Still don't own Twilight or Phantom of the Opera

"this" means french

49: Stripes

Dan smiled at his now-sleeping daughter as he carried her upstairs. He was wary for the upcoming days, for it would be the first time that they'd had a family reunion after Sarah had been adopted into their family.

"I'm so happy," Jillian murmured as he placed her on the bed. "She's finally moving on with her life…"

"Something is off, though," Dan whispered. "She seems angry almost whenever her former life between Paris and us is brought up."

"I really hope she wasn't hurt," Jillian said going towards her. "I'll change her clothes, you wait in the hall."

Dan nodded and left. Jillian took a deep breath and uncovered her child's body, only to gasp and stare in horror at what she saw.

There were scars crisscrossing Sarah's torso, some older than others, and most of them appearing to have been healed by minor medical usage. To her horror, there were even more scars on Sarah's back, and worse, there were sure signs of locations that had once been burned. Jillian stepped back in shock before finally coming to her senses enough to cover her child and tuck her in quickly and retreat.

"She was abused," Jillian hissed as she shut the door behind her. "That bastard!"

"Jillian, shh!" Dan protested. "Who was abused?"

The blonde dragged him down to their bedroom and shut and locked her door.

"That was why Sarah was put in our care," Jillian said sternly. "That's why Sarah used to use only violence to rid herself of her anger and negative emotions! Abuse and violence was all she knew!"

"You think…?"

"No, I know," Jillian said stubbornly. "Scars all over her chest, burn marks on her back and shoulders – I am not even fully sure if I want to know what happened to her! It's like the one responsible wanted her to be nothing but scars…"

"She avoids pans of boiling water on the stove," Dan realized. "Someone must have poured boiling water on her when she was… oh god…"

"Her stepfather," they realized in unison.

"What if- what if her angel of music is really just a good Samaritan who took her in under his wing?" Dan asked.

"We'll have to ask her in the morning," Jillian said softly. "In the meantime, we'll need to get some sleep so we don't fall asleep tomorrow during the time we're going to be using to figure out what happened to her."

The next morning, Sarah awoke to the doorbell ringing. She looked down and noticed that she was wearing her musical pajamas – which she was not dressed in last she recalled. With a disgusted sigh, she knew her secret was out, or at least the knowledge of the scars on her body was. And of course with her luck someone she knew would be the one that had rung the doorbell.

Sarah went downstairs to see who was at the door, only to notice the one person in her past, or rather in her angel's past, that could harm her.

"Demon!" she yelled, pointing at Christine. "Demon!"

Sarah took note that there were clouds everywhere, and realized that these two were just like her angel of music, only instead of liquid caramel or onyx, their eyes were the color of bright red blood.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken," the woman said, and Sarah glared up at her.

"Demon! You killed him!" Sarah screamed, pointing at Christine and Raoul. "You killed him! You killed my angel of music! If I weren't human I would be killing you! You killed my angel! Tell me where he is, NOW!"

"So, he's visited you as well? I warn you, he only does it to manipulate you into becoming a slave to him. However, if you insist, I am here to do my job. What seems to be the problem with you? After all, you seem to have some emotional scars upon you."

"Get out. Get out! Get out of my home, you demon, you vile filthy, scum of the earth, no-good bitch! Get out before I tell the Volturi you have revealed us!"

If the two vampires could have paled further, they would have.

"You are human." the female pointed out softly, dangerously. "How do you know of us?"

"That's none of your business," Sarah snarled angrily right as Joseph snarled it behind Christine, who wheeled around and almost let out a hiss in shock.

"You'd best do as she says before the Master, the Angel of Music, comes to hunt you down," Fleur snarled beside him, and Christine fled. "Hello, mon petit. Master sent us to help you."

"May we come in?" Joseph asked politely, and Sarah took note of his eyes.

"I don't-!" Jillian protested.

"I trust them, Maman," Sarah said looking up at the blonde. "They have the same build and eye color as my angel of music. The other one had red eyes, those are not good ones, so they are demons."

"Very good, mon petit," Joseph praised with raised eyebrows. "Master taught you very well, and at such a tender age!"

"I've worked hard," Sarah said shrugging. "Where is he? Is he alright?"

"Yes, he's just off taking care of business again," Joseph said smiling. "There was another one of his students that is dying that he wanted to escort back."

"Oh," Sarah said simply with understanding, knowing that it was code for 'he went hunting so he couldn't hurt you'. "You are…?"

"Joseph, right hand man to the genius known as the Angel of Music, and my specialty happens to be theater productions when it concerns transitions," he said bowing lowly. "It is an honor to finally meet you. Master wishes for us to watch over you for the time being since you are in grave danger. As you can see, those two who just left still harbor ill-will for Master's fighting them in self-defense and nearly killing them."

"But that's not fair! They started it!" Sarah protested swinging her arms out widely. "He tried to kill him first, not the other way around!"

"Yes, we know that, but they don't see it that way," Fleur said gravely. "In the meantime, we should get started. We'll need to finish this before they come back. after all, they won't settle for just a few stripes when it comes to revenge. They'll use anything and everything to their advantage, so it's best that everybody knows everything so we know what to counter with when it comes to them using things to their advantage."