AN: Good news, good news, bad news time. Good News: it's Damon's Chapter! More Good News: it's the longest chapter, nearly twice as long as the others. Bad News: it's also the last chapter. I've officially run out of characters to toy with. REVIEW, it's your LAST chance! Here endith "It Was Just a Dance".
Warnings: There's a GD in there somewhere, but I think that's it…
Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries.
A Heartbeat for the Dead
Stefan is an idiot. How could he leave this beautiful girl standing alone? This stunning girl prepared to face humiliation for his mistake. This girl who, despite my vastly superior looks and cunning wit, chose him. The girl hovering on the precipice of immortality simply to be with him.
The love of his life actually wants him, wants nothing more than his happiness; to be the source of his happiness. Moron. Mine, if she was ever mine, left me. Didn't care enough to let me know in a hundred and forty-five years that she wasn't even dead. And my second chance, the love I've just started to find, to feel for? Yeah, she chose him.
And he's letting her down. Again.
I force my way through the crowd quickly, and take Stefan's place at the foot of the stairs. I may not be the white knight saving the damsel in distress, that's Stefan's gig. When he doesn't screw it up, that is. But I can do this. I can be what she needs this time. I can dance with her while Stefan does his stupid "I'm so tortured" act and cries about how his inability to tell the goddamned truth is destroying his relationship with the one girl who could bear to the burden of honesty. Again. Dumbass.
"Where's Stefan?" She whispers, and it hurts a little to know that even when I'm trying to do right, he's still the only thing on her mind.
"I don't know." I answer. Because I don't. And I don't care because he was the fool who left this beautiful creature alone and I intend to savor every second of this dance.
It's my last chance at a second chance. I know she'll never choose me. I'm flawed and broken where Stefan is "perfect" and whole. I am the jagged remains of a broken heart that loved a love that lived for lifetimes and died painfully in seconds. Stefan is the brooding, regretful statue carved from a love imposed on his will. I'm dangerous and untrustworthy. Stefan is safe and reliable. I'm a murderer. Stefan is the same has any human; he just doesn't need a gun to hunt his prey.
The dance begins and she's so close. A fraction of a motion and I could touch her. Touch her soft, delicate hands with my own bloody appendages. But that's not the point of this part of the dance. "The intimacy of the near touch" How about the pain of wanting something so desperately you think your heart might start to beat again, only to realize that you will never have it? The best I can hope for is the hollow imitation of this dance. She'll be worrying about Stefan and I'll be trying to show her that if she could just see me for once as more than a monster or a creature to be pitied, I could be the one to never leave her stranded.
The music shifts and I reach out and pull her to me. She fits perfectly in my arms. I can hear her heart hammer in her chest. Her chocolate eyes never stray from my blues and I forget how to breathe. It's okay, because I don't actually need to, but still. She's looking at me. Really looking at me. As me. For once she doesn't see Stefan's murderous brother or Katherine's rejected plaything. She's seeing Damon Salvatore, the man under the monster.
I lead her like we were born to dance together, just like this. I memorize every line of every feature of her smile. The smile she's smiling for me. I commit the feeling of her hand in mine to memory; already preparing to replay it over and over again as the best moment of my very long life comes to a close. The music slows and we begin to part. My god, I miss the feel of her already.
Her eyes never stray from mine though. And her body still hums with excitement and, dare I say it, joy. I cannot bear to even think of breaking this beautiful, tenuous connection. This moment where understanding changes into something…more.
My last chance might not have been a wasted effort after all. There is a chance, a hope. For a second, I allow myself to believe that this time I won't end up agonized and broken. For just a second, I pretend to hear my long dead heart beat. A slow steady tattoo in perfect balance with hers. A heartbeat for the dead, just for her.