A man bleeds out from a gunshot wound.

A family of three crashes on a highway in Arizona. No survivors.

A woman drifts off to sleep and never wakes up.

Another opens her wrists and welcomes the outcome.

A child succumbs to smoke inhalation.

One-hundred and fifty-thousand faces. Two every minute on average are baptized to the void and I am the last being they speak to before they’re released from this life into a state of eternal contentment.

Some embrace it quietly. Others need convincing.

It’s not an easy job but someone had to carry that weight.

Fate called on me. I haven’t had a moment’s silence ever since.

Until I saw her.

Suddenly, my existence — thousands upon thousands of years of lonesome agony — changed from one subtle vision of a life unlived.

Fate had brought me a companion. Someone to share my pain with. Someone I could guide and learn from at the same time. She took some convincing, naturally. Fate has a sense of humor like that.

Now, I hear more than the soft echo of my own shoes when I walk the halls of my home. I hear the shuffle of a chair in the kitchen. The turn of a page in the library. The sound of pop music echoing down the hallway.

The voice of my queen as she laughs.

I feel the brush of her hand beneath the covers. The warmth of her smile when she looks at me. The soft tremble of her body when we make love.

But these early morning moments are my favorite.

Sleep is not a necessity for either of us but some mortal rituals are hard to break. She wanted the experience of intimacy and I wasn’t going to deny her that. It surprised me at first how much I enjoy it. It didn’t take long for the habit to stick.

Tannis rests beside me. She lies with her back to me; the bedsheet loosely clung around her waist. The strap of her top has fallen down her shoulder, leaving her milky skin exposed for me to touch.

A man pushes a child out of the way of a speeding car. He doesn’t get back up again.

I close my eyes and rest my forehead on her shoulder. I try to focus on her warmth as I help him up off the street. He seems confused at first. Then he sees his body and he knows the sacrifice he made. The child cries from the sidewalk. Alive. He looks at me and nods as I kiss Tannis where her shoulder meets her neck.

She reacts, slowly turning onto her back with her eyes still closed. She smiles anyway, sensing my touch. I kiss her again. She makes the most adorable noise in the world as a teenager gets stabbed over a new pair of sneakers.

Tannis opens her sleepy eyes, bringing me right back to her. “Hey,” she says.

I smile. “Hey.”

“Are you okay?” She looks around. “You seem…”

“Seem what?”

“Just…” her hand grazes my cheek, “Ari-like, I guess.”

I chuckle and take her hand, playfully moving it toward my lips. “I’m okay now.” I admire my queen. Pink cheeks and bright eyes. “Are you happy?” I ask.

She grins. “You’re still asking me that?”

“Just checking in.”

Her eyes roll and she leans up to kiss me on the lips. A decent answer.

“Looking forward to today?” I ask.

Tannis sighs. “Big day,” she says.

“You nervous?”

“A little.”

“Don’t be.” I kiss her shoulder again. “Weddings are supposed to be fun and exciting — or so I’ve read.”

She snorts. “It’s not the wedding,” she says. “It’s everything else.”

“It’ll be all right.”

“They’ll get suspicious,” she says, nervously.

I shake my head. “No, they won’t.”

“I still look twenty-years-old.”

“Then they’ll be envious, not suspicious,” I joke.

She glares at me but smiles. I kiss her once, twice. We lock together, legs briefly entwined as I maneuver to balance on top of her.

Tannis chuckles as my manhood grinds against her hip. “I’m not sure there’s time for this…”

I reach between us, effortlessly pushing her nightgown up so I can slide inside of her. “I’ll make time,” I say with a heated growl.

She gasps with instant pleasure. Her knees hug my sides as I angle her hips higher to impale her deeper. “I have to do my hair,” she says playfully.

“Your hair is perfect no matter what it looks like.”

“And my make-up.”

“You’re twenty. You don’t need make-up.”

“And I need—”

I crush my mouth on hers to silence her. “You need—” I thrust harder and she moans, “to make love to me, my queen. I’ll have you to the church on time, I swear it.”

Tannis kisses me back, submitting completely beneath me with a devious smirk on her lips. She runs her fingers up my sides, purposefully touching my sensitive spots. “Yes, my king,” she whispers with a sinister tone.

I squint in warning. “Tannis.”

She touches me again as she holds in a laugh. “What?”

“Stop.”

“Stop what?” she asks, innocently.

My entire side erupts in tickles. I attempt to push away from her but she latches her legs around my hips, forcing fits of giggles out of me. She laughs hard, teasing me, until I manage to snatch her devilish hands and pin them above her head.

Tannis kisses me, calming the growl in my throat, and all is forgiven.

Tannis nervously fiddles with the edge of her sundress as she stares out the car window. It’s been an interesting experience for her over the years; watching her home grow and change while she stays the same. Businesses come and go. Families move in and out. Life goes on.

I reach for her hand in her lap and she entwines our fingers together.

“I’m fine,” she says, unprompted.

My lips twitch. “I didn’t ask.”

She exhales. “I’m still not used to it,” she says.

I bring her hand to my lips and kiss her knuckles. “Maybe you never will,” I say. “Our home never really stops being home. No matter how much it changes without us.”

“No, I mean…” She eyes the empty driver’s seat. “That.”

I look forward and laugh as the wheel spins to the right and we pull into the church parking lot. I’ve taken her to nearly every corner of the world in this car and she still regards it with great distrust.

Just another reason to love her.

I step outside and button my jacket before extending a hand to her. She takes it and I help her out with eyes locked on her as the sunlight shines over her beautiful face. It’s not a view I can always catch where we come from. There’s just something about real, natural sunlight on Earth that brings out her most perfect features.

“There she is!”

Tannis’ head instantly snaps toward the familiar voice. “Dad! Mom!” she gasps.

Moira and Owen stand on the sidewalk just outside of the entrance, him with a cautionary cane balanced beneath his left arm. They each carry far more wrinkles on their faces than they did when we first met but they’ve aged better than others.

Tannis drops my hand and rushes toward them. I don’t take it personally. There are only so many more precious moments left between my queen and her parents and I hang back to give them the time they deserve.

I dread the day when I’ll have to escort them to the void and break the news to her.

I push the thoughts away. Today is a day of celebration.

Tannis eases down her enthusiasm before throwing her arms around their elderly shoulders. They shower her with compliments and fake-spot a few age lines on her eternally-porcelain face. She laughs with them while I comfort a man on a hospital bed, surrounded by no one.

“Ari.”

I look forward and Moira gestures me closer.

“Now you get over here and hug me, young man,” she says.

I walk over, happy to oblige. “It’s nice to see you, too, Moira.”

She embraces me, giving my back a few hard slaps before pulling away. “How are you?” she asks with a wink. “Same as always?”

I glance at Tannis. “And yet, more exciting every day.”

She smiles, pleased with my answer.

Owen extends his hand to me and I shake it lightly as I bow my head in respect. He does the same, our silent tradition of showing appreciation for one another. To him, for bringing me Tannis. To me, for giving him the same.

Tannis wraps an arm around mine and we continue on into the church together. Before the usher can escort us to our seats, a woman lets out a shriek from the front rows and shoots up out of her pew.

“Tannis!” she cries out.

Tannis gives her a wave. “Hi, Dina!”

Dina rushes at us. I quickly detach from Tannis in order to avoid getting trampled as they throw their arms around each other and laugh like school girls.

A man slowly eases up behind them. He gives me a smile and bobs his silver-speckled head. “Hey, Ari,” he says. “Thanks for coming.”

“We’re happy to be here, Riley,” I say. “Congratulations. This church is beautiful.”

“Thank you.”

“Dina, you look amazing!” Tannis says.

“Oh, shut up,” Dina says, pulling back to glare at Tannis. “I look old. You, on the other hand…” She gives Riley a wicked side-eye. “See? I told you we should have moved to Greece with them. There’s magic in that water, I tell ya.”

Riley laughs. “Maybe we should have.”

Tannis clears her throat. “So, how’s she doing back there?” she asks, a quick change of subject. “Is she nervous?”

Dina nods. “Last I checked, she was at the blowing into a paper sack phase of her wedding day, so she should be screaming into a pillow as we speak.”

Tannis laughs. “Well, I’m happy for her.” She glances over Dina’s shoulder toward the altar and blinks twice at the groom standing by, waiting for his bride. “Very happy for her.”

“Right?” Dina squints. “Isn’t he handsome? My kid found a winner.”

“Yes, she did.”

Riley checks his watch. “I should get back there,” he says. “Almost showtime.”

Dina kisses his cheek. “Try not to cry too hysterically, honey,” she says with a wink.

He leaves and I offer a supportive pat on his back as he passes.

Dina sighs. “I was talking to myself, of course,” she says, her eyes starting to shimmer. “My baby is getting married. Tannis, hold me.”

She collapses into Tannis’ arms, nearly toppling them over. Tannis quickly adjusts and manages to hold them both upright as she gives her old friend words of encouragement.

I take my seat in the pew next to Owen and Moira while a ten-year-old girl asks me why she can’t go home again.

Tannis joins us shortly after. I retrieve a handkerchief from my pocket and hand it to her to blot the tears on her cheeks. By now, I’ve gotten to know Tannis’ various tears. From sadness to bliss, they’re never quite the same. Today, she’s happy for her old friends but bittersweet for herself over the lies she must tell.

She takes my hand again and smiles, content with the choice she made.

A song echoes through the speakers of the reception hall. It’s a slow, calming melody meant to soothe after a long afternoon of speeches and booze. Soon, the music will pick up again and the party will go on into the night but until then, I wrap an arm around my queen’s waist and hold her against me beneath the deep blue lights.

I sway with her, admiring her bright eyes as she looks up at me. Occasionally, her gaze will drift around the room. She’ll smile at her parents. She’ll chuckle softly at her friends. She’ll twinge in ways that only I would recognize.

“What are you thinking about?” I ask her.

Tannis shakes her head once. “Just wondering what else will be different the next time we come here,” she answers. “Who else will be all grown up and getting married? Or who…” She shrugs. “Things like that.”

I nod, silently noticing the sadness building behind her lashes.

“Thirty years since you came for me,” she says, swallowing hard. “Another thirty and some of these people…” Her eyes linger on her parents again. “Might be gone.”

“Tannis,” I whisper.

“But I’ll still be here.”

I lightly pinch her chin to draw her eyes to mine. “And so will I,” I say. “I know what you’re feeling. There’s a loneliness that comes with this life but I will never leave you. You have my word.”

Tannis takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. She gives a light smile as she holds my hand a little tighter.

“Thank you,” she says.

I smirk. “In exchange, will you do me one thing?”

“What?”

“Kiss me.”

She pauses to wet her lips before pushing up onto her toes. The instant our mouths touch, I feel the warm essence of her spilling into me. It curls down my throat and settles in the pit of my stomach, filling me with unimaginable comfort.

And silence.

Beautiful silence.

Tannis tilts down, breaking the kiss as her lips swing into a smile. “And there you are,” she whispers, feeling me inside.

I pull her closer and she rests her head on my chest. We continue swaying in time with the music, silently feeling each other while the world lives on.

A child accidentally brushes my knee as she scurries past us through the crowd. Tannis raises her head and grins to herself as the girl disappears and I catch a blissful wave somewhere in her bright eyes.

I kiss the tip of her nose. “Have you given any thought to what you want to do next?” I ask. “Anything you’d like to study? Anywhere you’d like to go?”

Tannis bites her bottom lip, eyes once again straying to the running child, and I already know her answer.

“Not really,” she says instead.

I tilt my head. “Are you sure?” I ask with a raised a brow.

“I’ll think about it.”

“You want a child.”

She nearly flinches. “I… don’t know. Not that it’s possible anyway.”

“It’s not?”

“Well…” Her shoulders bounce. “I mean, I’m dead.”

“Technically, yes.”

“So, then, I can’t…” Her face contorts. “I can’t have kids. That ship’s sailed.”

“Oh, Tannis.” I smile.

“What?”

“Mortals create life by accident every day,” I say. “You think I can’t do it on purpose?”

I reach down and rest a discreet hand on her belly over her dress. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, pretending to concentrate for a moment as her entire body stiffens.

Tannis juts back a step. “Ari, are you seriously—?”

I crack up, unable to hold it back. “No, I’m just kidding.”

She deflates. “You douche!”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

“I don’t want one like right now,” she says, slapping my shoulder.

I block her second blow and pull her little body even closer to mine. “We have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

“Really?”

“Well…” I grin. “That and a prayer or two to a certain fertility goddess but we go way back. I’m sure she’ll be happy to deliver.”

Tannis nods. “Sounds super normal.”

I chuckle as I tilt her head up and kiss her sweet lips. “Just say the word, my love,” I whisper. “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be.”

“Yeah?”

I nod. “Absolutely.”

Our lips graze, sparking another rush a warmth throughout my whole body.

Tannis pauses, the wheels visually spinning behind her eyes. “Would it be like you?” she asks, lowering her voice beneath the song. “A god, I mean?”

I shake my head. “All life begins with mortality,” I answer.

“Even yours?”

“Yes.”

“You know, you’ve never told me how you became the way you are,” she says. “Always kind of wondered…”

I run a finger down her cheek, sweetly silencing her. “Maybe I’ll tell you. Someday.”

Her face pinches in playful disappointment but she doesn’t ask twice. She knows she has forever to pry that out of me and there’s no doubt in my mind that she won’t succeed long before then.

Tannis rests her head on my chest again and I kiss her forehead as we softly sway to the music.

“I love you,” I hear her say.

My heart skips twice. Even after all this time, hearing her say those words brings me to my knees.

This woman. I’d give her the whole world in exchange for one peek at her beautiful smile.

“Ari?”

“Yes?” I whisper.

“What are you thinking about?” she asks.

“Our wedding night,” I answer as I glance around the reception hall.

“Me, too.” She gazes up at me with a smirk. “Best night of my life.”

I caress her face, gently pushing her hair back behind her ear. “Are you happy?” I ask her again.

She doesn’t answer. Instead, she pushes up onto her toes and kisses me.

Maybe she’ll tell me. Someday.

Tannis. My love.

My queen.

For eternity.