Amid the crowded, noisy build-up to Carnevale, Sabine hunts in Venice, feeding on a girl and discarding the body into a canal. As she savors the victim’s fear and a blue ribbon taken from the girl, a well-dressed stranger approaches unseen and chastises her for being reckless.

The man reveals himself as one of her kind, introducing himself publicly as Don Accardi and privately as Matteo. Without warning, he exerts an invisible force that behaves like a threshold, compelling Sabine to retreat and then to follow him through the streets. Realizing he is significantly older and more powerful—able to claim open air as “his house”—Sabine suppresses her urge to flee or fight, driven by a desire to understand his abilities.

Matteo leads her to a grand palazzo but cannot invite her in; instead, his mortal companion Alessandro Contarini welcomes her, dissolving the barrier. Sabine tests Alessandro’s vulnerability, but he disarms her with surprising skill, revealing concealed blade and pistol before easing off. Matteo remains amused and in control, underscoring the house’s rules by demeanor rather than threats.

Upstairs, Matteo outlines his terms: if Sabine stays as his guest, she must follow his rules—no messy killings or public dumping of bodies—and in return he will teach her to enthrall, masquerade, bend minds, and claim space so that she can kill without drawing notice. If she refuses, she should depart immediately for Rome before dawn. Sabine observes Matteo’s tender intimacy with Alessandro, recognizing it as love, and contrasts it with her own history of secrecy and solitary hunger.

Left alone to decide, Sabine wrestles with her disdain for rules and men’s ultimatums versus her fascination with Matteo’s command of thresholds and territory. He has taken no oath from her, leaving her free to learn and then do as she pleases. Choosing curiosity and comfort, Sabine claims a lavish bedroom in the palazzo and settles in to sleep through the day.