Thanks again for all the reviews! It really makes me inspired to put up the chapters.

WARNING! This chapter does get a bit bloody and maybe even disturbing. It may even be a bit of a Mature chapter, but I kept the rating at Teen. You may even think it wasn't that bad, but it's better to be safe than sorry - so I'm warning you.

Ethalas Tuath'an: smiles evilly It was rather evil to leave that cliffy, wasn't it? I surely would hate the person writing this for leaving it like that, too, if I didn't write it. The mirror incident of Loralee getting her skirt caught in it I thought at first would just be rather humorous. Then the thought of how she hadn't seen Hector came into my mind, so I decided to make that encounter. But any ways, here's Chapter Fourteen to quench your curiosity!

RedRoseBlackRibbon: Well, I can't really complain. Even though twenty reviews is less than what some other stories have gotten, I'm glad I get such good ones. I hope you review again:)

AngelicFlutist: I'm sorry I wasn't able to put up your Chapter 12 review on the Chapter 13 page so I'll just do it quickly here.

-Chapter 12- I agree with you! Yesterday night I was actually watching PotO and when he was singing with the music box at the end I almost hugged the TV. I restrained myself, though, because one of my parents friends was over. :(

-Chapter 13- Here's the answer to your question on whether Erik will safe her or not:

Chapter Fourteen: A Not So Happy Encounter

"You!" Loralee said, voice breaking with fright. Hector just smirked and came into her room, locking the door behind him.

"I've been looking for you, my dear Loralee Donoghue. . . or should I say Beth McLay?"

By now Loralee was tugging at her dress, trying to get it out, ripped or not. The mirror was so tight, though, that it wouldn't even budge.

Hector didn't notice, but instead he came over ever so slowly.

"I've been looking all over Paris for you. How, you ask, did I find you? Well let's just say I have. . . connections."

Loralee gave up trying to get her dress out of the mirror and turned to him.

"You're scary talk doesn't move me the least," she spat out at him. His smirk was wiped away but came back when he saw her struggling with her caught dress.

"I see you're having some difficulties, my sweet," he said, coming up.

"It's none of your business, demon!" she yelled. He quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

"Not so loud, Loralee. We don't want the others to hear."

In reply, Loralee bit down on his hand and smacked it away, pushing him away from her. This did nothing but make him angrier.

As quick as a blink, her arms were pinned above her head on the mirror with one of his hands, and in his other held a knife to her throat.

"Make a sound, my sweet, and you die," he said icily, his face contorted with rage. As if to show his point, he dug the knife deeper into her throat so that a faint line of blood sprang up.

Biting her lip so she wouldn't scream out with anger, fright, and pain, Loralee could only just wait and see what he'd do.

The knife left her throat but she dared not talk. She wasn't able to in a short while, though, because soon his mouth was upon hers, forcing it open and his tongue down her throat. She yelped in surprise but stopped when she felt his fist collide with her stomach, making her knees buckle. His hand holding hers was the only thing that was keeping her up now.

The taste of his mouth was heavily laden with the scent of alcohol and nauseating her more and more every second. Finally she could take it no longer and bit down on his tongue.

Hector pulled away, yelling in anger, blood in his mouth. He punched her in the face twice and then brought the dagger to her chest.

"No more fooling around, Loralee. No more hiding."

He kissed her mouth once more leaving his blood all over her face before he cut open the front of her dress, corset, and under dress so that her bare skin was left open. In doing so, he also left a long bleeding cut on her skin from the knife.

Loralee couldn't stand the pain and shrieked out in agony. He silenced her with a punch the face which left her dazed and to weak to fight back when he started to claw greedily at her now blood crusted skin.

When his bloody hand trailed up her skirts, viciously ripping them off her body so that she was now only in her torn under dress, she regained enough strength to do the last self defense move she knew. Quickly, Loralee brought up her knee unexpectedly and onto his groin.

Hector grunted in pain, his hands letting go of her skirts and arms as he stumbled backwards.

Loralee noticed that she was now free from the skirt that was stuck in the mirror, so she started making her way for the door. The next few moments were a whirlwind in her mind.

Hector had gained enough strength to get back up and push Loralee roughly back to the mirror, making he head collide sharply with the surface of it. As he made for her, hand raised for a punch, an echoing voice spoke out, chilling both to the bone.

"Leave the girl alone. . ."

Before either could react, a small explosion went off at Loralee's feet, shrouding her in red smoke and sparks so that Hector wasn't able to see her. At the same moment Loralee felt the mirror behind her open quickly and a pair of hands pull her back.

Loralee could hear the mirror shut in front her somewhere before she saw the swirling image of Erik holding her.

"Erik. . ." she managed to choke out, before her world went black.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Erik had just been sitting down to draw absently with the water colors that Loralee gave him when Madame Giry rushed into his domain.

"Erik, you fool! You left Loralee stuck in the mirror!"

He stood up glaring at her.

"Who invited you to barge in on my private domain?" he growled, wondering what in the world Madame Giry meant by 'stuck in the mirror'.

"I did, but that's not the point. When you left in a hurry, you also left Loralee's dress caught in the mirror so now she can't move away with out ripping her dress."

"Let her rip her dress for all I care. She set me up to be seen by that silly little girl."

"No she didn't. It was an accident. Loralee would never do such a thing."

"Indeed," he growled, turning his back to her.

"Don't you turn your back on her, Erik! Don't you dare walk away from her now."

He froze, every limb shaking with anger.

"Go away, Madame Giry."

He started walking again but was stopped by Madame Giry's hand on his arm. She spun him around and smacked him sharply across his face. Then looking calmly into his flaming eyes, she spoke.

"Don't leave her like that, Erik. She doesn't want her friend betraying her."

Erik stared at her.

"Friend, Madame? Friend! Ha! She is anything but."

Secretly he hoped Loralee considered him such a person, and Madame Giry could see so from his eyes.

"She doesn't have any other friends that she completely trusts except for you and I, Erik. Don't ruin it now."

Erik growled with anger but admitted to himself he wanted to be friends with her. Swiftly he walked past Madame Giry, putting on his cloak and getting into his gondola.

"This better be quick," he grumbled before pushing off after Madame Giry got into the boat.

After rowing across to the other shore, he got out and walked silently to the mirror of Loralee's room. When he was in the passage way that contained her mirror, he heard a thud against it and a yell of pain.

"It's Loralee!" Madame Giry said, fright clearly written on her face when she heard the angry growl of a man and another thud against the mirror.

Both Madame Giry and Erik went forward to see the gruesome sight through the mirror.

A large and angry man with black curly hair and a mustache had her pinned up against the mirror. The man's mouth was bleeding and the blood from his mouth was all over her own face. Loralee's dress was cut open by a knife that was discarded on the floor, and the dress was tossed carelessly away so that she only had her torn under dress on. It was open on the top to reveal a long cut going vertically down her torso which was sprouting blood all over her chest. Her legs and skirt of the dress was mostly clean except for a few splotches.

The man had her two hands held above her head and his other hand was trailing up underneath her dress and onto her thighs.

"It's Hector," Madame Giry gasped.

"It's who?" Erik said, anger coursing through his veins as he saw the state Loralee was in.

"It's her ex-fiancé, Hector Chaffee." Then cautiously, Madame Giry glanced at Erik and said, "You know him."

"Unfortunately I do," Erik growled, recognition of the man entering his mind immediately. His hands clenching and unclenching, reaching for his punjab lasso. Madame Giry's hand stopped him.

"No, Erik! Do not kill him."

"But look at what he's doing!"

"Don't kill him or anyone else, Erik. Loralee, for one, wouldn't like you to start murdering again."

Erik, trembling with rage, went towards the mirror.

"Well, I'm not going to do nothing, that's for sure," he growled, a plan already working out in his mind. Both Madame Giry and Erik looked back to see what was happening.

The almost unconscious Loralee suddenly realized that Hector was trailing his hand up her thigh and suddenly brought her knee up on his groin. Hector grunted and fell back as Loralee tried to run away. She was pushed back roughly to the mirror, though, which finally made Erik lose his temper.

"Leave the girl alone. . ." he said, using his ventriloquism skills so that he would appear to be speaking in-between Hector and Loralee. Even Loralee looked amazed and was even more amazed when an explosive Erik had secretly thrown in-between the two went off, leaving Hector in a state of confusion.

Madame Giry went forward and opened the mirror wide enough to pull Loralee in through. She gave her to Erik and shut the mirror sharply, looking back to see Hector's amazed, scared, and confused reaction when he found out Loralee wasn't in the room any more. He recovered quickly enough to hide Loralee's dress in her wardrobe and wash up the blood with the water from her washing basin carelessly. Then he was out of her room just before Madame Giry heard Loralee choke out, "Erik. . ." from behind.

Turning around, she saw a sight that she thought she'd never see in her life.

Erik was cradling Loralee to his chest, wiping away the blood from her face with his handkerchief and blinking away the tears from the corners of his eyes.

When Loralee said his name, he sighed out with relief, holding her limp body close to him. Madame Giry came over and took his now blood soaked handkerchief as he covered Loralee's vandalized body with his cloak.

"She's not safe in her room any more," Madame Giry said. Erik looked up at her, face clear of emotion yet eyes still full of worry and anger.

"I'll take her to my house. I can take care of her there."

Madame Giry nodded, handing his handkerchief back to him.

"I'll go have a talk with Monsieur Chaffee," she said before hurrying off down the hallway, leaving Erik alone with Loralee in his arms.

It took Erik shorter than normal to get back to his house even with the extra weight because he was so worried for his newest so called friend.

Loralee's breathing was rather shallow from her blood loss but it was calm now that she was in safe arms. He looked around for a place to set her, and finally, after much mental arguing, lowered her onto Christine's old swan bed.

Getting bandages, water, and a needle with thread, Erik went to work on her. He wiped away all her blood and made sure not to let the torn pieces of the thin dress fall away so that he could see her breasts. He kept them covered at all times but still managed to wipe away all the blood. He then took the needle and thread and stitched together the deeply torn parts of the cut skin along her torso. He finished stitching just as Madame Giry came in.

"I talked to Hector and forbid him to ever come back to the Opera House. He was clearly shaken from your clever trick and agreed hastily before running as fast as he could in the opposite direction."

"Good," Erik said. He looked back at Loralee once more before going over and getting a spare night dress out of the closet that was once meant for Christine.

"Can you dress her, Madame?"

"Of course," she said, taking it and shooing Erik out of the room.

After getting Loralee out of the ruined under dress, Madame Giry slipped her sleeping form into the soft material of the night gown. After covering her with the bed's blankets, Loralee smiled in her sleep and snuggled into the covers. Madame Giry put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but instead of comforting her even more, Loralee yelp with fright, curled up into a ball, and started to whimper in her sleep.

Sighing, Madame Giry left Loralee. Erik was sitting at the organ which he hadn't played for over a year now. She new he vowed not to play the organ or sing ever since Christine left, but Madame Giry had a hope that Loralee would help music back into his life.

Erik looked up when Madame Giry entered the main room.

"She was sleeping peacefully, but at the touch of my hand she drew back, frightened. She's very defensive even in her sleep."

Erik could only nod.

"You may go now," he told Madame Giry. She nodded and made for another secret passage way that would lead her out of his secret house. Before she left, Erik's voice stopped her.

"Madame?"

"Yes Erik."

"Thank you. . ."

She knew that he worked hard to force those words out of his mouth and smiled deeply at him.

"You're welcome. Take good care of Loralee."

Then she was gone.

As soon as he knew Madame Giry was gone for good, Erik got up, hastening to Loralee's bed side.

Madame Giry had been right. She was clearly frightened in her dream. The blankets were already twisted around her moving form as she whimpered and tensed in her sleep. It pained Erik so see another soul besides himself sleep like this.

Sitting down on the side of the bed, Erik tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear. Loralee just whimpered and pulled back making Erik sigh.

Then, before he could stop himself, Erik started singing. It only registered to him half way through the soft lullaby that he promised not to sing when Christine left. He tried to stop but it was to comforting. Too addictive.

So, with help from the unconscious Loralee who was slowly going into a peaceful slumber with help of the ethereal voice, Erik started his music again.

He started to live again.