[ WP ] `` You will meet your lover , again and again , in different lives ... and one of you will kill the other , without fail . ''

They held hands, meeting the other's gaze as they stood before the great oaken door. He squeezed her hand twice, and she squeezed twice in response. 
 
 `` We do n't have to do this,'' James said, pulling on her wrist and taking her other hand. They stood there like that for a few moments, looking into each other's eyes, before Anna took one of her hands away to push back a lock of his hair. 
 
 `` Yes we do,'' she said. Anna was thinner now. Her face had lost the plumpness it had once had. James could see the outline of her collar bones, and he ran his thumb along one. 
 
 `` No matter what happens,'' Anna said. James repeated the words, and they kissed. And then James raised his fist to the door, pounding on it several times. 
 
 -- - 
 
 The house was old. It smelled like mildew and the smoke from old candles, burning herbs and incense. They peered into the living room: all of the furniture was covered by white cloths. Anna's grip tightened on James' hand, and both of them took a deep breath in turn. 
 
 `` Up here,'' said a voice. James turned to Anna and saw that she had begun to chew on her lower lip. `` We can still leave,'' he told her, but she shook her head. `` No, we ca n't,'' she said. `` We have to do this. We have to.'' 
 
 Their hands broke apart so they could walk up the stairs, Anna first and James behind. On the second level there were three doors. Two of them were shut. They clasped hands again, walking toward the open door and seeing her there. She stared at them with blind eyes, milky white with cataracts. Her hair was blonde and piled on her head, her skin smooth and olive toned. 
 
 `` Sit,'' she told them, gesturing to the pillows in front of her. 
 
 James squeezed Anna's hand twice, and Anna squeezed his in return. 
 
 `` Is that your way of comforting one another?'' asked the blind woman. Anna let out a small sound. 
 
 `` Surely, child,'' the woman continued, turning her unseeing gaze to Anna. `` If you are here, you know that I have the power to know when you squeeze your love's hand.'' 
 
 `` Then you also know what we've come looking for,'' said James. 
 
 `` I do,'' said the blind woman. `` You come seeking a cure. But this I can not provide.'' 
 
 `` We were told --'' Anna started, and then her voice broke off. James could see her chewing on her lip, pulling the skin off of the inside. He squeezed her hand again as she took a breath, letting it sit in her chest before letting it out. `` We were told you could help us -- me.'' 
 
 `` You're dying, child,'' the blind woman said. `` Cancer. About four months, from the looks of it.'' 
 
 `` We were told you could --'' Anna started again before breaking off, looking away and blinking her eyes to clear the tears. She swallowed before continuing. `` Can you help me?'' 
 
 `` I can not stop death, child,'' the woman said. She looked down at her fingers, stretching them out. Anna saw that they were long and gnarled, the knuckles bony and warped from arthritis. `` Even if I could, that would not be a fate you want.'' 
 
 `` There must be something you can do,'' James said. `` We spent so long looking for you. There has to be something you can do.'' 
 
 `` There is one thing I can do for you. For you two, as lovers. I can keep you together, for the rest of eternity. I can bond your souls, so that you will meet and love eternally, again and again until time itself stops.'' 
 
 The lovers looked at each other, and then back to her. `` How can you do that but not save my life?'' 
 
 `` Is he not your life?'' the blind woman asked, turning again to face her eyes to Anna. The thin girl shivered at the gaze. `` Is he not your everything?'' 
 
 `` What would it cost?'' asked James. `` Something like this... there must be a price. We were told there would be a price.'' 
 
 The woman smiled slowly, linking her fingers together. `` Ah, yes. There is a price. I can not save your life, child, because I deal in the magic of souls. But I can bind your souls together so that you meet again and again, in the next life and the next. But there is a price you will have to pay. Though you will not pay it now.'' 
 
 `` Tell us,'' said Anna. `` Tell us the price.'' 
 
 `` You will meet your lover, again and again, in different lives. You will love, you will be happy, you will be free. But each time, regardless of where you go or how you live, one of you will kill the other, without fail. Each time, one will be murdered and one will be a murderer. No matter where on the Earth you are born, no matter where you try to go - you will find one another. And one of you will kill the other. Over, and over again.'' 
 
 They looked toward one another again. Anna had stopped chewing on her lip. James squeezed her hand twice. Anna, her eyes searching his for an answer. 
 
 `` Together for eternity,'' James whispered. `` That's our offer, Anna.'' 
 
 `` But --'' 
 
 `` No matter what happens,'' he told her. She closed her eyes, wondering if she could make the trade. Four months with him, or an eternity knowing that they would be together - with this caveat. 
 
 `` No matter what happens,'' she repeated after a time. She looked toward the blind woman. `` Whatever it takes.'' 
 
 -- - 
 
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