Sookie 13.5 After Dead

Ace Books by Charlaine Harris

The Sookie Stackhouse Novels

DEAD UNTIL DARK

LIVING DEAD IN DALLAS

CLUB DEAD

DEAD TO THE WORLD

DEAD AS A DOORNAIL

DEFINITELY DEAD

ALL TOGETHER DEAD

FROM DEAD TO WORSE

DEAD AND GONE

DEAD IN THE FAMILY

DEAD RECKONING

DEADLOCKED

DEAD EVER AFTER

A TOUCH OF DEAD
AFTER DEAD

Ace Books Edited by Charlaine Harris

THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION

Ace Anthologies Edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner

MANY BLOODY RETURNS

WOLFSBANE AND MISTLETOE

DEATH’S EXCELLENT VACATION

HOME IMPROVEMENT: UNDEAD EDITION

AN APPLE FOR THE CREATURE

Berkley Prime Crime Books by Charlaine Harris

SWEET AND DEADLY

A SECRET RAGE

The Harper Connelly Mysteries

GRAVE SIGHT

GRAVE SURPRISE

AN ICE COLD GRAVE

GRAVE SECRET

The Lily Bard Mysteries

SHAKESPEARE’S LANDLORD

SHAKESPEARE’S CHAMPION

SHAKESPEARE’S CHRISTMAS

SHAKESPEARE’S TROLLOP

SHAKESPEARE’S COUNSELOR

The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries

REAL MURDERS

A BONE TO PICK

THREE BEDROOMS, ONE CORPSE

THE JULIUS HOUSE

DEAD OVER HEELS

A FOOL AND HIS HONEY

LAST SCENE ALIVE

POPPY DONE TO DEATH

Berkley Prime Crime Anthologies Edited by Charlaine Harris

CRIMES BY MOONLIGHT

InkLit Graphic Novels by Charlaine Harris

GRAVE SIGHT

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

USA • Canada • UK • Ireland • Australia • New Zealand • India • South Africa • China

penguin.com

A Penguin Random House Company

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

AFTER DEAD

Copyright © 2013 by Charlaine Harris, Inc.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.

ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-63598-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harris, Charlaine.

After dead : what came next in the world of Sookie Stackhouse / Charlaine Harris.—First edition.

pages cm
ISBN 978-0-425-26951-0 (hardback)
1. Stackhouse, Sookie (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. Vampires—Fiction. 3. Werewolves—Fiction. 4. Magic—Fiction. 5. Harris, Charlaine—Characters. I. Title.
PS3558.A6427A69 2013
813'.54—dc23
2013030521

FIRST EDITION: November 2013

Cover, endpaper, and interior illustrations by Lisa Desimini.

Cover design by Judith Lagerman.

Cover photograph of clouds © Elenamiv/Shutterstock.

HBO
^®
and True Blood
^®
are service marks of Home Box Office, Inc.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

CONTENTS

Dedication

A Note from the Author

A

THE ANCIENT PYTHONESS

GREG and CHRISTY AUBERT

B

CONNIE BABCOCK

DOKE, MINDY, MASON, and BONNIE BALLINGER

CHRISTIAN BARUCH

BATANYA and CLOVACHE

ISABEL BEAUMONT

ALCEE and BARBARA BECK

ANDY and HALLEIGH BELLEFLEUR

TERRY and JIMMIE BELLEFLEUR

BELLENOS

BERNARD

POLLY BLYTHE

JANE BODEHOUSE

ANTHONY BOLIVAR

KATHERINE (KATE) BOOK

BOOM

DERMOT BRIGANT

DILLON BRIGANT

NIALL BRIGANT

AMELIA BROADWAY

BUBBA

C

CALLISTO

PORTER CARPENTER

DESMOND CATALIADES

DIANTHA CATALIADES

CHARLES CLAUSEN

HANK CLEARWATER

PARKER COBURN

BILL COMPTON

MIKE COUGHLIN and WILLIE CROMWELL

ALFRED CUMBERLAND

CYNDEE

D

DEVON DAWN

BUD and GRETA DEARBORN

FELIPE DE CASTRO

MARK DUFFY

JB DU RONE

ROBERT THORNTON DU RONE and SARA SOOKIE DU RONE

TARA THORNTON DU RONE

DUSTIN

E

IMMANUEL EARNEST

RUSSELL EDGINGTON

HELEN ELLIS

ERIN

F

OCTAVIA FANT