PART ONE - LONDON
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That night, Gabe dreamt a dream that he had not had in about a decade, only things had changed in the dream in the intervening years even as they had changed in Gabe. He had spent all afternoon hanging around waiting in the police station before being briefly questioned about the morning's incident in a routine fashion and sent on his way. The events of the morning, however, continued to play on Gabe's mind.
It wasn't the image of the dead woman with panic in her eyes coughing up blood that had stuck in his mind so much as the painting she had died in front of. Gabe was no art expert but he knew what he liked and this was one painting that seemed to draw him right in. There was something in the composition that seemed to arouse his interest. The way that the woman's body had her back turned towards the viewer seemed far more tantalising and mysterious than other reclining nude images. Gabe was also fascinated by the figure's shapely body the way her soft white thighs curved towards her narrow hip. Seeing the enigmatic expression on the indistinct reflection on her face in the mirror brought Gabe's mind back to his childhood fantasies about Venus, the Queen and Mistress of Love.
When looking back on his dream on awaking the following morning, Gabe realised that it was no doubt informed by these preoccupations but, just for a moment in that deep and magical slumber, he felt like the world of ancient gods and goddesses could return to him like it had in his childhood.