05 | rupture
breach or disturb

dedicated to nightgate sorry about backbone :)

AFTER FIVE MINUTES of running blindly down numerous empty streets, I was finally able to persuade and drag Damon onto the London underground tube – much to his dismay. We bought our tickets in a hurry, and ran down the escalators as the air pushed at my hair, another underground train rushing to the platform. Damon grunted as he almost fell down the stairs, tripping at my heels, with only his vampire balance to keep him upright.

I glanced back, smirking at his pained face and partially unbuttoned shirt. It set aside part of the panic beginning to well up in my body. He was the only person I felt like I could trust, even after breaking Nathan's neck in front of me. Yet, he had been protecting me. Everything he had done leading up to this point had been to protect me, despite not knowing from what or who.

The station was deserted, aside from a man sleeping on a metal bench twenty yards away from us. The stench of stagnant water was unpleasant, and the silence between Damon and myself was so quiet, my ears began to ring.

When the next train arrived, I was thankful to jump on it, taking the nearest seat to the door with Damon stood in front of me, clutching the yellow support until his knuckles turn white. I watched patiently as he bit his gums, his smooth chest peaking out from under his shirt. Gazing at his chiselled jaw and endless brown eyes, I knew he was what the world perceived as handsome. He was what I perceived as perfect, and the fact that he could hear my heart rate speed up every time we made eye contact made the tension between us worse. Damon was a 'murderer' - but he was a fucking beautiful one.

"Never thought I'd see Damon the all-powerful and fearless vampire scared of the London Underground," I chuckled, glad that the carriage was empty aside from a drunk couple and four teenage boys who bid us none of their attention.

Damon breathed through his nose sharply at the train broke as we reached the next stop. "I have a hate-hate relationship with public transport."

"Remind me how the fuck you survived how ever many hours on a plane from Washington to London?"

"I threw up on Nathan four times," Damon admitted, bowing his head down to the ground. He frowned as he eyed numerous splodges of grey gum clumped against the gritty flooring.

I bit my lip to stifle a chuckle. "No wonder that man hates you."

Damon laughed as a response, but stiffened as soon as the train started to move again. I gave him a sympathetic smile, simply saying "it's one more stop," to try and ease his nerves.

It took two minutes to arrive at our station, the train having left the underground for the midnight overground. Lights twinkled with luminescence across the city, littering the scape like stars. My eyes flickered over each building, the signs merged into the darkness as London slept.

I took Damon's arm tentatively as the doors opened automatically, the man clutching his stomach from nausea. His weight made the climb from the station a challenge, but I didn't push the man off until we arrived at my university halls three minutes later.

"Why do think this is happening?" I enquired as I slot my key-card through the detector, and the door opened with a resounding click. The halls were silent as we made our way up the flight of stairs, and wandered along the extensive passageway that lead to my dull category one en-suite room.

"What part of all 'this' are you talking about?" Damon sighed as he managed to overcome him sickness after the using the arm rail to haul himself up the stairs.

"All of it."

"Do I look like a fucking Agony Aunt to you?" Damon stated deliriously as we walked further along the corridor. The lights had been switched off for the night, and a smile tugged at my lips as I heard snoring emanate from a room as we walked past it.

"Firstly, you're not a woman. And secondly, Agony Aunts usually aren't as grumpy as you."

I paused outside my door, crossing my arms over my chest and standing in the way of the wooden barricade before Damon could enter. "Damon, is it normal for people to remember things like this?"

Damon licked his lips before placing his hands on his hips. He locked his eyes with mine, the corridor abruptly feeling much smaller than it had mere seconds ago. "If the vampire is young or doesn't know what he's doing, then yes. Or you're just a freak of nature, which I think is probably more accurate."

I slid the key card through the door and smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"I wouldn't."

"Wow, no wonder you have the women all over you. You're such a charmer, honestly. Who wouldn't want a presumptuous dick as their boyfriend?" I chuckled. It was something I had rarely done since finding out I had skipped a week of my life, but it felt good. Judging by the smile on Damon's face, he was glad to see my teeth. "Sorry. You know I hate you really." I winked.

Damon shook his head, diverting his eyes to the ground as we slid into the room, and closed the door behind us. The area appeared virtually untouched, aside from Hannah's work strewn across the small table of our shared room, with her door slammed firmly shut.

My roommate was as disorganised as I was - which, to be frankly honest, was an achievement. We had both bonded within days of sharing a confined space, after the rooms we had both initially wanted (separate rooms) had been snatched up by the early applicants, leaving us with a shower that rarely spewed how water, and a lack of space.

"Be quiet," I murmured to Damon, staggering across the tiny kitchen with the male in tow. It was exactly how I had pictured it earlier, except there was no note in my hand, and I had no idea where I had placed it. Without wasting a second, I looked along the counters, and pulled out the draws before searching them once again, to no avail. Almost giving up with my search, I pulled down the cookie jar from on top of the microwave, and opened the empty pot. Hannah and I had finished the biscuits months ago, and we were too broke to afford such luxuries like rich tea biscuits and Hobnobs.

I held my breath, opening the lid tentatively. Damon kept his eyes on me, never blinking once like a hawk eyeing its prey hungrily. When my eyes spotted a crisp white piece of paper at the bottom, I stifled a sigh and pulled it out.

My heart jumped to my throat, the paper crumpled beneath my fingertips. I swallowed nervously, butterflies erupting in my stomach like a flock as I unfolded the yellow parchment covered in brown cookie crumbs. Anticipating a neat message, I cursed to find a random collection of scribbles written to form lines. The black lines were illegible, the pattern having been gone over multiple times with the same Biro until the ink created dents in the paper.

"I-" My hands began to shake, my body slowly growing cold. "I don't understand."

Damon didn't offer a solution, leaving me to scrutinise the piece of paper further. After a moment, I picked out a number, yet the rest was just as unreadable.

"Wait," Damon suddenly said. He hastily snatched the paper from my hand before I could protest, and held the writing in front of the reflective screen of the microwave. At first, I wanted to hit him over the head and demand what he was doing, but after a minute, the bold letters finally became a message.

Algrose Cemetery.

My eyes wandered to a second bit of writing, written much smaller and further down the page. Instantly, my breath hitched.

Don't trust Damon.

Having read it too, Damon's movements began to slow. He edged away from the microwave, falling into the shadows of the tiny kitchen as though he belonged among them.

Something inside me began to burn; a fire of rage I couldn't extinguish. "You did this? You fucking did this to me?" I gestured at my head, and strode towards the man angrily. His hazel eyes hardened, and I watched his clean-shaven clenched. "This whole fucking time?"

"No, Cora, I-"

"Then why the fuck did I write this?" I demanded, unable to stop the words from flowing out of my mouth. "Why Damon?"

"I don't fucking know!" Damon finally snapped, shouting at me as his kind demeanour stripped away, leaving the feral creature beneath. He used his inhuman speed to push me against the nearest wall, pressing my shoulders into the plaster so firmly they began to hurt.

"Damon, please stop," I gasped. My mouth only widened when Damon's eyes shifted colour from their typical fluctuating hazel to a much darker brown - so dark, they were almost black. "Please, you're hurting me."

My plea snapped something within the vampire, his eyes shuddering back to their normal shade in a split second. Damon shook his head, unable to comprehend his actions as he backed away, leaving me panting against the wall.

"Cora," Damon raised his tanned hands. "I'm so sorry. I didn't meant to."

I bit my lip, body shaking from the attack. The one person I had trusted was now the one person I felt like I could never put my faith in. Why had I written that in my coma after all, if it weren't true? Was that the reason why he was so hellbent on discovering the truth; so that I would never actually discover the truth?

But then why hadn't he just killed me after I had done his bidding? Surely snapping my neck would've been the safest way of preventing me from speaking the truth?

I shivered as I stared at the handsome male once more. "Just get out," I whispered, rubbing my shoulders to try and regain some heat.

"What?" Damon quirked his brow, stunned.

"I said, get your fucking half-Italian arse the fuck out of here, Damon!" I yelled. My clammy hands folded themselves into fists, restraining them at my side whilst Damon glanced at me up and down.

"Cora, seriously. Think about this. I need to protect you, ok? You need me to help you."

"I don't need anyone, least of all you, Damon! Just go."

Damon waited for a second before turning on his heel and slamming the door in my face. "Fuck!" He shouted through the door as something thumped against the wall outside. I listened out for a further minute, my heart thrumming against my eardrums as the vampire finally gave up and walked back down the hall, leaving the world in silence.

A bead of sweat ran down my forehead, and I quickly wiped it away as my back found the wall. I gave myself a moment to breathe, the air in my lungs suffocating as I kept inhaling. At least now I could continue life as it was before my mind had been opened to the supernatural world - despite my agonising curiosity.

"Cor?" A feminine voice called through the night air, making my skin raise into millions of goose-pimples.

I sighed in relief as Hannah's door tugged open, revealing the twenty-year-old situated behind it. Her short black bob was ruffled, bangs merged with the longer tresses until they were non-existent. The mascara she had neglected earlier in the evening decorated the bottom of her mocha eyes, hollowing them out into pits. However, there was no doubt that Hannah Couture was beautiful. With a soft face, yet defined features and naturally full lips, the girl was always the centre of attention when it came to guys.

"Hey, Hannah," I whispered as she clicked on the light. But the moment the luminosity flooded her features, and we made eye contact, I knew something was amiss. Her kind brown eyes dissolved into darkness, lips curling into a snarl as though she was nothing more than an animal. Ignoring the warning signs, I pressed on. "Sorry about the noise, this guy was being a real dick."

I waited a second, stroking my arm under Hannah's scorching gaze tentatively, hoping for a response. Expecting words, I leapt out my skin when Hannah didn't make a sound. Instead, her lips curled up into a snarl, and she quickly picked up a pen from the table. Her face was unrecognisable as she suddenly sprang forwards, pen poised like a knife.

I didn't have any other choice but to squeal in shock, bashing my leg against the table as I moved out of her path. I hissed in pain as my thigh throbbed from the impact, but was left no time to react as Hannah lashed out once more, this time with a knife she had gathered from the kitchen.

"Hannah!" I yelled, raising my voice to a volume that was loud enough to wake up all of the other students in the building. "What," I panted, jumping over the table in our shared living space before crouching down behind the sofa, "the fuck!"

I ran out from my hiding place, frantically looking for anything I could use as a weapon that wouldn't end up harming my best friend. I didn't have time to think about what had happened to her, but the idea of compulsion lurked at the back of my mind. It scared me to the bone - tore at my fragmented heart.

Hannah replied with a snarl, and I glanced behind me to see her swipe the knife across my vision. Instinctively, I arced my back, avoiding contact with the blade by a mere centimetre. I then dropped to my haunches as Hannah surged forwards, launching into the side of our kitchen table instead of my flesh.

"This isn't you!"  I gasped, side stepped and grabbing Hannah's arm as she turned around and lunged at me once more. My fingers enclosed tightly around her wrist, twisting it until the knife fell from her hand. It landed with a metallic clang on the wooden floor.

We both glanced at the knife for a second. Time slowed, the milliseconds ticking away as though they lasted centuries. I knew that Hannah's mind was not in her control, and that if the knife fell into either of our hands, we would do something we would regret for the rest of our lives.

Mustering all my strength, I pushed Hannah away from the knife. The girl grunted, charging straight back at me with fists. I was unable to avoid her attack despite my quick reaction time. Hannah was swift to land a punch in my stomach, forcing the air from my lungs. I needed a second to recover, but Hannah had already used my weakness against me, landing a successful punch to my face.

I felt blood dripping from my nose, running into my mouth until all I could taste was copper.

My roommate didn't give me a second to spare. Using her small figure, she effortlessly knocked me to the ground, placing her knee on my chest and pressing down until it felt like daggers were digging into my lungs with every breath.

She quickly landed yet another agonising punch to my face, splitting my lip open. I was unclear of her objective, but every instinct was telling me that the situation did not end up with me coming out alive.

Gasping in fear, I raised a knee to kick the girl in the back, but it did nothing more than edge her on further. I didn't want to hurt her, but her actions left me no choice, no matter how much mental pain it caused me.

"Hannah!" I shouted, raising my fists to retaliate. "This isn't you-"

Abruptly, the woman's figure was thrown off my body in a single blow. My eyes began to water in fear as she landed on the floor hard, her head banging against the wooden floorboards without protection. Instantaneously, the woman's eyes slid shut as she was rendered unconscious.

"Shit!" I muttered, hyperventilating to gather oxygen in my lungs. Using my trembling hands, I pushed my red-gold hair from my eyes to make out the face of the shadow looming above the fight scene. Silhouetted by the moonlight filtering in through the window, it took a second to map out the vampire's muscular arms and ruffled ebony tresses. The darkness gave him a strange, sinister kind of beauty that made my heart flutter rapidly in my chest.

"For fucks sake, ginger," Damon muttered, one hand reaching down to help me up. "I leave you alone for one second and you almost go and die on me."

I gratefully took Damon's warm hand, spreading a wildfire through my numbed fingers. I was as equally shocked as I was worried about my best friend lying unconscious on the floor. Without hesitating, I moved over the girls frame, taking her head in my lap as I waited for her to wake up.

"I had it covered." I panted, trying to mask the butterflies fluttering in my stomach. My hands collected up Hannah's hair, keeping it from her face as she lay peacefully, chest rising and falling with each deliberated breath.

Damon scoffed. "If that's how you define covered, then I'm seriously beginning to question how you've survived nineteen years of life without breaking a bone."

beautiful cover by marvelwhore - thank you! 💛

fINALLY ANOTHER UPDATE

I LOVE MY BABIES SO MUCH

to everyone reading this (lol no one) thank you for sticking with Cora and Damon! I love them to pieces, and i'm so proud of their character development so far <3

also lucksless thank you for much for the comments, and I promise there are villains coming very soon ;) and dawnreadings your comments are insane, thank you for the support!

thank you for reading! let me know what you thought, and why do you think the note said don't trust damon?

love you lots! lotte xxx