Author's notes: The second chapter is finished and I hope you like it! And thank you so much for the reviews, just keep them coming, they are the best fuel that I can imagine ;-)
Damon slowly sat up and looked horrified at his younger brother. All of a sudden the memories of the last couple of days were crushing down on him.
"Oh God that damn witch wasn't joking." he groaned and stood up.
He was still unsteady on his feet and eventually collapsed again. Elena crouched down to him and noticed the sweat on his forehead. She gently laid a hand against his face.
"You have a fever, you should go back to bed." she exclaimed.
"Fever? I just turned back into a human and I'm already sick?" Damon asked incredulously.
"You were lying on the cold ground in the wood, you probably caught a cold." Elena assumed.
"You have to turn me back into a vampire. Now!" Damon said desperately and glanced at Stefan.
"So that you can keep hurting and killing people? No, this is definitely not going to happen." Stefan replied.
"Fine, I will find another vampire who will turn me." Damon hissed furiously and struggled to get up.
He attempted to storm out of the kitchen but stopped when he felt dizzy again and steadied himself by leaning against the door frame.
"Damon, be reasonable and let me help you. You're sick and your immune system is not used to today's virus diseases. You're probably also dehydrated." Elena tried to calm him.
He finally backed down, put his arm around her shoulders and let her help him to ascend the stairs. Stefan watched them silently. He simply couldn't believe it. Why of all vampires was it Damon that was turned back into a human? What Damon considered as punishment would be for him the greatest gift he could imagine. On the one hand he was finding joy in Damon's misfortune but on the other hand he was going green with envy. He was still lost in thought when Elena returned back to the kitchen.
"He fell immediately asleep, I guess he's pretty exhausted." she told him.
"It's not fair." Stefan replied looking at her. "He doesn't even appreciate getting his humanity back."
"But at least you know now that it's possible. Tomorrow we have to find out what happened."
Waking up the next morning the first thing Damon felt was his still aching throat. He pulled the blanket over his head and groaned. Last night he had been so groggy that he had hoped it was only a very bad dream. But apparently it wasn't. The hot shower he took helped to ease the pain in his aching muscles though he was still feeling weak and his movements were slow when he put on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. When he finally made it downstairs he spotted Elena, Bonnie and Stefan in the living room. He intended to avoid them but Elena had already seen him.
"Hey Damon, are you feeling better?" she asked.
"Just peachy." he replied and sauntered into the living room trying to hide his weakness and to look laid-back.
"Then sit down and explain what happened." Stefan said.
"Okay, here is the short version. Three witches, a lot of vervain and a spell."
"That's indeed a short version. Why did they do that? Did you know them?" Elena inquired.
"I recognized one of them. She was a good friend of Bree and wanted to take revenge."
"But why?"
"I killed Bree." Damon shrugged.
Elena looked at him with wide eyes.
"She was lying to me." Damon stated.
"Honestly, I start to think that you might actually deserve this." she replied.
"As I said, since my own brother is not willing to turn me, I'm going to find another vampire who will. I'm certainly not planning to stay like this." Damon grinned.
"Then I guess I have some bad news for you." Bonnie interfered.
The others looked at her surprised and full of expectation.
"I talked to my Grandmother about it and she told me about a spell that can indeed turn vampires back into humans, though that spell had never been written down. Also is the spell quite dangerous for the vampire, my Grandmother has never heard about a vampire who actually survived it. The performance of that spell takes a lot of power, hence the three witches. And here is the snag in it. Firstly there's no spell to reverse that one, it's permanent. And secondly a former vampire can't be turned back the traditional way. Vampire blood won't have any affects on him for the rest of his human life." Bonnie explained.
Damon grabbed a glass of water that was standing on the table and smashed it against the wall.
"This is bullshit! What kind of sick witch comes up with a spell like that?" he yelled angrily.
Reaching out for another glass he was stopped by Stefan who grabbed him by his throat and pushed him up against the wall. Stefan was really angry now. Without further thinking he punched Damon a couple of times and smashed him against the wall. Damon fell down in a heap and held his head moaning in pain.
"Stefan, stop it. You could seriously hurt him." Elena demanded and tried to hold her boyfriend back who was driven by envy and the rage about the fact that Damon was declining the humanity that he wanted to have so badly.
She had never seen him being so angry. Finally Stefan realized that he had gone too far and let go of Damon. Elena dragged him away and ushered him out of the house in order to go for a blow and to cool down.
With a hint of reluctance that she tried to hide Bonnie went over to check on Damon. His lower lip was split and she noticed a bruise on his right temple when she bent down. Damon pushed her away but failed at his attempt to run upstairs. Holding on to the banister he tried to prevent himself from collapsing though the dizziness and the pain in his head increased rapidly and he found himself on the floor again. Although she wanted to ignore the compassion that she suddenly felt for him, Bonnie approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"I know that you're not used to being weak and needing help, but please be reasonable."
Damon looked at her with gritted teeth.
"You're sick and hurt, and I take it that you haven't drank or eaten anything since you're human." she added.
Damon shook his head and regretted this movement in an instant. Finally he gave in and let her help him. He couldn't believe that it was already the second time within just a couple of hours that he needed someone to take him upstairs. Once they were in his room he slowly went over to his bed and sat down. Bonnie noticed that he was slightly shivering and for being human he was way too pale.
"You should lay down." she suggested and surprisingly he obliged and crawled under the blanket.
Bonnie simply took it as another hint that he wasn't feeling well. Elena was probably right with her assumption that he had caught a cold.
"Are you hungry or thirsty?" she asked.
"I don't know. I don't remember how it feels to be hungry when you're human." he answered quietly.
Eventually Bonnie started to realize how difficult it must be for him to adjust to his condition. He had not only lost all his advanced abilities and strength, but also didn't know how to interpret the signs that his body gave him. And lying in his bed looking sick and tired he reminded her more of a five year old than a former vampire who had satisfied his blood thirst by killing innocent people.
"Maybe it would be better to call a doctor." she suggested when Damon sneezed.
"Why?"
"You might not want to hear that again, but you're human and you're sick."
"As I said, I'm not planning to stay human."
"But you can't become a vampire again."
"How do you know for sure if there has never been a vampire who survived this spell before?"
"And you're really willing to take the risk to die in the process?" Bonnie inquired incredulously.
"Death actually sounds a lot better to me than the imagination of living a human life. All the memories of what I've done as a vampire keep crashing down on me and I can't switch of my feelings anymore. And if I ever gonna find a way to get Katherine out of the tomb, she would never accept the fact that I'm human and aging. I would loose her again." Damon explained and Bonnie could hear the sadness in his voice.
"I'm sure it will get better. Right now you're just confused and sick, but you will get used to being human again, you just have to try." Bonnie said trying to cheer him up.
"I don't have to try it to know that I will suck at being human."
"Look who's brooding now." Bonnie replied dryly and Damon actually smiled slightly at that comment.
Seeing the corners of his mouth turning upwards raised Bonnie's hopes that he would refrain from the suicide mission of letting a vampire trying to turn him. She decided that he was already sufficiently cursed for his earlier misdoings with being human and she was willing to give him a seconds chance. Now she only had to bring him to jump at the chance before he would do something stupid.
"Okay, here is the deal. Next I'll go groceries shopping, you really need to drink and to eat properly. And once you feel better I'll show you that living a human life can be fun, too. And I'm talking about G-rated fun." Bonnie suggested.
Damon eventually agreed.
"You're lucky that human Damon is just as hot as vampire Damon." he grinned.
"Speaking of hot, I will also go to the drugstore to get you something against the fever and the cold." she said ignoring the hint but grinning as well.
And suddenly Damon could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel. The young witch had actually managed to show him the spark of hope that he needed to give this new life a chance.
