And now, for the chapter everyone has been waiting for.

(Please don't hurt me for being late. Even though this update is on the short side again, I should have another chapter up sooner this time.)

Chapter Fifty Three: It Burns Like Fire

Leah

At first, there was only darkness.

Cool water sloshed over my feet, and tiny stones dug into the tender skin of my back. Slowly, I realized that my head was aching horribly; throbbing as though it had been smashed into a thousand pieces by a hammer of titanic proportions.

I vaguely remembered having been in the fifth cellar … walking the shore to calm my head … when I heard an odd snapping noise behind me. I had turned quickly to find the source, fearing that I was not alone in the artificial night. But the rocks under my slippers had been so wet …

"You must have fallen and hit your head, you ninny." I chided myself. "You have been making a complete buffoon of yourself lately, but this takes the cake. What possessed you to stay here in the first place? In the dark, no less!"

Vaguely, I noticed strange sensations that jolted through my lips and chest, but I paid them little mind.

Then the reality of what I had done began to sink in. I had fallen and …

Hit my head!

"I am I dead?" I wondered, not completely unafraid. "Is this heaven or hell?"

I must have spoken the last question, for after a moment of the tensest sort of silence, I received a strained, whispered answer that would alter the course of my life forever.

"Neither, I am afraid." Replied a quiet, but distinctly masculine voice that stirred up memories with every syllable it uttered.

My heart proceeded to cease beating inside my chest as my eyes fluttered open, searching for my old … well, I wasn't quite sure about precisely what our relationship had been. Yet whatever we once were or currently could be, I knew that it was the solid ground of earth that lay coarsely against my back.

It was the voice of Señor.

It was not until my eyes finally began to focus upon the object of my thoughts that I questioned the reasons behind his presence in such a strange place. Indeed, the task of locating him was made all the more difficult by the mask that he wore.

As black as the oblivion around us, the mask revealed nothing save for a sizable portion of his forehead and his glimmering eyes. I could barely meet his gaze at all, for the device hung crookedly, as though it had just been replaced in a great hurry. It would have concealed his entire face from view under normal circumstances, leaving only his eyes unfettered by its confines.

His eyes…

As I attempted to make out the shapes above me more clearly, I was puzzled by his eyes. Where I had once observed a pair of earthy brown irises, I know saw only glimmering circles that reflected the light of my lantern and burned into my own. Bright like a cat's, they seemed to blaze with fire…

"They burn like fire…"

Foggily, I knew that the fact ought to mean something significant, but I could not place it. I was too preoccupied with freeing my mind from its daze to bother with something so trivial. Yet it continued to repeat itself in my head during the silent seconds that passed as I went about righting myself.

"Eyes that burn like fire. Burn like fire…" The words continued, like a strange sort of chant from the recesses of my memory.

What did it mean?

My surroundings were becoming more and more clear and I recognized the shore of the lake, the stone walls of the cellar … and oddly enough, a small wooden door.

"His eyes burn like fire, suspended in midair…"

What had Meg been explaining? Something one of the firemen had seen had seen just the other night, but what had it been?

His eyes continued to study me in without a sound, engulfed in amber flames.

"He can find you anywhere with his eyes that burn like fire." She had said.

'"No! He has a death's head." Someone else had argued. "His twisted skin is taught and dirty yellow, stretched over a demonic skull. It is decaying and maggot riddled like a week old corpse, a walking skeleton! Instead of a face, it has a grinning skull with empty sockets. Joseph saw him..."

Him who? Who had it been?

"Joseph saw him! He said it was …"

My groggy eyes darted traitorously to the skin on his brow.

I was paralyzed instantaneously, cut off from the air.

"… The Phantom of the Opera!"

It struck me with all of the weight of a two ton boulder in the chest, crushing my lungs and denying me any attempt to breath. His eyes narrowed as I stiffened, immobile as a stone in the wake of my confusion, repulsion, and utter terror.

"Mademoiselle? Is something wrong?" He asked softly, his burning gaze familiar as he searched me for injury.

The eyes in the shadow, the watcher that I had sometimes sensed … They had been real! Now I dearly wished that I could continue to dismiss it as a figment of my fanciful imagination, the way that I had for so many years. That hot, searching, invasive stare…

"They burn like fire…"

This was impossible! Surely something so fantastic, so utterly inconceivable, could not be true!

Even my pupils were suspended where they lay, fixed on his eyes and his terrible skin. How could something so disgusting cling to the bones of the living?

"…like a buried corpse…"

"Mademoiselle? Mademoiselle Iglesias? Can you hear me?" He tentatively began to extend a glove hand towards me, though whether to revive me or murder me, I could not tell.

A small voice within me reasoned that he would never harm me. This was Señor! This was the one man who had been kind enough to see such an unattractive, unpromising spinster of an errand girl, the man who had been so kind to me the night of Philippe's betrayal, the man who had often sent me flowers.

But the tiny cry was drown out by the rest of my conscious mind, for it was shaking, gibbering wordlessly in terror at the idea of his touch. The opera ghost had killed! And now I was at his mercy!

"…a walking skeleton…"

No! This couldn't possibly be real. Surely I was dreaming! Señor and this –thing- could not be one and the same. No, no it was not true. Utterly untrue.

But yet, here he was. Inches from my skin.

"…His twisted skin is taught and dirty yellow…"

Coming closer.

No, this was … inconceivable. I must wake up!

Some evil emotion began to cloud his brilliant eyes, dangerous in its intensity. "Mademoiselle? Please wake up! Oh Mon Dieu, not again!"

Closer.

"…a grinning skull with empty sockets…"

What was that smell? The aroma of rotting sewage hung thick in the air.

Was that him?

"…maggot riddled flesh…"

Closer.

God in heaven, HE was the smell!

"…week old corpse…"

"Mademoiselle? Leah? Leah, please wake up!" His bright eyes grew frantic and he made to grab my shoulder.

The stillness within me snapped like a tight wire, and my body jolted suddenly in a hysterical attempt to escape. The horror of the mangled flesh I had unknowingly seen, the revolting stench of the monster that I had one kissed –Kissed!-, and the knowledge that I had not even been subjected to the sight of all of his vile features filled me with urgency and speed that I had not known that I possessed.

The twisted man sprang back as I leapt out of his clutches, holding his gloved hand to his chest as though I had stung him.

I!

Harming him!

But my mind focused solely on my flight. I soon slowed my frantic pace, for in my terror I had left the lantern behind. My fear of the dark returned one thousand fold as I searched about me for those eyes in the gloom. Had he followed me? Where was I? Was I to be the next victim of his evil deeds?

My heart, so still before, now practically hummed in its exertions and my breath came in short, frightened gasps. I felt along the clammy surface of the rough walls, praying for escape to present itself. My slippers were long gone, having flown off in my feverish dash.

Was that a rustle behind me?

"Death's head."

A footstep to my right?

"Rotting."

How long would it be before I died?

"Eyes that burn like fire…"

"Burn like fire…"

And it was then that I saw light in the darkness.

Authoress's Notes: Did I do justice to the emotions here? What did you guys think of the idea for this meeting? Any guesses on what's coming up?

INCONCEIVABLE!

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means…

(Hooray for everybody who understands that joke, and shame on you if you don't! Get your booty out of the computer chair and go rent 'Princess Bride'. Well, hop to it!)

Tigger- Alas indeed! Education does need interrupting here and there, no? Ok, is THIS ominous enough for you? I am so glad that you got De Tham! I could hug you! (cheesecake instead.) And yes, I seriously think Eric is going to go streaking. Here's a hint on what I'm thinking about: I just saw the movie 'The Aviator'. Thoughts?

Empress Kipper- I have not seen Good Will Hunting. I know, I know, I lead a sheltered life. You'll have to explain it to me. But I am so very very very GLAD that I cause such a mental workout! That was my goal, and it is nice to know that I have achieved it. I can promise a lot more of these sweat drenching exercise sessions to come. As for the violin … you never know with these sort of things…

Fish- thanks for finding the time to review. I'm so glad that your job seems to be agreeing with you. Collage is a blast, and man oh man (thank you God!) there are a lot of nice men here. Nice looking and nice personalities. The looks aren't a prerequisite (else why oh why would I be writing this story) but they don't hurt either. Thanks for the warning, I hope this gets us all back on track! You probably have a little point about De, but that's just logic. Logic must be thrown to the wind! Muahaha!

JPT- Well, he is a determined little bugger, int he? We gotta give him props for that. As for your guessing, lets just say that the 'bad guesser' might have chalked up one more win to her name…

Avid- school? What's that? (snicker) I'm glad to hear from you again. I'm so happy that the lonliness is realistic, I was a bit worried about how it came off.