Authors note: Sorry I've taken so long but I have had a vacation in Greece, swimming in the Mediterranean sea ...:) Well here is chapter four, enjoy...Snowstar!.

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Christine walked as quietly as she could back to her bedroom, her heart was pounding so hard that she was afraid that the sound of the pounding would wake people easier than the sound of her feet touching the marbled floor.

He was alive! It was an unbelievable thought, but he was! She wished she could have stayed with him out in the garden the rest of the night, or even better the rest of her life. Surprisingly loving Erik was not such an unfamiliar thing that she had thought it would be, it was as if she had longed for and imagined this kind of love ever since she was mature enough to think thoughts like these. She had known him almost her entire life, but at first only as her Angel of music and how could she help but become absolutely smitten with his voice that still, after all these years, held it's magical power over her. As the years passed by when she was young and still only a ballerina she'd learned that the voice of her Angel had a body, a soul and a face. She scolded herself for her shallowness once more but then again understood that it wasn't his face that had terrified her so ,but his temper.

Back up in bed again, she sighed with a smile on her lips as she lowered herself back against the luxurious pillows and, although it was hard, slept. Tomorrow was a new day, and she would meet him again.

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Erik wasn't sleeping that much either, being the night-animal that he was, he was lying awake in his bed in the cottage that served as his home. She was back in his life again, not that she had ever really left, his heart had always kept the image of her. But this time she was really back, and she loved him. It had come from her own lips. Those lips! The taste and feel of them! He licked his own, the taste of her was still there. He remembered how shocked he had been the first time she had kissed him, he had been just as shocked this one. A shocking experience that was always welcome, he thought for himself and smiled and finally he also slept.

It was dark around him, and taking of the bad that was covering his face didn't help much either. He was tired and hungry. Somebody would come and feed him soon, all the guests had gone home. He had new scars on his back that burned and the coldness of the cage made even his blood freeze.

A single candle came walking towards the cage, and later the human who held the candle became visible.

"I thought you would be awake" she said, Erik recognised the old woman as one of them fortune-tellers all the young girls went to, to find out about their future love lives.

"You must be hungry, you have had almost eighty performances, so to say, today." Erik started to put back the bag over his head but she stopped him.

"I've seen tour face before, no need to hide." Erik stopped his motions and started to eat slowly. When he was finished the woman took the basket and started to leave but turned round towards the cage once more as she heard him crying. Her old heart couldn't help but feel sympathy for the poor creature and stepped inside the cage once again.

She reached out her hand to softly stroke his back in a comforting way, that gentle gesture made him stop his sobbing and he turned towards her, looking at her confused.

"Why are you crying?" she asked although the answer was pretty obvious.

"I don't want to be here, but I'll never be free from here" he said, his voice shaking slightly. Under the woman's watchful eyes he took a knife that had fallen from the basket and placed it over his wrist.

"Are you mad?" she gasped and took the knife away from him.

"Give it back, it's my ticket away from this hellhole" he said pleadingly. She shook her head and putted the knife in a pocket that was hidden in her skirt.

"Everybody has something to live for" she said.

"Not me, I have nothing" The old woman sighed and took his hand in hers. Erik looked at her confused as her eyes suddenly lit up.

"You will not be here forever, you will in fact one day even leave this country." Erik's eyes became just as big as two plates and he nodded for her to continue.

"Your lifeline is very strong so you will live for a long time, you will have a very creative life. There is also love here" At the word "love" Erik caught his breath in his throat.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes, very strong love, she will love you for you, but it will have a bumpy ride, there is another thing here that says that you have a very easy way of scaring people, so I guess this tells me that you will have to be very careful with her."

"Who is she?" he asked, eager as a small boy.

"An angel."

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Erik woke up with the rays of the sun shining through the window, it was always such a wonderful thing to wake up with the light shining outside and knowing that he could go out and be a part of it.

After dressing and eating he went to his gardens again and started the normal routine, looking for weeds. Just as he had pulled up the last one another thing that was not a weed pulled him down in the grass and planted her lips against his. Parting, he looked up in the face that he loved so dearly and brought his hand up to bring it down again so he could kiss it.

"Good morning, Christine" he greeted her when his lips were free once again.

"Good morning" she answered and smiled at him with the sun shining behind her head, creating a halo around it.

'An angel, indeed' he thought as he looked up at her.

"You're beautiful" he said later as he stroked her cheek, his words made her blush and it made her even more lovelier to his eyes.

"So are you, I like it when you are dressed like this" she said as her fingertips stroked the visible part of his chest that the deep neckline of his shirt did not hide from her hungry eyes. Suddenly realising what she was doing she immediately removed her hand from him and sat up quite abruptly and turned her back to him.

Erik frowned for a moment but his smile returned later as he understood what she was shy about. He himself sat up, brought his arms around her waist and pulled her up in his lap.

"Was that a maidenly blush I just witnessed, my dear?" he asked teasingly. Christine slapped him playfully across his arm.

He brought his mouth close to her ear, kissing it's way down her neck then coming up the same way, nibbling her earlobe. Christine shivered a feel of his breath against her skin and his wonderful mouth made her moan senselessly. His hands started to roam freely over her body, her chest, softly caressing her breast, down her stomach and made their way under her skirts and stroked her soft thighs. Her breath became heavier and just as his hands were about to touch one of her most private places she stopped him.

"Erik, someone will se us" she whispered. Erik woke up from his dream world and brought his hands away from her.

"You're right, you should better get inside, I have work to do and your uncle and aunt will be worried if you are away to long" Christine nodded, agreeing but it was the best thing to do. She didn't want to leave him, the truth was that she wanted his hands caressing her once more.

Before leaving she kissed him passionately and mumbled something in Swedish.

"What?" Erik asked, amused.

"Jag älskar dig" she said more clearly.

"I've heard your relatives say that to one another a few times, what does it mean?" Christine smiled and brought her arms up around his neck and kissed him again.

"I love you" she said when they parted.

"I know that, I love you too, my angel, but what does it mean?"

"I love you" she said again and as Erik was about to open his mouth he closed it and smiled.

"In Swedish?" he asked and she nodded. Kissing him again, she rose and looked longingly back at him.

When he couldn't see her anymore he allowed himself to fall back against the soft grass and sighed full of happiness before he started to work again. He missed her already but would find a way to spend more time with her when the night came.