"Why have you come," asked a voice beside her, in a threatening purr nearer to a man's voice than the boy she had known. Janine straightened herself against the soft pillows arched along her back and looked for him through her throbbing eyes.
"Long have I wondered how you have faired," she spoke up, gaining back her sight steadily, "I hear your voice often singing in my mind." Through a shroud a black fabric she sees him. Slouching against a wall of mirrors, his arms folded impatiently and guarded. He is smirking at her.
"Do you?" he asked her amused, "Interesting." Janine wasn't pleased that he found her curiosity something to snigger at. Had she come to think of him all this time for nothing at all but to be made his sick entertainment?
"You think your are frightening, don't you," she stated making it obvious that she did not mean this as a question, more of an accusation. "Because you have not scared me away, yet." Then with more demanding eyes, she glared at him, "I will not be made your source of jest."
He smiled precociously at her, seemingly even more pleased, "You are not afraid for you do not know me." he told her and yanked away the veil between them. As it lifted Janine could make out the figure of a tall, slender man of muscular build. Wavy, jet-black hair swept against the gnape of his neck and a white mask covered the left side of his face to the brim of his hairline. Janine hadn't imagined this.
"I have come here with one purpose and one alone, that being to see how you have faired." she choked out as her eyes traced the outline of his body helplessly, moving with a mind of their own. "And now that I have met you and found this out, I am quite sure that doing so was a mistake upon my part."
"Was it, now?" he asked her and walked forward slowly and stopped just before meeting the edge of the bed. "Mistakes can often be remedied, madamoiselle." He spoke with his eyes tracing her widely. Janine ducked her head down from his glare but it was of no use for she could still feel him as if he were on top of her.
"Let me go, then, and I will not speak of you." she promised to him as once more she heard him step nearer.
"On the contraire, madame...it is your tongue for which you will be most useful to me." he told her, to which Janine at first did not understand. He countered this remark after a moment of silence between them, "Your managers, the men who control this opera house, they are in need of aid. Aid which I will service to them." he offered as Janine listend more intently, even daring once more to meet his dark glare. "If you do as I tell you, no harm will ever befall you or this establishment. If you do not comply, I will have no choice but to waste such beauty," he told her and brushed his gloved hand gently across her cheek sending a shiver through her, "What do you choose?"
Janine could think of no better counter-argument to this, nor plea for mercy from this angel of darkness so she did what she had to in order to remain. She agreed to this offer the man had given to her. "What would you have of me? I am only a ballet instructor."
"You will deliver to them messages to which they must comply." he told her warningly, "And if such demands are not met, I myself shall execute punishment. You will not be held responsible."
"Responsible?" she asked, confused. "What treachery-?"
"Silence!" he shouted angrily at her in a raised tone of frustration. "You will go now. Come back to me tommorow night, I will be waiting." Janine felt used, raped of something only the devil could take. Slowly she slid out of the bed and forsook her candle stick for a torch the man was now handing her. Looking at this mans face where no mask lay, she admired the delicate features of what would appear to be a gentlemen, though he was no such thing. And she wondered something.
"What is your name?" she asked of him, tamely. He looked at her, in a shock and bared back a smile. He didn't answer her immediatly, but instead just stared into the darkness.
"Erik." he told her as if the very word was foreign to his tongue. Janine nodded shyly and smiled weakly before leaving the room. Getting into the boat, Erik pushed off and paddled her back to the stairwell, the entire time not saying a word. She was sure he was just going to leave her and take off again without saying a word when a few moments after her leaving, she heard him singing.
Who will be there for you? Comfort and care for you? Never dreamed out in the world, there are arms to hold you...you've always known your heart was on its own...
She didn't realize at first that the reason for the fog in her eyes was not the mist surrounding her but the tears clouding her sight. She felt awkwardly sad towards this boy. Perhaps she had more to offer him than she had originally imagined.
To Be Continued...
