"Death of a future" - (Bush, Bomb)
by Jessica French (Midnite363@aol.com)
Damon stopped once they reached a covered nook. The heather was thick there and two trees hung into each other, their branches intertwined like lover's fingers. There was also a small creek that whispered over smooth stones.
He dismounted, reaching up and taking Shannon by the waist, lifting her effortlessly down. His hands lingered on her hips, the line of his body hovered, barely touching. His right hand came up, touched her cheek and ran back over her hair, smoothing back the strands that had risen in the wind of their ride. Her green eyes rose meeting his dark ones, she caught the sharp narrowing of his eyes and then he was gone, turning back to the horse, bending down to hobble it.
Shannon sighed to herself and went to the creek. Her skirt was rumpled and dusty; her hands were ashy, smudged with dirt, As she dipped her hands into the cool water she regressed to the events of the day.
It was like a fairy tale, she thought. Handsome prince rising up on his strong horse and sweeping away the fair maiden. Shannon smiled at the thought of herself as a fair maiden. His kiss, the feel of his back, strong and warm against her cheek as he drove his horse over the deserted glen.
"Is something funny?" a voice dry and cultured through her daydream. Damon dropped down beside her gracefully, almost like a cat.
She must of been really dreaming, she noted, she hadn't heard him approach. "No," she said, removing her hands from the water and wiping her chilled fingers on her skirt. "I was just thinking how upset Gretchen will be when she hears I rode off with you."
Damon made a face somewhere between disgust and amusement. "I thought I had told you I was finished with your cousin."
"You may be finished with her, but she is still going to persist and be upset." She shrugged, waving a dismissive hand, "It does not matter, and I would rather forget about her. I find the topic unpleasant."
He smirked, "Unpleasant. Shannon--"
"Yes?" she jumped in, interrupting him and then blushing furiously and cursing herself from being so immature, acting as if she'd never been given an interest from a man before. She bit her lower lip and mumbled a weak, "Sorry, go on."
He took her hand to his lips and smiled, taking joy at the parting on her lips, and the sharp intake of breath that followed. "I have thought long and hard about telling you about me. You should understand that I have never told anyone about my complete past. It is something I keep to myself, it is something that is not considered pleasant to most. It is who I am, and I would like to share it with you."
His face had become so serious it made Shannon question what could possibly be in his past that made him look so serious, yet vaguely smug and proud. She thought about her past: she was born, she had been raised on the Drake estate by her father, she was who she was now. Nothing very interesting.
"Damon," she smiled, "it is not like you killed someone. Seriously." She raises his hand to her lips now, met his eyes and almost froze.
His eyes were heated and his lip was curved cruelly. "Oh no, it is not like I did that."