Disclaimer: The characters of the vampire diaries belong to L.J Smith and the C.W
"What do you think is wrong with them? Klaus is passed out and Stefan cannot stop crying"
"I don't know Ric. I haven't had time to think about it. My hands are full" Damon answered. His hands were indeed full. Literally. Stefan was quietly sobbing in his arms, taking turns between clutching at his stomach and fisting the back of Damon's shirt. Damon had given up asking what happened since Stefan was not talking. He looked at the original in the front. "It has to be really bad if Klaus is unconscious. Perhaps Bonnie can tell us what is wrong"
"What are you going to tell Elena?"
"I don't know. Right now my priority is Stefan. I could care less what Elena thinks"
Alaric sighed. He looked at Damon in the mirror, quietly running a hand through Stefan's hair and back. He had never seen him so affectionate with the boy. He's seen flashes of it though. Like when the tomb vampires kidnapped him. But this, this was different. There was a strangled sob as Stefan threw up blood again. Damon's shirt was a mess by now but Alaric didn't hear a word of complaint out of him. He just grabbed his brother closer and shushed him. He felt he should say something but he didn't know what. He looked in the mirror again. "He's going to be okay, Damon. He'll be fine" he managed.
Alaric pulled the car into the Salvatore's driveway. He had barely stopped when Elena and Caroline came running out from the house. They stopped abruptly when they noticed Klaus in the front. Caroline scrunched up her nose in disgust.
"What is he doing here?"
"You'd have to ask him that" Damon answered, lifting Stefan into his arms and nodding in Alaric's direction. "He wouldn't let me kill him"
Alaric rolled his eyes. "We didn't know what was wrong. Besides, we don't know how to kill an all-powerful original hybrid and in your own words 'his two-faced older brother'"
"What has Elijah got to do with this?" Elena asked
"You don't think he'll come after us if we kill his little brother? No matter how psychotic said little brother is. I'd go after someone who killed Damon, no matter how many times I want to do it myself"
"I'd give someone who killed Damon a reward" Caroline scoffed
"Thanks Ric, that was so sweet. Now that we've established that fact, do you mind grabbing your new best friend out of my car?"
Damon laid Stefan on the couch, who immediately curled up in a fetal position, clutching his stomach tightly and whimpering.
"What is wrong with his stomach? Is he injured?" Elena asked, concerned. "If he is, why hasn't he healed?"
"That's what I'd like Brunhilda to find out. Where the hell is she anyway? I called her ages ago" Damon growled. He suddenly heard coughing coming from the other couch in the room, where Alaric had put Klaus. "Good, you're awake. Care to tell me what the hell you did to my brother?" Damon asked, incensed. He saw Klaus look around in fear, before settling on their faces, and then…..relief? Why would he be relieved? "Well?" Damon prompted. Klaus' face suddenly turned white and he turned on his side and threw up onto the rug.
"Is that…?"
"Yes its blood, Elena" Caroline answered
Damon groaned. "Ahh, not you too. You were supposed to give me answers"
"So if Klaus is also hurt then I don't think he's responsible for whatever is happening to Stefan. Then who is responsible for making them both this way?" Alaric mused
"That's what I'd like to know. Where the hell is Bonnie?" Damon was getting impatient
"I'm here. And I think I know what is wrong with them"
"Bad blood? That's your explanation for this?" Damon looked at Bonnie incredulously
Bonnie nodded. "Yes. It's a very ancient curse…"
"Wait, what?" Damon interrupted. "Did you just say curse? A witch did this?"
"Most likely, yea. You don't find this kind of spell in most grimoires. Only the most powerful of powerful witches would know it. Whoever cursed them must either be very powerful or have powerful witch connections. The witch who wrote it down was not the original caster though. She was just a witness"
"What are you trying to say, Bonnie?"
"The original caster of the spell died. It's a very dangerous spell, Damon. It is used as a last resort or if you really hate someone enough to sacrifice your life to kill them"
"Sacrifice?"
"The spell is meant to kill the witch who cast it and the vampire it's cursed with"
Damon's eyebrows shot up. "My God..." Elena whispered. "How?"
"The spell makes a witch's blood unclean and toxic to vampires. More toxic than vervain. So when a vampire drains said witch, the witch would die but the vampire would go through excruciating pain and agony, throwing up blood until there's nothing left. When they feed, the cycle starts all over. Besides the only blood that they can keep down is their own blood"
"But you can't feed on your own blood. It's like eating your own flesh" Caroline pointed out
"B-but they are still alive" Damon stuttered. "And Caroline's right. You can't drink your own blood"
"That's why it's called a curse Damon. They will die eventually. Slowly and painfully"
"There has to be a cure, right? A counter spell or something. Besides a vampire can't be killed like that. He'd have to be staked"
"You don't understand Damon. This was made for vampires. A witch can make their blood poisonous to vampires with some herbs and spells, but that only incapacitates them. Temporarily, like vervain. But this, this was made to kill them" Bonnie answered solemnly. "I'm sorry Damon. There's nothing I can do"
"There has to be something, Bonnie. Ask the other witches. Maybe they'll know of a cure. Please" Damon pleaded
"The other witches? I doubt they'll know. Even if they did, they wouldn't help. You're vampires Damon. And you just drained a witch. The curse wouldn't work otherwise. You really think another witch would help you to thwart what they think is just punishment?"
"Ask Emily then. She'll know. She always knows"
"Emily hates you Damon. What makes you think she'll want to help?"
"Tell her it's Stefan. She'll find a way to help him. She always had a soft spot for Stefan. Everybody does"
"I wonder why that is" Caroline muttered
Damon glared at Caroline darkly before looking back at Bonnie with a pleading look. "Please Bonnie, just try. I can't let him die. He's my brother. Please"
Bonnie sighed. "I'll see what I can do"
Alaric closed the door behind Bonnie. He heard someone sigh dejectedly. He didn't have to turn round to know it was Damon. Guy was barely holding it together. Pride was the only thing keeping him from bursting into tears. "Elena, Caroline, didn't you girls say something about finding a dress for that party at the falls? Go. I'll call you if anything changes" he ushered them out the door amidst Elena's protests. He sat down beside Damon, who was now kneeling beside Stefan sleeping form on the couch. He sent him a grateful look. He knew Ric sent the girls out to salvage his pride.
"This is not your fault Damon"
"If he hadn't gone to Klaus for the cure…"
"Don't. Just don't do that. You didn't ask for Tyler to bite you. He just did what any brother would have done. He saved your life"
"And now he's gonna die"
"We don't know that" Alaric said. He put his hand on his dark head and felt him tense. He had not been joking when he said he'd go after anyone who hurt him. He was like a little brother to him. And before anyone went arguing that he was older, Ric was having none of that. He had just been alive longer. That doesn't make him older. He was barely twenty four. And that was how Ric saw him. Twenty four. Not a century and half. It was not really hard seeing him that way either. Half the things he did were so immature Alaric sometimes wondered if he wasn't younger than twenty four. He felt him relax when he didn't move his hand and he felt brave enough to draw him closer for a hug. The resistance Alaric expected never came. No snide remarks, no sarcastic quips, nothing. He just came willingly, and melted into Alaric's embrace, hiding his face in the crook of his neck. Alaric smiled at the childish gesture, and kissed his hair.
"He'll be fine Damon. We'll find a way to fix him" he soothed. He felt Damon shudder and knew he was trying not to cry. He knew it was a loosing battle when he felt the wetness on his shoulder a few seconds later. "Its okay, buddy. Let it out"
"I can't lose him Ric. He's the only family I've got left" Damon mumbled into Alaric's shoulder
"You won't lose him. And he's not the only family you have left. You've got me"
Here is chapter two. Please review and let me know if its going in the right direction.