a/n: I know I promised and update awhile ago on a Sunday...but life got in the way. The day I was supposed to post this chapter I came home from a ski trip to discover my neighbor, who happens to be my aunt and uncle, their house was on fire. Everything was ruined, and they have to knock down the house. I've had my cousin over 24/7 to eat dinner and just have some place to hang out besides the tiny apartment they've been forced to live in for now. Anyway you guys don't need my life story! I just wanted to explain why I've been such a crappy author when it comes to updates. See you at the bottom.

Chapter 12

I woke up to the sound of my alarm and reached over to hit the off button. The problem was I couldn't move my arms. I still had Eric curled up behind me with his arms caging me against him. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp and he held on tighter.

"Eric…" I grumbled. "We have to get up."

"Five more minutes." He reached over me and hit snooze button then laid down and buried his face in my hair. I guess I could handle five more minutes of snuggling. I turned in his arms and just watched him. His eyes were shut but he wasn't sleeping.

"Why are you staring?" He mumbled.

"Because you're nice to look at." I ran my fingers down the slight stubble on his face.

"Mmm, so are you. And you taste good." He grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss against my palm. My cheeks flushed a light shade of pink at his words. I have no idea why I blushed after everything that happened last night, it was like a reflex.

The alarm started going off again and I knew we had to get up. I didn't want Eric to be late his first day. It was a bit chaotic getting ready, Eric wasn't usually in and out of the bathroom at the same time as me. I wasn't used to sharing but figured I would adjust. Sharing was well worth the toe-curling kiss I got once we both finished brushing our teeth. We ate breakfast together and then Eric headed to the door once we heard Jason's truck rumble into the driveway.

"Have a good day, don't let Jason be too much of an idiot." I smiled and gave him a quick kiss.

"I'll try. I might be distracted thinking about you all day to pay much attention to him." He smirked then headed out the door. I waved to Jason from the front door. Eric looked pretty edible in his jeans and work boots, he was probably going to look even better covered in sweat and dirt. Geez… my mind was in the gutter already and it was 7 in the morning.

A few minutes later I locked up the house and went to work myself. When I arrived Kennedy was already at the desk. We said little as usual and I went about my work. Octavia eyed me a few times and I wondered what her problem was. I was doing my job and as far as she knew Eric was long gone. It wasn't until hours later when Amelia came in to relieve Octavia, that I found out why.

"Sook! I have to tell you something!" She whisper yelled and dragged me into the empty lunch room.

"What? Ames, what the hell is going on?"

"Pam was here last night." Amelia said and my face went pale.

"What? Why?" This was not good. I thought she was staying away.

"She was asking Octavia if anyone had been snooping around here looking for Eric. Then Octavia said the wolf had not been back, no one had." Amelia was waving her hands around as she spoke and her eyes were wide as saucers. She was freaking out. "Then she said she put up wards right after the incident just in case, so maybe that was keeping trouble at a distance. I had no idea what the fuck that meant but Pam proceeded to ask Octavia if her magic was that strong!"

Amelia was practically having a panic attack.

"What? None of that makes any sense! What the hell does 'the wolf' mean? That guy who attacked Eric? And is Octavia getting super spiritual or something? Does she think that positive thinking is going to keep potential intruders away?" It was the only slightly rational explanation I had. Although she did think in some weird language sometimes… I never questioned her about it since it would give away my telepathy.

"I don't know Sookie, but I'm getting freaked out. Once I overheard all of that I of course got nosey and snooped around in her office some. I found a fucking spell book in there Sook! A real spell book in Latin! If you can read minds, who knows if she's seriously a witch!" Amelia took out her cell phone which had a picture of the spell book that she must have taken when snooping in the office.

"Ames we don't know anything. Plenty of people are considered witches already right? It doesn't mean they have some super magical powers. It's just a religion." I had to explain this away. Octavia was not a witch…. She couldn't be, right?

"But what about her and Pam talking? Obviously they're both keeping something from us. " Amelia sat down in one of the chairs.

"Did she tell her Eric is with me?"

"No…I don't know why she would even come back here since she knows he is with you."

This was frustrating. Amelia had to have missed part of the conversation, this was not adding up. I thought of Eric at work and prayed Pam did not find him somehow and kidnap him.

"God, I don't know what the hell Eric was mixed up in…but I don't think it's going to just go away like I hoped. His past is going to come back and bite us sooner or later." I was not giving up on him, just accepting this would be more of a fight than anticipated. He was a good man and had proven that over the time I had known him.

Amelia was seriously convinced something crazy was happening. While I believed Eric must have been involved in something dark in the past, I did not think it included black magic and Octavia. This was just too out there. If Eric used to be a criminal I could handle that, but talking about witches and spells was where I drew the line.

"Ames this is just too farfetched. How would Octavia be a witch and also be involved with Pam?" I sighed, already exhausted from this conversation.

"I don't know Sookie, but come on I'll show you her office." We easily slipped by Kennedy who had her nose in her magazine and into our boss' office. I felt guilty being in here. Amelia opened a bottom desk drawer and carefully lifted all of the files out of it. Beneath them was the worn book she had shown me on her phone. It was small and when Amelia opened it, there was Octavia's familiar cursive scrawl in a foreign language all over the pages. Some of them had sketches of what looked like certain plants or herbs.

"Okay... so maybe she is into this stuff. But that doesn't make magic real." I had to keep Amelia grounded before her imagination turned this into some epic supernatural tale. This was reality after all.

Then an idea hit me. "Wait, what if she has all of this because she is in some kind of cult? And maybe she knows Eric and Pam from it. Pam always talked to her when she came to the hospital...and Octavia knew a lot more about Eric than she ever would admit."

At least this logic made sense. It would explain Pam's creepy ass basement she took Eric to. Maybe their cult met there... a cult would also help explain her weird behavior. Maybe they believed in hiding from sunlight for some reason. I just hoped slaughtering people was not on their list of things to do. But why would that man have attacked Eric? Was he worried that in his condition he might blurt out the cult's existence?

"Holy shit, maybe that's it. Wow... who knew Octavia had some secret life. If Eric had never wandered into the hospital we never would have known about it..." Amelia started to put everything back in its place.

"I just don't want anyone coming after Eric if all of this is true. He has no memory of anything, he can't be any harm to them."

"What if he remembers someday, and just goes back to all of this craziness?" Amelia and I quietly left the room.

"I can't believe that right now. He said he doesn't want anything to do with Pam or his past." I had to respect what Eric told me, I had to help him. It didn't matter who he used to be. I knew who he was right now and that person deserved all the help he could get.

"Okay...just be extra careful. You don't know if someone from his past will pop up. I'll let you know if I hear anything here too. Who knows if Pam will show up again." Amelia led the way back to the front desk where Kennedy was still reading an article about lipstick. We both separated to actually do some work for awhile and tend to patients.

Hours later I was driving home and ready to fall asleep. My mind had been reeling all day with the news Amelia told me. While Octavia potentially knowing Pam did not put me in lethal danger, I found it very odd she was so secretive. If something fishy was not going on then why would she hide the fact that she knew Eric and Pam from the start? What more was she keeping from me? Was the spell book really somehow linked to all of this mess? The cult theory was the only thing tying it all together but my logical brain was having a hard time accepting that. You would think with telepathy I would have a more open mind, apparently not.

I kicked off my shoes by the back door and headed into the kitchen. I was immediately wrapped up in strong arms and lifted off the floor. I was ready to shriek in surprise but the sound was cut off by Eric's lips on mine.

"Good evening" He smiled and set me down on my feet again.

"Hey" I tried to smile up at him but it was weak. I noticed his hair was messy and a slight sunburn on his face. That's right... he had been outside working all day. I completely forgot after my day with Amelia.

"How was your first day?" I tried to sound enthusiastic. I really did care.

"Great! Your brother can be a bit... stubborn at times, but I think I picked everything up fast." He was beaming with pride.

"That's good." I headed to the fridge and took out a bottle of water.

"What's wrong?" His happiness was quickly fading and replaced by concern.

"Amelia told me Pam stopped by the hospital to talk to Octavia." I might as well tell him now, I already ruined his good mood.

"Why? She knows I don't want to go back with her." Eric was not pleased.

We both sat down at the kitchen table. I had my water and Eric had a can of soda.

"I don't know. Amelia said she overheard them talking. Pam was asking if anyone had been sneaking around the hospital and Octavia mentioned putting wards up. Whatever the hell that means... then Amelia went snooping in her office and found some weird book full of Octavia's writing. It looked like a spell book even though that sounds insane..." I looked down at my water and was no longer thirsty.

"Oh... so... what does that mean?" Eric had never seen Pam chatting with Octavia when he was a patient. He was always in his room.

"Well it seems like Octavia knows Pam and you, or at least knows who you are. Pam would always talk to her and no one else. And... Octavia warned me to stay away from you. So somehow you all know each other. I just don't know how." I sighed and put my head in my hands.

"What does the weird book have to do with anything?" Eric didn't miss a beat.

"No idea. The only theory Ames and I came up with is that all of you are in a secret cult that probably practices some creepy shit. That's why everyone is so secretive and it would explain Pam's weird basement. But I know that sounds like some tacky Hollywood movie."

I felt his warm hands cover mine and slowly pull them away from my face.

"Maybe it's not that crazy. I have some pretty weird dreams, what if some of them are memories? Just jumbled up so they make less sense? I don't remember some secret cult meetings. But I've had multiple dreams of being burned and usually there are other people there in the background. Maybe it was some weird ritual... " His eyes wandered to the dark kitchen window. It was a cloudy night and impossible to even see the yard in the darkness. "I just don't know, but whatever my life was before I'm not interested in it. Seems like it was just dark and strange."

I couldn't argue with him there.

"We can't do anything about this tonight." I stood up and headed towards the cabinets. "So how about we forget it for awhile and eat?" We did not have enough information to figure any of this out tonight.

"Sounds like a plan." He smiled and reached over me to grab the box of pasta I was trying to get on the top shelf.

"Now tell me about your day again, I was a little distracted the first time." I got to work on making lasagna while Eric filled me in.

I found out he worked with Jason on a drainage ditch alongside one of the parish roads. They butted heads a few times when Eric thought of a faster way to do something. Jason was stubborn and would not want to admit he could be doing something differently. But overall it sounded like they managed to get along mostly because Eric learned the best way to get Jason to listen, was to make him think it was his idea in the first place. Eric was definitely smart and I knew that but from the way he spoke it was obvious he had a natural understanding of how to adapt his behavior to work with other people. He never complained about being tired but I could tell his first day had taken its toll. He was sunburned on his nose and cheeks, had a few scratches on his forearms from briars, and was moving a tad slower than normal.

The conversation continued throughout dinner and Eric ate three full helpings faster than I ate my one. We ended up collapsing on the couch in our pajamas like the tired old people we were tonight. American Pickers was on and neither of us had the energy to change the channel. So we settled in and watched a few episodes. I must have fallen asleep at some point. When I woke up I was lying on top of Eric, my head on his chest. I could tell he was asleep by his breathing. There was the quiet patter of rain on the roof, then bright headlights cast a glaring glow into the living room.

What the hell? It had to be at least midnight and I lived a ways off the road. That meant someone was in my driveway. Eric stirred beneath me when the light his face. He squinted and sat up some.

"What is that?"

"Headlights... someone is here." I whispered nervously. What if someone was here for Eric? I got up and he quickly followed. I bolted for the coat closet I kept my brother's old shotgun in. Then headlights shut off leaving us in complete darkness. Eric slammed into my back as he was following me.

"Sorry" He reached out to make sure I was steady on my feet. Once our eyes adjusted to the dim light I found the closet and took the gun out.

"I didn't know you had that." Eric reached over, loaded and cocked the gun in seconds. So he knew how to use guns but not condoms? "Stay right behind me."

I listened to him and we both crept towards the front door. My heart was pounding in my chest. Eric stopped moving and was focused on something outside the window. We were right by the door, carefully peering through the curtains on the window when I noticed the movement he must have seen. There was a shadowy figure at the base of the steps. In the darkness I could not make out the person's features or hear anything over the rain. Whoever it was, was of small stature and probably shorter than me. I wanted to run out and find out who it was but I was also curious as to what they would do.

Eric reached back with his free hand and pulled me closer to him. I rested my hand on his back while I looked over his shoulder. That seemed to satisfy his need to know where I was. We watched in silence as the stranger moved their hands a few times, sprinkled something on the ground, then made their way back to their car. They got in and once again the headlights flooded the front of the house. Eric and I ducked down below the window as the light came through the windows of the house. Once it faded we stood up again. I watched the taillights of the car move down my driveway. The shape looked familiar and one of them was busted. I had an inkling as to who was just at my house.

"Lets see what's outside." Eric said and opened the door. We walked out into the rain with bare feet and onto my muddy driveway. I took the shotgun from him as he leaned down to inspect what our visitor left behind.

"It looks like... crumpled up leaves and, something else. It smells like garlic." Whatever it was had been rained on already and covered in mud.

Eric stood up and held his palm out and I could see the muddy leaves and smelled the garlic. What the hell was going on here. I looked to Eric and could see the rain had soaked his hair and through the white t-shirt he had on. The water was running in tiny rivers down his skin. I probably looked like a drowned rat at this point. I didn't have time to care though.

"Eric, I think I know who that was." I felt like I was yelling over the rain.

He stood motionless in the rain, waiting for my declaration of who was our late night visitor.

"It was Octavia." She was slightly shorter than me, and I know her car had a busted taillight from a fender bender two months ago.

a/n: dun dun DUN! =)