SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2004. Sookie Stackhouse, telepath, is working the evening shift at Merlotte’s bar when a vampire comes in to order a drink. Although vampires have been “out of the coffin” for two years, Bill Compton is the first one to come to her little town of Bon Temps, and she is delighted by the new experience. Local lowlifes Mack and Denise Rattray soon move to Bill’s table, where Denise flirts with the vampire. Worried by their avid interest in Bill, Sookie “listens” and finds, to her horror, that the Rattrays have been in jail for draining vampires, a practice that involves forcibly restraining a vampire (a feat unto itself), draining its blood to sell on the black market, and leaving the vampire to die in the rising sun. When Bill leaves with the Rattrays, Sookie dithers but finally follows them to the parking lot, only to find Bill wrapped in silver chains with Denise crouched over him holding a Vacutainer and with several vials of blood already beside her. Grabbing a heavy chain from her brother Jason’s truck, Sookie manages to drive off the Drainers. She unwraps Bill, pulling him out of the way when the Rattrays attempt to run them down on the way out of the parking lot. Sookie is stunned to realize that she cannot “hear” Bill. The vampire, who is being less than gracious after being rescued by a human woman, asks if she wants the blood already taken by the Drainers, suggesting that she sell it when she assures him she does not need its medicinal properties. She is insulted but begins to laugh upon finding out that his name is the very mundane Bill, and she cheerfully leaves him. She shares the encounter with her grandmother, Adele, when she gets home from work.

SUNDAY, JUNE 13. Jason arrives at the Stackhouse home, upset after hearing that Sookie beat up the Rattrays the previous night. Sookie explains what really happened. Jason then tells Sookie and Adele that Maudette Pickens, a former classmate of Sookie’s, was found dead in her apartment that morning and that she had several vampire bites on her thighs, although that wasn’t the cause of her death. On the subject of vampires, Adele wonders how old Bill is and if he remembers the Civil War, hoping that he will speak to the Descendants of the Glorious Dead. Sookie promises to ask him.

When Sookie arrives at Merlotte’s for her shift that afternoon, Sam pulls her into the storeroom and berates her for taking on the Rattrays in the parking lot. She is close to tears but finally realizes that Sam was frightened for her. After touching him, she also perceives that her boss has feelings for her that she did not expect.

MONDAY, JUNE 14. Sookie is relieved that she and Sam are able to return to their comfortable relationship.