Hola! Thanks for the great reviews! This chapter is longer. Sooo….. Surprisingly that's all I have to say this time. Thank you to my faithful readers for reviewing each chapter… I am ever so thankful! Please R&R!
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"I know you're scaredBut if you just learn to trust meI'll prove I'll always be thereYou don't need to worry,your heart's safe with me.
You don't want to think about the futureCause everything feels so uncertain now
And if you'd just believe I'll always love youI'd gladly write my heart out everyday
I'll continue to try and convince youUntil you believe me when I saythat
I'd give you all of me,You'd be my everything you'd be my whole worldAnd I'm not giving upuntil you trust in methat my love is for sure"
-Author Unknown
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Christine drifted in and out of consciousness. When she finally came-to, she found herself in a strange, worn-out room. She was on a small cot (the only one the room contained), and the rest consisted of a filthy sofa, paint-chipped walls, a wash stand and bowl, and a simple table. She tried to push herself up but became very dizzy and her shoulder ached excruciatingly. She collapsed back.
Where was she?
"Angel?" She called out in a groggy voice but no sound met her except the dripping in the walls. After a half-hour of staring around the room aimlessly, the door creaked open. She closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. There was a soft rustle of cloth and the scrape of boots as whoever her captor was unloaded a paper sounding bag. A jar clanked against something and she peeked through her lid. She wasn't surprised to see her Angel was the one intently making some kind of liquid substance. He was wearing the same cloak he wore on stage but other than that a loose white shirt and a simple pair of black trousers with his white mask.
" Where am I?" She asked, voice barely above a whisper.
He spun around, surprised. "Christine, you're awake!" He walked over and knelt by her bed. " Erik made this for you. It will lessen the pain a bit until we can see a doctor." Christine gulped the clear, sharp tasting liquid.
"Erik, I want to go home."
His expression turned black. "Erik can not let that happen."
Christine's lungs constricted in panic. " And why not…?"
" It's not safe. You saved your Erik, so now you are wanted for protecting a criminal. And if you must know, we are at a small inn in the out-skirts of Paris. We are running away."
She gasped. "Running away…? Erik, have you gone mad? What about my job, my contract, my friends… my future? You are just going to take all that away? You have no right!" She fell back on her pillows, coughing from her rant.
He watched her, obviously confused. " But I thought… Erik thought… That you chose him, not the boy."
Christine tried to remain calm. " I didn't choose you I saved you. I would never have forgiven myself if I let you die before my eyes. Besides, we could never truly be happy with each other, What kind of a life would we have?" She knew she loved him, but she just couldn't admit it… not yet.
The man before her clutched the sheets, eyes filling with an innocent hope, like a child jumping up into their parent's bed on Christmas morning, anticipating the things ahead. " Oh Christine, our life could be beautiful! One full of music and love and passion…we could even get a little flat of our own like… like…. A real husband and wife! Oh Christine, I could give you the world! say you will, say you want to!"
"I… I can't. I want to go home as soon as possible. I… I'm sorry."
His eyes which only moments ago shone with love and excitement, filled with tears as he stared at his hands which loosened their grip on the sheets. He stood and turned away from her. She might as well have taken his heart out and stomped on it.
"I can't. I have to keep you here with me." Christine began to protest but he lifted his hand. " It's for the best, for all our sakes." And with that, he stormed from the room to go do heaven only knows what, leaving her to cry to herself. How she wanted Raoul with her. Not the cold, cruel Raoul of late, but the one that, those many years ago, stood dripping wet and holding her beloved red scarf, a crooked smile adorning his baby-like face. She could only pray that Raoul still existed.
After staring at the ceiling for a while, Christine noticed a book sitting on her bed-side table. She reached the right arm across her to reach it, but to no avail, so she tried her injures arm. " Almost… have it…" She strained, but suddenly lost balance and collapsed to the floor on her bad shoulder. The pain was too much. She cried out, but no one came. After what seemed an eternity, Erik came bursting through the door.
" Christine! We must leave this instant! They're co-" he stopped cold when he saw her in a heap on the ground. " Ma Ange! What happened?"
" I-I fell. Please Erik, I need to get the bullet out of my shoulder." Erik looked nervous.
" First we must leave, the officers are here, as in inside the hotel. Come, I prepared Caesar." he scooped her up into his arms and crawled off the first story window, riding off on the white horse. They where in the woods by the time Christine moaned in agony.
" I-I can't go… any… f-farther…" She became limp in his arms and he quickly steered Caesar into a cluster of trees, gently resting her on the ground.
" What do you want me to do?" He trembled, hating to see her in pain.
" Please… t-take the bull-bullet o-out." Sweat shone on her brow and she shook with pain.
" I… I can't! I'm not a doctor, Christine!"
" You can… Angel. I kn-know you c-c-can. Did y-you bring medical s-supplies?"
"I always do."
" G-good. Get the twe-ezers."
He took a small leather bag from the supplies and kneeled beside her. " Good, n-now pull the sl-sleeve down on my l-left sh-shoulder."
He paled. " But I… it would…"
" Erik just do it!"
He hesitantly pulled it down just enough to reveal the wound, which caused him to gasp. It had turned flaming red and swollen, puss forming around the deeply embedded bullet. It was buried so deep in her delicate flesh, it revealed broken muscle and ruptured blood vessels. Infection was spreading, and fast. Tears formed in his eyes.
" It… It's ok, Angel. J-just put the tweezers in there and… pull it out. I… I can handle it."
He did as he was told, but the second the cold tweezers hit her infected flesh, she let out a quiet groan, not able to hold in the flood of tears any longer.
Erik quickly drew back. " I- I can't Christine. I can't bear to let myself hurt you. I would never forgive myself."
"P-please Angel, f-focus." She raised a trembling hand and rested it on his masked cheek. " I… I trust you. But you-you'll only b-be hurt-ting me more if y-you don't. It's ok."
The tender touch made him weep more, but she had said she trusted him! He couldn't fail her now. He wiped his tears and started again.
The tweezers where almost half-way in before they reached the bullet. Christine whimpered with each movement, which only caused Erik more tears. She knew it broke his heart to see her in pain, but he didn't know it was going to make it better.
Finally the bullet was out. Erik just held it in his hand a while, staring at it. " Erik, what's the matter?"
Sobs shook his broad shoulders. " This… this bullet was intended for my… my heart. You saved my life, Christine." He turned to her, " I am forever in your debt, Ma Ange."
She smiled weakly. " For now, just clean and bandage it if you will." He jumped to it and soon they where on the road again. She hardly remembered any of it, because her fever seemed to be growing hotter and hotter with each passing hoof-fall. After what seemed an eternity, Erik was lifting her weak body into his arms again.
" Where… where are we?" she asked in a groggy whisper.
" An old friends. He studied medicine as well as law enforcement back in Persia. He can treat you." She nodded slowly, too weak to say more.
Erik knocked on the unique cottage's door. A short man with spectacles dresses in a simple tunic and an orange turban answered the door.
" Yes, can I help you?" He asked in a thick accent.
" What, you don't recognize me, Darius? Surely Nadir doesn't know many masked men."
Recognition dawned on the kind looking man's face. " Monsieur Erik! Please, come in, come in! I will get my master." He disappeared around the corner and Erik set Christine on some pillows placed around a low table, sitting beside her. He gently brushed back her dew-damp curls away from her face, while she just closed her eyes, too weak to do little else.
" I love you, Christine."
" Erik… I-"
"Erik, my old friend! Long time no see!" A tall man dressed in Persian robes came striding in, white teeth shining behind his salt-and-pepper beard. He saw the trembling girl on the ground, smile disappearing. " Dear Allah, Erik, who is this woman and what happened to her?" Erik explained the whole thing.
" I see. Bring her in here." Erik complied and set Christine on a large bed in what appeared to be the master bedroom. Nadir examined the wound. By the look on his friend's face, Erik could tell it wasn't good.
" What is it? What's the matter?"
" The infection is spreading fast… to her heart. I need to give her some anesthetic to stop it. Clean the injection site and I will fetch the things."
He was soon back filling a needle with the clear liquid. Christine fainted at the site of it. Once the anesthetic was all inside her, her arm was bandaged and Erik pulled the covers over her body and pulled a chair up to the bed.
Nadir rested his hand on Erik's shoulder. " Come Erik, let's eat something, and talk of old times."
Erik smiled. " No, I want to stay here with her. I want to gain her trust… I… I love her, Nadir.
" Ah, I see." The Persian knelt beside him. " and what if she does not feel the same, or wants to leave you?"
" Then I will tell her it's not a matter of love, it's a matter of safety. She's A fugitive now. I just need to find a place to stay…"
The darker man laughed. " If there ever was a polite way to invite ones-self to stay, you just did it."
" No I-"
" It's fine, it's fine." Nadir chuckled. " The house has no room, but there is an old servant's house out back. Darius lives in here, so it's available. Until you find out what to do, that is. I'm a friend, not a homeless shelter." Erik smiled and shook Nadir's hand gratefully.
" Thank you, my friend."
" Gladly. Goodnight, Erik."
" Yes, goodnight."
Erik placed a wet rag across Christine's fore-head. Her usual milky-white skin was blotchy red and burning to the touch. Long brown lashes fanned her cheeks and berry-like lips mumbled incomprehensible ramblings in her sleep. He gently lifted her small, cold hand into his lager ones. He remembered singing to her when she was sick as a child and what comfort it brought to her feverish dreams.
" Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime," He sang softly. " Lead me, save me from my solitude. Say you'll need me with you here, beside you. Anywhere you go let me go too. Christine, that's all I ask of you…"