Wayward Child
Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.
There is a deep voice thundering against the edges of his senses while Damon Salvatore drifts through the haze of werewolf venom for the second time in his too-long life.
Another, softer but no less urgent voice replies, tinny and distorted in the way Damon has come to associate with phones and electric currents. The second voice is unmistakably Stefan's, so Damon ignores it, and the way Alaric snarls about the Cure.
His head pounds in time with the roaring water, and he has never wanted the Cure less in his entire undead life. Here, in this dark, cool space in Damon's mind which sparks with death and the Veil, there is nothing even remotely human.
Alaric's ghost-presence brushes against his thoughts, and Stefan's tension is nearly palpable through the phone. His veins burn with the venom as if someone has injected vervain straight into his system.
Now, just like this, Damon would rather die, drown in this acidic venom with Alaric's too-close presence and Stefan's voice in the air. He might spare a thought for Elena, if he thought it important, but he knows with absolute certainty that he will die before he allows himself to become human once more.
"I'm not human, and I miss it more than anything else in the world." He'd once said.
It wasn't entirely true. Even now he can hardly think of a more miserable existence. Damon does not want the Cure for Elena. He would never inflict it on her, not unless she forced it down her own throat.
He supposes that it may explain his lingering irritation towards Rebecca. To be a creature so powerful, a true Original, and fight to give it up for humanity, strikes Damon as distasteful irony.
Alaric is beside him again, or perhaps it is Stefan. Whoever it is is close, too-close really, and Damon thinks it funny, hilarious even, how many times this game has been played out over the decades. The Damsel, the Dragon, the Knight and the Saviour.
His thoughts are slipping again and he isn't entirely sure who has taken which roles this time around. He thinks he might be the dark Damsel, bête-noire, perhaps. It would make Alaric his white Knight this time.
But Alaric is dead, he thinks, so perhaps Stefan is his Knight this time also.
There's a large hand on his face, and now he's certain it's Alaric.
"-awake, Damon-" He's saying, voice strained and warm, but Damon hardly cares. His Prince will kill him surely, but perhaps that is a different fairytale. He thinks.
Damon senses it then, through the fog of venom and blood, the presence just beyond Stefan's. Saviour.
Klaus. The sensible part of his mind reprimands. Klaus is no white Knight, and certainly no saviour; but he is the Saviour in Damon's fairytale, so he drinks in the Original's presence like a drug.
There is a hand beneath his shoulder, and the waterfall sounds distant, miles away. The hand is not quite so large as Alaric's but larger than Damon's, and Klaus' voice is electric, the scent of his too-rich blood clouding Damon's senses.
"-an addiction, Sweetheart." Klaus says. Damon doesn't have the slightest idea what he means when Klaus draws him close, into a mimicry of a lover's embrace, until Damon rests his head on the hybrid's shoulder.
"-Caroline and Stefan-" "-upset-" The words are disjointed, but Damon understand the basic principle. The scent of Klaus' blood is stronger then, and he can sense Alaric just beyond them.
The press of Klaus' torn wrist to Damon's lips is less gentle and more intimate than Damon would have expected but Klaus has taken the role of Saviour, so Damon supposes that it is alright. The rush of his blood is overpowering, straight from the vein, and Damon thinks he can taste the surge of emotion along with it. Sire, perhaps, rather than Saviour.
It tastes of Klaus's satisfaction at Damon's acceptance of Klaus' bloodline claim. His acknowledgement of Klaus as his blood Sire, just as Damon is Caroline's.
Strength roars between them as Damon whispers against Klaus' healing wrist. "I will never be human."
It tastes like triumph and addiction when Damon presses his lips to Klaus' fingers, and Klaus' blood burns in Damon's veins.
Author's Note: My take on Damon getting poisoned by werewolf venom for a second time, and the part we didn't see, of Klaus curing him in S04E23. Convenient plot device much?