The Gamble
A Vampire Diaries Fanfic.
Damon Salvatore x Ashlan Corral
'For those who forget what it means to be Alive.'
Song: ''Losing Your Memory"- Ryan Star
Chapter 1
"This Strange New World"
My chest hurt.
Breaths came up short.
I knew I was being carried, but I couldn't tell who was carrying me.
The only thing I remembered before falling ill to the darkness again, was those beautiful blue eyes.
So very familiar.
When my eyes opened, I was no longer in the forest, but rather a bed. I tried to sit up, but the world spun too much for me to handle it. A groan escaped my lips as I fell back into the pillows. Closing my eyes, I tried to remember what had happened.
A wolf.
I could remember the wolf clearly, it was chasing me, and a noise, a strange noise when it landed on me, a crackling.
A gun shot.
"You won't want to move for a while." A voice said, I peaked open an eye to see a tiny woman. She was small in height, but old in age from her weathered face. Still, her brown eyes were smoldering, I could see a strange light in them when she looked at me.
"Where am I?"
Who am I?
"You were bitten by the wolf," She said, I looked down the length of my body, bandages were just peaking out from the bedsheets pooled at my waist. "If it wasn't for the brothers, I'm sure you would have died."
Brothers?
"Where am I?" I repeated, a little bit more confused. Something felt wrong, whether it was the white walls of the unfamiliar room, or the pain in my skull, something felt completely wrong with it all.
"You are in the Salvatore Mansion." A new voice said smoothly, making me frown. Salvatore, where had I heard that name? It sounded so familiar, yet vague and unknown. Looking over to the door, I watched as an older looking man approached me.
"I see..." I said softly, trying to block out the pain through out my body. The man sat in a chair beside my bed, I turned my head very slowly to look at him.
"I am Giuseppe Salvatore, the head of this house." He said, looking over my face. Obviously I had some bruising due to the throbbing in the side of my temple.
"It is a pleasure." I said faintly.
"Do you have a name?" He asked, making me purse my lips. Did I have a name?
"I don't remember." I said honestly. He glanced down at my body, my eyes followed his to see he was looking at my bandaged wrist.
"Do you remember what happened at all?" He asked, I took in a breath as I tried to remember. There was something- soft skin, beautiful eyes, my own were tearing up...
"Nothing." I responded instead. "I remember waking up here, but I'm afraid that is where my knowledge ends." I replied weakly, looking back to him. He had a grave look on his face, but I didn't understand why.
"I see," He began, standing up. "Until you have recovered I shall send my youngest son to keep you company." He said, but I was too tired to argue.
"Hmm," I muttered, nothing else wanted to come from my lips. He exited the room, and soon my body just shut down and gave in to darkness again.
He was lying there across from me.
A smile on his lips- he reached out to brush my hair back. I leaned into his touch, smiling. His eyes were soft as a smiled, his hand flitting down my neck, shoulder, my entire body getting goose bumps wherever his fingers caressed.
We just laid there, staring at each other for god knows how long. I couldn't stop watching him though.
He stared back at me through a sea of white sheets. Everything around us was white, the only thing that wasn't was him and myself. I continued to stare into those piercing blue eyes as he softly caressed my skin.
Those eyes.
I could never forget those eyes.
My eyes flitted open, a slight frown on my face. There was something that told me the dream should've been real, I felt an ache in my chest when I realized it wasn't. I gave a soft groan as I looked around- still in the same house, same bed- oh my bandages had been changed, they were tighter now. The maid looked over to me, smiling when she noticed I had awoken.
"Coraline," A familiar voice said. My eyes drifted to the door where a man stood. "Is she well?" He asked. Coraline, I assumed to be the maid, nodded with a small smile.
"Yes Mister Salvatore, you may visit." She said before exiting the room. The man stood there, his eyes watching me boredly as I watched him. Those dark green eyes reminded me of something, but I couldn't put my foot on it.
"Most people fall for the charm and run at the secret."
"Odd, I fell for the secret, the charm just kind of tagged along I guess."
I winced as I heard the familiar voices in my head. The man walked forward, taking a seat in the chair Giuseppe had occupied before- next to my bed. His eyes studied my face, and I looked up at him curiously.
"Who are you?" I asked, to which he quirked a brow.
"That is awfully rude to say things in such a tone." He said smoothly, but I simply pursed my lips.
"I never said I'm a nice person." I said, making him frown.
"Indeed you're not."
Well this was getting us nowhere... I looked around the room, frowning. It was not at all familiar, so I tried to sit up again. A wince broke out across my face as I supported myself with both arms, which wasn't a good idea considering one was injured and sore. My stomach was bandaged, I could feel the constriction under the white cover up I was wearing. Did somebody change me? I didn't recall wearing such a thing before.
"Perhaps you should lay down," The man said, making me glance at him. "You are clearly not well."
I frowned, sensing his lack of interest. Why was he here then? Coraline had called him a Salvatore, did that mean he was part of the family that lived here? If so, was he asked by Giuseppe to watch over me? This bothered me, I didn't like it when people only helped because they had to.
"Your company is not needed Mister Salvatore," I said, making his eyes widen a little. "I can see you do not like me, and honestly I would rather not waste your time or mine with pleasantries."
He sat there for a moment, looking surprised, but then a charming smile broke across his face.
"You are strange." He said, but it was a warmer tone than before.
"I have a head injury, I earned abnormality." I countered, making him chuckle as he glanced at the bandage on my head. I sat up a bit more, and he propped the pillows behind my back.
"Who am I about to thank for being so kind?" I asked, grateful when I was able to leaned back and take the pressure off of my stomach.
"Stefan," He said, leaning closer to me in his chair. "And who might I be helping?" He asked, but when I went to open my mouth- nothing came out.
What is my name?
"I'm afraid I lost more than my sanity when I hit my head." I said, a sad smile on Stefan's face. He looked down for a second, before reaching into one of his pockets. He produced a small necklace with a tiny pocket watch on the end. I held out my hand when he offered it, looking at it.
"I want you to have this, it's a special necklace."
"This is familiar." I said, turning it all over, but why was it so familiar?
"It was around your neck when my brother and I found you, but it broke off when the maids were bandaging you. I held onto it for safe keeping." He said, I glanced at him with an honest smile.
"Thank you, that means a lot." I said, Stefan's smile broadened then. Turning the necklace over, I frowned when I saw the initials.
A. M. C.
C as in...
"Something wrong, Miss Corral?"
Corral...?
Yeah, that sounded familiar.
"Does it help you at all? Remember I mean?" Stefan asked, making me nod as I traced the tiny C on the back.
"Corral, the C stands for Corral." I said, but was it mine? Was this necklace mine, a gift, was I holding it for somebody?
M... hmmmm Mmmmmmmm-
"My ancestor wrote in his journal about a woman named Madison Corral. He wrote about how he planned to have one of his sons take her hand in marriage."
"...Madison... The M is for Madison." I said, softly tracing the letter, but when I looked at the A, everything went blank.
"Madison Corral?" Stefan asked, leaning closer to me.
"Yes, but I can't remember this A..." I said, getting frustrated- how can one forget their own name? I was deeply confused on that.
"Perhaps for now, we shall treat Madison as your first name?" Stefan offered, I pursed my lips, and although I didn't like the idea, I decided to roll with it.
"Okay."
"Mister Salvatore?" Coraline called from the door. We both glanced over at her. "Your father wishes to speak with you." She said.
"I'll be there in a moment." He said, before turning back to me with a smile. He grasped one of my hands that was playing with the necklace, before softly bringing it to his lips and kissing the back. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Corral." He said, I smiled.
"Call me Madison, and it was a pleasure to meet you, Stefan." I said in return. He smiled even more before gently letting go of my hand and standing up. I pulled the blankets around me more, watching him exit the room.
Shortly after that, my eyes began to drift shut.
Whew!
Okay, I'm writing the rest of the story, but I'm going to pace my updates! I was originally going to go off on a tangent from the storyline, but then I realized that I have an even better idea to include season 2~!
Also- going off with klaus? Are you for real? Lani is too head strong to be cowed by him! No matter how amazing his actor is... he's the epitome of EVIL! Yet I still think he's awesome, but no, Lani is definitely not running away with Klaus! Where is the originality in that?
RATE AND REVIEW!
QUESTION OF THE DAY: Okay, anybody confused? You get what's going on?
