Chapter 5

The Salvatore Boarding House

Damon had grabbed some blood and was back by his brother's side in less than a minute. When Damon had first found his brother, what had puzzled him even more than how Stefan had ended up in that position; was why wasn't his brother healing? In the end, Damon had concluded that Stefan had not eaten which had, therefore, slowed down his healing ablities. "Come on, Stef," Damon coaxed."You have to feed so that you can heal."

Stefan's POV

Stefan was currently floating in a pain-free haze; he wanted nothing more to stay there, away from the almost unbearable pain that he knew would course through his body as soon as he opened his eyes. But Damon was asking him to open his eyes and the fear and worry that Stefan could hear in his voice, made it impossible for him to resist. Very slowly, he let his eyes flutter open.

"Hey," Damon said gently. "How are you feeling?"

"Just peachy," Stefan croaked in reply, his voice cracking due to pain. Damon let out a little laugh; pleased that his brother could still joke even in his state.

"Do you reckon you could drink some blood?"

"I'll try," Stefan said trying to sound as if he wasn't secretly dreading the thought of drinking anything. Damon nodded and then as gently as he could, lifted Stefan into a sitting position. Stefan could barely keep in his cry of pain as fire shot through his chest, leg and arm.

Damon's POV

Damon felt his heart breaking as he watched his little brother try to keep him from knowing that he was in pain but Damon was not fooled by his act and was acutely aware of the pain Stefan must of been feeling when Damon moved him. However, there was not a lot Damon could do until he had got some blood into Stefan and his brother had started healing.

Ripping open a bag of animal blood, he held it to Stefan's mouth, expecting his brother to latch onto the substance that his body should crave. But Stefan made no move to take the blood. "Come on brother. You need this," Damon pleaded with him. Stefan shook his head weakly, his eyes begging Damon to stop.

"Feel sick," he whispered.

"I know," Damon comforted, gently brushing a strand of hair out of Stefan's eye. He was shocked when he felt the intense heat radiating from his brother; this was certainly not normal! "Stef, you're burning up! You need this blood." But Stefan still refused to drink it, so Damon changed tact. He knew that Stefan would do almost anything for him so he decided to use that to his advantage to get Stefan to drink.

"If you won't do it for yourself; do it for me. Please!" urged Damon and sure enough, Stefan, albeit reluctantly, turned his head, opened his mouth and began to suck on the blood bag. He drank until the bag was half empty and then turned his head away.

"Please, no more!" Stefan groaned, already feeling as if he was about to empty the contents of his stomach.

"OK," Damon conceded, although he knew that Stefan really should have drunk the whole bag but looking at his brother's ashen face, he decided that what Stefan had drunk, would have to be enough.

"Stef, I really need to check out the damage, ok?" Damon began to gently lift up his brother's blood soaked top so that he could inspect the wounds that lay beneath. Stefan let out a whimper when Damon pulled the top away from a wound that it had been stuck to. "Easy," Damon murmured. "I'm almost done." When Damon had finally managed to peel the top from Stefan's body; he let out a gasp of horror when he saw the damage to his chest. It was covered in bullet wounds most of which had blood still leaking out of them.

"God, Stefan! What the hell happened to you?"

Stefan shrugged his shoulders. "Was...wondering...the...same...thing...brother," Stefan replied, wincing as pain shot up his arm. Damon was even more horrified when on inspecting the wounds at a closer angle, he realised that most of them still had a wooden bullet lodged inside.

"Stefan, did you know that you had about 10 balls of wood inside you?" Damon asked, aghast.

"No...wonder...it...hurts..." Stefan weakly joked before letting out a cry of pain as Damon accidently pressed on one of the wounds. Instantly, Damon was there, carding his fingers through Stefan's sweat soaked hair.

"Sorry, brother." Damon soothed. "But they have to come out."

"I...know," Stefan replied, sounding uncharacteristically vulnerable. "It's...going...to...hurt...though...and...I'm..." he paused.

"What, Stefan?" Damon asked.

"I'm...scared!" Damon thought that his heart couldn't break anymore than it had already, but hearing Stefan sound so frightened, he was sure that it had broken in two. Before he could stop himself, he was siting next to his brother, gently pulling him into his arms and holding him protectively, trying not to aggravate any of his injuries.

"It's going to be ok Stefan, I will fix this!" Damon whispered into Stefan's hair. "I promise!"

Hey! Sorry for the delayed updating; I had writer's block! :D. Are you still enjoying the story? Any comments, good or bad, are always appreciated. I promise you will soon find out who attacked Stefan, so hang on in there. Thank you for all your lovely comments! Enjoy! :D