"Soon," he mumbled to himself as he swept down the long, dark hall that led to his dungeon of a home. Rats scurried around him on the ground, fleeing from the touch of light his torch provided. "She will bring it soon..." He smiled to himself, knowing the pain he was causing his previous love. The one who had betrayed him... the one he had secretly deceived. Miss Christine Daae. `She was one devil of a woman, tricked into love by the demon Raoul.

Christine had left a little under a year ago with her lover, leaving him to deal with the angry mob she had led to his home. He, of course, had hidden. The men who had come to take his life had stayed only a couple months and- thinking he had left- had finally retreated out of his lair. The only one who knew of his stable presence was Madame Giry, who he held under his thumb with the threat of her daughter's life. She knew it was no threat to take lightly so she kept her mouth shut and kept watch as he had instructed her...

Yes, Christine had left him with a ruined life, but he had given her worse to take. He had given her his child. She had not known he had done anything to her, but she must've realized by now that the night she came to his lair for the first time was far from innocent. The child was more a punishment for Christine than a gift for himself. She would obviously realize that the child was not Raoul's. He hoped it would look like himself, that it would have his eyes. The black eyes would show Christine instantly that the child was his for she and her lover had light eyes.

Christine would not be able to bear having a reminder of this place... or himself. She wouldn't be able to keep a ghost of her past. And if she could, the child would eventually find its way to the opera house and he would claim it as his. The time wouldn't matter... he had all the time in the world. He had eternity to wait.

He was, after all, a phantom...

The moment Christine heard she was pregnant from the doctor, she prayed for the baby to be Raoul's. Oh how she prayed the man who swore he loved her had given her a miracle and how she prayed the past was not cursing her...But as soon as she held the child in her arms she knew her prayers had failed her. The eyes of her beautiful baby girl were unbearable black. Pitch black.

Just like the Phantom's had been.

This child was his.

And she knew this was her punishment for running from the opera house, for escaping him.

"He wants her," Christine whispered, her voice shaking as she stared down at the little girl she held, "He wants her, Raoul ."

"Who?" Raoul asked, not knowing for he had not seen the infants eyes, "Who wants my daughter?" Christine howled with misery as she held her wriggling baby to Raoul.

"Her father!" she screamed, her words mixing with the child's cries, "Her father wants her, Raoul! He has cursed us to suffer the loss of our first born child. He has cursed us!" Raoul was at a loss for words as he stared into the child's eyes, seeing the oddly black irises and understanding the baby he thought was his was the child of a monster. A monster who had killed many in cold blood, who had almost murdered himself, and who had kept his wife prisoner and had obviously taken advantage of her.

With those thoughts processed through his mind, Raoul turned away from the girl. He could not stand to look in her eyes for the hatred he had towards her father was too strong and he did not want it to spread to her. He didn't want to hate his Christine's daughter... the child that was supposed to be his... But her eyes... those eyes...

"He will have her then," Raoul said coldly, not wanting the child around any longer. It was too painful... Christine was taken aback by her husband's attitude and immediately clutched the crying baby.

"But, Raoul..." Christine half whispered and half cried, "The Phantom... he will keep her a prisoner in that Opera house, Raoul..."

"I refuse to keep his child Christine," her husband growled, slamming a fist onto the table beside the bed he and Christine shared, "I will not keep the child of a devil in my house!"

"She is a blameless child!" Christine cried loudly, holding her daughter tightly to herself, "She is innocent in all this!"

"So were you Christine!" Raoul shouted at his wife, "You were innocent and that man took advantage of you! And he made you with child because he knew you would not want to stay and he wanted his ties in you. We must take him his daughter Christine... No, I must."

"You must?" Christine asked, almost screaming as Raoul snatched her child from her. He looked down at her sadly.

"You cannot go Christine," Raoul said, walking to the end of the bed and wrapping the infant in some spare blankets to shield her from the unbearable cold that loomed just outside their rather large home, "The Phantom is waiting for us to present him with his child. If you go he will weave you into his web and he will never let you go... Besides you do not need to bond with this child anymore than you already have. It is doubtful you will ever see her again."

Christine let out a wail as her husband fled from the bedroom with her child. Raoul closed the door to shut Christine into her room.

"Monsieur de Changy!" a maid called as she scuttled towards where Raoul stood, "What in the world is going on? Is the baby okay?"

"The baby is just fine Martha," Raoul told the maid, before adding, "Please ensure my wife stays in her chambers, I am going to get the child baptized." And with that, Raoul swept down the stairs and out into the cold winter's day that awaited.