Chapter 8- Temper, Temper.

'Open! Open NOW,'

And the hammering continued… bang, bang, bang… and Erik's temper grew hotter by the second. Was this man trying to cave the door in? He stared in the direction of the banging and grimaced as the sound became louder. For a second he considered using his shoe laces as a form of lasso and squeezing the life out of the obviously unrefined oaf on the other side of his door. Briefly, when the ungodly racket had first woken him, he actually thought it was his own door the fool was attempting to smash down. Not that that mattered to Erik, he had still woken him and the man was still dancing on Erik's last nerve.

With what Erik hoped would be a final effort, the 'gentleman' seemed to crack the door, the sound was so deafening that Erik raised at hand to his ear and still the idiot continued to shout, his voice was gruff and unbearable. In a fit of temper Erik leapt to his feet and stormed to the door, his impatience swelling in his chest, he flung it open. There in front of him stood a short balding man, with a poorly kept beard and a red nose. The mere sight of this fool made his blood boil under his skin.

'What, Sir, is the problem exactly?' Erik seethed in the doorway but managed, through some miracle of his voice, to remain evenly toned. The man stared in shock and stuttered some poorly structured sentence about rent and late and something about a mask…

'And my mask is your business is it, Sir?' He growled and his frame blocked the light to the hallway. 'What do you think you are doing knocking the corridor out so early? Some of us have been travelling and have PAID our rent for the time we have been here and in which case would like to have some peace and quiet in a morning! Who are you? What is your name?'

'Ro… Robert… I'm the house manager…'

With these words the other door cracked open slightly and out of it peered two delicately brown eyes surrounded by a very young face. She stared too, but not at Erik, instead her glare was aimed at the fool in front of him. And somehow, from somewhere, balding idiot gained some courage.

'This isn't anything to do with you, now if you would just head back to your room me and the young lady here got some business…'

'It is when my sleep has been interrupted.' Erik snarled and he glanced at the girl. 'How much is it, exactly, that she owes you, Sir?'

Robert looked at him and Erik was sure he was about to tell him it was no concern of his when he obviously thought better of it. He appeared to be thinking and Erik could almost envision the clogs of his mind grinded around and clearing almost three decades of dust.

'She owes me almost one pound sterling… She hasn't paid me since she came!'

Erik looked at her and then back at Robert before digging his hand into his pocket and producing a couple of coins, which he then flicked at the man.

'That should cover her rent for a while longer. I am not to be disturbed again, am I understood?'

Robert responded with a nod and scurried out of the corridor and finally out of sight.

Erik's head pounded against the sides of his skull, what a stupid thing to do, he thought and massaged his temples firmly. Now he had been seen by two people, something he had hoped would not occur. He wondered how quickly the news of the man in the mask would spread around London and decided that it mattered not, as he intended to be leaving soon enough. He had seen all that London had to offer him. And with this thought he turned and walked back into his room, he closed the door behind him and was startled to find the young lady from the hall sitting in his seat.

'Hi, I'm Rebecca…' She said and Erik would have been angry had he not been so astounded.