AN: Thank you, my wonderful reviewers! Lots of love to you for giving me my shot of positive energy! I hope you will still want to stay with me once the REAL THING starts again on Thursday (Yay :D)

Also, I'm proud to let you know that my fanfic-friend Bibi13ca wrote another smutty spin-off for this story, a sort of alternative version of the Sting of Pointy Teeth. It picks up after the chapter Untimely Interruptions, and it's called Take My Soul! She posted it last Friday. So by all means, check it out! It's a great read ;)

Back to Stefan and Damon… Enjoy!

Previously on Shadowdancing:

On soft feet he approached the mouth of the obscure alley, a dangerous gleam in his blue eyes. There might be a good fight in this somewhere…

What he saw in the alley was no more than he expected. With a detached air, he noticed the girl (Candy, was it?) lying in a crumpled heap against the wall, moaning pitifully. As he made to bend over her, he heard someone sneak up on him. He had no doubt it was the vampire, because he didn't hear a heartbeat, nor the rushing of blood as it was pumped around a warm body by a beating heart.

He whirled around, grabbed his assailant by his jugular and slammed him up against the brick wall. Then he faltered, his vampire features melting away in shock, and he whispered incredulously, "Well I'll be damned. Stefan?"

"Hello, brother," Stefan drawled around his fangs, "Aren't you happy to see me? No, I guess you wouldn't be…"

Damon's hand fell away from Stefan's throat wordlessly, allowing Stefan to push himself away from the wall with deadly grace. As he did so, he brought his face closer to his brother's, and said with a smirk, "Cat got your tongue, Damon? My, but this is a role reversal! My clever brother, lost for a witty comeback! Never thought I'd see the day!"

"You and me both," Damon shook his head slowly. With a wave of his hand in the direction of the unmoving girl on the ground, he drawled, "This is your handiwork, I suppose? You always were a messy eater!"

Stefan bared his fangs at the insult. Then his face suddenly returned to normal, the vampiric traits wiped away quicker than the blink of an eye, and he smiled, looking almost his usual self, "You'll have to do better than that to rile me, Damon!"

Damon blinked at the suddenness of the transformation and whistled softly, "Damn, you've sure got the whole Jekyll and Hyde routine down pat!"

"You don't like it?" Stefan raised an eyebrow in imitation of Damon's trademark disbelieving look, "And here I thought you wanted me back on human blood?"

Damon shrugged, "See, it just goes to show that you have to be careful what you wish for. It usually comes back to bite you in the ass!"

"Speaking of biting…" He turned his back on Stefan and crouched down to check the prone girl's pulse.

"No, she's not dead. Yet. You can still save her," Stefan said in a bored voice. "Are you going to do it? Be the good brother?"

Damon looked up with a frown, "You mean, am I going to clean up your mess?"

He paused to bite his own wrist and held it against the girl's mouth, pressing down so she couldn't avoid swallowing the dark red liquid that sluggishly welled from the twin punctures. Only then did he answer Stefan, "Yeah, it looks like I am. I guess you've earned it after all those times of cleaning up after me…"

"Elena's got you whipped good, huh?" Stefan sneered. "She's turned you into a proper little housebroken vampire!" He watched Damon checking on the girl's heartbeat, but continued to casually lean against the wall, pointedly not making any effort to assist him.

"I'm not doing this for Elena. As far as I'm concerned, she'll never know about this, meaning I'm not earning myself any brownie points here," Damon narrowed his eyes at Stefan, "Believe it or not, but I'm doing this for you, little brother. Just one less grain of guilt on the big pile you're undoubtedly building for yourself!"

"How very… considerate of you!" Stefan laughed derisively.

Damon pursed his lips at Stefan's indifferent reaction, "Yes, isn't it? I'm a very considerate guy. Who said chivalry was dead?" He pulled back his wrist, the wounds having closed of their own accord, and checked Candy's strong, steady heartbeat again before getting up.

Then he raked his eyes over Stefan, taking in his tight, black leather pants, black formfitting t-shirt and messy, decidedly gel-free hair, and scrunched up his face, "Tell me. What's with the leather pants and the hair? Are you trying to be me now?"

"I thought it kind of fitting," Stefan drawled, posing for Damon's benefit, "After all, you're doing a very good job of standing in for me!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Damon barked a laugh, "I hate to disappoint you, Steffy, but a hero hairdo is not my style, and Bambi and Thumper are quite safe from me!"

"Maybe, but everything else seems to be coming along just fine: the all-human friends, the all-human girl, … How's that working for you by the way? Did you get Elena to succumb to your charms yet?"

Damon narrowed his eyes, and indicated the whole scene with a sweep of his hand, encompassing the girl's prone body at his feet and Stefan's changed appearance, "Is that what all this is about? Elena?"

Stefan's lips peeled back and he growled, veins reappearing around his eyes.

Damon taunted, "She's something, isn't she? And her blood is just…" He paused significantly, as if looking for a strong enough word to describe the taste of Elena's blood; then he closed his eyes and smiled blissfully, licking his lips.

Just as he'd expected, Stefan flew at him with a roar, pinning him to the wall.

Damon smiled sadly, his suspicions confirmed, "If you still feel about her so strongly, then why did you let her go so easily, Stefan? Why not fight for her?"

"What was I supposed to do?" Stefan snarled, "Fight you?"

"Why not? I'd fight me," Damon retorted. It was so typical of his brother to sacrifice himself on the altar of love, whether or not it was justified, and without asking anyone else their opinion on the subject! He continued, contempt ringing in his voice, "No, you just had to go and write her a tear-jerking, tragic epistle, didn't you? Saddling the poor girl with so much guilt that she tried to drown herself in alcohol!"

Stefan's hand squeezed a bit tighter around Damon's throat, but Damon didn't flinch. He just kept looking at Stefan steadily, which aggravated Stefan no end, as Damon well knew.

Stefan hissed, "And I suppose you were there to comfort her?"

"What do you think? You left her, Stefan, and you left me to pick up the pieces. So you can't really blame me for picking up the girl as well, can you?" Damon raised an eyebrow, "I read your letter. I thought that's what you wanted? Or did you change your mind now that it might actually be happening?"

Stefan loosened his grip suddenly, letting Damon drop to the ground. He averted his face and said heatedly, "You know full well it's not what I wanted, but you didn't leave me any choice! You were doing your damnedest to steal her away from me, and you were succeeding all too well!"

Damon threw up his arms in disgust, "You're a goddamn fool, Stefan, if that's what you think! Elena may have succumbed to a flight of fancy in the heat of the moment, but she was by no means ready to give you up!"

"You're lying!" Stefan growled, barely contained fury in his voice, "I saw you two, making out in the parlor the day I left!"

"You left too soon then, because she left me high and dry as soon as she came to her senses," Damon answered wryly.

"Come on, Damon! I was at the bar tonight! You were all over each other while you were dancing. Why did you think I lost it?" He motioned wildly at Candy. "And out in the parking lot? You were counting her lashes, were you?"

"What do you want me to say, Stefan? You as good as told the girl to take me for a test-drive!" Damon smirked, "Don't go blaming her if she decides to take you up on your offer and trade in her old boy toy for a better model!"

Stefan scowled, but Damon looked down when he heard Candy stirring and beginning to show signs of waking up. He looked back at Stefan, tipping his head while he said, "Well, I took care of the first part. Your little chew-toy is as good as new."

Then he made to push past Stefan with the clear intention of getting back to his car. "I'm leaving you to take care of your own compulsion since you're obviously on the human stuff… so you should be able to manage it. Just try not to kill her, would you? I honestly don't think I could take a baby vamp named Candy. Such an overdose of sugar is bound to give me a toothache before long!"

God, he thought, that had been a horrid way to end the evening.

Stefan pushed him back against the wall, "Not so fast, brother. I'm not done talking to you!"

But Damon had had enough, "But I am pretty much done talking to you, making this a very onesided conversation!"

Without difficulty, he pushed Stefan backwards, his own superior strength now evident in the way he broke free from Stefan's hold. He raised an eyebrow and said, "Remember, little brother, one sip of blood does not a strong vampire make! You'll never catch up with me, whatever you do. So don't think you can come after me, and stay the hell away from Elena! I'll be protecting her now, even if that means I have to protect her from you!"

Stefan was silently simmering, but if looks could stake, Damon would be a shriveled, grey corpse right then.

Damon made a show of dusting himself off meticulously and said pensively, "You know, Stefan? I never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss boring, broody you! So if you feel the urge to detox and return to your old and broody, but admittedly better self, there's a cozy, fully equipped cellar at your disposal. I'll even throw in your choice of furry woodland creature for breakfast, at no additional charge."

When Stefan ostentatiously turned his back on him, Damon shrugged and sauntered out of the alley, but he couldn't resist a parting shot, "I still think the pants and the hair look better on me!"

When Stefan stiffened, Damon smiled slyly, "Hasta la vista, little brother. I will not say it's been a pleasure, because you know I'm a terrible liar!"

AN: I know. This was darkish Damon and even darker Stefan.

First of all, I hadn't expected Stefan to show up here; he took me totally by surprise! And it wasn't a nice surprise either, because like I already told some of you in replies to reviews, I hadn't intended to make Stefan the bad guy in this story. Even now, I don't intend to send him completely round the bend, but now that he's had a taste of human blood… Well, we'll see what happens, I guess.

I still hope you liked it? Get back to me by reviewing or leave me a message on twitter ( val_victrix)