Phantom 2000 part 12

Christine opened her eyes and listened to the sounds of the night; she stretched and reached out for Erik, but she could not find him. She sat up and saw she was alone in the room; she was about to worry when he snuck into their room. "There you are!" she said removing a lock of hair from her line of vision.

"Forgive me; did I wake you?"

Christine shook her head. "Where did you go?"

"I awoke hungry and did not wish to disturb you so I snuck out to hunt." He stripped down and crawled back into her embrace and cuddled. Erik was in that peaceful place when you are almost asleep, but so aware of your comfort when a knock broke it. "What?!" he growled as Christine groaned.

A nervous Reinfield entered the room. "Good evening Master and Mistress," he bowed.

"What is it?!" Erik snapped.

"You have company, sir," he gulped.

Both Erik and Christine groaned; they had a pretty good idea who would show up like this unannounced and they had absolutely no desire to see him. "Tell him that he will have to wait until I am dressed and ready to see him," he sighed in annoyance. He threw off the covers and grabbed the pair of trousers he had thrown on the floor earlier.

Christine watched as he donned his pants and robe, but nothing else. "You are going out dressed like that?"

"Christine," he tried to sound calm through his anger. "If my so called friend cannot conjure up enough manners to inform me when he is stopping by then I am too livid to care as to how I present myself!"

"Can you not simply send him away?"

"Nothing would make me happier right now, but unfortunately he is my keeper and my link to the others. Just please stay here."

"No," she got out of bed. "I need to talk to Hazel. I promise I will remain hidden from him," she begged.

Erik thought for a moment. "Fine, I do trust you and I will try to buy you some time."

"Thank you!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"Oh my!" Maricardo exclaimed when Erik walked in. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Yes you did in fact."

Maricardo chuckled at his friend's snappy tone. "Still hungover from the party are we, old sport?"

Erik just rolled his eyes at him. "What do you want?" Erik quickly looked at Hazel and saw that her eyes were locked on his open torso while her mouth was wide open. He had mixed feelings about this on the one hand it felt good that this random beautiful woman liked what she saw, but on the other his body saw for Christine only as hers was his. So he crossed his arms and tried to separate Master from slave.

"I have some information-"

"Why not continue this in my study, privately?" Erik interjected. Thomas shrugged and followed Erik up the stairs.

Hazel gasped and spun round when she felt a hand on her bare shoulder. Christine gestured for her to be quiet then led her into the powder room hoping Maricardo would not think to look there. "Hazel, where are your sisters?"

She blinked in surprise. "They are hunting for food. Why?"

Christine took a deep breath. "I want to help you. All of you." She knew that meant Erik would probably have to take all them as brides and that thought made her stomach churn, but she could not just stand by while this injustice happened before her very eyes.

"Christine I beg you to do nothing." She opened her mouth to speak, but Hazel stopped her. "I promise you that any solution you can come up with will have an even worse consequence."

"I do not understand."

Hazel sighed. "The only way we can be freed from him is if we are won, but say your Master fights mine and loses. You will be without a Master and mine will have every right to claim you as his own." Christine could not help but shudder at losing Erik and then suffering at the hands of such a cruel man. "And even if your Master should win Maricardo has been a member of the Dark Society for centuries; some or all will not be happy with his death and it will only be a matter of time before you are left alone and then anyone can simply take you. As horrible as this sounds Thomas Maricardo is not the worse vampire you have or will ever meet and I would not wish this fate that I suffer on my worst enemy let alone a very good person like yourself."

Christine was silent for a few moments trying desperately to think of way to free her friend. "What… if… you…. What if you run?!"

"Our Master is stronger and faster than us; it would do us no good to even try." Christine hung her head in shame and defeat. Hazel felt bad and gently touched her shoulder. "But thank you for caring so much. It makes … all of this a little better especially after what we did to you just last night."

"Lavender manipulated you and your sisters into it because she knew what would happen to whoever threw the first punch." Christine reached out and hugged Hazel who froze up at the unexpected action, but soon wrapped her arms around her new friend. But sadly their little moment could not last.

"HAZEL!" Both women gasped in fright. "WHERE ARE YOU JEZEBEL WHORE?!"

"I have to go!"

"Haze,l wait!" She grabbed the fleeing woman's hand. "I beg you if you ever need anything, please, come to us."

"I promise." She nodded and left.

She watched with melancholy as her friend left to return to her horrible fate. She waited until Erik found her so that she knew for certain Thomas was gone. She only noticed his presence when he pulled her into his embrace and held her tight. He scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom.

"Speak to me." He sat on the bed with a creak and pulled her onto his lap. "Tell me what makes you sad."

She stared at the wall before looking at him. "I just wanted to help them… but there is nothing that can be done without making things worse." She sighed and rested her head on his chest as he ran his fingers through her hair. She told him how Lavender had manipulated the fight to happen because she had openly defied the head bride, she explained the only way to free the others and what would be the inevitable result. Erik visibly stiffened when the image of Christine vulnerable at the hands of dangerous, abusive men entered his mind. He was however happy that Christine had made a friend, but upset that he had dragged her into an even darker world than the one the Phantom had created, but it was far too late. His best hope was to be smart and play his cards right and they would be safe.

"What did he want?" she asked bitterly.

"He was simply delivering some information. He says there is an inn a mile down the road and if I have any requirements I must mail a blank envelope there and by the next night one of the nearest brides will deliver a response."

"You mean Hazel and her sisters?"

He shook his head. "No, he said whichever Master writes the response will one their brides deliver." She nodded. "Thomas… also came to make me an offer."

She lifted her head and looked him in the eye. "Should I be worried?

"No. A financial offer to apologise for insulting you in front of me." He hesitated and pondered if he should tell her the rest, but decided lying would get him nowhere. "And I think I should accept."

"What?! You cannot be serious!"

Erik sighed again he had hoped to keep a secret to prevent worry, but her opinion in the matter was needed. "For two reasons I am. The first being I am down to thousand francs in my savings."

"Oh." It had never occurred to her that their lavish spending would have such a consequence especially now that Erik's only source of income had been burned to the ground. Sooner or later their lifestyle would require cold hard cash and reducing themselves to common thieves was beneath them.

"And second bein I have always had the desire to travel as a free man and a thousand francs will probably get us as far as Spain." Christine's face softened. "I would also like to be able to live in a clean house which means hiring a cleaning staff and other personnel."

"What would happen if you were to accept?"

"I would give Thomas however much money I desire, he would put it into shares of a company that is just starting up and if the company is a success my shares would grow as would the money I put in."

Christine raised an eyebrow in concern. "And if said company fails?"

"Then I lose my money, but Maricardo assures me that it will not fail and if it does he will give back what I lost tenfold."

"Am I wrong to assume his insurances comes from him or the other Masters cheating or fixing this financial game?"

"I did not ask, but I believe your hunch is more likely to be true. And Christine?"

"Yes?"

Erik proceeded to tell her of the growing threat of hunters and how the others had turned him in hopes of minimizing the problem. Christine agreed that he was the perfect man for the job. "My love I have clearly underestimated the life we have chosen; it seems we are in more danger than when we first started. And I hate to bring more bad news." She stared at him. "But the plan I come with may be dangerous. We will have to be ready for anything."

"I agree and I will support you every step of the way."

"Excellent! Because you need to learn how to fly."

"No." She hopped off his lap, but he pursued her.

"Christine, wait."

"No! I am not going to fly!" She crossed her arms and stood her ground.

"Christine please, understand as I must accept the fact that I cannot always be by your side to protect you!" he pleaded.

"Erik!" she begged.

"It kills me that I, the one whose job is to keep you safe, to admit that, but it is still true! The only thing I can do is make sure you can fully defend yourself… and if I have to put my foot down then so be it." Erik stomped his foot (but not too hard) and crossed his arms. He knew his love had a fear of heights, but his fear of losing her was too much. His choice was the lesser of two evils.

Christine thought of the irony when she had tried to escape the Phantom by running to the highest point she could get, but Erik was right and she knew it. But that made nothing easier. She rested her head on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her. "Erik… I am just so scared."

"I know," he whispered as he rocked back and forth. "Do you wish to talk about it?"

"No," she confessed. "But it might help."

"I cannot blame you for being scared." He gently stroked her hair. "But we are immortal and even if you fall I will be there to catch you.

"I know you will, but the very idea of looking down, falling then suddenly stopping makes my head spin." She clung to him as his throat became tight from guilt. At the opera house Christine's phobia of heights never came to light since there was no reason for her to bring it up which meant Erik had no idea just how much shock he had thrown her onto when he had plummeted them from the stairwell all the way down to the second cellar. To him it did not seem to much a fall, but to anyone who was afraid it may as well have been a thousand foot drop. He needed to apologise, but after he had succeeded in teaching Christine a new skill.

"Christine I think it would be wise to start as soon as possible, but if you wish to postpone until tomorrow then it shall be so, my darling." He kissed her hands and lingered for a while.

"No you are right, we should start right away."

"After you have eaten something, you will need your strength." She nodded and glided to her wardrobe to dress for the evening. "I think while we are out I would like to take a look at the inn Thomas mentioned."

Hours later, after they had eaten their full and cased the inn for any surprises, the two returned home for the dreaded lesson neither was looking forward to. The last time Erik made an attempt at teaching her they had tried from the first floor; Christine had managed to jump, but panicked last minute and fell into Erik arms.

This time however Erik decided that this time they would do it from the balcony of their room. He led her to the railing. "Are you ready for this?"

"No." she shook her head. "But I never will be so let us get this over with."

Erik kissed her forehead and climbed onto the stone rail; Christine bit her lip as he slowly levitated off the balcony and offered his hand. She knew levitation required a lot of concentration and energy, so she had to act sooner rather than later. With shaky hands she climbed onto the stone with little grace and his help. She made the mistake of looking down and started heaving. "Christine Christine," he called out trying to calm her. "Christine, look at me." He stood next to her and forced her to look into his eyes. He took her arms and wrapped them around his neck. As slowly as he could he lifted them both into the cool night air. She was so entrapped in his gaze that she only noticed they were floating when it was too late. She cried out and clung onto him as he sang to sooth her. "Look out into the night, Christine. See how beautiful it is… just do not look down." Christine pried her eyes open and looked over his shoulder.

He was right; it was so beautiful. There was no moon so the stars seemed to sparkle brighter than she had ever seen before. She forgot her fear when she realized just how much she had missed out on. She looked a little lower and saw the trees that surrounded the estate; with her night vision she could see how the tall mighty trees swayed in the wind together. Her gaze went a little further down and saw the overgrown garden that they owned. Despite its neglect its haunting atmosphere was breath taking. She tightened her grip around his neck and looked straight down. The view was not as magnificent; all she could she see was the tall grass and their shoes. Her gaze travelled back to his eyes, and then she rested her head on his shoulder. Erik smiled when he could feel her relaxing just a little. "It is…so beautiful," she sighed. After a few minutes Erik felt his concentration breaking so he returned to the balcony. He sat down to gain some strength; Christine sat next to him. "I …. I think I am ready," she admitted timidly.

Erik smiled. "Excellent… but give your Erik a few moments before we try again." She nodded. Once he was ready he leaped off the balcony and waited for Christine on the ground. "Christine!" he called to her. "You do not have to fly now! Just fall into my arms without fear will be enough for now!"

Christine looked out at night that was stretched before, limitless and forever as they were. "No. It's not enough," she muttered to herself. She wanted to be able to dance in the night air with her love. Erik's song began to play in mind and it gave it her the courage that she needed. Listen to the music of the night She took a deep breath Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams. She got onto the ledge with all the elegance she possessed. Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before. She closed her eyes and abandoned her fear. She was immortal; fear was for the living. Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar Christine felt the night all around her and she stepped off the edge. And you'll live as you've never lived before. She allowed herself to fall for a few moments before taking flight.

Erik laughed with surprise and triumph at her sudden success. He turned himself into a bat and joined her in the skies. The two soared into the night, swooping, tumbling and dancing. It was magical; Christine had never felt so free. Erik was beyond happy now that Christine could join him and experience what all his lyrics were about.

Things may be bleak, but there was always going to their happiness to conquer whatever was thrown at them.

Floating, falling sweet intoxication.

Touch me, trust me savour each sensation.

Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in

To the power of the music that I write

The power of the music of the night.

Hope you all enjoyed that

Now I have bad news, my computer need to go in for repairs and this will take quite some time, so Phantom 2000 will have to be on hold for a while because I also start work soon.

I would love to hear what all my loyal readers thought of this, my official longest running fic.

Love you all my pretties!

IZULZA