Time fell around him as he rushed through the never-ending trees and layers of foliage. He had gone miles in every discernible direction from the estate, finding traces of Stefan's hunt scattered around like lifeless trail markers. The more he searched the more he began to doubt his brother's integrity. Was he merely lying to himself about what took place? Had he lost his way on Alexia's journey to regain his humanity?
Damon pondered the possibilities with scrutinizing intensity as his own stomach began to churn. Would he find a poor woman's body strewn about the woods as his animal corpses were? He hoped for any better possible scenario as he let his senses open completely to the surrounding wilderness. Carefully weaving about the dense trees, he began to make his way back to more familiar areas. As he lightly treaded over the thick pine needles, something heavy shoved his feet firmly into the ground beneath them, suspending him motionlessly in the quiet forest.
An enchanting luxuriousness permeated his thoughts and senses, commanding him to advance closer to the source. He drew a long, succulent breath to savor the thick air and closed his eyes. Images flashed rapidly in his mind; lacerating perfectly smooth skin, inhaling viscous euphoria, rising tensions, rough grips, tongues trailing and lapping hungrily. He was carried off onto a higher state of eagerness than he anticipated without a moment's notice. When he opened his eyes again they fell into a sort of ignoble and worrisome focus.
Dulled golden hair was mangled against her pure delicacy of features and tied around her head and mouth with twisted, nasty ropes that only exemplified her breathtaking allure. Blood and dirt and filth was scratched or smeared randomly about her. The most disheartening area, was upon her face, the area in which Damon could not tear his eyes from. Although, he found it relatively easy once he examined her wounds inflicted terribly by iron stakes. One through every limb careened into the rough wood planks behind her body, the tiny trailings of blood upon her brought out trailings beneath his eyes as his fangs protruded from his gums.
Her thin, silky gown glowed under the light of the moon and twinkled as he neared her in the clearing of trees. His heart thumped against his chest as he took in the sight of her in entirety; guiltily indulging in the translucency of the fabric, he stood enticed by her plump features and ignored the smudges to lick his lips hungrily. What was it about this woman that baited him to abandon all reason? The concoction of desperation and pleasure radiated from his every pore as his eyes fell to the tear in the flimsy fabric up her thigh. A small stream of blood had trickled down and caressed her like he began to sinfully imagine himself doing. He reached a slightly trembling hand out to her. If he could only have one taste perhaps...
But as this thought crawled across his mind a shout in the distance blared away any sense of residual entrapment of her on him. "Monster! Monster!" A burly man boomed, storming the clearing with three others with stakes, guns and torches in hand. The dangerous urgency of it all sent Damon's eyes shooting open in fear and realization as he backed away slowly. "Kill the vampire before it flees!" Another man shouted, gun pointed in his direction and ready to fire. Damon crouched defensively as they surrounded him, hoping this was not the moment he would die. They had wooden bullets, he was sure of it. He glanced at the man again and seething hatred pierced back through his eyes as he cocked his gun to fire. His chances of escape were dwindling at each passing second. "Filthy demon." He heard him mutter as his eye squinted and head turned slightly to aim.
Before he could pull the trigger Damon was behind him, knocking his gun from his hands and forcing his mouth onto the man's throat with ferocious intensity. Collective gasps roused his excitement, pricking at the back of his neck as he dug his teeth dug into the bottomless pit of his fervent needs, resurrecting a forgotten ravenous mania. As he thrust his head back, a large portion of the man's throat was torn with the force, seeping and splattering blood everywhere like a cascading fountain. He shoved the man from him, his eyes a treacherous red that matched the coating of blood dripping from his face and clothing. It was too late for them, he concluded. The disastrous thing that plagued him and his brother for years wielded a hallowed power neither of them could begin to comprehend nor suppress. He indulged in the frenzied delight and licked his lips to savor the fulfillment of his darkest desires. Why do him and Stefan fool themselves? This is what it truly feels like to be otherworldly, to be a creature and revel in its poisonous glory. As he turned on his heel to face them, a sly smile planted on his red lips, he outstretched his arms as if to welcome dissolution with a mocking immaturity.
Two men stared in terror as they jumped backwards, but one man decidedly launched himself at Damon yelling like a madman and wielding a crude stake. He never reached close enough to drive the stake through his heart though, for Damon's hand was already forced into the cavity of his chest and holding his own before he could cast a downward glance to realize what had just occurred. As he watched the life fade quickly from the man's wide eyes, Damon grinned with devilish satisfaction and withdrew his hand with such force, the sound of the man's remaining ribs rang pleasantly in his ears. He tossed the organ to the ground, and turned to the two frozen figures behind the towering wooden cross. He raised his hand to lick his fingers and watched as the other men fled into the woods in different directions.
Concentrating his yearning for their suffrage, he flew across the ground and attacked the younger man armed with a knife and stake. He cried a melody of fear and hatred as Damon shoved him to the floor yards in front of them. "Do I disgust you?" He taunted, hands poised at his gory, blood soaked face as he leaned towards the man. "Does my monstrous nature make you cower and loathe me all the while?" He half-way chuckled, watching him squirm briskly in the other direction. He picked up the wooden stake and made his way towards the desperate fool attempting to crawl to safety. He stood over him then, the man's broken leg obvious as he wailed in pain at the pointless movement, and stomped his foot down on the man's other leg. He yelped in anguish at the sound of his own bones splintering through his flesh. Damon kicked his limp body over and seized hold of his coat to pull him up from the ground, scanning his poor twisted face.
"I shall kill you the in the same way you dispose of the creatures you hate." Damon seethed behind clenched, bloody teeth. He raised his arm and drove the stake down through his body and into the ground beneath him. The man shot up instinctively with an abruptly hateful expression to the force of the attack to make an indistinct noise and fall back onto his grave of pine needles and leaves.
Without hesitation, Damon made his way to the last man still running for dear life. When he stopped a few feet in front of the man he jumped in his skin and let out a bloodcurdling scream. The smell of urine soaked into the air in front of him as he trembled against the coarse bark of a tree. "Please! Don't kill me!" He begged with hands crossed above his chest, tears swelling in panic. Damon then rushed up to him and snapped his neck without restraint. He cringed his fingers together and released them as the lifeless body slumped to the ground; the power aroused within him refreshed his strengths with surprisingly great ease. He looked up to the night sky and questioned his integrity for a brief moment. Why does it feel so right to do so wrong? He asked the moon, reflecting the illumination he felt at the center of his being. As if to answer him, it disappeared momentarily behind a smokey grey streaking of clouds, igniting a spark of remembrance in his mind. The woman.