Here is the last chapter! Thank you guys so much! Your reviews have meant everything, every single one of them! It has been a wonderful experience and hopefully you'll see me with another story some time in the future...

She had heard several rapid gunshots from where she stood in the bedroom, each one making her cringe in horror as she stared out the window, trying to discern the shadows below. And then, several seconds later, there was that one final shot, distantly echoing into the night. Then there was silence. A chill went through her body as she unsteadily began to walk toward the bedroom door. In a daze, she exited the room and made her way to the steps. Grasping onto the railing for support, Christine descended down the stairs into the dark, each step creaking softly in distress as she laid her weight upon it. Oh God... Please...No...

The bottom floor was pitch black, as a cloud had passed over the half moon. Blindly she felt her way to the front door, her heart beating rapidly in panic. All shadows seemed to reach out toward her, beckoning her to become lost within them. Finally, she opened the door and stepped out into the night air. The moon appeared again and lit the land before her, guiding her toward the woods. Wrapping her arms around herself for both warmth and solace, Christine walked toward the abyss of trees, praying that he was in there...that he was alive, but she saw no movement.

As she got closer, she drew in a deep breath of air and forced herself to speak. "Erik!" she choked out. "Erik! Where are you?" A sob muffled her words, as she felt her way through the bramble, branches roughly scratching her face and tearing the seams of her dress. She could see nothing in front of her as the trees blocked all moonlight. Finally, knowing she would never find her way to him in the dark, she gathered all her strength and pressed it into one word. "Erik!" she screamed as loudly as she could. With exhaustion she leaned against the trunk of a tree, awaiting his response. If he were alive...there was no way that he could not have heard her that time...

He lay there on the frigid ground, the dust settling softly around the sides of his face, onto his hair. In the top of his right shoulder, a burning pain throbbed, and he could feel the cold wet trickle of blood seeping down his arm. But he had been hurt worse than this before. It had not entered the bone...just passed through the skin, perhaps slightly grazing the muscle tissue. No...it was not the wound that kept him from getting up.

Once he had been hit, he knew he would no longer be able to throw the lasso effectively, at least not in time to kill both of them. And...even if only one made it back alive, that was all that was needed to destroy everything. So as the sharp pain hit his shoulder, and the force sent him to the ground, he did not get back up. There was no point. It was over.

They would be back, he knew, with at least twenty more men armed with rifles. Within hours, the entire property would be surrounded, all dreams of normalcy at an end. Now they would have to flee again into the night, this time with no set destination, and when the sun came up, they would have to hide. They would always have to hide...

Slowly he brought himself up to his knees and brushed the dust from his fingers. His shoulder continued to throb with a dull, steady ache, but he knew the wound would not be fatal. A hopelessness overtook him, a feeling of helplessness that he had sworn never to feel again. "I just wanted a life," he whispered desperately. "Just to be left alone...to be with her. She is the only thing in my life that has ever been right. My God, she wishes for me to hold her and kiss her, despite everything...despite my monstrosity. My own mother would not kiss me. Yet still I cannot live in peace! Still I am hunted...except now... I will destroy her life as well as my own." He closed his eyes. Tears began to fall down his cheeks, as he realized what his next action had to be. Though all instincts spoke against it, if he ever committed one decent act in his life, it would be now...for her.

"Erik!" he heard the desperate shout echo into the woods. She was looking for him, and he did not want her to suffer. Slowly he made his way back to the house, able to see after many years of living in the darkness.

"Christine," he called, just loud enough for her to hear him.

Blindly she ran toward the voice in the little light that was left, twigs snapping rapidly under her feet. "Erik!" she searched with her hands. "Erik!" He could see her wandering around and grabbed her arm tightly. "Erik!" she said, her body collapsing against him in relief, a sob rattling her. "I heard gunshots. I thought...Your shoulder...it is wet. Are you injured? Erik, what happened?" He could feel her breathing against him, her heart pounding quickly in her chest.

For a moment he said nothing and just held on to her tightly, her forehead a soothing pressure against his wound. Slowly he took her hand and guided her out of the woods and back into the moonlight. "Erik, what is going on?" she asked frantically. Now she was able to see his expression, and the look of defeat on his face frightened her.

He took a deep breath and turned to her. "It was two officers. They fled, but they will be back with more men soon."

"Your shoulder..." she began, tenderly touching it with her fingers.

"It will not be fatal, Christine. That is not how I will meet my end tonight."

"Then we must run!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide as the adrenaline began to course through her. "Hurry. Nothing is unpacked yet!" She began to flee to the carriage, but Erik grabbed her by the arm and held her in place. "What are you doing? We have to leave here now!"

"No, Christine," he said softly. "Do you not understand? No matter where we go, we will always have to hide. We will always be hunted and threatened, and blood will always be shed. I cannot condemn you to that kind of life. It is no life."

"Erik! No! Why are you saying this? We must go!" She was beginning to become frantic now, tugging desperately at his arm, tears of panic beginning to run down her scratched cheeks.

"Christine...stay here. Tell them...tell them I held you against your will. Then find someone who can give you happiness. Find the boy if you must." He tried to remain calm, to not fall sobbing to the ground in despair of what he was about to lose.

"Erik! Please, no!" Her voice had become hoarse with her cries. "I am going wherever you go! I do not care about the house! We will run tonight, and someday we will have a home and a wedding and whatever else we are supposed to have. But right now we have to get away!"

"Christine...why do you insist on staying with me? Don't you understand what kind of life you are asking for? Why do you torture yourself so?" He grabbed her firmly by the arms and looked into her eyes.

"Because.." she sobbed, her shoulders going limp to his touch. "Because I need you to be with me. And I love you."

He could feel himself coming apart with those glorious words, wanting nothing more than to tightly embrace her-to hold onto her for dear life. But if he did, he knew that he would never let her go. He would bring her down into the dark with him. "Christine, you do not know what you say. You do not know what you are condemning yourself to. Do you wish to just keep running, Christine? To live a life of total isolation? Do you wish to follow me straight to the gates of hell because that is likely where I will end up!"

"Erik, we will be fine! I do not care where we go, or if any one else is there! I just want to be with you! Please! I love you!" She finally released herself from his grip and fell to the ground in a sobbing heap.

For a moment, he started to turn away from her hunched form, to walk away from her pleading cries. He could just disappear, remain as nothing but a shadowy memory in her mind as she found a life in the light again. But to both his relief and dismay, he found that he could not bring himself to move. Unable to hold back from her any longer, he fell to his knees and grabbed her into his arms, desperately holding her into his chest, placing kisses into her hair, letting her cry onto his shoulder. She had condemned herself, and he no longer had the strength to prevent her from doing so. She was his...would always be. As he held her, Erik felt a calm settle over him, realizing that he now had only one objective. He would do whatever was in his power to see that they survived the night.

Quickly Erik bounded up from the ground, ignoring the pain in his shoulder. "Let us go then Christine," he said quietly. Relief flooded her pale features as she shakily stood up with him. The defeat was gone from his face, replaced by stern, cold resolve. She released a quiet sob of hope and clutched on to him as he firmly led her to the carriage.

Silently, he hitched the horses up, unloading some of the heavier material so as not to be slowed down. Christine reached back and took an old red scarf from among her belongings. Erik allowed her to tie it around his arm to prevent more blood loss, giving her a loving kiss on the head as she stepped away.

He helped Christine up into the carriage and then climbed in, quickly steering the horses into what was left of the night. Christine gripped tightly to his arm, her heart calming some. Within hours, the house was far behind them...and Paris was no longer visible as even a dim light in the distance. He avoided all public roads, staying within the woods...alert to any person that may be near them. Should anyone cross his path that night, despite his wound, they would meet their immediate end.

Christine dozed against him for a while but was soon awoken by a glaring light. The sun had begun to rise up before them, seeping through the trees. For Christine's sake, Erik let it shine down on them and even took off his mask for a moment, letting the rays fall upon his face. Christine gave him a kiss upon his marred cheek, and he tilted his head against her affectionately.

But both knew that they would have to hide soon...wait for the darkness to fall so that they could journey discreetly into the night again. But Christine did not care.

As the orange orb of fire rose higher in the sky, she turned her face away from the garish light and hid her head within Erik's shoulder.

The sun had become much too bright for her eyes.

FIN