Hi readers! I've been working on this for a little spell now and wanted to share it with you all. The story is completely finished and I'll be posting short chapters every day (maybe twice a day, depending on how you all like it). For those of you crazy wonderful folks who are following my other two stories (All You Are To Me and Heartlines), I am NOT abandoning them! In fact, I am working on updates right now. This story just kept popping into my head and I really liked trying a different style of writing.
This fic is rated M! You've been warned fair reader! Not so much for smut, but there will be violence and general darkness so if that's not your cup o' tea, maybe best to read on elsewhere :) Those of you who know me know how much I love sugary fluff, so this is a big departure from the usual. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries, Beauty and the Beast, the characters, or their likenesses. I'm just a poor student stretching my writing fingers :)
A lone figure perched on the precipice of the thundering waterfall below. He stared into the dark water with unseeing eyes; his mind was miles away. All of his thoughts were dwelling on the infiniteness and indomitability of time.
Time.
He was plagued by time more than an immortal creature like himself should be. He was promised an eternity all those years ago, and now the cruel fact of the matter was that he was running out of time. After three hundred years he was down to six weeks, perhaps his last six weeks.
Had Damon Salvatore known how quickly three centuries could slip by he might have done things differently. He may have kept more promises. He may have enjoyed the little things more. He may have read a few more classics. He may have… who was he kidding? I wouldn't change a damn thing, except maybe that weekend in Amsterdam back in 1923… he thought to himself with a smirk.
He was shaken from his thoughts by a shrill cry that pierced the cold night air. His predatory side went into high alert and he tuned his ears towards the sound, he heard a rustle of leaves and slumping sound, then… nothing. He prowled in the direction of the noise like a panther, swiftly and silently. He came to a stop at the top of a steep ravine and at the bottom of the drop off he could make out a small figure lying unconscious in the leaves below.
For a moment he considered leaving and returning to his hunt but then the faint scent of blood met his nose—blood from whoever was lying at the bottom of the ravine. It was sweet and heady, unlike any he had smelled before. With a graceful leap, he cleared the steep canyon wall and landed right beside the unlucky traveler, a girl, and young by the looks of it.
He could already feel his canines cutting through the tissue of his gums as he looked down at his next meal. The hunt was one of the few pleasures he still got from life and it was vastly out of character to take such an easy snack, but it was already well past midnight and his usual quarry of deer seemed to ne in unusually short supply. Women had always been his preference, and in his younger days he would only select the most beautiful and nubile ladies to quench his thirst. Over the years he had gotten sloppier, started caring less—blood was blood, regardless of the vessel it came from. However, his curiosity got the best of him this time and he reached out to brush her long chestnut hair away from the girl's face. He knew that face. It was the face that haunted his dreams every night; it was the face that turned him into the monster he was today. The face he had once loved so dearly, but now hated so deeply.
The girl's quick and steady heartbeat gave her away as a human, vampires' hearts never beat that fast. She was well-dressed and he figured that she was likely the daughter of one of Mystic Falls' upper crust. What he couldn't figure out is what she was doing out in the woods in the middle of the night alone. It was common knowledge that the woods surrounding the town weren't safe. The humans may have made an uneasy pact with his coven but that didn't mean that the werewolves that roamed the darkened wild respected the sanctity of pacts and borders.
He took a quick glance around to make sure that the girl was alone and swiftly cradled her into his arms. She was light of build and even without his vampire strength he wouldn't have had a problem carrying her. She was still unconscious but she instinctively snuggled closer to his chest and her cold hands found their way to his jacket.
Once he reached a moonlit clearing, he looked down at the girl in his embrace and his lips curled into a feral grin.
It's going to be a hell of a last six weeks, he thought.
A/N: What did you all think? Feed that hungry comment box and let me know! Like I said, I'll be posting updates daily, so stay tuned. Remember, reviews are love :)
XOXO ~Anna
