Archive of Our Own

His mask is wonderful and you should really approach him to ask where he got it, but the coldness of his eyes - dark and foreboding behind the mask - warns you off.  You glance around, aware that you are stood in the middle of the pavement in everyone’s way but when you look back he is gone, vanished into the crowd.

The chill at the nape of your neck cascades down your spine and over your skin as goosebumps.  It is probably just the charged atmosphere and the occult connotations that Halloween brings, but you cannot shake the feeling until the smell of fresh pizza fills your nostrils and your tummy growls in appreciation.  Tasting the local offerings is definitely on your to-do list but only after you have bought yourself an authentic Venetian mask, of course.

 Your hunt for the perfect mask takes you away from the busy central area around San Marco.  The streets become less retail and more like narrow alleys between tall misshapen buildings.  High-up balconies with flowering planters give way to shuttered windows and crumbling brickwork.  The air has taken on a sudden chill as mist hazes the air lightly.

The hairs on the back of your neck bristle, skin crawling uncomfortably as you realise that you don’t quite know where you are anymore; the map makes no sense compared to what you are seeing with your eyes.  Behind you, shoes scuff on stone and you whip around only to find the pathway clear. You are alone.

The city hasn’t felt at all sinister until now, but you try to pass it off as a symptom of the night; Halloween is a time for ghost stories and chilled bones, all the more effective to the solitary wanderer.  By rights you shouldn’t be here alone, but you are.  A promise made to a friend recently laid to rest; you had planned to do this together, to cross Venice off your bucket lists together, experience the romantic city on the water.  Lucy. Her bucket list would forever be unfinished, her time cut short, your heart broken in two.  You were doing this for her, making good on all the plans you had discussed, all of the things you had both dreamed of.  She would laugh at you if she could see you now, quaking in your boots because of a little darkness and fog.  The memory of her light laughter carries you forward.

 You were hoping to make your way to the Rialto and use the bridge to cross the grand canal to San Polo, but the huge structure remains elusive.  Instead, you find yourself passing through some of the more dilapidated parts of the city.  You had seen the Cannaregio area in your guidebook and had wanted to visit during the day when shopping for craft and vintage items would be better, but you find yourself on the edge of the old Jewish Ghetto before realising it; a sign of carved stone under an archway tells you Sotoportego De Gheto.  You pass underneath and keep going.

There are fewer people here, and the ones you pass are not dressed in costume.  No one is wearing masks, which makes the dark cloaked figure in a white devil mask all the more conspicuous.  The man from the parade.  He is standing in a dark space between two buildings, his mask pale and ghostly in the shadows.  He is watching you.

For a moment, you are frozen in place.  A step aborted with a slight stumble and a gasp caught in your throat.  That prickling feeling at your nape returns with fervour, crawling over your scalp now, making your heart race with fear. He had not been ominous when you first saw him in the crowd but now you feel like you should not get any closer, and you definitely should not cross his path.

Heading in a different direction, you try to put some distance between you and the man.  You take turn after turn in the dark, closed-in alleys, crossing canal after canal with their bridges made of steps and no railings.  And just when you think you have lost him, the swish of a dark cloak in your peripheral vision sends your panic skyrocketing upwards once more.  It feels like he is everywhere you turn.

Suddenly frantic, you run – crossing small, cobbled squares with strange, covered wells and dodging around corners – just to escape.  Everywhere you turn the shadows seem to move.  Pale masks with sinister red smiles follow every step.  Every time you think you have seen a normal person who you can ask for help, it is another ominous shadow that moves just like the rest.

Your eyes are swimming with tears when you emerge from the alley at the edge of another canal.  The bridge nearby is larger than the few before it and you take the steps at a run, crossing over onto an open square with a large white building that looks to be some sort of church or museum; the rainbow colours in the circular gothic-style window give you hope.

 It is warm as you cross the threshold and a delicate musky scent welcomes you inside.  The atrium is clad in dark wood, carved in the gothic style. Its pointed arches and flourishes are highlighted by the cosy orange glow of lanterns that surround a petite lady in a dark orange robe, her shaved head accenting the beauty of her face. She smiles at you and welcomes you to the Dutch Pavillion, a place to explore one’s inner self and beauty.  You glance over your shoulder and out into the night.  There are no ominous shadows and no pale masks haunting your steps now, and you sigh with relief as you step further inside.

The warm glow of the lanterns leads you to the right, through a large doorway where the wood stops and the same white stone from the exterior continues throughout the rest of the huge chamber.  A sheer curtain made of fine filaments of woven threads hangs between you and the rest of the chamber.  A projection of some film reflects against it, and you see it from behind, bodies writhing in pleasure as the flickering images reveal an orgy in progress on the curtained screen.

What is this place?

The floor around you is covered with shoes, paired nicely and respectfully, and you realise that beyond the fringe curtain the whole chamber floor is covered in cushions and upholstered shapes that rise and fall like waves.  Not just waves, soft peaks and raised platforms too, all comfortable and appealing.

There are people there, watching the film as it plays on the strange fringe curtain.  Couples cuddling and others reclining in this comfortable, care-free space. The scent that welcomed you in is stronger here, reminding you of something you couldn’t quite place, stirring emotion in you that could only be described as desire.

You shouldn’t be here, but you don’t want to leave.  Whoever was following you could still be there, waiting for you outside.  The man in the mask.  You don’t know what he wanted but it couldn’t be good.  The least sinister motive for his pursuit would have been to talk to you but then he would have called out to you, surely? Your skin crawls again as you stand, caught between leaving and pushing through the curtain.

You decide to peek, fingers twitching as they part the fringe, revealing more than could be seen before.  It is a scene in motion, people in various states of undress, writhing and gyrating in pleasure.  The scene in front of you reflects what’s being projected onto the curtain, larger than life and unfiltered.

A quiet squeak and a loud thump startle you and you turn to find the door to the outside closed.  The petit woman in the orange robes passes you with a dark cloak over her arm and something else you recognise held reverently in both hands.  A white devil mask with a sinister, red-lipped grin.

 You stagger back, tripping on the shoes, crying out as you fall to the ground but you don’t land. Instead, you are held up and lifted back to your feet by strong arms that cradle you gently.  That is when you first see him properly.  Styled dark hair that is swept back and piercing blue eyes that smile at the edges.  Dusky pink lips that look plush but firm, all the more vibrant against his pale complexion. The suit he wears is dark, as is his shirt.  His whole demeanour speaks of strength and power, and he looks more than sightly amused by your panic.

“Forgive me,” he says, voice neither too deep nor too soft.  His eyes glint with mischief.

Your panic does not abate. No matter what your eyes and your brain tell you about this man, your gut is telling you something else.  This man is beautiful and dangerous.  A predator.

As he helps you to your feet his eyes never leave yours and you can feel your head start to swim. The musky scent from before is suddenly overpowering and you feel like you can’t breathe.  You stumble against him and he inhales deeply, eyes fluttering closed, mouth falling open slightly as he sighs with pleasure.

“Please,” you beg as your arms start to feel heavy, “please don’t hurt me.”

He smiles softly, tipping your chin up so he’s looking down into your eyes.  The breath he blows gently over you intoxicates you even more and you can feel that irresistible pull of desire once more.

“Who are you?”  You moan, trying to shake some clarity into your foggy brain.

“You may call me James,” he places his fingertip on your forehead, “now, stay.”

You cannot move, no matter how hard you try, you can only watch as he sinks to his knee and removes your shoes one at a time.

“What do you want with me?”

He looks deep into your eyes once more, the blue of his almost black now and you’re reminded of a predator’s prey drive.  Is that what you are?  His prey?

“You’ll see.”

He parts the curtain and walks you through, your feet obeying his pull but not your own need to escape.  The longer you’re under his spell the less you care, your heart beating fast out of excitement instead of fear now as his control strips you of all the emotions that you felt before.  All that was left now was desire, devotion, excitement and a need for this man who had hunted you through the streets of Venice.  James.

 Other hands touch you as you pass carefully in James’ wake, the light caresses neither satisfying nor offensive.  James’ hands, however, they set fire to your nerves and make them sing with adulation. He insists on undressing you himself, glaring at anyone who approaches you.  They recoil in fear, seeing something in him that you have no capacity to comprehend in your altered state, and soon it is just the two of you on a raised part that you accept as his bed.

James’ naked body is as beautiful as his face.  He is sculpted, strong and pale against the vibrant coverings and cushions of his bed. When he lays you down beneath him you can only watch as he settles between your parted thighs, lust-blown eyes devouring you whole.

His first kiss is at your ankles and the tops of your feet where he nips with his teeth and soothes afterwards with tongue and lips.  The path he takes up your body is slow and consuming.  By the time he is at your thighs you are on fire, desperately needing more than what he is giving you.

In the back of your mind, the rational part of you screams to escape.  You know you should be terrified.  You had not agreed to this.  You know nothing about him, nor do you want to after he stalked you through the city, hunted and herded you to this place.  His place.

The nip of his teeth on the inside of your thigh is sharp, a deep ache blooming under the site, drawing your attention back to him.  His lips are sealed around the skin as he moans deeply, lightly suckling and licking. Your head falls back as a wave of light-headedness takes hold of you, just on the edge of bliss, almost like feeling drunk.

James’ face flushes pink and he smirks before he continues upward to your naked core.  His kisses are hot and needy as he trails his lips over the soft hair of your mons and inhales the scent held there.  He moans as he smothers you with his mouth and licks between your lips causing you to gasp and writhe.

The projection on the fringe curtain shows you both together; you lay on your back with a blissful smile on your lips and him lay between your legs, his cock hard and glistening as he devours you.  The red smear on your thigh an afterthought.  You watch your back arch as he slides his fingers inside you, and the feeling is surreal; watching yourself as he works you into a frenzy is beyond erotic.  You feel yourself cresting the wave of pleasure with his fingers inside you and his mouth working its magic, and when you crash on the rocks of oblivion your whole body shakes with the aftershocks.  You pant and moan as you come back into focus and you see James’ eyes on the screen, he looks at the camera with his dark, lustful gaze before returning his mouth to your flesh and beginning the process again.

His teeth nip at the skin of your hips and tummy, lips soothing afterwards as he travels further still, up to your breasts where he lathes one breast with his tongue, flicking and sucking on your nipple until you moan again.  Fingers still buried in your core, he has been massaging and teasing enough to keep you close to orgasm but not quite there.  His ministrations on your breasts tip you over and he supplies an orgasm for each breast, nibbling your nipples then sucking hard until you climax each time.

“You’re perfect,” he sighs above you with his cockhead poised at your entrance, “delectable, delicious and divine.  Just as I knew you would be.”

He penetrates you firmly but smoothly, burying himself in you to the hilt.  The solid stretch of him filling you makes your eyes roll back and closed.  His thrusts rock your whole body as you cling to him, your legs around his hips and hands grasping his shoulders.  It is not long before you pant and beg him to make you feel good again, and he does. He hooks your legs over his elbows and pushes your legs back so you are wide open to him.  Open and more vulnerable than ever, weak and at his mercy.

Leaning over you like he does, his cock is buried so deep you can see it pushing against your tummy from the inside; he is hitting your sweet spot every time now, and your eyes water with the intensity of it.  James looks ravenous as he watches you come apart under him, grinding his hips against you until the spasming of your core brings him to his own end.

Buried deep and pulsing inside you he drops yours legs and falls forward.  His teeth nipping at your neck is harsh like it was at your thigh, a deep painful ache settles where his lips join your skin and his hands are rough as they hold you to him.  You can feel a dual throbbing; in your core where he is still buried, hard and pulsing, and in your neck where he bites down on you.

The waves of your bliss start to fade and when James releases you, you look up at him with black tinging the edges of your vision.  A cold chill settles over your skin as you see that the redness of his lips is not the flush of his orgasm, but blood.  Your blood.  And his teeth are not white anymore but tinged with red, and sharp.

“No!”  You gasp with panic, and wriggle to get free – his spell seemingly loosened now – but he pins you down by your throat.

“Shhhh…” he soothes, the sinister air about him has returned and so has that scent, “you taste so much better feeling pleasure rather than fear.”

He blows an intoxicating breath over you again and you start to succumb.  At the grey edges of your vision you see faces – white with red-lipped smiles – and James doesn’t make them leave this time.  Your fear is replaced by desire once more as James bows his head to your neck and kisses over the deep throbbing ache he left there.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let them have you for long,” James smirks, “you’re mine.”

A sharp pain at your wrist makes your eyes water and you close them against the horror.  Absently you wonder if you’ll see Lucy again soon. You don’t know whether her fate or yours is worse, neither is what either of you hoped for.  Either way you’ll meet again, you’re sure of it.  If these creatures exist then surely there’s a heaven and a hell, an afterlife or another form of existence.

You screw your eyes shut as more bites are added to your pain.  You feel dizzy now, ethereal and warped all at the same time.  Tiredness floods your body and when the darkness claims you, you’re glad.