CHAPTER 41

Erik directed Nadir to bring Christine to the carriage and drive it up to the front of the chateau, while he kept an eye on Raoul, Philippe and Meg. As they made their way down the stairs, Philippe began to laugh.

"Shut him up, Vicomte, or I will silence him myself!" Erik said irritably.

"I had such high hopes for you, Raoul. We could have easily been rid of them and blamed it on le fantôme!" Philippe said, the madness apparent in his eyes.

"Silence, Philippe! Do not make this any worse than it is," Raoul warned.

"I should have known you would never be the man our father thought you would be." Eyeing him wildly, he fumed, "You are no brother of mine!" He grabbed at Raoul's side, securing his pistol.

Erik quickly moved in front of Meg as he saw Philippe take hold of Raoul's pistol.

There was a loud bang then Meg screamed as Erik fell back, taking the force of the shot to his chest.

Meg crouched down to Erik and panicked as the blood began to soak his shirt immediately.

Raoul struggled with Philippe for control of the gun.

It went off again and struck Meg's right leg.

As Raoul heard Meg's piercing shriek, he thought the worst as he continued to struggle with his brother. With a maddening rush of strength and absolute blinding fury, Raoul pushed his brother over the banister of the staircase and Philippe fell.

The gruesome crack of Philippe's neck against the marbled floor resounded through the hall as Raoul clutched the railing and slowly lowered himself upon the staircase. "Oh, dear God!" Raoul uttered, horrified, as he broke down in tears at the realization of what he had just done.

"Raoul," Meg breathed as she tried to block out the pain from her gunshot wound.

Raoul held his tears back and looked over his shoulder. "Meg? You're alive?" He asked, confused.

"The bullet struck my leg, mon ami, but Erik, he has been shot in the chest. He jumped in front of me as your brother went for the gun. His pulse is faint. Please, we must get him to a hospital right away," Meg said hurriedly.

Raoul gathered his composure as best he could and picked Meg up carefully.

Nadir pulled the carriage to the front and ran into the chateau as heard the two shots from inside. As he came through the door he saw the lifeless body of the Comte on the marbled floor, his head at an unnatural angle. Looking to the staircase he saw Raoul carrying Meg down the stairs and a dark figure sprawled across the staircase beyond them.

"What in the name of Allah…" Nadir was interrupted.

"Help me get Meg inside the carriage and then you must help me with Erik. We need to get them to the nearest hospital at once. I will explain on the way," Raoul said in haste.

Once Meg was placed within the carriage, Nadir and Raoul rushed to Erik's side, lifting him, and bringing him out of the chateau. Carefully, they placed Erik upon the floor of the carriage, asking Meg to keep an eye on him and Christine. Raoul climbed into the driver's seat and waited for Nadir to join him.

"Vicomte, you will have to take them to the hospital. Someone needs to take care of things here. We cannot leave this place like this," Nadir said rationally.

Raoul nodded and replied, "You're right. I shall come back for you once I have secured them with proper medical attention."

Raoul took off down the drive in a hurried rush as Nadir made his way back into the chateau.

Brigitte had feared for her life. She had heard all the gunshots and quickly retreated to the cellar in hopes of going undetected until the chaos subsided. Nadir found her cowering behind two large casks. Much to her dismay and screams of protest, the Persian pulled her above ground.

As they came into the hall, leading to the front door, she saw the body of the Comte sprawled out unnaturally upon the marbled floor. She gasped and became frantic.

"Don't kill me, please! I'll do whatever it is you ask!" Brigitte begged.

"Madame, I have no intentions of ending your life this day, but if you wish to continue life as you know it, then you will aid me with a few matters that need to be taken care of. If you wish to keep your bordello, you will not involve the authorities. I should think they would not take kindly to your aiding and abetting the kidnappings of two young women," Nadir said coolly.

Brigitte agreed to help Nadir. She did not want to spend the rest of her life in jail or worse, hanged. She followed Nadir out front, where they took up a now conscious Luc and brought him into the sitting room.

Nadir recounted the events that had befallen his two brothers and Luc simply nodded with acceptance.

"I'm not surprised. A fate such as this would have befallen them sooner or later, Monsieur. I was never close with my two older brothers after our parents died. If you allow it, I would like to give them a proper burial in our hometown of Sens. Hopefully God will forgive them of their sins in the afterlife," Luc said with compassion.

"You're a good man, Luc. Be sure to continue your life as such," Nadir said shaking Luc's hand firmly.

Brigitte supplied the men with white sheets to wrap the brothers' bodies in and Nadir assisted Luc in loading them into the carriage.

"Journey well," Nadir said simply as Luc climbed into position.

Luc nodded as he took up the reins and maneuvered the horses down the driveway, headed back home to Sens.

Moving to the side of the chateau, Nadir and Brigitte came across Bruno's body. Together, the dragged him behind the bordello, deciding to bury him in the wooded area beyond them.

As they finished burying him, Nadir said a prayer in Farsi, since Brigitte did not have a chosen faith.

"Now, there is one final task to attend to," Nadir said as he and Brigitte made their way back inside the house.

Wrapping Philippe's body within a sheet, Nadir moved him to the sitting area as Brigitte went to check on her girls upstairs.

"Is everything in order?" He questioned Brigitte, as she came into the sitting room.

"Oui. Their nerves were simply on edge. I have provided each of them with a sedative to help them sleep. They have no knowledge of what has transpired here tonight nor do they care to recall it," she answered.

"Very well. I trust they shall not be a problem, given their line of work," Nadir stated honestly.

As they were about to decide what to do with the Comte's body, Raoul came into the room wearily.

"Vicomte? Is everything alright?" Nadir asked as he got up to help Raoul over to the settee.

Raoul leaned against the back of the settee and nodded. "There was a hospital not far from here. Being that it was an odd hour admitting three people at once, it was almost impossible and it would have been if I were not a Vicomte. For once in my life I am actually proud to be one," Raoul said to his amazement. "They took Erik immediately since he was in the worst condition. Christine was taken to her own room and given medication. They will need to wait and see how her body reacts to the medicines before they can assess a proper diagnosis. The bullet in Meg's leg was not deep and they were able to remove it without surgery. As for myself, as you can see, they have cleaned and dressed the wound," Raoul explained.

"It seems you have come through for us, Vicomte. I praise Allah that he saw it fit for you to accompany us, against much protest," Nadir acknowledged.

Raoul focused on the white bundle in the middle of the room. "Is that…" Raoul paused as Nadir answered.

"I have taken the liberty of wrapping le Comte's body and I was trying to decide what the best course of action would be in this matter," Nadir said carefully.

"You don't have to involve yourself, Monsieur Khan. I will give my brother a proper burial in the de Chagny family plot in Paris," Raoul confirmed.

A puzzled look flashed across the Persians face. "I beg your pardon, Vicomte, but how will you explain his untimely demise?"

Raoul did not need time to think it through. He would simply fabricate the truth. "He came here seeking his usual entertainment and had had too much to drink. He fell to his death trying to make his way down the stairs and Madame Brigitte called for me to collect his body. My parents know of his follies here in his youth. With their positions in France's society, they will not want for any of this to become public knowledge." Raoul took a deep breath and finalized, "The matter is now closed, Monsieur Khan. I shall leave with my brother's body at dawn."

As daylight settled upon the Chateau de la Fontenelle, Nadir helped Raoul with the Comte's body. They settled it within the carriage, and then Raoul secured the door.

Turning to address Nadir, Raoul said, "I appreciate everything you have done for me, Monsieur Khan. I only wish I could have known you under better circumstances, but nonetheless it has been a pleasure making your acquaintance," he said genuinely as he offered his hand to the Persian.

Nadir took his hand and gripped it firmly. "It's been a pleasure, Vicomte. You are a man of honor and have gained my respect. May Allah grant you safe passage."

Raoul smiled at Nadir and climbed up into position. "Monsieur Khan? See to it that when you visit the others in the hospital that you mention you are there on my behalf. You will be treated to whatever it is you need. I will be sure to let Madame Giry know of the situation immediately upon my arrival in Paris." He then took up the reins and clucked his tongue, making his way down the driveway and back to Paris.

Nadir readied one of Madame Brigitte's horses from the small stable in the back of the chateau. Upon his final inspection of the property, he sat down with Brigitte in the sitting room.

"Madame, I trust I will not need to come back here again," Nadir spoke firmly.

"I will not give you a reason to, Monsieur. You have my word," Brigitte said simply.

Nadir eyed her carefully. He had a keen sense of when someone was not being fully honest. She seemed genuine enough. He gathered she was just thankful for the entire ordeal to be over with.

He held out an envelope to her. "For your trouble, Madame... to repair the damage to your chateau, for the horse you have supplied me with, and for your continued silence."

Without hesitation she took it and placed it within her bosom.

"I shall take my leave now. Bon jour, Madame," Nadir said as he stood and bowed before her. He turned and exited the chateau, leaving Brigitte to her bordello.

Brigitte breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind the Persian. Taking the envelope from her bosom she opened it to view the contents within. Inside was 250,000 francs.

She fainted immediately at the sight of it all.

Nadir climbed up onto the horse and took off down the road toward the hospital. He laughed out loud as he galloped down the rode imagining the look upon the Madame's face opening the envelope he had given her.

He had pilfered the money from Philippe's jacket when he was wrapping him within the sheet. He saw it fitting to give the Madame half of the amount and the other half would go to whatever he would need to secure safe passage for him and his friends, back to The House of Roses. Whatever amount remained after that, he would give to the church.

"Perhaps it will atone for some of Philippe's sins, gaining him some sort of penance with his God," he thought with a shrug. "I had better stick with what I know best," he concluded as he said a prayer to Allah on behalf of his friends he was on his way to see.

Author's Note
You guys have been so great to me and your patience has been incredible. I have to say I am going to need a few days off. I have a friend coming in from California that I haven't seen in ages, so I fear I will not be able to update again until Monday. This was a last minute thing, so my apologies for not being able to warn everyone sooner. I hope you all have enjoyed the story so far. I promise to update as soon as I can. -hugs-

Disclaimer
I still do not own any rights nor am I affiliated with the Chateau de la Fontenelle.