Kris clenched his fists as the skin on his entire body crawled… as his heart beat so heavily into a rythm to break his chest open and, perhaps, in a way, he almost wanted that to happen. At last a new way of revealing his heart. As tense as his body was in that moment, his inner being was laughing at the ridiculous idea of this literal exposed heart. But all that did reach the surface of his body was a vague smile.

"Such a good reply to my own smile, my friend."

…Ferr whispered. The long haired man slightly tilted his head forward in a beckoning gesture of "please follow me… " as he turned slowly to continue their way through the damp, dark streets. Finally letting some air out of his lungs, Kris moved to the plead of this strange companion he had met so very recently. Enthralled… yes, he was. Scared? To some extent. One thing that kept spinning around in his mind was how pleasurable this game was… how delicious the sweet fragrance of danger that simply oozed from Ferr's entire body depite his overwhealming gentleness. The calm before the storm that destroys everything in it's path… How very poetic.

They walked for a while longer that seemed like an eternity compressed in minutes. Ferr turned and smiled yet again at the photographer and with an elegant stretch of his arms with his slender fingers unfolded… he presented the entrance to an old but tasteful building.

"Please…"

Kris obediently followed Ferr up the circular stairs and for a brief moment he felt like he was slipping out of his consciousness, out of the sense of time and out of this world. He stopped for a moment and gazed down the spiral to let out an almost unperceivable sigh then continue his way up. Ferr was guiding him in the darkness of the corridors until they both reached a massive door that looked almost ancient even for the building they were in. A few swift movements of Ferr's hands, followed by the typical clicking sound of the unlocked door and the next thing Kris knew was that this stranger's hands were placed on his shoulders and slightly pulling him inside with the same benevolent smile his lips had upheld before. No resistance… the young photographer almost cursed himself for that for a time's instant, quickly being distracted by the deep mosk scent that lingered in this stranger's room. Mingled with the faint smell of a lit candle, he could also feel the inviting scent…. of old books. How much this last fragrance talked to his soul… how many hours had he spent as a young boy in the library of his father. And how the bittersweet melancholy slowly took over him now remembering all of this making him almost forget about the constant presence of danger or intrigue. Or even the touch of the beautiful man's hands on his shoulders.

"Ah, my friend. Welcome to my home. It pleases me greatly to see all of your previous scars and masks melt away."

… the young photographer flinched slightly, being pulled from the spell he himself nurtured. But indeed he did fear less… he did care less and was now slowly coming to the realization of the simple fact that he had nothing to lose to begin with. He was not at the top of a spiral from where he could fall to his destruction… he was at the bottom of it. He bit his lower lip as an ultimate innocent curiosity of what his immediate future held crept over his being -and- his body. He felt refreshed in this deep, inviting, darkness.

"So you finally do trust me. I thank you, my beautiful friend. I wanted you to leave your present life in a hope that perhaps you could find something better and more suitable to you. You see… if one such as yourself is not in his real place… he would suffer. Greatly. Then start to fade… and… just… disappear into the oblivion of the masses."

…the young Kris just listened, absorbing every word of it. Still he felt like his layers were being peeled away from him leaving the core of his being bare … but in a strange way, not vulnerable at all. He felt stronger. And a deep dark urge of hunger began to grow in him… slipping rapidly throughout his cells and fibers… from his skin… to his innerds… to his heart.

"… you can feel that. And I can see what it does to you. Do not fight it… but for once, let it roam inside you freely and you shall see what that feels like… how much richer it is to even what you feel now."

The strange man removed his hands from Kris's shoulders and let his coat slide off his own shoulders and let it fall almost carelessly onto the back of a remarkably carved armless chair. Then shifting his eyes back into the young man's eyes, he uncuffed the sleeves of his black shirt to free his hands and wrists… he moves his fingers in a series of simple gestures that resulted in the removal of the photographer's coat and the unbuttoning of the first two button's of his shirt. The young man payed almost no attention to what was being done to him… but merely enjoying this feeling of hunger that took the power of a fire now inside his being. How gorgeously outrageous it felt… how empowering and true… He felt how his former self was slipping even further away from him, making room for this new energy to manifest. He wanted that… he wanted the change… he invited it and wanted to keep it.

"…you shall have it, my beautiful. Let me be your guide though the labyrinth that is the real you…"