currently affecting
them all. Sookie suggests that they contact the waiter who warned her about the
drinks. Sookie and Eric drive over to Vampire’s Kiss. While they wait in the lot for
the bar’s closing, Eric tells Sookie that he has hired a lone-wolf Were to replace
Bobby as his daytime guy. When the waiter, Colton, leaves the bar, they follow him
to his trailer and identify themselves. They meet his girlfriend, Audrina Loomis,
and find out that Victor killed Colton’s mother. They make plans to meet again the
next night at Sookie’s place to plot the death of Victor.

Exhausted, Sookie spends the night at Eric’s, alone in an upstairs bedroom.

THURSDAY, JUNE 1. Sookie leaves bright and early to drive back to her house.
She finds Alcide half-naked and asleep in her bed; having heard from Amelia that
she broke the blood bond, he came to Sookie’s house to try to reignite their
chemistry. Sookie is offended and sends him away. Mustapha Khan, Eric’s new day
guy, arrives with a friend to pick up Eric’s car. After they leave, Sookie chastises
Amelia and Claude, who let Alcide in, for interfering in her life. Sookie tells
everyone to get out of her house. When the others have departed, she finds Dermot
sitting on the back steps. Knowing Claude was the real instigator of the two fae, she
allows Dermot to stay. She gives him some money and lets him take her car to
Home Depot to get more supplies to refinish the attic area.

At Merlotte’s, Sam confides that the bar is in a real slump, the worst he’s ever
faced. Sookie doesn’t know what to say and can offer only small comfort. She
leaves work late, stopping to fill up her gas tank and to get some milk and synthetic
blood. Pulling up to her house, she is first irritated by the open back door but then
recognizes danger and tries to retreat, only to be blocked by a tree falling across the
drive. She escapes from her car, smacking a potential attacker with a quart of milk,
and runs toward Bill’s house in the pouring rain. She’s able to find the spare key on
his front porch and get into his house, but first she discards her soaking clothes and
shoes into the bushes so she won’t leave a trail.

Though Bill never told her, Sookie had figured out the likely location of his
daytime resting place while they were dating. Aware of the renovations he has
done, she zeros in on a small room off the kitchen and is able to pry up a trapdoor
hidden in the floor. Naked and in the dark, she carefully feels around for Bill and
finally locates his inanimate naked body in the corner. Sookie can hear her pursuers
overhead as Bill struggles to wake, but it takes him several attempts to fully rouse.

He finally comes to completely and leaves to search for her assailants while Sookie
waits. He returns and dresses, and she wraps herself in an old shawl for the drive
back to her house. They find Dermot bleeding and unconscious in the attic, and Bill
is intoxicated by the scent of the fairy blood. He manages to leave the house and
checks the property. Sookie calls Hooligans to get help for Dermot, and Claude
sends Bellenos, who arrives in a matter of minutes. Sookie apologizes to Dermot,
explaining that Amelia’s protection wards should have kept the intruders out, but
Dermot admits that he deconstructed Amelia’s wards, planning to put up his own
because he felt they would be much stronger. Bellenos treats Dermot’s head wound
by breathing into him. As soon as Dermot is able, the two leave to hunt for Dermot
and Sookie’s attackers. A bit later, Pam and Eric arrive just in time for Dermot and
Bellenos to return with the severed heads of the attackers.

After the fairies leave, taking the heads with them, Sookie, Pam, and Eric
discuss who could be behind the attempted kidnapping. When Eric quickly leaves
the room to take a phone call, Sookie realizes that something is going on. Sookie
faces Eric down and forces him to admit that his maker, before his death, had
arranged a marriage for Eric with a vampire queen. So far, Eric has not succeeded
in extricating himself.

Bubba peers in the window, concerned for Sookie because Eric sent Pam
outside. Sookie puts her feelings aside as Audrina and Colton arrive, and Pam
reenters the house as well to start planning Victor’s assassination. Several ideas are
put forth, but Sookie finally comes up with a winner involving Bubba.
Alone again, Eric asks Sookie for understanding, but she cannot imagine
honoring such a deal brokered by a dead maker. Eric doesn’t stay the night. Sookie
sees Bill in the yard and goes out to talk to him, briefly telling him about the
situation, but Bill actually does understand Eric’s responsibility to his maker.

FRIDAY, JUNE 2. After sleeping late, Sookie begins preparations for Tara’s
baby shower, which is to be held the next day. Dermot returns home and, upon
hearing about the shower, asks if he can attend. He begins looking at the old
photographs from the attic and points out that some photos of Mitchell, Adele’s
husband, are actually Fintan in Mitchell’s form.

Thinking about her own current fiscal health, Sookie suddenly figures out a
simple way to help Sam through his financial hardship and takes him a check to
pull the bar through until it can get back on its feet. Sam reluctantly accepts her
offer but insists that they draw up legal paperwork for the loan.

Afraid Sookie wouldn’t accept her call, Amelia asks Sam to tell Sookie to check
her e-mail, which Sookie often forgets to do. Sookie has not only an e-mail from
Amelia but also one from Mr. Cataliades. He advises her to think hard before using
the cluviel dor and also warns her about Sandra Pelt. Amelia apologizes in her email
and tells Sookie that a cluviel dor is a fairy love token that contains a wish for
the bearer, a wish so powerful that it can drastically change a life. When Sookie
leaves for the Kill Victor party, she takes the cluviel dor with her.

Once at Fangtasia, Sookie waits in Eric’s office for the bar to close. Pam is silent,
and Sookie realizes that Miriam has passed away, another victim of Victor, who
denied Pam permission to turn her sick lover. After closing, a few vampires loyal to
Eric casually spread themselves around the bar as they help the human staff clean
up and set the stage for the show. Bubba is going to sing. Colton and Audrina
remain, ostensibly as potential donors. Immanuel and Mustafa Khan stay as well.

Victor and his entourage, including his new second, Akiro, arrive and settle in for
the spectacle. Bubba is breathtaking during his ballads, easily holding the visiting
audience’s attention, but the faster rock numbers aren’t as riveting. Eric makes his
move, swinging a stake at Victor’s heart. Unfortunately, he is thwarted by Akiro,
and the battle begins.

Sookie is able to send Bubba to the relative safety of the back hall, and he is led
away by Bill. Pam is taken down by Victor. Seeing Sookie with Akiro’s sword in
her hands, Pam orders Sookie to kill Victor. She wavers, afraid that she will swing
too hard and kill Pam as well, but is able to bring the sword down hard enough to
incapacitate him, giving Pam the opportunity to get up, grab the sword, and do it
herself. A badly wounded Akiro refuses to yield to Eric, who ends the other
vampire’s suffering. When the blood and ash settle, all of Victor’s loyal minions are
dead. Audrina has been killed as well, and Colton weeps over her body. Thalia
struggles to reattach her severed arm, a procedure only old vampires can
accomplish. Although Sookie is unable to respond physically to Eric when he kisses
her, she still offers him her neck to help him heal his wounds. He strikes carelessly,
angered by her conflicted emotions. She finally pinches his ear to get him to stop
and pulls away, flinching when he tries to kiss her good night. Bill drives her home,
and he calmly reminds her that she knew there would be death and blood, and that
they only did what they needed to do to survive. Sookie knows he is right but is
still disheartened by the carnage. She changes the subject, asking Bill about the
Queen of Oklahoma and telling him Freyda is the bride Eric’s maker arranged for
him. Bill is surprised by the prospective bride’s identity, and he tells Sookie that
Eric will have to put her aside if he marries Freyda. Sookie admits that she broke
the blood bond, and Bill gives her advice as a friend to let Eric make up his own
mind. Sookie goes into her home, cleans herself up, and gets into bed, both relieved
and disquieted that she thinks she’ll be able to sleep.

SATURDAY, JUNE 3. Mr. Cataliades knocks on Sookie’s back door during
Tara’s baby shower, which is a rousing success. He waits in the kitchen until the
shower winds down and the guests depart. Sookie questions him about his history
with her family, both fae and human, and discovers that Fintan had his good friend
Desmond Cataliades give a gift to Fintan’s progeny, a gift they could only accept if
they had the essential spark. As their sponsor, Mr. Cataliades gave the family the
gift of telepathy, a gift that he believed would give Fintan’s descendants an
advantage over most of the rest of humanity. Mr. Cataliades then tells Sookie that
he is being pursued by some of his enemies and must leave.

Sam calls to let her know that someone dropped off a package for her at the bar,
and Sookie can tell by his tone that there is something amiss. She asks him to bring
her the package instead, and after a muffled consultation with another person, he
agrees. Sookie grabs her shotgun and hides in the woods to wait for Sam and
whoever is with him. They pull up in Jannalynn’s car, and Sookie is not surprised
to see Sandra Pelt get out of the vehicle with a rifle in her hands. Sookie emerges
from the woods and fires, hitting Sandra in the left arm and cheek. Jannalynn takes
full advantage of Sandra’s shocked reaction and attacks, taking the other shifter on
in hand-to-hand combat. Sookie and Sam circle the battling women, trying to help
Jannalynn, and Sam gets a broken nose for his efforts. Sookie is finally able to grab
Sandra’s arm and forestall a punch, giving Jannalynn time to get her own punch in.
The fierce Were breaks Sandra’s neck with one blow. When she realizes that Sandra
isn’t yet dead, Jannalynn finishes the job. They debate calling the sheriff but opt
instead to dispose of the body, with Sookie suggesting a place it won’t be found.
She helps Sam carry Sandra’s body to the fairy portal, and they squeeze it through,
hearing a yapping and snarling from the other side. Convinced that there is nothing
left of Sandra Pelt, they make their way back to the house. After Sam washes off
Jannalynn’s car and the blood spots on the ground, Jannalynn sets his broken nose,
and the two leave, taking Sandra’s gun to toss into the woods on the way back to
Sam’s place.

Sookie muses over recent events and decides to settle back to watch Jeopardy!
on TV with a glass of ice tea.