In My Darkness: La Chatte Noire

Chapter Sixteen: Rabe

Chapter Sixteen: Rabe

He walked with large strides to their side, where he pulled Rabe off of her with force and suddenly her old colleague was on the ground with a lasso about his neck, near to being killed. She realized then that Erik meant to kill him. She couldn't let that happen. Despite all he'd done, Rabe didn't deserve to die.

"Erik! Erik, please don't!" she pleaded, still in English, and he looked at her with flaming eyes, "Erik, let him go!"

"Pourquoi? Why should Erik let him go?" he snarled back to her and she was only momentarily thrown by his use of the third person, "Why should Erik let the man who was going to hurt his cœur go?"

"Because he doesn't deserve to die! I know what you're thinking, but there's a reason for all of this! I can explain; just please let him go!"

Erik looked at her for a moment, then leaned down to Rabe's ear. "Consider yourself lucky that Erik has her, or you would be dead, monsieur."

The moment the lasso was off of his neck, Rabe began coughing and wheezing. She knelt down and checked on him as Erik walked away towards the bag he had dropped from his trip to town. Rabe looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"That's your new suitor?" he asked, and she laughed lightly.

"Yes, that's my new suitor. I apologize, he's not usually like this," she told him as she got up from her knee and approached Erik.

"Who is that, mon cœur?" he spat, his French fast and angry.

"He is the old friend I told you about. That is Rabe."

He looked at the man through the corner of his eye and crossed his arms. "You have an interesting definition for 'old friend.'"

She winced at the tone in his voice. "He was once my suitor. Now, he means nothing to me. He can try to rekindle all he likes, nothing will happen."

"That is a fair bit more than rekindling, mon chat. He was going to rape you," he reminded her in a low tone.

"Non, he –" she was stopped by the look in Erik's eyes as he glared her down, "D'accord, so he might have been, but he is still basing his actions on the relationship we had a year ago."

"You would have let him rape you a year ago?" he asked, incredulous.

She looked down at the floor. "It would not have been rape."

Erik looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. "You were lovers?"

"Not quite. It is difficult to explain. Only know that he means nothing to me and you are everything to me. He will never be anything ever again in my eyes," she assured him, and he nodded.

"Fine. Now, I suppose now would be an ideal time to speak in anglais, would it not? Oder vielleicht auf Deutsch (Or perhaps in German)?" he asked as they walked back over to where Rabe was now standing.

She gave him a sideways look. "Just how many languages do you speak, Erik?"

"Enough," he replied, before switching to English and saying to Rabe, "So you are the one who's threatening my love."

"Not threatening, really. More like proposing a deal to," he explained, before smiling at Camillé, "I told you I've got a mission I'd like your help with, Noire."

"You said you had a mission for me," she retorted, crossing her arms, "That doesn't mean I'd be helping you with a mission."

He rolled his eyes. "A'right, so I've got a mission I'd like your help with. You in?"