A/N: This story takes place in the Episode 1x17 and contains Hurt!Stefan and caring!Damon
I am from Germany (the link to my profile there: .de/u/die+Autorin )and write for the german fanfiction site. This story was orginally written in german and I translated it. All mistakes are mine and I am sorry for them, but I am not a native speaker.
Vengeance
Mystic Falls was coated in dense nebula. Barely a beam of sunlight paved the way through the thick cloud layer and the nebula.
"What a nice weather", thought Stefan and there was not even a little bit of irony in his words, because it was the thruth.
Could there be a better weather? There was not even a beam of sunlight. Stefan could even go out without his special ring devoid of bringing himself into danger.
"You're going out hunting rabbits for your 'Stefan-Diet'?", asked Damon, who sat nonchalantly on the couch in the parlor and sipped on his glass full of human blood.
There was banter in Damons voice. He loved it to annoy and subliminal insturct his brother. And the fact that Stefan drunk animal blood was playing right into Damons hands.
But after 160 years of life with his older brother Stefan knew how to response.
"In contrast to you I do not have to rip human beings apart to feed myself.", answered he and was completely in his role as saint Stefan.
"Stefan", whined Damon. "You do not have to kill for human blood. I didn't kill a human being in way too long. What are blood perservations there for?"
He knew he aggrevated his little brother with this statemant, because he showed Stefan that he was not a normal vampire in his eyes without drinking human blood. Damon knew, that Stefan did not stopped drinking human blood because he did not want to kill, but because of what the human blood did to Stefan. Stefan was afraid of his actions and his behaviour when he was on human blood. Stefan couldn't handle the power the blood gave to him and was afraid to became a monster free of feelings and Damon loved to play with his brother's fear.
Stefan ignored his brother. "Whatever, I go out hunting. See you later."
With these words Stefan left the border house and started to run into the woods. This wheater was fabulous!
He remember how much he hated the thick fog in Mystic Falls when he still had been a litte child nearly 200 years ago. How he hated it when he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. He had found it really eerily. But now? What did a little fog mean? This dark weather was good weather, fabulous weather. There were no sunbeams. And this weather matched his existencse as a vampire. And what should he be afraid of? He heard footsteps from hundreds of metres away due to his pronounced sense of hearing. He was – although he did not drink human blood - powerful and strong and could defend himself if he needed to. And the fog made it hard to detect him in the woods.
That's why Stefan ran through the forest like always, found a animal and sucked it dry, when a hand from behind grapped him. Apalled he tried to fight against his offender by using his powers as a vampire, but it would not work.
"Nice try. I am a hundred years older than you are."
Stefan took frightened a look at his offender. His face was hard to make out, because he wore a hood, which covered almost every part of his face and the parts of his face, which were not covered by the large hood, were darkened by shadows, but Stefan knew that there was a vampire in front of him and what the words 'a hundred years older' meant. He did not need an explanation. His offender had a hundred years more time to build his strength and his powers than Stefan had and this meant again that he was much stronger than Stefan. And the fact that Stefan did not feed on humans made Stefan even weaker. In this very moment Stefan cursed the fact that he was on an animal diet, because his offender became stronger and he became in contrast even more helpless against the older vampire.
"145 years locked into a tomb with hellfire and hunger so unbelievable cruel that you can't discribe it. And everything is the fault of the Salvatore brothers.",
screamd the older vampire and drove a stake through Stefan's abdomen. Stefan screamed in agony and he became automatic aware, who his attacker really was. 1864. How often would this year came to haunt him? 1864. 27. 145. This numbers were running through his brain. 27 vampires were locked in the tomb in 1864 and they stayed there for 145 years because of him and Damon and now one of this 27 vampires was standing right in front of him.
He didn't even knew how the vampires could have escaped from the tomb. Yeah, he and Damon opened the tomb, but the vampires were already mummified alive. They only could have gotten out when they had blood to feed on... but Stefan couldn't spend time on this thought: There was an older vampire full of wrath and anger and possibly full of plenty fresh blood in front of him, who intended to kill him.
Afraid and full of fear for his life Stefan looked again at his atttacker, who took the hood of. He looked exactly the way Stefan imaged him. His face showed lines of wrath and anger and his eyes were full of the shimmer of dark fire.
"145 years of agony and torment", said the older vampire when he drove the stake again through Stefans abdomen and again and again, propelled by his anger.
Stefan lost his energy more and more, even his energy to scream. Stefan could handle pain, normally he sucked it up, but this was just to much pain, to much agony.
Stefan had a bad feeling, he had the bad feeling he would not make it out alive of this woods.
He spent over 160 Years on this world, but still: It was not enough time. There was so much he still wanted to do, still wanted to experience.
He found a woman he loved deep and truly and he feelt the happiness which came with it. He had found hope, that he and his brother would start to get along better, after he helped Damon – even if it was not a success – to find Katherine. But his life seemed to find an end today.
The older vampire let Stefan fall down to the floor and took a thick bough, which he broke over his knee, so that there were sharp edges.
He lifted Stefan from the floor. "145 years. You are going to pay for this."
The older vampire drove the bough through the body of the younger vampire once again full of pervers happiness. The blood flowed out of the younger vampires body. He endured the torment and the agony. His body was still there, but his soul was already gone.
Stefan was hit with the stake on last time – right through the heart, then he was jerked to the ground. The older vampire disappeard in the dust, while the younger lay motionless on the ground.
Stefans face was colourless. His vampireface, which was already pale, became as pale as death.
And he, the living dead person, changed into a dead dead person.
Damon Salvatore was still sitting in the parlor. By now he was sipping a whisky with pleasure, he already satisfied his hunger for blood today. He watched the old clock on the wall. The clock hand moved slowly but steady forward. And Damon began to wonder where his baby brother was. He should have been back long ago. Damon felt something, what felt like worry.
Did he worry about his little brother? He was becoming a softy, if he started to worry about Stefan. Did he have to much contact to humanity lately? How came it that he was worrying? No matter what, he had to find out, where his brother was. He called Elena, but Stefan was not there.
The bad feeling he had grew more and more with each passing second. Damon hated it, when he had to allow feelings, because they have always disappointed and/or hurt him. And this feeling, this concern for Stefan, was the worst of all bad feelings.
In some way the weather scared him today. No, he was not afraid of darkness, fog and cloudiness. But the meaning and atmosphere connected to this weather fitted too well to all the bad things that could have happened to Stefan.
He decided to take his Jacket and search for Stefan on his own. And once again he cursed the weather. How was he supposed to find Stefan, when he could not even see his hand in front of his face?
He promised Stefan misery and disrespect for eternity and he did his best to annoy his baby brother, but he never could really hate him. The used to be one heart and one soul, even if this was over 145 years ago. No matter how much he hated Stefan sometimes, they were brothers. He sometimes wished he could feel indifference towards his brother, but he could not. As much as he hated him at times, he loved him, too. They were brothers after all and nothing would change that ant they were doomed or blessed to spend the eternity together.
When Damon saw a motionless body lay on the forest soil, he ran towards the body and kneeled besides it. "Stefan.", he whisphered at the sight.
There was no response. What was he expecting? He had seen a dead body oftentimes. He himself killed vampires often enough. He knew Stefan was dead. He knew that this body on the floor was just Stefan's lifeless vessel, but still he did not want to believe it. He shaked Stefan's body.
"Stefan! Stefan!", he screamed in despair.
He looked his little brother over. He could see which agony and torment his baby brother had to undergo. Many stab wounds adorned Stefan's body, which was fully covered with blood, and the wooden stake was still logded in Stefan's heart. Damon could not bear seeing Stefan the way he was. This lifeless. As the living dead, who was now completly dead.
Damon removed the stake from his little brother's body as if this would change anything. The little Salvatore was dead and Damon had the feeling that he knew who had murdered his brother.
Stefan did not have many enemies. He lived hidden and did not want to harm anybody. But the vampires from 1846 hated the Salvatore brothers with passion and the tomb was open and Damon had accidently left the blood bottles in the tomb. One of the vampires from 1846 killed Stefan for revenge. Damon was sure of it.
And apruplty Damon began to feel guilty. He was the one, who wanted to open the tomb, he was the one, who the accidently left the blood bottles in the tomb. It was his fault that the vampires could drink blood, become stronger again, leave the tomb and kill his brother.
He did not care that the vampires probably wanted him dead, too. His brother was dead and he was to blame for that. The vampires from the tomb wanted vengeance and it was his fault that they could have it.
Damon lay himself on Stefan's chest. He was in complete despair. For the first time he allowed himself to show his true feelings.
Of course, he had not agreed with a lot of his siblings action. Yes, he promised Stefan an eternity full of misery. But he did not want this to happen. He did not want his brother dead, he wanted him alive. If he wanted his brother dead, he would have killed him long ago. And he did not want this death to be his fault.
"Oh Stefan.", Damon sobbed.
He was the only Salvatore still standing. He killed Zach, he was to blame for Stefan's death. He did not feel guilty for Zach's death, why should he? But for the death of Stefan he felt a sharp guilt, wich started to ate him alive.
Stefan was his brother despite all the hate and anger. Damon knew Stefan for 160 years, he was spending the rest of the eternity with him and they used to be a heart and a soul. How could his relationship to a manipulative woman like Katherine be more important to him than his brother? How could the two of them let their relationship as brothers slip so far away? Why did he realise just now how much Stefan still meant to him? Why could he just realise this now, when Stefan was already dead?
A voice from behind brought Damon away from his feelings of schock, grief and sorrow.
"Oh, the other Salvatore handed to me on a silver platter."
Damon turned around, so he faced the murderer of his brother. Everything he felt before vanished and the only emotion raging in Damon was blind fury.
"You are dead. You killed my brother. You are dead.", screamed Damon hatefully and full of despite. He did not care about the fact that the vampire in front of him was 100 years older than he was and as a result physically stronger. He did not care that the vampire was there, so that the same fate, which already befalled Stefan, would befall Damon as well.
Probelled by blind fury strong vigors awakened and Damon tossed the inimical vampire with full force against a tree. Then Damon lunged himself down on his enemies body and began to beat the vampire again and again. It was known that Damon was strong, but this vigors, which were awakened in Damon, were never seen before.
The inimical vampire started to fight back, He grabbed a wooden stake from the ground and hit Damon in the chest. Damon did not even feel the pain, he was too caught up in his fury and hate. Without batting an eye he removed the stake from his chest and hit his enemy with it again and again and again, until a lifeless body was the only thing left of his enemy.
He took revenge on his brother's murderer.
The murderer of his baby brother was dead.
It did not change the fact that his baby brother was dead, too.
And it did not change the fact that Damon had to bear the weight of his contributory fault on Stefan's death.
Still, it pandered Damon that he killed the murderer of Stefan.
Damon let himself fall down to the forest soil. Just now he started to realise the pain in his chest. Just now he realised how close this was. Had the stake hit him just two centemetres shifted the stake would be logded in his heart and he would be a corpse by now like his brother was.
He did not care about it, it honestly did not matter. The wound was already starting to disappear. The only reminder of the previous fight were the bloodstains on his clothes. The absence of Stefan in the house would remind of the reason for this fight.
He looked again at his brother's dead body on the ground. How was he supposed to explain this to Elena? How was he supposed to life with this? The sight of Stefan aroused thousands of memories of 160 years as brothers. Damon remembered moments from himself and Stefan as children and teenagers, as best friends, they were inseperable. He remembered moments of their love triangle with Katherine, Damon and Stefan not connected through love anymore, but through hate and envy.
The Damon remembered something else. He remembered a talk he once had with a witch, who explored vampire history and vampire legends.
"A vampire can be killed by big amounts of vervain and by a wooden stake logded into the heart. Bad injuries inflicted by wooden bullets etc. can be fatal, if the vampire does not drink enough blood in order to heal himself. A legend said that a dead vampire can be retrieved to life with the blood of his killer shortly after his deatch."
Damon was glad that he remembered this talk. He did not remember everything from his past, but was relieved that he did not forget this talk. He hold onto this straw. He took blood from the murder of his brother and gave it to his brother and some colour returned to Stefan's face indeed.
"Stefan?", asked Damon gently. His voice was carried by concern, he could not and did not want to hide. Stefan did not response and he did not open his eyes, he remained unconscious - but alive. Damon was relieved that his brother started to come back into the land of the living.
Damon carried his unconscious brother home and laid him down on his bed. He undressed Stefan's upper body and washed the blood away. The wounds were still there, they did not heal like they usually did, Stefan was probably to weak to heal himself.
Damon's face showed lines of concern and compassion. Under normal circumstances he hated it to show his feelings and he would act like he did not care at all, but he did care and this weren't normal circumstances.
Damon changed his bloodstained shirt and began to sit at his brother's bedside. He sat on the chair in his brother's room and watched over Stefan. This was really close, his baby brother barely survived and Damon was still shaken.
He spend the next hours with his unconscious brother. He did not want to leave him and he wanted to be there, when Stefan woke up. He sat in his chair, drank blood and alcohol, played gameboy, but he always watched over Stefan.
Every now and then he gave his baby brother human blood. He knew Stefan did not want to drink it, but he did not give it to Stefan to torment him. Damon knew that Stefan needed the blood to get his strength back, so that Stefan could wake up and heal himself.
After some time Damon heard moans of pain while his now awakened brother tried to sit up.
"Stefan, lay down and lay still. You are still to weak to be moving around.", instructed Damon caringly, while he pushed his brother back into the pillows.
Stefan was confused. He did not remember what happened. He asked with a weak and small voice: "What?" Damon knew in an instant what Stefan wanted to know and started to explain.
"You were hunting outside when a vampire from the tomb overpowered and killed you. It is kind of my fault as I made it possible for the vampires to escape the tomb – by accident of course. I gave you the blood of your murderer to drink and you came back to life. My fault, too. Summarized: I am responsible for your death and for your new life. Keep that in mind, but just the second part of it..."
Stefan studied his brother. He could swear that his brother had been worried and was relieved that he was back and alive. Damon ignored his brother's glances. He left the room and returned with a glass full of human blood.
"Here. Drink this.", instructed Damon and holded the glass in front of Stefan's face, Stefan declined this request. "No!", he said stubborn as he was. Damon was not content with this behaviour. Stefan needed the blood in order to heal.
"Don't be an idiot, my baby bro. You really need it to get your strength back and to heal this nice wounds you have on your body. Animal blood is not strong enough for this."
Stefan still declined stubbornly.
"You already drank human blood today. You needed it to survive and to recover from the worst of it. I promise you that no human being had to die for this blood and that I will pay attention to your blood consum, so it won't go out of control. Did I resolve all your fears and concerns? Drink it!", explained Damon, he did not sound mocking, but caring.
Stefan obeyed. He often saw his brother, when he wanted something and tried to get it. But this was different from the other times. Damon neither battered him, nor did he bantered him. Damon only requested his brother insistently and worriedly to drink blood to get his strength back. Besides, Stefan was to weak to argue and he knew that Damon was right that he needed the blood.
"Thank you.", said Stefan. His brother had saved his life today and was still looking after him. It wasn't something Stefan could take for granted because of their complicated relationship as brothers.
Damon answered: "No. Don't thank me. I am sorry this happened." A apology from Damon was a rare occurrence and Damon often didn't mean it, but this time his apology was true. "I am sorry. I am to blame for your death. I am sorry that Katherine and the tomb were more important to me than you."
Stefan watched his brother suprised. Something had definitly changed.
"Damon...", Stefan started to say, but he was in a lack of words. He had not seen this much care and humanity towards him from his brother in 145 years.
For some time it was quiet. Stefan thought about his brother. Did Damon start to become nice? And would Damon now become a overprotective mother hen? Damon seemed to read his brother's thoughts: "Don't get used to it. I am back to my usual asshole-self in no time."
And with that Stefan knew that Damon will never be the touchy-feely guy, who would show his affection, but Damon did care and had still humanity in him. He had a darkness in him, but he had a lot of good things in him, too. Stefan began to hope that his and Damon relationship would start to recover.
Damon watched over his brother for the rest of the day, too deep was the shock over Stefan's brush with the death.
And Damon was sure of it: No matter what was standing between him and Stefan, he would never let his baby brother get hurt and he recently had proofed it.
Thank you for reading. I would be glad about feedback and I hoped you liked this story..