After Dead

by Charlaine Harris

  PALOMINO became a famous model due to her unusual coloring and her fabulous flexibility. When she grew tired of that, she returned to Louisiana during the reign of Bill Compton and handled the complaint department for his video game business.

  PRESTON PARDLOE (his true fae name was Conor) was favored by Niall for many years. He is still well-known for his talent at gift giving.

  DELL and JANICE HERVEAUX PHILLIPS were divorced three years after Dell dissed Sookie in Jackson. Janice married a really nice barber named Corky, and they had a wonderful time after they opened a huge salon together.

  JOE PORTUGAL, the two-natured airman who died in the Witch Wars, attained status as a legend among young werewolves worldwide, possibly because of a photograph of him looking incredibly handsome and tough in the cockpit of an airplane.

  LORINDA PRESCOTT continued to decorate her family home for every possible holiday, and she was featured in the Homes and Gardens section of the Bon Temps paper nearly every year.

  DANNY PRIDEAUX was devastated after his breakup with Kennedy Keyes, but he managed to console himself with Hotshot’s Terry Norris. After she’d had the obligatory two children with two different male panthers, she cleaved only to Danny. She makes him leave Hotshot every full moon when the panthers hunt together.

  Wright ranch owner TRISH GRAHAM PULASKI, longtime lover of Togo Olympio, left all her property to the cause of abandoned animals. The SPCA in Wright was able to build a completely new facility, a no-kill shelter.

  SELAH PUMPHREY was very successful with her real estate career in Little Rock, but she never forgot Bill or forgave him for not loving her. She had a rather unhappy life.

  JAKE PURIFOY did not survive the bombing of the Pyramid of Gizeh in Rhodes.

  Quinn’s sister, FRANNIE QUINN, found her true love while she was waitressing, and they got married and stayed that way. She was relieved when her mother died and was glad to see her brother when he came to visit. She was just as glad to see him leave.

  JOHN QUINN had many more adventures.

  RASUL was recalled from his spying job in Michigan by Felipe when he finally remembered where Victor had sent Rasul. By that time, Rasul was reluctant to leave, so Felipe swapped him for one of the Michigan vampires.

  SHERIFF PAM RAVENSCROFT continues to be a successful manager for Fangtasia and instituted such popular promotions as Wet Jock Night, Ladies Free Night, and Kiss a Vampire Night. The bar rakes in money, and Pam got a big raise from Felipe, which enabled her to have the kind of dream wedding with Heidi that she was sure Heidi wanted. They both wore white dresses. Pam remained fond of Sookie and visited her every so often . . . always by surprise.

  When Felipe sold off Arkansas, his regent there, RED RITA, bought it. Red Rita saw potential in the state that no one else had recognized, and she’s working hard to turn Arkansas into a destination state for vampire vacations. It is uphill work, but she’s making progress.

  SALOME’s episode on the History Channel, part of the series Undead History: Vampires Recall, was the highest-rated hour of the season. She told her side of the story about the Dance of the Seven Veils, and to everyone’s delight, she performed it. She had a great time. She even reenacted a minion bringing her the head of John the Baptist. When Sookie watched the episode, she thought the head looked a lot like that of the vampire Mickey.

  ERIN and REMY SAVOY had one more child, a girl, Hope, after they married. When the economic climate improved, the family moved to Shreveport, where Erin worked for Home Depot and Remy as a carpenter for a home builder. As Remy reached fifty, he developed rheumatoid arthritis and gradually became unable to work. Erin was a little bitter at having to support the family, but their church was a big help, and she gradually became reconciled to his condition. Walking became difficult for Remy, and he was in a lot of pain. It was almost a relief when he caught pneumonia and passed away two days later. Erin remarried within eighteen months and had a happy second marriage.

  HUNTER SAVOY was delighted when his dad married Erin, who didn’t always understand him but always loved him. Hunter had a very hard time during his teen years, but he was lucky enough to have his “aunt” Sookie to visit with, and his cousins to play with, two of whom absolutely understood him. Hunter went into the military, and when his talents were discovered (despite his best efforts), he was added to an intelligence unit as an interrogator. His tremendous accuracy without any brutality made him one of the army’s best-kept secrets, and he was loaned to the UK for some special questioning sessions. When he retired from the military after he’d served ten years, he had all kinds of medals and commendations, none of which he ever showed anyone. He had many adventures after that.

  MICHELE SCHUBERT was happy with Jason because she knew his limitations and demanded just enough of him. She was as loyal to him as he was to her, and she was a firm mother and an indulgent grandmother.

  TV host and vampire TODD SEABROOK was totally freaked out after his throat was torn out on national television. He never recovered from that episode, sure he looked weak in the eyes of American vampires after the incident. He stuck with The Best Dressed Vamp for the rest of the season, but then he retired to live by himself in a mountain valley in Colorado, where he feeds on sheep and whatever other game he can hunt.

  DELIA SHURTLIFF continued to run contractor RANDALL SHURTLIFF’s life until they both went into an assisted-living center. The only person who seemed to mind was his first wife, Mary Helen, who continued to plague them until her three children put her into a different nursing home, miles away.

  EVERETT O’DELL SMITH graduated from Tulane, and with a high recommendation from Mr. Cataliades, he was hired at a prestigious investment firm in New Orleans. Everett worked his way up through the ranks, slowly but steadily, finally achieving a partnership. He married late and wisely and had one daughter who could afford to work for a nonprofit charity to aid high-achieving kids from low-income families.

  DR. SONNTAG married her diving instructor after a scuba vacation in Florida.

  JASON STACKHOUSE had a surprisingly good marriage. To everyone’s amazement except Michele’s, he never cheated on her. Michele stayed on at her ex-father-in-law’s car dealership until she retired, though the dealership had long since passed into other hands. Jason kept his job with the parish. After miscarrying once, Michele bore two children, Marie and Corbett. Marie was sweet natured and telepathic (that damn essential spark), but not too bright, and the combination led to Marie’s having many problems in school, though she inherited the Stackhouse good looks. Corbett, a year younger, spent a lot of his school years defending his sister. When she graduated from high school and started working at a dog food factory, it was a big relief for Corbett, who got a football scholarship to go to college. Sadly, bitten werepanther Jason suddenly collapsed and died while he was in his parish truck supervising a work crew, at age fifty-five. Michele said being married twice was enough for her, and she never tried it again. Marie had a baby out of wedlock who was two years old when Marie married Jason Fortenberry, who was no rocket scientist himself. Corbett hit the marriage jackpot with the daughter of a very rich lawyer. Corbett became a private investigator working almost exclusively for his father-in-law’s firm, though he did some divorce work to pay the bills.

  SOOKIE STACKHOUSE married Sam in December, but a year later than Sookie had imagined. They really did take their time, and by their wedding day they were as sure as any two people could be that they were suited to each other. The entire Merlotte family attended the wedding, and of course so did Jason and Michele, Remy and Erin and Hunter, Alcide Herveaux, Mustapha Khan and Warren, Hoyt and Holly, and many other friends from Bon Temps and Wright. Though Sam had attended the fundamentalist church in Clarice for a few months, they opted for Sookie’s Methodist church for the wedding and attended it thereafter, though not every Sunday. They discussed having the wedding at night so their vampire acquaintances could attend, but instead chose to have it in the day. (Pam threw them a party at Fangtasia on a nigh
t soon afterward. Weirdly, it was Thalia’s idea.)

  Sookie wore white because it was traditional and she looked good in white, what with her tan and all. Sam wore a suit. Sam’s brother, Craig, was his best man, and Tara was Sookie’s matron of honor.

  Sookie was startled to get a wedding gift from Eric, a very expensive and very impersonal silver flatware setting for twelve in a simple and elegant design. It took her an hour to write a thank-you note. Pam delivered the gift, at the same time requesting that Sookie wear her wedding dress to the vampire reception at Fangtasia. Heidi took several photographs at the reception, and Sookie suspected who would be looking at them.

  Sookie was quite proud of her silver service and hauled it out on holidays for years. One morning after the wedding, Sookie found a rose blooming in her backyard—in December—with an envelope attached. Niall gave the couple an invitation to the Summerlands when they “went through the human veil,” as Niall put it. They’ve put that in their lockbox at the bank.

  Sookie and Sam had four children, the last being a complete surprise. Neal and Jennings came first, followed by Adele and their “bonus baby,” Jillian Tara. Though comfortable financially, Sookie and Sam wanted to be sure they could put four kids through college, so they started renting the bar for wedding receptions, and with Antoine’s successor’s help, they began to cater parties. All four of the kids worked as teenagers, since Sookie was determined they’d all learn how to be self-sufficient. This led to some yelling matches with the girls, especially when their mom’s rare but impressive temper came into play. Jennings, to Sookie’s dismay, inherited the family “disability.” Mr. Cataliades showed up after each birth, though Sookie certainly never told him when she’d had a baby. He did tell Sookie that after this generation, his favor to his friend could be retired, and Sookie said, “Thank God.”

  At least Jennings, Marie, and the somewhat older Hunter had each other to talk to and commiserate with, though it was impossible for them to play games together.

  All the Merlotte children grew up tolerant, since they all knew their dad was a shapeshifter and Uncle Jason a werepanther. The children also learned to accept vampires but to remain very wary in their presence. They thought “Aunt” Pam was hysterically funny. Go figure.

  Sookie and Sam are still happier than many other couples because they talk about their feelings and they are great with compromise. Sam looks a little tense when Eric is on television, and for a while he wasn’t too happy when Bill came over to visit, but gradually he became secure in Sookie’s love and loyalty.

  They’re still thinking about Niall’s offer, but not too seriously.

  Vampire THALIA had such a fan following that she finally refused to come to Fangtasia any longer because people wanted to talk to her and have their pictures taken with her. Bill taught her how to blog. Thalia’s Thoughts was a huge success in Internet terms, and Thalia actually enjoys writing about how inconsistent and ridiculous humans are. She was asked to endorse high-end security systems and an online dating club for opinionated supernaturals. She enjoys testing the security systems, but her dates have a way of vanishing.

  DAVID and GENEVIEVE THRASH finally tracked down Sookie years after she’d warned them in time to escape disaster at Sophie-Anne’s party house in New Orleans. After they reconnected with her, there were never any problems with Merlotte’s state licenses.

  TIJGERIN, Quinn’s mate—at least for a time—persisted in her plan of birthing and raising her child in secrecy. She did keep Quinn up-to-date. They had a boy named Diederik.

  The weather witch JULIAN TROUT disappeared from Channel 7 in Rhodes (and the supernatural scene) with his wife, Olive, following his realization that he could have saved lives in New Orleans by predicting the severity of Katrina . . . if anyone besides supernaturals would have listened to him. It took years for Trout to come to terms with his conscience. After that, he got a job at the Weather Channel, where he does his best to avert disasters.

  Barmaid INDIA UNGER drove up to Iowa with physical therapist Gwen Long to get legally married. They adopted a child, a baby boy with a cleft palate. He had a few surgeries, but he became a handsome young man. India kept her job at Merlotte’s until she began working at a Denny’s and eventually became the manager. She and Gwen had a few bumps in the road facing homophobia and racism, but they remained together. Their son became a hospital administrator.

  JUDITH VARDAMON continued to drop in on Bill every ten years or so, to “see how he was doing.” Sadly, he never found it in him to return her affection.

  Texas vampire JOSEPH VELASQUEZ kept his position as King of Texas for the next two hundred years. He never trusted a human telepath again.

  GLEN and PORTIA BELLEFLEUR VICK had a son, Matthew, who was a total nerd and proud of it. He inherited his dad’s skill with numbers and his mother’s calm perseverance, and he became a lawyer with a practice focusing on estate planning. When he was in his midthirties, he married a very nice interior decorator named Jonathan.

  WARREN continued to be a great marksman and constant companion of Mustapha Khan’s for many years, though he never fully recovered from his ordeal at the hands of Jannalynn.

  FBI agent SARA WEISS resigned in the year following her shooting. She became a follower of all things supernatural. Her husband and sons didn’t know what to make of this development, and Sara grew more and more despondent as they drifted further apart. She got a job as a firearms instructor at a local gun range and finally began to put her life back together.

  QUIANA WONG drifted down to New Orleans after her apprenticeship with Marilyn to make her own living as a psychic. She’d learned how to make a public splash and emphasized her Asian heritage by wearing a kimono and a fantastic hairdo. Backed by some seed money from Amelia Broadway, eventually Quiana opened a store called The World of Wong, with a stable of psychic readers, “magic” objects and books, and a huge inventory of kimonos.

  XAVIER, the bouncer at Stompin’ Sally’s, recovered slowly from his wound. He trained with an old army buddy to get back in shape, and eventually he resumed his job at the country-and-western bar. He and Sally grew close during his recuperation, and though they didn’t marry, they lived together for the rest of their lives.

  VERENA ROSE YANCY established a scholarship in honor of her murdered daughter, Adabelle. Ostensibly, the scholarship pays for the education of any young woman interested in fashion and merchandising, provided she passes the examination of Verena’s lawyer. In actuality, the young woman most like to be chosen is a werewolf.

  BETHANY ZANELLI, coach of the Lady Falcons (and wife of Chet Zanelli), had twin girls during her fifth year in Bon Temps. She was offered a job with a big high school in Missouri, but her mother was getting old, so Coach Zanelli stayed in Bon Temps to take care of her. She never regretted it.