Alice pushed the living room furniture back into place. She straightened the coffee table in front of the couch. Someone knocked on the front door, a quiet, tentative tap that had her nearly leaping out of her skin.
Her heart still knocking hard, she moved to flip on the outside light and peer through the keyhole.
Alex stood outside in a black wool coat and muffler, hands under his arms and his shoulders hunched against the whip of wind, snow and ice. He was a quiet, unassuming-looking man in his early sixties, with receding gray hair. Usually he was meticulously groomed, but now he looked haggard and so miserable, she found herself unlocking and opening the door.
She said, “Alex, what on earth are you doing here?”
He gave her a sad look as he said, “I didn’t wake you, did I? I have been fretting about you all night. I finally had to come see if you were all right.”
“For heaven’s sake, come in.” She stepped back and opened the door wide.
Alex ducked his head and stepped forward. The wind blasted down the steps and into the opening. It brought with it a whip of snow and outside scent—
—and a faint chemical taint…but no scent at all from Alex.
All her thoughts flatlined as she stumbled back. Stupidly, she tried to close the door again.
And Alex’s step turned into a lunge as he brought his gloved hands out from underneath his arms. A glint of light came off a long, thin knife he gripped in one hand, while he slammed the door wide open with the other.
“Oh gods,” she said.
Alex’s sad gaze had turned bright with a fanatical light. He said, “Yes, Alice, oh gods. And Abraham said to the Lord, ‘Behold, here I am.’ It is the most holy sacrifice to give the gods those you love. And the Lord said, ‘In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven’…”
She flung out a hand, grabbed hold of something, screamed, “You crazy murdering bastard!”
Nearby, there was a smash of splintering wood.
Alex had brought his knife hand back for a killing blow. “Only show me your will, gods, as I give to you another one of my own…”
She flung what she had grabbed at him. It was a small potted plant. The pot hit Alex in the chest with a spray of dirt. He flinched and grabbed for her throat. The knife arched—
A silent behemoth hit Alex with a body slam that sent the smaller man crashing to the ground. At the same time, Alice was knocked back with a flattened hand shoved into her chest. She lost her balance, fell and scuttled away from the doorway with her head ducked.
Everything went still. She dared to look behind her.
Alex lay on his back. His throat was torn out, his knife hand crushed beyond recognition.
The monster from Haley’s apartment crouched over the body. The planes and angles of his face and body were all wrong. There was one difference: this time he was quite nude and dripping wet.
He bared his teeth, icy gaze alight with incredulous fury. “You opened your front door to him?”
Alice threw up her hands and cried, “He was my boss!”
Her cry turned into a sob, and suddenly the monster became Gideon again. He dove forward, grabbed her and clenched her to his chest. She buried her face in his hot, wet skin. He was breathing hard, a fine tremor rippling through his muscles.
Gideon said grimly, “Well, he’s not anymore.”
The time came around again for the annual Festival of the Masque, where all creatures, Elder Races or gods, pay homage to the dance that drives and sustains the universe. Planets swirl around their suns, galaxies spin in space. Even tiny atoms joined in the movement.
Every winter solstice, Cuelebre Tower put on one of the most lavish spectacles in the world, complete with a horde of paparazzi and a red carpet. Celebrities and dignitaries from humankind and all the Elder Races attended. A crowd of two thousand attendees wore extraordinary, designer jeweled costumes and masks that glittered with onyx and diamonds. Cuelebre’s public hall was decorated with great swathes of ivory and gold cloth, towering ice sculptures, and champagne flowed like water.
A traditional Masque officially began with a procession of the gods and ended with everyone unmasking at midnight, although most of the parties continued till dawn. Most gatherings had volunteers dress up to play the part of the gods. Usually at the school fundraiser, the gods were played by the school trustees. Here, she had no doubt that the procession of the gods would be an elaborate affair played by professional actors.