I woke and I knew it was late into the night. Night time had a presence that you could feel, if you knew what to search for, a sharpening of senses that helped me to observe the warm lithe body tucked next to mine. I should have been startled, this had certainly never occurred to me before, but it felt so novel to feel the warmth coming from another human being, that I just laid there, enjoying the press of Marieange's form.

She was frightened and her father was useless to her, through some of his own errors. It was natural for her to feel safe in my presence. I was her only hope.

As I looked around the room, wondering how long Marieange had been there and if she was asleep, I realized I was in her bedroom. I reached up and reclaimed the knife from under the pillow and put it on the ground for safer keeping. Marieange squirmed closer at my movement and my body was feeling a little excited at her proximity on a bed and I started sliding away. Her arm came around my waist to hold me still and she lifted her head onto my chest.

"Part of me is shocked by my own behavior and part of me ..." she trailed off as her hand tightened around me. "I just...I need...someone to hold onto."

I relaxed and slid my arm behind her to cup her shoulder firmly. I tried to tell myself not to move and take advantage of this fine young woman's dire situation and endless trust, but my hand had other ideas. We were alone and her father couldn't very well get up to investigate her whereabouts.

My hand rejoiced in the feel of her long warm braid of hair, the curve of her skull, her delicate neck, her smoothly clothed, curved back, to the height of my exploration, the swell of her ass. My grip tightened at the feel of her rump and my fingers pressed into her flesh. Her leg hitched up over mine, not discouraging me in the slightest and she stretched against me, pushing her backside into my hand with a tiny whimper.

My heart was pounding and I knew she could feel it too with her cheek upon my chest. "Ramik?" She whispered, part question and part giving permission as her hand drifted over my hip and down the side of my leg.

"Marieange..." Her name rolled off my tongue and I wanted to pull her on top of me, roll on top of her, ravage her mouth and neck and breasts, discover all the untold secrets that lay between a woman's legs...I pushed away and sat up to put my feet back on solid ground. I covered the mask with one hand, pressing it against my misshapen face, while I cursed my deprived body. Why now?

"I was tired. I'm sorry, Ramik, I should not have laid in bed with you, but sleeping next to you...that is the first peaceful sleep I've had in weeks. I'm sorry if I woke you." I glanced back at her bowed head and knew I had to say something eloquent. I went from groping her ass to shoving her away and she was apologizing to me?

"I am behaving as a boar. Please forgive me, Marieange. I find myself drawn to you." I wanted her to know she was not alone in her desires. "But now is not the time for this."

"I understand, of course." She breathed out, not daring to look at me, and I grabbed her to pull her nose to nose and give her a shake.

"I need to have my wits about me if I'm to be any good to you, and your presence seems to make me lose my wits!" Her wide eyes softened and her hands curled around my neck quickly.

"Let's lose our wits for just a minute..." Her eyes fluttered shut a moment before her mouth touched mine shyly and hesitantly. She seemed to be reading what my reaction would be, but I was too shocked to move her away from me. She pressed her mouth and body more firmly onto me and I did lose my wits.

She was warm and soft and she smelled like food and flowers. I'd never felt so flushed with heat in all my life and I growled as I pulled her all the way into my lap. I kissed her back, hungry for the experience, hungry for the discovery. I licked her lips and when they opened for me I let my tongue twirl into her soft wet mouth to taste the sweetness within. Her hands moved across my chest up into my hair and I was encouraged to continue by the grasp of her slender fingers, pulling me closer. We both tilted our heads sideways to deepen the kiss and I wanted more and more, like a drum, beating it's rhythm faster and faster inside me, urging me to take more from her.

My hands itched to feel her and without thinking I was sliding my hands down over her generous rear end, up her back, hugging her shoulders. I braced one hand on the back of her neck and slid the other curious hand over her shoulder to the curve of her breast. The feel of it on my hand only made me imagine what it would feel like bare, and my hand tightened. She moaned delicately at my touch and the sound brought my senses back.

If I was attacked right now, I would have no chance of saving either one of us. And was I not supposed to be saving her from being used in this manner?

I buried my masked face in her neck and inhaled her warmth. Tingles were racing over my skin and she shuddered in my lap. I still had her wrapped in my arms and letting go of her was proving a test of wills. As if reading my mind Marieange sighed, "Don't ever let go," in my ear as she curled into me.

I held her tight as my racing pulse returned to normal, but I did have to let go eventually. I finally lifted her and laid her on her bed. "I only let go because I must." I traced her cheek and then pulled the covers over her and vacated her room.

I let her sleep until the sun was almost due, pacing the small area at the back of the house she shared with her father, and listening for any sounds in the outer area. Just before sunrise I woke her gently. I needed to take up post at the entrance and she had to barricade the door behind me.

Her lashes fluttered and when she beheld my masked face a smile spread her lips. I'd never thought any woman would look upon me so graciously, or so adoringly. I never imagined someone would look beyond the mask, not even ask to see beneath it, and just be happy for my presence. I never imagined I would look upon a woman and feel this tenderness and this sense of welcome and...belonging.

"Good morning." I touched her temple and cheek, feeling a stirring of warmth through me.

"Good morning, Ramik." Her voice was soft and intimate as her eyes drank their fill of my countenance. The way she looked at me made me almost forget why I was waking her, and I sat, dumbfounded, on the edge of her bed.

"Did you still sleep well...after I left?" Perhaps I should get over my unease and sleep next to her so her nights would be easier. As long as I stayed ready, it would not hurt me to do that for her.

"Mmm hmm," her soft answer hummed through me as her fingers trailed down my arm to my hand. Our fingers spread to accommodate one another and our hands slid together, sealing my palm, and stunted heart, into her girlish hand. "Your presence fills me with calm." She whispered as her other hand traced the veins on the back of my hand.

"I must take up my post." I felt abrupt and rude but it was the truth. The sun would not wait. "It is almost daylight."

Her grip tightened, pulling my hand close in a second of fear. I saw it flash through her clear eyes, but she nodded and sat up. "I will set the barricade again."

She smoothed down her dress and tried to smooth her hair, as if trying to smooth her nerves before helping me to remove furniture. "Do you think they will come today?" Her voice was small.

"I have no way to know." I replied gently. "The snow is still falling quite fierce. They may wait for it to abate." I grimaced at my unintentional rhyming but Marieange touched me and I glanced over.

"I...Ramik...please...?"

She looked scared out of her mind suddenly and I looked behind me just to be sure. "What is it?" I took her by the arms.

"These men...they are evil." Her lips were trembling and I wondered how she would feel if she knew I'd killed two men, buried them hastily and then felt her feminine form with the same death dealing hands.

"I have dealt with evil men, Marieange." I turned back to our task and felt her sag slightly as I released her. "There are those who would call me evil." I even believed it myself. How could I kill people so effortlessly, so efficiently and not have some essence of a demon inside me?

She helped me silently and when I stepped out into the hall with my weapons she found her voice. "My dark knight?"

I raised my brow at my undeserved title and she rushed forward, kissed my masked cheek briefly and then fled behind the closed door. I stood stunned for a moment and then stalked angrily to the front room.

What was wrong with me? I was letting her get under my skin and it was going to get me killed. Why exactly was I risking staying in the area for her? I could be found out. And what was I planning when her attackers came? Would I kill them all, here in her home and inn? Stain the floor with their blood and then clean it up for her so she would never see the evidence?

I was a damn fool. Did I think she would reveal the secrets of her body after I admitted to killing her attackers? What rubbish. She would cower from me in fear as well. Rightly so.

I spent the entire day frowning and talking myself into leaving. By nightfall my head was aching and there was still no sign of anyone. I knocked for her to let me in and her flushed expectant face pierced my chest with pain.

I merely shook my head and started replacing all the furniture.

We ate and sat with her blind father and she offered me her bed once more but I declined this time. In the morning she once more let me out. The storm was slowing and I felt that today would bring me action but by nightfall I was eating and visiting with the blind man again, until he fell into fitful slumber. Marieange had taken down her hair and she looked so sweet and delectable I felt like a lecher for allowing myself to gaze at her unchecked by her guardian. She once more offered her bed and I flatly refused.

"I cannot sleep." I moved to the fire and roughly turned the logs. She slowly approached and I could feel those sea green eyes fixed on my back.

"What troubles you, my knight?"

Her blind trust in me grated my nerves and I threw the poker to the hearth and turned angrily. "Do not call me that!" Her brow furrowed at me. "I am a murderer, an assassin! I do not deserve that title nor do I want it!"

"Ramik..."

"You have trapped me here!" I shouted at her ridiculously, raging my pent up aggression directly at her.

"You are not tra..."

"You have bound me to you! I had no choice but to comply!" I advanced on her and grabbed her wrist to wrench her closer. "I have stayed here against all my instincts to leave and what for? For some imagined assailant who will never come? For the foolish mistakes your father made?"

She was close to tears but she did not shy away from my anger. "I thought you stayed...because of me?" Her voice was whisper soft and those sweet soft lips trembled. "You kissed me back..."

"Of course I kissed you back! It felt damn good." So did her warm body this close to mine...

"I...I will give you...whatever you desire..." She was breathy, stepping closer to me and I growled low and dropped her wrist, turning from her in disgust.

I was a brute and a fool...

"Please Ramik, don't leave me to die..." she whimpered.

I was a ridiculous fool...

"I will not leave you." I turned and met her teary gaze, my anger spent. "I apologize, Marieange."

She shook her head wildly, unable to say anything and then she fled the room. The space back here was small and I could clearly hear her throw herself on her bed and cry great wracking sobs. I rubbed at my temples and followed her in.

"Marieange..."

"Go away! I'm just a stupid girl! I'm not worth saving!"

I sighed and pinched my nose. "You are not stupid," I thought it best to start there.

"Go away..." She said again and though she spoke the words, I did not believe them. I sat on her bed and put my hand on her gracefully curved back.

"You are a beautiful young woman. I am very proud to save you from any threat you feel. I have never...I have never felt..." I hesitated to tell her how inexperienced I was with women and Marieange sat up to push her long hair out of her face.

She met my eyes and I swear I felt a sizzle of fire down my back. She touched my chin and my heart started racing. Her lashes fluttered down and she leaned close, her face rubbed my mask.

"Marieagne...?" She shushed me.

"Tell me this doesn't feel right. Tell me it doesn't feel amazing and I'll stop and never touch you again..."

"Marieange..." I groaned and cupped her face in my hands feeling very off balance. "How can you let yourself feel this way for someone like me?" Our faces were together and my eyes were closed in defiance of such a dream.

"No one can choose where they will love." Her lips brushed mine and I fully lost myself in her embrace.

Her mouth was a warm welcoming haven and I guided her down into the pillows with a growing painful pleasure in the center of my being. She arched into me as we laid out on her bed and my mind was overwhelmed with yearning.

Her hands delved into my hair and our bodies pressed in ways that had my head reeling. She yipped and suddenly pulled away, looking down my body to the straining erection in my pants. I felt my face heat, but she touched my weapon belt and whispered, "Take your belt off," in my ear.

I took a deep breath, before standing up to remove the belt, so I would not frantically tear it from my body. As I removed my multiple knives and slid the belt from the loops of my pants, Marieange watched me from her prone position. Her eyes were filled with emotion that shone from within her soul. In her mind, I was her knight in shining armour and though I felt like I was taking advantage of her, I refused to hurt her. If I rejected her now as she laid out on her bed for me it would destroy her. And if I rejected her now then I was truly an idiot and I should just impale myself on one of my own knives.

I let the belt drop to the ground and the thud had a finality to it. Marieange held a hand out to me and her eyes burned with inner fire. I knelt on the bed, drawn to the emerald flame in her eyes. She fisted her hand in my shirt and pulled me down to meet her kiss.

My senses reeled at her passion for me and I felt entirely weak in the face of it. Our kisses became harder, driven with a sense of urgency behind them and her hand slid up over my mask.

"Kiss me without your mask on, Ramik?" She whispered, with need laced through her vocals. I hesitated, a lifetime of wariness boiling to the surface.

"I cannot."

Her lips pressed all over the mask as she spoke. "You cannot or you will not?"

"Marieange ..." I lifted myself from her and I felt like every one of my muscles was strained against this. Her hands bracketed my face and her eyes searched for answers, burning with curiosity.

"Do you believe that whatever this mask hides would change how you make me feel?" Laying above her and looking into her eyes, I would believe anything she wanted me to believe. She delicately kissed my chin and then my mouth with a lazy dreaminess in her lips. "Trust me?" My ears were ringing with her plea as her hands slid down my cheeks.

I felt like I would come apart from the inside. I wanted to accede to her wishes, but I knew my face would frighten her. It frightened everyone. Her eyes were locked with mine, asking permission as her fingers slipped beneath my mask. My heart tripped unlike ever before as I felt air on my deformed face. I dropped my eyes to her throat, not wanting to see the fear and rejection on her face and I prepped myself to remove my ugly presence from her bedroom as quickly as possible.

All was still for what felt like an eternity and then her fingers curved through my hair to pull my deformed cheek against her smooth rosy one. "Oh, Ramik." My breath hitched at the feel of her face on mine and it was too much. Tears pushed to the surface and I tensed wondering if I should flee before she saw how raw I was, how unprepared I was for her sweet acceptance. "Kiss me?" She begged softly and I was forced to comply.

I buried my hands in her hair and any restraint I still held, disappeared as our mouths came together without my mask in the way. I groaned into her mouth at the indescribable closeness I'd never felt before and her arms twisted around my neck.

I was drowning in the broil of feelings inside me. Her acceptance made me feel free to behave however I desired. My hands caressed her frame, ribs and waist, hips and buttocks. She felt so good in my arms, against my hard body, I was losing my mind. I wanted to tear her clothing off and have my way with her and her hands were suddenly undoing the buttons of my shirt. I moved from her mouth as a growing smile curved my lips. She was as wound as I was.

I kissed my way down her slender neck and it arched for me. I licked at the pulse in her throat and could feel on my tongue how fast and hard her heart was beating. Her fingers were tugging at my shirt and I helped her peel the fabric off my arms and tossed it carelessly behind us. I lost no time in putting my mouth back on her delectable neck and her hands smoothed over my shoulders onto my back.

My body rippled at the feel of her dainty hands touching me, learning the feel of me. She seemed to have no inhibition in feeling every inch of my naked torso. She seemed to relish in the feel of my skin and I growled into her neck as my erection throbbed painfully.

"Touch me, Ramik." She panted into my hair, rocking our bodies closer. "I want you to touch me...pleeeeease."

Time slowed and my heart was suddenly slugging along so slowly that I thought I was dying. "Touch me..." She whispered again, rolling her hips provocatively. "I want you to..." She coiled her arms around my neck and when our lips met I could feel the fire burning inside her. The same fire was burning down the center of my chest and one hand roved roughly up over her breast. I imagined taking her breast into my mouth as I thrust my tongue deeper into her mouth and my grip flexed around her. She moaned and our bodies rolled together to bring me between her legs. Her skirts flattened beneath me and in a lust so pure and mindless, I rocked my hips up even though layers of clothing still kept me from feeling the embrace of her body.

"Agi?" Her father's weak thready voice called from across the hall and she stiffened beneath me. Her breath panted once, twice in my ear and she began trying to escape from under me. My brain couldn't fully understand what was happening, and she finally freed herself from beneath me and quickly checked her dress before rushing out of her bedroom.

I could hear the murmur of her voice soothing her father and still had barely moved from where she left me. My heart was pounding and my entire body was trembling. I shook my head to try to clear it and rolled to my back. I felt my mask under me and covered my deformed face in disbelief before running my hands through my hair.

What was I doing?

I gathered my wits, controlled my ardor, pushing it firmly back into the tiny box in the back of my mind, and replaced my mask.

By the time she returned, my shirt was also replaced and I was re-threading my belt through my pants. She leaned against the door frame and watched me until I finished up and turned towards her.

"You are beautiful." She whispered with that fire in her eyes and before I could form any response, scoff, laugh, jeer, or let my mouth drop open, she turned away.

We tiptoed around each other for the rest of the evening. I tried to convince her to go to sleep but she insisted on sitting with me. We barely spoke, due to my inability to think of anything except for her passion filled voice begging me to touch her, and also because her father could not get back to sleep. I didn't feel comfortable discussing anything that just happened within his ear shot. Losing one sense would only make his others more sensitive so instead we said nothing to each other.

I knew I was scowling dreadfully. I only hoped she did not think she was the cause. I mean, she was the cause, but it was not in a bad sense. She was the reason for my discomfort but I was not entirely displeased with that discomfort.

I wasn't making any sense, even my own thoughts were scattered and half formed and I wondered if she was thinking of how I felt under her hands as much as I was thinking of how she felt in mine. I glanced at her and found her asleep in her chair. Her lips were gently parted, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

I imagined some unknown assailant coming for her and anger seethed from inside me. What was this pain in my chest? I leaned over her and stared at her lashes on her cheeks, the pert little nose and her lips. Her sweet, soft, pink lips beckoned to me and I was leaning closer and closer...

I straightened and checked my shirt, mask and belt as if to make sure they were still on. Is this what she spoke of? This feeling in my chest...

I traced her cheek slowly with one fingertip and then scooped her up into my arms. I stood for a moment holding her body curled to mine and then took her to her bed. As I laid her down she smiled and curled into a ball. I gazed at her, wondering if she would mind if I curled up next to her.

What nonsense.

I checked in on the blind man and he looked over as if he could sense me looking in on him. "Agi?" A smile curled his lips.

"It is only I, Monsieur."

His smile grew as his head fell back to the pillow. "Forgive my informality. Marieagne does not like that nickname. You would be wise not to use it, sir. You should know that I dreamt of you," he coughed and the sound had me approaching to make sure he was alright. "You have been so kind to us. You came for her, I know you have..."

"Marieange?" My voice sounded so timid that I wondered if I was dreaming. I never sounded so unsure.

"She is a good soul, God would not forsake her." The angry red x over each eye seemed to pierce me through and through. "Take care of her..." he slumped to the bed and I checked his pulse thinking he'd spoken his last words. I was glad to feel his heart thumping rhythmically under my touch.

I left his room and looked in on his daughter. I'd meant to only glance, just to see if she still slept, but I found my body had other ideas.

I stood over her, struggling with my innermost desires. Struggling to keep them locked down and stored away. Desires were weaknesses.

Frustration built, as I stared down at her peaceful sleeping face. I must leave this place. I must leave her...

I removed my weapon belt for the second time that night, and curled my body behind Marieange's, holding her close as she slept.

It was wrong in so many ways, but her backside shuffled back and her hand helped to guide my arm around her, and I fell asleep on a pillow of her hair.

o.o.o

I slept like the dead. So incredibly blissfully warm, I'd never been so warm and content, my body was in a state of utter relaxation. I finally began to rouse, slowly crawling towards consciousness and Marieange stirred in my arms. I jerked at finding myself next to her and she made a sound like she was in pain.

"My hair!" She was wincing as I scrambled back off her bed, pulling some long hairs out as they were somehow wound around me or caught in my clothing.

"I'm sorry!" I held out my hands to keep her calm. "I should not have laid down..." I was frantically whispering my apologies but she only smiled as she rubbed at her scalp.

"Did I not do the exact same to you?" Her smile was all-knowing and those light filled eyes drowned me in their fathomless, accepting depths. "You slept well though?"

My hands dropped and I found myself returning her smile. "I did." We gazed silently for a moment and as I recalled what my duty here was, the smile faded. "I should set up."

Her face turned serious and we began removing furniture from the barricade. I wondered at my foolish behavior. Laying next to her like a child seeking comfort? How weak had offered sex made me? Perhaps I should just get it over with and then the tension of it wouldn't hang over us so heavily. Then I could just kill her assailants, tip my hat and be on my way.

It was all I could think of all day. Tonight. I would seduce her and give in to this attraction between us. Even if the men came today, I would have my fill of her tonight.

But, the men did not come. No one came. I found it decidedly odd that the night I arrived was a flurry of activity and now not a soul would enter those doors.

I was in a strange mood when I knocked on the door to be let in. I knew I would give in to her tonight, give in to myself. I wanted her painfully and since her lips had quietly begged the words touch me, it was all I wanted to do. Touch her and touch her until the world melted to nothing along with my brains.

I knocked again, impatient to see her face, and then hissed and spun around and drew a blade. I knew there was no one there behind me, and the blade was pointless, but a terrible thought had just occurred.

Marieange never took this long to come to me.

I raced down the hall and out into the dark night. I couldn't very well get in through the doors since they were barricaded but windows...

I was not thinking as I hacked at the carefully tied knots holding the shutters in place. How could anything be wrong inside if no one could actually get inside? The rational side of my brain was shouting at this new caring side that Marieange had awoken within me. What are you doing? Approach with caution! But I could feel it was not right within the walls. I knew something was badly wrong.

I climbed in the window and listened to the silence that assaulted me. I knew there could be no one here, but who was to be expected, but I hesitated to call out and reveal my presence. I crept through the silent back rooms looking for Marieange. Her father was asleep, which accounted for his silence, and I finally moved to the last door of my search. She was in the bathing room. I knew I should leave her be, but I could not shake that uncomfortable feeling.

I tried the knob and the door opened inward. "Marieange?" I called very, very softly, but she did not answer. Where the hell was she?

I looked in and found her curled on the floor rocking back and forth, her face buried in her knees, with nothing but a towel around her. I stopped and stared at the wet mass of her hair, spared a glance at the bathtub full of water, and then back at her bare arms clutched around her legs. She was naked.

It was the foremost thought in my head even though I knew I was missing something important. She was still unaware of my presence so I backed out and went into her father's room. As I approached the bed I realized he was not just sleeping, but eternally sleeping.

I felt my face hardening and turned and put my fist through the wall. Weak man, my head shouted, either at me or the dead man. I squeezed my eyes shut as my heart bled for Marieange, but at the extreme pain in my chest I felt my heart hardening once more in reaction. This is why I should not have let her in. This is why...why...why...

I sped into action. I fetched the blanket from her bed and went back to her. The blanket draped over her easily enough but when I moved to pick her up she suddenly came to life.

"NO!" She shrugged away from me, swatting my hands away and continued rocking. I stood there for a moment, not knowing how to proceed, and then I went to light a fire.

I collapsed into the chair and tried to understand her reactions. Within minutes I was pulling my hair out. Why...why...why...

I heard movement and jumped up. She stood there with the blanket clutched around her, her hair slicked to her skull.

"He died." Her sorrow etched in her face, her stance, into her very soul.

"I know." I didn't know what else to say and now didn't know if she even wanted me to hold her after her recent rejection.

"What am I going to do?" She started to weep and I could no more stop myself from going to her then stop myself from breathing. I pretended I was a cold hearted wretch but inside me burned the soul of a passionate man and seeing a woman so distraught, so beyond words...seeing the woman who had opened my heart to my inner desires... I had to try to heal her.

She collapsed against me and the sobs that spilled from her mouth caused a great welling of pain inside me. I thought my heart would break from the excruciating pain.

"Let me take you to your bed." I began guiding her and her feet stumbled. She was mumbling to herself 'he's dead, he's dead,' over and over until I wanted to cover her mouth so I would not hear those words a single time more.

"Hush sweet Marieange, his earthly pain has ended." It was the only positive thing to say.

"Do you...do you believe his eyes...are restored in heaven?"

"Of course they are," I ran my hand over her wet hair as I laid her in bed. I stood over her, knowing she was completely bare and remembering my plans for tonight. I grimaced at my crassness and knelt by her. I stroked her tangled hair and let my hand linger as it caressed her back covered only in a thin blanket. My mind was still on debauchery though her father lay dead in the next room. I was a disgusting lecher. I kept my hand on her hair only and closed my eyes, attempting to channel control over my newly awakened desires.

Her breath began hitching on gasping sobs and I wondered if he'd died while she was bathing and she felt guilty, or if she'd bathed after touching his dead body to rid herself of the feel of death. It would not be the first time someone had tried to scrub death from their skin. I wondered how long he'd been dead and how long she'd been rocking on the floor of the bathing room. Her hair was still quite wet so it was possible she had only recently found him. She was having trouble breathing through her tears.

"What can I do to ease your pain?" I spoke softly wanting to help but feeling so useless to her.

She began to take deep breaths to overpower the uncontrollable sobs. She uncovered her face and her eyes were raw with pain. The sight of her beautiful soulful eyes so devoid of colour and spark made my gut wrench. "Make me forget," she whispered.

My mind raced to accomplish her request. Did I have something to drug her with? Could I maybe sing to her to lull her to sleep? Perhaps she meant she wanted me to dispose of the body and take her away from here?

"Ramik?" Her hand brought mine to her mouth and she didn't exactly kiss my fingers, it was more just to press them to her open mouth. "Take off your clothing."

o.o

Gotta love a woman who knows what she wants. An Erik that looks like Ramin...who wouldn't want that?! mmmmyum

Thanks for reading!