Author's note: Hello everyone! I have missed you all! I am sorry that it took me so long, but there has been a lot going on...all problems ranging from having to let my sister take my laptop to my grandfather's death...have kept me from posting...I have, however, been continually writing in a notebook and so I do have two more chapters to post once I type them up. I also apologize for the length of this chapter...but I promise that the next ones will make up for it! Thank you all for sticking with me...love to you all!

Coming Home

Once I got home from the audition, I told mother that I had made lead soprano and she was ecstatic for me. She insisted on making a fuss over me, wanting to make a huge meal to celebrate. I looked around the room and then, finding it empty I asked if father had been home yet. She gave me a glum look and said that he hadn't. I felt something inside of me drop to my feet. He's not here? What was I thinking? Damn my imagination! I soon found myself wrapped in my mothers arms and I melted into her embrace. I told her that I was tired and wished to go take a nap. Mother fixed me some tea , saying that I deserved to go relax for a while. I took the teacup with me into my room and shut the door behind me; flopping on my bed as the door slammed shut. I had been laying on the bed for only a few minutes when I fell asleep.

The sound of the front door shutting woke me, and glancing at the nearest clock, I noticed that I had slept the entire evening away. I assumed that it had something to do with the overall stress of the day. It was late at night and nearly pitch black outside my window. I got up and looked into the hallway, seeing a soft glow creeping out from underneath my parent's bedroom. Knowing that the light meant my parents were both in their room, I opened the door and cautiously began walking down the hall towards the main entrance to our wing of the house. I peered around the corner and saw a dark figure that was standing in front of the door with his back to me. I felt a slight terror trimmer down my spine and I grabbed a candle bra from the nearest table, holding it out in front of me like a weapon. I stepped out from behind the corner and spoke fiercely, hoping that my fear would not seep from my heart into my voice.

"YOU! SHOW YOURSELF!"

He slowly turned and I readied myself to swing at him if the need arose. My eyes locked onto his; shining like green-gold jewels behind his mask. I felt all the anxiety and tension within me vanish and my body relaxed, the candle bra clashing to the floor as my grip loosened. I sighed audibly and he was soon enfolding me within his arms, one around my shoulders, the other on the back of my head.

"DADDY!" All I could do was collapse into his embrace.

"My baby! It's alright! I'm here! It's ok!" He held me for a moment and then moved me so that I was an arms length away, so he could look at me. "What on earth did you think you were doing?"

"I heard the door close…and I thought that someone was breaking into the house…" I explained quickly.

"So you thought you'd go down and single handedly frighten a man away, using a candle bra?"

"Well…I…I though…" I stumbled. How had I planned on scaring away a full grown man with a candlestick? I was relieved to hear his melodious laughter fill the air.

"Quite the spirit, aren't you?"

I sighed audibly, clearly relieved. My voice turned solemn. "Oh, Dad…sometimes I wonder what would happen to us if you hadn't come back…"

He balked like a horse before a hedge. "Why do you say that?"

"I don't know…I suppose I just need to know you are always here…to protect, love and care for us all…" I say somewhat cryptically.

He stares at me for a moment. "Why don't we go and have a seat in the living room, my love?"

I follow him into the room where he lights a few candles and then sits on the couch, motioning for me to join him. "So what's this all about, Angelique…"

"Well…" I am unsure as to how to word what I want to say. I sit in silence for a moment. "I guess I am just thinking about how you…I mean, today at the audition…" I look up into his face only to see a suppressed panic beneath his green-gold eyes. "Well…what does it matter? Aren't you going to ask me how I did?" I taunt his honest nature.

"Angelique…" He sighs and looks deeply into my eyes and that is all it takes; he knows what I know. "You saw me, did you not?"

I contemplate pretending to be ignorant, but I know I'm no good at faking anything, and so I give in. "Yes…I did…"

"I see…" He looks thoughtfully out the nearest window. "So…I suppose you have many questions…"

"I do…"

"And?" He looks miserable, held captive, under my gaze.

I take his hand from his lap and hold it in mine. "Father…I love you…nothing will ever change that…I know who you are and I love you all the more for it…but I must know who you once were…otherwise I may make a mistake, perhaps like today, and put us all in great danger…I am no young child anymore…I can handle whatever you tell me…just trust in me…"

"Angelique…It is not that easy…I do trust in you…more than you may know…but telling you all the answers is like opening and old wound…and to be honest with you, I am frightened of digging up those memories…. I am happy, just as I am, right now, and I do not wish to relive the pain…your mother and I have promised to forget our pasts together…I cannot put us both in such an upsetting memory…our pasts our not something to relive…"

I rubbed the back of his hand gently with my fingers. "Father, you cannot run from your past…"

"I do not wish to run…I am not scared of the pain…I would experience the torture again if it would mean putting an end to it…but it would not, because I run in fear for my life, not in fear of pain…I fear for my life, Angelique!…and yours…and your mother's…the secrets we hold are fatal…and you are going to have to accept whatever we tell you, regardless of how little information that is… you must, if you treasure us and all we have."

I am shocked into silence. After a few minutes, I find my voice once again. "Is that why you couldn't come to my audition…and why you couldn't help me after my singing…" I think for a moment. "And why you never appear in public with any of us?"

"Yes…"

"What could be that terrible?…You are not a terrible person…?"

"I am not, no…but once I did some terrible things…and in turn people began to think that I was something of a monster…" Subconsciously his hand moves to hold his mask. I reach up, remove his hand and then his mask. He makes a somewhat startled sound as my fingers pry off the cold porcelain, but I continue none the less. His face is soon bare before me and all I see, is the one man in the world that I had thought of as being nothing even remotely close to an evil monster.

"You are no monster and you know it…"

He smiled softly, giving his face a light glow. "If only everyone saw what you see…"

I smiled back tenderly, sensing that he was finally at ease.

"I was very proud of you today, Angelique…and I am sorry…" he said softly, his gaze feeing to the floor.

"It's alright father, I understand…I felt as if you were there anyway, even if I had not seen you."

His eyes met mine at that. "A constant presence am I?"

"How could you not be? I am your daughter after all."

He laughed softly before making to stand. He held out his hand for me and I took it.

"You should go get some rest…"

"You also…you were the one who was out late!"

He laughed again, then placed a kiss on my cheek. "Goodnight, my love…!"

"Goodnight, father!"

Needless to say, as I climbed the staircase to my bedroom, I was still pondering what might be the terrible secret within my parent's past, but I loved my father and so I decided to drop the subject for the time being. After all, I had no reason to mistrust him, at least not yet.