The Sookie Stackhouse Companion

about why Alcide can’t use his own land as usual. He tells her that fishermen who claim that his late father allowed them to camp on the land are staying there. Both Alcide and Sookie are a bit uneasy at the sudden arrival of strangers on the Herveaux land so close to the full moon. When she gets to work, Sookie tells Sam about Alcide’s call and suggests that he join the Weres for the evening. Sam casually mentions that he is dating someone from the pack and that while it might be fun, since he could shift into a wolf if he chose, he ultimately feels that it wouldn’t be right. He confirms that Sookie will still attend his brother’s wedding with him when it is rescheduled, admitting that he doesn’t think that he should take a shifter to the event.
    THURSDAY, APRIL 13. The Weres arrive for their run, and Sookie meets Alcide’s new girlfriend, Annabelle Bannister, and his new second, Basim al Saud. She recognizes Alcide’s friend Hamilton Bond as well as the slender young woman she met at the Hair of the Dog and two women from Priscilla Hebert’s pack who surrendered to Alcide after the Were war. Sookie settles into her home for the evening with the doors locked and curtains drawn as the pack leaves for the hunt.
    FRIDAY, APRIL 14. Basim comes to the door as the Weres are leaving to report to her that they have discovered signs of a vampire and at least one fairy on her land as well as a buried body. Sookie immediately realizes that the body must be that of Debbie Pelt and thanks him, considering the implications as the last of the Weres drive away.
    Hearing a knock at the back door, Sookie is surprised to find Claude standing on her doorstep, a large tote bag in hand. He confesses that he is lonely in the house he once shared with his sisters and asks if he can stay with her for a while. He feels as if he is starving without the company of his own kind, and Sookie has enough fae blood to help him. Claude also delivers a letter from her great-grandfather, Niall Brigant, written on the skin of the water sprites that murdered her parents. The letter informs her that before leaving the human realm, Niall used profits from the sale of his pharmaceutical company to ensure that the FBI would no longer bother her. Niall’s letter also states that Claudine had left Sookie all the money in her personal bank accounts and that Mr. Cataliades, who is handling the estate, will be sending Sookie a check. She calls Amelia to see if she plans to return to Bon Temps, and when her friend tells her she must stay in New Orleans, Sookie tells Claude he can have the room upstairs. She asks Claude if he had been in her woods recently, and when he denies visiting, she tells him of the scent of fairy that the Weres reported. After asking him why the news doesn’t make him want to rush out to find whomever of his kind has remained on this side, Claude tells her that he fears it is her great-uncle Dermot and that Dermot would not be happy to see him. Sookie comes to the conclusion that Claude is realizing that he needs others, especially family, after the loss of both his sisters.
    At work at Merlotte’s, Sookie is thrilled when Holly shows off her new ring and announces her engagement to Hoyt Fortenberry. Sookie continues thinking about matrimony, and Tara, her pregnancy showing, comes in to satisfy one of her cravings. Sookie later decides that since Eric is her boyfriend—she is resolutely determined not to use the word “spouse”—she will seek his advice about the events of late.
    Eric sends Pam to pick up Sookie after Merlotte’s closes, and Pam immediately scents fairy in Sookie’s house. Sookie explains that Claude has come to stay with her, but Pam doesn’t buy Claude’s loneliness and offends Sookie by telling her that she is foolish to be taken in by the fairy. They discuss Victor Madden on the drive to Shreveport, a discussion that continues at Eric’s house. Sookie informs them that the Weres used her land and tells Eric that not only is there an unidentified fairy but there is a body buried on her property. Eric asks Pam to leave and then verifies that the body is Debbie’s. They enjoy some passionate sex before Sookie leaves. As Pam is driving Sookie home, Pam reminds Sookie that she didn’t tell Eric that Claude is living with her. She also expresses her reservations about Sookie and Eric’s relationship, telling Sookie that in his position in Felipe’s new regime, Eric cannot afford to be distracted