She launched her face towards me, stopping just a few inches from mine.
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ Her breath became rapid, pelting my skin with moist heat and my nose with a fruity scent. "I'm going to make a meal out of you!" She exclaimed with a disturbing amount of joy.
I heard what she said, but I feigned that I didn't. "You're going to make a man out of me?" I joked. "Wouldn't you rather release me, and we have dinner first, just the two of us?"
She backed away and giggled. "That actually doesn't sound too bad, but," she pointed her knife towards me with the light from above cascading down its blade, "I'm planning on having you for dinner, so I'm not sure that's going to work."
Don't underestimate a veteran! I'll have you know that my expression barely flinched at her admission to cannibalism. "Why so hasty?" I eased her. "Let's talk for a while! I'm sure we can come to an agreement that suits the both of us." I said with a sly wink.
She stashed the knife she had been sharpening and leaned over me, practically crushing my chest with hers. "What would you propose?" She smiled.
Negotiations were successfully established, and I switched my tactics to be more aggressive. The first rule of success was to discover the desires of the opposing party before they discover yours. Then, with that leverage, I'd pull her strings into a favorable deal.
"Would you mind if I inquired as to why you'd want to eat me?" I asked." I'm not tasty, I assure you."
"Because it feels good, of course!" She flirted, circling a finger on my bare stomach.
With her straightforward answer, my confidence cracked slightly. 'Uh…am I in trouble?' I felt my mental condition become shaken.
No, me? Of course not! I mean, she did practically just admit that she was a sadist that takes pleasure in eating people, but we all had our unique traits! There's no way that I, Kamida Gin, was in danger!
'Think, Gin, you are a man with no equal in terms of persuasion. If she has a strong personality trait, you need only tailor your responses to it!'
I nodded to myself, refusing to give in to fear, and maintained my professionalism. "Could you elaborate on how consuming me will provide you with pleasure?"
She jumped up from me and began squirming her body in an unnatural euphoria. "Because your hearts are so delicious, I can't stand it!" She locked eyes with me, a thin streak of drool dripping from her mouth. "Just a single bite is enough to send me into total bliss!"
The depths of her perversions seemed to know no bounds. This might've been, no, it was the first time that I've encountered someone like her. My body had actually broken out in a nervous sweat! I wouldn't be deterred, though. On my honor as an unofficial financier, I'd succeed in this negotiation and live!
"If it's bliss that you're looking for," I flirted back, "why don't we seek it together? I'm sure we could find something far better than devouring me."
"Really?" She replied skeptically. "Do you really think you're capable of that?"
"Of course!" I declared. "In all my years, there isn't a single human being I haven't kept my promise to!"
She turned, exposing her side to me revealing the white blouse she'd been wearing underneath her apron. "What if I told you I wasn't a 'human being,' though." Turning only her head, she glanced at me with playful intrigue. "What would you do?"
Her question puzzled me. Was she suggesting that she wasn't human? Of course, she must've been joking since a person's madness could only go so far. Still, it would've been in my best interest to play along. Who knows what she might have done to me if I didn't.
"Well, Miss, I'd begin a new record of perfection," I eyed her, "starting with you."
"Oh, what do I do?" She swooned. "I'm starting to like you more and more! I don't want to spoil my dinner with feelings of regret!"
I couldn't tell if she was exaggerating or if I'd made some progress; either way, I took it as a sign I should keep playing into her delusions. That may have been the key to my survival. "Miss, might I appeal to you and determine what species you belong to?" I readied myself for anything.
"Why I'm a vampire!" She pridefully shouted.
I was elated at the stroke of good luck. To my benefit, she chose a known creature of fiction rather than something of her own fabrication. With that, I could leverage my knowledge and convince her to let me go.
'After all, vampires can't possibly exis-'
She took a finger and stretched her cheek to expose two viciously sharp and long teeth that could pierce into even the most callused flesh with ease.
Then, taking a second finger, she stretched her full, rosy-red lips further to reveal two more on the other side of her mouth. She even went far enough to display how deeply embedded they were into her glistening pink gums.
As much as I tried to convince myself otherwise, they were undoubtedly genuine. Those were fangs.
Ah yes…vampires… they're real. They're real, and there's one standing directly in front of me…naturally. For the first time since I started my career, I was ultimately struck down. My perfect streak, my class, my elegance... It was all falling apart in this situation.
"Oh, you're cute even when you're expressionless!" She squealed. "I just can't wait anymore!"
She ran to the workstation and retrieved one of the knives she had stored. On her return, She gripped the blade by the handle with both hands and held it above me. The knife had been anything but steady, her hands were trembling furiously when she put them into place.
"Are you ready?" She excitedly asked with a crazed smile.
Sensing the danger, I returned to reality to protest. "Wait for a second, Miss!"
She was too far gone. No longer willing to heed my conversation, her sole focus became the puncturing of my chest cavity. The knife's tip closed in steadily until it encountered the top layer of my flesh. Sinking, it drew a stream of blood.
Thirteen years. In all thirteen years, I had never failed before. Was this normal for failure? To be killed and eaten by a mythological monster…was that the standard?
'If I survive this, I'm making this new promise to all of existence: That I, Kamida Gin, will never fail again. Failure is just too terrifying!'
"Please, Miss!" Now abandoning any sense of tact or strategy, I resorted to any means necessary to preserve my life. "Don't you need a financial assistant?" I begged. "I'd be happy to aid you with any economic endeavor!"
She lifted the knife from me, still preparing it in a plunging position. "Well, here we go!" She yelled in glee.
"Wait, let's discuss this! wait, wait…WAIT!"
The knife stopped just short of insertion when a man in the most impoverished outfit bashed down the door. He stormed in, wielding a blade of his own, startling my soon-to-be killer. Though he wasn't in uniform, I recognized his scarred face immediately.
'Did you think that I was panicking? Me, Kamida Gin? Of course not! It was all strategy! A strategy that I used to gauge my opponent's psyche and stall her for this exact moment. I was never in any real danger, after all.'
How do I know, you ask? It's because a salesman's promise never lies.
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