Chapter 1:
Two years prior to where the series starts, the Vampire communities of the world have "come out of the coffin" upon the Japanese creation of a synthetic blood, which they can survive upon. The most popular brand of Blood Brew is called True Blood, while other lower quality beverages have different names and are also available yet rarely noted through-out the series. Also, upon the Vampires exposure to the general populace, they claim to be human victims of a virus that leaves them seemingly physically dead yet walking and with a long life span and allergies to sunlight, garlic and silver.
Meet Sookie Stackhouse, small town Louisiana barmaid at the Bon Temps tavern of Merlott's, and local telepath. Because of her ability, many of the locals think she's just nuts. But this quirky, lovable character finds out in the first chapter that her ability does not extend to the Vampire community (which she finds to be a great relief). How does she find this out? Well, a Vampire, Bill Compton specifically, comes into the bar at the opening of the book and she finds she is unable to "read" him.
Enter Mack & Denise Rattray (AKA: The Rats), who pretend to befriend Bill as soon as they identify his nature, only to lure him out into the parking lot in order to drain his blood. (Side note: Vampire Blood is sold on the Black Market b/c of the short term abilities it grants the human consumer. It is known to increase attractiveness, sex drive, give extra strength, heal wounds and in some cases, drive the user completely daffy). Sookie, knowing the reputation of the Rats (from reading their minds she knows they have unsavory backgrounds of thievery and violence), goes into the lot and stops them from draining Bill.
As a means of thanking Sookie for saving him, Bill offers her the vial they collected before she ran them off (using a chain as a weapon from the back of her brother's truck). She refuses the vial and Bill immediately acknowledges that she is different from most of the humans he has interacted with.
The rest of the chapter quickly introduces you Sookies older brother Jason Stackhouse and their Grandmother, whom Sookie lives with.
Jason works with for Renard Parish's construction crew as a lead hand/supervisor. He drives a flashy black pickup truck with pink and blue splashes detailed along the sides and is pretty much a happy man whore. Their Grandmother, Adele Hale Stackhouse, maintains a home that has been in the Stackhouse family for generations. She is a very forward thinking older woman who you would easily identify as one of those "Favorite Grandma" types. She is accepting of Sookie, Vampires and the general unknown or supernatural. She is very into gossiping with her friends on the phone. She also petitions Sookie to invite Bill to speak about the Civil War at a meeting for the Descendants of the Glorious Dead (obviously a historically minded group of locals who enjoy learning about their ancestors who fought in the War).
Towards the middle of Chapter 1, we learn that Maudette Pickens was killed in her apartment the night before. There is some speculation that a Vampire may be the murder, however she is not drained of blood, has older Vampire bites on her inner thigh, and was strangled to death. Maudette was an employee at the Grabbit Kwik gas station/convenience store, and was known to be not exactly hard to get. She had also been seen whoring around with fellow slut Jason Stackhouse on numerous occasions in the past.
Closer to the end of this Chapter, you meet some of the locals of Bon Temps, such as Sam, the owner of Merlott's, Arlene a fellow barmaid, Rene who is Arlene's boyfriend, and Dawn, another barmaid (single and trysting with Jason at times as well).
The Chapter comes to a close when Sookie is accosted outside the bar after her shift by The Rats, who want revenge for her interference with their attempted draining of Bill a few nights before. Although they beat Sookie to a bloody pulp, she is saved by Bill, obviously returning the favor (although she doesn't really see what happened and only hears growls, squeals, screams and general fighting sounds while she's prone and bleeding on the gravel next to her car) . The Rat's attack did such severe damaged that Sookie is broken in many ways (it infers that her spine is most likely broken, along with her arm, some ribs and a fairly nasty head wound). Bill brings her slightly into the woods near the bar's parking lot and gives her some of his blood in order to heal her. She realizes soon after that she's feeling a lot better and they have a brief conversation while he holds her, their first "getting to know you" moment. Bill agrees to meet with the Descendants of the Glorious Dead for Sookie.
End of Chapter 1 (Summary of approximately 35 pages)
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