He collapsed, his eyes closing in pain, the blood now staining a good portion of his shirt. Christine got up on her knees and tried once more to stop the blood. He could not leave her! She could never survive without him! He was the only thing in her life that she had that made her get up every morning. There time together had been to short...far to short.
"ERIK! ERIK...please...please, God! You cannot have him! You cannot have him, you hear me! He belongs to me! I cannot live without him!" Christine screamed heavenward. Anthony came bursting into the room, trying desperately not to look at Erik. This was all his fault. He should have watched over Sienna better, that was his duty to the woman he loved, and he should never have dragged Erik into what was not his business and because of it a good man was dying.
"Anthony! Anthony, help me! We must get him to a doctor! Hurry!" Christine cried when she laid eyes on her brother. Erik had grown far too still for Christine's peace of mind.
"We have to get out of here, Christine!" he said, breathless. Christine's head snapped up to look at him.
"I know that! Help me!" she said, trying to raise Erik on her own. Anthony shook his head.
"It is too late, Sister! Michael went to get more men! We need to get out of here before he comes back or we are all going to die!" Anthony said. Christine could not believe he was telling her it was too late. She could not help but scream at him.
"I will die without him!"
She once more tried to stop the blood, talking to Erik even when they all knew he could not hear her. Anthony grabbed his sister from behind and pulled her away from her unmoving husband. Christine fought, kicking and screaming.
"Let me go! Erik! Please! Erik! Let me go!"
With Sienna's help Raoul managed to go out into the hallway. Christine was screaming and pleading, her eyes never leaving the sight of Erik lying on that floor, covered in his own blood.
"ERIK! Please! I love you! I will never talk back again! Just please do not leave me!" she screamed. Anthony knew she was beyond hysterical and tears came to his own eyes as he dragged his sister away from the man she loved. He could hear the guards Michael had went to get and Christine was slowing them down, and her screams would get them all killed. He would never forgive himself for hitting her, causing her to become limp in his arms. But her life and Sienna's were all that mattered to him and he would do anything to make sure they were safe. The last thing Christine said before she was surrounded in darkness echoed throughout the hall.
"ERIK!"
Michael and his men rushed into the room, only to find the body of Leroy and Erik on the floor, everyone else have fled in obvious fear. He would kill all the ones there that night for what they had done to his only remaining son.
"After them!"
A Persian slipped into the room in the far to quiet Delauney manor. He had followed Christine when he had heard her leave the manor and he had known all to well that she gone after her husband. He admired the girls love and loyalty to Erik and knew the masked man deserved more happiness then he had ever been given. He was the one to find Erik's body on the cold floor in one of the man bedrooms.
He was still...
But he was still breathing...
Two days later...
"She still had not stopped," Raoul whispered. Anthony said nothing, only staring out the window. They had gone to the Chagny manor in Rome because Anthony knew that Michael's men were still looking for them. Since the moment Christine woken up after Anthony had hit her she had yet to cease her crying and her hysteria was beginning to drain everyone. She pleaded and pleaded for Erik to come back to her.
She did not eat and she did not sleep. She only cried and screamed. Sienna had tried to go in and calm her down but it had only caused Christine to scream at her to leave her alone. Raoul had said perhaps he should go in and talk to her but he had trouble getting out of bed thanks to his bullet wound.
Anthony had said nothing for the past two days, caught up in his own grief and guilt. It was his fault Erik was dead...he should have never dragged him into a battle that was not his to fight. Sienna tried comforting him but he had turned away from her, knowing it would hurt her but unable to do anything else. He was beginning to worry about his sister's state of mind and her health. She was growing far too thin and sometimes he would find her talking to Erik when he was obviously not there.
Raoul had been the one to tell Anthony about Christine's pregnancy because he had not been in the room that night to hear it himself. He knew that Christine could not be in her right mind at the moment because if she was he knew she would never put her baby in danger. At night they woke to her screams. Her nightmares made her relive her husband's murder again and again and the sound of her screams woke everyone in the house. Servants were afraid of her and they went no where near her chambers and when it was absolutely necessary they made the sign of the cross before frantically running past her door.
"You have to do something, Anthony," Raoul whispered to his friend. Anthony stood up angrily from his side at his friend's bed and finally spoke.
"And what do you propose I do? She seen the man she loved murdered in front of her eyes by her grandfather! What can I possibly do to make her forget that?" he shouted. Raoul said nothing for a moment, knowing Anthony blamed himself for Erik's death.
"There has to be someone who can talk to her!" Raoul said, unwilling to give up. He cared too much about Christine to give up on her. He hated to admit it but he had never believed that Christine would come to love her husband that much. He was glad she had found happiness, even if for a short time.
He had figured out a long time ago that Christine would never be his and he had slowly come to accept that. She was not meant to be with him. She was meant to be with Erik. Just like Anthony was meant to be with Sienna. Even though Anthony was being a complete and utter idiot and turning away from the Italian girl when all she wanted to do was comfort him. Raoul knew that there had to be someone out there for him and until he found her he would be content to wait patiently.
Anthony threw up his hands and stomped towards the door.
"Anthony!" Raoul said, an idea coming to him. Anthony stopped with great reluctance and turned to look at the man he thought of as a brother.
"What?"
"Her father."