Chapter 13: The beginning of the end
Erik stumbled slightly and grunted with the pain but he turned to face Raoul "You couldn't fight me to my face- no- you coward- you stabbed me in the back!"
Raoul was smirking "And your point is… that I am a coward. I already am so much more than that- cowardice is hardly insulting to me any more."
Raoul lunged forward slicing Erik across the chest, smirking even more at the gasp of pain that the gash elicited.
Camille's eyes filled with hurt at Erik's words and she remembered that Erik loved Christine and not herself. He would never love her. There was a time when she thought he did love her. But now she knew- to him she was just an arrangement- just a thing for him to fulfill his masculine lusts in.
She roughly brushed away the tears that were now dampening her face and sliding down her neck. She grabbed Christine wrist and pulled her up off the floor, ignoring Christine's pained gasp. She then picked up Aimee and led them to the opposite side of the room- safe from the dueling men.
"So…" Christine's voice was harsh and cutting "Erik sent his old whore to help me and my daughter get out of this hellhole?"
Camille was taken a back by Christine's harsh words and she quickly retaliated "You selfish, ignorant bitch! What do you know of me? What do you know of my life? You know NOTHING- NOTHING! How dare you call me a whore- how dare you insult me when I am only helping you? I have been in this room too- I have felt the pain when he drugged me with laudanum! I felt the pain of drug withdrawal when he cruelly stopped giving it to me and allowed me to lose myself in the unbearable pain! I LOVE HIM! I love him and I know the pain of having him not return that love! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF PAIN!" by the end she had tears pouring down her face
Camille then looked up at Erik and saw that he was staring at her with wonder in his eyes, his sword hanging limp by his side. He had heard her confession of love for him. And then… she saw Raoul.
Raoul charged Erik and had suddenly had Erik pinned against the wall, Raoul's blade pressed unforgivably into his neck.
"Goodbye Erik." He smiled an insane smile and began to push
Then raoul felt himself attacked from behind, small hands tearing at his head, his eyes, and his face. He removed the blade from Erik's neck and stabbed wilding over his shoulder again and again until he felt the thin arms around his neck weaken and release him.
He whirled around and stabbed his sword into the stomach of the figure lying crumpled on the floor.
A terrible shout ripped from involuntary from Erik's throat. It was a cry of rage and pain, so human and yet so inhuman.
He brought his sword quickly back into action and backed Raoul in a wall
"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK A WOMAN! How dare you attack her? You miserable, worthless bastard!" he shouted
He slashed his sword across both sides of Raoul's face "you aren't so pretty now are you, monsieur? ARE YOU?" he had lost himself in his crazy rage
Erik's only thoughts left were to cause Raoul as much pain as possible and then kill him and then get to delicate bloodied figure on the floor. He prayed that she was still alive- he didn't know how he could live without her.
Raoul pushed back against Erik
"She stopped me from killing you then- she deserved to die!" he said and then gave a crazed laugh
Erik couldn't take it anymore "NO RAOUL- only you deserve to die!" he whipped his blade forcefully across Raoul's perfect neck- the blood flowed forth over the mangled skin.
Raoul fell heavily to the floor, his eyes glazing over slowly in death. His last words ripped from his mutilated throat before his eyes closed forever.
"I will haunt you forevermore."
Erik was shaken by the words and the force of them. But he didn't give them a thought then, only stored them away for later contemplation. He rushed to Camille's body where it lay on the floor.
"Camille- what has he done?" he asked in a broken voice
She lifted her bloody face to meet his and whispered in a tortured voice "he has only put me out of my misery."
He was shocked by her words and reached a hand to her face and caressed it gently "No Camille- please don't say that. I don't want you to die- I need you here. You understand my pain, you understand… me."
He gently wiped away the tears that were making their way down her tan face. The sparkle in her vibrant eyes was growing dim. She was slipping away.
She groaned softly "I love you Erik. I would die for you- I am dying for you. Goodbye my love… remember me. Go to Christine and Aimee- they need you. I would do anything for you, Erik…"
Those were the last words that Camille Duproix ever spoke. Her eyes closed forever and her words seemed to echo through the room "I would do anything for you…" She was gone. Her ripped body rested in Erik's lap. But she was gone- her tormented soul flew free of the world… she left behind all the pain and all the anguish that had been her lot in the world.
Erik's tears fell onto her lifeless beauty. He rested his hand on her cold cheek. "Thank you Camille." He whispered
He stood gingerly with Camille in his arms. He walked over to Christine and Aimee.
"Come. We are going home."
He left the room- a picture of pain with a broken woman one arm, a skinny little girl clinging tightly to the other, a beautiful but dead woman lying in his arms and his own face, bloody and covered in tears.