The Daily Struggles of an Immortal

by Kurtis Eckstein

  “Me either,” Freya agreed. “Which brings us to John. Unfortunately, he’s just another peon with limited access to his contact. He doesn’t even know what the person looks like. He just meets up with them twice a year to get further instructions for both him and Nick to follow.”

  I groaned. “Great. Once John’s death is announced publicly, our last lead with disappear then.”

  “Not necessarily,” Freya countered. “Nick is still alive, which means we might still have a chance. We just need to hope that the contact will try to get in touch with Nick and reestablish their primary communication through him instead of John.”

  “Oh!” I sat up straighter. “Okay, then when is their next meeting supposed to be?”

  “Not until August,” she admitted with a grimace. But then she perked up. “But that just means we have a couple of months to not have to worry too much about it. We can go on our vacation in peace.”

  My eyes narrowed. “So you don’t think Lily’s life is in danger anymore?” I asked seriously.

  She blinked at me in surprise. “Oh. No, she should be safe for now. John wasn’t given specific instructions to kill Lily. Rather, the bastard was just extremely jealous. He’s been fuming about you hooking up with her all this time, even though it’s literally impossible for him. And then, when he discovered that I was involved in your relationship too, with that rumor being confirmed by me calling you out of work, that tipped him over the edge and prompted him to take out his rage on Lily since he knew he couldn’t hurt you directly.”

  “Shit,” I exclaimed under my breath. “Damn, what an ass. That’s pathetic. And ridiculous.”

  She nodded in agreement. “He just viewed Lily as a nice rack and nothing more. Eventually, he decided that if he couldn’t have her, then no one was going to. He was watching the live feed while it was airing, eagerly looking forward to seeing Lily tortured and killed.”

  “Bastard,” Lily fumed. “It’s probably good I didn’t know that when I burned his body. I probably would have lit the entire subway station on fire.”

  “I almost wished we could have tortured him,” I scoffed.

  Freya shook her head. “His ability was too dangerous to leave him conscious. He could have mimicked my claws and even Lily’s flames too, creating a black fire. His shadow ability was actually extremely powerful.” Her expression grew somber. “We wouldn’t have been able to defeat him if I hadn’t transformed. My speed was our only real advantage.”

  “You must be pretty fast,” I mused, trying to lighten the mood. “I can move my astral limbs almost instantaneously.”

  She gave me a small smile. “Well, he was able to mimic the form and overall nature of your ability, but he wasn’t nearly as fast with it. Maybe faster than most supers with super-speed can move, but not like your speed.”

  I nodded in acknowledgement. “So is that it then?”

  “Pretty much, unfortunately. I doubt you want to hear about all the details of how much of a bastard John really was, or how much of a slut Camila was.”

  Lily and I both grimaced. “Yeah, I guess not.” I sighed. “So, if we’re not going to work today, then what do you want to do instead? I’m up for anything, especially now that we can relax.”

  Freya began twirling some of her black hair in her finger, her crimson eyes looking exceptionally innocent. “Oh, I don’t know,” she began. “I figured maybe we could just stay here and ‘hang out’ all day.”

  I gawked at her, catching her double meaning, especially considering what she knew about the waitress from last night.

  “Sure,” Lily unexpectedly agreed, resting her chin in her hand and holding Freya’s gaze. “That sounds like fun.”

  I gulped.

  36: Just Another Day at the Office

  I sat at the lunch table across from Nick, still finding it difficult to not let my mind wander to the amazing day full of foreplay and sex last week. I had thought Lily was agreeing to a threesome, which would have been surprising considering her firm stance on the subject, but nope. She still wasn’t into that. However, that didn’t stop us from having plenty of fun in other ways.

  As usually, Freya had a lot of fun serving as our sex couch, involving all sorts of Lily teasing me in various ways. It also involved her sitting on my face too, which was something we had actually never done before. Lily decided she liked that a lot. Her head lit on fire when it ignited her more passionate arousal, but she kept it under control for once. Towards the end of the first time, she actually burned me, but I didn’t mind.

  And when Freya decided she wanted a turn with me, Lily politely excused herself to figure out what she wanted to bring on our vacation. So nothing changed there either.

  Unexpectedly, Nick’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “So how long are you going to be gone?” Nick wondered as he ate.

  I was suspicious that he wasn’t just asking casually, but it’s not like I could hide how long I was taking vacation time. “Just a couple of weeks,” I offered, getting back to my lunch.

  “And where did you say you were going?” He wondered.

  I tried not to scoff. No way in hell was I telling him. I shrugged. “No idea. It’s Freya’s surprise, so neither Lily nor I know.”

  He groaned in annoyance. “Damn, you’re so lucky.”

  “How’s it going with Zoey?” I wondered.

  He perked up a little. “Really good actually. Honestly, I’m kind of glad Camila dumped me.”

  Nick still didn’t know about her death. The news about it hadn’t surfaced as public knowledge yet, which made me a little suspicious but not so much to worry about it.

  Nick continued. “I realize now that I was dragging my feet because I couldn’t see myself with her forever. But it’s different with Zoey. I’d be alright with marrying her. Really, that’s why I wanted to include her in what I had going on with Camila. It never occurred to me that I could just dump Camila and focus all my attention on Zoey.”

  I did scoff this time. “Seriously Nick? You realize that’s the respectable thing to do, right? If you’re going to date some else, then you break up with who you’re currently with first. You don’t cheat like an asshole.”

  Nick glared at me. “Hey! I’m new to this, okay? Camila was my first girlfriend ever. I didn’t know how to let that go.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. Nick was in his late twenties, so I’d never considered his experience with dating was so nonexistent. “Well, you don’t have an excuse next time,” I retorted.

  “Yeah, yeah. I know man.” He paused. “Oh, and about that bistin…”

  “Dammit Nick!” I exclaimed, bolting out of my seat. “No more!”

  He held his hands up defensively. “Dude, calm down. I was just going to say that I bought gloves like you recommended and they work great. My hands still get really sweaty, but it prevents me dropping it.”

  “Oh.” I sat back down, completely stunned. “Well, that’s good then.”

  “Damn, man. Overreact much?”

  It took every fiber of my being to not reach across the table and punch him in the face. Or strangle him. Or gouge out his eyes. Or slice his body into tiny little pieces that not even his own mother would recognize.

  “So what are you doing for your birthday this year?” Nick asked unexpectedly. “It’s in July, right?”

  I shrugged, a little surprised that he remembered. “Yeah, July 18th. It’s still over a month and a half away, so I haven’t even thought about it.”

  “I bet your two chicks are planning something for you.”

  My eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Dude. Stop with the jealousy. The three of us don’t have sex together,” which was mostly true, “and I never asked for this in the first place.”

  He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I figured we could get everyone to pitch in at work for you. How does a Mexican theme sound? Nancy supposedly makes killer enchiladas, and Dave already agreed to bringing in a huge pot of shredded
chicken. I can create a signup list for everyone else to pick what they want to bring.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. I was shocked he was being so considerate, but also unsure if it was sincere given what I knew he was secretly involved with. “Sure,” I hedged. “By why put so much effort into it?”

  “I’m just paying you back man. You went all out when it was my birthday last August.”

  Oh. I supposed he had a point. Nick’s birthday had been on a Sunday, so we celebrated that Friday. Ironically, that was just about a week after Lily started working there, and it was the same day she found out I was immortal.

  Nancy had been washing off a huge knife, talking with Lily by her side, when I walked up to ask if she needed help. She spun around to tell me no, only for the knife to accidentally slip out of her soapy hands and head straight for Lily’s foot. I stuck my own foot out, having it slice right into my ankle before falling to the floor. Lily flipped out of course, so I told her about my regeneration ability before she exploded. Dave then had to chime in and mention that I couldn’t die either.

  Everything seemed to go downhill from there, although I realized in hindsight that it had been the spark that had ignited her general interest into a strong desire to be with me.

  “Huh, I guess I did get everyone involved to celebrate,” I admitted.

  So much had changed in the last eight months that it seemed like a much more distance memory than it should have. It felt like I had been with Lily for much longer – I supposed that meant I had made some pretty meaningful memories, especially compared to the mundane last century of my life.

  “Yeah,” Nick agreed. “I figured it’s the least I could do. Maybe we could all go out for drinks or something after work too.”

  “Maybe,” I hedged. I wasn’t about to commit to anything. “I’ll have to wait and ask if Lily has anything planned of course. I was sort of unavailable on her birthday, so she might be a little possessive of me on mine.”

  He waived his hand in the air dismissively. “Yeah, yeah. I figured as much.”

  “Hey,” I said pointedly. “If I remember correctly, I offered to take you out for drinks and you were unavailable too – Camila had made plans for you I believe.”

  He scoffed. “Nah, it was Zoey. I just lied about it because I didn’t want anyone to know about her. Camila had something to do with her family that day.”

  Or something to do with her kidnapping-torturing-filming business, I amended in my head. “Right. Well, either way, you shouldn’t act so bothered that I don’t have all the time in the world for you.”

  Nick sighed heavily. “I know man. It’s just rough sometimes. You’re like the only friend I have.”

  “That can’t be true,” I countered.

  He shrugged. “I mean, I have friends online, but none of them live close enough to hang out.”

  Nope. Not about to feel sorry for the guy. I changed the subject. “Well, I have to make a phone call before my lunch is over, so I’ll talk to you later for now.”

  “Oh. Okay. I have a report I need you to look over in a little while, if that’s okay?”

  “Sure,” I offered. I stood up. “I’ll be back to the office here in about ten minutes.” I quickly excused myself then, and took the elevator down to the lobby. I was hoping to have this conversation without anyone I knew overhearing. Granted, no one would probably have any clue what it was about except maybe Lily.

  Freya answered the phone cheerfully. “Hey baby! How’s it going?”

  “Hi cutie,” I replied, mimicking her tone. I lowered my voice. “I was just calling to let you know the pendant and tungsten clasp are finished. I got a voicemail about it an hour ago. I told them you’d be picking it up today.”

  “Oh! Awesome! I was worried we might be cutting it close.”

  I leaned back in my chair and crossed my ankle over my knee. “Nah. We still have a week before we leave on vacation.” I paused. “How is your part coming along?”

  She sounded cheerful again. “All finished! Honestly, my part wasn’t difficult at all. I was just a little indecisive on how I wanted to have the pendant attached. I won’t go into all the boring details for you, but basically it will be a seamless connection to ensure it is visually appealing.”

  “I’m sure it will be great no matter what.” I sighed. “Thank you Freya. Seriously. I’m really looking forward to this.”

  “Me too,” she admitted. “It’s been so hard not to say anything. I won’t of course!” She quickly added. “But I’m bubbling over with excitement and I just can’t wait to see her face. I’m definitely going to be recording this!”

  I smiled at her enthusiasm. “You’ll just have to be careful she doesn’t see. We’ll have to try to plan out where we want to do it.”

  “Yep!” She squealed. “I can’t wait!” Unexpectedly, I heard her secretary’s voice in the background, though I couldn’t make out what she said. Freya spoke up. “Well, it looks like I need to get back to work. But I’ll definitely go pick up the pendant and clasp after work. See you in a few hours!”

  “Alright. I love you.” I stood up.

  “I love you too!” She replied with glee.

  As I waited for the elevator, Dave surprised me by walking up with a bag of jelly donuts in his arm. “Want one?” He offered.

  I shook my head. “No thanks. I just ate lunch.”

  He shrugged and took a bite out of it. As we climbed into the elevator, he spoke up again. “So you and your other girlfriend are planning something special for Lily, huh?”

  I gawked at him in disbelief. “Dave! Seriously?! It’s rude to eavesdrop you know!”

  He just shrugged again. “I can’t help it if I hear things.”

  “Yeah, well you can certainly help with what you do with that information afterwards!” I snapped.

  “Oh please,” he scoffed, grabbing another jelly donut. At least now I knew where his robustness came from. “I won’t tell her.”

  “Good,” I said firmly.

  He was quiet for a moment. “So what’s the occasion?”

  “You’ll find out after Lily finds out,” I snapped again.

  “Okay, okay,” he huffed.

  The elevator doors opened, and I was shocked to see Lily standing there. “Oh! Sam! There you are! I’m trying to get this spreadsheet submitted, but one of the formulas has an error and I can’t figure out where it’s at. The stupid AI keeps telling me it’s correct, but I know it’s not.”

  “Jelly donut?” Dave interrupted, offering one to Lily.

  She looked at it like she might a maggot. “Umm, no thanks Dave.” Her expression grew more disgusted when he took a sloppy bite out of it.

  I was glad when he started walking away, instead of just standing there not even trying to hide that he was listening to our conversation. “Oh!” Dave pipped up, looking over his shoulder. “And have fun on your vacation next week! I’m sure Lily will love whatever you have planned for her!”

  DAMMIT DAVE!

  I’M GONNA KILL THAT MAN!

  37: A Memory Worth Sharing

  Lily had never left the country before, so she was really looking forward to visiting Cancún. Ironically, the most expensive part of the trip was going to be the travel expense, since Lily had a G-32 restriction on her citizen ID. I had never heard of such a thing. But apparently, due to the uncontrollable nature of her ability, she wasn’t allowed to take any form of public transportation. And that included planes. It was too risky to have her in a confined space with other passengers.

  But that just made the plane trip more romantic and intimate. We had a private jet to ourselves, which meant I ended up having sex with Lily once and Freya twice on the way there. We also spent plenty of time enjoying each other’s company in more casual ways, like listening to music and talking more about our plans once we were there.

  When we got off the jet, Freya reminisced about a time when people had to have a form of documentation called a passport to move between countries
. But now, with the advancement of DNA identification, everyone’s citizen ID served all the purposes of the multiple forms of documentation that used to exist. It must have been before my time too, because I had always had a citizen ID and nothing more.

  When we arrived in Cancún, we visited a few of the shops before taking the boat to the island. The house we were renting was huge compared to Lily’s place – it was at least twice the size, and we had the whole house to ourselves.

  The appearance of the building was a nice blend of old and new. Most of the doorways were arched into half circles, instead of square frames, and the accompanying doors had the same shape. There were also white columns surrounding all the support beams on both the inside and outside, giving it a very open and luxurious feel.

  The master bedroom had a California king sized bed, which seemed really small compared to Lily’s super-sized bed. Granted, it was still plenty big for the three of us to fit, with room to spare. Just not as much room as we were used to. Lily made sure to pack her latex sheets in case she had a nightmare and exploded unexpectedly, but thus far I had been pretty good at waking her up before it ever got to that point. Granted, to be honest, she had slept soundly most nights. I only had to wake her up maybe once a week at most.

  The backyard had a large patio made of stone, with low half-walls running along the edges. There was a pedestal of stone filled with plants and a palm tree right in the middle of the patio, with a circular outcropping behind it that overlooked the private beach. Stone pathways then led through the scattered palm trees right up to the sand. The sound of the waves was loud enough that it could be heard even with all the doors and windows closed.

  The sun was just getting low on the horizon, streaking the sky in shades of orange and pink. The water was crystal clear up close, but bright blue from the house.

  I figured the two of them would be tired after a day of traveling and shopping, but they were both elated to finally be here. While I was checking out the kitchen and living room, they snuck off only to surprise me by reappearing in bikinis.