Sookie Stackhouse 5
Charlaine Harris
Sookie is worried about her brother, Jason, shifting at the full moon. Calvin comes to collect Jason and Jason ends up enjoying his time, even though he can't shift as completely as the ones that were born as shifters. After the three nights of the full moon are complete, Calvin is shot and severely wounded. Jason and Sookie go to visit him, but there is a guard outside of Calvin's door. Sookie is allowed in, but Jason is told to wait in the hall. Sookie finds out that another female shifter was also shot and died. Calvin's pack thinks that Jason is shooting the shifters to get even for being turned into one. Sookie knows that isn't the case and tries to tell Calvin as much. He says he will do his best to protect Jason, but it will be difficult from a hospital bed.
Soon after, while Sookie is walking out of the bar with Sam after work, Sam is also shot. Luckily, Sam is only hit in the leg. However, the injury proves damaging enough so that he can't work behind the bar. Terry starts to substitute for him, but can't really handle that much stress. This becomes apparent to Sookie one night when she has to tip Terry off to a girl carrying vampire blood in her coat. Sam asks Sookie to go to Eric and ask for a substitute bar tender until he is better. The deal is made and Sam owes Eric a favor. Sookie takes Charles (a vampire who was once a pirate) back to Bon Temps with her. He starts out sleeping in the bar, but eventually, Sam convinces Sookie to let him stay at her house.
Alcide comes along and tells Sookie that Coronal Flood died in a car accident and asks her to go to the funeral with him. She accepts and borrows a suit from Tara, who has been hanging out with a new vampire named Mickey. At the funeral, Alcide's dad's date informs her that this is less of a memorial, and more a campaign for pack leader. Sookie, though insulted, does her best to not sully Alcide's name. Afterwards, she lets him know that she is upset about not warning her about the situation. Alcide confesses that he knows that she killed Debbie. Sookie asks Alcide not to come around for a while.
In the middle of the night, Sookie is woken up by Claudine. The house is on fire and the fairy gets her outside to safety. Sookie runs back in for something and shuts the door from the kitchen (where the fire is worst) to the rest of the house. The police and firefighters arrive. Charles has killed the man that started the fire. He was a member of the Fellowship of the Sun, but Sookie doesn't recognize him. Terry offers to do the deconstruction of the burnt part of the house for a small fee and Sookie accepts. Alcide arrives, upset that Sookie didn't tell him about the fire. He offers to have Sookie move in with him, but she declines.
Bill comes into the bar with another woman. The woman tries to take in Sookie and is afraid that she will not be able to compete with her in the bedroom. Sookie is jealous, but tries to be overly nice to the new couple. The girl approaches her, looking for the bathroom. A few words are exchanged before she walks off. Bill asks Sookie is she is jealous and she says yes.
After a few nights at Jason's house, Sookie is ready for her place to be finished. Sam starts lending her a duplex that he owns and is currently vacant. Sookie takes some things over and goes grocery shopping to make the place feel more like home. She then goes to the hospital to visit Calvin. Next she goes to the library. She is only in the building for about eight minutes before walking out and hearing someone's thoughts. She ducks and is shot in the shoulder. Portia is near and calls for help. Sookie wakes up in the hospital. Bill stays with her through the night to help her feel safe.
Tara comes to see Sookie to make sure that she is alright. However, it is Tara who is in real need of help. She was dating a vampire named Franklin, but the vamp owed another vamp, Mickey, and gave him Tara as payment. Tara wants to be rid of the overbearing vampire and Sookie says that she will help. She calls Eric for a favor. Eric comes over and she explains the situation. Eric calls Mickey’s sire and tells her that her child is in his territory causing trouble. In return for this, Sookie tells Eric exactly what happen during the time that his memory was gone.
Mickey comes to Sookie's door with Tara, threatening to kill her. Eric is hurt with a rock to the head and feeds off of Sookie to heal. Sookie invites Mickey in to prevent him from killing Tara. Mickey attacks Sookie and tries to rape her. Sookie rescinds Mickey’s invitation and he is forced to leave, backing out of the house and grabbing for Tara. He can't grab her and tries to run away. Eric calls Mickey’s mistress again and tells him that Mickey is trying to run. Eric lifts Tara to the couch and Sookie gives her some of her pain medication. Sookie cleans up the broken glass. Bill comes with ply wood to cover the broken window. Sookie giggles, thinking about the two vampires she had slept with. She bids them goodnight and goes to bed. When Sookie wakes up, Tara is gone.
Alcide comes by and invites Sookie to the competition for pack master. Sookie says that she'll think about it. Alcide explains that all friends of the pack must go.
Sookie goes to work and makes plans with Sam to investigate the places where the shootings happened, figuring that Sam might be able to sniff out whom is behind it. After work, Sam shifts into a bloodhound, and they start with the spot where it is believed that Sam was shot from. They move onto the place where the girl was shot at the Sonic. While they are checking out the alley across the street, Andy shows up. Luckily he has a gun because the new cook, Sweetie, from the bar is there with a rifle. She admits to shooting the shifters (in total, killing 21 and wounding another 40+) because a were bit her and has been changing on the full moon ever since. Dawson, Calvin's hospital guard, is there to watch after Sookie on Calvin's orders. Dawson is hurt and Andy ends up shooting Sweetie. Sookie takes Calvin a casserole and biscuits to thank him for all of his help.
Alcide calls Sookie on the day of the pack master competition to make sure that she is coming. She gets ready and heads to Shreveport. She watches the two wolves compete on agility, endurance, and strength. During the endurance test (holding a bar of silver in their wolf mouths) Sookie reads some minds to find out that Alcide's dad's (Jackson) competitor has had a numbing drug to help him win. Sookie points this out to Quinn, the referee. The pack decides that instead of disqualifying the cheater, he must win the strength trial decisively (kill or disable Jackson). Quinn takes Sookie into the ring before the fight to make sure that neither wolf has any plans for cheating. They do not and she barely makes it out without getting bitten. Quinn licks her leg where the cage door scratched her and gets pretty heated about it. Jackson looses and his opponent kills him. The fairy twins, Claudine and Claude, protect Sookie from the mating ritual that happens next. On the way home, Sookie tells Alcide that they can't be together because of Debbie.
When Sookie goes back to work, someone keeps calling and hanging up whenever Charles answers the phone. Bubba arrives at the back door with a message from Eric: “He is not what he seems.” She is confused until she realizes that Sweetie was not behind all of the attempted murders. It turns out Charles, the bartender they borrowed from Eric, was hired to kill her. Long Shadow’s maker wanted revenge for his death. She manages to hold her off and the men in the bar help her. The men ask if she wants to turn him in to the vampire police or just kill him. She was leaning towards the police, but Charles asks that they kill him. The men oblige him.
Eric arrives when he realizes that Bubba did not deliver his message properly. He is impressed that the only damage Sookie suffered is a broken rib. He tells her that he is working on a Fangtasia calendar and promises her one.