All right, guys, how was that last chapter, eh? I rather liked it. So, anyway, hold on cuz it starts to get ugly. Just so you know. So keep reading, huh? Yay Chapter Eight. I don't own any of the characters, don't sue me, yeah, yeah, yeah...
Betrayal
When Christine awoke, her lover was already gone. She slipped out of his bed and dressed quickly, love and joy making her giddy. She ran back through the corridors, humming softly to herself. Lost in her thoughts, she opened the mirror and slid back into her own room, knowing that she had to get to rehearsal before anyone noticed her disappearance.
Raoul, who had obviously fallen asleep while sitting at her vanity mirror, woke suddenly and looked up as the mirror clicked back into place.
"Christine!" The girl whirled in surprise at his voice; she had not seen his vague form in the darkness of the room. He quickly reached for a lamp and lit it, and she relaxed as she recognized the blonde, blue-eyed figure.
"Oh, Raoul," she sighed unhappily, "what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? Where have you been!" he cried, taking her hand. "I've looked for you everywhere since you vanished yesterday evening!"
The girl sighed again and glanced at the mirror.
"And that," Raoul said, pointing accusingly at it, "where does that lead?"
"No where. I mean, down to the cellars," Christine said too quickly. "I go there when I need to escape the pressures of life here."
The man glared at her suspiciously for a moment; then, an idea seemed to form behind his clear, crystalline eyes. The liquid blue orbs hardened into ice, and the girl winced at the hatred she saw there. He hastily dropped her hand.
"You were with him, weren't you?" he hissed. "I'd heard rumors... of you and him, but I never believed them. Oh, God, Christine, did you sleep with that... that monster?"
Her own eyes hardened, and a fierce light crept into them. "How dare you!" she screamed at him. "What right do you have to call him a monster when it's pompous, aristocratic idiots like yourself that have condemned him to the life he leads! You and all your spoiled, stupid kind are the true monsters!"
"God in Heaven," he whispered icily, "you love him."
She stared defiantly at him for a few seconds, then looked away from his harsh gaze.
"What does it matter to you, Raoul?" she spat venomously. "I loved you once, but no longer. How could I after what you have become? I am free to choose whom I will!"
"I'll teach you to defy me, you ungrateful slut!" He raised hand and slapped her across the cheek. Tears welled involuntarily in her eyes from the pain, but she continued to stare at him. He was becoming enraged, breath ragged, eyes ablaze. Suddenly, he pushed her down onto her bed, tearing at her skirts. She struggled, tried to scream, beat him off her, anything; but he had one hand pinning her wrists above her head and the other smothering her mouth, his body weight trapping her beneath him. Sensing danger to her life if she continued to fight, she gave up, retreating into the well of forgiving darkness beckoning her from deep within her mind.
