The Sookie Stackhouse Companion (71 page)
Read The Sookie Stackhouse Companion Online
Authors: Charlaine Harris
Sookie asks Eric for assistance for her friend Tara, who is being abused by a vampire named Mickey. Eric is happy to do a favor for Sookie, providing she repay it by telling him the truth about what happened while he had amnesia. She complies, and he is stunned to find that he was willing to give up everything to be with her.
She attends the packmaster contest and finds Quinn, the tall man from the funeral, officiating. Although she catches Alcide’s father’s opponent, Patrick Furnan, cheating, the pack decides to allow the contest to continue anyway, and Alcide’s father is ultimately killed by his opponent. Alcide turns from her, seeking comfort with another Were, and she goes to work that night with a heavy heart. She realizes that the bartender Eric lent to Sam is not who he says he is, and the vampire admits that he is there to kill her in revenge for the staking of Long Shadow. She is able to stuff her silver chain in his mouth and escape, and the vampire is staked by the regular patrons at Merlotte’s.
Sookie meets up with weretiger Quinn again a month later, when he walks into Merlotte’s with two purposes: to deliver a message from the vampire Queen of Louisiana, whose wedding he has just overseen for his company, and to ask Sookie out. She is delighted to go out on a real date, but their good time is ruined when they are attacked by two bitten Weres while leaving the theater. After filing a police report, Quinn takes Sookie to a shifter bar to inform them of the attack and remind them that she is a friend of the pack. Quinn takes her home, and they set up another date, but Mr. Cataliades arrives to take her to New Orleans to settle her late, twice-deceased vampire cousin Hadley’s estate. Bill accompanies them to New Orleans, where Sookie and Amelia, Hadley’s landlord, are attacked by a vampire whom no one realizes Hadley has created. A Were who has been missing for several months, Jake has lain hidden in Hadley’s closet, held in stasis by a spell Amelia cast. Bill and Eric both come to the hospital where Sookie waits for treatment, and Eric forces Bill to admit that his pursuit of Sookie began as an assignment from the queen. Devastated, she leaves the hospital and wanders back to the apartment. The next night, Sookie, Queen Sophie-Anne Leclerq, and her bodyguards watch an ectoplasmic reconstruction arranged by Amelia to determine why Hadley, the queen’s favorite, turned the Were. Quinn arrives to break the tension, having come to New Orleans to look for the missing Were, Jake, one of his employees. Sookie welcomes him the next day to help her pack, but they are attacked again and kidnapped by Weres, who drive them toward the swamps. They escape, track their attackers to a cabin in the woods, and discover that the family of Debbie Pelt is behind their troubles. Sookie decides to tell the family the story of Debbie’s death. They believe that it was self-defense, and Debbie’s parents promise that they will not seek vengeance. Sookie and Quinn attend the queen’s spring ball, where a battle breaks out between the Louisiana vamps and the Arkansas vamps of the queen’s new husband. Sookie escapes with Quinn and is happy to finish her business and leave New Orleans the next day.
Although initially asked by Eric, Sookie attends a summit of vampires in the city of Rhodes as part of the queen’s entourage. She and Quinn have become serious, and she hopes to spend time with him at the summit, which he is overseeing for his company. Sookie is the only witness to the death of Peter Threadgill, Sophie-Anne’s husband, and expects to be called to testify on the queen’s behalf. The queen’s second, Andre Paul, believes Sookie can be of more use to the queen if she is connected to him by a blood bond. Eric interrupts as Sookie tries to resist. He suggests that Andre allow him to forge the blood bond with Sookie instead, since they have already had each other’s blood. Andre allows this, and Sookie unwillingly gives and receives blood with Eric. Quinn bursts onto the scene, furious that the vampires have forced Sookie into such a situation. Sookie tries to walk away with her head held high but breaks down in a stairwell.
Barry, the telepath she met while in Dallas, is in service to Stan Davis, who is now King of Texas. They both sense that something is wrong at the summit, and Barry awakens Sookie on the final morning in a panic. They discover that there are bombs planted throughout the hotel and frantically try to save both the humans and the vampires with the help of Mr. Cataliades, his niece Diantha, and a human named Cecile, who is also in service to Stan. Sookie alerts Quinn to get out of the hotel, Cecile pulls the fire alarm to evacuate the humans, and they rush to get their vampires to safety. Sookie manages to rouse Eric long enough to stuff Pam into her traveling coffin and get them all out of a window, while Mr. Cataliades is able to save Sophie-Anne. Working to rescue both humans and vampires, Sookie spies an injured Quinn in the rubble, with his sister and Andre lying nearby. Although badly hurt, Quinn insists that Sookie leave to help others, and she walks away knowing that he is going to stake Andre to protect her from his influence. After Sookie and Barry combine their talents to save people from the wreckage, they finally make their way to a motel in exhaustion. Although Mr. Cataliades has arranged a flight the next afternoon, Sookie decides to see Quinn instead and then makes her own way home.
Sookie is back in Bon Temps waiting to hear from Quinn when Eric calls and asks her to dinner on behalf of someone who wishes to meet her. He takes her to a restaurant in Shreveport, where she is surprised to be introduced to a fairy who explains that he is her great-grandfather. His half-human son Fintan had an affair with Gran, fathering both Sookie’s father and his sister, Linda. On the way home, Sookie and Eric are stopped by a Were pretending to be a policeman, who takes a shot at Sookie. The next day she discovers that Maria-Star Cooper, Alcide Herveaux’s girlfriend, has been murdered, and that Alcide suspects the packmaster is behind it. Sookie arranges a meeting between the two Weres, acting as a go-between and truth barometer, and Patrick’s innocence is proven as he tells them his own wife is missing. They are ambushed by a female packmaster seeking to take over their territory. Among the casualties are Patrick, Amanda, and most of the enemy Weres. Sam surprises Sookie by shifting into a lion and fighting to protect her. Once again, Claudine pops in to rescue Sookie and reveals that Sookie’s great-grandfather Niall is also Claudine’s grandfather.
No sooner has Sookie caught her breath from the Were war than another war literally lands on her doorstep. Knowing that Sophie-Anne Leclerq was injured in the summit bombing, the Nevada vamps launch a takeover and follow Eric to Sookie’s house, where he has fled after being cut off from Fangtasia. Quinn sends his sister, Frannie, to warn them. She tells Sookie that Quinn has been forced to work with the Nevada vamps. When the King of Nevada’s second shows up in Sookie’s front yard with his crew, Quinn accompanies them. He is waiting for Sookie when she wakes in the morning, and she breaks up with him because she feels that his responsibility to his mentally ill mother and younger sister will always stand in the way of a relationship with her.
After finding out that Jason and his new wife, Crystal, are having problems and that Sandra Pelt, Debbie’s younger sister, is manipulating Tanya Grissom to cause trouble, Sookie asks Calvin, who has been seeing Tanya, to bring her to Amelia and her mentor, Octavia, to be unspelled. They are able to clear Tanya of Sandra’s influence, but even pregnant, Crystal is trouble all on her own. Jason sets up Sookie and Calvin to catch his wife cheating, and Sookie is forced to inflict punishment on Calvin, breaking his fingers with a brick, because she and Calvin stood for Jason and Crystal at their wedding. Sookie is so disgusted with her brother for making her take his place that she vows to never forgive him.
When Eric and King Felipe de Castro are attacked in the Merlotte’s parking lot (along with innocent bystander Sam), Sookie runs over Sigebert, Sophie-Anne’s child and bodyguard, to save them, a gesture that earns her the promise of protection from the king. Great-grandfather Niall visits, asking Sookie if there is anything he can do for her, and she asks him to find her late cousin Hadley’s ex-husband, since she’s discovered Hadley left a child. He sends her the address and she visits them in Red Ditch, discovering that the child, Hunter, is a fellow telepath. She offers to help in any way she can.
At work at Merlotte’s on the night the shifters come out live on TV, Sookie also sees action in the bar as Sam and Tray Dawson both shift in front of the patrons. Sookie is happy that it seems to go well, but Sam gets the news that his stepfather shot his mother when she shifted in front of him. Sam immediately heads out for Texas, leaving Sookie in charge of the bar. A few days later, Eric’s daytime guy, Bobby Burnham, brings her a wrapped package and tells her to present it to Eric in front of Victor Madden, King Felipe de Castro’s second-in-command. Doing so, she finds that she has inadvertently married Eric by vampire law, a strategy that Eric swears is for her own protection. She leaves Fangtasia angry at herself and Eric. The next morning she is visited by two FBI agents who want to discover exactly how she and her unidentified companion (Barry) helped save people at the summit. When Sookie is called to Merlotte’s by a report of a body in the parking lot, the agents follow, and they find that Crystal Norris Stackhouse has been crucified behind the bar. While the police and the FBI investigate the crime scene, Sookie heads back to Fangtasia at dark to speak with Eric, and he tells her about his past. Merlotte’s is allowed to open the next day, and Niall comes to visit, letting Sookie know that there is trouble among the fairies and that she should be careful. Mr. Cataliades also sends Diantha with a warning that fairies are indeed moving about in this world. Sookie calls Claude to get more information. She meets Claude and Claudine for lunch, and they explain Niall’s family tree, his position as the fairy prince, and the issues with his nephew Breandan, who despises humans, especially the offspring that have come from human and fairy couplings. Breandan wants to close off Faery so there will be no further contact with humanity. After Sookie returns home, she is attacked by a fairy in her yard but is able to kill him. Quinn arrives to speak with her and is accosted by Bill, sent by Eric, who has banned Quinn from Area Five. Sookie is injured during their brawl and is given blood by Eric when he arrives. They rekindle their relationship, spending the night together.
Arlene—Sookie’s co-worker and onetime friend, who quit over the shifters coming out—calls, claiming she wants to make amends. Sookie is suspicious and stealthily approaches Arlene’s trailer. She is horrified to learn that Arlene’s friends from the Fellowship of the Sun are planning on crucifying her, although she realizes that they were not the ones who killed Crystal. She is able to call Andy Bellefleur, and police and FBI agents soon arrive, but a shoot-out ensues, killing one of the Fellowship of the Sun members and injuring one of the agents. Hearing that there has been trouble, Alcide sends Tray to guard Sookie. She asks for the protection promised by Felipe, but only Bubba comes to her aid. Both he and Tray are sickened by enemy fairies. Sookie is forced to tell Jason about their fairy heritage when he is confronted in his house by their great-uncle Dermot, who is trying to tell him that his friend and fellow werepanther Mel Hart killed Crystal. Mel admits having been goaded by Crystal and striking her but denies crucifying her. Sookie leaves as Jason, Calvin, Crystal’s sister, and their cousin exact justice for Crystal. When Sookie is unable to get an answer from either Tray or Amelia, who have been dating, she calls Bill for help. He enters Tray’s house to find blood, not all of it the Were’s, and follows Sookie back to her house. She loses him at a light. Sookie decides to run from her car into her house, knowing Amelia is waiting, but she is seized by two of Breandan’s fairies, Lochlan and Neave. They take her to a deserted house in Arkansas to torture her, hoping her abduction will induce Niall to cede his right to the fairy throne. She is rescued along with Tray by Niall and Bill, who is badly injured by Neave and her silver-tipped teeth. Taken to Dr. Ludwig’s hospital, Sookie is given blood by Eric to heal, since they are sure the fairies are going to attack soon. Breandan and his forces arrive, determined to wipe out the opposition. A pregnant Claudine dies, along with Eric’s henchman Clancy, and Tray. The severely wounded Bill kills Breandan as he goes for Sookie. Sookie sadly surveys the carnage as Niall arrives, having defeated Breandan’s forces on every front. Sookie is home trying to recover when Niall visits and meets Jason for the first time. He tells them that he will seal off Faery because the fairies are too dangerous to humankind, and kisses his great-grandchildren good-bye.
Sookie and Eric continue to strengthen their relationship as Sookie tries to restore her physical and mental health. She reestablishes her connection with Jason as well, happy to see him seemingly settled in a good relationship. She allows the Weres to have their full-moon run on her property. They tell her that fairies have been in her woods and that there is a body buried there. Realizing that the body must be Debbie Pelt’s, Sookie tells Eric when she visits him in Shreveport; but she forgets to tell him that Claude has moved in, seeking the company of family and fairy. As Pam is driving Sookie home, they are stopped by Bruno Brazell, Victor’s second, and a female vampire named Corinna. Pam tells Sookie that Victor’s vampires are going to try to kill them. Sookie and Pam manage to turn the tables.
Feeling safe from any threat for the moment, Sookie agrees to watch Hunter overnight while Remy attends a family funeral. Sookie tries to help Hunter cope with his ability and works with him to control it—and what he says about it. After Remy picks him up the next day, Eric awakens in the hidey-hole and they spend the evening together until Eric’s maker, Appius Livius Ocella, and his child Alexei arrive. Since Sookie was told earlier that a second body lies in her woods, Eric is convinced it has been planted there by the Weres. He contacts Alcide, who soon arrives with a small coterie. The whole party troops out to the woods, where the remains of Alcide’s second, Basim al Saud, are discovered.
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