Chapter 8

            Diana saw Christian's body being hurled across the room and she feared her husband was dead.  Her impending grief turned into rage.

            Diana had suddenly remembered something that she had brought from New York that she'd never thought she'd use, David's gun.  She inched her hand down to the edge of the mattress and reached under it.  When she felt the handle of the weapon, she pulled it out quickly and cocked it against the Duke's shoulder.  She knew she had to take Warner out of the picture to get to Christian, but she couldn't get a clear shot.  Diana decided to take a chance, hoping that going through the Duke would free her and kill Warner.

            Diana pressed back on the trigger and fired one shot.  As she fired, she felt a strong spiritual presence surrounding her, David and Satine.  The bullet went through the Duke, sending him crashing to the floor, and found its way, with a little non-earthly navigation into Warner.

            Diana sprang up from the bed and crawled over to Christian.  She looked over to Warner, dead on the floor with one bullet to the head.

            Christian had gone into shock when the bullet hit him but he was now fully aware of what was going on.  His left leg was bleeding heavily from where the bullet had gone in.

            He saw Diana sitting next to him and he grabbed hold of her in an embrace from which he never wanted to leave.  Diana was desperately trying to stop the bleeding by pressing the edge of her dress against it.

            The Duke was struggling to get up from the floor.  He saw where his 'captive' was and Warner's corpse on the floor.  He now thirsted for revenge.  He managed to get himself into a position where he could crawl across the floor, without using his injured arm, to get Warner's gun.

            Diana's back was turned to the Duke, being more concerned about Christian.  Christian though had a clear view of what the Duke was attempting to do.  Christian reached over to his wife's hand where the gun was and picked up the weapon.  The Duke was forced to look directly at him as he crossed the floor.  Diana saw Christian's expression change as he took aim for the Duke.  She turned her head in the direction that the barrel of the gun was pointed.

            Just as the Duke was reaching for his manservant's weapon, Christian fired.  The bullet hit the Duke between the side of his abdomen and his hip, fully incapacitating him.

            "We have to go NOW!" Diana screamed.  She stood up to get better balance to help Christian up.  Christian held on to her for support as they exited the Moulin Rouge into the forgiving night.