A lavish dinner party was being thrown in Versailles at one of the large wealth countryside homes. All the who's who of French wealthy power were attending the yearly Halloween masquerade. "Am I the only one who finds a masquerade at a rich person's home ironic?" Will asked.

Hannibal smiled at his friend's joke, "The wealthy always need an excuse to get together and put on more masks and pretend that the end isn't near."

Will nodded, "And are we the plague come to infest their home disguised as dinner guests?"

"Just like the fate of the Prince and the revelers in Poe's Masque of the Red Death we come in the guise of the unknown," Hannibal stated. "And just like the Red Death, we will strike at the king of the castle and the revelers will fall."

"Why?" Will asked confused. Hannibal bowed slightly at the security at the entrance and he and Will handed them their party invitations they "acquired" last night. After they moved past security Hannibal said, "We spoke once about becoming God and the power he feels manipulating life and death."

"Are we playing God tonight?"

"God likes to feel powerful, otherwise he would not have given free will to the masses and allowed the fragility of their lives to fall into someone else's hands. Like all of his worshippers who spill blood in his name."

Will was unsure, this would the first time he and Hannibal would be hunting together and Hannibal was not easing him into it, he was throwing straight into the lion's den. "After all is God not the motivating force of the Red Death?" he asked as Will stared into the crowd. "He killed the entire kingdom because he refused to be ignored. I believe in your power Will, do not let them ignore you."

Will closed his eyes, he used to use this trick to get into the mind of a killer when he was a profiler for the FBI, now he needed it to unlock his own killer within to find a target. He took a deep breath and created the room in his mind's eye. Everyone was frozen in place and Will walked around the ballroom, gazing at the decorations, "The trophies suggest a hunter, a ruthless predator of the jungle, an alpha male. The paintings suggest impulsive vanity with no care or thought to others." Will made his way around the room. "Everything about the catering of the event, from the glasses, to the wine, to the hor d'oeuvres has been carefully picked to enjoy in the wealth I can provide." He picked up a glass and stood before everyone in the ballroom who were still frozen but all eyes on him. "Enjoy the spoils of my victory and be grateful I allowed you into my castle, for I am your king." He held his glass high for a toast. "This is my design."

He opened his eyes and stared straight ahead at the man standing in front of everyone with a raised wine glass in the air to toast the event, he closed his speech and drank his wine only after he saw everyone else drink, an arrogant smirk came to his face for a moment, but dissolved back into his façade as he drank and became the host again. "Him," Will said. "He's the king of our story."

The two men made their way to the front of the room, Hannibal dropped little bits of powder in each platter of wine glasses as they walked past the caterers holding them, none of them were paying any particular attention to notice. The man at the front was the best dressed in the room, wearing a red tuxedo with a sash covered in medals as well as crisp white leather gloves. He noticed the two men approaching him and stiffened up his shoulders almost like he was trying to appear bigger and broader, beaming his arrogance from ear to ear. "Bonjour, gentleman." He greeted with a hardy handshake. "Welcome to my party." He looked over at Will. "I thought I should speak English considering you are clearly an American."

"Clearly." Will's immediate disdain was not as noticeable as he hoped.

Their host turned to Hannibal, "However, you sir I cannot quite place." Hannibal chuckled and said, "Je suis mais un connoisseur humble qui est venu a votre palais avec rien a offrir autre que l'eloge pour votre gout d'excuisite."

The host laughed, "Splendide! You and your praise is always welcome here Monsieur..?"

"Robert le Chevalier," Hannibal bowed. "And this is my associate, Mason Verger." Will gave him an irritated look as if to say "really?" But Will shook his head an ignored it. "Now how is it you knew my friend was American?"

The host leaned in as if he was saying a private joke, "Well you know," he gestured at Will. "The slumped shoulders, the lack of fire or motivation in his eyes, the false sense of entitlement." He stated. "All traits I have found in every American I've encountered…no offense m'sieur Verger."

Will gave him a tense smile and laughed slightly. "None taken." He looked around at the hunting trophies. "I take it you're a hunter?"

The host's eyes lit up. "Absolutely! There is nothing quite like hunting the lesser beings of the jungle and showing them who their masters are."

Both men nodded, Will kept his mouth shut and tensed his jaw to quell his outrage and Hannibal smiled with a bemused smirk as if both men could not believe the words coming out of this man's mouth. "Tell me gentleman," he asked them. "Do either of you hunt?" he asked it almost as if he was asking their sexual preferences. That might be the next question if we say no, Will mused to himself.

"As a matter of fact we do, we've been hunting quite frequently," Hannibal said.

"I'm more of a fisher," Will threw in casually. "Although we've been doing a lot more fishing lately." His eyes never left the host. He was watching like a tiger eyes it's prey before they pounce.

"Speaking of hunting," Hannibal chimed in. "We have been interested in starting a new hunt around these areas. Perhaps you would like to join monsieur?"

The man gave his answer with a nod and Hannibal continued. "Perhaps in private so we can discuss…certain details of the hunt."

Their host motioned them to follow him, they left the main ballroom and went upstairs to the study where after all three men went into the room, he turned and asked, "So tell me, is it something exotic? Something illegal?"

Hannibal glanced at Will and smiled. "You could say that." He walked up and locked the door to the study. "Why…why did you lock the door?" The host was confused. He was directly between both men, he had been spending so much time focused on Hannibal he didn't notice Will unsheathe a small knife. Will sliced the man on the side of the neck. The arrogant man yelped with surprise and jumped around to face Will. Hannibal took this opportunity to grab him by the neck and poured a small vial of powder into the wound. He released their host and the man threw himself away from them. "What did you do to me?!" he asked frightened, rubbing the wound, "What is this stuff?!"

"Something to make our hunt interesting," Hannibal answered simply. "Now, just like all your unsuspecting prey, you will feel the helplessness of knowing nothing amidst your fear. Knowing only that your end is imminent."

Will opened the door to the study, "In other words, run."

The frightened man dashed past them and ran and stumbled all over the place. He was trying to get back downstairs, Someone will help me. Someone will stop those devils, he thought fearfully. He couldn't accurately place where he was, the walls around him were swirling and his eyes couldn't focus. He tripped and fell down the stairs and felt something snap. He didn't have time to figure out which part of him was injured, he ran into the ballroom and began screaming for help. But to his shock, everyone in the ballroom was on the ground, blood trailed from their lips and their eyes rolled up into their heads. How could this happen?! He asked himself trying to focus.

He turned around to see his hunters were now wearing skull masks painted red and brandished large kitchen knives. "What did you do to them?!" he asked stumbling around. "WHAT ARE YOU?!" he screamed.

Hannibal stepped forward, the man panicked and ran the other direction he made his way into another hallway but crashed into a wall at the end of the hall. He slumped against the wall unable to rise, paralyzed with fear. Will and Hannibal walked down the hall toward him. He cried, he begged, he pleaded them to spare him. But Hannibal raised a finger to his masked lips to indicate their victim to be silent and said, "And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night." They inched closer.
And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood bedewed halls of their revel." They readied their blades. "And died each in the despairing posture of his fall."

Both men slashed and stabbed into their prey and Hannibal couldn't help but feel almost as if it was a dance, and that he enjoyed performing this particular dance with a partner for a change. When they ceased their action, both men removed their masks and Hannibal finished by saying, "And the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

As the two men left, surgical trophies taken from the host in tow, Will stared back at the country mansion one last time, relishing in the deathly silence whistling from the wind coming from the direction of the mansion and mumbled, "This is my design."

END PART FOUR