Roulette

Nine people stood in a circle with thick spaces separating each from the next. Most had participated before, playing the game. The Man in the Golden Suit smirked. The new faces were the easiest to spot. Fearful, like animals caught in their first trap. Some looked scared enough that he was sure they'd be the ones chewing their own feet off to escape.
         
The familiar faces of the people who'd had at least one turn on the Roulette appeared to him as raccoons with their paws caught in the metal jaws he'd laid for them. They came back for the irresistible bait and now, even when they knew it was a trap, they stayed. To escape, all they had to do was let go, unclench their fists, but once they'd had a taste that first time around the Wheel, they had to have more. More and more until their eventual destruction. The Man in the Golden Suit took a deep breath and the sweet smell of fear filled his shriveled lungs. He moaned softly, softer than any but the two men entering the circle could hear.
         
The men stood on opposite sides of the circle, one with dark hair and one with light. Their hair was different, but their faces were exactly the same. Twins. The dark-haired Twin wore a suit to match his hair. His brother wore a suit of red. They faced  across the circle and bowed low to each other. The two men walked around the inside edge. When they passed each other, the walking turned to jogging and when they met again a second later on the other side of the circle, it became running. They raced opposite directions quickly around the circle and their clothes created a mixing blur of colors.
         
This is the Wheel.

Paiva was one of the five women around the circle and also a newcomer. She stood between the tall Man in the Golden Suit and a woman only slightly older than she was. The woman was dressed all in black with white face paint from what Paiva could see of the side of her face. The woman noticed that she had audience and turned her head just enough so that Paiva could see that her whole face was covered with the white make-up. Even her lips were white with only a thin line of blood red lipstick bisecting them right down the middle like a cut from below her nose to just above her chin.
         
The woman smiled softly; only a gentle movement of the corners of her mouth and a filling of her cheeks. Her lips parted in a sigh, revealing two hidden horizontal lines that ran the length of her mouth drawn in the same red as the vertical.
         
Both of their attentions were brought back to the Wheel, which had stopped moving for the first round tonight. The man dressed in black had stopped in front of the white-faced woman next to Paiva and his brother was standing in front of a man on the opposite side of the Wheel. The white-faced woman stared up at him and for the first time, her mask crumpled. Her lips parted in a silent cry and her eyes widened. A quick glance told Paiva that the man on the other side was also exhibiting the same behavior. The woman next to Paiva had shut her pale-lidded eyes and her chest lifted with sped-up breath. Paiva almost thought she could see the bead of pulse throbbing in the woman's tight neck.
         
The man arced his neck down until his face was hidden from Paiva's view by the woman's neck. Somehow, she tensed up even more and then her muscles relaxed. He leaned back and pressed his lips to her forehead. With her head down, the white-faced woman broke the circle and disappeared into the shadows of the room around them. Across the circle, the other man had gone limp and a new man entered the circle to carry him away. Paiva caught a tight flash of red on his neck.
         
The Twins bowed to each other once again and the Wheel was set in motion. The smooth faces around the circle of the raccoons were beginning to show their own fear. But no one would leave because it wasn't allowed. Once the Wheel began to move for the first round, the penalty for breaking the circle was death. Remaining in the circle at least gave a chance of survival. But in all honesty, survival only meant that you would be compelled to return for the next Roulette.
         
The Wheel stopped three more times and then only the Man in the Golden Suit, Paiva, and another woman were left in what remained of the circle. Now, it formed more of a strange triangle, but the Twins still followed the original route . Finally, it landed on Paiva and the other woman. The Man in the Golden Suit smirked again.
         
In front of Paiva stood the man wearing red. Paiva stared at him and didn't know which way this would go. He was the Bite on the first round and his brother the Kiss, but they swapped roles the next time around. Paiva felt her stomach twist painfully and he stepped to the side so that she could see the couple across from them. He leaned down closer and closer to the trembling girl and pressed his lips to the vein in her neck.
         
No teeth.
         
Paiva jerked. The Twin kissed the girl's hand and she stumbled away, breathing heavily. He turned and stared at his brother. Her vision was again obstructed by the firm body of The Twin and Paiva dropped her gaze to her own feet. She could see her chest pulsing with thick breaths. Fingers touched her chin and she was powerless to stop it from raising. She pressed her eyes as far as she could to the left and she could see the Man in the Golden Suit grinning fully now and she could see his teeth. Pointed. He wasn't a player, he was the Dealer. And the House had won.
         
Paiva's eyes began to hurt and she reluctantly let them roll forward again. Onto the Twin's face in front of her. He was spectacular. Before, she'd only seen the side of his face or a vision of it across the circle. Now, she could see the smooth line of his cheek and jaw, only slightly edged enough to show his face as male. Sepia shaded eyes held hers and a thought she wasn't entirely sure was hers came to the forefront of her mind.
         
When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you.
         
Paiva recognized it as a quote from Nietzsche. His eyes were deep and staring into them was like staring into a black Well long devoid of water. At her childhood home, there had been an old Well like that on the property. Her parents had warned her against going near it because they didn't want her to fall in. But as she got older, the Well had seemed to gain a pull on her. She could not stay away from it and one day, she cautiously lifted the thick piece of wood covering the opening to peer inside. The gray brick exterior came to her ribs and Paiva had to lean against it. It cut painfully into her skin through her shirt, but Paiva had to look inside.
         
And all she found was a never ending, all consuming darkness. It went on forever and Paiva felt her heart stop. She jerked back so quickly that she fell off of the wall where she leaned and down onto the soft grass. The wood fell back against the stones with a snap that echoed in Paiva's mind now.
         
She had found an abyss in her teens, and that abyss had found her now. She knew that she was standing on solid ground in a type of warehouse, but the sepia eyes gave her the feeling of standing on the edge of that Well. The abyss was all around and it wanted her. It beckoned for her to join its cool depths and be encompassed in a black darker than night. She could feel its terrible need to have her and she tried to step back only to find herself frozen, balancing on tiptoe at the edge. The eyes came closer and Paiva's balance began to fail. She rocked back and forth and finally tumbled into the abyss as a pain struck her neck.
         
Paiva fell and was swallowed whole by the abyss. She was wrapped in its arms and then she was part of the abyss.

         
The Man in the Golden Suit drank so deep from her sensations that he became light-headed. The dark-haired Twin came to stand next to him and steadied him on his feet. His brother finished and picked up the limp body.
         
This one has plenty of fears to feed on. Her pulse is weak, do you want to keep her?  He thought toward the Man in the Golden Suit.
         
The Man in the Golden Suit filled his lungs with the remains of her fear and exhaled slowly. His eyes were lidded, almost closed.
         
Yes. 

A/N: This is in its original form as I posted it on FictionPress back in 2010.