Chapter 115

When Christine slowly made her way inside she felt her heart begin to race when she was met with silence. However the silence did not last long because three shots were heard in one of the downstairs bedroom. Then silence. There had to be a way that she could help, use the pistol in her hands to rid Michael of some of his men. However the idea of harming someone, even men as bad as these, was not that appealing and she cursed when she felt her hand begin to shake. Slowly, on cautious feet, she made her way towards Meg's room, the room the shots had been fired. As she approached she could hear movement going on inside. Raising her pistol she slowly opened the door...and ducked.

"Damn it!" she cursed when a bullet barely missed her head.

"Christine?"

She gasped when she was suddenly being embraced by her brother. Her arms were tight and strong and for a moment she allowed herself to collapse against him. He whispering thanks to God for making sure she was safe but a moment later he held her at arms length away from him.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. Christine took a deep breath. She was sure she was going to be asked that question a lot tonight.

"I have to help," she whispered.

"Oh, Christine," he murmured, shaking his head. Christine pulled away from him. She knew that the men thought she would only get herself hurt, but she was not one to give up, and she needed to help, or she would never forgive herself. She would deal with Erik's reaction when they were all safe. Christine looked around and saw that three men lay dead on the floor.

"He will murder you if he finds out you are here," Anthony warned. Christine knew he meant Erik. She was willing to take that chance, however, and just prayed her brother did not do something to detain her from helping.

"I know, Anthony, but I do not have time to talk to you about it, where are Raoul and Erik?" she demanded. Anthony sighed, his sister really could be quite stubborn at times.

"Raoul is Antoinette's room and Erik is in yours, but do not move until you hear gunshots, then it means, hopefully, that some of the men are-"

Gunshots.

"Dead," Anthony finished. Christine did not give him another chance to say a word, she rushed out of the door and ran straight towards Antoinette's room. She needed to let him know that she was there, or he might accidentally shoot her if he thought she was someone else. Anthony was not behind her and she could only imagine where he had gotten off to.

"Raoul?" she whispered softly. No answer. Christine's brow creased in confusion. Why did he not answer?

"Raoul?" she whispered again. A hand snaked out and grabbed her roughly by the arm. Christine's screams was muffled by a hand pressing cruelly against her face. She felt her pistol drop to the ground and felt tears prick her eyes. She had let her guard down and she should never allow that to happen.

"Hmmm," the man whispered. Christine struggled when she felt his hand slid down her side, over her thigh. "What do we have here?"

Christine did the first thing she could think of and she bit down roughly on the hand he was covering her mouth with. The man grunted and released her mouth. Christine was smart enough to know not to scream, or she would have everyone knowing that she was there, which could be deadly for Erik.

"You little bitch!" he hissed. He shoved her away from him and she stumbled back. She fell to the ground when her unsteady feet ran up against something and she landed hard on her bottom. Christine gave a choking sob when she saw Raoul lying on the floor, motionless. In the pale moonlight she could barely make out the rise and fall of his chest, but he was breathing, Christine gave a sigh of relief and turned her attention back on the man standing in front of her. Her body began to thrash when another man came up behind her and grabbed her from behind. She had not realized that there was two men in the room.

"You must have been the curly haired wench Michael was talking about," the one standing in front of her murmured.

"Yes...and I am sure Delauney will not mind if we have a little enjoyment with you first," the other man agreed.

"Bastard!" Christine gasped when she was thrown roughly on the bed. As soon as she landed, however, her head hit the headboard, dropping her into a brief state of unconsciousness.

Nadir grabbed the reins of one of the horses and mounted. The men lay dead on the floor. Nadir had not given them much of a chance, he had killed them before they had even dismounted. Now Meg and Antoinette were safe in the trees and he could go and help Christine, because knowing that girl as he did, he had a feeling that she was going to get into a lot of 

Erik heard Michael and another man making their way up the stairs, but he also heard something going on downstairs. He had heard three gunshots first, then two, but after the second two he heard some shuffling going on downstairs and wondered what the hell was going on. However he could not worry about it at the moment because Michael was coming. Every thought in his mind was about getting rid of this man, and his body was tense with anticipation and dread. It had come down to this moment.

Erik cursed when he was taken completely by surprise. He had been leaning against the door so he could hear when they were approaching and before he could move back a bullet went through the door, shooting straight through his shoulder. He stumbled back and kept his cursing to a minimum. Damn Michael to hell! Ignoring the pain he raised his pistol and aimed it at the slowly opening door.