***DON'T YOU DARE READ THIS BEFORE YOU READ CHAPTER NINETEEN!!!1 I'VE DOUBLE UPLOADED!***
Twenty
I didn't go find Damon.
First, I just needed to make sense of everything in my head, so I went to the one place that I knew would help. My garden.
As I walked down the hallway toward the double doors leading out into the courtyard, I was going through every one of my memories since they were now clear as day in my mind. I was married the the most handsome man and had a beautiful daughter with him. I could just forget about everything else and be happy with that if I had to.
"She's beautiful," I said, still staring at the picture. "She looks like you, too."
Damon smiled slightly, turning it back toward him so he could look at her. "More like her mother, I think," he said, and looked back up at me. "You're probably wondering about her, aren't you?"
I nodded, not saying a word.
"We lost her a few years after Zoe was born."
Why I assumed that she was dead, I had no idea. And why I couldn't see my and Zoe's resemblance, I didn't know that either. The day that I met her, she almost let the word 'mother' slip out a few times. Apparently I didn't catch onto that either.
I didn't know how I found myself in the garden then, walking among the flowers and trees. It looked almost exactly the way I'd left it, so someone must have been keeping up with it. I let my fingers drift lightly over the petals as I walked down the pathway. I looked up at the familiar glass dome that covered the area and the slight orangish glow given off by the fire. We were in the Underworld after all.
"So you remember now."
It was the sweet voice that I remembered, the one that would calm me when I was upset or angry, the one that would laugh for hours on end as he played with our daughter as she grew up...the one that whispered sweet nothings in my ear as he made love to me. It made goosebumps appear on my arms and a shiver go through my body. I couldn't turn around, though...because I wouldn't know what I would do to him when I saw him, saw that love for me shining through his eyes the exact same way he'd looked at me for the few weeks that he'd been back in my life.
"Yes." My voice was barely even over a whisper.
I heard him sigh then and sit down on the stone bench that I'd passed. "Do you have any questions?"
I shook my head, still not turning around. "No, everything makes sense now."
"Are you mad that I lied to you? About us? About Zoe even?" He voice was starting to sound like he was panicking slightly.
I shook my head again. "You don't have to explain anything."
He took a shaky breath and I caved. I turned around just slightly so I could look at him. Only he wasn't looking at me. He had his elbows leaned on his knees and his face in his hands.
"Whats's wrong?"
It took him a moment, but then he lifted his face from his hands and his fiery blue eyes met mine. "When are you going back?" he asked. I could tell he was trying to sound indifferent, but I could still hear the pain.
"What are you talking about?"
"You've obviously made your decision. You're not staying with me. So when are you going back? I can have Charon take you. Better yet, Ari and Hector will be here in a few hours. Maybe they can. I'm sure you want..."
Before he could finish, I had already made my way over to him and knelt down in front of him, placing my finger on his lips to stop him.
"Why would I ever leave you?" I asked.
It was then that I saw the tears forming in his eyes. It was one of the few times that I'd actually seen this beautiful man cry. He was usually always smiling or serious.
"Because your human life is one where you're free to do anything you want. You're not tied down with a husband and daughter who have both missed you more than you can imagine," he answered. "Like I said before, I want you to make your own decision."
I already had.
I leaned up, taking his face in my hands, before I softly pressed my lips to his.
I tried to keep it sweet, but with not being able to be with him for so long, my body kind of took over instead. My arms wrapped around his neck as I leaned myself more into him. His hands came up to cup my cheeks in his palms as he kissed me back just as hungrily.
It was like coming home, but then like I hadn't even left at the same time.
"I love you," Damon breathed when we finally pulled back. I had somehow ended up straddling his lap as he sat on the bench. "So much."
Hearing those words coming from his lips...it lit my body on fire just like everything else he did to me.
"I love you, too," I said, smiling up at him and meaning every word.
He smiled and leaned in to kiss me again, softly and sweetly. I started trailing kisses across his cheek until my lips brushed his ear and he shivered.
"Now, can we make up for lost time?" I whispered in his ear. I leaned back and looked at him. His eyes were now dark with passion, making me tingle in a few certain places.
Who needs stairs when your husband can shadow travel?
Damon pulled me up from the bench and we started walking at a quick pace before everything went dark around me. Then we were in our bedroom, candles lit and fireplace roaring in the corner.
"Well, that was unex-"
I didn't even have time to finish before Damon spun me around and shut me up with another kiss. This was was just as hungry, just as passionate as the one just moments before. Only now, we were in our private space with no chance of interruptions.
Clothes were thrown haphazardly around the room as we made our way over to the bed, it's dark sheets warm and inviting. We were both completely naked then as he leaned me back against the pillows. After a moment, he pulled back to look at me before fusing us together in the most intimate way two people could.
What seemed like hours after, my body was tired and satisfied as I laid on my back. Damon had put himself right on top of me, his ear right over my heart. I brushed back his sweaty hair from his forehead and leaned down to kiss the top of his head.
"You're so beautiful," he murmured as his fingers traced my skin.
"So you've told me." My smile was not going to leave my lips anytime soon.
After another long pause, he spoke again.
"Tell me something."
"Hm?"
"Will you stay? Or will you go back to your family? I mean," he said right when I started to speak. "You can go back if you want, finish out school if you wanted and even go to college. But you could do that with me, too. And if you stay, it's not like I wouldn't let you go back to visit. They're your family and always will be."
I took a moment to answer as I continued to brush my fingers through his hair. He leaned his face up so he could look at me and it looked like he was worried that I was still actually considering going back.
"I think I'll take the latter of those two," I told him.
His smile was breathtaking as he leaned up to kiss me again.
"So there's one thing I want right now," I murmured against his lips.
He groaned deep in the back of his throat, probably thinking something totally different from what I was. "Yes, my love?"
I laughed then. "I'm hungry."
Damon groaned again, but more in defeat this time as he pulled away from me, pressing his forehead to my shoulder as I laughed again.
"You always get hungry after," he said when he leaned back up, but he was smiling. "So I shall be a good husband and go get my beautiful wife something to eat."
My smile was still on my face as I watched him get up and walk toward the closet. Even in the dim candlelight his body was absolutely gorgeous. I could look at him all day, though I'm sure some of the others here wouldn't like it if he walked around naked.
So when he appeared again, he had on a pair of black - what other color would they have been? - pajama pants and was tying the string at his waist.
"You stay there and continue looking gorgeous while I go get something for us to eat," he said as he walked toward the door.
I smiled again as I sat up in bed, pulling the covers up around me as I watched him pull open the door.
But it immediately dropped when I saw a big, bulky figure in the doorway.
"Well, that was easy," a deep voice said humorously.
The man had something in his hand and he quickly lunged forward, digging what looked like a dagger deep into Damon's chest. I screamed just as he dropped to the floor, completely paralyzed.
There had to be poison on the blade. It wouldn't kill him, but he couldn't stop him now.
"Well, seems like I interrupted a reunion, didn't I?" the man said, stepping over Damon and toward me. "That's always fun."
Before I knew it, he was right beside the bed, another dagger in his hand, and shoved it into my side. Right as my vision blurred and went blank, I looked up into his face and couldn't help but think that I'd seen him before.
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