The last time we saw The Goddess she told Erik that through destruction there is renewal. He replied, "Not always."
Noir 28
The Goddess pulled away from Erik, leaving him gasping for his next breath. She looked him over with narrowed eyes. His stomach growled again. It was the third time since he had found her that his hunger voiced itself. Bracing herself on his shoulders, she rose to her feet and sauntered to her vanity where a woven bag lay against the scrolled leg.
"Three days without food," she said with her back to him. "Why?"
Erik made no reply. He stared at his outstretched legs. He had eaten seldom since becoming infatuated with Christine. In the past it had been because he fixated himself on music and his singing prodigy. In the last three days he deprived himself as punishment.
"When I ask a question I expect answers."
"I don't know why," he replied quietly. His voice dropped into a hushed whisper. "I told you. I should be dead."
Until he had seen The Goddess again living had not interested him. He did not exist in the world. He was only a myth, a terrifying story based in as much fact as witches and warlocks. There was nothing for him. Everything he had ever desired had disappeared. Wandering alone had provided far too much time to think of all he had done, of all he had lost. The longer he thought the more miserable he became.
The Goddess brought the bag with her and sat on the bed. Erik watched her from the corner of his eye as she folded her legs beneath her and stared at him. At first she said nothing, which increased the feeling of mortification he felt in himself. For fifteen years he had been nothing, which he preferred to the feeling of being a disgrace in the eyes of his Goddess.
"You're right. You should be dead."
He had no choice but to nod.
The Goddess opened the bag and rummaged through the contents. She pulled out an object wrapped in a handkerchief and held it out to him.
"Take it," she said. "There's more in the bag."
Erik's dirty fingers quickly unwrapped a baguette. He glanced up at The Goddess and saw her nod. "Wine or water?" she asked.
"Water. Please," he said. He looked back to the bread. "Thank you."
The Goddess reached into the bag again and produced a glass flask which she passed to him without a word. He took it from her with a whispered 'thank you' and moved further into the corner, drawing his knees up to his chest. Hunger hit him with nauseating frenzy the moment he held the bread to his mouth.
"Careful," The Goddess said as she lay back on her bed and watched him from the corner of her eye. "Your teeth are loose. Eat with care."
His gaze switched from the food in his hand to the dark beauty reclining. He pushed his tongue against his teeth and felt them creak forward. She was correct.
"Malnourishment," she said before he asked. "Your complexion is sallow, your hair is falling out, and your teeth are loose. Soak the bread in water before you eat. It will soften it and save your teeth. And eat slowly or you will make yourself ill."
Though he wanted to devour the bread in one bite, Erik did as he was told and ate in silence, measuring each bite. Once he finished he turned his eyes toward the wall. "You are too kind," he said under his breath.
He glanced over his shoulder when The Goddess did not reply. He saw her staring at the ceiling, hands folded over her stomach. Her knees were at an angle and her skirt fell to the middle of her calves.
"There is no such thing as 'too kind', my phantom. There is kindness and cruelty but never too much compassion." She rolled onto her side and looked him in the eye. "There is a price for my kindness."
Erik broke eye contact first and stared at the floor and the drained bottle. "I will bring you more money by twilight. However much you want—"
"Money means little to me when there is so much more to take," The Goddess purred. She slid her legs from the bed and lowered to her knees beside him.
Before she finished speaking he looked away. Gooseflesh prickled his arms and the back of his neck. "I cannot give you anything."
The Goddess crawled up his leg. "Why don't you allow me to judge what you can and cannot give me?"
"Don't ask me to do this," he pleaded.
"I am a deity and you are nothing but a ghost. For years you made your own requests, but know this, Phantom: I do not ask. I demand."
She stroked the side of his neck with her fingers, causing him to shiver at her taunting caress. The Goddess leaned forward and kissed him on the corner of his mouth.
"And I am never denied."