Blind Mask

(by Nicole Gruebel)

Disclaimer: … see chapter 1

Summary of the past chapter: After Erik fled from the burning opera, determined to try once again to win Christine back, he rescued a woman from the flames. Since this innocent was hurt by his fault, he vowed to help her.

I want to thank Doomed Delight ... for my very first (and so far only) review :) It's nice to know that someone has found this story and read it.

Chapter 2 – Down once more

The night was helping Erik; it had always been one of his few true allies. Since his cape was now around the wounded girl he had no means left to hide his face. This made him very tense and he often retreated into shadowed corners when something startled him. Many years had passed since he had been chased like this, but although Erik was better prepared now than in his youth, he felt the old terror stir in him.

It was his advantage that he moved swift as a ghost and had eyes like a cat, but this wouldn't help him if anybody saw him with the seemingly lifeless body in his arms. Usually it wouldn't have been a problem to reach one of his other secret places undiscovered. Like the lair beneath the opera house most of his refuges were underground, secured with various traps and accessible only through hidden passages. Now Erik needed to skip some entries, because he just couldn't climb down something like a ladder with the sleeping woman. Because of this he had to stay unprotected outside far longer than he had planned, which made him more and more nervous. The other problem was that if he didn't take care of the woman's wounds soon, he could have left her behind anyway.

Finally Erik decided to take the risk of a rather easy way down to his new refuge, but he hoped the small church would be as empty as it should be at this time. The heavy front-door was closed, but a small backdoor was more welcoming. Inside it was as chilly as out in the night, but Erik didn't hesitate long. A well concealed switch revealed a dark opening in a seemingly thick wall. Some very narrow stairs led down to the world he was more comfortable with. Although he didn't know this hiding place as exactly by heart as his old home his breathing calmed down.

The man whom most people only had known as 'the Phantom' felt very relieved when the secret door closed above him with a soft sound. The tunnels through various catacombs were very much like the labyrinth under the opera house, just not as damp because here was no lake. Erik's pace got fast again as soon as the paths got wider and he was sure that no intruder had passed the invisible borders since his last visit. It had been a very difficult and most tiring night so far, but he just couldn't rest yet ... the woman began to stir.

OOO

Everything was quite dusty in the longish rooms, but most of the furniture was covered with big sheets of cloth, so that his belongings were kept rather safe below them. After he pulled those protections from the bed he gently placed his patient on it. She wasn't awake yet, but obviously the shock and pain were about to bring her back to her senses.

While Erik went to one of his closets he stretched his back and ran a hand through his hair and over his face. Like always he felt a little disgusted when he touched the deformed side and longed to hide it behind a mask again. A different sort of longing came over him when he opened a drawer and found the pack with his morphine and the injections he was looking for. Erik knew he would have a painful time when he finally could rest after this horrible night. His hand trembled a bit when he took the pack and began to prepare a dose for his patient, instead for himself.

After the nameless woman had fallen back into a deep sleep, which would last a while thanks to the drug, Erik took a first closer look on her. The girl's body had felt quite fragile under her garment, when he had been carrying her. In the candle-light she seemed indeed very scrawny and vulnerable, even more since she looked terrible with the burns right now. He nearly laughed bitterly at himself, for there was little resemblance to Christine in her now.

Still, Erik hesitated a moment before he began to peel the clothes of the slack body. He hardly ever had been given the chance to touch a living human like this – let alone a female. Over the years he had gained a quite impressive medical knowledge, partly because of interest and partly because he had to be able to take care of himself and it had been useful in setting traps and creating other 'entertainment', too. Still, even the gypsies, who were rather disgusted but not so much frightened by his appearance, mostly had preferred to listen to his advice and take his potions and herbs, than letting him actually treat them by himself. In the beginning it had pained him that most humans preferred to suffer from an illness or wound, when he offered his help, but this feeling did nearly vanish over the years. He considered animals a lot more reasonable in this matter.

Soon Erik was busy with cleaning the wounds, preparing bandages, creating a special ointment for the burns and checking for any other injuries. Fortunately he was a perfectionist and always kept a certain stock of the items he considered useful in his hiding places. After all they were supposed to help him in case of an emergency. He didn't mind however that they were used up for someone else; after all he wasn't injured and had slipped into the cool, emotionless professionalism of a real doctor.

When Erik finally covered the woman's nearly naked body with a blanket he felt that some hours must have passed since his escape from the opera house. He was a little bit worried if the dose of morphine hadn't been too high for her. On the other hand he was relieved that she hadn't woke up, it surely wouldn't be pleasant when she finally came to her senses again. He had suffered burns himself some years ago, and knew how much they hurt. At last she wouldn't be able to see him and start panicking about that, too. He really had had enough people who were terrified by his ugly face recently.

Her eyes seemed to have been injured by some sparks and little burning wood-pieces which had hit her, it could have been worse. Very cautious Erik had tried to do everything in his power to help her, but he wasn't sure if she ever might be able to see again. Only time would show, and till then her eyes will have to be protected very carefully so that they could recover - if that was possible at all.

Those thoughts brought Erik's mind back to Christine. 'I swear, if this Vicomte of yours didn't take good care of you, I'll hunt him down and kill him.' He pushed the unwelcome pictures away that showed him his beautiful angel hurt by the fire, because he left her in the hands of this fool. He didn't want to remember the time when he had drugged her with morphine, so that she wouldn't have nightmares down in his lair and with him as sole companion.

Erik had to fight again the longing in his body when he put the morphine back into its box and hid it in the drawer. His laboratory here was smaller than in his lair under the opera house, just like the whole refuge occupied less space, but it provided almost anything he might need for the beginning. But soon he would have to think about how he could replenish his stocks now; it might not be as easy as so far. He hoped his patient would get along without too much of the sedative, just in case he needed some himself.

It was getting morning in the 'real' world when Erik finally decided he had to get some rest. Exhausted he settled in a huge, throne-like armchair. It had been crafted by him some years ago, inspired by old legends he liked to read back then. His eyes slowly closed, and while his chin rested on his folded hands Erik fell into a slumber; his last coherent thoughts circled around Christine and the kiss they had shared.

OOO

Live was worth living ... at last it was now. Christine was beside him, she allowed him to hold her. Together they watched Raoul leave. He took the boat and didn't look back. Everything was at peace now. No mob was hunting him. His home seemed much lighter and happier now than in all those lonely years before. He didn't have to wear the mask anymore. He didn't want to.

Something stirred inside Erik. Since those dreadful days in his childhood, when he finally had realized that this horrid face in the mirror belonged to him, he had always wanted to wear his mask. He felt naked without it, unprotected and nearly always he was looking into faces full of horror and hate, whenever he showed his true self. Even Christine, who held his heart, shouldn't have to look at it. Why didn't he care to hide behind the mask now?

Even as he still embraced his angel and caressed her warm body, he lifted his gaze and searched for one of his mirrors. They were all uncovered now, and they were all around him.

OOO

A sudden sharp pain woke Erik, and with a startled cry he looked around, being disoriented for a few seconds. He couldn't really get a hold on the last moments of his dream, but somehow his heart raced as if he'd seen a terrible thing and he felt a little bit sick. Immediately he regretted not taking some morphine, after all he should know better that his sleep was restless without it ... it had been so for a lot of years now. A wet tickling on his hand reminded him of the reason why he had been freed from this dream so suddenly ... Ayesha sat in his lap. Her delicate paws pushed against his stomach, and from time to time she obviously felt the need to add her claws, so that he finally would pay some attention to her.

"Hey, there you are. I'm glad you are safe. Did you follow me?" Erik was genuinely happy to see the Siamese cat. He had taken her to some of his secret places; to some others she might have followed him. But his hardly used bad conscience stirred as he realized that he hadn't thought of Ayesha and if she'd be able to find him again, when he had chosen this place. Lucky for him, she didn't seem to be angry, instead she purred and leaned her head and back into his hand as he stroked her gently.

The cat however had in fact something less sentimental in mind than her human companion. With a loud meow she demanded something to eat and fresh water. Of course she could fend for herself by catching mice and rats and found water that didn't smell foul, but she also liked to be spoiled from time to time with some nice food and watered milk.

In the past few months Erik hadn't taken as much care of her as before, but of course she wasn't a helpless kitten anymore, like back when he had found her. Ayesha didn't care what he looked like. Sometimes she was a bit annoyed by the loud music he created or his changing moods, but on the other hand this made him nearly cat-like. He even could walk around nearly as soundless as she herself and he didn't seem to need much light to see. It actually was fun to follow this man through dark places and creep around.

Well, they had had a nice life ... until the time when he had gotten more and more distracted. And suddenly there had been this woman, which he even had brought into their home at the lake. The cat couldn't like her from the start, she had been jealous of all the attention Erik had paid to this visitor. Soon she had begun roaming the labyrinth and her share of the outside-territory around the opera house more and more often. Of course Ayesha always had been coming back to him every few days, but it most likely had been this new habit that had saved her from getting entrapped by the fire.

While she had tried to hide from all the people that had been running around, she had spotted the familiar form and movement of Erik among all those humans and had followed him. Soon she did know where he had been heading and so she had used her own path down to this refuge. After all this wasn't her usual territory and she had to check it out first. As expected there were already other cats around that would cause her some trouble for a time, so she decided to remind Erik that he was supposed to feed her.

"Yes, my beautiful friend ... I'll look what I can find for you." With those softly spoken words he rose from the armchair. Erik didn't feel much rested, in fact his back hurt and his head, too. A short glance toward the bed told him that his patient was still asleep and hadn't moved; obviously the morphine was still working. It took him some more time to realize that his food-storage was rather thin here. He could survive a few days, but since he checked on those secondary hiding placed rather occasionally there was no fresh food, especially no milk for Ayesha or something that was suitable for a sick person.

Sighing he changed into some warmer clothes. Since the escape from the opera Erik didn't had the time and mind to shed the rather thin costume he still wore, it was mostly ruined now anyway. A sad look crossed his face. 'There will be much work to do, to start new here.' One could live in this place, well someone like Erik, but he had never thought of sharing this world with another person. It had been installed before he had met Christine. And since she hadn't seemed too comfortable in the lair under the opera house - which had been rather luxurious - he hadn't bothered to put more effort into those other places he called his own.

After checking the pulse and the bandages of the nameless woman he left. Ayesha followed him, so that those other cats would see who her protector was. This time Erik used a faster route to leave his world. He hid his face beneath the broad rim of a hat and the high collar of a black coat. This would do in the area of town he was about to visit. Those early morning hours were adding to his safety, because there weren't many people around yet, and surely none that would have been in the opera last night. It didn't take long for him to take care of certain affairs so that life under the church would become a little bit more comfortable. So Erik was nearing the refuge with some bags of food and other useful things that would be needed, when he sensed that something was wrong.

To be continued …