The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

Sophie-Anne Leclerq is claiming Sookie’s services for the upcoming vampire summit, usurping Eric. Eric travels separately to New Orleans as Sookie is heading down with Mr. Cataliades to take care of her late cousin Hadley’s apartment and legal affairs, with Bill as a passenger. Eric finds her in the hospital after she is attacked by Jake Purifoy and, when Bill enters as well, forces him to tell Sookie that he was sent by Sophie-Anne to gain her confidence. Because Sookie and he have had each other’s blood, Eric is called upon to track her after she and Quinn are kidnapped. When the melee breaks out at Sophie-Anne’s spring party, Eric slays the Arkansas vampire who decapitated Wybert.
    As planned, Eric, Bill, and Sookie all travel to the summit as part of the queen’s entourage. The King of Mississippi and the King of Indiana conclude their marriage contracts and decide to marry at the summit, but the priest doesn’t show up for the wedding. Ordained online by the Church of the Loving Spirit, Eric steps in as priest and performs the ceremony, keeping the ceremonial knife and cloak afterward. When Andre decides to force Sookie into a blood bond to tie her closer to the Louisiana vamps, Eric steps in again and offers himself in Andre’s stead, using the ceremonial knife to cut himself for Sookie. Eric and Pam are saved by Sookie during the bombing of the hotel and return to Shreveport to recover.
    After calling in all his vampires, Eric himself is cut off from Fangtasia when the Nevada vamps arrive to take over Louisiana. He makes his way to Sookie’s house but has been tracked by Victor Madden and his crew. Victor makes an offer of surrender to Eric and Bill, informing them that he has Fangtasia surrounded and ready to burn. The vampires accept his terms, and Eric becomes the only sheriff from the old regime to survive the takeover. Fearful that King Felipe de Castro will force Sookie to work for him, taking her from her home, Eric sends her a wrapped bundle containing the ceremonial knife from the summit with instructions to present it to him in front of Victor. The formal presentation and acceptance signify a vampire marriage, making Sookie off-limits to other vamps. They eventually begin a romantic relationship, and though Sookie does not truly acknowledge the marriage, as it is not legal in human terms, Eric considers her his wife in every way that matters to him.
    When Eric’s maker, Appius Livius Ocella, arrives with another child in tow, Eric takes them in. Ocella hopes that Eric’s presence will calm the child, Alexei Romanov, whom he saved from execution by Bolsheviks, but Alexei is a drain on Ocella and Eric and, through their blood bond, on Sookie as well. Alexei becomes uncontrollable, killing Bobby and Felicia at Eric’s house and badly injuring both Eric and Pam. He is finally stopped by silver chains in Sookie’s front yard, and Eric stakes his brother with a tree branch. Ocella is killed by a crazed fae intent on killing Sookie, and Eric mourns his maker even as he rejoices in his freedom.
    His freedom is short-lived, as he soon receives word that Ocella arranged a marriage for him to Freyda, the vampire Queen of Oklahoma. He tries to extricate himself from the contract, even as he struggles under Victor Madden’s rule as Regent of Louisiana. Fangtasia is facing stiff competition from Victor’s new club, Vampire’s Kiss, and Victor himself is causing pain for Eric’s child Pam, denying her permission to turn her seriously ill lover. Eric includes Sookie in planning Victor’s demise but tries to hide his seemingly unavoidable nuptials to Freyda, finally admitting to the contract after pointed prodding from Pam. He tells Sookie that he will have to dissolve their vampire marriage. Unable to convince her of the need to honor his maker’s wishes, Eric concentrates his efforts on the assassination of Victor, persuading Bubba to sing at Fangtasia after hours to lure Victor to the club. The event goes fairly smoothly and culminates in the death of Victor at the hands of a vengeful Pam, while Eric kills Victor’s powerful second, Akiro. Eric becomes angry and frustrated with Sookie for what he perceives as her hypocrisy in not rejoicing over the death of Victor (when she knew it was necessary and even participated in both the planning and the deed), and without regard for her comfort, he takes the blood she offers to help him heal from his battle wounds. He lets Bill take Sookie home as