Chapter 9

Once we arrived at the theatre, I asked Raoul to wait for me by the main stage while I dropped my bag in the dancer's dressing room.

Meg and I were usually the first to arrive, so as usual the corridor full of dressing rooms was completely empty. I reached the end of the hallway where the dancers' room was located and deposited my bag, walking quickly out the door so as not to leave Raoul waiting.

I began to walk quickly until I heard a voice coming from the closet across the hall, obviously talking on the phone. I stopped, curiosity getting the better of me. All I distinctly heard was my name.

Carefully, I stepped lightly toward the closet door, pressing my ear to the wood.

Luckily, there was nobody in the hallway to see me eavesdropping. After listening for only a few seconds, the voice on the other side was obviously Joseph Buquet… It was impossible to forget such a disgusting voice.

"Why am I bothering with one stupid little dancer?" He scoffed. "So she took down one of your best muggers… It's not like she knows anything about your crime ring or whatever you want to call it."

I heard a man loudly shushing him over the phone.

"Don't get your panties in a twist," He snorted. "There's no one around."

"Back to Daae…" The voice on the phone said. My stomach dropped.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… You want me to interrogate Christine Daae to make sure that she doesn't know anything about the mugger she attacked, which she doesn't. How would a nineteen year old girl know about a bloody network of hired goons? Especially a goody-goody like Christine Daae!" his voice rose at the end.

"SHHHHH!"

"Whatever," He muttered.

"You must not hurt her… to be suspicious." I didn't catch the entire sentence over the pounding in my ears. What was he involved in?! What had I gotten myself involved in?!

"And if she does know?"

"Do as you will… We can't have her blabbing to her rich little boyfriend."

"Alrighty boss," He oozed, a sneer obvious in his voice.

The fear coursing through my veins temporarily paralyzed me, and I realized slightly too late that he was leaving the closet. As the knob began to turn, I took off running down the hall as the door swung open behind me, panic completely consuming me.

"Hey!" He yelled from behind me, but I didn't even stop to turn around.

Once I was among the rest of the crowd I stopped to catch my breath, feeling like I was going to faint. I attempted to slow my heart rate down and get control over myself, but my mind couldn't stop replaying what I had just heard, and I began to hyperventilate.

I stood there for a moment as I struggled to calm my breath; One thing was glaringly obvious, the less they thought I knew, the better. That meant I certainly couldn't tell Meg or Raoul about anything that just happened. I had to act like everything was fine. I focussed on deep breathing, putting my hand on my pounding head.

"Christine?" Meg walked up to me with Raoul at her side. "Are you alright? You look shaken."

"I'm fine," I plastered on the most authentic looking smile as I could. "My ribs are just a little sore today."

"Okay," She smiled, but obviously didn't believe me. "If you feel like talking about anything, even your ribs, I'm here."

"Of course," I smiled back, grabbing Raoul's hand in order to change the subject; he seemed completely oblivious to my false cheeriness. "How would you like the grand tour of the Opera Populaire?"

"Lead the way," He gestured in front of him with his other hand as I led him through the backstage doors.

"This way is all the dressing rooms," I pointed down the hallway I had just come from, struggling not to sound as terrified as I felt, but my voice cracked a little. He didn't even notice.

"Through this door right here is all the old scenery pieces and costumes from past performances. We can go in if you'd like." I smiled.

"Sure," He grinned and pushed the heavy door open.

"Wow," He gasped, gently grabbing the skirt of one of the giant opera ballgowns. "I can't believe people actually wear these."

"They're so heavy." I sighed, "I've tried one on before, just for fun."

"I think I'd like to see that," He smiled, holding up the monstrous dress.

"Maybe someday," I said coyly, turning away from him to show him some of the other scene pieces.

We left that room after a while of wandering through the costumes and scenery, and I grabbed his hand again to lead him to the doors to the basement.

"What's down here?" He questioned as I led him down a narrow staircase.

"You'll see," I teased once we reached the bottom, walking through a narrow corridor. We walked for a few minutes in silence until I reached a circular room with a raised floor.

"We're in the trapdoor system," I smiled. "This circular platform rises up onto the stage. I would show you, but we would probably scare the crap out of some dancers."

"That would be kind of fun..." He joked, and I punched him lightly on the shoulder. He laughed, looking around at all the passages. "Where to next?"

"Ummm," I thought for a moment, "Would you like to go up on the catwalk?"

"Sounds fun," He laughed and I took him to the stairway that led directly from the basement to the catwalk.

Once we reached the top, I motioned to the rehearsals going on below us.

"Wow," He breathed, "It's amazing up here."

"I come up here a lot when I want to be alone." I murmured, lost in thought. "It's so serene, being so far removed from everyone, yet still being able to see everything that was happening."

"I understand," He said, sounding vaguely empathetic, but for some reason doubt about this simple statement clouded my mind. I could tell by his voice that he didn't really understand; He was around people all the time, acting charming and dazzling as he always seemed to do. He literally lived off people's reactions to him, and always had.

I wasn't saying that is a horrible thing, but I'm quite different. As much as I loved being around people, I had always had a little bit more of a wallflower personality. I analyzed everything and everyone around me, viewing the world through incredibly detailed vision. So, I didn't think he truly understood the beauty of being alone and simply observing the world around you.

"Christine?" He waved his hand in front of my vacant eyes.

"Sorry," I shook my head, pushing up from the railing I had been leaning on. "Just thinking."

"I can tell." He chuckled. "Would you like to head back down?"

No… "Sure," I shrugged heading back to the stairs.

By the time I finished showing him around the entire opera house and answering all his questions, rehearsals were over and all of the dancers except Meg had already left.

"About time you two!" She yelled at us as we approached her.

"Sorry!" I called, "I just left my bag in the dressing room… Wait here with Raoul?"

"I'm sure I can manage that," She smiled at Raoul, who just laughed his regular, charming laugh.

"Now be good Meg!" I yelled laughingly as I scurried over to the dressing room.

As soon as I was alone fear of what I had heard earlier started to set in. Should I even be alone after that phone call?

Don't be stupid, my rational brain argued, You can't make sure you're with people all the time, especially when you can't even tell them what's wrong!

But fear still clouded over my mind and I practically fled into the dressing room, fumbling to get my bag and jacket as quickly as I could. In my hurry, my fingers fumbled with the door of the small closet in the room. I was so focussed on such a meaningless task that I didn't even hear the dressing-room door swing open.

Someone coughed behind me, and I whipped around, dropping my things in the process. Joseph Buquet stood in the entrance to my dressing room, closing and locking the door behind him, a leer plain on his disgusting face.

"H-hello," I stuttered, trying and failing miserably at sounding confident. "Can I help you with anything?"

"You and I both know why I'm here girlie." He sneered. "I know you were eavesdropping on my little phone conversation."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I protested, but my voice cracked.

"I've had my eye on you for a while Christine," He started, advancing toward me, giving me no choice but to back up. "A little goody-goody with a serious hero complex… And then I found out about you taking our mugger down and was hoping I'd be the one to 'talk' to you about it."

"It's a shame you had to be so noisy," He sighed mockingly, "If you wouldn't have known anything you would have been kept out of this."

"I don't know anything," I protested frantically, my fear had me almost crying.

I began to back away from him, but too soon my back hit the wall, trapping me on the far side of the room. He stood a couple feet away, his eyes trailing down my body. I shivered, unable to help the reaction… It was like he was undressing me with his eyes.

"Get away from me," I warned, trying to sound menacing, but it came out as more of a squeak than a threat. As he came toward me I put my arms out in front of me, trying to push him away, but he was a lot bigger than my petite frame.

He placed his hands on either side of my head and pressed his body against mine.

"Get off me!" I screamed, flailing as much as I could. He just laughed darkly leaning his face toward mine. I screamed as loud as I could, but I know in my mind that I was too far away for anyone to hear me.

I whipped my head to the side, struggling to free my arms that were pinned at my side. He grabbed my chin with one of his hands and turned my face toward his, bring his lips down onto mine. I flailed and kicked, but all to no avail. My lips already felt swollen and bruised.

I was completely helpless.

He pulled back from my lips temporarily to get a breath, laughing manically. His hands began to travel down my waist…

"ERIK!" I shrieked as loud as I could, earning me another putrid laugh.

"No one can hear you…" He breathed, bringing his face down to mine again as I struggled.

And suddenly he was gone.

Hesitantly I opened my frightened eyes and saw Buquet standing three feet away from me, two long, slender hands around his throat.

Even though I had never seen this man before, I knew immediately who it was.

My angel had come to my rescue.

His hands grasped Buquet's throat tighter, pressing down on his wind pipe. His eyes began to bug out as he grasped uselessly at my angel's hands.

"Angel," I squeaked in a panic as I realized what was happening. "Don't!"

He looked at me, his menacing eyes softening slightly. He looked at Buquet with the most frightening face I had ever seen and threw him to the ground, Buquet gasping for breath.

"You ever lay a hand on her again," He said quietly, but so much terror filled his words that even I was left terrified; it was as if everything anyone had ever feared was present in his voice. "And it will be the last thing you ever do."

The horrid man nodded hastily, scrambling to get out through the door.

As soon as he was gone I flung myself into my angel's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. He tensed immediately, then hesitantly returned the embrace, awkwardly patting my shoulder.

"Erik," I sobbed, tears staining his black suit. Terror still consumed me, and I felt myself almost unable to believe what had just happened. Someone had assaulted me, and I had been completely helpless to do anything about it… I couldn't stop myself from crying, no matter how hard I tried.

"Shhh," He soothed, he voice completely melodic. "It will be alright Christine…He will never touch you again."

"If you hadn't have come…" I wept, but he cut me off softly.

"I did come though my dear." He placed his finger under my chin as light as a feather, tenderly lifting my chin so my watery eyes could meet his. "You are safe… Nothing will hurt you so long as I am here to protect you."

He wore a porcelain mask that covered half of his face, making it difficult to see his facial expressions some of the time. If I had seen it on anyone else, I would have thought it strange, but on Erik it simply added to his mystery.

He had the most splendid eyes I had ever seen. They were a beautiful amber, like circles of pure gold. They darkened toward his pupils, making his eyes look dark and incredibly mystifying. However, it wasn't just the colour of his eyes that made them look so magnificent.

In his eyes, I saw the sadness of the world.

There was so much sorrow and darkness in his eyes that my heart nearly stopped. How could and angel with such beautiful music have such incredible torment in his eyes, which are often said to be the windows to the soul?

It was absolutely amazing.

Without thinking I reached my hand up to touch his mask, but Erik's hand immediately shot out and stopped me.

"Thank you angel," I whispered without breaking eye contact.

"Anytime, my dear." He whispered, his eyes boring into mine. We stood like that for what seemed like eternity before footsteps sounded outside the door.

"I must go my dear," He sighed, his voice full of remorse. "If you would like to see me again face to face, come back to this room at our normal lesson time tonight."

And he disappeared.

I was unable to marvel at how he could have disappeared from right in front of me, because a moment later Raoul walked in.

He stood there for a moment, alarm setting in as he saw my disheveled state, puffy eyes and swollen lips.

"Christine!" He exclaimed, running to the couch and pulling me into his arms. "What's wrong babe?"

I like "My dear" a lot better than "babe…" I thought suddenly, trying to banish the thought from my mind. I relayed the whole story to him, excluding the reason behind the attacks.

"I'm so sorry," He said, rubbing my back consolingly. "I promise you, I will have that man behind bars."

"How will you do that?" I sobbed. "You're a medic."

"Christine," He scoffed, causing me to blush since he obviously thought it was a stupid question. "When your family has money, you can get things done."

I sat there sitting across his lap for a few moments, drying my tears.

Even though I was sitting with an amazing man and boyfriend, something was… missing. Despite how I felt about him, it wasn't his face that filled my mind, but a half-masked face with haunting amber eyes. My angel's protective embrace, feeling like it could shield me from anything, his powerful voice, his unseen beauty, his terrible sorrow…

There was something seriously wrong with my life.

AN: As promised, here is another update! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter… I was so happy to get that many reviews Previews to the first five reviewers this time since I was so happy about the number of reviews on the last chapter Love you all! Please review!