The Art of Manipulation || Phantom of the Opera & Loki the God of Mischief ||

17. You Decieved Me

Chapter Seventeen || You Deceived Me

Erik pulled back and held my face, his thumbs wiping away the tears he mistook for joy. With a wide smile he said, "We shall be so happy, my love. I promise you, you won't be sorry." His eyes lowering to my mouth, he paused hesitantly, his upturned lips faltering, "Will you kiss me again? Will you kiss me like you did in the lake?"

Smiling at his simple question, I replied, "Of course I will, Erik. I am yours now. All yours for eternity."

Another smile broke through on Erik's face, "My mother had never kissed me, not even when I asked her to. And when you kissed me before it...it overwhelmed me...it overwhelmed me that you would give Erik what his own mother had denied him. And you didn't die!" He laughed and stepped back to examine me. "Here you are, my bride-to-be... Oh, Christine, you are so beautiful." His voice faded, his train of thought seemingly losing its course for a brief moment or two. And then the smile returned, "Wait until we tell, Alouette. She will be so pleased! At first she didn't want to help Erik, but now we can prove her wrong! We can show her that, like Don Juan, Erik triumphed after all!"

The smile I had been struggling to maintain finally fell. I looked into his eyes, the elation within them causing a pain in my chest. I took his hands in mine, Christine's hands a mere quarter of his. Forcing myself to look up at him, I said, "Erik, no matter what happens, remember that I love you."

His one eyebrow met the lack of one in a deep furrow, "Of course, darling. But what will happen? What do you mean?"

My eyes shut tight at the name "darling" and I hushed his questions with a hand on his cheek, "Nothing will happen, my love. Nothing. Just remember, no matter who I am, no matter what I am, no matter where I am, I will always..." My smaller frame shuddered as my lungs collapsed on their way in. With my thumb, I traced the area under his right eye that drooped lower than the left, "...always love you."

There was a slight pause, and then Erik pulled me close, hiding his face deep into my hair and inhaling Christine's scent, "And I will always love you."

I can do this. It shouldn't be too difficult. Sure, I'm not the strongest shapeshifter in the world, but Erik won't be with me all the time. When he leaves to do his errands above ground I can rest and go back to my true form. As for the risk of someone seeing a duplicate of Christine, I never have to leave the lair. Its not like I shall be missed. There is no real need for me anywhere. Right now, Erik needs me more than anyone else on this or any other planet.

I can do this. I can be his Christine. I owe him that much.

The hiss of torches drew me from Erik's grasp. Listening hard, I counted silently, "Ten - no, fifteen. Twenty? Thirty yards?"

"What is it, Christine? What's the matter?" Erik hunched down to better see my face.

Snapping my head up to look at him I quickly said, "Erik, we must go. They're coming; fifteen or twenty mortals with torches. They're only a few yards away from reaching the lair." As I said this I tugged at his hand, dragging him to where I heard the hollowness of a secret passageway.

"Did you say 'mortals'?"

I froze with my hand on the cold rock of the lair's wall. Abandoning the search for the passageway's hidden opening, I faced Erik with wide eyes.

The determined footsteps of the mob filled the air while Erik looked down at me with confused eyes, "The only other person I have heard say that was Alou-"