The Devil's Angel

“Mommy! Mommy?” Damon’s eyes snapped to the boy who was patting and caressing his mother’s face. “Wake up, mommy,” he cried in broken voice.

“Damon?” Stefan looked around at the burning house, lifeless Mia, dead Claire, crying Jake and…Damon with his eyes wet, looking up at him. “What happened?” Stefan asked softly, “Elena was calling and nobody picked up and then I called you and I…” he looked around again and rested his eyes on Mia.

“She’ll be fine, Damon,” he assured his brother.

“I know,” Damon murmured, “I thought,” his voice broke but he continued, “I just...for a moment, I thought...I lost her,” he admitted to his brother, which was rare for him. Mostly, he was the stronger one.

“It’s ok,” Stefan reassured him and put his hand on Damon’s shoulder to comfort him.

“Please, take the boy away from her,” he requested Stefan almost breathlessly, his eyes fixed on the girl that had come to mean so much to him, it was terrifying but amazing.

Stefan nodded as he made his way to Jake, feeling sympathetic for him. The kid lost both his parents at such a young age and both murdered at the hands of vampires.

Mia fluttered her eyes open, trying to focus on the blurred face that danced in front of her. “Mia?” she felt his hand on her cheek, his gentle voice full of relief like a great turmoil was taken away from him.

“Damon,” she breathed. Her lips turning up into a small smile. She tried to get up, her head throbbing a little as if she had hit something but the pain dulled as she thought about it.

“Are you ok?” Damon asked as he helped her to sit and Mia nodded and then almost lunged at him, hugging him to herself. He wrapped his arms around her waist as she rested her chin on his shoulder, thankful that everything was fine.

At the very last moment, she really thought she was going to die. She was in fact, waiting for that silhouette to appear and tell her, her fate. She sighed and held Damon tighter and smiled when she felt him do the same.

She felt safe, happy, accepted and all the good things she wanted to feel despite the circumstances. It was him, she realized. Everything good and wonderful about her was him. Everything good she felt, everything that made her existence worthwhile was holding her and she had no intention of letting go. He was here and she was going to make sure that he stayed forever.

“Damon?” she called and then cleared her throat to whisk away the roughness from her voice, “Thanks again,” she gave out a little chuckle.
“Hmm,” he mumbled, wanting to scream at her, tell her how much he needed her, how afraid he was that he lost her but he bit his tongue to stop himself.

“Damon. I, uh…” she hesitated and Damon’s heart skipped a beat. She licked her lips and tried to continue. It shouldn’t be so hard, she has been trying to say it since she left Mystic Grill. “Uh, I, you,” she shook her head and took a deep breath, not knowing Damon had stopped breathing all together. She opened her eyes, “I lo…” she paused suddenly and blinked her eyes to adjust her sight on Jake who was running towards her, his eyes red and puffy from crying.

She pulled back from Damon who opened his eyes after waiting for the words that never came. He turned to see the reason and suddenly Jake pushed him away from Mia.

Mia stood up, “Jake? What are you doing?” she asked and turned to Damon, “Are you ok, Damon?” she asked, eyeing Damon with concern and apology floating in her eyes. Everything was fine as far as she knew. Claire and Jake had made it out already and she was fine too. Great, Damon thought as he closed his eyes.

“Stay away from her,” Jake shouted at Damon as he stood between Mia and him. “Jake come here,” Stefan said in a tight, yet pleading tone.
“No, no. you both are the same,” he replied, screaming the words at him.

“Jake, you need to stop it. They’re friends and they’re going to help us,” she reasoned with the boy.

“No!” Jake shouted and Mia furrowed her eyebrows, unable to take in the intensity of his voice. “Jake!” she took the parental voice, stepping forward.

“But, he killed my mother,” he whispered, the tears in his eyes resting on his lower lid, ready to spill again.

“What?” Mia murmured and her probing eyes fell on the person who had helped her from day one. How could she not see it before? She thought. “No,” she looked from Jake to Stefan to Damon who was staring at the ground, confirming her fear. She put her hand on her mouth as she took a step back.

“Claire?” Was another person taken away from her? Another person she loved, who loved her, cared for her. She ran towards the body and fell to her knees as she reached it, her trembling fingers grazing the skin that would never again glow, the smile she’d never again see.

She closed her eyes in pain, the tears flowing uncontrollably. She didn’t realize she was shaking until Jake came to rest his head on her shoulder. Mia opened her eyes to look at the young boy who’d lost his parents at such an age, probably the only one who understood her at the moment.
Mia pulled him in and hugged him, her hand stroking his head gently in a comforting manner. “He killed her in front of me,” he sobbed, “He twisted her neck…he killed…her,” he sniffled, “He killed…”

“It’s fine,” she hushed him, “It’s gonna be fine,” she said, her voice broken, just the way her heart was. She raised her eyes to see Damon’s blue looking at her.

For the first time since she met him, she felt nothing, staring in those eyes. All the familiarity was gone. For the first time since she met her devil, he looked like one to her; a demon and that’s only what she saw in his blue orbs.

For the first time since he met her, he saw no warmth in those chocolate brown eyes he loved, no light, no radiance to engulf him and he felt…incomplete without it. In just a moment, his angel was gone, only to be replaced with a darker version of herself and that too, killed another part of him.

They both played stare mania for several moments, each trying to find something to hold onto. Damon knew in that moment, what she meant to him, what she actually meant. She was the only one who could control the beast within him, only one who could save him and he needed to be saved, desperately. There was a dark part of his soul that only her light could touch it and he knew he would never escape it without her.

“Mia. I…” he started but the moment he spoke, Mia closed her eyes and buried her face in Jake’s neck. “It’s ok, Jake. She’s with your father now. They’re gonna be happy,” she said, trying to make him feel better, knowing already, it wouldn’t.

“What about me?” he mumbled. The question left her speechless. What was she supposed to say to him? She looked at Damon again with accusation in her eyes. “I’m gonna be with you. I’ll keep you safe,” she promised as she stood up with him.

She saw Damon giving Stefan a rigid nod before disappearing and Mia breathed a sigh of relief at his departure. “You can stay at our place,” Stefan suggested and Mia thought for a moment before replying, “No, I can’t,” she shook her head, “Not with him there.”

“He wouldn’t be there,” Stefan said, looking at her with sympathy but his eyes were tight, a little cold, “You need a place to stay,” he said, his voice carefully controlled and Mia couldn’t help but wonder why such coldness was directed at her.