Sorry for the loooooooooooooooooonng wait.

Chapter 22-Mr. Lane

The sun was enveloped in the clouds this morning, and it was frightfully cold. Erik had his arm on Christine's shoulder holding her close to him. Christine was cuddled deep inside his long jacket. "You know getting closer to me won't make you get warmer Christine," Erik reminded her.

"That's a lie. Getting closer to you gives me a different kind of warmth...one that I like much, much more," she explained with a wide grin on her face before stopping to kiss him.

"Well I'm glad I can finally please someone," Erik muttered.

"You more than please me," she laughed. Erik blushed.

They were approaching the Opera Populaire where they saw Raoul outside..pacing. "There you are. Listen Erik, if we're going to excecute our plan it's gonna have to happen quick. Things are getting worse." Just as the words left his mouth a loud scream erupted from from across the street. Immediately, Erik hid Christine behind his back.

A man emerged and started striding angrily toward the three. Erik stole a quick glance at Raoul who nodded. He knew immediately what to do, and Erik was actually surprised the man was for once using his head. "Come on Christine." Raoul pulled Christine to the side and grasped her in his arms.

"Where the hell do you think you're going so angry?" Erik stepped in front of the man. He knew this was definitely a vampire.

"Aw...you must be the infamous Erik," the creature snarled.

"That's what they seem to call me," Erik replied with a satisfied smirk.

The creature walked closer to stare Erik in the eye. It was trying to read Erik unlike most of the vampires. Erik immediately knew that something was different about this one from the rest of the monsters; this vampire was more like Erik. The vampire tried to get past Erik, probably to get to Chrisitne, and Erik grabbed it from behind. "No your-." He was cut off by the creature grabbing him and throwing him through the nearest window.

"Don't touch me!" It hissed before running off.

Erik quickly regained his composure and ran swiftly after the creature. In the blink of an eye, he jumped on top of it from behind and tackled it to the ground. It was strong, stronger than every other vampire he'd fought except Audrey, but even so it wasn't stronger than Erik. He quickly got his hands around the vampire's neck long enough for it to realize it'd been beaten. "Why did she send you?" Erik demanded to know. The creature struggled and struggled, but it was a waste of it's energy. "Listen you're not getting away so you might as well tell me!"

"She'll do anything to get that little girl of your's dead," he coughed.

"Why? What did Christine do to her?" Erik interrogated even more.

"It's not what Christine did to her...it's what she did to you," it explained roughly," she's given you a soul. Audrey knows you'll never join her unless Christine's gone," it continued.

"Why in the hell does Audrey want me so badly?" Erik tightened his grip as the creature was still trying vigourously to escape.

"Because you're the only-" But it couldn't finish. The creature just stopped moving.

"Hey answer my dmn question!" Erik yelled. He tried to get it to move, but it was of no use. It was dead for some unknown reason. Erik released his grip and sat back.

Raoul pushed his way threw the growing crowd. "What happened?" he asked as he approached Erik.

Erik didn't even notice him. "I'm the only...what?" he asked himself.

"Your the only one left Erik." Both Erik and Raoul looked to see an old man with a good build and white hair staring at them.

"Excuse me?" said Erik confused. By this time Christine had already run to Erik's side.

"If you want this answer and more than I suggest you come with me," the man told them as he turned around and began to walk off.

"Should we go with him?" Raoul questioned. Erik simply looked at him before getting up and running after the man.

"Hey who are you?" Erik demanded to know.

"All in do time Erik, all in do time," was the man's reply.

Erik rolled his eyes and stepped in front of the man. " Listen I don't like being the one wanting answers-"

The man laughed. "No Erik, you don't like feeling weak or stupid, but you shouldn't ever feel weak...because that's something you definately are not," he paused, "but I can't make any promises about the stupid thing," he laughed. "Now shut up and follow me."

Even though Erik didn't like it, he wanted answers more than anything so he reluctantly followed the man.

Christine stayed right behind Erik trying her best to keep up with his swift pace. "Erik wait!" she cried. Erik immediately stopped and scooped the tired woman into his arms.

"I'm sorry Christine," he apologized. They turned another busy corner being careful to keep up with the man.

"Do you think we can trust this man?" Christine asked with worry.

"I think he knows better than to cross me," Erik answered. Christine nodded. They soon reached an old run-down building much like the one Erik lived in himself.

"Well this is it," the man turned around to tell the three. He took out a key and opened the door. They all entered the building...or what was left of it anyway. "Bought this place at a discount," the man explained.

"Obviously," Raoul remarked and Christine slapped him even though she was thinking the same thing.

Christine looked around at the messy building. There wasn't a single bit of white in it. There were just ugly, ugly, and more ugly. The ceiling was covered with water damage stains, there were puddles on the dirt covered ground, the place smelled of dead animals, the wood was rotting, and bugs seemed to be lurking in every corner. Christine doubted the place was even safe to live in. The man opened another door that led to some dark stairs, and the three hesitated to enter. "Oh come on Erik, you know anything down there can't be any scarier than you," the man joked.

"How the hell do you know what I am?" Erik questioned seriosously.

The man gave a wide smile revealing two sharp fangs in his mouth. "Cause I used to be the same thing," the man answered. Confused, Erik continued down the stairs, holding Christine close. They came to a room with a sofa and a chair in it. The room was completely dark until the man pulled a string turning on one lightbulb. "Have a seat," he motioned to the dusty sofa. "You'll have to excuse the mess..I don't have company too much." Raoul noticed the scattered food wrappers and bugs running around the place.

Erik was the first to sit down, and Christine took a seat very,very close to Erik. Raoul then took a seat...also close to Erik, but he was forced to move over when Erik gave a look that could kill someone to Raoul. "So Mr. whatever you name is-"

"Mr. Lane is what I liked to be called," Mr. Lane put in.

"-Mr. Lane. How exactly are you going to answer my questions?" Erik asked.

The man sighed. "I knew that would be the first question," he paused," you must forgive me if I pause a lot. The story is quite... hard to tell...," he paused once more,"I was born in 1957. My family didn't care about me at all. My father would yell and beat me whenever he got the chance, and my mother was always too drunk to do anything about it. Even with that I was a good kid until I had turned about ten..I think...that was the year...," he paused again," that was the year my sister was taken from me. She was three years older than me, and she was also the only thing keeping me alive. She was an amazing person...always smiling, always helping, and she was always there until that day. I got home from school expecting her to have made a snack for me for when I got home. She...she did that everyday. Instead I came home to the sound of sirens and the image of a body almost completely covered by a bloody white cloth except for my sisters skinny and motionless arm." A tear rolled down his pale cheek. "My dad had stabbed her 53 times. He was sent to prison, and I was forced to live with my alcoholic mother-"

"Excuse me. It's not that I don't find this sad, but what does it have to do with me?" Erik cut in.

"I promise I'll make my point soon Erik. Just have patience," Mr. Lane replied. "Anyway I changed then. I started drinking, smoking, stealing...anything to get my mind off my harsh home life. My mom soon began to beat me too. She was even worse than my dad because instead of just physical abuse she hit the mental too...until I killed her. I just got tired of the abuse. It knawed me to my very bone!" There was a hint of anger in his voice. "Anyway I saw her in the darkness...Audrey...she never showed me her face, but her voice was so comforting in that hard time. She turned me before I even had the chance to say it was ok. You see my reasoning now for telling that story?" the man said.

Erik nodded. "Anyway, I soon began to trust her. I became her messenger, her communicator, and her hit man, but she never showed me her face. I never figured out why until she told me about you. She told me that your story was very similar to mine, and that she hated you with a passion, but she also needed you more than ever. When I asked her why she said that you were the strongest vampire alive at that moment. Then I asked her what she meant; I had been taught that she was the strongest one. She said that in her full strength she was, but that you had hurt her severely causing her to be quite weakened. That had abrupted her plans, and that in order to complete her plans she needed you, and she still needs you Erik. If you did to her what I believe you did, you threw her into the sun. That would have weakened her for decades. So technically,Erik, you're still the strongest vampire out there," the man told him staring him straight in the eye.

"But why not one of the vampires before me? Why am I the strongest?" Erik asked curiously.

"All of them are long gone...killed by Audrey or some stupid hunter," he glanced at Raoul for a second," you're the strongest vampire now because you are the only vampire living from before she was weakened that she turned."

Erik was silent...in shock but glad. If he was stronger than Audrey at the moment than he could beat her. "One more question..how did you used to be a vampire?" He put emphasis on the used to be.

The man laughed. "Much like yourself now, I fell in love. The woman gave me my soul back, and I soon lost my vampire weaknesess. You see Erik vampires are confined to darkness because they have a dark soul. You no longer have a dark soul, so you're no longer confined to darkness. You're no longer evil so you can touch a cross, and you have Christine to live off of now so you no longer need blood," the man explained.

Christine smiled at Erik. "Least you don't have to worry about whether he really loves you or not Christine. Only true love will turn a vampire back." Christine smiled and grabbed Erik's hand.

"Wait one more question," Erik interrupted, "what was Audrey's plan?"

The man lost any happiness he had in his face from before,"Complete domination," he answered.

"Wait, wait that sounds stupid," were Raoul's first words of the night.

"To you maybe sir, but to a psychotic, blood-thirsty vampire like Audrey and many others complete domination of this city and soon this world sounds like a good meal," the man said gravely.

"But if you turn everyone than they lose all their food. Vampires can't feed off of other vampires all the time," Erik remarked.

"I never said she was going to turn all the vampires. She wants to rule this world, and that may sound like some stupid cheap low-budget movie, but it's the truth. She's tired of living in the shadows and hunting her food like some sort of an animal. Vampires are power hungary and she's the worst one. She's gotten stronger and that's what she wants. She's trying to regain all her strength quicker so she can force you help her because when she's in full strength Erik, not even you can stop her," the man said gravely.

"How is she so strong?" Erik inquired.

"Because she was the first one. How she was created exactly..I don't know, but she has control over all of us now except you and me. You wanted to know how that vampire died earlier? She killed it, no doubt she didn't want you to learn anything from it," he told them.

"How long tell she reaches full strength?" Erik asked.

"Not long," the man answered.

"Whatever happened to the woman you loved?" Christine interrupted.

The man stopped and a tear rolled down his cheak. "Like all humans must one day, she died."

"I'm sorry," Christine said. The man smiled.

"You just protect this one with all that you've got Erik," the man requested.

Erik held Christine's hand harder and nodded. "Now get out of here so you can kill that worthless btch," Mr. Lane ordered.

Hope you liked it.