Each Man Kills | Page 4

in the
light of current events. My extracurricular research consumed the
better part of my evenings. My books were and always have been a part
of me, and as was to be expected, I overdid it. I studied too hard with
too little let-up. Sometimes it seemed to me there was more truth to
what I read than myth. It became somewhat of an obsession. Suddenly,
one night, everything blacked out.
I came to in a sanatorium. I didn't know how I got there, and when they
explained it to me, I laughed. I thought they were joking. When I tried
to get up, to walk, I collapsed. Then I knew how bad it had been. I knew,
too, I would have to go slowly.
It was there I met Eve. She was beautiful. Not like Maria, who is like a
fragile, fair, spun-sugar angel. Eve was more earthy, with skin like
ivory, creamy and rich and pale. Her blue-black hair she wore long
and gathered in the back. She looked about twenty-five, but a streak of
pure white ran back from each of her temples. She was the most
striking woman I have ever met. I had never known anyone like her, nor
have I since I saw her last.
You know how it is: the air of mystery about a woman makes a man like
a kid again. She reminded me of a sleek, black cat, with her large,

hazel eyes. I bumped into her one day on the verandah, and spent every
day with her after that.
The doctors wanted me to take exercise--short walks and the like, and
Eve went with me, struggling to keep up with me. The slightest effort
tired her. She suffered from a rather nasty case of anemia. She seldom
smiled; the effort was probably too much for her. I saw her really smile
only once.
We had been on one of our short hikes in the woods close by the
grounds. She stumbled over a twig or a branch, I'm not sure which.
Suddenly she was in my arms. Have you ever held a cloud in your arms,
Morris? So light she was, although she was almost as tall as I. Warm
and pulsating. Her eyes held mine; it was almost uncanny. I have never
been affected like that by a woman. Then I was kissing her; then a
sharp sting, and I winced. There was the warm, salt taste of blood on
my lips. I never knew how it happened. But she was smiling, her full
mouth parted in the strangest smile I have ever seen. And those small
white teeth gleamed; and in her eyes, which were all black pupils now,
with the iris quite hidden, was desire--or something beyond desire. I
couldn't define it then; now, I think I can. Her small, pink tongue
darted over her lips, tasting, seeming to savor.
I was frightened, for some indefinable reason. I wanted to get away
from her, from the woods, from myself. I grasped her arm roughly and
we started back for the grounds. We never mentioned the episode again,
but we neither of us ever forgot. She intrigued me now, more than ever.
The doctors were able to satisfy my curiosity somewhat. They told me
she had been a patient for some four years. Some days she was better,
some days worse. She needed rest--much rest. Most days she slept past
noon with their approval. Some days there was a faint flush beneath
that ivory skin; other days it was pale and cool.
Just when we became lovers, I scarcely remember. Things were
happening so fast I could barely keep pace with them. There was a
magnetism about Eve which compelled. I couldn't have resisted if I'd
wanted to--and I didn't.

I began to have long periods of lassitude, times when I would black out
and remember nothing afterwards. And the dreams began. I would
dream I was stroking a large, velvety-black cat, a cat with shining
yellow eyes that looked at me as if they knew my every thought. I would
stroke it continuously and it would nip me playfully. Then, one night the
dream intensified: I was playing with the creature, caressing it gently,
when of a sudden its lips drew back in a snarl, and without warning it
sprang at my throat and buried its fangs deep! I thought I could feel life
being drawn from me; I screamed.
The doctors told me afterwards that I was semi-conscious for days; that
I had to be restrained.
When I was well again, Eve came to see me. She was gentle--soothing.
She held me close to her and oh! it was good to be alive and to belong
to someone.
I remember to this day what she wore. Black