CHAPTER SEVEN

ERIK POV cont.

More blood found its way past my lips. She hurried to my side and crouched down to m level.

"Shh.." she cooed, "Do not speak. Listen very carefully; tonight during the performance, Raoul is going to sit you down in a chair on the stage. Keep this out of sight." She handed me a small golden key. "This will unlock the handcuffs. You must wait for the right moment, then you end him."

"But how-" I started, but she shushed me once more.

"I will explain later. No time now. I have to help Christine." She was out of the room before I could muster another sound. Part of me thought maybe it wasn't real, that Meg Giry never came to save me, just another hallucination from the beating. I fell limp again, unconscious.

CHRISTINE POV

I remained in the bed, sobbing. I didn't bother getting up and doing what Raoul instructed. It was sunset out my window. Even that seemed dull and unexciting to me. Raoul wore down my soul and took away what I loved most. A knock was heard from the door, which caused me to jump.

"Mademoiselle?" a woman asked.

"Enter." I permitted, wiping me face and pulling the sheets over my chest.

Meg Giry, in full maid's outfit, walked into the room and closed the door carefully. My eyes widened and my face filled up with joy. The sudden change in my mood almost made my head hurt.

"Meg!"

"SHH!" she commanded, "Raoul doesn't know I am here. I've been sneaking around, almost getting caught."

I couldn't help but laugh. My best friend was here, after everything that had happened since I left Paris. She smiled and put a finger to her lips to remind me to be quiet.

"We've not the time to chat, my dear. Let me help you get dressed."

I nodded and walked, with the sheets still covering me, to the couch.

She began by wrapping the corset around me and lacing it up.

"The Phantom is fine. A little bloody, but fine. Raoul will sit him down, chained to the chair, on stage. I have given him a key that will unlock his handcuffs. When he sees the chance, he will kill Raoul. But you must go with Raoul's every move." She finished, and turned me around, holding my shoulders with her small hands. "Understand? You have to do what Raoul says, Christine. No matter what."

I nodded and held onto her for my life. I cried once more, and she hugged me.

"Come on, we have to get the rest of your clothes on. Raoul will be here soon."

She pulled the rest of my clothes off, since I was too broken to do it myself. Once I was dressed in the lingerie Raoul has requested I wore, Meg stood back and raised her eye brows.

"That mad man," she shook her head, "God knows what happened to him."

"It was me. When I chose the Phantom over him, he lost it. It's all my fault. I should have married him like I planned to." I said, holding my head in my hands.

"Christine, no. He is his own problem. It is his own fault." She reassured me. I looked at her and said nothing. "I will see you after the show." She promised. "Now I must leave."

She slipped out of the room with a final look that sent me over the edge.

My stomach was in knots. There was only one way this would work out, but a thousand ways for it to go wrong. I sat on the couch and anxiously waited for Raoul to come collect me.

He walked into the room a couple minutes later, eyeing me up and down.

"My, my, Christine," he purred, "I knew these would suit your body well." He held his hand out to me and I gave it over to him. He took it roughly and practically dragged me out the door.

"You and I will be singing the Point of No Return, so we can act out what should have happened that night." He said as we walked through the maze of the house. Crystal chandeliers hung from the tall ceilings, golden candle sticks on every table. Modesty was spared in this place. We then stood in front of gold encrusted wooden doors.

"Here we are, love." He said, placing his hands on my hips, bringing me close, and kissing me. It was cold and full of haste that left a stain of hatred upon my lips.

He opened the doors, and there sat Erik on the stage, bound in chains on a sturdy wooden chair. His gaze turned towards us, making my heart leap. I had to resist the urge to run to him and take care of his clearly visible, and undoubtedly internal, wounds. He was mask-less. As we neared the stage and then finally took our steps on it, I saw how badly he was injured. A full out orchestra was set up as well. DO NOT CRY, I commanded myself. If you cry, he will kill Erik. His eyes were sad and full of words he knew he was forbidden to say. My darling Erik.

That's when I looked away and noticed a bed set upon the stage.

"Let us begin, my angel." Said Raoul, smirking at Erik who kept his eyes on me.

Motioning for his orchestra to begin, we started the song. He began singing to me, circling around me like a vulture about to attack its prey. I realized how real it was. He came real close to me, brushing his font against my back. I stared at Erik, hoping he would understand that I was singing to him, not Raoul.

Past the point of no return,

I began. I remembered what Meg had told me. I had to play up my love towards Raoul to distract him. The outfit definitely helped. Raoul grabbed me and set me on the bed, singing with me.

Past the point of no return, the final threshold…

We sang in harmony as he pushed me back on the bed, the first gentle thing he had done to me since my being here.

We've passed the point of no return.

We finished the song and Raoul had ended up on top of me. The orchestra kept going as he kissed my neck. I began to sweat. Was he that bold to do the deed with me right here, right now? I pushed that thought away and filled my head with Meg's instructions. I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, I glanced with a horrified expression at Erik, whose eyes burned with rage at what he was watching. Raoul began to unclip my stockings from my waist belt, taking them off and throwing them away from us. My corset soon joined the rest of everything on the floor of the stage. I heard the tiny noise of metal hitting metal and took that as a sign to distract Raoul as much as I could. I batted his hands away from my breasts and placed them on my hips, and brought his lips down to mine.

"Oh Raoul," I murmured. His face turned dark with desire.

"Christine!" he hissed as I bucked my hips up to his. But he was still clothed.

"Take your clothes off." I instructed him. He breathed heavy and did so. Then he began roughly rubbing my womanhood with his hands. I closed my eyes tight, praying for God to just kill me already, or anything, just to get me out of this hell.

ERIK POV

That sick bastard! He had his hands all over her! MY Christine! And she was there egging him on. I prayed it was solely to aid our escape. Meg must have told her what she told me. The only thing keeping me from tearing his ever limb from his body was because the stupid key was not easy to maneuver. Panic filled my veins. I worried that Raoul would completely have my darling. My breathing thickened.

He must've heard; "Enjoying this, are you? I know I am." Raoul murmured, kissing her while unbuttoning his trousers. I fixed the key in the lock and twisted once more. FINALLY! It was unlocked; I was free at last. Now for the right now. The restraint I had to not kill him right then and there was unlike any I had ever know. Once his trousers were off, his hands worked at her lower half making her make noises that heated my blood. I took my chance. I lept forward, just as Raoul had lifted himself to her. The chains fit nicely around his neck as I pulled him back off the bed and away from Christine. She gasped, and Raoul's eyes were wide. The orchestra gasped and shrieked, but made no attempt to come to his aid. "I dare you," I thought to myself. Anyone who crossed my path at this moment was going to die. I had Roaul pinned to the floor. I repeatedly slammed his head onto the floor in attempt to knock him out so I could torture him later. But he did not go under. Pulling the chain tighter and tighter, it was slightly ripping his skin apart. ithin minutes, Raoul de Chagney was dead at last.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

We are one chapter away from being done! Hold on!

Read on,

Ashlack