In My Darkness: La Chatte Noire

Chapter Twenty-One: Joyaux Noël

Chapter Twenty-One: Joyaux Noël

Erik watched as Camillé stepped down the incline, sauntering down the stones with swaying hips and a mischievous grin on her face. He raised an eyebrow at her expression, a smirk slowly forming on his own. She was obviously planning something… or hiding something from him. As his eyes travelled down her arms, he could tell that she was holding something back from him. That was quite silly of her – nothing could be hidden from him, particularly when it was her hiding it. Surely by now she had learned better, though he was not complaining. His ways of getting things from her were quite enjoyable.

He turned back to his organ and his eyes travelled to his discarded porcelain mask. It was a reminder of just one of the many reasons he loved her – she loved him entirely, without restraint. That was something he would not trade for the world itself. She walked around behind him and wrapped one arm around his shoulders. Her lips brushed his cheek and pressed a kiss to it before kissing his temple. Erik leaned into the touch and turned his head with the intent to kiss her fully. Then her hand grasped his chin and turned his head away from her. His eyebrows raised in amused surprise as she pressed another kiss to the side of his face.

"Joyaux Noël, mon amour," Camillé whispered against his ear.

Then she brought her other arm in front of his face, holding a suspicious black box with pristine white ribbon wrapped around it and tied in a bow. Erik smiled before getting up from his bench, sliding out from behind it and going towards his storage closet behind the small red curtain. He pulled out another couple of small boxes and walked back over to her. The two presents were held out to her, one in each hand. She smiled as she took them from him and placed her present in his hands. Then she got on her tiptoes and kissed him. Erik let his present switch to one hand as the other arm wrapped around her small frame and placed a hand at the small of her back. He felt her smile through the kiss and he pulled away.

"Joyaux Noël, mon cœur," he responded, pulling her by the hand back up to her bedroom, where they sat on the bed as they had done a thousand times before.

Camillé crossed her legs and grinned up at him as he sat down across from her. It seemed that they always sat like this, with Erik sitting at the head of the swan bed and Camillé sitting somewhere in the middle with her legs crossed. He returned her smile and nodded at her presents.

"Open them first," he told her, and she shook her head.

"I think you ought to open yours first," she retorted.

Erik cocked his head sideways at her. "Oh, really?" he asked, and she nodded, "Alright then."

He tugged gently on the ribbon, untying the bow and releasing the binding around the box. Then he lightly lifted the top of the box, setting it to the side as he pulled out the rectangular… book? Yes, it was a book. He unwrapped the paper around it and felt the soft leather binding beneath his fingertips. He read the embossed silver lettering on the front of the book as he grazed his fingers over it; Book of Shadows. One of his eyebrows raised as he looked up at her, only greeted by a shrug and a smile. The book made no sound, but silently protested as he opened it to the first page.

'For my beloved savior in the shadows.'

Erik smirked as he looked up at her. "'Savior in the shadows?'" he questioned.

"Well, it is true," Camillé defended, shrugging again.

He merely shook his head with a smile as he turned his attention back to the book. The next page was turned and he read over the words before his eyes widened in realization. Then he turned the page… and the next page, and the next. Finally he looked up at her with widened eyes and a shocked expression on his face.