Chapter Fifty-Eight: Moves Are Made
Bullets had been coming from the house and Michael and his men had fired back until four of his men lay dead. Michael was seething. He kicked his horse roughly in the side and made a mad dash for the house. But he did not fail to hear the gunshot that went off in the trees. He turned his head toward the sound and knew someone had to be there. He also knew it had to be Christine and whoever owned the cottage. Erik was not dense enough to keep Christine in the house in her condition, he would do everything to protect her, including having her hide in the bushes. Michael found this amusing and shouted at four of his men to head towards the trees and if they found anyone they were to kill them immediately without hesitation.
"But bring the curly haired wench to me!"
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Christine realized immediately when she heard the men approaching that it had been a mistake firing the gun. How could she have not thought about that? Pistols made noises, she was not a half wit, she should have known that! Now men were riding towards them and she knew without a doubt that they would kill them if they were discovered. Christine turned quickly to Meg and Antoinette.
"Both of you need to run, and run as deeply as you can into the trees! Do not stop, do you understand me? It will be your life if you do!" Christine said. Antoinette grabbed a sobbing Meg and without another word ran into the trees, disappearing into the darkness. Nadir turned to her.
"We either run or fight," he murmured. Christine took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. What should she do? It was her fault that they were coming towards them in the first place but she did not have any time to waste, she needed to get to Erik and help him, before it was too late. Nadir was studying her intently and he seemed to know what she was thinking.
"Go, Christine. I will distract them until you can make it safely to the cottage."
"Nadir-"
"Go!"
His shout was emotionless and Christine knew she could not argue. Making sure her cloak was secure she ran, the cottage the only thing she dared look at. She heard the men on their horses but they seemed not to notice her because they rode past her without even once glancing at her. Gunshots up ahead caused her pace to quicken in fear. The fact that she really did not know what she was going to do once she got there was a thought she refused to think about. She would come up with something when she got there, and hoped that everything worked out for everyone.
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Erik had no idea how many of Michael's men were either dead or wounded, but their firing from the house had made the numbers a little easier to manage. He believed there had to be six men left, but that itself was a relatively large number when Erik had to do everything to make sure he came out of this alive. Before Christine he would have faced this battle not caring if he lived or died. He truly had nothing to live for but she had changed all of that. Now he would do anything just to live.
Climbing up the stairs he rushed into his and Christine's bedroom. He had told Anthony and Raoul to stay hidden in one of the rooms, their pistols ready, when someone came in they were to fire. Until then they were to remain quiet. Erik glanced at the bed as he walked in and shut the door. Memories flooded him of what he and Christine had shared, and the display Christine had given him. Because of his face he had never believed that any woman would be comfortable enough to do such a thing in front of him. She had done it for him, and he loved the fact that she wanted to make him happy, because that was all he wanted for her, to make her happy. The sheets were still in disarray from their night of passion and Erik would have given anything to go back to that moment in time when all he needed to worry about was giving Christine pleasure. Hopefully he would have a night like that again soon.
He heard Michael and his men break down the door and he prepared his pistol and his state of mind. He would end this, once and for all.
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Michael felt his men tense up as soon as they entered the cottage. It was completely dark and no sounds could be heard. They were already at the end of their nerves given the fact that their comrades had fallen before they had even reached the house. These men were a very good shot. Michael was seething, before the night was through he promised himself, and his sons that he would avenge their deaths and he would kill the masked devil, and he would be the one to be victorious. Not Erik.
"All of you, search down here, one of you come with me upstairs!" Michael barked. The men were afraid of him, he knew this well, and they jumped to do as he said.
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When Christine slowly made her way inside she felt her heart begin to race when she was met with silence. However the silence did not last long because three shots were heard in one of the downstairs bedroom. Then silence. There had to be a way that she could help, use the pistol in her hands to rid Michael of some of his men. However the idea of harming someone, even men as bad as these, was not that appealing and she cursed when she felt her hand begin to shake. Slowly, on cautious feet, she made her way towards Meg's room, the room the shots had been fired. As she approached she could hear movement going on inside. Raising her pistol she slowly opened the door...and ducked.
"Damn it!" she cursed when a bullet barely missed her head.
"Christine?"
She gasped when she was suddenly being embraced by her brother. Her arms were tight and strong and for a moment she allowed herself to collapse against him. He whispering thanks to God for making sure she was safe but a moment later he held her at arms length away from him.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded. Christine took a deep breath. She was sure she was going to be asked that question a lot tonight.
"I have to help," she whispered.
"Oh, Christine," he murmured, shaking his head. Christine pulled away from him. She knew that the men thought she would only get herself hurt, but she was not one to give up, and she needed to help, or she would never forgive herself. She would deal with Erik's reaction when they were all safe. Christine looked around and saw that three men lay dead on the floor.
"He will murder you if he finds out you are here," Anthony warned. Christine knew he meant Erik. She was willing to take that chance, however, and just prayed her brother did not do something to detain her from helping.
"I know, Anthony, but I do not have time to talk to you about it, where are Raoul and Erik?" she demanded. Anthony sighed, his sister really could be quite stubborn at times.
"Raoul is Antoinette's room and Erik is in yours, but do not move until you hear gunshots, then it means, hopefully, that some of the men are-"
Gunshots.
"Dead," Anthony finished. Christine did not give him another chance to say a word, she rushed out of the door and ran straight towards Antoinette's room. She needed to let him know that she was there, or he might accidentally shoot her if he thought she was someone else. Anthony was not behind her and she could only imagine where he had gotten off to.
"Raoul?" she whispered softly. No answer. Christine's brow creased in confusion. Why did he not answer?
"Raoul?" she whispered again. A hand snaked out and grabbed her roughly by the arm. Christine's screams was muffled by a hand pressing cruelly against her face. She felt her pistol drop to the ground and felt tears prick her eyes. She had let her guard down and she should never allow that to happen.
"Hmmm," the man whispered. Christine struggled when she felt his hand slid down her side, over her thigh. "What do we have here?"
Christine did the first thing she could think of and she bit down roughly on the hand he was covering her mouth with. The man grunted and released her mouth. Christine was smart enough to know not to scream, or she would have everyone knowing that she was there, which could be deadly for Erik.
"You little bitch!" he hissed. He shoved her away from him and she stumbled back. She fell to the ground when her unsteady feet ran up against something and she landed hard on her bottom. Christine gave a choking sob when she saw Raoul lying on the floor, motionless. In the pale moonlight she could barely make out the rise and fall of his chest, but he was breathing, Christine gave a sigh of relief and turned her attention back on the man standing in front of her. Her body began to thrash when another man came up behind her and grabbed her from behind. She had not realized that there was two men in the room.
"You must have been the curly haired wench Michael was talking about," the one standing in front of her murmured.
"Yes...and I am sure Delauney will not mind if we have a little enjoyment with you first," the other man agreed.
"Bastard!" Christine gasped when she was thrown roughly on the bed. As soon as she landed, however, her head hit the headboard, dropping her into a brief state of unconsciousness.
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Nadir grabbed the reins of one of the horses and mounted. The men lay dead on the floor. Nadir had not given them much of a chance, he had killed them before they had even dismounted. Now Meg and Antoinette were safe in the trees and he could go and help Christine, because knowing that girl as he did, he had a feeling that she was going to get into a lot of trouble.
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Erik heard Michael and another man making their way up the stairs, but he also heard something going on downstairs. He had heard three gunshots first, then two, but after the second two he heard some shuffling going on downstairs and wondered what the hell was going on. However he could not worry about it at the moment because Michael was coming. Every thought in his mind was about getting rid of this man, and his body was tense with anticipation and dread. It had come down to this moment.
Erik cursed when he was taken completely by surprise. He had been leaning against the door so he could hear when they were approaching and before he could move back a bullet went through the door, shooting straight through his shoulder. He stumbled back and kept his cursing to a minimum. Damn Michael to hell! Ignoring the pain he raised his pistol and aimed it at the slowly opening door.
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Christine opened her eyes to find herself being pinned to the mattress beneath her and two men looming over her, one of them undressing himself. She would kill both of them for even thinking of touching her. What would Erik think if he knew where she was at that moment? He would die if he knew she was about to be violated in such a way. All three of them froze when they heard a gunshot come from upstairs. Christine cried out and tried to lunge off of the bed.
Erik was up there.
Her struggling grew more wild no matter how hard the men held her down. She had to get upstairs! As one of the men made his way onto the bed Christine was given a glimpse of the door. Christine breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her brother slowly making his way inside.
"Both of you will rot in hell for this," Christine said, wanting to distract the men while Anthony moved in closer. He could not fire because if he missed he would hit Christine, which was of course the last thing he wanted to do.
"Hell is my destination anyways, darling, so really it makes no difference either way."
Christine rapidly climbed from the bed when Anthony hit first one man, and then the other over the head with the butt of his pistol as hard as he could manage. Both men crumpled to the floor. Anthony pulled her into his embrace and hugged her for a moment. When they pulled apart they both rushed to Raoul's side. Anthony checked his pulse and nodded when he found him still breathing. Christine frantically searched his body to make sure there were not any threatening wounds. There were not and though she was relieved Christine could not take another moment downstairs. She had to get to Erik. That shot she had heard did not bode well with her and she felt this unexplainable need to go to Erik, as if something was wrong, and she did not like that feeling.
"Where are you going?" Anthony hissed. Christine ignored him and bolted out of the door. Anthony sighed. She was like a jack-rabbit with her speed and for tonight it seemed like nothing was going to faze her, not Raoul being hurt or even her attempted rape. She was on a mission to help her husband and no one was going to get in her way. He admired that greatly in her. Anthony went to follow her when he slowly slumped to the floor, the man behind him catching him completely by surprise. No matter how hard he tried to fight it he was forced to slip into darkness. The man whom had tried to rape Christine rubbed his head and stepped over Anthony's limp body. He had not been hit nearly hard enough.
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Christine slowly creeped up the stairs, she could hear voices and she knew it was Michael. But she did not hear Erik's voice and that put her on edge. She heard the stairs groan behind her and it gave her comfort to know Anthony was right behind her.
She cried out in disbelief when she was once more grabbed from behind.
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"We have Christine, Desslar, you would be wise to put your pistol down!"
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Cliffhanger! I know, I know! Sorry about that! I had to do it! The final showdown is in the next couple of chapters so I hope you are all ready for that! Sorry this chapter has gotten to you all so late, but next week is my final week of my summer class and I have been really busy. I will update all of my other stories, do not worry about that, it is just a matter of when. I hope I can get them all to you soon and hope this chapter helps with the wait a little!
DonJuanTriumphs