Dark Memories (The Phantom Diaries, #2) (14 page)

He was so dark, so dangerous and he drew me in like no other power I’d ever known.
 
Why was I so weak in front of him? How could he step into my life and cause such turmoil?
 
Just thinking about him I could now smell the musky scent that always accompanied him.

I wanted to avoid seeing him. I needed to avoid him, for my own sanity; for the protection of my heart.
 
And for Chace.

The darkness and danger that drew me to Eric was a girl’s childish fantasy and I had no room in my life for that.
 
My God, he wasn’t even from this century.
 
How foolish of me to think that anything could ever come of my relationship with him.
 

And Kristine…I stared at my eyes in the mirror, looking for the slightest sign of her. Was she still here?
 
Was she still with me?
 
My eyes widened as I continued to stare, and the space around me grew dark and distant. Was she there?

A firm knock at the door had me so startled I fell off my chair and landed with a sound thump on the floor. Wasn’t bad enough I’d been possessed, I was now spooking myself to lunacy.

I rushed to the door, hoping whoever was there hadn’t heard my stumble.

“Eric.”
 
All my resolve of just seconds before faded away and my knees buckled at the mere sight of him.

He held a red rose which he passed playfully under my nose. The sweet scent was powerful, but not enough to override the manly scent emanating from him.

“It’s a winter rose,” he said.
 
A cockeyed grin played on his lips and I could swear he knew the effect he was having on me. He stepped closer until he was in my dressing room and closing the door.
“The first from my garden.”
He brushed the velvety petals across my cheek, like a soft summer kiss.

My eyes closed despite my will to remain strong and in control.
 
The spell he had over me was strong and I felt my body tilt into his.

Chace, I thought.
 
Chace has been hurt enough.
 
But while I tried to conjure up the bright and boyish face, only Eric’s dark and gloomy one played before my eyes.
 
Strong and determined, his pull on me was relentless.

Tears stung my eyes when his arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer.
 
It felt so right… too right.
 
His touch, his scent and his very breath on my hair all combined to leave me unable to resist.

“Annette.”
 

My name was a song on his lips.
 
Hushed and hungry, he said it again and again.
 
I pulled back to glance at him and had never seen him so happy.

I wanted to tell him how much I loved him and how I longed for him.
 
But in the same breath, I needed to tell him this couldn’t be; we couldn’t be.

“You’ve no idea how relieved I am to see that Kristine is finally and completely gone.”
 
He gripped my shoulders and looked me in the eye.
 
“Not a trace of her.
 
It’s really all you.”

“Yes.”
 
I smiled and longed to return to his arms.

“Now we’re finally free to begin a life together.” He leaned into me and covered my lips with his. His kiss was deep and my body didn’t take long to respond. I pulled him closer and my tongue eagerly swept into the warmth of his mouth to taste him.

For all the strength he gave me, he left me so utterly weak to his touch.

“Kristine is behind us now,” he whispered.
 
“Let’s concentrate on you and me.”

“I hate you, Eric.”

We tensed and held our breaths.
 
The voice had cackled from nearby and I was relieved to see he’d heard it, too.

“It’s your passion that made me what I am today.”

I wanted to scream at the voice that was so ugly and distorted.

“Your passion drove me mad all those years ago.
 
Now it’s Annette’s turn to lose her mind over you.”

My eyes locked with Eric’s and my heart thundered so loud, it almost drowned Kristine out.

“You never change, Eric. And you never will.”

“Don’t listen.
 
She’s a bitter…” Eric began to say.

A loud cackle filled the room and split our ears.

A cool breeze tickled my ear. “He’s not what he seems, this dashing and handsome man before you.”
 
The voice was directly in my ear, so close I could feel each icy syllable. “He’ll die before you find out about his birth.”

Goosebumps crawled over my skin and I could feel the hairs at the back of my neck bristle with fear and apprehension.
 
An icy spike pierced through me and filled the room.
 
A shiver shook me so
violently,
I stumbled back and reached for my chair.

Eric quickly took a hold of me and kept me steadily on my feet. “Are you all right?”

I looked into his handsome face and felt my breaths come in deep, painful rasps.
 
He was so handsome, so unbearably handsome, yet…
 
What was he?
 
Who was this man who traveled by darkened tunnels and clung to immortal life for centuries?

He seemed bewildered by my scrutiny and I forced myself to relax.
 
But as I pulled my gaze away from him, a flicker of flame played in his eyes. I blinked and wanted to run, but the fire was already gone when I once again brought my eyes to his.

“My God, Eric.
 
What are you?
 
Who are you?”

I didn’t
realized
I was backing away until I ran into my table.
 
My hands involuntarily ran over the surface, searching.
 
I’d no idea what for, but it seemed vitally important I find something; something to hold onto.

Eric tilted his head to the side and gazed sidelong at me.

It was a gaze that was far from calming.
 
Something eerie clung to his eyes and the more he approached me, the more I cowered.
 
His eyes hardened as they followed the movement of my hand.

My throat tingled and I remembered the sensation of his fingers around my neck.
 
The pain returned, reminding me of what he was capable of.
The rage and violence, all hidden behind that handsome veneer.

With a prayer on my lips, I reached for the cross around my neck then reached up to finger the soft skin he’d brutally bruised.

“You could have killed me.” The words came
on their own
. An accusation that had clung to me since the moment his fingers had taken on such a murderous grip.

He stepped closer as his eyes filled with remorse. “Annette, you know very well there’s no need to fear me. It is Kristine who is the Phantom.
 
Kristine who deliberately pushed me to violence.”
 
His powerful fingers brushed away mine and tenderly touched the sore bruise.
 
“But she’s gone now. Please forgive me for laying a hand to you. I would never hurt you.”

“You did hurt me, Eric.” I pushed his hand away from me.

“It was Kristine.” His tone remained apologetic, but his eyes hardened ever so slightly.

“It was still me,” I argued.

“You don’t understand the power she has.”
 
He turned away and pushed his fingers through his hair, exposing his grimacing profile to me.
 
The black strands fell back around his face in a fashion that was angry and wicked. The darkness and danger that had always drawn me to him were now alarming.

“She knows how to throw you into a rage and you oblige,” I said.

He spun on his heels and faced me; pain and anger played on his features. A century of torment filled his eyes. “You’ve no idea what she’s put me through.”

“No.” I should have been more sympathetic, more compassionate, but I hadn’t the desire to be understanding at that moment.
 
My throat still ached and I was tired of trying to understand this endless feud that had nothing to do with me. “But I know what you’ve both put me though.”

Chapter 12

Eric

Kristine has left me feeling like a monster once again. She’s traveled to another time, another continent just to work her demonic evil into my life.
 
Seeing the fear in Annette’s eyes and knowing that my hand could be the cause of such fear… how I wish it was Kristine I’d truly killed so Annette and I could have some peace.

After I stormed out of Annette’s dressing room, I escaped to my darkened tunnels, just as I had as a child; just as I’d run away from the world who feared the hideous monster with the disfigured face.

I’d no doubt Kristine planned to turn Annette against me. She wouldn’t stop just because she no longer had direct control over Annette’s body. She nonetheless had control over our lives.

My home echoed with the heavy steps of my boots as I entered and paced the length of one room, then another and then another.
 
All around me were remnants of Annette’s stay here.
 
Her fragrance.
 
Her gloves.
 
The plate of fruit she’d left untouched at breakfast.

The depth of love I felt for her weighed on me and the thought of her in Kristine’s hands made it all the more unbearable.

I stopped before the mirror in the corridor and examined my face.
 
Though I knew the scars had faded, all I could see looking back at me was a face covered with unsightly scars.
 
The physical markings may have left, but the depth of each scar remained.
 
As handsome as I could appear to the world now, inside I was still the monster Kristine had always wanted me to become; to remain for all eternity.

Staring into my bloodshot eyes, I shouted out my anguish and heard my voice come back to me on a deafening echo of my empty home.
 
Unable to endure anymore, I watched the looking glass shatter and fall to the floor and was surprised to then see my fist bloodied from the blow to the reminder of what I truly was.

*****

Annette

I stared at the door for a solid two minutes, unable to move, unable to think and just barely able to breathe. What had just happened?
 
One moment Eric was here, gentle, romantic and passionate, and the next he was a veritable monster, complete with sneer and a slamming door.

Kristine’s voice still echoed in my head and I knew that she was bringing out in Eric a side of him I’d never wanted to see.
 
A side I’d denied and flatly refused to accept.
 
Maman
had warned me not to be so trusting, not to be so naïve and innocent.

Wrapping my arms around myself, I curled up on the sofa and wept for the innocence that was being torn so heartlessly away from me.
 
I longed for the security and warmth of home and
Maman’s
arms. I wanted to go back to a time and place where there weren’t so many men, so many questions and so much confusion.

Through the haze of tears and sniffles, I heard a light knock at my door.
 
Unable to face anyone, I buried my face in a cushion, muffling my cries.
 
The door creaked open.