Darkest Temptations Rec Ornamental Faith

All this week we'll be rec'ing the winning stories and featuring the winning author interviews from the Nightmare Before Christmas Contest.

We're starting off with the Public Voting Choice...

Cullen818

Ornamental Faith by TwiReaderAbi

Edward/Bella

Summary - Edward’s tortured soul hurts all that much more deeply on the most sacred of all holidays. Who will he take with him as he paves the road to Hell with the best intentions? Rated M for violent themes and sexual content. Entry for the Nightmare Before Christmas Contest.

This one was just plain brilliant and I certainly see why you all voted it as number one. The premise of the fic totally embraced the theme of this contest; dark, sad and morbid. We ask for it, and we got it.

But, not only was it what we wanted when throwing out this challenge, it was more than I could have hoped for. This fic was beautifully written and TwiReaderAbi captured th e whole essence of the story in her attention to detail.

I think this paragraph sums up the tortured vampire soul Edward, perfectly...

Now, every year he immersed himself in the decadence and waded through the throngs of unsuspecting shoppers. He had nothing to celebrate; For what purpose does one have to rejoice in the birth of the Savior if they themselves have no soul to be saved? Instead it became his ideal hunting ground. So easily they came to him among the hur ried and distracted mob of people scurrying in and out of stores looking for that perfect gift. They didn’t even realize they already had it and that very fact tormented him to no end.

Edward'sChipper:

There’s nothing that makes tingle more than a dark and dangerous Edward on the hunt. ZING! The fact that he’s in a shopping mall at the height of the holiday season? Well, I’m just saying I’d go shopping even more if…I digress. I like really like what TwireaderAbi did, her detailed description of what Edward sees and feels: his take on the shoppers: the “sinners” and children; his judgmental predisposition and Scrooge-esque reaction to it all. That is, until he sees…her, and his perception changes. Call it curiosity, call it sympathetic, call it almost an epiphany, but the ending. Yeah, the ending is what really got me.

GemmaLisaX:

I adored this story from beginning to end.  Edward’s thoughts, his opinions and musings regarding the Christmas season and how he perceives it through the minds of others; all of this was thoroughly intriguing and mesmerising.  I've read it at least three times, and each time it induces the same shiver of anticipation and delivers a chill all the way down your spine.  The authors writing is fantastic, TwireaderAbi’s descriptions bring about such amazing and vivid imagery.  You sail through this fic, not wanting to miss one word of it, and end up more or less nose to screen by the end of it. 

Edward is a dark and tortured soul, wandering through his eternity and subconsciously searching for someone or something that he belongs to or with.  He spends his time lost in not only his thoughts, but also those of others, using them to justify his feeding from them.  Some dark angel stalking the shadows.  Then he sees a woman, and we are dragged along with him as he follows her, yearning to learn more about her.  Caught between wanting to take her, wanting to kill her or trying to tear himself away.  This Darkward is Edward at his best, absolutely enthralling.

I truly love this story, it certainly deserved its win and I will be going back to read it again and again.

This OS took me off guard, quite literally. There is this whole dark, foreboding feeling that just looms right out of reach, just hovering, throughout the whole story. It's like watching your own death unfold in a beautifully written way. 

TwiReaderAbi weaves us a beautifully dark Christmas tale of the inner struggle of a vampire and an innocent girl. I couldn't help but wonder what might happen through the whole story. Usually I have a knack for knowing what is going to happen in a fic, but not here. I was completely clueless as to what might happen the entire time, and I absolutely loved that. 

The ending, while unbelievably heartbreaking, was so real and emotional that I just couldn't help but fall in love with this fic from the beginning. Darkward is top of my list when it comes to favorite things to read in fan fiction, and his inner struggles when it came to Bella and her demise was heart clenching and so very believable.  Congratulations darlin', because you went above and beyond when delivering us a dark twisted Christmas. If you haven't read this yet, please do so. It's so very, very worth it.