The Phantom Diaries (19 page)

He stepped towards us and I was surprised when Kristine stepped back. Was she beginning to regret her deceptive game?

Chace would never hurt me.

“I guess now I’ll be able to play with the same passion, heartache and sense of betrayal with which you sing every night, Annette.” He winced and pinched between his eyes with his index and thumb. I can see his eyes glisten with unshed tears.

I wanted to weep for him; to reach out and explain everything that had happened.

“Well, well,” Kristine muttered. “If Eric can’t come in here and take care of Aragon like he should, perhaps this boy can.”

Chace looked at us strangely, but the rage still played in his eyes.

“You’re smarter than you look, Annette,” she said under her breath. “Having a back up for Eric is something I’d not even considered.”

“Chace, my darling,” she said in a loud and clear voice. “What chance to have you here.”

Chace looked bewildered as he tried to make sense of Kristine’s new tactic.

“Aragon is possessed; obsessed. I had to play along.” She stepped forward and brought my hand to his cheek. “My dear Chace. So resilient. So strong. So reliable. We do share something, Chace. You’re the one I want.”

“I’d do anything for you, Annette.” He pulled me into his arms. Then he said softly, “I don’t want to lose you. It’ll drive me crazy.”

“I know that, my darling.” Kristine brought my lips over Chace’s and within seconds his arms were wrapped around my shoulder, holding me tight while his lips, his tongue, his teeth devoured me.

“Oh, Annette,” he said between hurried kisses. “Why did I wait so long? I thought you wanted to go slow. I thought you wanted me to give you time. And now… look at you. Then you left and I thought I lost you. Seeing you in another man’s arms…” He plunged his tongue into my mouth and squeezed me to his chest, lifting me off my feet to carry me to my bed.

He released me and I bounced on the mattress before he leaned in to peel the clingy dress off my body. His eyes widened as he licked his lips. “The thought of Aragon’s hands on you, Annette.” He put his hands to my neck and slowly let them work their way down, over my breasts, my belly and the edge of my panties.

“I want you, Chace.” Kristine said seductively. My hands clawed at his shirt.

Not now! I shouted. Not with Kristine. This isn’t me, Chace. I don’t want you to make love to me when you’re like this!

“Oh Annette,” he said, caught up in Kristine’s seductive spell. He got off the bed to stand but fell backwards onto the floor. Unconscious, he just lay there.

A large figure I recognized stood over Chace. Eric.

My heart leaped.
 
Eric! No Eric, this is a trap.

“Annette,” he said. “Are you alright? I was at the press conference and you were not quite yourself so I followed you and Aragon…”

“Eric,” Kristine chimed. “What took you so long?”

His eyes played over my body; while Kristine had my fingers ran along a bra strap seductively, eyes lowered, trained on his eyes.

“I’ve longed to see you again,
mon amour
.”

Startled, he took a step back and stared at me, and for a moment I held the hope that he would know what Kristine was up to.

“Kristine,” he said.

Yes!

“
Dommage
,” she purred. “I’d hope to play this game a little longer. Don’t I work Annette well?”

“Annette would not yet use such an intimate term of endearment,” he said. “
Mon amour.”

“Ah,
oui
,” she conceded. “Old habits die hard, my love.”

She rolled me off the bed, slowly, seductively, assuring all my curves were displayed to Eric. With sultry motions I didn’t even think my body was capable of, she brought me to stand before Eric. My hand went up to his smooth face. “How lovely. The scars are all gone. Time has played well with your face,
mon amour
. I assume this is all the work of that witch, Helen.”

Disgust plainly took over his features as he grabbed my hand and pulled it away from his face, but just as quickly, he gazed down at my hand, my fingers squeezed painfully together in his and realized the fingers were still mine and not Kristine’s.

I saw the apology in his eyes and wondered if he knew I was still in here. Could he see that I was trapped? Did he know the game Kristine was playing?

“Surely you did not travel all this way, all this time simply to seduce me once again, Kristine,” he spat.

The laugh that emerged was bereft of amusement and filled with anger.

“What have you done with her?”

Kristine stepped up close to Eric and traced her finger over his lips like a gentle kiss, all the while keeping my eyes on him. I saw the hunger in his eyes and wondered if he was going to fall for Kristine.

Don’t Eric. Not now. Not like this.

“Why, my love, she’s right here,” Kristine said. She reached behind my back and set her fingers on the clasp of my bra.

No!

“Don’t you recognize your beloved little innocent?”

Eric reached out to stop her and I felt her anger and disappointment sear through my body.

“Honestly, Eric. I thought you were more man than that. The Eric I remember would not have wasted so much time playing with a… a….” She grimaced and finally spat the word out. “Virgin.”

Kristine led my hands up his chest, fingering the hard planes of his muscles. Though his fingers still gripped around my arms, he did nothing to stop my touch.

“You’re worldly enough to know what a bore a virgin can be,
mon amour.
They know nothing of passion. Nothing of the games men like you loved to play. Remember how we would spend hours, days even wrapped in each other’s arms? They were days of such happiness, were they not?”

Then Kristine directed these words to me. “Stop being in such a tiff. Eric loves this side of you. He cannot resist.” She then leaned in closer to him and I saw the arousal in his every feature. His eyes narrowed hungrily. His jaw tightened in anticipation. And his lips… they parted, softened and waited.

The fingers that had held my arms so roughly now relaxed and trailed up to my shoulders.

I could feel Kristine’s victorious elation. She was winning and there was nothing I could do to stop her. She moved closer and my lips were barely an inch from his. My heart rate jump; whether from her excitement or my disappointment, I couldn’t tell.

Just before my mouth could cover his, his lips curled into a knowing smile. “Annette will never be like you, Kristine.” He pulled away and stepped back.

I felt her murderous rage. She was angry to the point of madness and for a moment I thought she would tear everything within reach to shreds.

“My control of her is complete, Eric. And the more time I spend in her body, the more permanent the situation becomes. Before long she’ll have disappeared forever…” she stopped.

No! Forever? Eric please help me! I wailed. Kristine can’t go on hurting, destroying people and turning me into something I’m not!”

Kristine answered me, “But you are me, Annette.
 
And I am you.” She turned her full attention to Eric. “Soon,
mon amour
… soon my way of moving her, of speaking her and of being her is slowly going to kill her.”

She took an arrogant step towards him and held out her hand. “Come, Eric. Come kiss your sweet Annette goodbye while you still can. She’s fighting me now, but soon, her body, her voice, her identity, and her life would be mine to do with it as I wish.”

Eric, I shouted, fighting to break free of Kristine from within. Eric! Only you know of Kristine. Only you know how she has come back! Please Eric, as long as I’m alive, I will fight her, but I need you to help me! Please!

Epilogue

Eric’s Diary

Décembre
22 2009

Mon journal,

It is hard to believe and virtually impossible to comprehend what Kristine has done to Annette. I only have myself to blame. How greatly I underestimated Kristine and her desire for revenge. She’ll never stop, and with her in control of Annette’s body, I don’t know how to keep her from ruining Annette.

So many men here desire her; Aaron Aragon among them. There’s no telling what Kristine will do, but there’s no doubt it would leave Annette’s body and reputation in ruins.

As difficult as it is to admit, I, myself, find that I am strongly attracted to the sensual creature before me. Remnants of my love for Kristine still remain, despite the obvious witch she’s become. My heart still sees the young woman who had such raw talent on the stage and such wild abandonment in my bed; the woman who took me from my lowest low and gave me something to look forward to everyday. I remembered and longed for the days when she and I would hold each other in our arms, feeling love and happiness in each other’s embrace. But that all changed.

And Annette. There’s no denying the depth of emotions I feel for her. Seeing her now, caged within the wickedness that is Kristine’s essence, I feel impotent. But I know this…I was determined now more than ever to not let Kristine destroy Annette’s life as she had done to mine.

My only recourse became obvious. I had to take Annette away and physically keep Kristine from harming Annette’s body or wantonly having her way with men. I had observed briefly when I entered Annette’s apartment and saw the young violinist friend of hers posed above her. Not too far away was Aragon’s unconscious body, an exquisite violin shattered next to him. I didn’t know how deep Annette’s love was for her first chair violinist, but it was obvious how he felt about her. The heartbroken young man was on the brink of killing Aragon.

Annette would not want that to happen. I cannot blame men for being drawn to sweet Annette, but I cannot help feeling the ugly surge of jealousy crept onto me at that moment. I acted by knocking him off of her, but recoiled that I had acted, had let myself lose control. I bent down to examine him shortly. He was unconscious, but not hurt. Aragon, on the other hand, needed some patching up. As much as I despised Aragon, I made a quick phone call to my butler to have him clean up Annette’s apartment and make sure Aragon was bandaged and brought back to the his office at the Opera House. Chace would stay where he was, but on Annette’s sofa. As soon as I hung up, I turned my attention to Kristine.

Annette’s lovely face was marred by Kristine’s hard eyes staring at me, daring me to bend to her will. With Kristine, as I have learned, I must play it coolly and not act with what is natural for me…with passion.

“I will never say goodbye to Annette,” I said.

The glimmer of defiance in her eyes was quickly replaced by fear as I approached. I grabbed her arm, threw a blanket on her loosely, thrust my shoulder under her torso and took a firm grip of her leg before hoisting her over my shoulder.

“Eric,” she screeched. “How dare you? Put me down. Put me down!”

I ignored her kicks and feeble slaps across my back and raced out to the elevator. A few of Annette’s neighbors peered out to see the commotion and were plainly shocked by her state of undress.

“Let go of me.”

I mustered up as much charm as I could and winked at the elderly women. “Just a game. A naughty game.”

We made it into the elevator where Kristine’s shouts of indignation continued. Out on the darkened streets of New York, people barely glanced at us. I rushed to the Met entrance that would lead to the maze of tunnels below.

Kristine bucked and fought with increasing fervor and I had just enough time to reach my residence before I lost my grip of her.

She stood there, ravaged, disheveled, angry and delightfully breathtaking. Her breasts rose and fell over the fine lace of her black bra, and her face, flushed with anger, almost had me forgetting the real woman I was looking at. I had to keep reminding myself this beautiful creature wasn’t Annette, but Kristine in Annette’s body.

After a few labored breaths, Kristine calmed down and began looking around, appraising my home.

She cocked an impressed brow then brought the most smoldering expression to Annette’s beautiful face. The combination was intoxicating and riveting. I couldn’t look away and I felt my body surge with the need to touch her.

How long I’d waited to fully touch Annette; her body, her soul.