Hi! I'm back, finally! It's been almost a month, and for that, I apologize. But, hey, I think I did decently on this chapter, so I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural, it belongs to Eric Kripke. (Lucky bastard…) And I don't own the Vampire Diaries, it belongs to L.J. Smith.

A/N: I watched the premiere episode of the Vampire Diaries season 2, and was like, 'OMG, this is EXACTLY the way to kick start the new season!' And then I was like, 'Damon…Damon…I'm so sorry…Stefan, YOU BETTER KILL THAT BITCH!' I HATE Katherine!

A/N2: Supernatural starts next week. I can't wait. I miss my boys! *sniff* But lately, I've been entertaining myself with the season 5 DVD box set (what is Blu-Ray, anyway?), and the incredibly funny gag reel. I can't wait for the season 6 premiere!

A/N3: I'm sick. My allergies are driving me crazy and I have the flu, and it sucks. Just to tell you.

Okay. I hope you like this!

Just Another Day in Mystic Falls

Chapter 11

Damon sat on the floor of his bedroom, his back against his bed, his legs stretched in front of him. He took the bottle in his hand and took a swig from it, shutting his eyes tightly and gritting his teeth against the wave of pain that came over him.

He wanted to die just then. He'd said to the younger Winchester, Sammy, that the whole Katherine ordeal didn't bother him anymore, than he'd gotten over it. He thought he'd been telling the truth.

But apparently talking about the love of your life not giving a shit about or wanting you anymore didn't help.

He should've known better. When he'd looked into Katherine's eyes for the first time, the phrase the road to Hell is paved with good intentions had flashed through his mind. Not that he'd cared. She could drag him to hell right along with her and he wouldn't have minded.

He'd been stupid.

Everything he'd told Sammy about Katherine was true, the good and the bad. She was a lying bitch, sure, and Damon had no doubt that she hadn't changed, but he'd loved her anyway. And for her, it'd all been a game, screwing with him and his brother (both literally and figuratively). He should've seen that immediately. What would she have wanted with a couple of weak, average humans like he and Stefan had once been? Not that it mattered now. The damage had been done. Now he wanted to find Katherine and kill her but wanted her to take him back at the same time.

I really do have problems, don't I? Damon rolled his eyes at himself and took another swallow. Whatever it was exactly that he was drinking, he'd forgotten at this point. He just knew that it had alcohol in it, and that was good enough for him.

There was a lightning flash and crack of thunder that was bright enough and loud enough to make Damon jump—something that didn't occur often. He glanced at the window, eyes wide. Damn, he hadn't even noticed that there was a storm.

…maybe there hadn't been.

"Hello, Damon."

Damon's head snapped up.

There was a man standing some ten feet away from him. He was in his early-late forties, and looked to be an average, couch potato kind of guy. There was only one thing about him that was different.

His skin. It was almost as though it was molting, very slowly peeling away…as though he had cancer. It may not have been cancer—Damon was no doctor—but it did not look healthy at all. The guy didn't look like he was in any pain, though.

Damon thought briefly, vaguely, about what he could do. Try to attack the guy, maybe. Threaten him. Say something snarky.

But he was drunk, too tired, in too much pain to make that much of an effort. He gestured to the man with the nearly-empty bottle in his hand in way of greeting.

"Yo."

The man gave him a small smile.

Damon took another swallow of his drink as he thought about what could have brought about these circumstances. Then he considered something. It was weird…but it didn't technically mean that it wasn't true.

"Am I dreaming?" he asked the guy, brow furrowed.

The man nodded. "Yes."

Damon nodded. "Huh. 'S a hell of a concept, isn't it?" He frowned, thinking. "I don't remember falling asleep."

"You're drunk," the man told him. "You passed out on your bed."

Damon blinked. "Huh. I passed out drunk and I'm drinking in my dream. I have problems. No question about it now."

The man smiled again. "Do you know who I am?"

Damon glanced at him. The guy reminded him almost of Rick, but he wasn't. "I don't believe I do."

"My name's Lucifer," the guy told him. "I'm a fallen archangel. Many call me the devil."

Damon nodded slowly at him, eyes wide. "O-oh."

Lucifer nodded at him, that small smile back.

"So…for what do I owe the pleasure?"

Damon really didn't know how to act any other way than pretend to be casual.

And wow…he must be dreaming because in the real world, if he was as drunk as he was, he wouldn't have been able to form such coherent thoughts.

"I believe you've taken the Winchesters under your wing recently," Lucifer said.

Damon nodded. "Yup. I believe I know the two boys you're talking about."

"Do you know who they are? How important they are to the Apocalypse?"

Damon stared at him and nodded. "Yeah, I've gathered that." He took a deep, unneeded breath. "The very, very tall Sammy is your true human vessel, and his big brother Dean is your big brother's vessel. You need their consent, or you can't go in."

Lucifer nodded. The vampire knew what he was talking about. "Yes. Sam will say yes, eventually. And the sooner he says yes, the sooner his pain goes away."

Ah. Sammy's pain. Damon nodded. "Yeah, that kid's been through a lot. Both of them have."

"And once they say yes, their pain—both their individual pain and the pain they share as a family—will stop."

Damon sighed, looking up at him. "I dunno if you seriously think that you can convince me to convince them to say yes."

Lucifer simply shrugged, not removing his hands from where his thumbs were casually hooked into the pockets of his jeans, his silence somehow encouraging Damon to go on.

"Now, see," the vampire in question said, slowly getting to his feet, "not that I would ever admit it, but if I could convince them to say yes, I would. You wouldn't have even had to try to talk me into doing it; I would've already done it. Because those two boys have been through more pain and suffering than any one person—part-demon, human, whatever—should ever have to. And I partially believe what you're saying."

"Partially?"

"If the Winchester brothers let you and your brother use them as vessels, therefore having more power and being able to burn the world to a crisp or whatever the hell you and your brothers plan on doing on this place, then they'll have guilt from that, because that's just the Winchesters, so I've been told. But in any luck, if they can't save humanity—which, hey, they're hellsa troopers, but still, this is two humans again the rest of the universe we're talking about—then at least they can have some peace knowing that they saved humanity's souls, in the scenario that your brother won like he's supposed to if all goes well. They've been through so much, including the universe using them as its bitches. If anyone deserves some peace, it's them. So, yeah, I would try to convince them to say yes, if I could. But they wouldn't. They're fighting on the side of humanity with a two-man army. Those hunters, God help them, aren't about to give up, are gonna continue fighting just because it's the right thing, because they're doing what they've done all their life—saving people. And they're gonna take all the pain that comes with it…because that's just who they are."

Lucifer stared at the vampire, stunned.

"And I know that it's asking too much of you to lay off," Damon added, taking a step towards him, "but all the pain that they've endured, are enduring, and are gonna continue to endure is because of you, the Apocalypse, and all that's supposedly preordained. They've been through enough without adding you to the mix, if you ask me. Because you had a problem with your dad wanting to change things up a bit—you know, having someone around that wasn't "perfect" and "faultless", as you seem to think of yourselves, may I add boring to that—and couldn't suck up your family issues, having to go and be a bitch about it, those boys go through more pain than they deserve at all. So, whatever you think that I'll do for you to get Sam and Dean on your side? Not happening. Screw you."

As the devil continued to stare at him, Damon sat down on the edge of his bed.

"I rest my case," he said officially.

There was quiet for what seemed to stretch on for hours. Lucifer looked at him thoughtfully, jaw working as he thought about something deeply.

"That was quite a speech, Damon," he said.

Damon shrugged, stretching casually. "Thank you. I thought it was too, ya know. Didn't know I was capable of being so deep."

Lucifer smiled just a little, but it vanished quickly. "I see you've chosen your side."

The vampire just looked up at him, waiting. There was no denying that.

"It'll get you killed, you know," Lucifer told him, almost as though reminding him.

Damon shrugged. "Yeah. Probably. But, living on the edge—it's kinda my thing, you know?"

Lucifer nodded. "You're fighting on a losing side, Damon."

"Yeah, maybe. But hey," he shrugged again, "if the world's gonna end anyway, why not?"

Lucifer nodded again, and there was another long, thoughtful silence, during which Damon never broke eye contact with the devil.

Finally, Lucifer said, "You were thinking of Katherine before I came here."

Damon finally dropped his eyes, not responding.

"She was the love of your life, wasn't she?" Lucifer continued. "She still is."

Damon swallowed, and looked up at the devil once again. "So?" he asked, his voice rough, barely choked out, hardly more than a whisper.

"I know that's something to be called…a low blow. But I can give her back to you, Damon."

Damon snorted. "Everyone still thinks I give a damn about that bitch. I figured that you would be smarter than that."

"You're lying, Damon, you know that you still do."

Damon looked away sharply, the pain of that truth thrown out into the open mind-numbing.

"You still wish that she loved you, that she would take you back. And I can give her to you, and she will."

Damon snorted again, humorlessly. "Ha. See, that's where you're wrong. Katherine's got a mind of her own. If she doesn't want me, she won't take me."

"I didn't say it would be in this dimension." His voice was too soft to be the devil's.

Damon just shook his head. "It wouldn't be the same."

"But it would feel the same, Damon. You'd have happiness, something you deserve more than most believe."

Damon heaved a sigh. "Did you forget the "screw you" part of my speech?"

"No, I didn't."

"And I'm not some moping, emo bitch like my brother. I don't want anything from you. So go back to your demon bitches, and forget about me helping you do more damage than you've already done," Damon said, his voice ringing with finality, looking Lucifer in the eye once again, fearlessly.

Lucifer sighed. "You have to wake up now, anyway. This doesn't mean I'm giving up on you, because you're strong, Damon, and I could use you on my side."

"Yeah, well, you aren't getting me. So…" he made a gesture with both hands. "Go on your merry way."

Lucifer nodded, then looked Damon directly in the eye. "This won't be the last time we see each other, Damon. I can guarantee that."

Damon believed him. But he put on a cruel smirk and said, "Because it's destiny, right?"

The devil nodded once, not at all fazed. "Exactly." And with that, he vanished.

Damon was alone in his subconscious for a brief moment before his eyes opened.

Waking up didn't feel any different than it normally did. He simply did, calmly, and feeling as though he had rested the whole night, even though his mind knew better than that.

Sun was shining directly into his eyes though, and, even while wearing his ring, that was painful. He shot upright, and moved to the foot of his bed, out of the way of the sun's merciless rays. Damn, he must've passed out drunk if the curtains weren't closed. He always closed them before he slept, in case his ring slipped off as he slept or came off otherwise

"Ah, the joys of not having a hangover," he murmured to himself; it was one on the long list of things that Damon saw as making a vampire fun.

His dream, his encounter with Lucifer, was sharp and clear in his head. He'd really got to going telling the devil his exact thoughts on those two boys, he thought. Ah, well, he always did like to get his point across.

And then he thought, Those two boys that I made my speech about dragged me into the Apocalypse and are probably gonna get me killed.

He just shrugged. He always had thought that life in Mystic Falls was boring.

I wrote most of this in the last two hours, including Damon's "speeches". I thought about this chapter a lot, and decided that this was just the way I wanted to do it. So tell me what you think!