There will probably be another chapter up later today!

I love your reviews...you are ALL so insightful!

-Nico

The orchestra held their final note for as long as possible before the poetic violins and sweeping flutes ebbed into silence. Nervously, the musicians looked at each other and up to their Maestro for direction.

The two actors on stage had not moved for nearly an entire minute.

Christine nervously looked over her shoulder at a now standing Raoul, who was gesturing urgently to the officer to his right.

"Erik," Christine whispered, her mouth suddenly dry. "You have to escape. Quickly."

Erik looked down at the small woman in his arms whose eyes were damp with the desperate need to save him.

"I'm not going anywhere without you, Christine," he said somberly. He was in a state of bliss, having once again gained the love of his angel. At the moment, he didn't care about the armed men waiting to end his life. He didn't care about the hundreds of eyes watching his every move.

He didn't care about anything but Christine.

"You have to," Christine said with urgency, unconsciously pulling herself closer to him. "They'll kill you!"

Erik looked away from Christine's eyes for the first time. Already, a small armory had formed at the two back exits of the theater. It was certain that the same amount of armed men blocked every other exit as well.

Well, almost every other exit.

"Please Erik," Christine whispered. "Just get out of here. Use the trap door and head underground. Then send word for me once you're safe."

His hands tightened around her upper arms. "If I leave you now, I fear I'll never see you again," Erik whispered. The moment of gentle apprehension in his voice melted Christine's face into a smile. She brought her hand up to the back of his head, hearing the murmurs in the crowd as she did so.

"You will see me again," she promised reverently.

Then, to seal her pledge, she stood on tiptoes, claiming Erik's lips within her own to the shock and awe of everyone watching.

Even Erik himself was surprised, especially when she didn't pull right away. She took her time, sliding her lips underneath his own, drinking in his soul with unspoken oaths.

Raoul sank to his seat as he watched his fiancé brazenly kiss the man in the black mask. There was no doubt in his frazzled mind that the brilliant tenor was none other than the elusive Phantom of the Opera…the very man who had manipulated young Christine's mind into thinking that she was in love with him.

Yet now, as Raoul watched Christine tenderly kiss the man who seemed more shocked than Raoul himself, his head began to swirl. He was certain that Christine had initiated the kiss. She had had ample time to scream…to push the man away…to do anything but remain interlocked within his arms, kissing his lips with thorough fervor.

Was it possible that she loved this monster?

"Monsieur?" The officer at his side begged his attention. "Monsieur, I have a clear shot…"

"No," Raoul whispered. "You might hit Christine."

The officer shifted uncomfortably, wondering why the young patron was suddenly hesitant when just hours earlier he had given strict instructions to shoot the masked man on sight.

Christine finally broke the kiss, staring up into the dumbfounded eyes of Erik. "I love you," she whispered. "And if you love me, you'll go. Now."

Erik's face twisted against the decision to leave Christine. He knew that it was just a matter of activating a lever just to his right and the trap door below him would open. He had strategically fashioned a pulley system to drop the massive chandelier at the same time, but now, he knew that he would not cause the destruction he had earlier.

Slowly, unseen to the audience, Erik's gloved hand went to the rope at his side. "I will go, but I will not leave the Opera without you," he told Christine sternly. The tone in his voice indicated that his mind was made up on this topic.

Christine nodded. "I will find you," she swore. "Now please, go!"

Erik touched her face once more before quickly separating the thick rope from its confines. Simultaneously, he activated the lever just above the bridge, activating the trap door some thirty feet below him. Before anyone could react, Erik swooped down from the bridge, quickly disappearing beneath the stage in a great show of smoke and flame.

Just before the trap closed over his head, Erik could hear the audience shrieking and Raoul's call to action.

Christine scrambled down from the bridge, rushing towards Raoul in the pandemonium that erupted once Erik made his escape.

Raoul took the stairs to the stage two at a time, colliding with Christine as she reached him. He took her by the arms, looking down into her face.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his face frantic.

Christine nodded, wincing under his tight grip. "I'm fine, Raoul! Let me go!"

Around them, cast members scurried away noisily, frightened by the presence of the Phantom of the Opera…who now appeared to be more man than ghost. The audience was making their hasty, bumbling exit, frightened by the armed guards around them and desperate to put as much distance between themselves and the dreaded opera ghost.

A small fire had erupted on stage as a result of thefire effects Erik had rigged to mask his escape. Smoke swirled around the panicked crowd, sending Christine into a fit of coughs.

"Christine, go to your chambers!" Raoul yelled over the shouting crowd.

"No!" Christine said, pulling herself violentlyfrom his grip. "What are you going to do to him?"

Raoul looked down at her, his fast aghast. "We will find him," he said firmly. "And when we do, we will kill him."

Christine placed a hand to her mouth and backed up a few feet.

"Christine!" Raoul called, reaching a hand through the smoke towards her.

But it was too late.

Christine had turned on her heel and ran.