Sookie Stackhouse 8
Charlaine Harris
Sookie is preparing for her night working as Sam’s assistant bar tender at the double Bellefleur wedding. Andy’s bride, Halleigh, comes up asking if she will stand in for a bridesmaid that came down with appendicitis. She squeezes into the dress, makes it through the ceremony and pictures, and then heads back up to the changing room to get her normal clothes to work the rest of the night. As she is changing, Bill comes to the room to tell Sookie that he still loves her. During the reception Selah, Bill’s girlfriend, also comes to the bar to inform Sookie that she heard what Bill said to her. Tanya comes to the bar with her escort for the night, Calvin Norris, to ask if Sam needs any temporary help. While packing up later that night, Sam asks why Sookie doesn’t like her and she finally tells him. Sam asks about Quinn and Sookie explains that she hasn’t seen him since she left Rhodes. His sister’s car that Sookie borrowed disappeared on night without a trace.
After the wedding, Sookie is approached by a vampire she spoke to during the reception that calls himself Jonathan. He tells her that he is from Nevada and came to see her. He explains that Pam told him that she would be at the wedding (which she knows is a lie). While she is talking to the vampire, she notices a withered man with blond hair in the tree line. She can’t read his mind, but she makes sure that the vampire doesn’t suspect that anyone is there. Sookie leaves in her car to go home. She sits in the kitchen with Amelia and talks a while.
The next day, Amelia’s father, Copely, has planned to come to visit, which she begged Sookie to be around for. Amelia spends the entire day a nervous wreck preparing for the event. Sookie ends up talking with her father a little and he mentions that he knew Hadley’s husband. He also tells her that her cousin had a baby. The thought nags at her (later she’ll call information to try to find the husband, Remy Savoy). The last bomb that Copely drops on them is that Amelia’s mentor, Octavia Fant called. He told her how to get a hold of Amelia.
Sookie calls Eric to tell him about Jonathan, but he doesn’t know anything about it. He then convinces her to go to Shreveport with him so that he can introduce her to someone. He picks her up the next night and introduces her to a fairy prince named Niall, who is her great-grandfather (who can block his esscense from vampires). He explains that he wants to get to know her and was unable to before now because his half-fae son thought it would endanger her. He then explains that her grandmother, Adele, had an affair after she was told that her husband couldn’t give her children. Niall asks about Sookies parents. After she tells him, he explains that her mother was taken in by the fairy part and that was why she was possessive of him and ignored the children. Jason also seems to have this characteristic, but Niall doesn’t wish to meet him. He is the one that sent Claudine (Sookie’s cousin) to look after her.
On the way back to Bon Temps, Eric is pulled over by a were. He shoves Sookie under the dash board and the were comes up to the window to shoot her. He misses and ends up taking another shot at Eric, which hits him in the neck. Eric ends up using the were to heal himself and kills him. Not quite ready to end the excitement, Eric kisses Sookie. She puts a stop to it because of Quinn and has Eric take her home. She talks with Amelia about what happened (leaving out the part about the fae). Amelia tells her that she missed two calls, one from Alcide and one from Tanya.
The next morning, Octavia Fant arrives at the house. Sookie lets Amelia talk with her guest and sits down to read the paper. She finds out that Maria-star (were) was killed. Alcide calls and has her talk with Amanda about her own experience the previous night. Sookie agrees to ask Amelia if she will check out the murder scene. Amelia agrees, and after a failed attempted at returning Bob to human, Octavia agrees to join them. Dawson is waiting outside the apartment when they get there. Amelia and Octavia do an ectoplasmic reconstruction. They find that two weres are responsible for Maria-Star’s death and one of them is the packmaster, Patrick Fernin’s henchman and a Shreveport detective, Cal Myers. Dawson takes Sookie to talk with the other pack members. She tells them about what Amelia and Octavia conjured up. After she describes the were that attacked her the previous night, they find that he was a were that worked for Fernin as well. After some bickering back and forth with Alcide, Dawson takes Sookie home.
Later that night, Sookie goes to work. There are some FotS guys there trying to make a big deal, especially after Pam walks in. The guys get even more enraged when she walks out of the bar with her date, Amelia. Sookie plays dumb to their prejudices. After her shift is over, Dawson takes her home. He checks out the house and stays a while before leaving her alone. She talks to Eric over the phone about her current situation before going to bed.
The next day, Sookie goes to the library. A man comes in the back door and threatens the librarian. Luckily her husbad, Alcee, was coming in to have lunch with her. Alcee threatens the man with the knife, who throws his wife at the cop. The man runs at Sookie with his knife raised and she knocks him out by throwing a book at him. Sookie decides to call Patrick Fernin to see why he is trying to kill her. He tells her that he is not behind the attacks. As it turns out, women from his side of the pack are missing, including his wife. She arranges a meeting between the pack master and Alcide, which she agrees to attend to make sure no one lies. That night, Sam goes with her. As they all start realizing that neither side is responsible for the deaths, they are attacked from above. Some New Orleans members have been taking out the woman so that they could take over the pack. The fighting ensues and Sam turns into a lion to protect Sookie. Claudine also appears to help her. The Shreveport weres are victorious, but Patrick Fernin is dead. Alcide claims leadership.
Sookie goes to work the next afternoon and talks a bit with Sam about how he is doing. Tanya comes in, acting rather confident until she goes back to Sam’s office to talk with him. She comes out somewhat taken down and Sam seems mad. After work, Holly tells Sookie a little bit about her relationship with Hoyt and how her friendship with Danielle has gone downhill since becoming wiccan. Sookie goes home to find Amelia and Pam on the couch watching a movie. She talks to Eric, who hasn’t learned anything new about Jonathan. He tells her about the latest Louisiana vampire news.
A little while after hanging up with Eric, Bill arrives to relieve Pam. Every night, Pam makes a phone call in a chain to check on the other areas. When the area that she calls didn’t answer, she had to leave. When Bill is done explaining, Frannie (Quinn’s sister) shows up. She informs them that the Nevada vampires are coming to take over Louisiana. She also tells Sookie that they have been holding her and Quinn because they had to clean up after their mom (escaped from her nursing home, shifted, and murdered people). As Bill is trying to work out a plan, Eric shows up, possibly bringing more danger with him.
Victor Madden announces his presense. Sookie counts that there are nine vamps and one shifter (Quinn) outside of the house. Amelia’s ward allow only Victor to come into the house. He tells Eric and Bill that their queen is dead. Sookie tries to call her great-grandfather, but Eric stops her because it would start an even bigger war. Eventually, realizing defeat, the vampires agree to serve the new king to save the rest of the vampires holed up at Fangtasia. When everyone leaves after the whole ordeal, Sookie finds Eric in her bedroom. He remembers everything that happened while he was under the witch’s spell. They decide to talk about it later and Eric leaves to take care of new business.
The next morning, Sookie wakes up to find Quinn sitting in the rocking chair in her bedroom. She takes him to the kitchen and explains that she has to break up with him because she’ll never be number one to him. Later, while getting ready for work, Eric has a new phone and a new front door delivered to Sookie’s house. She goes to work early and updates Sam on what has happened. Crystal comes in with Jason and he humiliates her about her spending habits (she had been out shopping with Tanya, who convinced her to spend more). She reads a newspaper left behind by sheriff Bud Dearborn and reads about the mystery the cops are finding the results of the were war to be. She also sees an obituary for Sophie-Anne.
Sookie goes back home after work and Quinn’s sister and mom are there. Frannie confronts her about breaking up with Quinn, but Sookie just tells her that it wasn’t going to work. They leave and Amelia comforts her.
In the morning, Sookie wakes up to a visit from Amelia’s father. His driver splits their wood and she agrees to call Fantasia to hook him up with the new vampire regime to help his business. Sookie goes out and sees Arlene and Tanya having a conversation. She is able to get into Arlene’s head, who is thinking about how her new boyfriend wants to kill all vampires. From there, she is able to get into Tanya’s head. As it turns out, she is working for Sandra pelt to make Sookie’s life miserable. Sookie goes home and asks Amelia for help. Tanya preposes that Octavia come to live with them since she is crammed into her nieces house with a lot of other people. Sookie agrees to think about it. Amelia calls Octavia to devise a plan to take care of the Tanya problem.
At the bar, Claudine and Claude come in to tell Sookie that she needs to call Niall and explain what happened the night that she hung up on him. Soon after they leave, Copely comes in to meet with a vampire, Sandy Sechrest, that Sookie set him up with for business. After Sandy meets with Sam as well, he asks Sookie to talk. He tells her his story. As Sam walks her out to the parking lot, Niall appears outside. She explains to him what happened with the were war and the vampire takeover.
Octavia is the newest resident of the Stackhouse home. Her and Amelia come up with a plan to make sure that Tanya will leave Sookie and her family alone. Calvin agrees to bring Tanya to the house so they can perform the spell. He has to tie her up to get her there, but she is able to leave of her own free will, no longer wanting to hurt Sookie. Later, Bill comes by to tell Sookie that Selah has moved away, that she never loved him. Sookie thinks that he is trying to win her back, but it doesn’t seem likely he ever will.
Jason comes into Merlotte’s to ask if Sookie will check on Crystal when she gets off work. She agrees and heads over there. She hears sounds from the bedroom and finds Crystal sleeping with Dove Beck (Alcee’s brother). Calvin (Crystal’s Uncle) walks in shortly after, also catching them in the act. As a result, Crystal and Jason have to go through a trial. Crystal is found guilty of cheating on Jason, but Calvin has to take her punishment because she is pregnant. Jason opts out of delivering the punishment, which means that Sookie has to. She is forced to smash Calvin’s hand, which makes her furious at Jason for putting her in the middle of the situation.
Sookie is in a dark mood for days. Sam calls Eric to get her to talk about what happened in Hot Shot. After thinking about all that has gone wrong, she has a funny mental image of her great-granddad and feels better.
Eric is waiting for Sookie after work. The new King, Felipe de Castro, appears to them after a while. Sooke decides to leave them to go home, but ends up turning around to go back to the bar parking lot. Sigebert, who is supposed to be dead, is there and has the two vampires tied up in silver. Sookie runs him over with her car and Eric finishes him off. The king is greatful and agrees to have Dawson fix Sookie’s car. Sam drives Sookie home and complains about the politics they are both constantly dragged into.
The next morning, Dawson drives Sookie’s car back to her. He then expresses his interest in Amelia. Sookie sorts things out with Alcide and finds out that the Fernin children are being taken care of. Upon arriving back home, Octavia changes Bob back into a human. Sookie helps get Bob set before he leaves to go back to New Orleans.
Eric and Pam come into the bar to tell Sookie that the new king owes her, which is a big deal. While there, a FotS member runs into her deliberately. She smashes him over the head with a tray. When she gets home from work, Niall is waiting for her. She asks him to find Remy Savoy so that she can meet Hadley’s child. The address is delivered the next morning and Sookie heads out. She meets Remy and explains that she is Hadley’s cousin. Hunter, Hadley’s son, is also a telepath. Sookie tells Remy to reach out to her before he is miserable about it so that she can help him. He agrees.