When she arrives, she finds Jason and Mel sighting Jason’s rifle behind his house. She begins to question Mel, and when her brother realizes what the questions mean, he holds Mel as she examines his thoughts. Sookie tells her horrified brother that his friend killed Crystal, just as Calvin arrives with two of Crystal’s other relatives. Mel confesses that he is gay and in love with Jason and that he hated Crystal for her treatment of him. Crystal knew of Mel’s love for Jason, taunting him when she saw him alone at Jason’s house one day, and he struck her down in anger. Mel tells them that he did not crucify her but left the body in the back of his truck, from where it was stolen. Sookie leaves as the werepanthers administer their justice.

Sookie manages to get through her shift at the bar, but she remembers on the drive home that she promised to meet Amelia at Tray’s house to check on him. When she arrives, she is alarmed when no one answers the door and there is no sign of her roommate. Fearing the worst, she calls Bill to come and check the house for her. As she waits outside, she is relieved when Amelia calls to tell her that she was unable to get an answer at Tray’s, so she went home. Bill returns from the house with the unwelcome news that there has obviously been a fight and that Tray is gone. Frightened and worried that the fairies have done something to Bubba as well, Sookie heads home in her car with Bill following. As she walks to her door, Sookie is abducted.

Sookie awakens in what appears to be an abandoned house, a captive of two fairies, Lochlan and his sister Neave. She learns that they are the ones who crucified Crystal and that Breandan has given them permission to do what they want with Sookie, short of killing her. As the two gleefully torture her, Sookie soon realizes that they will not be able to control themselves and simply waits for death. Barely conscious, she believes she is hallucinating when she sees Bill and Niall stealing up behind her tormentors. She manages a smile as Niall beheads Lochlan and Bill tears out Neave’s throat. Finally, Sookie succumbs to the unbearable pain and slips into darkness.