Clarrissa's POV

I stepped forward, but the fire taunted me by moving closer in return. It was coming towards me, closing in. If I tried to move again, it would only move closer. It was almost like it was trying to reach me, to tell me something.

I had to be losing my mind.

Maybe I was dreaming. Maybe if I closed my eyes and pretended I was asleep, all of this would go away.

The heat was becoming unbearable; it was enough to remind me that this was not a dream, as I had hoped.

Was this how my life was going to end? From a fire? A fire that I had no idea where it came from.

There were no signs of a fire when I came here the first time, just whispers that I initially thought were something made up in my mind. Now I knew there was a possibility that I was wrong.

Someone must have intentionally done this. The whispers in my head had urged me to stop, and while I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, someone had set a fire around me. But still, I would have heard something.

Unless... witches were involved.

They would have been able to start a fire very quickly. My head spun as I tried to figure out what had just happened while also trying to find a way to escape this fire.

“CLARISSA!”

I heard a familiar voice shouting my name.

My heart paused for a second.

“CLARISSA!”

My heart skipped a beat this time. I couldn’t believe it. He was here.

“Where are you?”

I couldn’t stop the smile from forming on my lips despite the fire still blazing around me.

Damon.

He’d come for me. Even though his engagement party was today, he still came for me.

Of course, he would.

He has always protected me in the past. He was always the one to save me from everyone, including myself.

“I’m here!” I shouted, making it easier for him to find me.

How did he know to follow the fire?

He was probably used to trouble following me wherever I went. Anywhere danger was present, somehow, I was also there.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I could finally see him, not just hear his voice. His eyes widened when he spotted me in the middle of the fire. I could barely get a good view of him because of the flames, and it bothered me.

“Wait there,” he ordered me. “I’m coming to you!”

“No!” I shouted. “Don’t come here. There are flames everywhere! We can find another way to get me out of here. Get Autumn. I’m sure she can find a way to get rid of these flames. I believe witches are the ones who did this. If I’m right, Autumn is the right one to help me.”

If I had listened to Autumn before, none of this would have happened to begin with. I knew I should have told her what I was about to do; she would have been able to talk me out of this stupid idea. Now, I was in this mess and didn’t know how to get out of it.

“Witches?” he growled. “What the fuck do witches want with our family again?”

“Get Autumn,” I said once more.

“No!” he roared above the fire. “I’m not leaving you here. We don’t have much time to get you out of there; I need to move you now!”

I should have known he wouldn’t listen to me.

Before I could say anything else, Damon jumped into the fire. I screamed the moment the fire touched his skin. Damon didn’t even flinch from the pain. He was so focused on protecting me that he didn’t care that he’d just been injured.

I gasped when he grabbed my waist and held my body tightly against his. He buried his face in my hair as he held me close.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” he whispered against my ear. I slowly reached up to wrap my arms around his neck. It felt so good to be in his arms, where I belonged.

The danger was not over, however. We still had to get out of here before it was too late. I pulled away from Damon to examine the wounds on his body. This could have been avoided.

“Why did you do that?” I demanded. “You could have gotten seriously hurt!”

“Do you think I care about that?” he asked. “Do you think anything matters to me when your life is in danger? You should know me better than that by now, Clarissa. Nothing will ever stand in the way of me protecting you.”

My lips parted, and I couldn’t help but melt at his words. Why does he always do this? Doesn’t he realize by now that it’s words like those that make me fall so quickly for him? I was trying to let go of him so he could be with Anya, but how could I do that when he said things like this to me?

I slowly touched one of the red marks on his arm, and he winced.

“We don’t have time for this, Clarissa,” he reminded me as he removed his partly burnt suit jacket and covered my body with it. “We need to jump.”

“Are you insane?” I demanded. “The fire is much worse than before, and look at how many bruises you have because of it already! I won’t let you hurt yourself again because of me!”

“We don’t have a choice, do we?” he demanded.

“If you had listened to me before, we would have had a choice. Autumn would have easily gotten rid of the fire,” I pointed out.

“If I had listened to you, by the time Autumn had reached you, the fire would have already gotten to you by then,” he growled.

“At least you wouldn’t have been in danger,” I mumbled.

“FUCK,” he hissed. “Are you listening to yourself?”

“As a matter of fact, I am,” I snapped. “Now we’re both stuck in the fire. Why are you even here when your engagement party is happening now?”

He grabbed my face in his hand and forced me to look into his eyes. “Does this look like the right time to be speaking about any of that, Clarissa?”

I narrowed my eyes. “You shouldn’t be here. You should be back at the party with the woman you chose to be your wife.”

“I don’t care what is happening around me, Clarissa; I don’t fucking care about anything else as much as I care about your safety,” he growled. “As long as you’re in danger, I will forget about everything else. Fuck it all. Nothing else matters when you need me.”

My lips parted, and my heart did this little annoying flip-flop.

Stop it.

Don’t do that.

Don’t fall for his words.

Don’t become weak.

It’s already too late. The fire and emptiness in my heart were already disappearing because of his words.

“I don’t hear anything,” Damon whispered as he looked around us. He paused, and his eyes went wide. “The fire, where the hell did it go?”

I slowly followed his gaze. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Something was definitely wrong here.

He was right.

The fire was gone.

What the hell just happened?

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