Chapter Eighteen

The rest of the evening, Christine found herself poking and prodding the kitten. After winning the battle to give it warm milk, it didn't seem interested so she took it to the fire. From there, all it wanted to do was explore so she watched as it made its way over books, the couch, and close to the desk before he turned around with lack of interest. Without asking Underwood's permission, she brought the bowl of milk to the Study and set it by the fire. The cat drank a little then curled up with her as she sat near the fire. Erik joined her after a little time, offering her a cheese sandwich that she devoured without much thought. He then dropped a small hand full of what looked like cat food into the milk. The cat hopped off of Christine clumsily and started to eat.

"I thought you didn't feed Roach?" she asked, assuming it was his food, to begin with.

"There is a reason he doesn't steal from me. I see to it. His box, sleeping quarters, and food are all in hidden places. They're marked with feline scents that humans cannot decipher. This kitten should find them sooner or later."

She couldn't help, but smile, "So you do care for Roach?"

"He has earned my respect." They shared eyes for a moment and Christine wondered if he was only talking about the cat. She turned away and he continued, "Are you going to keep him?"

"It's a him?" she asked.

Erik gave her a look and she found herself embarrassed. Of course, it was a "him" that was clear with some simple inspection.

"I…I don't know what I'd do with a cat."

"I don't either."

She laughed, "Clearly you do! What about Roach?"

"I did some research. Roach doesn't require more than what's necessary."

Christine shook her head.

"Offer him to Roach. Maybe you won't have to worry about him."

As if on cue, Roach carelessly made his way into the Study. Christine tensed, not sure how he would react to another cat in the house. He strolled straight up to the milk and started to eat the food that had been placed in it. The other cat stared at him while he did this, but eventually got close and started to sniff the much larger cat. They then sniffed each other, Roach sitting down to do so. As their noses touched, Roach stuck out his tongue and licked the kitten full on the face. From there, the two laid down, the kitten kneading Roach and Roach giving him a cat bath.

"Wow." Christine said with wide eyes, "Are all cats that nice to each other?"

"No. It is possible that Roach is tasting him first."

"I don't think that's what's happening." Christine flatly replied.

"We'll see."

All four of them stayed by the fire that night. Erik finally held true to his words of pulling the couch closer so that Christine would have a place to sleep. He stayed in the large armchair after pulling it off center to fit the couch closer to the warmth. The night was simple enough and the cats offered some entertainment when Christine found an old shoelace from her backpack for them to play with. The little orange cat had some interesting markings of lighter fur that stretch on his side, they appeared as curved lines that stretched from his belly, over his back, and to the other side in no organized way. While Christine's opinions of him were mixed, Roach seemed to like him well enough.

Erik had not said so much to her that evening as he kept reading various proposed bills. It was a comfortable coexistence and it was nice to be able to read a book for herself. One on cats, as he had recommended. She found it funny that he would have a detailed book on how to raise cats in his house. As it started to get late, he set the piles of papers aside and started to pull out his violin.

She did not protest him pulling out the instrument as she had the last time. Instead, she watched him with curious eyes. The way he gently set the case on his desk, the way he pulled out the bow and violin. It was as if he were touching a loved possession and to see someone treat an object with such care was interest enough.

After spending the time to tune it - she guessed he had perfect pitch as she did not see a tuner - pianissimo notes began to flow in the air. The music seemed harmless enough and she allowed herself to sit back and listen, her corner on the couch feeling safe enough. The sounds ebbed and flowed to her ears as if it were waves themselves. It was simple, genuine, loving.

When the word popped into her head her eyes shot open as if something had stabbed her. The music stopped.

"Something the matter?" he asked quietly.

She immediately felt like an idiot.

"No, nothing, sorry."

He continued with a different song this time and the feeling went away. It made her speculate his meaning and she wondered continuously into her dreams.

XVIII

In total, Christine counted spending five days with Erik Underwood before the power returned. She was thankful for it having returned a day before Raoul's scheduled wake so that she could have a day to collect herself and shower in her own home. Erik agreed to keep the cat more or less. He said that if Roach wanted a pet, he could keep it. The two really had hit it off and Christine began to wonder where such mothering instincts came from in a big male outdoor cat.

She decided to name the cat Simba after one of her favorite childhood characters. The marking he had on his head reminded her of a lion cub. So there was now Simba, Roach, the remote Christine Gallagher and the dangerously powerful Erik Underwood all residing under the same roof. What a peculiar five days it had been.

As usual, Erik was nothing less than monstrous during the day and she learned to keep her distance from him. He never insulted her truly, he was just rude and lacking in patience. This was one of the things she learned to deal with after a while. Still, he would always prepare meals for her and she saw this as a way for him to express that she wasn't an actual burden on his home life. He did strange things during the day to show this, either by leaving a book in her path on the couch or once he managed to make a funny looking cat toy with her shoelace and a button.

Still, nights were the most comfortable between the two. They had various conversations on different topics in the world, the news, Congress, her youth, his travels. The lessons continued and she began to notice her voice improving. A few times, he even complimented her on its growth. Their last night by the fire, the power turned on around nine in the evening. She had sat up to look at the street lights outside.

"The stars are gone," she murmured by the window.

"Perhaps you owe it to yourself to go to a place that doesn't hide them." He said, she could hear him stepping carefully closer.

"That would be nice," she smiled, simply.

"Will you be leaving, then?" he asked, a faint feeling of sadness in his tone.

"My heater probably won't be working well yet."

"Then you will stay?" it was a question, not a demand.

"I'd like to."

His smile did not register on his face, but she could swear she saw it in his eyes.

It was early morning when she found herself needing to use the restroom. The sun was not even up yet and she found both cats laying directly on top of her lower stomach making the situation much worse. She slid them off with the quilt and tiptoed her way to the bathroom below the stairs. The thought crossed her mind of where Erik could be. She wondered if he had been sleeping in his own bed and he noted several times that the fire was for her.

Her vision was not clear as she had left her glasses in her bag and had given up on her contacts a few days prior, having forgotten her solution at her house. Making her way to the bathroom, she opened it with a yawn only to find Erik directly inside over the sink. It took her a second to register what had happened and she looked up before she closed the door.

Their eyes caught, but not before she had seen his full face in a mirror that was now hanging over the sink and at the reflection, she all but fell backwards. She could see how yellow and tough the leathery skin was, how it was thin it was over his skull and she saw bone and muscle coming out of where it had gotten too sparse. It was as if his skin was decidedly trying to retreat from his face. The surprise shocked intake of fearful air from her. She had no time to register her situation before pure instinct kicked in and she turned away to make her way back to the Study, shocked tears pricking her eyes.

She didn't make it far before her wrist was wrenched backwards by an unyielding hand.

"Ready to tell the world I'm not a liar?"

He stood before her like a rabid monster, his jaw cocked open, his eyes shining with rage, and his face without the mask that showed clear imprints of his teeth on the torn side. She tried to turn away, "I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Wanting to take a picture for everyone to see?" he sneered, pulling her closer to him so that their faces were mere inches apart and she was on her toes.

"What?"

"Want to prove to them that I'm just as much a monster on the outside as I am on the inside?" He was talking through his teeth and his grip on her raised wrist tightened with every word.

"Please," she kept shaking her head back and forth, "I didn't mean to. It was an accident!"

He walked her straight into a corner in the wall and slammed her up against it. Her eyes darted from side to side, trying to find a way out and finding none. He continued, "That's what anyone would say caught in this position, you cowardly child."

His words stung a little, but she continued to defend herself, "No, really!" She started to struggle, trying to pull back her arm and he held faster, pushing it over her head and into the cool wall behind her, his face mere inches from hers. She screamed, "You're hurting me!"

"Trying to get so close to me, are you? Trying to get my guard down enough to unmask me?"

Her voice was heightening her pitch, "I didn't! Erik please!"

"You were waiting to catch me off guard! You were waiting to sink so low and do this! I open my door to a needy beggar and get betrayed!"

"I was not!"

"You viper! You little Delilah! You liar!"

"STOP IT!" With her words she lay a smack across the unmarked side of his face. He let go and took a step back as if truly hurt. He fell to his knees, his back heaving up and down with every harsh breath. The sound of their ragged breathing filled the room as she held her hand to her chest. She had never done any sort of violent thing in her life. It never even occurred to her to have followed through with the impulse until they both quiet. When he looked up again, angry tears that refused to fall were in his eyes and he covered his face with his hand as he fell to his knees.

"I didn't want you to see this." He moaned brokenly, "I didn't want you to know."

"I swear I didn't mean to." Her words were getting caught in her throat, "I had to use the bathroom, I swear."

"You hate me." He said through his teeth.

"Erik, I don't-"

"Stop. You. LIAR!" His bellowing voice made items shake in the kitchen and study.

She pushed the sounds from her head and pressed towards her point, "I'm not-"

"Everyone who has ever seen." He cut her voice so smoothly, that she didn't dare continue, "The world will hate me. Has hated me. So I must hate them. The daylight makes me into a monster, the darkness being my only solace as vision is taken. But you… Was I not enough for you? Were our conversations not enough? I listened, as you said. I asked I wanted… I cannot…I thought you would not, hoped you would not…but now you despise me. You are no different from any of them. "

His words were hardly making any sense and she wondered if she needed to run away right then. Tears were streaming down her face, "You're putting words in my mouth."

He spoke low and mean, "You evil curious woman."

"Stop being so cruel! It was an accident!"

"You're smarter than accidents, Erik knows you are."

Him referring to himself in third person scared her, "What? Everyone makes-"

"Lies, lies, lies." His last 's' sounded longer than it should have.

She tried playing on his level, as insane as it was starting to be, "Then…then forgive me."

He chanted his words as if it had been chanted to him for too long, "Forgiveness does not forget. Just as you will never forget."

His words were true and it hurt her deeply.

"She does not speak because it is true." He said quietly, "No one ever forgets. No one ever forgets."

Christine tried to appeal to his humanity again, insane words aside, "Erik, please, don't… don't be like this."

"You dare tell me how to behave? Don't you ever dare to tell me how to behave even remotely normal when you have never suffered appearing anything less than beautiful."

"How can you…Erik, how…" she whispered.

"Christine, who has always been beautiful who will always be pleasing to anyone's eye and who feels cheated by the world for losing things that Erik never had. How selfish you are."

The tears could not be stopped now and her knees buckled against the wall, "Erik… How could you… Why would you say…?" She wanted to bury her face in her hands and crawl into a hole, but not before she repaid his words, "You really are a monster to say such things. And you being so terrible has nothing to do with your face."

Finding strength somewhere, Christine Gallagher gathered herself and quickly went to pack her things, throwing everything in the bag between sobs, not caring to completely bundle up before going outside. As a last thought, she scooped up Simba and put him in her sweater. He mewed in annoyance at being taken away from the large warm cat he slept next to.

Erik now stood with his mask replaced, just outside the bathroom down the hall. She could not read him as the light was behind him.

"Stay home for your lesson tonight." He said softly, "You are to listen to Faust and report back to me on Sunday after the wake."

"Fine," she muttered, wiping her remaining tears with her sleeve.

"And you will come back." It was not a question this time. It was a threat.

She looked back at him, fear and confusion laced in her eyes, "You would force me?"

"Our agreement is not an option, Ms Gallagher. You will come back whether on your accord or not."

Her voice quivered, "You're threatening me?"

She saw him straighten his back, to block out more light, "Yes."

From there, she all but ran the entire way home, slamming and locking the door directly behind her.


Tell me your thoughts on this version of the unmasking scene :D But really.