Part VII

Unwelcome Visitor

1874

Erik climbed into the waiting boat and began rowing towards the sounds he had heard. He knew that since this was a cave that the sound echoed to him after the source of them had actually occurred, so he was not sure what he would find. As he rowed past the portcullis that enclosed his home and rowed steadily closer to the staircase, his night-seasoned eyes took in what he thought to be a huddled mass on the bottom stair in front of him.

"It must be a person," Erik thought, pulling out his punjab lasso from within the dark folds of his cape, "How unfortunate…" He smiled wickedly to himself and with a few more large rows he was there, and the gondola hit the stone ledge with a small thump.

Seeing how small the person was, he frowned. It had to be a woman. This thought quickly doused his previous thirst for blood, as he knew he could not rightly kill a woman. Throwing his Punjab lasso back in the gondola, he sighed, cursing his weak resolve. He approached the person carefully, and as he drew closer he noticed something familiar. Chestnut brown hair, curly and thick, covered a pale face that was turned away from him.

His breath caught in his throat as an unwanted hope swelled in his heart and he dropped to his knees beside her. Can it be her? Would the fates have mercy on this lonely monster and bring back to him his hearts desire? He dared not touch her in case she was a vision brought on by his pain and heartache, instead savoring the site of her.

Then, disgusted with himself, he shook his head, "No...It could not possibly be her...she is happily married to that pathetic excuse for a man, living richly with fine dining and elaborate social gatherings, having already forgotten her angel still rotting away in hell!" Now upset, he growled and turned her head to face him harshly. At once, he realized who it was, and proceeded to curse out loud.

"That girl has come back again. Stupid, stupid girl! Did she not believe my warnings from before?" Closing his eyes, he held back once more the tears of disappointment over Christine, and continued cursing, but this time for a different reason. He knew he could not just leave her here, she would catch her death. Giving in grudgingly to his reasoning, he picked her up in his arms where she had not stirred despite the noise and his harshness in identifying her and studied the young woman. Her curly hair hung down, a few stray pieces falling on her sleeping countenance. She had porcelain skin, which seemed perfect, aside from a few freckles on her nose that extended onto both of her checks. She also had pretty red lips and dark, long eyelashes that were a perfect offset to the rest of her features. She was beautiful. This upset him further, as he did not desire any more female distractions. The one he had had already was quite enough. He carried her over to the gondola and put her on the bottom, right next to the Punjab lasso.

Madalynn awoke, fully rested. Stretching out luxuriously, she opened her eyes and stopped. This was not the ballerina dormitories. She looked at her surroundings, noticing the blood red satin sheets she had just sleep in, now rumpled, and the black swan bed the sheets were in. She put her legs over the side of the bed and saw a sheer black curtain which enclosed her into the sleeping area. "Where am I?" She thought out loud, rubbing her eyes.

"You are in MY lair, once again, undesired." Came a cold voice from right outside the curtain.

Taken aback, she looked in the direction of the voice and saw a figure sitting in a chair. When she saw the white mask, easily detectable through the black curtain, she remembered how she got here. Madalynn must have fallen asleep waiting for him to come.

Finding a pull cord of some kind, she pulled it, and as the curtain slowly rose, the Phantom was revealed to her. He was sitting in a scarlet upholstered chair, his black hair slicked back just above his ivory white mask. He was wearing a black suit of some kind, very form fitting as was the style back then, she recalled from her reading, showing off his muscular physique. He had a white ruffled shirt on, covered by a black cape draped over one shoulder. He was striking.

"Why are you here again? Did you not take my previous warning seriously enough?" He looked at her with a piercing gaze, and she found she could not look him straight in the face with out feeling naked before his eyes, like he knew every thought that passed through her mind.

"I wanted to know more...my dream...I am not sure why I came..." She let herself trail off, realizing she was not making any sense. She sighed and looked at the ground.

"What are you talking about?" He said, a hint of annoyance again crossing his features. "What dream?"

She reluctantly explained her dream as he sat there, both emotionless and expressionless. At last, when she had finished he looked at her with a gaze almost like a parent speaking to a silly child and said, "No such thing occurred, and since I can not control your subconscious, I do not know what you expect me to do about it, Mlle."

For some reason, this set off her temper, and jumping up from the bed she began to yell at him. "Do NOT treat me as you would a child, Monsieur Phantom. I came here for answers, certainly not snide remarks, and I am more than capable of discerning what is real and what is a dream!" Still breathing heavily, Madalynn glared at him, and then realizing that she had just chewed out the Phantom of the Opera, quickly regretted it. The Phantom seemed stunned that she had just yelled at him, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape. No person would dare speak to him this way, let alone a woman. She sat down on the bed again, and placing her hands in her lap she stared at them, muttering "I am sorry" under her breath.

He looked at her for a long time, and was surprised to find that she was not scared of what his reaction may be, but was indeed sorry. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "Ask me what you wish, and I will answer to the best of my ability." She looked up sharply, surprised that she had not been killed for her last remark, and noticed a different look in his eyes...one of respect.

Erik had seen something in her eyes at the moment she yelled at him that he had never seen in any woman before. She commanded respect, would not be trampled over. He admired that. She also showed intelligence, something it seemed Christine had a great lack of. While Christine had been unsure, and in a lot of ways immature and naïve, Madalynn seemed to be the opposite entirely. It made him curious about this young woman, even to the point of wanting to speak with her further. But it also set him on his guard and made him wonder as a lone thought crossed his mind.

Haven't you learned your lesson from the last time?

Shaking his head of these thoughts, he smiled. Of course he had! He was merely curious and after all, he barely knew her, so of course something would prove ill about her in time.

But a rebellious part of his mind still questioned…what if it did not?