Within the pack, they are all family. They take responsibility for one another. They work as a community to ensure that needs are met. They share the raising of children, considered precious in this small pack. Each member is expected to add to the pack, often more than once, which requires multiple partners, as only the first child of any full-blooded shifter pair is a full-blooded shifter. Though the panthers are not incestuous, they are inbred.
Calvin Norris, a man well respected both inside and outside the pack, is the leader of Hotshot. He does not hold this position lightly and can be ruthless when enforcing pack laws or meting out justice. When Felton Norris kidnaps Jason Stackhouse, holding him in a metal shed and repeatedly biting him to turn him into a panther, Calvin makes certain Felton pays the ultimate price in exchange for Jason and Sookie not going to the police. Needless to say, death certificates are not always filed when pack members pass away and are quietly buried behind the Tabernacle Holiness Church, where Calvin’s uncle Marvin Norris is the pastor. And, in the past, the need for secrecy has sometimes overwhelmed all else: Sheriff John Dowdy disappeared while serving a warrant in Hotshot, never to be seen again.
Calvin does not bring the pack out publicly when the shifters announce their presence during the Great Reveal, preferring to allow his panthers to choose when and to whom to disclose their second nature. But Sheriff Bud Dearborn’s careful and caring handling of a grief-stricken Calvin after the death of Crystal Norris Stackhouse indicates that the secrets of Hotshot have been known for some time to at least a few. (DTTW, DAAD, ATD, FDTW; mentioned DAG, DITF)
Humphries, Tolliver: The death of Bill’s friend and fellow Civil War soldier Tolliver—who was killed while trying to rescue a wounded Jebediah Bellefleur—causes Bill to loathe the Bellefleurs for the next hundred and forty-odd years. (Deceased; mentioned DUD, LDID)
I:
India: No last name given. Merlotte’s new waitress, India, has cornrows and a nose piercing and is naturally cheerful. She’s currently dating Lola Rushton. (DR)
Indira (vampire): No last name given. Tiny Indira puts in her time at Fangtasia, content that servitude with Eric does not require sexual favors unless she is so inclined. She is among the select vamps Eric calls to Fangtasia for the attack on Victor, and she does her part by first emasculating and then staking the new bartender, Jock, a former employee of Victor who’s still loyal to his old boss. (DAAD, ATD, DR; mentioned DD)
Isaiah (vampire): No last name given. King of Kentucky Isaiah finds a Fellowship of the Sun spy in his retinue. Based on information tortured out of her, he is convinced the Fellowship of the Sun will attack the summit. He hires Britlingens as bodyguards. While at the summit, he attempts to court Sophie-Anne and is chosen to preside over her trial for the death of Peter Threadgill. He survives the disaster thanks to the Britlingens. (ATD)
Ives, Harlen (vampire): Harlen is traveling from Minnesota to New Orleans when he stops in Bon Temps for a visit with Bill and then heads to Monroe to spend some time with Diane, Liam, and Malcolm. He perishes with them when their house is set on fire by an angry mob. (Dies DUD)
J:
Jacky (panther): No last name given. Crystal’s oldest first cousin, teenager Jacky participates in the Hotshot justice meted out to Mel Hart for his part in Crystal’s death. (DAG)
Jada: No last name given. Jada is a new girl working at Merlotte’s who, in Arlene’s opinion, is better than Danielle. (DAAD)
Jade Flower (vampire): No last name given. As Peter Threadgill’s loyal second, Jade Flower does everything within her power to ensure his triumph in his plan to dethrone his queen, including draining E(E)E employee Jake Purifoy in Hadley’s courtyard in an attempt to discredit the queen’s former lover, and tracking Mr. Cataliades’s niece Gladiola to Bon Temps to kill her before she can deliver a message to Sookie.
During the melee at the queen’s spring ball, Jade Flower must defend herself against Mr. Cataliades, who has discovered that she murdered his niece. By the time she is able to attack Sookie, whom she holds responsible for Peter’s downfall, she is mysteriously missing one leg. She is beheaded by Bill as he comes to Sookie’s aid. (Dies DD)
Jan: No last name given. Firefighter and nurse Jan responds to the fire at Sookie’s house. (DAAD)
Janesha: No last name given. Octavia Fant first stays with her niece Janesha, her boyfriend, and her three children after Hurricane Katrina destroys her home. (Mentioned FDTW, DAG)
Jarvis: No last name given. The hairstylist at Janice Herveaux Phillips’s beauty salon, Jarvis does Sookie’s hair for her first night at Josephine’s. (CD)
Jarvis, Mrs.: No first name given. Jarvis is on the phone with his mom when Sookie leaves after being styled. (Mentioned CD)
Jason Stackhouse’s house: Corbett and Michelle Stackhouse built their home in Bon Temps when they were first married and expecting Jason. Left to both children after their deaths, it sat vacant until Jason moved in alone, eventually gaining sole ownership after Gran’s death, when Sookie inherited her house. Jason’s house is well maintained and currently painted a buff color with bright white trim. Although the house is visible from the road, the property extends several acres behind it. A branch off of the circular driveway in the front leads to a porte cochere in the rear, and the ground slopes down from the back deck to a pond with a small pier. A makeshift shooting range in the yard is oriented so that shooters aim into the woods. Inside, the one bathroom has been fully renovated, and there is a kitchen, a small dining room, a living room, a family room, one master bedroom, and two smaller ones. (DUD, DTTW, DAAD, FDTW, DAG)
Jasper, Mary Jane: Danielle’s mother, Mary Jane, and father are there to support their daughter, including picking up Ashley from school and watching both grandchildren when necessary. (Mentioned LDID, DTTW, DD, FDTW)
JB du Rone’s boss: No name given. JB’s boss at the gym allows JB to use the facilities to work with Sookie to keep JB happy. (Mentioned DITF)
JB du Rone’s grandmother: No name given. At Tara’s baby shower, JB’s grandmother tells Sookie a lovely story about Gran. (Mentioned DR)
Jennings, Melba: Melba Jennings is the only African American female lawyer in Bon Temps and takes Arlene’s case when she is arrested for the plot to kill Sookie and the ensuing shoot-out at the trailer. (Mentioned DAG)
Jerry: No last name given. Infected with Sino-AIDS by a lover who ultimately leaves him for a vampire, Jerry seeks to infect vampires as revenge. He attacks Sookie when she reveals his duplicity, and Bill breaks Jerry’s wrist to free her. Jerry’s current vampire lover, Malcolm, takes him from Bill’s home to deal with him privately. Assumed deceased. (DUD)
Jerry: No last name given. Sookie is able to pick memories of hairdresser Jerry from Bethany Rogers’s mind, and uses the memories to soothe the frightened girl as she attempts to read her. (Mentioned LDID)
Jessup, Bob (witch): Bob is one of the three witches Amelia hires to do the ectoplasmic reconstruction at Hadley’s apartment with her. Although he looks somewhat like a Mormon missionary, Bob is actually a hairdresser with a sardonic, intellectual sexiness that catches Amelia’s attention. They indulge in a night of sex afterward, rousing the next afternoon in time to alert the queen’s headquarters that Sookie and Quinn have been kidnapped. Bob stays with Amelia again the night of the queen’s reception, and their play takes an unexpected downturn when Amelia mistakenly transforms him into a cat. When Amelia moves to Bon Temps, Bob lives as a cat with Sookie and Amelia until Amelia’s mentor, Octavia Fant, is able to transform him back to human. While in feline form, he misses the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, and upon his return to human form, he leaves almost immediately to reestablish contact with his family and friends.