Mallory Reads "Dead as a Doornail"
Heybook five!! At this point there are like four weeks until the last book comesout so I’m pretty much not gonna finish by then but who knows.
Whatis to come in Dead as a Doornail?Craziness. Also we meet a pain in my side. So excited for that. I don’t reallyremember much else, so let’s read!
InChapter 1, the full moon has arrived.
It’s the first full moon since Jason was bitten by Hotshot resident Felton. Sookieis driving him to meet Calvin, who is going to help him through his firstchange. Jason has brought a bag of essentials, toothbrush, fresh undies. Calvin meets them and promises to take care of him.
The next morning, Jason arrives at Sookie’s, dirty and slightly bruised. He doesn’t say anything but heads straight for the shower. She cooks him breakfast but when he tries to eat he just throws up. So he tries coffee and that seems tosettle his stomach. Whereas you might think he had a rough night, turns out, it was awesome.
“That was the most incredibleexperience of my life.”
“It’s the most incrediblerush,” he said. “Since I was bitten, not born, I don’t get to be a true pantherlike the others.” I could hear envy in his voice. “But even what I become isamazing. You feel the magic inside you, and you feel your bones moving aroundand adapting, and your vision changes. Then you’re lower to the ground and youwalk in a whole different way, and as for running, damn, you can run. You canchase…”
Seemsintense. Sookie is exceptionally relieved that he’s okay. After he leaves, shelays down to get some sleep, since she didn’t get any the night before. Whenshe wakes up, it’s time to go to work. She wonders about shifters. Would theykill humans when they were in animal form? If they mated, would they have ahuman baby or an animal? Do pregnant Weres shift?
Allgood questions. But she can’t ask Jason yet since he’s been a half panther forlike a day. She could ask Sam though. She doesn’t think of that and so we donot get any of those answers right now. Instead we get to hear her think aboutBill and how she misses him. Ugh. What about no memory Eric? I miss him.
Sookiearrives at work and Sam is antsy. The second night of the full moon is havingits effect on him. Also he has allergies apparently. This is only relevantbecause he had to hire a new cook. He was doing the cooking after the last cookleft (remember Tack, the dude Arlene was seeing? Yeah he was scummy and stolesome of her stuff before leaving town) and cooking when you’re all sneezy is gross.The new cook’s name is Sweetie Des Arts. She’s a good worker and Sookie likesher.
Sweetie was bony andbrunette and fortyish, and she wore a lot of makeup for someone who was goingto be out of sight in the kitchen all evening. She also seemed a littlesharper, perhaps better educated, than any of Merlotte’s previous short-ordercooks.
Here’s a fact for you: Merlotte’s has a smoking section. We don’t have smokingsections in Georgia anymore. Of course, this takes place in like 2003 orsomething. Also Sam may or may not be in his 30’s.
Sam asks how Jason is and Sookie explains he will be fine.
“I’m glad,” he said. I can’tread shifter minds as easily as I read human minds, but I can tell if a mood istrue or not. Sam was happy because I was happy.
Aww.
Hesays he’s leaving when Terry gets there to relieve him. Sookie gets to work.It’s a busy night. Tara is in the bar that night with a vampire Sookie hasnever seen before. She wonders where Franklin is and if this guy is like abodyguard or something. Tara introduces him as Mickey, Franklin’s friend.
He was slim and narrowshouldered with slicked-back hair. He had long fingernails and a sharp face. Isupposed that, in a way, he was attractive—if you like a liberal dose of dangerwith your sex.
Anyoneever read the Blood Ties series? Long fingernails on men are gross to me.Perhaps I’ll write a blog about that series some day. Anyway, Mickey sounds scary.Also, he’s rude. And later, when a bar fight erupts, he won’t even step in to help. Sookie and Terry manage to break up the fight. Something about that full moon, I guess.
Later on, a woman comes in. A woman who is trying to sell vampire blood. Sookie reads this in her mind and reuses her old spill something on someone’s jacket so you can take it off of them and get crap out of their pockets things. It works and she and Terry rid the woman of the blood. She got off easy if you think aboutit. If Sookie had told Mickey about the woman… well, her night would have beena lot worse than losing the last of her supply.
Sookie worries about Terry’s mental state throughout the night, but the man manages tokeep it together pretty well.
It was lucky he wasn’t inMerlotte’s the next night, when all hell broke loose.
Oh,what now?
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In Chapter 2, ohno!!!
The next night, the bar seems calmer. Always a bad sign.Andy is there with his new 21 year-old girlfriend Halleigh Robinson, anelementary school teacher.
She was right out of college,and she was real attractive, with short earlobe-length brown hair and hugebrown eyes and a nicely rounded figure.
Andy can’t wait to sleep with her but she doesn’t want tosleep with him because she thinks he will break up with her after. Claudine also comes into the bar, attention seeking as usual.
Fairy fact: they are allergic (I guess is the right word) tolemons. Strange.
She has come to give Sookie bad news. Calvin Norris was shotthat morning. He’s alive but in the hospital. And he’s not the only shifter tobe shot lately. The week before, a teenage shifter named Heather was shot andkilled.
Sookie relays this info to Sam. They decide to send flowers.
That night they are the last two to leave.
I pulled on my coatand went out the bar’s back door just ahead of Sam. I heard him locking thedoor behind me. Suddenly I remembered that we were getting low on bottledblood, and I trned to tell Sam this. He caught my movement and stopped, waitingfor me to speak, his face expectant. In the length of time it takes to blink,his expression changed from expectant to shocked, dark red began to spread onhis left leg, and I heard the sound of a shot.
Then blood waseverywhere, Sam crumpled to the ground, and I began to scream.
What?!?! Someone shot Sam?? OMG HE BETTER BE OKAY!!!!
Also, someone is obviously targeting shifters.
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In Chapter 3, favors are sometimes difficult to ask for.
We begin the chapter at Fangtasia. Wait! What happened toSam? Sookie does say she was at the hospital until 6 a.m. I am to assume myfavorite shifter is okay.
Pam makes Sookie pay the cover charge and she heads into thebar to see Eric. Pam tells her to sit at the bar and meet the new bartenderwhile she goes to get Eric.
The new man gave me awhite-toothed smile when I perched on one of the high stools. He was quite aneyeful. He had a head full of long, intensely curly hair, chestnut brown ncolor. It clustered thickly on his shoulders. He also sported a mustache and aVandyke. Covering his left eye was a black eye patch. Since his face was narrowand the features on it sizable, his face was crowded. He was about my height,five foot six, and he was wearing a black poet shirt and black pants and highblack boots. All he needed was a bandanna tied around his head and a pistol.
A pirate vampire? A very charming pirate vampire. Still nottotally trustworthy but nicer than Chow. Sookie knows he can pick up on herdifferent-ness. The woman sitting her to her at the bar is not impressed withher though. Mostly she’s all jealous because Charles is not talking to her.Haters gonna hate.
On her way to see Eric, Sookie realizes that sheaccidentally dressed up for Eric, even though her intention was to do theopposite. Subconscious will get you every time. Pam leads her over to a boothwhere Eric is seated. He gives her a kiss on the cheek and she can’t help butthink about all of the other places he’s kissed her and just doesn’t know it.He compliments her on her nail polish, which is a little weird but kind ofnice.
She asks if things have been going well for him since he gothis memory back. They have. Though, he received a call from Hot Rain, LongShadow’s maker, demanding more than the money Eric had already paid him. (SinceEric killed Long Shadow, he owed the vamps maker. Killing other vampires doesnot come without a price.)
Sookie reveals the reason for her visit is that Sam needs afavor from Eric. She came for him because his leg is all shot and broken. Thenshe tells Eric what happened. After he was shot, she used his cell phone todial 911, while holding her one hand over his bleeding wound. He’s doing okay,considering. (Good! I can relax now.) The favor that Sam needs is a bartender.Since he is down for the count and someone keeps shooting shifters, he wouldprefer to have a vampire bartender filling in.
Eric doesn’t seem to care and just wants to know whathappened while he was staying at her house. She gets reasonably irritated andhe insists that someday he will remember. I just wonder what will happen then.He finally agrees to send a bartender. Charles. The conditions are, Sam must provide blood and a place for Charles tosleep. Also, now Sam will owe Eric a favor. Uh-oh. Being indebted to a vampireis never a good thing. Just ask Alcide.
He wonders if Sookie still has any of the money he gave herleft. We find out that she did give some of it to Jason, but kept more forherself since she’s the one with no insurance and all. And now that people arebeing shot, you can never be too prepared.
Sookie calls Sam and asks if he agrees to the terms and heaccepts, though he doesn’t sound thrilled about it. Eric calls Charles over andtells him that Sookie is his master for the time being and he must do whatevershe says. Sookie is not thrilled about this.While Charles runs off to fetch his coat, Eric asks Sookie to dance. Sheaccepts. They dance with all eyes on them and then she pulls away quick when hestarts talking about how holding her is familiar.
Before she leaves, she asks if he has ever heard of Mickey.He has and he warns her to stay away from the vamp and not to try and helpTara. Well, now you know she’s going to try to help Tara. Eric helps her intoher coat and then wonders about the blood on the old one. She lies and says itwas chicken blood.
“Sookie, Sookie. Mybullshit meter is reading that as a ‘false,’” Eric said, shaking his head in achiding way.
LOL. She thanks him for lending Charles and she and thepirate vamp leave. Her and the woman at the bar both wondering what Eric findsso captivating about her.
Cause you’re awesome, that’s why!
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InChapter 4, getting shot makes you cranky.
Sookieand Charles chat some on the way to Bon Temps. They make a stop off at avampire hostel to get his stuff and then head to Sam’s. Charles asks about herfamily (always such a sad subject) and then about her “disability.” ThenCharles asks some pretty good questions. Did Sookie know Long Shadow and Chow?And was she present for their deaths? I’d be worried too if I were him.
Hetheorizes Eric didn’t just kill Long Shadow because he was embezzling. I don’tthink so either. She tells him all about the local shifter population gettingshot. Charles points out that since all the shootings were at night… well, itcould be significant. To which I assume he means it could be a vampire. Sookiethinks maybe it’s just because you can hide more at night.
Charleshas never been a bouncer but he has been a shill at a whorehouse which is kindof the same thing. I guess. Also he wasa pirate. And he was turned into a vampire in Tortugas. I wonder if he knewCaptain Jack Sparrow.
Theyarrive at Sam’s and he’s in a crabby mood. He halfway snaps at Sookie fortaking so long and she lets him have it right back. Then he is sorry. Don’t geta tude with Sookie! (I still love you, Sam.) He’s still not happy though. Iassume most of it is due to him being injured and stuff. He doesn’t like owingEric favors. He decides he wants Charles to stay with Sookie and she’s pissedsince he didn’t even ask her if that was okay. He doesn’t back down though andneither does she. After telling him off one last time, she stomps out of histrailer and leaves.
Normally Sam was one of myfavorite people in the world, but tonight…not.
Sadness.
I was working the earlyshift for the next three days—not that I was sure I had a job anymore. When Igot into Merlotte’s at eleven the next morning, dashing to the employees’ doorthrough the pouring rain in my ugly but useful rain slicker, I was nearly surethat Sam would tell me to collect my last paycheck and hit the door. But hewasn’t there. I had a moment of what I recognized as disappointment. Maybe I’dbeen spoiling for another fight, which was odd.
Ican’t help but think there’s something to this but I just can’t decide what itis. Anyway, Jason comes into the bar with Hoyt. He asks if she wants to govisit Calvin in the hospital and she says sure. I’m not sure I would go if hewas trying to court me but I just don’t like unwanted attention. Alsoconfrontation is not my thing.
Anunfamiliar man comes into the bar that night.
His dark hair, turned blackby the rain, was pulled back in a ponytail. His face was scarred with one longthin white line that ran along one cheek. When he pulled off his jacket, Icould see that he was a bodybuilder.
Turnsout he is Jack Leeds, private investigator. And he just happens to be lookingfor Sookie. The Pelt family has hired he and his wife to find their missingdaughter.
I turned to look where hewas looking, and I saw a blond woman of medium height shaking her umbrella atthe door. She had short hair and pale skin, and when she turned, I saw that shewas very pretty; at least, she would have been if she had been more animated.
LilyBard Leeds, Jack’s wife. They order chili and ask Sookie if they can speak withher when she gets off work. Since she’s going to the hospital, she agrees totalk to them at her place the next morning.
WhenSookie leaves work, Sam is standing on his porch. He motions her over andapologizes for the night before. He asks if anything happened in the bar andshe stops herself from telling him about the detectives.
He looked at me. His eyesnarrowed. The lashes were the same red-gold as his hair, so they showed up onlywhen you were close to him. And I had no business at all thinking about Sam’seyelashes, or any other part of him, for that matter.
J
Hesays he doesn’t have to explain why he was all crabby but she thinks he doescause she doesn’t know why. He just says she can count on him. She says he’sbeen confusing lately. HE’S OBVIOUSLY IN LOVE WITH YOU!! Oblivious.
And I dashed back to my car,feeling that my heart was much lighter than it had been before. Being at oddswith Sam had felt wrong. I didn’t realize how that wrongness had colored mythoughts until I was right with him again.
There’ssomething between them. I just know it!!!
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Sookieand Jason arrive at the hospital and find many a shifter roaming around. Jasonintroduces two of them as Dixon and Dixie Mayhew from Hotshot. They don’t seemhappy to see Jason but tell the two what room Calvin is in. Standing guard infront of the door is Dawson, a huge muscley werewolf. Jason says he owns anauto repair shop.
Dawson was wearing a denimshirt and jeans, but his biceps were about to burst through the material. Hisblack leather boots were battle scarred.
Dawsonrecognizes Jason but makes the two take off their coats and turn around.Checking for potential threats, I reckon. The man announces their presence toCalvin, who only wants to see Sookie.
The panther leader lookedawful. He was pale and drawn. His hair was dirty, though his cheeks above histrim beard had been shaved. He was wearing a hospital gown, and he was hookedup to lots of things.
It’sobvious that if Calvin had been a regular human, the shot would have killedhim. Sookie takes his hand and feels all bad for him. Calvin asks about theothers who were shot and says they have to do something. The police won’t knowwhat to look for as they won’t see the connection between the victims.
“Some of my people wonder ifthe shooter is someone who’s a shifter,” Calvin said. His fingers tightenedaround mine. “Someone who didn’t want to become a shifter in the first place.Someone who was bitten.”
Youhave got to be kidding me. Every timeI turn around someone is accusing Jason of murder. Sookie is quick to defendher brother saying he loved shifting and begs Calvin not to let anyone hurthim. The panther says he’s given the order to hold off until they know for surebut Sookie sees in his head that some of the panthers want Jason dead andthere’s really not much he could do to stop them in his current state.
Calvin’s fingers releasedmine, and his hand rose with an effort to wipe the tears off my cheek. “You’rea sweet woman,” he said. “I wish you could love me.” “I wish I could, too,” Isaid. So many of my problems would be solved if I loved Calvin Norris.
Umm…I’m not sure about that. But Sookie knows Calvin and his pack members woulddefend her to death but the thought of living out in Hotshot, in isolation fromeverything else, is not appealing. She does appreciate the fact that he’s nottrying to persuade her by trading Jason’s life for her hand. Calvin seems likea great dude and all, but I just keep picturing him as her dad or something. Iknow he’s not that old but still.
Shesays goodbye to him and heads out. When they get back in the car, Sookie tellsher brother what Calvin said. He is appalled that they think he could have shotthose people. Poor Jason, always the suspect. Sookie knows they have to findthe real shooter before the next full moon or Jason is doomed.
Thatnight Sookie realizes the irony of the situation. Everyone thinks Jason isgunning down shape-shifters when actually she was the one who shot one. Shethinks of the detectives coming to her house the next day and can’t help hereyes from wandering around her kitchen, looking for signs of Debbie. She knowsshe should have reported it. But Eric’s wounds had vanished so how would thepolice know Debbie had shot first? But then again, there would have beengunshot residue on Debbie’s hands. Eric’s blood was still on the floor. Herhouse had been broken into. Her car was parked across the road. Yeah, sheshould have reported it.
Butit’s too late for all of that now. She feels bad about Debbie’s family butcan’t tell them the truth. She turns on the news and learns that there havealso been “random” shootings in other states and the police think it is aserial sniper. Alcide calls and pulls her out of her downward spiralingthoughts. She warns him about the sniper and the detectives and he wants tocome to her house and talk to her about it. She’s worried Jack and Lily mightsee them together and become even more suspicious, but Alcide insists on comingover.
Alcide hugged me. He alwaysdid. And once again I was overwhelmed by the size of him, the masculinity, thefamiliar smell. Despite the warning bells ringing in my head, I hugged himback.
Theysit on the couch and she tells him what the detectives said. He didn’t knowanything about them. Then, Alcide reveals something a bit uneasy-making. Debbiemay have been using magic on him. That means her family might use magic, too.Snap.
Alcidemakes a brave and bold statement about when Debbie pushed Sookie in that trunk:she let Sookie get raped. She defends the vampire, saying he was starved anddidn’t know it was her. She can’t use that word, can’t accept that that’s whathappened.
My feelings about theincident were so confused that I couldn’t even bear to try to pick throughthem. When I’d thought of rape before, when other girls had told me what hadhappened to them or I’d read it in their brains, I hadn’t had the ambiguity Ifelt over my own short, awful time in the trunk.
“He did something you didn’twant him to do,” Alcide said simply.
“He wasn’t himself,” I said.
“But he did it.”
Iagree with Alcide on this one. But Sookie continues to defend Bill. He was sooosorry and he stopped when he knew it was her. This is starting to sound likebattered women syndrome. Defend their actions even though they areunacceptable. And I get he was hungry, but if that is what will happen everytime he hasn’t eaten, then why on Earth would you want to be with him? Sheneeds to be over him already. First love is stupid always.
Alcidegoes on to explain the reason he called in the first place. Colonel Flood isdead. But it was a car accident, not a sniper. He wants Sookie to attend thefuneral with him. She manages to switch shifts so she can go. Alcide tells herwerewolf funerals are pretty formal. Also, now that Flood is dead, a newpackmaster must be chosen. Alcide’s dad wants the position.
Hesays he will pick her up the next morning and kisses her briefly on the lipsbefore leaving. Then Sookie bathes and reads and goes to sleep.
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InChapter 6, funeral or political debate?
Sookiecan’t seem to find anything to wear to the funeral so she calls Tara. Herfriend agrees to let her borrow something but insists that she go straight thebedroom and right back out. No going in other rooms. At first Sookie isoffended but then realizes Tara has a vampire sleeping in her house. Mickey?Yeah, don’t want to run into him. Sookie ends up picking out a jacket and skirtand gets home quickly.
Soonafter she is dressed, Jack and Lily arrive. They want to know about the nightDebbie disappeared. Sookie tells them they were at a party at Pam’s house(witch war cover story) with a bunch of other people, including Colonel Flood,whose funeral she will be attending. They ask if she had met Debbie before whendating Alcide and about her staying in Jackson. Seems they have done theirhomework. They also know she and Alcide found a body at a bridal shop and toldthe police they were engaged. Lily asks to go to the bathroom, probably tosnoop around.
Ithought that might come back around to bite her in the butt. Sookie tells themthey were for like a minute but not anymore. She admits Debbie disliked her andwas a bitch to her (all true) and skirts around the truth. She hasn’t seenDebbie since that night. Debbie didn’t knock on her door after the “party”.They ask what she thinks happened to the woman and Sookie says she doesn’t knowand doesn’t care. They seem to accept that answer and, after Lily adjustsSookie’s collar, they leave.
Sookieworries for a second that Lily put a bug on her, but doesn’t see one. She looksaround the bathroom to make sure the woman didn’t leave anything in there andthen tries to convince herself Debbie was bad and deserved what she got. She’stired of thinking about it.
To hell with the wholesubject. They’d find her, or they wouldn’t. No point in worrying about iteither way.
Isuppose that’s true. Alcide arrives soon after, but in his dad’s Lincoln whichis curious. He’s looking all spiffy in his suit and they exchange complimentsbefore leaving. Sookie is weary of Alcide’s behavior about the formality of thefuneral. He explains he borrowed his father’s car because his truck wasn’t“dignified enough”. Seems too fancy to me. But not to worry though, Alcide’sdad has another car to drive.
Alcidegets all tense in the car and wants to talk to Sookie about something. He wantsto know if there is anything she wants to tell him about the night of the witchwar. She says there isn’t. Obviously he suspects something but he lets thetopic go. They arrive at the church and see Alcide’s father.
Alcide’s father was a littleshorter than Alcide, but he was a husky man like his son. Jackson Herveoux hadiron-gray hair instead of black, and a bolder nose. He had the same olive skinas Alcide. Jackson looked all the darker because he was standing by a pale,delicate woman with gleaming white hair.
Alcideintroduces the two. The woman is Christine Larrabee, a full blooded Were. Whilethe mens whisper to each other, Christine tells Sookie they are arm candy forthe day.
“The funeral of thepackmaster marks the opening of the campaign to replace him,” Christine said.
Soundsinsensitive, but what do I know about werewolf politics. Or any politics forthat matter. Christine explains that the pack will sit at the front of thechurch, candidates coming in last. Apparently candidates volunteer and are thenput through tests (remember Alcide talking about these before) and then packvotes. Christine’s deceased husband was the packmaster before Flood. It looksgood for Jackson to bring her. There are only two candidates this go round.Jackson and a man named Patrick Furnan.
Patrick Furnan was in hismid-forties, somewhere between Alcide and his father. He was a thick-bodied manwith a light brown crew cut and a very short beard shaved into a fancy shape.His suit was brown, too, and he’d had trouble buttoning the jacket. Hiscompanion was a pretty woman who believed in a lot of lipstick and jewelry.
Hiswife, Libby. They have two kids. He owns a Harley dealership. Christine saysshe’s not sure who will win, but had to choose Jackson’s side when he called ontheir friendship. She wonders why Alcide brought Sookie. So does Sookie.Christine warns her since Alcide’s last girlfriend is still MIA but Sookie saysshe’s safe. STOP BEING SUSPICIOUS! Christine seems intrigued by that, butdoesn’t say anything.
My attention was caught bythe dull gleam of a shaved head, and I stepped a bit to my left to have abetter view. I’d never seen this man before. I would certainly have rememberedhim; he was very tall, taller than Alcide or even Eric, I thought. He had bigshoulders and arms roped with muscle. His head and arms were the brown of a Caucasianwith a real tan. I could tell, because he was wearing a sleeveless black silktee tucked into black pants and shiny dress shoes.
Theman catches her eye while she’s staring. She asks Christine who it is but thewoman doesn’t answer. I think I know who that is. And I am not thrilled.
Peoplebegin filtering into the church. Here’s a fact: children of Weres who are notthe first born still carry the Were gene and pass it to their children. Thisusually gives them greater healing abilities and strength. A lot of athletesare in the Were gene pool.
Sookiemeets the eyes of Mr. Clean again and the man smiles at her. Then Alcidefinally fesses up a little. He wants her to read Patrick’s mind because hethinks the man is planning to sabotage his father.
“Why didn’t you just askme?” I was confused, and mostly I was hurt. “I thought you might feel like youowed me anyway!” “How do you figure that?” “I know you killed Debbie.”
WHAT?!How does he know that? Sookie doesn’t deny it, but wonders why he cares. Hesays he doesn’t but since Sookie lied to him about it, she owes him he figured.Something about this seems jerk-ish. She informs him she owes him nothing andthinks the only reason he didn’t drive his car was so she couldn’t leave oncehe’d told her that. It was. He apologizes, kind of, but still wants her tohelp.
Tallman is watching them argue. He is a creeper.
Alcidesays he needs her to go in with him and be on his dad’s side because it mightbe helpful to him since Sookie helped out during the witch war and all. Shedebates this for a second, weighing the good things he’s done for her againstthe irritating things and eventually decides to be a good friend and go on in.
Thefuneral starts off normally, with an Air Force buddy of Flood’s speaking abouthim and then a fellow church member. Then Furnan gets up and starts giving hiscampaign speech about how Flood can never be replaced but how he’d be great forthe job basically. Alcide’s dad goes next but Sookie tunes out. The serviceconcludes and they go to the graveside. Sookie doesn’t see the tall man again.
Onthe way home, Sookie wants to know how Alcide knew what she had done. He pickedup Debbie’s scent near Sookie’s front door. He says he may not have if hewasn’t so familiar with it and that he didn’t smell her anywhere else in thehouse. Sookie asks if he wants to know what happened and he says no at first.He asks if it was Eric and Sookie says no. Then he does want to know but shedoesn’t feel like telling him anymore.
She’smad at him still and feels his reservation about believing she didn’t murderDebbie just because. (He says he doesn’t care Debbie is dead, but he does. Andreally, this is a pot/kettle situation. I feel like she should be moreunderstanding that he cares his ex is dead. Yeah, she was a scummy bitch whodid bad things to him, but Bill has done bad things. He’s hurt her. And I knowhe hasn’t tried to kill any of her friends [that we know of] but he’s killed alot of other people. I just think she should cut Alcide a break since he lovedDebbie for years. He deserves a little bit of grieving time, I feel like.) Butshe tells him Patrick is planning to use Jackson’s gambling problem against himin the election. Then she says she doesn’t want to see him for a long time. Seeing him and hearing his thoughts (as much asshe can) makes her feel bad. She sarcastically thanks him for the ride to thefuneral. Then she goes inside and locks the door.
They say when one doorshuts, another one opens. But they haven’t been living at my house. Most of thedoors I open seem to have something scary crouched behind them anyway.
Oneday, Sookie. One day there will be happiness. I hope.
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InChapter 7, stop, drop and roll.
Sookiegoes in to work that night and finds Sam at the bar. He’s sitting off to theside, his leg propped up on a chair. She can tell he’s in pain but happy to beback at work, even if he can only sit and chat with people. He motions her overand asks again if Charles could stay at her house. The closet he’s sleeping inis small and smells like mops. But Sookie suspects there is more to his requestthan Charles’ comfort.
Hedoesn’t think she’s taking the sniper situation seriously enough. He know theshifters in Hotshot suspect Jason and thinks Charles could help protect him.Sam says he would if not for his leg and that he doesn’t think Jason is the onewho shot him.
A knot of tension within merelaxed when Sam said that. I hadn’t realized I’d been worried about what hethought, but I had.
Sheagrees to let Charles stay, though she’s still not super happy about it. Tara andMickey come into the bar. Sookie is worried about the girl, who doesn’t speakto her or leave her table at all. Claudine is also there, surrounded byattention as per usual.
Finally,Sookie decides to confront Mickey. Isn’t that what Eric said not to do?
Wedo find out Eggs died in a fire the previous fall. Wait, so was this the orgyfire? I thought he lived. Oh well.
“Tara,” I said quietly. Shelooked up at me, her big brown eyes dull and dead: past fear, past shame.
Whatis this scumbag doing to her? Sookie tells her to wake up! But Mickey grabs herarm and tells her to back off. Sookie tells him she knows he’s hurting herfriend but he tells her it’s none of her concern. She threatens him, though sheis scared. Tara speaks up and says Mickey is her man and to stop embarrassingher. Sookie can sense Tara wants her to back off so she does. Then the twoleave. She turns to see that Charles and Sam were both watching the exchange,ready to… take action if necessary I guess.
Later,Charles thanks Sookie for letting her stay with him but wonders if Eric willmind. Sookie brushes that off and shows him inside thehouse. He wants to go roam the woods for a while so she gets him a spare keybefore washing up and going to bed.
Around3 in the morning, Sookie is woken up by Charles, who says someone is creepingaround outside her house. He tells her to lie still while he listens. Finally,the prowler passes on but Charles bounds outside to check things. Sookieworries its Mickey, but when Charles calls her to the back door, she sees thatit is Bill. The bartender asks if she knows Bill and Bill replies “intimately.”Way to be a douche, Bill. Sookie gives him a piece of mind about that. Thumbsup!
Billasks if she is sleeping with Charles. Pile on the ass. Sookie tells him that isnone of his effin business and asks what the fudge he is doing at her house at3 a.m. He says he was concerned for her but she says it’s only because hesmelled another vamp and was spying. Bill says he also smelled another human butSookie is having none of his excuses. He wants to know what Charles is doingthere so she explains (unhappily) that the vamp is filling in at Merlotte’s.Then she explains about the sniper, which apparently Bill knew nothing about.
Hespeculates that she is worried about Jason and says he’s sorry.
“No point telling me aboutit,” I snapped. “Tell Jason—it’s him who turns fuzzy.”
LOLfuzzy. Bill does not appreciate her snappiness so he leaves. Whatevs.
Shegoes back to bed but is woken up not too long after. This time it is Claudine.
“Sookie, your house is onfire.”
What?!Oh no! Sookie is still a sleepy head, so Claudine picks her up and carries heroutside. She finally wakes fully and realizes this is not a dream. Her house isactually on fire. Charles says it was a human who did it. A human that is nowdead on her lawn.
But for a long minute myeyes were fixed on the terrible sight of flames, and the red glow of firelightening the night. The back porch and part of the kitchen were blazing.
Sheasks if either of her guests called the fire department. They haven’t. Firesare fatal to vamps, no one is letting Sookie back inside, and no one has a cellphone. Sookie sends Charles over to Bill’s to call. But while Claudine isdistracted, Sookie runs back into the house. She grabs socks, her purse andjacket. She shuts the door to the kitchen before falling down. Claudine comesto her rescue once more, complaining that Sookie is making her life hard.
Catfish,who is a volunteer fireman, arrives right before the fire truck. They get towork on the fire. Hoyt and Ralph are also among the firemen. Bud and Andy showup and soon after, Bill and Charles get back.
Sookie’shouse continues to burn down. Suck.
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InChapter 8, burn, burn, yeah it’s two R’s.
Billcomes over and takes Sookie’s hand in a comforting gesture, I guess. Bud and Andy are, of course, more concernedwith the dead body than her burning house. Charles fesses up to killing theguy. He says the man set the fire and then tried to attack him so Charlesdefended himself. Bill steps in and says Charles is staying with him and Sookieis thankful for that. The doctor, who has since arrived, checks the man’s pulseand confirms he is dead as a doornail. His neck is broken.
Andyproceeds with taking pictures of the body while Claudine talks to Dr. Tonnesen.Linda. Andy wonders why Claudine is even there and she says that she isSookie’s fairy godmother. Bud laughs (fairies makes people happy) and Claudinesays she was spending the night at Sookie’s. But really, Claudine has savedSookie’s life a few times now… like when she fell asleep at the wheel thattime. Maybe she really is her fairy godmother.
Theycheck the man’s pockets and find his wallet in his coat. They ask Sookie tolook at the body to see if she recognizes him. She doesn’t. But Claudine hasseen the man before. He was in Merlotte’s that night. His driver’s license sayshe’s from Arkansas. Claudine says the man told her he was from Georgia and thathe was just passing through. Andy discovers that the man also has a Fellowshipof the Sun card in his wallet. His name is Jeff Marriot.
Sookieannounces that Claudine has to leave since Bill and Charles are inching herway. She has to get home since she has work tomorrow. Does no one find it oddthat she was not in PJs and suddenly has to leave? Guess not. Also, she claimsto be parked at Bill’s. She leaves. What kind of cops are these? There’s a deadbody, a burning house, only four witnesses and they let one leave?
Catfishcomes out to let Sookie know that the damage was not as bad as it could havebeen. Only her back porch and kitchen were burned. Well, and her car.
The kitchen…where the onlytraces of the death I’d caused could have been found. Now not even thetechnicians featured on the Discovery Channel could find any blood traces inthe scorched room.
Well,how convenient. She starts to laugh and Catfish is worried. He offers to callher insurance agent, Greg Aubert.
The whole night suddenlyrose up and whalloped me one. My house had burned, at least partially. I’d hadmore than one prowler. I had a vampire in residence for whom daytime cover hadto be provided. My car was gone. There was a dead man named Jeff Marriot in myyard, and he’d set fire to my house and car out of sheer prejudice. I wasoverwhelmed.
Sookie’slife is crazy sauce. No one can get in touch with Jason, so Bill says Sookiewill stay at his house. She agrees but not with enthusiasm. Catfish left amessage for Greg and he and the other firemen head out. Sookie thanks them forsaving the rest of her house. She, Bill and Charles head to Bill’s house.Partway Bill decides to carry her and she lets him. Let me point out how thisis another sign of bad police work. Let the man who confessed to the murderjust leave. Now given, they don’t have a light proof cell in the jail, but theyare just going to trust him not to leave town? Not legit.
Shegoes up to the bedroom she used to use when she was dating Bill. She finds anightgown of hers and a toothbrush.
Bill hadn’t put my things inthe trash; he’d left them, like he’d expected me to return.
Andshe did. But only because her house nearly burnt down. Sookie goes to sleep butwakes up in a few hours to go meet Greg. Bill left her some of his clothes toput on and she heads back to her house. Greg arrives and starts inspecting. Hemakes a comment about how he wished she’d had more coverage and she picks fromhis head that he sometimes uses magic to back up his insurance. His mother wasa witch and he picked up some stuff.
Theysurvey the damage and Sookie knows she is going to have to replace a lot ofthings in her kitchen. But luckily, the rest of the house seems okay, just smells.They open the windows to help air out the place. Jason arrives while they arelooking around. He tries to comfort her. She and Greg discuss money and heleaves. Jason says he wished he had been there to kill the arsonist himself andwonders why the Fellowship would send someone after Sookie.
Asit were, she did bring about the end of their largest church. But Steve Newlingot away from Club Dead, apparently, so he could still be out there looking forrevenge. She chews briefly on the idea that Jack and Lily were reallyFellowshippers.
MaxineFortenberry stops by to get Sookie clothes and linens to wash them. Tara comesby to leave Sookie her Malibu to drive. Terry stops in to offer to demolish theburnt parts. Sam and Arlene visit next. Sam wants to know what he can do, andshe replies, just keep her working. He wonders why the Fellowship would takesuch drastic measures and thinks that maybe the membership card was planted.Arlene brought lunch.
Thearson investigator arrives and Arlene flirts endlessly with him. Always on thehunt. Before she and Sam leave, they both offer to let her stay at their place.But she doesn’t want to be in the way of Arlene and the kids and thinks all ofBon Temps would have her and Sam married if she stayed with him. He says theywill say the same about Bill. Good point!
Dawsonthe werewolf is the next visitor. He is there on behalf of the injured Calvin,who also offers up a room. She declines as that would be weird. The arsoninvestigator tells Sookie that the damage would have been worse in the rest ofthe house if she hadn’t closed that kitchen door. Lucky. Well… sort of. Calvinhas also offered to take care of anyone else who may have been involved.
Andthat’s the question, isn’t it? Who put Mr. Marriot up to this? And why?
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InChapter 9, happy dance!
Sookiegoes on into work that night. I guess for the distraction. Sweetie and thewaitresses all give her hugs and shoulder pats. Everyone feels bad for her, shecan hear in their minds, but being at the center of attention for having yourhouse burn down is not so awesome. Sookie’s doing okay though, until twomysterious people arrive at the bar and want to talk to her.
The woman was in hersixties, very round and short. She used a cane. The young man with her wasbrown haired, with a sharp nose and heavy brows to give his face somecharacter. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t make the reference pop tothe top of my head.
Whenthe two first come in, they speak with Sam and he leads them back to hisoffice. He comes to get Sookie a little later and tells her they are JeffMarriot’s mother and twin brother. They want to talk to Sookie because theydon’t believe Jeff could have had anything to do with that fire. Sam seems insistentthat she talk to them so she agrees to when she gets off work.
Jayand Justine Marriot are waiting for her when she returns to Sam’s office later.Sam joins them and takes Sookie’s hand for support. (Support for her andpossibly himself since he’s semi-standing with his injured leg.) Jay wants toknow whether Sookie had ever met Jeff and if not, why would his brother burnher house down. They also want to know exactly how Jeff died. Sookie gets angrybecause she doesn’t want to be talking to them. She is the victim here! Samputs an arm around her in an attempt to keep her from lashing out at them.
Sheexplains what she knows, how Charles broke Jeff’s neck. That is what the policetold them but they wanted to be sure. My guess is, they thought Charles mayhave drained him or something. They want to know what Charles was doing thereat that hour. She says because vamps are up at night and he was staying nextdoor and heard a noise at her house.
Where’shis car? Sookie doesn’t know. Jeff didn’t hate vampires so why would he jointhe Fellowship? He gave Claudine a fake name, Sookie points out. But Jay saysthat’s just a man thing. Also, Jeff never kept his wallet in his jacket. Aworker at a gas station says Jeff bought a gas can there, but what if they weremistaken?
Someonecalls during their conversation to let them know Jeff’s car was found. Parkedacross from Sookie’s house. PARKING FORSOOKIE STACKHOUSE NIGHTTIME ATTACKS. The Marriots see this as a proverbialnail in their coffins, I guess. They leave to go see the car. Sam sees them outand then comes back into the room.
Thenthis happens:
He put his armaround me. I turned to him and slid my arms around his waist. He held me tohim, and I felt peaceful for a wonderful minute. The heat of his body warmedme, and the knowledge of his affection comforted me. “Does your leg hurt?” Iasked when he moved restlessly. “Not my leg,” he said. I looked up, puzzled, tomeet his eyes. He looked rueful. Suddenly, I became aware of exactly what washurting Sam, and I flushed red. But I didn’t let go of him.
I was reluctant toend the comfort of being close to someone- no, of being close to Sam. When Ididn’t move away, he slowly put his lips to mine, giving me every chance tostep out of reach. His mouth brushed mine once, twice. Then he settled in tokissing me, and the heat of his tongue filled my mouth, stroking. That feltincredibly good. With the visit of the Marriot family, I’d been browsing themystery section. Now I’d definitely wandered over to the Romances.
His height wasclose enough to mine that I didn’t have to strain upward to meet his mouth. Hiskiss became more urgent. His lips strayed down my neck, to the vulnerable andsensitive place just at the base, and his teeth nipped very gently. I gasped. Ijust couldn’t help it. If I’d had the gift of teleportation, I would’ve had ussomewhere more private in an instant. Remotely, I felt there was something kindof tacky at feeling this lustful in a messy office in a bar. But the heatsurged as he kissed me again. We’d always had something between us, and thesmoldering ember had just burst into flame.
I struggled to holdon to some sense. Was this survivor lust? What about his leg? Did he reallyneed the buttons on his shirt?
Nopejust regular lust. His leg is fine. Who needs buttons?
“What are you going to do?”asked a cold voice from the doorway.
Well,eff.
Sookieis shocked, Sam is pissed. He lunges for the intruder, which seems a bitdramatic but okay. Turns out it’s Bill. Sam knocks him to the floor and theystruggle with each other a moment until Sookie yells at them to stop. She grabsBill by the hair, since he is on top, and pulls.
In the excitement of themoment, Bill reached behind him to catch my wrists in his hands, and he begantwisting. I choked with pain. Both my arms were about to break when Sam tookthe opportunity to sock Bill in the jaw with all his power.
Seewhat I mean about Bill being unstable a little bit? I am glad Sam hit him. Billlets go of Sookie and then goes all ‘I’m sorry. I just came to give you a ridehome.’ Save it, Bill.
ButSookie thinks it’s a good apology for some stupid reason. Yes, let’s forgiveBill for hurting you AGAIN!!! And then she feels embarrassed which sheshouldn’t. She didn’t tell him Tara gave her a car. It’s not like he had todrive that far to pick her up.
Shebrushes past him to check on Sam and help him up. He is still super pissed andinforms Bill he will not be apologizing for jumping him. I mean, Bill didn’t evenknock or anything so… Sookie explains that she has a car to drive and Bill getsall icy-voiced. He shouldn’t have come then, he says, shouldn’t haveinterrupted them. Where is she staying? He was going to buy her food at thestore. But trying to lay on the guilt doesn’t work. Sookie says she’s stayingat Jason’s. She tells Bill to let Charles know he can sleep at her house if hewants but Bill says she can tell him her damn self. Jerk.
Sookiegives Sam a kiss on the cheek and goes to talk to Charles. He opts to stay atBill’s in case the fire damaged the hidey-hole. Then she leaves withoutspeaking to Bill again. So there!
Shegoes back to her house and looks around. Leaving the windows open did help withthe smell, thankfully. It’s been a long eventful day and Sookie is prettywiped. Plus her arms hurt. Thanks for that, Bill. She grabs up some of herstuff and heads to her brother’s.
Well,yay for Sam kissage! Could this be the start of all I have been waiting for?Let me do a little happy dance real quick.
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InChapter 10, let the house work begin!
Jasonseems happy enough to see his sister. He’s all down and out though because noneof his panther comrades will speak to him. Even Crystal. They argue about him goingover to Hotshot when half of the residents want him dead and he finally agreesto stay away for a while. Sookie heads to bed and has a dream about peopletrying to kill Jason.
Thenext morning she goes back to her house to meet Terry, who seems to be in agood mood. He starts the cleanup while Sookie goes through her kitchen, pickingout usable things. A few hours pass and Terry heads to take a load to the dump.Sookie is taking a break, sitting in a lawn chair thinking about where she’sgoing to live for the months it will take to repair her house, when Alcidepulls up. He is unhappy.
He’supset she didn’t call to tell him about the fire. And that a vampire had tosave her. And he could have gotten a crew to fix her house. She has thatcovered, she tells him. He offers to lend her money to pay for it but she hasit. Then he’s unhappy about how she earned the money she has.
“How I earned it is none ofyour damn business. I’m glad I have it. If you’ll get down off your high horse,I’ll tell you that I’m glad you’re concerned about me, and I’m grateful you’reoffering help. But don’t treat me like I’m a slow fifth grader in the specialclass.”
Sookieis a strong independent woman and some of the mens in her world need to learnthat. Alcide is sorry, but still upset she didn’t call him. He wonders whereshe’s staying and she tells him. Terry returns and gets back to work withoutreally saying much.
Thecontractor arrives soon after. It’s Randall Shurtliff and his wife Delia.Randall and Alcide know each other and immediately start talking about thekitchen. This irritates Sookie. She starts talking to Delia, who says it willprobably be three to four months before they will have the house done. They areworking on a job now and won’t be able to start until after they finish it.Delia shows her the estimate and it’s a good thing she still has that moneyEric gave her.
Deliaasks if Sookie and Alcide are good friends. Some days, she says. Then Deliaspill gossip on Ms. Babcock, Jackson’s secretary. Remember the unpleasant womanSookie met when she went to Alcide’s office that time? Yeah, her. Apparentlyshe got caught stealing from the business and Jackson had her arrested. Butinterestingly enough, she was stealing personal documents, not business stuff. Someonepaid her to do it. (Probably Patrick!)
ButSookie knows that the woman was sleeping with Jackson and also that Jacksontook another woman to Flood’s funeral with him. Connie might be feelingvindictive. Sookie suspects Patrick Furnan as well.
Randalland Alcide seem to realize they’ve been ignoring the women and apologize.Sookie explains how she wants the new kitchen and porch laid out and then asksif Randall could put a lock on the kitchen door so she can lock up the notburned part of the house. He happens to have one with him and installs it rightthen.
Afterthe contractors leave, Alcide wants to discuss something else. Debbie. He’ssorry for how he acted at the funeral and speculates Sookie did not want him toadmit he knew she’d killed Debbie. He also says that Debbie wasn’t that closeto her family and the only reason they are pursuing it as much as they are isbecause of Debbie’s younger sister, Sandra. Also, they think Alcide killedDebbie.
I could only gape at him. Ihad a horrible vista of the future in which I saw myself going down to thepolice station and confessing to save Alcide from a jail term. Even to besuspected of a murder he hadn’t committed was an awful thing, and I couldn’tpermit it. It just hadn’t occurred to me that someone else would be blamed forwhat I’d done.
Alcideassures her he’s fine since he has a solid alibi for when Debbie died. He has awoman to back up his story about being with him all night. But Sookie is notjealous about that. No sir-ee. Then Alcide gets all serious and shocks the junkout of Sookie. He wants them to become an item.
“I like you very much,” hesaid. “I think you like me, too. We want each other.” He leaned over to kiss meonce on the cheek and then, when I didn’t move, on the mouth. I was toosurprised to get into it and unsure whether I wanted to anyway.
Hecontinues saying he really likes being with her and wants to sleep with her sobad he can’t stand it. He wants her to move in with him while her house isbeing reconstructed. What?! I mean, it’s sweet kind of, but I can’t see hertaking him up on it. Especially since they haven’t even dated at all.
Sheadmits that she does more than like him but the timing is just not right. Shestill doesn’t think he’s totally over Debbie. Also, she doesn’t want to beasked to be with him just because she’s homeless and they want to have sex witheach other. She says once her house is rebuilt, they’ll talk about seeing eachother.
“You need me now. I need younow. We’re right for each other. You know it.” “No, I don’t. I know that you’reworried about a lot of things right now. You lost your lover, however ithappened. I don’t think it’s sunk into you yet that you’ll never see heragain.” He flinched.
Ithink she might be right. She also thinks that since his dad is in the midst ofa campaign that it would help for Alcide to be in a good relationship and thatis part of his reasoning for wanting to be with her now. He confirms that to betrue.
Beforehe can say anything else, Andy pulls up. Sookie is surprised to hear that Andyhas come to update her on Jeff Marriot. He has no prior police record and noknown association with the Fellowship. Andy wants to know why the man wouldburn down her house then. This angers her since she feels like Andy is implyingshe did something to warrant the fire. But Andy insists there is nothing in theman’s past that would give a good reason as to why he would have set the fire.
Thisis curious. I have to wonder if maybe someone paid the guy to do it. Or worse…maybe he didn’t do it. And if not, who did?
Andyleaves and Alcide assumes they are not going to continue their earlierdiscussion. He is right. Sookie tells him she appreciates his affection but nowis just not the time. And though she would love to sleep with him, she feelslike that would be making the same mistake twice. Rebounding from her rebound.
I was double rebounding.
Sadly,the same probably goes for Sam. Sigh.
Sookiepicks up Tara’s suit from the cleaners and decides to drop it off by her houseon the way to Merlotte’s. But it’s getting dark.
I turned away from thecloset and stared around the room. When my eyes got to the doorway, it wasfilled with a slim figure.
Mickey.The vamp wants to know about Charles and how long he’d been working atMerlotte’s. Strange. Then he tells Sookie to leave and not to bother Taraanymore. All Tara needs is him. What has this poor girl gotten herself into?
Whenshe gets to work, Sookie runs into Sweetie outside in the parking lot, smoking.The cook gives condolences about the burned house and then dusts something offof Sookie’s jacket. Then:
“You know, Sam’s just nutsabout you.” “I’ve worked for him for a long time.” “No, I think it goes alittle beyond that.”
Metoo.
“Ah, I don’t think so,Sweetie.”
Howon Earth could you not think so? The man kissed the crap out of you yesterday.
Sweetiewants to talk about the night Sam was shot. She wonders if Sookie saw anythingand then speculates that there is a reason these particular people were shot.Sookie lies and says there isn’t. She is suspicious untilSweetie says they may all know the same secret or have witnessed the same crimelike in the book she’s reading.
“Fiction just makes it allmore interesting. Truth is so boring.”
Herehere! Why else would I be spending hours of my life writing this blog? J
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Billcomes into the bar that night with a date. Some sort of payback, I guess. Noone cares, Bill. Except Sookie maybe, which is stupid. His date is SelahPumphrey, a slim, brunette real-estate woman. Sookie immediately hates her andof course they sat in her section cause Bill is an a-hole.
Samcalls her over and asks if she is alright to which she somewhat sarcasticallyreplies, of course, why wouldn’t I be?
At that moment, I hated himfor kissing me, and I hated me for responding.
Why?Tell me it’s not because of Bill’s date? This sucks! Where is my shovel?
ButSam just smiles at her and says he has solved her housing dilemma. He’ll tellus all later. Sookie works and reminds herself she dumped Bill since it mightseem to everyone in the bar that he’d left her for this new lady. Charlesoffers to scare Selah if she spends the night with Bill. Have I mentioned thatI like Charles?
To my horror, the next time thedoor opened, Eric came in. My heart rate picked up immediately, and I feltalmost faint. I was going to have to stop reacting like this. I wished I couldforget our “time together”…as thoroughly as Eric had.
Ericgoes to the bar to talk to Charles and he doesn’t seem happy. Sam goes to getup and intervene but Sookie stops him and runs over to Eric. He is not happywith her either. She leads him outside, away from the eyes of the bar patrons.She informs him that she is already in a bad mood but he doesn’t give a ripabout her mood. He is upset because Charles was supposed to be keeping her safeand Claudine was the one who saved her from the fire.
Sheinsists Charles is there to help Sam but Eric points out that he doesn’t give adamn about Sam. It is apparent that he is still upset that he can’t rememberwhat happened when he was staying with her. There’s just something about her.Also, he wants to know if he killed someone.
I’d never thought he mightbe wondering whom he’d killed. But frankly, if it had occurred to me, Iwouldn’t have thought Eric would care; what difference would one human lifemake to a vampire as old as this one? But he seemed mighty upset.
Sookietells him he didn’t kill anyone but won’t say more. He knows she’s hidingsomething because he can feel it. Dangers of letting a vampire drink yourblood. Someone told him about the detectives paying her a visit and wants toknow if Debbie is dead and if Alcide killed her.
Eric had gripped myshoulders, and the pressure was excruciating.
Thesevamps need to cool their jets and quit super strength grabbing Sookie. Shetells him to let go cause it’s hurting her but he just loosens the grip alittle. He demands she tell him and she is getting pretty tired of beingthreatened.
“You were so sweet when youdidn’t know who you were,” I said, and whatever he’d been expecting me to say,it wasn’t that.
Heseems amused. She tells him they talked and he was scared and actually fun tobe around. But not anymore.
Samcomes out hobbling, asking if she’s okay. Eric says Sookie doesn’t need shifterhelp but then, in a non-apologetic way, says he was rude and leaves. Sookieexplains that Eric is mad because she won’t tell him what happened when he losthis memory. Vamps are big on control. Also possessiveness, Sam points out.Referring to Bill.
I felt awkward. Last night,I had been on the verge of going to bed with Sam. But I was far from feelingpassionate at this moment, and Sam’s leg had been hurt badly in his fall. Hedidn’t look as if he could romance a rag doll, much less a robust woman likeme. I knew it was wrong to think of indulging in some sex play with my boss,though Sam and I had been teetering on a fine edge for months. Coming down onthe “no” side was the safest, sanest thing to do.
Foundthat shovel. Let me dig a hole to put my dreams in.
“He stopped us in time,” Isaid. Sam raised a fine red-gold eyebrow. “Did you want to be stopped?” “Not atthat moment,” I admitted. “But I guess it was for the best.”
Samdoesn’t respond to that but does tell her his fix for her housing situation.One of the rental houses he owns (like the one Dawn lived in in Dead Until Dark) is available. She isgrateful and asks how much she needs to pay him. He obviously wasn’t going tocharge her anything but finally names a price that she is sure is too low. Whenhe asks about her car, she ends up spilling the beans about Mickey and howworried she is. I’m kinda worried about her, too.
Shehelps Sam back to his office and then goes back to work. The bar is prettycrazy for a while, but eventually calms down to normal. Selah deliberately tapsher on the shoulder at one point to “ask where the bathroom is”. The womanthinks she is so much better than Sookie and that Sookie must be good in bedbecause there’s no other reason Bill would date someone poor who worked in abar. What a bitch. Then she asks for tips on dating a vampire.
Billpops up behind Sookie when Selah wanders off and wants to know what they saidto each other. He accuses Sookie of being jealous and she admits she is,figuring it is better to be honest. Bill seems pleased by this. I am not. Hekisses her on the cheek and gets all fangy. Luckily, Catfish calls for Sookieand she walks away.
Jasonhas a lady friend over that night and Sookie does her best to ignore them asshe gets ready for bed. How awkward would it be to hear your brother hooking upwith someone? The next morning, she sees that it was Crystal. The girl hasdecided she believes Jason is innocent. Crystal says Calvin is doing better butwould like to see Sookie again.
Sookieruns by her house and Terry is there. He has gotten a lot of work done. Sheasks how much she owes him and he says like $100. Sookie insists on paying morethan that. You gotta love Terry. He’s so scarred and fragile but also kind. Heneeds him a lady. He doesn’t want to accept that much money but he needs someto get a new dog. Bad things keep happening to his dogs… getting hit by cars orpoisoned. Poor Terry.
Shegoes inside to grab a few things to take to her rental place and while inside,has a mini breakdown. She’s not sure why the near death experience is just nowcatching up with her, but she collapses thinking about how she could haveburned to death if not for Claudine. She considers the idea that the womanreally is her fairy godmother.
Crazierthings have happened.
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InChapter 12, I’m gonna sing the doom song now.
Sookiearrives at her temporary home. It is a small place, of course, but it’s clean.She puts some of her stuff away.
I sat on the hard couch,staring into space. I tried to think of something fun, something I could lookforward to. Well, in two months, it’s be sunbathing time. That made me smile. Ienjoyed lying in the sun in a little bikini, timing myself carefully so Ididn’t burn.
EvidenceSookie would not enjoy being a vampire. No more tanning. After going groceryshopping, cooking dinner, and getting ready for work, she decides to go visitCalvin in the hospital. Dawson is standing guard again.
Calvinlooks better than last she saw him and is sitting up in one of the chairs. He’shappy to see her and he wants to know about the fire. She tells him about theMarriots visiting and how she isn’t sure why it happened. And about Eric andCharles’ spat. Calvin thinks that since there have been shootings other places,Jason is pretty much in the clear. He also wonders if more people have beenshot and just haven’t been found yet. He’s had plenty of time to think.
Sookiedecides to engage him in regular conversation and asks what he likes to do inhis spare time. He hunts, fishes, cooks, cuts wood. As far as recovery, he’shealed up pretty good. Before she leaves, Calvin tells her they are keeping aneye on Jason. Presumably Crystal.
She was watching Jason aboutas close as he could be watched.
Truestory. Sookie leaves the hospital and drives to the library to exchange books.As she’s walking through the parking lot back toward her car, she hearssomething.
In the nick of time, Iidentified intense excitement pulsing from another brain, and reflexively Iducked, feeling a sharp shove in my shoulder as I did so, and then a hot lanceof blinding pain, and then wetness and a big noise. This all happened so fast Icould not definitely sequence it when I later tried to reconstruct the moment.
OMG.Someone just shot Sookie!
Someonescreams as Sookie drops to the ground. It is Portia Bellefleur. She calls 911as Sookie passes out. When she wakes up, she is in the hospital. Jason isstanding over her, looking happy. Turns out, he’s happy because he was atMerlotte’s waiting on Sookie when she was shot, which means he could not havedone it. Jason, ever the caring brother.
Buther wound isn’t that serious, he tells her. The bullet just mostly grazed hershoulder, but it’s still gonna hurt for a while. Andy is also at the hospital.He wants to know what happened. How did she know to duck? She tells him sheheard something and he knows she doesn’t mean with her ears. She passes outagain and when she wakes up this time, Bill is there. The absence of histhoughts makes her realize the shooter was not a vampire.
Muchto my dismay, Sookie is happy to see Bill. He asks how she feels.
“My pain stuff has lapsed,and my shoulder aches like it’s going to fall off. My mouth feels like an armyhas marched through it, and I need to go to the bathroom in the worst way.”
Well…at least she’s not dying. I should have known better than to think she couldmake it through two books without getting injured again. Bill helps her to thebathroom and then gets her back into bed. He calls to get her some water andthen tells her she’s at Grainger hospital. The same as Calvin. Sookie says Billcan go visit the panther and he is in no way interested in doing that.
“I never was in a hospitaltill I knew you,” I said. “Do you blame me?” “Sometimes.”
Iblame you, Bill. I blame you.
“When I met you, that firstnight I came into Merlotte’s, I didn’t know what to think of you,” he said.“You were so pretty, so full of vitality. And I could tell there was somethingdifferent about you. You were interesting.”
Thisis similar to what Eric says. There’s something different about her. But justtelepathy? (Spoiler-no!)
Billseems to think she will heal just fine. So why not bring up Eric? He tells herhe knows she slept with the other vamp. He could smell Eric on her and sensehow she felt about tall, blonde and Viking. (Blood thing.) Bill says he is nottoo surprised since they both share the same zest for life…or something. Sheadmits the idea of him sleeping with someone else still bothers her and hewonders if it is crazy to think they will be together again.
I considered thecircumstances that had turned me against Bill. I thought of his infidelity withLorena; but she had been his maker, and he had had to obey her. Everything Iheard from other vamps had confirmed what he’d told me about that relationship.I thought of his near-rape of me in the trunk of a car; but he’d been starvedand tortured, and hadn’t known what he was doing. The minute he’d come to hissenses, he’d stopped. (Excuses!) I remembered how happyI’d been when I’d had what I thought was his love. I’d never felt more securein my life. How false a feeling that had been: He’d become so absorbed in hiswork for the Queen of Louisiana that I’d begun to come in a distant second. Outof all the vampires who could have walked into Merlotte’s bar, I’d gotten theworkaholic.
Shetells him she doesn’t think they will ever have the same relationship again(good!) but maybe once she’s gotten over it some more (stupid!). Then she saysshe glad he’s there and wants him to lie down with her (ugh!).
I felt perfectly secure,absolutely safe, and cherished. “I’m so glad you’re here,” I mumbled as themedicine kicked in.
Ithink I may just bury myself in that hole while I’m at it.
Thenext morning, Sookie is released from the hospital. She goes to pay her billand is surprised to find that someone has already paid it. Eric perhaps? As sheis rolled out front, Sookie realizes she doesn’t have a way home. Her car is atthe library and she didn’t call anyone to come and pick her up.
Just as I was about to askthe aide to wheel me back inside so I could ride up to Calvin’s room (maybeDawson could give me a lift), a sleek red Impala came to a halt in front of me.Claudine’s brother, Claude, leaned over to push open the passenger door. I satgaping at him. He said irritably, “Well, are you going to get in?”
Sucha charmer. The aide is all entranced by Claude, who in addition to strip clubrunning, is now modeling. He’s had his ears surgically altered so no one willsuspect his fairyness. Claudine said Claude and his boyfriend (Jeff the bouncer,I presume. Not to be confused with Jeff the arsonist.) had broken up recently,so he’s all unattached. Still gay though.
Shegets in the car and Claude explains that since Claudine was at work, he came topick her up. He asks about her shoulder and then asks if she needs to go by thepharmacy. They pick up her meds. He is not thrilled about being her chauffer.People tell him he is rude, he says. Prolly cause he is.
Thenhe asks for a surprising favor. He wants Sookie to pose in some pictures withhim for his pageant portfolio. She says she will once her shoulder is healed.Claude mentions he knows the cook at Merlotte’s. She used to be a stripperuntil she had an accident that scarred her body.
Theyarrive at Sookie’s and she sees that someone has brought her car home. Halleighcomes out of her duplex with the keys. She is immediately shocked still bybeautiful Claude. The fairy puts his arm around Sookie and smiles at herlovingly. He’s doing this on purpose, Sookie knows. He’s teasing Halleigh. Theteacher finally manages to tell Sookie that Andy brought her car home for her.
AfterClaude leaves, Sookie takes a pain pill, leaves Jason a message about beinghome, and calls Sam to let him know she can work the next day. I think I mightbe tempted to take off at least a day after getting shot, but I’m not asdedicated as her. She takes a little nap and then later in the afternoon,Arlene comes by with some food.
Theychat. Arlene wants to know what getting shot was like. Painful, I imagine.Also, the entire town is talking about it. Yay! Not. Arlene has set herself upa date with the arson detective guy and all of their kids. He has a daughter.Then she reveals that Dennis is on stakeout that night with local detectives.They are scoping out parking lots around town to try to spot the sniper. Sookiewonders to herself why she was shot. She is the only human so far, though thepolice don’t know that.
Arlenesays Sam would visit if he could but he still can’t drive and then makes sureSookie will be at work the next day. What a friend! :/ Good, Arlene says, causeshe’s supposed to be off. They chit chat some more about fellow waitresseswhile Sookie eats and Andy arrives as Arlene is leaving.
Shethanks him for getting her car home. He asks again what she remembers aboutgetting shot and why she ducked. He just doesn’t want to admit that she canread minds even though he has seen firsthand that she can.
“Is there more?” he askedsuddenly, his eyes alight with curiosity. “Sookie, is there more?”
I knew exactly what hemeant.
“So much more,” I said,keeping my voice quiet and even. “Another world.”
Shecan tell he wants to ask if the people shot were something other than human,but he doesn’t. What he does ask is if there was anything different about whenSam was shot. She pulls from his mind that the bullet that hit Sam did notmatch the bullets found at all of the other scenes. Uh-oh. What does that mean?Someone not the sniper shot him? Who did it?! I shall find them!
Andyleaves and Sookie mills around the small duplex, bored out of her mind. It’sraining and since she’s not supposed to drive, she can’t go anywhere. Luckily,Tara arrives. When she asks if Sookie came by her house, Sookie is surprised.Mickey didn’t tell her about his little intimidation fest. Tara worries Mickeycould have hurt Sookie. The only reason she is alone tonight is that Mickeywent out. Sookie asks what happened with Franklin and how did Mickey even comeinto the picture.
Hereis the sad tale: Franklin owed a debt to Mickey’s master. Mickey saw him andTara together and wanted her. Franklin was done with Tara, so he gave her toMickey to settle his debt. Franklin told Tara that since he bought her nicethings, she was basically his mistress whore and she may as well be of some useto him. At first, Mickey had been nice, but gradually became the scumbag he isnow.
Needlessto say, Tara thinks vampires are awful and doesn’t understand why Sookie oranyone else wants to associate with them. Tara is afraid Mickey is going tokill her when he’s done with her. Sookie says not if they kill him first, butTara doesn’t think she could ever kill anyone. But, Tara asks, would Eric doit? She also wonders if Bill passed Sookie to Eric. LOL. Like that would everhappen. Sookie asks who Mickey’s sire is and Tara says it is a woman namedSalome.
Sookiedecides to call Eric to see if he can help. He might, but I can’t imagine hewill with no strings attached.
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InChapter 13, save all the Taras!
Sookiemakes the call to Fangtasia. Pam answers and Sookie tells the vamp how she wasshot. Pam doesn’t seem overly concerned about that, and neither does Eric whenhe takes the call. She’s calling so it’s not too serious, he says. Sookieinforms him that she needs a favor and he laughs. But an hour later he shows upat her new place.
Sheexplains about Mickey and Franklin. Eric suggests Tara just leave, but Sookiesays the girl should not have to leave her home, her business. Besides, Mickeywould probably chase her down and kill her if she ran away. Franklin, Ericsays, has an outdated mindset. Back in the day, vampires used to pass humansaround all the time, and kill them when they were finished. Vampires thoughtthey were the superior species and humans were just a food source. McPeople,Sookie thinks.
Sheangrily informs Eric she will just ask Bill for help but Eric points out allBill can do is fight Mickey and he just might not win. (I shall keep negativecomments to myself this time…) Eric, on the other hand, ranks higher thanMickey and therefore could force him to leave the area. He says he will callSalome… on one condition. He wants to know what happened when he was stayingwith Sookie.
Resigned,she agrees to his terms.
“Did we have sex?” he askeddirectly. For about two minutes, this might actually be fun. “Eric,” I said,“we had sex in every position I could imagine, and some I couldn’t. We had sexin every room in my house, and we had sex outdoors. You told me it was the bestsex you’d ever had.” (At the time he couldn’t recall all the sex he’d ever had.But he’d paid me a compliment.) “Too bad you can’t remember it,” I concludedwith a modest smile.
Eric looked like I’d hit himin the forehead with a mallet.
Wayto just grab the bull by the horns and lay it all out there. LOL. I think thelook on Eric’s face would have been priceless. (Unfortunately, we did not getthis on True Blood, since they had Eric remember everything from the start.Stupid. Though not as stupid as them not having Jason become a panther. Butthat’s for another blog.)
Ericgets more serious after a moment. He wants to know what else happened.
“You offered to give up yourposition as sheriff and come to live with me. And get a job.”
Hegets paler, if possible. But still wants to know if there is more. She tellshim about Debbie. About how he took the bullet meant for her. About how heburied the body and disposed of the car.
“And now someone else hasshot at you and I wasn’t there to take the bullet,” Eric said. “You must beliving wrong.”
LOL.Bless her heart. She’s doing the best she can. Y’all just keep dragging her inthe middle of your supernatural bs.
Sookieis glad Eric is taking all of the news so well. So she continues to rambleabout the Pelt’s and Alcide and how if anyone suspects her, she’s in trouble.Eric tells her she’s talking too much and they sit in silence for a fewmoments.
“I told you I would leaveeverything for you?” he said at the end of all this rumination. I snorted.Trust Eric to select that as the pertinent idea.
Ofcourse. Because, in my opinion, real Eric would never do such a thing. PerhapsI will be proven wrong at the end. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Hedoes want to know her answer to his offer. She couldn’t keep him, she explains,with no memory. It wouldn’t be right. So now to Sookie’s favor! Eric pulls outhis cell and calls up Salome. He explains about Tara and asks for Mickey to beremoved from his area and never bother Tara again. But from the way he talks,he already knew Mickey and Franklin were up to no good. It cost him nothing tocall their master and tattle on them because he was going to do that anyway.Basically, he scumbagged Sookie. She is not surprised. But he insists he didn’tknow that’s what she wanted as her favor, which is not a legit argument becauseshe still told him before he demanded she spill her secrets about their timetogether. He could have let her off the hook and didn’t. But he wouldn’t beEric if had done that.
Ericsays he thought her favor was paying for her house to be rebuilt or to helpwith the Were sniper problem. He thinks someone may have thought Sookie was aWere. If she had been around shifters, she would smell like them. She’d justbeen around Calvin not 20 minutes before so that seems reasonable. Eric asks ifshe hugged him and then says she hugs too many people. Jealous? I think so.
Shementions hugging Claude, but that was after the shooting. But this gets Eric’sattention. He wants to smell her. He leans over and starts sniffing her neck.She smells like fairies, shifters, and Weres.
I stayed completelyimmobile. His lips were about two millimeters from my ear. “Should I just biteyou, and end it all?” he whispered. “I would never have to think about youagain. Thinking about you is an annoying habit, and one I want to be rid of. Orshould I start arousing you, and discover if sex with you was rally the bestI’ve ever had?” I didn’t think I was going to get a vote on this. I cleared mythroat. “Eric,” I said, a little hoarsely, “we need to talk about something.”“No. No. No,” he said. With each “no” his lips brushed my skin. I was lookingpast his shoulder at the window. “Eric,” I breathed, “someone’s watching us.”
And…moment over.
It’sa vampire. Mickey. He can’t come in, but he can throw crap through the windows.
Mickey had thrown a largerock as big as my fist, and to my dismay the rock hit Eric squarely in thehead. He went down like a—well, like a rock.
Welljunk. Sometimes the dumbest things can take the vamps out. Mickey demands to beinvited in, but like…hell no. But then Sookie realizes Mickey is holding ontosomething… someone. Tara.
She was almost as pale as hewas, and she’d been beaten to a pulp. Blood was running out of the corner ofher mouth. The lean vampire had a merciless grip on her arm.
Ireally hope Tara doesn’t die. And also that she finds a good man to be with.Her past has sucked and her present sucks and I hope her future is happy, dangit!
Eric,who conveniently passed out behind the couch, out of sight, wakes up and grabsat Sookie’s arm. He seemingly lost a lot of blood and needs more. She lets himbite her arm and tries not to flinch so Mickey doesn’t realize what is goingon. The vamp has Tara by the neck and Sookie tries to get him to let her go,but he doesn’t, of course. After a minute, she invites him in, even though Ericisn’t ready, he says. Geez, you’re a vampire. How long does it take you torecover?
Mickeyenters the duplex and throws Tara to the ground. He wants Sookie’s head on afancy platter. He backhands her and sends her to the ground. Then he gets ontop of her and unzipping his pants. Sookie gets her breath back and with it,anger.
This was the trump card malebullies played, always. I was sick of it—sick of being scared of theboogeyman’s dick.
Youget him, girl! She screams at him and then rescinds his invitation. Boo yeah!He immediately retreats, trying and failing to grab Tara on the way out. Thenhe’s standing outside screaming. But then he looks east of the duplex and takesoff running.
Ericgets up (finally) and asks how Sookie is. He’s good, btw, since he’s had herblood and didn’t have to do anything. He does call Salome back and tells herMickey is running. The female vamp seems excited at the prospect of chasingMickey and Eric says when she catches him… well, he’s in for something bad.
Vampfact: Sires can call their childe… without a phone.
Tarawakes up and tells Sookie not to call an ambulance. Why? I would want anambulance for me if some vamp beat me up. Tara doesn’t want people to know whathappened though. Eric offers her blood but she vehemently refuses. She’d ratherdie. When Sookie asks if she ever took blood from Franklin or Mickey, the girljust looks horrified. So no then.
Sookiegets Tara sitting, with no help from Eric, who takes the time to tell Tara sheis greedy and selfish for getting Sookie involved in her problems. Okay, nowhold up, Mr. Blondie Pants. Tara told Sookie not to get involved and she didanyway. Sookie tells Eric to mind his own business. But he’s involved so hefeels at liberty to let Tara have it. Kind of an a-hole move, Eric.
Sookiegets her friend some ice. Tara still refuses to see a doctor and Eric saysshe’ll probably be fine. Mickey didn’t injure her too bad because he wanted herto be able to talk to Sookie to scare her into letting him inside.
“If I’d been him, my firstmove would have been to damage your mouth or neck so you couldn’t rescind myentrance.”
Lovelythought.
I’d heard enough. I thrust abroom and dustpan into his hands. He looked at them as if they were ancientartifacts and he could not fathom their use.
Shetells him to get to sweeping while she helps Tara clean up.
Eric moved the broomexperimentally and made an attempt to sweep the glass into the pan while it layin the middle of the floor. Of course, the pan slid away. Eric scowled.
LOL.A thousand years old and can use a broom. Too funny.
Sookietries to help Tara up from the floor but her shoulder is throbbing. Eric stepsin and lifts her to the couch. Then he hands Sookie back the broom. Since he’ddone lifting, why should he have to sweep? Sookie gets Tara and herself somepain meds and then sweeps up the glass in the room. Eric makes a phone call andsoon after, Bill arrives with plywood. He and Eric board up the broken window.
I was in the same room withtwo guys who both knew I’d slept with the other.
Awkward.She considers rescinding their invites but thinks that might be too childish.She could yell at them? Or invite them both to bed. She entertains that thoughtwith a smile and her tiredness makes her giddy. Eric wants to talk more but shetells him they are done talking. She thanks them and shoos them out.
Billwonders if one of them shouldn’t stay. If she had to choose, it would be Bill,as his kindness the night before had been so comforting, but she decides she’llbe fine without them. They both kiss her, Eric on the forehead, Bill on thelips, and leave.
When the two vampires left,I was delighted to be by myself. Of course, I wasn’t exactly alone. Tara waspassed out on the couch.
Blessboth of their hearts. Here is what I envision in their futures: both happilymarried with a couple of kids, having a summertime cookout in Sookie’s frontyard. Just a thought.
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InChapter 14, politics suck all around.
WhenSookie wakes up the next morning, Tara is gone. But not to worry, she left anote so she’s not dead or kidnapped. Sookie heads to Wal-Mart to buy stuff forher new place and when she returns, the florists is on her doorstep with aflower delivery. Or several. Daisies from Tara, a gardenia bush from Calvin,and mixed flowers from Pam and the Fangtasia staff.
Sheheads in to work that night (like a champ). Sweetie says she’s a hard woman tokill and asks how she is. The cook also says she heard Sookie ducked andwonders what she heard. Sam limps out of his office looking none too happy andSweetie retreats to the kitchen. He motions for Sookie to come in his officeand demands to know what she was doing when she was shot. She gets all up inhis grill and says checking out library books. Back off, bro! Or something likethat.
Healso asks who she’d been around, any shifters? She wonders what all supes cansmell shifters and asks Sam if he’s tried sniffing around any of the crimescenes. He hasn’t cause of his leg but says he will try tonight. It’s a date,Sookie says. (But not a real date. Sigh.)
Charlesis working that night, entertaining the masses. Jason comes into the bar at onepoint with Crystal at his side. The panther thinks she might be pregnant.Uh-oh. She also tells Sookie, out loud, that Calvin is being released from thehospital and Sookie decides she will cook some food and take it to his house. Ahoard of cops come in, Andy, Bud, Alcee, Dennis… They are huddled togethertalking about recent bad things. Charles asks Sookie what they are talkingabout.
“Well, they’re thinking ofmoving the stakeout for the shooter to another parking lot tonight, and they’reconvinced that the arson is connected to the shootings and that Jeff Marriot’sdeath is tied in with everything, somehow. They’re even wondering if thedisappearance of Debbie Pelt is included in this clutch of crimes, since shewas last seen getting gas on the interstate at the filling station closest toBon Temps. And my brother, Jason, disappeared for a while a couple of weeksago; maybe that’s part of the picture, too.”
SoI see the law enforcement in Bon Temps hasn’t just forgotten about all of thestrange things that have happened lately. Charles comments on how his lastemployer collected unusual things, like Sookie. Who was that? Why, RussellEdgington. That is uber suspicious. Sookie asks why he left Mississippi.Charles says he got tired of Russell and since he wasn’t gay, he couldn’ttolerate the “perversity”. Sookie tries to remember if Charles was there whileshe was there. But surely if Edgington had sent Charles after her, he wouldn’thave told her where he was really from. Unless he was giving her a warning.
Butsurely Bill would have recognized Charles if he had been one of the people totorture him. Mr. Compton comes into the bar that night to get the pirate vampand Sookie wants to tell him her suspicions, but Charles is lingering so shecan’t. After everyone has left the bar, Sookie and Sam start their mission. Samdecides to change into a bloodhound. Sookie wonders what will happen to hisinjured leg and he doesn’t really know but decides to find out. She can tellthe dog is favoring his uninjured back leg but he seems okay. He sniffs aroundfor a few minutes and then they hop in Sookie’s borrow car and drive to theSonic where Heather was shot.
Dean(the dog) sniffs around there and whoofs when he detects another person. AndyBellefleur. Right, their stakeout. She tries to explain what they’re doing andleave but he won’t have that. Since he’s a little drunk, he has no filter andtells Sookie she shouldn’t even be in their town. Her grandmother and parentswere great. What happened to her and Jason? Jerk.
Sheinforms him sternly that there isn’t anything wrong with her and her brotherand Andy is no better than they are. Dean is suddenly at Sookie’s legs,growling. Someone else has arrived. A voice tells Andy to drop his gun.Sweetie. And she’s carrying a rifle. Andy wants to know why she’s there andwhat the hell she is doing.
Killingshifters, obviously. Or trying to. She tells Andy that dog is not even a dogand the others she shot… well, they weren’t human either. Sookie tells the cookshe isn’t a shifter but Sweetie insists she is guilty by association. But whatis her story? Why is she doing this?
Shehad a car wreck a little while back. While she was laying there, bleeding, ahalf-man/half-wolf ran out of the woods and bit her. She is just a fraction ofa shifter and only her hands change on the full moon. Her boyfriend left herbecause of it and she had to quit stripping. She’s been killing/injuringshifters for three years.
Sookiefears Sweetie will shoot her and tries to get Sam to move away, but he won’t.Speaking of Sam, Sweetie didn’t mention him when she was talking about whoshe’d shot. And the bullet didn’t match right? Maybe she didn’t shoot him. Butif not, who did? Sookie senses someone else behind Sweetie and the crazy ladyturns and fires her weapon. They hear whining and then another shot as Andy shootsSweetie in the back.
Theirsavior was Dawson. He’s alive but shot in the chest. Andy calls 911 on hiscell. Dawson manages to tell Sookie that Calvin sent him to look out for her.Andy informs Sookie that she is going to have to pretend she and Dawson weregetting freeky in the alley when they were attacked (since Dawson has noclothes on). Then he points at the dog and tells him he better stay a dog. SoAndy believes in shifters now.
Thepolice arrive and Sookie and Andy give their stories. The other detectivesdon’t quite believe them but what else can they do? Sookie gets home a fewhours later and calls the hospital to check on Dawson. Calvin says he’s goingto live.
Thenext day, Alcide shows up on her doorstep with an envelope. She has been summonedto the contest for packmaster. Alcide says she doesn’t have to do anything butwatch. A likely story. She zones out while he’s talking and thinks about howeverybody owes everybody.
“You’re acting so strange,Sookie. I felt so comfortable with you before. Now I feel like I don’t knowyou.”
Valid,she decides. She has lost some of the comfortableness she felt with him aswell. Finding out people’s secrets can do that, I guess. He leaves and shetakes a nap. When she wakes for work, she finds a note on the door from Samtelling her to take the night off. So instead, she cooks that food for Calvinand heads on over to Hotshot. There are several cars at his house. Jason andCrystal are there, a woman named Maryelizabeth Norris (hostess), some otherWeres, and… Patrick Furnan.
Furnancomments that Sookie is Alcide’s girlfriend and she corrects him. Just friends.She does not like him. Me neither. Calvin is sitting up in his bed. He is happyto see her as always. He asks her to sit by him on the bed and while he eatsthe food she brought, she tells him about Sweetie and what happened at theSonic. Calvin tells her not to blame herself for what happened to Dawson. Healso thinks she will accept her invite to the Were packmaster event. He’sprobably right.
Hetells her she’s a good cook and as she’s getting up to leave, he tugs on herhand. She bends down so that he can kiss her on the cheek.
“No,” he said, and when Iturned a little to find out what was wrong, he kissed me on the lips. Frankly,I expected to feel nothing. But his lips were as warm and dry as his hands, andhe smelled like my cooking, familiar and homey. It was surprising, andsurprisingly comfortable, to be so close to Calvin Norris.
Umm…I hope he’s not a new contender. I’m still not on board with this relationshiphappening. On the way out a little girl asks Sookie if she is going to marryher dad. Maryelizabeth, the girl’s mother, explains that she is Calvin’s. Thisis all just too weird. People in Hotshot have like mated with everybody else inHotshot. Ew.
Patrickis waiting for Sookie outside. He tells her that sooner or later, Calvin isgoing to want more than a thank you and a kiss for helping Sookie out. Shecan’t keep two-timing Weres. She informs him she is not dating either Calvin orAlcide so he can back the hell off.
If I hadn’t really cared whowon the King of the Mountain contest between Jackson Herveaux and PatrickFurnan, I did now.
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InChapter 15, my nemesis has arrived.
Sookieis washing dishes and thinking about Sam. (Not in the way I would like, mindyou.) She is wondering about his un-matching bullet and trying to recalleverything Sweetie said. The cook didn’t know the shapeshifter bloodhound wasSam, and didn’t mention my main man at all. Almost as if she didn’t even knowhe was one. But she would have had to right? If she could smell shifters?
Shedecides to let it rest for now and does some normal things, like crosswords andreading books. No one bothers her the rest of the night. But then Alcide callsand ruins the peace. Today is the day. Also Christine wants her to come. Thatseems to convince her and he tells her where to be and when. She decides towear a blue jean skirt and red tights, which is not the best combo ever, and along sleeved red shirt. I feel like this sounds like a kid’s outfit. To eachtheir own.
Shearrives at the abandoned building and sees quite a few cars and an ambulanceparked outside. Most of the other women are dressed up but Sookie decides notto care. Surprisingly, Claudine and Claude are there. Jacksonand Furnan come out into the room naked, Alcide and a young blonde dudefollowing them (not naked). They’re the seconds, Claudine says. So what? If oneof the others die, they step up? Sookie says it works like a duel but I don’treally know how a duel works so…
Christinecomes up to the front and announces everyone is here to discern the new packleader of the Long Tooth pack. Each Were must complete three tests, the firstbeing a test of agility. The second is a test of endurance and the third a testin battle.
“Then the winner must matewith another Were, to ensure the survival of the pack.” I sure hoped part fourwould be symbolic.
Yeah,otherwise gross.
Sookiespots Dr. Ludwig, the lady who helped heal her after the maenad attack thattime.
The contestants entered the“ring”—actually a large square marked off by those velvet ropes andmetal-topped posts that they use in hotels. I’d thought the enclosed arealooking like a playground, but now, as the lights came up, I realized I wasseeing something more like a jumping area for horses crossed with a gymnasticsarena—or a course for a dog agility competition for giant dogs.
Thetwo men change into wolves. Jackson is a large black wolf like Alcide. Furnanis shorter and pale gray. Everyone closes in around the ring and Sookie spots afamiliar face.
I recognized him as the manwhom I’d last seen at Colonel Flood’s funeral. At least six and a half feettall, today he was bare-chested and barefoot. He was impressively muscular, andhis chest was as hairless as his head. He looked like a genie; he would haveappeared quite natural with a sash and pantaloons.
Thisguy is like a bigger Vin Diesel. Not my cup of tea. But Sookie and the fairiesall seem impressed. He seems to be master of ceremonies or something. Heintroduces the candidates and goes through the rules. No pack members areallowed to interrupt during the tests. Patrick is first.
Heruns through the course, jumping over barrels and running up and down ramps.(Suped up dog show.) Except there is an area of Astroturf that apparently haslike bear traps hidden in it. One almost catches Patrick but he makes it to theend platform. Jackson is more graceful, Sookie thinks, but slower. He managesnot to set off any traps though. They both pass, announces baldy (whose name isQuinn, Sookie learns from a nearby brain). She tells Claudine the dudes nameand the fairy seems to recognize it.
Christinegets Sookie’s attention. She wants Sookie to mind read. It is harder to readthe two-natured so she has to focus all of her attention on the task. Thesecond challenge is this: hold a silver rod in their mouths for as long as theycan. Here are some facts: silver burns Weres only in animal form, not in humanform. Silver has no effect on fairies, but iron does.
Theseconds place the silver bar in the wolves’ mouths and the test begins. Jacksonshows instant signs of pain, but Patrick shows nothing. Suspicious. Sookiereads some minds and then announces to the masses that Patrick is cheating.Since she isn’t a pack member, she is allowed to challenge it. She tells Quinnto smell the gloves of Patrick’s second. He does and discovers there is somesort of drug on them that numbed Patrick’s lips. Jackson wins test 2. Then heannounces that the pack now must decide if Patrick should be disqualified andif his second should be kicked out of the pack.
Allnon-pack members must leave the room while the pack votes. Quinn “come heres”Sookie and she gives him a nice scowl. She does go to talk to him though.
“You don’t have to stickyour jaw out like that,” he said calmly. “I’m not going to hit you.” ‘I neverthought you were,” I said with a snap in my voice that I was proud of. I foundthat his round eyes were the very dark, rich, purple-brown of pansies. Wow,they were pretty! I smiled out of sheer pleasure…and a dollop of relief.Unexpectedly, he smiled back.
Maybeit’s just me, but I feel like this is weird. So his eyes just made her superhappy or what? Yeah whatever… Then to make it even stranger, she asks him howoften he shaves. What?
Hewants to know how she knew about the cheating. Claude supplies that Sookie is atelepath and Claudine is her guardian. Quinn doesn’t think Claudine is doing agood job because now half the Long Tooth wolves are going to want Sookie dead.That’s a good point. Sookie defends Claudine. Quinn informs them he has nofriends in the pack and shaves every morning. And in the evenings when he’sgoing out to do something special.
They’reinvited back into the room and Christine explains the ruling. Patrick will beallowed to continue but to win he has to win “decisively”, which means Jacksonhas to be disabled or dead. Well that seems totally unfair. Quinn wants Sookieto come read both of the wolves minds before they begin their fight to makesure there will be no more cheating. Furnan is just pissed Sookie ratted himout and thinking that he will win the fight no matter what. Jackson is justfocused on winning. But he is afraid of Patrick. No signs of plans to cheat.
BeforeSookie can get out of the cage, the go is sounded. Quinn grabs Sookie and pullsher out of the cage, slamming the door. But her leg is wet with blood, tightsripped. Quinn wonders if she was bitten. Oh no. He half carries her away fromthe cage to examine her leg. Good news. She wasn’t bitten, just scratched bythe cage when he was pulling her out. Strangely, Quinn begins cleaning herleg…with his tongue. I’m beginning to sense that shape shifters like blood,too. That seems more gross than vamps liking it.
Meanwhile, though I wouldnot have thought it possible for me to be anything but on the knife-edge ofsuspense, the leg-licking thing was providing an entirely unexpected diversion.I shifted restlessly, stifling a gasp. Maybe I should remove my leg fromQuinn’s possession? Watching the gleaming bald head bob up and down as helicked was making me think of something worlds away from the life-and-deathbattle taking place across the room. Quinn was working more and more slowly,his tongue warm and a little rough as he cleaned my leg. Though his brain gotthe idea he was having the same reaction that I was. When he finished, he laidhis head on my thigh. He was breathing heavily, and I was trying not to. Hishands leased their grip but stroked my leg deliberately. He looked up at me.His eyes had changed. They were golden, solid gold. The color filled his eyes.Whoa.
Sowhat is this guy? Sookie is conflicted about what just happened and he tellsher this isn’t their time or something. Also, he calls her babe, which is kindof annoying. They introduce themselves and get up to go back to the fight.Sookie asks why they can’t just vote and Quinn says shifters don’t do that.
Sookiegoes back to the fairies and they look pretty distraught. Patrick is winning.There’s blood and broken parts and Jackson is struggling to stay on his feet.They tussle a bit more and then Patrick wins as Jackson falls. Quinn declares Patrick the winner.
And then Patrick Furnan bitdown on Jackson Herveaux’s neck and killed him.
Ahwhat?! But he won already! This is not acceptable! Poor Alcide.
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InChapter 16, humans are not so helpless.
Quinnheads up the cleanup crew. Oddly, and disturbingly, the Weres seem veryaccepting of Jackson’s death. Alcide is sad, of course and Maria-Star is tryingto comfort him. Sookie goes to see him but his look clearly says no. Werepolitics suck. Ludwig is treating Patrick’s wounds (just leave him, I say!) andClaudine is crying her eyes out. Claude says she’s become more sensitive thecloser she has gotten to the light. Whatever that means. She did say somethingabout becoming an angel once. Also there was an elf war so you know…elves.
Afterhis wounds are treated, Patrick is taken back to the center of the room and anaked teenager comes out. I share Sookie’s thoughts of… ew. She wants to leavebut Claude says she can’t. So instead, he and Claudine stand in front of her soshe doesn’t have to watch. They tell her the girl volunteered and may not getpregnant. Still gross.
Oncethat is done, each Were must kiss Patrick’s hand. When Alcide goes, Patrickgoes to bite his neck but doesn’t. This is some kind of warning that Alcidebetter keep himself in check I guess.
Sookietakes this opportunity to leave, vowing to bow out of all future supernaturalrites. She is a little sad because she feels like Alcide blames her for whathappened. She was supposed to detect the cheating to help them, but it ended upworking against Jackson and for some reason that is Sookie’s fault. But Alcideis just looking for someone to blame. Hope for these two is fading.
Shedecides to go to work that evening even though she’s not totally focused. Samseems to be doing better but Charles is still working. She’s not in the bestmood and doesn’t even really mind when Bill and Selah come in. Bill tries tofind out what’s wrong with her but she brushes him off. One night in a hospitaldoesn’t change things. Good.
Sheavoids Sam because she’s afraid she might spill her guts to him and doesn’twant to rehash the day. But she has to go talk to him at one point when Catfishwants to pay with a check and he seems surprised. Who has she been around, hewonders. Where did she meet a tiger? So Mr. Quinn’s a tiger then. Hmm. Hedemands to know who it was but she won’t tell him. Why? Is there something upwith Quinn? Probably. I don’t like him already, I’ve decided.
Tomake the night better, Sookie snags her silver necklace and breaks it. Just acrappy day. Charles is also unhappy because someone keeps calling and hangingup. Later, the busboy tells Sookie someone wants her at the employee’sentrance. The boy describes the man and Sookie knows who it is. Bubba. Ericsent him to tell her ‘he’s not what he seems’. ‘He’s a hit man.’ Who? But Bubbagets agitated so Sookie tells him he can go. Why didn’t Eric just call?
Charlescomes out the door wondering if that was who he thinks it was. He’s never seenhim perform in person, he says.
*GASP*
Ifigure this out as soon as Sookie does. Remember how Charles said he was fromMississippi? Lived with Russell? Do you also remember when Sookie was inJackson and the vampires caught Bubba? And made him sing? RED FLAG! Charles islying about something! She starts to go back inside, but Charles has closed thedoor.
“Sookie,” Charles said,behind me. “I truly regret this.”
Awjunk. She asks if he was the one who shot Sam. He was. HE MUST DIE! Charlesknew if he put Sam down for a while that the bar would need a new bartender. Hecouldn’t be sure Sookie would go to Eric for help but he thought that Ericwould surely find out she needed help and send someone. But why is he doingthis? Eric owes a debt.
SoCharles saying he was from Mississippi was just a coincidence. She tries tokeep him distracted but he jumps her and knocks her to the ground. But beforehe can bite her, she shoves her broken silver chain in his mouth. He hits heronce, breaking ribs. Then she screams, just as he does, and Sam comes runningout the door…with a stake. Alongside him are several bar patrons. They tackleCharles and Catfish yells at Sam for the stake. He asks Sookie if they shouldkill him but before she can answer, Charles says to just kill him since hefailed at his mission.
SoCatfish stakes him.
Luckily,there are no policemen in the bar and they all choose to keep what happened tothemselves. Sam wraps Sookie’s ribs up and she goes back to work. Sheesh, she’sa dedicated employee. Eric shows up that night (why didn’t he just come in thefirst place instead of sending Bubba?) and reveals that it was him who keptcalling that night. He hung up when Charles answered the phone because hedidn’t want the vamp to know he was suspicious.
Erichad found out Charles was a liar when Bill searched his database. He’dpreviously called Russell, who apparently has so many vamps around, he has noidea who is who. Eric explains about the debt he owed to Hot Rain, whom Charleswas loyal to. Oh, remember when Eric killed Long Shadow and paid his sire, butthat wasn’t enough. Yeah, Charles was sent to get revenge. What better way thanto take away someone Eric cares about.
Charlesdidn’t just kill Sookie because he wanted her death to look like an accident sohe wouldn’t be blamed. OMG, he was the one who set fire to her house! Poor thatdead guy.
Sookietells Eric about the new packmaster in Shreveport. Eric says he heard Quinn wasin town. How does everyone know this guy? Eric doesn’t agree with Alcide usingher and she says he’s one to talk. At least he’s upfront about it, he says.Doesn’t make it better, Eric.
Ericsays they are expanding Fangtasia, making a nude calendar. Sookie says she’lltake one. Hey me too! But then he says he needs to hire her in March for avampire summit. That sounds dangerous. She says she’ll get back to him.
Beforehe leaves, he kisses her. He said she was the best he ever had when he hadamnesia, but he wonders if she felt the same. Doesn’t he wish he knew.
Endof book 5.
Wemet a new character (not psyched) and my Sam dreams are continuing to fallapart. Sadness for me. Bill is trying to work his way back in and I still hopethat doesn’t work. And I’m just not sure where Eric is going fit in, but he’sbeen at the end of several books now so maybe that’s a sign. We shall see. Also,what the hell is up with Fangtasia bartenders?
Nextis another short story!
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