Dead and Gone Book Nine

Dead and Gone Plot summary

Amelia and Tray Dawson are an item now and Sookie hears in her head that the weres and shifters are about to reveal themselves like the Vampires did nearly three years ago. When Sookie goes in to work, Sam confirms this for her and she is excited for her boss. The only one who will not be so thrilled is Arlene who has been dating a Fellowship of the Sun member.

The only ones apparently hiding themselves are the werepanthers. But Jason and a fellow panther named Mel are at Merlotte’s to show their support. So are Bill and Clancy. The Vampires publicly back the weres and shifters though they actually look down on them as lesser creatures.

After a woman shifts on tv into a wolf, Sam and Tray shift as well and the only one who gets in a snit is Arlene. She ends up quitting and storms out after giving everyone the what for. Everything is fine til Sam gets a call that his stepdad has shot his mom. He heads to Texas to look after her and leaves Sookie in charge. The next day, she spends much of her morning looking for a replacement for Arlene. One of the girls she hires is Tanya Grissom.

The next day, Sookie gets a visit from Bobby Burnham, Eric’s day guy. He brings Sookie a package and tells her that she is to meet Eric at Fangtasia and give him the package in front of Victor Madden.

Sookie goes to Fangtasia and is greeted by Pam. She warns Sookie to give the package to Eric in front of Victor, that doing this was for her own good. She does and discovers the package contains the ceremonial blade used to bless blood marriages between Vampires. Presenting the knife to Eric means they are wed in the Vampire world and no one can interfere with her. Eric also has Quinn banned from the area.

The next morning, Sookie is visited by two FBI agents, Latesta and Weiss. They want to know about the bombing at the Pyramid Hotel in Rhodes. They also want her to identify Barry Bellboy. They are interrupted by a call that someone has been murdered and crucified behind Merlotte’s.

The FBI follow Sookie out to Merlotte’s and they discover it is Crystal, Jason’s pregnant werepanther wife. Jason and Calvin appear on the scene and the FBI and the police discuss the possibility this was a hate crime. Sookie calls Sam and tells him about the murder.

Jason immediately falls under suspicion. But he had spent the night with another woman. It takes so long to process the scene that Sookie goes home. She chats with Octavia and then makes her way to Fangtasia.

She sits with Eric and tells him about the events of the day and he expresses concern about the FBI taking her away. Then she talks about Crystal and how she was pregnant. Eric begins to tell her about his life before he was made a Vampire, that he was married and he had six children, three of whom lived. His wife died in childbirth. He talks about the night he was made Vampire, attacked on his way home from courting a second wife.

Eric’s maker was Appius Livius Ocella and he not only made Eric his companion but forced him to be his sexual partner. He also explained the Maker’s sway on the child. He said it was part tradition and part compulsion. He also revealed the curse that set him on the road to Sookie’s house that night when he had amnesia. It would put him close to his heart’s desire but he would not know it.

Sam returns to Merlotte’s and immediately gives Sookie hell for allowing herself to be wed to Eric. She storms out and goes to see Tara. She tells Tara about Eric and Tara tells Sookie she is pregnant. After a visit, Sookie goes home and she takes a phone message for Octavia Fant from a man who had been looking for her named Louis Chambers. When Sookie tells her about the phone call, she is very emotional. She and Louis were sweethearts and they thought each had died in the hurricane.

Sookie goes to work that evening and sees Sam arguing with Bobby Burnham. He gives Sookie an envelope and returns to Shreveport. The FBI agents come in , still sniffing around for information about Sookie and Barry. Niall, Sookie’s fairy great grandfather, comes to see her. He warns her that something is going on and if she sees any other fairies besides himself or Claude or Claudine, she should contact him.

Sookie comes home after her shift upset and worried. She comes into the house and see’s Octavia chatting with the man who phoned her. He has come to get her to take her to New Orleans. After Octavia leaves, she goes to her room and opens the envelope Eric sent her. It is a picture from the Fangtasia Calendar shoot and Eric has written “I wait for the night you join me”

The next morning, Sookie is awakened by Andy and Agent Latesta. They have come to ask her questions about Crystal. When they leave, Sookie decided to lay out in the sun and mull things over. Diantha appears and tells her the fairies are moving around in the human world and to be careful, that Niall has a lot of enemies and Sookie could expect a check in the mail for the work she did for Sophie Anne in Rhodes.

Sookie decides she has to chat with Claude and Claudine. They explain to her that Niall is in a fairy war with his nephew Breandan. Breandan hates all humans with fae blood and he is in cahoots with Dermot, Niall’s son. What is peculiar is that he looks just like Jason. Claudine and Claude warn her that if she sees someone who looks like Jason but isn’t, she should run.

When Sookie returns to her house, she decides to get some gardening done. While she is working, she is attacked by a fairy and she kills him with her gran’s iron garden trowel. She calls Niall who immediately appear with his other son, Dillon, Claudine and Claude’s dad. They are fascinated with Sookie’s habits of gardening and lying in the sun. They tell her to be careful and then how to get rid of the fairy dust, which is by watering it in the ground.

But her day does not end there. The banned Quinn makes an appearance at her house and he is confronted by Bill. The two begin to fight and Sookie gets knocked out.

She wakes up in her bed, Eric tending to her. Eric and Sookie make love a couple of times and then Sookie tells about killing the fairy. Eric offers to bring her into his home for her protection. But Sookie declines his offer. She tells him she likes working and living in her own house. Sookie is conflicted about her feelings for Eric because of the blood bond. Eric tells her the bond works both ways. He says he would never turn her, no matter if she was dying. Finally Eric has to go and Sookie gets up for a moment. She sees Bill looking up at her house. She is not upset about that because somehow she understands that Bill is not spying on her, he is simply watching over her.

The next day, Jason comes to see her. He tells her they will be releasing Crystal’s body soon and she would be buried out at Hot Shot. Jason goes on to say that Hoyt has not been around much but Mel has been a real friend. He asks Sookie if she has “heard” anything and if she does would she please tell him.
After Jason leaves, she gets a call from Arlene. Arlene tells her she may have been a bit reactionary after the reveal of the shifters and invites Sookie out to talk about things. Sookie has a bad feeling about this, but decides to go. When she almost gets to Arlene’s house, she parks and sneaks up on the trailer. Sookie observes that Arlene is home with her boyfriend another man. There are long pieces of lumber in the back of a truck and after listening in, she discovers they intend to kill her and crucify her.


Sookie calls Andy and tells him what is up and he says he will come and bring the FBI agents with him.
Sookie then goes up to the house and confronts them. Arlene’s thoughts confirm what they plan to do. Andy and the FBI pull up and a gun battle ensues. Arlene is grazed, Agent Weiss is shot, as is Arlene’s boyfriend and his friend is killed. That’s when Sookie sees a fairy, a bad one who wishes her dead.
Sookie goes to work. Sam tells her that his mom and stepdad are getting a divorce. He smells Vampire on her and she admits to being with Eric. And it seems to disappoint Sam.

The next morning, Sookie asks Amelia how to kill and fairy. She does not come up with any good ideas, but Sookie does. She gets a couple of water guns and fills them with lemon juice and packs her trowel in her purse. Amelia tells Sookie that Arlene is singing like a bird.

Later that day, Sookie gets a call from Remy Savoy. He is having trouble with Hunter who is also a telepath. Sookie doesn’t want to place him in danger so she asks Remy to hold off for a bit til her life settles down.

Amelia is getting ready for her date with Tray and she tells Sookie about a friend of Tray’s who is interested in meeting her. She tells her his name is Drake and he looks remarkably like Jason. Sookie immediately tells her that Drake is an evil fairy and to steer clear of him. Sookie then remembers that the King of Nevada has promised her protection and she calls Eric and tells him she needs protection. Eric says he will contact Victor Madden.

Later, Eric texts her and tells her that he is sending her help and Alcide does the same. The Vampires have sent Bubba and Alcide has sent Tray.

Sookie wakes up the next morning to find Tray is very ill. He says that he met a woman in the woods and she claimed to be Bill’s lover and she gave him wine to drink. The wine was poisoned with Vampire blood. Bubba has been poisoned by a fae and his blood was the blood given to Tray.

Tray goes home, leaving Sookie unprotected. Niall drops in to check on Sookie and it obvious he has been in a battle and soon departs. She calls Jason and asks him to come to the house. Jason tells her that there was a funny thing that happened. Mel had stayed over at Jason’s and a knock at the door let him to open it. He said there was a man who looked like Jason’s twin there. There was a short fight and he got away. Sookie tells him to come over that she has something to tell him.

She tells Jason about Gran and how their daddy and aunt were ¼ fae and they were themselves 1/8 fae and they have a fairy great grandfather and cousins who were in the middle of fae war. Jason is not pleased, namely because they chose Sookie over him.

Sookie goes on to run some errands and decides to call Calvin and have him meet her at Jason’s. Calvin agrees. When they get there, Sookie reads Mel’s mind. She discovers that he was the one who killed Crystal but did not crucify her. Apparently, Mel was in love with Jason and did not like the way Crystal was treating him. Calvin and Jason kill Mel.

Sookie goes to work. On her way home, she remembers she was to meet Amelia at Tray’s place. She doesn’t see anyone at Tray’s house and she is afraid to go and look. She calls Amelia and gets no answer. She calls Tray and gets no answer. So, she calls Bill. Bill arrives and goes to check the house. While she is waiting for Bill, Sookie gets a call from Amelia who tells her she was in the shower. Sookie tell Amelia not to let anyone in unless they have the password: fairy pants.

Bill tells her that Tray is not in the house, but it is obvious there was a terrible fight. Bill follows Sookie home. When they get home, Sookie is taken by a fairy.

Sookie wakes up in an old house. There are two fairies there with her. They are a brother/sister act by the names of Neave and Lochlan. They torture Sookie. Neave has silver capped teeth. Sookie discovers they killed her mom and dad. Sookie begins to think she is hallucinating when she sees Bill and another person sneaking up on the pair.

Sookie wakes up in a sort of hospital/sanctuary and Dr. Ludwig is tending to her. She thinks she must have imagined Bill and surely is imagining Claudine sitting there knitting something. Sookie learns however that Bill and Niall came and rescued her, killing her tormenters and Bill has been wounded, poisoned with silver. And Tray is dying of his injuries. She also discovers that Claudine is pregnant with a pure fairy baby. Claudine tells her Eric is on his way.

Claudine leaves when Eric arrives. He examines her wounds and lies down in the bed with her to feed her his blood so she will be able to fight. He praises her about how strong she is and how brave she is. He tells her that Clancy is feeding Bill blood to get him on his feet. But he also tells her that had she been beyond repair, he would have left Bill to rot. Sookie asks him why he did not come for her and he simply says to her, “You’re killing me,” Finally he takes Sookie to see Bill and tells her to be brave.

Bill is very sick and is feeding from Clancy. Eric lays her in the bed beside Bill. Bill explains that he saw Sookie taken and he contacted Eric who contacted Niall. Together they track Sookie and find her and Tray in the house. He tells Sookie that he loves her and he would be proud to die for her and that if he dies, she must pray for him in a real church. The fight was coming to them and they were as ready as they ever would be.

The battle is intense. When it is over, Tray and Claudine and Clancy were dead. Bill was exhausted. Niall had appeared with his fairies and they delivered the coup de grace.

Eric called Pam to pick them up. Tray is taken to his house to be found later. Sookie and Bill are lying in the truck together and Bill takes Sookie’s hand. Niall later tells Sookie that he is closing the door to fairy to protect her. And “The Vampire is not a bad man and he loves you.”

The Sookie Stackhouse Novels , Picture from Raki

Dead and Gone
Timeline

TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2006. When Sookie arrives for her evening shift, Sam
tells her that the shifters are ready to reveal themselves on TV and in various public
locations. Her brother, Jason, and some friends are in the bar, as are Bill and fellow
vampire Clancy, and Tray and Amelia soon enter. Sam comes out of the office just
as the bar television flashes a “Special Report,” and everyone at Merlotte’s watches
as the shifters announce their existence to the world. To the amazement of the bar
patrons, Sam and Tray step forward and change. Sam in collie form takes his place
beside a smiling Sookie, while werewolf Tray is hugged by his girlfriend, Amelia.
Although most of the patrons begin to accept the shifters, Arlene reacts with anger
and hate, quitting and storming out of the bar with her Fellowship of the Sun
friends. A happy Sam has just changed back to his human form when he receives a
call from his stepfather, who did not know about his wife’s other nature. He tells
Sam that he shot her (though not fatally) when she shifted in front of him. Sookie
agrees to watch the bar as a distraught Sam leaves to be with his family.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11. Sookie goes into Merlotte’s early to work on
finding a replacement for Arlene. When none of her first choices are available, she
reluctantly contacts Tanya Grissom, tracking her down at Calvin Norris’s house in
Hotshot. Tanya agrees to pick up a few shifts in the evenings, and they arrange for
her to start the next night. Terry Bellefleur handles bar duty while Sookie works a
double shift in Arlene’s absence. Sam calls at closing to let Sookie know that his
mom is expected to make a full recovery and that his stepfather is in jail.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12. Duff, Merlotte’s beer-delivery driver, calls Sookie
at home when no one is at the bar to accept a shipment, so she rushes to the bar,
nervously signing the invoice on Sam’s behalf. She remains at Merlotte’s and is on
the phone with Amelia when Bobby Burnham, Eric’s daytime guy, arrives. Amelia
tells her that Eric called the night before and that Octavia finally told Bobby this
morning where Sookie could be found. Bobby tells Sookie that Eric has requested
that she come to Fangtasia that evening to meet with Victor Madden, the lieutenant
of Felipe de Castro, the new king of Louisiana and Arkansas, as well as Nevada.

Sookie agrees, and Bobby hands her a black velvet bundle, telling her to present it
to Eric in front of Victor. After Bobby leaves, Sookie goes about her day. The
customers and employees at Merlotte’s continue to adjust to the news about the
existence of shifters. Tanya arrives early for a little brushup training before her
shift, and Sookie is able to head to Shreveport in time for the meeting.
Pam greets Sookie as she enters and instructs her to go into Eric’s office and
respectfully present the velvet package to Eric. Victor watches as Eric receives the
velvet bundle from Sookie, dramatically opening it to reveal the shining ceremonial
knife that he used to officiate the vampire marriage in Rhodes and later used to cut
himself during the blood bond. As Eric kisses the knife, she becomes uncomfortably
aware that she does not understand the ramifications of all that is happening. She is
stunned when Victor states that Quinn had requested a private meeting with her
that will now be denied and that Felipe will acknowledge Eric’s prior claim on
Sookie. Her discomfort gives way to anger as the vampires explain that shifters
who do business with the vampires must get Eric’s permission to enter Area Five, a
stipulation he specifically negotiated when he allied with the new regime. She
becomes even more furious when Victor explains that because she and Eric used
the ceremonial knife in a blood ritual, they are now effectively wed under vampire
law. Her outrage is not assuaged when Eric tries to appease her by claiming that his
actions were taken for her own good, and she leaves, promising him that they will
discuss this later.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 13. Sam calls with a quick update about his mom’s
condition. Sookie is shocked when she is visited by Agent Sara Weiss from the New
Orleans office of the FBI and Special Agent Tom Lattesta from the Rhodes branch.
After showing Sookie a photograph of herself and Barry the Bellboy in the ruins of
the bombed hotel, they begin to question her about Barry and the events of that
terrible day. The phone rings, and a shaken Amelia interrupts them to tell Sookie
that she is needed at Merlotte’s because a woman has been crucified in the parking
lot.

Sookie arrives at the bar with the FBI agents in tow. Sookie is devastated to see
that the woman is her pregnant sister-in-law, Crystal. She calls Sam as the police
begin to gather evidence. A stunned Jason, notified of the death, arrives first,
followed shortly thereafter by a grief-stricken Calvin Norris, who is accompanied
by Tanya Grissom. Sookie escorts the Hotshot leader back to the scene, where he
hopes to get a scent of his niece’s killer. He tries to force his way through to her
body but is stopped by the law-enforcement agents present, and Sookie is moved
by Sheriff Bud Dearborn’s careful treatment of Calvin, realizing that the old sheriff
was aware of the panthers long before the Great Reveal. Jason’s friend Mel Hart
arrives and persuades the dazed Jason to go home while Calvin waits for Crystal’s
body to be taken down from the cross. Sookie decides to leave when the police tell
her that Merlotte’s will remain closed for several more hours at least. When she
doesn’t get word that it is okay to reopen by the time darkness falls, Sookie heads
to Fangtasia to see Eric.

Sookie is comforted by Eric’s presence and listens quietly when he begins to tell
her of his early life and how he was turned by Appius Livius Ocella. She then
shares her concern about the FBI’s interest in her and Barry, and her fears that they
want her to work for them. Eric explains that he wed her in the vampire way to
protect her from King Felipe who, even though he owes her a debt, wants to take
her to Las Vegas to use her gift to help him in his business dealings. Sookie wants
details about their pledge but is too weary from the day’s events to pursue the
conversation and goes home.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 14. Andy Bellefleur gives the okay to open the bar, and
Sookie is relieved when Sam walks in as she is setting up for the day. His mother is
healing, but the situation with his stepfather is very tense. When Sookie reveals her
marriage to Eric, Sam’s reaction causes her to leave Merlotte’s in a fury. She turns
to her best friend, Tara, for advice, telling her the whole story. Tara says that while
Sookie could have been smarter about the situation, only the vampires will know
about the pledge and she has time to figure things out. Despite her own bad past
with vampires, Tara concedes that there are benefits to Sookie’s relationship with
Eric. Tara then shares her own news: She is pregnant, and she is fiercely
determined to give her baby the childhood she never had.

Returning to her own house for lunch, Sookie takes a phone message for
Octavia from Louis Chambers. When she hands Octavia the note with Louis’s
phone number, it is obvious that the gentleman means a great deal to Octavia, and
she promptly returns his call.

Sookie enters Merlotte’s to work her shift that evening to find Sam arguing
with Bobby Burnham, who hands her an envelope and tells her that Eric has
instructed him to always be at her disposal, much to his humiliation. Sookie enters
the dining area and sees agents Weiss and Lattesta at one table and her greatgrandfather,
Niall, at another. Niall informs Sookie that the agents have been
discussing her, and she tells him her fears about being forced to work for the FBI.

She asks if he knows about Crystal, and although he has shown no interest in Jason,
he tells Sookie that he is always concerned when someone connected to him dies
and will look into it. He then makes a vague comment about there being trouble
and assures her that he will take care of it, but advises her to be wary of fairies she
does not know. She and Sam remain on the outs for the evening.

Louis Chambers has arrived to take Octavia back to New Orleans by the time
Sookie gets off work. After they leave, Amelia tells Sookie that he is a sorcerer, and
the two agree that the older couple has little to fear in the Big Easy.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 15. Andy and Agent Lattesta come by in the morning to
discuss Crystal’s death, and after they leave, a slightly chilly Sookie is sunbathing
in her yard when she is surprised by a visit from Diantha, who brings a message
from Mr. Cataliades. The lawyer has sent his niece to warn Sookie that fairies are
moving about in this world and that they will try to hurt her if they can. Sookie
learns from Diantha that Niall has many enemies, the most important one being the
other fairy prince, his nephew Breandan. When Diantha leaves, Sookie calls her fae
cousins Claudine and Claude to meet her for a talk, during which she learns about
her fae lineage and why her great-grandfather has enemies. She is told that
Breandan hates all humans with fairy blood and believes they should be eliminated
because they dilute the fae magic. He wants to close off Faery from the
contamination of humans. Claude and Claudine also warn her that her great-uncle
Dermot is the spitting image of her brother, Jason, and that she should be very
careful because he was involved in her parents’ deaths.

Disturbed by the warnings, a restless Sookie returns home and decides to work
off her disquiet by weeding the flower beds. She is busy with her old trowel when
she suddenly hears someone say, “I’ll enjoy killing you for my lord,” and she
instinctively lunges upward, shoving the trowel into the speaker’s stomach. As he
falls to the ground, she retreats into her house, locks the doors, and calls Niall. Her
great-grandfather arrives with his son Dillon, the father of Claudine and Claude,
and is pleased that she has killed one of his enemies. As the body disintegrates into
a fine glittery dust, Niall warns her again and then leaves.

A troubled Sookie is pondering the events of the day when Quinn
unexpectedly pulls up. Feeling Eric’s rage at Quinn’s presence through the blood
bond, Sookie becomes upset as Quinn questions why she is harder on him than on
anyone else and voices his fear that Eric is trying to cut her off from the others who
care about her. Alerted by Eric, Bill arrives, and the two men begin to fight. When
an angry Quinn throws Bill with all his strength, he cannons into the helpless
Sookie, knocking her unconscious. She wakes in her darkened bedroom with Eric.
The taste of his blood is on her tongue. The passion between them ignites. After
lovemaking, Eric and Sookie talk, and she tells him of the events of the day. Eric
invites a stunned Sookie to move in with him but is surprised when she gently
declines. They discuss their feelings for each other, and Eric regretfully leaves for
his home. As Sookie looks out her kitchen window, she sees Bill silently watching
over her from the woods.

MONDAY, JANUARY 16. A forlorn Jason visits, waiting for Sookie out in the
backyard. While she believes she will be able to forgive him for his past actions,
their relationship remains strained. He asks her to attend Crystal’s funeral and tells
her that if she hears who killed his wife, either she can tell the police or she can
simply tell him and Calvin, and they will take care of it.

Sookie is surprised to have a message from Arlene asking her to come over to
her house to talk. When she learns from Sam that Arlene has tried to get her job
back and that he is planning to refuse, Sookie decides to visit her former friend to
try making peace with her. She calls Arlene and tells her she will come over, but
Sookie senses something is not right and leaves immediately to scope out the
situation before she is expected at Arlene’s trailer.

Sookie watches from the burned-out house next to Arlene’s as she sends her
children away with a friend and then talks with two men from the Fellowship of
the Sun. Sookie is able to discern that they are going to do to her what was done to
Crystal. She calls Andy Bellefleur, who is with the FBI agents, and they tell her they
will come if she would be willing to go in and try to trap the men in the act. As she
is waiting for the law, Sookie sees Arlene leaving and comes out of hiding to
confront her. Just as the police arrive, Arlene begins to scream, and the men come
out of the trailer with their rifles in their hands. Special Agent Lattesta calls a
warning for them to lay down their arms, but one fires at Sookie, who flings herself
to the ground. The bullet slightly grazes Arlene but hits Agent Weiss in the upper
chest. The men all open fire, and one of the attackers is killed, the other wounded.
As a stunned Sookie sits on the ground, she realizes the two men did not kill
Crystal but were planning a copycat murder. While the wounded are taken away,
Sookie looks over to see a fairy watching from the woods. After she is questioned,
Bud Dearborn sends her home.

Sookie goes into work and is relieved when nothing else happens and she is
able to go about her shift just like any other waitress at Merlotte’s.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17. Amelia tells Sookie of a hot new guy named Drake
who has been asking her and Tray about Sookie, but Sookie passes on the
opportunity to meet him. Remy Savoy calls with a request for Sookie’s help with
Hunter, who will be starting kindergarten soon, but she has to put him off. Because
of the threat of the fairies, she is unwilling to possibly jeopardize the little boy or
his father. She promises to contact him when things have settled down, hoping that
she survives whatever it is that is coming. While Amelia gets ready for a date with
Tray, she again mentions Drake and his desire to meet Sookie. When Amelia says
that the man looks a lot like Jason, a panicked Sookie warns her friend to stay away
from him. Sookie calls Eric to ask for the protection of the vampires, and he tells her
he will present her request to Victor, who is there at Fangtasia. Once at work,
Sookie struggles to function normally while trying to listen for information about
Crystal’s murder, but Sookie hears little but the usual mundane thoughts of the
people surrounding her. She gets one text message from Eric, assuring her that the
protection she requested is coming, and another from Alcide, who has learned of
her problems from Tray and offers pack protection as well. Before leaving
Merlotte’s, Sookie fills two water pistols with pure lemon juice as a defense against
the fairies.

She finds Bubba waiting beside her car in the parking lot as the protection
promised by Eric, and when she arrives home, Tray is at her house as the protection
from the Weres.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18. Sookie awakens to hear Tray being desperately
ill. He tells her of meeting a woman in the woods who compelled him to drink
poisoned vampire blood. A worried Sookie sends him home, promising to contact
Jason to guard her. Niall appears in her living room, looking as if he has been in a
battle, to let her know that Breandan has retaliated for the death of his follower.
Niall warns her to be even more careful. Sookie calls Jason to come protect her and
is horrified to hear that he has had a visit from Dermot, who attacked Jason’s friend
Mel. Mel accompanies Jason but briefly leaves to get an ice bag for his injured
shoulder, and Sookie tells Jason of their family fairy connection, warning him of the
danger they face from Dermot. Jason tells Sookie that he wants to go home for his
rifle and that she should come pick him up there so he can be with her for the day,
and he and Mel leave. As she drives to her brother’s house, she begins to think of
some things she has learned and starts to suspect that she knows who killed
Crystal, so she calls Calvin.

When she arrives, she finds Jason and Mel sighting Jason’s rifle behind his
house. She begins to question Mel, and when her brother realizes what the
questions mean, he holds Mel as she examines his thoughts. Sookie tells her
horrified brother that his friend killed Crystal, just as Calvin arrives with two of
Crystal’s other relatives. Mel confesses that he is gay and in love with Jason and
that he hated Crystal for her treatment of him. Crystal knew of Mel’s love for Jason,
taunting him when she saw him alone at Jason’s house one day, and he struck her
down in anger. Mel tells them that he did not crucify her but left the body in the
back of his truck, from where it was stolen. Sookie leaves as the werepanthers
administer their justice.

Sookie manages to get through her shift at the bar, but she remembers on the
drive home that she promised to meet Amelia at Tray’s house to check on him.
When she arrives, she is alarmed when no one answers the door and there is no
sign of her roommate. Fearing the worst, she calls Bill to come and check the house
for her. As she waits outside, she is relieved when Amelia calls to tell her that she
was unable to get an answer at Tray’s, so she went home. Bill returns from the
house with the unwelcome news that there has obviously been a fight and that Tray
is gone. Frightened and worried that the fairies have done something to Bubba as
well, Sookie heads home in her car with Bill following. As she walks to her door,
Sookie is abducted.

Sookie awakens in what appears to be an abandoned house, a captive of two
fairies, Lochlan and his sister Neave. She learns that they are the ones who crucified
Crystal and that Breandan has given them permission to do what they want with
Sookie, short of killing her. As the two gleefully torture her, Sookie soon realizes
that they will not be able to control themselves and simply waits for death. Barely
conscious, she believes she is hallucinating when she sees Bill and Niall stealing up
behind her tormentors. She manages a smile as Niall beheads Lochlan and Bill tears
out Neave’s throat. Finally, Sookie succumbs to the unbearable pain and slips into
darkness.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19. Coming to, Sookie finds herself clean and
bandaged in a strange bed, with Dr. Ludwig and Claudine by her side. Dr. Ludwig
tells Sookie that her kidnappers are dead but that Bill was badly injured during the
rescue. Claudine informs Sookie that the war has begun between Niall and
Breandan and that Claudine’s own disheveled appearance is due to being
ambushed. She is knitting and shares that she is pregnant by a fae lover. Eric
arrives and begins examining Sookie’s wounds, giving her his blood to strengthen
her for the coming battle with the fae. As Sookie begins to weep, Eric comforts her,
praising her for remaining strong and intact under the terrible torture. She pulls her
makeshift weapons from her bag before Eric carries her to the room where Bill and
Tray lie. Bill is gravely ill from silver poisoning, and Tray’s wounds will be mortal.
As Clancy gives Bill blood, he explains to Sookie that he saw her taken but knew he
could not defeat the twins alone, so he called Eric to notify Niall. Bill and Niall
were then able to track Sookie and her captors through the fae and human worlds
to where she was held captive.

Eric receives a call that Breandan’s forces have arrived and the attack is
imminent. Eric, Bill, and Clancy, armed with iron swords and long knives, face the
door as it splinters under the force of the attacking fae. Clancy decapitates the first
fae as he enters, and Bill steps in front of Sookie, throwing his knife into the throat
of the second fairy and then reaching back to take Sookie’s trowel. Breandan enters,
already bloodied and with a knitting needle protruding from his shoulder,
followed by a female swinging a mace. Eric is able to avoid it, but Clancy is hit and
then beheaded by Breandan as he moves to confront Bill. Tray, knowing he is
dying, makes a superhuman effort to distract Breandan, gripping the enemy fairy’s
shirt. As Breandan plunges his sword into Tray, Bill stabs the fairy under the arm
with Sookie’s trowel, and he falls. The female fairy moves in on an unsteady Bill
and Sookie, who squirts the fairy with her lemon juice–filled squirt gun. The fairy
screams in pain, and Eric has the chance to kill her. Niall arrives to find all his
enemies dead. Niall takes his great-granddaughter into his arms, and Sookie weeps
for her fallen friends but is able to smile when she realizes that at least Bill survived
—though Claudine did not. Eric calls Pam to come pick up the living and the dead.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 20–SATURDAY, JANUARY 21. Amelia mourns Tray,
whose death is attributed to a case of mistaken identity. Sookie publicly explains
her own injuries as a pedestrian hit-and-run but tells Sam the entire truth when he
comes to visit.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 22. Niall comes to tell Sookie that he has decided to close
all the portals to the fae world to protect humans, but that they have not located
Dermot and that the rest of the fae who have lived in the human world will have to
choose whether to stay or return to Faery permanently. Jason arrives, startling
Niall, who for a moment believes he is Dermot. Jason expresses hurt and
resentment that his great-grandfather didn’t deem him worthy of attention or
acknowledgment, and tells Niall that he hopes the fairies are gone for good.
When Niall kisses his great-granddaughter on the cheek, Sookie senses his
power and immediately feels a bit better. She watches Jason’s tension relax as Niall
kisses his great-grandson on the forehead before leaving.