The opera would not begin for another couple hours. Mag smiled as much as she could force herself to as she stood beside Rotti.
Mag was relieved as a reporter took Rotti's attention away from her, but just as she was backing up, preparing to flee and speak with Shilo, a leather-gloved hand closed around her wrist.
"Buona sera, bella. We have an hour or so before-a the opera starts, si?"
"Pavi, please, not now. There's someone I need to - " Mag turned to gesture to Shilo, but the girl was gone.
"It seems-a your 'someone' has disappeared," Pavi replied, his arm snaking around Mag's waist.
"I do not have time - " Mag protested, knowing it was futile as Pavi cut her off.
"Uno momento, bella," he purred into her ear "The Pavi cannot-a wait until tonight." He began pulling her back into the newly opened opera house.
Mag's eyes met Luigi's as she felt herself yielding to Pavi's strength. Help, she begged him silently. But he did not notice. His gaze flicked to Pavi and Mag swore she could glimpse an ounce of jealousy on the eldest Largo brother's visage. Holding back a scream, Mag reluctantly succumbed to the force dragging her away from safety.
Mag's eyes glowed in the darkness, allowing her to see where she was being taken. Pavi opened a door and she saw they were inside her dressing room.
She was flung to the middle of the room as Pavi shut and locked the door. He turned to face her slowly.
"Please, we can't . . . we can't. . . " Mag couldn't bring herself to say it.
"Make-a love?" Pavi said for her, sauntering toward her snidely. Mag felt her face heat.
"Making love and . . . what we do are entirely different," Mag retorted angrily, her hands shaking with anger at her sides.
"But it is-a still sex either way, no? And what better way to-a christen your dressing room for-a tonight's performance?" His too-wide grin disgusted her.
"You are revolting," she snarled without thinking.
The transformation that came over his features was absolutely terrifying. Pavi's face was frozen in the mask covering it, but she could see his eyes burning with rage.
"Do you think so, Magdalene?" Her name came mockingly from his lips, his voice cold. He came closer until he could have kissed her, pushing her back against the dressing room table.
"Do you know, bella, of all the terrible things the Pavi could-a do to you if-a he so chooses?"
One of his hands shot forward to grasp her neck, the pressure strong enough to strain her breathing. The other hand withdrew a knife from his pocket. It was small, unlike the knives Luigi so favored, but menacing nonetheless as it winked in the dim light.
He brought the blade to her cheek, tracing it fondly along the side of her face, as a lover might do with a tender finger.
"It would-a be so easy for the Pavi to take-a your face. A slice is all it would-a take. No pain for-a the Pavi," he crooned, brushing away the strands of her hair that had fallen over her face. His fingertips came to her jaw to hold her in place so he could gaze upon her beautiful visage.
The fear in Mag's bionic eyes rose as she considered the fact that he would very likely go through with this. She started to brace herself against the pain she knew would be coming as she tried to imagine her skin being sliced off.
She was so occupied in her panic that she didn't notice Pavi slide the knife back into his pocket. With his hands still on the sides of her face, he leaned in, sucking her lower lip into his, probing it gently with his teeth.
"Pavi, stop - " Mag tried to interrupt, but he only kissed her more roughly to cease her protests. She struggled against him, hating the ravenous way his hands squeezed at her breasts. He would take his pleasure cruelly today. But she was not strong enough to push him away. Mag bit down on his lip as hard as she could, relishing his cry of pain as he released her.
His fingers flew to the small rip she had made in the face he currently wore, ignoring his own bleeding lip.
"So savage today," he growled at her, coming forward again so she could see the wild look in his eyes. Mag had ruined his precious face, and she would pay for it.
But she felt strangely calm in the face of certain death. If she was to die anyway, she would go down fighting. Hardening her expression, Mag glared into Pavi's eyes as he loomed above her.
"I do not want you. I never will. You, your whole family, you all disgust me." She sucked in a breath of air, encouraged by the look of surprise on the face of her tormentor "I hate singing for you, I hate singing for GeneCo, and I will not be your toy anymore."
Silence. Then, the frozen expression of stupefaction on Pavi's face was quickly succeeded by one of evil, cruel rage.
"Oh, bella, you do wound the Pavi so," he moaned mockingly, stepping up against the edge of the counter and snatching her thighs apart. "Up until now, you have-a been the Pavi's lover, bella. But that can-a change. The Pavi has-a many willing bellas for-a loving. They are-a good to the Pavi." He shoved her skirts over her hips, exposing her to him. "Let me tell you una storia, Magdalene." He pulled the shoulder straps of her dress down, grabbing her around the neck so she was forced to look at him as he spoke.
"Papa kept-a dogs a long time ago to test-a products for GeneCo. The Pavi was very small, si? But he watched his Papa train the dogs, inject them with-a hormone supplements. Sometimes, Magdalene, the bitches would-a not want to mate. They would-a cry and run away, hiding from Papa." Pavi's hands tightened on top of her thighs, squeezing her until she squirmed. "The bitches, they would-a bite and scratch. Sometimes Papa had to sedate them. Other times," he paused to leer at her "He would-a put them, one by one, in a ring with the biggest, most-a rough males. The bitches were-a mated until their-a flesh was torn and ragged."
"If they had-a not put up such a fight at first, they would have-a survived," he finished, his lips brushing Mag's neck.
"The Pavi likes you, Magdalene. It would-a be sad to waste such a bella for the sake of a tiny rip, si? So make-a your choice. Will you be a dog, or a lover?"
He came at her again, but this time, Mag was ready. She went to press her hands against Pavi's precious face, fingers eager to dig into the dead skin that disgusted her so. But he moved at the last second, making Mag's nail catch on the metal clip attaching his stolen face to his real one. Changing her plans in an instant, Mag unhooked the clasp and the one below it, drawing a howl of rage from her tormentor as the stolen face slid away from his face, now attached on only one side.
For a moment there was silence as they stared at each other in frozen disbelief.
Mag took in Pavi Largo's face, his true face. Though impaired with scars and other markings, his face was handsome, the bone structure strong and sensual. He was human.
Mag was surprised at the tingle of compassion she felt for him. Perhaps he was as lonely as she. As the singer scrutinized him, searching his face desperately for something human, Pavi's mind followed an entirely different thought process.
It had suddenly become extremely tempting to kiss a woman without the lips of his stolen face in between. Granted, he had grown used to the feeling, but it had been so many years since he had kissed a woman with his own naked lips.
"Who did this to you?" she murmured, the sensation of warm, soft fingers on his scars unfamiliar.
But this was getting far too sentimental for Pavi's taste. He swiftly pulled down the straps of her dress and yanked her skirt up around her hips, lifting her deftly onto the counter. He was hard already as he undid the clasp on the front of his pants.
Trapping her against the mirror with his body, Pavi leaned into her. He lowered his chin to kiss her mouth.
The feeling of his hollowed, marked up skin against hers, so soft and smooth, was a new sensation Pavi found intoxicating. Touching her lips was a new pleasure entirely. He never tasted or felt anyone so solidly. And he had only yet kissed her lips.
He moved to her neck, the velvety softness soothing to his marred skin. His lips traveled down to her breasts. Mag shivered, arching into his touch before she knew what she was doing. The uneven pressure of his scarred lips on her tender nipples was rapturous to Pavi, but it was not enough. He wanted more.
His hands grazed over her thighs, pushing her legs apart as he came into a kneeling position before her, his mouth reluctantly parting from her stomach as he drew back.
"Put-a your leg over my shoulder, bella," Pavi said softly, his eyes flicking to her face as he wetted his lips. Fingers sliding along her skin, he began to position himself to taste the only part of her he had yet to explore. Mag felt her breath quicken, reluctance squeezing through her. Though pleading with Pavi never worked, Mag tried again,
"No, Pavi, not this. At least allow me a small measure of - "
"Yes, bella, yes-a to this." He yanked her leg up over his shoulder. "The Pavi will make you cry his-a name."
He leaned in then, the erotic feeling of his tongue slithering into her womanhood making Mag's body jerk. His lips caressed her as he fucked her mercilessly with his tongue, delighting in her involuntary writhing.
She found herself unable to hold back a moan, bracing her hands on the edge of the desk to keep her balance. Encouraged, Pavi swirled his tongue inside her at a more rapid pace.
A sudden pounding at the door caused both of them to start, Pavi pulling away from his captive only slightly.
"Pavi! Open the fucking door!" Luigi thundered, the nearness of the sound implying he was right outside.
Pavi sucked in a breath, quivering in excitement at this opportunity to taunt his brother.
"Mag and the Pavi are a bit . . . busy, brother," Pavi called gleefully as he straightened up, grabbing Mag around the waist to pull her closer.
"Pavi, no!" Mag planted both hands on his chest, sick of being yanked around like a doll. But his strength was too great. He snatched her wrists in one hand, pulling them roughly aside as he yanked back her skirts with the other hand.
Mag flailed desperately, abhorring being used as a slave to Pavi's desires. He had now infiltrated every orifice of her body at his leisure, and she refused to let him have her again without more of a fight.
But Pavi only seemed amused by her efforts. He slid his pants down enough to free his raging erection. He closed the gap between them and pushed himself into her, sucking in a breath at her tightness.
Mag cried out as his length penetrated her. Why did it still hurt so much? She tried to wriggle away, but he had too tight a grip on her wrists.
"She is-a feisty today, brother. You are-a missing out," Pavi uttered before drawing himself out of her, thrusting back in to the hilt.
His pace was hard and fast as he pushed Mag closer to the orgasm she didn't want. But her body betrayed her. No matter how furiously her mind told her to fight him, she only arched against him, her breath shallow and fast as the impressive size of him stimulated her inner walls.
Pavi listened to his brother's snarls of rage with pure delight. It was even more fun fucking Blind Mag when he knew his brother wanted her too. Intoxicated with pleasure, he bit Mag's neck harder than usual, licking madly at the line of blood he drew.
Mag had to fight to keep from screaming, unable to detect whether she was in pleasure or pain. But as the familiar tension closed in on her, she released a pent-up moan. Knowing she was close, Pavi thrusted harder, her legs wrapping around his waist as he pummeled deeper into her, sending her back thumping into the mirror with the force.
The orgasm flooded Mag's senses as her muscles shuddered in the aftermath, waves of unholy delight saturating her whole body.
She released a throaty sigh as the pleasurable surges stretched from her toes to her fingertips, allowing her to forget for a moment.
"Can-a you hear her moaning for-a the Pavi?" he cried in triumph as he finished within her.
A roar exploded from the eldest Largo and the door was smashed open. Luigi made a beeline for Pavi and he grabbed his brother around the neck, yanking him away from Mag.
"How dare you fucking taunt me like that! We had a deal!" Luigi raged. Pavi sharply kneed his brother in the crotch, dancing backward as he was released.
"It was a one-a time offer, brother. The Pavi thought-a you knew that," The middle Largo chortled, watching his brother crumple in pain.
"I will fucking kill you!" Luigi gasped as he straightened up slowly, fury powering past the ache in his groin.
"Better not do that, fratello. If-a the Pavi was dead, Magdalene would-a have no one around worth fucking, si?"
With a howl of outrage, Luigi lunged at his brother, the two of them crashing back into a clothes rack. Mag stood, feeling Pavi's hot seed trickle town her leg. She ignored it, shuddering only slightly in disgust. As the Largos madly attacked each other, Mag quietly slipped out of the room, snatching a cloak from a hook by the doorway to disguise her appearance. It was best not to be noticed if she wanted to find Shilo before the opera.