Ok this chapter will be the last chapter with very little Erik/Christine interaction it it. winkwink

Well everyone enjoy!

Chapter 8-Appointments

"What do you want?" Erik asked the woman he now knew as Audrey.

"I want you Erik," she replied. "You see I've got many friends, and I'd like you to be one of them," she explained. "You're not quite old enough to become permanent, but one day when I think you're the right age you'll be one of my friends forever," she continued with a sly smile on her face. Erik couldn't help but notice two large canine teeth within her mouth.

"Friends?"

"Yes friends," Audrey answered. He was a barely above a little boy, of course he wouldn't believe there were actually vampires. She could since greatness in this boy, and he would be a good friend regardless of his face. "Now will you come with me Erik?" she said as she held out her hand.

Erik was hesitant to take it. She seemed nice, and she could most likely help him now that his mother was dead. Plus Erik had never had a friend before, and he constantly wondered what that would feel like. He reached out his hand to take hers. "There's no turning back once you come with me," Audrey explained. Erik stopped his hand and looked her in her beautiful eyes, but soon took her hand. "Smart choice," she said with an even slyer smile on her face.

Erik opened his eyes slowly. He was getting tired of having dreams of his regrettable past. They were worse then having no dreams at all. At least he didn't wake up this time to see Audrey lurking around his room. He got up and went to his dresser to put on a clean pair of clothes. "Black, black, and more black," Erik said to himself.

"May I help you sir," Madame Giry asked a tall man dressed in black that was wondering around stupidly in the lobby of the Opera Populaire.

"Oh no I was just looking around," the man replied. Madame Giry eyed him suspiciously.

"Well the show is over, and I would appreciate it if you would leave sir," she informed sternly.

Raoul glared at the old woman before him. For such a small woman she was certainly very controlling. "Very well then, but before I leave I was wondering if I could buy a ticket for tomorrow night," Raoul said.

"I'm not the ticket master sir. I suggest you go outside to the ticket desk and hope and pray they're still there," she explained. She motioned toward the door leading outside where the ticket desk was.

"Oh thank you. Then I guess I'll be on my way then," the man replied.

Raoul left the woman and turned around to see a very familiar man walking through the door, or rather a creature; it was a creature Raoul was waiting to get close to. He stared Erik down, examining every little detail of the vampire. He wished he could kill the despicable thing right now, but he knew he couldn't, there were too many people around. Of course this was a good time to learn a little more about him.

"Excuse me sir, but did you happen to notice if the ticket office was open?" Raoul asked the vampire after he tapped him on the shoulder. He shuttered when touching the creature that had killed his parents, but it was part of the job.

Erik turned around to get a good look at the man that stood his height. "I didn't happen to notice…sorry," Erik answered walking off before the man could say anything else. Apparently the hunter thought Erik was stupid. You couldn't dress in all black clothing, be roaming around the Opera Populaire late at night, and be just Erik's same size if you were someone normal, and strange Erik expected hunters these days to be smarter.

"Very strange man," Madame Giry noted when Erik went to her. Erik turned around to see the man going out the door.

"He's a hunter Anne," Erik told her. As he had expected a worried look soon illuminated her face.

"How do you know?" she questioned.

"The way he dresses, the way he looks. I can just sense it," Erik replied.

"You're not worried?"

"No, he can try to kill me, but he'll never succeed," Erik said bravely.

"If you say so, but no I'm worrying about it."

"Of course Anne, you would worry," Erik joked. "I came here to see Christine for our lesson tonight," Erik explained.

"You're earlier then normal," she noticed.

"I figure it's unfair for me to come so late. The poor thing barely gets any sleep, and plus we had a big fight yesterday when she tried to repay me for the lessons. I'm going to need some time to apologize," Erik told her.

"Very well then I'll get her, and tell her you're waiting in the lobby," she said.

"That will be fine," Erik agreed. Then Madame Giry left the lobby to go fetch Christine leaving Erik alone.

Erik looked around the beautiful lobby noting the changes in the architecture that should be made as soon as possible when he heard a sound behind him. He turned around to see a hunter running toward him with a stake in hand.

"Die you monster!" the hunter yelled. Erik smiled at the stupid hunter's courage. Erik didn't even bother to move to escape the path of the stake. Before the hunter could impale him he grabbed his hand and pushed him back like he weighed nothing.

Stupidly, the hunter fell to the ground. He knew Erik was a strong vampire, but he hadn't expected that. Perhaps he was stronger then he thought. He saw Erik standing beside the lobby desk studying him comfortably, the vampire saw no threat in Raoul which infuriated him. Stake at the ready, Raoul ran toward Erik for another strike, but Erik knocked the stake out of his hand and held Raoul up in the air by his collar.

"Listen you idiot, if you're going to try in kill me then you might want to do a better job. You're just wasting my time," Erik explained to the stupid hunter. He had dealt with hunters before, but this one was by far the most idiotic. "Now go, come back when you'll actually be a challenge," Erik ordered. Then he threw him across the lobby floor to hit the doors.

Breathing heavily, the hunter got up and dusted himself off. He looked like he was completely pissed off which gave Erik a sense of pride. The hunter looked like he was about to say something, but knowing he lost this fight he left.

"What on Earth was all that noise?" Christine asked as she came running into the lobby followed by Madame Giry. Erik turned to look at her.

"Nothing Christine, don't worry about it," he insisted. "I need to talk to you a little before we start lessons."

Raoul rushed through the crowded streets. He was furious that he had failed to kill Erik. It wasn't supposed to happen like that, it just wasn't. Erik had surprised him. He didn't act like an animal as most vampires did. Erik seemed witty, smart, and more like a person then a normal creature of the night. This Erik would be more of a challenge then the hunter thought.

Tiring from the running, Raoul went into an open store to take a break. The chirping of his cell phone startled him as he walked into the store. "Hey Phil," Raoul greeted as nicely as he could in his current mood.v

"Wow what's with the cold shoulder," Phil asked noticing his younger brother's tone of voice.

"Well Phil I just faced Erik and got my butt kicked," Raoul explained still quite out of breath.

"Oh my gosh are you ok?" Phil questioned with worry in his voice.

"Yeah just a little shaken up; Phil he's a lot stronger then we could have ever thought."

"I'm surprised he didn't kill you!" Phil exclaimed.

"And I don't know why he didn't," Raoul replied. "Erik is a very peculiar vampire," he continued. "So what did you want to tell me?"

"Are you sure you're ok Ra-."

"YES PHIL!"

"Ok, ok no need to get worked up about it. I just wanted to tell I looked up some things that could be what that woman at the hospital was talking about and found nothing," Phil explained.

"Well keep looking, there has to be something," Raoul said.

"Yeah, I'll keep you updated. By little brother you be careful."

"You're not my mother Phil now BYE!" Raoul hung up the phone angrily and stomped out of the store. His brother had reminded him about the woman at the hospital. If she was going to turn then morning would be the time, and Raoul had an appointment to be there; he could only hope his appointment was not with a vampire.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Christine asked as she took her usual place beside Erik on the piano bench.

"I wanted to apologize about my horrid behavior at dinner yesterday. Your were trying to be nice with giving me your company, and well I ruined it. I'm sorry Christine," he told her sincerely. He certainly had to apologize to her a lot lately.

With a smile on her face Christine replied with, "It's ok Erik, I understand why you were angry," she said. "I'm not angry with you."

"Really?" he questioned with unbelief.

"Yes really," she answered.

"Thanks Christine."

"You're welcome." Erik studied the small, petite ballerina sitting beside him. She was absolutely beautiful even with no make up and in a robe and nightgown. He especially loved it when she smiled; her cheeks turned a rosy red, and her perfect lips made the most beautiful shape.

Christine examined the man beside her on the bench. He was looked really sexy tonight, she could only hope her expression didn't show it. She couldn't help it; a tall man dressed in black with tied up long, dark hair was just too attractive. She loved it when he looked sorry. Even behind the mask she could see the sweet look in his greenish reddish eyes. She felt like pouncing on him and tackling him and…well…she blushed at the thought.

"Christine are you still with me?" Erik said to get her attention. Feeling a little angry that he had snapped her out of such a beautiful thought Christine turned to stare at the masked man before her.

"Oh yeah, sorry!"

"It's ok, so where were we last night?"

"So doctor do you think she'll turn?" Raoul asked the doctor as the sat across the room and watched the woman breathing heavily and twitching in the hospital bed.

"Still can't tell. This could only be the result of a little of the vampire poison working through he system. Until morning we won't know if there was enough of the poison to change her," Doctor Smith explained. "We can only hope," he put in.

"I can feel her," the twitching woman in the bed stuttered. She could barely talk now. Raoul turned his head up from his chair to stare at the woman. The sun was just now coming through the window.

"Feel who?" Raoul asked as he got up to stand beside her. She was acting like she was burning up, and sweat was covering her entire body.

She laughed, "She'll kill everyone once she gets what she wants." Raoul noticed two sharp canine teeth in her mouth. This one was going to turn for sure, but Raoul needed information. He went to the window and opened the blinds, he would let Mother Nature kill her, or kill it.

"But who is she?" Raoul asked trying to get more detail out of the creature before the rising sun came through the window and turned it into dust.

"She's weak now. Hurt, she was hurt by him, but once she gets him back…" the creature gave a terrifying laugh. "Oh everyone of you wretched humans will die!" she yelled. The creature stopped moving around and stared Raoul in the eyes. Its eyes were glowing a fiery red as they always did when they first turned. Raoul shuddered when he stared at the vampire; you could never get used to their looks.

"Are you going to kill me?" it asked trying to act sexual now. Removing itself from the blankets, it sat on its knees to come to full height with the tall hunter. Raoul was not fooled, however. "We could be so much," it said still trying to trick him.

"No, the only thing you're going to be a lot of is dust!" Raoul yelled as he picked up the vampire and threw it into the sunlight. It squirmed in pain as it slowly burned to death. All that was left was a pile of dust in the shape of a woman. "God help your soul," he whispered. He hated to watch them die that way; he knew they were terrible things that would kill tons of people, but he could always since some sort of humanity in them when they died that way. He would simply have to forget about it.

"What in the hell happened?" Doctor Smith demanded as he ran in the room.

"It turned, you might want to get a broom," Raoul suggested motioning to the huge pile of dust beside the window.

Erik shot up in the bed. One of his kind had just been killed by sunlight; he could sense it. Shivering at the thought, he tried to go back to sleep. He knew no vampire was stupid enough to stay in sunlight when it could be killed. The vampire had to have been forced into the light by a hunter, and there was only one hunter in New York City that he knew of. If the hunter had killed the vampire in such a harsh way it meant that other vampires would be looking for revenge. They never would let someone get away with doing something so terrible.

"You sensed it too didn't you?" Erik looked to the side of the room to see Audrey sitting on the dresser. "I always hate it when I hear them die?"

"Audrey you're scaring me," Erik told her.

"Why?"

"You're acting like you've actually got some humanity in you," he explained.

She smiled revealing two sharp teeth in her mouth, but her smile was turned into a frightened frown. "Erik you've weakened me," she said.

"And how did I do that?" he asked completely knowing her answer.

"You know what you did. I nearly met my death the same way that poor vampire just did. You tried to kill me Erik."

"And I'm angry I failed," Erik responded.

"You would be, Erik what youreally didhurt me, physically and emotionally. I haven't quite healed yet."

"Then why are you here? Why aren't you off causing mayhem or at least trying to kill me?" he asked.

"Erik I need you," she replied. "I need you to help me. I'm weak because of you, but of you agree to join me then we'll be as great as we were before my near death experience." She had now gotten down from the dresser and was sitting on the side of Erik's bed. Erik examined the unusual vampire before him. All the other things he'd ever seen in her eyes had faded away now; she lookedvery sincere.

"Audrey I'm sorry, I can't help you," Erik replied. "Now leave." Audrey looked truly surprised and angry.

"You fool!" She put her hands to his neck; her eyes were glowing red with anger. "If you won't help me then you'll die like the rest!" she screamed. Then in the blink of an eye she was gone. Erik looked around fearfully for her, but she was gone.

"Oh dear God, what is she going to do?" he said to himself.

Hope you liked it!