Chapter Six: In The Devil's Lair
The descent down the dark stairs of the asylum seemed to be infinite to Christine. Her heart was racing both from the unknown of what lay ahead and the tight grip that the man guiding her had on her arm. He would look back at her constantly with a sinister smile as he pulled her down deeper into the eerie darkness. Christine's breath became heavier as she tried to keep up to his pace while still clutching the shawl that barely covered her trembling shoulders. The dim light he held with his other hand illuminated only a few feet ahead of their steps. After what seemed like an eternity, the pair finally reached a long, narrow passageway that was covered with pools of water that formed from the leaking walls and ceilings. A few drops of cold liquid fell onto Christine's bare skin, making her shiver even more from the chilling air.
For a brief moment, Christine felt a heavy sense of relief as she finally saw a distant yet faint light ahead of her. The man's grip tensed on her arm with greater intensity. Before the light became any clearer, however, he abruptly stopped in front of a small alcove in the passage wall, pulling Christine in front of him and backing her into the damp stone face. The lantern crashed noisily to the ground, the sound reverberating throughout the small enclosure. She barely had a moment to gasp before a large, coarse hand clamped hard over her mouth, the other firmly set on her stomach to keep her immobile. All cries for help were obstructed by his sweaty grip. Her eyes widened with fear at the beastly face that confronted her own so closely. He pouted his lips in feigned concern as one finger roughly caressed a pale cheek.
"Oh, come now, pet. I only want to play." He hissed. "You act as though you have never even been in the presence of a man…in need." Pushing his body closer into hers, Christine could feel his hardness pressing against belly. His breathing was ragged and his voice filled with lust. Her entire figure was now trembling uncontrollably as her eyes flew down and then back up into his fixed stare. Once her body finally became unfrozen, she struggled against him, pummeling his broad chest with her tiny fists. They had no effect on his heavy body, but her resistance aroused him to even greater heights.
Never had he felt so stimulated - violence fueled his passion and the lust made it difficult for him to speak but through clenched teeth. Christine desperately tried to turn her face away from him, but his hand clasped the sides of her cheeks tightly and still so he could kiss her full and brazenly on the lips. She whimpered through the foul embrace, still fighting with all her strength to escape the weight that pinned against her. He released her lips only briefly, before trailing his tongue down her neck and bare chest.
"Oh…you are so truly beautiful, my dear. I cannot be expected to waste all of this perfection on some ghastly, worthless animal, don't you agree?"
He pulled back from her just long enough for Christine to look into his face with pleading doe eyes. "Please…I beg of you, monsieur. Don't do this. You do not understand. Please…"
His hands wandered slowly over her body, stopping to rest momentarily on her breasts that rose and fell with each quickened breath.
"What is there not to understand, hmmmm?" He kissed her roughly again, sucking on her lower lip while furtively burying his hand into the top of her corselette in search of something to satisfy his growing desire. Vigorously stroking one of her large, unaroused nipples, he moaned into her skin as he felt himself rising firmer with each touch and sensation. His slippery tongue roamed down between her breasts, then halted as a thought suddenly came to him.
"Unless…Yes, of course! That would explain it." Christine's mind raced at an even greater pace with his words. Had he found her out? Although at that moment, she cared for nothing else but escaping the fear that now consumed her. She would tell him everything if it would stop him from doing what he was about to do. Searching his eyes for an explanation, she shook her head numbly in confusion.
"Yes! Our clever little vicomte would send only the best for our mutual friend, would he not?"
Christine's stomach became tighter and tighter. "I - I do not understand." She blinked her eyes quickly, releasing pent-up tears down her cheeks.
"Do not toy with me, coquette." His hand constricted on her breast, causing Christine to wince in pain. "Why that explains your unwelcoming demeanor. You are a virgin, are you not?"
Her eyes flew open in terror to look at his demon face consumed with greed and lust. What have I done? Christine asked, desperately searching her mind for some answer or excuse to retract herself from the seemingly hopeless situation. Her body noticeably tensed even more.
"Ah, I see. That is all of the answer that I need. I'm sure that the vicomte wouldn't mind if I took a little bit for myself. I have, after all, been a great deal of service to him." Before he could wrap himself around her again, Christine managed to loosen a leg from his pressure and briskly thrust the heel of her shoe firmly into his shin. The Frenchman swore and fell to her side, doubled over in pain as he massaged his aching limb. Breaking from his grasp as soon as she felt the weight leave her, Christine flew from the wall and towards the light at the end of the narrow tunnel. The only sounds she could hear were her own heavy breathing and the sporadic puddles of water splashing beneath her. Glancing over her shoulder, she seemed to almost feel relief to see only darkness behind her. Yet with only one shoe, however, her desperate gait was slow, and panic struck her once again as she felt a hand grab her arm with brute force and jerk her back to the dark figure behind her.
"Why, you little wench!" The man hit her hard across the face, feeling satisfaction to see her cringe as he made a move to hit her once more. Her head was ringing, blood trickled out of her nose and the corner of her mouth. Throwing her hard against the cold wall, he roughly pulled her dark mane back, reveling in her pleading cries mingled with sobs. The intensity of his excitement urged him on, rising quickly to an unbearable peak. While pushing the front of her body into the hard stone, he groped the back of her skirts until they rested above her hips. The sound of fabric tearing behind her made Christine's heart fall into her stomach.
Christine had experienced the touch of a man before, but nothing so harsh and brutal. She tried to remember what it felt to have Erik touch her, with so much gentle awe and reverence. Yet all thoughts of her angel soon dissipated, replaced now only with the dark monster behind her - alien and repulsive. Terror gripped Christine, and she became frantic in search of some type of escape. She pleaded for him to stop this torment. She pleaded for death…anything but this. She pleaded for her angel, but no response came.
His hot, stinking breath bore a hole into the back of her neck as he moaned and grunted in anticipation, roaming his hands up and down the front of her body. He cupped her breasts in his palms, then ran his fingers up her arm to clasp a hand that dug tightly into the uneven stone wall. Pulling a hand behind her back, he guided her down to his groin, now rapidly changing and growing. Startled, she jerked her hand back in front of her. He laughed gruffly at her response, reminding him how truly unscathed this girl was. This was not damaged goods, as he was typically accustomed to.
The frustration was now becoming too great. Keeping her immobile against the wall with one hand, he used the other to release himself from his restrictive trousers. Oh, how good it would feel to put himself into something so untouched…so tight…so pure. The thought made it nearly impossible to keep to the task at hand, but he soon managed to free himself from the restrictive bindings, the intensity of his own excitement parting her legs for an unbound entrance. He hoisted her up gruffly onto his knee so that she was now level with him.
"Oh, my dear, I would love to tell you that this will not hurt at all, but alas, the facts of life! You do not wish for me to lie to you, now do you?"
"Please, I beg of you…let me go."
Licking his lips like a hungry dog, he continued to knead her tender breasts from behind while pushing himself dryly between her thighs. Her muscles cramped painfully and intensely as the heavy weight of his body held her at an uncomfortable angle against the wall. His body tensed, as if holding his breath before grazing her backside with his free and throbbing organ. Yet instead of thrusting into her, his heavy weight collapsed behind Christine. Her first reaction was to cry out, believing that the action really did happen, yet disbelief soon overtook her as she realized that he was not inside her, but rather crumpled in a heap on the ground. It took a few moments for her eyes to travel from the pathetic mass, half-clothed on the grimy floor, to the man holding a thick metal rod standing above him.
"Francois…" The older guard was breathing deeply, obviously from the labored journey down the stairs in pursuit of the pair. Christine had never felt a greater sense of safety and relief wash over her than at that moment. Yet her legs were still shaking, and she fell back against the wall for support. Francois quickly dropped the weapon next to the still body and replaced it with the thin shawl that fell from Christine during the struggle.
"Here you are, child." Wrapping the cloth around the girl's thin and still frame, Francois rested his hands gently on her shoulders and looked deeply into her pale face. Her eyes were almost glazed over in shock, and she tried in vain to swallow with dry lips and a parched throat. "Are you alright?" He asked her slowly.
"I think so, I mean…yes. Thank you." She choked, placing a hand on his arm for stability. Taking the corner of her already soiled covering, he gently wiped the blood from under her nose and mouth, his heart dropping at the sight of her battered face. And it was all his fault, he though to himself.
"I should have known better than to let a sweet thing like yourself into a hell hole like this. I don't care what you do for a living. Nobody deserves the likes of that." He said, motioning towards the dark figure lying without movement on the ground. Shaking his head at disbelief of his own stupidity, he carefully began to guide her back towards the stairwell. "Come, now. Let's get you something to eat and then get yourself out of…"
Christine jolted herself back into the present. "No! Wait!"
Pulling against his direction, she looked with desperation at the light that still loomed at the end of the passageway. No matter what may have happened to her, or almost happen, only one thing still beset her mind. She had come this far, there was no possible way she could go back to the safety comfort of the De Chagny chateau, and the arms of Raoul, without knowing the truth once and for all.
"Please. I must know."
"Know what, child?" He shook his head resolutely. "It really isn't worth it. I will tell whoever sent you that you did what you needed to do. Nobody else has to know. I've already risked my own life to save your skin, so why don't you leave before anything else happens?" Francois turned again to walk back through the darkness, yet this time, Christine yanked free from his grasp and stood firm in her tracks. Even though her face was bruised, her hair in disarray, and her clothes in tatters, she was still one of the most beautiful creatures Francois had ever seen.
"You do not understand! I am not a prostitute. My name is Christine Daae. I am the fiancée on the Vicomte de Chagney." Her eyes dropped to the ground in shame. "I believe that he has kept a man in this place that does not belong here. It is my fault if it is true, Francois. I cannot let him die in this place, which he will. Even you know that, monsieur." Christine's voice began to break, and she pulled the wrap closer around her body for comfort. "Please. Just let me see if it is truly is him. I am begging you, Francois. You are my last and only hope. I love…this man. He is my angel."
Francois rubbed his hands together in anxious contemplation. How could he resist helping such a pitiful soul, even if he was risking his own life in the process? His eyes darted from the beautiful creature in front of him to the end of the dark tunnel behind her in the distance.
"I don't who you claim this man is, but it would seem that I would be your angel today, mademoiselle." He said with a boyish smile. "Very well. I believe I may know where this person is kept. Come this way, and make haste."
Christine's face lit up with joy, relief, anticipation, and fear - all at once. "Oh, thank you, monsieur!" She whispered as he rejoined her. Christine's pulse quickened as they grew closer and closer to the end of the condemned passageway.
God give me courage to show you…you are not alone!