Christine paced between the window of the room and the door; hoping her husband would return soon with word of Madame Giry. Already he had been gone an hour and two inspectors had finished their inspection of the house. They had been less than helpful.

"Madame Viscountess, there is no evidence of any intruder on the premises. We have concluded that the woman must have left at her own feel will." Christine sighed as the rather foolish inspector waited for her response.

"Monsieur, she is very sick. She cannot roll over; much less leave the house. He did take her." Just as she was beginning to worry about the inspector's reaction to her statement, Raoul entered the room. He gently wrapped an arm around her waist and began to explain everything to the needless to say confused inspector.

*_____*

Madame Giry awoke to find her body floating in mid-air. She was wrapped tightly in thick blankets and minutes away from suffocation. Claustrophobia mixed oddly with fear, despair and pain as she remembered falling off the bed a few hours earlier. With her arms pinned at her side by the tightness of the blankets and the weakened state of her body, Antoinette struggled gently against the blankets.

Perhaps she could at least loosen the tight embrace of cloth. Slowly the constricting sling lowered her to the floor as the blanket slid loose and she rolled out of the blankets to lay gasping for breath on her back.

Her hair was tangled and damp from her fever and captivity. Soon she knew the phantom would return and she did not want to be anywhere near the bed when he did. Almost unfounded her fear of what he would do to her gripped her heart and her breath became more hurried. Would he rape her? Murder her? Neither option held any hope of impossibility in it.

Forcing all her strength into her arms, she rolled over onto her belly. She was vaguely aware of the fact that the vomit she was expelled sometime still was wet on her nightgown front and she slid slightly as the material met with the floor and her elbow. The short but nonetheless helpful slide allowed Madame Giry to grasp the candle holder that sat imbedded in the floor. Using the thick metal to hoist her shaking body upwards, she finally found herself leaning heavily against the wall.

"I can do this." she muttered. Her body began to shake violently as her body protested the upright position and she unwillingly sunk back down to the floor. Tears leaked from her eyes as the dire circumstances of her captivity overwhelmed her. The logic of the situation of lost to her as try as she may, no reason for the phantom's sudden interest in her came to mind.

Soon she would loose consciousness again and he would return. Awake or asleep she was powerless to save herself from him. Only death could save her from him and it nefariously eluded her.

*_____*

Raoul soon explained all that needed to be explained to the dunce-head of an inspector and soothed his wife by assuring her that he would find Madame Giry. Then he left his home once more in search of someone who would help him.

He had thought about allowing the inspectors to accompany him to the labyrinth under the Ruins of the Opera Populaire; but they had quickly convinced him that they did not have the courage or the brains to be of any assistance to him. His list of possible helpers was quickly diminished.

Who been down into the phantom's lair? Christine, himself, Madame Giry, Meg, a handful of nameless actors and possibly Buquet. All save himself and Christine were dead or lost. HIs thoughts were not optimistic. It came to mind then that although they had not been down into the phantom's lair; two people he had forgotten could help him.

It took very little convincing on his part to get Monsieur Firmin and Monsieur Andre to accompany him into the Opera Populaire. They were both angry at the phantom for ruining their opera house and for dashing into pieces their fortunes in the process. Plus, they had both admired Madame Giry and were happy to help rescue her.

Raoul took a deep breath as he grasped the torch and prepared to descend into the complete dark of the former hell of his wife. If he got his hands on the phantom he would kill him this time. No mercy; no pity. He had been training and preparing in case the phantom dared bother he or his family again. Although Madame Giry was not a member of that said family, he was willing to include her because of Christine and his own growing love of her. She was a kind woman, although strict at times and he hated even the thought of the phantom hurting her in any way.

"How far down in the phantom's... home?" Monsieur Andre asked, his hands shaking from fear. They had not yet begun the dark descend and Raoul wondered if the two men would have the courage to actually accompany him. He had his love for Christine to keep him safe; the two men before him had nothing that would help them combat their fear. At least nothing that he knew of.

"It is far down." What else was he to say? If you were to go any deeper you would reach Hades? That would not help him convince the shaking man. Andre shook his head.

"I cannot go down. I shall guard the way from up here." So he had lost one, Raoul thought. He then turned to Monsieur Firmin. He said nothing.

"Shall we go?" Raoul asked, stepping down onto the first step. To his great surprise and relief, Firmin followed. As they silently made their way down into the depths of the earth, Raoul was strangely reminded of the last time he had come down, only Madame Giry had been leading him and he had been much more afraid then than he was now.

They hurried along, easily avoiding several traps that the torch showed them were present in the stone. Raoul knew from past experience that caution could not be replaced by speed or it could prove lethal.

Firmin said nothing about the traps, the mice, the odd things they happened upon or even the threat of the phantom as they hurried along, each step taking them nearer and nearer to the phantom's hidden chambers.

Finally they reached where the phantom's boat was tied. Not wanting to arouse suspicion by taking the boat across the water, Raoul and Richard Firmin lowered themselves carefully into the water and as silently as possible waded across. The heavy gate was thankfully not lowered and they were able to continue wading into the chambers. The candle holders in the water were unlit and the light from the torch was the only light seen.

Cautious, for fear that the phantom might surprise them by leaping out from behind something, the two men made their way out of the water. They began to search for the captured woman almost immediately.

Raoul sought about in one of the broken mirrors that appeared to lead into a hallway. He went down it a ways, realizing that the phantom must have escaped through it as he did so. There was no sign of Madame Giry and he turned back to help Firmin search the rest of the lair.

Meanwhile, Richard Firmin gripped his own torch carefully and went up the short staircase that appeared to led into another room. Treading carefully across the many scattered papers on the floor, he entered the room and was astounded to see a lovely swan shaped bed with a black canopy hanging above it. Hie gaze soon was torn from the bed, however, as it followed the covers to find them all but tossed over the side of the canopy bed. They trailed out across the floor almost like fingers pointing to something.

He hurried forward as his eyes fell on the shaking woman crumpled against the wall. Gently, he lifted her back up from the floor and cushioned it against his arm. Her eyes were closed as if in sleep, but her hands and body shook from the cold about her. Pulling his glove from his hand, Richard felt her forehead. Anger surged through him as he found it almost burning to touch. Her decent nightgown was stained down the front by something that smelled oddly akin to vomit. The same partially dried liquid stained her neck, face and hair.

Sympathy, worry and fear all passed through the kneeling man at once as he tried to figure out what to do with her. It was obvious that she needed to be warm and so he laid her back on the cold stone floor to remove his cloak from his back. It soon enveloped her trembling body and he gathered her in his arms once more. Carefully positioning her head against his arm, so that it would not hang limply, Richard hurried to find the Vicounte. The sooner they left the lair, the sooner they would all be safe.

But as he rushed for the stair, Richard came face to face with the phantom.

Author's Note- If you find any mistakes, please kindly inform me and I will correct them. I am not well at the moment and errors are more common when a headache is in control of your body...