Note: Here's the next chapter! I have been busy, but during the times I'm not on stage, I have written for my phans! I really hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 20
Erik poled his gondola furiously to his lair. That dirty trollop was making him feel feelings that he hadn't felt since Christine had left him five years ago. No, he refused to fall in love. She may have saved his life and he might have acted out of impulse when he said he would accompany her to the ball, but in no way did he like her in any manner. As a friend, it was a small possibility but never as someone to love him. How could anyone love him because of his face. He reached his lair and jumped out of the gondola. He stalked angrily to his desk where the portraits that he had done of Christine lay in discarded piles. He looked on them in longing, remembering the enjoyment he'd gotten drawing Christine's face over and over. Now all that had ended, the pictures only brought him sorrow and anger. He searched for a blank sheet of parchment and a charcoal stick. Once found, he angrily pushed his drawings to the floor. They flew from his desk like dust to litter the cave's rocky floor. He plopped heavily into his chair, the piece of blank paper staring broodingly up at him. Drawing had always calmed him, but he hadn't picked up a drawing utensil in years. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to clear his thoughts. Without opening them he began to slowly scratch the soft charcoal across the paper, reveling in the sound it made as it glided across the parchment.
He furrowed his brows and snapped his eyes open. He bent his face down close to the paper and began to furiously scratch at the paper with the charcoal stick. He thought of nothing; only the charcoal stick on the parchment. He didn't know what he was drawing; he was letting his soul reveal itself through his hand. His hand put on last minute marks before it stilled. Erik sat back and looked at what he had drawn. He gave a cry of rage as Ana's eyes stared up at him from the paper. He grabbed it and crumpled it into a ball before throwing it into the lagoon. Grabbing another spare of parchment, he began to draw again, his eyes losing focus on the paper, letting his hands and soul do all the work. It was a few minutes later when he had finished the drawing. He closed his eyes and opened them, forcing them to gaze at the paper. On the paper sat a woman in a beautiful ball gown, her hair piled on top of her head save for a few wisps. There was a rose tucked behind her ear. The gown was tightly drawn across her chest and stomach and billowed outwards as it reached her waist. Then Erik's eyes settled on the face and another cry of rage escaped his mouth when he saw who's face it was. He crumpled this one up and left it on the desk. No wonder he had given up drawing.
Standing up he began to stalk around his lair. Why did Ana's face haunt him? Why did it torment him to his very soul? He paced furiously, his legs taking long strides across the stony floor. He jammed his hands into his pockets and felt the bottle of laudanum. Remembering what Ana had told him, he strode over to where his pantry and silverware was and grabbed a spoon. Twisting the bottle cap open, he poured some of the thick liquid out onto the spoon and sniffed it. It smelled of decaying rodents and mildew. But seeing it was the only way to get better, he pinched his nose shut and threw the foul medicine into his mouth. Swallowing it as quickly as he could, he felt it burn down into his stomach. He replaced the cap and threw the spoon into the makeshift sink. He walked towards his organ and sat down to play. When he looked down, the keys seemed fuzzy and kind of far away. Within minutes, Erik was asleep, his face laying on the organ keys.
Ana groaned as she rolled over in her sleep. She gave another exasperated sigh as she shifted once again in her bed. She tried to keep her eyes shut, knowing that in less than a couple of hours, she would be needed at practice. Opening her eyes slowly, she gazed at her clock. Five-oh-five in the morning and Ana couldn't get back to sleep because of her dreams. After she had fallen asleep last night, her dreams consisted of nothing but Erik. Erik's face had haunted her dreams, but not in a horrible way. They were dreams she had only read in Meg's gothic romance novel and she had only dreamed about with a husband that loved her. Seeing no alternative of going back to sleep, she got up hesitantly, bathed, and dressed. As she dressed, she caught sight of her scars and quickly pulled her shirt over herself, covering up her past with a quick tug of the shirt. Bending over, she buttoned her shoes up and grabbed her light shawl. She left her room to go in search for some food to break her fast.
After eating she dashed back to her room, changed into her dance outfit and went to rehearsal. Today was guaranteed to be an exhausting day. Not only did Ana have to learn her dance routine but Madame LeBrana's blocking as well. They were staging the next production, Gaetano Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love). She had heard of the play from some of the residents in the opera house. Apparently, it was about a rich land-owner named Adina who played with the heart of a young peasant boy named Nemorino. Nemorino goes to consult Dr. Dulcamara, who gives him a bottle of wine claiming it to be an elixir of love that Adina had mentioned in her story. It goes on that Adina accepts the marriage proposal from Belcore, a sergeant, which upsets Nemorino. He goes back to Dr. Dulcamara and asks for another bottle of "elixir". In the end, all is righted as Adina and Nemorino finally married each other. Madame LeBrana's part was Adina, since Adina's part was a mezzo soprano. Adina's friend, Giannetta was a soprano and that part went to La Carlotta. Carlotta was not happy and had stormed out only to come back a few minutes later apologizing profusely. The manager's accepted her apology and gave her a script.
Ana had received the script via Madame Giry, and had begun to study the Italian with vigor. She hadn't read Italian for quite some time and had found that the pronunciations came to her rather quickly. As Ana got closer, she heard some of the ballet girl's giggling. Puzzled about what they could be laughing about, she drew closer and felt her heart stop. Why in the hell was he here, at their rehearsal? Was it required of the patron's to attend every rehearsal?
There, leaning as nonchalantly as possible against one of the set pieces, was Alex. He was smiling at something one of the ballet rats was saying. Upon further examination, Ana saw it was Jammes that was talking to Alex. She felt Alex's eyes slide towards her and Ana ignored him and went to stand by Meg.
"Ana! Ana, my dear, how are you?" he called to her detaching himself from the set piece and striding over to her. She turned and saw the looks that Jammes, Sorelli, and many of the other ballet sluts were giving her.
Ana knew it would seem suspicious to not respond to him and mumbled "Fine." Her eyes threw fire at him as he sauntered towards her. He was toying with her, he knew she couldn't ignore him otherwise the people who were there would wonder why she didn't acknowledge him.
"That's good to hear my dear. Your, ah, friend is feeling better now I assume? I heard you haven't been out of your room for a day. He must have been quite sick." he said, a hint of sarcasm tinting his voice.
"Yes. He's fine, now if you'll excuse Monsieur McKinley, I need to warm up. I bid you a good day." she said, her voice very clipped and short. Alex gave her a smirk, showing her that he knew she had a lover in her room for a whole day.
"After rehearsal Mademoiselle, I would like to speak to you...in private." he said his voice almost giving off the icy feel that his eyes betrayed. Ana gave a short nod and turned back towards Meg. Yes, today was going to be an exhausting day.
Erik awoke in a small puddle of drool. Giving a semi-furious growl, he took the edge of his cloak and quickly mopped it up. It was morning and the company must be practicing for the sounds of the orchestra faintly reached his ears. The strain's of Donizetti's opera wafted through the tunnels. Ana would be up there, practicing. Dancing her heart out ever so gracefully and lightly while she also observed LeBrana's movements and blockings in case she needed to take her spot. Erik shook his head and smacked himself mentally. The dreams of his drug-induced sleep came back to him slowly. He dreamt that Ana was in his bed with him, moaning underneath him as he slowly gave her pleasure. He somehow knew he was falling under the young woman's spell, and why shouldn't he?
'Wait,' he thought, 'where the hell had that come from!' He knew why he shouldn't fall for her. She was a common slut, a woman who shared other men's beds as easily as a little kid would share it's candy. She would leave him the next morning after their little romp in the bed, never looking back. He slowly got to his feet, splashed water on his face and dried it off. Then, after quickly changing his shirt, he pushed a hidden mechanism that hid a secret door which led to Box Five. Erik slowly sank into the shadows, welcoming their darkness that hid him.
A few minutes later he was seated in the plush chair of Box Five, watching the new play unfold before him. He stared intently at Ana, watched as her body bent and twisted with the music. Once again, his dreams came back to him. 'If she could bend and twist like that, imagine what...' he shook his head. He had let his thoughts go wild again, and if he didn't control his mind there was no telling what would happen the next time he found himself alone with Ana again. Two hours slowly crawled by as they got through almost the whole first act. Madame Giry and Monsieur Reyer had declared that they were done and sent the entire cast on their way. Erik was about to leave when he caught sight of a man lurking in the shadows. Slowly the man came out of the shadows and approached Ana, who was taking her ballet slippers off.
"So my dear, I wonder if your friend or should I say your lover, was really sick at all. It's nice to see how you have twisted almost the whole opera company around your little finger. Everyone seems to adore you, and most of the women seem to adore me." he said, bending over to say it into your ear.
"Why are you here? So you can get more women into your bed?" he heard her reply icily. She seemed stiff, almost too wooden.
"Why am I here? To watch over you, of course. I told you that you would never be able to escape me. I would always be there, watching your every move. I assume you have accepted the invitation to Madame Aliane's Bal Masque? You know...it'd be a shame to mention to the whole opera company that you were my wife, until you ran away after killing your parents." he said, toying with a loose strand of hair.
"Yes I have. Is that all you're here for? To make sure I am going to her bal masque?" she quietly said, fear slowly creeping into her voice.
"That and other things, I found that no woman can give me pleasure like you can dear. The whores here are horrible, and I am afraid that I have had a...craving for you." he growled, clasping his hands on her shoulders. Erik knew that the way Alex gripped her, it would leave bruises on her arm.
"Please, I am going to be late for my voice lesson. My teacher would not appreciate that...please Alex not now!" but her cries fell on deaf ears. Alex slammed her forward into the ground. Even from his height, he could hear the sickening impact Ana's face made with the hard wooden stage floor. Erik had to stop Alex, he couldn't bear to see Ana raped or even injured by this ass who had the audacity to call himself her husband. He couldn't exactly jump down and reveal himself, it would be too dangerous. But, to knock something over and maybe throw his voice, that might work well enough to scare Alex away. With a large swish of his cloak, he stood up and kicked the chair that he had been sitting on. It crashed to the ground and Erik watched in satisfaction as Alex stopped his assault on Ana.
"Who's there?" he cried out. Erik cleared his throat.
"Mademoiselle Knoll! Madame Holahan is waiting for you in her room for your voice lesson! She say's you have three minutes before she cancels!" Alex backed away from Ana slowly.
"You are lucky my dear. I shall see you tomorrow evening." with that said, Alex swept off in a fast-paced manner to the back of the auditorium and out the doors. Ana got shakily to her feet and brushed herself off. Gingerly she touched her face and winced in pain as she felt the small bruise that was forming on her right side of her jaw. She glanced up at Box Five, where she knew Erik had just been but didn't see anything. She walked off to the room where they would have their lesson. Erik, who had hidden himself deep into the shadows disappeared into the secret tunnels and met Ana in the room. Ana didn't dare look into his face, knowing what she might see, afraid of what she might see.
Erik took three steps and was beside Ana in an instant. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her into a comforting hug. He saw the tears that threatened to spill over. "It's okay Ana. You are safe now, come let's sing." Ana nodded and sniffed. Then, hardly audible to even Erik she said "Thank you."
Whee! Another chapter has been completed...next chapter is the Bal Masque part and let's just say Alex gets what he deserves...lol! Now off to bed.
Moon Avenger- We can switch...I think I tired him out to much and I need a fresh one...lol!
