I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but I will fear no evil.
"Rose," I said warningly, backing away from the frenzied vampire. Her normally pleasant hazel eyes were now as black as night; her skin was ghostly pale, accentuating her blood red lips. Her hair looked as if it had just made its way out of a tornado. All in all, Rose looked practically insane.
"So delectable," she wheezed heavily. "One taste," she licked her lips, "one little taste." She pursued me, her body sporadically twitching as she did. My heart race picked up rapidly. I knew my veins must be throbbing even louder in Rose's head now. Her breathing became heavier, and she frantically forced her sickly legs to walk faster. My breathing picked up swiftly, and I knew I had to get away- and fast. I backed away even further, and found myself slamming my back against the wall behind me. An evil grin twisted its way onto Rose's face. My eyes hysterically looked left and right down the hallway, attempting to find an escape route. Never, in all my times at the Boarding House, had the corridors seemed this eerie and dark. Returning my gaze to Rose, I saw she was almost upon me. I could see her licking her lips once more and her fangs start to elongate. That was the breaking point for me; I wasn't about to be Rose's midnight snack.
As Rose walked towards me, probably about five feet away now, I faked left. She stepped in harmony with me, and then reached violently for my arm. Before her shaking hand could get a grasp around my forearm, I cut back right, and sprinted away from her and towards the front door. I could hear her irregular footsteps behind me. Every time her foot hit the wooden floor, it did so with a thud; she was slow. I thanked god that the werewolf bite had weakened her vampire abilities.
I finally reached my destination, and my hand grabbed frantically at the bronze door knob. I turned it, but I wouldn't budge. I looked over my shoulder anxiously, to see the demented vampire closing in on me. My body began to shake, and I felt my eyes beginning to form tears. The shadow of death hovered over me. In a metaphorical attempt to disperse the silhouette, I yanked at the door hard, and to my gleeful surprise, it opened. I sprinted over the threshold, and whipped the door shut behind me. I suddenly heard a piercingly high shriek come from inside the house. I whipped around, to find I had slammed the door on Rose's fingers. The effected fingers sagged limply between the door and the doorframe; it was a finger sandwich. I watched as the bony fingers then began to wiggle. My breath caught in my throat, and I turned around quickly, and headed for the woods.
I wasn't sure how long I had been running for, but I wasn't about to stop. My lungs burned in agony against the cold air they were forced to intake. My muscles were numb; I barely even knew I was still running. The only reminder was that my feet were in utter anguish. My arches seemed to cry, with every step I took. Running in Converse wasn't the smartest of ideas. I could hear the crackling of dead leaves, and knew Rose was not far behind. Picking up my legs, I forced them into longer strides. Pumping my arms as fast as they could possibly go, I picked up a fair amount of pace.
My ears lost the sound of the crunching of leaves. I felt my breath hitch in my throat. Had Rose stopped running? Slowing my pace to a moderate run, I turned around to see for myself. I was met with Rose's ebony black eyes and dangerous fangs. She then pounced on me, and shoved me to the cold and frozen ground. My head hit with a thud, and I could feel it make contact with a small rock. It throbbed like hell, and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up with a concussion or skull damage. If I make it out of here alive, I thought.
"You can't run from hell, my dear," Rose wheezed into my ear. "It always has a way of finding you." I gulped at this, while slowly moving my eyes to meet hers. Rose looked at me, like I was Thanksgiving turkey. Her fangs taunted me with their lethal abilities, and her black eyes seemed to be on fire with insanity. Before I knew it, she bit me as quickly and fiercely as a snake. Her fangs dug into my neck like a fork into a massive piece of stake. She shook her head back and forth, making the gouges in my neck even wider. She moved her tongue over the blood she had summoned, before her lips closed in around my neck, and she sucked hard. With the immense pressure, and the piercing pain of her fangs, which felt like needles, I decided it was all I could take. I yelped loudly, but it soon died. I was losing blood; so much blood; too much blood. My vision began to haze, and Rose's feral body became no more than a distant shadow.
My eyes opened, and I was met with a vast setting of emerald rolling hills. The sky was the brightest of blues; white cotton-like clouds speckled it. The sun was vibrant and unnaturally golden. Rays of heat beat down on my body, and brought my numb muscles back to life. Closing my eyes in content, I inhaled deeply. 'This must be heaven,' I thought. When I finally opened my eyes once more, two forms stood in front of me:
My parents. They greeted me with warm smiles. My heart became as heavy as a brick- my parents were here; standing right before me. I felt tears brim my eyes. I had dreamed for so long of seeing them again, and here it was: a tangible reality.
"Mom? Dad?" I whispered hoarsely.
"Yeah, baby, it's us," my mother replied lightly. She supplied me with a warm smile. A grin of my own broke out on my face, and I closed the distance between the three of us, and reached for them. Before I could wrap my arms around them, for the first time in over a year, though, the ground gave in under me. Massive pieces of the land broke off from the rest, and I felt myself slip from under them.
"No!" I shrieked. I couldn't lose them. Not after they had been so close to my grasp. I looked up at them. They stared at me, with blank tight lipped smiles on their faces, waving nonchalantly at me. I screamed again, begging them to help me, but all too soon, they slipped totally from my view. I felt myself freefalling in a dark hole, it seemed. My heart hung heavy, in the pit of my stomach, and I felt nausea overtake me. My parents had yet again, left me. I let out a shaky breath, in an attempt to stifle the threatening tears.
I fell numbly, for what seemed like hours. All too suddenly, I made contact with a concrete ground. I landed knee first. I felt my right kneecap shatter instantaneously. My eyes grew wide in pain, and I let out a howl. The pain was unbearable. It felt as if tens of thousands of knives kept stabbing relentlessly at my defenseless kneecap. My body began to convulse because of the agonizing shock, and I felt my stomach threatening to throw up its contents. I fell onto my side, trying not to move my right leg from its current position. Once my right shoulder hit the cold floor, I wrapped my arms around myself, tears flowing rapidly from my eyes. My right leg twitched tauntingly now and then, causing my kneecap to enter spells of unbearable pain. My body shook uncontrollably. It was its only response to all the stress that had been put on it, I figured.
I lied paralyzed on the floor. My eyes wandered around the room. There was not much to see. The walls seemed to be made of ancient stone that had mold covering a substantial amount of it. The floor was a dull gray, and the part surrounding my knee, was now covered with specks of my blood. Just the reminder of my fall, sent my kneecap into another spell of agony. The rest of the room was basically invisible. The room was dark, and everything seemed to be hiding behind the shadow of blackness.
Suddenly, torches became lit, enveloping the room in a gloomy light. My heartbeat picked up rapidly, and my breath became short and sporadic. A form then appeared from what seemed like nothing. It was a man, I then realized, when he walked past one of the torches. His eyes were black, and his ivory face was covered with purple veins, which looked like millions of rivers from an aerial view. He supplied me with a malevolent grin, which put on display his decaying yellow teeth. The man was rather large, and as I looked down his body, I realized he was wearing an apron- which had blood splattered over it. I hoped silently that it was ketchup. My hopes were then crushed, when I caught sight of the oversized steak knife in his right hand. By the time I was done analyzing the man, he had made his way over to me. His black eyes stared at me coldly; there was no mercy in them; only death.
"You can't hide from hell," his crackly spit out. His words almost mirrored Rose's. This realization sent a paranoid shiver down my spine. "It will always find you," he continued, then made his point even more drastic, by pressing down on my wounded knee with all his weight. My breath hitched and my throat and I was too shocked to scream. My already horrendously pained kneecap only grew worse.
Not supplying me any time to nurse my now utterly shattered kneecap, he took his knife to my arm, and made a deep cut on the underside of my forearm. The blood whooshed out of it, like bag of water being cut into. A blend between a gasp and a yelp exited my lips, and my eyes slowly wandered down to the slash. I felt my stomach threaten even heavier that it would spill out its contents, if I kept causing my body this much anguish. My eyes couldn't tear away from the gouge, though. From the corner of my eye, I saw the man slowly bring his hand toward the wound. My arm was too limp with pain, to try to pull it from his reach. He then proceeded to rub his filthy fingers of the cut, and bring them to his lips. My eyes followed his hand, and witnessed the man licking the blood from his fingers like it was frosting. My already wide eyes bugged out even farther at this sight. I felt my breath begin to speed up rapidly, until I was hyperventilating. I gulped deeply, and anticipated his next move with utter fear coursing through me. The devilish man then proceeded to lift his knife high over his head, and then bring it plummeting down, cutting right through the slash he had made previously. This time, I screamed in pain. Tears fell from my eyes like rain. I gazed at my unattached piece of forearm, lying limply on the godforsaken concrete ground. Again, my body began to convulse, and my stomach threatened to blow. This time, though, it actually went through with its warning.
"Disgusting specimen," the man muttered and once again brought his knife over his head.
"No," I pleaded with all the strength I had left. My plea came out as an indistinguishable croak. The man just chuckled at me darkly, and brought his knife from above his head, and aimed it toward my knee. At this moment, I heard a shriek, but it didn't come from my lips, or the asshole's in front of me.
My eyes opened heavily, and just in time to see a figure shove Rose off of me. The feral vampire howled, as she forcefully hit a tree. She quickly recovered, and pursued my savior. She lunged at him, her body flying through the air. I watched from behind the hazy shield of my eyes, as she enveloped my rescuer. I heard a blood curdling howl pass over her lips, before she fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. The form yanked the stake he had driven through her, out her heart, and flung it into the night. I tried with all my strength to keep my eyes open, but I was too weak. My breathing became shallow; almost nonexistent. I could faintly hear the rapid shuffling of feet come nearer to me.
"Oh god, Elena," I heard a distorted voice mutter frantically. Once I processed the voice, I realized who it was.
"D-Damon?" I croaked softly, my voice barely a whisper. I heard him breathe a sigh of relief before he knelt down beside me.
"It's alright now, Elena," he assured me softly, as he propped my head up on his knee, and encircled my torso with his strong arms. "Here, drink this," he said as he brought his wrist to his mouth, and tore a large gouge in it. The image sent my mind into a horrified remembrance of… what had that been? Hell? Damon then held his wrist to my lips. I tried to shake my head 'no', but the blow from the rock wouldn't allow it; my heat was throbbing excruciatingly. I gave Damon a look of disgust, instead.
"I know, it's no chocolate cake, but you have to drink it," he lightly pleaded with me. I knew he was right- I'd die if I didn't accept his blood, and I wasn't about to go back to Chefy Man.
"Fine," I muttered, and with that, Damon brought his wrist to my lips once more. I sucked the blood, and with every sip, I felt my body grow stronger. A tickling feeling dwelled in my neck, and I could feel the holes Rose had made close up. My throbbing head subsided, to a quiet hum. When Damon had concluded I had had enough, he removed his wrist from my mouth. I wiped my lips, and sat up. I watched in awe, as the once massive slash on his wrist disappeared completely.
"How did you find me?" I finally asked.
"I was coming home, when I heard you running to the woods. At first, I thought you were just being- well, crazy you, I suppose," at this, he gave me a joking look. I laughed lightly, and he continued. "Then I heard Rose sprinting after you. I knew she was having some- difficulties controlling her bloodlust, so I sprinted into the woods. I had to find you two first, so that's why it took me longer." He stopped, and gave me a guilty look. "I should have found you two sooner," he sighed.
"Damon," I replied, placing a hand over his, "you did wonderfully. You- you saved me, Damon. I know Rose meant a lot to you, but you still sacrificed her to save me. So, thank you," at this point I supplied him with a much earned smile. "I'm eternally grateful to you."
"You know I'd do anything for you, Elena, no matter how high maintenance you are," he gave me a smile. I stared at him. Damon was being him. There was no dark façade; no hidden emotions. The man I was staring at, was Damon Salvatore; the true Damon. His blue eyes allured me like no other. I trailed my eyes down his face, until I found his lips. I leaned forward, and kissed him on the cheek softly.
"Thank you, for that," I whispered lightly, not taking my face from his. He moved his eyes to meet mine, and stared momentarily at my lips. The anticipation was becoming too great, so I closed the small distance between us. His lips felt like heaven on mine. It wasn't like anything I had ever experienced. I've always heard stories of finding 'the one', and the kisses feeling like electricity or fireworks. I'd never believed that, until this moment. His lips on mine, felt like fireworks being set off as a grenade exploded, and dynamite was blasting. Finally, and much to my dismay, he broke our lips apart.
"That kiss was a hell of a lot better than the one with Katherine," he said teasingly.
"Well good," I replied, "Because you'll be getting a lot more where that came from." I gave him a flirtatious smile. I decided that I wanted to give Damon a shot. He had always been there for me, no matter how awful I had been to him, and I loved him for it. Not only that, I just simply loved him. He was Damon Salvatore- the bad guy turned good guy. The man in love with Katherine Peirce who then fell in love with me.
In this moment, I realized: though I may walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for I have my eternal savior. Damon Salvatore.
~Okay, so this is a one-shot that was inspired by episode 2x12. This is also a chance to practice my descriptive skills. LOL So, I'm sorry if it was gruesome at times, and maybe a little too much description and not enough dialogue? Hopefully it wasn't too, too bad, hah. As always, I ask that you please leave me a review! Your opinion matters to me! Also, hopelessromantic549 and I have created a joint account, so subscribe! We'll be posting things soon. Happy Monday, I suppose! (How ever good a Monday can get :P)
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