BILL: “I know.”
ERIC : “You seem to know a lot, Bill.”
BILL : “Does that bother you, Eric?”
ERIC : “It bothers me that you entered my territory on an assignment from the queen that I was not made aware of.”
BILL: “You’ll have to take that up with Sophie-Anne.”
Though it would seem from the text that All Together Dead begins around the third week in September, accurate continuity would have it start earlier—more like the second week.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2005. Sookie arrives at Fangtasia and is met by a happy Pam as they join the planning meeting for those who will attend the vampire summit in Rhodes. The death of the King of Arkansas, Peter Threadgill, and the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina have had a profound financial effect on the empire of Sophie-Anne Leclerq, Queen of Louisiana. Eric, now one of the most powerful sheriffs in the state, is hosting the queen’s representative, Andre Paul, as they plan the trip. Sookie learns that the queen will be facing a criminal suit filed by the former king’s second-in-command, Jennifer Cater, who alleges that Sophie-Anne lured Peter to Louisiana to assassinate him. If she is found guilty, the queen could lose all she has. Bill Compton will be attending to promote the sale of his database in the hopes of replenishing the coffers of the cash-strapped queen. Jake Purifoy, the Were who was turned by Hadley, is also at the meeting and will be attending, much to Sookie’s discomfort.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11. When she returns from attending a wedding shower for Halleigh Robinson, Sookie is delighted to find Quinn on her doorstep. Her understanding roommate, Amelia, leaves them alone, and Sookie and Quinn discuss their relationship and their need to spend more time together. Quinn tells her he has taken a month off after the summit and wants to spend it with Sookie in Bon Temps. That afternoon Sookie receives a call from her brother, Jason, inviting her to his wedding. He is marrying his shifter girlfriend, Crystal Norris. Sookie is apprehensive about the marriage, especially as it is taking place that same night. When Sookie, Quinn, and Amelia arrive at the wedding celebration, Sookie is surprised at the excited reaction of the shifters to the presence of Quinn. To her dismay, she discovers that as Jason’s only relative she must vouch for him in the marriage ceremony, just as Calvin vouches for Crystal. With many reservations, Sookie witnesses the wedding between the selfish Jason and the wayward, determined shifter he is marrying.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12. Quinn leaves in the morning, and Sookie yawns her way through work after their late night at the wedding and later night together. Bill’s girlfriend, Selah Pumphrey, comes in for lunch and accosts Sookie, accusing her of planning the trip to the summit with Bill so that she can get him back. Sookie’s fairy godmother, Claudine, comes to Sookie’s house that evening to express her misgivings about Sookie attending the summit.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13. In the morning, Sookie shops at Tara’s Togs, where Eric has arranged a line of credit for her to buy suitable clothing for the trip. Later, she is surprised when Pam comes into Merlotte’s to challenge her about her relationship with Eric. As Sookie readies to leave, Arlene expresses her distaste at Sookie’s choice of company, and Sookie snaps at Arlene and stalks out, crying. Pam follows Sookie into the parking lot to continue their conversation, and a relieved Sookie learns that Pam and Eric had not known why the queen sent Bill to Bon Temps. Pam shares her history with Sookie and tells her how she was turned by Eric. Sookie is astonished when Pam pleads with her to have mercy on Eric. Pam believes he has deep feelings for Sookie. Both are startled when he unexpectedly appears. Eric abruptly dismisses Pam and begins to question Sookie about her relationship with Quinn. Sookie replies that since Eric had shown no interest in her over the past few months, she felt free to pursue a relationship with Quinn. Frustrated, Eric leaves.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22. Sookie boards the Anubis airplane and is greeted by the queen’s lawyer, Mr. Cataliades, and his niece, Diantha. He introduces Sookie to the rude lawyer Johan Glassport, who will represent the queen in the murder case brought against her. Realizing that Sookie is a witness to the killing of Peter Threadgill, Glassport begins to question her intensely about the events of that night. Afterward, Sookie explores the plane and examines the coffins of the vampire contingent. Mr. Cataliades joins her and begins to brief her on what to expect at the summit in Rhodes. They arrive at the Pyramid of Gizeh hotel in the afternoon. Sookie is delighted when she telepathically locates Barry the Bellboy, who is attending as a member of the King of Texas’s entourage. That evening, Sookie reports to the queen’s room for instructions. Sophie-Anne is surprised and pleased when they are interrupted by a visit from Stan Davis, now King of Texas. As the queen and Stan converse, Barry and Sookie begin a wordless conversation that catches the attention of their employers. Sookie apologizes and asks if they can leave, since they are not needed during the visit. Barry and Sookie go to the lobby to practice combining their gifts to read the thoughts of those in the room. Sookie is suddenly confronted by a belligerent and threatening Jennifer Cater, who vows to take down Sophie-Anne and drain Sookie dry.
Quinn arrives and is greeted with delight by Sookie, much to Barry’s dismay. Barry, who knows Quinn by reputation, pushes him to tell a mystified Sookie about his past. As they talk, they are joined by one of the most frightening women Sookie has ever seen. The woman identifies herself as Batanya and tells them she is the bodyguard hired to protect the King of Kentucky. She begins to complain to Quinn about the dangerous lack of security at the summit, but Quinn explains that he is not involved in that aspect of the meeting and tells her whom to see. When she leaves to return to her employer, Quinn explains that she is a Britlingen, an elite bodyguard brought at great expense from another dimension. Quinn leaves to set up an impromptu wedding, and Sookie and Barry are called back to serve their respective employers.
Sookie waits for the visitors to leave Sophie-Anne’s suite before recounting the confrontation with Jennifer and the encounter with the Britlingen. The queen decides to call Jennifer and offers to negotiate with her. Jennifer agrees to see the queen, and after some dawdling, the party leaves to visit the room of the Arkansas contingent. Upon arriving at Jennifer’s door, they realize that something is wrong. A quick reconnoiter shows that Jennifer and her companions have been brutally murdered. Hotel security is called, and as the queen and her entourage answer questions, a distraught man suddenly appears and identifies himself as Henrik Feith, the only survivor of the Arkansas contingent. He escaped the massacre because he went downstairs to make a complaint to the management. Sophie-Anne immediately offers the terrified man a place with the Louisiana party, and he leaves with Sigebert to go to the queen’s suite to rest.
As the queen and her party continue downstairs, Mr. Cataliades recommends that Sophie-Anne marry immediately to form an alliance. Sookie suggests that the queen name Andre as King of Arkansas and marry him. Both vampires are pleased with the idea. They locate the booth in the convention hall where Bill is selling the database CDs, and Sookie gets to say a nervous hello to Russell Edgington, the King of Mississippi, who is getting married that evening to the King of Indiana, Bartlett Crowe. After Russell and Bart exchange vows—and blood—in a ceremony that Eric conducts, Sookie persuades Jake Purifoy to fill her in on Quinn’s past and learns he became famous as a pit fighter. Forced to go to the vampires for help when his mother was brutally attacked and raped, he was contracted to fight for them for three years and was known as a most ferocious and successful fighter. Jake also tells her that the event employee who passed out potpourri bags for the wedding is Quinn’s younger sister, Francine, a result of the rape. Disturbed by the story, Sookie leaves Jake to return to work for the queen. When Isaiah, the King of Kentucky, realizes that Sookie can sense his visually camouflaged Britlingens, he asks Sophie-Anne to dismiss her, so Sookie is sent to retrieve luggage that apparently belongs to the Louisiana party from down in the loading bay.