Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera or any of the recognizable characters. I only own some of the minor characters and the plot.

A/N: Here is the long awaited chapter of how Erik's life has been from when he turned into a vampire up to the present day. Christine will also find out who he is! Here you go and please Review!

Also if you have read Erik's Mermaid, go to my profile and at the bottom there is a link to a beautiful drawing the Erik'sLittleLotte56's sister drew for me. It is amazing and you should really check it out! Thank you Erik'sLittleLotte56 and your sister for doing that for me!

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Infinite Love

Chapter 21: The Truth

xXx Erik

"Tell me everything." Christine said in a slight whisper.

I didn't want to have this conversation in an empty classroom at my work place. I didn't want to have this conversation, period. I had promised that I wouldn't keep anymore secrets from her, but I didn't want to scare her even more. I wanted her to know that she could trust me with her life and she would feel safe with me. I guess the only way she will trust me is if I tell her everything.

"Can I take you home? We can talk there." I said holding back the tears that were welling in my eyes.

"Sure." Christine said.

She stood from her perch on the desk and turned to face me. She hesitantly extended her hand for me to take and I looked at the delicate hand for a minute. That hand that has touched every inch of my body, the hand that I have kissed many times, and the hand that is as smooth and soft as silk. Before she could pull her hand away I delicately placed my hand over hers and stood.

We walked over to the door hand in hand and I opened the door to enter the hall. I spotted students and teachers walking past the door in their own world and in a rush to get to their destination. Luckily no one saw us standing their holding hands and I reluctantly let go.

I looked at her face and she was staring up at me wide eyed. "Good idea." She whispered, realizing we almost made a huge mistake.

We walked down the hall together and out the door of the building. The day had gone from sunny and beautiful to cloudy within minutes. The clouds were dark and looked ready to drop fat water droplets in a freak thunder storm. As I thought that a loud cracking boom came from the sky and rain started falling uncontrollably.

Christine was soaked within minutes and from the cold air and the cold rain she started shivering and bundling her coat closer to her. I got an idea and I pulled her into a dark corner where no one could see us before turning my back to her.

I turned my head to look at her confused face and said, "Get on my back."

"What? I can walk, the rain isn't that bad." She said shaking even more and her teeth chattering from her shivering.

"You are freezing and I need to get you home quickly. Now get on." I said.

"What if someone sees us? Our secret will be out quicker than you can say Vampire." She said getting angrier.

"But not quicker than my running ability." I said. She looked at me confused for a moment and I turned around to face her. "Let me show you one of my many gifts."

I held my hand out to her and she stared at it like I had stared at hers earlier. She pressed her small hand into mine and the second our skin touched I grabbed her arm and spun her around to my back. She gasped from shock and I turned my head to look at her with a small smile.

"Hold on tight." I warned her.

She quickly tightened her arms around my neck and her legs wrapped around my hips. The feeling almost made me turn her to my front and take her against the brick building that stood next to us. I missed her touch so badly and the feeling of her enveloping me against her was too much to bear.

Shaking off that train of thought I sped fast enough so no one in the center could see the blur passing them at uncontrollable speeds. I kept running and as I ran I could feel her holding on tighter and hiding her face in the back of my neck. The feeling of her warm breath on the back of my neck was intoxicating.

When we reached our apartment building I saw one of the elevator doors closing and no one was standing inside so I quickly darted to it and made it at the last second.

I let Christine off my back and turned to face her. She was grasping the hand bar on the side of the elevator, her eyes were closed and she was taking deep long breaths. She was trying to get back to the normal pace of things and she had to hold on to something in case she was going to fall over.

I went to press the button to her floor when her voice spoke up. "I don't want Meg to walk in and disrupt the talk we are about to have. Let's go to your apartment."

I waited for her to change her mind in case she didn't want to be brought to my apartment where we could be alone and undisturbed. Of course I would never harm her, but she fears me because she thinks I have the power to hurt her. She may change her mind because she will realize we are going to my apartment where no one could hear her scream.

I pressed the button to my floor and waited for the elevator to start ascending to the top of the building.

When the elevator doors opened I let Christine walk out first and then I opened my apartment door to let her in. She walked through and as if it was the first time she saw my apartment she stood in the doorway and memorized everything about it with her eyes.

I watched her stare at the piano for a moment and then her eyes drifted to the couch and TV then the kitchen. When her eyes looked down the hall towards my bedroom that held all the good memories and some bad she closed her eyes and tried to shut it all out.

She walked forward to sit on the edge of the couch and stayed really still.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" I asked out of politeness. I wanted to hold off telling her my story for as long as possible.

"No I'm fine." She said waiting for me to sit down next to her.

I walked slowly towards her and sat on the soft leather chair next to her. I looked at her face that was in profile, she still hadn't looked me in the eyes since I catapulted her through Lincoln Center all the way home. I didn't know where to start with the story, but Christine did.

"All the horror stories and gothic romances, all the fiction about vampires, is any of it true?" she asked curiously.

"Some is… some isn't." I said.

"So you can stand sunlight."

"That was a surprise even to me. Over a century ago I tried burning myself alive by the sun to end my torment. I tied myself to a tree and waited for the sun to rise. When it finally did, nothing happened."

She looked at me then. "You tried killing yourself?" she asked in a traumatized whisper.

"Many times. After a few more attempts, Sophia compelled me to never try killing myself again."

"Wait, Sophia is a vampire too." She asked shaken.

"She's the vampire that changed me." I said turning away from her deep blue eyes.

"How long?" she asked.

I automatically knew what she meant by that short question and I told her how long I have lived on this Earth. Thirty five years living as a human and One hundred and forty one years as a vampire. One hundred and seventy six years as a half faced monster. "I am one hundred and seventy six years old."

Her mouth gaped open and her eyes widened in astonishment. There was nothing she could say, she was speechless. Her mind was blank and all she could say was "Wow."

"Is there any other questions that you would like me to answer before I start to tell you my story?" I said getting uncomfortable with the silence that extended for a couple minutes.

She was suddenly taken from the surprise and was once again in question mode.

"Vampires are supposed to be burned by anything religious. How were you able to take the cross from my hands that night?"

I remembered the night she found out and I had gone to her and the first thing she did to get rid of me was hold a crucifix in front of my face. "That is all a stupid attempt humans made to feel safe back when they believed we really existed. Holy water is drinkable, crucifixes don't burn and I can walk into a church without bursting into flames. Of course I have never walked into a church, but that is what Sophia told me."

"What about mirrors and cameras? Aren't you supposed to be invisible, having no soul and all?" She asked.

"Well, as you already know, I can be seen in mirrors and evidence from your phone says I show up in pictures."

I could see the small blush grow on her face from the mention of the pictures she took of me on her phone. "You know about those?"

"Christine, I don't sleep. I rest my eyes and I lie in bed with you, but I don't need to sleep. The only times I lie in bed are when I am watching you sleep. You looked so peaceful, so happy." I said remembering all the hours I would watch her sleep with my exceptional night vision.

Christine looked at me with complete abandon. Her eyes strayed from mine to my lips and I did the same. Her breathing became rapid and mine matched hers intensely.

I brought my hand to her cheek and felt the warm soft skin that my lips loved to touch. I watched as she moved closer and I brought my head down to hers. It had been so long since the last time we were together intimately and the desperation wasn't one sided.

Our lips touched softly and they brushed against each other like a lover's caress. I never wanted to let her go, but Christine pulled back and stood from the couch. She took a couple steps away and turned to look at me.

"You can't distract me. I deserve to know about you. Don't try and woo me and then kiss me. It isn't going to work." She said getting overheated.

"I'm sorry." I said looking at her ashamed.

I hadn't planned on kissing her, I didn't even mean to tell her such loving declarations of watching her beautiful face as she slept, but I was overcome with need to see her smile or at least look at me the way she used to. The kiss, no matter how brief, was the best moment I had in what felt like a very long time. Now that it was over I wished to give her anything she wanted. She wanted to know the truth; I would give it to her.

"Please, sit." I told her motioning towards the seat next to me.

She slowly moved back to the couch and sat at the other end, so she was far enough away from me that I couldn't make another move towards her. When I noticed that she was ready to hear everything, I started to tell her everything that happened since Sophia turned me into a vampire.

"Sophia turned me into… this… in 1871. Ever since then I have wandered this Earth and been to many places… many countries trying to find the place I belonged, all the while figuring out how to resist the urge for blood. After all these years I have finally got it down and I can just live with drinking human blood from hospital blood bags."

"You are the one that has been stealing the blood from the hospitals in the city?" Christine asked already knowing the answer.

"I needed to. It is the only way I can survive. For over a hundred years I struggled with the need for blood and hated myself every time I took a life. I chose to go the less lethal way and steal samples instead of lives."

I could tell she hated my crime for stealing blood that other people needed, but she was slowly realizing that it was either that or I killed innocent people by sucking every inch of blood out of their bodies. She slowly nodded her head to make me continue and I started to tell her what my life has been like for over a hundred years.

"Shortly after I was turned I tried killing myself in the only way I knew, the sun. When the sun didn't burn me Sophia came along and threatened me to never try and kill myself again or she would make my life a living hell. I still tried other ways of ending my life, but nothing worked. Sophia just ended up compelling me to stop.

"For the first few decades I stayed with Sophia and learned everything about our species, all our weaknesses and all our strengths. All the truths of fiction and the things we could still do. She taught me the pleasures of taking peoples blood; it was like having your favorite meal every day, living off of that. She taught me to take portions and leave the humans alive and without the memory of us being there."

I could see her face twist in disgust, which made me hate having to continue my story and all the gruesome details.

"The problem with that was I couldn't wipe the people's minds. I didn't have that power, but Sophia did, which meant I had to stay with her. Up until the early 1900's we traveled together all over Europe, but after too long with her I was done. I couldn't handle her controlling, deceitful personality and I left."

"Where did you two travel?" she asked getting curious.

"We left France and traveled all around Europe. We started in Germany and stayed there for a while. I learned the language and lived among the people until the First World War was starting to develop."

"You know German?" Christine asked surprised.

"Ich kenne eine Menge von sprachen." I said in fluent German to prove my point.

"Wow. What did you say?" she asked interestedly.

"I know a lot of languages." I told her.

She gave a breathless chuckle and continued. "Where did you go next?" she asked curiously, almost forgetting the monster I was.

"We went to Switzerland for a few years and stayed with the neutral country so I wasn't in contact with outstanding amounts of death and blood from the war. With our constant moving around and invisible trail we were able to go around different countries without detection.

"We had gone from France to Germany to Switzerland and finally Italy in fifty years. Fifty years with Sophia was too much to live with and I left."

"I have always wanted to go to Italy." Christine said dreamily. "If you know so many languages, say something in Italian."

After a moment of thought, I turned to face her and looked straight into the eyes that held mine. "I tuoi occhi mi affascina, le vostre labbra intossicare me, i capelli e mi avvolge il tuo corpo corrisponde perfettamente miniera." I said in perfect Italian. (Your eyes captivate me, your lips intoxicate me, your hair envelops me and your body matches mine perfectly.)

She looked at me as if it was the first time we kissed. She looked like she was falling in love all over again, just by the sound of my voice. "That was beautiful. What did you say?" she asked still looking on with a wistful expression.

I very much wanted to tell her, but I feared she would just walk away again and become angry. Instead I just said, "That is for me to know."

"Ok." She said disappointed. "What is Italy like? Is it as beautiful as the pictures show?"

"Well while I was there, Italy was waging war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Also there was a large amount of unemployment. It was not pretty when I got there, but there were still many beautiful sites to see. I didn't stay there very long. I spent most of my time in Ireland and Scotland.

"They are beautiful independent countries that I was fond of being a part of. But of course I couldn't stay there for long, so I came here to the United States."

Christine was leaning her arms on her knees and watching me speak intently.

"With all my knowledge and first person experience with the war and other events around Europe I came to the United States and started composing music. The music here in the mid 1900's was classic and popular. I was in New York for a while composing tragic operas and selling them to different companies and opera houses around the world.

"After a while I was curious to see what else I could do and I started making blueprints for businesses. I would make a lot of money off of my music and my designs. Every decade or so I would change my name and forge documents so no one would know that I was never growing old."

"I remember seeing those documents." Christine said. "Would I know any of the buildings you designed?"

"You go to school in one of them." I told her with a smirk.

Her face was full of amazement and she sat back in the couch. "You designed that beautiful building?"

"Yes, one of my many favorite buildings. After a while I became uninspired to make more designs and wanted something else.

"I started making aliases when I moved here to the United States. After a couple decades of living off money I made from the blueprints and compositions I wanted something that brought me out of the solitude I was in. All my life I was hiding from people and I just wanted to blend in.

"I then forged resumes and degrees so that I could send them out to all the universities near me and get a job as a music teacher."

"How long have you been teaching?" Christine asked.

"Since 1955, I have been giving my knowledge of music to many students in many states in many universities in the country."

"So Juilliard isn't the first place you have worked?" Christine asked curiously.

"No. The first school I worked at was in Northern Maine. The University of Maine." I told her. "I have worked in six different universities. University of Maine, Indiana State University, University of West Florida, Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, University of California, and now Juilliard."

"So you have been all over the country?" she said in awe.

"I would say all over the world. But I have never felt more alive than when I am here."

"Why did Sophia just randomly show up?" Christine asked looking for a way out of the direction my comment had made.

"She comes to check up on me every few years or so. She does that with all of the people she turned into vampires. But ever since my turn in 1930 she has wanted to make sure I am being subtle with my… vampirism."

"What do you mean your 'turn in 1930'?" Christine asked getting suspicious.

"I wasn't being completely honest with you. After I left Sophia and went out on my own, I became more violent and less compassionate to the human race. All my life humans tortured me and then banished me, leaving me for dead. My mother sold me to a freak show where the gypsies would beat me and show me off to the public as the biggest freak of the show. After that I lived underground away from society.

"Without Sophia being there to mentor me and hold me back, I went on a killing spree." I watched Christine's face change to shock, I already knew I was pushing her away even more. "When I lived in Ireland I would stalk my prey and grab them in a dark alley and completely wipe out all of their blood within seconds. One kill was never enough to satisfy my vengeance. I would kill at least two people a day and that was because I couldn't stomach anymore blood in my system. I enjoyed watching the people go limp in front of me and drop to the ground. I loved watching their faces fill with fear of death. It was the only pleasure in my life. Afterwards I would dispose of the bodies by dropping them in the ocean or burying them under graves."

"You killed people?" Christine asked innocently as she curled her legs up against her chest in a way that made me see her as a frightened child.

"After five years, people all around Ireland, Scotland and Britain were noticing the disappearances and the occasional animal attacks. Sometimes I would forget, from the rush, to get rid of the bodies; they would be so ripped apart that no one would be able to tell a vampire did it, more like a bear or wolf."

She shuddered at the look of the mutilated bodies that came from her imagination. She feared me more and more, but she wanted to know everything and I had the need to get everything off my chest.

"That is the reason I left Ireland and came here to the United States. I wanted a fresh start."

"You wanted fresh food and fresh lives, so you came to this country to continue your sadistic attack of revenge?" Christine asked getting disgusted, scared and angry all at the same time.

"When I came here to the United States, something changed. I no longer wanted revenge, I had lost all hateful feelings for humans and I changed. I found music again. Music was the only good thing I had as a human, that and the voice of an angel that gave me reason to believe all humans are not nasty, uncaring creatures." I said thinking of my beautiful Angel of Music, Christine Daaé.

Christine sat there looking at the floor and I could tell she was gathering all the information she just learned and trying to figure out her feelings. Realization and confusion covered her face and suddenly she started thinking out loud.

"You were turned in 1871. Your mother couldn't stand the sight of you. You grew up in a gypsy camp. Humans rejected you. You lived underground. You are a composer and an architect. Music is the love of your life. An angel's voice saved you." She looked at my face and for the first time in a long time she looked straight at the mask. "You wear a mask."

"Christine." I said in a slight whisper. I knew the moment she figured it out and I hoped she didn't hate me even more.

"Oh my God." She said in a soft murmur. A single tear fell down her cheek and she kept looking at the cool porcelain white mask that covered my face. "You're the Phantom of the Opera."

xXx

I try really hard to not end all my chapters on a cliffhanger, but at least I get them up quickly so you don't have to wait too long. I wanted the history of his life to be my own and not all from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gaston Leroux, so I had to do some research.

I haven't had a History class since high school so I really had to check the internet for major events that happened around Europe. Sorry if anything is wrong, I used Wikipedia as my source.

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