CHAPTER 4

Damon had called Bonnie home to find a witchy solution or a cure to the poison. Bonnie had tried all her spells on Stefan but none really worked to ease his pain. After several failed attempts she promised Damon that she will head back home and will read all the spell books and contact other witches to find some solution.

Bonnie had left few hours ago; Stefan had become so weak and tired that he had dozed off while Damon had fallen asleep on the chair next to Stefan's bed. Suddenly in the middle of the night Stefan woke up from the excruciating pain. He wanted to scream but the pain was so unbearable that he couldn't even make a single sound. He looked around and saw that his brother was sleeping on the chair. He tried to call Damon but couldn't utter a word; suddenly he realized that blood was coming out of his nose. When the pain became unbearable he finally gathered all his strength and screamed. 'Damon' was the word that came out of his mouth. Since childhood whenever Stefan used to get hurt or was in pain he only called one person that was his big brother. Stefan again started coughing up blood and this time the coughing was more violent than the last time.

Damon quickly woke up and as soon as he saw Stefan he rushed towards him. Stefan, brother! Damn it. Damon said and again stroked Stefan's back up and down to sooth his little brother but it was in vain. In between the coughs and with laboured breathing Stefan kept saying, Damon please make it stop! Just make it stop. I..I can't bear this any longer..Please..Hearing his plea Damon felt as if someone had pierced his heart with a sharp knife. Looking at his baby brother in so much pain and not being able to do anything about it was his worst nightmare. He wanted to take away all his pain; he cursed himself for being so helpless. He couldn't do anything so he just held his baby brother tightly as if he would never let him go anywhere away from him. He kept whispering 'It will be okay Stef, it will be Okay, Bonnie is working on it. She will find an antidote. You will be absolutely alright' until Stefan finally passed out from the pain in his arms once again. He gently laid Stefan on the bed after putting up a clean bed sheet and then went to get a clean cloth with which he wiped the blood from Stefan's mouth and from his nose. While doing so a tear rolled down his cheek. He noticed that Stefan had become very pale, dark circles had starts forming below his eyes and his heart broke seeing Stefan in such a horrible, deathly condition. The thought that it would have been better if he had never shoved the cure down Stefan's throat also crossed his mind. I am so sorry baby brother; you are in this mess because of me. I am so sorry.

Damon once again composed himself and said to himself,'No I can't break, I will not lose up. I will not lose you Stefan.' Damon said with determination. He took out the phone from his pocked and dialled Bonnie's number. Bonnie, Stefan's condition has worsened please tell me that you have found a cure. Please tell me you have found a way to save my brother.

Bonnie was holding back her tears on the other side of the phone. She had tried everything, all witchy spell books, contacted all the witches but couldn't find anything. She herself was unable to come to terms that there was nothing she could do to help Stefan. Stefan was a pure soul, he was a good friend, and sometimes she even couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that a nice, gentle soul like Stefan could suffer so much throughout his life. Let alone Stefan who was such a nice person, no one deserves to go through what Stefan has suffered throughout his life. And finally after centuries of pain, hurt and betrayal Stefan was finally happy. He was a human something he wanted to be all his life. But his happiness was so short-lived. And now watching him suffer like this and not being able to do anything about it was breaking her heart. She couldn't even come to terms with the fact that they all were very close to losing Stefan. Her heart was breaking not only for Stefan but for Damon as well. She was sure Damon will not be able to bear the loss of his little brother whom he loved so much.

A sob escaped her shivering lips and finally she blurted out, 'I AM SORRY DAMON, I COULDNT FIND A CURE. I CAN'T HELP HIM.'

Before she could say anything else the line went dead...

It took a while for Damon to comprehend what all had Bonnie just said and what all it meant. Does t mean he will lose his brother forever? Does it mean he couldn't do anything to help his baby brother? Does it mean there was no other way but to let Stefan suffer horribly and then let him die a slow, extremely painful death?

No this couldn't happen. Of all the people why every bad thing happened to his baby brother. Why it was always his little brother who suffered the most. This was not fair. Life had always been unfair to Stefan and now even death was playing a cruel game with him. He was ashamed to admit that many a times he himself was the cause of Stefan's sufferings. After all he was the same guy who had promised his own little brother an eternity of misery. He could sacrifice anything to take those words back. He didn't mean it. He could never harm his brother but he couldn't also deny the fact that he was the cause of Stefan's heart break. He had snatched the love of his brother's life from him and he was not proud of it. He was ready to give up everything for Stefan right now, even Elena because Stefan was the most important person in his life. He would even gladly trade places with his brother and embrace death with a smile if it meant that Stefan would live. He knew Karma was a bitch and it had come to bite him in the ass. His karma was catching up to him. Just like he took away innocent lives and tore apart families, he killed people in front of their own families while they were pleading him to spare the life of their loved ones but never once he showed mercy similarly today karma was merciless. He was losing his brother, his brother was slipping away and he couldn't do anything but watch helplessly.

He sat beside Stefan and stroked his hair. A tear rolled down his cheek and fell on Stefan's hand. Please I beg you. He took Stefan's hand in his. Please don't leave me brother.

Stefan slowly opened his eyes. Hey big brother, Stefan whispered. He looked deathly pale. A took a deep laboured breath and continued I am not going anywhere not yet. Even when I will leave I don't want you to cry. I..I want you to live...Live a long, happy...He coughed...in between laboured breaths he continued.. a long, happy life with the love your life. I want you to be happy brother. I..

Damon cut him off in between, 'Shut up Stefan. Don't you dare utter another word. I am in no mood to listen to your crappy speech. Don't you even dare say good bye. I am not ready for it because I have not given up yet Stefan and I will not let you give up as well. Don't you dare give up.

I will find a way to save you. Do you hear me?

But Damon, Stefan spoke but once again was interrupted by Damon.

I said shut up Stefan. Save your energy and go back to sleep, Damon spoke in a stern voice.

Stefan said nothing after that and closed his eyes.

After few hours around 4 a.m. Damon woke up to find that Stefan was shivering violently. Damon grabbed Stefan's shoulder to stable his brother. As he touched him he found that Stefan was burning up. He noticed that Stefan was sweating as well. He quickly covered Stefan with a blanket and rushed to get water and strips of cloth to place on Stefan's forehead. He soaked the cloth strip in cold water and placed it on Stefan's forehead. Stefan open your eyes brother, talk to me but he got no response.

He kept talking to Stefan in hopes of getting any kind of response from him but all in vain. For the next hour he kept putting cold strips on Stefan's forehead and finally Stefan's shivering stopped and even his temperature went down slightly.

Stefan once again slowly opened his eyes and took his brother's name, 'Damon'

Damon instantly spoke,'Hey there brother! You are finally awake. You need something.'

Stefan had become extremely sick and weak. He had to make a lot of effort to utter even a single word still with difficulty he continued, 'Damon... it's hurting Damon.

Damon became extremely worried, 'Where exactly it's hurting...even before Damon could complete his sentence, Stefan screamed in pain, Ahhhh! Stefan screamed...Damon! My side, my side it's paining like hell as if I...I have been stabbed.'

Damon quickly pulled up Stefan's shirt to take a look and what he saw made him gasp in horror. Stefan had a deep stab wound which started oozing out blood!

Suddenly the phone rang and Damon saw it was Patrick. He picked up the phone,'you son of a bitch. What have to done? I will rip...Damon was cut in between Damon, Damon, Damon don't you think all your concentration should be on saving your brother. You can deal with me later after your brother's death because then you will have ample of free time. Patrick said and laughed evilly.

I called to inform you that I may have skipped a few details here and there. One of the many side effects of the poison apart from coughing blood, shivering, high fever, excruciating pain is that deep wounds will start appearing on the person's body which are as painful as the stab wounds.

I thought I should mention it to you so that you can prepare yourself to watch your dearest little brother bleed to death.

To be continued...

Thank you all for the reviews. Both positive reviews and constructive criticism is appreciated. Keep reading

Also I try and update as frequently as possible but it is tough for me to take out time form my busy schedule to update on a daily basis. I intended to make this story about the brothers' bond so I will not really write the POVs of other characters, lit bit of insight I might give here and there like Bonnie's in this chapter but can't promise. My focus will be on the brotherly love. Stefan's POV will be in the next chapter.

Happy reading