Elaine's POV
"Good morning, Elaine," Damien smiled down at me the moment my eyes fluttered open.
He leaned down to kiss my lips while tickling me.
"Good morning," I giggled, shaking involuntarily under his strong arms.
"You look beautiful when you smile," he whispered, his eyes fixed on my features. Slowly pushing all the thoughts in my head away, I reached for his lips to kiss him. He reciprocated, filling my mouth with dominance and tenderness until I pulled away from him.
"And you are quite handsome for a pain in the ass," I joked, moving his arm away so I could get out of his hold.
I stepped out of bed and grabbed a robe to cover my naked body while he just watched me from the bed. The blackness in his eyes worried me—I had expected him to be ogling or smirking, at least something dark to show he was lusting.
Rolling my eyes, I threw one of the robes at him when I got nothing in return.
"You can put it on for now," I informed him while heading for the door. "I'm going to make something for breakfast."
I did as I said, except I just figured out that I was running out of plenty of things in my kitchen. I made do with what I had—some eggs, bread, dark coffee, and other things my hands could grab.
"Do you have anywhere you're going this morning?" I heard Damien ask from the entrance.
"I got fired, so no," I lowered my voice, recalling the incident that led to it. At this point, the only thing I could be grateful for was that most of my coworkers were too slow to connect the dots and realize that I wasn't just any ordinary human like them.
"Mind telling me why?" he continued, taking a seat in front of me.
"Uhm… I think I kinda lost control and got into a fight with my boss. I didn't know what came over me then, but I'm grateful someone broke in because I was so close to killing him…" I trailed off, not finding the right words to say.
He kept quiet for longer than normal—longer than Damien usually would. He took a few eggs to help me with them before exhaling.
"You fought with your boss?"
"I did."
"That's quite strange for innocent Elaine, don't you think?"
I sighed in response, focusing on making breakfast rather than thinking about the endless possibilities of how I could be a danger to the world I should be trying to protect. But the silence lingered longer than it should, and one of us had to break the ice soon.
"What about you, though?" I raised a brow at him. "You've been acting as if you met a god who transformed you from the inside. You're way too calm, reserved, and more observant—"
"I have always been observant, Elaine," he smiled, somehow finding amusement in my words. "You just don't see it," he said, looking up at me now.
His words did something to me, as if reminding me of a wound I should be tending to but purposely left untouched. I looked down, avoiding his gaze and shielding him from seeing the slight embarrassment on my face.
"That doesn't mean you won't tell me what happened, right?" I still let my curiosity win.
Pushing the bowl in which he had beaten the eggs toward me, he placed his hands on the counter, tapping a rhythm with his fingers.
"Nothing happened, Elaine. It's kinda hard to believe that, especially since you already have someone whom you've perceived me to be, but honestly, some days are for fun while others are serious days to reflect. Also, some days are for living in another man's shadow, but some are just for you," he lowered his voice, as if what he said explained everything going on with him.
"No offense, but you are going to have to throw more light on what you just said," I replied quickly, not giving him the space to change the topic.
"A lot of things happened in the past, Elaine. My world is not as easy-going or even as tough as you imagine. It's worse than that—with bloodbaths, hatred, war, and a battle for power. After each full moon, I try to take a break and do something different to relieve myself from the loss, but this kind of pain sticks forever, Elaine. Losing your family in the most agonizing way isn't something you ever recover from."
I watched in shock as he spoke. Before now, I could have sworn that Damien didn't know what it was to feel pain or to cry, but here I was, witnessing the vulnerability of a man who always had his tough exterior on.
"I'm sorry about that," I whispered, even though my words would do nothing to ease his pain. He didn't speak any further or move. He just sat with his head buried downward, drops of tears falling onto the counter.
"Thanks," he murmured after a while. "There's a lot to this struggle, Elaine, and for me, Luca did a gruesome amount of evil, which is why I'd rather die than believe he was good or had good intentions. That was why I asked if he did anything to you—because everyone can feel it coming. Something is very different about the upcoming full moon, and it might just be the first of its kind in our history."
I kept quiet, analyzing what he was saying and trying to register as much information in my head as possible.
"Well," I sighed, pushing everything aside to sit in front of him. "First of all, I don't think it's just your world now," I whispered, recalling all my extraordinary abilities lately. "It's my world too."
"It's a lot deeper than that—"
I cut him off on instinct, running around the house with my inhuman speed before he knew it. There wasn't much I could do with spells, as I was well aware that every spell came with a price and I hadn't learned enough. But to prove my point, I recited one of the spells Luca had used to hold me bound—except this time, it held Damien bound.
"Since when, Elaine?" he asked, his jaw slightly ajar.
"Since the night I took down one of the cult members. I don't know, but Cordelia suspects the prophecy has a link to my abilities," I shrugged, unsure whether or not I should regret revealing that much.
He examined me from where I had pinned him down, gesturing for me to undo the spell. I did immediately, apologizing afterward.
"You learned this from Luca?" He asked slightly surprised.
"I did," I lowered my voice and stepped back while he cupped my cheeks, bringing my face up to look at him.
"What did he do to you?" He urged guessing that he mustn't have held me captive ghat way just to stop me from escaping.
"You don't need to know, Damien. It's in the past now." I tried to make him let it slide, but he wouldn't. He kept asking, even though he already knew the answer, until I couldn't take his questions anymore.
"Elaine, talk to me—"
"Fine!" I snapped. "He fucked me. And now that you know, can you tell me what you're going to do about it?!" My voice sliced through the air, making him shut his mouth at once.
Clenching his fists, he muttered something under his breath as a new cloud of darkness covered his eyes.
"I will make him pay. And if worse comes to worst, this will be the very last full moon he ever sees," he hissed, slamming his fist on the counter.
"What makes you think you're the only one planning to take him down?" I asked almost mockingly. Even though I hadn't been part of his world for long, I still knew this one truth—this was a war, and everybody wanted to take down someone.
If Damien thought he was the only one scheming, then I just had to remind him that Luca was far more determined this time and this time he wasn't going to spare anybody.
"How do you know that?"
"Most of the time, he casted spells that sent me into a deep sleep—probably because he didn't want anyone, not even me, to be aware of how much he was preparing for the full moon. I practiced more dark magic, and he always went out for the gathering we both know about."
"The cult?"
I nodded.
"What do you think he is up to?"
"I think he wants to destroy everyone in his way, especially Kai. But guess what? I stole his books from him—"
"That's dangerous, Elaine. He could be looking for you."
"Which will give me more time to learn all I can before the full moon. Acknowledging my responsibility without doing anything about it is vain. And if the prophecy is right, then I must not be caught unprepared."
Here's your corrected chapter with improved grammar, spelling, and flow while keeping the original tone intact: