Title: The Devil We Know
Summary: Christine Daae is the daughter of a recently deceased mafia boss. Suddenly, she finds herself toted as an up and coming gang leader, learning from the Phantom, a man who is feared by even the most powerful in the field as a notorious hit man. Will Christine find the strength to carve her own path, disregarding both darkness and light? Raoul's in it too. I guess.
Disclaimer: Phantom isn't copywritten any more, is it? I don't know. But the book belongs to Leroux and the musical belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber. Regardless, Erik, Christine, and Raoul aren't my original characters.
Author's Note: Got nothing to say. Enjoy.
Chapter Eight: Sex Ed.
The nightclub was noisy and lively, with loud music thumping from the speakers overhead and couples swaying together on the dance floor. Christine watched with envy as Meg playfully escorted an attractive man to a table in the back. Why did Meg get to have fun and while she sulked in a corner? As if in answer to her question, a twinge of pain shot through her side as she squirmed in her seat.
She cast an irritated glower at the formidable man towering behind her with his arms crossed. If any guys in the club were interested in her, they wouldn't be once they saw Nadir with his sunglasses and goatee frowning in their direction. "You know, Nadir, the sunglasses are a bit much. Not only is it nighttime, we're also inside."
He peered over the frames of his sunglasses at her and smirked. "Who said they're just glasses?"
Christine sat up straight, careful of her hurt side, staring at the dark glasses on his face. "What else can they do?"
"They're also a camera."
"Awesome, like a spy?!"
"Just like." Nadir grinned at her and took them off so she could see them.
"You rock, Nadir." She put the large sunglasses on and they slid to the bridge of her nose as she scanned the room. Erik had just entered and was ignoring the seductive purrs of the women tending the doors. He was surprised to find Christine beaming at him from behind an enormous pair of Ray Bans across the room.
He made his way toward them as she handed Nadir the glasses back. "Thanks. Those are pretty cool."
Nadir slipped the glasses back on his face and continued to stand watch like a wary mastiff from his place behind Christine. Erik sighed and stared at him with flat, tired eyes. "Take five, Nadir."
Just then, a slender barmaid in a slinky, black dress sauntered in front of them and caught Nadir's eyes. A slow, appreciative grin spread across his tanned face as the woman giggled and sent him a coy look. He took off after her at a leisurely pace. "Don't mind if I do."
Erik watched Nadir walk away and rolled his eyes, all but collapsing into the seat next to Christine. His back was slumped and she leaned into him, offering her shoulder. "You should relax too, Erik. It looks like someone took you out back and put the boot to you."
Slowly, afraid she would changer her mind and get mad at him, he leaned against her, placing his head on her shoulder. A quiet breath escaped his lips as the tension drained from his body, replaced with a warm, light feeling. When she spoke, his eyes snapped open and he was surprised to find he had almost drifted to sleep. "Nadir took me out shooting today and guess what? Yeah, I hit the bull's eye like TEN TIMES. He's a really good teacher, never yelled at me or anything."
"Then we went shopping and he told me the funniest joke. The best part was when he came with me to go bra and underwear shopping. He's got great opinions on lingerie." Erik's head flew up instantly and he stared at her in shock. "What?"
"You went shopping for lingerie?! With him?!" Erik demanded in a high pitched whisper, eyes darting to check on Nadir. At the moment, the bodyguard was flexing his left arm for the woman he was flirting with.
"Well, he said that he couldn't leave me alone for a second." Christine said hesitantly. "I mean, I put my foot down when he tried to go in the dressing room with me…"
Erik's jaw dropped open. "I'm going to kill the bastard."
As he started to stand, Christine quickly latched onto one of his arms. "Oh, come on, Erik… Don't be that way. I missed you all day. Besides, it's not like I was buying the lingerie for Nadir anyway."
All thoughts of killing Nadir poofed out of his brain at her last statement. Amused at his expression of pure disbelief, she said, "I'll show you once I'm better."
"I can't see them now?" he asked, slightly disappointed. He was gazing at the stairs leading up to her room longingly.
"Not yet. Besides, looking is only half the fun. The other half is taking it off." She ran the tips of her fingers along the visible side of his jaw, peering up at him through her long lashes. "And I'm afraid that part's a little too hands on for me right now, what with my wound and all."
His eyes drooped shut and a delicious shiver broke through his self-control. As her hands trailed down from his face, she reached out and caressed the right side of his neck. The skin there was warped like the right half of his face, though at first glance one might overlook it as a slight scarring.
When her hands touched the mangled scarring on his neck with a gentle, loving caress, he would have thrown her over his shoulder and carried her away if he hadn't remembered the recent attack. His hands darted out to wrap around her waist only to hover a few inches away. Balling his hands into fists, he pressed his forehead against hers and muttered in a strained voice, "Christine, can you walk?"
"Wha?" Her red, tempting lips parted in confusion as she peered up at him with those beautiful, brown eyes. Eyes fixed only on him, full of unbridled emotion despite all the horror he had shown her. Complete acceptance. Love.
Erik withdrew his hands and slid away from her on the seat as he took a deep, shaky breath. "It's hot in here… Would you go get me something to drink?"
"But-"
"Christine, please!" He managed between clenched teeth. She jolted in place and fixed him with a wounded look. "Please. I just need to be alone for a minute. I'm very tired."
She winced at the pain in her side as she forced herself to her feet. "I don't understand you, Erik. You know how I feel, I've made that clear. But you… you're hot one second, cold the next."
With that, she started walking away slowly, tenderly. When she pressed one hand to her injured side, he realized his mistake. She had been sitting by herself all night for a reason.
He got to his feet to help her walk back to her room, but when he placed a hand on her shoulder, she shrugged him off. "I can at least WALK by myself. I'm not a child."
She left him standing dumbly in place, watching her walk carefully up the stairs. Once she was safely in her room, he turned to leave and nearly ran into Nadir. "So, even the Phantom has trouble with the ladies?"
"You." Erik's confusion and sadness quickly transformed into a burning anger when he remembered Christine's account of her day with Nadir. "You horny bastard. Lingerie shopping, Nadir?"
The other man shrugged his broad shoulders dismissively. "She needed girl things. I needed to keep an eye on her. It was a win-win situation."
"Following her into a changing room? I'm sure that was a winning situation as well." Erik growled, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
"What man wouldn't want to see that woman naked?"
"You're not making a good case for yourself, Persian."
"I'm a simple, honest man. I have desires and most of the time I get what I want." Nadir stated, taking off his sunglasses and slipping them into the inside pocket of his suit. "You could probably learn something from me, Erik. How long has it been since you last-"
"Christ, I'm not talking about this with you." Erik snapped as he stalked toward the door. Realization dawned on Nadir as he stared after him and quickly caught up to him before he could escape out the door.
"You've never had sex, have you?" Nadir whispered in an urgent, amused tone.
"NO, I haven't! If you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly pick of the litter, Nadir!"
"What about a prostitute? There are plenty of them around here. Surely you've been tempted to pay for their business?"
They were now standing outside the entrance. Erik was avidly seeking a way to shake Nadir off, but the other man was now quite firmly entrenched in the conversation. "I don't… prostitutes creep me out, okay?!"
"Why? They're just women."
"They're not JUST women… they're sneaky, manipulative… they're smarter than people give them credit for."
Nadir eyed him questioningly. "You seem to know a lot about prostitutes for someone who's never slept with one."
Erik was even more tired than when he arrived and all he wanted was to go sleep for a day or two. Sighing heavily, he motioned to the door with bother hands and said, "Look, Nadir. You're a good bodyguard. Stick to that. In fact, Christine's probably alone in her room right now. How easy is it to climb in through a second story window? I know I've done it before."
"Fine, I'll check on her." Nadir started back to the door, pausing to say over his shoulder, "But seriously, Erik. You need to have sex BAD. Look at you, all wound up like a damn Jack in the box. No wonder you're such a crazy fuck."
Before Erik could reach for his gun, Nadir hurried back into the safety of the nightclub.
Because of her injury, Christine got to skip out on cleaning duty the next morning and took the chance to corner Madame Giry in her office. She knocked on the door hesitantly, and the older woman eventually let her in. "Christine, how're you feeling today?"
Christine walked into the office and left Nadir to stand watch outside the door as she entered. "I was wondering if you could tell me some more about my mother and Erik. What kind of relationship they had."
Giry walked back to her desk and sat down, gesturing for Christine to have a seat on the small chair in front of her. Grateful for the rest, Christine slid into the seat, careful to avoid jarring her healing wound. "Why are you interested in their relationship? Your mother is dead and it seems as though you and Erik are getting along well enough."
"I know, but… I just have the feeling that something's not right. I keep hearing all these good things about her, and yet she has so many enemies… Carlotta was supposedly her best friend and something happened between them bad enough to make her hate my mom." Christine explained, sorting out conflicting facts in her head as she went. Finally, she added, "Plus… she wasn't perfect. Something was wrong or else she wouldn't have killed herself. A mentally healthy person wouldn't commit suicide."
"It may have been depression," Madame Giry offered, hands making a pyramid on her desk as she regarded Christine thoughtfully. Christine stared at her, resolve set in her eyes and posture. Sighing, Giry reached into her pocket and pulled a ring of keys out. She flicked through them until she found the one she wanted and removed it from the metal ring. "Honestly, dear, Erik and Elizabeth had a strange relationship. Most of the time, I couldn't tell if she loved or hated him. If it was love, it wasn't physical."
"Here," she got up and pressed the key into Christine's waiting hand. "In the cellar, you'll find a small box your mother left here when she got married to your father. I don't remember exactly, but I think she might have left one of her journals in it. She was always putting ideas down on paper. If it's there, it should help you to better understand her."
Nadir was still leaning against the wall outside when Christine exited the office, slipping the key into her pocket. "Find out anything useful?"
"Not yet," Christine admitted as she walked to the cellar. The air in the cramped, dark room reeked of strong disinfectants and she nearly gagged from the stink. Nadir started to shut the door behind them, but she stopped him. "No, leave it open. It smells like someone died in here!"
"Well, yeah," he replied, plopped down on the top step leading into the cellar.
"So clever," She gave him a sarcastic expression as she searched for her mother's belongings. An old fashioned, cream colored suitcase stood out from its place propped up against a pile of cardboard boxes. Christine moved closer to inspect it and found it was labeled with cursive embroidery. Violet thread sewn into the off-white leather. Liz.
A built in lock kept the suitcase closed securely. Christine's heart pounded against her ribs as she fumbled with the key, almost dropping it as she inserted it into the lock. The suitcase clicked open with a quick twist of the key.
Christine sat on the floor of the cellar, rifling through the papers and memorabilia in the suitcase. Old photographs, loose sheets of paper…
On the bottom of the suitcase was a single rose, dried, pressed, and shriveled from age. When first received, it must have been a beautiful, dark red, but now it was rusty brown mixed with black: the color of old blood. She refused to touch it, afraid it would crumble to dust in her fingers. Instead, she picked up the 3X5 inch, leather bound pocket journal resting beside the decaying flower.
When she flipped through the journal, a loose photo fell from the pages and floated to the ground. Picking it up, Christine noticed it was folded in half. A woman with black, wavy hair was hugging a young girl with a quiet smile on her face. The girl was grinning at the camera, her curly brown hair framing her face in a wild bob. The older woman was pale, with dark, familiar eyes too vivid for a photograph.
Christine carefully unfolded the glossy paper to see the other half of the scene. A tall boy, roughly the same age as the girl, stood off to the side, eyes focused on the woman and girl a few feet away. A white, porcelain mask concealed the right half of the child's face, but his expression was one of obvious yearning. Turning the photo over in her hands, Christine confirmed her suspicions. On the back in black marker, it said, "Liz and Madeleine."
On the back of the half showing the masked child, written in a different, childish handwriting was the name, "Erik."
Christine shoved the photo back into the journal and hastily locked the suitcase. She pocketed the small journal and got to her feet to leave. Nadir stood and moved aside to let her exit. "I'm going up to my room, okay?"
He nodded. "I'll wait outside the door, Boss."
Christine rushed up the stairs to the second floor as fast as possible, a thrill of anticipation shooting through her. She almost tripped over her own feet and she had to grab the banister to keep from falling on her face. The sudden movement jerked the tender spot on her side, sending sparks dancing in front of her eyes as she paused to catch her breath. Once the pain subsided, she continued to her room and took out the journal.
Sitting gingerly on her bed, she flipped through the pages filled with flowing handwriting, a fluid mix of cursive and normal letters. She turned to a random date near the middle of the journal and read.
Madeleine and I went out to the docks today to speak to Firmin. On the way, we ran into a handsome man named Daae and he asked if we were from Madame Giry's. It was obvious he was interested in me by the way he kept staring when he thought I wasn't paying attention. But Maddy taught me to always pay attention when they're around. He'll probably come bother me during work tonight.
Oh, Erik followed us, but kept hiding when we tried to catch him. Maddy insists he was there and to ignore him or else he wouldn't go away. I never saw him myself.
The next entry read:
Gustav Daae is apparently a big deal in this town. His name carries a lot of power and he's heard of me, too. While I was dancing with him, Erik sat and stared from the other side of the room. Gustav isn't afraid of Erik, most men would have left me stranded on the dance floor when they saw the Phantom glaring at them. When Daae asked me to go home with him, Erik threw a fit and I had to decline.
I swear, sometimes it's hard remembering why I keep him around.
Christine shut the journal with a decisive slap. The pressure building in her chest squeezed the air from her lungs as she gripped the cover of the journal hard. The folded photo, the way Elizabeth wrote about Erik in the two entries she'd read- these things lead her to one possible conclusion. Elizabeth wasn't nearly as nice or as happy as Erik believed.
She hid the horrible little book under her pillow and stood up. Why had she wanted to know these things? All it did was plant tiny seeds of doubt and sadness in her mind. If her parents were this two-faced, who could she trust?
Erik, her thoughts drift to him easily, curling up in her memory of his rare smile. He always smiled like it was new to him and slightly embarrassing. He would never want to betray her. Ironic, considering most of the women in his life had betrayed him.
"Christine," Meg shoved through the door into the bedroom, panting for breath. "That guy's back. He's saying he needs to talk to you and he won't leave. If you don't hurry, Nadir's going to snap him in half."
With Meg's help, Christine got back down the stairs and out the entrance of the club just as Nadir grabbed Raoul by the collar and slammed him against the wall. Christine darted forward to place one hand on Nadir's arm. "Wait. He's my friend, even if he is horribly stupid."
Nadir slowly dropped his hand and Raoul stumbled back a step before catching himself. Christine noticed the painful, ring of bruises decorating his left eye socket and the swollen cut on his upper lip. "Wow, someone finally beat the shit out of you, huh? Come on, we'll talk behind the club."
Christine and Raoul walked to the vacant lot on the other side of the nightclub while Nadir followed at a reasonable distance. "What do you have to tell me that's so important?"
Raoul hesitated for a moment before sighing. "Erik went looking for Firmin yesterday afternoon."
"And?"
"Well, he ran into me too. Working in Firmin's gang is my cover for this operation."
Christine cringed as a myriad of possible scenarios crashed into her mind at once. "So Erik gave you that black eye?"
"No," Raoul muttered, slumping his shoulders. "But I would have deserved it."
Slapping her palm against her forehead, Christine dared to venture, "What did you do this time?"
"He was asking questions that could have blown my cover… I improvised. And I think I made things worse."
"What did you say?"
"He wanted to know why I was hounding you at the club. I'm technically a lackey in Firmin's gang and not fit to talk to a daughter of one of the mafia's head couples." He paused before continuing in a quiet voice. "I kinda said I was paying you for sex."
"Are you serious?" Christine demanded, surprised. He nodded and she groaned inwardly. "Of course you are. Why are you even here? Why do you keep coming back when you KNOW Erik wants to kill you so badly? Especially now!"
"Why? Do you think he knows I'm a cop?"
"No, Raoul! He probably thinks you're in love with me and it's making him all kinds of crazy!" Christine snapped, waving a fist at him.
"Oh." This statement seemed to please him. "Well, yeah, that's true."
"Come again?" She let her hands fall to her sides weakly.
"I'm in love with you. I have been since we were kids." He shrugged his shoulders under his faded, red T-shirt. Casual clothes weren't normally seen around the Madame's club.
Christine grabbed him by his shirt and shook hard, his head whipped forward from the movement. "You do NOT love me! You don't even know me! Last time we talked, we were both, like, 12 or something! So PLEASE, just stop with all this! I already have to deal with one crazy man who doesn't know what he wants; I don't need you adding to that!"
She spun on her heel and stomped back into Madame Giry's. Nadir leaned close as she walked passed and said, "Erik just got here in time to witness the last part of your little spat."
"What? Where is he?" Christine glanced around the club. "Why would he be here so early? It's not even noon yet."
After a few more minutes of scanning the various parts of the club, she found him holed away in a dark, lonely table in the back corner of the bar. She stood in front of him and he stared blankly up at her. "Hey, Erik. What brings you here in the light of day?"
Tapping his fingers briefly on the tabletop, he shrugged and looked away pointedly. "I wanted to surprise you. I was hoping we could go get something to eat, but I suddenly remembered I have something to do."
When he started to stand, she shoved him back down onto his seat and sat on his lap, throwing her arms around his shoulders. "What are you pissy about today?"
He held completely still, hands dangling at his sides. He craned his neck so he didn't have to watch her pout. She leaned closer and pressed her lips to his chin. "Are you angry about what Raoul said?"
A tremor of rage shook through his body. It was all the reply she needed. "Erik, do you trust me? I know it's hard… considering how Madeleine and my mom treated you."
That got his attention. He stared down at her through dark, narrowed eyes as she explained, "I found my mom's old journal. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I read enough to get the idea. They were both very manipulative people."
"If you know, why would you go out of the way to meet with that boy behind my back?" The tension between them was like a string pulled taut, quivering about to snap.
"Just because I love you doesn't mean I want you to control me," she said, slipping her arms from his shoulders. When she moved to stand up, he circled his arms around her, holding her in place and pressed his face to her shoulder. She worked her slender fingers through the back of his hair, letting the short strands tickle her skin.
"I already said that Raoul is just a friend and informant," she whispered into his ear, brushing a stray hair away from his face, trailing a nail down his neck. "But have I told you what you are, Erik?"
"You're the only man I want by my side. You're the one I trust the most." She tried to look him in the eyes, but he hid his face from her by pressing his forehead against her shoulder. "You're the only one I know who hasn't lied to me or tried to hurt me. And I never want to betray you either."
They lapsed into a long silence. Christine wondered if he had heard and understood what her words meant. When she opened her mouth to ask if he was alright, he looked up and asked in a hoarse voice, "So. Are you sure you're all done with your bra shopping?"