True, he had had many women in his bed, and he had given them pleasure. But none of them had made love to him without the mask. He would never have trusted his heart to anyone before Christine came along. She was light and compassion. Love and passion. Everything his soul had been craving for years it seemed. Her eyes never wavered from his. He knew that she had been horrified when she had first gazed upon him. It was the expected reaction. But she was strong and had come out of her initial shock. Now she was offering him all of her love.
"I love you, Erik...for the man you are inside...not outside..." Christine said softly. Erik climbed into the bed and pulled her as close to him as he could, pressing several kisses to her mouth.
"I love you..." he murmured. She smiled. It was silent for a long time.
"Let me tell you what caused this..." he whispered. Christine said nothing, closing her eyes as Erik slowly began to finish the tail.
xXx
Paris
1864
"Isaac, what are you doing here?" Emma asked. Gustave's arm wrapped itself firmly about her. Isaac was holding a lantern in front of him, illuminating the room in its soft glow.
"Were you not getting enough from my friends, dear sister, that you had to sneak out to be with this man?" Isaac asked. Emma gasped and Gustave glared at the man in front of him. Emma had finally found the courage to tell Gustave about what her brother had done to her and let his friends do to her. Gustave had wanted to kill Isaac with his bare hands but Emma had stopped him.
"You have no business being here," Emma informed her brother.
"I have every right to be here. I am going to stop this little affair the two of you have and you are coming home with me," Isaac hissed, his handsome face contorting. Gustave pushed Emma behind him.
"You will not touch her."
"Oh, really? And who is going to stop me?" Isaac asked, a smirk on his lips. Gustave's hand clenched into a fist and Emma gently took it in her grasp.
"Do not do anything foolish, my love," Emma whispered to him. Gustave's fist relaxed only slightly.
"Why, Isaac?" Emma whispered. Her voice was small and heartbroken.
"Why what?" he demanded, impatient.
"What did I ever do to you that warranted the way you treat me?"
Isaac said nothing, deciding to glare at his sister instead. Gustave did not like the malicious look on the other mans gaze and he turned Emma from him.
"Let us leave, before something takes a turn for the worst," Gustave said. Emma, however, did not move. Her eyes remained on her brother. She had questions and she wanted them answered.
"What have I done?" she insisted again. She could see in his eyes that Isaac did not want to answer her, but she continued to ask, knowing he would answer eventually.
"I was a good man...then you came of age," he growled, his eyes more angry then she had ever seen them, even when he was beating her. She suddenly did not know if she wanted to know what he was going to say.
"You were so innocent and beautiful...it was sick," he hissed. Emma frowned.
"What about that is sick?" she demanded.
"The way it made me feel," he snapped. Emma gasped softly and Gustave wondered if he had heard the other man right.
"I saw you, the way everyone seemed to be drawn to your beauty and kindness. I had never backed down from a challenge and you were the greatest challenge I had ever faced...I wanted you for myself," he hissed.
"You're her brother!" Gustave cried, disgusted. Was the man insane?
"Perhaps being siblings had nothing to do with it," Isaac answered.
"You wanted what you could not have," Emma murmured, understanding. Isaac nodded grimly.
"The downfall of many a man...if I could possess you then there was nothing in this world that was out of my grasp. Anything was possible," he answered.
"I had my whole life ahead of me, Isaac. How could you just ruin the innocence I held so desperately?" she asked.
"Your innocence meant nothing to me! I have deflowered many women in my life and you would simply be another," he answered.
"That is not true! You let your friends have me before you even so much as tried!" Emma said, desperately needing to understand the chaos that was her life.
"That was because the prize I had so desperately wanted had already been used...you were no longer innocent, thanks to that Persian bastard," Isaac spat.
"He loved me, and he gave me my son," she whispered, not wishing to talk about Nadir. Not now.
"And he took what was rightfully mine!"
"I never belonged to you, Isaac! And I never will!"
"You are not fit to even look at her!" Gustave spat. Erik watched silently from the shadows as the scene unfolded before him.
"I know that. But you are no one to judge," Isaac said, "Perhaps I would be free from wanting you if you were no longer around, Sister?"
Emma gasped and Gustave took a step forward. Isaac smiled and pulled a pistol from the inside of his coat.
"Stay behind me, Emma," Gustave insisted. Had he known that he had been putting Emma's life in danger he would never have had her meet him here.
"Isaac, please, think about what you are doing," Emma pleaded. Isaac cocked the pistol and Emma found several tears fall from her eyes. Isaac was obviously surprised by the sight.
"Why the tears, my dear?" he asked.
"All I ever wanted from you was for you to be a brother, nothing else!" she cried. Isaac obviously did not know what to say.
"You were never that! I was alone since Mother died. Neither you nor Leroy cared about me! I just wanted a brother who would love me and tell me stories when I went to sleep," Emma said softly.
"Life is not all fairytales and make believe, Princess," Isaac said.
"Why should a family be a fantasy I cannot have? What have I ever done that God thought I did not deserve one," she demanded, tears now falling freely.
"You got your family, that little street rat and your whelp," Isaac hissed. Emma gave a shuddering sob in the face of his indifference. For as long as she could remember she had just wanted him to love her.
Erik, during the whole exchange had slowly began to make his way towards Isaac, keeping in the shadows and not allowing his gaze to move from the pistol in the mans hands. He had to steel himself from any sort of emotion from the pain he heard in his sister's voice. He had to protect her. Nothing else mattered. But Erik cursed under his breath when Gustave tried to be the hero.
"Go, Emma! Run!" Gustave pleaded, shoving her towards the entrance. Emma fell to her knees in surprise. Isaac said nothing as he raised the pistol and fired. Emma's scream erupted into the room as Gustave collapsed, the bullet having hit him. She crawled over to the man she had only recently fell in love with and sobbed as she tried to keep the blood from continuing to flow. Isaac's face was emotionless as he watched the scene in front of him.
"Come with me now, Emma, or I will kill your son and Erik," he promised. Emma shook her head, her eyes swollen from her tears.
"Please..." she whispered.
"I'll smother dear Anthony with a pillow, until his annoying little cries cease-"
"Stop!" Emma screamed, not wanting to hear it. Gustave was beginning to still beneath her hands.
"Erik will be an even greater pleasure. I have wanted to get rid of him from the moment you brought him home from the streets. I'll strangle him with my bare hands-"