AN: Hi everyone! Thanks for your awesome reviews! Everytime I look over them (yes, I read them multiple times) it makes me so happy knowing that people are reading and enjoying my story. I'll be sure to update again before Christmas as a present to you all. I'm not the happiest with the end of this chapter, but it needed to be set up for foreshadowing in the story ;)
The Phantom looked up from his composition, and blinked in surprise. His candles had burned much lower than expected; they were almost to the bottom. He glanced back at his composition, satisfied with it for the night (well, early morning) and decided to steal some food from the kitchens while he waited for the ballerinas to awaken and begin practicing. He had an appreciation for all things beautiful, from music to dance, since God had robbed him of that luxury. He was born a beast, and beast he should remain unless, he chuckled bitterly to himself, he would find his Beauty to free him from that horrible curse. Of course, he reminded himself, this was real life and there was no curse placed upon him, he was simply born this way. There would never be anybody that would look past his face, not to mention criminal activities (even if he did use that money for good). In his mind, a world where no child was on the streets would be perfect. That's why he ultimately decided to continue with his thievery. He asked no money from the real managers of the opera house, as the opera house they were managing was doing terribly with the current prima donna, Carlotta.
How he wished that Carlotta would just quit! But no, she was currently involved with one of the managers, and thus stayed. The Phantom knew that should he find such a pure voice, he could mold it into something magnificent. But there has been no such voice, and so, Carlotta stayed. She did have some talent, the Phantom conceded, in a screechy, sometimes pitchy kind of way. But the main reason the Phantom couldn't stand her was the way she treated everyone. At times, her cold-heartedness reminded him of his mother, a person who he loathed beyond all measure. Why, she was his first kill. Most would faint at the thought of killing their own, but the way she tortured him when he was younger, with the constant whippings and food deprivation at the slightest instance of displeasing her, he held no sympathy when he saw the light fade from her eyes. He learned after that to use his talent for killing in a way to kill those he felt had done the world an injustice- anyone that crossed his mafia group, or corrupt leaders and those in positions of power. The Phantom didn't want to cause anarchy, but to kill is sometimes a necessary evil.
Clearing his head of his past, he blew out the candles and went to his bedchamber to get a couple of hours of sleep before a new day came of critiquing ballerinas and terrorizing Carlotta.
"Ouch! Stop pushing me!" Christine complained as Raoul shoved her down a dank alleyway.
"Christine, you need to stop, and be quiet," Raoul hissed. "We may have gotten a lead on the Phantom criminal's whereabouts."
It had been a few months since Christine had been assigned the case, and Raoul had made it his personal mission to see that she was up to speed in all aspects that she would need to crack this case. That included the hand to hand combat, weapons training, and the fine art of seduction. Raoul had laughed at Christine's initial attempts, something Christine would remember at random moments still and blush. One of the first scenarios went a little something like this:
"Christine, walk seductively towards me, and tilt your head a little." Christine complied "No, tilt your head less, you look like you have a problem. Now look out from underneath your lashes and pout." Christine did as told, feeling foolish. "No, Christine, you look like a duck." Raoul criticized.
At that point, Natasha (a secretary to the head detective, Raoul's father) came in and asked, "What are you doing to this poor girl?"
Raoul defended himself saying "I'm teaching her how to seduce a man, a skill that will come in handy when she is trying to get close to the Phantom criminal."
"That is no way to seduce a man, the girl looks pained!" Natasha replied, a look of annoyance flitting across her face. "A woman should teach her how to behave."
"That's not so," Raoul argued. "We men know what we want."
Natasha just simply rolled her eyes and led Christine to another room in the facility. "It's okay, Christine, only few women are born knowing how to flirt and seduce. What draws men to you is your innocence, so I'll just give you a few tips and how things mechanically work, and then I'll send you on your way.
After a few hours Christine came out of the room looking dazed, her head trying to process all that she had just learned. Sure, she knew the basic mechanisms of how it all worked, but never had she been versed so… thoroughly… in how to please a man, along with a couple of other tips to flirt with him.
Raoul grabbed the front of Christine's outfit, intent on getting her out of her head. Instinctively, Christine got into a stance, interlocked her fingers behind Raoul's neck, dropped down on one knee, and rotated behind him so she held him in a blood choke. Raoul yelled out "CHRISTINE STOP!"
She released Raoul, the adrenaline still in her veins. "Well, at least we know the hand to hand combat training wasn't wasted," muttered Raoul, still a bit shaken from the encounter. "Just don't do that to the Phantom criminal, and you'll be fine."
"Sorry, my head was in the clouds" Christine apologized, her eyes downcast. "I don't like it when people grab me."
"Christine," Raoul reasoned, "I'm fine. I won't do anything to hurt you."
AN (again!) Hi again, I just have a few questions about what you enjoyed and didn't enjoy in this chapter.
1. Did you like Raoul's advice on how to make Christine seductive?
2. Did you like Natasha's advice that Christine should remain her innocent self around the Phantom?
3. Did you like the little bit of street fighting Christine used on Raoul? (That was actually a real technique I learned while training, and if you want more techniques described, please comment!)