ERIC: “I have another, more important matter to attend to.”

BILL: “And that would be?”

ERIC: “The maenad was not satisfied with our tribute. While you are in Dallas negotiating with the shifters, I will be in the woods of Bon Temps negotiating with her.”

BILL: “Your tribute was substandard?”

ERIC: “Our tribute was a perfectly acceptable bull, a magnificent specimen, and I didn’t hear you making any better suggestions. She is just being difficult, as usual. I can only be grateful that she has remained in Bon Temps for whatever reason. There’s been no sign of her in Shreveport, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

BILL: “I’ll fly to Dallas this evening.”

ERIC: “I may ask Sookie to join me as a sign of good faith that I understood the importance of Callisto’s message to me.”

BILL: “I would prefer you didn’t.”

ERIC: “Ah, but nonetheless, I still may.”

BILL: “Eric, once again, I remind you that she is mine.”

ERIC: “For now.”

BILL: “And you will do nothing to change that.”

ERIC: “For now.”

BILL: “Eric, even you cannot so flout the rules.”

ERIC: “Of course not, Bill. I accept that Sookie is yours, by her own choice. But should she ever indicate that she is no longer interested in that status . . .”

BILL: “That won’t happen.”

ERIC: “But if it should?”

BILL: “Then you would be within the rules to pursue her yourself.”

ERIC: “Exactly.”

BILL: “But you agree that you will not make overtures?”

ERIC: “I agree.”

Club Dead

Club Dead

Timeline

As this book was written prior to Definitely Dead and the inclusion of Hurricane Katrina into the series story line, which established a definite time frame for the events of the series, the events in Club Dead do not correspond with the actual full moon.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2004. Sookie goes to Bill’s house after work and is devastated that Bill has become so consumed with work that he rebuffs her attempts at intimacy. He tells her he is leaving for Seattle soon and that he has been working on a secret project for Sophie-Anne Leclerq, the vampire Queen of Louisiana. He also tells her that he is planning to hide his computer equipment in the hidey-hole in her closet while he is gone. If anything happens to him before he brings the computer, Bill asks Sookie to go to his house during the day and get it. Sookie is even more disturbed when she realizes he is lying to her about where he is going.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2. Sookie deliberately drives by Belle Rive, the Bellefleur home, and sees the work being done courtesy of the mysterious legacy left them by a relative who had “died mysteriously over in Europe somewhere.” She knows that the legacy actually came from Bill, whom the Bellefleurs despise, and Sookie tries not to be bitter though she herself struggles with money problems.