As Alcide helps an increasingly unstable Sookie downstairs, she realizes with a sense of relief that she is becoming unable to feel the vampires through her bond. Sookie views the pack through the effect of the drug, and as she concentrates, she realizes she can see them as colors and knows immediately what colors to look for. She accuses Hamilton Bond of betraying the pack by inviting government people to camp on Alcide’s land, even knowing that they were looking for dirt on the Louisiana packs to use to push through anti-shifter legislation. She gets him to admit that he was jealous of Basim, and he finally confesses that he saw Basim meeting with a fairy and heard their plan to implicate Sookie in a murder by burying a body on her property. Ham decided to kill Basim and bury him instead, and then collect the reward promised by the fairy himself. Ham tells them that he was supposed to meet the fairy on Sookie’s property after the meeting that evening. Sookie names Patricia Crimmins, originally from the St. Catherine Parish pack, as Ham’s accomplice. Patricia tries to throw herself on the mercy of the pack, as she did after the Were war, claiming that her only crime has been loving the wrong man, but Ham declares that her motive was purely retaliation for not being chosen by Alcide as his lover. Annabelle is guilty only of being unfaithful to Alcide. Jason and Sookie leave as the Weres are deciding on the punishment, and Sookie is confident that enforcer and second Jannalynn will successfully argue for the deaths of Ham and Patricia.
The drug is already wearing off as they exit the house, and Sookie is sick in the yard before she and Jason reach the truck. As her mind clears, Sookie suddenly begins to feel Eric through the bond again and becomes aware of his unhappiness and physical pain. She urges Jason to get her to Eric’s house as quickly as possible, and she fears the worst until they enter the home and Eric answers her call. They find him horribly wounded, and Bobby Burnham and his vampire girlfriend, Felicia, have been murdered. Eric tells them that Alexei finally snapped, killing the two when Appius left him alone to speak to Eric and then fleeing. Appius has gone after Alexei. Sookie orders her brother to push Eric’s broken ribs back in so that he can heal, and after doing so, Jason goes to the bathroom to wash off the blood. Sookie confronts the defeated Eric and taunts him until he reacts. When Jason staggers back into the room, he reports finding a severely injured Pam and that he has given her blood. Jason’s cell phone rings, and his girlfriend tells him that Alexei has been to his house looking for him, that Appius arrived soon after, and that she has sent them both to Sookie’s house. Sookie immediately calls Claude and warns him to get out, since the vampires can enter her house. She and a recovering Eric leave Jason with Pam and rush to Sookie’s house.
They have almost reached the house when Eric doubles over with pain that is not his own. They arrive in her yard to find the security light on and Claude and a fairy Sookie has never seen before standing back to back, armed with knives and a sword, while Alexei circles them, occasionally darting in to strike. Appius lies nearby, head bloodied, and Eric asks him if he still lives. Appius replies that his spinal cord is severed and that he cannot move until he heals. As Sookie pleads with Alexei not to kill the fairies, she learns that the stranger is Colman, the father of Claudine’s baby, and that he blames Sookie for the death of his mate and child. Alexei dashes forward between the fairy blades to punch Colman and is wounded by Claude.
Sookie realizes that Alexei is beginning to tire and runs into the house to retrieve the silver chain that the Drainers had used to restrain Bill so long ago. Returning to the yard, she edges cautiously toward the whirling Alexei, and when he comes near, she throws it over his head and pulls it tightly around his neck. The boy falls screaming to the ground, and Eric sends his sibling to his final death using a broken tree branch. While Eric stands guard over the two fae, Sookie takes advantage of his distraction to take the stake from a disintegrating Alexei and crawl toward the helpless Appius. She tells him she wants to kill him, but he answers that if she was going to do it, she would not have spoken. He predicts that she won’t keep Eric. Eric pleads with her not to kill his maker, so she comes up with a better idea. She hears a shout from Eric as Appius’s eyes look past her, and she feels Appius tell her to move. She throws herself away from the vampire just as a fairy blade slashes past her and into Appius’s body. Colman stands, stunned, looking down at his unintended victim, and then he begins to sway, a dagger protruding between his shoulder blades. Sookie turns to see who threw the blade but sees only Claude, who is looking at both of the knives still in his hands. Eric begins draining the wounded Colman.
Claude and Sookie sit side by side on the grass, and Claude explains that he had tried to persuade Colman to return to Faery and had moved in with Sookie to protect her. Dermot steps out of the woods and tells them he threw the dagger into Colman to protect Sookie. He is able to indicate to Claude and Sookie that the spell that is on him was put there long ago, and Sookie realizes that it must have been placed by Niall. She tells Claude that spells are broken by a kiss in human fairy tales, and they both lean forward to kiss Dermot. He shudders all over and intelligence begins to fill his eyes as he weeps. Claude takes Dermot into the house, and Eric and Sookie are left alone. Eric asks Sookie why she was going to spare Appius and what she was going to say to him, and she replies that she was going to make a deal to let him live if he would kill Victor. A startled Eric admits it was a good idea.
Sookie watches as the fairy blood he took finally begins to energize Eric, and he realizes that he is free forever from his maker. Telling Sookie that she is his dearest, Eric promises to return to her when he has checked on Pam and dealt with the things he must do now that Appius has died. Sookie watches him launch into the air to return to Shreveport. She wearily showers and prepares for bed, grimly satisfied that her enemies have perished and she has again survived. As she opens the door to her bedroom, she is surprised to find Dermot and Claude, who want to share the bed with her. Too exhausted to argue, she climbs into the bed with her fae kin on either side, and to her astonishment, she feels relaxed and comforted. She falls asleep surrounded by family.
The Secret Dialogues of Bill and Eric
Phone: Eric calling Bill.
ERIC: “Bill, how are you feeling?”
BILL: “Not well.”
ERIC: “Victor is expecting a sales report for the database.”
BILL: “There are orders. They need to be packaged.”
ERIC: “Do you need help?”
BILL: “Yes.”
ERIC: “I’ll send Felicia over to your house several times a week to assist you. She can also give you blood while she is there. Perhaps that will help you heal.”
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?”