Chapter Ten – Ultimatum

Five Hours later after a wonderful evening in the park and then eating out at a fancy restaurant, Erik and Christine had returned happily back to Christine's house. And now at this moment they were in Christine's bed encircled in each other's arms, and giving the other endless kisses. It had been such a wonderful evening for Christine. Riding a motor bike for the first time, taking Erik to see her special place and then Erik taking her out for dinner. When they had arrived back at her house she was too exhausted to do much more. So they had gone up to her room and went straight to bed. Now as she lay in Erik's arms she couldn't have been happier and knew that Erik felt the same way himself. He was now already asleep breathing silently in and out. She smiled to herself, shut her eyes and almost immediately dropped off.

Suddenly a two hands grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back against the pillow. She gasped and tried to reach for Erik but he had vanished from beside her. She looked up and the wicked face of the devil grinned down at her. The bright hot fiery flames engulfed the room around them but just like last time it didn't touch the bed. "No! Go away!" she cried. He chuckled "Think you're so smart, eh Sugarplum? Well you're wrong, no one can overpower me. When I cast a curse on anyone it's eternal." Christine tried to summon up all the courage she had "Well I'm afraid there's been a glitch in your precious curse" She accused "You made it so Erik could NEVER be loved for himself. But I have proved you wrong, because I love him and nothing you do can break that" The devil grabbed her neck choking off her windpipe "You may believe that you're his salvation Christine, but there's no way you could have a life with him. Don't you remember he is wearing a mask? Underneath he is really a monster and a murderer. You saw him kill before you own eyes, he'll do it again trust me he will." He loosened his grip on her throat and she shook her head from side to side. "No I don't think he will. You are only saying that to scare me away from him. Well Mr it will NEVER work!" She said this with so much honesty and truth, but the wicked grin on the devil's face still remained. "My words may not scare you away but I guarantee that if you stay with him, you will receive this visit from me every night without a miss." Christine's eyes widened with terror and he nodded. "Yes, so if you leave Erik for good like a good girl I will gladly leave you alone. But if you don't, you will see a lot more of me. You may love him now but remember, you can never truly be his. No women can want a monster" He laughed loudly and Christine shook violently against his hold and screamed loudly.

She then heard Erik's voice "Christine! Christine!" She burst upwards and felt Erik's arms catch her "Erik! Help!" she cried. He held her close and stroked her hair as she cried "Shh, Christine, shh. It's alright, I'm here" She clung tightly to him as if he was her life line. "It was that devil asshole wasn't it?" he asked silently, Christine nodded and sniffed. "It was him, Oh Erik. He said that that the love we have for each other isn't enough to break your curse. And that I can never truly be yours because underneath you're still a monster and no women can want a monster. And he said that if I don't leave you, he will haunt me for the rest of my life." Erik's heart sank as he heard this. His beloved would have nightmares all the time just for being with him and loving him. Christine continued to speak through a tight throat "I can't see how we can be together for the rest of our lives if I will besentenceded to this." Erik froze as she said this. She sat up and looked him in the eye "Erik I do love you, but if I stay with you I will be haunted by that devil forever. I don't want that Erik I want a peaceful life where there's nothing to fear or be afraid of."

She dropped her gaze but Erik took her face in his hands forcing her to look at him. He wasn't going to allow that Devil Asshole to ruin all the happiness that this one day with Christine had bought to him. "Christine listen to me" he said but her eyes were still looking down. "Christine look at me" she looked up into his bright eyes. "Don't you start thinking that leaving me will fix everything because it won't. Remember I told you that I would never leave you? Well things are going to stay that way forever. That devil is never going to get between us and it's just like I said last night, our love will break his hold over…." Christine interrupted him "No! He said that our love is not enough to break it. The harder we try, the more he will come and haunt me. Erik please don't make me I'm scared! I'm…s...so scared." She broke off and shut her eyes making two tears fall down her cheeks. Erik pulled her to him again and she buried her face in his chest. "We mustn't give up, my love. If you just walk away then that's giving up. We need to keep on fighting. You're stronger and braver than you thing than you think Christine. Trust me I know. You're brave enough to sing on stage in front of hundreds of people, even enough to fire a gun. And you've got strength within you, dear one. We'll find a way through this, I promise. But it's not going to end with you trying to leave me."

Christine wiped her tears with her sleeve and Erik laid her gently back down on the soft pillows. "Sleep now my love, and I'll try to think of another way." Christine didn't want to sleep but she couldn't stay awake all night. She snuggled up against Erik who was on his side, leaning on one elbow and looking down at her. His fingers gently stroked her cheek and her eyes started to slowly close.
Erik stayed on his side watching Christine sleep and thinking hard. There somehow had to be a way to break his curse. If the love they had expressed today wasn't strong enough then it had to be something even stronger, but what? He thought of the words the devil had spoken to Christine, anything he had said to her might be a clue. For ages he thought and thought in the lamplight. Then something flashed in his head "I can never truly be yours because underneath you're still a monster and no women can want a monster." It all made sense to Erik now "I can never truly be yours" and "No women can want a monster." He knew what he must do.
Switching off the lamp he snuggled close to Christine and wrapping his arm round her. Tomorrow he would do it.

Author's Notes

Looks like the devil isn't going to give up.
Christine is starting to have doubts and Erik has an idea.

And you may have noticed that I've changed the story title to "Destler and Day". I've done this because I feel that it deserves a proper title.
Do you like it? I hope you do.