Chapter 8

Rebekah was stunned for a brief second. Julian just said La Carlotta had a taken part in her murder…. In Christine's murder…

But then, as briefly as the shock had came, it went, and Rebekah burst out giggling uncontrollably. She had a brief alternate movie scene pop into her head: Carlotta pissed that she had bed smacked down by a stage backdrop. "Bye Bye! I'm really leaving! Get my Doggie! Bring my Doggie! I Kill-a you ALLLLLL!"

This only made her laugh harder. Julian, she could see out the corner of her now-watering-eyes, looked like he was gonna pop a vein in his forehead. He was starting to turn red, she knew he would yell at her any second now.

Instead the cemetery got really blurry and she realized it was gone, and they were now at some Masquerade Ball.

The people were all elaborately costumed, and she watched as everyone turned and stared at the top of the gigantic staircase. There he stood: The Red Death.

Rebekah had to admit, he was fucking hot. Facial deformity or not, what that man could do to red velvet….

Julian was staring at her again. She cleared her throat and stared at her feet.

Rebekah felt her arm being dragged away from the hot guy in red and she was reluctant to obey, until she remembered that Julian, who was insistent they move away from the actual scene, was supposed to be the guy who was wearing the red…. It was really confusing. And then she thought, tf she had to relive these supposed memories she should at least get to enjoy them. Rebekah realized they had stopped moving, and she still had her gaze on the Red Death. Julian was getting annoyed.

"Oh. NOW you like it? Well damn, if you like it so much now…. never mind." He took a few more steps, leading her somewhere unknown, then turned back around. "If you like it so damn much I could always wear it for you again."

"With the mask?" Rebekah asked in a barely audible voice.

Julian's jaw gapped. "And here I was thinking I had issues."

"Say you'll wear the cape too, and I will pretend you didn't insult me just then."

Julian grumbled something that sounded "Fucking Hell," and continued to pull her towards the corridor leading to the chapel.

They entered the small hallway to hear hushed voices. "Damn it, Vicomte, why the hell not!" said a woman's voice.

They got closer to see Raoul as he responded, wearing a white domino, "Because I love Christine, not you. Her."

The woman stepped out of the shadows wearing a golden dress with massive cleavage, Rebekah looked at her own feeling like she was lacking. Julian chuckled. He was starting to annoy her with that, it was getting weird. Could he really read her mind?

She focused on the woman, who was taking off her butterfly mask, and revealed her self to be La Carlotta. Carlotta and Raoul? Rebekah giggled again, but stopped when he gave her that damned look again. It wasn't as though the memories could repeat. She still needed clarification on how this all worked, but before she could ask, Carlotta slammed Raoul into the wall and pulled a dagger out of her garter. Even though she was slightly chubby, though not fat, she looked like she couldn't be that strong. Yet she was proving that impression wrong at the moment. She put the dagger to his throat.

"Vicomte. Listen to me, and listen carefully." Her Italian accent was strong, but not as hard to understand as Rebekah would have thought. "You will not interfere with that wretched chorus brat and piss him off again! First the backdrop! Then my voice! And then, if you do not recall a chandelier falling on a woman and killing her. If that stupid ghost..." she said the last word with criticism, "..wants the little toad so bad let him have her. I want to sing again! My dignity is lost, and the only way to get it back would be to rid myself off Christine, or marry into a title."

Raoul stammered, but what ever he said made no sense to her ears.

Carlotta stuffed the dagger back into her garter and lowered he gown to hid it. She walked away with out looking back. Raoul looked bewildered. Then he too left.

Rebekah was completely confused now. "So she doesn't really want me dead, but she wants me away, but she doesn't want Raoul-who would be the obvious person to take me away- to do it, because she wants him to marry her so she could be a noble woman?"

Julian sighed. "Well, so far that is all we got, the other memories of the opera that might hold the keys to what we are looking for are so buried in your subconscious I can't pull them out. Something needs to trigger the memories."

"So you can't read my thoughts-- just my subconscious?"

"That's right. I read fears, that is why I can only pull the memories that are related to what ever happened. It scared you, I would say 'to death' but it would be humorless, and I think the years have buried it so deep to keep you from possibly remembering in time…"

"Yeah this is great and all but I have things to do, people to see. We'll have to finish up some other time."

"There might not be another time." Julian looked hopeless now, and it almost convinced her to stay. But she needed to clear her head.

Julian shrugged. "Very well, but only to make sure no one thinks you are missing and let them know all is normal and well…"

"But it isn't normal." Rebekah said.

Julian smiled lightly, "They don't need to worry their pretty little heads over something they wouldn't know about.

With that Julian made another angular symbol and a door appeared on the stone wall ahead of them. They came out into Rebekah's kitchen.