I cannot thank Filhound enough for her help with this story. She knows so much about the cultures and history of this area, and has helped me to keep this story within the realm of possibility. And thank you to those who have read and reviewed and to those who have just read. Things are about to get interesting again!
Unfortunately, I don't own Erik or any of the other characters from the show or the book – just the OC's.
Revenge Chapter 11
After spending one of the last days of their leave in the city of Algiers, De Ville and his companions were on their way back to Birkhadem for one last fling before returning to Algiers to catch the ship back to their base at Mirs El Kebir when they ran into Raoul and his friend. "Bon Jour, Messeurs!" greeted Reynard with a flourish. "I suspect that, as rare as it is to find soldiers here in this little village, that you are on the same errand as we?"
Raoul spoke up, "Possibly, Monsieur. We are seeking the whereabouts of Madame Babineau's Maison du Plaisirs."
"Ah! Then we are indeed in pursuit of the same entertainment! My name is Reynard deVille," he said, extending his hand.
Raoul looked up, his eyes filled with questions, perking up at the sound of a noblese name in a person incongruously adorned in the accoutrements of the Battalion of Light of Africa. He clicked his heels together and nodded his head slightly, "Le Vicomte de Chagny, recently arrived from Paris, at your service."
"Ah! You are in for a treat. These girls are all you have ever dreamed of. Big melons!" chimed in another soldier, gesturing as if he had large breasts.
"Soft lips," added the third, "sweet breath."
"And oh, so pretty!" added the first soldier.
"And all of them clean as a whistle!" offered de Ville. "It's sometimes hard to believe that it's actually a brothel."
"They'll make you forget all about your troubles!" said the first soldier as they again began moving along the road.
"Well, to be honest, that was not the nature of my errand," intoned Raoul evenly. "I have come seeking information."
"Aye, but it don't hurt to mix a little pleasure in with you business, now, does it?" chimed in one of the soldiers.
Raoul grinned slyly, "Well, no, I suppose not…"
"See there? Gotta keep your options open!"
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It was her dream all over again. She anxiously watched as the soldiers entered her establishment and the girls came out to meet them. When Reynard began to approach one of the girls, she took a breath to calm herself before smoothly intervening, asking if he wouldn't prefer someone more… experienced? Her voice was so silky, so alluring that he couldn't seem to control his own feet as she guided him toward her room. As he drew near, he began to experience a sort of euphoria. Was it from her fragrance? From the scented candles arrayed near the door to her room? Inside the room there were incense burners and candles that gave off heavenly fragrances that made him almost dizzy and feeling a bit tipsy.
On a table near the bed stood two glasses and a decanter of some dark amber liquid. Cognac. She poured two glasses of it for them, then sat in a Victorian style stuffed chair, lounging wantonly, tantalizingly, holding her glass and taking a sip from it.
He picked up the other glass and drank from it. "Cognac. Very nice! You really know how to treat your customers, Madam," he said, eyeing her hungrily.
When he set down his empty glass to approach her, she told him in a husky voice, "I know that you like unusual ways of making love. Because you have been such a good patron I have prepared a special room for you and I shall take care of you myself. I learned the art of being a great courtesan in Paris itself, and know most of the most exquisite ways of pleasing a man. I have been in the business since I was 12 years old. Because you brought so many of your friends here tonight I will 'entertain' you free of charge. My special gift to a special man."
She got up and led him to another room, also lit with fragrant candles . With an alluring smile she told him, "I know how you like to subjugate your women like a good soldier. This time it is my turn to 'subjugate' you."
He looked at Babette with hunger in his eyes. "Hmm I rather like that idea," but as he reached for her, and before his clouded mind could properly react, she had him chained to the bed and gagged.
She got up and cranked up a large ornate table model symphonium (spring wound music box) and with heavily lidded eyes she began to dance the "Dance of the Seven Veils" around him to the sounds coming from the instrument, teasing him shamelessly while staying just beyond his reach. Becoming a bit frustrated and more than aroused, he began to moan and to struggle against his bonds while the music box cranked out an earthy, monotonous clanging rhythm with ringing bells and smooth violin sounds and she danced. She danced as she'd never danced before, brushing her veils across his face so he could get a good whiff of the fragrance she'd infused them with, an intoxicating perfume guaranteed to cause him to lose all his inhibitions.
With a wicked smile she slowly unbuttoned his trousers and lowered them, sliding them down his legs. "Ungh…" he moaned. "You are too wicked, My Dear!" His words were only partly muffled by the small gag she had used. "Come back here and finish this before you drive me insane!"
Still dancing, she smiled at him and began to whirl, brushing her veils against his engorging manhood, whirling faster and faster to the music until it suddenly stopped. "I do know exactly what you like, but then I should, Father, since I watched you many times at all those whorehouses in Paris that you dragged me to. And when you sold me to that madam - sold your own daughter - to be used as a whore... You stole everything from me, my mother, my dowry and most of all my innocence and now I am going to do the same to you, take something that you prize above all...Your manhood!" she reached out with a very beautiful dagger with a very sharp curved blade and before his besotted and drugged mind could make sense of what was happening, she sliced off his member cleanly. He was vaguely aware of a sharp pain in his crotch and looked up to see her holding his member in her hand, blood and semen spurting from his crotch.
When the shock cleared, he let out a blood curdling screech, and drew his legs up as best he could. "What have you done? You're insane!" and he yowled for help.
She came closer with the thing in her hand and his eyes grew larger as she showed it to him and then when he opened his mouth to holler again shoved it into his mouth behind the gag. "You always did stick your thing where it didn't belong. Now you can go screw yourself…. DEAR FATHER!" His eyes grew even larger at that and he began to struggle against his bonds, but she was good and the chains held. "You who never had any respect for Mother or for me, or for any woman, see what all of your fatherly care has created?" She picked up a towel and shoved it into his crotch to try to stem the bleeding before retrieving her unfinished drink and sitting down in the easy chair to wait for his rescuers.
Erik had been in his old room in the brothel, gathering pens and nibs and sheaves of parchment when he heard a horrible scream, followed by wailing and shouting. Fearing that Babette or one of the other girls might be in trouble, he rushed to the source of the sounds, finding a soldier chained to Babette's bed, trying to remove something from his mouth that was muffling his shouts. A red stain was spreading on a towel in his crotch as he tried to squeeze his knees together, then to spread his legs apart, all the while trying to shout for help.
Erik's hackles rose along with his anger. "What have you done? Give me the key to his shackles , Now!" He felt as if he were looking at a stranger, seeing her calmly sitting there with a smirk on her face. After releasing the man, he sent one of the men who had arrived to get more towels from the bathroom.
Once the object was out of his mouth, Reynard began shouting at Babette, "You bitch! You crazy bitch! I loved your mother, but you're as much of a bitch as she was! Always wanting her way in this and that, wanting a new dress – OW! Be careful you clumsy fool! Can't someone get her out of here?" as the other men arrived in the room, gaping at him and the blood-stained towels in his crotch, they too tried awkwardly to help.
"I wouldn't think of leaving your side, Dear Father! Don't you feel the need for female companionship in moments like this? A family member to ease your anxious heart? Oh, that's right! I forgot. You don't have one."
Erik grabbed Babette by the arm and pulled her out of the room. The other girls had begun to gather in the hallway, wondering what w as happening, so Erik told them to take her to one of their rooms and keep her there. "Tie her down if you must, but do not let her leave!" Then he turned to one of the girls, "Do you have ice here?" When she nodded he told her, "Go fill a tablecloth with some of the ice and bring it back here… Quickly, now!"
Erik picked up the bottle of cognac and sniffed at it, then handed it to one of the men working on Reynard, "Here, get him to drink some of this." When the man hesitated, he added, "I know it's bad to give alcohol to someone who is bleeding, but this has been drugged and it will help to ease the pain of transporting him. One of you get a chair from the kitchen."
Ahmal had followed Erik to the brothel, trying to deliver a message from his mother. When Erik heard the screams, he had told Ahmal to wait in Erik's room, but Ahmal, never one to avoid some new experience, ran after him. When Erik opened the door, Ahmal skidded to a halt and before he could stop himself, called out "Father!" He immediately covered his mouth with both hands as Erik looked at him aghast.
"Get out of here, boy! This is no place for you!" shouted Reynard. "Someone get him out of here!"
" 'Father?' " asked Erik "This man is your father too?"
"Yes, he is my father, the dog!"
"Why don't you just kill him? He's just a stupid dog!"
"Ahmal, he is a human being. You don't just kill people without a just cause. He isn't hurting either of us anymore now, so I need to help him and get him to a hospital. And you need to go with the women. I think there is someone there that you should meet."
"Yeah? Who? I am a man. I don't go with women!" he said defiantly.
"Your sister." The defiance and color drained from Ahmal's face.
Just then the girl entered with the tablecloth of ice chips tied into a bundle. Erik took it from her and told her , "Thank you, Yasmin. One more thing? Please take Ahmal to your mistress. I will be along shortly." He then took the packet of ice and set it on top of the smallest towel in Reynard's crotch. It wasn't long before he began howling to take it away.
"It's either that or let you bleed to death!"
"Hey, shouldn't we get him to a hospital?" Erik cringed when he heard that voice and was careful not to turn around.
"Wait! Ahmal! Do you know where the closest hospital is?" Erik asked.
"Of course I know where it is! but I'm not taking the likes of him there. They don't allow dogs in the hospital!"
"Waddya mean you won't help?" asked one of the soldiers angrily. "Can't ya see he's dying? He may be a wretched commanding officer, but he might not make it if we don't get help!" He reached out to grab Ahmal but Erik intervened, grabbing the man's arm and glaring back at him, slowly twisting the man's arm around behind him.
"Don't you even THINK of laying a hand on him!" Erik drew himself to his full intimidating height and glared at the man, fire shooting from his eyes as he thundered out, "This young man is my ward and you will not lay a hand on him, to your own peril. Understood?"
The soldier backed away toward Reynard, nodding his head as Erik stooped in front of Ahmal,
"Look Ahmal, your father is bleeding to death, I know that he has done some horrible things but do you truly want his death on your conscience? His death will haunt you if you do not show them the way to the hospital. You know the fastest way to get there, better than anyone else here. You may think that it is justice to let him die right now but you might think something else later. Remember he is your father, he gave you your life; now you should help preserve his."
Ahmal looked from Erik to the soldiers to his father before nodding, "Alright. I will do this. Just be sure you can keep up with me!"
"You!"
Erik looked up and too late realized he was face to face with Raoul, who had watched the entire exchange, amazed that Erik had been right there in front of him all this time and yet remained unrecognized by him.
"You! I thought there was something about you!" and he took a step toward Erik.
"Not now, Fop, this man's life is more important. We need four men to get him to the hospital, and that includes you."
They stared at each other, each tensed for the confrontation that seemed inevitable.
Raoul fisted his hands in frustration, thinking, Just who does he think he is? Ordering people around like he was the one in charge, like an officer. He's still nothing more than a freak, although it's true that Reynard's life is in the balance. But how can I be sure I will be able to locate him after we are done at the hospital? And why does he appear so very… different? So normal? And what has he done with Christine? Can it be true that they are now husband and wife? And if that's true, what about the rest of what that gendarme said, about him being a respected member of this community? He must have hypnotized the lot of them! Yet the man said that he was a great architect here. Well, maybe he knows how to pile blocks on top of each other, but he's certainly no architect. At any rate, this man needs to reach the hospital and that is of paramount importance. For now, anyway.
Erik tensed, waiting for Raoul to explode, but watched as the vitriol in his eyes turned to questioning and confusion and finally to resignation before he let his defenses down and relaxed the tension in his shoulders.
"Very well. Have it your way for now," announced Raoul. "We will deal with this later." He gave Erik one last angry look before turning back to see what a corpsman was doing with Reynard.
The man who had been working on the wound sat back on his heels, "Well, the good news is that the cut was clean but it did cut the front of both legs. I'm afraid walking will be out of the question."
They looked from one to another, Reynard's yowling growing more and more subdued as he grew weaker from loss of blood and dopier from the drugged cognac. When one of the soldiers entered the room with a kitchen chair, they laid him on it, then strapped him securely in place before each picking up either a chair leg or one side of the chair back and started toward the back door, the bundle of melting ice perched on top of him.
But as they passed the room where Babette was, she came to the door to look. The men paused and looked at her with disgust, "What's got into you, woman? Are you mad? We're never coming back here again! You can be sure of that!"
She stood erect and told them, "I have no quarrel with you. This man is my father. He had no use for either myself or my mother and let her die of a cold, too cheap to buy simple medicines that would have cured her. Afterward he sold me to a brothel so he could pocket that money and my dowry to buy a position in the army!" When they looked at him and then back to her, she added, "That's right! He bought his rank and his position. He's no more an officer than I am! This is something he has deserved for a long, long time."
"Maybe we should just leave him here?" queried one of the soldiers. "Save everyone a lot of trouble. He's a mean one he is, always has been."
"But we can't just leave him here. We'd all be accessories to murder and that would be the end for us!"
"So, in any case we have to get him to the hospital," said Raoul.
One of the soldiers gruffly ordered, "Let's get going, kid!"
Ahmal looked at Erik as if for permission. Erik nodded and told him, "Go ahead, but come right back."
"Oui, Monsieur!" and he headed out the door, followed by the corpsman and then the other soldiers
through the winding back alleys of Birkhadem to the hospital.
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The girls had been hovering in one of the rooms, talking about what to do next. "I say we get out of here before the gendarmes get here," stated a tall dark-haired girl in her late twenties.
"Why should we?" asked a petite blonde girl with big cow eyes. "After all, they come here as often as anyone else."
"But after this, can we be sure anyone will come? Or maybe they'll come seeking revenge?"
"I doubt it. I don't think they thought much of him in the first place. Did you see the one guy sniggering behind his hand?"
"And we still have Squelch to keep an eye on things. The question is, can we run this place by ourselves until Babette returns?"
"IF she returns." They looked from one to the other, each afraid to speak first.
The tall dark-haired girl broke the silence, "Well, as long as Squelch stays around, and Monsieur Khan, I vote to stay and keep working as usual. After all, we do have a very good reputation."
"And a steady flow of customers from the docks," added the blonde girl.
"I'll see if Monsieur Khan can help me keep the books," suggested the dark-haired girl. I used to help my mother do that for our family grocery business in Paris. With Monsieur Khan's help I'm sure I could do it now."
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Babette was beginning to feel the effects of the cognac, and to second-guess herself, wondering whether she'd done the right thing. Did he really deserve this? Yes! Of course he did! After all the pain he had caused her mother, her mother's sickness and death then her own agony of watching her mother die and not being able to do anything to help, while her father spent their money on drink and women. Then when her mother had died and he found the money her mother had put away for her and took it himself and added it to what he got by selling her to a brothel, leaving her penniless… Yes. He did deserve this! He definitely deserved this! But then why do I feel so bad for him? She looked at Erik who was beginning to look like a stern father , not yet sure what to make of all of this.
"How long have you known about him?"
She looked around and then at the floor, "Since Paris."
Erik was growing concerned that they might return and drag her off to the gendarmerie. "So all of this was just an elaborate way of getting back at your father?"
She nodded.
Erik grabbed her by the arm and stormed at her, "You lied to me, girl!"
"No! I didn't!" and she pulled her arm away from Erik's grasp. "I didn't lie to you, not exactly… I just didn't tell you why I needed the money, needed to create a brothel in Algiers. It was just simple revenge for all the grief he's caused for my mother and for me over the years."
"Come with me," he said in a milder tone, yet one that was commanding and brooked no argument to the contrary. He escorted her back to her room. "Pack a bag and come home with us. Until the furor from this dies down you'll be staying with us."
"Why? I can still do my work here, once I clean this place up, replace the towels and the bedding and…" she said, gesturing around at the mess in the bedroom.
"You aren't safe here. Not only have you mutilated a soldier, but you are a woman! Some of those soldiers will likely come back looking for you. You can't stay here. Your chances in the courts depends on how sympathetic the judge is. He may go easy on you if he considers the treatment you and your mother have received at the hands of your father. But until then, you will need to stay out of the public eye."
Reluctantly, she packed a bag with some day dresses and cosmetics and things, then followed Erik to where Christine was still busy packing up their things.
"Darling? It seems we will be having another house guest for awhile. You remember Babette?"
She looked up then crossed the room with her arms extended for an embrace, "Of course I do, Erik! And of course you are welcome in our home. After all, it's only been a little over a week since we were guests in yours!" She gave Babette a hug before showing Erik the bags and boxes she had packed of their things to be carried back to the house.
Erik looked at them with misgivings, "You didn't tell me we'd be needing the burro!"
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