Author´s note: Thanks for all the nice reviews! And happy Easter!
Chapter Thirty-Three
September 8th 1892: Raoul
This could not be happening. It was impossible that the Phantom, my old enemy, was actually sitting in my favourite armchair, sipping a glass of my favourite wine. It had to be a nightmare. Yet at the same time I was fairly certain that I wasn´t sleeping. Taking a few steps forwards to have a better look I bumped my shin at the table, wincing in pain. Now I was sure.
He gave me an amused smile. "Will you say anything in the nearer future or are you planning to stare at me till morning?", he asked in a lazy drawl, running a hand through his dark hair. I noticed it had exactly the same colour as the last time we had come face to face, or rather, face to mask. He was probably still wearing the same old wig.
"I… I thought you were dead…", I uttered the first sentence that appeared in my mind. As soon as it had left my mouth I felt like slapping myself. What a stupid thing to say that had been! If he was walking, talking and insulting me, he certainly was not dead, although he did look like it. But then, he had never looked different. Nothing about him had changed.
He chuckled softly. "Is that the most intelligent statement you can come up with?", he asked. "My, my, Vicomte, your son could do better." "It´s ´Comte´ now. And what do you know about my son?", I hissed, throwing him a scornful glance. "Nothing. You´ve probably read the birth announcement in the paper five years ago, that´s all." Yet to my surprise I hadn´t made him angry. On the contrary: The smile on his ugly face widened. "You ask what I know about your son? Everything.", he replied softly. "I know his favourite food, his favourite colour, what he likes and what he´s afraid of – probably more than you´ll ever know."
For a moment or two I simply stared at him, trying to find out whether he was lying. It was impossible to tell. But before I could say anything he had already gone on, thus answering my unasked question. "He likes strawberry cake with cream best, and light blue, and also being read to by his mother. He´s afraid of being alone, especially in the dark. Do you want me to continue?" I shook my head wordlessly. It was all true. And it was also true that I only knew those things because Christine or Jacqueline had told me. I simply wasn´t home often enough. How could the Phantom know such things about my son, and I didn´t?
Slowly a certain suspicion formed in my head. "You have spied on us for all those years, haven´t you?", I asked, my hands clenching into fists. "You´ve collected facts about our family, everything you could lay your skeletal hands on. And now you´ve come here to scare us with your vast knowledge." "You´re improving.", he commented dryly. "The first two thirds of your assumptions were actually correct. Congratulations." He clapped his hands a few times, the sound like derisive laughter in my ears.
With some fast strides I reached the armchair and seized his wrists, making him stop clapping. I could feel the cold seeping through the sleeves of his jacket and penetrating my skin. The sensation was so unexpected that I nearly let go of him immediately. After a moment of blissful silence he wound himself out of my grasp with an extraordinary speed and pushed me away. I almost tripped over the table, but somehow managed to remain standing.
"Never touch me again!", he snarled. "If I didn´t still need you, you´d already dangle from the ceiling! But maybe…" Now he was smiling again, a predatory smile, like a lion examining its prey. It made cold shivers run down my spine. "Maybe this is what you want. You want to feel the loving touch of the Punjab Lasso again. You lie awake at night, wishing you – " "Stop it!", I called. The ridiculousness of that thought gave me new strength. How dared he say such nonsense about me in my own house? "Either you tell me why you´re here or you go!", I demanded.
I hadn´t been too confident that my attempt would work. It was difficult to threaten someone who was capable of killing within seconds. Yet for some reason it did work. The expression on his face changed from smug to concerned. "It´s Christine.", he muttered. "She´s missing. She went away from the opera hours ago, leaving her children behind. Nobody knows where she could be now. That´s why I´m here; I thought you might know other places she likes to be at."
"You used to be a much better liar.", I told him coldly. "Christine hates the opera. She hasn´t been there since the night I rescued her from you. And she´d never leave our children alone. They´re probably just… delayed…" A glance at my pocket watch showed me that maybe there was a reason for being worried. It was a quarter to ten, and my family wasn´t home yet. That was obvious, although I hadn´t looked into every single room, of course. Yet in this one aspect I trusted the Phantom. He was cunning; he wouldn´t have told such a story if they could come down the stairs any moment.
Not taking my eyes off him, just in case he planned another trick, I called: "Jacqueline?". The maid opened the door at once and came to stand next to the table. If I hadn´t know better, I´d have thought she had been in the corridor, eavesdropping on our conversation. "Where are my wife and children?", I asked her. "I… I don´t know, Monsieur.", she replied in a small voice. Then something strange happened: She briefly looked at the Phantom, and he gave her a slight nod. It seemed to encourage her to go on. "About three hours ago your wife´s friend, Mme.Tavoire, was here. She was searching for Madame and told me to send a note to the opera when she arrived here. As far as I know the little ones are still at the opera."
I barely let her finish speaking before blurting out: "Did you pay her for saying that? Did you need someone to support your feeble story and picked our maid, a girl as honest as no other? You´re truly despicable.". "No, no, Monsieur.", Jacqueline protested, shaking her head wildly. "It really happened like that, I swear…" "It would be better if you left now.", I told her with forced calm. Seeing the fury in my eyes she obeyed without another word.
As soon as she was gone I shouted: "I know what you´ve done! You´ve abducted Christine and the children, and now you´re here to mock me!". "And for a second I had believed you had become wiser.", he stated. "I´ve already told you why I´m here. I thought you might help me find Christine. The mocking was just a pleasant side effect…"
That sentence was the final straw. All the time I had tried to hold myself back, at least on a physical level, but now it was simply too much. Leaning down I seized the Phantom under the armpits and pulled him to his feet. Anger was fuelling my motions as I dragged him to the nearest wall and slammed him against it. He gasped, probably both in shock and pain. It was an immensely satisfying sound. Placing my hand at his throat I hissed: "Where do you hide my family? At your lair? Yes?".
He moved his head slightly from one side to the other. "The children are staying in my house, but I truly don´t know where Christine is.", he said. Why did his voice sound annoyed instead of frightened? Yet at least his answers became more honest. "Now we´re getting closer to the truth.", I remarked. "I can assured you that if you´ve harmed my children in any way, I´ll make you pay for it. And now once more: Where is Christine?", I asked, my hand squeezing his windpipe more firmly with every word.
The events of the next minute happened so fast that I barely understood what was going on till it was too late. In one moment I was still holding onto him, and in the next one he had grabbed my forearm in a vice-like grip, forcing my hand away from him. I tried to struggle, to hit him with my free hand, but he merely laughed about my attempts. He possessed the kind of strength a normal man could only dream of.
When he started rummaging under his cloak I knew what was coming. It had happened in countless nightmares for the last ten years. I recognised the feeling of the noose around my neck at once, the way it lightly cut into my skin. Soon it would hurt more and more till… Frantically I gasped for breath, staring at the Phantom, who stood a few feet away. "It´s time to end this farce.", he said, and I wondered whether those were the last words I´d ever hear.