A/N: Since I deprived you over the weekend, I've decided to give you the next one sooner than expected. We're really going to start building up the plot from here on out. Anyone who wants to guess at our culprit is more than welcome to, although I'm not sure if I'll tell you if you're right!

Disclaimer: I don't own a bit of it.

Interpretation n the act or process of explaining the meaning of something, giving an explanation

SPOV

Eric and I chatted on the drive to Bon Temps, riding in some form of expensive sedan that I would have thought too unobtrusive for my…what do I call him? I decided to address that, trying to keep my mind off anything too serious before absolutely necessary.

"Eric, what do I call you now?" He looked puzzled, so I clarified, "I mean, are you my boyfriend? Bill was ok with that, but it just sounds…weird calling you that."

He looked less than pleased at the mention of Bill. I remembered his reaction to our shared memories and decided to get him off the subject. "I guess I just want to have some name to our relationship. I know we're bonded, but most people won't understand that, so how do I talk about you to other people?" Oh boy, I should not have phrased it that way. The bond was swelling with pride.

"You wish to discuss me? But of course, you will wish to proclaim your good fortune. Especially when discussing sex; Pam informs me that human women like to discuss the attributes of their significant others and now you will have plenty to bring to the conversation." Gag. That was a bit much.

"Gross, Eric. Could your ego get any bigger? Don't answer that. I was trying to be serious here."

"Alright, my lover. I admit, the thought of being termed 'boyfriend' is rather repugnant to me. I take it 'lover' is unacceptable to southern Christian values as well? Perhaps the term partner is more in line with what we are to each other. Significant other is also acceptable." He paused, and the bond pulsed with actual uncertainty. "You do not mind my calling you 'lover' and 'bonded'? I realize I have been doing so after you expressly forbid it last night. I do not mean it in a degrading fashion, but rather, I am proud to proclaim to all that such a gorgeous and talented woman is attached to me."

Aw. That was sweet. And he didn't say a word about me belonging to him, but considered us in relationship terms. "No, regardless of what I said, I really don't dislike it. Actually, it's kinda nice, since I was always the only one you called 'lover', so in a weird way, it gave me hope that we could work things out. And I'll be sure to avoid 'boyfriend', if you come up in a conversation. Not that I plan on talking about you, or anything," I teased. I was so glad we were back to our friendly relationship, even with the romantic component. I hadn't realized how much I missed this Eric with all the drama that had been going on recently.

When we pulled into my drive, I noted Sam's truck out front. I had called Amelia before we left, asking her to get Sam over for a war council, since there was no way Eric would even think about such a common courtesy. Polite my Viking was not.

Amelia came bounding to the door to let us in, already chattering away. "Sookie! Are you feeling better? Did Eric give you some personal attention to make you all ok? So need the details here, girl!" Her mental imaginings about Eric 'taking care' of me bombarded me instantly.

"Amelia! Rein it in, please! And yes, I am feeling better, but we need to talk." We moved into the living room where Sam was perched on a chair. He, too, started in on my well-being, but now that it came to it, I just wanted to figure out what the hell was going on with me.

"Guys, I really want to know what you think's been going on and how we can figure out what to do about it." To tell the truth, I wasn't sure whether to be scared or angry. Someone wanted me separated from my friends badly enough to perform some serious magic on me, which was a terrifying thought, but the anger came in with the fact that someone had decided to try to control me. Now that did not make for a happy Sookie.

"Sook, Sam and I have been getting concerned about your behaviour lately. It just didn't seem like you were reacting to things normally, especially with your friends." Amelia looked at Sam and then pointedly glanced at Eric. "I've been researching some spells that can control reactions to specific circumstances, and have found a few that might fit this scenario. It was a bit of a long shot at first, but the way you turned on Eric last night pretty much confirmed it for me. You'd never be that harsh in dismissing him."

Ok, the fact that it wasn't me really exploding at Eric was comforting, but that Amelia didn't discount that I was capable of throwing him away was a bit of an eye-opener. I'd have to think about that later. "So, you're saying that someone put a spell on me that made me push you guys away, and deny the bond and my feelings for Eric?"

Crap, didn't mean to say that last bit. Eric preened, Amelia tried to hide her grin, and Sam, well, Sam just looked like he'd expected it. Boy, was I glad Bill wasn't there.

"To tell the truth, Sook, you were doing the denial bit fine on your own, but this spell would have forced the issue, making you feel like you were trapped and the only way to have your life back would be to get away from Eric and break the bond."

"But who would want to do that to me? And why?!" Ok, the fear side was definitely winning. Eric pulled me into his lap to calm me. I'll admit, being held close to him did wonders for my mental state, not to mention my libido.

Amelia continued, even while her thoughts kept circling around how cute we looked, "The spells I've found suggest that it would take someone extremely familiar with magic to pull this off. They're tricky and demanding; every element has to be just right to get the desired result."

Sam jumped in with, "As to who, well, let's just list everyone who'd want either your talents for themselves or Eric distracted by your loss."

Ok, that was half of the Supe community. But Amelia wasn't done yet. "Now, judging by the way Eric's cuddling you and you're not objecting, is it safe to say that the bond is stronger after my spell?"

Eric scowled at the idea of cuddling, or at least actually using the word, since he was definitely a closet snuggler. "Yes, you were correct about the consequences. I do wish to thank you for your assistance, as without the spell, I don't think we would have succeeded."

Wow, Eric was certainly being effusive in his praise tonight. I could tell Amelia was chomping at the bit to find out what had happened with the bond, but I wanted to clear it with Eric first, just how much to tell her. I gave him a look, and when his eyes met mine, it was like I knew that it was alright to tell these two everything. It wasn't like before, when I actually heard his thoughts, but it was still like he'd passed the knowledge directly into my brain.

"What just happened? You guys just had a moment there, didn't you? I am so good!" Amelia was pleased as punch with the result of her spell.

"Yes, 'Meals, you're very good. I guess you could say the bond got deeper after your spell. When I was in that barn, Eric and I actually heard each other. And after I took his blood, it was like all the bad emotions I'd been feeling disappeared. Just now, we kinda did, I don't know, it was like a Vulcan mind-meld thing." Ok, I'm blaming Jason and his love of early morning reruns as a kid for that one. "Can you tell me what exactly you did and why we could hear each other?"

"Oh, 'course! See, the spell was made for finding half of a bonded pair, whether it be lifemate, bondmate, soulmate, whatever. So it basically made your bond visible through Eric, so we could track you. I had to ask him, though, if he could accept the possible side-effects of the spell, since I had a sneaking suspicion, which totally turned out right, by the way, that you guys aren't just bondmates, but soulmates, too." Amelia thankfully gave us a minute for that to soak in. Eric and I just looked at each other, both a bit lost. Soulmates? I thought that only existed in my trashy romance novels. I didn't even admit I loved him until last night, for crying out loud! Although, it did explain why we were able to click so easily, how we understood each other so well and why it always came back to Eric, even when I was dating Quinn.

"Uh, Amelia, are you sure about that?" I felt a bit of hurt from Eric. "Oh, honey, not that I'm really doubting it, but it's just a bit much right now."

"I'm dead positive. See, that little side-effect I was talking about, permanently put a bit of your soul into Eric and a bit of his into you. It's kind of a way to prevent the second half from being lost again, but it only works on soulmates. It wasn't the bloodbond that let you talk to each other last night; it was the piece of each other's soul. I'm betting that whenever there's trouble, you'll be able to do it, since your souls will naturally be screaming out to the other. And I'd be willing to bet that it makes other times much more intense as well." I just blushed at that, thinking of earlier. "But if you had still rejected Eric after the soul transferrence, it would have caused a lot of problems. I'm so glad you guys worked it out! Anyway, back to the spell on you, the other one, I mean. Did you, by any chance, decide to accept the bond sometime last night?" Amelia's tone was definitely building up to something.

"Yeah, I guess I did. I mean, I figured that there was no use fighting something that was there, just like you said. Why? Eric already figured that was what broke the spell." Ok, I could accept the soulmate thing, and the thought of permanently carrying a bit of Eric around, even during the day when we couldn't be together, gave me warm-fuzzies, but things were piling up and I was starting to feel overwhelmed.

"But you started feeling 'bad' as you said after that, then felt better once you had Eric's blood? And was the bond mostly blocked until my spell?" I nodded, not sure where she was going with it.

"Because I think that what broke the spell on you was you accepting the bond, like you guys thought, but that it was booby-trapped so that if it broke, it would make you go crazy with a bunch of negative emotions, and close off the bond so Eric couldn't come rescue you. This is an extremely delicate bit of witchcraft. I think it was only that my spell broke through the remnants of the other and reopened the bond, so that Eric could find you and you could take his blood that saved you from going nuts. It was probably a failsafe, kinda like a 'if I can't have her, no one will' sort of deal. Whoever it was, was counting on Eric not getting to you if the spell broke."

Before I could even think about panicking, Eric flooded the bond with support, calm and love. I shot him a look. He couldn't expect to always steamroll over my natural emotions. He shrugged, and I could practically, but not really, hear him think that it was warranted.

Eric spoke up before I had a chance to, "I don't suppose there is anyway you can trace the spell, now that it's been broken?"

Amelia shook her head. "Unfortunately, I doubt I would have been able to do it even before. Whoever put a booby-trap like that would surely have made it untraceable. And you better believe whoever it is knows his spell's gone south. He would have felt it and you can be sure that he won't be happy it failed."

"So, what am I supposed to do? Pretend nothing's wrong and just go about as normal? What if whoever it is comes after me again?"

Sam soothingly said, "Now, Sookie, we're not going to let anything happen to you. Let's just play it by ear. No use getting worked up over something that hasn't happened yet." I felt like a little kid being told there weren't monsters under the bed.

Sam continued, "What if he just tries again?"

"A good point. Is there anything magical to prevent this happening again? Some sort of protective spell that prohibits a magical invasion of this kind?" asked Eric, again before I could say anything. This was getting annoying.

Amelia thought for a minute, then shook her head, "No, there's nothing I can do like that, especially against somebody that strong. Even if Octavia weren't in New Orleans, I don't think we'd be much use." She paused. "I can, at least I think I can work up a spell that lets us know if something's trying to work on Sookie. Kinda like a burglar alarm for magic."

Nodding, Eric said, "Yes, that makes sense. Get that ready, as we must know as soon as possible if something occurs. Shifter, we will compile a list of powerful members of the community and see if we can narrow it down to who would have the resources to employ such a tactic." Eric paused, glanced at me, then proclaimed, "Sookie will of course not be going back to work. We need to ascertain the motivation and culprit behind this magical attack and it will be safer if she remains with me until then."

With that, I stormed out, hoping to get some distance from that irritating, all-knowing jackass of a vampire. How dare he? He knew better than to just make decisions for me and expect me to take orders lying down. Or maybe that's exactly what he thought, that he could just make it up to me in bed, say all those sweet things like earlier and then take over whenever we were in public. Fat chance of that! I swept into the kitchen in high dudgeon, knowing that Eric was going to follow me. I was determined to hang on to my anger until I got my way, but then I caught sight of the table, and more importantly, the chair where I'd been sitting while I nearly destroyed my relationship and Amelia and Pam berated me. Pam's words came back to me.

You fight every time you feel you have no say in the matter, but you have lived only a fraction of the time as my Master; he does know how to keep you safe and out of the hands of those who would make your life miserable.

Oh.

I felt Eric come up behind me. He was carefully testing the bond, prodding to see if I would turn on him again. I was so ashamed that yet again, I threw a tantrum like the brat I was. Eric had even stated flat out it would be only to protect me, but did I listen to that? No, sirree, I only heard that I wasn't getting my say and turned all my fear and confusion into anger at Eric. Maybe that compulsion spell didn't have to push too hard to make me do what it wanted. And thinking that just made me feel worse. How immature was I? And how could Eric want to be around me when I acted like a child?

Eric placed his hands on my shoulders. I wanted to shrug him off, feeling unworthy of meeting his gaze, but then I realized that if I pushed him away now, the unknown factor had won anyway. And I was too damn stubborn to let someone push me around like that. I let Eric turn me around. He slipped a hand under my chin, raising my face so my eyes met his.

We didn't need to say a word as we stared at each other. Eric sighed, and gathered me to his chest. I snuggled closer, inhaling his uniquely masculine scent.

"Oh my lover. We will be fine. These spats are just growing pains. I will do something you dislike, you will react, then we will cool down and discuss what went wrong. It is simply a matter of communication, as we discussed earlier." He shrugged, as if to say it was nothing very difficult.

Then his tone changed. "The same will happen when you charge into danger against my wishes and I have to punish you." Oo, boy! Was it getting warm in here, or was it just me? I almost didn't dare look up to see the leer I could practically feel, but then again, I was nothing if not brave and stupid.

I looked up.

And was instantly assailed with not only that trademark leer spread across his handsome face, but the heat and desire pulsing across the bond as well. I focused on his succulent lips, stretching up to meet them with my own before I even registered the movement. Pressed tightly against him, I definitely felt Eric's…interest…rise as well. Basking in the warmth of the bond, I wiggled against him, causing him to groan, but not release my mouth. Our tongues were duelling for supremacy as I ground myself closer to him. His hands slipped up the back of my shirt, and the touch of his cool skin on mine stoked my fire even higher. Without breaking from our liplock, I hopped up, winding my legs around his waist with one hand wrapped around his shoulders and the other buried in his hair.

Eric's hands slid out from my shirt with my movement, causing me to whimper at their loss, until one clutched my ass, to support me as well as grope, while the other stroked my back, pushing my chest into his. I broke away to gasp in a breath, only to be confronted with applause from Amelia, standing in the doorway.

I froze, but decided the new me had acknowledged my feelings and I was content, so I stayed where I was. I think I shocked Eric, who had loosened his hold on me in anticipation of my objection, when I simply wrapped my arms around his shoulders, dropped a kiss on his nose, then turned my head to look at Amelia.

"Need something, 'Meals? Or just enjoying the show?" I felt Eric get even harder at my calmness and acceptance of this expression of our relationship. Positioned as I was, this did very interesting things to the southern portion of my anatomy. I subtly ground my hips against him while tightening my thighs around him and watched his eyes flutter closed.

Amelia snorted at this display. "Just wanted to let you know that I've got the things ready for the alarm spell, but by all means, carry on." She turned to go, shooting a last comment over her shoulder, "Eric, you might want to try a bed before ravishing my best friend in the kitchen. Some of us have to eat there, ya know."

I turned back to see Eric's slightly dazed expression. I felt like giggling. Even with all the bad things going on and the uncertainty of who wanted to take me, there was nowhere else I wanted to be than in Eric's arms, enjoying our time together. I just had to remember that.

Eric's voice was slightly husky as he asked, "Not that I'm complaining, lover, but what brought that on? And are you planning on finishing what you've started?"

"I just realized that we're together, there's no point in acting ashamed of enjoying each other. It's not like Amelia's going to go blab everywhere that we were making out in the kitchen, but even if she did, there's nothing wrong in being together. I love you and I want everyone to know it." My sense of euphoria wasn't fading, but turned tender when I felt Eric's amazed pleasure at my pronouncement. Did he think I would be with him and still act indifferent? Boy, had I done a number on my poor Viking.

"I love you, as well, dear one. And I am overjoyed that you have no qualms in expressing it publicly." We simply smiled at each other like fools, until Eric, naturally, made a comment. "Does this mean sex in my office?"

Instead of my indignant reply of the past, I simply threw back my head and laughed at the hope in his voice. I disentangled my various limbs from around him and slid to the floor. Eric gave a moan of protest, but was appeased with a kiss. I pulled back and sashayed out of the kitchen, saying, "Only if you're a very good boy. Now come on, we've got work to do."