SUNDAY, JANUARY 2. Sookie is disturbed the next day when Jason’s boss, Catfish Hennessy, calls and tells her Jason didn’t show up for work. Sookie reports his disappearance to the police, but they discount it based on his reputation. Going to Jason’s home, she discovers Alcee Beck, a police detective, searching the area. A blood smear, later determined to be a panther print, is found on Jason’s deck. After leaving Jason’s house, Sookie pulls over on the side of the road to try to gather her thoughts. While she is sitting there, Tara Thornton pulls up behind her. Claudine Crane, who is helping Tara at her store, Tara’s Togs, is also in the car. Sookie tells Tara that Jason is missing and asks if there are any witches in the area. Sookie is surprised when Tara tells her that her fellow waitress at Merlotte’s, Holly Cleary, is Wiccan.
Sookie visits Holly at the Kingfisher Arms Apartments and learns that a group of Were witches, who use vampire blood, are trying to gain control of the witches in the area and that they have threatened Holly and her son.
Still seeking some clue about Jason, Sookie goes to Shreveport to speak to one of his old girlfriends, but the young woman hasn’t seen Jason. Hoping to get help from Pam, Sookie goes to Fangtasia to question the daytime employees and leave a message, but she is horrified to find that they have been attacked by the witches in a brutal attempt to find Eric. One woman is injured and another dead. Sookie decides to contact Alcide to learn if the Shreveport pack knows anything about the group. As soon as Alcide hears the story, he contacts his packmaster, Colonel Flood. The packmaster immediately suspects that a missing member of his pack, Adabelle, may have been contacted, and Alcide and Sookie go to Adabelle’s business to question her. They find her dismembered body, and the Weres realize they have a serious problem.
Upset by all the terrible events of the day, Sookie returns home that evening to a kind and compassionate Eric. They begin an affair, and she realizes that she cares for this gentle stranger.
MONDAY, JANUARY 3. Still determined to find Jason, Sookie travels to Hotshot, the secretive community where Jason’s date from New Year’s Eve, shifter Crystal Norris, lives. Sookie meets Calvin Norris, Crystal’s uncle and the packmaster of the Hotshot shifters, who helps her question the girl. Sookie discovers that something happened to Jason in the yard at his home while Crystal was waiting for him in the house. As Sookie is leaving Hotshot, Calvin makes her an unusual offer.
Sookie is appalled when the witch leader, Hallow, and her brother come into Merlotte’s seeking information about Eric. As the witches question Sookie and Sam, they learn that Bill Compton’s home is temporarily empty. Sookie realizes that they plan to search Bill’s home, so she rushes home to tell Eric to stay out of sight. To her horror, he wants to see what is going on, and they go over to the Compton home, finding the yard full of Weres: Alcide’s pack has arrived and is hoping a surprise attack will result in the witches’ defeat. The witches escape and seriously injure a Were woman, Maria-Star Cooper, whom Sookie rushes to the hospital. As an exhausted Sookie drives back toward Bon Temps, she falls asleep at the wheel but is startled awake when Claudine suddenly appears in her car. Sookie returns to Merlotte’s to find that the Weres and vampires have joined forces to fight Hallow and her followers. She is disturbed when Debbie Pelt arrives, obviously involved with Alcide again. Sookie and Eric return to her home after the meeting. He declares his feelings for her and tells her that when he is restored, she will share all he has. Sookie is touched but knows it is a fantasy.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 4. Jason’s friends organize a search around his house for clues to his disappearance. The fruitless search ends in disaster when a feral hog gores Crystal Norris. Sookie returns to her home to find a message from Pam, letting her know that the vampires and Weres will be attacking the coven that night and telling her to bring Eric for the battle. She falls asleep, exhausted by the events of the day, and awakens to find Eric in her bed. They share another intimate moment before leaving for Pam’s house.
When they arrive at the gathering at Pam’s, they are surprised when Bill appears, having returned from Peru. He questions why Debbie Pelt is present and reveals that she participated in his torture in Jackson. Finally confronted by irrefutable proof of Debbie’s true nature, Alcide shocks the gathering when he abjures her.
The coalition is able to defeat the witches, and Hallow is taken prisoner so that she can free Eric from the curse. Debbie attempts to kill Sookie during the confusion of the battle but is stopped by Eric and flees. Sookie is disappointed when Jason is not found with the witches.
Returning to her home, Sookie and Eric enter the kitchen and are surprised to find Debbie with a gun in her hand and murder in her eyes. Debbie fires to kill Sookie, but Eric steps between them and takes the bullet. Before a shocked Debbie can fire again, Sookie grabs her shotgun and kills the werefox. Sookie revives Eric with synthetic blood, and as she cleans the kitchen, Eric takes the body and Debbie’s car and hides them.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5–THE EARLY HOURS OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 6. When Eric rises the next evening, his memory is restored, and he has no recollection of the time he has spent with Sookie. She is relieved that he will not remember the killing of Debbie but is saddened that he doesn’t remember caring for her. Pam arrives to accompany him back to Fangtasia, and Sookie gets ready for work.
As Sookie tells Sam about the previous day’s unusual events, she learns for the first time that the shifters at Hotshot are not werewolves as she believed but werepanthers, and that Felton Norris is in love with Crystal. Sam and Sookie rush to Hotshot to confront Calvin with the evidence of the panther print, and he leads them to Felton’s home. Jason is found imprisoned and weak after being repeatedly bitten by his rival. As they leave with Sookie’s injured brother, Calvin assures them that Felton will be punished and that Calvin will help Jason during the next full moon, when Jason will find out if he’s been turned into a werepanther by Felton’s bites.
Sookie and Sam get Jason to her house, where she puts him in the shower, feeds him, and then sends him to bed. Sitting at the kitchen table to talk with Sam, she spots a check from Eric for fifty thousand dollars.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 6. After Sookie calls the police to let them know Jason has returned, Andy Bellefleur and Alcee Beck arrive to question him. She and Jason stick to the story that he was knocked out and taken from outside his home and then just dumped in Sookie’s yard with no memory of what had happened or where he had been. Sookie takes Jason to his own home to recuperate. Eric visits later that night and questions Sookie about their time together and why he found brain tissue on his sleeve. While he is still at her home, one of Alcide’s pack members, Amanda, arrives to question Sookie about the apparent disappearance of Debbie. While they talk, Eric explores the house. When Amanda leaves, he tells Sookie she should destroy her old coat and get another.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 7. Sookie is not surprised to receive a cranberry red coat from Eric.
The Secret Dialogues of Bill and Eric
TO: WILLIAM COMPTON,
AREA FIVE INVESTIGATOR
BILL,
PER SOPHIE-ANNE’S ORDERS I HAVE CONTACTED SEVERAL VAMPIRES I KNOW IN PERU AND ARRANGED YOUR SAFE PASSAGE. YOU WILL BE MET AT THE AIRPORT IN LIMA. AFTER THAT, I BELIEVE YOU HAVE MADE YOUR OWN ARRANGEMENTS.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. I MUST SAY THAT I AM SURPRISED THAT YOU ARE NOT SPENDING THE HOLIDAYS WITH SOOKIE. HUMANS HOLD THIS TIME IN SUCH REGARD.
ERIC NORTHMAN,
SHERIFF OF AREA FIVE
To: Eric Northman,
Sheriff of Area Five
Thank you for your prompt attention. I’m certain our queen appreciates it. You’ve often said you enjoy having people in your debt, so perhaps you can use this to your advantage.