Authors note: Hi thank you for the reviews that I received, it was only two but still thank you. Anyway here is chapter eight and I have stolen one of my favourite quotes from one of my favourite books "Wuthering heights". I have always imagined Christine saying it. Let's see fi you can find it. Love from Snowstar.

-- ----- ----- ----- ---

"Good morning, Miss" Martha said, as cheerful as always when Christine opened her eyes. Erik was gone, but his scent still lingered on the pillow next to her. She turned and buried her face in it, inhaling.

"I fear that the Vicomte will come back for dinner today again, much to your uncle's disliking." Christine sighed, was she going to hide in the attic once more? No, there must be something else.

"I know you're not very fond of him but I must say you're doing very well with pretending not to know him."

"I thought you told me to do so?" Christine said as Martha started to take out the braid, that Erik had made the night before, in her hair.

"I said 'act like nothing' what I meant was for you to ignore the things that had happened in Paris not exactly forgetting the Vicomte too." Christine couldn't help but smile. Maybe she had been a little hard on Raoul, but she would never return to him, the life that would be following with seemed so lifeless and empty.

"I can't do anything about that now, Martha. I simply have to put up with the dinner because I refuse to hide in the attic again."

"Oh, was that you, Miss? The stomping up there was so loud that I thought that mice had turned into elephant's." Christine giggled a little along with the servant and got dressed.

"Oh Martha, I don't know if I can be with Raoul in the same room without feeling somewhat compassionate towards him. I simply can not be that mean."

"Are you saying that you still care for him, Miss? That you love him?"

Christine went over to the balcony and pushed the white curtains aside.

"Love? I can only love him like a brother. But my love for Raoul is like the foliage in the woods, time changes it as winter changes the trees. My love for Erik resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Martha, I am Erik! He's always, always in my mind. Not as a pleasure, any more than I am a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

Martha sighed and rose from the bed which she had just finished making. "You are not going to waste that love I hope. Keep that for Erik, God knows how he deserves it." Christine nodded and a thought suddenly came to her mind. She wanted to be with Erik so much at that moment that her skin was to only thing that stopped her from going everywhere at once.

"Martha!" Christine said just as the servant-girl was about to leave the room.

"Yes, Miss?"

"You might find this a little obscene or confounding, but since my mother died very early and my father didn't live to meet my teens. I was wondering if you know..." she suddenly blushed and looked down.

"Know what, Miss?" Martha asked with her eyebrows frowning. Christine pulled herself together and asked boldly.

"What happens in the marriage-bed?"

-- ----- ----- ----- ---

The dinner arrived and so did Raoul. Carl, Lena and Christine greeted him and they all sat down. Christine could only hear Raoul's voice during the dinner it was as if he never seized to talk. Christine came to realize that she didn't really know Raoul that well, she knew him as the little boy that fetched her scarf in the sea, but the man in front of her, talking away, was a complete stranger. The realization dawned on her and she felt like crying. She had been so close to marrying this man. She had loved the boy, not the man.

Those month's when Erik hadn't been seen until the masquerade had she spent mostly to herself and it wasn't until a few days before new years eve that she had accepted his proposal, blinded by his good looks and charm and what naïve young girl wouldn't accept that?

She had been so shallow then.

"Christine?"

She was jerked out of her thoughts when heard her aunts voice. "Are you feeling well, dear?"

"Yes, I suppose, I 'm just a little dizzy."

"Maybe you should retire?" her uncle suggested.

"Yes, perhaps" she said and started to rise from her chair.

"Please, let me escort you" Raoul said.

"Oh no, there's no need to..." she started.

"I insist" Raoul said and offered her his arm, when she didn't accept it he grabbed her own arm and hooked it underneath his own.

"Oh by the way. There is a storm coming tonight and I came here on horseback, would it be rude of me to ask you if I could stay here tonight?" he asked.

Lena could hear how her husband growled under his breath and noticed how his fork was impaling a piece of meat on his plate.

"You may" she simply said but the that she had felt before worry was starting to take over her as she saw her niece walk up the stairs with the Vicomte.

"How could you?" Carl asked when they were out of sight. "That boy is nothing to trust, do you remember what happened to Gustave?"

Lena sighed and her shoulders sank. "One night couldn't hurt and no I haven't forgotten."

-- ----- ----- ----- ---

As they reached her room Christine thanked Raoul and was about to open the door when she felt his hand grab her arm and turn her around so her back was pressed against the door. His hand landed over her mouth.

"I don't know what game you are playing, Christine but I am not going to take it anymore, I have been to merciful with you and I know what you are up to." He saw that she was going to talk so his hand over her mouth fell away.

"And what do you mean by saying so, Monsieur le Vicomte?"

"Stop that, you know perfectly well who I am and what my name is and I know that you are hiding something and I warn you, I am going to find out what and destroy it right in front of your eyes."

"We will see" she said with her back straight and eyes forward. "Now will you take your filthy hands away from me or do you want me to do it for you?"

"So cocky? I see that your time away from me and that other animal that corrupted your mind has made your skin thicker, Mademoiselle."

Christine found enough power and pushed him away and entered her room, locking the door.

-- ----- ----- ----- ---

It was midnight and Christine knew she couldn't use the front door to get out now that Raoul was staying over the night and she wanted to see Erik more than anything now. Although she didn't want to admit it, fear had started to slowly crawl it's way inside her.

She called after Martha who came to her room around five minutes later. Explaining her situation, the English lass started to help.

They pulled the sheets from the bed and started tying them together. Christine grabbed her cloak and opened the balcony where they tied the end of the sheet to it. The way down wasn't very far but still high, how had Erik managed to climb up here all by himself? She had no time to think about that. She picked her skirts and took hold of the sheets and started to climb down slowly but surely. Martha was standing at the balcony, holding onto the sheets just in case. When Christine was on the ground safely, Martha started to pull the sheets up again. Christine waved before making her way out into the night.

She pushed the door to the garden open and stepped inside. It was a sweet scent lingering in the air from all the roses. She started to walk over to the ivy-wall and push her way through. There was a light in Erik's bedroom. She smiled, he was still awake like the night-owl that he was. She walked to the door and surprisingly found it open. Stepping in she left her shoes in the hallway and made her way upstairs.

Erik had just emerged from the bathroom and was standing before the swan shaped bed in his black robe that Christine had worn a few nights before and started to put out one of the many candelabras that was burning in the room. He heard a sound and immediately turned around.

He sighed when he saw who it was.

"How did you get in here?"

"The door was open." He only nodded, he saw no reason in locking it since no one was coming here. He looked at Christine again who was starting to remove her cloak.

"Did we make an arrangement to meet?" he asked and raised one of his eyebrows. Christine smiled, he was so handsome standing there with his muscular chest half showing and his dark hair was more free than the strict backcombed style that he used to have.

"No, does everything have to be planned and arranged and scheduled all the time?"

"Apparently not." She started to walk over to him and her hand reached out and stroked his cheek, moving it's way down his throat to his chest were it stopped over his heart, it's beating gave her more joy than anything in the world. She looked up and her eyes met his for a second before her lips met his. Her hand stayed against his heart and she felt how his own arms came around her in a protecting way. Her hand worked it's way down towards the sash in the robe but then he stopped her.

"Wait, Christine, what are you doing." He asked and placed his hands on her shoulders, keeping her an arm length away.

"I'm tired of waiting, Erik. I want you, I lie awake almost every night thinking of you and how I want you with me."

"Angel, I feel the same but don't you want to wait? Is it really me that you want to experience this with?" his heart stopped for a minute, afraid of what her answer would be.

Christine's eyes met his once again. "I wouldn't want it with anybody else. You are the only one I will ever want, Erik, my Angel." Erik didn't knew what to say, his Christine wanted to know the joys of the flesh with him? The happiness that filled his heart was incredible but still he needed to know that she knew what she was giving herself into. Apparently she did because he was roused from his thoughts when he felt her grab one of his hands and place it against her left breast, he could feel how her own heart was beating underneath the soft skin.

He pulled her into his arms and this time the kiss was hungry. Possessive. When she pressed her body to his, wound her arms around his neck, he deepened the kiss, took more. Filled his senses with her.

Her head spun. No one had ever made her feel like this. Had ever touched her like this. Needed her.

"Mine." He murmured it against her mouth. Said it again and again as his lips raced over her face, her throat.

"My beautiful Christine, I love you." He murmured passionately. "I love you too, Angel."

Lightning slashed across the sky as if sealing their words. The world trembled as the rain started pouring down.

He scooped her up in his arms, she squealed in delight as he placed her upon the bed, that very bed that she had slept in the same night when she seen his face for the first time.

"Here is where I dreamed of you in the night. And here is where I will love you for the first time. Flesh to flesh."

He pulled her up on her feet once more. "I won't hurt you, I will only give you pleasure."

"I'm not afraid."

"Then be with me." He said as he cupped her face in his hands and met her lips once more. In dreams he had felt longing and echoes of sensations. Here and now in reality there was so much more.

So gently his mouth devoured hers, warmth and wanting. With patience and tenderness his hands moved over her softly, deftly. When she trembled, he soothed her with murmuring her name and promises. He slid the gown of her shoulders, trailed kisses over the curve of softness, dwelling in the flavour and fragrance. The gown rustle to the floor followed by her corset and chemise. Her cheeks started to blush.

"Let me look at you" he said and stepped back so he could see standing in front of him in all her naked glory. The heat that rose on her skin was more of anticipation than anything else. His gaze finished his journey and he locked eyes with her.

He reached out and caressed her breast, let them both absorb the sensation. He felt her quiver as his hand trailed down. She reached for him, her hands were not so steady as she opened his robe but when she touched him it felt like freedom.

"Christine." He pulled her against him, crushed her mouth with his and lost himself in his needs. She gasped out his name as she felt her breast press up against his smooth chest. When he lifted her again and laid her on the bed, his kiss was long and slow and gentle.

This, she thought, was what the poets wrote of. This was what she had always hoped to find in love. This warmth, this pleasure of another's body against your own. This gift of heart and all the secrets it offered.

He gave her pleasure as he had promised, drowning oceans of it that washed through her in slow waves, but a slight pain followed as her virginal cord broke. She gave to him a taste, a touch, so that the buds burst into bloom and he held fast to the beauty that she offered. When the flames was about to consume them, she welcomed them. Falling through them, she cried his name out. A sound more heavenly than anything Erik had ever heard before.

She heard him moan and his quick whispers as he rose over her and released all the years of withheld passion and desire inside her, screaming her name. Lightning slashed over the sky once more, illuminating the world outside.

Through the candlelight she saw his face, his unmasked face and his eyes. So green now they were like dark jewels. Drowned in love she laid a hand on his cheek and whispered his name.

"Look at me." His breath wanted to tear out of his lungs as her eyes looked up in his own. He took her once more, filled her and gave her joy. She opened for him, rose with him, her eyes swimming over with shocked delight. And with the love he craved like breath. She fell and he plunged after her, with her.

Her body shimmered. She was sure that if the room had been dark it would be glowing. And his was so beautiful, strong, hard an smooth, she thought as she lazily trailed her hand up and down his back with his face resting against her chest. His hearts was thundering against hers like the weather outside. To be under the weight of the man you loved and to feel his heart race for you was fantastic. She was loved, she repeated it to herself a few times. Erik loved her and that was all she needed to know. After Martha's describing about the art of lovemaking Christine had felt somewhat uncomfortable but excited at the same time, the pleasure had been unlike anything. Her body had known it's mate when they had become one, it was a feeling of fulfilling that could only come once. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that is had always been destined to happen and nobody but Erik was the first one she would experience it with.

He started to move from her and heard how she whimpered in protest, he smiled and laid down beside. He pulled her up against him so her face rested against his strong chest. She yawned and smiled as she felt him pull the covers over them. His hand stroked her hair as she started to fall asleep. The candelabras had burned down and the room was dark as the night. Erik couldn't believe what had happened, even in his wildest fantasy he hadn't imagined this. This had been more than he had dared to hope for, it had been everything.

He had never felt such a strong love and respect for something before. His mind drifted back to his days at the fair and how the old gypsy woman had told him that he would find love one day. And now that he had, he valued it more than anything. The rain was still pattering outside as he kissed her temple and fell asleep.