Just One Bite »ᴄɵᴍᴘᴌᴇтᴇ«

PART TWO - FOURTEEN

PART TWO – FOURTEEN

Damon sighed in gentle relief when Ashley returned to her human form. He wouldn't say it out loud, but when he'd first seen her shift into the monster and had let loose a roar of rage, Damon had never felt so much terror in his life. And the roar hadn't even been directed at him, but at Anya – who Ashley had once again let flee. Damon couldn't blame Anya for fleeing, he had as soon as he'd been freed from the Bitch's ropes. But at least he'd ran straight away, hadn't hung around. Not that it had mattered, the... Ashley, was it Ashley? had stuck with him as he ran for his life.

It had been Kayline who'd called for him to stop him from running for the village – not that he'd thought he'd get there – where others who didn't know that vampyre's and originals existed lived. Because they would have done just as he had.

Fled. In terror.

Because Ashley in her demonic form was a sight to behold... and look on from a place you knew she couldn't reach you. If you could find such a place.

In her human form she was... well, there wasn't a word that described her. Black hair and eyes that when the light hit them right, you could see swirling deep blues and deep purples dancing. Damon could have laid there for hours watching the colours move and shine in her eyes. Her waist length hair framed a slender, but well toned body. Not that her physique mattered, Damon had a feeling that even if Ashley had been one of the most obese beings on this earth, she'd still be able to move as she did, with grace and speed, be as strong as she is, and even as beautiful as she is. Because there was one thing Ashley could never be in anyone's eyes: ugly. For a moment, it made Damon wonder whether the only reason Ashley liked him was because he was her 'mate' as she'd called it. But then, if that was true, why had she avoided him at the start?

Catching Ashley in his arms as she suddenly fell forward, Damon was about to ask what was wrong when he felt it. The tingle at his neck, the strange feeling inside of... something happening, wings spreading, but it paled to what he felt now. A slight stab. Not enough to pierce his flesh, but that wasn't what concerned him. It was the fact that the stab had come from the direction of his purring demonic angel. Hit him on the side opposite to his heart, lower down. Over Ashley's. Through Ashley's.

Denial shot through Damon. But then a sudden calm settled over him when he remembered that only an angel or another original could kill this beautiful being that was his. But when he looked up, four things happened in quick succession.

Fear hit Damon stronger than the terror of seeing Ashley when she'd shifted. "Angel," the word was only a little more than a breath of air.

A magnificent winged man hovered just behind Ashley. Wings and blade were a glorious sun rise of yellow and blue. The man's angelic face held no expression. The blade that the angel held fell to the angel's side before it disappeared. Just disappeared, as in, one second it was there, the next it was gone. The floating angel's eyes never left the wound it had given Ashley as it spoke in a voice that made Damon want to bow down to it's wishes. But he wouldn't, no matter what the angel asked because... the urge to shake Ashley for letting the angel stab her was strong, but he withheld the urge, not wanting to harm her any more than she already was. How had she not heard the angel appear? How had any of the vampyre's not? They had better senses than him, and Ashley more than them. How had they not heard the beat of wings Damon could hear as the angel hovered over them?

"Æsc, Ellengæst of Æ," then the angel spoke modern English. "For breaking the law, your punishment is death." Then he vanished, like his sword had, as though killing was a day job. At least that explained how the other's hadn't heard the angel appear.

But then the second thing happened. Images appeared in his mind. And Damon knew they came from the being in his arms. She wasn't dead yet. The relief that swarmed him then made him feel light headed.