Welcome back to my established readers and welcome to my story to my new readers! It is good to see all of you. You make doing this worthwhile even the silent ones.
Chapter 2.
Paris France, a few weeks earlier.
The Comtesse Christine Daae de Bourges had been a solid staple of Parisian society for the past twenty years. Yet the rumors, and scandals of the early years of her marriage had long since ceased to matter to anyone but Raoul, Christine and a few diehard conspiracy theorists, who had claimed that the Phantom did not perish but had been seen in such places as New York, Dakar, St. Petersburg and London. No one gave these stories much credence or even cared about them. In short, the so-called strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera was ancient history and life had moved on. People were more interested in the new Entente Cordiale between Great Britain and France which established an unprecedented alliance between the two rival powers both of which feared the rise of Germany in the East, the recent surprise attack of the Japanese on the Russian navy fleet in Port Arthur, in China or the new proposed canal that the American's had decided to build in Panama. For most, the so-called monster known as the Phantom of the Opera had largely been dismissed as a legend, designed to sell tickets to shows at the rebuilt Opera house.
On the uncommon occasions that Christine had been forced to remember the Phantom it was only with anger and bitterness. She tried to forget everything about him. She blamed her former teacher for how he had torn away her one chance for having true romantic love in her life with his blind obsession with her. The 'monster' involved had long since been confirmed dead. At the time there were scraps of information, such as a rumor that a few patrons had seen a tall figure in a black cloak running into the burning theatre and pulling people out and therefore saving them. At the time at least twenty people claimed to have been rescued by this mysterious figure shrouded in a black cape and white mask. They stated that the same man whispered tearful apologies. But such tales were dismissed by most. Why would a depraved murderer such as the infamous Phantom of the Opera save anyone but himself? There were more credible accounts that a tall-cloaked figure had been seen walking calmly into the fire in an apparent suicide. The Surete later confirmed this narration of the event. One of their own officers, one Henri Clousseau, had confirmed the creature's death. Clousseau, a highly decorated officer, had personally seen the Phantom walk directly into the fire, and then observed that a section of the ceiling had fallen right on top of the creature. No one, not even the Phantom, could have survived such an inferno although, for a long time, Christine wondered if he did. After all he was a master of illusion. The only evidence that they ever found was remnants of a black cloak and a charred white half mask.
Christine too had seen him walk directly into the fire. He looked right at her as he did with a look of betrayal in his eyes. She could see an almost smug smile on the visible part of his face as he walked straight into the fire. Raoul did not see him he had been looking at her. Christine covered her mouth as she gasped at the horror of watching the Phantom apparently take his own life right in front of her eyes. She was convinced that he wanted her to see him die in order to punish her. She knew the reason why, because he had overheard everything that she had said to Raoul, just moments before he had done it. Her words had been terrible and were the last words that he had ever heard. She had never felt distress that he had done so, but in fact she was glad after all that he had done to her. If the Phantom had fallen there as was claimed, then the high heat had clearly eviscerated his remains, and therefore his sinister hold upon her soul. Yet, admittedly a small part of her inner core felt a slight feeling of regret about her former angel's demise. In time, a larger feeling of freedom and relief had filled her and claimed the day. The madman who had stalked her and filled her with fear was no longer a threat to either her or Raoul. She would no longer have to feel torn between her loyalty to him and doing what was right. He had murdered all that was good in his attempt to have her. Yet, even so, the event did have other serious consequences for Christine. His terrible actions had radically changed the course of her life, and had denied her the love that she had craved so deeply since her father's untimely death years before. She would never feel the same innocent love that she had once been graced with, thanks to him.
That night, her and Raoul's once vibrant love for one another had been extinguished. Prior to that time, Raoul had defied his parents strong pleas to break off their relationship, or at least take Christine only as his mistress, and not defile the de Chagny bloodline with her lowborn blood. After that incident her parents no longer pleaded, but thereafter demanded that, Raoul to do so. They would not permit their son to marry a "fallen slutty Swedish showgirl, who was rumored to have given her virginity to the Phantom in exchange for his support for her 'tawdry' singing career." Never mind that it was a vengeful Carlotta who had started that rumor. Raoul's parents willingly believed the veracity of the rumor because it served their interests for them to do so. When his parents, right in front of Christine, repeated it and they used it to attack her character, Raoul did not seem to object in the slightest. In fact the look on his face showed that he had agreed.
By then it had come as no surprise. She had seen the shock in her fiancé's eyes when she had first pitied the Phantom and then kissed him. To her shame, for one brief moment, she had swallowed her revulsion for the monster, and actually enjoyed the kiss, before realizing with horror that she did. Perhaps she had felt grateful to her fallen idol for what he had meant to her in the past. She did not even understand why she did it. Whatever it was, it had altered what had been her path in life by destroying her dreams of a happy life with a handsome and adoring husband. She knew that, because of her actions, and even though she had saved Raoul's life, Raoul's regard for her had fled the moment that her lips had touched the Phantom's. That one shameful unabashed look of unexpected pleasure that had crossed her eyes for one brief shining moment had opened a vast and insurmountable chasm between her and Raoul. Once Raoul had seen that look, and after they fled the lair, he stopped their flight to admonish her for it. He told her that every time that he would look at her he would be reminded of how she had willingly put her lips on that 'thing's' hideous and disgusting lips. The mere touch of the monster's lips had sullied hers in his eyes forever. Despite her words to the contrary, that it meant nothing, and that she had merely acted that way to fool the Phantom, Raoul claimed that he could not abide that she had done it, and couldn't take her to be his bride. He claimed that if she had only pretended that it was even worse, because that meant that she could extend the same dishonesty to him. She could never again be trusted for, in his eyes, she had lost her innocent purity and had been branded a whore.
"You sold your soul to the devil to save me." He accused. "I begged you not to do so but you did it anyways."
"Please Raoul, it meant nothing. It was disgusting. He is a vile and horrible creature." She had begged him, but to no avail.
Raoul did later suggest to her that he maintain her as his mistress, with the proviso that no issue of hers would ever make any claim to their fortune or title. She had of course pridefully refused by asking him the obvious question which was how could he be too disgusted with her to take her as a wife, yet still offer to take her as a mistress. The insult to her intelligence was unbearable. When she challenged this logic, and yet, begged both his forgiveness and that he continue their engagement, Raoul looked away uncomfortably. That proved that he was using it simply as an excuse to blame her for their break up, and therefore she was not sorry that she refused him. As tempting as it had been, she could not bring herself to be just a mistress to a man to whom she had once been engaged and maintain her pride. Raoul did ease his own guilty conscience by leaving her with 'enough money to live on' until she could find a new singing position.
A year later, just before the money ran dry, and a life on the streets seemed all but inevitable, she met her future husband Comte Paul de Bourges who almost immediately proposed to marry her and bring her under his protection. He had done his duty to his family previously and had already made a good match with his first wife. No one begrudged him a second wife such as Christine even if she were at best little better than a glorified prostitute in the eyes of society. He was old enough to be her father, yet he wanted a young and beautiful wife to be both a companion of his and a stepmother to his girls, and most importantly to produce a male heir. Gradually her sweet disposition and gentle manners won society over and they accepted Christine into the fold. Christine did not love Paul in the least bit. Her heart had been eviscerated that night, just like the Phantom. Raoul had rejected her, and therefore Christine rejected her own lost dreams of girlish love. When she met Paul, he had no parents to object to their union. Christine found herself to be the stepmother of three girls, and yet, to Paul's disappointment, produced no children of her own. Her husband never openly blamed her for not producing an heir, but in her heart she knew that it had been the main reason that he had married her. He had loved his first wife unabashedly, who had died in childbirth, but she had given him only daughters and he wanted a son. Christine was still young and beautiful, and he did admire her elegant grace. But for both Christine and Paul, while they truly liked one another a great deal, they never could find love.
Christine would occasionally come upon Raoul, and she could not believe how bald corpulent and dissipated that he had turned out to be. She knew that he married a daughter of a Comte, a shy and fairly plain young woman but her blood was unquestioningly blue. Raoul had his required heir and a spare and therefore relegated his very patient wife to melt away into the background while he sought out various women to fondle and more. His exploits were notorious. He would proposition many women, both married and unmarried, still believing in his own handsome visage. He did not truly realize that the ravages of time had not been kind to him. As time went on he only got worse. When he would arrive at a function he would scout out his next prey and go in for the kill. Most of his potential conquests ran the other way if they were unfortunate enough to catch his eye.
The man that he now was bore little resemblance to the gallant boy who once courted her. Ever since Paul had died, he repeatedly renewed his offer to take her on as his mistress. He would grope her possessively in all the inappropriate places whenever she was unfortunate enough to be forced to dance with him. He was good at forcing her to do so, it was that, or face complete embarrassment of rejecting him too loudly and reminding people of their scandalous past. He would use the opportunity to remind her of their lost love and how she never would have become a Comtesse without his help in teaching her proper decorum and behavior. Often she wondered who had taught him proper decorum. She could smell the odor of liquor and stale cigarettes on his breath and would turn away in disgust, as he would openly try to kiss her. Her love for him had long since died. She viewed him with little more than tolerance and tried to walk away as quickly as possible. Still, on a certain level, she did feel sorry for him. When she would see him she would try to remember the boy that he once was, but he was no longer there. Raoul's idealism had died in the fifth cellar every bit as much as her own. She blamed the Phantom, not Raoul, for the destruction of Raoul. She convinced herself that his evolution away from his old self had begun that night.
Once she even dared to ask him "Raoul what happened to the gallant boy that you once were?"
He smiled at her grimly, baring his yellowed teeth and exhaling a nauseating array of tobacco, liquor and poor oral hygiene and then told her, with a sneer, "He died on that madman's portcullis when his lovely but perfidious fiancé kissed that hideous madman right in front of his very eyes, and actually enjoyed it."
He had answered fairly loud, and to her embarrassment, many heads turned and snickered contemptuously. She could hear the hostility in his voice causing her to look away in guilt. She could not to this day defend herself. She did understand how she could have enjoyed the two kisses that she had given to the Phantom, when the Phantom was so horrible and hideous. At first, she, like Raoul, could only conjecture that there was something terribly wrong inside of her, which the Phantom had exploited, to make her act in such a fashion. In the end, she concluded that he must have used some sort of mind control to make her act in such a way. In truth, she decided it was the only way that she could have been persuaded to show such terrible person such affection. She shuddered as she remembered his hideous face pleading with her to love him. In her mind it had become even more hideous than what it had been. She felt a spasm of anger as she remembered once again how many lives that monster had ruined. Even after she had seen him walk into the fire and others had seen it as well, a part of her, at the time, sensed that somehow he survived. To reassure herself of her safety, not long after the incident, she had gone to visit her old foster mother, and the Phantom's confidant, Antoinette Giry and asked, "Do you truly believe that he is dead? I know that I saw him walk into the flames but somehow a part of me cannot believe that he would take his own life without some alternative plan."
Madame Giry nodded mournfully "His friend from Persia, Monsieur Khan, came by to ask me the same question not an hour ago, and I will tell him what I told you. Don't you think that if he were still alive that I would know it? He had no other friends but the Persian and I who would have possibly helped him, he was so utterly alone in the world Christine. He is at peace now child. I must say now that I am sorry that Monsieur Khan and I led the Vicomte down there to retrieve you. I think that he would have released you anyhow. He was not one to hold anyone there against their will."
Christine had responded bitterly "How can you possibly say that Madame, he brought me down there with the intention of forcing marriage upon me. And all those men that he killed, and more innocents who he almost killed in his attempt to devour me like the beast that he was. It is a miracle that no one died at the theatre when he burned it down. Despite what he did for me when I was younger, he was a terrible monster; he was a liar, and an extortionist and a murderer as well. Tell me one redeeming thing that he ever did."
Antoinette had opened her mouth to tell Christine something and then closed it before she could speak of it. What did it matter anyhow if the girl never knew the truth? Erik was gone, and lost to all of them forever. His good deeds would remain a mystery and his genius would never be allowed to flower. It was regrettable. But why give the girl reason to regret her own actions, which had, most certainly, led to Erik's death? Why make her believe that she had condemned an undeserving man to death, which is exactly what Christine did do. Antoinette wished that she herself had never found out the truth. When the police inspector, Monsieur Clousseau had come to her the day before, and informed her how Erik had been secretly helping them keep them all safe for the several years, she had been stunned. Apparently Erik had worked with the authorities covertly for many years, ever since he had discovered a huge cache of gunpowder under the opera house. The killings that had been attributed to him all took place in the performance of duties. When the inspector handed her a large bag of cash that Erik had left for both her and Meg she had burst out into remorseful tears.
But even years later Christine knew nothing of this. Both Antoinette Giry and Meg had long since moved on to an Opera House in America, far from the shores of France. She had lost touch with them years before, and did not really mind. Madame Giry had always been too quick to defend her vile and monstrous friend and, well, Meg had been a good friend, but they had drifted apart. Christine had married into the nobility, while, Meg was married to some American man. Their lives were so different that it was hard to remain friends. Christine felt adrift from her past, and not entirely settled with her future. She had not yet become entirely jaded and bitter but she was not the young and innocent child that she had once been either.
Paul remained an attentive husband until his demise the year before. He was seventy years old when he had died, and they had been married for the past sixteen years. Christine had always wanted children of her own, but at almost forty years of age, it had become doubtful. Her stepdaughters were very fond of her, and treated her as if she was their real mother but still in her heart she ached for a baby of her own flesh and blood. Unfortunately, when he died, the bulk of Paul's estate went to his daughters, and to a distant male cousin who was the heir to his title and not her. In a final blow, Paul had largely disinherited Christine, due to her failure to produce an heir. Christine found his will to be an indictment of her, by her husband but fortunately she was still able to live with her younger stepdaughters as their duenna and guardian. They were seventeen and eighteen years of age respectively and unmarried. Her older stepdaughter Mathilde was married to a handsome young Baronne. Her life was not uncomfortable, but she felt that she was now well beyond youth. Love had largely passed her by, except for back then, before he ruined everything.
Her youngest stepdaughter reminded her of her younger self. Annette de Bourges was a beautiful girl, with an easy smile. From the time that Christine had met her she had captured her heart. She had been a sweet and beautiful child and she remained the same. She had never once made her feel as if she were merely a stepmother and a former singer at that. She shared confidences with her. If Christine had had a child of her own blood she would have wanted her to be exactly like Annette.
On this day, she had just returned home from a lunch with several friends, afterwards they walked on the Bois and searched for handsome men, apparently she had found one. She came bounding in breathlessly to see Christine.
She gushed, "I just met the most handsome boy that I have ever seen. His name is Albert James Montgomery, and he is the heir to a Baronetcy in England. He has the most magnificent smile, and sun streaked blond hair and gorgeous green eyes, and is tall and lean. He works at the British Embassy as an adjutant to the Naval Attache. He is the grandson of an Earl, and he is simply divine. He has the most exquisite voice that I have ever heard, even in the opera house. A definite tenor."
Christine smiled "Were you properly introduced? You didn't just bound right up to him like a lovesick puppy."
Annette smiled coquettishly "Of course not Maman. I have not yet grown that bold. You have taught me better than that. He was walking with Eduard de Villiers, I was with Clementine de Breuilly and she introduced us. His father is a Frenchman and Albert speaks our language fluently."
"Clementine de Breuilly?" Christine asked, "I don't recall a Clementine de Breuilly among your friends. Who is she?"
Annette sighed, "She is the cousin of Eugenie d'Aubert who I know that you have heard of. After all you and her mother both co-sponsored the Spring Cotillion to benefit the Palais Garnier several years ago. Eugenie and I became fast friends for a time until Eugenie met Alaine du Benoit."
Christine laughed, "Never mind, I cannot keep track of all of your friends and relationships. Well how does it relate to you meeting this Englishman?" Christine realized that it would be another confusion jargon and then sighed in defeat and put up her hand in surrender, "Never mind that either, I do not want to know. I used to be eighteen years of age a century or two ago, as I vaguely recall. I just hope that your father will not be spinning in his grave from your attempts to stretch propriety."
Annette laughed "We are in a new century Maman, where the world is changing. We have automobiles, Flying Machines and Moving Pictures as well. Is it really so terrible to stretch the bounds of your nineteenth century views of propriety?"
Christine smiled at her enthusiasm "Ugh now I do feel old. I guess not. Did he let you know whether or not he intended to call upon you? I would like to meet this boy who is such a fine example of male beauty. I want to make sure that he is worthy of you."
Annette looked at her "Well I am not sure if he will call upon me. He looked at both Antonia du Prioux, and I just the same. We promised not to get angry no matter who he might decide to call upon. No man is worth a disruption in a friendship."
Christine laughed, "Most girls claim that when they do not have an interest in the same beau as somebody else but once they both start to fall for the same boy, their self restraint falls by the wayside. Be careful that you and she do not fall for the same man, or one of you might end up heartbroken, and that does not feel very good."
"You seem to speak about heartbreak from experience Maman. You never speak about your distant past, when you were my age. I occasionally hear whispers about you, but nothing of note. Why did you marry Papa when he was so clearly so much older than you, and had been so in love with my real mother? Father did like you, and was very kind to you, but I never saw the passion in either of your eyes. You are beautiful; surely you could have found someone closer in age to yourself. Even if you were not a member of the nobility. No offense but was it to have his title? You are so guarded when it comes to your past Maman but you know that I love you no matter what might have happened."
Christine smiled and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "When I was your age two men fought over me, and one of them broke my heart. The other one lied to me and did many other horrible things to me and to others, and as a result ruined my one chance at happiness."
"Are you terribly unhappy now Maman? Sometimes you seem so dreamy and your thoughts grow quite distant, and you seem so far away. Do you pine for your lost love?" she asked.
"Not at all anymore, Cherie. I do not know what I ever saw in him he looks horrible now all bloated and drunk, and I heard that he is a gambler as well. He is a far cry from the gallant and handsome boy that he once was." She told her.
"What about the other man?" Her daughter asked. "The one that ruined everything for you. Have you ever come across him again? If so what would you do to him?"
"I would run the other way, as fast as I could, if I were to ever come across him. He was a monster in the truest sense of the word and he tried to prey upon me, and exploit me. But I do not have to worry about running into him. He died a long time ago in a fire that he started. Many people saw him perish in the flames, including me, and they later found his mask and his cape among the ashes." Christine mused.
"His mask?" Annette asked, "So it is true, you were stalked by the Phantom of the Opera. Vivienne told me so, but I told her that it was a malicious rumor and nothing more. She told me to ask you if I did not believe her, that her mother told her everything about you."
Christine blushed "Yes, I was that girl that he kidnapped off of the stage and attempted to ravish me, but I convinced him to let me go."
"Was he terrible?" she asked "Was he truly as hideous as they say that he was with a death's head for a face, no nose, flaming eyes, yellow parchment skin and a bald head."
Christine swallowed a flush of fear at the thought of what he really did look like. "No he wasn't quite that horrible, although he was horrible. Half of his face was quite handsome; in fact it made the beholder believe that the other half must be just as handsome but that he might be hiding it for another reason. He did have a bald head, but he covered it with a wig, and he had a nose as well, although on his bad side it was withered and deformed. His terrible side did look like a death's head with exposed bone, and veins everywhere. His eyes were terribly sad, and could seem almost fiery when he was angry, but they were usually a very pleasing shade of green, with some golden and black flecks mixed in. So changeable and yet so expressive. They were a window into his innermost soul. There could never been a face with so much contrast, to have ever existed in the world before his. But his bad side was so hideous that it cancelled out the good completely and then some. " Annette saw the fear in Christine's eyes as she recalled him, and it sent a chill down her spine.
"If it was half handsome then how could it be so bad?" she asked.
"It was bloated like a rotting corpse and looked like a bleached white skull. It was not human in the least bit; he looked like a monster, a terrible monster. Believe me, no one could stand to look upon it without wanting to run away in fear. Every once in a while it still haunts my nightmares. He wanted me to stay with him and become his bride." She gave an hysteric laugh "Could you imagine becoming such a creature's bride, a deformed mad man who hunted and killed, and would not have stopped killing and killing, if he hadn't been consumed by fire. I shudder to think of what he would have done to me had he lived. Probably stalk me as his prey forever, until my dying day. Just thinking of him still terrifies me, even after all of these years." She told her.
Annette put her hand on her stepmother's arm and then hugged her. "Poor Maman, well as you said fortunately he has been dead for more than twenty years. He cannot hurt you any more. But why did he pick you of all the girls at the opera house?"
"To be honest, darling, it was because there was a time when I adored him. He was once very kind and loving towards me and he was my best friend and confidant. I thought the world of him, and loved him almost like a daughter loved a father. He took care of me and became the angel of music that my father had once promised to me. He taught me how to sing, and made my voice take flight. You could never understand what he was like, the charm that he exuded, the grace, and that beautiful, haunting and melodious voice. It captivated me completely, and made me feel light and radiant as a bright summers day, yet bathed me in a gentle glow of darkness."
Annette looked at her stepmother strangely. She noticed that Christine's demeanor had changed completely as she recalled the Phantom's more becoming traits. Gone was the customary look of discontent and bitterness. A younger more innocent woman had replaced her and she radiated with an inner glow that Annette had never seen.
Annette remarked quietly, "So you did love him in a certain way? It certainly sounds that way."
"Is that what it sounds like darling, 'love'? I cannot claim to know what emotion that I truly felt back then. At times I wonder if he had purposely ensnared me with that beautiful, angelic voice of his, at other times I wonder why I always felt an inner peace, when he did, which I have never felt again. I have to admit that to this day I have missed that warmth, and wonder what could be done to feel such elation once again. To be honest, it was only when he grew jealous and murderous that I turned away from him. I might have learned to accept his terrible face but for that. At one time I had prayed that my angel would become a man, but sadly I learned to be careful what to wish for. A dream may turn out to be to be a nightmare and destroy everything that you once held dear. That is what happened to me. In the end that is what he did to me which is why I cannot forgive him even in death."