The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

by Charlaine Harris

  Phone: Eric calling Bill.

  ERIC : “Bill, did you go upstairs? What has happened?”

  BILL : “There has been trouble on Jennifer Cater’s floor. I believe the Arkansas vampires are all dead, except perhaps one.”

  ERIC : “Well. That’s certainly convenient.” BILL : “My thoughts exactly.”

  Phone: Eric calling Bill.

  ERIC : “The trial is going forward. Meet us in the exhibit room where the wedding was held.”

  BILL : “Has Sookie been contacted?”

  ERIC : “Yes, Andre sent her a message. He’ll wait for her and escort her in. We will kneel before our queen to show our support.”

  In person:

  ERIC : “Please get a picture of Kyle Perkins to Sookie. Tomorrow she will be looking for the place where Kyle learned to throw the arrows with such accuracy.”

  BILL : “I’ll provide the locations of the local archery ranges as well.” ERIC: “Good thinking. You can leave them for her at the front desk.”

  In person:

  ERIC : “Sookie and Barry found the archery range, but the employees have been killed and the security tapes destroyed.”

  BILL : “Who else knew you were sending Sookie out to look?”

  ERIC : “That’s the question, isn’t it?”

  BILL : “I’m a judge for the first judicial sessions, so I must go. Think this over carefully, Eric: Who is the enemy here?”

  From Dead to Worse

  Timeline

  SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2005. While working at the Bellefleur double wedding with Sam, Sookie is surprised when she is asked by a tearful Halleigh to be a fill-in bridesmaid after one of the original bridesmaids has an appendicitis attack. Sookie participates in the ceremony and requisite pictures, then changes back into her work clothes to tend bar. Portia’s new husband, Glen, has invited several of his vampire clients and honors them with a bottle of Royalty Blended, a premium mixture of real and synthetic blood, so that they can toast the happy newlyweds. Jonathan, a Nevada vampire, introduces himself as he gets another drink at the bar, and Sookie is a little concerned at his interest in her. She notices a tall, slim man observing the proceedings from a distance, a man whom the vampires all acknowledge with nods of respect.

  Jonathan startles her as she is getting into her car and claims to have spoken to Pam about her, but Sookie knows he is lying. As they speak, she again sees the slender stranger watching them.

  Sookie returns home and recounts her extraordinary evening to her roommate, Amelia. Amelia has her own news. Her father, Copley Carmichael, a wealthy building contractor from New Orleans, is visiting the next evening.

  SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9. Sookie attends church in the morning, stopping at the grocery store before heading home to help Amelia, who has been on a cleaning spree. Her father arrives. He is a clear broadcaster like Amelia. Since Sookie has no trouble picking thoughts out of his head, she is able to control her reaction when Copley deliberately brings up Sookie’s cousin Hadley. He tells Sookie that he knows Hadley’s ex-husband and child. Copley also tells Amelia that a woman named Octavia Fant has called his house, looking for her. After he leaves, Amelia reveals to Sookie that Octavia is her mentor and the head of her coven. Octavia is the reason she left New Orleans after her magical mishap with Bob, convinced there would be a terrible punishment for turning her lover into a cat. Resigned, Amelia knows that she will soon have to deal with Octavia. She also confesses that Eric called the previous evening but that she had forgotten to tell Sookie. Anxious to ask him about the strange incident with Jonathan, Sookie calls Eric at Fangtasia. To her surprise, Eric invites her out to dinner and informs her that he will be introducing her to someone who has asked to meet her. Intrigued, she agrees to go to dinner with him in Shreveport the next evening.

  MONDAY, OCTOBER 10. When Sookie and Eric arrive at Les Deux Poissons restaurant, she discovers that the man she is to meet is the beautiful stranger she saw at the wedding. He shows her his ears, and she realizes he is a member of the fae. Eric introduces the man as Niall Brigant, then leaves after reassuring Sookie that he will be nearby if she needs him. To her astonishment, Niall tells her he is her great-grandfather. As the evening progresses, Sookie learns the story of her grandmother Adele’s involvement with Niall’s son Fintan, who is revealed as her true grandfather. She shares part of her own life. By the time they part, she is pleased, albeit disconcerted, to have found a loving new member of her family. Eric and Sookie are speeding back toward Bon Temps when they are pulled over by a police car. As the officer approaches, Sookie realizes something is wrong and that the man is a Were just as he reaches the open window with gun drawn. When he tries to shoot Sookie, Eric takes the bullet but is still able to disarm the Were by breaking his arm. As a bleeding Eric gets caught in bloodlust and begins to pull the assassin in through the window, Sookie gets out of the suddenly crowded Corvette and checks the attacker’s car to see if she can discover who sent him and why. Eric’s car is empty when she returns, but Eric appears beside her and kisses her, still caught up in the lust of feeding. They quickly get back on the road, and Sookie doesn’t question what Eric has done with the body. When she arrives home, Amelia tells her that Alcide called.

  TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11. Octavia Fant appears on Sookie’s doorstep, informing Sookie that she is there to see Amelia. Sookie leaves them to talk and goes in to make herself some coffee and read the paper. She is shocked and saddened to read of the death of Maria-Star Cooper, Alcide Herveaux’s girlfriend, and her grief is compounded when Alcide calls to tell her that Maria-Star was murdered, warning Sookie that she may be in danger herself. She tells him about the attack the night before by the Were, and he immediately offers protection. However, Sookie declines. Alcide asks Sookie to tell Amanda, a member of his pack, the entire story. Amanda inquires if Amelia can do some sort of reading to try to ascertain who was involved in Maria-Star’s death. Amelia agrees, but Octavia questions her decision, pointing out the previous failure that led to Bob’s transformation. Sookie challenges Octavia to turn Bob back herself, but she fails in her attempt. Amelia, Sookie, and Octavia then go to Maria-Star’s home, where they meet up with Tray Dawson, a Bon Temps lone wolf, who is guarding the apartment. The two witches are able to perform an ectoplasmic reconstruction, and they all witness Maria-Star’s murder by the Were Cal Myers and a half-wolf, half-man accomplice. Amelia and Octavia leave for home, and Sookie accompanies Tray to Amanda’s house, where Alcide is lying low. Sookie and Tray report what they have learned about Maria-Star’s death. The Weres involved in her murder as well as in the attack on Sookie all work for the current packmaster, Patrick Furnan. When Alcide reacts angrily to the information that Sookie had dinner with Eric, she loses her temper with him and storms out. Tray drives her home.

  Already weary from the events of the day, Sookie goes to work and is disheartened to see members of the Fellowship of the Sun in the bar. To her surprise, Pam comes in, followed shortly by Amelia, and the two have drinks and then leave on a date. The Fellowship members are indignant about a vampire being in the bar, but after they leave, Sam tells Sookie she must suck it up and treat them as she would any other customers. She knows he is right, but the admonishment stings. She leaves quickly after closing and finds Tray waiting for her in the parking lot. The Were tells her that he is following her home to check out her house. Once he makes certain the house is clear, they sit down, and he informs her that Alcide found Christine Larrabee, the widow of a previous packmaster, dead that afternoon. Patrick Furnan is suspected in both Christine’s and Maria-Star’s deaths.

  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12. Sookie visits the local library and greets the librarian, Barbara Beck, wife of Detective Alcee Beck, before checking out the new book arrivals. Sookie hears a sound from Barbara and looks up to see her being held by a huge Were with a knife to her throat. Sookie senses Alcee coming quietly in the back door and warns the attacker in a loud voice what Barbara’s husband will do to him if he hurts Barbara. Alcee is able to silentl
y come up behind them and put his gun to the assailant’s neck, but the quick-thinking attacker pushes Barbara toward her husband and rushes, knife raised, at Sookie. She flings a hardback in his face, tripping him, and he falls to his death on his own knife.

  A fed-up Sookie finally decides to confront Furnan, and she calls him and demands to know why he has ordered the attacks upon her and the murders of the Were females. An angry and frightened Furnan denies any involvement and claims that his own wife, Libby, has been kidnapped. Sookie convinces him to call Alcide and set up a meeting, but his one condition is that she attend as a friend of the pack to read both sides for honesty.

  Later that night Sookie, accompanied by a concerned Sam, travels to the same industrial park where the packmaster contest was held. She grasps Alcide’s and Furnan’s hands as they question each other. Just as they realize that neither of them is responsible for the attacks and murders, a voice calls from the roof of a nearby building. Priscilla Hebert, the widow of a packmaster from another part of the state and Cal Myers’s half sister, announces that she committed the murders of Maria-Star, Christine, and Libby in a plot to set Alcide and Furnan against each other so that she could more easily take over their pack. Both Alcide and Furnan strike with suddenly clawed hands, Furnan eviscerating Cal as Alcide takes off the back of his head. Howling with fury, Priscilla leads her wolves in attack, and Sam and Sookie find themselves in the middle of the warring Weres. Sam tells her he is going to change, and a surprised Sookie turns to find that Sam has shifted into a lion. Taking down the enemy with a swipe of his huge paws, Sam draws the attention of Priscilla, now a wolf. Amanda, also in wolf form, attempts to distract Priscilla as she works her way over to Sam, but Priscilla manages to break Amanda’s neck and leaps on the lion, sinking her teeth into his neck. Seeing Sam attacked, Sookie launches herself onto Priscilla’s back and begins to strangle her. Priscilla must release Sam, who then turns and kills her. When Sookie falls to the pavement, vulnerable, Claudine suddenly appears standing over her to protect her through the remaining battle. When the action finally ends, Priscilla and most of her wolves, as well as Furnan and Amanda, are dead, and Alcide declares himself the new packmaster.

  Claudine helps Sookie to her feet and reveals that Niall is also Claudine’s grandfather. She urges Sookie to leave before the wolves celebrate the ascension of Alcide, and Sam marches Sookie out to his truck.

  When she gets home, Sookie finds Pam sitting in the kitchen with Amelia, and Sookie knows that the vampire will report the events of the evening back to Eric.

  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13. Sookie works the day shift and is not pleased when Tanya Grissom shows up to speak with Sam. Her fellow waitress Holly tells her that Tanya has been living out at Hotshot with the panthers, and Sookie is surprised to find that Holly believes that the shifters will come out someday. Sookie again finds Pam at her house with Amelia when she returns home from work that evening and questions Pam about whether Eric has heard anything more about Jonathan. Pam suggests Sookie call Eric to find out, so she calls Fangtasia. During the conversation, Sookie learns to her dismay that Eric believes that the queen’s weakened state has left Louisiana open to a hostile takeover.

  Uneasy and unable to sleep, Sookie is startled when Bill suddenly appears in her bedroom. He reports that Pam called him to come guard Sookie when she herself left for Fangtasia after becoming concerned because she couldn’t reach either Eric or Cleo Babbitt, the sheriff of Area Three. A terrified Frannie Quinn appears suddenly at the door with a warning from her brother. The vampires of Las Vegas are on their way to take over Louisiana. As a shocked Sookie, Amelia, and Bill hear Frannie’s story and are preparing for the worst, Eric arrives with the news that his people have gathered at Fangtasia, but he was cut off from the club.

  The Vegas vampires arrive in Sookie’s yard, and the king’s representative, Victor Madden, asks to enter the house to negotiate with Eric. Sookie is distressed to learn that Quinn is with the Vegas vampires, who have used his mother and sister to blackmail him into their service. Victor reports that Sophie-Anne and the other sheriffs have been killed, but they feel Eric can be useful to them if he will swear allegiance to the King of Nevada, Felipe de Castro. Sookie attempts to call Niall, but Eric prevents her from making contact. Victor finally asks Eric whether he intends to fight to the death or accept the takeover, informing him that Fangtasia is surrounded and that he is prepared to burn it down with the Area Five vampires inside. Knowing that his people will die for nothing, Eric accepts the sovereignty of the king. Eric wanders off to have some privacy as he calls Fangtasia to tell his people to surrender and swear fealty to the new king. Bill comforts a shaken Sookie and then goes out to speak with the new leadership.

  Sookie escapes to her bedroom only to find Eric sitting on her bed, his head in his hands. When she sees his face, Sookie believes that the shock on it is because of the takeover, but he tells her he has suddenly remembered everything that happened between them during the time he spent with her when he had amnesia. Overwhelmed by the events of the evening, Sookie tells him they will talk about it another time. Eric agrees but warns there will one day be a reckoning between them.

  FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14. Sookie wakes to find Quinn sitting in her bedroom. Realizing she can never be first in his life because of the needs of his mother and sister, Sookie breaks off their relationship and sends the man she had hoped to love away. She gathers herself and goes to work, buying Crystal lunch when her pregnant sister-in-law comes in with Jason, who is fed up with his wife’s spendthrift ways and now refuses to give her any money. Sookie and Sam later read in the newspaper about several people missing in Shreveport who actually perished in the Were war. Sookie then sees the obituary of Sophie-Anne Leclerq, which lists the cause of death as Sino-AIDS, but Sookie knows the weakened queen was assassinated by order of Felipe de Castro. Sookie arrives home after work to face even more unwelcome visitors: Frannie Quinn and her mother. Frannie is furious with Sookie for her treatment of Quinn, and although Mrs. Quinn is generally confused, she identifies Sookie as the woman her son loved.

  SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15. Copley Carmichael stops by Sookie’s house to ask her to arrange an introduction to members of the new vampire leadership so that he can do business with them. She reluctantly agrees to call Fangtasia to see what she can find out. Sookie leaves the house to run errands—and get away from Copley as he visits with his daughter—and comes across Arlene and Tanya having a conversation in Tanya’s car in the Sonic parking lot. Sookie deliberately tries to tune them in, first picking up Arlene’s thoughts about her new boyfriend’s conviction that the world should be free of vampires. She zeros in on Tanya, discovering that she is still in the pay of Sandra Pelt, who continues to be determined to make Sookie’s life miserable. Sookie decides to consult Amelia and confesses the entire story of Debbie Pelt’s death. They decide to bring in Octavia to try to find a long-term fix without hurting Tanya.

  Sookie remembers her promise to Copley, and right before she goes into work she calls Fangtasia to ask Eric whom Copley should contact. During the conversation Eric tells her more of his memories of their time together. Claudine and Claude come into Merlotte’s to bring greetings from Niall, who is concerned about his great-granddaughter. Copley has obviously jumped on the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the new vampires and arrives for a meeting with Sandy Sechrest, Felipe de Castro’s area rep.

  Sam and Sookie talk a bit after closing, and he tells her about his family, inviting her to his brother’s upcoming wedding. As they leave the bar, they come across Niall standing in the moonlight, and Sookie introduces him to Sam. Niall is worried that Sookie has been in danger the previous two nights and is not at all happy that she was prevented from calling him for protection during the takeover. He expresses his love for his great-granddaughter and his desire to do something for her, but Sookie tells him she just wants him in her life. After he leaves, she tells Sam that she wants to love Niall but finds him a little frightening.


  SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16. Sookie awakens to find Octavia and Amelia in the kitchen discussing how to deal with Tanya. Much to Sookie’s surprise, she realizes that Amelia has already invited Octavia to move in, based on a casual offer of Sookie’s. The two witches have Sookie ask Calvin Norris, who is currently seeing Tanya, to stop by at lunchtime. The leader of the Hotshot werepanthers immediately knows to whom Sookie is referring when she tells him that they have a problem. When Sookie tells Calvin the whole story of her involvement with the Pelts, he promises to bring Tanya there that night for the witches to work on if they promise that Tanya won’t be harmed. Bob the cat strolls in, and Calvin recognizes straightaway that Amelia’s magic doesn’t always work.

  True to his word, Calvin arrives shortly after seven that evening with Tanya carefully trussed up and slung over his shoulder. After the struggling young woman inhales smoke from a potion lit in a bowl, she is placed on a chair surrounded by chalk drawings, and Octavia begins to chant, pulling Tanya out from under Sandra’s sway. When the spell is over, Tanya doesn’t remember why she has been causing the mischief she has and is rid of Sandra’s influence. A relieved Calvin takes Tanya back to Hotshot.

  Sookie takes a break outside while the witches clean up. She sits in a lawn chair out in the chill night air. Bill soon steps from the woods and sits with her. After a few moments of silence, Bill tells Sookie that Selah Pumphrey has moved to Little Rock to work for a firm that specializes in vampire properties and that he always knew that Selah was more interested in him as a vampire than as a man. After telling Sookie that there have been many like Selah, he informs Sookie that there is only one her and leaves.

  MONDAY, OCTOBER 17. After the turmoil of the previous week, Sookie enjoys a quiet and peaceful day off.