Disclaimer: Still not mine.

A/N: Thank you Riene and Soldier of Darkness for your reviews. I do appreciate it :)

Madame Giry knocked softly at the door of the old, unused dressing room. She opened it without waiting for an answer.

"I have brought him here monsieur," she told Erik.

Erik stood, "Well don't leave him standing out in the corridor."

Madame Giry motioned for Raoul to enter.

"Where is she?" Raoul asked desperately as soon as he had entered. The last time he had said this to Erik, it had been a harsh demand. But now it was a plea. If Erik knew where Christine was then they must go after her immediately.

Erik turned to Madame Giry who looked as if she was staying for fear they would rip each other apart in her absence. "Thank you Madame Giry, we'll be fine from here. I trust you left the carriage outside as I instructed?"

"Of course monsieur." She turned to leave, but before she left she said, "Bring her back Erik."

As soon as she was gone, Erik spoke.

"She has been kidnapped," Erik said, wanting to cut to the chase as they had already lost so much time. "She's been taken to a place called Cernay, it's in Lower Normandy if I understand it correctly. Come, we must leave at once."

Erik left the room without another word and Raoul could do nothing but follow.

The carriage ride to Cernay was one of the most uncomfortable experiences either man had ever experienced. They were confined in a very small space with the one person they despised the most.

Raoul was nearly beside himself with panic in what they were setting out to do.

He must really love her, Erik mused as he watched the poor young man across from him. He was nervous, yet so very determined to save Christine. It was rather gallant, even though Erik knew he would probably not be much help in this rescue.

Erik had known the vicomte would probably behave this way, which was why he was in such perfect control of himself. If he was not completely calm, then they would accomplish nothing. This time, Erik would not involve his emotions. He was going to kill these men, as he had killed countless others. He forced himself to concentrate on this; there was nothing more to this mission.

Raoul took to asking the driver where they were almost every ten minutes. He really was behaving like an impatient child, but he could hardly be blamed for that. The driver, tired of the constant questions, began to tell them every time they entered a new town.

Raoul was constantly fidgeting, but Erik said nothing. He gazed out the window, watching the landscape change gradually. He centered all his focus on what they had to do. He knew that he could very easily be acting as Raoul was, but Erik wouldn't allow himself to act that way.

"Monsieur," the driver called. "We will reach Cernay in approximately 15 minutes."

"What are we going to do?" Raoul asked.

"I trust you brought a weapon with you," Erik stated.

"Of course I did! I know you don't think highly of me, but I'm not that ignorant."

Erik smiled grimly, "No, you're not are you?"

Raoul did not respond.

The carriage stopped on the edge of the town. There was a pub nearby, a dingy little place, most likely full of drunken men with nowhere else to go.

Erik quickly got out of the carriage. Raoul made to follow, but Erik stopped him.

"Wait here for a moment."

Raoul opened his mouth to protest, but shut it quickly. Erik must know what he was doing… Raoul sighed and leaned back into the seat of the carriage. He was beginning to feel utterly useless.

Erik pulled his hat instinctively lower over his face as he entered the pub. Of course he doubted anyone would notice the mask at all. The light was very dim and he was quite certain that everyone inside would be quite drunk at this hour.

He was immediately accosted by two such men as he walked through the door.

"Well look at this, we've got a fine, classy man in here tonight, don't we Gerard?" the man said elbowing the man standing next to him.

"Dressed up like he's someone important." The man blinked and studied Erik closely. "He looks almost like Claude, don't he? All dressed up in a suit like that."

Erik stared at the man, Claude… This man may help him find this Claude. The way he had spoken had led Erik to believe that he must have an entire band of men working for him.

"Do you know Claude?" Erik asked the man casually.

The man laughed then, "Know Claude? Of course I do! Who doesn't?"

"That's interesting," Erik said. "I was actually looking for him, do you know where I might find him?"

The man scratched his head, struggling to remember. "Claude has that house here, I don't know if he'd be there. But I guess he might be."

"And where is this house?" Erik asked, growing more impatient with this drunken fool by the second.

"It's right around the corner from here. You just turn right up that way," he said, gesturing vaguely. "It's a big, yellow house, you can't miss it."

Erik smiled. Oh what a fool this man was. He now had all the information he needed. He turned and left without another word.

He opened the door of the carriage and Raoul jumped up.

"Let's go," Erik said to him. "Tell the driver to wait here. Make sure to mention how much he's being paid for this service, we are putting him through an awful lot," Erik said, feigning concern. He just didn't want this man getting any ideas about leaving.

Erik and Raoul rounded the corner silently. The man in the pub was right, the house couldn't be missed. It was huge with enormous gardens surrounding it and a high iron gate. It looked rather out of place in this little town.

Raoul took out his pistol as they approached the house. It was mostly dark. There were just a few rooms lit up on the first floor.

They reached the gate and Erik easily picked the lock. He pushed it open slowly, and luckily, it didn't make a sound.

Erik motioned for Raoul to follow close behind him. Erik skirted around the outside of the garden. He was thankful for the many bushes and trees. It was very overgrown and seemed to be that way on purpose. As if the things that went on in that house needed to be hidden.

Erik stopped and turned to Raoul. "We need to get into the house. Check all of the doors. I'm going to try to get in from the second floor." He pointed to the pistol in Raoul's hand. "Only fire it if it is absolutely necessary, it will alert them that we're here if they hear a shot fired."

Raoul nodded and set off towards the house. Erik circled around to the back. There was a window open on the second floor. Erik thought that rather arrogant; that they were so sure that no one would infiltrate the house without their knowledge. He was about to ascend the drainpipe when he heard a quiet click nearby.

"Don't move or I'll shoot," a gruff voice said behind him. Erik turned slowly as if in defeat. His lasso was out and the man was dead in seconds.

Erik looked down at the body on the ground. Perhaps this would be even simpler than he had hoped. Of course, there was no way of knowing how many men were inside. Inside with Christine… He exhaled deeply to control his breathing. This was not the time to be thinking about what could be happening to Christine. He had to stay focused.

He slipped easily through the window. He made his way slowly through the house. His eyes seeing quite easily in the darkness he was so accustomed to.

A creak came from behind him and he instantly shrunk back into the shadows. He watched as a man passed him, gun in hand. There must be men crawling all over the house. He hoped Raoul possessed the intelligence to watch out for them and not get carried away with that pistol of his.

Erik saw a bright light at the end of the corridor he was in. He walked towards it and found himself on a fairly large landing at the top of a flight of stairs. The landing was open so the entire room below could be seen from where Erik stood.

Erik's blood boiled at the scene he saw. There was the man, Claude, who had been at the opera. And there was Christine. She looked so pale and frightened and Erik's entire being surged with anger. She was being held by the man Erik had seen Claude with. He was nearly a foot taller than Christine; she had no chance of fighting him.

Erik intended on killing them at once, until he was interrupted by a certain vicomte who had just surveyed the same scene.

Raoul was not like Erik. He couldn't control himself at a time like this. He burst into the room with his gun held in front of him.

"Release her at once!" he shouted.

Erik didn't move. He watched as the man who had held Christine let her go and reached for his own gun. Christine shrunk back and stared in shock at Raoul who had come to her rescue so unexpectedly.

Claude looked at Raoul with…amusement it seemed.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" he said, standing to address Raoul.

Raoul stood firm. "I said release her!"

"Oh, but I can't just release her," Claude said casually. "Now that I have her, I'm not so sure I should be giving her away so easily."

Raoul seemed about to say something else when there was a loud crash. The room was plunged into darkness. Erik jumped off the landing and landed silently.

There was another crash.

A shot was fired.

Followed by two more.

Christine screamed.

A/N: Please review :)