Disclaimer: I don't own anything...Phantom or Vampire Diaries...unfortunately.

Chapter 2

"Why can we not speak of it out in the open?" Elijah asked, following Isobel into the maze of backstage to an eerily quiet spare room that he assumed was her office seeing as various ballet costumes were hanging on clothing racks and a large amount of point shoes piled in a corner.

"The Opera Ghost is means many things to us, Monsieur. He has embedded himself in all of our minds in various forms. For many of the older members of our company, he is real but to the younger girls he is merely a tale but, nonetheless, he effects all of us. In my experience working with his interests, it is best to speak of these matters in private seeing as the Ghost is a very private dealer. Monsieur Grant acquiesced to his every request after one incident a couple years ago involving Katerina Petrova; he was very wary of the Ghost's requests," Isobel responded.

"And?"

"And ever since then, the Ghost has been fairly quiet. He sends monthly messages to me to remind us that his salary of twenty thousand francs are due and that he always expects box number five to remain open so he may attend performances if he so wishes."

Elijah laughed in disbelief, "You pay an unknown entity a salary?"

"I would suggest you not laugh at things you do not understand, Monsieur. As I said, the Ghost is many things. Part genius…part magician…he is incredibly intelligent and cunning. And vengeful. He can be quite vengeful. In the end, he always gets what he wants so I must suggest you be careful in the way you speak about him, Elijah," Isobel said, her tone serious and a flicker of fear shone in her dark eyes.

"Madame, I understand that this…so-called phantom has you all frightened. Please forgive me, but I simply cannot believe in this entity that is allegedly haunting the Opera Populaire to be anything but a hoax and I will refuse to be pushed around by an unknown force."

The head of the ballet pursed her lips, blinking heavily while nodding her head slowly. "Very well, Monsie-"

Isobel's sentence was cut off by a blood-curdling scream somewhere backstage. Elijah stood immediately and looked toward the door. Isobel's eyes widened in alarm as she looked towards the door, her eyes flickered briefly back to Elijah's face.

"Do not say I did not warn you of the Phantom of the Opera, Monsieur," she said before another scream resonated through the halls of the Palais Garnier and Isobel sped out of the door with Elijah on her heels.

Isobel moved so swiftly through the twist and turns that made up back stage that Elijah nearly had trouble keeping up. Isobel stopped abruptly and put her hand to her heart.

"What happened?" the choreographer demanded, kneeling down to examine something. Caroline and Elena exchanged nervous glances but neither answered.

"We found her like this," Elena finally whispered, glancing at Caroline. The blonde hesitantly nodded in agreement.

Isobel nodded slowly as she moved a strand of hair out of Katerina's face, "Katerina?" Isobel asked gently.

The Prima Dona seemed oblivious to all that was happening around her. She stared straight ahead into the darkness with wide, frightened eyes. She was shaking and her breathing was shallow. Elijah could smell blood and he knelt down beside Isobel. Slow and cautious in his movements, he reached out to the woman but she shied away from him, exposing her neck and his sharp eyes caught the red, sticky liquid that covered her skin underneath her hand.

"He's here. The Phantom," she whispered in a hoarse voice. "He attacked me."

Isobel said, standing up and pulling Katerina with her, "Let's get into the light so we can see your injuries better." She ushered Katerina past Elijah before turning to look at the two girls, "What? Do you two really think simply because you found her means you get out of trouble? Come on, girls."

Elena and Caroline exchanged defeated looks and walked slowly in Isobel's direction. Elijah watched them go with an amused expression before turning to follow at the end of their little line.

"I told you we'd get in trouble," he heard Elena whisper. "Where were did you go? You just disappeared."

Caroline was silent for a moment before responding, "I…That's the point of 'hide and seek', 'Lena," she whispered back as if it were the easiest thing in the world to understand.

The rest of the journey was silent as they made their way towards the front of the Opera House.

"What happened?!" a man asked and Elijah recognized the maestro as they came out of the wing and onto the stage.

"Caroline and Elena found her backstage. She says the Ghost attacked her." Katerina nodded vigorously, one of her hands reaching up to hold her neck.

"Oh Madame, this is terrible! How will she perform tonight?! Look at her neck! Surely we will have to cancel," the maestro said with a shake of his head.

"No," Katerina said, regaining some volume to her voice. "No we shall not. I am able to sing, Maestro!"

"But your neck, Madame! With all the blood there, it is too much of a risk."

"No! It will not be a problem!"

"I'm afraid that I agree with the maestro. At least until we get a better look at your neck," Elijah said, doing his best to be reasonable. He pulled a handkerchief out of his coat pocket. "May I?"

Katerina flinched away from his touch, a flicker of fear in her eyes, and stormed to center stage. "Maestro, I am able to sing with or without this silly injury. It is merely a scratch. This pompous Ghost cannot stop me no matter how violent his threats are!"

"Madame, please," the maestro begged.

"No, Monsieur. I will not let this ghost win. He has been after me for too long!"

Elijah could not help the derisive snort that escaped him at the mention of the Opera Ghost. Four sets of eyes just looked at him in shock. "Forgive me. Really, I do not mean any offense but, as I told you Madame Flemming, I cannot believe in this Opera Ghost! Surely, Madame Katerina, you were walking in the dark and simply stumbled. It's the most plausible explanation."

"Let me get this straight, Monsieur Mikaelson," Katerina said, striding forward. "You come into our Opera House content to take on the responsibilities of owning it and yet you do not believe in the Ghost?" she accused.

"Madame, I see no reason to believe in this so-called ghost. A hoax is all it is."

"For three years, this hoax of yours has sabotaged me and you are just going to let the fact that I was attacked slip past, unnoticed?"

"Unless you can give me any detail on your alleged attacker, Madame Katerina, then yes, ignoring it is all I can do. I will do as I see fit to benefit the Opera Populaire."

"Then ignore this, Monsieur Mikaelson!" Katerina said, turning on her heel and storming past Elijah offstage. "I'll be very interested to see how you continue to do as you 'see fit' without me!"

Elijah watched her with a raised eyebrow, "Where is she going?"

"It seems, Monsieur, that you've run our lead soprano of five seasons out of our opera house," Isobel explained, pursing her lips.

"And now we must really cancel the show. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur!" the Maestro exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Nonsense. Surely you have an…an understudy cast?" Elijah asked with a shrug, crossing his arms over his chest.

"An understudy! What madness is this? You do not simplycast an understudy to Katerina Petrova!"

"Caroline can sing it," Elena said sheepishly, biting her lip anxiously after she uttered her suggestion.

"Elena," Caroline hissed, averting her gaze to the floor as Elijah studied her. The girls had been so quiet through the ordeal that he had almost forgotten they were standing there.

"A ballet girl take on the role that was previously held by Katerina Petrova?" the maestro scoffed. "That would be a disaster."

"Oh, come now, Maestro. Thanks to a very generous, undisclosed sponsor, Caroline has been receiving voice lessons from a great teacher. Let her sing for you. You will not be disappointed, Monsieur."

"What is your teacher's name, girl?"

Caroline opened her mouth and shut it again just as quickly. "Stefan Salvatore. We do not talk all that much in my lessons, though, it is merely business."

The Maestro raised an eyebrow and turned away, leaving the other four in silence. Elijah simply watched, thinking about how he would soon be refunding a full house for their tickets when he heard the piano being played in the pit.

"Mademoiselle," he called impatiently, the music stopping abruptly. "Are you going to sing for me or not?"

"Oh, right. Yes, Maestro. I'm sorry," Caroline said with a slight shake of her head as if she was ridding it of some undesired thought. She walked quietly to center stage and Elijah could hear her heart pounding in her chest.

"'Think of Me'. From the start, if you please, Mademoiselle Forbes."

Music flowed from the piano below the stage once more as Elijah, Elena, and Isobel watched intently. Caroline closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to sing.

"Think of me, think of my fondly

When we've said goodbye.

Remember me, once in a while,

Please promise me you'll try.

Then you'll find that once again you long

To take your heart back and be free.

If you'll ever find a moment,

Spare a though-"

The piano stopped once more and the Maestro stood from his position in the pit. Caroline stopped just as suddenly as the music and looked back at Isobel and Elena in alarm.

"Do not go anywhere," the maestro said. "I'm going to fetch Trevor so we can rehearse the duet. It seems we have a show to perform."

Elena rushed over to pull her friend into an enthusiastic hug. Even Elijah found himself giving the girl a small, approving nod as a truly breathtaking smile broke out across Caroline's face.

A/N: Welp, Elijah's being disbelieving and Caroline got her chance to shine! I wonder who's eye she'll catch ;)

So, on a completely unrelated note, I've started another co-work with musicalfreak that you should check out if you haven't already- it's called 'Scene Stealers' and it's a bunch of crackfic Klaroline drabbles based off epic romance scenes from movies and books:)

Anyways, thanks for reading 'In Shadow' and hopefully the next update won't take as long since I've almost got chp 4 done...(I like to stay a chapter ahead of what I post so I know for sure the plot's working out). Review if you have a minute and tell me what you think! Until next chapter:)