Sookie 13.5 After Dead (10 page)

DR. AMY LUDWIG
went public with her clinic for the treatment of supernaturals. She has a huge problem with addicts breaking in to steal the exotic drugs they’re sure she keeps around. She’s hired the twin Weres Dixie and Dixon Mayhew to guard the clinic at night. Sometimes they’re in wolf form when they’re on the job. Problem solved.

DAHLIA LYNLEY-CHIVERS
still lives in Rhodes and continues to have her own adventures.

MCKENNA
took over the everyday wear shop, Tara’s Togs, when Tara du Rone opened the wedding boutique next door. McKenna eventually married a cousin of Glen Vick’s.

SISTER MENDOZA
married her patrol partner, Tony Gonzales. They remained in Wright, and they always got together with Sam and Sookie when they visited Sam’s mom.

BERNADETTE MERLOTTE
, Sam’s mother, remarried eighteen months after the end of
Dead Ever After
. Her husband, a coyote shifter named Fred, was respectful of Bernie and loved to go on runs with her at the full moon. They had a very good time together.

CRAIG
and
DEIDRA LISLE MERLOTTE
became the subject of a television special about the difficulties of marrying into a family containing the shapeshifter gene (
When Mom’s a Dog
). Their marriage barely survived the experience, but after Deidra graduated from nursing school and Craig advanced in the tech- support department of a huge accounting firm, things calmed down. They presented Bernie with a granddaughter three years later, and after that they had triplet boys.

SAM MERLOTTE
emerged from his death-to-life experience a stronger and more focused man, and he worked hard at not only his marriage to Sookie Stackhouse but also his business. When he and Sookie were ready to retire, they sold the bar and took a grand vacation to Thailand.

FRANKLIN MOTT
, despite being old and crafty, was hunted down in his daytime hiding place by a human woman he’d dumped. She succeeded in killing him, and by the time his friends rose that night, his house had been stripped of everything of value.

SARAH NEWLIN
was the only remaining voice of the FotS while she was in jail, but the interviews became few and far between. When she was finally released, only two FotS diehards in their late sixties came to the prison to pick her up. She had contracted lupus while she was in prison, and eventually (her worsening symptoms going untreated) she perished. The FotS presence at her funeral would hardly crowd a phone booth.

Werepanther leader
CALVIN NORRIS
and
TANYA GRISSOM NORRIS
remained married until Tanya made the mistake of yelling at a teen panther who’d knocked down their mailbox. Under the stress, the boy changed unexpectedly and killed Tanya with one blow, though he went a little crazy after that. The coroner didn’t know what to make of the body’s condition, and no one was ever charged. The teen panther was shipped to another community, way out in Montana. Calvin was taken care of by the entire female population of Hotshot after that, in every possible way. He died with a houseful of people around him, and he was content.