Damon’s POV

The world around me fades into silence, the scent of blood and smoke dissolving into something softer...her scent. Wild jasmine, rain after a storm. It pulls me through the darkness until I find myself standing in a field bathed in silver light. The grass glows faintly, bending beneath an unseen breeze. The moon hangs impossibly large above me, watching, waiting.

Then I hear her.

“Damon.”

Her voice trembles through the night, breaking me open from the inside. I turn, ...