Fiend Angelical

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^yay! Here's part seven! I'll probably be posting part eight later today; but I haven't sent it off to my editor yet. Or written the second half ^^; I hope you like this. Please review or you'll make me cry ;_;*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Quite disbelieving, she picked up her instrument, as if afraid it would crumble at her touch. She looked Signor over, plucked at the strings. With a loving stroke, she lay it back on the table.

"You LIED to me!!!" she cried, tears running down her face. "You're a monster! An ugly cowardly monster who won't show his face!" She slammed her fist down on the table; she had never been this angry before. She had loved, worshipped, even, the angelical voice, and in the end it had all been a dream. Her tears were hot and real and many; pain overtook her and she let it out with cries.

It was those sobs that brought Erik from his tomb. He pressed his hand against the mirror, curling his palm around the girl whose mind he had taken. He had torn away the sweet fairy tale he had woven around the girl; a tale he almost believed. She had thought he was a ghost, an angel, a nameless entity that had chosen her because of her talent. But now her dream had turned into a nightmare; her angel a demon with a death's head. Cursing himself, he brought his fist down on the mirror.

The crash made Kristina look up, and when she saw what was there, she screamed. Her Sir, her very own beloved Sir was standing there, a mask clutched in his hand, tears coursing down his deadened skin. "Kristina." he said and it was neither a plead nor a command. It was the first time he had spoken her name and both were acutely aware of it.

She closed the distance between them in mere moments; Erik barely saw her move. She pummeled his chest with her fists, hitting harder and harder; blows a weaker man would've crumpled under. "You tricked me! You lied! I loved you!-" here she sobbed with rage and Erik nearly collapsed from the sound. "And you LIED!!!" the girl collapsed against him, sobbing passionately into his shirt.

Even though she was tall and strong, Erik's eerie power easily overcame her. He wrenched her from him and placed her on a chair. She still cried, and Erik didn't know what to do. He paced wildly in the chamber, his mind reeling, his conscience crying.

"How could you be so stupid as to let her see you? Incompetent imbecile! Stupid! Stupid!" He cursed himself, over and over. Finally he bent on his knees, and took Kristina's wrists in his gloved hands, beseeching her to be quiet. With his voice, which still held her in sway, he calmed her enough to make her listen.

"Kristina; this is exactly why I didn't show you my face. I wanted to teach you, to help you-" The girl shook her head violently and tried to free her arms. His grip tightened to an almost alarming level. "Listen to me!" he hissed, his voice ugly with frustration. She stopped squirming and stared at the floor, unable to look at his face.

"Now, Kristina, be patient. Let me explain. I was born like this; it was an accident. But." She had started panicking again, and he shook her violently "Kristina! Listen! I breathe and sleep and eat just as you do. You have no reason to fear me. Do you hear!? No.reason." He punctuated each word by shaking her shoulders.

Her face was very, very white and her eyes were very, very large. She whispered something, murmured unheard words. Erik leaned closer, putting his ear to her lips.

"I.I can't do it.I can't -look- at you."

Sighing, Erik fitted the mask into place. He placed a hand under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. "See, Kristina? I can make that face go away.I can do lots of things.would you like me to show you..?"

Her lips moved again, but no sound came out. "What? What is it?"

"What's your name, Monsiuer?" she laughed, just a little when Erik half- cringed and half smiled with pride as she butchered his mother tongue.

"They call me- Erik"