She finds Bubba waiting beside her car in the parking lot as the protection promised by Eric, and when she arrives home, Tray is at her house as the protection from the Weres.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18. Sookie awakens to hear Tray being desperately ill. He tells her of meeting a woman in the woods who compelled him to drink poisoned vampire blood. A worried Sookie sends him home, promising to contact Jason to guard her. Niall appears in her living room, looking as if he has been in a battle, to let her know that Breandan has retaliated for the death of his follower. Niall warns her to be even more careful. Sookie calls Jason to come protect her and is horrified to hear that he has had a visit from Dermot, who attacked Jason’s friend Mel. Mel accompanies Jason but briefly leaves to get an ice bag for his injured shoulder, and Sookie tells Jason of their family fairy connection, warning him of the danger they face from Dermot. Jason tells Sookie that he wants to go home for his rifle and that she should come pick him up there so he can be with her for the day, and he and Mel leave. As she drives to her brother’s house, she begins to think of some things she has learned and starts to suspect that she knows who killed Crystal, so she calls Calvin.
When she arrives, she finds Jason and Mel sighting Jason’s rifle behind his house. She begins to question Mel, and when her brother realizes what the questions mean, he holds Mel as she examines his thoughts. Sookie tells her horrified brother that his friend killed Crystal, just as Calvin arrives with two of Crystal’s other relatives. Mel confesses that he is gay and in love with Jason and that he hated Crystal for her treatment of him. Crystal knew of Mel’s love for Jason, taunting him when she saw him alone at Jason’s house one day, and he struck her down in anger. Mel tells them that he did not crucify her but left the body in the back of his truck, from where it was stolen. Sookie leaves as the werepanthers administer their justice.
Sookie manages to get through her shift at the bar, but she remembers on the drive home that she promised to meet Amelia at Tray’s house to check on him. When she arrives, she is alarmed when no one answers the door and there is no sign of her roommate. Fearing the worst, she calls Bill to come and check the house for her. As she waits outside, she is relieved when Amelia calls to tell her that she was unable to get an answer at Tray’s, so she went home. Bill returns from the house with the unwelcome news that there has obviously been a fight and that Tray is gone. Frightened and worried that the fairies have done something to Bubba as well, Sookie heads home in her car with Bill following. As she walks to her door, Sookie is abducted.
Sookie awakens in what appears to be an abandoned house, a captive of two fairies, Lochlan and his sister Neave. She learns that they are the ones who crucified Crystal and that Breandan has given them permission to do what they want with Sookie, short of killing her. As the two gleefully torture her, Sookie soon realizes that they will not be able to control themselves and simply waits for death. Barely conscious, she believes she is hallucinating when she sees Bill and Niall stealing up behind her tormentors. She manages a smile as Niall beheads Lochlan and Bill tears out Neave’s throat. Finally, Sookie succumbs to the unbearable pain and slips into darkness.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19. Coming to, Sookie finds herself clean and bandaged in a strange bed, with Dr. Ludwig and Claudine by her side. Dr. Ludwig tells Sookie that her kidnappers are dead but that Bill was badly injured during the rescue. Claudine informs Sookie that the war has begun between Niall and Breandan and that Claudine’s own disheveled appearance is due to being ambushed. She is knitting and shares that she is pregnant by a fae lover. Eric arrives and begins examining Sookie’s wounds, giving her his blood to strengthen her for the coming battle with the fae. As Sookie begins to weep, Eric comforts her, praising her for remaining strong and intact under the terrible torture. She pulls her makeshift weapons from her bag before Eric carries her to the room where Bill and Tray lie. Bill is gravely ill from silver poisoning, and Tray’s wounds will be mortal. As Clancy gives Bill blood, he explains to Sookie that he saw her taken but knew he could not defeat the twins alone, so he called Eric to notify Niall. Bill and Niall were then able to track Sookie and her captors through the fae and human worlds to where she was held captive.
Eric receives a call that Breandan’s forces have arrived and the attack is imminent. Eric, Bill, and Clancy, armed with iron swords and long knives, face the door as it splinters under the force of the attacking fae. Clancy decapitates the first fae as he enters, and Bill steps in front of Sookie, throwing his knife into the throat of the second fairy and then reaching back to take Sookie’s trowel. Breandan enters, already bloodied and with a knitting needle protruding from his shoulder, followed by a female swinging a mace. Eric is able to avoid it, but Clancy is hit and then beheaded by Breandan as he moves to confront Bill. Tray, knowing he is dying, makes a superhuman effort to distract Breandan, gripping the enemy fairy’s shirt. As Breandan plunges his sword into Tray, Bill stabs the fairy under the arm with Sookie’s trowel, and he falls. The female fairy moves in on an unsteady Bill and Sookie, who squirts the fairy with her lemon juice–filled squirt gun. The fairy screams in pain, and Eric has the chance to kill her. Niall arrives to find all his enemies dead. Niall takes his great-granddaughter into his arms, and Sookie weeps for her fallen friends but is able to smile when she realizes that at least Bill survived—though Claudine did not. Eric calls Pam to come pick up the living and the dead.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20–SATURDAY, JANUARY 21. Amelia mourns Tray, whose death is attributed to a case of mistaken identity. Sookie publicly explains her own injuries as a pedestrian hit-and-run but tells Sam the entire truth when he comes to visit.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 22. Niall comes to tell Sookie that he has decided to close all the portals to the fae world to protect humans, but that they have not located Dermot and that the rest of the fae who have lived in the human world will have to choose whether to stay or return to Faery permanently. Jason arrives, startling Niall, who for a moment believes he is Dermot. Jason expresses hurt and resentment that his great-grandfather didn’t deem him worthy of attention or acknowledgment, and tells Niall that he hopes the fairies are gone for good.
When Niall kisses his great-granddaughter on the cheek, Sookie senses his power and immediately feels a bit better. She watches Jason’s tension relax as Niall kisses his great-grandson on the forehead before leaving.
The Secret Dialogues of Bill and Eric
To: WCompton@vmail.com
From: Eric@Fangtasia.com
02:15 am
Bill,
I’ve gotten word that the shifters will reveal live on TV in three nights while local shifters simultaneously change at several public venues. I will be sending as many vampires as I can to keep an eye on the situation and lend aid if needed. I will personally watch as Alcide Herveaux shifts at the Shamrock Casino. I’ll send Clancy to you to watch over Merlotte’s as Sam and Tray Dawson shift.
Eric
To: Eric@Fangtasia.com
From: WCompton@vmail.com
02:35 am
Eric,
So we are going with the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” philosophy? Allying ourselves not so much as with the shifters as possibly against the humans? I do see the reasoning behind it, and I’ll be at Merlotte’s with Clancy watching the reveal.
BTW, glad to see you’ve finally moved communication into the twenty-first century.
Bill
To: WCompton@vmail.com
From: Eric@Fangtasia.com
02:40 am
Pam insisted I start using e-mail. What the hell is BTW?
To: Eric@Fangtasia.com
From: WCompton@vmail.com
02:42 am
By The Way.