A/N - Beloved readers, I appreciate each and every review even if I cannot find time to reply to them all. I am thrilled that you are enjoying this saga!

We are nearing the end of the pre-written portion of this story, so I am afraid it may start to take nearly a week between each update! Oh no! Worry not, though. I am typing as fast as life will allow me. :)

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Erik had spent the two days following Christine's sudden arrival in his lair pacing. His emotions and thoughts were completely jumbled. He could hardly pick one apart without being overwhelmed with another. He had hardly slept, and was very disheveled.

Christine had been so beautiful, and felt so perfect in his arms. He had had her within reach, and let her go! No, forced her to go! What kind of fool was he? But Emina had shown him something different. How it felt to be sincerely admired, and a forced or fooled sort of love seemed to pale in comparison. Christine only loved his song and it made him feel sick to imagine having to constantly wind a spell over her weak mind to convince her she loved the man as well. On top of all of it, he missed Emina. Her sweet lips and melodic voice had become to balm for his weary soul and he longed for her. In the same moment, he would become angry with her. She had betrayed him! She had led another to his home, and the very person who was his weakness? Why? He could make no sense of it. When these thoughts had tortured him until he could handle it no more, he decided to venture out of the safety of his cave-like dwelling onto the streets above. It was easy for him to trace his way back to her house, he had been there only weeks before - watching her in her window.

This time, however, a different scene would greet him. As he hovered in the darkness, he seen Christine (who seemed somewhat ill) being ushered into a carriage by a man he recognized to be one of the local medical practitioners. Concern arose within him, but he fought the urge to hurry forward and make sure his little angel was well. Instead, he watched as the Doctor and Raoul spoke briefly, coins were transferred, and then the carriage departed. As Raoul retreated into his home again, just before the door was closed, Erik could see his gypsy staring outwards - watching the carriage depart as well. She was clothed in a dress a bit above her usual garb, and seemed so different in it. She smiled at Raoul as he entered, and Erik felt jealousy course through him. Both women who mattered at all in his life, under the same roof with that man! If he had ever hated... Erik quelled the thought. Now was not the time. He glanced upwards. At just past dusk, he knew it would be hard dark soon and he would wait until then. He would see her. Tonight.

Emina rustled beneath her covers. It was difficult to get comfortable with the constant throbbing in her head. The lights were dim in her small room in the DeChagny estate, and she could see the twinkling of stars out of her window. They reminded her of him, so majestic and unreachable.

The shadows at the far end of the room seemed to move, but Emina did not notice. Again, they shifted - until finally a form stepped out from them. Emina opened her mouth to scream, but the sound froze in her throat.

"Erik," she sighed in relief, though he did not seem as pleased. Realizing their locale, she sat up hurriedly - and then groaned, reaching to cradle her stitched skull. "You should not be here," she whispered.

"Neither should you," he countered cooly. "What happened to your head?" By now he was at her side, perched upon the edge of the bed. He reached to touch it, and she drew away.

"Christine nearly killed me," she muttered in distaste, and immediately regretted the tone. She felt great pity for the woman, who had been ushered off to an asylum only hours before. Erik frowned, and canted his head to see the wound. It was long, and quite deep - but the doctor had done an excellent job with his stitching.

"Where did they take her?" Emina was, at least for a moment, surprised that he knew Christine was gone at all. Realizing her mistake, she simply commented..

"To an asylum."

Erik recoiled, leaving his position upon the bed to pace at the foot of it.

"Fools! I did not realize her mind was so fragile. You should not have brought her, Emina. Why?"

Emina had answered that very question before and felt that this time it was posed in rhetorical fashion. She remained silent and allowed him to continue.

"I'll need to know where. And you must leave here, Emina."

"I have no where to go, Erik. I will leave, in a few weeks perhaps. I need that long to figure out..."

"Now!" Erik boomed.

Emina shuddered. He had never used that tone with her, and it echoed in her head and made her feel somewhat nauseous. Once the sensation had passed, she felt anger well within her.

"What would you have me do! Return to the streets? Become a whore!" Emina was yelling now, and it was only a matter of time before they were discovered. Erik found his calm much quicker than his hot-tempered gypsy, and was at her side quickly. He pressed his fingers to her lips.

"Arrangements will be made. You will not stay here with him."

Emina could feel the anger seething from Erik, even as he silenced her own. The hatred ran deep between those two men, and she felt somehow caught in the middle of it all. She simply nodded.

"Two weeks."

Erik's eyes flashed, but the brazenness in Emina's own gaze silenced him. "Fine." He stood quickly again, a sweep of his arm causing his cloak to snap at the air behind him. Footsteps began to sound on the steps outside of her room.

"I'll see you before then," Erik promised. Or was it a threat? At any rate, he paused by Emina long enough to dip his head and take a fierce kiss from her lips. Left breathless, Emina could only stare as he disappeared into the same shadows from whence he came.

Not without a minute to spare, too. As soon as the last flicker of his cape was swallowed by ebon, her door was pushed open - albeit gently.

"Emina? I thought I heard voices. Are you well?"

Raoul's gentle voice seemed haggard, tired. Emina struggled to regain her composure.

"Yes, Raoul. I was.. Having a .. Nightmare. A bad dream, that is all."

Raoul nodded, stepping in. Emina clutched the bedcovers and pulled them a bit higher. Pinkened tongue stroked her lips, as though the kiss just placed upon them were visible and she could wipe it away.

"I hope he doesn't haunt your dreams as well," Raoul said.

"No, other things.. "Emina consoled.

"Emina... I... " Raoul shifted as though the weight of the world were upon his shoulders, and words would not obey his command. Emina furrowed her brow in question.

"Yes?"

Raoul seemed to struggle for several more minutes, and then finally gave up.

"If you need me, I'll be just in the other room. Please call. I hope your dreams are more pleasant."

With that, he excused himself and Emina was left alone to slump into the welcoming covers.

"Erik?" she whispered several times, and when there was no response, she drifted off to sleep. Erik watched her for several hours, and then set out on his new mission. He must find where they had taken Christine too. He had to set things right.