It wasn't until the next morning that Damon and Giuseppe noticed Stefan's disappearance.
"I looked everywhere, he's not home," Damon said as he met his panicking father downstairs, who quickly turned on his feet to call the sheriff and report his son missing,
Damon proceed in calling Elena to check if his brother had spent the night at her place, but she said she hadn't seen him all yesterday, anyways
When both the Salvatore's finished their calls and searching in the places Stefan might be, really, there was hardly anything they could do
Giuseppe shook his head and sighed heavily, "This is all my fault, I should've paid more attention to him," He said, "My worst fear is that one of Klaus' minions took him,"
Damon's heart started pounding in his chest. If anything bad happens to his brother, Damon wasn't sure he could ever forgive himself. Maybe Alaric could help them, somehow,
"I can call Ric- Alaric Saltzman, he could help, if Klaus did take Stefan,"
"No!" Giuseppe yelled, startling Damon, who should have expected that reaction, "For all we know he might be the one responsible for Stefan's disappearance, Damon! Have you gone mad?"
"All the guy ever wanted was to help us, dad, he never hurt any of you or even threatened you!"
Giuseppe glared at his son, not believing what he was hearing, and before he could say anything, Damon went on, "You're the one who hurt him.."
Giuseppe stood up, unable to look at Damon, "You've spent too much time with that monster, Damon, how many times am I going to have to tell you, you cannot trust a vampire!"
Damon stood up as well, following his father who was getting ready to leave the house, when the front door opened, startling both Damon and Giuseppe as they both stood there, waiting for whoever opened the door to walk right in
And it was Stefan. Both the Salvatore's sighed in relief,
"Oh my God, son, where have you been?" Giuseppe said, going over to his son to hug him. Damon laughed, shaking his head. He was going to kick his brother's ass after this.
Stefan barely hugged his father back, and when Giuseppe let go of him, Stefan walked right into the kitchen. Both Damon and Giuseppe followed Stefan in confusion after exchanging looks with each other,
"Hey Stef you ok buddy?" Damon asked, but Stefan didn't reply. Instead, he stood right in front of one of the kitchen counters and finally looked up at his father,
"Stefan, where were you? we were worried sick about you, son."
"I have a message for you." Stefan said, in a dull tone
"what?" Giuseppe knitted his eyebrows together, and Damon started walking towards Stefan slowly, and carefully,
"I have a message for you. If you try to go after Klaus, he will make sure you suffer. For eternity."
Giuseppe and Damon exchanged concerned looks when the realization finally hit them both, he'd been compelled
"Son this isn't you please snap out of it!"
"Stefan don't let it control you, you're stronger than that buddy!"
Stefan showed no sign that he'd understood what his father, and brother, were saying,
"Stefan look at me son, you have to snap out of it.." Giuseppe pleaded, hating to see his son acting that way, and hating himself for letting his son get caught up in this war, and he was too busy hating that he didn't notice the knife in Stefan's hand,
"This is just a warning." Stefan said, right before bringing the knife up to his neck and in one, smooth and fast movement, Stefan slit his own throat,
"Stefan NO!" Damon yelled, running to save his brother, but it was too late when his body fell on the floor,
Giuseppe couldn't move, he collapsed on the floor, refusing to believe what just happened right in front of his own eyes
My son.. he's dead..
this can't be right..
Damon held his younger brother's lifeless body between his arms, "You're not dead, Stefan, you're not dead," He said, tears running down his cheeks, wishing it was him and not Stefan on the floor with a slit throat
There was blood everywhere
And Stefan was dead
Damon couldn't stop crying, for half an hour now, he'd kept soothing Stefan's dead body, telling him it's all going to be alright, trying to wipe his face clean with the back of his sleeve, kissing his forehead hoping that kissing could tell him how much he loved him when words couldn't. He'd spent his life trying to keep this family safe, which was what his mother always wanted, and now he failed her. He failed his little brother and he failed himself
Stefan was dead, and he still refused to believe it,
"Baby brother, I'm so sorry, this is all my fault," He whispered to Stefan, when looking at the wound on his neck, he noticed something strange,
It was getting knitted together
Like magic
and the blood in Damon's veins froze, as the realization finally hit him so hard he shook his head. Once. Twice. Maybe this isn't real, maybe that's just his mind trying to play tricks on him
Maybe he'd shook his head too hard he'd now gone crazy
"...dad?" Damon tried to say, but the word just wouldn't come out. He desperately needed another eye to confirm to him what he was seeing
"..Stefan?" Damon tried again, but still, it was as if he'd gone mute, when suddenly, Stefan's body twitched in his arms, and Stefan jumped up, gasping for air,
"Stefan?" This time, Damon was finally able to actually say the world, and his eyes were open widely, and he was about to jump and scream of happiness and relief
Stefan looked around him in confusion, trying to understand what was going on around him,
"S... Stefan? Son?" Giuseppe stuttered, almost having a heart attack when his son came back to life. He stood up, looking at his son sitting on the floor, lost in confusion, gasping for air, and trying to find an explanation to what was happening,
"What.. what happened? Dad? Damon? Please, what happened to me?" Stefan was terrified
Giuseppe took a step back. And then another, "No.. no this is not happening.." He shook his head, "You died.. You were dead, you're not supposed to come back.. I.. I" then he disappeared to the library
"Stefan it's okay," Damon helped his brother stand on his feet, ignoring his father's babbling, "You need to rest now," Damon was trying his best to keep himself together. Taking a few more deep breathes, Damon continued, "It appears you died with vampire blood in your system,"
"What?"
"It's okay Stefan you're okay now, you're with us," Damon reassured his brother, and when Giuseppe came back from the library
"Dad what's that?" Stefan asked, feeling terrified, pointing to the stake in his father's hand
"I'm sorry.." Giuseppe shook his head, avoiding Stefan's eyes, "My son is dead. He died." He said, tears running down his cheeks,
"What's wrong with you, Stefan is not dead!" Damon yelled, pushing Stefan behind him to protecting him from his own father,
"Damon please, this is hard enough for me," Giuseppe struggled to say
"You're not going to hurt him you stay away from him!"
Giuseppe finally looked up at Damon, who was determined to protect his little brother no matter what, and he slowly lowered his hand, and the stake fell off his hand.
And like a little baby in the middle of the kitchen, Giuseppe started weeping, "My son is dead. He is dead."
"You're a sick monster." Damon said, pulling Stefan by his arm and quickly leaving the house.
Damon almost instantly thought that the person to go to was Alaric. They needed help, and if Stefan chose to continue his transition, they needed blood. And they didn't know where to get blood from, anyways.
"Are you okay, Stefan?" driving Stefan's car to Alaric's apartment, Damon asked, for the 100th time since they left the house,
Stefan rolled his eyes, and finally his answer was not yes. "I just.." He whispered, "No, Damon.. I'm not okay." he looked out of the window, noticing smells, sounds and feelings he'd never had before. It was overwhelming him, and he was far from okay. "It hurts.." He whispered, "The sun hurts.."
Damon nodded, and sped up. He needed to get to Alaric Saltzman's as soon as possible.
To Be Continued