MONDAY, OCTOBER 25. Sookie sleeps through the day, and Bill wakes her when he rises. He finds a foil-wrapped chocolate cake on her front porch, a gift from Andy and Portia’s grandmother, who has left a message thanking Sookie for helping Andy. When Bill hears that she is named Caroline Holliday Bellefleur, he asks Sookie to get his family Bible from his house, and they look over his family tree together, realizing that Caroline is Bill’s great-granddaughter. After more than a century of hating the Bellefleurs for their ancestor’s responsibility for the death of one of his friends during the Civil War, Bill decides to secretly assist his struggling descendants financially and shares a warm moment with Sookie.

The Secret Dialogues of Bill and Eric

TO: WILLIAM COMPTON,
AREA FIVE INVESTIGATOR

INVESTIGATOR COMPTON,

YOU ARE SUMMONED TO A MEETING WITH ME AT FANGTASIA TOMORROW NIGHT.

ERIC NORTHMAN

SHERIFF OF AREA FIVE

In person at the meeting:

BILL: “Why am I here, Eric?”

ERIC: “Area Six in Texas has need of your services.”

BILL: “For what purpose?”

ERIC: “A vampire is missing, a nest mate of the Area Six sheriff. You and Sookie will help locate him.”

BILL: “Sookie?”

ERIC: “Yes, per our agreement, Sookie will assist us.”

BILL: “I believe her agreement was that she would assist you.”

ERIC: “And so she shall. It will be of assistance to me to have the sheriff of Area Six in my debt. You will bring Sookie here tomorrow night, and I will inform her of the assignment.”

Phone: Bill calling Eric after Sookie’s escape from the Fellowship of the Sun.

BILL: “Eric, we have raided the Fellowship. Sookie has gone but there is a dead man with her scent. I believe she had help escaping. We came upon a car accident. Sookie and a shifter were in the car and they were taken to the hospital, but Sookie’s name disappeared from their computers even as I asked about her.”

ERIC: “I’ll go outside and check for her. Perhaps she is unwilling to enter by herself.”

BILL: “Or unable.”

ERIC: “She is strong, Bill. She will be found.”

Phone: Eric calling Bill later that same evening.

ERIC: “Bill, she is here. Some shapeshifters brought her in.”

BILL: “How is she? Is she badly injured?”

ERIC: “Battered but walking.”

BILL: “Can she get into our room? I will be right there.”

ERIC: “Bill, I’ll take her up and start doctoring.”

BILL: “Don’t try anything, Eric. She is mine.”

ERIC: “Bill.”

BILL: “I mean it, Eric. This is not the time for your games. I will be there shortly.”

ERIC: “All right then. Good-bye.”

Phone: Eric calling Bill.

ERIC: “Bill, the shifters in Dallas have contacted Stan about compensation for their aid. He feels their demands are too much, and I agree. I need you to go back to Dallas and parley with them.”

BILL: “You made the original deal with them, Eric. Surely this is your responsibility.”