In My Darkness: La Chatte Noire

Chapter Thirty-Eight: They're Here...

Chapter Thirty-Eight: They're Here...

(Thumbs up if you get the reference.)

Three Months, Two Weeks, and Six Days, Mireval

She'd been toying around with the idea for some time now. It would be the perfect opportunity. She could just… leave. And then she would be back in Paris, safe and warm in Erik's arms, and all would be as it should be. They could get married, she would be his wife… oh, and she could finally see that wedding dress he'd been hiding! It would be the best day of her life, that was for certain. They'd be the happy newlyweds. Maybe he'd find someplace for them to take some time after their wedding before returning to their home beneath the Opera House. Or maybe he'd find them another home to move to! They could raise a family then, and actually be like a normal married couple – not like an ex-murderer and a deformed ex-Opera Ghost. They could be… well… normal.

But it wasn't that simple, was it? No, nothing about her life was ever simple.

She couldn't just leave. That would make her father roll over in his grave – if he wasn't already because she was giving away his business. He'd always dreamed that she would run it, and now that she had it, she was giving it up. Why? Because she wanted to go get married. Well, hadn't they come full circle? But this was the way things had to be. She knew where her place was, and it was at Erik's side… just not yet. She would have to wait until she had given away the business and dealt with the very public falling-out between herself and her beloved 'fiancé'. Which meant, in essence, that she was stuck here.

But that didn't mean she couldn't hope and dream of returning to Paris.

_____/~~\_____

Three Months, Three Weeks, and Five Days, Mireval

Camillé looked up at the banging of the door to the house opening. She walked straight into the foyer and saw the determined look on Daniel's face. Behind him, lingering slightly as if very frightened, was a sixteen year old Marcella. A smile spread across the woman's face as she saw the girl, stepping forward. Daniel looked down at her as he sent Marcella with Maman to get some rest. Camillé couldn't help but be frightened at the blank, expressionless look on his little sister's face. He caught sight of her and followed her gaze, sighing when he saw its subject. While the servants unloaded the contents of their carriage, he pulled Camillé into the study and closed the door firmly behind them. She looked at him, concerned, as he sat the two of them down on the couch before the fireplace.

"Daniel, what is wrong?" Camillé asked, truly worried from their actions.

He sighed and dropped his head into his hands. "He's escaped, Camillé."

"What do you mean, who's escaped?" she repeated, rubbing her hand over his back slightly to comfort him.

"Rabe."

With that single word, Camillé's heart stopped. The beat of her heart ceased and she shut down. She stopped being able to breathe, to think, to speak, to exist. Her entire world came crashing down on her.

Rabe was free.

The bastard who had controlled her for years was free.

That realization made her choke and she coughed. There was something lodged in her throat and she couldn't get it out. For a moment, she vaguely registered that it was a scream. A scream of terror. Another realization hit her and the scream came closer to the surface.

He would be hell-bent on revenge.

And that revenge would be on them.

Daniel looked up at her and pulled her into his arms. "I know this is hard to hear, love," he soothingly murmured in her ear, trying to stave off the complete mental breakdown threatening behind her eyes, "I didn't know until… until I arrived home."