Chapter 6: Down once more
Camille stood still in the hallway hardly daring to believe what she had heard
That girl was Christine Daae and Erik still loved her. She could tell by the way he had spoken to her. He was taking Christine to his home and not her! He should be taking her!
Erik wrapped his arms tightly around Christine and hugged her unconscious form to him.
Soon they arrived in his home and he laid her gently down on his swan bed and began to bathe her head with a damp cloth.
"Oh Christine… what did that monster do to you…" tears dripped down his face
She moaned and her eyes flickered open
"Erik! Is it you… is it really you?" her voice was tiny and hard to hear
"Christine- yes- im here- im real." His hand caressed her face but quickly jerked back when she flinched and shut her eyes tightly
"Oh god… What did he do to you my angel?" Erik asked as he ran his hand over the bruises on her face
She sat up and looked around "no Erik! I have to go- I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be with you. Why? Why did you bring me down here again? I can't be down here. I will be punished. No-no, I have to go!" she pushed him away from her weakly
He drew back his face angry "Christine- Raoul isn't here. What has he done to poison your mind like this?"
Christine broke down sobbing "you don't understand- you can't understand! What do you know about Raoul? What do you even know about me?"
Erik drew back furious
"How dare you tell me that I know nothing about you? How dare you say I am so stupid that I don't understand- that I can't understand?"
Christine turned away from him "You have changed. You didn't use to shout at me." Her voice was cold
The next thing she knew was that Erik was in top of her- pinning her arms above her head- his body pressing hard against her- crushing her.
"You left me for three years Christine. You went off with your precious vicomte! And now... now that something has gone amiss in your perfect little life you come running back to me. You dare to come to my home and sprawl out on the floor… You pitiful girl!" he shouted at her
"Stop touching me- get off of me! Please- stop…" she was begging him now squirming under him in pain and fear
Erik looked down at her tear stained face and felt her squirm beneath him. He got off of her horrified by his behavior- he had acted just like her precious Viscomte.
He turned away from her and said coldly
"Honestly Christine- what the hell are you doing here?"
Christine looked up at him with haunted eyes and she seemed regained her senses slightly
"I am here- I am here because I wasn't enough for Raoul. He wasn't … happy when I found him with another woman." She choked slightly- the memory was very painful
Erik grew angry- how dare that man cheat on his angel- but listened as Christine continued with her awful story.
"I ran and he… chased me. He told me that I was his and that I would never leave. He hit me again and again. Then… he said he needed to punish me for being naughty … he raped me. Blood… everywhere- pain... so much pain."
Her voice shuddered and the tears continued to fall.
"Christine-"he began but she cut him off shouting
"NO! DON'T STOP ME! I NEED… I NEED TO SAY THIS!"
She continued "…Then he took me back to my room and … he beat me with his silver tipped walking cane. He threw me onto the bed and told me that I would never get away from him and that he would be back later. There was blood- everywhere- on the walls, the floor and the bed. Everywhere…"
Erik was horrified- he then remembered what he had just done to her and moaned softly
"Christine- I'm so sorry! I can't believe I did that to you. How dare he hurt you?"
"OH! And suddenly you care… you didn't care when I made you mad. That's why I left- you go crazy when you are mad!"
Erik stood up abruptly
"Christine- im sorry… you left me. For three years I hear nothing from you except rumors on the street- oh the wonderful relationship that you and the Viscomte have. Then suddenly you turn up here, bruised and saying that I know nothing of pain! I know so much more of pain that you will ever know Christine!"
He slammed his fist powerfully in the stone wall
"Erik… im so sorry- I can only imagine what I put you through. But please… don't send me back to him… I can't go back to him!" she started crying again
"I won't send you back to him… I would never send you back to him. But Christine… you are going to have to behave. I am not as rich as the viscomte but I think you will find everything you need here if you ask or just look around." His voice was sad
"Erik- what have I done to you?" she asked
He turned and looked at her with haunted eyes and then turned away and walked to his organ and began to play the most beautiful and heartrending song Christine had ever heard
She stood and looked at herself in one of the few mirrors in the lair. She was a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot and red rimmed against her too pale skin. Her ribs were clearly visible through her worn, grimy dress.
She walked slowly into the bathroom and heated some water to take a bath. She opened a cabinet and found rows of scented bath oils and soaps and knew that Erik must have gotten them for her.
She sighed "oh Erik…"
She picked out some lilac bath oil and poured some into the warm water. She tried to ignore to painful ache in her head. She lifted the heavy bucket full of warm water and scented oil and poured it into the tub. Her arms were shaking with the effort of holding the heavy bucket.
"Oh my head" she reached up to touch it
She stepped back and undid her corset and took off her chemise with shaking hands- letting the fabric pool around her ankles.
She stepped away from her clothes and then felt unbearable lance of pain in her head. She fainted and fell to the floor. Before her head struck the ground her cried softly "Erik…"
On the way down her head struck the side of the tub.
Erik had stopped playing and had begun pacing around his lair trying to sort out the crazy emotions racing around his body.
He whirled around when he heard a soft thump that came from the bathroom. He rushed to the door and knocked on it.
"Christine." He called softly
"Christine- are you alright?" he called his voice was worried
He pounded on the door "Christine if you don't answer me im coming in!"
He waited desperate for any response before he rushed into the bathroom and stood and gasped at the awful sight before him.
Christine lay naked on the floor. The full extent of the bruising was revealed and it was shocking. Her body was mottled with bruises and blood and cuts.
"I will kill that bastard!" he swore out loud to Christine and himself
Then he noticed the blood on the rim of the tub and rushed to her side, gently lifting her head and feeling with horror the sticky warm liquid cover his hands
"Oh god- Christine!" he gathered her battered body in his arms and carried her back to the swan bed and laid her down and covered up her body with a warm red velvet blanket.
Christine's dreams were crazy, awful nightmares. The colors swirled. She saw blood, Raoul's face, the silver tipped cane smeared with blood, the mirror, Erik's face and his form pressing against her on the bed and then the ground in the bathroom.
She remembered his face bending over hers in concern and the lingering touch of his cool hands.
Out loud she moaned his name "Erik!"
He was at her side in a moment "Christine- Christine- come back to me!"
She tossed and turned screaming as she relived the awful rape and the pain that Raoul had inflicted on her.
"RAOUL! Raoul stop- please Raoul- get off of me. Stop- you're hurting me-"this plea was interrupted by a fresh tormented screams as she reminded the exacting details of being ravished
"Oh my god! Christine- Christine! Please wake up! Im here! Im here- eriks here! Please my love!" Erik was on the verge of shaking her but he restrained himself to running his hand over her cheek
Christine's movements subsided at his touch and her hand went to his and her eyes fluttered slowly open
"You are real. You are alive, not dead- real- alive." She muttered
"Christine my love- you fainted in the bathroom. Are you alright?"
She nodded "im dirty. Not clean. Raoul made me dirty. Im so dirty. Must get clean." She shook her head sadly
Erik hugged her "what has he done to you- he has corrupted your mind. You are perfect just the way you are Christine."
Christine's eyes rolled in her head and she fell back into his arms
Erik realized that the blood was still coming from the new wound on her head- he ripped a long strip off his white lawn shirt and gently cleaned he her head and then wrapped the linen around her head
Her eyes opened again and she looked calmer
"Erik. Im cold."
He put another blanket on her form
"Christine- your body is covered in bruises, blood and cuts. You need to take a bath but you can't do that by yourself. It is too dangerous- you could pass out again. I would have to help you. Is alright with you my love? He asked her in a loving and concerned voice
She nodded hesitantly
"You promise you won't hurt me?"
"My dear Christine- I would never hurt you." He said softly
'"alright then. But please be careful." She whispered
He nodded and picked up her naked body and watched the color rise in cheeks when she realized her vulnerable position.
He carried her into the bathroom and settled her into the still warm water- he added more of the lilac scent that was sitting by the tub.
"I am going to wash you now Christine." He said in a low calm voice which did not reflect the sinful reactions of his body to her naked body.
She looked up at him her eyes full of pain "be careful please…" she whispered
He nodded and slowly began to rub a lilac scented soap on her arms and washed it gently off. He felt surges of anger towards Raoul every time Christine moaned in pain when the water or soap touched her wounds.
Finally all the blood was gone from her body- leaving only the abrasions and bruises. He moved onto her head, he rubbed the lilac cleaner into her hair and moved his fingers softly through her hair, massaging her head gently.
"Christine- you are clean now. Come on my love- let's get you out!" he gently helped her out and wrapped a large towel are her thin and dripping body
Erik pulled her against him and hugged her painfully thin frame to his
"Oh my love! Christine! My angel! Its going to be ok- you are going to be ok."
Christine cried against Erik's chest "Erik- I am so sorry for leaving you before. Please- can you ever forgive me?"
He stroked her wet curls "of course I can forgive you my love. Come on my dear- lets get you dressed."
He walked over to a wardrobe and took out a clean chemise and a night gown.
He gently raised her arms above her head sliding the chemise and nightgown on- his eyes modestly averted from her form.
"Thank you Erik." She whispered to him as he led her back to bed and helped her get comfortable on the silk sheet and curl up under the velvet covers
"Anything for you mon ange."
"Erik… I have something important to tell you!" she said struggling to stay awake
"Yes? What is it?" he asked in a sweet voice
Raoul pulled his horse up in front short in front of the opera populaire.
"I know you are here- there is no where else you could be. You have gone back to your monster. I will have you- you are coming home with me." He hissed as he dismounted his horse and knocked the doors to the opera house open and strode in with his chest heaving