Echoes of the Opera
By Good Lady Grace
Chapter Three
Madness
Raoul finished writing out the note to the girl. He tied it in a red ribbon and handed it to one of his servants. The man bowed, leapt onto his horse, and took off for the Opera Populaire.
Raoul then opened the book. The faded writing told of a curse that would kill both victim and the victim's family. He smiled. It was a nice touch to rid him of that monster who had raped and killed his beloved Christine and its bastard child.
He spoke the incantation and spoke the four tasks that the child would have to complete. They were all tasks he knew she couldn't do, tasks that would risk the discovery of her father's continued existence, tasks that would hurt the child very much and if she was even one bit as selfish as her father, she would not complete them.
Raoul picked up the knife that had been waiting for him on his desk. He read through his will one last time and raised the knife over his throat to complete the curse. "For you, Little Lotte" he whispered.
The knife fell forward. Raoul's blood spilled onto the ancient tome before him. A thin trail of black mist slid out of it.
It raced out of the de Chagny manor, through the Paris air, into the Opera Populaire undetected, down to the cellars and into the heart of The Phantom of the Opera. Erik yelled in pain. He gasped once, only once, then fell down onto his bed. The messenger came forward out of the shadows and slipped the note from the Vicomte into the Phantom's hand.
Leaving the child to find this sight, the courier ran from The Sanctuary and back into the Opera Populaire, unnoticed.