Authors note: the end of this chapter is rate for sex, so if it is not your thing I will put a warning up and you can just skip it,

Chapt 20

What I guessed to be about an hour passed while I sat in the torture chamber. I was not afraid of the jungle around me or the unpleasant heat generating from the new floor of the chamber; I was too miserable to be bothered with any of these things.

I closed my eyes to see CJ, however when the image of her became too heartbreaking to think about, I opened my eyes again. It was all too much; I had barely begun to heal from Christine, and now my heart took another blow at the loss of CJ. It had not even occurred to me how much I cared for her; I had trusted her beyond any other person I had ever met, she had understood me and accepted me, and I had let her down.

I felt quite pitiful, sitting in the chamber as the deathly illusion played around me. I wanted to do something; CJ was dead and I was just sitting on the floor weeping.

However there was nothing for me to do. I had just resolved to beat my fists against the walls until either they broke or I died when there was a loud noise from somewhere in the house. I pressed against the smooth glass as hard as I could; but I could hear little. Two voices were yelling; one male one female. I could hear loud banging; as though someone was being thrown against a wall.

I sank back down to the ground; I assumed Le Roy was hurting one of the poor ballerinas, and there was nothing I could really do. The sounds of the fighting stopped and I wondered if the girl was alright or if Le Roy had taken her life. I buried my head in my hands again.

It was then that I heard something I did not expect; footsteps running toward the door, then I could hear someone trying to turn the doorknob of the chamber, but it was locked.

I jumped to my feet, "You need a key, Le Roy must have it!" I heard a gasp and then hurried footsteps running away. I stood, every muscle tingling; one of the ballerinas must have overpowered Le Roy somehow. It seemed unlikely, but who else was down here? She must have taken him by surprise…

The ballerina returned and I heard her place one key in the lock and try to turn it, then she tried another. I could hear the sound of the keys jingling as the girl's hand shook and she tried one more key, and finally I heard a key turn and click. The door flew open and I was ready to thank my unknown rescuer; however, the girl I was staring at was not a ballerina.

At first I thought I must have been dreaming; I stood gaping and I could hardly walk out of the chamber. I came slowly toward her; afraid that she was an apparition which might dissolve if I moved to swiftly. She was smiling at me, eyes shinning, soaking wet from the lake, and I did not know how she could possibly be real.

I wanted to touch her to see if she was really there or if she was just a ghost. I reached out my hand slowly, afraid I might disperse her with my hand as one would wave smoke away after the candle has been put out.

My hand moved and cupped one side of her face, and to my joy she did not disappear. I was so overwhelmed I felt tears of happiness roll down my face and I did something I had never done before; in one motion I wrapped my arm around CJ's waist and pulled her to me, pressing my lips gently to hers.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and let the keys she had been holding drop to the floor. I kissed her with more force as her mouth opened to mine. My hands moved up and down her back, all the while pressing her closer to me.

When we finally broke apart I looked down into her bright green eyes. I placed a hand on the side of her face, stroking her temple with my thumb; I wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, and that I was so relieved because I had thought she was dead, but no words came. Instead I brought my hand to the back of her head and tilted it upward, taking her lips once again with mine.

I had never kissed a woman like this before; so passionately and deeply. I was so blissfully happy she was alive; not to mention that I was no longer stuck in the torture chamber; I thought little about propriety or bashfulness. I tilted her head further up and kissed her from her jaw to the hollow of her throat.

"Erik!" she gasped with pleasure, and I knew that for the moment I had to stop before we both forgot the fact that we were under the opera and that we still had a job to do. I pulled my lips off of her and held her for a moment as we both caught our breath. Her head fell onto my chest and I stroked her wet hair with my hand,

"I thought you were dead," I breathed, holding her tighter,

"I thought he was going to kill you, I thought I was too late," CJ said softly into my chest,

"We should leave," I said, removing CJ's arms from around my neck. She nodded and we made to exit the room. As we walked every thought which had been pushed away from my mind when I had seen CJ flooded back,

"Where is Le Roy?" I asked her,

"In the dinning room," CJ said ominously, and as we passed it I stopped to look inside. The room was brightly lit with candles and lying on the ground was a warning never to cross CJ Bradshaw.

Le Roy was bleeding from his head where CJ had thrown him into the wall; his leg stuck out at an odd angle indicating it was broken, and his face was covered in one large bruise.

CJ was staring at him with an evil gaze which I knew I mimicked, "Is he dead?"

"I don't think so, I tried not to kill him; death is to kind a punishment for him,"

I nodded, "We can lock him in the torture chamber until the police can come down to retrieve him,"

"They should be waiting for us when we go back up to the street, I sent your friend, Nadir, to go and fetch them,"

Together we hauled Le Roy to the chamber and threw him in, locking the door behind us. I felt a great deal better now that he was locked away.

I picked up a candle and handed CJ one as well, "He said he hid the ballerinas behind the house in coffins," I led CJ out the front door and we moved around to the shadows behind the house. Holding the light out in front of us four shapes appeared; the coffins.

Running to them, I knelt beside one; it was nailed shut, "Wait here," I ran back to the house and returned with a hammer and began to pry the nails out.

"Do you have another hammer?" CJ asked me, holding both candles so I could see what I was doing,

"No," I said as I hurriedly ripped the nails from the wood. It had not been nailed shut all the way around, only in enough spots to keep the girl inside from opening it. When I had finally pulled up the nails, I tore the lid off.

Inside a petrified looking girl stared back at us, her mouth gagged and her hands tied. CJ quickly set down the candles and began untying the girl as I moved on to the next coffin,

"You are alright now, we are here to help you," I heard CJ tell the shaking ballerina, "We are going to take you out of here,"

I opened two more of the wooden death beds; both of the girls inside were alive; just scared out of their minds and incredibly frail looking. CJ was untying the dancers when I opened the last coffin. I blinked as I stared down at the girl; I recognized her. Little Meg was trembling, staring up at me.

Out of all the people at the opera, I had had face to face contact with very few of them. Madame Marie Giry had been one of the few, and I shuttered as I thought about how worried she must have been with her daughter missing.

Meg Giry looked horrified at me, however she, along with the other dancers, were far too weak to do anything but follow CJ and I back around to the boat.

All the girls got wordlessly into the small craft but I dashed back to the house, I wanted to get CJ a change of clothes. I retrieved another set of my clothes for her and then turned to leave. As an after thought, I grabbed all the blankets off the bed in the Louis-Phillip bedroom for the shaking dancers.

CJ and I rowed as quickly as we could back across the lake. The hike back up the tunnel was not an easy one; the candles we had brought from the house offered little light, and the disoriented dancers found it hard to walk.

"Aren't you…aren't you…" Meg began stuttering at me as we scrambled up the tunnel,

"No," I said firmly, and she was so feeble she did not press the subject. Instead, she slumped to the floor,

"I can't…" she groaned, and I picked her up, placing her thin body over my shoulder,

As we trudged up the tunnel, finally entering the main passageway to the street, there was a great change. The tunnel was lit with torches and lanterns being carried by policemen,

The next moment we were surrounded by police, all talking quickly though I heard nothing that was said and the only image which truly registered in my mind was a swirl of color. The police carried the dancers the rest of the way out of the tunnel, one of them taking Meg from me. One man made toward CJ, and I quickly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to my side; she was mine.

Stepping out of the caves I saw that the whole street outside was lit with police lights and there was a great deal of men in blue uniforms running around. Quite a few other spectators had gathered as well; people from the opera and people who had simply been passing by and stopped to see what was going on under the famous Paris Opera.

Shouts came from the crowd as our group emerged from the tunnel. Some people from the opera recognized the girls and ran toward them. I heard one particular cry and saw Madame Giry run to her daughter. I quickly turned away; I did not want her to see me and reveal who I was.

"Erik! CJ!" the voice of Captain Dumas cut through the general buzzing around us and I thought it was odd that he called us by our first names, but I was not going to read too much into it. Dumas guided us in a fatherly manner over to a police cab and ushered us in.

I sat with CJ beside me, my arm still around her. She was trembling slightly due to wearing wet clothes in the night air and I pulled her closer to me.

"What happened?" Dumas asked, and I had never seen him look the way he did at that moment; he looked concerned.

"I don't even know where to start," CJ sighed, and she turned so she was leaning back on my shoulder and my chest, "Le Roy came to us this afternoon,"

"He said you were busy so he was dealing with us tonight," I added, and CJ nodded along,

"I had to see to another murder, that bastard," Dumas muttered,

"He asked me to go with him and we went to the apartment of Erik's friend the Persian, the one who I sent to get all of you," CJ said, and I listened intently,

"Le Roy told me the police were sure Nadir Khan was our culprit and I was to kill him, but I did not think that made sense; to kill him and not to arrest him,"

"Good call," Dumas said nodding approvingly,

"Anyway, I went up to the apartment while Le Roy waited on the street. Instead of killing him, I asked him if he had ever met a foppish police man who wanted to know about the opera," I snorted beside her, "He told me he had once shown a police man around the tunnels down there who said he was following up on the investigation of the Opera Ghost,"

So far everything CJ said was exactly what Le Roy had told me had happened and I listen as the two stories began to vary,

"I realized Le Roy was the killer or at least in league with the killer; but the problem was he was watching the apartment, waiting for me to come back down. We went out the back door of the apartment, unfortunately Le Roy saw us and started chasing us. This lasted quite awhile," she sighed exhausted, "We kept losing each other, then finding each other, then accidentally finding Le Roy, then losing each other again," she shook her head and turned to look at me, "Your friend does not run very well, I kept having to go back and pull him along,"

"He is a bit older CJ, you cannot be too hard on him,"

"Are you calling me old, friend?" A voice said suddenly and I turned to see my friend Nadir standing in the cab door. Dumas rolled his eyes and slid over allowing the daroga to climb up and sit inside,

"Well now that we are all here, would you continue please?" Dumas said irritated,

CJ nodded, "We finally saw him give up and wave down a cab driver. We waited to make sure he did not turn around. I wanted to go back to the house to warn Erik, but I did not really know where it was so by the time we found it Erik was gone. Then we had to walk over to the opera house; we were walking everywhere because neither of us had any money,"

"CJ!" I interrupted, "There is a whole bag of money I brought up from the opera!"

CJ stared at me, "Well, a little late for that but thank you for making me feel like a complete idiot,"

"Any time," She ribbed me,

"So we finally walked there, and Nadir," she motioned at the Persian, "Showed me where the door was and I went down to the lake; it took me quite a while to get down there because it was completely dark in the tunnel, I was feeling my way along the sides," She turned to me, "You had better not tell me there were hundreds of candles I just did not see," and I shook my head at her,

"I had to swim across the lake because by the time I got down there Erik and Le Roy had already gone across," I was amazed at how much she had done to get down to the house by the lake; to get down to me,

"I went in the house through your room Erik, then I surprised Le Roy while he was in the kitchen. I hit him in the face but he grabbed me; I pulled his hair and he let go, I hit him in the head with a candlestick, and I ended up breaking his leg," I thought of the crumpled mess I had seen Le Roy in and I wondered what Dumas would say when he saw the body,

"Then I ran to the torture chamber and found Erik,"

"Le Roy had told me she was dead," I said, tightening my arm around CJ and I cursed that wrecked weasel for lying to me, "He told me a great deal else besides and I am guessing all of this is true; he created the cave-in and set that house on fire to stall us while he moved the girls and fixed the house to make it look like he had not been there; he planned on framing me for the murders of the dancers, and then it would come out that you," I looked at Dumas, "Had allowed me to not be executed, and it would ruin your career,"

Dumas nodded, "So where is Le Roy now?"

"In the chamber in the house by the lake,"

Dumas turned to the daroga, "Can you take some of my officers down there and bring our good friend up to the street level?"

He nodded, "Of course," He turned to me, "I will see you later, have a good night," and he stepped out of the cab,

"I have to go as well, plenty to see to, but I am sending you two back for some rest," I had never been more thankful to hear those words,

Dumas got out of the cab and we were alone. We heard him say something to the driver, and the cab started to move away. I did not pay attention to where the cab was going as it parted the gathered throng around the opera house.

I did not pay attention because CJ was in my lap, turned in what could not have been a comfortable position for her but what was a very comfortable position for me; I kissed every inch of her I could reach, and my hands explored each curve of her figure. I had never ever been allowed to touch a woman this way, and it felt wonderful. What was even better and even more stunning to me was that she returned my affection; she pressed her lips to mine in the same hungry way I did to her; she clung to me tightly and made soft, pleasure filled noises as I held her.

Being thus occupied it was understandable that we did not realize we were at our destination until the driver yelled at us to get the hell out of his cab. CJ grabbed me by the hand and pulled me up to our room. I did not notice anything on the way up the stairs; there could have been a giant elephant at the head of the stairs and I would not have known,

Finally reaching our room, CJ went in ahead of me and I shut the door behind us. CJ turned around and I was right in front of her, drawing her to me and pressing my lips to hers, opening her mouth to mine in a way I had only ever dreamed of doing. She raised her hand to my face and pulled my mask off. My immediate reaction was to pull away, but CJ did not give me a chance. She wrapped her hand around the back of my head and kissed me passionately.

I pulled my lips from hers abruptly and she gasped slightly,

"I think you should get out of those wet clothes," I said to her, and she smiled wickedly at me,

"Do you think you could help me with that?" she flashed her eyes innocently at me,

"I can try," I replied in a noble tone as I moved my hands to the buttons on the shirt she was wearing. I was excited and nervous as I unbuttoned the wet shirt; I wanted to be with her more than anything, but I did not want to make a mistake,

(Start to skip if you don't want to read the Sex and the City ish scene)

I reached the last button of her shirt; because it was wet it had clung to her and did not fall away when I had undone it; rather I had to strip it off of her. She stood completely still; her only motion was the steady rise and fall of her chest as she took in deep breaths of air,

Her bright green eyes encouraged me and I lifted her shirt off of her shoulders and let it fall to the ground. I just stared for a moment at her; even though I had seen her without a shirt before, now I was able to touch her. I put my hands around her waist; guiding her backwards until her legs hit the bed,

"Lay down," I said gruffly to her, and she quickly dropped on her back onto the bed. I got on top of her; straddling her body with my knees. I leaned over her and kissed her swollen lips, then I moved to her neck, then down to a place I had never been before.

I slid one arm underneath her, then gently placed my other hand over one of her breasts; massaging her and watching as her nipple hardened at my touch,

"More, Erik," CJ groaned, "I want more," I replaced my hand with my mouth, taking her breast fully into it and sucking harder, causing CJ to make the most beautiful sounding whimpers of pleasure.

I moved to her other breast and blew on it slightly before I caressed it with my tongue. Her hand moved to the back of my head and pushed me down harder onto her, arching her back as she did so,

My hands traveled the curves of her torso as I continued to kiss her breast, "Erik," CJ moaned my name and grabbed a fist full of my hair and pushed my lips to her harder again,

Finally breaking away from her chest, my lips trailed lower, down her stomach to her naval. I sat back from her and stared at her; she was breathing heavily and her arms were raised above her head. Looking down I saw her legs were parted slightly, and I also saw the troublesome top of her trousers.

I moved my hands and undid her pants; she raised her hips off the bed as I slid the wet clothing off of her; revealing her entirely. I stared at this newly uncovered part of with desire; I placed my hands on either side of her hips as I lowered my mouth to her.

"Erik," her voice trembled as much as her body did, "This is not fair, I am completely naked and you aren't at all,"

I did not abandon the area between her legs until I made her cry out my name. Then I stood and began undressing. CJ watched me from the bed as I tossed aside my shirt and then my trousers. Her legs spread beneath me as I lowered myself onto her; savoring the feel of her skin against mine. I kissed her neck again and she groaned,

"Erik, please," And I could not deny her request; I entered her and began to thrust slowly,

CJ sighed and dug her nails into my back as I thrust faster and harder; I felt her tighten around me and a tremor went through her body and she cried out. I released inside of her moments later; she sighed as my seed spread into her body.

(Alright, it's safe now….)

I had never made love to a woman before, and I had been very nervous I would do it wrong if I ever got the chance; but by the look on CJ's face and the way she pulled me down beside her I had not. If I had not felt so exhausted from the rest of the day I would have wanted to make love to her all night.

However, I was exhausted, and CJ's eyes were closing. We managed to get under the one thin sheet on the bed and I wrapped my arm around her and held her close. She was asleep within moments; but I stayed awake a bit longer. I was feeling better than I had in some time; I had finally slept with a woman. I had been completely heartbroken when I had thought CJ was dead, and now she lay peacefully asleep in my arms. As I closed my eyes I felt lucky for the first time in my life.