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Chapter Sixteen – Transcendent
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Venus exists outside the realm of mere mortal experience.
She is the transcendent goddess, beyond our mundane perceptions.
"A Fool's Book of Wisdom"
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She awoke to a sound and this time, she smiled. She recognized it immediately although she had never heard it before that moment. A rich, clear tenor voice rang out, as its owner moved about the room, singing words that chilled her heart with their sorrow as her sleep-fogged mind cleared and she understood the meaning behind the beautiful sound. Christine peered through slit eyes, watching the man she had somehow come to love as he busied himself with laying wood in her fireplace and then starting a fire. Soon, the comforting warmth and crackle of flame radiated about the room and she could not help but stretch and yawn. Forsaking her feigned sleep, Christine pushed herself up and rested her back upon the headboard of the bed in which she found herself clad only in a thin cotton chemise. The sound of her gentle movements did not pierce the man's consciousness, as he seemed lost in the heartrending lyrics of his song. His heavenly voice a husky whisper.
She stared at the bent back of the man. She ran her eyes over him and admired his lean, muscular body. He wore only black trousers and a loose white poet's shirt. An involuntary tear rolled from the corner of her eye as she took in the sadness of his song.
"Erik …."
She spoke softly so not to startle him, but he seemed not to notice her call. He remained crouched before the hearth, staring at the flickering flames of the newly built fire.
"Erik?"
She called a bit louder this time and he seemed to take note of her, his head rising and cocking to one side. His hands lifted to his face and after a moment, he stood, turned and walked to the side of her bed. His eyes burned as they raked over the voluptuous curves of her form barely hidden by her thin shift. He sighed as he attempted to bank the fire, which burned brightly within his loins. Tearing his eyes away from her, he cleared his throat before speaking.
"Good morning, Christine. I trust you slept well after your little adventure last night?"
She frowned slightly and watched as an unreadable expression flitted across the visible side of his face.
"Hmmm … no answer? Well, in that case, I shall leave you now so you can have some privacy in which to dress for the day. I shall inform Madame that you are awake and she will prepare you a meal to break your fast."
He gave her a small bow.
"Mademoiselle."
Her frown increased as he turned and began to walk towards the door of her room.
"Erik? Stop! Where are you going? Please, come here and sit. I am so happy to find myself here. The last thing I remember is falling asleep under a tree after Leshii left. How did you find me? How did I get here?"
The young man froze as her words washed through him and his shoulders sagged. With a voice barely above a whisper and without turning his head toward her, he replied in a low monotone.
"Helen used her power to find you. I simply followed her lead then acted as a substitute for Edgar and carried you here. I failed you last night. I was not there when you needed me. You could have been hurt or lost to us forever."
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Christine's voice sounded from directly behind him and he felt the luscious curves of her body press against his back.
"Erik … do you realize that you are the only person that has ever been able to make me lose my temper? I am trying very hard not to hiss and spit and stomp my foot in frustration right now, but I believe that even if I did, it would do no good. Sometimes, I really do not understand you. Do you remember the first time we met and we called one another stupid? Well, I do and you are acting that way now. You have never failed me, Erik. You disappointed me by not visiting me more often in our dreams and then saddened me when you stopped coming to me. But, now that I think upon it, the dreams stopped soon after my father died, so I might have been the one that shut you out and not the other way around. No matter, even at your most irritating, you never failed me. And, I have been helpless to do anything but love you." She paused and pressed her body closer to his before she continued. "Ever since the first time we met and argued, I have been head-over-heels in love with you."
For a brief moment, Christine thought she felt a tremor race through Erik's body before he froze and his body turned into a mass of unmoving and unfeeling stone. And, it was that slight tremor, which gave her the hope and the courage to continue speaking to him.
"My love? Do not close your heart to me, please! I feel your fear, but do not understand what it is that you fear. Talk to me, Erik! Please!"
She nestled her head against the broad expanse of his back and held her breath, as the words of a fervent prayer swept through her mind and begged whatever deity who would listen that the silent man hear her words.
"Lord, please let him love me as much as I love him. Please!"
She snaked her arms around his waist and tightly clasped her hands together over his abdomen. She closed her eyes and savored the hard abdominal muscles against which her hands pressed.
"Oh, if you wish to leave, you will have to touch me. You will have to acknowledge that I am here. I am not going to let you ignore me. You owe me more than that. If you wish to walk away from me, I do not plan on making it easy for you as I will not release my hold on you without a struggle, Erik."
She inhaled deeply of his enticing male scent and sighed.
"Hell! And, we were doing so well too! Damn it! When I think of the kisses and caresses we shared on the train, I tremble with how much more I want. And, when I think of the things we might have done last night, I feel as if my body is burning in places I never knew could ache. If only that damnable Leshii had not spirited me away who knows what pleasures we might have shared last night."
The man's swift movement suddenly broke her silent reverie. He deftly twisted around without breaking her hold on him and wrapped his arms firmly around her. He shuddered briefly as Christine settled her head upon his chest and then relaxed. He rested his chin atop her mass of chocolate curls and closed his eyes. She smelled of pine needles and rich loamy earth. Another tremble raced through his body as he felt his manhood respond to the scent and touch of the woman he desired to take as his mate.
"Christine?"
The word tumbled from his lips in a raspy croak and hung heavily in the air around them. A single word, yet, it held all of the longing and love the man felt. A single word told all and required only a single word in reply.
"Yes."
From the husky sound of the word she spoke, he understood the word answered his question and did not make another inquiry of him. Both of their bodies relaxed within the circle of their embrace and their arms began to sweep and glide over one another. Their hands grasping, swirling and clutching in an ecstatic exploration of pleasure previously interrupted too soon. He leaned down and captured her mouth with his, only to have her surprise him as she nipped his lower lip. He opened his mouth to express his astonishment, only to have her tongue slide into his mouth as she deepened their kiss.
Emboldened by her kisses, Erik ran his hand up the side of her thin shift and over the flat expanse of her stomach. Gathering his courage, he paused only for a moment before allowing his hand to glide up and gently cup her breast. Thunder sounded softly and Erik noticed static electricity gathering in the air around them. His thoughts quickly diverted from the tingling sensation as one of Christine's questing hands firmly squeezed one side of his rear, which caused his aroused state to harden further and him to moan loudly as she pulled him closer to her chemise-clad body. His groan covered the second, louder peal of thunder, which resounded nearby in the heavens. His one hand encircled the firm mound of her flesh and he felt a sudden shiver of delight as her taut nipple speared his palm. His other hand ran through her wild tresses, soon finding it entangled within the mass of her soft, dark brown curls.
"My God! Erik! Oh! Yes!"
Her voice called out in passionate song and her hand ran between their bodies, down to find the hard length of his arousal. Her small hand slid up and down the tense muscle, which lay hidden beneath its prison of cloth and Erik felt his eyes roll up as his hips began to thrust forward to meet each of her strokes.
"Oh! You are everything to me! I swear! Christine! I must have you!" He growled.
Her quiet laughter sounded sweeter than the most delicate wind chimes Erik had ever heard and a distant part of him realized he was lost. He was lost and wished to remain forever lost, if finding himself meant losing the sweetness of Christine's heavenly touch.
The rhythm of her hand increased and his hand moved away from cupping her breast. His finger and thumb twirled her nipple and gently pulled on the erect flesh. The sounds of their ragged breathing and soft moans grew quicker and louder. The two hurtling toward a heretofore unknown precipice, as mindless as a stampede of lemmings.
Erik left her lips to trail a line of soft kisses along the willowy column of her throat. He suckled briefly at her collarbone and then moved towards the stiff, pebbled flesh of her nipple. He ran his tongue around her globe at the place where her pale flesh met a dusky rose. He swirled and laved at her hungrily and then succumbed to his greed as he drew her taut tip into his mouth and suckled.
A wordless cry escaped Christine's lips and her hand involuntarily clutched Erik's erect manhood tighter, as the mouth tugging upon her nipple drew a cord of fire up from her belly. Christine's legs gave way and Erik caught her up with him as he stumbled and fell onto her bed. The moment their bodies landed upon the bed, a blinding bolt of light exploded through the room followed almost immediately by an equally loud detonation of thunder. And, yet the couple on the bed remained oblivious to the storm, which raged in a completely blue and totally clear sky.
A sound, which imitated almost in miniature the clap of thunder resounded through the bedroom as the door slammed open and smacked into the wall.
Christine screeched and Erik quickly pulled the bed sheets over their heaving bodies.
"What the fuck?" Erik snarled.
Helen calmly walked into the room, ignoring Erik's furious look and Christine's abject embarrassment.
"Exactly …. What the fuck is exactly what cannot go on here and we need to talk about this right now!"
