The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

(DUD, LDID, CD, DTTW, FD, DN, DAAD, DD, ATD, FDTW, DAG, DITF, STW, DR, IIHAH; mentioned L, GW)
    Merlotte’s Bar and Grill: Shifter Sam Merlotte bought a failing bar with an inheritance from his father, renamed it, renovated it, and turned it around. Carved out of the woods that still surround the parking lot, Merlotte’s attracts a wide range of clientele of both the human and supernatural kind. The bar is open till midnight on weekdays and one a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, serving light meals as well as drinks, including synthetic blood. Sam is still undecided about being open on Sundays and periodically gives it a try. He lives in a double-wide trailer placed at a right angle behind his bar.
    Customers park on the black-topped front lot while employees park behind the building on the gravel, using the rear door to enter the bar, passing by Sam’s office and the kitchen on their way through to the main room. Merlotte’s has been through many cooks, including a vampire and a shifter, and many waitresses. Several come to tragic ends: waitress Dawn Green is killed by Rene Lenier, cook Lafayette Reynold is murdered by Mike Spencer and the Hardaways, and cook Sweetie Des Arts is a sniper who is killed by Detective Andy Bellefleur. Sam normally handles most of the bartending himself, but when he borrows bartender Charles Twining from Fangtasia after being shot in the leg (by Charles, as it turns out), the vampire attacks Sookie in retaliation for her involvement in another vampire’s death. Charles asks to be staked rather than turned over to the police, and the patrons oblige. Sam has recently hired Kennedy Keyes, a former beauty queen who has done time for manslaughter, as a regular bartender, with Terry Bellefleur still taking a shift here and there as necessary. Overall, work hours for all employees are flexible and balanced.
    The bar takes a double hit when first Vic’s Redneck Roadhouse, a bar full of gimmicks and contests, opens nearby, and then Merlotte’s is firebombed by Sandra Pelt in an attempt to kill Sookie. Suffering financially, Sam struggles to keep his bar going and is both grudging and grateful when Sookie offers part of her inheritance to keep it afloat.
    The moment Bill Compton walks in the door, Merlotte’s seemingly becomes the eye of the storm for supernatural events in Bon Temps. Whether it’s vampires as fellow customers, Sam and Tray Dawson shifting in the bar as the shifters announce themselves on TV, or even the crucifixion of Crystal in the parking lot, the regulars at Merlotte’s watch, wonder, and then order another round, apparently taking it all in stride. (DUD, LDID, CD, DTTW, FD, DN, DAAD, DD, ATD, L, FDTW, DAG, DITF, DR; mentioned OWA, GW, TB, STW)
    Michael (vampire): No last name given. Michael, an Illinois vampire, abducts and tortures the sister of Wisconsin vamp Jodi’s employee despite repeated warnings to stay away from the girl. In retaliation, Jodi breaks off one of his canines with a pair of pliers while he sleeps, so Michael brings suit against her. His behavior is deemed detrimental to vampires in general, and Jodi is allowed to stake him. (Dies ATD)
    Michael (vampire): No last name given. Owner of the gentlemen’s club Blonde in Mississippi, devious Michael pretends to want to ally himself with the Nevada vamps as they attempt to take pieces of Mississippi from Russell, but he is actually playing his own game for financial gain. Unfortunately for him, so is his employee Mohawk, who takes advantage of the situation when Pam literally takes pieces of Michael, leaving him vulnerable and in agony. (Dies TB)
    Mickey (vampire): No last name given. Mickey begins a relationship with an unwilling Tara, who has been passed to him as payment of a debt owed by her previous lover, Franklin Mott. Sookie calls in a favor from Eric for help for her friend, and he contacts Mickey’s maker, Salome. She orders Mickey to her side. Angered by Sookie’s interference, Mickey savagely abuses Tara and drags her with him to the duplex Sookie has made her temporary home. He first disables Eric with a rock to the head and then forces Sookie to invite him in. He attempts to attack her, but she is able to rescind his invitation in time and he is forced to retreat, unwillingly leaving Tara behind. Mickey clearly hears his maker’s call but tries to resist, fleeing into the night. Eric is confident that Salome will find and punish her child. (DAAD)
    Minas: Minas was the yard slave of Jonas