Author's note: I know, I know. This update probably should have come sooner, but I hit a little writer's block. Ok, make that a lot of writer's block, but I'm passed it now. Thank god. Here's your next chapter.

Disclaimer: I own them all! They are all mine. Muahahaha! punjab lasso encircles my throat

Erik's voice: What was that?

Ok, ok. I don't ownany of the original characters!Happy now?

punjab lasso loosens

Erik's voice: Yes.

Gee thanks.

Suddenly the room darkened dramatically. A letter floated down from the nonexistent ceiling and fluttered onto the floor.

Omg...

Erik's voice: Wow... what a biter.

The author, pale in the face picks up the letter. It was sealed in hot pink wax with a seal that resembled either a fish or hello kitty.

The letter read:
My dearest Squeakiness,
It is to my great pleasure to see you come to me for help. I hope we'll be of much use to eachother. You will read the corrections I made to your fic, you will fix them, and you will proceed to post this and start immediately with the next chapter. Or else...

Y. B.

What is Y.B? Oh that's right... Your Beta.

Erik's voice in distance-mutter mutter- biters -mutter mutter- should copyright -mutter mutter-

Oh dear.

(Hello all, this is Jazzy, I'm the newest beta. YAY! My darlin Caitlin DOES have talent n'est-ce pas? . Well I shall make her even BETTER! Muahahah! cracks whip)
-

As the door clicked behind her, a sudden sense of finality seemed to hang in the air. Catherine shivered as a draft flooded the hall. She turned back to the room ready to reenter, but something stopped her. Shaking her head at her own foolishness, she swept down the hall preparing herself for the upcoming announcement.

She soon found herself at the entrance. Turning, she quickly located the marked entrance to the main stage. Without pausing, she turned down the hallway and gasped inwardly. The breathtaking beauty of the theater filled her vision. She stopped to stare at the vivid crimson of the curtains, and the glowing gold statues. They were dazzling, almost dizzying in their splendor.

The majority of the cast were mulling about, clearly anxious for what was to come. Catherine waited in the shadows, observing those who would soon be her employees. She saw a young dancer in the corner fidgeted silently and some of the elder singers conversed in hushed tones. It was clear they were nervous

A piercing voice shattered the near calm atmosphere.

"What pos'ible reason could those fool managers have for wasting our time before ze' performance" She was a singer, whom she instantly recognized to be the La Carlotta from her conversations with Christine. The woman swept through the performers, nearly running over the ones that didn't move quickly enough.

Catherine shook her head in disgust. Carlotta's arrogance reminded her of her loathsome brother. The world seemed to be filled with people like this.

A moment later, Messuirs Andre and Firman bustled in. Carefully deciding her entrance, Catherine slipped out of the shadows, but chose to stay at the back of the group and continue to observe.

"What es ze' meaning of this?" La Carlotta was unsurprisingly the first to speak.

Catherine chose that as her cue and emerged from the crowd. There was something about her, perhaps her graceful movements that revealed her noble heritage, that always drew attention when needed. People's gaze turned and focused on her.

"I'm sorry if this meeting is an inconvenience to you," She began. It was obvious, though not blatant that she was speaking indirectly to Carlotta. "But rather than scream at those good gentlemen, I suggest that you speak, speak not scream, to me, seeing as that I was the one to call this meeting."

Her voice was calm, but it carried the full length of the theater. Everyone stared at her now. La Carlotta seemed as though she was puffing up like a volcano about to blow, and the poor managers looked as if they were about to faint at that notion.

Catherine allowed her eyes to stray momentarily at Carlotta and was sorely tempted to laugh. Nothing had ever resembled a chicken more. She regained her composed self and addressed the theatre.

"I truly am sorry if this meeting has conflicted with prior plans for anyone here, but I have called this meeting to discuss a rather important matter. I, Lady Catherine de Montressor, have purchased this fine establishment from your good managers." The silence which met her words was stifling.

Madame Giry was staring at her with wide eyes, clearly not expecting this. Monsieur Andre wiped his forehead and Firman sighed, they both looked relieved that she had saved them the trouble of exposing this matter. With a wry smile, she turned to muse at Carlotta, sure that the look on her face would be priceless.

And it was. La Carlotta looked incredulous, her mouth opened and closed about three times before she found the mind to shut them. Catherine sighed, attempting to stifle a giggle.

Such reaction was to be expected.

Monsieur Andre's voice brought everyone out of the suffocating atmosphere.

"Would everyone please give a hand to the new owner? She will be taking over as manager in the next couple of weeks." The cast turned to looked at him, some glaring daggers and some like he had two heads. Meg and a few others started to clap, but stopped abruptly due to the lack of it.

Catherine grimaced a bit to herself then steadied her will. This had to be done.

La Carlotta, seeing this as an opportunity to suck up and make amends, broke the silence by asking, "You 'ave seen an Opera before. Si? Will you be attending ze' opera tonight?"

Bad call, Carlotta. Catherine chuckled to herself. Obviously this women was not one of honey words. More so the lack of.

"Desole," She replied in the negative, shocking not only Carlotta, but majority of the theatre, "but I have other things which I must do."

"Besides," She mused at the fury mounting on Carlotta's face and continued, "I did not buy a ticket."

Her last comment brought a few chuckles. La Carlotta shrunk back, looking snubbed. Catherine saw her face darken, and decided to relieve the situation before La Carlotta threw one of her infamous tantrums.

"I do apologize." She started, deciding that she could do without too much conflict. "There is nothing that I would like more than to see all of you perform-"

"'Zen why do you not go?" La Carlotta cut in. "Et would be good for you to see an opera at 'zis 'ouse if you wish to do well as a manager."

That was a direct attack. Catherine prepared herself to retaliate, but before she had the chance to respond, a letter drifted toward the stage. A deathly hush fell over the cast. Slowly, the letter glided in the air, turning this way and that. Finally it slid to a stop at Catherine's feet, landing with a quiet thud that couldn't be heard if the theatre was not in total silence.

For moments, the whole theatre stood staring at the letter like a cursed object. Catherine felt their eyes burning on her, daring her as the new manager to bend down and pick it up. She did so, trying desparately to suppress the fear in her spine and shake in her hand.

The envelope was edged in black, and was sealed with blood red wax in the form of a grinning skull.

Catherine sighed, a little pale, and tried to joke. "This is lovely stationary."

No laughs followed this time. All eyes were on the letter in her hand.

Carefully lifting the seal, Catherine pulled a letter from within. She started to scan it and shivered slightly after reading its content. After a few moments, the others began to loose patience.

"Well what does 'zit say?" La Carlotta's usually shrieking voice held a slight tremble.

"It says:

Dear Mademoiselle Catherine,

I would like to welcome you to my opera house. I hope that you will not be as foolish as Messuirs Andre and Firman were upon their arrival. I expect my salary of 20,000 francs to be paid by the first of each month, and I also expect Box Five to be left open for me for all performances. If you comply, we should all be able exist quite harmoniously, and if not, then only you may be held accountable for the consequences, which I assure you will be dire. On a lighter note, I hope you will enjoy you stay here. If I am need of anything else, I will contact you by post.

Respectfully yours,

O.G."

Immediately, voices returned to the hushed theatre. Some of the ballet rats began to whisper among themselves. Everyone else was watching her intently, she realized, waiting for a reaction.

Madame Giry, still visibly pale, cleared her voice and was the first to speak out loud, "I would do what he says. He is not very forgiving to those who do not obey his commands."

There were nods and tones of assent rising from the crowd.

Catherine nodded, "I have every intention of paying his salary, and of leaving his box open to him. I may have just purchased this opera house, but he has been here for years, and if I do not need to upset a patron of this house, then I will not."

Those who had been holding their breath for a response relaxed, glad that she was sensible enough to comply.

"Well, I guess I had better let all of you get ready for your show, shall I?" Catherine smiled. "I will attend rehearsals tomorrow, but if any of you need to reach me, ask Madame Giry to show you to my room. Now if you'll excuse me?"

As she turned to leave, a young and rather chipper girl approached her, her face hopeful.

"Are you staying at the opera, Madamoselle?"

Catherine replaced her giggle with a homely smile and nodded. Then she turned back around quickly and left, eager to escape the group and get back to Philippe. The meeting had taken longer than she expected, and she hated leaving him alone.

Retracing her steps, she soon found herself at the door of her room. When she entered, Philippe launched himself at her, all the while babbling excitedly. She held him in her arms, hoping to calm him, but he continued on excitedly.

"Phillippe!" She scolded softly, "Speak slowly, dear."

It was only then was she able to make some sense of his words. It took a bit for her to digest and a bit more for her embrace the reality of it. When she did, it stopped her cold.

"You were right!" He said, "I heard him, the Angel of Music. It was really really quiet, but I could hear him, and he was singing my lullaby!" There was pure joy in his face.

Catherine smiled motherly as she stroke the boy's face, not allowing herself to betray the brewing storm in her as she felt a small shiver creep up her spine.-

Review Responses:

jadedrose01: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you find this interesting. Sorry the update is a little late. We'll get to Erik's response, eventually.

PotOFan: I'm glad you like this. Here's the update. No face to face meetings with Erik yet.

Countess Alana: Thank you for your compliments. blushes

elvenstar5: Thanks. You're right. It will happen. It's just a matter of when. Here's an update.

andersm: Here's an update. I hope the wait wasn't too hard.

Darkaus: Thanks, I plan to keep going. I'm sure that Erik will have several choice for him, and I highly doubt any of them will be God Bless. As for how sad can Raoul get? Who knows, but if he gets too much worse I may be forced to knock him out.

Author's Note: Another update come and gone. I'm really liking this story. This was my first time trying to write Carlotta, so if I screwed up her accent feel free to lynch me. Please RR. Your reviews keep me writing, cus' when I get a review. I feel guilty if I haven't at least started writing the next chap, so the more reviews I get, the fast I update. Just push the little blue/purple(periwinkle?) button. You know you want to.

Beta's Note: Yes, people, REVIEW! It makes me feel better too. - Since I'm not a hardcore phan I can't really help with specifics. Give her constructive criticism ya? Every good fanfic writer needs a bushel of those. Thank you very much. - Miikirin (aka Jazzy)