Today's prompt: thrown voice/yellow eyes/the rat catcher

I wrote another one shot based on Kay's novel today! I hope you guys will enjoy!

The poem quoted in this one shot is a brief excerpt from "The City in the Sea" by Edgar Allan Poe.

* * *

"You did what?" Nadir asked slowly, sighing as he rested his head in his hand.

"I threw my voice into the closet and told them that the Phantom of the Opera would lasso them. Oh, you should have heard their screams," Erik replied, his yellow eyes sparkling with laughter.

"Erik, you exhaust me," Nadir muttered, taking a sip from the whiskey glass in his hand. "Why do you pick on those poor, innocent chorus girls?"

"They weren't innocent, Daroga. Not this time, anyway," Erik said with a shrug. He leaned back in his armchair, and he couldn't help but smile as he recalled the event from the prior night.

*  *  *

The three girls he had played the trick on had been picking on Christine for a week now. She had spent the majority of their most recent lesson in tears as she told her Angel of Music of the names they had called her and the horrid things they'd said.

Erik had assured her that the only reason why they would say such things was because they were jealous of her immense talent and beauty and that they wanted her to lose confidence in herself. He had done all he could to comfort her, but he knew that his assistance in the matter would not end there.

After their lesson, he crept his way behind the walls of the girls' bedroom. He waited for the girls in silence, and when they'd finally come to retire for the night, a devilish grin spread across his face.

The girls were laughing when they'd stepped into the bedroom, but it was quickly silenced when a large gust of wind suddenly overtook the room, and the door slammed shut behind them—seemingly of its own accord. At the same time, the candles in the room extinguished, and the only remaining illumination came from the dim moonlight behind the curtains.

Erik's ghoulish, low, condescending laughter filled the room, causing each of the girls to shiver. He then began to speak in an eerie, guttural voice that seemed to be originating from the closet:

"Lo! Death has reared himself a throne

In a strange city lying alone

Far down within the dim West,

Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best

Have gone to their eternal rest."

The three girls shrieked at the threatening tone of his voice. One of them—seemingly the eldest of the three—made a start for the door, but when she only found it to be locked, she let out another squeal. "We're trapped!"

"Oh, but of course! What more would you expect from the Phantom?" Erik asked, his baleful laughter chilling the bedroom. His voice no longer seemed to be coming from the closet but appeared to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"It's the Phantom of the Opera! The ghost Meg Giry told us of!" a second girl whispered.

"Lovely, you're catching on. Now, listen closely, or it will mean your demise. Leave Miss Daaé alone," Erik replied sinisterly. "If you treasure your lives, you will not let me catch you tormenting her again. Do remember how skillful the Phantom's hands are with a Punjab lasso."

"Y-yes, Monsieur Phantom. Anything you command," the third girl stuttered, every part of her shaking. She and the other two were clutching to each other in sheer terror.

"Good," Erik replied. His deep, throaty laugh enveloped the room before it slowly faded away, leaving the room in complete silence.

*  *  *

He had taken pride in what he had done that evening, and he was very certain that the girls would no longer be bothering his precious Christine. He passed this on to his friend as he poured more whiskey into the Daroga's glass.

"Well, now that you've told me all of that, I suppose I can at least understand why you've done what you have," Nadir replied with a small nod. "I still don't think it was right for you to go to such lengths to frighten them, though."

Erik simply shrugged. "I did what was necessary."