Pleased to Meet You

I can remember the first time I really saw her. She was sitting across from me at dinner, listening to the flow of conversation meander its way across topics. Sometimes a pleasant subject would make her giggle or a harsh word would make her cringe. Her hair kept falling softly across her brow and she would delicately brush it away or tuck it behind her ear. I remember reflecting on how rhythmic it looked when she did this, as if there was a subconscious understanding between her hand and that lock of hair. It was supposed to ease its way onto her face and her fingers were supposed to carry it back in place. It was like a dance.

I must have stared a little because I can remember the shy look she gave me and the nervous smile that followed. I answered with a silly grin and immediately struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to her. His name was Chris and they had been dating for the better part of a year. Chris and I had been close at one point, but like many people in my life he sort of fell by the wayside when circumstances made it inconvenient for me to maintain the relationship. Before this occasion I hadn't seen him in three months. Chris usually came across as confident to the point of abrasive. In truth his caustic nature had nothing to do with his self-assured attitude. His confidence was a little annoying to me because I recognized it as an automatic compensation for his lack of real resolve. The abrasiveness, on the other hand, was his only interesting quality. He had a knack for saying whatever came to his mind and then strapping on his devil-may-care attitude whenever anyone was actually hurt by his words. You could see behind his eyes the pain it caused him to cut another with his words and the reality that it had all been an accident. If he had just stuck with his sardonic demeanor people would've figured it out and accepted him for it. Acting like he was better than everyone else and that they were only hurt by his words because they were less developed human beings alienated him. This is why I had kept him in my life before. It was a lot of fun to watch this unfold in almost every conversation he had. The few that shared his company seemed similarly entertained by his failure to communicate. That day was much the same. The people around the big table were the same people that I usually saw in his company (plus a few extras that would probably never be seen with him after tonight). The only one out of place was Victoria. While I had known they were dating I had never actually seen them together. The year prior, when he and I spent more time together, she was just a name. The name turned out to be a familiar one. Through conversations with Chris, I'd pieced together that Victoria and I were classmates for most of grade school and junior-high. She had been pretty then, but I cared more for baseball and cartoons at the time. I may have kissed a few girls under the swing-set, but they weren't a focus until high school. Victoria and I were friendly, but we didn't have a lot of interaction. Despite this, the familiarity had sparked a bit of rivalry for Chris. I think he was put off by the fact that I knew more about Victoria's childhood than he did. I milked this for a while to get a rise out of him but it got old quick. I didn't really know anything about Victoria; especially the sexy, grown-up version that sat in front of my that night.

While Victoria had noticed my staring, Chris apparently remained oblivious. He was neck deep in an argument over the superiority of French Champagne, "...since the Romans," he continued blithely, "The region's history and tradition is what makes Champagne. You can't call this sparkling shit Champagne."

Nearly everyone at the table was drinking a bubbly beverage. I, alone, was holding my glass of Scotch like an alcoholic uncle. I had a low opinion of wine, sparkling or otherwise, and would've rather had a conversation on the merits of whiskey. Still, it was an easy enough topic to jump into, and not one I was totally ignorant on. "So besides semantics and appellation control," I began strongly, forcing my way into the conversation over the false starts of the others, "if a sparkling wine was produced with grapes imported from the region and using the same process, isn't it basically the same thing?"

He turned to face me, seeming pleased I had joined the conversation. He knew me as someone he could say anything to and not offend. "Appellation control is exactly why it isn't the same thing," he said victoriously, "You should agree with that, Mr. Scotch. Without the Scotch Whiskey Regulations you could be drinking domestic peat-smoked single-malt whiskey and not even know."

"It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue like Scotch, though, does it?" I replied, jokingly. "It's a little like saying sparkling-wine. I just think if I want to call glass-cleaner Windex or carbonated grape-juice alcohol Champagne, I should have the right to without being corrected every time. I think everyone here knows Champagne is a place."

"I didn't," Victoria chimed in with a grin, "I thought it was just a name for grape-juice alcohol like Chianti."

I smiled at her and our eyes met for a moment. She had a lovely smile. Chris, meanwhile, guffawed like an idiot and said, "Chianti is named for a region too!"

There was some laughter from around the table and I watched Victoria deflate from embarrassment. "Well," I yelled a little over the laughs, "it tastes like sour grapes and you can't make it better with orange juice like sparkling-Champagne-wine."

There was some polite chuckles and Victoria smiled a little. I tapped the side of my glass with my knife to get everyone's attention. "A toast!" I shouted to more quickly quiet everyone, "To the birthday girl. It's her day and we've hardly been able to hear a word over the egomaniac sitting next to her!" There was some more laughter, including from Chris, who I loved to openly insult - he always thought I was joking, "She's the second-best looking person here and while I haven't seen her since junior-high I would bet money she still plays a mean game of marbles. To Victoria!"

This last comment stung Chris a little, as it was meant to. He was insanely jealous and my familiarity, real or imagined, threw him off his game and shut him up in a way that a real insult wouldn't have. Meanwhile, the conversation roared back to life around me, independent of Chris and myself. As I sat down Victoria leaned across the table a little, "Second-best looking person here?" she said.

"Second-best not good enough for you?" I replied with a grin.

"It's not that, I'm just curious who you think the best looking person is," she scanned the table, trying to pick out who I meant.

"Oh, well I haven't looked in the mirror for a couple hours but I don't think my nose has fallen off or anything." I pawed at my nose and made a funny face.

She giggled again, "Oh! You're so humble!"

I tapped the person on my left, a woman by the name of Shelby whom I had once driven home after a party. She was a bartender and a great conversationalist but she didn't know how to start dialogue of her own volition. "Shelby, you think I'm beautiful, don't you?"

She turned and smiled, "Of course, you handsome man," she pinched my cheek, "Charming, too."

"Alright, grandma, enough with the pinching. Why don't you tell Victoria about that guy who came into your bar with a goldfish."

Victoria laughed, "That has to be the start of a terrible joke."

Shelby shook her head, "No joke. A guy actually came in carrying a goldfish bowl..."

The conversation took off from there. Shelby had been sitting silently and Victoria had needed someone to talk to her like a grown-up. After listening for a few minutes I excused myself and slipped outside. Goodbyes weren't something I felt were ever necessary and it usually took a lot less time to just leave quietly. The crisp night air hit my cheeks as I pulled my cigarettes out of my pocket and ducked my head into my jacket to light up. I remember how glad I was for the walk home. I had needed the time to think.

Prologue

The end draws closer. Once we were many. Now we are remnants. We are patches and shards of the great culture we built. We were all morality. Who are you to judge us? We laid every foundation you've built upon. What will you do when you have destroyed the last of us? You will perish as the wolves perish when they have grown too strong and reaped all the flesh from the thickets. You overindulge in our decay and soon you will have nothing left to feed your future. You may have brought me to my knees in these woods but my execution will be your undoing; the mystery dies with us. Finish me quickly foul one - I can feel the silence of this forest giving voice to the screams building in my mind.

“A quick end is too good for your kind. I prefer to enjoy your ramblings as the madness ends you.”

“You are pitiful. My madness will bring you no pleasure this night.”

“It's a little early yet to know for sure.”

“How can you hunt us so tirelessly? A thousand, thousand years I have watched your civilizations rise and fall and never before have I seen such wanton destruction from a single being.”

“I'll let you in on a little secret, since I doubt you'll be able to share it. I'm not exactly one of them. You could say I'm their first child.”

“Mankind bears no children. They cannot weave the fabrics of our ancestors as we have.”

“That's half true.”

“How then have you come to be? Even if Man were to learn the secrets of creation, he could not use them to craft a being greater than himself. The universe would not let it be so.”

“Listen to you. As ancient as you are, your understanding of molecular engineering is so primitive. The universe would not let it be so? I didn't realize the ancient terror believed in a higher power.”

“Impertinent child. There is always a power greater than yourself.”

“That may be true, but is still sounds absurd when you reduce science to mystical jargon.”

“Use whatever words you wish, abomination. The magic remains the same.”

“Whatever you say, old man. I'm getting tired of you. I'm impressed that you've stayed lucid this long. Usually those toxins I shot you full of should eat their way through your senses on their way to your nervous system. It would be much more fun to watch you babbling about space invaders while you're twitching on the ground.”

“You are a fool to drive us to extinction. A greater evil than you is descending on this world and you delicate beings will need all the allies you can muster.”

“There is no greater evil than me, night-walker.”