You're the only voice my heart can recognize.

She was certain that she had fallen for the devil himself. She watched Damon crumble. She watched him fall to pieces. But damaged people were dangerous, because they knew they could survive and it had taken her fifty years, but she managed to show him that he might have been broken, but he was never defeated. They didn't agree on much. In fact, they didn't agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other ever day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.

For fifty years, their undead life together was an odd one.

But there was always one thing that would make her drop everything. And that was to protect him. Some vampire had hunted him down across Italy, to destroy him for killing his brother. He had told her to run. And in all rights, she should of ran. But she didn't. And she'd do it again to protect him if given the chance. The vampire had nearly ripped him to pieces. He was no longer recognizable - his perfectly sculpted features were torn up and skin was peeling away from bone.

But she fought for him. She fought against the vampire, nearly getting herself killed in the process, but what was love, without a little bit of uncertainty and danger? She managed to get the upper hand and stake the vampire right through the heart.

Then she went to Damon.

He was still lying where he had fallen. Her brightness hovered over him, shielding him as one shining hand reaching to touch his hair. Then she bent and kissed the dark head on the ground. At first, he didn't move and she thought she'd been too late. But then, the dark angel had sucked in a breath of life and Celeste had been his saving grace.

We are all affected by our pasts, but it is within our power not to let what we have done to dictate what we will do. True love is rare, and it's the only thing that gives life real meaning. Very seldom do you find your true match. When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance. What was the point in believing in something that might not be possible in the first place?

Those were the thoughts that were clouding the mind of Celeste as the vampire tried her best to find a proper masquerade mask. Klaus, the Original hybrid that had helped save her from the vampire hunter was hosting a masquerade ball and they were all invited. Including Elena. The only problem was Celeste didn't feel like going. She appreciated the offer, but Celeste didn't feel like being in the same room as Elena Gilbert.

She still didn't think what the hell was so special about the doppelganger. What high horse did she ride in on that made her a holy grail? What made her so god damn important that everyone had to bend over backwards and risk their lives for? To her, she seemed like an insecure bitch that wanted everything handed to her on a silver plate.

Elena reminded Celeste of King Arthur's Guinevere. Then she remembered exactly why she never liked Guinevere in the first place. She screws up, sleeps with her husband's best friend, causes the fall of a kingdom, then she doesn't have the guts to make at least one man happy, so she joins a damn nunnery and escapes from all of her problems, leaving everyone around her in a slavering mess. How incredibly spineless. That pretty much summed Elena Gilbert up.

"Did you make up your mind about going to the ball?" Damon whispered in her ear as his hand grazed her hip.

"Yes." She turned to him and held up a pretty intricate black mask.

For once, his vampire expression failed him. His response was right there on his face, in full view and easily read. He went from surprise to disbelief then hope and sheer, utter joy all within a split second of each other, then he let loose a huge smirk of delight and swept her into his arms, hugging her fiercely.

Its more than a simple belief that there is good and that it should fight the evil in the world. It's a personification of Light and Darkness at their most elemental level, as forces that are so absorbed with themselves that one cannot exist without the other though they constantly try to consume one another. One of the earliest representations of Light and Darkness was of Light being a massive black bull and Darkness being an enormous white bull.

The question of what we are can only be answered by ourselves. We each decide what we are by the life choices we make. How we were made, who are parents are, where we are from, the color of our skin, who we choose to love, all those things do not define us. Our actions define us, and will keep defining us until even after death.

Soul mates do always find each other. She thought. And then something truly bizarre happened. She could feel his touch through their eyes. She couldn't look away from him, no matter how much she tried.

True love is not a potion one person can swallow and another refuse to drink. It happens only when the souls of two join together to form one. The bond between them was like fire- it burned and consumed, almost painful in its intensity. Almost unbearable in its pleasure. They clung to each other, mouths pressed against skin, body against body. All that could be felt was their hearts beating in time together, as one. She couldn't tell where she ended and he began. Couldn't tell which pleasure was his and which was hers. That's what it was like to be bound to him.

Celeste leaned her head on his chest as they paid for the mask and left to go back home.

Home.

It was such an odd word to her.

After all, she'd spent a hundred and so years never knowing what home really was.