In book 7 of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, All Together Dead, Quinn, the Were-tiger and owner of the supernatural-event part of Extreme(ly Elegant) Events, and Sookie become an official couple, even though he travels a lot for his job. However, Quinn has been hired to handle the ceremonies at the national vampire summit which Sookie is attending as an employee of the vampire Queen of Louisiana, Sophie-Anne Leclerq. Sophie-Anne is being sued for her husband's, the King of Arkansas, death at their wedding celebration by his second in command, Jennifer Cater, and the trial will be held at the summit. Sophie-Anne is hoping to be cleared and to gain the financial holdings of the state of Arkansas if she is found innocent and granted ownership. In post-Katrina Louisiana, Sophie-Anne lost a lot of her status and her clout. She needs all the support, financially and politically, she can get to get back on top. Sookie is going to use her mind-reading skills to uncover who is or isn't on the Queen's side in the vampire world to help Sophie-Anne convince the fence-sitters to support her. Though Sookie can't read vampire minds, there will be enough human companions and employees for her to get a pretty good idea of what their vampire bosses think. Plus, Sookie is the only witness to the death of the King of Arkansas, and she'll have to testify.
Before she heads out on the plane to Rhodes, Claudine, her fairy-godmother, Sookie's friend, Tara, and Sam, Sookie's boss tell her it's a bad idea and try to convince her to stay. She's getting in too deep with the vampires. She won't have a lot of protection or any real friends there. They all have bad feelings about it. After finishing the novel, we'll realize that either choice was going to end badly.
Sookie does end up going to Rhodes to the vampire summit. It isn't clear, and that is likely intentional, what Sookie's real reasons are for attending other than the fact that her life is exciting now, and she isn't thought of as a freak by the supernatural community. She fits in better in that world. So she goes.
The hotel is specially made to host vampires, with blacked out windows, security guards, and coffin platforms instead of beds on the vampire floors. On the human floor, there is a cafeteria, the rooms are normal, and you get to see sunlight. Sookie meets up again with Barry the Bellboy from Dallas and from Living Dead in Dallas, book 2 of the series. He is also a telepath and attending the summit with the Texas vampires to read minds in case it's needed. Bill, Eric, Andre, the Queen's second in command, her Anglo-Saxon (literally, from that era) body guard Siegbert, Jake Purifoy, Were-turned-vampire, Mr. Cataliades, and his niece, Diantha are in the Queen's entourage with Sookie. Sookie still hates Bill for deceiving her, has mixed feelings for Eric since he offered to give everything up for her while he suffered memory loss, likes the demons, and is pretty scared of the Queen's men.
When Jennifer Cater is found by the Louisiana group murdered in her hotel room , things look even more dicey. While the in-house security team starts investigating, Sookie and the party head to the main ball room of the hotel which has now been converted to a convention hall. Booths are set up selling vampiric items like replacement fangs, coffins, etc. Even Bill has a booth to sell his vampire directory software. Not that Sookie noticed or cared.
There Sookie has a run-in with a pretty rude girl that she doesn't like on the spot. Turns out to be Quinn's sister. Great. Sookie also talks with Jake Purifoy who used to work for Quinn, before becoming a vamp and being shunned from the Were-side of the supernatural community. Jake tells Sookie about Quinn's past. Quinn and his mom are both were-tigers. One night during a full moon, she was captured by hunters trying to trap bears for fighting. Quinn's mom changed back to her human form and was raped. Quinn finds the group and sees the man raping his mom, morphs out, and kills the whole bunch. Good riddance. However, he needs it cleaned up, so he turned to the vampires who said they would bury the evidence in exchange for Quinn fighting in the underground circuit. Shapeshifter and were-animal fights to the death. He did it for years before paying off his debt and joining E(E)E. By then, he had enough money take care of his sister, Frannie, the result of Quinn's mom's rape. Sookie is shocked by this news, and a little mad that Quinn didn't tell her himself. But mostly, she just feels sorry that he had to go through that, and a little proud that he survived it.
Andre, in an effort to have more control over Sookie, tries to get her to drink his blood. The idea, of drinking vampire blood (that has illegal drug effects) and of being under control of the ruthless Andre, disgusts Sookie and she tries to fight him off. Of course, she can't, but Eric comes to her rescue. Instead of Andre's blood, Sookie will drink Eric's. It's the lesser of two evils and there's no way Sookie can get out of it. When she drinks his blood for this the third time, Eric and Sookie become bonded. They can sense each other's feelings, and being near each other brings on feelings of happiness, comfort, and safety. Sookie isn't too happy about it. It gets worse when Quinn busts in right after the exchange. He's none too happy about his girlfriend drinking vampire blood. Sookie feels backed into a corner, like she has no control over her own life, and powerless. She regrets coming to the summit, especially despite the urgings not to go. Now she's really not having a good time at the summit.
But then it's the night of the trial. The Ancient Pythoness, the original oracle that Alexander the Great consulted, is the judge. The one survivor of the Arkansas vampires group is still bringing a case against Sophie-Anne. Sookie uses her talents to uncover why this last man wants to sue the Queen, and convinces him to drop it. Before he can reveal who gave him false information to continue his suit, he is murdered by an assassin. In any case, Sophie-Anne is found innocent, and given Arkansas as her second state to rule over.
Barry Bellboy and Sookie notice the hotel staff acting unusual. They avoid the mind-readers, keep to themselves, and generally look like they're all up to no good. They're keeping their thoughts guarded, and it takes almost too long for Barry and Sookie to uncover SPOILER ALERT a plot to blow up the hotel and kill all the vampires and their human consorts. Sookie manages to get Eric and Pam to safety before the building collapses. The Queen is very badly injured, losing both her legs. Many people and vampires did not leave the hotel. Since it's daylight when the bomb goes off, there is also the threat of the sun killing the vampires that didn't die in the explosion. Sookie sees vampires burning to death and their bodies flaking away in ash pieces. She sees human bodies strewn around the grounds, some in worse shape than the burned vampires. Her horror and shock almost overtakes her, but she and Barry team up with a rescue crew to find other people still inside. They can find the brain signatures and lead the workers to the victims. She discovers Quinn and Andre in a half-fallen hallway. Quinn is hurt badly, but seems likely to survive. Andre is also hurt badly, and SPOILER ALERT he would have survived too if Quinn hadn't staked him while he has lying defenseless on the ground. Sookie knows Quinn killed Andre for her, and can't bring herself to care too much for the loss of Andre's life.
Barry and Sookie tire out hours later and decide to sneak away from the wreckage instead of registering with the other survivors. They know that now that the officials know people have these types of powers, Barry and Sookie would be used in all sorts of situations for the government. To Sookie, that's no different than being controlled by the vampires. She's had enough. She has seen so many horrifying things that day that she is spent. She just wants to go back home to Bon Temps to her simple waitressing job and her friends. Sookie doesn't want anything to do with the vampires anymore, though as you'll see in the coming books, that's just not possible. Before she heads home, she checks on Quinn at the hospital. Frannie is there and they talk a bit. If not friendly chatter, then definitely not rudeness or confrontation. Things are looking good on that front. Except of course for Quinn. But he'll heal. And being a shifter, he'll heal pretty darn fast.
Sookie goes back to her life in Bon Temps and tries to forget the things she witnessed and lived through. But it is clear that those images and experiences have changed our Sookie. She is very introspective at the novel's close. Her thoughts are muddled and confused. Between guilt, relief sadness, and a sense of freedom, it's clear that Sookie doesn't quite know how to feel about the conclusion of events. That confusion only makes Sookie that much more appealing and sympathetic to readers. She is a real and complete character. Every emotional thought Sookie has is so incredibly natural and human. It is impossible not to be completely absorbed by her and crave more. Harris hits all the right notes, and paints a beautifully tragic picture of the hotel bombing and Sookie's ironing out of her thoughts about who is to blame and why she was there in the first place. As always, it is a rewarding read.
Next up, book 8: From Dead to Worse. Lots of changes take place in the supernatural community in the next installment. Things that can change Sookie's relationships forever.
