This chapter contains some violent themes. It is only a little explicit but still deserves a warning. This is a very powerful chapter.
Chapter 9
Christine took a taxi to the police station. She had already been there earlier in the day, and was anxious to identify the Phantom and then leave. She had no desire to be in the same building as him, even if he were behind bars. It was terrifying enough to see him the night before. She had no desire to repeat the terror. She did reluctantly admit that Annette was right. He had aged very well, much better than Raoul. He did not possess the least bit of flab, and his well-tailored suit had revealed his well-endowed masculine form. He still moved with a unique panther-like grace like no one else. It looked as if he had stopped wearing wigs because his hair was different, not slick and black but a more mahogany tone with white hair around this exposed temple, giving him a distinguished look. His mien had been very strong, proud and erect, there was no sign of the groveling broken man who once kneeled before her and cried.
His voice was still the same enchanting rich tenor that had so entranced her as a girl. If only she did not know the horror that lie just below the mask she would have thought him to be as handsome as his son, but with more charisma even yet. No one that she had met either before, or since, had ever matched those qualities that he had, no one could. If she did not know the ugliness that existed inside of him, just below the surface, she might have been able to overlook the right side of his face, but his distorted soul could not have changed. He was only putting on a new act for the world just as he did before.
He had just improved upon it, and learned to make friends, rather than skulk in the dark and kill people, or lie to them and destroy their lives. But a leopard could not change their spots, and a murderer remains one for life. Only a man of depravity could have done what he did back then and walked away from it without even glancing backwards, to consider what they had done to their victims. He had professed to love her and yet he turned his back on her, the Girys and even his Persian friend. Clearly no regrets or second thoughts: just ingratiating himself into yet another unsuspecting woman's life, and taking advantage of her kindness. There could be no other explanation for it. He had purposely walked into that fire to torture her. His emerald eyes had darkened, yet glowed with the strange fire that only his were capable of expressing. They had been affixed upon hers with a terrible mix of sadness and regret, but most importantly murderous anger. They were the eyes of a madman intent on doing harm. She could never forget that look or that haunting face.
The carriage arrived and she entered the station. Inspector Smyth came out right away to greet her.
"I do hope Comtesse that you will reconsider, I have just received word from both the Surete in Paris, and Scotland Yard that Sir Erik should be released immediately. Also the Earl of Mercia has phoned me, and the King's secretary. Even your own Embassy is now involved. Apparently this man is a national hero in your homeland; a recipient of France's highest medal of honor. Is this a joke Comtesse? Or some sort of misplaced sense of woman's hysteria? I have no doubt that if we wait long enough the late Queen herself will rise out of her grave to upend me. The man seems to be a perfect gentleman to me, especially considering the humiliation that he was subjected to this morning. A man of his pride and accomplishments should not have to receive a mug shot, not when he was forced to remove his mask, as he did. If he didn't want to harm you before he might be tempted to at this point." The inspector observed.
Christine could see that she had lost much credibility with the Inspector, if she had any to begin with. He had been quite skeptical when she came in but she had insisted that he arrest the Pha-Erik for his threats to her, at least. But why would all of those agencies lie on behalf of a murderer? What sort of cover-up was there? Had they become embarrassed that it had taken so long to find the Phantom and wanted it to appear that he was dead as was thought? Or did he bribe people with his money and connections to allow him to remain free? Well she could not be bribed. She did cringe a little at the thought that he would have to remove his mask for a photograph. She had not thought of that when she had pressed charges against him. In fact she had not thought anything through. She had acted on passion.
"Are you sure that you have spoken to the right people in France? Perhaps he has used his influence to buy them off." Christine questioned mildly.
"Yes he paid the King, and the French ambassador as well, and the Surete and Scotland Yard to drop the charges. I see your logic, Comtesse." He told her sarcastically. "Or perhaps you are insinuating that I am lying and that he bribed me? That would be simpler after all wouldn't it milady?" He insinuated sarcastically.
"Well they have confused this man with someone else. Did you drag anyone of them to come down to the station to identify that man as the same so-called hero?" She asked wryly and with equal sarcasm.
"It is not my job to ascertain that, Madam, strictly to determine whether or not I have the grounds to detain an otherwise innocent man. We have laws protecting the innocent from unmeritorious accusations against them, which is what I suspect is precisely the case here." He told her bluntly. "Perhaps he might be inclined to sue you for bringing this whole unwarranted arrest upon him." He told her.
"It is not unwarranted." Christine insisted angrily "The man is a murderer, arsonist, liar, kidnapper and extortionist, and needs to be locked away for the safety of everyone, especially for me and my daughter."
The inspector sneered, "Ah yes the daughter. You mean Mademoiselle Annette de Bourges, the same girl who called me only a few minutes ago begging me to disregard whatever it is that you want to tell me. She has explained to me your extreme bitterness towards this gentleman and claimed that it was unmerited. She claimed that you disapproved of her friendship with his son, and this was your way of getting back at him. But perhaps Sir Erik bribed her as well. The list does seem to grow by the hour, why not add your own daughter?"
Christine felt a stab of pain at Annette's betrayal. She knew that Annette was angry at her, and had professed to hate her, but she thought that at least Annette understood why she did what she felt that she had to do. She had made herself perfectly clear to her stepdaughter. She would have to somehow mend fences when she returned to the suite, there had to be something to repair their relationship. She would just have to try harder to make her understand that she had acted for her own good. The girl had such a kind and loving heart, and had never truly been exposed to the ugliness of the outside world. She had never experienced anything other than love and support from everyone around her. She had never heard a single unkind word directed against Annette because she has been so loved and loving. Still her betrayal stung. She did not expect Annette to go behind her back like that. Yet one more thing that he had done to her drove a wedge between her and her stepdaughter. Why did he always have to destroy every bit of love in her life? Even after all these years he had still found a way to do so.
As he paced back and forth in the holding cell, like a caged panther, Erik let his mind roam into his past. It had been a long time since Erik had been forced to be trapped inside a cage, yet the past seemed to surface quickly all the same, reminding him of what had been, and how far he had traveled from that last time. Erik had spent almost half of a lifetime purging himself of the hatred and anger that had once so defined him. He had turned his back on anything that might have revived those feelings for those very reasons. He never wanted to look back. When he had set Christine free all of those years ago, he had understood that he would never seek her out again or anyone who would remind him of the past, with his former obsession for her and her betrayals. He even walked away from much of his music for its association with her and the cursed opera house. Over the years he would go to listen to the classical music concerts or to a play in the West End or even a lecture from an eminent personage of the day, but never an opera house. If she and their music were purged from his mind and he took no backward glances then he could almost forget about the tragedy that had so engulfed his life back then, causing him to almost jump off of that balcony. It had been Emma who had pulled him back and brought order to his life. She had taught the monster that he didn't need an angel to grant him the miracle of love, only a soul as broken as his own, who needed him to heal hers as much as he needed healing.
After she talked Erik off of the balcony, Emma could still see the look of despair in Erik's eyes. The world had painted this unfortunate man a monster but Emma had known, from both Erik's look of despair over what he had done, and from the brave manner in which he came into the fire ravaged theatre and rescued her that Erik was merely lost not evil. Emma had seen and faced that true evil and Erik was not it. Emma had been the last person of many that Erik had rescued that night and she was afraid to come through the flames, she had been rendered frozen in terror at the flames. He called to her gently as if she were a child and not a maiden of one and twenty, and stretched out his strong hand like a strong lifeline to pull her to safety. He spoke to her in French and she was fluent in the language and yet she answered in English, " I can't I am scared." He answered in the same language "There are worse things than fire, Mademoiselle, tonight I was one of those things, but I need to get you out of here, and if I have to, to trade places with you to do so. Take my hand Mademoiselle and let me save you. I promised your little sister that I would help, and I never break a promise."
A few nights later when Erik was ready to jump she had reached out her hand in the same way and offered him life. He was ready to refuse her. He could not see how such an exquisite creature could understand what made him stand at the precipice between life and death; she had no cause to intervene in matters that were none of her affair. It was then that she changed Erik's whole outlook on suffering:
.
She confided in him her secret shame. In his eyes Emma had been beautiful, wealthy, intelligent and most importantly loved by her family, yet beneath her seemingly delicate and unflappable manner she had been utterly and shamefully destroyed. He had wondered why a 21-year-old daughter of an Earl would not have been married by that age and so she explained everything and then he understood.
She whispered to him softly 'Only my parents, my great Aunt Lucretia and my brother know what happened to me, but it ruined both my happiness and my life. Six years ago when I was fifteen, I was riding unescorted to my neighbor's estate. Their daughter Amanda and I were best friends and we would ride back and forth to one another's estates all of the time. The tenant farmers were too respectful of my family to present a danger so I was not really worried. That day however, my horse threw a shoe and I was forced to dismount. I was halfway between the two estates and decided to turn back home walking leading my horse back the way that we had come. A short time later, it started to thunder and I remembered what I knew to be an empty stone cottage lying just off of the road in the woods. It had once been the home of the royal game warden centuries ago for the King's woods. But over the centuries it had deteriorated and had been abandoned but it was better shelter than outside. She tied her horse to the tree and went in to the half-ruined building. She felt a little uneasy about the whole situation, but she had figured that the inside was less dangerous than the storm. She was proven to be wrong.
She walked into the cottage and immediately felt the embers of a flame. She knew then that she had been wrong that someone clearly lived there. She was surprised given the condition of the cottage, and the fact that it was on the edge of their own vast estate. She did not remember her father mentioning that anyone had come to live in the cottage. Clearly this person was a trespasser. A wave of fear gripped her, and she decided to take her horse and get away. But just then a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her towards away from the door.
"Ah, aint you are a pretty one, luv." A voice told her. He was clearly drunk because his words were slurred. "What are you doin here alone in the rain gel?"
Emma grew defiant "What are you doing in this cottage? This is my father's land and you are a trespasser. It is clear that you have been staying here."
"You are a fiery one gel, perhaps you need to be taught some manners.
You would begrudge a homeless man a place to lay his head? No one is harmed by me staying here a bit luv. I dunna see anyone else making use of this place."
"This is my fathers' property and you must leave." She insisted.
He grabbed her face between his hands and pulled it towards his. She could smell the stale alcohol on his breath. "You are quite an uppity miss. I am going to teach you lesson. You are going to warm my bed whilst we shelter from the storm."
She tried to pull away, and he hit her in the lip causing it to bleed. "Don't you pull away or I will make it worse on you. You will pleasure me greatly lass. By the time that I finish with you, you willna forget Robert Bythe."
She fought him greatly but in the end he overpowered her and had his way with her. It was that night that she was taught who and what a monster truly was. After that Erik's face meant nothing to her.
*************************************************************Her family had been very understanding and vowed to catch the man. Fortunately the culprit had been caught and hung quickly, but still a part of Emma felt terribly impure. He had begun to haunt her dreams, and each time she would relive their incident. After a while it was all that she could think of; she would jump anytime that a door opened behind her, or she heard footsteps. A year after the incident she had decided that she had had enough of her fear and self loathing and decided to end her life. She hurried to the battlements of her family manor and readied herself to jump. She had stood perched at the juncture between life and death watching the verdant green lawn below, which seemed to beckon to her to leap. Her brother David espied her and raced to the battlements stopping her from doing so, for that time at least. It was not her first attempt nor would it be her last.
When Emma came of the right age she had hesitated to have a season. She wondered what man would desire a used woman such as her. She could not help but to believe that a potential husband could believe that she was at fault for what had happened. The world valued virginity, and she did not have that to offer, only a damaged soul. She had felt that her life was over and that she could never be whole again. She eventually had her season, and many suitors, but each time that she had become close to one she would pull away in anguish not knowing whether that suitor would reject her once they found out what had happened. By the time that the family had taken a short hop to Paris to celebrate her twentieth birthday, Emma was well on her way to the comforting state of spinsterhood. She had come to terms with the fact that she would never marry. Once that was resolved she grew more peaceful. It no longer mattered that she had been used in that way because no man would know or care.
Erik, after quietly listening to her tale, put his strong arms around her and pulled her to him, and whispered "I am sorry Cherie that that monster has used you in that fashion, and if he were not already dead, I would search him out and kill him on your behalf for what he did to the innocent child that you were. The world has named me to be a monster, yet I would never treat either a child or a woman in such a despicable manner. I do not think that you should have to be ashamed of what was done to you. In my opinion you are the bravest woman that I have ever met. Any man who could win your love and trust would be most lucky indeed."
She searched his eyes "Could you love a woman such as me? Even if you knew that I am no virgin?"
Erik laughed bitterly, "Are you serious, Mademoiselle? You are one of the most beautiful women that I have ever seen inside and out. I would be honored to claim such a bride, if a woman would have me. But I am afraid that it is I who will never be worthy of you milady. You have seen what lies beneath my mask, and therefore you know that for me to ever hope to know the gentle glow of a woman's love to be directed at me is madness to say the least. I am frankly both astonished and gratified that you would desire my company at all. There must be someone more appropriate for you to spend your time and efforts than on a hideous creature such as me. You need not fear that I will repeat my foolish attempt to take my own life. I have realized that had it been my fate to die that you would not have been there to intervene."
"I told you before that I do not find you to be hideous. In fact, I daresay, I feel quite the opposite. Perhaps I feel drawn to you because we are truly kindred spirits, we have both traveled the road to hell and back and yet we still struggle to live, to remain strong and steadfast in our determination to survive, despite or in spite of everything that has happened to us." She told him earnestly.
Erik looked at her sadly "Perhaps it is true in your case my dear, but as for me, I am not sure that my own survival has ever been my goal. I simply struggle to exist. Few, if any, have ever desired my continued existence from my parents to her, they have sought only erase it."
Emma looked at him and queried, "If humanity has treated you so poorly then why did you save us that night? Also why did you apologize for putting us in harm's way to begin with? Why didn't you walk away and let everyone die who was trapped inside that night. Many in the theatre, including me screamed, when they saw your face revealed by Mademoiselle Daae. Many more yet called you a monster, yet of all her pleas only you answered my sister's call to save us."
"Because it was my own fault that the whole thing happened. I was supposed to help save the theatre from a lurking danger, yet I allowed madness to take hold of me. I failed to do what I had promised, and then I endangered so many lives in my failure, including yours. I distracted myself from what I needed to do for an empty dream, which had no basis in reality. She reminded me of who and what I am and how twisted and foolish that I had become. In my jealousy, I had forgotten who I was and what I was. Saving all of those people was the only thing that I could do, to begin with, to redeem myself from what I had done." He told her. "My soul has much to do to atone for my sins."
Emma smiled at him patiently "Nonsense Erik, we all do things that we regret. From what you have told me, you were guilty mainly of loving someone who could not love you back in the same way. Yet just because you have failed with one woman doesn't mean that there isn't another woman out there who would love to accept what you have to offer. When I look at you I see genius and passion and a deep desire to give and take love. How can a man who loves as strongly as you truly be a monster? That part of you is what drew me to you from the first, like a moth to a flame. That night, I saw your naked soul bared to me, as you gently reached around the shooting flames for me, intent on saving a stranger. One who might have been among the very people who had early screamed in terror as they viewed your face. I knew then that you were to be trusted; that you were very much a man, a good man and not a monster. Once that became clear to me then all fear of your face disappeared from me as well, Erik. Your soul is beautiful and that is all that matters in the end."
"You are beautiful, Emma, and I could love you easily if you could abide a man that looks like me. I would cherish you and protect you against every other monster that would seek to do you harm." Erik stated hoarsely.
"I would not betray you, like that girl. I swear on all that is holy to me, of that. I would prove to you that you could be loved and accept love." She replied fervently.
"I would woo you gently and lovingly, and treat you like a queen." He whispered.
"I am not sure that I could accept your touch." She admitted "But it is not because you are repulsive to me, it is because of him."
"Emma, I have a terrible temper but I promise would never touch you in anger. I too have been touched in anger, many many times. I was born with a smooth body, but it bears the scars of many hands, chains and whips which have flayed the flesh of my body rendering it almost as terrible as my face. Yet despite all of it I still crave the touch of a tender hand. I have never known that feeling but I know that it would be glorious." He told her. "I have never made love to a woman either. Forgive me. I can see that you are blushing. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable only to explain that I think that there is a difference between what that brute did to you, and what it means to be touched in love. I am sorry."
She shook her head tearfully "No, it's alright Erik. I was just now wondering how far that it would be outside the boundaries of propriety if I were to give you what you crave. Not the part about making love, but the part about touching. You make me feel ashamed of myself for allowing what happened to me to effect me in such a way for so long, when you have clearly suffered far beyond the bounds of anything that I have. I have known the feel of a friendly hand, a loving hand and I would like to share that feeling with you."
He looked at her in astonishment and stammered, "You would touch me? Why when you have already seen me and my shame, you have only known me for a short time, and yet would do what Christine could not do after knowing me for so long?"
Emma smiled at him "I am not Christine. I am not a bright-eyed ingénue who cannot decide upon what she truly wants. I am a woman who has herself traveled to hell and back. I know your pain and I want to heal it. In healing your pain I feel that I am doing the same for myself. May I caress you?"
Erik closed his eyes "As you please Mademoiselle. I am at your service."
She placed a hand on his arm and explored its surface, and then brought her hands up and placed them around his shoulders "I will give you a neck- rub. My mother would give me one when I was bent over a book or something and I would get a crimp. I would give them to father as well."
He felt the bliss of her small fingers as they deftly kneaded their way though his skin. "Your neck is as hard as a rock. Clearly you are in great need of my ministrations."
"In truth it is the best feeling that I have ever known." He told her.
"Then my mission is complete." She joked.
"I would do the same for you Cherie. If you were to permit me to touch you, you would feel nothing but gentleness." He told her.
"Not yet, perhaps in time but not yet. Just know that it is not your face that deters me, or the scars on your body, or your so-called malicious temper. It is just that what he did was so terrible, that even now, six years later, I am still afraid. But if there were one man in the world that I would be tempted to allow to do so, it would be you. I know that you will be kind and gentle and all of those things." She told him.
"I want to heal you, just as you want to heal me. Perhaps true love could spring from it, if we gave it a chance. Would you be willing to try?"
She gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead "Yes sweet Erik. I shall let you woo me, and treat me like a queen. I cannot promise that I will grow to love you but I will give it every consideration."
"It is the same for me Emma. I am as yet unsure of whether I am capable of love Christine has unmanned me in that way. I am not sure that I can allow myself to absorb the same heartbreak that was inflicted upon me a second time. But as you said we are two kindred souls who have walked through fire and come out of it stlll alive and that must mean something." Erik told her.
Emma smiled "I say that we explore it."
Erik replied, "Then we shall. If it doesn't work we must promise to remain friends. Regardless, of how it goes, I want to protect you so that nothing bad ever happens to you again. I will see to it that no one ever hurts you again. Not even me. This I vow."
"I agree to your terms Erik. I too vow to remain your friend no matter what will become of the other side of our relationship." She told him. She kissed him on the forehead once again and walked away. He could still feel the gentle mark from the kiss branded into his forehead. As Erik recalled that moment, it had marked a new beginning between him and Emma, and the relationship had borne fruit for many happy years. He felt a stab of pain in his side as he thought of how much that he missed her. She had never betrayed him as Christine did. Never questioned his worth or his claim to humanity. Even after all this time Christine was still choosing to slay the monster, yet all that he ever had wanted was peace. He was grateful that the detective had made a note of his high standing and let him wait in a clean private cell. In a cage once again, after all this time.' He thought angrily, slamming his hand against the cool metal of the cell door. And like then he could see various policemen come and go and gawk. They did not bother to hide their feelings as they discussed how hideous that he really was.
