The Forgotten Phantom (Creature Feature) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Author:Kathryn Ann Kingsley [Kingsley, Kathryn Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kathryn Ann Kingsley
Published: 2022-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Christine flinched as Raoul shouted at her. He had been so frantic that he had insisted on seeing her. It was seven, and she had just come back from her flat to change and shower. Erik's home—lair—was perfectly nice, but it didn't precisely have shampoo or conditioner.

She tried not to laugh at the idea of delivering him a bag of toiletries to keep there for her. For the next time he "abducted" her.

Probably not a good time to snicker.

"What were you thinking?"

She had known better than to interrupt him during his rant as he paced back and forth in front of her. It was clear his anger was born from worry. It was a little flattering in a strange way, she supposed. But man, she hated being shouted at. She supposed most people probably did. "Raoul, please calm down."

"Calm down? I spent the better part of a week trying to find you!" He stopped in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Christine. Whatever this is—whatever kind of hold he has on you, you have to see how dangerous this is. He's a ghost. He's dead. A monster and a murderer. He might seem fine now, but you never know when he's going to snap and do something terrible."

She knew, deep down, that he was right. And she hated it. She didn't want to believe Erik was capable of things like that, but she had read the reports. Those people who died, crushed by the chandelier—the deaths of the stagehand and the lead tenor—plus many more whose names were omitted. Shaking her head, she stared down at the ground between her feet. She felt small again, like a child. Like she had just been playing at the idea of being an adult. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"We need to get you out of here. I'm going to call Baltimore and get him to take you off this job. We'll get some exorcists in here, and—"

"No!" That sent a jolt through her. "No, Raoul. You can't. He's not—he hasn't done anything wrong. He doesn't deserve that."

"He abducted you!"

"For the last time, he gave me the option to leave, and I said no. And you can disagree with me about that all you want. But I had the option to come back. But I wanted to stay and learn from him. He's an amazing teacher." And I like being around him.

"He's tricking you. Hypnotizing you." Raoul shook his head again and began pacing once more. "He's got some sort of dark power—he must. Otherwise, why on Earth would you stay with him?"

"Because he's giving me a chance at my dream." Now she was getting mad. "Is that so hard to understand?"

"If it means you let yourself get dragged down into the depths of his lair while he does God-knows-what to you—"

"That's it. I'm not having this conversation." She threw up her hands in frustration. Picking up her violin case, she stormed out of the room.

Raoul chased after her, grabbing her by the upper arm and whirling her back to face him.

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