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I'd watched him for a while from my dark corner of the bar. He looked young, he acted young, but there was something about him that made me think he'd lived a lot more than his face showed.
He'd been flirting with most of the women in the bar. He hadn't had any luck.
The women here wanted strong and rich, not cute and scruffy. The rebuffs didn't seem to faze him much: he just moved onto the next uninterested woman. More fool them; this boy-man had an aura around him. Hunger. Hunger for touch, for knowledge, for something I couldn't quite see.
Finally I grew tired of watching him and stepped into the light. I walked to the bar and ordered another drink. I knew he was watching me. They always watch me. I'm human, technically: the genetic modification doesn't show on the outside unless you look into my eyes. And if you get that close you don't really care what I am anymore.
I turned slowly and let my gaze drift across the room. The usual collection of drunks, whores and spacers desperate for some form of physical contact after the isolation of space. I looked at his mouth and saw it curve up. I smiled back and he walked over. It was that simple.
His lines were terrible but he bought me a drink and didn't seem to mind that I wouldn't look him in the eye. That could wait for later. Up close I could sense what I'd missed earlier. A death was on him. He searched for a cure. But not tonight. Tonight he wanted what they all wanted: oblivion.
We left the bar together, the others watched. The men jealous, the women amused. He held the door for me and acted like I was a rare and precious object. Which I am.
As we walked his voice coloured the night with the music of the doomed. I could feel the death inside him waiting for the time of release. It wouldn't be long now. We turned into the darkness and I felt his hand on the small of my back. I turned as if to kiss him and he looked into my eyes.
His energy was strong. He had survived a life that should have killed him long ago, the taste of his knowledge and experience was hot and rich with the complex personality that overlaid it.
As I dropped what was left of him I felt the death inside him burst into life. The young would need to feed but they knew better than to taste me. I watched them run off to hunt with a smile as my eyes burned hot red fire.
The end