Sookie Stackhouse 12
Charlaine Harris
Sookie and her girlfriends go to Hooligan’s for ladies night. Sookie is not surprised to see most of the staff are displaced Fae that cannot get back to their own world since her grandfather closed the portals between their worlds. Tara who is pregnant is surprised when her husband, JB, is there as a stripper. Sookie does her best to keep the night from getting too awkward and mentions that he is doing it to support the twins they are expecting. When Sookie gets home, her fairy grandfather shows up. He widened the portal to come back. Claude and Dermont come home and are surprised to find Nihal there.
Sookie asks why Niall made Dermot crazy. He says he didn’t and asks where Claude had heard the rumor. Claude admits he heard it from Murray (Sookie killed with an iron garden trowel). Niall takes Claude back to Fairy. Sookie takes care of Dermot. She explains why they can’t sleep in the same bed. The next morning, Mustafa Kahn (werewolf) shows up with a message from Eric. Sookie can tell he is unsettled. He gives her a warning from Pam. He also has a warning from himself. Alcide’s enforcer, Jannalynn, has a grudge against Sookie (Alcide wants her and she was able to help Sam). Sookie goes to work and takes the beer delivery. Duff, the delivery guy tells her a lot of bars are taking more True Blood, including the werewolf bar, The Hair of the Dog. Sam is a bit surprised when she tells him this. As the bar opens up, Jason comes in to tell Sookie he is going to ask Michelle to marry him. Sookie and Sam are working on tax forms when Jannalynn comes in and sees them. The werewolf seems upset and Sam asks Sookie to excuse them. Sam is quiet when he comes back in. Jason and Michelle come in to confirm their engagement and plans for a small potluck wedding. JB comes in and admits he hasn’t talked to Tara about the previous night. Sookie tells him to make her feel special and beautiful. When Sookie leaves work, she goes to the library and runs into pregnant Haley Belfluer who plans to name her and Andy’s daughter after his grandmother, Carolyn. Sookie feels a little left out that she wasn’t going to be having children.
Sookie starts getting ready to see Eric. She sees her cluviel dor (grants the possessor a wish) in the back of her closet. Sookie is afraid to carry it around and keeps it hidden. She is also afraid to use it knowing a wish can be misconstrued. Pam calls to tell Sookie to tell her they are meeting at Eric’s house and Mustafa calls to give her a later time. Sookie drives out to Eric’s house and prepares herself to go in. Bill greets her at her car and tells her she should go home because Philippe has brought friends and they stopped at a bar to grab humans and the experience will not be pleasant for her. He warns her he is on guard duty and will not be able to help her. Sookie goes in through the garage and Mustafa tells her she should go home. She goes into the living room and isn’t happy with the scene. She grabs Pam and heads to the bedroom to find Eric. He is drinking from a girl who is half were and has been drugged with fairy. The girl thinks about how she won’t have to worry about money for a while and Sookie thinks it was supposed to be a setup against Eric. Sookie is furious and has to calm herself down even though she knew Eric fed from others besides her.
Sookie tells them they need to get down to business and they return to the living room. Philippe accuses Eric of killing Victor. Eric doesn’t confirm or deny anything, but tells how he sent complaints to Philippe twice. Philippe pretends like his assistant, Horst, never gave him the message. Sookie explains that Victor’s actions were against Philippe’s best interests as well, but their conversation is interrupted because the girl Eric had been feeding on was found dead on the lawn. The police were there and asking questions. Sookie tells them their side of the story (downplaying Eric feeding from the girl) and how they thought the girl came with the guests. Mustafa is suddenly missing. They discover the girls name was Kim, but no one knew where she came from or why she was there. Eric said she told him Philippe had sent her as a present. Pam says she was out on a errand Mustafa told her Eric wanted her to run. Eric said he would have sent Mustafa instead of her. Bill did not see her arrive while he was in charge of watching the front of the house. No one had seen her come in the back ways. The questioning continues at the station and one of the detectives is interested in a vampire wrestler T-Rex that is with them. They find a vial on the ground underneath the body and it had traces blood on it. Pam thinks she ingested fairy blood to make herself irresistible to Eric. Palomino comes to pick them up and take them back to Eric’s house. Bill goes to sleep in a guest pod and Pam goes home. Eric and Sookie make up before he goes to sleep in his lightless room.
Sookie wakes up the next morning and misses a call from Mustafa. She tries to return the call, but there isn’t an answer. Dermot left a message worrying about her not coming home. Tara left a message that her babies were on the way. Sookie returns a call to Alcide, who needs a favor. Jannalynn wants Sookie’s help proposing to Sam at the lake. Sookie thinks there is too much that can go wrong in the scenario and declines to help. When Sookie gets home, Dermot and Mustafa are there waiting for her. Mustafa tells her she is involved in things she doesn’t know about, but can’t tell her what. She tells him he should go to Alcide for the protection of the pack. He says he will meet with Alcide alone only. He leaves to go try to find his missing friend, Warren. Sookie leaves a voicemail for Alcide to explain the situation. After a nap, Sookie leaves a message for Bill about Mustafa making an appearance.
When darkness falls, Sookie’s phone rings and Eric says he’s on his way to see her. She tells him no. She suggests Bill (Area 5 Investigator) look into how Kim got into the house. Eric agrees. Sookie reads the paper to sees to learn Kim was in need of money and was doing risky things to pay bills. Sam calls to check on Sookie after seeing the news. He admits he doesn’t know how he feels about Jannalynn (which Sookie feels is odd considering she is considering proposing marriage). Dermont is nervous about Claude being gone so long. He admits Claude has been setting up accounts to make money in this world while he returns to Fairy. Bellenos knocks at the back door saying Dermont gave them hunting privileges on Sookie’s land. His kindred are getting restless and would like to get to the woods and Sookie’s house. Dermont apologizes for giving the permission without Sookie’s approval. The fae are getting tired of waiting. She thinks the hidden cluviel dor is what is attracting them. Bill shows up after finding the deer Bellenos left in the woods. He tells her Danny came to him asking to be his daytime guy because he wants to ask Kennedy to marry him. Bill hired him. Sookie puts Bellenos’ clothes in the drying before going to bed.
The Shreveport Police ask Sookie to come in. She takes the card for a lawyer and the Clovial Door with her. She is questioned again and most are the same. The detective asks if Kim had worked at Claude’s strip club, but Sookie didn’t know if she did or not. She overhears the questioning of the guard that called into the police. He says he saw the dead body when he got up to stretch (the detective points out it would be impossible to see the body from the guardhouse). Sookie goes to work and then home. Dermont is still restless and Sookie asks him to describe Fairy. The next few days are a bit of a blur with a minimum of supernatural contact. Sookie goes to check on Tara, but Tara is distracted because her water has broken and the babies are on the way. Sookie makes a few calls to get Tara and her loved ones to the hospital before going to work. Alcide comes in with another were named Roy who is dating the vampire Palomino. Sookie and Alcide go outside so she can tell him about Mustafa and her suspicions of Jannalynn. He says he will keep alert. Sam calls to let Sookie know the things she sold to the antique shop, Splendidie, where dismantled or taken. Sookie realizes someone knows her grandmother had the cluviel dor. Bellenos tells Sookie the fairies are getting restless without Claude and Dermont is not a suitable substitute. She says she will try to get a letter to Niall. She asks if he knows where Kim might have gotten the fairy blood from. He agrees to ask around. JB calls to let Sookie know they’ve had a healthy boy and girl and that Tara was doing well.
Sookie writes a letter to Niall and Claude about the restlessness of the fairies in her world and puts it through the small sliver of a portal to Fairy. When she heads back to the house, there is an odd group of visitors. They introduce themselves as Kim’s parents. The man with them wants to write a true crime novel about Kim. Sookie politely tells them to leave and goes inside. The author slips his card under the door before the leave. Sookie goes to visit Tara and the babies in the hospital. When she gets back home, Bubba is there to warn her someone is coming. Suddenly, Freyda shows up. Bubba calls Pam to let her know who is there before Sookie invites her in. Sookie knows Eric’s maker made a deal with her that involved marriage. She expects Eric to become her consort because she has the power men desire. Sookie’s faith that their love will triumph waivers, and she is unhappy that Eric left her out of the loop and at a disadvantage in the conversation. Freyda assesses Sookie and wonders why so many vampires like her. They go back and forth asking questions about murders until Sookie rescinds her invitation. Bubba stays and is worried if Eric goes with Freyda, Bill might follow.
Eric calls to check on Sookie and tells her not to worry about Freyda. Sookie isn’t so sure and thinks Eric’s lack of concern is a bit disturbing. She goes to sleep and wakes up feeling a bit off. She makes a meal to take to Tara and is surprised to find out her baby girl has the middle name Sookie. When Sookie gets home, Dermont is anxious to hear if there is any word back from Niall or Claude. Sookie says they will check later. Bill comes to give Sookie an update on what he has found out about Kim. He says there was a gate in the back for the landscapers to use. The lock was off and they found the stopper for the vial of blood in the living room. Sookie tells Bill about the author that was asking questions. He knew the name and had met him at Fangtasia. They speculate the author could have sent her. Bill tells her Kim’s neck was snapped. He thinks someone from the house might have killed her. Pam or Eric to erase the offense committed against Sookie. He speculates she could have been sent by the weres. Bill explains they already know about the queen visiting Sookie. She went straight to Philipee after leaving Sookie’s house and Eric was called to join. She is looking for a righthand person and Eric would be a good match. Dermont leaves in a hurry to go to work. Bill asks Sookie to tell him about her conversations with Mustafa. He tells him Mustafa’s real name is KeShawn and Bill remembers a vampire from Sophie-Ann’s monastery named Ra Shawn and wonders if they are somehow related. He pulls out a jump-drive with the vampire database on it and they look up RaShawn. Eric walks in and isn’t pleased to find them together, but they get back to the mystery quickly. Jannalynn is a big suspect, but Sookie is reluctant to involve Sam or do anything that might hurt him. She decides to go talk to Sam right away.
Sookie starts driving to Sam’s, but she swerves to miss Bellenos and Gift chasing a deer across the road. She was headed for the ditch, but the fairies stopped the car. Sookie was shook up by the experience. The fairies apologize and are surprised that Sookie can see their real selves. They don’t want her to be afraid of them. Bellenos asks her about her magic, but she avoids the question. She goes back home and Eric asks her what happened. She tells them she had a wreck. The vampires are interested in Sookie and she thinks they are overwhelmed from her being around fairies. They tell her Philippe has Colton, a human that was present when Victor was killed. Sookie tells them she won’t be able to do anything about it that night and sends them off. Sookie works the runs her errands and goes to work. In the back room, Jannalynn’s coat is hanging on the coatrack. Sookie grabs it and shoves it in her locker. Afterward, she goes home. Donald from Splendide stops by while Sookie is cooking. He demands the cluviel dor. She can see he isn’t an honest person. He is prepared to take it from her using force, but Mr. Cataliades comes in and kills Donald. He had been running from hell hounds the last time Sookie saw him. Bertine had told Donald about the cluviel dor thinking there wasn’t any possibility one could exist anymore. When she realized her mistake, she told Mr. Cataliades as he recovered from running from the hell hounds. He regrets not teaching her how to better shield her mind. He gave her the gift. She asks why Barry also can hear thoughts. Barry is a distant grandchild of Mr. Cataliades. Diantha arrives. She takes on Donald’s appearance and then takes the body to his own trunk. After the cleanup, Jason pulls up and Mr. Cataliades leaves out the back. Sookie finishes cooking the casserole she promised to make him. Dermont comes home and Jason leaves shortly after. Sookie warns her great uncle she is worried about some of his fairy friends running into Bill or being sighted by humans. Dermont points out that Bill still loves her, but she isn’t in love with him anymore. She says she loves Eric, but doesn’t quite feel as strongly as she had before.
Sookie meets Bill to give him the coat to check Jannalynn’s scent. Bill has a plan of person swapping that should lead them to Kim’s killer. It starts with him and Sookie kidnapping Colton from themselves. He doesn’t think Colton could have told Philippe anything yet because Bill had wiped his memory that night. He gives Sookie a uniform for the casino where Colton is being held. When they arrive at the casino, Palomino lets them in. She gives Sookie a full tray and tells her not to draw attention to herself and no one will realize it isn’t her (since they look similar). Bill and Sookie make their way up to the hotel room and give Palomino time to be seen around the casino. Sookie delivers the tray inside and can tell there are two human guards holding Colton; one has their hostage hidden in the bathroom with him. Bill comes in and knocks out the first guard. He signals for the second guard to reveal himself and then knocks him out too. Sookie frees Colton of his bindings and wipes her finger prints off anything she has touched before they leave. On their way out, a nicely dressed woman (M. Norman) tells Sookie to get her name tag replaced right away. They continue out to the parking lot where they are confronted by weres. Sookie recognizes one named Van and greets him. He tells her they think they found Warren’s body and want her to verify.
Sookie send Bill off to help Colton get out of town while she goes with the weres to help Alcide. After Bill is gone and Sookie is in the car, she realizes that she is with weres that were rejected from joining Alcide’s pack because they had pasts that were too violent. One of the girls burned down her house with her family inside (only her mother made it out). Van is a rapist. The quiet girl that is with them suggests the other girl with them should be upset with Van’s attention on Sookie since they are a couple and she stops him from touching her. Mustafa appears on his motorcycle and shoots the driver. When the car stops, he is able to get Sookie out and get her to Alcide. Sookie gets herself cleaned up and changed and they start speculating what is going on. Alcide believes Jannalynn sent the rouges after Sookie. Mustafa tells them Jannalynn told him she wouldn’t kill Warren if he let Kim into the party. The overall plan had been Claude’s.
Sookie has time to think things over in the back of Alcide’s car. They head out to Jannalynn’s parent’s house and find Warren barely alive in the attic. She calls Bill and tells him she needs his help at Alcide’s house. When they arrive, Bill is already there. He immediately understands and gives Warren his blood to heal him. Bill drives Sookie home and on the way, he asks if there is any reason Claude would want to live with her. She realizes he is probably after the cluviel dor. She distracts herself by fantasizing positive outcomes for herself and all her friends. She asks Bill his favorite fantasy and he admits he wants to be with her again.
The next morning is Sookie’s birthday so she doesn’t have to work. She goes to a new lawyer and gives the details for her will. As she is getting ready to get into her car, Quinn calls and says he’s going to be a dad, but Tigress is taking the baby away to raise on her own in tiger tradition. He asks her to call him and tell him about her day sometime and she says she might. After a few more stops, Sam calls and tells Sookie they have 3 missing cases of beer and she needs to come in right away. She is furious it can’t wait, but when she arrives, there is a surprise party for her. Jason gives her a bracelet he found that was Grans. Afterwards, she visits with Maxine (Gran’s best friend) and then heads home. Bill, Pam, and Eric are waiting for her on her back porch. Bill tells her he loves her. Pam wishes her well in her own way. The two other vampires leave Eric and Sookie alone. Eric wants to go inside, but Sookie says they have to talk about their relationship. He wishes it was a simple matter of love, but he is worried if he chooses to defy Philippe, he won’t be able to stay in Louisiana it will do damage to Sookie’s life. She offers to run away with him. He tells her she can stop him from marrying Freyda and then takes off. She has no idea what he is talking about. Suddenly Sookie realizes Eric was referring to the cluviel dor.
The next morning, Claude shows up unexpectedly. Sookie greets him as though nothing is wrong. She mentions that Dermont has been staying at the club recently and makes an excuse to go to the living room to grab the cluviel dor off the coffee table. Dermont comes down the stairs and she quietly warns him. Things start to get uncomfortable between the three roommates. Before too long, Bellenos comes in and attacks Claude. He explains Claude has been trying to stage a rebellion against Niall. Niall comes and whisks Sookie to another room. He tells her knows she has the cluviel dor, but not to show him or he might take it for himself. When he takes Sookie back to the kitchen where the others are waiting, he explains he realized Claude was the one that put the spell on Dermont and he has now forgiven his son. Claude admits he gave Kim his own blood to seduce Eric. Niall was the one that told Eric about the cluviel dor. Sookie tells Niall that fairy folk at Claude’s club have been getting wild. He decides to take all of them back to Fairy with him. Dermont will miss the human world, but decides to go with them. In a flash, they are all gone.
Sookie finally opens her presents from her vampire friends and Sam. She is pleased to find out she is a one-third owner of Merlotte’s. Sookie drives over immediately to thank him and he apologizes for his significant other trying to kill her. After a few chores, Alcide calls to tell Sookie that Sam is on his way to get her. They drive out to Alcide’s grandfather’s farm where the pack is having their own sort of trial for Jannalynn. Mustafa fights her, but in the throws of battle, she tries to attack Alcide and gets Sam. Mustafa decapitates her. Sookie rushes over to Sam, but he is gone before she can call out for Eric to use his blood to heal him. Without thinking, she uses the cluviel dor to bring him back to life. Eric leaves immediately after without a word. Sookie drives them back to her house and Sam stays in her spare room. She tells him she will explain everything another day.