"Won't this be wonderful for me to spread to Firmin and Andre? To say that our divo is under the Phantom's power, smitten with him? But no matter, when we marry, Christian, we-."
"I am not marrying you, Jezebelle!" Christian snarled, "What do you not understand? I love him, Jezebelle. I love him!"
"Mademoiselle, did it not occur to you that gender does not matter when you love somebody?" Erik addressed her coldly.
"But I love you, Christian-!" she protested.
"If you loved me, Jezebelle, you would not follow me and press me like you have. Now do as I ordered you: go!" Christian felt strengthened by Erik standing with him.
"Very well," she said with knives in her voice, "And I will reveal your liaison-." her eyes filled with coldness.
She turned and ran, but Christian caught up with her.
"Jezebelle, I beseech you! Do not do this to us!" he pleaded.
"As you have spurned me, I shall not keep my sil-!"
Erik shot an electric jolt at her from his slender finger, striking her in the throat. She fell to the stone path. She tried to scream, but no sound escaped her throat.
"Now you need not say anything at all to anybody else should you attempt to reveal us." Erik said dryly.
"But what do you mean? I will tell all about-." that was all that Jezebelle could say. She felt as though she were being strangled.
"That's exactly what I mean, fille de joie! If you so much attempt to speak of our secret, your voice will be reduced to nothing more than a croak." Erik's voice was a harsh growl.
Before she realized it, Erik and Christian had disappeared.
"Poor young maiden, you'll not see
Your lord again, for he's left your
Side, to fly to his cherie-
A fine young man, his paramour-!"
Carlotta screeched, in the role of a maid she spoke to the latest conquest of Don Juan, Meg, who was playing a gypsy dancer.
Meg, put off by Carlotta's screeching, noticed several gasps among the audience. "It's the subject matter of this opera, isn't it?" she thought. Staying in character, she rushed offstage in distress.
Piangi felt quite ill at the prospect of having to make love to a man, let alone to Christian Daaƫ. But he went along with the plan to capture the Phantom.
"Passarino, faithful friend,
once again I'll close the gate."
The bass that was playing Passarino countered with
"Your other guests believe I'm you -
I, the master, you, the bait."
Piangi gave a shudder as her thought of what he had to do later on, but continued.
"When you met you wore my cloak,
they could not have seen your face.
They'll believe they dine with me,
in their master's borrowed place!
Furtively, we'll scoff and quaff,
hiding what, in truth, is mine.
When it's late and modesty
starts to mellow, with the wine . . ."
Many in the audience, realizing now that they would be seeing two men making love to one another, laughed uncomfortably.
-"You come home! I use your voice -
slam the door like crack of doom!"
-"I shall say: 'come - hide with me!
Where, oh, where? Of course - my room!'"
-"The poor fools do not understand!"
-"Here's my hat, my cloak and sword.
Conquest is assured,
if I do not forget myself and laugh . . ."
Piangi stepped behind the curtain once more, to dress into Passarino's costume. Without warning, a man clothed in black swept toward him, almost silently. Piangi recognized him as the Opera Ghost. His eyes going wide, tried to call for help, but no words escaped his lips. All went black within moments.
"So, finally, my darling awaits... and you shall say no more ill of him, Piangi." Erik thought.
". . . no thoughts
within his head,
but thoughts of joy!
No dreams
within his heart
but dreams of love!"
Erik smiled as he heard Christian entering from backstage. As Don Juan/Passarino, he sang
-"Passarino - go away!
For the trap is set and waits for its prey . . ."
Passarino left. There would only be the two of them.
Christian, dressed handsomely, stepped into view.
"What will I do now?" he thought, "Erik's in danger! How can I stop all of this?"
He glanced to the orchestra pit, where a guard stood, armed with a rifle. He gulped.
"You have come here
in pursuit of
your deepest urge,"
Christian was startled. He knew that voice. Erik was playing Don Juan/Passarino! He looked downstage to see a black-shrouded figure step out from behind the curtains. Although his face and body were covered up by a cape and a hood, it was clear to him that the figure behind him was too tall and too slender to be Piangi.
"In pursuit of
that wish,
which till now
has been silent,
silent . . ."
Christian's heart sank. "Oh Erik, no-!" His lover, his Erik was in full view of the audience...and of the guards. Would they recognize him? If they did, then what? But Erik was strong... Christian's heart stirred
"Past the point
of no return,
the final threshold -
what warm,
unspoken secrets
will we learn?
Beyond the point
of no return . . ."
Christian was spellbound. Erik was singing for him. A mist clouded his mind. He forgot about the guards and the audience. There was only them. Approaching his lover, he sang too, his fear forgotten.
"I have come here,
knowing you are
the reason why . . .
In my mind,
I've already
imagined our
bodies entwining
defenseless and silent -
and now I am
here with you:
no second thoughts,
I've decided,
decided . . ."
The audience looked in horror at the two men intimately embracing and openly declaring their love for each other. A close friendship between two men was acceptable... but this? Jezebelle glared at them singing together so intimately, insanely jealous of the Phantom, failing to recognize him for a moment. To understand that he, her rival, was there, singing with Christian.
"When will the blood
begin to rise?
the sleeping bud
burst into bloom?
When will the flames,
at last, consume
us . . .?"
Their voices merged into one as they stood there, in each other's arms.
"Past the point
of no return
the final threshold -
the bridge
is crossed, so stand
and watch it burn . . .
We've passed the point
of no return . . ."
Jezebelle realized suddenly why the voice sounded familiar. It was him, the Phantom, who was charming Christian. She was fed up with this. "So, you mock my love for you, do you Christian?" she muttered, her eyes glazed with bitterness, her face a mask of built-up wrath. She signaled to a guard who stood on a balcony.
"Say you'll share with
me one
love, one lifetime . . .
Lead me, save me
from my solitude . . ."
Erik held out an amethyst ring for Christian. Christian gasped. He had not expected this. Eagerly, he took the ring, sliding it onto his finger.
"Say you want me
with you,
here beside you . . .
Anywhere you go
let me go too -
Christian
that's all I ask of . . ."
He saw the look of horror on Christian's face. Erik followed his gaze to the guards that stood around them. Fingers tightened on triggers...
FOOM! Erik and Christian disappeared in a cloud of flames. Terrified screams filled the theater. The heavy, jeweled chandelier broke loose from the ceiling, crashing toward the stage. Several guards and members of the audience were crushed.
Many cast and crew rushed toward the curtains to see what was wrong. Meg's eye passed over somebody lying on the floor of the stage. Her scream, more primal than ever, rang through the theater.
