Chapter 7
"Katherine Again"
When Stefan came home from school, he found Damon in the study at the desk that held the computer which Damon was using.
"What are you up to?"
"Paying the electric bill. One of us has to. Much as I like fireplaces and candles, I prefer good lighting, a refrigerator that works and the use of other electrical conveniences."
"Yeah, me, too," Stefan said. Paying bills was not high on his list of priorities. Damon tended to take care of things. "How did your day go?"
"Boring as hell," Damon said, finishing paying the bill on line. He remained sitting in the chair, but he swiveled it around to face his brother. "I've been thinking about the situation. Instead of waiting for me to have an attack, I think we should go ahead with another treatment. Our little witch didn't say we had to wait, did she?"
"No. I've wondered about that, too. But I'll tell you one thing: I will not do the treatment without help." His tone of voice was firm.
"If I'm not having an attack, I'll be cooperative. You won't need help."
"The treatment is painful, Damon! You don't remember it, but I know it really hurt you and you tried to move away from it."
"I've been hurt more times than I can count. I can take it, even if I yell a lot," he said with a smirk. He gave a dismissive wave of his hand.
"And you might freak out and be way beyond my control."
"I haven't freaked out yet from any of this, have I?" Damon said with a snort.
"Yeah, you did. I didn't mention it, but you did last evening at the beginning of the attack. Right here in the study. Broke a few things."
Damon looked at him with concern and then looked around the room. Now that he was paying attention, he saw that a couple of things were missing. "I did?"
"Yup."
"You didn't tell me that. I don't like not remembering stuff I do."
"Be glad. You totally lost it for a few seconds."
Damon shook his head over the fact that he couldn't remember. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"No. Look, it's Katherine I'd like to have help me."
"No! Not her, damn it. She laughs at my situation."
"Damon, she has the strength to control you better than anyone. I know she can be a maddening bitch, but she's very strong. And she does care about you."
"Like hell. She's just enjoying seeing me suffer."
"I don't think that's what she really feels. It's just how she acts."
"No, she likes to hurt me. And besides, I'd like to try the treatment this afternoon, and Katherine probably isn't going to come here this afternoon. And we can't call her."
"Do you have any symptoms yet? Itching? Tingling? Burning?"
"No. Not a hint of anything, but I don't want to wait. Call Bonnie or Elena. Caroline, even. She's one of us now. She has strength."
Stefan's cell phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. He didn't recognize the phone number on the screen.
"Hello?"
"Stefan, it's me," said a woman. He thought it was Elena, but she normally used her cell, which was identified by his phone. On the other hand, he knew Katherine could imitate Elena.
"Elena?"
"Don't you wish. It's Katherine."
"Where are you?"
"In your house. Did you know there's a phone on the wall here?"
"How would I know that if I don't know where you are?"
"Well, there is."
"Have you been in the house since last night?"
"Off and on. Why not? I decided to just stay here. Besides, I knew Damon'd be ticked off if he knew I was here. How is he?"
"Fine. Why are you calling now?"
"I heard your voice. Home from the little red school house, huh? Why do you bother to go to school? Do you ever learn anything useful?"
"Katherine, Damon and I are talking about doing a treatment before he actually has an attack. If we do it, I could use your help again."
"Would he agree to that? Ha! I don't think so."
"No, he would not agree, but I can be stubborn, too." He was glaring at Damon, who looked furious.
Damon stood up from the chair and grabbed the phone from his brother's hand. He swore at Katherine and told her she could not help with the treatment. "I'd rather die."
"Okay," Katherine said with a laugh and she hung up.
"Where is she?" Damon demanded of Stefan, who snatched his phone back.
"Somewhere in the house. Damon, remember, you said you would not freak out. You're on the verge."
"I'm not on the verge of anything except killing that bitch! As for you, just shut up!" Damon snapped, suddenly "losing it" again. He cursed and punched his brother in the mouth.
A surprised Stefan was knocked to the floor where he wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Damon had a temper, but Stefan sensed this blow-up was related to the problem. "Nice move, Damon. Good control."
In a flash, Damon was on Stefan, straddling him, one hand to his throat. He tried to punch Stefan with his other fist, but the younger brother grabbed his wrist and held it away. They struggled for a moment and then Damon let go of Stefan's throat. He sat back, his brother under him, and they stared at each other.
"I'm not freaked out. I'm okay. Well, sort of." And yet he knew he had just reacted more violently than he normally would have. He was not okay.
Stefan nodded, relieved that the violence had been brief. His split lip was healing. He licked the blood from his hand and lips.
Damon stood up, reaching a hand down to help his brother up. He had a smear of Stefan's blood on his own hand and he too licked it off. They didn't like to waste blood.
"What are we going to do? You know my feelings on this," Stefan asked.
"If it were your ass Katherine was after, would you let her do the treatment?"
"She is after mine, in a way, but yes, I think I'd let her help as long as you were there, big brother." Stefan, the "little brother," was a bit taller than his older brother. He likely would have been even taller if he had not become a vampire at seventeen. Otherwise, they were basically of the same height and build and of almost equal vampiric strength. Damon's strength was a little greater and his personality was far more dominant.
"I can't believe Katherine's been in the house all day," Stefan said. "She may have been in the house yesterday."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because she just appears. I don't know how she's getting in."
"We haven't checked every entrance to this house in a while. At least, I haven't. Have you?" Damon asked.
"No. And she may be listening through the furnace vents," Stefan said, considering the possibility. He knew loud conversation did carry through the vents to a degree and could be heard by someone with very sensitive hearing, like a vampire. He didn't like the idea of Katherine lurking in the house at all. But in this case, perhaps it would prove advantageous.
For once, Damon looked indecisive. It was obvious to Stefan that he wanted the treatment done now, but without Katherine. Stefan wouldn't do it without Katherine's help.
Damon glared at his brother and said, "All right, damn it. You and Katherine win. I don't want to pass up this opportunity to try the treatment. If it works, I may be cured. Right?"
"That's what Bonnie thinks," Stefan said, relieved that Damon was giving in.
"Isn't this just great! I'm doing this on the word of a teenager who's only been a witch for a short while."
"She may not have been at it very long, but she's good."
"She isn't totally trustworthy. She has no love for vampires," Damon argued.
"I know. But she has loyalty to Elena, who does trust at least one vampire."
"Who isn't me. I know Elena doesn't trust me. And Judgey doesn't even like me."
"But she'll help you if she thinks you deserve it, and she does in this situation," Stefan pointed out. "And she'd do it because that's what Elena would want."
"I'd rather it was Elena assisting you instead of Katherine," Damon said with a growl. "Elena doesn't enjoy seeing people hurt."
"Elena doesn't have the strength we need here," Stefan insisted.
He knew from Elena that she had helped Damon take care of the dying Rose, which had been a dangerous thing for Elena to do. It had momentarily angered Stefan that Damon had allowed such a thing.
He walked over to the closest heating vent and yelled, "Katherine, if you can hear me, come on upstairs." He assumed she was in the basement somewhere.
Back through the vent came her echoing shout, "Why? Has Damon changed his mind? Do I get to sandpaper his ass again?"
"No, you don't. I'll do it, but I need you to hold him down. I'm sure you can do that."
"With pleasure."
"Then meet us in his bedroom."
"Okey dokey."
"I'm going to regret this," Damon muttered. "She just wants the chance to mess with me. You watch her and make sure she doesn't take advantage of me in some way."
"It's not her fault the treatment is harsh. She treated you once and held you down once already and she hasn't done anything wrong to you. I was right there, you know," Stefan said as he and Damon left the study.
Before he went upstairs, he went to the kitchen and retrieved some of the milk. He hoped it was still in good condition. Like Damon, he hoped this treatment would be the cure. He didn't look for more sandpaper, since he knew half a sheet of it was still in Damon's room.
Upstairs, he found Damon in his room already, just standing there looking at the bed.
"It's weird, but I feel something like fear," Damon admitted in a soft voice. "I don't remember y'all treating me. You said it obviously caused me pain and I don't remember it, but I think my subconscious does. I don't know why that would make any difference. I've stood a lot of pain in my life. I'm not afraid of it, so why do I feel it now?"
"It may be part of the spell. An effect of the witch's brew. What better revenge than to make you sick and afraid?"
"Thanks for that nice bit of encouragement." Damon shook his head and rolled his eyes.
Katherine walked into the room and both men looked at her. Sexy and sultry. Stefan saw that she was wearing the same clothes as the night before, dark leggings and a rich blue tunic or short dress. She had a small bloody spot on her tunic that he did not recall as coming from Damon. He guessed that she had gone out hunting after she had disappeared at the arrival of Liz last evening.
"You know you need me, Damon. And I do so enjoy watching you squirm," she said with a flirty smile.
"Katherine, you aren't helping saying that," Stefan said. "Don't rub it in." He realized that that came out as a pun, which he hadn't meant.
Damon glared at her and then shot Stefan a withering look.
Stefan turned to the bathroom and went to get several towels. He returned, pulled down the bed's duvet and spread several thicknesses of towel where Damon's pelvis would be. He also put a folded one on the pillow in case Damon progressed into an attack and started drooling.
"Drop those pants, Damon," Katherine said with a grin. "Or do you need help?"
In anger, Damon undid the belt and zipper and in a flash had his jeans and underwear down to his knees. He could have turned his back to her, but he defiantly did not. Besides, she had seen him naked before. It was just her attitude that infuriated him.
"Get on the bed, lying on your stomach," Stefan said, interrupting the glaring match between his brother and this woman.
In a moment, Damon was lying on the towels and both Stefan and Katherine were inspecting the area of concern.
"It looks all right," Katherine said in a more serious tone.
"You can still see the slight pink look and see how the skin is a little bumpy?"
"Yes. A blemish on his perfect tushy."
"Wait'll I get my hands on your perfect tushy," Damon snarled.
"Promises. Promises. So, this means he's still got it?" she asked Stefan.
"Yeah. His skin should look perfectly normal. Let me get the rubber gloves I put in the bathroom cabinet. I put the milk on the table there and the sandpaper's in the drawer."
He returned to find Katherine with the milk in one hand and the sandpaper in the other. She was smiling at Damon and waving the sandpaper at him, but she was doing so from several feet away. He was watching her with a smoldering scowl.
Stefan was apprehensive about doing this. It was bad enough that Damon was going to feel the pain of the treatment, but on top of that he was angry at everything. It showed in his face, and yet, so far, he had not totally lost control and moved into the vampiric mode.
Sitting on the edge of the bed close to Damon's right thigh, he put on the gloves and reached for the sandpaper. He hoped that perhaps the treatment would not be as painful as before simply because no attack was in progress and the skin was not red. Of course, redness or not, having your backside skin abraded by sandpaper was going to hurt a lot.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
Damon swore at him and added, "Just do it!"
Katherine, jar of milk in one hand, sat down on the edge of the bed too, ready to restrain the older brother. She laid a hand on the middle of his back.
Stefan moved the blue T-shirt hem up higher on Damon's back so it wouldn't get bloody, and then he applied the sandpaper with the necessary force. Damon jumped, let out an agonized groan and buried his face in the pillow, which he had gripped in his fists. He body was rigid. Stefan kept going with the sandpaper, and at his nod, Katherine began pouring the milk. When Stefan hurriedly dropped the sandpaper and began to knead the milk into the bloodied skin, Damon howled and tried to squirm away. Katherine grabbed him and held him down, pressing her own body down across his back, even as she poured more milk. Although she weighed less than Damon, she had the power to increase her weight and press him down.
Stefan knew that Damon could have fought harder to get away, but he was obviously trying to be cooperative. The muscles of his body were trembling, but he was now lying in place under Katherine and muffling his groans and curses in the pillow.
The time it took to do the treatment was actually brief, although it seemed to take forever to those in the room. Still, in about thirty seconds, it was over. Stefan stopped kneading and he and Katherine studied the healing wound. Damon was breathing rapidly, but was otherwise quiet. His muscles still quivered.
"It looks promising," Katherine said. She eased her body up from her position across Damon's back and sat up, almost sitting on his elbow because he had his hand stuffed under his pillow.
"We'll see," Stefan said, staring at the spot with concern. He badly wanted this to be the last treatment. "It's healing, but will it go all the way? Damon, you still there?"
Damon's answer was a muttered curse as he turned his head to rest his left cheek on his pillow.
Katherine, who was now sitting on the edge of the bed by Damon's right shoulder, reached down and moved his dark hair away from his face, which was turned in her direction. She rested her hand on his head for a long moment, stoking his temple with her thumb.
"You did good," she said and meant it. "If it was me, I'd have been climbing the wall, I think." Like the brothers, she had endured her share of pain over her long lifetime. She didn't like it, but accepted it as being inevitable sometimes.
When Stefan took a clean towel and blotted the last of the bloody milk from the skin, Damon jumped and Stefan said, "Sorry. Just cleaning you up."
"How's it looking now," Damon asked in a slightly hoarse voice.
"Good. Really good. We'll know soon." Stefan said. He removed the rubber gloves and laid them on one of the soiled towels along with the bloody sandpaper. He dreaded the thought of having to do this again. He laid a hand on the small of Damon's back and rubbed it a little. The muscle quiver had stopped. "You okay?"
"Sure. What the hell, I could do this every day," he muttered in a snarky tone. After a moment, he said, "I just want this damned curse to be cured." He raised himself up on his elbows and leaned a bit toward Katherine's nearby side and briefly nudged her with his shoulder. "Okay. I can see now why he needed your help," he grudgingly admitted. He hated to admit he'd been wrong. He especially hated to admit it to Katherine.
"It was my pleasure." There was a hint of a chuckle in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm sure it was," he said, shaking his head and rolling his eyes up at her. "You are such a mean bitch. I don't know what I ever saw in you."
"You loved me. You still do. Deep down," she assured him.
"In your dreams," Damon snapped.
Stefan looked at them and was not sure just what these two felt toward each other anymore. They seemed to be forever fighting, and yet maybe it covered feelings they still had for one another. The old love from the beginning. Stefan knew she still loved and wanted him, Stefan. But what about Damon? He just didn't know. If it was love, it was tough love.
They let another minute pass and then studied the wound site.
"Come on, guys," Damon groused impatiently. "What's the verdict?"
"I would swear all signs have disappeared," Stefan said.
"I don't see any pink tinge and there are no bumps," Katherine said. "You got such a nice ass, Damon." She patted his rear end. He didn't jump this time.
"So I've been told. Okay. Enough of this. Katherine, go back to wherever you were spending the day," Damon ordered. He rolled over onto his back and worked at pulling up his pants. He knew she was looking him over. Look all you want, he thought. But then, why should I give you a free show? "Out!" he snapped.
"Okay. I'm outta here. It was fun. Ta ta," she said, and she left the room with a little wave of her fingers.
Still lying down, Damon shook his head as he buckled his belt.
"Do you really think we got a cure?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes. But I'd be alert to anything that hints at a relapse. Tingling or whatever," Stefan said as he stood up and pulled at a bloodied towel. Damon raised his hips to release the towels. He had been lying on the clean edge of them.
"I can't live my life worrying about it. If it happens, it happens." He rolled onto his side, sat up on the edge of the bed, then stood up, hesitating to see if he was steady on his feet. He seemed to be. He looked at the towels in Stefan's hand and a grim expression came briefly to his face. "Hey, sorry about all the grief I gave you about Katherine helping."
"Forget about it," Stefan said, heading for the bathroom. He heard Damon's cell phone ring and Damon answering it. In a moment the older brother was chatting cheerfully with Liz Forbes. As Stefan took the towels downstairs and put them in a washing machine, he allowed his thoughts to wander to Elena and her promise to be with him that evening. Happy thoughts.
With his concern for Damon's problem gone, he was in an excellent mood when he later went to Elena's house. Both her brother and her Aunt Jenna were home, and they welcomed him, although he sensed they were not in the best of moods for some reason. He knew Jenna, who was legal guardian for the orphaned Elena and Jeremy, didn't entirely approve of sleepovers for boyfriends and girlfriends, but she tried to be open-minded about it. It made Stefan feel more comfortable joining his beloved in her bed, but it also meant that they had to be rather quiet during love-making. They usually managed quite well.
A/N Are Damon's problems over? No. I'm working on the next chapter, so stay tuned. I hope you all liked this chapter. Please comment. I need encouragement.
