TUESDAY, JANUARY 17. Amelia tells Sookie of a hot new guy named Drake who has been asking her and Tray about Sookie, but Sookie passes on the opportunity to meet him. Remy Savoy calls with a request for Sookie’s help with Hunter, who will be starting kindergarten soon, but she has to put him off. Because of the threat of the fairies, she is unwilling to possibly jeopardize the little boy or his father. She promises to contact him when things have settled down, hoping that she survives whatever it is that is coming. While Amelia gets ready for a date with Tray, she again mentions Drake and his desire to meet Sookie. When Amelia says that the man looks a lot like Jason, a panicked Sookie warns her friend to stay away from him. Sookie calls Eric to ask for the protection of the vampires, and he tells her he will present her request to Victor, who is there at Fangtasia. Once at work, Sookie struggles to function normally while trying to listen for information about Crystal’s murder, but Sookie hears little but the usual mundane thoughts of the people surrounding her. She gets one text message from Eric, assuring her that the protection she requested is coming, and another from Alcide, who has learned of her problems from Tray and offers pack protection as well. Before leaving Merlotte’s, Sookie fills two water pistols with pure lemon juice as a defense against the fairies.

She finds Bubba waiting beside her car in the parking lot as the protection promised by Eric, and when she arrives home, Tray is at her house as the protection from the Weres.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18. Sookie awakens to hear Tray being desperately ill. He tells her of meeting a woman in the woods who compelled him to drink poisoned vampire blood. A worried Sookie sends him home, promising to contact Jason to guard her. Niall appears in her living room, looking as if he has been in a battle, to let her know that Breandan has retaliated for the death of his follower. Niall warns her to be even more careful. Sookie calls Jason to come protect her and is horrified to hear that he has had a visit from Dermot, who attacked Jason’s friend Mel. Mel accompanies Jason but briefly leaves to get an ice bag for his injured shoulder, and Sookie tells Jason of their family fairy connection, warning him of the danger they face from Dermot. Jason tells Sookie that he wants to go home for his rifle and that she should come pick him up there so he can be with her for the day, and he and Mel leave. As she drives to her brother’s house, she begins to think of some things she has learned and starts to suspect that she knows who killed Crystal, so she calls Calvin.