Chapter Includes/Spoilers/WARNING: dream manipulation, dream sharing, feeding,

~The Vampire Diaries ~

One Thing

— [CHAPTER 25: interlude 4] —

~ T V D ~

Their teeth clashed as they kissed hungrily, fingers clawing to rid themselves desperately of clothing, to feel skin against skin. Alaric's calves bumped against the foot of the bed and with a blur of speed, he flipped them, putting Damon underneath him.

Damon groaned, arching beneath the vampire, grinding their hips together.

"You're beautiful like this," engorged veins pulsed to the surface beneath the teacher's eyes, "Good enough to eat."

"Then do it," Damon panted. He shivered as he felt stubble prickle against the sensitive skin, soft lips and tongue against his pulsing artery.

"Stefan," the vampire moaned.

Damon's dark brows pinched and he looked up to see John above him, skin charred black, flaking, his sclera dark red. A chuckle stretched his burnt lips. Blood oozed from the charred skin as it cracked, making Damon flinch as it dripped against his own.

"No," he uttered.

John didn't give him a choice as grabbed his chin and forced it to the side. Damon's struggle was futile against the superior strength, his heart hammering against his ribcage. John's fangs gleamed wicked and sharp in his blackened maw and he lunged down with a ravenous snarl, his razor fangs tearing into Damon's carotid with abandon—Damon jerked awake and upright in his bed, a shout stuck in his throat, disorientated for a moment with his hand pressed to the side of his throat, the pain of fangs tearing into his neck vivid.

But the heartbeat he was zeroed in on was a calm steady rhythm that didn't belong in his own chest. He dropped his hand to his blanket covered lap and looked to the side. Stefan shifted slightly at his movement but fell quickly back into slumber, curled on his side, a foot separating them despite the excess space of the king-sized bed. In sleep like this, his forehead smooth, his lips slightly parted and without frown, Stefan was shed of the 146 year weight on his shoulders and almost looked 10 again.

Damon turned away. He threw off the blanket and climbed swiftly from his bed. He padded across the hardwood floor in bare feet in nothing but dorm pants to his chest of drawers and poured himself a shot of bourbon and downed it. He poured himself another and drank it more slowly as he watched Stefan sleeping in bed across the room. All he could hear was his brother's gentle breathing, the buh-bump of his contracting heart and it just made his hunger grow. All he could think was that Stefan owed him this. Stefan was draining all his Power on a nightly basis, the least the brunette could do was offer up a warm supplement.

Damon found himself at the edge of the bed, looking down at the teen as he shifted onto his back in his sleep, his head falling to the side of the pillow, baring his throat. Damon's gaze was riveted to the long column of his brother's throat, feeling the skin under his eyes tingle.

Stefan awoke, blinking up at his brother in confusion to find the vampire straddling him. "What the hell, Damon? Get off." Stefan made to push him off but Damon grabbed his wrists and pinned them on either side of his head against the bed, feeling the rapid pulse in Stefan's wrists against the palms of his hands. "What are you doing?" he strained against him but the vampire didn't give an inch.

Veins crawled under Damon's eyes, making the brunette gulp. "I'm hungry, little brother. You drain my Power like some demented sponge and I'm fucking starving."

"Y- you can't be serious." He scoffed nervously, hands flexing.

"You offered before and I'm here to collect." Stefan shook his head against the pillow, lips pressed into a bloodless line. "You owe me, brother." He growled.

Stefan swallow convulsively, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, drawing the vampire's hungry gaze. His heart was beating a fast tempo against his breastplate and the edges of Damon's eyes blurred as his sclera got ready to flood with blood. They stood out in stark contrast against the deathly pallor of his skin, the veins engorged under his eyes almost black with the intensity of it.

Stefan stared at his brother with searching eyes before he licked his lips, his breaths coming in short pants and he turned his head on the pillow, baring his throat to the vampire. Damon's sclera flooded instantly at the invitation and his lip peeled back to reveal his wicked set of double fangs. He leaned forward and sunk his fangs into the taut, flushed skin the side of Stefan's neck. The brunette bit back a sound. Hot blood spurted into Damon's thirsty mouth. He drank greedily for a moment, almost got lost in the blood lust before he pulled back, mouth dripping with his baby brother's blood—and froze in surprise as Stefan gave a sharp exhale in his sleep as a drop of blood dripped onto the side of his neck from where it trickled from Damon's fang torn bottom lip as he loomed over his slumbering brother.

Damon blurred from his bed and to the safety of his en suite. In the dawn light coming through his bathroom windows he looked at his reflection in the mirror above his basin sink. Bare chest panting, he forced his fangs away, a line of blood down his chin. He bent over the basin, splashing water over his face and rinsing out his mouth. He knew it was his own blood but all he could remember was sinking his fangs into Stefan's neck and the euphoric taste of his hot blood; which was ridiculous because he'd never tasted Stefan's blood before.

Sure, he teased the brunette about opening a tap, had thought about taking up Stefan's offer in his bedroom for a split second, call it curiosity, but that was all. The feeling he got whenever he saw one of Alaric's feeding bites marring his baby brother's skin was purely big brother protective instinct and let's call the conversation over.

There was no doubt that the first was Stefan's nightmare, just with Damon superimposed in his brother's position as he took the dream and experienced it. His defences were down with overuse of his Power; typically he'd be able to take the dream from Stefan's subconscious without that consequence. But that second one, Damon could only believe that it was his and he only hoped to god that he hadn't accidentally shared it with Stefan. He definitely didn't want to have the conversation that would surely follow if he did, it was annoying enough that he had it in the first place. It was just his hunger talking, forced the listen to Stefan's pumping heart for 8 straight hours with no other distraction.

He patted his face dry with a hand towel.

He'd been particularly possessive of Stefan, especially in their younger human years when Stefan was still a sickly child. He'd been practically everything to Stefan at one point or another; brother, best-friend, nursemaid, a mother, a father. Damon was the one that protected him like a big brother, horsed around with him like a best-friend, fixed the buttons on his shirt and bathed him in his sickness like a nursemaid, taught him to horseback ride and swim like a father, sang him to sleep like a mother.

All of that had gotten lost in the translation of his anger, resentment, jealousy, and heartbreak. But things could never just go back to the way they were between the brothers before Katherine Pierce entered their lives. Damon didn't think he even wanted to go back to that either; it didn't matter though, they were where they were now. Damon had his own moments now and Stefan was never one to be babied for long.

Living Stefan's sex-dreams/nightmares was one thing... Damon needed to put a stop to their little sleeping arrangement before eating his brother stopped being some vivid dream and became a reality.

[...tbc...]

~ The Vampire Diaries ~