Chapter Thirty Two
"My lord?" Rupert asked. Erik looked away from the young womans body they were burying to look at his best man.
"What?" he asked.
"I may be paranoid but if whoever did this is still here will he not go after Christine next?" Rupert wondered. Erik nearly lost his breath. Christine! Of course the bastard would go after her. Why had he not thought of that and why had he left her alone?
"My God," he whispered, turning and running back down the hall, Rupert not far behind him. If she was hurt or worse because of his negligence he would never forgive himself for as long as he lived. He might even follow her into the next life if it came to that. He refused to spend the rest of his life without her.
When they reached his room they found the door bared. He could hear a mans grunts on the inside and nothing more. If whoever that was was defiling his woman they would pay with his life.
"Help me, Rupert," he commanded. Using their shoulders both men rammed into the door. It creaked and groaned beneath their combined weight but did not budge. Trying again and again they slowly beat the door into submission. In the end it lay splintered and broken on the floor.
Both men stopped dead however with the sight that greeted them. Jacque sat on the rumpled and torn sheets of the bed. The upper half of Christine's body was cradled against him and he had a dagger lying across her neck. Erik looked Christine over with a sick feeling in his stomach.
Her face was already begininng to bruise and he could see her dress torn and blood in various places. Her eyes were no longer open and she was lying limp in his arms.
"Let her go. Your quarrel is with me, not her," Erik demanded. Jacque's face was grim as he looked down at Christine.
"Your wrong there. She has everything to do with this. She is the only reason," he whispered.
"She does not care for you," Erik said, realization coming to him. This man, in his own sick way, loved Christine.
"She could have," Jacque snapped.
"You ruined that," Erik replied. This man had caused Christine so much torment it was not right.
"I had never--hurt a woman before her," he said. He was no longer talking to Erik. He was talking to himself.
"She was so beautiful...so innocent. You denied me when I came to you the first time. What did you want me to do?" he asked, addressing Christine now. Erik watched silently as the man talked, knowing the man was not going to hurt her, the moment he made the wrong move Erik would strike.
"For months after I left you all I could think about was you. How right we would have been together," he whispered, caressing the purple skin of her cheek. Erik's fists tightened slightly. Jacque looked up at Erik finally and there was a look of pure loathing on his face.
"She chose you when she could have had me! You, the masked devil over me, ten times more handsome then you will ever be!" Jacque nearly screamed. He pushed Christine away from him and got to his feet, his shirt bloodied from her blood.
"You want her, then fight for her!" he growled, lunging for Erik with dagger pointed. Erik stepped to the side effortlessly, Jacques efforts clumsy from his unrelenting rage. He turned around and charged for Erik again, only for the same result. When he tried it again Rupert took actions into his own hand and while Jacque was not looking stabbed him in the back.
His cry would forever echo through that manor on the hilltop as he cursed the masked devil and the woman he had loved with all of his black heart.
Erik paid the man no heed as he rushed to Christine. He picked her up into his arms and fought the emotions that were trying to war with his concious. He had to get her cleaned up. Rupert followed him silently as they went to another room and laid Christine down on the bed. Erik felt for a pulse and sighed in relief when he found one.
"She is one of the strongest woman I know," Rupert said. Erik nodded.
"More has happened to her in her short life then in my relatively long one. She is special, Erik, do not let her go," Rupert advised. Erik embraced him, surprising them both.
"Thank you, for everything over the years," he said. Rupert nodded and quietly left the room as Erik turned to Christine. He removed her clothing and had a servant bring him some water and bandages. Her body was covered in bruises and her breathing was labored as she fought for breath.
"Stay with me, my love. I love you, you cannot leave me," he whispered. He wanted to start a life with this woman. Everything he had ever wanted in a woman he found in her arms. He wanted to build a house with her and hopefully have children.
Children.
He had never imagined having children until he met her. The image of Christine carrying a dark haired baby was what sustained the following hours as he did everything in his power to bring her back to health and give him a reason to continue living.
xXx
Christine's eyes opened in time for her to turn to her side and vomit continously. She laid back, moaning as every part of her body ached and throbbed. She felt horrible. She could not remember what happened. Flashbacks happened before her eyes.
Jacques angry face, the cruel words...the way his fists beat unmercifully into her tender body. A sob rose in her throat and she curled herself into a ball, ignoring the pains of her body.
"Angel, shh, it is alright," Erik murmured. Christine's eyes opened to land on Erik's concerned face. She gave a cry of disbelief and threw herself into his arms. He caught her and pulled her close, his eyes brimming with tears. She was sobbing and shivering and was feeling quite wretched.
"Please do not cry, Angel," he whispered. She pressed her face into his shirt.
"I am just so happy to see you," she whispered. He glanced down at her, surprised. She smiled only slightly.
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you, too," he answered. Christine, though she continued crying, said nothing about what had happened between her and Jacque before Erik arrived there. He would not push her, perhaps in time she would come to tell him herself. He could ask no more from her.