The ties that bind

CHAPTER 1

It hadn't been long before they had problems. Everything had started out so well. They had left Mystic Falls filled with excitement at having a new kind of future ahead of them - one not filled with blame, recriminations and fighting. Damon seemed to have calmed down a lot in effort not to upset Stefan's morals and Stefan had gotten used to not suspecting that all of Damon's motives were all part of an evil master plan. Life was good...for a while.

(Present day)

"Why can't you let it go Stefan? I'm hungry, therefore I'm going out. If you come with me then you're just going to have to watch me eat someone and then you're going to be pissed and hungry yourself." Damon reasoned as he put his hands on his hips frustrated. Stefan huffed and looked up at him from the sofa.

"How many people does it take to satisfy your appetite? You've been out for hours already today."

"Do you want me to drain someone?" Damon shot back grumpily.

"Of course not."

"Then I have to feed more regularly. Your choice, not mine." Damon pointed out and Stefan frowned.

"There's no choice here. There never has been." Stefan mumbled and Damon grunted annoyed. He grabbed his jacket and started pulling it on.

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know." Damon grunted again and Stefan looked down at his hands unhappily. Damon looked over at him and sighed. "I'll text you." He said a little softer and went to him, kissing him softly to placate him. As he pulled back he rubbed his nose against Stefan's and stroked his cheek. Stefan gave him a small smile and then he left.

Things with Stefan were difficult - much more difficult than Damon could have realized. Stefan couldn't feed with him because he couldn't stand the draw of it and Damon certainly couldn't hunt animals with Stefan because they tasted fowl to his tongue. It was making things a little harder as they grew apart in their feeding regularities. Stefan was used to depriving himself but Damon didn't see the use in that. He loved to feed and he didn't want to have to relinquish that to Stefan. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for this, for a relationship after all. It hadn't been much of a choice actually, it had just forced itself upon them both. Sometimes when Stefan fell asleep curled into him, Damon wondered on how it had happened. At what point in their captivity had their blood sharing become more than just feeding? The sexual aspects of feeding were common. He had experienced it on several occasions with female vampires, but he'd never mated with one. He didn't want to push Stefan on the topic of what he knew about it, considering that Stefan had already told him that he would leave him if they couldn't start fresh and not blame each other for everything that happened in the past, including this. Still...Damon's curiosity was getting the better of him. He loved Stefan, enjoyed making love with him, feeding him, sharing himself with him, but he couldn't help but feel at times like this, when Stefan was being clingy and irritating, that if he had been given the choice of whether he would have wanted to 'mate' with Stefan...he would have said no.

He squeezed his eyes closed in guilt as he finally admitted that to himself. He decided to walk around for a little while before picking a bar to hunt in. He needed to blow off some steam. Was it so wrong for him to feel like he had no choice in this love? Stefan was his brother and his mate. Would he have willingly chosen an eternity of incest? No. He would not have. Damon's phone buzzed in his pocket as he walked into a bar and sat down.

I'm sorry I love you xxx

Damon sighed feeling emotional. Anyone reading that text could interpret it in a number of ways - as a declaration of love and an apology, or as an apology for the love. It pretty much summed up their relationship. His heart ached whenever he felt like he was betraying Stefan, even with his thoughts, let alone by banging someone or killing someone. Truth was, ultimately Damon loved Stefan, but he wasn't happy. He couldn't completely relax, not knowing how much of his feelings were a result of this weird mating issue. He had had to find out more, had had to find someone who had seen this before and could answer his questions. They had travelled around for a few months in bliss, making love anywhere and everywhere they wanted shamelessly. Touching at all times. In cities where people didn't know them, they simply appeared to be a couple very much in love and married recently, due to their surname being the same. This was a new decade of acceptance and no one seemed to bat an eyelid that two hot looking men seemed to want to do nothing more than eat each other. It had been fun. Then two months ago they had gone to Chicago and he had run into Sarah. She had sent him on a path of no return when she dropped a bombshell onto him that he couldn't resist delving into and now things between he and Stefan weren't right as a result of what followed…

"You two have something else going on haven't you?" She had smirked drunkenly as Damon had propped himself at the bar of their local nightclub. Damon had met Sarah fleetingly around 30 years ago when he had been passing through and she had been a good distraction from the pain of missing Katherine. Sarah had been turned in the late 1960s so she was still young and up for some fun.

"What is it? Drugs? Drugged human donors? What?" She laughed looking over at where Stefan was sitting chatting to some of her human friends. Damon raised an eyebrow at her and smiled.

"Why whatever do you mean?" Damon smirked, smoldering and she slapped his shoulder. Since she had met him and Stefan as a couple, Damon's charms didn't work on her anymore.

"I know you are married and all, but there's more than that. The way you touch each other, it's like you're magnets or somethin." She said seriously and Damon eyed her with interest. He didn't answer and she shrugged. "I knew a couple like that before. Made me so damn jealous!" She laughed and called the bartender for more drinks for them, letting the barman get a look at her breasts to hurry the situation. Damon chewed his lip for a minute, contemplating telling her about them. They hadn't told another soul about the mating, in fear that they would discover their blood ties and be disgusted - acceptance for homosexuality? - check, acceptance for incest? - absolutely not and he didn't blame them either. Still, he liked Sarah and she seemed pretty open minded. He might not have to confess that Stefan was actually his brother.

"Tell me about them." He said and she returned her attention to him.

"Who?" She slurred.

"The other couple like us." He probed and she grasped his meaning and smiled.

"I met them way back after I was first turned. They had been together for a couple of hundred years, but there was another kinda knowledge about them."

"What do you mean?"

"Well if you've been with someone for that amount of time you would know them right? But these two..." She blew out a breath and smiled at the barman, compelling him to pay for their round and turning back to Damon. "These two like, knew each other's souls and shit. Freaky stuff but very cute." Damon shifted in his chair listening and she realized just how interested he was in what she had to say.

"I asked them about it once and they told me that they had mated." She leaned in close to his ear to whisper as if it was something shocking.

"Mated?" Damon laughed and drew a quizzical look born of sarcasm and she laughed.

"I know right? Like frickin animals or some shit." She began to peel the label from her bottle.

"Vampires don't mate."

"If only! Damn I would have me a piece of that any day." She sighed.

"So were they?" He pushed and she shrugged. "Did they say how they mated?"

"You know I remember you being the kind of guy that never asked questions Damo." She glinted her teeth at him and he laughed, raising his new drink from the bar and winking at her as he downed it. She whooped and clapped as he drank it down and slammed the glass back onto the bar. It looked like he would have to get her a lot drunker to get more answers. He turned to look over at Stefan and his heart picked up. His Stefan. If Stefan knew he was having a conversation like this he would be worried. Stefan looked over at him and smiled.

"On ye go. I'll bring more drinks over lover boy." Sarah nudged him and he smirked and walked back over to Stefan. The human conversation happening around them wasn't so mind numbing for a change - what a difference from hanging around with high school teenagers. Although Stefan looked like a 17 year old, everyone assumed that he was just lucky to be aging so well and as Damon passed easily for a 22 year old cradle snatcher, they fit in with groups of college seniors a little easier. At least in these groups, people had something a little more interesting to talk about than proms and x-factor. These humans were into sex, drugs and rock and roll with a little tequila on top - just Damon's style. No journal writing or Carebears here.

Stefan put his arm around Damon's back as he settled beside him again and there was that familiar pull of attraction to each other. They looked at each other, both affected by it and kissed until they had to break away to pretend they needed to breathe. It was constant, this need to have Stefan at every available opportunity and Damon didn't waste time pulling Stefan to the men's' room and taking him up against the wall as people pounded trying to get inside. It made the thrill all the better when Stefan would cry loudly as he came and then be unsure on his feet on their way back outside. Stefan was his and he couldn't keep his hands from him for very long.

They made their way back to the table and Stefan sat down looking disheveled and happy as Sarah smirked and winked at Damon. He smiled widely and she drew him down next to her as Stefan was bombarded by a group of girls wanting him to dance. He looked towards Damon laughing at how little energy he had left and Damon winked and tilted his head in encouragement. Stefan had no choice as he was pulled from his seat and dragged to the dance floor.

"You haven't changed at all Damo. Couldn't wait till you got home?" She jested and he laughed, drinking from someone's bottle of beer.

"We are pretty intense huh?" He said.

"I like it."

"So, do you think me and Stefan are mated then?" He faked a look of shock and laughed as she slapped him again.

"Nah man, it doesn't just happen. If it did I would be in the bathroom getting fucked right now too."

"What?" He laughed and she shook her head. "Anne told me they went through this ritual - all blood and sex and shit like that. Afterwards that's when they knew they were mated."

"A ritual?"

"Yeah apparently. Ended up a little fucked up though." She sighed.

"How? Shag each other to death?" Damon laughed as his stomach began to flip.

"It had these consequences - they had to feed on each other or they would get sick. Nasty, but still worth all the love if you ask me."

"What's the problem with that?" He queried and she frowned.

"She told me one time that they got separated for a few weeks and it nearly killed them both. Some shit in Berlin or something to do with like a wall or somethin. No idea, but it freaked them out proper. After that they had to start storing up each others' blood and carrying it with them just in case. Scary. I mean if one died...fuck knows how that would work out. I mean, if your mate dies, would you? Or would you be able to just go back to the way you were?" She rambled and Damon's heart stopped. He realized after a few painful moments that she was actually expecting him to respond. He cleared his throat, trying to formulate words.

"Dunno." He settled on. "Did they die?"

"Nah, cute as kittens still, saw them a few years back in New York living it up." She smiled again, returning the happier atmosphere to their table.

"Nice. Bet they could tell us a few relationship secrets."

"Totally man. They actually do that. They write a column down in NYC. Marriage counseling or some shit. Of course, no one knows why they always get it right, but being that old and mated for life's' gotta have a few advantages ay?" Mated for life. Damon gulped.

"Just because you are a newbie." Damon pushed into her mockingly as Stefan stumbled back from the dance floor laughing but clearly exhausted. Damon moved over to him and Stefan leaned into him humming. Post coital Stefan was always the most fun.

"Take me home." Stefan whispered into Damon's' ear, sending shivers up his neck and he grabbed his jacket right then and did a little salute to Sarah as she shook her head and laughed at them leaving.

They barely got through the front door to their apartment before Stefan had most of Damon's clothes off. Damon laughed in between kisses.

"I thought you were tired!" He said and Stefan pulled him down onto the floor in the hallway, unable to wait until they could get to the bed. Stefan devoured his mouth with passionate kisses as Damon mewled and undid his jeans. Stefan slid them off and pulled his erection out of his own trousers, ready to go. Stefan had started to enjoy the feeling of taking Damon when he still had clothes on. It made it feel more exciting and left lovely red marks on Damon's' pale skin where he had friction burns. Stefan loved nothing more than to lick Damon's body after making love, watching the burn marks fade.

Damon stared up at him ready and waiting and Stefan bore his fangs as Damon's veins protruded in lust. Stefan dived into his neck and bit down as Damon melted into his embrace panting. Their off switches were practically non -existent now. Why bother turning it off when you could feel such ecstasy every time you fed? The wave began and Stefan could taste the human blood in Damon's. It made him all the sweeter and Stefan drank hungrily, making unashamed moans and slurping sounds as Damon unraveled beneath him. He pulled up when he felt the first orgasm wave and watched Damon's face. He loved to see Damon this turned on. He licked down to his manhood and sucked a few times as Damon twisted his pelvis and gyrated, before biting into Damon's artery in his thigh. This was Damon's favorite place to be fed from and it made him cry and grab Stefan's hair, pulling it with his fingers in demand. Stefan drank until he couldn't wait any longer and roughly grabbed Damon's' legs, pulling him like a wheelbarrow. Damon lay back in surrender and Stefan entered him in one thrust making him shout out.

Stefan let out a growl and began to pound into him without mercy as Damon arched his back and cried. Damon liked it hard and rough these days and Stefan knew that he wouldn't hurt him this way. Stefan never lasted very long though so he usually had to keep repeating the feeding to satisfy Damon's libido.

"Uhhhhhhh Stefan…" Damon moaned as his body shook with pleasure and Stefan held onto his legs hard enough to bruise as he let the wave rob his brain of control. Damon cried and milked Stefan with his muscles as Stefan tried to hold on and give Damon an extended orgasm. He fought off the urge to spill inside and bit into Damon's thigh again making Damon scream and lose control completely, before Stefan gave in and filled him. Stefan looked down at this finger nails in confusion as he lay Damon's legs back down and then realized that he had gripped Damon's skin too hard. He leaned down as Damon struggled to lift his head and checked his legs. It looked sore as he traced his fingers over the cuts and he began his routine of licking and sucking at Damon's skin. Damon loved the attention and would sometimes fall asleep as Stefan continued. He licked over the skin until the cuts healed and he sat back up satisfied.

"Your blood tastes good tonight. B positive?" Stefan asked and Damon hummed.

"I know it's your favorite." Damon yawned happily. Since Stefan shared Damon's blood so frequently, he got to enjoy the taste and nutrition of some of the human blood filtering through Damon. They had a routine whereby they would try different animals and blood types to see what effects they could detect with their blood after feeding. It was a game they both enjoyed. Stefan lay onto of him, making Damon huff at the weight and Stefan licked his neck, nibbling at his collarbone.

"Hey I was thinking we could go on a trip." Damon suggested and Stefan made an enquiring sound as he nuzzled into Damon's neck. "Haven't been to New York City for ages. We could go, I could eat a few tourists…" Damon joked and Stefan curled into him humming in agreement. Stefan began to feel sleep pull at him as his eyelids got heavier and Damon had to nudge him awake enough to get up off the floor so they could go to bed. As they climbed in together, Stefan fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, while Damon stared up at the ceiling, already starting to plan how he could find Anne and talk to her about the mating bond. Stefan couldn't know. He would take it the wrong way, think Damon didn't want him and that wasn't it. Damon just needed some answers, needed to know how real this was and now that he knew there was someone out there who had answers, he wasn't going to be able to stop until he found them.

That had been the beginning.