Shivers 2

Beneath Victoria's Face

The twilight painted the mansion in haunting hues of gray and crimson, clouds billowing like dark tendrils. A man, dressed in a suit as black as his cold, ruthless eyes, walked up the marble steps. A hitman, known only as Falcon in the darkest recesses of the underworld, a specter of death that haunted the dreams of the guilty and the innocent alike.

The billionaire, Sebastian Archer, a titan of industry and a man whose nerves were as tightly wound as a clock spring, greeted Falcon at the entrance. His eyes darted about with nervous energy.

"Are you... Are you sure you can handle this?" Archer stammered, wringing his hands.

The hitman merely nodded, his cold eyes devoid of any emotion.

Archer swallowed hard, continuing. "I can't believe I'm saying this...but she isn't human. I've seen it... her face... She took it off like a goddamned mask. Beneath it was... a monster."

Falcon chuckled, a sound devoid of warmth. "Monster or not, as long as she bleeds, I can kill her."

"Whatever she is, she's mine. I offer you one hundred million. To rid me of my beautiful...monster," Archer muttered, his face ashen

The story began, a nightmarish ballet of suspicion and fear. Days turned into nights, the mansion a lavish tomb of the living, filled with velvet darkness and secrets. Falcon stalked the woman, Victoria, like a shadow. She was beautiful, a goddess amongst mortals, but her ethereal beauty seemed almost... synthetic.

Her routine was peculiar. Days locked in her room, nights spent outside the mansion. Falcon watched, analyzed, and planned. But even he, the master of death, couldn't find any hint of the monster that Archer feared.

One night, the routine changed. Victoria made her way to a secluded house. Falcon followed. There, he witnessed a scene straight from a fever dream. Victoria, in the throes of passion with a man. A quick moment, a bite at the man's neck, and he collapsed, lifeless. Falcon's heart raced in a way it hadn't in years.

Falcon didn't hesitate. He moved like a wraith, bullets tearing through the air. Victoria went down, a puppet with its strings cut. But he wasn't finished. He stepped forward, his blade gleaming ominously in the dim light, and sliced off Victoria's face.

Underneath the synthetic skin, a creature of nightmares stared back at him. Bat-like and hideous, it opened its red, glowing eyes. The hitman, for the first time in his career, knew fear. Then he knew nothing at all.

Back at the mansion, the billionaire was left alone. The silence was a physical entity, pressing in on him from all sides. But he was not alone for long. The door creaked open, and there stood Victoria, her monstrous visage a horrifying sight to behold.

"I feed on your kind," she hissed, her voice like a winter wind through a graveyard. "Narcissistic, self-absorbed men...and your hitman? He made a tasty snack."

Before Archer could scream, his world turned black. His nightmare had turned into a reality too grim to imagine. In his last moments, all he could do was curse the day he allowed the monster to share his bed. His body hit the marble floor, his eyes open in terror, the echo of Victoria's laughter the last sound to greet his ears.