Unparalleled

Damon Salvatore was a man, or a vampire for those technical people, who often found himself falling in love, or more often than not, lust. Whether it be a beautiful woman or the occasional handsome man, for the span of his 145 year life as a bloodsucker, he had found romance several times. Naturally, the eldest Salvatore brother liked to look back on some of his conquests, the great loves, as he liked to call them, and reminisce on some of the more devious moments. This process usually left the vampire filled with pride; the memories of his past partners made him feel stronger.

The feeling of fulfillment he once felt when looking back, however, was no longer there. Instead, emptiness and dissatisfaction would engulf him. And Damon Salvatore knew exactly who to blame: Jeremy Gilbert. The youngest Gilbert had, in the span of a mere six months, written over almost anything he had ever felt for the women and men of his past.

Damon constantly found himself comparing Jeremy to every significant partner in his past, and found that in every case, Jeremy won hands down. The night he snapped the younger man's neck, he felt something he had never felt before. Regret, anger at himself, he was consumed by it. He had seen the ring, he had known what was going to happen, that in minutes the teen would rise up and go back to his broody, self-induced sadness, but before he even turned his hands, the guilt hit him.

He had went home that night, and instead of drowning himself in the liquor he had begun to stockpile, instead of going out and looking for the bitch who had irrevocably altered his life and the relationship between he and his brother, he went to his room. He sprawled out across his bed and began to think. He worked his way backwards, pondering the time since his return to Mystic Falls, and when the rolling in his stomach and bad taste in his mouth started, he decided to do what always cheered him up: think about his past sexual escapades.

Imagine his surprise when his thoughts would begin to take whomever he was thinking about and compare certain aspects to the 16 year old. Dissatisfaction would course through him, and, to stop the further self-betrayal of his mind, he would push himself to sleep.

Any hope of it being a one time occurrence quickly vanished, when for the proceeding three nights the same thing occurred. He tried chalking it up to feeling actual guilt for what he had done, and that had been hard enough to swallow, and when so far as to speculate that it might be caused by the fact that no one wanted anything to do with him, except for the person he had intentionally hurt.

He is surprised to see him approach at the carnival, and doesn't know how to respond. He acts like he usually would, sarcastic, and threatens to kill him. The teen even showed up at his house, and after a bit of conversation, he finally understands him some more, and, in his mind, they reach some tentative form of friendship.

As he takes his place on his bed, he thinks that the rampant thoughts would stop as he made peace with Jeremy, but they become worse. He somehow always comes back to Jeremy.

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In 2006, he had met Isobel. A beautiful woman, the ring did little to deter him, whose eyes sparkled with amazement at the mere mention of vampires. He would remember the awe he would feel in his stomach when he saw that look. Now all he can think about when he looks back at Isobel is that the beauty of her eyes didn't come close to Jeremy's. While Isobel's eyes were beautiful when she listened to, talked to, or even was fed from a vampire, Jeremy's eyes always had beauty; his eyes would float through Damon's mind when he was awake, and when he was asleep.

The year of 1990 brought Bree to him, and while his renewed quest for Katherine initially drew him to the witch, her personality, the way she made him feel light and airy, kept him attached to her for the better part of a year, a long relationship by Damon standards. But the feeling she gave him was minimal compared to reactions Jeremy brought forth. When near the boy, Damon felt younger, and he knew his cockiness and arrogance was less hostile and more flirtatious in the boy's presence.

The list went on and on, Damon becoming more critical of each and every person.

In 1977: A young painter named Pierre. Damon had met him in Versailles, and his gorgeous body had managed to keep Damon's interest for a few months. Thinking of Pierre's lithe frame did little to excite him, while thinking of the softly defined planes of Jeremy's body.

In 1951: Damon had managed to sneak on to a U.S. naval base in Okinawa. There he had met Utada, a beautiful Japanese woman with whom he had not only shared his bed, but his mind. He had spent hours talking with her, and while the arrangement had only last a mere six weeks, he used to look back on those conversations as the some of the best of his existence. He didn't hang off of Utada's every word like he does Jeremy; he didn't look forward to interacting with her like he does with Jeremy - the best parts of his week are his witty exchanges with the brunette.

In 1926: Damon had met a woman named Janet in London. The feeling of her skin, while amazing, would no doubt pale to the feeling of Jeremy's fair-skin.

In 1901: Berlin had been full of tension, the country was on a road to complete self-destruction, and Aksel, a blonde, muscular farmer, had taken Damon in. He had been compelled to of course, but the softness he felt for the farmer was sandpaper when put against the silky sensation he felt when in the presence of Jeremy.

In 1888: Damon had taken up residence with Maria, a daughter of a high ranking official in Spain. She brought a sense of adventure, of forbidden desire. Jeremy brought all of that, and managed to bring the complete spectrum of emotion as well.

In 1864: Katherine. She was his everything. She made the sun brighter, the moon glow harder. Gravity was weak when near her. She had completed his soul, until she took it and desecrated it. He knew, without an ounce of doubt, that Jeremy could never do what that monster had done.

~(*)~(*)~(*)~

Damon knew why he was having this reaction, looking back, it started the first night he ate at the Gilbert's house, and in his gut, he knew it had been growing since then. No one could measure up the boy, he mused. Everyone who had at one point meant something to him, romantically, aroused feelings that bore no magnitude to what he felt for Jeremy.

That night, the night that Jeremy had sought him out, after everything he had done to the boy, Damon Salvatore decided no matter what his brother or Elena said, he was going to spend eternity with Jeremy Gilbert, because to him, Jeremy Gilbert was unparalleled.

AN: Please review if you think I should continue this, or if you would be interested in being a Beta Reader for this story and a couple of others. Please feel free to check out my other stories, In A Perfect World, a Matt/Jeremy pairing, and Mine, a Tyler/Jeremy pairing. Reviews rock!