CHAPTER 8
"Her name is Christine Daae," Hades spoke, and my heart stopped.
It took every ounce of acting skill I possessed to sound nonchalant about the situation. "And what do you plan to do?"
"I'm sending one of our men to question her… We need to know if she knows anything, the whole thing seems too fishy to ignore. A nineteen year old girl attacking a full grown man simply out of the goodness of her heart? That's just ridiculous." He snorted.
Obviously he didn't know Christine like I did, but this comment still made me angry. Christine really was that good. She had put herself at risk to save someone she didn't even know, simply because she felt it was her responsibility.
It took me a minute to realize that Hades was waiting for a response.
"Of course," I snorted back. "However, I think it would be in our best interest for the girl not be harmed… She already has enough attention because of the incident in the first place, and harming her would bring unwanted attention to ourselves."
"Good thinking Phantom." Hades said, "I shall order Buquet not to harm the girl."
"Buquet?" I choked, immediately catching myself and trying to make my voice sound like a sneer. "Do you honestly think a man as disgusting as Buquet would not harm a young girl?"
"He won't if he knows what's good for him."
"I still don't think it's wise," I advised.
"He is the best person for the job, he is even employed at the opera house she works at." He spoke with pride, like he was brilliant. Self –important asshole.
"When do you plan to start?" I asked, irritated.
"Friday," He responded, "So we can dig up any other information that might pop up."
"I have business to attend to," I clipped. "Until next time."
He didn't even have a chance to respond before I hung up the phone.
Panic started to consume me and my face went even paler than it already was. Disgusting, horrible, sleezy Buquet was being sent after MY Christine, and there was no way he wouldn't harm her.
I was going to have to keep a constant watch over her, even if it meant following her straight to her apartment every day…. And I had until Thursday to start formulating a plan. Whatever happened, I had to make sure Christine remained completely oblivious to all this.
I stayed seated for a moment, my brain concocting several different plans at once. My mind was incredibly systematic, and had never been confronted with this type of panic before… It was an incredibly confusing feeling.
I settled on writing another letter to Andre and Firmin… Christine would be able to sing in another week, and Hannibal opened in about two weeks.
Dear Mr. Andre and Mr. Firmin,
I wrote in my typical cursive, but my hand was shaking slightly.
You have not followed my instructions.
I am aware Christine Daae is currently unable to sing, but come another week she will be, and then she will replace Carlotta in Hannibal.
You will follow my instructions if you value both yourselves and this opera house.
OG
I placed the letter on their desk, grinning with satisfaction… Short and threatening, just the way I liked it.
Having accomplished that, I stole into my lair, for once not feeling like playing my piano. For some reason I was exhausted, and I simply felt like curling up under the covers. Sleep quickly overtook me.
I watched Christine Daae arrive at the theatre early that morning, scared to even take my eyes off her. She took her place on the side of the stage watching the dancers rehearse, a look of longing plain on her face.
My spot high in the roof of the theatre gave me a perfect view of the entire stage, so as soon as Buquet arrived, I could see where he was.
He stood behind a curtain backstage, just observing everything that was going on. Even he wasn't stupid enough to try anything while Christine was with people, so she was safe for the time being.
He crept around backstage, never taking his filthy eyes off my Christine… I fought the urge to jump down there right at that moment and strangle the disgusting waste of air.
A loud noise broke me out of my murderous revelry. The idiot Buquet had knocked a set piece over backstage, and Madam Giry stormed over to him, screaming at his stupidity.
Christine's friend took this opportunity to talk to her, and I watched as Christine's eyes lit up with excitement. I couldn't hear her over Madam Giry's screaming… What was she so excited about?
The rehearsal was over quickly, and I prepared to follow Christine to her and Meg's apartment. The two girls were two of the last people to exit the theatre, and they walked through the street, chatting loudly.
I was an expert at not being seen. By keeping to the shadows on the side of the street, I was able to follow them all the way back to their apartment without being detected.
The apartment building however, was a different story. It was decently secured, with not easily climbable fixtures on the outside of it… Perhaps I needed to install one of my one way windows into her room…
For the time being, I settled on guarding the door of the apartment.
Nearly three hours past with nobody showing up at the apartment, but at 7:00 a gaudy, ridiculously ostentatious car pulled up at the curb, a smartly dressed boy stepping out of it. Judging by the way he was looking at his watch, he was picking someone up.
I snorted softly. My Christine would never be caught with such a ridiculously showy man, who walked with such an air of arrogance. Everything about him, from the way he strode with his nose in the air, to the obviously expensive tailored suit, to the ridiculously expensive car, screamed "Spoiled rich boy."
This is why I was so shocked when he emerged five minutes later with my Christine on his arm… how had the fop managed to deceive someone as bright as Christine?
However, seeing her with this ridiculous fop wasn't the main reason my heart stopped.
I had never seen anyone more beautiful in my entire existence. Somehow she had tamed her usually wild curls into a graceful hairdo that framed her delicate facial features, and the dress she was wearing extenuated her petite figure. My gaze travelled down to her largely exposed legs that looked incredibly long in the petite silver shoes she was wearing. She was marvelous.
And climbing into a car with the fop.
Anger bubbled in me as he looked her over appreciatively while she wasn't looking, anger clouding my brain so much I almost forgot to get in my car and follow them.
I followed at a far enough distance that I wouldn't be detected, but close enough that I could still see Christine chatting and laughing. The boy didn't even have enough sense to put the top of the car up to protect Christine's beautiful curls, but they somehow managed to stay in place… Female hair products truly astounded me.
When they pulled up in front of Daniel, I nearly snorted allowed with contempt. Why would Christine allow herself to be taken to such an expensive place, when the boy was obviously just trying to show off his family's money?
I allowed a couple of groups go in before I went to get my own table within the restaurant. Luckily the waiter led me to a table relatively near Christine and her fop, but not without casting curious glances at my mask.
The waiter walked over to another server and whispered in his ear, casting an obvious glance in my direction. I sighed heavily… Going out in public was such a pain; this is why I kept to my opera house.
The second server came up to me to take my drink order, obviously staring at my face.
"What may I get for you Mister…?" He questioned, looking at me eagerly for a name.
"Smith," I said, sounding as removed as I possibly could. "A good dinner wine should do nicely; I shall trust your choice."
"Yes sir," He said nervously and walked away, whispering something to the first waiter.
I glanced over at Christine, and saw the fatuous boy stroke her lovely cheek, and then place his large hand over her small one… It made me want to strangle him.
My Christine should not be with someone as obviously senseless as this fop, and it made me sick to see her with another man.
I had to suffer through the rest of the evening with countless stares from waiters and other patrons, as well as watching the fop flirt mercilessly with my Christine… and worse, her flirting back. The only mercy was the food at Daniel was actually fairly wonderful, and I actually did enjoy the meal.
When I saw the fop hand his waiter his credit card, I motioned a server over and paid the bill, following a fair distance behind them out the door.
Unfortunately, whoever the fop was, his family must have been important patrons since his car was already waiting outside the restaurant. This meant that by the time my car was retrieved for me they had already driven away into the night.
Panic started to blossom in my gut as I sped as quickly as I could through New York City roads to Christine's apartment, not liking her being out of my sight. For some reason traffic was against me, and it took me nearly double the time to return as it did to arrive at the restaurant.
When I finally parked my car in the alley it always stayed in and took my stakeout place outside the door of her apartment, I was surprised to see the fop's car still there. He should have left by now.
Anxiously, I stole into the apartment building, coming to a stop outside Christine's door.
Silence.
Deciding to take a chance, I easily picked the lock and slowly pushed the door open, ready to disappear at the slightest movement.
Nothing.
I stole into the room, startled to see Christine and her fop sleeping, curled together on the small sofa. It made me sick.
I stared at his hands on her, and her body against him, and an overwhelming sense of longing came over me. I wanted to be the one holding her petite body, locking her in my embrace, taking her to dinner, and simply being with her…
I kneeled on the floor and stared at her, holding my hand over my heart as so many new emotions threatened to completely overwhelm me. A single tear trickled down my face.
What was this? I wiped the tear away, staring at it on the tip of my finger… It was the first tear I had shed in over twenty years, and all because of something I felt for Christine. Was it love? I didn't know… Love was such a foreign concept to me, I doubted I could even recognize it. However, it was more than simple desire.
What I did recognize was an all-consuming need for her. I needed her to sing for me… I couldn't let this music and these emotions I had so recently discovered go dormant again. It wouldn't happen.
As quickly as it had come, the warm feeling fled, replaced by a much more familiar, dark emotion. There was no way a creature as splendid and angelic as Christine Daae could ever love a monster as dark and twisted as me. The darkness in my soul would never be able to satisfy the light within hers.
However, one thing was for sure; I would not lose her, especially not to the fop. I needed her to complete my song, and the fop would not steal that away from me.
I leaned over him, putting my hands around his neck as I would to strangle him… It would be so easy, just a quick squeeze to cut off the airways, or a quick twist to break the vertebrae in his neck. Slowly I pulled my hands away, looking to the angel sleeping in his arms.
I couldn't do that to Christine; allow her to wake in the arms of a dead man. Her heart couldn't take it, and I could never hurt her like that. My tactics would have to be different this time.
I stared at her sleeping form, a plan beginning to formulate in my mind.
No matter what I had to do, I would possess her; body, mind and soul. Even if I had to resort to some drastic measures, she would be mine.
AN: Merry Christmas everyone! As promised, here is another update… There will still be an update on Friday as well Thanks to everyone for reviewing… I didn't have a chance to send out chapter previews since I was working in such a short time frame, but the first three reviewers from the last chapter, and the first three reviewers for this chapter will get previews.
A note for the anonymous reviewer "Mask"…
In response to your review, Christine is naïve, and vulnerable and maybe even a little bit stupid at this point… She is still mourning the loss of her father, and is willing to cling to anything that could possibly be attached to him… Even a strange voice that claims to be her angel. For what I am trying to accomplish, I don't feel I'm moving too fast, and I am trying to focus on their feelings (that was good advice), but you only read chapter one… So obviously it's probably going to seem a little quick without seeing how it fits into the big story. I do appreciate the criticism, but I wish it would have been more constructive, as opposed to just negative. Telling me to rewrite my story is not something that I view as constructive, and the fact that you didn't sign in to an account tells me that you probably realized this was pretty much a flame, and would probably offend me… If you have some genuine criticism, please don't flame, and sign in so I can contact you and explain myself, or even ask for further advice
I don't want this to look like I can't take criticism… I can, I promise you. I was just angry at how negative this review was phrased, and the fact that I am having to put this in the author's note since you didn't sign in.
Anyways, that's the end of my rant Thank you to all the people who faithfully read this story… I love you all! Merry Christmas, and please review!