𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 ― 𝐬.𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞¹

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞.

𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎𝐎 𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐃, and her mind was only human. The feeling of his razor sharp teeth piercing her neck caused her to shriek out in pure agony, her throat being ripped open as blood gushed into his salivating mouth, a light moan escaping his lips at the taste. Her cry was the most horrifying noise that anyone could've heard in their entire life.

And just as fast as his teeth had latched on, he released and stared in pure horror of what he had done. The love of his life had a hand pressed to her profusely bleeding neck, the delicious liquid staining her silver dress a scarlet red as her heart pounded in her chest, her green eyes staring at him in pure terror. She was afraid of him. A whimper escaping her lips as he reached out for her, startled as she leapt back when he came closer, trying to see the damage he'd done. He was speechless and just as he went to wrap his arms around her, apologies pouring out of his lips as he registered what he'd done, Brooke screamed.

Brooke woke with a scream of terror, the intensity shaking the walls as she slowly registered where she was and who wasn't there. She brought her hand to her chest, feeling her heart pounding as she took a shaky breath in, tears streaming down her face. She had been crying in her sleep, she realized.

Just a dream, Brooke thought to herself, It was all just a bad dream. It hurt her heart to think of him in that way, to see the true monster underneath his pristine exterior. She had no place to judge. After all, she had been the one to tell him that not all monsters do monstrous things... why couldn't she believe that herself?

"Brooke?" A familiar voice came from behind her shut door, a soft knock on it. "Are you okay?" It was Elena. The strawberry blonde felt frozen, not trusting her voice to speak, but she gathered all she could, trying her hardest to seem perfectly fine.

"I-I'm fine, El." Her voice was shaky, she knew that, but it was as good as she could get it.

The brunette on the other side of the door frowned, hearing her cousin's tone was weird. "Are you sure, Brooke? Do you want me to come in?"

"El, I'm fine," Brooke said firmly. "If I wasn't, I'd let you know."

Elena sighed and slowly retreated to her own bedroom, leaving Brooke to deal with her night terror.

The strawberry blonde turned her lamp on and for the rest of the night, she found no sleep, too afraid that her nightmares could become real at anytime. She felt horrible for lying to him, but she couldn't let her confidence in him wavier, or he'd give up completely and they had come too far to do that.

"I love him," she whispered to herself, knowing every word was true. "He's the love of my life." But I'm afraid of what he is, she thought.

How does one love a monster without being terrified of them at one point?