Raven's P•O•V

I woke up uncomfortably ice cold. My face scrunched up in discomfort and my eyes fluttered open. I instantly noticed that I was no longer in my bedroom. I sat up quickly in confusion and looked around the room, memories of last night reminding me of how I got here.

I couldn't sleep and come to Alec's room. We spoke and he answered my restless questions. I must've fallen asleep while we were talking...

I was in Alec's bed.

I turned and saw the bed empty beside me. I sighed and fell back onto the bed. The bathroom door opened and I glanced over to it. Alec didn't seem to notice as he came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. I tried to breathe easy as my eyes scanned over his toned back. He walked up to his dresser and looked in the mirror. Running a hand through his wet hair, his eyes met mine in the mirror's reflection. He chuckled softly.

"Liking what you see?" Alec asked cockily. I scoffed a laugh but didn't answer him. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stretched. Getting up, I started to look around his room. I wrapped the robe tighter around me in hopes to keep the warmth in and tied the silk band around my waist. I stopped in front of a desk and furrowed my brow at one of the small photos. Picking it up, I inspected it.

The photo was in a small gold frame, tightly held in by the glass. It had to have been in the late 1800s by the looks of the photo.

"I just aged five in that picture," I heard from behind me and gasped, holding the photo to my chest. Alec was right there, towering over me only in jeans. Why was he always shirtless? And since when did he get pants on?

He gently grabbed the photo and looked at it with a small smile and chuckled softly.

"What's it like? Being immortal, staying flawless all of your life?" I asked curiously, wondering what he must have been thinking. Alec looked up at me and caught eye contact. He sighed.

"It's nothing you mortals dream of," Alec said sullenly. "After a while, you actually don't think of time at all. Days feel like seconds and years feel like days. You start to resent your flawlessness that everyone sees from the outside and start to look at the only flaws you do have...The ones on the inside. Every mistake you make will haunt you. And soon being immortal feels like a curse." Seriousness laced his voice.

"I remember it being utterly worse as a child. They used to bring me blood bags so I wouldn't hurt anyone. Being a child Vampire is dreadful. They're absolutely uncontrollable - I was uncontrollable," He continued, still looking at the old photo of himself as a child. I swallowed, feeling my throat tighten as he spoke of the painful memories.

"I remember the hunger being so uncontrollable that all I could do was scream in pain until my next blood bag. Somehow... Back then it was easier. The hunger was killing me from the inside out, but now all that's killing me is the guilt. No matter how awful the guilt tears at me inside, there's no fighting the instinctual urge."

I was stunned by what he said. I studied his eyes that were still locked on the photo and could see how truthful and serious he was. The air felt uncomfortably filled with tension. Alec set the photo back down on the desk and sighed, staring at it with sadness in his eyes. I felt an immense pity towards him and reached out for his hand and softly gripped it. He looked back at me and gave a half-hearted smile.

"At least I get gifts in return," Alec chuckled, lightening the mood. I furrowed my brow and looked at him in confusion.

"Gifts? You mean you can do more than just run extremely fast?" I asked in disbelief. He chuckled.

"Why don't I just show you."

♱

Alec and I walked past the stables and into the deep forest surrounding the castle. He led me through the forest until we stopped. We were in a small clearing. Not really a clearing. The trees just weren't as thick and surrounded a rock formation. I looked around and breathed in the icy air.

"Now, keep your eyes on me," Alec instructed and I nodded. In the blink of an eye and a gust of wind, he was up on top of the highest point in the rock formation. He had to have been 40 feet up.

The next thing I know, he stepped off the cliff-like edge. I gasped in fear although he seemed fearless, but watched as he landed gracefully back on the ground.

"First is speed and grace," He informs me of the names of the first two gifts. I raised my eyebrows and watch him.

After he said this, he turned and slammed his fist into a huge boulder. I felt my breath get caught in my throat. A loud boom followed and the boulder split in two, then crumbled apart. He turned to look at my shocked face. He laughed softly at my expression.

"Strength," Alec says simply like it was nothing. I just stared at him, jaw dropped. The boulder was now gone and replaced by a pile of gravel.

Alec stops and stands incredibly still. He keeps eye contact with me.

"There's a hawk," He said randomly. I look at him then look up to the sky. I spent a good three minutes watching the sky until suddenly, a hawk screeches and flies overhead. I stare in awe and watch it fly above. Once it was gone, I brought my eyes back down to Alec.

"How did you..." I trailed off, giving him a puzzled look. He taps his left ear.

"Heightened hearing." He explains. I believe him because he couldn't have seen it since he was looking at me.

Alec closed his eyes and took in a deep breath like one would when they smelled food from the kitchen. He opened his eyes and looked back at me.

"You smell like vanilla," He told me. I scoff in disbelief and smell myself. I can barely smell a hint of vanilla and soon it passed, so faint that it was not strong enough of a scent to last.

"Okay. Now you're just showing off. You obviously smelled it last night after I took my shower," I laugh. Alec raises a playful eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fine. If you don't believe me, then your blood type is AB positive," He said flatly but smirked. Now my eyes were widened in surprise.

"What? How'd you -" I cut myself off.

"Heightened sense of smell," We said simultaneously and I rolled my eyes. We laughed and suddenly, in a gust of wind, he was in front of me.

"You asked me what being immortal is like," He said. "Well, this is what it's like."