Eric is intrigued when Bill Compton brings Sookie to Fangtasia in her search for clues about murders happening in her hometown of Bon Temps, and his interest is further piqued when Sookie reads the mind of an undercover cop in the bar and is able to alert Bill to an imminent police raid. The two signal Eric and bartender Long Shadow on their way out, and Sookie must admit that she is a telepath when Eric questions how she knew. When he discovers that someone is embezzling from the bar, he orders Bill to bring her back to Fangtasia to read his employees’ minds. When she worries that she could be sentencing a human to death by identifying him, Eric agrees to turn the thief over to the police if she will make herself available for further use. Although she cannot read vampire minds, Sookie does get the image of the embezzler from one of the waitresses and names Long Shadow. Eric is forced to stake his bartender when Long Shadow attacks Sookie. Even though the circumstances made it impossible to turn Long Shadow over to the police as promised, Eric holds Sookie to her end of the bargain.

A maenad passing through the area uses Sookie’s back as a billboard to tell Eric that she expects tribute. Eric arranges for a supernatural doctor to attend to Sookie’s wounds and provide a transfusion, joining Pam, Bill, and new bartender Chow in draining Sookie of most of her poisoned blood. After her recovery, he sends her to Dallas to help locate the missing nest mate of vampire sheriff Stan Davis. Although the deal calls for only Sookie and Bill, Eric decides to go in undercover as a visiting California vampire named Leif. When the Fellowship of the Sun attacks Stan’s house as the vampires are celebrating Farrell’s safe return, Eric takes a bullet while covering Sookie. He uses the situation to his advantage by telling Sookie she must suck out the bullet, even though he knows it will pop out on its own. By getting his blood in her, even a drop, he will have insight into her feelings.

Eric accepts Sookie’s invitation to an orgy but is taken aback when she requests that he pretend to be gay. Their attendance is, of course, a ploy to gain information on the murder of Lafayette Reynold, Sookie’s friend and co-worker at Merlotte’s. Eric shows up at Sookie’s house on time, resplendent in pink and aqua Lycra, and promises to keep her safe. Sookie does discover the killers through their thoughts and Eric gets her out of the immediate situation, but unfortunately for everyone involved, the maenad, Callisto, attends the orgy as well, attracted by the alcohol and debauchery. She sends her madness into the participants, sparing only Sookie, Tara, Eggs, Eric, and a newly arrived Bill, and the vampires clean up the mess afterward.