Chapter XXV
"Give her to me!" He commanded harshly. The phantasmal man jumped forward and wrenched her quickly and forcefully from the older man's arms. Every muscle in his body locked as he grabbed her. Her weight felt so familiar, the feel of her so close to him was both exhilarating and calming. She's here, she's in my arms, with me, and she's safe.
"Christine?" He began shaking her lightly; his breath was coming out shortly. His heartbeat was thundering in his chest. Why wasn't she responding? Her eyes were not open, instead they were half lidded and flickering rather violently, "Christine answer me," he demanded with a frustrated frown.
She did not respond.
"Erik we must get her to her room, I will explain what happened when the time comes but right now we must get her proper care," Nadir stood, exhausted and struggling to stand. His legs protested against the weight of his upper body, Erik seemed to not be listening to him, he only stared at Christine's flickering eyelids with bulging eyes, "I know it looks frightening but we must move now Erik, please."
Without answering he quickly turned and strode with long steps towards her bedroom. Nadir ran in front of him and pushed the door open, freezing at what he saw within the room.
Everything was thrown around; nothing was where it should have been. Not even the bed. The mirror itself was shattered with pieces lying within the frame but most of it was on the cool rock at their feet. Erik shoved past Nadir without waiting to explain and quickly laid one knee on Christine's bed, gently, as if she were the very glass that lay broken, he placed her on the bed. She looked just as wrecked as everything else in the room.
Nadir did not bother to ask what had happened.
Instead he quickly moved over to the closet and looked for a dress.
"Why is she not clothed?" Erik's voice was tight. When Nadir turned he saw that the taller man was staring at her with distress clear on his face, as if he were trying to figure something out, "Nadir answer me," his voice sounded strained, so strangely innocent in its understanding of this. It made the Persian's compassion flicker.
"I will explain that to you later," Nadir stated quietly and pulled from the closet a yellow gown.
He made his way back to her, beside Erik and made a move to touch her forehead but quickly found his wrist caught in a bone crushing grip.
"Erik!"
"Do not put your hands on her," he growled and harshly threw Nadir's hand away from her. His expression darkened behind the mask.
"Have you lost your mind? I am the one who knows more about her state, not you!"
"Are you throwing that in my face, Daroga?" Erik's voice held a dangerous edge to it, he stepped forward, blocking Nadir's direct view of Christine and slowly casting a thick shadow over him, "are you mocking the fact that yet again I am the monster in the story? Are you laughing at me?"
"I am not laughing at you," Nadir stated with a slight tremble, he didn't meet the amber eyes that looked down at him, he clutched the dress tightly in his fingers and instead stared at the man's chest, anywhere but those eyes, "I am simply stating that you do not know what happened, or why she's here, and I do. I know why her eyes flicker so rapidly, so let me help her."
"You will explain everything to me in time," Erik warned angrily, "everything."
"Yes," Nadir nodded firmly, nervously and eager to have this man move away from him.
Erik stepped to the side and when Nadir moved over to Christine he was instantly right there, watching him carefully. He analyzed everything Nadir did so that when he kicked the Persian out he would be able to do it himself. He would not go down as the bystander while Nadir saved the day, no, no, no. How would Christine forgive me then? The thought that she might be angry with him when she woke distressed him further. With a trembling hand he reached up and stroked the strands of hair falling in his face backwards. They fell back again. It seemed as if every fiber of his being was in a state of disorder.
"Erik, you might wish to leave the room," Nadir warned as he laid out the dress.
"Why would I want to leave the room?"
"Because I am going to remove the jacket and then I am going to dress her."
Erik stiffened and fidgeted, suddenly discomforted at the prospect of Nadir seeing her when she was so vulnerable, and angry at the fact that she wasn't dressed in the first place, "I will turn my back."
"If you so wish."
Nadir watched Erik firmly turn his back and clench his hands behind himself, he sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. The man was not going to leave her side for a moment, no matter what.
As Nadir removed the jacket draped over Christine's immobile figure he became instantly aware of the bruises on her neck. He shuddered and tossed a look at Erik, surely he had not seen them yet, and he knew that there would be mayhem when he did.
Keeping an air of professionalism Nadir kept his eyes only where they had to, he struggled to stop the shaking of his own hands. Carefully, he moved her body into a sitting position and slipped the gown over her head, he had a bit of difficulty with the difficult task of moving an uncooperative body, but eventually he got it on but did not bother to fasten all the laces tightly around her
"Are you done?" Erik snapped impatiently.
"Yes, my friend."
Instantly the black shadow was at her side, fidgeting with her hair and framing it around her face. Her chocolate curls slipped through his fingers easily and he struggled to contain a moan at it. But those eyelids, the way they flickered! How they stopped whatever comfort he had at her presence.
"What is this Khan, what is that!"
"Erik take a seat-
"I will not," he shook his head stubbornly, the white mask caught candle light and then darkness over and over, "explain it, what were you doing with Christine? From the beginning. Out with it!"
"Yes," Nadir ran a hand through his hair as the masked figure did so often, ""I.." Nadir sighed, "the woman came to me… her name is Rebecca, the redheaded woman. She came to me and told me that she had been at a home servicing a man when a young woman came running down the stairs. There was a struggle and she explained to me that Christine threw a lamp and injured one of the attackers—
"What?" Attackers? He thought, that is plural.
"I do not know whom they are my friend; I only know where they live. I do not know how they came upon her but we will have to ask her that when she wakes." Nadir continued, "She told me that Christine started a wild fit of shrieking her name. She ran out of the home and found me earlier in this afternoon; I did not come to you because I wanted to reach Christine in time. When I got there…" Nadir swallowed. Erik's gaze intensified with curiosity, and annoyance, "when I got there I found men in the home. I barreled through them and Rebecca held the weapon to keep them at bay. I ran up the stairs and," he pinched the bridge of his nose. The image of Christine with her legs splayed disturbed him more than he thought possible.
"Out with it Daroga!"
"I found her naked, drugged, and being touched by another man," Nadir moved his eyes away from Erik, afraid to see what expression he held, "I—
A crash sounded through the room. Nadir caught sight of Erik storming out the door. He stood there in shock for a moment, and then just as fast Erik opened the door and came back into the room with a crazed gaze. He stared at Christine's sleeping form with wide frightened eyes as if though Christine was at fault for his sudden return, as if though he were afraid of the repercussions of leaving the room, "did you kill him?" Erik whispered hollowly.
"What? No, I did-
"Good." Erik nodded, "this is very, very, good. What did he look like? You will draw me a sketch. And if you do not because of your majestic sense of good and wrong tell me now. It will make the task more difficult, yes… But I will find out, yes I will find out!" He suddenly exclaimed, Nadir jumped away in shock as Erik charged towards the dresser and crouched to the ground before a box. He threw out a pale hand and uttered unintelligible curses and phrases and sentences that Nadir could hardly understand. He was searching rabidly through it, "touch her… Christine.. demons, monsters, bastards! Bastards! Bastards!… Death!" He threw out the last word with a hard breath and whirled around.
"What is that?" Nadir asked as he watched Erik move to Christine. In his hand he held something glistening in a hardly delicate fist.
He grabbed her hand roughly first, looking at it and then nodded to himself as if accepted something, he ran his thumb over an opal ring on her finger.
Erik then proceeded to gracefully move her body into a seated position with more ease then Nadir could ever have had. He moved mechanically and ignored Nadir who moved closer with curiosity as Erik had earlier. He began to drape what Nadir realized was an extravagantly jeweled necklace that fit more like brace around her throat, but Erik suddenly stopped.
"Damn it," Nadir realized he had laid eyes on the bruise.
"No!" Erik howled and threw himself away from her, "no! No!"
"Erik!" Nadir flew towards him as the man backed himself into a corner where only his amber eyes caught light from the flickering flames in the room, "you must relax it is just a bruise!"
"Noo," he moaned terribly and covered his face, "what could she have done!"
"Nothing my friend," Nadir reached out hesitantly and touched the shoulder of the figure in black, "you must realize that Christine could have done nothing to deserve this. Those men will pay fear for their crimes Erik, I assure you that. But it is just a bruise; her voice will be alright-
Nadir quickly found himself on the floor. His temple exploded with pain and Erik's fist was still clenched from the blow to the Persians cheek. Nadir spluttered with shock at both the lightning speed of the punch and the amazingly acute agony in his face.
"You think I worry about her voice?" Erik hissed violently, towering over the older man on the ground who started up at him in fear, shaking like a tree in winter under the ocher orbs in Erik's head, "you think this is about her voice?"
"Erik I-
"How dare you!" Erik exploded. His hand darted out and Nadir made a move to roll away but quickly found himself pressed to the concrete ground with the pale hand clenched around his throat, slowly suffocating him.
"Erik," he croaked out his neck helplessly. His throat bulged beneath the long powerful fingers as they slowly crushed him, he scratched wildly at the arm that so easily held him down like an animal who had misbehaved. He grew more horrified at the amber ferocity gleaming down at him.
"You have offended me for the last time Daroga," he spoke like a God grown weary of foolish antics, "you think I worry about her voice? Christine's voice is important, but her health comes first," his grip tightened with every word, "or are you so foolish to actually believe that that would be my main concern?" He squeezed tighter, efficiently cutting off any and all airflow he had allowed, only his voice remained soundly through the room, "do you really believe that about me?"
Nadir's eyes began rolling into the back of his head.
Quickly Erik released him and Nadir remained still underneath him. Unmoving and silent.
Then the oxygen rushed back into him and he gasped wildly for air. The pale hand that had been so violent carefully rolled him onto his chest so that he might breathe more easily. Nadir let out a strangled cough and clutched his dark throat. His temples throbbed; the blood rushed back to his head, his eyeballs blazed with small jolts of pain.
"Do not ever presume my relationship with Christine to be so shallow," Erik warned him.
As Nadir sat on the floor, rubbing his throat and struggling to breathe he heard Erik moving around to Christine's side.
The masked man carefully laid a hand on her bruised throat, her skin felt hot against his very cool fingers, and she released a strange sigh. Erik pulled his hand away from her in shock, had he harmed her? He noticed that when his hand left her a small twitch went through her face, as if though she were annoyed. Experimentally, he reached forward with curiosity and dared to touch her again, pressing his palm flat against the other side of her neck so that his thumb crossed over the front of her throat. She sighed again and shifted slightly, he kept his hand there with astonishment. She was not repulsed by it.
"So you love her then," Nadir Khan croaked from the ground where he had been left, "you care for Christine's life not for what it offers you but for what it is. You love Christine."
Erik whipped his head around, keeping his hand on Christine's throat, not wishing to upset her. The eye from behind the mask gleamed as strands of hair blocked the other, "you foolish man!" His voice was not as snappy as he would have liked, "I should end your life now for insinuating such nightmarish things for her."
"But you do not deny it."
I do not deny it… Erik realized with fright, outwardly he exuded calm and annoyance, "shut your filthy, ridiculous, sinful mouth Nadir Khan," Nadir rolled his eyes, "monsters do not belong with others. The fact that she lays here in this state should tell you that."
"And yet you do not deny it, you do not deny that you love Christine," Nadir smirked and came to a stand, he bit his lip to stifle a laugh despite the inappropriateness of it, Erik had turned back to Christine and did not catch the mischievous glint in Nadir Khan's eyes.
Nadir Khan had known what he was doing all along suggesting that her voice was more important to Erik then her life. And while he had rather hoped that Erik didn't choke him, he had prepared for it nonetheless.
Erik finally answered in a soft whisper, "I would never deny that."
Now that was something Nadir Khan had not prepared himself for.
"Shut your filthy, ridiculous, sinful mouth Nadir Khan" - haha that was my favorite line to write, and then Nadir's eye roll like 'Wow, BUURN, nice comeback moron" hahaha
So what did you think? I would have updated yesterday but I was NOT happy with what I wrote, and i've learned that when IM not happy about what I write I can't come up with things to write after it, so I was like I'll give them an early update and cut the chapter so that it's not so much crap thrown in at once. So I hope you like'd this chapter! Because I think that while it was short it gave a lot of insight into different things...
And Erik has admitted something thats... kind of a big deal... SO I HOPE YOU LIKED IT AS MUCH AS I DO. I am strangely proud of this chapter. It's not Over the Top like Erik ROARING about how she is HIS and how her body is HIS and things like that that I've seen done, I mean that stuff might look cute but I didn't want to make Erik look as if though he feels like HER OWNER, yes he finds himself in a position of authority with her but I don't see the Erik I have built up as being the type to even find himself WORTHY of 'claiming' her so he wouldn't do something like that even if he might 'claim' her voice I think her voice and her body are two very different things to him. Because while with her voice he knows well, and he himself knows how to teach her to use it and he can easily control it, he is not as in touch with human sexuality as most people. So I don't think he would feel as if though he could really say 'her body is mine' the same way he might say 'her voice is mine'. Am I making sense? Just a little insight into my thought process. Plus I decided to inject a bit of symbolic things in Erik's thought process. I think it was pretty clear :O
Review! :) I really hope you all like it :)