Though she was a witch she had no power or magic that could bring him back that could wake him up. The fire around them only raged more, with every second getting closer to where they were and she knew soon she would burn in it. If not by the witches' hands who now stood outside, both Damien and she would die in this fire. 

Nothing. 

He didn't move an inch and his heartbeat started to beat once every two or three seconds. 

Tears started to stream down her eyes. Internally she felt frustrated. She moved his chest, calling out his name, "Damien! Damien, wake up! Please," her please coming out in a whisper, "You narcist vampire you told me you would be my husband," she said angrily hoping he would at least wake up to respond to her cheesily but that didn't work, "Why won't you wake up," she asked him, her eyes blurred with the amount of tears that had filled her eyes. 

Didn't he say it two days ago and here they were...She wiped the tears from her face as it only increased. Penny had done everything she thought was possible. Jumping out of the window had been canceled knowing the witches wouldn't allow her and Damien step out of the circle. She closed her eyes taking a deep breath and opening to look down at Damien. It was told that when a person is about to die, they see their entire life in front of them and right now it was Damien who Penny gazed down at. 

Was this all? It was hard to accept that this could be her fate and his. 

Another tear fell from her eye. Taking Damien's hand in hers, she wrapped his larger using both her hands, wanting to express how grateful she was to have met him. They had spent good months together and with the time that had pa.s.sed, she wouldn't have wished to die with anyone else next to her but him. Her chest felt heavy not knowing what was going to happen. If the ritual would proceed and she would die in a snap or if it would be a slow death as the fire would engulf her and him together. 

Her fingers brushed the back of his hand, holding it with tears that only spilled before they seized, her mind starting to settle down and calming herself around the flaming fire.

She closed her eyes, her hand gripping tight on Damien who was on the ground when she felt his fingers move. The blood that Penny had poured into his mouth had taken time to trickle down, touching the back of his neck that slowly had seeped in the back of his throat. When Damien's eyes snapped open, they had turned completely dark. It was pitch black to be consumed by the darkness that had often lurked around his heart. The corruption had triggered and taken over the body of the pureblooded vampire that hadn't been able to handle the sedation. 

What the black witch had pa.s.sed in the porridge was more than sedation to the vampire to put him into sleep but also to stop the heart which would eventually stop and corrupt the heart during sleep. Maybe it would have worked if no blood was given. The sedation caused an imbalance, breaking the sleep with the blood that the corruption in Damien's body was seeking. Corrupting an already corrupted body didn't make much difference as it was already done. 

Damien belonged to the second generation of vampires, which meant cheap tricks of the white or black witch of the current generation wouldn't work on him. He was as good as an indestructible vampire unless one of the first two generations witches potions were given to him which none of the witches could get their hands on. 

Noticing Damien who was awake and sit up, unable to contain herself and not bothering with the fire anymore, she flung her arms around Damien happy to see him awake. Damien didn't hold back in holding her close to him and as the fire blazed, the room was left alone where Damien had switched them to the cold forest where snow was around. Penny clutched on to him, fearing she was dreaming him to be awake. She felt his hand brush on the back of her head slowly. 

Now that they were both safe, she remembered, "The books!" and without needing to be told or asked, the next second Damien dropped the books on the snow. He started to walk back towards the inn and she held his arm,

"Where are you going?" her eyes were extremely anxious while his eyes were left to be hollow and empty, "There are five of them there," she notified him. She was unsure if Damien was alright as a while ago he had been asleep without being able to wake himself up. 

"I know," his reply came to be clipped, his eyes reminding her that his emotions were not in control and it was the corruption that had taken over his body now. She didn't want him to go where there was a possible trap waiting for him. Penny had never been in such situations or had never seen Damien's abilities to believe that everything would end well. She was worried after what just happened where the witches believed that they were still in there with her being sacrificed.

Seeing him take two steps forward, "Don't go, please," she could still feel the pain of loneliness when he was lying back in the inn motionless. The tears that had stopped filled back up, "If you're going, drink the blood," she knew Damien hadn't taken blood this evening and she was not going to risk it. 

It wasn't the snarky, sarcastic Damien but as if something else had possessed him, "Please," she pleaded in a whisper, her green eyes not looking away from his. Turning, he took a step further towards her, his hands circling around her waist and his face leaning towards her. Instead of his lips going to her neck, it came to halt near her ears,

"Wait for me here," his voice seemed deeper and the next second he had snapped something below her ear that her body turned lax and unconscious in his arms.