1-36; Dead Until Dark

Sorry to confuse but I started reading two books at the same time... probably shows how much of a dork I am. Well, this book is called Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. It's the first book in a very popular series. It has been made into a TV series on HBO called True Blood. I've never seen the show but a lot of people have raved about this book and this series, so I bought it. This book takes place in a small-town in Louisiana. The main character is Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress at a bar called Maudette's. She just has one thing "wrong" with her... she can read minds. Sookie goes around trying to act normal but, how can you act normal when you know everything the person your talking to is thinking about you and what your saying? So she puts up a wall and tries to shut everyone's mind out. Sookie was at work one night when she saw a vampire come into the bar. At the time in the book, vampires live among humans and they have "come out of the coffin" as they put it, to the people they live with in the world. Basically, everyone knows they exist. So, this vampire comes into the bar where Sookie is working and she's been waiting for a vampire to come in because, rumor has it, she won't be able to read their mind so she doesn't have to use her shield. He sits in her section and she tells him that they have yet to get in synthetic blood which is something the Chinese invented for the vampires to eat instead of feeding on humans but they still do, to willing donors. He orders red wine, but doesn't drink it. Instead, another table holding a couple named the Rattrays, come and sit with him. Sookie reaches out with her mind and tries to hear what they're talking about. She finds out that the Rattrays went to jail once, for vampire draining. Sookie's heart drops because this means that they're trying to lure the vampire out of the bar to drain him. Apparently, vampire blood is like a drug and is sold for a lot of money. The vampire and the Rattrays go out of the bar and Sookie has no choice but to follow them. She grabs a chain from the back of her brother, Jason's, truck and she goes after the sound of scuffling and groaning in the trees. She finds that they Rattrays have chained the vampire up with silver chains (in which, he cannot escape) and they're draining his blood in little vials. Sookie throws the chain around the male Rattray, Mack, and he immediately drops his knife he was using to get the vampire's blood. Sookie sees this and she grabs the knife. Denise, Mack's wife, sees that Sookie has the knife and runs to her car, Mack in tow. Sookie then realizes that Denise has another weapon, her car. The car comes down the line of trees in the woods and almost hits Sookie and the vampire. They hurry off. Sookie starts to remove the chains from the vampires wrists, ankles, and neck. He thanks her for saving him and he has her drink some of his blood to heal her because she was fighting pretty hard. BUUUUUUT; Sookie doesn't want to take the blood because she's different. So Bill, the vampire, we now know his name, hurries off. After work, Sookie goes home to her grandmother, who she lives with, and tells her about Bill coming into the bar. Grandma is so intrigued by Bill, she wants Sookie to ask him to come to her Descendants of the Glorious Dead meeting. It's a meeting of a bunch of old people who gather to talk about the war and their ancestors. Jason, who owns his and Sookie's parents house because they died of a flash flood, comes over to Gran's house to eat dinner and they catch up, which basically means gossip. Jason then brings up the fact that Maudette Pickens, a girl Sookie went to school with, was found dead in her apartment last night. She was what humans called a "Fang Banger," she hung around vampire bars and houses and offered them her blood in a sexual way. She was found with bits on her inner thighs and strangled and beaten. Sookie goes to work that night and her boss, Sam, calls her into his office and tells her that he heard about the fight that went down last night. He tells her that next time that happens or she thinks it's going to happen, to call the police, not to handle it herself with a chain. During this meeting, Sookie's mind accidentally reaches out to Sam's and hears that he desires her. She never really though of Sam as a "dateable" guy before and besides, he's her boss. Bill comes into the bar again and Sookie asks if she can talk to him after her shift about coming to the meeting. He says he'll meet her after her shift. She walks outside after and Bill is no where to be found so she goes over to her car. As she's opening her door, the Rattray's attack her from behind and hit her over the head, they knock her down and kick her rapididly, then all of a sudden Sookie, in her confused state, hears a dog growling. The Rattrays start cursing and they run away. Sookie then sees Bill come into view, all bloody and torn-up. He takes Sookie into the woods and has her drink his blood so that she will heal. When she wakes up, Bill is still there and he demands to know what makes Sookie different from everyone else. So she tells him that she can read minds and they talk about that for a while, until they get on the subjet of Sookie's grandma and her club. Sookie's grandma wants to know how old Bill is and wants him to come to their meeting. Bill agrees and they continue talking about Sookie's "gift."