Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is having a streak of bad luck First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care Then she comes face-to-face with a beastly creature which gives her a painful and poisonous lashing Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it) The point is they saved her life So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favour, she obliges - and soon Sookie's in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire She's supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition the vampires must promise to behave, and let the humans go unharmed But that's easier said than done