Chapter 23 — Love in the Darkness

Rita was walking around the city very worried. She had no idea where to find Damon, besides, was afraid about him, after all, he was definitely devastated and one could not know what kind of an idea would show up in his head.

After an hour of searching, Rita finally spotted him on the bridge.

"Damon?" she ran up to him, unsure of his intentions, though on the other hand a jump off the bridge could not kill a demon, so her fear was basically unfounded.

"Rita? Rita Spencer?" Damon looked at her in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" he asked after a moment.

"As soon as I found out what happened, I had to find you. Selene is devastated, she had an argument with her aunt, locked herself in the room and doesn't want to see anyone." Rita replied, catching breath after running.

"Believe me, I didn't want her to suffer. I... I was just afraid that if told her she would hate me completely, meanwhile, it all happened anyway..." Damon said in a broken voice.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that in the end everything will be fine. Selene still loves you, I can feel it, she just needs time to think about it all and gain some strength to forgive you." Rita consoled him.

"You are probably right or at least I hope so." Damon smiled faintly. "I have to tell you something else, since you've found me..." he added and became sad again.

"What is this? Tell me." Rita spoke up nervously, seeing his grave face expression.

"When I was walking down the street, I met one of my kinsmen. He was checking how my mission was going, provoked me and I told him the whole truth, including that I love Selene and I am not going to kill her. Alistair will surely send someone else on this mission now, probably also to kill me. But mostly I'm worried about Selene." Damon replied.

"Then be around. You will come in handy, because you know best what their strategy is." Rita asked him.

"Of course. I won't let anyone hurt Selene, never. I'll be as close as possible." Damon promised, the sincerity clearly evident on his face.

"Thank you very much. Hang on and remember what I said." Rita added as a goodbye and then headed back home.

Damon felt much better after talking to this sorceress. He would never expect to meet someone of this race who is so understanding and fair in judgments. Rita was very different from most of the sorceresses, one could clearly see that she preferred to trust her gut more than blindly follow predetermined rules, and she certainly had a much more open mind to all kinds of possibilities. Damon heard from Selene that Rita was much more sensitive in general, also because of her gift of strong empathy, and the fact that she once fell in love with a demon herself. Knowing that, it wasn't surprising at all that she looked at Damon and Selene's love with a much softer eye than anyone else. They needed someone like that, because Rita's presence gave hope that their relationship could be accepted.

Damon, finishing his deep thinking, left the bridge and also walked towards the estate where the Monroe family house was located. He decided that even if Selene hated and the rest of the witches in the house wanted to drive him away, he would still be around to protect her. Damon had nothing to lose now, so might even die, and a hundred times he would rather be driven away by the sorceresses than punished by his kin. The banishment spell wiped out the demon's existence quickly, and in the Underworld, such a demon died long and in great torment, especially if he was accused of treason, and Damon for loving the sorceress would certainly not protect himself from such an accusation. He decided to protect Selene as long as fate allowed him, and then let himself be killed without hesitation.

~~~~~~

Days passed, and Selene roamed the house like a ghost and didn't even feel like taking lessons with her aunt. She was very angry with her, after all, it was partly she who ruined her happiness. Of course, Selene was still angry with Damon as well, but at the same time was missing him like crazy. She thought hard about it all but still couldn't find a solution.

Meredith was worried about her niece. She was pale, refused to eat, cried constantly, locked herself in the room and refused to talk to anyone. Even Alice didn't dare speak to Selene. She could hear her thoughts, and that was enough.

A week later, Isabelle and Johnathan visited the Monroe family's house. They greeted everyone and sat on the couch in the living room.

"Well, what's up with you?" Rita asked them, sitting in the armchair that was facing the guests.

"Everything is fine. How about you?" Johnathan replied.

"Eh, it's quite unpleasant to talk about. Selene had an argument with Meredith who resents her for meeting the demon in secret. But the problem is that he loves her and she loves him. Unfortunately, it was so unlucky that Selene fell in love with the same demon that killed her mother few years ago." Rita explained to them.

"Well, it really must be a complicated and very unpleasant situation." commented Johnathan, frowning slightly.

"Selene... How is she now?" Isabelle asked suddenly.

"She's totally broken. Selene chased her lover away so that her aunt would not attack him and Meredith resents her for it since she was waiting for years to get a chance to catch the demon that killed her sister." Rita replied, slightly surprised by her sudden animation.

"I have to go to Selene." Isabelle decided, standing up and taking her steps to the stairs.

"But she doesn't want to see anyone..." Alice spoke up, leaning against the kitchen door.

"I'm sure that she'll let me in." Isabelle replied as confidently as ever, and went upstairs.

~~~~~~

Johann rushed into the cave as quickly as if someone were chasing him, so Salvatore looked at him in surprise.

"You won't believe what had just happened." Johann gasped, a bit tired of the rush.

"What happened?" asked Salvatore, leaning more comfortably against the chair he was sitting on.

"Damon betrayed us. I was absolutely right about his feelings for the "chosen one". It's not a charm, but a real feeling, no magic contributed to its creation. Damon even told me about it himself when I met him on the street. At first he wanted to run me off into a dark alley, but I caught up with him, then I provoked Damon and he told me everything. Then ordered to tell Alistair that he did not intend to take a throne after him in the Underworld and that would defend the "chosen one"." he told everything in turn.

"Oh yes, we finally have him!" Salvatore clapped his hands with joy. "We need to get this message to Alistair as soon as possible." he added, getting up from the chair.

"I recorded it just in case," Johann replied, showing the tape recorder he had bought with the money he had got during his long stay on the surface. He saw something similar on TV and decided that humans weren't quite that stupid after all.

"You are a genius." older brother looked at him with great appreciation, perhaps for the first time in his life.

Coming up to Johann, Salvatore even put his arm around him and gave a tight hug, causing quite a shock on his younger brother's face. Then they both headed for the exit of their cave to head to Alistair's chambers.

~~~~~~

Isabelle walked slowly up to the first floor of the house, then down the hall to the door of Selene's room and finally knocked lightly on the door.

"Go away, I don't want to see anyone!" Selene shouted with her head pressed against the pillow, so it didn't sound as scary as she wanted it to.

"It's me." Isabelle said through the door, pressing the handle and glad the door was open, so she entered the room.

"Isabelle?" Selene jumped up from the bed, looking at her in no small surprise, and immediately hugged the woman.

"I heard what happened." Isabelle hugged Selene back with no hesitation. "And I think you should forgive Damon." she continued, stroking her hair.

"How can you say something like that?" Selene pulled away from her suddenly, looking into eyes. "He killed my mother! And on top of that, concealed this fact from me!" she screamed in exasperation.

"I know and understand your disappointment... But you should." Isabelle replied and sat down on the edge of her bed, and Selene took the seat next to her.

"Before my family was murdered, I met a demon, Nathaniel and we fell in love, started dating, but unfortunately my brother found out about it..." Isabelle stopped and took a deep breath. "He killed him in front of my eyes. From that moment on, I hated my brother and didn't want to forgive him, and then these demons killed my whole family in revenge for Nathaniel. He was probably someone important, if they took their revenge like this." she continued. "In any case, to this day I regret that I did not forgive my brother before it was too late. That's why I think that you should forgive Damon. After all, he was a different person back then." she concluded.

"Maybe you're right." Selene replied after a moment's pause.

"I'm definitely right. Life is too beautiful and fleeting to be wasted on arguments and hatred. Sorceresses live a long time, even up to three thousand years, but only a few live up to one thousand years, because our lives are full of threats. That is why I am telling you that it is not worth hating anyone. And considering that your and Damon's love is strictly forbidden for both sides, even much less you know how much time you have left to be together." Isabelle said, stroked her head and left the room, leaving Selene alone with her own thoughts.