As night falls, Eric and his employees tell Sookie that Bill had actually been in Mississippi, where his former lover and maker Lorena had summoned him.

He also states that the vampire queen of Louisiana will need to receive Bill's secret project on its due date, if Eric wishes not to compromise his life.

In this club, Sookie learns by telepathy that Bill is being held captive and that Russell Edgington is possibly involved.

She meets Edgington when he aids her after a confrontation with a were patron angered at Sookie rebuffing his sexual advances.

Sookie shares an intimate moment with Eric, but Bubba informs them Bill is being tortured in one of Edgington's poolhouses.

When Bill, deprived of blood and sleep for a week, wakes up, he attacks and feeds on Sookie and rapes her in the trunk.

The novel ends with Sookie realizing Bill's special project is inside her house, and no vampire will be physically able to retrieve it.