A/N:- (1) Dear readers, I know I posted the third chapter earlier, but then I deleted it. Reason being, I felt that it was rushed, and unlike my other stories, I don't want to rush this one. So here it is, the same story, continued in a better way than earlier.

(2) Sorry for the delay, I had a very important exam on 19th

After Caroline beheads Damon, they set his body on fire, and leave. Someone informs the police about the fire, because obviously, where there is fire, there is smoke and the witches didn't use their powers to hide the smoke and a passerby sees the smoke in the abandoned cabin and being a good citizen does his duty. When Sheriff Forbes reaches there with her team the fire has cooled down, from the ashes someone discovers a ring and hands it to her. Liz looks at the ring and the shock is visible on her face.

"You know who this ring belongs to?"

"Yeah I know actually. Damon Salvatore, the one who saved me from a vampire. We need to inform Stefan."

The Sheriff is sad at the lost of this young soul, little does she know about his involvement in the exploitation of her own daughter. She takes her phone and steps away from the rest, she had taken Stefan's number from Damon too, just in case Damon was not reachable, it saddens her that this is the reason she is going to call the other brother.

Stefan who was already half way to his old apartment in Chicago sees Sheriff Forbes' name displayed on the screen, he answers the phone, "Sheriff Forbes, how may I help?"

Liz, "Stefan, I really wish I had called you to ask you for your help but sadly, that's not the matter."

Stefan narrows his eyes, he pulls his car to the side to know why she has even called, for a moment his attention goes towards Elena, did something happen to her, did someone kill her, or is she missing, must be something about her, why else would she call him, "Did anything happen to Elena?" he questions.

"No Stefan, Elena is fine"

Stefan heaves, feeling relieved that nothing happened to the woman he loves, but the next words just tear him apart when the Sheriff says, "It's Damon I have called you to inform about. Looks like someone has burned him alive, I have sent the ashes for a lab test to confirm if it's Damon or not but I really hope that it's not but the ring that I found here says the opposite."

Stefan says nothing, just stares straight ahead, into something, anything, these words are making him fall apart, yes he has despised his brother in the hundred and fifty years of his existence but he has also loved him the most. He convinces himself that it's just the ring, maybe someone took Damon's daylight ring and burned, killing his brother won't be a piece of cake, for anyone.

The Sheriff further reveals, "There are signs of torture here Stefan, there is blood on an armchair and if the samples match then that would mean that someone tortured your brother, then killed him and then burned him, or, maybe, they burned him alive. There is blood scattered on the floor and I really wish that it's not Damon's because it would mean someone gave him a really cruel death, maybe someone took revenge from him. Do you have any idea who would have a grudge against your brother?"

There could be many who would want to take revenge from his brother but his brother was way stronger than them all, Stefan refuses to believe that his brother is dead and informs the Sheriff, "You get the test results out, I am sure it wasn't Damon who died in that fire, if anyone, it would be the man who would have hurt my brother and don't call me again until you confirm the results." He yells at the last part as he disconnects the phone and throws it away.

All of a sudden all of his life flashes before his eyes, all his moments with Damon since he was a child to the day he last saw him. Stefan's heart rate rises, he screams in agony, emotional pain that is unbearable for him especially because he is a vampire, vampire feels far more than humans can possibly imagine. Stefan hits at the steering of his car over and over again, he is not ready to take the news that his brother is dead and he sure as hell is not in a condition to drive.

He gets out of his car and starts to walk, not sure where he is going or to which direction, he sees a woman passing by and grabs her by the shoulders speeds her to a tree, he feeds on her, doesn't compel her to shut up, it's the ripper coming out, the emotionally stronger part of him that prevents him from feeling anything, but it is his emotional weakness that actually makes him feel like this. Finally he pulls his fangs out of her neck and compels her, "Run, Run, go away, and don't look back, run."

The woman runs away. Stefan decides to stay on the same spot and wait until the Sheriff confirms that no, it's not his brother, it can't be. The real reason why Stefan came with a girl and made Damon complete his transition was that even with his humanity off he loved his brother more than anything, his brother was his world and to know that he is dead, not just dead, tortured and killed, he is not ready to believe it. He denies even the possibility of anyone being capable enough to end his brother, that too, with such cruelty, if anyone was cruel in this world, in his eyes, it was Damon himself, no other could overpower him or kill him like that.

They had tortured Damon during day, killed him before sunset and set fire to him soon after that. They had abandoned the cabin knowing no one comes here, no one would suspect anything but that's where they were wrong. The passerby informed the police of the fire sometime after that and because those ladies were not experts at murder or covering murder they only set fire on Damon's body and didn't grease the whole cabin, even the whole room with any flammable liquid. Soon the fire squad was there and the fire died down, a lot of that room alone was salvaged where they tortured Damon.

But because Caroline failed to inform her mother about what Damon did to her and what Damon was, this was seen as a brutal murder. Not only that, when vampires die, the grey veins reveal the difference between a vampire corpse and a human one. But because Caroline had burnt Damon's body to ashes, there was no proof that the person she killed was a vampire. This was registered as a case of murder in the files of Mystic Falls, a brutal murder.

Stefan sits under a tree, his legs stretched out, back resting against the bark, blood dripping down his chin, lips coated in red. The night hours pass with Stefan staring at the road, the animals, not blinking, his lips parted a little, his attention focused on the one thing, the ring of his phone. His phone was in the car, he was in the woods but being the vampire that he was, his focus was only in the sounds coming from the direction his car was parked.

The night thickens, all the sounds are off, the only sounds he could hear the loudest are his heartbeat and his breathe, it is late night, all creatures have fallen asleep, the night creatures like the bat and the owl are far up in the air to disturb him alone. The night turns to dawn and he could hear the birds chirping, the sun rises and the daily chores of human beings start, all voices from the distance audible to his superhuman ears but it's the one sound he is waiting for, for which he is super still. The vehicles start running on the road and there are animals running wild in the woods, it is late morning, almost ten o clock when he hears his phone ring, he speeds to his car like his life depends on it. He picks the calls, "So, tell me, it is not Damon, is it?"

Liz feels bad about informing this to Stefan, "Stefan, we confirmed it, the blood on that chair, the ashes, everything, it was Damon."

That's it. Stefan has made a decision, he will return to Mystic Falls and avenge his brother's death, who could have killed his brother, that too, with such brutality, he swears that he would return and would avenge his brother's death. He doesn't know when he has started driving while occupied with these thoughts, he only realizes it when he the car runs out of gas. Luckily, the car stopped right in front of a gas station, he gets it filled all the while thinking who could have done that to his brother. There are numerous possibilities to it, numerous names that come up his mind, he thinks to join the police investigation first to confirm what really happened to his brother and who killed him.