Chapter Fourteen: Promise

Erik lay on his side, his face resting on his left elbow while his right hand holding Hannah's both hands. She looked so peaceful and content in the candle light, her eyes closed and her lips ever so slightly apart.

"You were very eager tonight, were you not?" Erik smirked. "Just like the very first time when we made love."

"So were you," Hannah slowly opened her eyes to meet his gaze.

"Stop it," she frowned at Erik's narrowing eyes. "Shouldn't we be allowed to keep some private thoughts?"

"Not when I am curious," Erik smirked again. "So none of them could make your body sing like I do. You thought sex was rather like listening to music, some tasteless and some cultured. There must be something wrong with me. I actually find that musing quite entertaining. No use closing your eyes. I can now read your thoughts, even when they are closed." He smiled triumphantly before frowning at the images he just pried out from somewhere deep in Hannah's mind. "Hmm… They look too much like the silly fop for my liking. I would have thought you had a better taste in men than that."

"I wasn't looking for someone exactly like you," Hannah retorted with mischievous grin. She'd just come up with a scheme to get back at Erik. "You despise him, don't you? I mean Raoul, Christine's husband."

"He is a simpleton," Erik replied with indignation. "To think that I had to compete with the fool and then lost does understandably pain me. It's a matter of pride."

"Close your eyes," Hannah commanded.

"I have a feeling that I won't like the game you are about to play with me."

"Trust me. I won't let your pride suffer any longer."

Erik closed his eyes, still determined that he would continue to despise Raoul.

"Now forget that he took Christine away from you. Disregard the fact that Christine chose him over you and married him."

"I'm trying," Erik replied.

"Now imagine you were Christine. See Raoul through her eyes. What do you see?"

"I see a lost little boy, rather dull and pathetic."

"You are not trying very hard. No cheating."

"I see a sweet smile and eyes full of longing and devotion. This doesn't change the fact that he is a fool. I see safety and promise of gentle love. This doesn't mean that Christine didn't have a bad taste in men. I see a man who is willing to do anything for her and a man blinded by love. I can see another fool next to him. Damn it, Hannah. You won."

"Not so fast," Hannah laughed. "Now kiss him."

"I do what?" Erik grumbled in disapproval, before seeing the images Hannah had just created.

Raoul looks defeated and helpless, waiting for certain death at the hands of his sworn enemy. Erik suddenly notices that Raoul looks very sensual, in his vulnerable state and in his wet clothing. He approaches Raoul to lift his rival's chin. He sees a pair of pleading eyes, which he finds beautiful. Instead of tightening the noose around Raoul's neck, Erik caresses his cheek before giving him a long and passionate kiss. Through the corner of his eyes, he sees Christine's eyes widen with horror and then narrow with fury. He turns around and tells stunned Christine that she can go. He will have Raoul instead.
Erik roared with laughter, his eyes almost in tears. The possibility that he could have loved Raoul in another life rather amused him. The bitterness and anger towards his old enemy were melting away.

"You are wicked, Hannah. Wonderfully wicked," Erik grinned. "I must make sure that you won't wander around to seduce another unsuspecting fop in your world. I can be very jealous, and jealousy makes me dangerous."

"You have my soul and heart, and you still wish to deny my body any future opportunity for that little pleasure in the world which you do not even inhabit?" Hannah briefly wondered where this conversation was going. He must have known that she wouldn't hurt him with something that mattered so little to her. Why was he asking for something that he knew he already had? His voice had a tone of playfulness, but his eyes looked rather determined. She wanted to read his thoughts but was surprised to find that he had successfully shielded his thoughts from her. He was up to something, and this something was important to him.

"A pleasure that is so insignificant for you that you'd prefer listening to real music," he countered.

"It's a matter of principle. Not wanting is one thing. Not being allowed to want is quite another." Being unable to read his thoughts, she continued to play along with his game.

"What I ask is not related to your feelings. It is related to your actions, which you control perfectly."

"You will have to give me a better reason than that."

"Very well… If you'd rather me to go insane with jealousy, I will not try."

"It is hardly fair that you make such a demand when you are still pursuing Christine."

"Ah… but, you have noticed that she is back in my life and that I have no desire for her soul or heart. If I still desire her physically, it is because you do not disapprove of it. It is because you refuse to interfere with my conscious mind, and I cannot stop its desires alone. I gladly await the day when you wish to claim all of me as yours, both my conscious and unconscious self."

"Damn it, Erik. You won." Hannah sighed in exasperation. She should have known that it was a bad idea to talk about fairness with Erik. "Now please do inform me of how I'm going to put your mind at ease."

"I noticed that you wore no jewelry."

"I have no desire for them. I'd rather buy books."

"You will like this one," Erik purred. "Now close your eyes. No cheating."

Hannah closed her eyes and waited, trying to resist the temptation to see what he was doing. She smiled, as his fingers lightly brushed her hand before closing it gently. She opened her eyes to find a gold band on her palm. Slowly she kissed the ring and whispered the inscription inside. "With you, always."

Erik repeated Hannah's words in soft murmur and carefully applied his lips to the ring. He slipped it onto her left ring finger, his gaze never leaving hers. "This ring is my promise to you, Hannah," he said, his hauntingly beautiful voice full of love and tenderness. "I promise that I will find a way for us to be together in the same world."

After forcing herself to eat the sandwich she had grudgingly prepared, Hannah sat at her writing desk. She tried to get on with her translation work but found it difficult to concentrate on the job at hand. Instead of continuing fruitless efforts, she stared at the gold ring in her finger. It was still there when she had awoken from her dream. She could not remove it, however desperately she tried, remembering that she was not married in her world. The ring had become a part of her. Thoughts and emotions are a form of energy. As such, they have power to carry matter through time and space. Hannah thought to herself. Still, most humans cannot move an object even an inch with thoughts alone. It would require an extraordinary strength of will power to move an object through time. She then knew that Erik's power had grown stronger than she had suspected, even without the aid of his conscious mind. It finally dawned on her that it would be only a matter of time before he would find a way of keeping his promise to her.