I thought that you might want to hear from August Marie once again… She always has so much to say. Wouldn't you like her as your grandmother? Maybe she could bake some cookies for you, preferably with the rat poison on the side.

Chapter 37

Auguste Marie's POV

My 'grandson' is such an arrogant twit. He is an example of why they deposed the 'ancien regime' in the last century. He is very handsome, he looks just like his grandfather but he is of average intelligence. I have to tell him everything more than once just to get him to listen to me. If he had thought with his head; not the other parts of his physiology, or listened to me to start with, he would have finished with his 'Phantom' problem long ago. I told him to use the girl to flush him out, keeping her safe so he could have her when it was all over. I could not see why he would wed such a lowly creature but it served my purpose that he believed himself to be in love with the chit. I couldn't believe my good fortune when his childhood love, turned out to be the Phantom's protégé and love interest. It kept my grandson focused on destroying his rival and brought Erik out of his hiding place where I could better find a way to dispose of him.

When Christian first told me of his deformed cousin, I thought to leave him alone. I thought that most likely he was slow of wit, as well as ugly. What woman would want such a man? He was, after all, the prime exhibit in a gypsy display. How threatening could he possibly be? He was probably a glorified ape man. But then Christian told me of the wonders that the man had done in Persia, including the Royal Palace at Mazendaren which was considered to be so architecturally stunning and daring that it was being called the new wonder of the modern world. It was said that the architect was forced to flee lest he be killed by the Shah who wanted no duplicate project anywhere else on earth. He built a second Palace for the Sultan of Turkey, before he disappeared once again.

Christian was able to track him down due to the appearance of a Persian man in Paris who was said to visit the Opera frequently. This man was the same one who was known to be a good friend of the architect. The more that Christian discovered about this architect, the more interested in him that I became. He was apparently a great magician, inventor, composer and assassin as well as an architect. This new information that Christian shared with me convinced me that the man was in fact a genius, and could potentially be a formidable opponent. I decided to keep a watch on him by making my grandson a patron of the Opera Populaire, but first I needed to inform both my daughter and grandson, of my true relationship to them.

When I first approached them, I could see that they were having a hard time believing me. Aurore had spent her entire life believing that my cousin had been her mother. She had met me once or twice as a distant cousin but nothing more. I did not have much interest in her at the time, until she became a Comtesse. When she married the Comte de Chagny and became his second wife, I began to gain more interest in her. She was a pleasant young woman known to be amiable. She was the perfect young ornament for the much older Comte de Chagny to parade on his arm. While my cousin lived, I did not want to usurp her place in my daughter's life. I did not really need a child. It was a waste of energy to shower such a being with any sort of affection. I thought about my own mother and how her weakness, regarding me, ended up being her downfall. I would not let anyone have the same sort of power over me. Love is a trap not a glory. I could never understand how people became such fools when exposed to it. Even the Phantom was not immune to the disease. Love does when tamed and well directed, turn into a very effective weapon for manipulating people. It infects an otherwise rational and stable person and can turn them into madmen with just the right amount of fuel added to the fire. The Phantom is a perfect example of such. It was the Achilles heel that brought him out of his underground hiding place into my realm.

As my middle age faded into old age, I began to see my own mortality and since my wizened old body no longer appealed to men; I needed to reassess my goals and find someone who might care for me in my old age. I knew that my daughter's husband had died and given almost his entire estate to his oldest son Philippe. This left my daughter and her children in very limited financial straits, offering me the chance to step in and gain her allegiance. Jules had been a wealthy man, and his pride would not have me living in poverty no matter how much he had come to despise me. When he met with his fatal accident he set up a trust which permitted me to live as I had for the remainder of my life, but upon my death, he bequeathed his entire estate to Erik von Mulheim, another reason that I hated that family.

Christian was not aware of this fact, and I did not enlighten him about his cousin's good fortune. I know that it was a way for Jules to get back at me, and make restitution for the 'crimes' against the Mulheim family that I had committed, particularly against the younger Erik. It was one reason that I finally disposed of Jules, I knew that he was thinking of doing so but he beat me. He changed his will right after the funeral of his old friend. I did not even know that he was aware of the grandson's existence but somehow he was. I tried to invalidate the will on the grounds that Jules was insane at the time of its enactment, but I could not do so. My attorney warned me that if I challenged it and lost, that my trust fund would be revoked. Jules put that proviso in the will. My darling husband had won a final battle against me, but it only served to make me more determined to do away with his heir.

My daughter and grandchildren are going to be in for a nasty surprise upon my death; when they will find that I have nothing to bequeath to them, other than an old family heirloom, a signet ring. It was all that remained of our estate after Maman had to sell everything to bring us to Strasbourg. The rest of my wealth came from my husband. I am sure that Raoul will enjoy the signet ring; it will fetch some 10,000 francs should he decide to sell it. Perhaps I might have been more honest with them if they had accepted me right away when I came to them. I had to use my wealth to attract their attention. It was a small measure of revenge that I would have upon them. Upon my death they would find that I was true to my word and did make them the beneficiaries of my estate. I don't expect them to shed any tears over my death. They still consider my distant cousin to be their real mother and grandmother. They are using me as much as I am using them. My daughter resembles me both physically and mentally, I know that she could not have possibly loved her dead husband; what eighteen -year old marries a sixty year old for love? She inherited my beauty and used it to lure a fine match. I did not believe that she could love such an old goat, even if he were handsome. She did not possess the brains to get him to set up any trusts for either her or her children. He was of the old school, he believed that a woman was incapable of handling their own affairs, and Raoul was only three when he died. The coot made Philippe his guardian, and expected him to take care of Raoul rather than let the vast de Chagny holdings be divided. If I were Aurore, I might have found a way to dispose of Philippe, maybe drown him in the underground lake at the Opera House and blame 'the Phantom'. Perhaps I will hint at it on my next visit. The world does not know that the Phantom is no longer in residence there.

In the meantime, I was going to use my grandson both to kill Erik von Mulheim and bring the final Mulheim heir, Christian, down as well. My 'witness' has been both well paid and blackmailed into doing my bidding. I find that giving more than one motive for loyalty to a paid associate is important. It makes them almost impervious to changing sides. In this case my inside man had a boyfriend. I am sure that the authorities would want that information if he chose to betray me. My informants did not have to like me. They just had to do my bidding. Attachments to people just brought on misery and vulnerability. As I said, it was the Phantom's only exploitable weakness, oh and of course his famous Mulheim temper, so like that of his grandfather and namesake. I found my contentment in bending the world around me to fit my needs, which is a form of power, my aphrodisiac. Perhaps my desire to dominate and control others stems from my Royal heritage or perhaps it is because I have learned to despise humanity. The only times that I have allowed my feelings to sway me, have led only to pain. I do not feel pain any more. I really don't feel anything but an unending thirst for control and power, and the need for vengeance upon my old enemies.

My grandson should have dispatched his foe in Paris. He had more than one opportunity to do so, but he had the same weakness that many had. He had actually fallen in love with the soprano. The first time that he tried to kill the Phantom, he had bested him in a duel, but the girl stopped him from dealing his nemesis a fatal blow. At the time he felt that he had vanquished his enemy and did not need to dispatch him in front of his love. She had begged for him quite prettily to let his enemy go free. Like many men his libido took hold of him, and he listened to his girl. He thought that his gallant display of his swordplay would win him the girl forever, and dissuade his rival, but I knew better. In truth, this Erik was more like me than my own grandson. He had to do many things, which society would deem unacceptable, to assure his own survival. To dispose of such a man, there is no room for error, only pitiless efficiency would bring him down. I warned my grandson about this after his first time, yet once again he let his prey go free. This time I hoped that he would make sure that the job was done.

Erik's POV

If someone were to tell me that I could go back in time, and start over with a perfect face, and a mother that loved me, but I would have to give up Christine I would not do so. Our first time together was well worth the wait and all the pain and horror in my life. Perhaps my long years of suffering were needed to make the ending so sweet. If I were handsome and loved I might be the same as my rival, the Vicomte. I will never be handsome, no matter how fine that my clothes might be to cover my lithe and powerful frame; No matter how real my wigs might look, or how the sun's rays might make my skin glisten. My voice can be as silken and alluring as an angels' but in the end I am still hideous. I know it, and the world does as well, even Christine cannot deny it. For a man who worships all aspects of beauty it is a cruel fate to be embodied in such a repellant form. But suddenly a lifetime of self -disgust and loathing was erased, and I could feel my spirit encased in a halo of joy. It no longer mattered that my interior was incased in such a foul repository, because a beautiful woman saw the man inside and deemed me handsome within, and worthy of love.

I wanted to proclaim the change in me to the world, but did not yet want to do so, until I could claim the heavenly angel, who was my savior, as my prize. I could no longer mistrust the intentions of Christine when she proved to me in so many ways that she truly desired me. When I told her that I trusted her because she was not a good enough actress to fool me, I meant it. No one could be, not even the greatest actress of our time. I suddenly had been seized with the notion that I needed to marry Christine immediately. My cousin came in handy as usual. I could not help but to admit to his usefulness which was a redeeming factor, despite all his treachery. I smiled at the thought that in only four days I would be a married man. A woman would actually claim me as hers despite everything. I could see the years stretching ahead, and I would never feel the pain of loneliness again. Perhaps if we were lucky we would be joined by a new generation of Mulheim children. My family's past has given me hope that they would not share my deformity, if it appeared only every fourth or fifth generation in the past; there was no reason not to assume that my children would be fine. Perhaps in a few generations mankind will learn how to treat such deformities, if not perhaps the mother of that child will love her child as I could not be loved by my own mother.

To my delight, Christine insisted on us exploring one another yet again. I had no trouble summoning up the resolve to placate her curiosity. I could only hope that our future endeavors would be even more satisfying as we learned more about one another's needs. I wondered how I would stack up against someone like the Vicomte, in my skills. I had many years of deprivation to make up for. I was sure that I could improve with time. If I could create all sorts of torture devices for the Shah and the Khanum, I was sure that I could be equally or even more creative with devising mechanisms for eliciting pleasure. It would be a task that I would gladly undertake, all in the name of science. Surprisingly Christine would insist that we explore one another not only in darkness but in the light as well.

She reminded me that I had spent a good portion of the day, without either my mask or my wig, and that more than a few servants must have seen me. She told me that I should consider wandering my own Chateau without any thought of hiding my face.

I told her that I would take such a thing under advisement but I was still loath to subject anyone to the horror of viewing my face. She tried to enlist others in support, but I quashed it. It was one thing to remove my mask and wig while I was asleep. I had done so all of my life. It was better for my face to have a chance to get some air. I could not see the benefit dining in such a fashion, or entertaining either. Still I appreciated the fact that for the first time ever, I had people in my life who care enough about me to make me feel comfortable.