SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2005. Sookie finishes working the Merlotte’s New Year’s Eve party at three a.m. and heads home. Stunned to see a nearly naked Eric running down the road to her house, she stops to ask what he is doing and realizes he doesn’t know her or his own identity. She gets Eric to come with her, calls Fangtasia when they get to her house, and finds that the vampires are under some kind of attack. Sookie reluctantly agrees to keep Eric until Pam can come for him. Jason comes to visit that evening and meets Eric. Afraid to leave Eric alone, Sookie asks Jason to buy clothes and synthetic blood for the vampire. Pam and Chow arrive and explain that the leader of a group of witches wants to take over Eric and his businesses. The witches had sent a representative to Fangtasia the night before with an offer: If Eric would spend seven nights with the coven leader, they would only demand one-fifth of his business. Eric refused, and Chow attacked the representative, causing a spell to activate that left Eric on Sookie’s road several hours later with amnesia. Jason returns from shopping with the news that the witches have posters all over town offering a fifty-thousand-dollar reward for information on Eric’s whereabouts. The vampires reason that the witches don’t know about Sookie, so Eric should be safe with her. Jason negotiates a deal, and a surprised Sookie finds herself responsible for Eric.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 2. Sookie is disturbed the next day when Jason’s boss, Catfish Hennessy, calls and tells her Jason didn’t show up for work. Sookie reports his disappearance to the police, but they discount it based on his reputation. Going to Jason’s home, she discovers Alcee Beck, a police detective, searching the area. A blood smear, later determined to be a panther print, is found on Jason’s deck. After leaving Jason’s house, Sookie pulls over on the side of the road to try to gather her thoughts. While she is sitting there, Tara Thornton pulls up behind her. Claudine Crane, who is helping Tara at her store, Tara’s Togs, is also in the car. Sookie tells Tara that Jason is missing and asks if there are any witches in the area. Sookie is surprised when Tara tells her that her fellow waitress at Merlotte’s, Holly Cleary, is Wiccan.

Sookie visits Holly at the Kingfisher Arms Apartments and learns that a group of Were witches, who use vampire blood, are trying to gain control of the witches in the area and that they have threatened Holly and her son.