all the same to me

a/n: the song is 'all the same to me' by anya marina.


1. (and the sun is still high in the sky)

This is going to be so easy.

He saunters around the liquor table, tilting his head as he studies the blonde, the brunette, the redhead and the rainbow mess.

Who wants to die first?

"Me!" the redhead squeals, raising her hand. She's wearing a plaid skirt and a white button-up shirt, and it explains everything.

Eenie…

"No, pick me! I want to die first," the blonde protests, shooting a dirty look at the redhead. Instantly, the redhead turns her head, a growl erupting from such plump, soft lips…

Meenie…

"Shut up!" the brunette cries, all the while studying her nails. "He's going to pick me, so just shut up."

Miney…

The popsicle brain sits mutely.

Moe…

Perhaps it is the obvious choice. He blurs to stand behind the hair-job-gone-mad and lowers his head to her neck, chuckling lowly. The other girls are tense now, excited, squirming in their places as they crane their necks to watch the show, eyes all alight with the flame he's lost. He nibbles the rim of her ear, whispering harshly.

You're mine.

Less than a second passes – that's all the time he needs to flick his fingers – and the girl's slanting onto the arm of the sofa, neck hanging limply. Despite the bright sunlight that's seeping into the room, the girl looks almost ashen, the rainbow streaks in her hair fading like the string holding her to life.

Fading, fading… gone.

It fails to make him smirk. The horrid truth – even death can't make him smile anymore. His jaw clenches.

The other girls squeak happily.

He chews them off one by one and by the time Stefan gets home, it's a Bundy's House of Horrors. He chokes on the rancid smell and the blood veins pop out, out of his realm of control. He gapes as he sees the girl dangling from the rafters, arms and legs gone. Everywhere, a rag doll lying.

They all wanted it, Damon says. The nightly drinking. The crude slashes on the wrists, the soft, soft skin of their thighs. Their secrets have climbed to the surface. Deep down, they wanted it.

Everywhere, a rag doll lying.

Lying, lying… lies.

Welcome home, brother.

There's another colour in her hair, her rainbow hair, or rather, just another darker shade to a colour already in her hair, and it's everywhere, not just in her hair, and, gawd, he thinks it's the most beautiful in the mess, the most beautiful in the world.

Eyie Eyie Eyie Oh.


4. (somebody Care)

"I would do anything for you," Caroline murmurs, tracing the line of his jaw with her mouth. He simply nods, the darkest of blue eyes staring out the window, to the bright sunlight falling in rainbow circles to the ground.

"You know I love you, right? Because I do, I really do," Care continues, hands smoothing over the sharp angles of his hips, the hard planes of his torso. He plays with a strand of her hair, smooth and smelling like roses and strawberry cream; when he drags it to the swirling motes of dust shining in the light, it sparks like the richest fire.

"I want to be with you forever," she calls from a faraway place. He leans back against oak, eyes closed.

"I want to be with you forever," she whispers into his ear, legs tangling with his under the sheets. He flips them around. She giggles as he hovers over her but as her gaze collides with his, icy in its glory, her mouth snaps shut and the dreamy haze surrounding her lifts.

"W-where am I?" she stammers, suddenly uncomfortable, naked under a man she doesn't know. "Please let me go." She scrambles, trying to get out from under him, trying to escape. She doesn't want to touch him, doesn't want him to see her like this, doesn't know how she got here, and how am I supposed to get away without touching him? And –

Caroline.

She looks back into his face – the most fatal mistake. Instantly, a bright smile floats onto her face, eyes growing misty. "Where have you been all my life?"

A shadow of a smirk plays on his lips as he sinks into her and her happy sighs turn into passionate screams and excited moans.

And then violent thrashing.

And even when the white sheets have turned to red streams and banners and even when the sun fades out the window, leaving the red ponds rusty, she continues smiling up at him and he nods at her, dark eyes taking yet another prisoner, urging her to ask.

"Are you going to kill me?" She's all adoring, hands sliding low over his cold skin, toes tickling his. He tilts his head, dark hair falling over his face.

Do you want me to? It's a snarl.

"What I want is to be with you forever. What I want is for you to fuck me straight to hell," she murmurs, the shadows thrown onto his face playing tricks on her eyes. Are those fangs? And what's with the glowy red makeup? It's in his eyes and spreading over his cheeks… gawd, it's not true, it's not true.

(Oh, but it is, darling.)

Scream for me.

And she does, her loud cries going up and up and up, resonating in the dark room, climbing to the roof, to the stars (where she'll be among in just a second), reaching a crescendo –

Snap.


The snap is almost inaudible under the wailing. A sudden, eerie silence cuts her off, or maybe her screams bleed into the silence, because he hears nothing and he hears everything all at once.

The sun might have come out of her hair once but it was gone before he could blink.


8. (your final destination – me)

Compelling his prey has become so intolerably dull. He craves to feel the quivering skin of the slave, hear the adrenaline roar in its veins, taste the cresting fear in the running crimson.

Just beyond the wall of trees, he sees boyfriendandgirlfriend moving away from the chaos of the party. A couple of the guys spot them and holler and woot!, and the boyfriend waves them off. Even fifty yards away, even with the boy facing away from the campfire, he can see the slight smile, one full of pride, lingering on his face as he grasps the girl's hand. She smiles gently up at him. They walk in warm silence to a quiet corner, where their bloodcurdling screams won't be overheard by the college gathering.

Bingo.

"I love you."

He leaps down nimbly, feet finding the forest floor without stumbling. Head bowed, hands in leather jacket pockets, he ambles forward. With gnawing disgust, he can hear their whispered adorations.

"I love you too."

Kiss, kiss.

He slinks from one dark tree to another, becoming one with the shifting shadows. Like the background music in a Rocky Horror soundtrack, he can hear the shrieks, those of the amused, the drunk. If he cared enough to, he could tune in to those idiots' individual conversations about banging the next chick in a long line of willing candidates, about America's top 40, about crazy-ass stuff that he could do in a heartbeat.

"I was going to wait until after graduation but…"

Gasp.

Close enough now to reach them in one fierce bound, he pauses and leans against a tree, the sick man inside wanting the satisfaction of sucking the greatest pleasure right out of their damned souls.

"Mark…"

Brown soil meets sweat-pants-clad (and sweat-panted) knee. Tears well up in medical student's eyes (she's about to graduate with Honours).

"Sarah, you are the light of my life…"

(He scoffs.)

"… I want to spend my entire life with you. I look at my future and the only one I can imagine going through it with me is you. Will you marry me?"

(Double gag.)

"My gawd… yes. Yes! Yes! Oh, Mark, yes!"

Mark (about to be drafted into the NFL) grins, slipping the ring onto her trembling finger.

And then, Damon steps out. The couple's too stupid, too oblivious, their happiness consuming them.

He attacks before they can kiss again. Dragging the man (what was his name? Mary? Mary Jane and Ashley? Scoff.) backwards, he rips into the neck, drinking in the blood and so much more than that – her horrified screams and sobs, his gurgling moans to stop, please stop, the rush of the happiness and life seeping out of the frail, frail body – before snapping the neck clean off, the loud crack breaking over the loud cries.

He flicks the body away like it's a pest and turns to face the girl. He imagines the image she sees – red, red, red, red everywhere. Her eyes are wide, wide, her hands are shaking, shaking, her unheard screams dying in her Sahara Desert dry throat.

He glares at her and shouts furiously Run.

She runs.


Sarah, you are the light of my life (where are you going, darling?)

She stumbles through the forest, tripping over the snarling roots, cutting herself on the low-hanging branches.

I want to spend my entire life with you (where can you go? you can't outrun me…)

The adrenaline rushes through her, choking her, as she runs faster than she thought she ever could. Everything seems clearer, the cold wind scarring her face. She doesn't look back once.

I look at my future and the only one (where you go…)

Sob.

Fear eats her, smacks! into her like a tidal wave, her heart beating like a caged animal. She's so certain this is the end, and her life hasn't even begun.

I can imagine going through it with me is you (where you go…)

He swoops in, one moment on her left, the next right in front of her, a feral grin lurking in the shadows on his face. She tries to scream.

Will you marry me? (where you go…)

Her blood is the sweetest crimson. Her fear is tangible, a glowing heat in the palm of his hand. That, mixed with her high-pumped nerves, makes for the burst of flavours on his tongue and his hands grip the limp body even harder, sucking this fleeting pleasure for all its worth.

Yes. (well, it's all the same to me)

It's repeating in her head like a song, repeating in her head, repeating in her head, repeating in her head like a, in her head, head like a song, like a song, like a song, song, song…

'Night, sweetheart, he sings, laughing under his breath as he dumps her against the tree. He raises his head, licking his lips. Behind his closed eyelids, the pale moonlight lights up their ethereal frames.

But the moonlight can't beat the flames.

Don't you, don't you, don't you know

It's repeating in her head like a song.

Don't you know that it's all the same to me?


Eenie.

Cute blonde.

Meenie.

Huge quarterback.

Miney.

Bitchy environmentalist.

Moe.

Scared stoner-geek.

(I won't holler, let me go)

I can take them all, he warns her later that night, I can take you all.

(You don't want to forget that.)


So many bright futures burning in the bright sky-high flames, curling up and dying in the even brighter embers of the wreckage. In the distance, he can hear the urgency of the fire engines, the sirens of the police cars, and with one last sweeping glance over the ruins he made, his lips pull up to reveal sharp teeth, smeared with more blood for a thousand.

By the time Sheriff Forbes steps out of her car, he's gone, fading into the black woods.

It's a bloody graveyard; it's a bloody hallelujah.


9. (even dawn can't save you…)

"Damon, you're so close. Don't shut it out."

You want me to feel? I can't. I'm not human. So I don't.

"Damon, I believe in you."

Believe that I will kill you, beautiful.

"Damon, look at me. You can trust me."

I trust no one, sweetcheeks.

"Damon, be the better man."

All men are the same, honey.

"Damon, how could you kill him?"

I felt like it. Anyone. Anytime. Any place.

"Damon, no, please!"

Sorry, darling.

And in their compassion, their stupidity lies.

(Somebody care for me)


11. (the last kill)

Somebody do
Somebody do
Somebody do you wrong

It's like a haunting echo.

All her usual charisma is gone. Stripped away. He sees her the way she really is. Beneath the great and terrible beauty lurks an even darker version of flowersandsoftrainanddreams and he loves it, so he kills it.

She's slumped against the wall on her floor. Her pitch black eyes burn into him. He shaves off the wood to form a point, rocking gently on his chair, humming under his breath.

She may be older than him, might have been able to hurt him again and again and again in the past, but he's not that person anymore and she's not as strong as him anymore and –

Smash. He throws her across the room. She falls into the hole in the wall.

You don't like to share? Well, me too.

He glides over to her, pulling her from the debris. She snarls at him, thrashing, trying to rip into him with her claws.

(Don't let 'em kill)

I searched for you for a hundred and fifty years. You didn't care. Now, I'm past the point of caring.

Boredom radiates from his form as he whispers the words; they rub into her like silk. He holds her down as he brushes a stake lovingly.

(Don't let 'em kill)

It's always going to Stefan, right? Of course. Thanks for your honesty.

He drives the stake into her calf, listening to her cries – it forms a lullaby.

(Don't let 'em kill your soul)

I'll be honest too then.

His fingers trail her skin delicately, like he's afraid to touch her.

(But it's already dead.)

I still love you.

And that's why I'm doing this.

Shriek. He drives a series of stakes into her (arm, leg, foot, stomach, chest). Before he stabs her in the heart, he hears her whimper, sees her plead with her eyes 'cause she can't say it, just can't, not even now.

Katherine Pierce actually whimpered. He made Katherine Pierce whimper.

He walks away. (Even this doesn't give him much joy.)

So, I keep on shuffling on and on
'Cause it's all the same to me


12. (midnight)

Klaus comes when they're least expecting it.

I won't run
When the sky turns to flame

But it's okay.

As everyone scrambles away, trying to escape, he walks towards his certain death.

And I sure won't budge
When the earth does shake

Klaus' men beam down at him as they shackle him to the hard, iron floor and beat him till he's just bloody pulp, Bourbon and leather. It reminds him of the rainbow hair.

He smiles.

When the flood comes up
I will dance in the rain

When he feels the tip of the stake digging into his heart, he can't find it within himself to give a shit.

'Cause it's all the same to me


13 'o' clock. (in the twilight zone)

The song plays in his head.

And it's all I live for
The air I breathe
So it's all the same to me
Yeah, it's all the same to me


-Fin.