Chapter 218 Vampire Luna

Chapter 218 Vampire Luna
His dark, muscular back was a nightmare of torn flesh and blackened skin. The injuries had dug so much deeper since the last time I saw them, raw and open against his golden skin. The awful burns had spread wider across his shoulder blades, branching out like dark, jagged roots.
My stomach churned as I stared in sheer disbelief. How he was standing right in front of me with a completely calm, unbothered expression on his face was something I could not begin to understand. Everything looked intensely painful, so agonizing that any ordinary person suffering from injuries like these would be lying on an operating table under emergency surgery right now.
My breath hitched sharply as my eyes caught a horrifying detail. Faint, pale wisps of dark smoke were slowly rising directly from the edges of his raw flesh. It was burning him from the inside out, smoldering right before my eyes in the warm light of the room.
"Why... why is smoke coming out of your back like this?" I whispered, my voice trembling as my hand hovered over his scarred skin, afraid to touch him. "It isn't supposed to be doing this. Why is it burning?"
Damon slowly turned around to face me, pulling his dark shirt back over his broad chest. His expression remained unreadable, his dark eyes looking down into mine with a strange, heavy quietness.
"Well, I know," he answered, his voice dropping into a low, gravelly rasp. "It is happening because you are here, Amanda. When the curse carrier approaches his death, even the very thing that used to heal him begins to cause more pain. My body can no longer be healed. You cannot fix something that is already dead inside, so trying to heal it now only makes the damage worse."
A heavy, painful lump formed in my throat, tears stinging the back of my eyes. "I'm so sorry, Damon..." I murmured softly, dropping my head.
Before the words could fully leave my mouth, Damon reached out, his large hands resting gently on my waist to pull me a fraction closer. "You don't have to apologize," he rumbled, his thumbs lightly stroking my sides. "None of this is your fault."
I looked up at him, my lower lip trembling as I met his steady gaze. "I just hope this agony stops soon."
"It will," Damon replied, a faint, weary sigh escaping his chest as his dark brows pulled together. "The elders and I are still discussing the details of the purification ritual. I am taking my time and trying my absolute best because someone warned me that you might suffer severe injuries during the process... and I am trying everything in my power to avoid that."
My heart hammered against my ribs at his words. "I don't care about that! I can take a few injuries if it means finally stopping this horrible pain for you. I know you are hiding how much it hurts, Damon. You feel it every single second, don't you? And knowing that... I feel it too."
I took a small step backward, gently trying to ease out of his grip as a wave of overwhelming guilt washed over me. "I think... I think I should be going now. I can't stay here and cause you any more pain."
The moment I turned my body around to head toward the heavy double doors, his warm, strong fingers wrapped firmly around my wrist, stopping me dead in my tracks.
"I don't want you to go away," he growled softly, his voice thick with a dark, desperate intensity.
I looked back over my shoulder at him, shaking my head with a sad, bitter smile. "No, Damon, it is necessary. I completely understand the situation now. Besides, you don't have any use for me anymore. I can't heal your body like I used to. All my presence does now is cause you physical torture... so it is much better if I just leave you in peace."
Damon didn't let go. Instead, he tugged sharply on my wrist, pulling my body flush against his hard chest. He wrapped one massive arm around my lower back, trapping me tightly against him, while his other hand slowly slid down my side.
He bent his head down, his hot breath brushing tantalizingly against the shell of my ear as a dangerous, intoxicating smirk spread across his lips.
"Then let me feel the pain..." he whispered darkly against my skin, his large, warm hand slipping under the
hem of my skirt.