The Demon's Child and the Phantom

Chapter 9

Phantom's POV:

She touched me again. She took my hand in hers before I led her over to the divan to sit. I watch as she slides over on the divan, and I begin to think she doesn't want to be close to me anymore after touching my disgusting skeleton hand. Until I realize she's avoiding her image in the mirror behind us. Strange that such a beautiful creature would avoid mirrors simply because of her eyes and perhaps her hair as well I shouldn't wonder.

I watch as she takes in my lair and notice that her behavior is similar to that of the women the shah had in Persia. She only looks up at me when she has to and she's been keeping her head bowed as if talking to....well to a shah or a master. I find it hard to believe that Daroga bought her though. He has always been against slavery, what about this girl would make him change his mind I wonder.

"Why did Daroga buy you?"

"He said he bought me to free me."

Ah, that sounds more like my old friend. I look at her again and I see her blue and red eyes darting everywhere in my lair and I wonder if she is looking for an escape, looking around, or if she is afraid of me. She looks back at me and I make eye contact with her again before she begins to stare at the floor again. She frustrates me in the way that she shows no emotion on her face or in her eyes as she looks around and at me.

"You believe him?"

"I have found no reason as of yet to not trust him."

I paused at her response as it was calm and logical, but I could sense that it put her at unease and that made me guilty for some reason. I didn't like the idea of her being afraid or nervous while staying with Daroga, as I knew him to be every bit an honorable man that has ever existed. I wanted her to feel safe and secure wherever she went, and that feeling confused me some as to why I cared so much for her already.

"He is a good man, Daroga. You will be safe with him."

I saw her glance at me again before nodding and glancing around the lair once more. Her eyes finding their way back to the floor within seconds of leaving it. Her face remaining just as calm as it had been the first time I met her, and I was frustrated by my lack of read on her as I could easily read other's expressions. She was different though, I couldn't read her very easily if at all.

"Are you afraid of me?"

"No more than with anyone else. Should I be?"

"Most are in my presence."

"Monsieur Phantom there is little you could do to me that has not already been done by another."

"Just call me Phantom, not Monsieur."

"What's your real name?"

Her question catches me off guard as she looks back up at me, few have ever asked my name. Few have ever cared to know it, why does she want to know the monster's name? I find myself staring into her eyes again as she waits for my answer. Her eyes are honest and innocent looking, but they seem to be hiding something else as she stares back into my own atrocious eyes. I take a deep breath finally prepared to give her an answer, though it's probably not the one she wishes to hear.

"Why should you think I have a name?"

"You're a man Monsieur, a man deserves a name."

"I'm not a man, I am nothing but a deformed monster, a creature of the night, a phantom. I am the Devil's Child."

I give a harsh chuckle at the last statement before looking out toward the black lake and away from those eyes of her. I feel as if she can read my mind with those eyes, a feeling that is a gift that I pride myself on possessing and it's being used against me. Poor Phantom is surely doomed now that he seems to have met his match. After a few minutes of silence, I find myself looking back at her. Her eyes look confused and curious at the same time before her eyes and face becomes a blank mask.

"What of you child? What is your name?"

"I am hardly a child. And if you are a monster without a name, then surely I am no different for my owners all told me so. I am a mistake, a witch, an unnatural creature. I am the hell spawned Demon's Child. So, I suppose I lack a name as well, Devil's Child."

I watch as she makes her point with a sharp reply in her voice but she blanks any emotion from her face and her eyes. It would seem she can remove her emotions far better than I can, from everything except her voice as her anger and hurt shone through easily. I realize my mistake as I think about what I said as she holds my gaze for a moment before she looks around the lair again and then back to the floor. She crosses her arms tighter across her chest and I worry at first that she is cold down here until I see her clenching and unclenching her fists. Ah, so she doesn't hide her anger in every form it seems.

However, her point seems to have hit me in the chest, as I have always believed that my deformity has made me a monster, made me less than a man. If I believe that, then so will she about herself and clearly that's not true. But how could anyone have ever told her that she's a monster? Or a Demon's Child? She's beautiful, surely she knows that. I sigh as I lean back into the chair.

"Erik Destler."

"Rosella. I don't have a last name."

Doesn't have a last name? Even I, a hideous gargoyle knows his last name. What has happened to this angel in her life that she does not know what her last name is? I stare at her again as she tries to smooth her wild curly hair down her back before looking down again. Who trained her so harshly? Why does she talk of herself so harshly?

"What happened for Daroga to buy you Rosella?"

I watch as she pales some and she smooths her hair one more time, the red streak seeming to blend in with her black curls for only a moment, as she wraps her arms around herself this time in a more comforting manner before looking back at me. Her eyes still darting everywhere, landing on mine only ever once and a while, as she answers with a shaky yet clear voice as her face remains stoic, as blank as a stone statue.

"My last owners did not want me any longer, and after being punished for my....disobedience, Daroga saved me."

"Why were you punished?"

"I was disobedient."

"So you said, but in what way?"

"I broke the rules. I spoke to their young son after he scraped his knee in the barn that I was cleaning, and he told his parents. One of the most important rules was that I never speak to their son, for they didn't want a demon's child to taint their innocent child."

I feel myself being taken over by my anger and my own insanity, and I grip my lasso tightly as I stare at her. She's no longer looking at me, she's staring at the floor, with her arms still wrapped around her tightly as she stares. I force myself to refrain from yelling or braking something in front of her, in case she begins to fear me more than she probably does. Instead, I stand up slowly and walk over to the organ and start playing one of the melodies in my head to calm myself.

I glance over my shoulder and I see her relaxing as she finally shows some emotion on her face as she smiles and leans back into the divan and listens. I smile some more as I play a random tune from my head and realize that I've missed having someone to play for. I've missed having a reason to play for someone. I glance back at her every once and a while to make sure that the smile stays on her face, and I'm even more pleased to find that it does.

"PHANTOM!"

I stop playing as I hear my name being called. Only one person dares to come down here and shout in that way and that's Daroga as always. I suppose he thought yelling Phantom was more appropriate than Erik since Eliza is here today and her whereabouts yesterday were unknown until I returned her. I stand up as I hear him yell again and I notice Eliza standing near me. I hit the three cords on the organ to let him know that I hear him before I grab my cloak and slowly motion for her to follow me with a wave of my hand.

She surprises me again by taking my skeleton hand in hers, as I help her back into the boat. I see her look at the water once before flinching and turning to face me instead with her stoic expression back again. Maybe it's not the water she fears at all, but her own reflection in the water itself.

"You don't like seeing your reflection Rosella?"

"Do you Erik?"

I don't answer her at that and she doesn't push further into the question, because the answer for both of us is the same. No. I row us toward the stairs and see Daroga pacing back and forth on the last step. It was a habit of his in Persia and still today, though we lack most of the stress that existed in Persia. He turns as he hears the boat in the water and smiles at us both. I get out and help her out before turning to him.

"Work has finished early it seems, but with your permission, I was planning on hiring Rosella here as a seamstress. Madame Madeline could use the additional help. I was also hoping to teach her the tunnel system so she could come and go from here without my assistance."

"I approve of those decisions. Rosella, I will see you soon I shouldn't wonder."

I give a short bow to them both before disappearing into the shadows and then into one of the tunnels. I watch as she looks down at the floor as she walks with Daroga, both when he offers her his arm and he instructs on the tunnels and how to only ever come down this one so she won't get hurt. My mind reminds me of yesterday when she was hurt and I feel my blood boil again as I think about those despicable excuses for men. I force myself to calm down as I release the grip on my lasso.

I soon find myself wandering the opera house, feeling lonelier now that she's not with me. I watch them leave out the front door and she glances behind them and looks right at me before giving a gentle smile. Maybe...just maybe I've found a girl that won't be terrified of the Phantom of the Opera.