Seeing the coffin right below him, Erik's first inclination was to leap down and rip the lid off of Aidan's prison. It could be done within seconds, but he dared not do it. Whoever was behind all of this was down there expecting him to make some kind of grand entrance. He crept back over to the darkness of the wings. Taking hold of one of the ropes that controlled the curtain, he slid down to the stage, then hid in the shadows and folds of velvet. The coffin was right there only a few feet away. She was so close, but he couldn't risk exposure, not yet anyway.
"This is ridiculous. Let's just kill her and get it over with," a voice suddenly said, breaking the silence. "If he had given even the slightest damn about her, he would have shown up already." This voice was familiar to the vampire, although he hadn't heard it in quite a while. Pulling back a tiny bit of the curtain, Erik looked towards the center aisle and saw that his memory was indeed correct.
Strutting like a peacock in all his best foppish finery was Emile Claudel. So this was the Englishman he had been told about. The former tenor was dressed, or rather, overdressed in an array of velvets, satins and silks. His collar and the cuffs of his shirt were dripping in elaborate lace work. He was so over done in his finery that it seemed to Erik that he looked less like a man of breeding and culture and more like a dandy or a popinjay. He almost seemed comical. Indeed, the vampire might have found himself snickering, but for the former tenor's self entitlement. His constant complaints about how long everything was taking along with his suggestions of what they could do to Aidan were no laughing matter either. Emile's penchant for flashing his fangs and red eyes after each of his proposals were juvenile and less than amusing, even to his master.
"Patience," responded another voice that was clearly tired of the other's antics. "He'll come." Erik recognized it as Ryuu and he was very close by. "He's probably already here."
"If he was, we would know," Emile commented, his arrogant vibrato outweighing his caution. The vampire was pleased to see that some things had definitely not changed when it came to the former tenor.
"Would you?"
'Le Coeur Noir' looked up towards the balcony to pinpoint where Ryuu was and discovered him seated like a king in a box just off the stage to Erik's right. Things would be so much easier if it were only Emile he had to contend with. The vampire was well acquainted with men like the former tenor. They noticed very little and were generally all talk with nothing to back it up. This man, Ryuu, was his greatest threat. He would hear every little sound and see every little movement. He was trying to gauge whether or not he would be fast enough to plunge a stake into him, when the sound of something falling in the lobby caught all of their attention.
"It's him!" Emile announced with an excited grin, but Ryuu only waved him off and motioned for him to be silent. He then pointed at the coffin in a silent request for him to guard it while he went to investigate.
Once his master was gone, Emile stepped onto the stage and barely glanced at the box that held their captive. He should have been preparing for the fight that was looming, but instead he was his usual overconfident overblown self. He wasn't on his guard nor was he paying attention to anything. Instead, he started to sing an aria from some opera. The former tenor may have discovered immortality, but his voice was still only mediocre. The only thing making his impromptu performance enjoyable was the knowledge that he was completely distracted.
Erik transformed into smoke. Keeping within the shadows of the auditorium he was able to move unnoticed to the back of the theater and silently close the doors. It was easy since Emile had his back to him. He then tore the molding from around the door and used it to fashion a makeshift cross by threading the shorter piece through the handles and letting the long piece fall against it. He had to make sure it fell just right, because he could not adjust it once it was in place. He then did the same with the balcony doors ensuring that Ryuu would have to find another way in. That would at least buy him some time.
Rematerializing, Erik began to walk down the aisle getting Emile's instant attention. The former tenor smiled broadly, brandishing his fangs and glowing red eyes. Perhaps he had hoped that this would intimidate 'The Dark Heart', but it didn't. The vampire stared at his foppish opponent coldly, his face void of emotion as he strode toward him. Of all the humans in the world that could or should be made into nosferatu, Emile was one of the worst to choose. He was narcissistic, ineffectual, and would readily stab his own master in the back if he saw any benefit for himself. That anyone as intelligent as Ryuu would pick such an oaf was baffling. Of course need and desire can make a person do things they might not otherwise do. No doubt Emile had possessed something his master wanted. As far as the former tenor was concerned he had finally become 'somebody'. He had wealth and power and believed that he was great enough to make Kings quake on their thrones.
"Ahhh, Erik Ambrose. The last time we met, the deck was stacked in your favor, but as you can see times have changed."
