Chapter 46

Raoul's POV

I was woken up by one of the servants after a restful night of sleep; the most restful night that I had experienced in a long time. The fellow looked at me in a show of sympathy for what he thought would be my grief. "Monsieur le Vicomte I regret to inform you that the Comtesse passed away in her sleep last night. She was found a short time ago by one of the servants. She appears to have left this earth so peacefully. She still had a smile on her face when she was found. Her eyes were still open."

I had to disguise my satisfaction in mock grief. "I am glad that her end was so peaceful. I am sure that my dear departed 'cousin' has gone right where she deserves to be. I have no doubt that she will make her place there just as she was able to make her place in life."

I could see for a moment that the servant thought as I did, that she was no doubt burning in hell, but he too was an actor. As I had suspected, I heard no spontaneous outpourings of grief from anyone. I was not in the mood to pretend so I instructed a servant to fetch the undertaker and a priest and to contact her attorney. The latter was the most important thing to me, as I could not wait for Maman and me to inherit everything.

I continued by telling him "I must go into town to send a telegram to my mother, to inform of her dear 'cousin's death'. She will undoubtedly wish to come here to say one last goodbye. Please have someone saddle up Pegasus for me. I will likely be back later but do not bother to make any dinner for me. I am not sure that I will be in the mood to eat alone without her stories that she regaled me with. I am sure that you will all understand the necessity that I be left alone in my grief. Please send my regrets to the priest for my absence. I am too bereft to deal with such matters at the current time."

I couldn't wait to escape that place, even if I had to ride to visit my old enemy's residence. I was proud that I, who the Phantom always considered to be a witless fop, could settle our mutual problem decisively without his help. If I had stuck to the Phantom and the Persian's plan, it could have been years until Grandmere had died. I did not want to wait that long to claim what was rightfully mine. I was tired of doing everything in the honorable way. I tried to help Christine by setting a trap for the monster who was stalking her by calling in the gendarmes to arrest him. Of course I tried to kill him when they failed to find him and arrest him. I had already let the Phantom go once when I had him at my mercy, but she stopped me. I did not want to make the same mistake again, after he strung me up with his Punjab lasso and threatened my life and tried to force himself upon Christine. She turned on me for doing what was right and just, and ended up with him. Even if he was not so murderous he had still done many terrible things around the Opera House but he ended up with Christine, not me.

Then there was Grandmere who spent a lifetime manipulating people into performing horrible acts. How dare she manipulate me! She paid a steep price for underestimating me. Of all of the people she had hurt, it was me who made her pay with her life. Not the almighty Phantom. I needed to let the Phantom know that I was as strong and clever as the rest of them, especially him. The Mulheim family would no doubt accept me as one of their own as now I too was a murderer. Besides for that title I could no longer be sure of who I was, everything had changed since I had come to Alsace. I started out believing that my actions in Paris had been both just and warranted. The Comtesse had subverted my good intentions and turned them to bad ones. She had nurtured hate in me, where I did not even know that I was capable of such. I had always been known for my placid disposition, but she had taught me how to hate, just as she had turned all of the Mulheim's into murderers. Despite everything that I had learned I still hated Erik. It was hard to remove that cancer from my mind, even if I now knew that she had originally implanted it in me. My neck and my cheek still bore the scars of our previous encounters. I needed to exorcise that demon from my mind and from my heart as well but could I overcome the past? Did I even want to?"

I sincerely hoped that Christian was still alive. If not I knew with certainty that I would be greeted with hostility from many quarters especially from Otto, and of course the Phantom. It was hard to believe that the vile looking creature was related to me but Volker had convinced me for he knew that I could check up on what he told me. Perhaps, I would ask to see a photo or a painting of Georges Mulheim just to be sure. If so, all this time I hated my own cousin. I shot an even closer relative, although to be fair he was never my target. To my shame, I know that I aimed for Christine. My jealousy had taken hold of me in an unholy instant. I will never admit that to anyone save my confessor. He will have more than one sin to pardon when I return to Paris. Let everyone else believe that I intended to kill Erik. If the Phantom knew any differently, he would probably kill me. He did not protect his own life with the same reverence that he protected hers. Thank God Christian knocked the rifle out of my arms, because I had her in my sights when I started to shoot. It will be my burden to bear for the rest of my life that I almost killed the woman that I had loved. Of all the accusations that we hurled at the Phantom on that night on the roof, who would guess that he had forsaken killing just when I had begun to kill. My grandmother had created a legacy that would outlive her timely death.

Erik's POV

Meg was prepared to maintain an all-night vigil at Christian's side. He had only been awake for a short time before he drifted back off to sleep. He looked a little less pale than he had right after the shooting, but he still looked like death. We tried to coax her to go to bed but she would not leave his side lest he were to awaken without her faithful hand clasping his. I ordered a servant to bring a small cot to Christian's sickroom, so that Meg could sleep while the rest of us took shifts keeping watch over my stricken cousin. Much to our dismay he was still feverish. He still maintained a fever through the night. But at dawn the fever broke, while I was watching and I woke up Meg to tell her of the new development.

She smiled at me in relief. "See Erik, I told you that he would live. Christian is a strong man, too strong to die."

"I never doubted it, after our little talk. You would kill him over again if he were to disappoint you by dying without your permission." I teased.

A half hour later he opened his eyes and stared into my eyes with his own green Mulheim ones "You and Christine, you are both alright?" he whispered.

"Yes, Thanks to you cousin" I replied continuing "You saved us both But I told you that yesterday. No one has ever cared about me enough to make such a sacrifice." My voice was choked with emotion.

"So you forgive me then?" he asked me staring into my eyes.

"I already told you that we owe your our lives. Of course I forgive you cousin. Even before your sacrifice I had done so. What you did was both foolish and unnecessary, I had already forgiven you." I admonished.

"No he would have killed you, or Christine, if I did not interfere." He told me stubbornly. "I did not want to lose you, cousin. I have grown quite fond of you."

I smiled I was touched by his words. It was the first time in my life that someone had been so welcoming to me. I was never welcome anywhere. I teased him to lighten the mood "Have it your way; if you insist on being heroic. You remind me of the Vicomte with your unceasing need to save the day. Perhaps it is because of that full head of blond hair that you both sport. Perhaps being bald has some benefits." I had changed back to my smooth dark wig, now that I was no longer a wanted man. I felt more myself that way. Christine preferred me that way as well, since it was how she always knew me.

"You should have stayed a blond, perhaps we could have rubbed off on you." he joked weakly.

"I will never be heroic Christian." I admitted to him a little sadly "No one expects heroism out of a creature as hideous as me."

"But you already are a hero Erik, you have overcome more pain than any one person should have to bear, and you have made better men of those of us who are around you.

You have given me the chance to redeem myself, when I thought that my soul was lost forever."

I smiled at his foolish notions. "You are still a melodramatic fool cousin; with your Teutonic notions of Gotterdammerung, and Strum und Drang. You need to be a hero to bring order to the universe. I will always be a Frenchman I care nothing about order, or ancient gods. I am a creature of passion."

I could see that he was tired. I turned to Meg "I will leave you to tend to your fallen hero. He will need a lot of tenderness before he feels himself again." I smiled at Christian "In the meantime you must get better soon. Christine and I do not want to delay our wedding for too long, to wait for you two to stand beside us to reaffirm our familial ties to one another."

Meg looked at me with concern "You and Christine don't need to put off your wedding to wait for us. It is sweet but unnecessary."

I looked at her "You are wrong Meg. Christian and I already discussed this. It is more necessary than I believed it to be when I first proposed it. We need to completely heal the rifts that have destroyed the Mulheim family for so long. Once the Comtesse is locked up in the asylum we will broach no further attempts to divide us and cause us to harm one another unnecessarily. The game is over; she has played her last bloody hand."

A moment later a servant came in and turned to me "Herr Freiherr, the Vicomte de Chagny has just arrived and requests that he have a moment of your time."

I looked at him in surprise "The boy is here, and wishes to speak to me. Why?" I looked to Meg and Christian "The fop has abandoned his post already."

"He did not say." The servant admitted "But he told me that the matter was of some importance."

I looked at Christian and Meg and excused myself telling them. "This is rather unprecedented that the boy would desire to seek me out but I will be back to check upon you both a little later. Perhaps he has changed his mind about dueling with me. Maybe the Comtesse has gotten to him and he now believes in her lies."

"You would not really duel him Erik would you? If he were to beat you or even if you were to beat him, the Comtesse would still win." Meg asked me with concern.

"I will do what honor demands, I promised him such. I cannot kill him outright, Christine would never forgive me, and her love means more to me than continuing to nourish my hatred of the boy." I told them.

Christian smiled weakly "I would gladly be your second cousin."

"Nadir would be my second Christian. You have risked your life enough for me." I smiled at Meg "I could never repay either of you for what you have already done for me by putting Christian at risk once again."

I left the room, and proceeded to the study where I found my adversary examining the animal heads lining the wall. He did not see me come in and I smiled at the thought of startling him, thereby giving the fop a disadvantage right away. I threw my voice across the room so as to have it come straight from a stags head at which he was gazing.

"Perhaps you would prefer the Phantom's head to be displayed as mine is?" He jumped in fear completely startled.

I laughed at the sight of his look of sheer terror. "Really Monsieur le Vicomte" I drawled in a very condescending manner "You should learn to be more aware of your environment. Perhaps you would not be startled so easily. I see that you have survived the night with your precious grandmother. But why have you abandoned your post?"

He gave me a nervous look. "Why must you do that Phantom? I have come here to speak with you yet you mock me."

I looked at him contemptuously as if he were a lower form of life that I was examining. "Why have you come here? Do I need to ask you to empty your pockets so that I can be assured that you are not carrying a pistol or knife or other such weapon to use on me. I am sure that you would like to see me mounted on the wall, like the other beasts in here.

The German's are so fond of hunting. We French prefer other pursuits such as l'amour."

"I did not come here to fight with you at all Phantom, quite the opposite in fact. I have come here to inform you that I have taken care of the Comtesse." He told me proudly.

I searched his expression but could find no sign that he was lying. In fact his face was devoid of its usual expression of either disgust or hostility towards me. I found that to be surprising since only the day before he was ready to kill me.

"How have you taken care of the Comtesse?" I asked him. "Did you find a proper asylum of your own liking?"

"No, not in that way at all, I found another more effective way to take care of her. She will no longer harm anyone where I have sent her." He told me.

"I don't understand. What is it that you wish to tell me?" I asked.

"Only that she is dead. I decided to solve the problem in the way that she would have handled it herself. I emulated Christian and I smothered her as she slept." He bragged devoid of all signs of remorse.

"You did what boy?" I could not believe that the boy was capable of such an act. Of course he was more than capable of attempting to dispatch me. He had proven it on more than one occasion.

"I thought that it would be the best approach to insure that she did not hurt anyone else. No one saw me. Even if they did she was not well liked by her servants. I doubt that anyone would care." He told me. "I wanted to bring you the news so that you did not go through the trouble of finding a place to keep her. Her death was the least that I could accomplish considering all the crimes that she has committed against our family."

"Our family, you mean mine." I told him bluntly.

"No ours cousin, I have it on good authority that I am the spitting image of my grandfather Georges von Mulheim, which makes me your cousin, and Christian's as well." He added. "Otto is my uncle. Do you know of any pictures of my grandfather? I would like to see for myself what he looked like."

"I am sure that Christian could find one if he were not indisposed from the little matter of your attempted murder of him." I told him angrily.

"Technically, my target was you, but I would like to apologize for that attempt and my others as well. As you are well aware, I acted on false information. I understand if you wish to seek satisfaction from me but for now, I would rather not see more violence flare up between us. You see, despite everything I do love Christine a great deal, more than I hate you. My greatest desire is to see that she is happy and if you make her such then I must yield the day to you. I would rather have had it go differently but it is now clear to me that she has chosen you and not me. I will learn to live with her choice." He told me. "However much you and I might detest one another." He added.

He glared at me undisguised hatred but then extended his hand to mine as if to call a new truce. I was reluctant to grasp it. He had been such an arrogant bastard for all these months. He did not even recognize my claim to humanity. I was suspicious that it was a trick, a new way of making an attempt on my life or at least my sanity. Perhaps he thought that it would be a new way of winning back Christine by making me look terrible once more if I did not accept.

He looked at me slyly throwing my own sort of sarcasm back in my face "Surely you, the great and fearless Phantom of the Opera is not afraid of me, the man who you refer to as the fop? Or the boy? Your words and deeds have unmanned me just as much as any of mine have done to you. Am I to be the better man than you Phantom?"

I did not expect such an intelligent challenge to issue from the boy's mouth. Perhaps he did inherit some of the Mulheim intelligence after all. I had seen only hints of such in the days at the opera house, when he schemed against me, but it appeared to be coming out in full bloom. I came into the room attempting to scare and intimidate him into submission but he had not fallen for my attempts to do so aside from being startled at first. He had set the rest of the agenda of our discussion and put me on the defensive, at least slightly so since he did apologize to me. He extended his hand once again.

"Will you not take my hand for the sake of Christine and for our family? I know that you have forgiven Christian for his terrible action against your grandfather. I have done nothing so drastic against you, except take care of your enemy, and yet you will not accept my offering?"

I took his hand reluctantly. I never dreamt that I would do so with the Vicomte. He shook my hand firmly and resolutely. I looked into his eyes he was smiling but his eyes were obsidian and for once unreadable. I could not yet figure out what his game was but he had clearly taken a new approach that I had never seen from him in the past. Perhaps he was not so unworthy of an adversary after all. I certainly had not expected either his decision to dispatch the Comtesse to hell, or this attempt to make peace with me. For the first time he had outflanked me in our little chess match. Perhaps I underestimated the fop? Or were his attempts at peace real?"

"I cannot promise that we will ever truly like one another Phantom. We have caused one another too much grief for us to just forget all of it and let all of our mutual animosity go. We have a long road ahead of us, before either of us could let all of it go, but I am willing to attempt a more civil relationship if you are." He looked at me expectantly.

"I suppose that I could meet you halfway boy, for Christine's sake." I told him.

"Could we start by deciding on new names to call one another? Perhaps given our status as cousins, you could start by calling me Raoul. Is that acceptable to you cousin?"

I nodded my acquiescence "I suppose that you may call me Erik." I conceded reluctantly as if granting him a favor.

"Now that we have settled may I call upon Christian and Meg? I would like to apologize to them."

"Alright" I told him "You may walk alongside me to where Christian is convalescing. I would not have you following behind me where I might be exposed to a knife or gun." I added.

"Fair enough" Raoul told me "I suppose that it might take a while before either of us can trust the other not to do something terrible to the other. I am not keen to feel any pokers on my face or lassos around my neck either. Do I need to keep my hand at the level of my eyes?"

I smiled evilly. I still somewhat relished the thought of choking the Vicomte with my Punjab lasso. "Perhaps for a little while, I might advise that you do so. You never know when my darker side might decide to pay us a visit, one of the hazards of being a homicidal psychopath."

"That can be uncomfortable, could you do me a favor and just leave your hands flat at your side?" he asked.

I smiled "Only if you do the same."

We proceeded to Christian's room where Christine had joined Christian and Meg. She looked at us in surprise that we would be in the same room and not at one another's throats. I walked over to Christine and gave her a possessive kiss to show the Vicomte that she was mine alone and not his. I could see him flinch, but I didn't care I wanted to reinforce my victory over him. Cousin or not, my reluctant truce with him would be over if he stepped over the line in any way.

"The b- I mean Raoul and I have reached an understanding. He has brought us some welcome news that the Comtesse passed away in the night. Henceforth there will be no further misunderstandings between any of us." I told them.

"That is welcome news." Christine told me, Meg and Christian agreed.

Raoul turned to Christian apologetically "I have already apologized to Erik; I would like apologize to you. I was beset by the infamous Mulheim temper and lost control of my emotions."

Christian smiled at him "So you didn't mean to shoot at Erik and Christine?"

Raoul looked back at him and smiled smugly "No, I did mean to shoot Erik. Just not at that time, I was simply there for a reconnaissance mission. I saw him and Christine kissing and, well, I lost control of my temper."

Christian smiled at him and turned to me and joked "This is the trouble that I have with you Frenchmen; you are too emotional to do a job right. No wonder we beat you in the war. You make terrible soldiers. The first rule that you must learn is to reconnoiter the terrain and make sure that you are not spotted and then stay very still and detached as you aim at your target. Any good German recruit would know that."

"I am not sure that I like the direction that this conversation is headed." I told him tepidly "This is not a laughing matter."

He ignored me and my dourness in typical fashion "Well if he had done his job right then he would have hit the correct target and you would be dead. I would not be hurt at all." I finally realized that Christian sensed the tension between the boy and me and was attempting to deflate it.

Reluctantly, I decided to play along with Christian's lighthearted banter "Please explain to me why that is the optimal result? I thought that you wanted to take the bullet for me like the hero that you like to be. Besides he might have still hit me if you had not interfered while he was firing. I do not see how you need to insult France for the boy's incompetence. Do you Vicomte?" I asked Raoul.

Raoul laughed "I have to agree with Erik on that one. I am a superior marksman. I received top honors at the Ecole Militare for my sharpshooting skills."

Christine and Meg looked at all of us as if we were crazy. "How can you joke about all of this?" Christine asked "I don't see how it is funny at all."

Christian replied "It is because we are Mulheims, all three of us. That is what we do. We have fierce tempers but a great sense of humor as well. Raoul is our cousin you know. Volker told me that he looks just like my grandfather, which makes us first cousins."

Meg groaned "There are three of you? How do you expect us to keep all of you straight?"

I laughed "It is easy I am the intelligent cousin, Christian is the German cousin and Raoul here is the young and beautiful girl." I couldn't resist taunting him further.

Raoul reddened at my veiled insult and growled "Watch it Phantom or I will make your so called normal side look like the other one."

Everyone took a deep breath afraid of how I would react but of course I just laughed.

We had a peace treaty after all, all three of us. It was hard for me to fathom that I had a family complete with cousins and soon a wife as well; even if one of my cousins was the Vicomte. I wondered if there was hope for him after all. Perhaps my paranoia had been at work when we were alone. Could he could learn to be less of a priggish, fop and more of a man with some proper guidance. A part of me stopped that direction that my quick mind was sneaking off to immediately. Was I really that desperate for family? The boy was an ignorant fool as well as an arrogant, self -centered, egotistical and stubborn one.

Moments later a servant came in with news of another visitor. I was a popular man this day.

"Herr Freiherr, there is an attorney here to see you. He is here in regards to an important legal matter that he says concerns you."

Christine gave me a fearful glance. "Do you think that you are going to be prosecuted after all? For Buquet and Ubaldi? I could not bear it if I lost you my love."

I smiled at her concern "If it were a criminal matter the police would be here not an attorney. Perhaps it has something to do with this estate. I will see what he wants. I am sure that it is nothing."

"Can I come with you, please? I will still worry otherwise." She pleaded urgently.

"If it will ease your worry you may ange. I have no secrets from you, not anymore." I told her intimately.

Raoul flinched again at the silkiness of my voice. I did not mind making him uncomfortable.

I turned to the others "Please excuse us. We will return when we can."

We went back into the study where we were greeted by an attorney. I looked at him quizzically not knowing the purpose of his visit.

He looked at me solemnly "You are Freiherr Erik von Mulheim?"

"Yes." I replied.

"The grandson of the late Freiherr Erik von Mulheim?" he asked.

"Your powers of deduction are amazing. What of it?" I asked

"My name is Wilhelm Teller, I am the attorney for the late Comte de la Bois." He told me, as if it mattered.

"Yes. Very nice." I told him disinterestedly.

"You are probably not aware but the Gräfin de la Bois was found dead earlier today."

"I am aware actually. Her cousin, the Vicomte de Chagny is here now. He is an old friend of the family. He knew of our family's once close relationship with one another and thought to tell us the news of his 'cousin's passing." I told him.

"Well I am sure that he did not tell you that upon her death that you have inherited her late husband's fortune including his Schloss near Haguenau?"

"No I was not aware of that fact. I assumed that he would have passed his estate on to his own family or the Gräfin." I replied "He never met me, why on earth would he give it to me?"

"Because he knew of his wife's antipathy towards your family and he decided to make amends for the actions that she had taken against them. He particularly wanted to make amends towards you. He felt that you were the most wronged by his wife's behavior."

Christine and I looked at one another in shock. Even with her limited knowledge of German she could understand what was going on. He pulled out a letter. "These are the deeds and documents. Congratulations on your good fortune Herr Freiherr. You are now one of the richest men in Europe."

He pulled out an old signet ring "Could you please give this to the Vicomte? It is from his cousin, this is all that is left of her estate."

I took it and examined it. From my knowledge of jewelry, I guessed it was of some value but not worth a fortune. I thought of the Vicomte and the priceless look on his face that I would see when he received it. Served the arrogant fop right. I smiled "I would be happy to Herr Teller."

"Thank you, you have saved me the trouble." he replied.

He left and Christine and I examined the documents. I was shocked to see the extent of my new holdings. The Comte had been invested in many enterprises and properties all over the world. I had been wealthy before but my new holdings were much vaster than my old ones. After a while we decided to return to Christian's room to share the news with the others. For my entire life I had believed myself to be cursed and alone; but fate had repayed me, in more than kind, for all of my past suffering. I had been truly blessed. I looked upwardly to thank my creator for this new bounty, and then looked into the eyes of the one blessing that meant more to me than any of the others, my beloved Christine.