March 21, 1833
While Azelma had gone straight to their flat after work Éponine had stopped at the bakery and the grocer, because of her stops by the time she had turned onto rue de Richelieu it had become dark. As she placed her hand on the door knob she heard a voice behind her, "Well it sure is nice to see you again 'Ponine." She turned to see Montparnasse leaning casually against a nearby lamppost, the redness of the rose in his buttonhole seemed to glow in the lamplight.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him coldly, she clenched her hands into fists which were mostly concealed by her skirts.
"Can't one stop by to visit an old friend?" he started walking towards her, slowly and menacingly, "After all... It has been a very long time... How is dear, sweet, little Azelma?"
How did he know she was with her? Éponine's heart beat fast, "go away." she tried to stay strong but her voice faltered slightly, Montparnasse chuckled at her nervousness.
He took a couple more steps forward so that he now towered over her, "I don't think I will," he raised his hand to her cheek, "my don't you look pretty..."
Éponine turned away from him, "Stop!" she pushed his hand away but he only continued now running down her neck to her collarbone. Then he took a step forward so that she was up against the wall, "You never used to complain... Maybe you need a reminder of your place?"
Between the cool bricks on her back and his hot breath on her face something deep inside her knew exactly how this was going to end. Then his hand was lifted away from her and brought back down hard against her cheek, when he pulled it away it stung.
"You may be wearing nice clothes and in a cozy nice flat, but you ain't nothing more then a stupid, worthless whore!" He spat at her. Éponine swung a fist at him into his shoulder, but he grabbed her arm and pushed her into the wall.
"Police!" she called out as loud as she could, she also wondered if upstairs Azelma could hear what was happening to her. That thought flew from her mind as she felt something cold pressed against her throat, it was the blade of his knife, her blood ran cold. Was this to be the end? Montparnasse twisted her arm behind her back and pressed her face against the wall, the rough surface of the bricks made small scratches on her face. The blade pressed deeper into her neck, it was grazing the surface and she could feel a slight trickle of blood coming down her neck.
"I know you wouldn't dare do that... I think you know what would happen if you did..." He pushed it in even closer. "Oh 'Ponine will you ever learn?" he spoke with a cruel laugh. She attempted to struggle with him and for a second was able to escape his grasp but he caught her and slammed her back into the wall. Her face felt tender and she was dizzy and disoriented, pain racked her body as he continued to beat her. She fought until it became too much for her, then she heard footsteps of someone running quickly, they grabbed at Montparnasse and pulled him to the ground. Éponine fell against the wall of the building sinking to the ground, tears mixed in with her blood.
"You leave her alone you sick bastard!" The man shouted as fought with the young assassin.
"Police!" Éponine called out with all the strength she had left, while the two men continued to struggle fiercely, in the distance a whistle could be heard and the hurried footsteps of two police officers. She was beginning to feel extremely lightheaded and her eyes slowly began to close as the officers approached.
The two officers didn't even seem to notice Éponine on the ground, they went straight for the two men and quickly pulled them apart. "What is the cause of all this disturbance?" One of the officers asked them.
"This man was attacking that poor girl," he nodded to Éponine, she blearily looked up at the young man thinking that he looked familiar, but she could not conjure a name.
Montparnasse struggled in the police officers grip, he had never been nabbed before... And now he was to be locked up for a stupid thing such as this.
"I know who you are..." one of the policemen frowned, "a part of Patron-Minette I believe."
"What is your name monsieur?" the other policeman asked the other young man.
"Daniel Lestat," he replied.
"What about the girl? Do you know her?" The policeman asked him.
"Her name is Éponine, Éponine Thenardier," Daniel replied, the poor girl looked to be in a very sorry state indeed.
"Well she was very lucky you were here," the other nodded, "We'll see to him... Goodnight."
When the police men walked away with Montparnasse in tow he bent down to check on Éponine,then he heard the door open. "Oh god... 'Ponine!" It was the girl that he had seen with Éponine at the wedding, but he did not know her connection to the grisette.
"What happened to my sister?" the ginger asked.
"She was attacked by someone... From some street gang..." He picked her up in his arms, she was very light and easy to carry up the stairs to her flat. Her sister opened the door for him and he went inside and gently placed her on the sofa.
She shifted ever so slightly and her eyes fluttered a little, then after blinking a few times she opened them blearily looking confused. She tried to put herself into a sitting position but found herself being pushed down by Azelma. "We need to find something to turn to bandages..." she muttered looking through the flat, she then found a little bit of spare muslin. "It's not much but it will have to do..." she sighed.
"I might have something," Daniel turned to her, "give me a moment," he left and went down to his own flat. Moments later he returned holding a white linen shirt, Azelma had already started wetting the muslin and dabbed at her sisters wounds. Éponine flinched with every touch and bit of pressure that was applied to her face, Azelma looked at the shirt. "Monsieur... I couldn't... It will be completely ruined!" she shook her head.
"It's all to help your sister, I want to see her heal properly as much you do," he already began ripping the shirt.
Éponine simply tried to remain still as they continued to help her clean her wounds, once the blood was wiped away they could clearly see bruises already blooming on her cheek and around her right eye. There were a couple of angry red lines that dripped a tiny amount of blood, when Azelma noticed this she frowned, it was obvious who the attacker was.
Éponine nodded silently, then she looked back up at the two of them, "Is it that bad?" she sighed, it wasn't as if attacks like this were new to her, but it had been quiet awhile since the last time and she had not been able to react fast enough to escape unscathed.
Daniel was very surprised at how easily she was taking the whole situation, most ladies that he knew would have fainted or been inconsolable. "He attacked you, of course it looks bad."
Azelma said nothing; her sister's attitude like that developed with the frequency of Montparnasse's beatings, but their neighbor did not need to know that.
"I would almost say that this has happened to you before..." Daniel studied her face then looked to her sister who's expression was nearly identical. "Mon Dieu! You don't mean it has?"
At long last Éponine's past had caught up with her, "Did you know that man?" Daniel asked.
"His name is Montparnasse, he's a part of Patron-Minette just like our father was..." Considering that their parents had left for America the ties to the gang must have been severed.
"Your father?" Daniel asked confused, "why would he want to associate with such people?"
Éponine couldn't help but laugh, "Whatever ideas you may have about my father, they must be incorrect, he was not a man of good standing by any mean." As Éponine explained Azelma just stood off to the side quietly not wanting to get involved, she could see tears starting to brim in her older sisters eyes. Some of her argot returned to her speech as she continued to get more upset, "a liar, a cheat, a bleedin' scoundrel who sold me out to the highest bidder." The tears slowly coursed down her bruised and swollen cheeks. "It wasn't always like this... But 'e was never a good man..." She saw the horrified expression of Daniel's face, "God why did I tell you that?" she began to calm down a little and the argot melted away.
"All that happened to you?" Daniel asked, Éponine nodded her head, "'Zelma didn't have it much better off... Bet if she had stayed she would have been whored out too. But we don't want your sympathy, what's done is done..." She shook her head, "you can't change the past."
"Is this why you said I wouldn't understand?" Daniel asked.
"As you have learned there is a lot more to me than meets the eye," Éponine replied, "and not necessarily in good way." She could scarcely believe what she had just admitted to him, and yet he wasn't shying away from her. Maybe he was more understanding then she thought he would be, maybe she could give him a second chance.
"I don't care," he replied, then he looked straight in her eyes, "Éponine Thenardier... I think I love you."
Éponine's eyes widened in shock, "What?" she could not believe what he had just told her, someone loved her?
"You heard me, I love you," he repeated.
"But Monsieur I-"
"Don't try to get me to think otherwise, I love you, it doesn't matter to me who you were or are," Daniel cut her off. "Now it's probably for the best that you get some sleep." He turned to Azelma, "I'll leave you two alone..." he nodded to the girls and left the flat.
There was silence for a couple minutes as Éponine continued to lay on the sofa pondering everything, then she slowly sat up and this time was not stopped by her sister. "I don't understand..." her comment was not directed towards anyone in particular.
Azelma looked at her confused, "What's not to understand? He loves you! He saved your life!" She shook her head, "Just 'cause no one's loved ya till now doesn't mean it has to stay that way."
Éponine furrowed her brow, Azelma spoke up again, "do you love him?"
The older girl thought about her sisters question, "I... I... Think so..." of course the feelings she felt for Daniel did not feel like what she had for Marius, but then she asked herself. Had those feelings really been love? Had she ever actually been in love with him? With Daniel it seemed different, more whole... Perhaps it was because they both loved each other.
"Yes," she changed her answer, "I do."
"Good cause I would hate to see a nice fellow like that be heartbroken over you," Azelma giggled, "my, you've gotten yourself a nice life."
Éponine smiled a bit, then she tried to stand to take herself into the room she shared with her sister, her legs were a little unsteady so Azelma rushed to her side to help her. "You are not going to work tomorrow in your condition."
Éponine tried to protest but knew her sister was right, she took off her dress which now had dirt and blood on it from the attack. She checked her chemise which apart from having a little blood and a small tear, was intact.
"Go to sleep, I'll take care of everything, don't worry." Azelma instructed.
"I explained everything to Madame today and she says she wants you to come back when you are ready, she wants you to heal up," said Azelma as she entered the flat. Her arms were laden with provisions since the ones that Éponine had bought the day before had been dropped and lost during the attack. "How you feeling?"
"Better, sore but better, and bored out of mind," Éponine replied to her sister. She had moved the chair and was sitting there with a book in her hand, and to Azelma's surprise she had gone through the trouble of getting dressed.
"You haven't been resting have you?" Taking note of the fact that her sister had even attempted to put her hair up.
"I told you I was bored, besides I've been through worse," she shrugged it off.
There was a knock at the door, "who could that be?" Éponine wondered.
Azelma laughed, "Are you really so daft? Or did your brains really get rattled? It's probably our neighbor."
There was another knock, Azelma put down her things and went to get the door. "Hello Monsieur," she greeted him and let him into their flat.
"You know Mademoiselle you can call me Daniel, Monsieur is too stuffy... Too formal..." He smiled at her then looked to Éponine, "How are you?"
She sighed, "been better but it's not too bad..." She briefly glanced at him, he looked at her face, it wasn't terribly swollen but the bruises on her face looked extremely painful. Then the cuts on her neck were a dark red, they weren't very deep so the likes of them scarring seemed very slim.
She ran her thin fingers over the cover of her book almost nervously, "I wanted to... I wanted to thank you for saving me last night..." she blushed a little, admittedly she never liked being saved, believing she could care for herself. Still she couldn't help but think that if Daniel had not shown up she might have died at the hands of Montparnasse.
"It was no trouble," he rubbed his neck, Éponine could barely make out a couple of small bruises, apparently he had not gotten of without some injuries. She then looked at Azelma, and a silent conversation passed between them and her younger sister stepped out of the flat for a moment claiming she needed to have a word with the landlady.
"Daniel..." Éponine started, "I was thinking about what you said... Last night.."
Daniel couldn't believe his luck, of course he had just flat out admitted to loving her last night at a rather inopportune moment, and he had never received her answer.
"I think I love you too... But I don't know... I've never felt this way before..." She kept pausing her face slowly going more and more pink. "I've never been loved..." she swallowed, "but I suppose I should give it a chance..." She then smiled at him cheekily, "who knows, I might grow to like it."