A/N: As always, thanks to my beta, Le Chat Noir

Erik: the Vampire Hunter

Episode 32: Protection

By: Elektra

Nadir studied the tall pacing man outside the bars that held him.

Erik's golden eyes were practically glowing beneath his stark-white mask as they caught the light from the torches that lined the wall. "You have gotten yourself in quite a mess, detective…" Erik frowned. "And you have dragged Christine with you!"

"She was the one who dragged me, actually. She would have come whether I had followed or not. Of course, had I NOT followed, she would most likely be dead as well," Nadir answered.

Erik scoffed at that.

"She is almost as stubborn as you, Erik. You need a woman like that." Nadir smirked. Erik did not look amused. Nadir let out a sigh. "Your Christine did not want to be without you, Allah knows why…" the Guild detective glanced up at the ceiling as if expecting an answer.

"She should not have followed me!" Erik growled.

"You should not have left her." Nadir pointed out.

"She is safer without me."

"She is miserable without you, Erik!" Nadir snapped. "You claim to love her so… yet you left the poor girl weeping for you!"

"What was I supposed to DO, old man?" Erik shouted as he spun around. "Drag my angel into Hell with me?"

"If you were so worried about her safety, you SHOULD have stayed beside her."

Erik scowled. "You speak too freely for one whose life I hold in my hands!" he warned.

Nadir held his arms out. "Then do with me what you will, for I am obviously at your mercy. Somehow, though… I do not believe you will so easily throw me to the Leader…"

Erik narrowed his eyes, "Really, Nadir - you have no idea what I would do."

Main Corridors

Christine slowly headed towards Erik's room, just as he had commanded. She would play along, for now. But if he thought to continue this once they left Laramie, then she would give him what-for.

Lost in her thoughts, Christine froze when she heard a cry echoing down the torch-lit hall. She quickly headed towards it, diverting from her path.

She stopped when she came upon Karra, currently cornered by one of the Leader's guards. No doubt the one that she had once mentioned giving her a hard time.

"Hey there," Christine started with false cheer. "Am I interrupting something?"

The guard turned to Christine, startled by the interruption. "Go away!"

Christine pretended to think about the request, then answered. "I need to talk to my friend. 'scuse us." She said.

She reached out and tugged Karra away from the guard, pulling the girl behind her as the two hurried down the hall.

Once Christine had safely gotten Karra back to the servant quarters, the girl threw her arms around Christine 's neck, repeatedly thanking her.

She had since calmed Karra down and the girl had finally made herself comfortable under her covers, a protective Jason bringing his own cot beside her. Christine sat in front of the two and smiled.

Young love was so cute sometimes…

Before she could tease Karra and Jason about their relationship, the door to the room burst open. Karra's obsessive guard entered angrily with such a fierce expression on his face that several children ran into the arms of their parents.

Karra sat up, hugging her sheets tightly around her, her face pale with fear.

The guard glared at Christine. "Get away from her!"

"If you want to get to the girl, you'll have to go through ME first," Christine answered with courage she did not feel. "And I doubt Erik would appreciate you doing that!"

Well, it sounded good at the time.

The guard stalked up to Christine, glowering down at her in an attempt at intimidation. Christine stood her ground, however.

"Where the hell is she!" Another angry voice echoed off the walls. The servants' eyes went wide, children and adults whimpering fearfully at the second fearsome man who had entered the room in a rage.

The masked man scanned the room, his golden eyes full of anger. He then saw the guard hovering over the petite ballerina. "YOU!" he hissed, "Are you daring to touch my female?"

The guard spun around and quickly prostrated himself before the Leader's son. "No, sir! Nothing of the sort! It is the one she is protecting that I-"

"You are standing too close to what is mine!" Erik interrupted. "Surely you know the rules!"

"Yes… yes, sir! But that is not-"

"Get away from her!" Erik roared, not tolerating any explanations.

The guard slowly stepped away from the two girls. Erik turned his attentions to Christine, who continued to comfort a frightened Karra.

It didn't take long for Erik to assess the situation, and the way the guard was staring at the teenager Christine was so desperately protecting.

"I do not like the direction you are looking in which you are looking!" Erik hissed at the guard. "From here on in, you are to stay away from this area and neither LOOK at my woman, nor associate with any who live with her!"

The guard turned to face Erik, his eyes desperate. "But sir, it was not your female that I-"

Before he could say more, a flick of Erik's wrist sent his rope around the guard's neck. "Are you refusing my order?" the masked man growled, eyes practically glowing.

The rope was tugged hard, yanking the guard off his feet. The guard attempted to plead for understanding as Erik advanced on him, but his words were garbled.

The pleading was cut off as the masked man pressed a knee into the downed creature's chest. "You annoy me!" Erik pulled a stake from beneath his cloak, impaling the guard and turning it to dust.

The angry masked man then turned around to face Christine. "You. COME!" His voice barely concealed his rage.

Christine was frozen, her heart pounding in her chest. Was it possible to love a man and fear him at the same time? Erik would never harm her, she knew that. In fact, he had done everything in his power to protect her. But while his current behaviour was, in fact, brought on by his role-playing, the anger behind it was very real.

Before Christine could take a step forward, Erik rushed at her and grabbed her. "You did not follow my command!" he hissed with great anger.

"I… I couldn't… Karra needed-"

"Do not EXPLAIN!" he growled, causing Christine to wince at the loudness of his voice, "You were told to be with me tonight! We will DISCUSS how one must listen to her teacher!" Without another word, he threw a struggling Christine over his shoulder and headed out of the room.

Ravelle Residence

Meg stared at the English text before her. She couldn't concentrate, having been sick with worry over Christine this last week. What she needed was something to distract her.

She quickly grabbed her phone, "Hey, RJ..." she began quietly. "do you want to go to a movie or something? I need to get my mind off some stuff..." She paused as she waited for his answer, "No, RJ. Just a movie. I'm really not in the mood to-" he interrupted her.

She grew angry. "Can't we just have a nice normal date? You know, just us with our clothing ON?" she demanded. "Is that something so alien to you that you can't possibly imagine it? I need someone to talk to right now, RJ. Not someone to sleep with!"

She shook her head at the response she received. "Forget it. I don't know why I bother with you anymore." She quickly hung the phone up and buried her head in her hands.

Moments later, the phone rang again, "RJ, I said-" she suddenly stopped as she realized the caller was not her useless boyfriend, "Raoul! I'm sorry..." a pause, "No, I haven't heard anything. I don't know any more than you do."

Meg was silent for a moment, then spoke again, "Raoul, would you be up for going to a movie?"

Erik's Chambers

Erik locked the door behind him and tossed Christine on the bed.

The brunette looked up at him, eyes wide. His temper tantrum had been far too convincing… and the way he was looking at her now caused Christine to slide away until the backboard stopped her from moving any further.

He glared at her for several moments, his breathing harsh and quick. "How DARE you!" he hissed as he tugged off his mask and tossed it aside.

"How dare I… what?" Christine snapped as she jumped to her feet. "How dare I help someone! Erik… you know I couldn't just leave her to that thing. So don't you stand here and ask me how I DARE disobey your-"

He suddenly grabbed Christine 's face and pressed his mouth against hers… but broke the kiss as quickly as he had begun it.

"You're really pushing me!" he growled, then shoved himself away and sat on the bed, his cloak spilling out behind him.

Erik closed his eyes, his breathing deep and slow, his body perfectly still.

"Erik?" He didn't acknowledge her. Christine waited in silence for several moments, but when her angel of music still did not move, she had to speak. "Thank you for what you did. Karra will be ok now…"

"It was not HER that had me searching the building to bottom!" he snapped as his eyes flew open.

Christine blinked at that. He had truly thought something had happened to her when she didn't show up in his room. This realization struck Christine silent for a moment.

He hadn't been angry when he burst into the servant's quarters, he had been afraid!

The petite girl sat down beside him and rested her head against his shoulder. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, calming his temper as he slid an arm around her.

"I spoke to our captive tonight," Erik began, and Christine understood he meant Nadir. "I am still expected to pick out his punishment. I have thought of something rather creative."

Before he could continue, a draft seeped into the room, blowing out the torches on the wall and leaving everything in utter darkness. She jumped to her feet as goose-bumps rose on her arms and something cold brushed against as much of her body as it could, causing Christine to stumble back.

She instinctively reached out for a familiar gloved hand, entwining her fingers with soft leather as several dark whispers began to fill Erik's bedchambers.

They weren't alone.

"I hate the dark." Christine whispered.

"Who is here?" Erik demanded angrily. "Who dares enter my chambers without permission?"

Christine felt the frigid air before her and struck out with her free hand. Her fingers went through an icy void and came back practically numb.

Finally, the noise became too much. "GO AWAY!" Christine screamed as her fisted hand sunk angrily into the void, dissipating the cold and silencing the whispers.

A few seconds later, the torches flamed up once again, filling the chamber with their familiar orange glow.

"What the HELL is happening here?" Erik hissed angrily.

"I don't know," was the only answer Christine could offer, her soft shaky voice a contrast to the harsh anger in his.

"Who was in here!" he demanded, then began to storm towards the door. Christine immediately reached out and grabbed Erik's wrist before his dark rage led him into whatever trap had been set.

"Let GO!" he demanded as he tried to tug his arm away. Christine refused to release her hold.

"It's probably a trap, Erik," Christine replied.

"I have a few traps of my own!" he growled.

"Stay here!" she insisted.

He glared down at her, an angry glow in his eyes. "Why?"

"Because," Christine slid her arms around his waist, resting her head against him. "I'm a lot friendlier then whoever is waiting for you."

Her embrace sent a gentle warmth through his body. And really, how could a man stay enraged when he was in the embrace of the one he loved? Contact with Christine always seemed to calm his foul moods.

"Very well." He relented. "But tomorrow, I will find out what this was about." Erik stepped away from her and shrugged off his cloak. "Take this if you want. It will keep you warm."

"You're not staying?" she asked as she took the cloak and sat on the bed.

"That would be a very bad idea. You know that."

"Can't you… behave… for one night?" she asked as she glanced up at him. She looked so lost and lonely. It nearly broke his heart.

Erik sat down beside her and took a deep breath. "Would you really trust me to behave?"

"I'd trust you with a lot of things." she replied softly, tugging the cloak tightly around her.

"Funny, because I trust myself with nothing. Let alone with you."

She reached up and placed a soft kiss on his skeletal cheek. "I'll just smack you if you misbehave," she replied with a small smile.

He raised an eyebrow. "And what if I like being smacked by you?"

"Then I'll kick you somewhere tender," she threatened.

He winced at the thought. He was quite sure she'd follow through on her threat.

"Very well," he sighed. "For propriety's sake, though, I shall remain ABOVE the blankets, with you tucked beneath them… with my cloak wrapped around you. That way I won't have easy access."

Christine smiled as she slid beneath the blankets. "Good night, Erik…" she whispered softly as she rested her head against his chest.

"Good night, Christine," he replied.

She smiled in response, sleep taking her shortly after.

Erik closed his eyes and released a low breath. How he wanted to rip those sheets away from her and … Stop. He scolded himself. When she is ready, she will be yours.

Sometimes Erik wondered if Christine remembered he was not only male, but for over thirty years, he had been a very lonely male.

What do you want from me, Christine? he wondered. He could see the emotions in her eyes, could feel it whenever she touched him… but didn't she know that a man such as himself only had so much control? And even less now that Shay had played games with his mind.

Erik only hoped he could continue to fight.

END OF EPISODE 32