@wordgave said: ❛ you’re not human —— that’s clear. ❜ /from elena to damon
𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐒, 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐌, a malignity. it is a state of being. it burns white-hot beneath his rib cage. it fills the room he’s sitting in. and always, he is aware of it. aware the way he’s aware of a clock ticking. could drown it out for other sounds, but always hears it when the room quiets down. it’s a comfortable sort of incessant. fire doesn’t pretend it isn’t hot. doesn’t forget how it can burn. if it does, it will lose its identity. become nothing. he doesn’t intend to become nothing.
and still, when he looks at her he feels some sort of softness. grazing his skin. unexpected and sordidly welcomed. it isn’t enough to temper his malevolence. hinders it, maybe. numbs his chest. clouds it. makes it forget its place in his state of being, but it returns. it is his nature. bound to him like an animal’s wildness. feral. habitual. certainly, he is more animal than man. inside, outside. maybe more inside than outside — his pride prevents him from crawling on all fours, but as for the rest? he indulges. ❝ no, elena. ❞ eyebrows furrow. head tilts off to one side. voice drips with a sort of derision. ❝ i’m not. ❞ a pause. eyes squint slightly, one more than the other. ❝ and maybe you should stop pretending like some part of me still is. ❞
hearts of stone prompts – accepting














