Chapter 1
It was just another college party until the suite's door opened up and a god walked in. Like compass needles dragged inexorably towards the North Pole, heads invariably turned towards the dimly lit doorframe, where stood a solitary man bathed in red from the lights strung across the ceiling above. The music was too loud for anybody to have heard the door open or shut, but he projected a presence so magnetic that they looked over just the same. A gust of cool air flowed through the room: an almost unnoticed reminder of the frigid February weather outside. Nobody seemed to find it unusual that the man seemed perfectly comfortable in his thin button-up shirt, with its sleeves casually rolled to the elbows. His face was sharp and pale, like hand-carved marble, and his eyes sparkled like green flame. His lips curved slowly into a smile, and the room seemed to collectively hold its breath.
For a few seconds, he surveyed the room, his gaze passing over every partygoer like a caress. Men and women both found themselves wanting, craving his attention to be fixed upon them. One of the drunkest girls in the room moaned audibly when his gaze met hers; most others just shuddered slightly from the pleasure, or felt the hairs on their neck rise up and their mouths grow dry. Then, suddenly, the room was moving again, as if nothing had ever happened.
At least, almost as if nothing had happened. The mood of the room had shifted somehow, almost imperceptibly. The air seemed thicker and warmer, and the smells of beer and sweat had somehow intermingled with a heady, flowery scent, like liquor-soaked roses. The music, although still the same bass-heavy party music that had been playing earlier, seemed more primal, beating in tandem with the frantic heartbeats of the dancers. Every touch, accidental or purposeful, seemed more electric, more intoxicating. A football jock accidentally brushed against a mousy girl with thick glasses, and suddenly the two were entwined, lips locked together. Two best friends kissed and groped frantically on the couch while their boyfriends did the same on the floor next to them.
Although nobody could quite articulate why, the party had changed entirely when the golden-haired man dressed like a college student had joined the fray. Where he went, the crowds shifted and welcomed him, forming around him like a swirling vortex of warm bodies, aching for his touch. His smile was enough so that nearly everyone tried to press a drink into his grasp, but he refused them all with a polite "No thank you." When they thought about it the next day, they realized that he hadn't drunk a single drop the entire time he'd been there. Not of alcohol, at least.
One young woman, emboldened by the excess of Tequila she'd drunk, summoned up the courage to approach him decisively and begin dancing with him, her unsteady legs leading her to nearly collapse onto him. When she pressed against him, the young man grinned and murmured something in her ear. Her grip on him tightened, and a few jealous girls nearby would later swear they heard her beg him to take her upstairs. However, the man seemed to decline, and she soon found solace in the arms of her lab-partner, who'd been in love with her for months.
Before long, the suite's door opened up again, and a drunken group of friends found themselves momentarily dazed by the orgiastic fervor that seemed to grip the room. Then, after another moment, they found their reservations shed along with their winter garb, and joined the fray with reckless abandon.
One of their number, a young man named Seth, had come to the party with the expectation of hooking up with a girl he knew there: a Creative Writing major named Lily. However, much to his chagrin, he soon spotted her straddling some bald-headed guy with a tattoo on his neck. His disappointment might have been enough to alert him that something strange was going on, had it not been for a simple "Hello" from the most melodious voice that he'd ever heard in his lifetime. The young man turned and his entire body froze up as he locked eyes with the most beautiful man he'd ever seen.
The taller man smiled, his perfect teeth shining like moonlight. He introduced himself as Roy, saying that he'd never been here before and that his friend on-campus had already left the party without him. Seth barely had time to share his name before the two of them were caught up in the heaving crowd, his body suddenly pressed against Roy's. When their lips first met, the party seemed to surge in response, the music growing louder, the people growing wilder. Intoxication colored the air like thick, perfumed fog. By the time Roy lead Seth into a bedroom upstairs, he wasn't even sure of his own name anymore.
Hours later, as the party began to wind down, couples disengaging and straightening their clothes, someone opened the door to the upstairs bedroom. The bed was an unmade mess, with the sheets missing entirely. The windows were open, and the February air had already filled up the room. To everyone's confusion, neither Roy nor Seth was to be found anywhere, and surely they would have noticed the beautiful golden-haired man if he had left.
Nobody even noticed the blood on the windowsill until morning.