A series of letter, discovered by Elena in a storage in a spare bedroom of the Salvatore Boarding House, reveal parts of Damon's life during the Civil War.

Disclaimer That Wouldn't Stand Up In Court: … I own Vampire Diaries. That's right, I own it! That's why I'm writing fanfiction! That's why Damon wears clothes during the show! …. Yeah. Nope, sorry, I don't own anything.

Notes about the story? I try to be as historically accurate as possible in these stories. If you see anything that's wrong, whether it's numbers or fact, please tell me! I'll fix it! I like accuracy even better than...well, as much as creativity!

Hmmmm...what else to say, what else to say...Okay, hows about a little rant?

If you're easily offended, stop now and skip the to Chapter 2.

….

You've been warned.

Okay, here we go.

Damon is an asshole, completely and utterly. I've read a bunch of fics where he's secretly a nice guy, where he secretly doesn't want to kill people; he just feels compelled to. That's bullshit. He's a bad dude, people, a real BAMF (if you don't know what the is...stop reading. Just...stop. Please. Then go ask your parents and come back...maybe.) He liked killing people. Sure, he ain't slaughtering puppies and kitties and cute little babies, but that's because what fun is there in killing those things? Okay, that and he's amoral, not evil, but whatever.

Point is, he's not gonna magically turn good and nice and fluffy like a Pretty Little Pony. Nope, sorry, ain't gonna happen. He's spent what, one hundred and forty five years killing indiscriminately? Yeah, people who are good inside? They don't do that! They might kill bad people or they might, ya know, kill bunnies, like poor Saint Stefan, but they do not kill many, many people without reason.

Yeah, sure, that's what Vampires do, right? Wrong. Evidence? I have a list. Go on, read it. You know you wannnnntttt tooooo.

A – Stefan doesn't kill anything but bunnies. He isn't, of course, a very good example, but whatever. He counts.

B – Anna. Sure, she probably killed people, but she didn't go around mass-murdering people.

C – Pearl. Er, not sure she counts. I didn't really see her kill people, but...You know what? Scratch her.

Let's go on to D – Rose (spoilers ahead). As she lay dying, after going insane and killing some humans, she told Damon (or maybe it was Elena, I wasn't paying that much attention) that'd she'd never killed a human before. She kidnapped Elena, planned to let her die, but she'd never killed anyone. She didn't drink bunnies like Stefan, but she doesn't kill people to get their blood. Why? Because you don't need to kill to get blood. You just need to suck (ignore the sexual joke lurking there). She wasn't exactly good, but she wasn't exactly what I'd term 'bad'.

Damon? He killed people. For fun. A lot of people, a lot of fun. Hey, just look at Mister Tanner. He got his freaking jugular ripped open, and for what? Because Stefan insinuated Damon was weak? Damon could have pulled a Pearl and gorged out Stefan's eyes. It would have proven the point, and a whole lot more efficiently at that. Damon didn't, though. Instead, he killed someone. You don't take that alt. unless you just plain like killing, too.

Don't believe me? Look at the episodes, what, ten through thirteen of season two. He admits to liking murder and all that jazz. Why? Because he ain't a good guy. Stop writing him as a bleeding heart, people! He isn't!

I will admit, of course, that there are probably some very good fics out there with him portrayed as Poor Misunderstood 'I Never Meant to Hurt Anyone', but I haven't found any. Please, if you know of one, tell me – I swear, I won't leave flames if I don't like it (mostly because I just don't review...I'm challenged and hypocrite, so sue me).

Okay, btw, just to clarify – I do NOT believe that Damon is evil. He's just not human. He doesn't have the same morals or ethics, the same principles that we do. I mean, sure, he's a bad dude, by human standards (read above reasons). He's not evil, though. If he were evil, he'd have killed Stefan, Elena and Bonnie (or hey, if he were me, he'd have killed off the last one). Instead, he protected them, so no, he ain't evil.

That does not, however, mean that he's a good guy, not even by vampire standards. Sure, by vampire standards, he's not a Saint, he'd not even close to good, but he's really far from evil. By the human standards...not so far. Still, I don't believe he's evil; he just doesn't see the same as human beings, which makes him a BAMF to humanity and a morally gray vampire to other vamps. Just wanted to clear that up.

….

Rant over.

All's good, now...if people take that lovely piece of advice about Damon not being a nice guy.

Yeah...Sorry if I offended anyone. Wasn't my intention – actuallly, my intention was to explain my story to you before you actually read it. Didn't work out that way, though, did it? Oh well. Whatever.

Please! Go read! I'm actually proud of myself for these. Plus, ya know, I'm learning a crap load about the Civil War while writing it. Yay! History (and no! That wasn't sarcastic! I like history!)!

Ta for now,

Try not to be offended,

-Insert Whatever Name I'm Using At the Moment-