The Underground Music (Phantom of the Opera Fanfic)

Chapter 16: Beware the Neck-Pinch

"No...but how?" Erik muttered under his breath, turning his face away from me, looking not at me nor at-what did he call him?-Daroga, but at the organ. 

Not thinking that this was my place to speak, I kept silent and watched Erik. 

He seemed deep in troubled thought for a while, staring with unblinking eyes at the organ. Then unexpectedly, he snapped his head to the opposite side, gazing straight at Daroga. There was an intense fire burning in his eyes, so intense that I couldn't but let out a little whisper. "Erik...?" 

He ignored me. As I kept my gaze glued on him, trying to figure out what was possibly going on inside his head, he said with a stern and assertive- yet calm and collected- voice to Daroga, "Take her. Take the boat. Go now and don't let her find you."

"Right away, Erik." I turned my gaze toward Daroga, only to find him gliding towards me, his foreign robes flowing behind him. 

"Erik, what are you thinking?" I pleaded, looking back to Erik desperately. 

Before Daroga reached me, Erik turned his face back to me and grabbed me by my shoulders firmly, squeezing them almost to the point of hurting me. His hands were shaking with rage...or were they shaking with something else? Could it be that they were shaking with intense concern...for me?

Now looking me straight in the eyes, he said, again assertively yet calmly, "Jennifer, it isn't safe for you to be with me. Go with Daroga- he'll keep you safe. The Little Sultana will be looking for me, and no doubt she'll want to kill you if you're with me..." He looked up, lifting his face to the deep hole in the ceiling of the cave and the moon above it. When he brought his face back down, he released me from his grasp, and suddenly began to storm off, every step filled with fierce determination. As he did, he shouted, "Go now! Go now and leave me!"

"But Erik! Do you really think that that's the best idea?" I tried to run for him, but my arm was caught. I twisted my neck to glare at Daroga. "And you, do you just simply abide by every word he says?!"

"My, you are certainly not like Christine," Daroga said cooly as he pulled me with a surprising strength away from Erik. 

I heard Erik laugh from the far side of the cave. "No, she certainly isn't. Take care of her. Don't let her out of your sight- she's a feisty one."

"Feisty?" I wanted to call out, but I held my tongue, thinking that this was not the time to argue. Instead, I ordered, "Let me go! You cannot do this to a lady!" 

"I'm sorry, but I must." He continued to pull me farther away from Erik, who was now fumbling around in the shadows in the corner of the cave. 

How would someone like me possibly get out of a man's grasp? 

I thought and thought, until a light-bulb went off inside my head.

"Ouch! Ah, stop, please! That hurts! Please!" I cried out, feigning pain in my voice. 

Erik popped his head out from the shadows curiously, and Daroga stopped pulling me. 

"Am I hurting you? I'm terribly sorry, mademoiselle! Forgive me," he pleaded politely, releasing me from his grasp. "Erik, I didn't mean to hurt her..."

Erik emerged from the shadows and strode up to me, taking long, hurried steps. 

He bent down so that his eyes were at the level of mine, and, after analyzing my face for a good few seconds with an unreadable expression in his squinted eyes, chuckled and said, "Ha! Jennifer, stop this act. Did you think you can fool me? Smart girl, I see merit in your attempt, but it didn't work. Daroga, she is only acting. Please continue." With a wave of his hand, he straightened himself and dismissed me, and went back into the shadows in the corner of the cave. 

Confound it! 

My plan was ruined! ...Or was it?

...Wait a minute...

My hand is still free! There is hope for me yet!

Before Daroga could grab my arm again, I dashed forward and lunged into the shadows with Erik. I ran so fast that I couldn't stop when I wanted to, and so I slammed right into Erik's back.

"Ouch..." I moaned, rubbing my nose. After quickly recovering my senses and triumphantly realizing that I had made it to Erik successfully, I latched onto his cape.

Erik spun around abruptly to face me, and since I was holding onto his cape, his cape twisted around his torso. "Jennifer! What do you think you're doing?! Fool! Do you not want to live?" Seeing that I was still holding onto his cape, he yanked my hand off from it.

Still holding my hand, he said under his breath, obviously losing patience, "You try my patience, girl! You should be thankful that it is not in my interest to hurt you!" 

"And it is not in my interest to leave you! Oh, and not to mention, you can't just abandon me!"

"I'm not abandoning you! I'm leaving you in good hands. As of now, Daroga would be safer for you to be with."

"To he-" No, I can't curse!- "I don't care about being safe! Well, I mean, I do, but right now I care more about..." I blushed and looked down before ending what I was saying, "you."

The frustrated impatience disappeared from Erik's voice when he replied softly, "I appreciate that, Jennifer. God knows no-one has said that to me before. This is why I cannot let you be in danger." 

"B-but without me, you'll be the one in danger!"

"It insults me that you have no confidence in me! So, if you don't want to insult me any further, I advise that you go back over there with Daroga, as a true lady would." He pointed with his free hand over to the confused Persian. 

I scrunched up my nose. "Ah, so you're trying to pull the 'lady' card on me? Well, if I must tell you, that will not work, for since...since what you did to me just a few moments ago, I am a lady no longer! You've taught me that in the realm of music, as long as we're making music together, gender is of no consequence, isn't that right, Erik? I no longer identify myself as a lady." 

"I'm glad you learned something from me. Now go back to Daroga."

"But-"

"Now! Do you want me to treat you like a child?"

"Do you think I'll be submissive like a child?" I picked my feet up and planted them firmly on the ground in a display of defiance. 

"You're impossible."

"I'm glad you realize that. Now will you take me with you?"

"Jennifer, I told you, I cannot, and I will not. Which is why, if you don't go over there with Daroga, you'll leave me no choice..."

"'No choice' but to do what?" I sassed, unyielding.

"Do you really want to find out?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I'll go with Daroga."

"Jennifer, then you must forgive me." 

Before I could react, he quickly reached his hand to my neck, and pinched hard.

Excruciating pain shot through my neck and trapezius, and not before long I began to feel faint. My ears rang and my stomach lurched. A black fog shrouded my vision. What in the world is happening?! What did Erik do to me?! 

"Erik..?" I gasped, panicked. 

Then I lost my ability to keep myself on my feet, and my knees gave out.

I fell, completely limp and unable to feel any of my limbs. But I did not hit the floor- I was caught by Erik's strong arms. Just as the darkness was going to totally overcome me, he swept me up and held me bridal-style, and began to move out of the shadows. 

Before he reached Daroga, I couldn't stay conscious for any longer. 

So the darkness took me.