Hi everyone! I am so sorry for the delay in posting a new chapter! There have been many things going on in my life, and I've also had a bit of writer's block. I wanted to let you know that I haven't deserted you. Here is a short preview of Chapter 12. I hope you like it. I should post the entire chapter in a few days if I can finish it. Thank you for being patient and sticking with me! It means the world to me!

Charlaine Harris owns all of these characters. I am only borrowing them for a little while.

She was running, running for her life, terrified. Behind her, something roared, and she could feel the rage coming off it like a nuclear blast. She dared a glance backward, but it was too dark to see. It was gaining on her. She was human, no match for a supe. The darkness enveloped her but she did not trip or run in to anything. Her breaths were labored and she knew that she couldn't go much farther. She tried to channel whatever magic might be inside of her to give her strength and speed, but it didn't work. Hands reached out of the darkness and grabbed her shoulders. This was it. She knew she was going to die…

"Sookie! Sookie, wake up!" She was being shaken, her hands and wrists being slapped and rubbed. She thrashed around on the bed, incoherent. She had to get away! It had caught her! She heard a distant scream and realized it was her own. She was being shaken harder, Eric's voice getting louder. She jerked awake.

"Eric?" she cried, disoriented. She reached out blindly and there he was. He pulled her into his arms.

"It's all right, Sookie. I am here! I am here!" He was rubbing her back, rocking her, soothing her. Her arms wound themselves around his waist and she turned her face into his bare chest. Unwanted tears began to spill down her cheeks. "What is it? What happened?" he wanted to know.

She took a few deep breaths, calmed by Eric's presence and his unique scent. She rubbed her cheek against him and snuggled as close as she could get. "It was so real, Eric!" she finally said. "Something was coming after me and I couldn't get away. I was running and…" she shuddered.

Eric knew that she'd had a nightmare. He had been working in his office when he'd felt panic and desperation coming through the bond. He'd rushed to her side, only to find her kicking her feet, her hands out in front of her as though she were trying to push something away. He'd grabbed her hands, slapped her wrists, and shaken her until she woke up.

He was angry.

This danger was now invading her sleep. It was bad enough that she was jumping at shadows and overly emotional. Now she couldn't rest. He reached into the nightstand on his side of the bed and pulled out the pills Dr. Ludwig had left. He set the bottle down and rushed to the refrigerator for a bottle of water. When he came back into the room he froze. If his heart was beating, it would have stopped. Sookie had taken the bottle of pills from the nightstand and had poured them all into her hand. She was moving them around with her finger, staring at them almost as though she was in a trance.

"Sookie?" Eric said gently. "Lover, what are you doing? Please put those back in the bottle." He wanted to go to her and forcibly remove the pills from her hand, and he would if she didn't obey him.

I know there's not much to review here. Thank you in advance if you do review. Eric is not making threats to leave us because this chapter is short. :-K