I hope you know what you're doing.Those words continued to ring through his head long after Nadir had actually left. It had nearly been three days and he still dwelled on them.

But he definitely knew what he was doing. He'd saved Christine in doing so, saved himself. If Nadir couldn't understand that, then that was his problem.

He heard the bed creak and he jumped away from what he'd been doing to go check on Christine. He couldn't wait to see his beautiful woman awake and most importantly alive, even if not in the proper sense.

When he entered the room, Christine had one slender hand resting under her left breast, clearly feeling for a heartbeat.

She'd most likely noticed the changes before he'd ever heard her.

She looked up at him, terrified. Too terrified it seemed, to even notice the fact that she happened to have fangs now. They were poking oh so sweetly over her bottom lip. He'd have to teach her how to hide those until she wanted to use them.

"Erik.. what's wrong with me? Why am I still here? I'm was so sure that I had been dying..." Christine rambled, chest rising and falling with panicked breaths.

Unneeded breaths, really. But it was probably a force of habit at this point. Besides, it was useful for fooling humans.

"Oh.. you are dead, my dear. But you are also alive. You and I are creatures of the night, together, now. We'll never age nor die." Erik soothed, moving closer. He reached out to tuck a loose curl behind one of her little ears.

He watched as the expressions crossed her face rapidly. Confusion, fear, realization and anger all had their place on her beautiful face for a moment or so.

He was slightly disappointed that there had been no acceptance. But perhaps that would come soon enough. After all, she'd just awakened. Sometimes it took awhile for one to adjust to their new state of being.

"You...you did this to me, didn't you?" Christine demanded, her tone quiet. As if she had been hoping for a denial or something of the sort.

But he couldn't give her what she wanted. Not this time. After all, he'd always warned her that he wasn't a normal man. He'd meant that in more than one way.

"I did." Erik confirmed, sighing softly. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his trousers, waiting for there to give him some sort of reaction.

Her face was perfectly blank for the first time since he'd entered the room. She remained silent for a long time before she finally opened her mouth. But nothing came out, except for a whimper.

Christine's slender hand wrapped around her own throat, lips forming a pout. It wasn't hard to figure out what the issue was. She was just now noticing the burn, the thirst. Perhaps one of the few downsides to this existence.

"What...?" She forced out, looking at him pleadingly.

He had to look away for a moment, feeling almost guilty for the first time since he'd done it.

"You thirst. I can help you with that. But you must try and trust me." He informed, holding her gaze for a moment.

He hated to acknowledge that the trust that she had in him was probably gone, but it was a simple fact. The real question that he needed to worry about was if he could ever gain it back again.

"Alright..." She murmured, slowly letting go of her throat.

He left and returned with a deep red dress. It wasn't something that Christine would've ever considered wearing before, but it was practical now.

After all, some were quite messy the first time they fed. It would be quite suspicious for her to walk around with such noticable blood stains.

Erik left her again to give her some privacy, carefully going through the list of places that he usually hunted. The alleyway seemed like the best bet. At least she wouldn't feel guilty for accidentally draining the scum that usually hung around those parts.

Once she was changed, he lead her off without another word.


Christine wouldn't deny that feeding had been a rush- something she was horrified by. She couldn't help being disgusted with herself for enjoying it as she had.

Though, perhaps she shouldn't feel bad. It wasn't as if the man that she had drank from was any better than her. That poor girl would probably never forget what he'd nearly done to her.

Now that they'd finally returned to Erik's domain, she perched herself on the chaise lounge. She stared off into the distance, hands folded neatly in her lap.

The hand that suddenly rested on her shoulder caused her to jump. She wrenched away from Erik, glaring up at him.

He looked hurt for a moment and she felt guilty, but she brushed that off. She deserved to be angry. He had ripped her away from the afterlife. She'd never be able to see her papa again.

"Don't touch me. This is all your fault." Christine snapped, gritting her teeth. The hands in her lap balled into fists.

Erik flinched as if she had slapped him, golden eyes resembling those of a dog that had just been kicked. She averted her gaze to avoid having her will crumble.

"You... You would really rather be dead than with me? Is having forever really that bad?" Erik questioned, his voice trembling slightly.

It was enough to give her pause. He wasn't trying to manipulate her. He was genuinely hurt by the prospect. But before she could that information too much thought, her anger returned with a burning passion.

"Yes!" Christine exclaimed without much hesitation, though she regretted it the moment the word left her mouth.

He looked completely shattered. Shattered in a way that he hadn't been before. Not even when he thought she would end up chosing the vicomte.

Erik had been broken fully and it was her doing. She opened her mouth to speak, to clarify what she meant. But she didn't have the chance.

"...Oh. I didn't...realize..." Erik stumbled over his words before shaking his head. He gave up on his sentence and hurried away.

Christine rested her face in the palm of her hands.

She wasn't sure if she could fix him this time around and the small, angry part of her wasn't sure if she should.

Christine hated that part of her with a burning passion. Because she could understand why he had changed her now..