BILL: “Thank you.”
ERIC: “Bill?”
BILL: “What?”
ERIC: “If Sookie had died, I would let you suffer.” BILL: “If Sookie had died, I would already be dead.”
Phone: Eric calling Bill.
ERIC: “Bill, I need your help dealing with Victor. Come to my house Thursday night.”
BILL: “You need my help?”
ERIC: “I need your knowledge of computers. Bobby and Pam have been backing up all of Area Five’s financial records on the computer. I want several copies and I want them to be safe. And I want to be able to tell if anyone tries to access them. Can you do that?”
BILL: “Bobby can’t?”
ERIC: “I would like you to do this.”
BILL: “Of course. I’ll be there after Fangtasia closes.”
ERIC: “Should I send Pam to get you?”
BILL: “Pam? Not Felicia?”
ERIC: “Not Felicia, not for this.”
BILL: “I see.” Pause. “No. I can drive.”
ERIC: “It might be a good idea for you to drive around a bit, make certain you’re not followed.”
BILL: “Do you believe we are all being watched?”
ERIC: “I’m certain Victor knows you’ve been . . . ill and staying close to home. If you suddenly drive to Shreveport, he may hear of it. I don’t feel like coming up with an explanation.”
BILL: “You really are concerned, aren’t you?”
ERIC: “Yes. For us all. Victor has already sent Sandy back to Vegas and is running the entire state himself from New Orleans. I would not be surprised if he has bigger plans. Area Five’s dealings must be aboveboard and strictly accounted. There can be no reason for Felipe to doubt us, no way for Victor to cast aspersions upon us.”
BILL: “I’ll take steps to ensure I am not followed.”
Phone: Eric calling Bill.
ERIC: “Bill, have you seen either Bruno or Corinna lately?”
BILL: “No. Why?”
ERIC: “I’ve heard rumors that they are missing from New Orleans.” BILL: “And . . . ?”
ERIC: “And I was wondering if by chance you’d seen them, if they’d stopped by.”
BILL: “No, they did not. Have you seen them?”
ERIC: “No, I can honestly say that I have not.”
BILL: “I see.”
ERIC: “In fact, I cannot imagine why Victor’s second would be in my area without my knowledge.”
BILL: “Of course not. It would be a violation of protocol.”
ERIC: “Indeed it would. And any of my people would be well within their rights to defend themselves if they were accosted by Victor’s second.”
BILL: “Absolutely.”
ERIC: “Yes, so it’s a good thing that no one has seen them in the area. However, it’s probably best that you don’t speak of this to anyone.”
BILL: “Speak of what?” ERIC: “Exactly.”
Phone: Bill calling Eric.
BILL: “I’m calling to inform you that I have a visitor. She arrived Saturday night and will be staying with me for a week or so.”
ERIC: “She?”
BILL: “Yes. Judith Vardamon, my . . . Lorena’s other child.”
ERIC: “Well. This is a good thing for you, is it not? You already sound stronger.”
BILL: “Yes. I’m feeling much better. Please thank Felicia for me. She was here just before Judith arrived and has been a great help, but I will no longer need her.”
ERIC: “I’ll let her know.”
BILL: “Forgive me, Eric, but you don’t sound yourself. I know I have been out of sorts these past weeks, but is there something I should know? Have there been more problems with Victor?”
ERIC: “I only wish it were Victor. You are not the only one with family visitors, Bill. My maker has arrived with his child. Things are not going well.”
BILL: “I see.”
ERIC: “He is my maker. It is not for me to advise him; he must reach his own conclusions. He’s trying, but the child is . . . I see this ending badly. But he’s . . . He’s my maker.”
BILL: “I remember the feeling all too well, Eric.”
ERIC: “I imagine you do. She would have been of help to you now, though.”
BILL: “I would rather die than have asked her. If Sookie had not contacted Judith, I would never have bothered her after what Lorena did to her, did to us both.”
ERIC: “Sookie contacted her?”
BILL: “Yes. She got Judith’s e-mail from my database and told her I was ill and needed her. She and Judith then spoke when Judith arrived. Judith was much relieved to know that Lorena had met her final death, and surprised it was at Sookie’s hands. She was most impressed.”
ERIC: “Sookie is most impressive. Bobby has just arrived with some paperwork for me. Felicia is with him, so I will pass along your thanks. Good night, Bill.”
BILL: “Good night, Eric.”
Phone: Bill calling Eric.
BILL: “Eric, we’ve just arrived home. What happened at Sookie’s tonight? All was quiet when we went out, but now there are strange scents through the woods.”
ERIC: “My maker has met his final death, Bill. His child as well.”
BILL: “This is not what you wanted?”
ERIC: “I don’t know. I feel strangely free.” Pause. “What is it like to live without your maker, Bill? How did you feel when Lorena died?”
BILL: “She had been torturing me, Eric. When she died, I felt relief. Afterward, I felt somewhat adrift. I imagine it is much like any child when a parent dies, even if the parent was a poor one.”
ERIC: “I cannot remember a time when I did not feel Ocella’s presence, but I did not hate him.”
BILL: “I believe I hated Lorena, as much as a vampire can hate their maker. Twice she took me from a woman I loved.” (Silence.)
BILL: “I take it Sookie is all right?”
ERIC: “Yes. I left her with her fairy cousin and uncle.”
BILL: “Her uncle? I thought he was dangerous.”
ERIC: “He was bespelled, and he was freed tonight as well. He killed a fairy who meant Sookie harm, a fairy who killed Ocella instead.” Pause. “Bobby and Felicia are also dead. Bobby died trying to protect me.”
BILL: “I’m sorry, Eric.”
ERIC: “So am I. Pam was injured but is recovering.”
BILL: “Eric, is there anything I can do?”
ERIC: “Perhaps you could look through Bobby’s computer, help Pam with what needs to be taken care of until I find another daytime employee.”
BILL: “Of course. Shall we come to Fangtasia tonight?”
ERIC: “Please. I need to rely on you and Pam while I am attending to Ocella’s final arrangements, Bill. I cannot afford to let anything slide. We cannot afford it. Victor remains a threat to us all.”
BILL: “I’ll see you tonight.”
Dead Reckoning
Timeline
WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2006. Sookie decides to take advantage of the fact that Dermot and Claude are still staying at her house and enlists the pair to help her clean out the attic. Setting aside the family photos, documents, and other items Sookie thinks might be worth selling in the living room, they eventually pile the most obviously dilapidated and worthless in the driveway to be burned. At work at Merlotte’s that evening, Sookie tells Sam of their activity, and much to her surprise, he is able to recommend a shop in Shreveport that appraises and purchases antiques. Sam tells her that he needs to stop in to look for a birthday gift for Jannalynn, so they make plans to visit the shop the next day.
Business is sparse that night. Not only has Sam come out as two-natured, but there is also a new bar nearby that is drawing a crowd. Kennedy Keyes and Danny Prideaux come in for a drink just as it is getting dark, and Sookie is closing the front curtains when she sees suspicious activity in the parking lot. A Molotov cocktail is thrown through the window, setting a table on fire and scattering flaming napkins through the bar. Sam grabs t
he fire extinguisher to extinguish the flames. As customers race out of the bar through the back door, Sookie grabs pitchers of tea and water to put out the small fires created by the burning napkins. Sam sees Sookie’s hair catch on fire and sprays her with the fire extinguisher before she even realizes what has happened. Together, they are able to douse the blaze before the fire department arrives. Eric storms in a few minutes later, having felt Sookie’s distress through their bond, and insists on taking Sookie home; however, she convinces him to allow Sheriff Bud Dearborn and the fire chief to question her for their investigation into the arson.
Eric contacts Pam to bring a hairdresser to Sookie’s house, and the female vampire is waiting with Immanuel Earnest, a stylist from Shreveport, when Eric and Sookie arrive. Immanuel sets up in the kitchen and gets to work, cutting off several inches of Sookie’s hair while Eric glowers.
While showering, Sookie thinks about the firebombing and suspects that the being that did it was not human. She returns to the kitchen, and Immanuel cuts again, evening out her hair. Pam, who is in a bad mood after receiving a text, begins complaining about Victor still being in charge, then she shifts her annoyance to the items from the attic piled in Sookie’s living room and driveway. She finally questions Eric on what kind of husband he is, allowing his wife to live with other men, and Eric attacks her. Immanuel pulls Sookie out of the kitchen while the two vampires battle it out. The hairdresser reveals that Pam is frustrated because she wants to turn her lover, Miriam—Immanuel’s sister who is suffering from leukemia—but has not been given permission to make her own child. Sookie finally has enough, fills a pitcher from the bathroom with cold water, goes into the kitchen, and throws it on the two vampires rolling around on the floor, then leaves the two to settle down. When Eric and Pam finally emerge, Sookie sends everyone home, shooing the vampires out of the front door as Claude and Dermot arrive home from work and enter from the back. Exhausted, Sookie heads off to bed.
THURSDAY, MAY 25. Sookie is awakened by someone knocking and finds Sam at her door, ready to head to Splendide, the antique shop in Shreveport. Sam is dismayed at the mess left in Sookie’s kitchen from Pam and Eric’s fight, but Sookie tells him she expects Eric will replace any damaged items. They straighten up, and then Sam shares donuts with Dermot while Sookie showers. As Sookie and Sam get into his truck to head to Shreveport, he comments on how well Dermot treats Sookie. Sam tells her that he has researched fairies in the library of information kept by shifters about supes and that a familial connection would not deter a fairy from pursuing a possible relationship. Sookie assures him that she doesn’t think of Dermot that way, and that they regard themselves as family only. The conversation shifts when they both admit that they believe that the arsonist was a twoey. Although Sam doesn’t think that it was a hate crime targeted at shifters and their supporters, he does feel that there is hatred involved. The question is whose.
They arrive at Splendide, and Sookie pokes around while Sam picks out a gift for Jannalynn, who loves antiques. He finally selects a pair of earrings, with Sookie’s input, and then she makes an appointment for the shop owners to come to her house to appraise the items from her attic. After leaving the shop, Sam suggests that they stop for lunch. He expresses concern about his relationship with Jannalynn, worrying that they are not on the right track, and then Sookie expresses her own concern about the side effects of her proximity to her fae family. She asks Sam if he could do more research for her in the shifter library, but he suggests going right to the source and asking Claude and Dermot in person. They decide to detour to Claude’s club, Hooligans, on the way back. Remy Savoy calls while they are at the restaurant and asks Sookie if she can babysit Hunter for the weekend, but she isn’t sure of her work schedule and is unable to commit. After asking Sam about her schedule, she calls Remy back to tell him she can’t babysit, and he takes the opportunity to ask her to accompany him and Hunter to kindergarten orientation. Sookie is surprised but agrees.
Sookie and Sam are greeted at Hooligans by an elf named Bellenos and taken to Claude’s office. Dermot accompanies them. Sam cuts to the chase, bluntly asking why Sookie is feeling more and more fae. He reprimands the two fairies for not educating Sookie about her heritage and suggests that they have ulterior motives for staying with her. Instead of answering, Claude leads them farther into the club, which is filled with beings of varying degrees of fae blood. One of them welcomes her as one of their own, but Sookie declines the invitation and leaves the room, asking Claude and Dermot what is going on. Dermot tells her that he and Claude will speak with her that evening when they get home. She quietly mourns her gullibility on the way back to Bon Temps.
Sookie works the late shift again and stays up for a while after getting home to wait for Dermot and Claude, who do not come home at all.
FRIDAY, MAY 26. Sookie works the early shift but stays an extra two hours when her replacement suffers a flat tire, and Eric is waiting for her by the time she gets to her house. He has a dress for her and tells her they are going to Vampire’s Kiss, Victor’s new dance club. Immanuel arrives to do her makeup and hair. On the way to the club, Sookie finds out from Eric that it is Victor who has forbidden Pam from turning Miriam.
Sookie and Eric arrive at Vampire’s Kiss to find that Pam has been assaulted by Victor’s minions for trying to get into the club to make certain it is safe for Eric. He is furious, as is Pam. Once inside, they see that Victor has brought Miriam there to provoke Pam. Sookie finds out that Victor is also the owner of Vic’s Redneck Roadhouse, the new bar that is drawing patrons from Merlotte’s. Victor serves Eric and Pam bottled blood along with glasses. The server “thinks” to Sookie not to allow her vamps to use the glasses, as they have been rubbed with fairy blood. Sookie sends a wave of negativity to Eric, who drinks from the bottle. Pam follows suit.
After exchanging words with Victor, Eric, Sookie, and Pam leave, taking Miriam with them. They are approached in the parking lot by two of Victor’s followers, who claim they wish to ally themselves with Eric, but he sends them away, believing they are trying to trap him. When Sookie comments on the tension between Eric and Pam, Pam blurts out that Eric has received a letter. Before she can continue, Eric grabs her throat and orders her to be silent. As he is driving at the time, Sookie is disturbed on many levels. He tells Sookie to leave it be. When they arrive at her house, Sookie does not invite the vampires in.
SATURDAY, MAY 27. Dermot and Claude are home when Sookie wakes, and they are ready for their talk. They mention troubles at the club, and Sookie guesses that a fairy is missing and tells them about the fairy blood Victor used the night before. The two fairies are angry to have lost a female, Cait, to the vampires.
The fairies tell her that Niall was able to arrange a visit with Jason when he was a baby and realized that he lacked the “essential spark.” Niall assumed Sookie would also lack any fairy traits and didn’t attempt to contact her, but eventually he thought to ask Eric, with whom he had business dealings, to check up on her. It was Eric who informed Niall that she wasn’t a normal human. Niall first sent Claudine and then decided to meet Sookie himself. Unfortunately, it was Niall’s interest in his great-granddaughter that precipitated the fairy war and the sealing off of Faery, leaving not just the two of them but others outside. Claude and Dermot acknowledge that Sookie is gaining power from them and that the fae are all gaining power from each other. They are greater than the sum of their parts. Claude and Dermot also reveal that there is still a fairy portal in her woods. Sookie continues to question their motives, but they all finally settle down in an uneasy truce. They discuss the firebombing at Merlotte’s, and Sookie asks them to let her know if they hear any talk about it at Hooligans.
Dermot helps Sookie clean the attic and suggests that she could partition off another bedroom while still leaving an area for storage. To her shame, Sookie realizes that she did not give any consideration to Dermot and Claude having to share a bedroom. Dermot has actually been sleeping on a cot in the sitting
room. They discuss what to do, and Dermot is excited at the prospect of having his own space.
The owners of Splendide, Brenda Hesterman and Donald Callaway, arrive to appraise the goods from the attic. Donald finds a secret cubby in the big desk and gives Sookie its contents, a faded letter in an old envelope and a velvet bag. She immediately recognizes the handwriting on the letter as her grandmother’s and puts it aside to read privately later. The partners buy several pieces, taking a few items with them and arranging for one of their trucks to pick up the rest.
Jack and Lily Leeds, the private investigators who questioned Sookie about Debbie Pelt’s death, come into Merlotte’s while Sookie is working that night to give her a warning about Sandra Pelt. Sandra is still obsessed with Sookie. The Leedses reveal that the attorney for Sandra’s parents’ estate, Mr. Cataliades, instructed them exactly when to arrive at Merlotte’s to speak with Sookie, and she instantly realizes that Mr. Cataliades somehow knows there is going to be trouble and sent the Leedses in as backup. Sure enough, four toughs come into the bar, high on vampire blood. Sam, who is standing behind the bar talking with Jannalynn, tries to calm the situation even as both he and Jannalynn react instinctively to the danger. Most of the patrons move away, with the exception of the Leedses, Andy Bellefleur, and Danny Prideaux. The thugs indicate that they are after “the blonde,” and weapons are drawn on both sides. There is a short struggle, resulting in one bullet wound, a few minor injuries, and several broken bones. The four thugs are subdued, the police are called, and Lily takes Jack, who took the bullet, to the hospital. Because Lily and Sookie were standing together when the comment was made about “the blonde,” the police assume Lily was the intended target, and Sookie breathes a sigh of relief.
SUNDAY, MAY 28. Sookie wakes to an empty house. After going over the events of the previous evening, she calls Mr. Cataliades but is only able to leave a message on his machine. She then calls Amelia to ask if she can help locate Sandra Pelt, and Amelia decides to come up, bringing Bob Jessop, who is back in her life, to help out and renew the wards around the house. Sookie decides to read the letter from her grandmother, which explains, to the best of Adele’s knowledge and ability, Fintan’s involvement in her life. According to the letter, the object in the velvet bag is a cluviel dor, a gift from Fintan delivered to Adele by a stranger whom Sookie recognizes from the description: Mr. Cataliades. A fairy gift, the cluviel dor holds a powerful spell that will work only one time. Sookie feels an attachment to the object and gains pleasure in holding it. Worried about its potential, she hides it in her makeup drawer.