Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. They are property of the CW channel and L.J. Smith.

Chapter 2

Damon Salvatore sat in front of the fireplace of the Salvatore Boarding House, a glass in hand. It had been one week, one week, he thought, since Isobel had so blatantly pronounced the words that had changed things. She had said out in the open what he hadn't wanted to admit to himself. Something that he didn't want to admit to himself. Something that he had denied in himself for a while. But as soon as she had said it, he knew that it was true. Moreover, he knew that there was no going back.

Stefan's speech after the meeting with Isobel had initiated a dance of avoidance between the two brothers. But the most remarkable change that Damon thought was that Elena didn't come by the Boarding house anymore. Which meant that it had been a week since he had last seen her. But then again, he thought, he didn't think that he could stand being next to Elena, especially when he was sure that she wouldn't meet his eyes… or even worse, try to talk to him about Isobel's comment. And what would he say? Yes Elena, I'm in love with you. And every time I see you with my worthless little brother, every fiber in my being wants to tear him apart limb by limb? That since I died 145 years you're the first person who makes me want to keep my humanity? Frustrated, he threw the glass against the wall and watched as the pieced shattered on the floor.

He had spent the last 145 years renouncing every moral fiber, every moral thought , keeping his humanity at bay, so that Katherine… Katherinewould realize that he was just like her. He had spent the last century and a half hoping that when Katherine was out of the tomb, she would realize that without a moment's hesitation that it was him with who she belonged. That it was he who deserved her. That it was hewho lived like her.

Not Stefan. Never Stefan.

But Katherine, he smiled humorlessly, Katherine was in a league of her own. What wouldn't he have done for her? He had laid down his life, his after-life even for her. Spent the rest of eternity at her beck and call; hanging by here every word. He would have killed anyone; man, woman, child, if she had wished. He would have taken on vampire, witch, human or any other godforsaken thing to keep her safe, even if the odds were against him. He would have done anything. Anything for her.

If only she had cared.

After he found out that she wasn't in the tomb, for the second time in his existence, he felt the same desolation, feeling of loss, his unwillingness to exist. Only this time, there wasn't speck of raison d'être. It was over. Everything he had lived and died and lived again for, was over. Katherinehad never cared.

And then, shehad saved him. She had hugged him that night. She was the first person who hadn't shrunk away in fear or disgust after learning what he was. After learning what a monster he was and everything that he had done and was capable of doing. She was the first person who had accepted his failing and shortcomings and every singlenegative quality that was his being, and still wanted to be there for him.

She was his glimmer of hope. She was the reason that he still walked. After she hugged him that day he knew that he was redeemable. That there was someone who if not loved, then cared for him. Throughout his life, he was never sure of Stefan's feelings for him. Damon had spent his afterlife trying to make Stefan's a living hell. And he knew that Stefan resented him for it. But with her hug, she had conveyed what he had only hoped that Katherine would. And now he had something to live for. For her.

He heard his cell-phone ringing in a distant corner of the boarding house. He glance d at the clock, almost 5 am. With inhuman speed he managed to reach its phone before the ringing died. He sighed when he looked at the caller id.

"Too late for a booty call, dontcha think?", he paused as the person on the other side spoke. "I'll be there", he said.

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