Cliff and Raina heard a tinkling bell sound from the gate box speaker and saw the wrought iron gate ahead of them begin to swing open. Access granted.
Ahead, they could see rows of lamp posts illuminating the driveway. The lights turned out of view and clearly lined the winding path.
"Are you excited?" Cliff asked as he carefully navigated the car along the well-lit path.
They passed sculptures and landscapes which lay just behind the lamp posts and out of the way of the radiating lights. Raina thought the shadows of the sculptures gave the surroundings a creepy vibe at night, which likely had the opposite appeal during the day. Tall hedges blocked the view of where the driveway ended.
They were in a fairly affluent and tucked away neighborhood which she hadn't even known existed before tonight. Most of the neighboring homes were protected by similar iron and stone enclosures. Clearly people in the area had things worth protecting. Or hiding from view.
"A little. Maybe mostly nervous. How about you?"
Sliding Cliff's hand higher up her thigh, she parted her legs slightly. His fingers were centimeters from the center seam of her shorts, and Raina felt her nervousness shift more toward excitement as his fingers fiddled to find more than fabric under his touch.
"I see you're trying to make me -- Okay we are here..." The sudden view of the large home interrupted him.
At the front entry stood two large pillars, lights glowing from their base. Between the pillars were two men dressed in vests who were standing at a podium and smiling at the approaching car. One man waved and beckoned Cliff to proceed toward them.
"The yard is way bigger than the house," Raina observed quietly. The house was a Mediterranean design and Raina could tell it spread further outward than upward. It was in fact very large, but she had expected a more lavish looking dwelling to match the pretension of the stone sculptures they had passed.
The driver side window descended as the valet reached Cliff's side of the car.
"Good evening," said the young man with a bright smile. Raina noted how young the valet looked up close. He stood around 6 feet tall and Raina could guess he was probably under 25 years old.
He had straight white teeth and his loc'd hair was styled neatly and pulled back away from his fresh, clear face. Raina was surprised at how well maintained he looked. It was a warm Florida evening, and the humidity did not appear to be letting up by the feel of the heat wafting through the open window. But the valet's face didn't reveal a single break of sweat.
"Good evening," Raina responded politely.
"What's going on, man," Cliff said. He leaned his body toward the open window and retrieved his hand back from between Raina's now closed legs.
"Welcome, welcome, my name is Fawn," the valet continued. "I hope you two are having a lovely evening so far. Feel free to place the car in park, and leave the keys in the ignition or in the cup holder if it's a push start. I have a ticket for you and will get the car parked safely around the side of the house." He gestured to the left where the driveway continued past the front entrance to a lot where Raina could see half a dozen other cars parked.
"If you need to get to your car later on, I'd be happy to bring it back up for you. Right now, you can take any belongings you would like to accompany you inside. You'll find somewhere to secure them with my colleague at our stand. I'll give you a moment or two and you can just walk up when you're ready."
It seemed clear that he was working from a script, but Raina thought Fawn sounded naturally professional and innocent.
Fawn walked away from the car then and Cliff turned to look at Raina. His face was beaming.
"Okay, Fawn..." Raina said quietly.
"That's probably his code name," Cliff responded, still smiling.
Raina nodded and said, "Mmm."
She had forgotten about the code names they were instructed to choose as per the invitation.
Masks are not required, but will be available upon requests. The invitation had said. However, you must select and register a pseudonym with your RSVP. Throughout the evening's festivities you will only be referred to as your chosen pseudonym. Name plates will be printed and available for retrieval at the foyer.
Cliff and Raina each opened their car doors and headed toward the valet stand.
"Good evening," said the second valet. He appeared slightly older than Fawn, but Raina knew she and Cliff were older than both of the young men.
"My name is Kit," the second valet said. "If you're ready, I can show you inside to get your name plate and mask, if you choose to wear one."
Kit politely made eye contact with both Cliff and Raina as he spoke, but Raina thought she noticed his gaze linger on her as he mentioned the mask.
Kit was handsome in a different way to Fawn. Although he looked obviously young in age, he lacked the seemingly innocence and natural hospitality. Something in Kit's eyes gave away the experience he likely had as a good looking and well built dark skinned man.
His lips were full and appeared moisturized. A well-groomed goatee enclosed the pinkish lips and he licked them right as they became the focus of Raina's inspecting gaze. Her eyes shot up to meet his and he stared back for a moment - though his expression remained pleasant, professional.
In the corner of her eye, Raina monitored Cliff's demeanor in case he had noticed the exchange but he didn't seem to. Perhaps it was all in her head, and there was no exchange at all, Raina thought.
Cliff took the ticket stub from Fawn and slipped it into his pants pocket.
"Enjoy your night," Fawn said with a wave before sliding into the driver seat and proceeding to drive the car toward the lot.
They followed Kit up the steps and he opened the front door and stood aside to let them both in.
The foyer was a large, immaculate space with a deep, rich aroma welcoming them inside. The ceiling was over 30 feet high and wooden beams lining the walls were decorated with string lights.
The foyer felt like a room itself. To one side there was a tall cabinet which was ajar exposing rows of pairs of shoes. On the other side was a tall circular table covered with a black cloth. Raina craned to see what was on top of the table as some colors were refracting light from one end, but she felt a gentle touch to her arm and turned to see Kit smiling politely at her. He removed his hand quickly and gestured to the cabinet.
"So now," He said, "you can leave your shoes here and slip into something more comfortable." He moved to the cabinet, opening both doors completely to reveal rows of plush black slippers opposite the shoes.
Raina and Cliff obliged and selected a spot on the bottom row to place their shoes together. They both turned to Kit, who nodded and headed to the circular table.
Raina could now see the source of the refracted light. There were jeweled masks lined and layered on the left side of the table. The masks were identical in style but varied in color. Some masks were all one color, though a myriad of shades and different shapes and sizes of jewel bedazzled them. Other masks were multi-colored and some seemed to have a theme of two or three colors - like red and blue or pink, green, and yellow.
On the end of the masks were satin ties collected in a loose pile.
At the center of the table were two rows of gift bags. It was clear that several bags had already been removed and Raina noted that each bag had a bracelet with a nameplate linked to the handles. She stepped further to get a closer look.
"You can find your name on the bracelet and take your bag," Kit instructed.
Both Raina and Cliff leaned forward and scanned the bags for their chosen names.
Wolf. Raina saw her name and grabbed the accompanying bag.
"Eagle," Raina heard Cliff read aloud. He grabbed his bag and began shuffling through the contents.
Raina hadn't looked inside her bag yet. She was aware that Kit was still standing there, waiting on them and she turned back to face him - awaiting further instruction.
"Oh wow,"Cliff said. "This stuff looks pretty cool. This will definitely be a nice quality experience."
Raina turn to him for a second to nod and smile. When she turned back to Kit, he had moved closer to her. His face was inches from hers and his arm was reaching around her - an embrace?
"Would you like a mask?" He asked as his eyes fell to her lips.
Raina felt the cool mint of his breath brush her cheeks and her face grew warm. Her eyes felt impossible to keep open and her mouth felt like a desert now.
She silently hoped he couldn't smell the weed on her and that her eyes didn't appear as bloodshot and dim as they felt. All she could do was nod. Kit mimicked her nod, pulling his hand back from behind her. He was holding a mask covered in gold jewels - she hadn't noticed it among the others earlier.
"May I help you put it on...Wolf?" He asked. Raina hadn't seen him glance at her bracelet, but he must have done as he already knew her name.
Before she could answer, Kit stepped around her and lowered the golden mask over her eyes and she felt him tie the satin cords against the back of her head.
"Thank you," she said softly. She turned to Cliff who had secured his own mask. She wanted to avoid further eye contact with Kit. He was making her nervous and she didn't want to lose the whit she had gained in the car with Cliff.
As though picking up on her apprehension, Kit indicated that the next step was to enter the house and join the other guests. Suddenly distant laughter and chatter was floating into the entry space, and Raina wondered how she hadn't heard it before.
She thanked Kit once more and followed Cliff toward the growing sounds ahead.
As they walked through the hallway, Raina put her best effort into walking 'normally'. She thought she could feel Kit's eyes burning into her back, and her legs felt like they would rather collapse under the weight of his gaze, than carry her gracefully toward the night's main event.
She walked shoulder to shoulder alongside Cliff, her arm gently brushing his and she used him as a guide to coast her way to meet the evening's other attendees.
"Looks like there was a little something going on between you two," Cliff said softly.
Raina shot a look at him and he had a coy smile on his face. Her face cracked a wide grin she leaned into him, grabbing his arm and reaching to pinch his side.
"You don't fucking miss anything!" She exclaimed.
