T/W for emetophobia
I returned to the house after pulling the car around, realizing I had forgotten my gloves. While they were not a necessity, I preferred to drive with them, especially when the roads were slippery. I planned to grab them quickly, and then move on to search for Erik. That proved impossible, as I stepped over the threshold. Alexandre was pacing, and his eyes lit up when he saw me.
"Good, you're ready. We need to go." I stared at him, confused.
"What?" He looked at me like I had grown three heads, something I had acquainted as his trademark look whenever someone had annoyed him. Which happened a lot.
"The doctor," He dictated, as if talking to a child. "We need to go to the doctor- in the village.. I thought you knew… why did you go get the car?"
"I didn't know . I thought… you can't just expect people to know what you want without telling them."
"I thought we were operating on the same level."
"Well, we weren't.""
"Fine.," He seemed to be done talking, Giles mumbled something from the other room. Alexandre sighed and continued. "Sorry." He said that word as if it pained him, and in some way, perhaps it did.
"It's fine." There was a moment of awkward silence. I stood in the hall for a moment, before moving towards the stairs to retrieve my gloves.
"We're still going to the doctors… right?" I squeezed my eyes shut, resisting the urge to smash Alexandre's face in with a vase from the hall table. I debated, for a moment. Erik was able to handle himself, right? He was a grown man after all, and he probably wouldn't approve of me rushing in to save him. Also, since Giles hadn't been shot, the Vicomte was either a terrible shot or he hadn't meant to hit Giles. I was banking on the latter. Even if he had missed on purpose, there was still hope. The Vicomte was unhinged for sure, but Erik could talk him down, right? He did have that unflappable charisma. Giles was the one in direct need of help,
"Just let me grab my gloves- I need them to drive. Do whatever you need to do to get him ready to travel."
"Got it." Giles cleared his throat, again. "Thank you," Alexandre added. I nodded, before heading up the stairs. When I returned, both Giles and Alexandre were standing in the doorway, wearing heavy raincoats, the former leaning heavily on the latter. I briefly wondered where they had gotten the coats but decided not to press.
"Are you fine leaving the house unattended?" Giles slurred, his head lolling to the side. Alexandre snorted.
"You of all people should know that Montague is never unattended. What about the ghosts?" I stared at him, eyes wide. He coughed. "Um, I was joking, of course.."
"Of course." I looked away, quickly, opening the door and stepping out into the rain. "I'm not worried about leaving the house. We're in the middle of nowhere- I'm sure it'll be fine." I turned to see if they were following me and almost left at the sight of Alexandre carrying Giles, bridal style. Giles seemed to be playing into it, draping himself over Alexandre's arm dramatically, covering his eyes with his arm. Alexandre, however, was petrified, his face flushed.. When he noticed me watching he scowled, daring me to make a comment. I remained silent and unlocked the car doors. Alexandre threw Giles in the back before climbing in with him. I frowned.
"You're not sitting upfront?" Alexandre shook his head.
"No." He didn't say anything else. I shrugged. If he wanted to be cramped in the back, let him. It took a moment, but I finally started the car and we sped off towards the town.. We hit a bump and the car lurched. Alexandre screeched. "I thought you said you could drive!"
"Sorry!" Alexandre grumbled something inaudible, "What?"
"I said we can't go to the Doctor in the village!"
"What, why?" If we couldn't go there we'd have to travel to Marseille, which was about 40 minutes out. 40 minutes more minutes that Erik was with the Vicomte… 40 more minutes for him to die…
"He's not in the office tonight, I just remembered! It's his wedding anniversary!"
"So?"
"He and his wife are probably out to dinner- wouldn't you want Monsieur to take you out somewhere nice?" He had touched a nerve and, knowing Alexandre, he knew it. I slammed on the accelerator, making a sharp turn towards the coast. Alexandre let out a shaky breath when he realized where we were going.
"W-why are we going this way?"
"It's faster."
"No, no it's not. We can take the inland way, it's the same length."
"I've driven it before, this way takes less time."
"Fine." Alexandre let out a panicked breathe. "Can- can you at least slow down?" I raised an eyebrow. We were barely going the speed limit.
"Why? What's wrong?" Alexandre didn;'t respond. "Alexandre?"
"Just…. keep your eyes on the road." Giles groaned from the back seat.
"I think I'm going to be sick…." Oh for God's sake. They were children. I stopped the car just in time for Alexandre to push the door open. Giles retched on the pavement and I cringed, looking away. Just in time to see a flash of light up ahead on the road. There was a car parked, I realized. Thank god Giles had to vomit or we might've hit it. The headlights weren't on and the car was a dark color. The flash of light I had seen came from a torch, I assumed.
"He's good," Alexandre said, shutting the door and pulling Giles back in the car with him. I nodded.
"There's a car up there.." I added, gesturing. Alexandre leaned forward, squinting.
"Why would someone be parked up there?"" He wondered aloud, "It's dangerous to say the least, that turn… especially on a rainy night…" Alexandre's panic suddenly clicked. This must've been where Christine went over the edge.
"How do we get passed?" There may be people up there." I squinted. There most definitely were people up there. Two of them.
"We have headlights," Alexandre sat back. "They'll see us and get out of the way. Just… go slow." I nodded, and we began to inch forward. I saw the glint again but realized it was not from a torch. The headlights were catching a glint of… metal. Metal, like a gun. I slammed on the breaks. I could easily see silhouettes now, but it was impossible to make out faces. One person was pointing his arm, the gun, at another…. I slammed on the breaks. Giles and Alexandre screeched. There was a thud as someone's head hit the back of my seat. I cringed, hoping it was Alexandre. Judging by the swearing, I assumed it was. I turned back to look at him.
"Is this where Christine went over?" I needed actual confirmation, not just an assumption. Alexandre nodded, slowly. I threw open the car door, stepping out into the street. "Mme. Devereux!" Giles cried. I ignored him. I began to run towards the shapes. This had to be Erik and Raoul. What were the chances that there was another pair of crazed lunatics active on the same night? I had to admit, there was a certain righteousness of taking the life of your wife's murderer at the same place that she died… "Erik!" I called, stumbling through the dark. Curse my heels. Alexandre and Giles appeared beside me, confirming that I was not going very fast.
"Is that-" I nodded. Alexandre nodded in response. Giles gasped. I tried to move my pace to a run, but the ground was too rocky and didn't want to sprain my ankle. Fed up, I kicked off my shoes, the rocks scraping the soles of my feet but I didn't care.
"Erik!" I shouted again. This time there was a response. Two of them.
"Darling?" Erik exclaimed. At the same time Raoul shouted something else, the name of his dead wife.
"Christine!" The Vicomte exclaimed. "I've come to do you justice, my dear. Don't you see?" The Vicomte had backed Erik into a corner, my husband only a few steps away from a watery death. Raoul has his gun trained on him, smiling like a mad-man. Erik's mask made it impossible to see his facial expression, though I thought I detected something in his eyes, those burning yellow eyes. Fear.
No, that wasn't possible. Erik was never afraid. I had seen him angry, sure but never afraid. Fear was for other people, people like me. Fear was not for Erik. Not for the Devil's Child himself. Wasn't that he had called himself, once. Devil's Child. Perhaps someone had taunted him with the name because of his face. That inhuman face. There were times I actually doubted his humanity, I realized. How foolish. That fear, that fear was human. The human I had met in Monte Carlo. The man who had bared his soul to me, told me about sunshine and liking the rain... Perhaps Erik was a murderer. Perhaps he had killed Christine. But now I realized that I didn't care. Is that awful of me- to not care? I loved him and I would love him no matter what. He was cold and calculating but he was also warm and sentimental. I had months with him, months to try and breakdown that cold exterior and bring out the human again, that warmth and sentimentality. Yet I had wasted it, running around, playing detective. And now, seeing Erik's fear as he glanced down the barrel of a gun...
I realized how little time we may have left.