Your life was not one life, but many lives. You died, you always did, but it never lasted. It was...temporary. A minor setback until you were reincarnated, and then the cycle repeated.

Every life was different. A new beginning, a new start. Except...

He found you in every one. There was no escaping it. Wherever you were born, whoever you became; he always found you. If you were lucky, he would arrive when you were already on your death bed. He'd frown in that simple way, draw a finger down your cheek and murmur. "Next time."

Always next time.

As the door opened, he sat waiting there. Vandal, the immortal he was, had also changed with the times. He kept the facial hair, his hair long, but he had been alive enough to know how to blend in. He smiled.

"My love." He eyed you up and down, admiring you as though you were more lovely this time than all the years prior. "I caught you early...good. I haven't seen you in your twenties since ancient Egypt." Vandal chuckled to himself, as though it were all very funny. "...you remember our days in Egypt, don't you? I do. As though they were yesterday." He stood from his chair, and spread open his arms with his usual wolfish smile. "I've returned to you. Did I not keep my promise?"