C'est la Vie

Mon trés cher Damon,

I could not rest this night of last because I know that you are no longer with me. Gone from my life forever… I cannot conceive of a doubt that what we had was real, and for that I am no longer bitter. Nor can I understand what it was that I had done, or perhaps had not done, to make you unhappy, and I pray that I have shamed you in no manner.

Oh my dearest love, do accept my most sincere and honorable apology. Be it as it may that my honor be shattered, and my name all but tabooed throughout all of Paris. Oh my love, what shall I do without you along beside to share with me the fruits of life? You, my love, are my life…

Oh my sweet, gentle angel, count the passing seconds I shall until we are once again united. Oh, and how I pray that that day shall present itself soon. Be it lay in a heaven or in a hell, for there is no afterlife for me where you do not reside. Oh my sweet lamb, il n'y a pas de paradis pour moi où tu n'es pas.

Sweet, loveley love, how can I remain to live amongst the coldness and hatred of this cruel world where you shall forever lie beneath it ? How can I begin to count the ways of which my heart flares for thy touch, and burns brighter than any earthly flame. T'woud be simpler done to count the stars in the nightly sky than to count the acts you have commited and caused me to quiver beneath my bodice. But even that will not do; no. For there are not enough stars in all the heavens to represent an appropriate quantity. Even every beat of my heart, from conception in the womb to the last breath left in me has expired, and it beats only for you, cannot justify my love for you.

Oh my heart, I shall grow aged and weak as the years pass in my being, and you shall remain forever lovely in your tomb… and you, my darling, shall grow no different from you are this day as I set the veil about your body… my letter in your hand. Oh my love, it pains me deep in my heart to see you this way. And just to know that some day soon to come, I shall bare you a child!

Oh my dearest lamb, if only I had known but a week sooner. If only I had known! If only the night upon our departure at the soonest! Then perhaps we would be together today and you would still live? Oh all the questions of what could have been, it wounds my heart to dream.

But the moment I realized my condition, I swear to you my darling, I could not have arrived in Florence sooner. Had I flown there on the back of a être céleste. Oh, but if only I had not been too late… A fortnight the voyage lasted precisely, and oh what a long journey t'was. Upon my arrival to the manor, I all but threw myself to the stone landing, and I slept in your bedchambers. T'as I that cleansed and readied your body for the priest to anoint you in holy lubricants upon the dawn of your wake… this day. And I pen you this letter to accompany you into the afterlife, along with my purest ad deepest affections, and my eternally devoted adoration. Also, my darling, I send with you my heart. Fore it has always been yours and I pray that you should forever hold it dear, as I shall forever yours.

Oh my heart, my soul, how can I say goodbye to you now, or ever? You are my life. The very air that I breathe and all the love in my heart. C'est la vie, non? You have my word that you child shall be born and cherrished and shall grow in your honor. I promise you, God as my witness, that you will be proud. I love you my dear, sweet angel, my lovely love… I shall never forget you, and oh how I ache for your touch. I must bid you farewell, but do not be sad my darling, my love, fore it is but a temporary farewell.

À bientôt mon amour.

Lizette Pierét

Damon gently refolded the ancient letter and lay it carefully placed the withered parchment down on the desk, running his hands through his hair as he hung his head. He wanted to strangle himself for not having read the letter when he had found it the moment he'd awoken to find himself veiled inside a great marble coffin, much like the one that he remembered his mother being laid to rest in. He had found it remarkably easy to move the coffin lid and to find himself in a tomb, between two other marble coffins much like his own. One of the two coffins had been much older than his and the other. It also had had the marble carving of a woman atop it… his mother.

He stood and shook his head back and forth, trying to remove those haunting memories of the burial, and being lain to rest between the graves of his poor mother and his damned brother who had sent her there.

Why hadn't he just read the letter? Had he only read- but no. He stopped himself. It could not have made any difference. His mind had already been twisted beyond recognition by his obsession with Katherine that he knew that was why he hadn't read it. Because he'd known all along that it would not have mattered… but then again… she had been withchild! With his child! … Damon was unable to picture himself a father, he never really had been able to. Perhaps a husband once… or twice… he had all but begged Katherine to choose him over Stefan while he had all but forgotten the woman he had pledged himself faithful to already…

Lizette… Lizette Pierét….

He had not thought of her in too many ages… he liked to think that it was only because the very essence of her had been too painful for him to bare… but he knew that that was only partially the case. Katherine had blinded him to his amata piccolo agnello… and now he was much too late… Hell, he was more than five hundred years too late… He didn't know what had brought him to read Lizette's letter now, but the feeling had started prickling at his conscience ever since he'd caught the glimpse of the mysterious maiden who he had seen driving through town… though nothing made sense nowadays. Perhaps he was just hungry… he'd heard somewhere that Caroline was throwing another one of those parties, and he always found a good candidate or two to at least station his thirst… not to mention he suddenly felt the need for a drink…

He sighed heavily to himself, carefully tucked the letter in the inside breast pocket of his leather jacket and took a couple deep breaths to keep from hyperventalating. He just needed to get this out of his head… he needed to forget… and a couple shots of straight whiskey just might do the trick.

He grabbed his car keys from the hook by the door and was about to step outside when he stopped short. He touched a hand to his heart and felt the folded parchment and closed his eyes for a moment before he took another deep breath and closed the door behind him on his way to the car…