The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

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