The young Miss Daaé looked like an angel in her white lacy wedding dress. He watched through jade eyes as she placed a veil over her yellow curls, tears streaming down her face.
He was really going to keep her here, he mused. He was really going to keep her locked up, a prisoner of his sick fantasies.
Was this angel truly to marry the devil?
Her forehead was still bloodied from her attempted suicide. He admired the way the crimson stain contrasted with her pale skin.
He imagined her lifeless body covered in dark red liquid from head to toe, hiding the marks and bruises that blemished her skin. He envisioned Erik walking away from her with a smile on his distorted lips, his hands drenched and dripping with her blood.
He would not allow this young beauty to be subjected to the torture this monster would impose upon her. He would not allow her to die, like so many others, by Erik's murderous hands.
"Miss Daaé?" he called to her in his heavily accented French. She turned around to find the man she knew only as the Persian staring at her.
"Is he here?" she asked frantically. "Has he come to take me away?"
"Yes…so you must follow me," he said, his voice remaining placid. "I'll put you in a safe place where your nightmares will end."
Christine's blue eyes lit up with hopeful anticipation. "I'll go with you."
The Persian led her outside of the prison-like house and into the gondola that sat by the shore of the dark and misty lake.
"We must go across the lake," he informed her.
He would save this angel from hell. He would save her! He would put her in a safe place where he knew Erik would never be. Halfway across the lake, he halted the gondola. He drew out the pistol that he had intended to use on Erik.
The shot rang out in the silence, sending a satisfied chill down his spine.
The blood slowly started to pour out of her back, staining her snow white dress.
"Monsieur!" she gasped breathlessly. She brought her hand to her back, crying out in pain, and nearly fainted at the sight of her own blood covering her hand.
"I will not allow an angel to reside in hell!" he cried, sending another bullet into Christine's shoulder. "This is a mercy killing, Miss Daaé. It is better than to die by my loving hands than by his!" Anther bullet hit her in the cheek, shattering her jawbone. The blood mixed with her tears. "He is a monster, Miss Daaé a monster! I can assure you he is a fate worse than death itself, but I will keep you safe, mademoiselle. Heaven is a safe place for angels, you know." He smiled as her body began to go limp and her eyes began to grow dull. He sent a final bullet into her breast.
He stared at her bloody, lifeless body for a moment before gently lifting the corpse and dropping it into the murky water. He watched the bobbing body slowly float away from the gondola, leaving a crimson trail behind her. He knew the body would eventually sink. He made his way back across the lake, leaving bloody handprints on the wooden pole. He gazed at the body one last time, a contented smile plastered on his face.
Scarcely an hour later, Erik returned to find the Persian in the Louis-Philippe room. The blood that covered his ebony hands and face had dried to a dark brown color. His blood stained clothing sat in a heap on the floor, and his inability to fit into Erik's clean garments left him sitting naked on Christine's bed.
"Where is she?" demanded Erik.
"I did her a favor. I put her in a safe place far away from you. I freed her."
"But," Erik said weakly, falling to his knees. He grabbed the Persian's shirt and buried his face in Christine Daaé's blood. "I was going to let her go."
