C a p t u r e d

12: Spaces Between

I'm a merchant. A bachelor forever.

Despite her tiny stature, the woman's weight was like that of a huge boat. I freeze and stop moving, for fear of hurting her.

Her huge feet manage to hook its way into my hips. She straddles me in an instant, and covered my mouth.

"I have not eaten in months, and you are very kind. Due to this innocence, I will bestow immortality upon you..."

Twin spears appear in her mouth. She digs into my neck, stabbing me in the throat and smiling. A searing burn shoots down my arm, like a funny bone ache in reverse. She snaps her teeth in and out of my neck, long enough for her to speak.

"Don't scream. If you're a man, you will hold it in."

I'm the strongest member of my family. If I can't lift her, then the rest of my family can't. Judging that we live across the river and relatively isolated, I struggle to stay silent. If they hear my wild cries, they will only get a memory of terror, and there is no use in that.

She snaps her teeth back out again, for the longest time imaginable. "A shame, you can't replenish your own blood. If you had been able to, maybe I would've kept you."

I've got to be honest.

I've been alive for thousands of years, but this moment was the one that scared me the most. Because I really, truthfully believed I would die.

And death scares me more than anything.

I mutter something, with a soft gurgle. I'm trembling, and her languid hand pats my face. She begins murmuring soft orders, in the tone of voice that a woman should reserve for her husband.

"Firstly, I travel alone. I enjoy things this way, so you must not follow me. I may be a woman, but I am an unnaturally capable one."

"Secondly, you must not eat or drink. The only sustenance you require is that of your fellow man. Whether or not you give them immortality is your choice. You can choose if you'd like to let them in on your inner circle."

"Lastly, you will not age anymore. This will make others abhor you here... As soon as I am finished, you must flee this land. Go across land and over sea. Double around and come back and go away again. You must not let anyone know of this coveted secret."

Then her teeth were deep in my neck again.

"Please, don't," I struggled to say. "I need to supply for my family. Don't you have one?"

"Oh, you need to live," she breathes in my ear. "A selfless life is a life unlived. Don't you want to live, my little merchant?"

I can barely breathe, much less speak. I feel the aching tension bursting through me, like I'm drowning without any water.

Her breath is hot on my face. Her strength grows, like iron. Her breathing speeds up, too, like someone on Opium.

Isn't it terrible that after millennia, I can't remember my own parents' faces, but I can remember every detail about this woman?

After a while, I was crying. I was a grown man, old enough to find a wife who reeked with dishonor similar to mine, and I'm just crying. Sobbing, even. Retching behind her sweaty mouth.

Immortality? She is insane. She is sucking red lifeforce out of my body. Pulling out strands of a strange liquid which I still cease to understand.

She yanks her teeth out, in a moment, to say, "Unfortunately, even the Immortal must die once. Enjoy the pain. It's the last you'll ever see of it."