damon marcello

He hated seeing his pure hearted lover so depressed. She fell into a dark abyss after the hospital, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see to pull her out of it. It was like Isolt had given up on life itself. She didn't sleep, didn't eat. She was shriveling right before his eyes and Damon felt helpless to do anything about it. He begged, he pleaded, he even threatened to jam a feeding tube down her throat (which was a total bluff, but desperation, alright?) but to no avail. She continued to wither like a flower with iron roots. She just refused to live. Damon was slowly running out of options; he knew this. Part of him hoped she would get so hungry that her instincts would kick in and if he brought a human to her, she wouldn't be able to control herself and would feed, but he also hated the thought of it because he knew she would never forgive him if she couldn't stop herself.

He got his sleeps in shifts most days, ever aware of the movements of the body beside him in bed. A part of him feared if he let a deep sleep take him, that he might wake up to find her no longer among the undead. She seemed so fragile nowadays, so frail. So when he felt her move to get up from bed, he didn't move, but he was awake. He made sure to keep his eyes closed and not move a muscle, but he was well trained in that. Yet, he was hyper aware of every step his wife took as she went to their dresser to retrieve something. If he had a heart, it would have been hammering in his chest, because he knew all too well what was lurking under some folded clothes in that dresser. He'd found the note a few days ago, having watched through slits in the door as his wife turmoiled over pieces of paper when she thought he was out. It was all he could do not to lock her in a cell when he read that note for the first time, knowing exactly what it meant.

Ever since, sleep had been even harder for him to catch. He was too on edge, waiting for her to make that next move, because he knew it was coming. His keen hearing caught the slight flutter of paper and the slow pad of her feet as she walked out of the room. Only then, did he get to his own feet and follow in her wake, making no noise on the solid wood floors he knew by heart. He watched from the dark corner of the bedroom door as his wife set the envelope on the table by the door. When she took off her wedding band, it was all he could do not to tackle her right then and there. His non-beating heart was already in his throat, knowing what was coming. But he told himself she wouldn't do it. Isolt loved life too much. She wouldn't throw it all away...right? And so, his feet froze.

But not for long. For the moment, her fingers curled around the doorknobs of the double doors, he was already in motion. Pushing even his vampiric speed to the limit, Damon slammed the bedroom door open and had her wrapped in his arms before the doors even got halfway open. He turned them so that his back was the only thing exposed to the sun's rays, letting his own wedding band protect them both as he called upon his powers to slam the doors back closed behind him, shielding them both from the harm of the sun. He felt like he was out of breath even though he had no need to breathe, his eyes wide and more desperate than he even remembered being as he held his wife out at arm's length, checking her for damage. She only seemed to have minimal burns from the exposure, though he knew her skin would stay raw and unhealed longer because she hadn't been eating.

Only once his search was over did the vampire fall to his knees before her, his head bowed into the cradle of her legs as he grasped her nightgown for dear life. "Oh, my dear beloved wife, how you test my abilities." He pressed his forehead into her legs for a moment and when he finally looked up at her, crimson tears streaked down his face. "After all this, you intend to leave me like that? You know I can't allow that." His voice was calm, almost too calm as he looked at her, searching her beautiful features as if for the last time. With a sigh, he looked down, slowly pulling his own wedding band off and setting it on the floor beside her. Then he met her gaze again. "If you die, I have nothing left to leave for. You are the love of my eternal life, my soul mate, my better half. So if there's nothing left for you in this life, then you'll just have to take me with you."