Hello, everybody! Have I got a surprise for you! Raise your hands if you remember these people...tall, dark and disfigured musical genius, and short, spunky, redheaded ballerina? That ring any bells? Well, I've been holding this one back for awhile now (been hard at work on my Boondock Saints story, "Warrior Shepherds"...BDS fans should totally check it out) but I decided I couldn't keep it from all the Erik and Vivienne diehards any longer. May I present the latest little vignette from our lovebirds? A little kink, a little fluff, that kind of thing; you should also know that as you're reading this, there is another adventure in Vienna in progress!

One week was hardly enough time to condition myself to such a dramatic twist in a life already more dramatic than any opera. Yet I hardly cared that my world had been thrown off course again, not when the divergence made me the happiest I had been in all my years. One week ago, I stood before a priest with my own sweet Vivienne, and she married me. It was no small joy to finally be like any other man and have a wife to love and cherish, but that was a mere trifle compared to such a union with my little phoenix, a union nothing on earth could sever.

The moment we stepped off the train in Vienna, she was wide-eyed with delight and excitement, embracing the city with open arms and a whole heart. As much as she adored seeing it, I adored seeing it again through her eyes, with the uninhibited joy and vigor of the young and spirited. I had an old love affair with Vienna that was rekindled with my lovely bride, its dazzling architecture, rich musical history-Mozart himself had lived, worked, and performed here!-and the Danube winding its way toward the distant sea in an unacknowledged waltz with the city and the people in it.

But I would be lying if I said I didn't take an indecent pleasure in the moments when Vivienne and I kept to our hotel suite for an altogether different kind of waltz of our own...

She sat before the vanity one night, brushing out her long hair before bed. I stood in the doorway of the bedroom, filling my eyes with her, the lamplight casting a burnished glow on her skin, her hair flashing copper and her wedding ring blazing. I knew the feel of her as I watched her, the warmth of her body and the silk of that fiery mane, and my fingers tingled with the urge to touch her.

I crossed the room to stand behind her and took the brush from her, performing the task for her. She smiled at me in the mirror and I bent to kiss the top of her head.

"Where are we going tomorrow?" she asked.

"We can go anywhere your heart desires," I told her, setting the brush aside as I finished but continuing to run my hands through her hair. "Tonight, however, I have something else in mind."

"Oh? And what's that?"

I smiled and drew a certain length of catgut from my pocket.

She raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?" she repeated.

My smile grew. "You probably don't remember seeing this," I answered. "The first time I saw you, I had every intention of using it on you." I draped the lasso loosely around her neck and put my hands on her shoulders, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Seeing you now," I went on, slinding my hands down her arms, "I think I want to use it on you after all." I curled my fingers around her wrists, brushing gently across her scars.

She grinned as she understood my meaning. "Do you, now?" she questioned.

"I do," I told her, releasing her wrists to unlace her nightgown. "Indulge me, Vivienne. Your ready cooperation would simplify things, but if I have to exercise my lawful authority as your husband, I will."

"Authority?" she challenged, rising to her feet and turning to face me. The half-laced nightgown slid down her body, baring her shoulders, and the lasso lay coiled about her throat, the slim cord marking her mine as much as the ring on her finger. Wound around her as a tool of seduction, I found it highly erotic.

"Since when have you ever had any real authority over me?" she asked, stepping closer. She unbuckled my belt and slid her hand into my trousers, and if I thought I was skilled with my hands, she certainly had talent as well. I was powerless in her grasp, shivers of pleasure racing along my body, and she laughed. "What authority do you have right now, monsieur?"

"Not much," I conceded. I lifted the lasso over her head and closed my hand over hers, steering her for a moment, then added, "But I have enough." I drew her hand away before she could react to my words and slipped the rope over her wrist. With her squeal of surprise in my ears, I spun her in my arms and secured her other hand in front of her, then scooped her up and carried her to the bed.

She wriggled and squirmed like a playful kitten as I laid her down and tied her to the headboard, securing her hands above her head. "All right," she said, giggling and snickering, "you made your point. You can untie me now."

"I don't think so," I replied, checking the rope. It wasn't too tight, but she wouldn't be getting free anytime soon. "I need to hear it from your own pretty lips. Who has the authority, Vivienne?"

She gave me a doe-eyed, innocent look. "Why, you do, of course."

I grinned. "Don't patronize me, madame." Madame... I savored the word and its every nuance. My wife in my bed, waiting for me to make love to her. "Do you want to play a game, little phoenix?"

"It would seem I can't refuse," she replied, tugging uselessly at the rope around her wrists. "What sort of game do you want to play?"

I chuckled and reached underneath her nightgown, running my hand along the inside of her leg and watching her expression. Light danced in her green eyes as she met my gaze, a smile spreading across her face when I slid my fingers into her body and began to stroke her. "I like this game," she told me.

I smiled and kept quiet, feeling her hot and slick against my skin. I was in no hurry, moving slowly and deliberately as her passion escalated little by little. Doubtless she would moan and shout before I was through, but for now I wanted her to purr.

And purr she did, closing her eyes and sighing, that pleased smile still on her lips. I carried on until she began to mewl softly and her limbs began to quiver, then I drew away.

Her eyes snapped open. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Don't fret, my love," I answered her, raising her nightgown higher. "I just want to be able to see you." She obligingly shifted her weight as I drew up the gown and bared her body, watching me as I devoured her with my eyes. "Beautiful as a goddess," I said, brushing my fingertips across her breasts and leaning down to kiss her. She trembled as I touched her, rising up to me as far as the rope would allow. I moved my hand down over her navel again, halting my progress back to where she wanted me, then said, "I need more rope."

"What for?" she asked, her breath coming short as I left the bed and began to rummage through our things. We hadn't brought much with us in the way of luggage, but I had certainly come prepared for our honeymoon, stowing a few extra items in my violin case. I returned to her with more cord and went to her feet, caressing her bare calf before looping the rope around her ankle. "What are you doing?" she asked again.

"I think I've been rather lenient with you thus far," I told her, tying a knot as firm as I could before securing the other end to the bedpost. "I've let you have your way in the course of our liason, but now that we're properly married it's time that you learned to be a bit more obedient."

"Is this about your authority again?" she asked, watching me as I went to her other foot and tied it in the same manner.

I stood back to admire my work. She lay exposed and vulnerable, her hands immobile over her head and her legs spread wide. I drank in the glory of her, her pale skin bathed in lamp light, her fiery hair burning bright but not half as much as her eyes, blazing emeralds fixed on me with so much passion and curiosity. "I've never seen anything like you, little phoenix," I told her.

She gave a sweet sigh as I reached out and stroked her again. "Erik..."

"Do you remember the first time I touched you like this?" I asked, speaking in whispers.

"Yes," she murmured, the emeralds of her eyes flashing sparks, "oh yes..."

"I never told you how amazing it was," I said, "to feel you so wet and eager and hear your beautiful cries in my ears. I wanted so much more from you that I nearly lost my mind...I wanted as much as I could take..."

"Then take it now," she urged breathlessly. "Erik, please take it..."

I smiled and kissed her again and she parted her lips, her tongue searching for mine. I brought my free hand up to her face, stroking her cheekbone with my thumb and running my fingers through her hair. I took my other hand away again and cradled her face between my palms, closing my eyes as I kissed her more deeply. She pressed her body against me, expressing her unfulfillment in a pitiful whimper, but I spoke again. "I haven't told you the rules of the game, Vivienne."

"Rules?" she questioned, the word an exhalation of desire.

"Just two," I told her. "You will not close your eyes even once, but keep them on me at all times. And you will not make one sound, or the game is over immediately."

Her brow furrowed, then her eyes widened as she understood. "Erik, that's not fair!" she burst out. "I can't keep quiet to save my life! You said so yourself!"

"Those are the rules," I told her, a laugh creeping into my voice. "You'll keep quiet if you want any satisfaction tonight." I touched her again; she was ready for whatever I wanted to do to her, and it took all of my self-control not to take her then and there. "Do you want to play?"

She gave an aggrieved huff. "Yes, Erik."

I drew my hand away in warning. "Vivienne..."

She fixed me with a look of adorable annoyance and nodded.

I smiled. "Keep your eyes on me, little phoenix." I felt her gaze as I began my journey across her soft flesh, kissing her neck and making my way down to her breasts. I glanced up at her face, as open and rapt as it only ever was when we were alone together, then at her hands, clutching the rope binding her to the bed until her knuckles turned white. She had steeled herself to the game, and I was determined to push her as far as she would go.

I directed my attention back to my task, kissing and tasting while my hands continued to roam. The heat in her skin seared me as I touched her, heat beyond the fires of life and even desire. This fire was hers alone, I was sure of it, and she chose to give it to me. She drew a ragged breath as I kissed where my fingers had already taken her to the brink of ecstasy; I looked up at her, her jaw clenched against sound and her eyes locked with mine, then I began to circle and stroke with my tongue, teasing in the patterns she liked best. I watched her as she began to climb again, shaking and thrashing but remaining silent, and I slid my fingers inside her to tease her even more. She almost closed her eyes, the lids fluttering for an instant, and her breath came in short, urgent bursts. She tightened rhythmically around my fingers and just as I sensed her about to surrender I left off again, grinning as I asked, "Do you remember the first time I kissed you like this?"

She gave an agitated huff and I swear she almost rolled her eyes as she nodded.

"That was the first time we made love," I added, brushing my hand along her thigh and further tantalizing her. She gave the tiniest groan and struggled against her bindings, her hips bucking upward. It drove her mad when I did this, taking her higher and higher yet never letting her fly. She never said a word but she still found ways to make her displeasure known, glaring at me through her fierce concentration with reproach in her glassy eyes.

My smile widened at her reaction and her struggle to obey my rules but my voice went lower and rougher, my own reaction in response to the memories. "We've done so much since that night, but I still haven't forgotten a single moment. How you trusted me, how it felt to hold you, please you, lose myself inside you..." I forgot the game for a moment, caressing her warm skin and closing my eyes as I bowed my head and rested my cheek on her stomach. "I never felt so loved, little phoenix..."

She relaxed beneath my words, disarmed by such tenderness in the midst of such fever. She hung by a moment I didn't want to let go of so soon, and I held her close to me, breathing her into my lungs, feeling desire course strong in my blood and love through every inch of my soul. "My sweet Vivienne," I murmured, brushing the inside of her thigh again. She shivered, a whimper catching in her throat.

I turned back to her; she had her eyes shut tight when she thought I couldn't see her. "You know the rules, little phoenix," I chided. "You have to look at me." Her eyes snapped open again, the furor of her emotions twisting in their depths. "Look at me," I repeated, touching her again. I couldn't hold back a groan at how hot and wet she was. "God, Vivienne, you feel so amazing. Do you know how much I want to be inside you right now?" I couldn't do more than touch her when she was this close to ecstasy and her body thrummed with tension as I brushed my fingertips over her clit. Such an action at a moment like this would ordinarily provoke enough moaning and begging that I wouldn't resist giving her what she wanted, but her control was extraordinary; the only noise she made was a squeak so tiny I wasn't sure I heard it at all. "You want it too, don't you?" I asked, my voice held soft and demanding. "Tell me, my love." She opened her mouth and I cut her off. "Not a sound, remember. Tell me, do you want me inside you?"

She nodded energetically and lifted her hips again. Even when speech was forbidden, she still found ways to tell me what she wanted. I could hardly deny her anymore, could I?

I slid my fingers deep and with a few deft movements it was finished, her body writhing and twisting against the ropes. I watched her watching me, fighting so hard to stay quiet when I knew she wanted to scream out her pleasure. Her eyes were wild and intense, her desperate gaze riveted to mine with everything she had. She couldn't hold out much longer...before the first orgasm could fade into the background I bent my head to her womanhood again, her taste dancing on my tongue as I kept stroking and circling, and within moments she came again, arching impossibly off the bed and-finally-breaking her silence and shouting my name.

Just like that, I drew away with a wicked grin. "I'm sorry, Vivienne," I told her with mock regret. "You knew the rules, after all." I rose from the bed and turned away from her.

"What?" she burst out, breathless and almost hysterical. "Erik, you can't be serious-"

"I think I'll go have a rest now," I said lazily. I turned down the lamp and the room fell into total darkness. "Good night, little phoenix."

"Erik, wait!" In the dark, I could see her renew her struggle against the rope with determination that bordered on desperation. "Don't you dare leave me here!"

Grinning shamelessly, I went to the bedroom door and closed it as if I had left the room, though I continued to watch her, not needing the light to see in the dark. I had to hold in my laughter as she cursed and fought to escape her bonds, calling out again, "Damn it, Erik, come back! Get in here right now, or so help me God, when I get loose-" She broke off with a growl, spouting profanity I had no idea she even knew. Helpless? Frustrated? No, she was furious! I doubled over, my hand clasped over my mouth, certain I was about to break a rib trying not to laugh out loud and give myself away.

I left her like that for several minutes, watching her squirm and struggle, her body flushed and shaking to confirm her agitation. Eventually she exhausted herself and gave up, calling out, "Erik, please! You can't leave me like this!"

All right, you bastard, you've tormented her enough... I went to the bed and touched the rope at her wrists, extending a caress to her hands and arms. "Like this, you mean?" I asked. I moved my hand along her naked body, pausing between her legs where she was still so wet and her warmth so inviting. "Or do you mean like this?"

"You son of a bitch," she groaned. "I swear, I'll make you pay for this if it's the last thing I do!"

I grinned. "No sound, Vivienne. The rules..."

"To hell with your damned rules, Erik!"

"It was unkind of me, wasn't it?" I asked, stroking again and feeling myself burn from the inside out as she whimpered and wept under the attention. She consumed me until I was on fire with want of her; I would soon fall to ash and ember if I held out any longer. "Can you take much more, Vivienne?" I asked, pushing the words past the catch in my throat.

She moaned anew and arched up to my fingers, urging me on. "Stop playing with me," she insisted. "I can take whatever you'll give me. Erik, please!"

I was shaking as badly as she was, reaching up to untie the rope and free her hands. She sat up and took off her night gown, flinging it across the room and fumbling with the ropes at her ankles while I rushed to undress, fingers struggling with uncooperative buttons when they hungered for warm skin. She edged closer to assist me, and every accidental touch sent jolts of desire racing through us until we were dizzy and breathless.

When I was finally undressed, she took my hands in a desperate grip and lay back on the bed, drawing me with her. I sheathed myself inside her and then I was as lost as she was, love and lust coalescing into one.

We had no breath for words, so we spoke with our hands, a conversation that needed no sound for understanding. Her fingers trailed up and down my back, clutching tight at my shoulders as our bodies moved in perfect rhythm. I touched her face, her hair, her breasts, every part of her I could reach. She pulled me in for a deep, hungry kiss, moaning low in her chest and her grip more desperate than ever. I tore my lips away and whispered in her ear, "Don't forget to breathe, Vivienne."

She filled her lungs with a gasp, forcing the air out again in a piercing cry as she began to climax. I thrust harder and she grew louder, wrapping herself tighter around me in her fervor. I reached my peak just as I felt her relax beneath me and I lowered myself to the bed beside her, unwilling to let her out of my arms.

She gave a sigh and said, "I can't see you."

"I'm still here," I assured her, kissing her forehead and the tip of her nose.

She ran her fingers across my face, tracing the ugly features as well as the normal. "I can see your eyes," she told me. "I love the way they glow when it's dark. I wish I could see at night the way you do."

"I wish that, too," I replied, "as long as you had something as beautiful to see as I do."

She smiled at me, and it was the last thing I saw as fatigue overcame me and I drifted off to sleep.

I don't know how long it was until I woke up, or even what woke me in the first place, but Vivienne was no longer beside me when I opened my eyes. I looked around me and tried to sit up, but there was something restraining my arms. In fact, I couldn't move at all. No, she didn't... I looked up at my wrists and down at my ankles and sure enough, she had tied me to the bed. I worked at the ropes, confident I could free myself, but the knots were strong and resisted my efforts.

"You're perhaps surprised?"

I turned my head to see her standing beside the bed, lighting a lamp and wearing her dressing gown and a mischievous smile. "Surprised you retaliated in this fashion?" I asked. "Surprised you waited until I was asleep and vulnerable? Of course not. What surprises me," I tried once again to outmaneuver my bonds and failed, "is that you can tie such good knots."

"I have my secrets," she replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Her eyes wandered up and down my body and her smile widened, smug and complacent.

"Enjoying yourself?" I asked.

"I feel like I deserve some kind of prize," she confessed. "I have the infamous, all-powerful Phantom of the Opera at my mercy."

"You've had him at your mercy for quite some time, my dear, so I wouldn't start feeling too proud of yourself."

"Well, that can't be right," she said amiably. "How can you be at my mercy, and I be under your authority at the same time?"

"I suppose there is some give and take," I told her, laying still and resigning myself to whatever she had planned. Let her play her game. It's only fair.

She nodded her agreement, running her hand oh so gently over my chest and stomach. I drew in a sharp breath at the flutter that stirred in my skin and tried to edge away, but I was restricted by my own traitorous lasso. "That tickles," I said.

"Does it?" She carried on mercilessly until I matched her earlier struggles, thrashing and laughing until I could scarcely breathe. "Vivienne! Please!"

"Do you want to play a game?" she asked sweetly, her hand coming to a stop.

"Oh, how amusing, if not the slightest bit original," I replied. "I hear imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

"Then I'm about to pay you quite the compliment." She shed her dressing gown and stood bare before me, and again I marveled at how she seemed to glow in the lamp light. God, she was so beautiful, and I could feel my body respond to her in a throbbing rush of blood.

She gave a provocative grin at my reaction, then picked up my fallen cravat from the floor. She wound it through her hands and returned to me. "What are you going to do with that?" I asked, though I could already guess.

"I'm adding a few rules of my own," she replied. "It would do no good to turn out the light, with those wonderful eyes of yours."

"You would deprive me of the sight of you? I didn't know you could be so heartless."

She only continued to smile, covering my eyes and knotting her makeshift blindfold behind my head, cutting off my vision. "No peeking," she chided.

"Have no fear of that," I assured her. "I can't see a thing." I waited on tenterhooks for her to make her first move, feeling a pleasant tingle of anticipation in my veins. "What are your rules, dear Vivienne?"

She didn't answer at first. I sensed movement beside me and felt her lips against mine, pure and sweet but growing more and more wanton. I knew the taste of fire as she kissed me, her passion a scorcher sending sparks racing through me. I drew my lips away to murmur, "Take your time, little phoenix. I find this rather exciting."

"Yes, I had noticed," she remarked, and her hand brushed my erection. I couldn't help but grin as she stroked and fondled, her lips raining soft kisses across my skin that stirred lust to greater intensity. I breathed her name into the silence, getting an unexpected thrill out of not knowing what she would do next. She breathed soft against my ear and I heard her whisper, "There is only one rule, Erik. You have to beg for mercy."

I felt another jolt of desire at her words, then her lips closed around my manhood moments later. "You might want to try something else," I goaded. "I'm enjoying this too much for it to qualify as your revenge."

She ignored me, sucking gently as her tongue moved up and down along my shaft, and I didn't try to speak again, too swept away for words. She brought me to the edge so slowly I could feel my patience straining, trying not to give in to her rule so soon...then just as I was outside pleasure's door she changed tactics, suddenly using her teeth and reaching up to my chest to give my nipple a sharp pinch.

I crashed back to earth in an instant, still hanging by that thread of denied ecstasy. "Vivienne!"

She giggled impishly and spent the night repaying me measure for measure the games I had played with her, and we greeted the dawn with a lovemaking so intense and fierce I felt sure we would wake half the hotel with our enthusiasm. She was a wild woman, my Vivienne, and I wouldn't tame her even if I could. Spending the rest of my days with a wife to love was a blessing; spending a lifetime with my little phoenix was sure to be nothing less than an adventure.

For the sake of the newlyweds and in support of further adventures, leave a review on your way out. It only takes a moment! :)