As Sookie turns to leave, she is approached by Andre and led into an isolated service corridor, where he informs her that she needs to be bound more tightly to either him or Sophie-Anne. He orders her to take his blood. She resists, and he is about to force her when Eric suddenly appears. Eric reminds Andre that he himself is pledged to Sophie-Anne and suggests that since he and Sookie already share a bond, it would be better for her to take his blood. Then he will be able to control her for Andre and the queen. Realizing that Eric is trying to protect her, Sookie is nevertheless furious when she is forced into a significant blood exchange with Eric in front of the watching Andre. Just as it is finished, an infuriated Quinn appears and demands an explanation. Sookie leaves, devastated, wondering what changes she will now face in her relationships with both Eric and Quinn. She locates the errant luggage and is taking it to Sophie-Anne’s room when she notices a soda can sitting discarded in a planter and decides to throw it away. The can is heavier than it should be. Sookie looks more closely. She realizes that it is a fake, probably some sort of bomb. The police are notified, and she stands frozen, afraid to put it down, until they arrive. Quinn demands she hand it to him, as he will heal better should it go off. Eric appears as well, called through the new blood bond by Sookie’s panic.
The bomb is finally taken by a vampire bomb-disposal expert, and Sookie and Quinn breathe a sigh of relief as they hug, while Eric slips quietly away. After being questioned by hotel security, Sookie returns to her room to find Quinn waiting for her in the hallway. After checking to see that her roommate is out, Sookie invites Quinn in, and they spend a quiet night sleeping in each other’s arms.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23. Sookie is dressed and waiting for Quinn to escort her to the ball when he calls with the news that the lawsuit against the queen is going to be heard immediately. She is escorted into the proceedings by Andre, who sits beside her. Sookie learns that the judge (a vampire) is the Ancient Pythoness, the blind oracle that Alexander the Great consulted. Henrik Feith has continued the case against Sophie-Anne. Sookie reads the mind of Henrik’s lawyer—and quite possibly that of Henrik—and learns that Henrik has been told the queen plans to kill him. He is pursuing the case in the hopes of saving his own life. Sookie stands and reassures the terrified man of the queen’s sincerity in offering him a place. The Ancient Pythoness eventually finds Sophie-Anne not guilty, and by the terms of her contract with her deceased husband, the queen inherits the entire kingdom he formerly controlled. Henrik is then asked to name the person who lied to him. Just as the terrified man is about to obey, he is struck in the heart by a wooden arrow thrown by a vampire in the audience. Quinn leaps across the stage to protect Sookie and takes a second arrow in his shoulder. Batanya decapitates the assassin with a throwing star as Sookie tries to aid Quinn.
Quinn is taken to the infirmary by Were paramedics for further treatment. Since the trial is over, the ball begins. Sookie enjoys dancing with Eric, but when she begins to dance with Barry, Eric steps in, disapproving of the way that she is shaking her assets on the dance floor. Barry slips away, and she and Eric have a confrontation that is only alleviated when two professional dancers, both vampires, step in to dance with the angry couple.
Sookie decides to find Quinn. She heads to Jake’s room to track Quinn’s whereabouts. Jake says he doesn’t know where Quinn is, and Sookie is disquieted when he tries to conceal that he has guests in his room. After finally locating Quinn in the infirmary, Sookie has an intense conversation with him about their relationship. As she leaves, Sookie finds Batanya’s second-in-command, Clovache, waiting for her. Clovache reveals that the King of Kentucky hired the Britlingens after discovering a Fellowship of the Sun spy in his entourage. She also discloses that the spy revealed under torture that a splinter group of the Fellowship is planning a strike of some kind against the vampires during the summit, and that she and Batanya feel that security is lax at the hotel.
Back in the ballroom, Sophie-Anne, now cleared of all charges, is enjoying her success at the ball. She releases Sookie from further duties. Sookie goes to her room to ponder what she has learned.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24. Sookie joins Barry in the hotel restaurant for a late breakfast, and they look over their itineraries together. Later that evening there will be interstate vampire trials to attend, where they are to surreptitiously read the human witnesses, and they both wonder at the purpose of a four-hour block of time labeled “Commerce.” The waiter gives Sookie a packet from Bill with information on the four area archery ranges. Sookie asks Barry to accompany her as she investigates at Eric’s behest, looking for information on the vampire who threw the arrows the previous night. They hit pay dirt at the third range, and Barry takes over the questioning as a flirtatious employee offers to let them review the security tapes later. When they return, they find the door ripped off its hinges, two dead employees, and a smoldering pile of security tapes. They hurry back to the hotel, and Sookie reports to Eric, then goes to her room to dress for the vampire trials. She is astonished to find that vampire justice is swift and permanent; a vampire is staked when the judgment goes against him.
The commerce part of the evening consists of business deals between the various vampires. Sophie-Anne negotiates for goods and services to help her rebuild Louisiana, while Sookie assists by reading the minds of the human vendors. After they retire to the queen’s suite for drinks, Sookie realizes that Christian Baruch, the vampire hotelier in charge of the Pyramid, has his own agenda and is likely responsible for planting the soda-can bomb in an effort to alarm the queen, so she would blindly accept his protection and courtship. To Sookie’s surprise, Jake approaches her and strongly suggests she get Quinn to take her out the next day. He seems pleased when she agrees to consider his suggestion. As she is leaving for the night, Sookie alerts Andre to her suspicions about Baruch.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. A panicked Barry speaking in her mind awakens Sookie. Pulling on her clothes, she hurries down the corridor to meet him and finds the unconscious body of Jake, apparently felled by the sun as he tried to reach her room. Barry joins her just as Sookie puts all the pieces together and realizes that Jake has taken part in the plot against the vampires. Calling Mr. Cataliades and Diantha while Barry gets his human roommate, Cecile, Sookie tells them she fears that bombs have been placed all over the hotel and will soon be detonated. Sookie calls Quinn to warn him and his sister, Frannie. Cecile pulls the fire alarm in the hopes that the human occupants will evacuate before the bombs destroy the building. They all run to try to save the vampires in their groups, and Sookie feels the first explosion just as she reaches the room Eric is sharing with Pam. She is barely able to rouse Eric, and together they place an unconscious Pam in her coffin and close the lid. More bombs are rocking the collapsing building as they push the coffin out the ninth-floor window. Wrapped in the ceremonial cloak he wore to officiate at the wedding, Eric is barely able to fly them both safely to the ground, and Pam’s coffin lands hard. Both vampires are burned, but they are taken to a nearby basement for treatment and protection. Sookie saves a seriously injured Bill and is greatly relieved when she locates Quinn. As she climbs over the destroyed building to reach Quinn, she discovers an unconscious Andre nearby. Quinn is terribly wounded, both his legs broken by fallen beams, and his sister, Frannie, is lying near him with a head injury, but when Sookie tells him an unconscious Andre is nearby, Quinn encourages her to leave them. Surprised, Sookie reluctantly goes to help others, but as she walks away, she hears Quinn begin to move and knows she will never have to fear that Andre will force her to take his blood again. Sookie locates Barry, and they begin to use their gifts to help rescue workers find those still alive but trapped in the rubble. They work all day to find survivors, but as evening begins to fall, they know they have to leave before they are forced to account for themselves with the authorities. Sookie is able to call Mr. Cataliades, who is in the basement with the vampires, and he calls a cab to take the two telepaths to a hotel for the night.