Immortal Devotion [18+]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟔

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

It had been a few hours since Aurora's interaction with Darius and Valerian. She always thought that Valerian was cocky, obnoxious, reckless. She hated that. She liked men that were sensitive, charming, humble. But upon getting to know him better, she realized she couldn't have been more wrong. After "talking" with Darius, she realized how close him and Valerian really were. It was surprising, and heartwarming, and completely unexpected. She found out that Valerian hated his immortality more than anything. He hid it, of course, with parties and drinking and soulless sex that existed to give him the sense of aliveness he hadn't felt in decades.

He would never admit it to anyone, but he felt close to Aurora despite knowing her for such a small period of time. She felt close to him, too. She related to him, the way he hated showing his weaknesses, and how he felt the need to be strong at all times. Darius, on the other hand, felt like his complete opposite. She understood him. He was sensitive in the way she was. He was caring and compassionate, towards humans and animals alike. She found him fascinating, and she wanted to learn more. Darius' story warmed her heart, and Valerian's story hardened it again. They were two peas in an unforeseen pod. 

The sky darkened, the castle was quiet, and Stefan and Dimitri were outside hunting. Drowsiness took her over, and she stumbled down the hall to a room. Annoyingly, each door looked the same, and Aurora was famously bad with directions, so she resorted to opening each door until she found her room. Opening each door lazily, she finally made it to her destination. She sighed in relief when she laid her eyes upon the familiar decor. In one masterful move, she plopped herself down onto the bed, and it creaked. She suspected it was because of the night she shared with Dimitri, that caused the already corroded old wood to weaken.

She mumbled a few incoherent words into the muffled fabric of the pillow and let her eyelids grow heavy until she wandered into a sleeping haze. 

(𝐀𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐚'𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦)

Running. I was running. Running away from something, or towards something. The details were unclear, my vision was blurry, and all I could make out was the field with the tall, overgrown grass, and the treeless atmosphere that caused a chill to run down my spine. It was empty, so empty, so dull. I felt the grass stab and shred my bare feet as I ran, as if the grass blades were the blades of millions of sharp knives. I wept as I ran, the cold air caused my tears to go cold as they ran down my cheeks and when they hit the floor the grass only became taller and taller. I frantically wiped the tears from my cheeks but they wouldn't stop flowing. I had no direction, nowhere to run, nowhere to escape to. Not one familiar place in this annoyingly liminal patch of greenery, and no one's arms to run into. Not my mother's. Not my sister's. Not anybodies. In my dreams I was a parentless child, full of grief and sorrow. I kept running and running until my restless legs came to a halt. I stopped in front of a massive, gaping, black hole. It looked endlessly deep. I plucked a handful of grass from the dirt and threw it into the hole, and it eventually got lost in the abysmal darkness. I couldn't tell if it reached the bottom, or if it never stopped falling. I was scared. There was no way around it. That was it. I came to the end. I tried to turn around and go back, but when I moved my feet, they only moved closer to the edge of the hole. At one point, they didn't stop moving. My whole body froze up and went numb and the only parts of my body that reacted were my legs that walked despite my pleas and my mouth that moved aimlessly to release soundless screams of terror. One, two, three steps. Three steps forward and I fell down into the hole. Finally, my screams were heard, and they echoed and bounced off of the black walls, and I tried to grab at something, anything, that would put my fall to an end. 

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

Aurora woke up with a scream. Her heart palpitated in her chest and her clothes clung to her body with sweat and her hands were trembling. She desperately grabbed at herself, ensuring she was fully there. It was a strange ritual, but not one that went unaccounted for. She was breathless, and she panted as she stood up. Her eyes were still drowsy from the small amount of sleep, and her mind was trying its hardest to forget about the dream. She walked out of the room, still frantic, and she couldn't find comfort. She had no one to go to. Dimitri and Stefan still weren't back, and Valerian and Darius were probably asleep. Giving up on her efforts for comfort, she walked down the stairs, holding on to the rail. 

She walked into the kitchen, and immediately darted for the fridge. When she opened it, she was faced with an unpleasant smell, and she noticed the glass tupperware boxes full of strange pieces of meat, chopped and diced, and accredited the smell to the meat. Next to the meat was a slice of... Something, wrapped up in paper that soaked through the red blood and dripped on to the floor tray of the fridge. She twisted her face in disgust, and reached in to pull out a bottle of clear, brown liquid. Without a second thought, she unscrewed the cork and placed the bottle to her lips, before chugging it. The liquid stung, and it felt warm as it coated the insides of her throat. 

Her eyes watered and her face twisted as she chugged it but she didn't stop, until a hand reached in front of her and closed the fridge door. She quickly pulled the bottle from her mouth and wiped her lips. It was Valerian, stood behind her with a confused expression. 

"Why are you chugging my whiskey?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. 

"I'm sorry, I had a bad dream." She breathed. 

"You have a bad dream and your first thought is to drink up someone's alcohol?" He amused, taking the bottle from her hands. 

"I didn't know what else to do!" She exclaimed, her eyes brimming with tears. 

His eyes widened and he pulled her into his chest, where she buried her face and began weeping. "Hey, It's okay. I can always buy a new bottle." He spoke softly. 

She laughed lightly and shook her head, lifting her head from his chest and wiping her tears. "No, It's not that. I've just been so lonely without my family, this is the first time I've been without my mother and sister." 

He frowned, and caressed her head. "I know how you feel. I had to leave my whole family behind after I became a vampire." 

She gave him a weak smile, and he continued. "Do you want to hang out with Darius and I?"

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·