Times of the Immortals

Prologue

I can still see myself from the back, entering an old church that has long since lost its concrete symbol of faith. The collar of my checkered shirt peeps out from under my black jacket; somehow, I think, this detail of my appearance reassures strangers. A kind of "my own man," who works in the field like everyone else, harvests the crops, comes home to his young wife in the evening, and certainly does not hide anything dangerous. Questions to myself: who am I really, am I good, don't sound so loud when I remember the purpose of everything.

There are about a hundred people inside the church, and at first glance they look like me: ordinary good people who were not lucky enough to be born in Byzantium, who survive each day and who have come at this late hour to hear a beautiful speech by a spiritual director who can instill faith in tomorrow. I take an empty seat in front of the exit door. I can't see the entire congregation, but I can see the platform from which Macy will begin speaking, right in front of me.

Macy and I are lovers, I was forced to recruit her, but our meeting has turned into something more. Too much, even. I had just turned twenty-nine, my hormones were still raging, and when I first met Macy, I knew immediately that I wanted her. I wanted her with an animal passion that I confess I didn't even have with my legal wife who had given birth to my first child. I love my wife, I really do, but Macy makes me feel something much bigger, more dangerous. It's as if we were a driver and a passenger with secret evil intentions in the same car, one wanting to fly into a wall at high speed, the other wanting to rob.

- Hello, brothers and sisters. My blood on your lips, my flesh on the hungry bellies of your children. - Macy begins her sermon with the usual greeting, which she made up. She has always been fascinated by the story of the Son of God who gave himself for an ungrateful humanity. The irony will become clear later.

- I know that many of your family and friends are against the Church of God, but do not judge the blind and the deaf, for it is not sin that guides their thoughts, but human error and weakness. Soon no one will be able to close their eyes and pretend that nothing is happening. - Macy begins to push the audience, and they give in, nodding their heads and weeping. - Has the devil put a veil over their eyes, can't the people of the Outlands find it in themselves to admit that a great plague is coming? Our brothers are disappearing from their homes! There is no accounting for the losses, but the same relatives and friends who are blocking your path to God are shamefully silent, afraid to speak aloud of the war that has begun!

    - Hello, brothers and sisters. My blood on your lips, my flesh on the hungry bellies of your children. - Macy begins her sermon with the usual greeting, which she made up. She has always been fascinated by the story of the Son of God who gave himself for an ungrateful humanity. The irony will become clear later.

- I know that many of your family and friends are against the Church of God, but do not judge the blind and the deaf, for it is not sin that guides their thoughts, but human error and weakness. Soon no one will be able to close their eyes and pretend that nothing is happening. - Macy begins to push the audience, and they give in, nodding their heads and weeping. - Has the devil put a veil over their eyes, can't the people of the Outlands find it in themselves to admit that a great plague is coming? Our brothers are disappearing from their homes! There is no accounting for the losses, but the same relatives and friends who are blocking your path to God are shamefully silent, afraid to speak aloud of the war that has begun!

After a few moments, it's just me, Macy, and the boy. The boy begins to realize the gravity of his situation. He runs across the church to the exit near me, but halfway through he slows down, bends in half, and faints, following the others.

There's no need for us to put on a show anymore, and I walk, stepping over the bodies, straight toward Macy. The cunning, persuasive, talented Macy whose name I would soon have to bitterly forget. That night our paths would part forever.

- There should have been ten more, but rumors of disappearances don't always help.

- But they'd never know it was someone from here, from the outskirts. - I hold her by the waist with one hand, and with the other I take a lock of her long black hair from her forehead.

How beautiful she is. I kill a part of myself by killing her.

- You look at me differently tonight. - Macy observes. - I hope I haven't done anything to upset you or make your work difficult?

I won't say a word. I don't want to lie to her right at the end.

- The idea with the sleeping pills in the wine was good. - praises Macy, and then her eyes begin to cloud over, and the girl collapses on my chest.

- It wasn't in the wine. - I answer honestly, pointing to the large vat of holy water that the entire congregation, including Macy herself, had drunk half an hour earlier. - I will be the Organizer, I have been ordered to cut all ties if I want a promotion and the opportunity to grant immortality to my family.

I kneel, Macy in my arms. Looking lost and frightened, gathering what little strength I have left, my mistress says:

- Don't do this... I'm pregnant, James! You're going to be a father again...