The day fades into extinction and cold darkness resumes it's claim on the sleeping city. A brisk, steely October wind whips through the brittle leaves in the trees, making shadows jump and dance on the bedroom wall. On an antique four-poster bed, bathed in the moonlight, lies a young woman. She has been stripped naked, her limbs stretched taut and bound to each post with black silk. Her long red hair spills outward onto the pillows around her. She is in a deep but restless sleep, drugged by her abductors and left alone as a simple offering for His coming.
The heavy curtains shudder slightly, then become still again. A cool mist creeps into the room, wafting through an open window and flowing like a heavy fog along the hardwood floor. The sleeping woman becomes restless. Tendrils of the gray fog wrap around the four-poster bed. The woman moans quietly as it creeps over the satin sheets and embraces her naked flesh with its soft caresses. She begins to squirm slowly, seductively wriggling her body as she alternately pulls on the silk bindings constraining her arms, and then her legs, only allowing the captive a certain freedom of movement, while forcing her to remain hopelessly spread-eagled on the bed.
Then the mist pulls away, as quickly as it had entered. The floor creaks, and in the far corner of the room the dark shape of a man appears. He stands motionless, while taking in his surroundings. He is a remote, majestic figure, shrouded in a long black cloak hanging loosely off his broad shoulders. His black hair swept straight back, and his unblinking eyes sparkle with hideous life. Moving toward the dresser, he passes one hand over an unlit candle and it sparks to life. The candlelight seems to flow through his body and there is no reflection of him in the dresser mirror.
