The Daily Struggles of an Immortal

by Kurtis Eckstein

  When she was done, she climbed off me and turned away to get dressed. I sat up and watched her, feeling awkward about just how absolute the silence felt. Once she was finished dressing, she walked straight out of my room without saying a word, without even a glance back.

  I cleaned up the mess, got dressed, and then headed to Lily’s place, trying to keep it out of mind.

  But the next day, Freya didn’t try sitting on me again, nor did she pleasure herself digitally like usual. We made it to my bedroom at least, but after she drank my blood she silently walked out like the previous day.

  And then it was the same the day after that.

  By the third day, the situation was weighing heavily on my mind. I didn’t want to think about it, but I was really bothered by her reaction. I almost wanted her to go back to getting off on me, but I knew this was just a part of being in a relationship – I had to deal with the consequences of rejecting another woman. I just wished I didn’t have to see her dejected posture every day too, although the idea of potentially not seeing her caused me grief just thinking about it. Which I knew was a step in the wrong direction.

  On the fourth day, a full week after the kidnapping, she finally seemed to have returned to normal.

  When she touched herself while drinking my blood I was so relieved it almost hurt. I would have sighed from the release in my shoulders if I had been capable of it, but her dagger-like teeth made that impossible at the moment.

  I was so happy when she got there that when she turned to leave I asked her a question I had been avoiding since this had started a few weeks ago. “Hey Freya, how was your day at work?” I didn’t even know what she did for a living, but I figured I might as well find out.

  She gave me a funny expression when she turned towards me, but then her face became neutral. “It was fine,” she said quietly.

  And then she walked away.

  10: Another Immortal Super

  The real problem with immortality isn’t the fact that you can’t die. It’s the fact that you must live. Or more specifically, it’s the fact that you must live, while you watch everyone else die.

  You live forever…and no else does.

  Or at least, almost no one else. Which is how we ended up having this conversation a couple weeks after Lily’s birthday. Much to my chagrin.

  “I don’t want to talk about this,” I said quickly to Lily. “It’s depressing.”

  She nodded in agreement, but she continued anyway. “Sam, it is what it is. And besides…we already talked about it.”

  I gawked at her. “Are you kidding me?!” I didn’t like where this was going at all. I had to admit the thought had crossed my mind ever since I found out how old Freya was a few days ago, but I tried not to think about it. Lily had said she had old friends, but I never would have believed in a million years that she was referring to Freya, who looked like a hot, sexy, twenty-three year old.

  Lily crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. We had just finished having dinner together when she decided to bring up this thrilling subject. Her expression abruptly darkened slightly. “Freya admitted what she’s been doing to you after she drinks your blood.”

  I slammed my head into my hands, mortified. Completely, absolutely, totally mortified. Because the day after I had asked her how work was, she had started sitting on my face again. Passionately sitting on my face. And while I wasn’t actively participating, I also didn’t lay there like a limp doll either. I at least had my hands on her thighs.

  It had been a full week now – a week full of facesitting. So, I couldn’t say anything to Lily in response. I didn’t know what to say.

  Lily continued. “And she’s agreed to stop…”

  I looked up at her in shock, before becoming abruptly suspicious. “On what condition?” I asked hesitantly.

  She sighed again, readjusting herself in her chair. “Well, really it’s not even a condition. It’s more like just realizing what’s going to happen. I’m going to die eventually, and she’s probably…not.”

  I slummed down in my chair, feeling depressed all over again. “I told you I didn’t want to talk about this,” I finally whispered. “I don’t want to think about it.” I glanced up at her then. “You’re still really young. We shouldn’t even be thinking about that for another six or seven decades at least.”

  Unexpectedly, she gawked at me. “You’re really going to stay with me that long?”

  I shrugged. “I mean, yeah.”

  “Even when I’m old?!” She exclaimed.

  I glared at her then. “Seriously Lily, you and I both know they have drugs to keep you looking young. Plus, by then they might have actually developed a true anti-aging pill – one that actually keeps you alive longer rather than just maintaining the appearance of youth.” I smirked at her then. “Not to mention, I’m almost eight times your age.”

  She smirked at me. “Old man.”

  I grinned back at her, lifting the bottom of my shirt to show my abs. “I bet you’ve never seen one who looked like this!”

  Lily allowed herself to gaze longingly at my muscled torso, before sighing and looking away. I lowered my shirt, realizing she wasn’t done with this conversation.

  Sighing in reservation, I leaned forward to rest my chin on my hands, my elbows on the table. “Look Lily, I don’t even know if I’ll want her in seventy years.”

  She immediately gave me a look. “Oh, don’t kid yourself Sam. Even I can admit she’s smoking hot.”

  Okay, she had a point…but still…

  “Why do we even need to talk about this?” I finally asked. “I mean, obviously you won’t care what I’m doing in a hundred years, as much as I hate to admit it, so why even bother thinking about it?”

  She sighed, leaning forward to mimic my posture and hold my gaze. “Because, I love you. And I guess I just want to make sure you end up with someone who will take care of you.”

  I grimaced. “Ugh, Lily that is disturbing on so many levels.”

  “But it’s the truth,” she retorted somberly. “And even though Freya has her…quirks…she’s still inherently a decent person. Believe it or not, before she kidnapped you, she had been feeding from blood-bags for over two centuries. In fact, I’m pretty sure she hasn’t killed a person in at least a hundred and fifty years.” She then made a face, as if what she had just said wasn’t exactly true, but she didn’t want to clarify.

  I decided to ignore the expression. “Yeah, well, I’m sure she was too busy screwing them instead,” I said harshly.

  Lily abruptly sat up straight, surprising me. “Sam…Freya’s a virgin.”

  I gawked her. “What in the hell? You can’t honestly tell me you believe that!”

  She shrugged. “She showed me when I didn’t believe her. Granted, that was a while ago but–”

  “What in the HELL?!”

  “Sam,” Lily snapped, “when Freya gets horny, it first manifests as a desire to drink blood. Specifically, blood from a person – blood bags don’t satisfy the desire for some reason. Which means she literally can’t have sex with a normal person, because they would be dead long before her body would allow her to attempt sex.”

  Shit.

  Was she being serious? I mean, I supposed she was. I vaguely recalled Freya saying something similar, but I didn’t realize the extent of it.

  Actually, now that I thought about it, Freya had indicated that it was nice to be with a man more than once, as if suggesting she had been with a lot of men before.

  But then, if what Lily was saying was true, then that was a lie. Especially if she hadn’t killed anyone in at least a hundred and fifty years.

  “Oh,” was all I could manage. What did someone say to that? No wonder Freya was so desperate to pleasure herself on me. I was literally the only person in existence who she could do anything with after she was done feeding.

  That one realization suddenly shifted everything for me.

  Everything.

  I had made a ton of assump
tions about Freya, largely based on how she interacted specifically with me. Just like I had done to Lily, ironically, for the first two months that I knew her. But knowing that one fact about Freya completely shifted my perspective of who she was. Because I now realized she was actually holding herself back way more than most people in her situation would. Especially given that she was three-hundred and fifty-seven years old.

  Shit.

  Lily continued. “So, she’s promised to discontinue using you as her personal sex toy until after I’m dead.”

  I nodded in understanding, but scoffed on the inside, because I didn’t believe that for a second. I knew for a fact Freya was a liar. She wasn’t going to stop sitting on my face, whether she told Lily she was or not.

  Although I wasn’t about to say anything.

  Especially not now.

  Especially not since I knew Freya was a virgin, having gone her entire life unable to satisfy such a foundational desire.

  Dammit. Hell if I was going to stop her from doing what she wanted with me.

  And…I silently realized I was probably going to tell her that too. I figured she deserved as much.

  I slowly got up from the table to kiss Lily goodbye for the next hour. I normally would have already left to meet Freya at my place, but Lily had wanted to talk about this first. I wasn’t sure why she chose now to discuss it, but I supposed it made sense for her to fill me in before I saw Freya next. Otherwise, the vampiric vixen might have her own take on the agreement, conning me into doing something Lily wouldn’t approve of.

  When I got to my place, Freya was already in the driveway waiting. I walked into the house silently, with her close on my heels. I wasn’t sure what was her mind, but I certainly knew what was on my mind. I was hesitant to bring it up though.

  Finally, when I was sitting on my bed, with Freya standing in front of me in her leather jacket. I finally blurted it out.

  “Are you really a virgin?”

  She had just been leaning in towards me, getting ready to rip out my throat. She immediately pulled away, looking mortified. I had never seen her crimson eyes look so embarrassed and vulnerable.

  “N-No!” She exclaimed.

  I crossed my arms. “Seriously Freya? Don’t lie to me about it.” Her reaction pretty much confirmed it though. If it had been an intentional lie, then she would have said yes easily. Instead, she was denying it…because it was true.

  Unexpectedly, she dropped her head, looking straight down at the ground. Her eyes were wide…with fear. I suspected she didn’t like being vulnerable, especially not in front of me.

  Despite my better judgment, I slowly reached out my hand and gently grabbed hers, holding onto it loosely. She abruptly looked at me in shock, her fingers trembling just slightly.

  She then dropped her gaze again. “Yes…” She admitted in a whisper.

  I sighed then, slowly pulling on her hand, drawing her in closer until she was barely an inch away. I looked up at her standing over me, examining her red irises, before leaning my head forward to rest against her chest while my arms slowly slid around her waist. And of course, she was wearing a pink silk blouse underneath her leather jacket. I wasn't sure where she got the idea that those two things went together, but I wasn't about to complain. I wasn’t exactly a fashion expert.

  Surprisingly, she didn’t hug me back. She just stood there, trembling slightly in my embrace.

  “W-What are you doing?” She finally managed.

  I sighed heavily, pulling her even closer to me. I pressed my knees against the sides of her legs too, holding her as absolutely as possible.

  “Showing you affection,” I admitted. I found it amusing that the roles were suddenly reversed from when she had last tried showing me affection almost two weeks ago.

  She hesitated, and then very slowly her hands slid up to my shoulders…and then moved up to my head, gently wrapping me in her own embrace, pulling my head tighter against her chest.

  We stayed like that for a long time, to the point that I was convinced it was the longest length of time we had spent together since she had kidnapped me. Granted, even then she hadn’t stuck around for very long after she fed on me.

  She was the first one to break the silence, not budging an inch. “T-Thank you,” she whispered in a shaky voice.

  It only then occurred to me that I may have been the only person in her entire life who had ever shown her affection. Ever. In three-hundred and fifty-seven years. That was weird to think about, and it suddenly made me feel horrible for rejecting her when she tried showing me affection a few weeks ago.

  When I didn’t say anything, she finally pulled away slightly to look down at me. “B-But why?” She asked hesitantly.

  I looked up at her, still seeing the vulnerability there in her red eyes. “I guess…” I took a deep breath. “I’m just acknowledging the fact that it’s going to be you and me one day.”

  Freya gasped, abruptly covering her mouth with her hand as her crimson eyes instantly filled with tears. I wasn’t expecting that reaction. Nor was I expecting her to literally fall down and start violently crying.

  Holy shit!

  What did I just do?

  I just sat there helplessly as she cried at my feet. I hadn’t even the slightest clue what to do. So, like an idiot, I just sat there and let her cry.

  Finally, after a few minutes, I wised up enough to reach down and begin stroking her black hair. She immediately grabbed a hold of me and pulled her head into my lap, wrapping her arms loosely around my waist. Although she had a fistful of the sheets in each hand, clasping it tightly. I suspected her vampiric nature and her emotions were just inherently connected. Which meant, she was trying to be careful not to hurt me with her ridiculous strength while her emotions clawed out of her so violently.

  It was almost like she was in agony as she cried, her body shaking with sobs. So, I just gently continued to stroke her black hair while she soaked my pants with her tears. It was a good thing we were at my place, because I was definitely going to need a change of clothes before heading over to Lily’s.

  It took Freya longer than I would have imagined for her to collect herself. So long, that I was surprised Lily wasn’t calling me up wondering where I was at, especially considering our earlier conversation.

  Finally, Freya took a deep breath, and spoke up. “Do you really mean that?” She whispered.

  I looked down at her in surprise. It took me a second to realize what she was talking about, since she had been sobbing for at least an hour. “Well, yeah. I mean, eventually at least. For obvious reasons.”

  She nodded her head against my lap. She then was silent for a moment before taking another deep breath and standing up. “I’m going home,” she announced unexpectedly.

  I just stared at her in shock. “You aren’t going to eat?” I asked in disbelief.

  She shook her head. “Not today.” She hesitated. “That…was enough.”

  “You aren’t hungry?” I asked, still baffled.

  She sighed. “Don’t you remember me telling you I can easily get by with once a week?”

  Oh, I guess I had forgotten about that. “Okay. So then, why the change of heart for today?”

  She gave me a weak smile. “Because I would have willingly starved for a year just to have experienced your…” She paused. “Your affection.”

  Well damn. If that’s all she wanted…

  It took me all of two seconds to decide what I was going to do next. Which meant Lily was going to have to wait a little longer.

  11: A Turn for the Better

  Showing Freya affection on a daily basis turned her life around in ways I never would have expected. It was at least meaningful enough for her to mark April 7th as a special day on her calendar.

  I also finally decided to really get to know her, discovering that she was the owner of her own fashion company, Rosetti Fashion, responsible for designing an entire line of men’s and women’s clothing. Her employees of course had no idea
the true nature of her superpower, since apparently she had filed the same paperwork to get herself removed from the public registry before I was even born. But her employees were very familiar with her bitter personality.

  When her secretary found out about me almost a month after I started showing Freya affection, she called me up at work one day to sing me praises for almost an hour. I had a report due at noon, but damn the lady just wouldn’t shut up. She was telling me story after story of Freya’s normal behavior, contrasting it with how she was now.

  “You just don’t get it,” the older woman said, after I had literally just assured her I did. “Being around her has been like having a psychotic zombie for a boss. She’s always been so dead emotionally most of the time, but when she does show emotion it’s often not pretty. It’s like you’ve brought her to life again! She’s just so happy and pleasant to be around now. She once…”

  I began tuning her out again. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to know about Freya’s life, but the woman was beginning to repeat herself.

  Granted, I had to admit it was interesting to discover that my actions had changed her public appearance so quickly. Because the things I had begun doing weren’t even that elaborate. I primarily snuggled with her, letting her curl up in my lap for a while after she fed. Ironically, that was one thing I pressed for – her continued feeding.

  In fact, once we hit a week and she still hadn’t drunk my blood, I began to demand it.

  “You need to keep doing it every day,” I told her seriously. “Otherwise, if Lily finds out we’re just cuddling, then she’s probably going to be pissed.”

  “But this is enough,” she whispered quietly, glancing up at me with her red eyes. She was hesitant then…vulnerable.