When she drinks the last of the wine, she confesses it was only once when she felt she had truly been drained of blood. Not shot with a few pints lost, but drained. Empty, purified. Somewhere between gray and white. Empty as the glass in her hand.
He asks her when, how, and who. Sniffing another target—his devotional carnage who will be the third. His glass isnʼt empty. With his light whirling, we can see a small, sanguine maelstrom, as if the drowned had also been terribly wounded. Quite like the monsterʼs eyes, when he didnʼt mock. Her husband, ever eager. Her husband, the very culprit.
A hearty laugh erupts from him after she recounts the aftermath of their first meeting. He didnʼt mind the pinch in his recent stitch. "Will you ever forgive me, my dear?"
"I donʼt have to. That debt is paid."
"Oh, it is. And my, you didnʼt hurl."
"Why should I?"
"Was it pleasant? I imagine you feel yourself closer to me, now. I wonder if youʼll develop the same appetite."
"Closer, yes. But not entirely alike." She huddled over the table, her empty glass cast aside, her lips wet and bright. "My only quarry is you."
"For as long as I live."
"And thereafter."
Her tongue glides through the roof of her mouth. She finds herself gulping the remnants. Much of the viscous liquid mixture had gone past her throat, settling deliciously warm in her chest, a curious antidote. His proposal had been odd, archaic, but now she recognizes it as rather fitting.
"Finish your glass, Hannibal."
"Please, Clarice, do not rush a savoring man. I admire your haste, your greed. But anything from you I do not wish to consume so quickly."
The wine was sweet and metallic. As is their marriage.
Author's Note: Pacto de Sangre or Blood Compact (Filipino: Sanduguan) was an ancient custom done in the Philippines, which sealed a treaty of alliance between reconciling parties. Blood was taken from an incision either in their arms or chests and mixed with wine. The mixture was divided equally and drunk by both parties.
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