"What?" Dominic asked, backing away slightly.

"JUST TAKE MY BODY!!" the girl pleaded, tears running down her eyes, "I don't care what you do to me, sell me… use me… anything. I'll do it. Just take me and end things."

"You?" Dominic asked, his voice breaking into laughter. He stopped and shrugged, then ran his fingers through his hair again. He walked towards the girl and placed his hand under her face, lifting it up to look into her eyes, "what should we do? I don't want you."

"What?" the girl muttered, her lips quivering as she fell into Dominic's emerald eyes, "you...don't want me?"

Dominic stared into her eyes, emitting such dominance that her legs went numb and her pupils started to shake.

"Of course I don't you," Dominic chuckled, leaning close to her face, "you're not enough."

"What?" she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper, "not enough?"

Dominic stared at her, his eyebrow rising in annoyance, "why do you keep repeating what I say? Are you deaf? Don't act so dumb, it's annoying." He looked past her face at the people behind her. They took a step backward in defense when she stepped forward.

"But why?" She asked, staring at him blankly as he walked towards her people.

"I don't want you alone," he sighed, nodding towards her people, "I want all of you."

The girl stared at him, horror trapped in her eyes. She wanted to move, to yell, 'NO!' to push him away but she couldn't. It was like her feet were attached to the ground, sinking into the quicksand of anxiety. Slowly sinking in, deeper and deeper the closer he got to her people, unable to pull her legs out. It was suffocating. The words she wanted to say getting stuck in her throat as the fear of turning around and stopping him, disabled her. But…

"S-stop," she stuttered.

"What?" Dominic asked turning to the girl, watching in amusement as she trembled, "I don't think it was that hard to understand. All I want…

The guards in front of the girl lifted up their guns and pointed it at the girl's townspeople.

"Is an alliance."

"A...what?" the girl stuttered, mustering all of the strength in her and turning around to face Dominic.

"I want to form an alliance with your village," Dominic smiled, "you see… that field in front of your village is where my… troops.. Just had a war so we are in dire need of help and resources like food and water so we decided to visit here to get some help."

"Wait…" The girl muttered, feeling the quicksand beneath her feet disintegrate, "this isn't an attack? You aren't trying to use us?"

Dominic thought about it for a second and grinned, "technically I am."

"But not in the way I think you would have," the girl stepped back slightly, "right?"

Dominic chuckled slightly, finding the girl's reluctancy cute, "of course not."

He cleared his throat and then continued, "our soldiers are starving and I'm sure your people have sources of food," he pointed to a tree, "and we have the medics that are needed to heal the sickly in your village."

The girl's eyes drifted to her mother who coughed, "we don't have to pay anything?" she asked.

"Nope," Dominic shook his head in reply.

The girl locked eyes with many elders in the crowd and turned back to Dominic, "it's a deal."

"Hmm," Dominic grinned, he stepped forward and shook hands with the stiff girl.