Disclaimer: I do not own the vampire diaries or its characters. They are the property of LJ Smith and the CW

Damon rubbed his temples tiredly as he watched Stefan sleep. It was not a peaceful rest. He kept whimpering and tossing and turning until seventy two minutes after he shut his eyes, he opened them again, and promptly threw up blood. Damon rubbed his back as he heaved; not minding that he had to change the sheets again. He hoped Bonnie came back with a solution soon. It had only been a few hours since they found Stefan and Klaus but Stefan was already starting to turn pale from all the blood loss. Damon had since given up on feeding him blood as he threw them back up almost immediately. Instead he lifted the glass of water beside the bed to Stefan's lips, urging him to drink.

Stefan took a few tentative sips of the water and fell back onto the soft pillows. His head and throat and stomach hurt something awful but he was too weak now to even cry out anymore. He looked up at Damon. "H-how is K-Klaus?"

Damon glared at him so coldly he dropped his eyes to the sheets. "I could care less if Klaus died right now. But since you have gained some strength, how about you tell me how you came to be in this condition?"

Stefan licked his lips nervously. "We were l-look-looking for wolves. Werewolves. Klaus w-wanted to turn them into hybrids"

"He was creating hybrids?"

Stefan shook his head. "Trying to. It wasn't w-working s-so he went to ask a witch why he c-couldn't turn the wol-wolves. When we got to the witches house, Klaus lured the little sist-sister out and t-tried to get her t-to invite us in. Turned out t-the house was in her sister's name so Klaus tried t-o use her to g-get her sister to invite us in. B-but she refused so I …uhm… broke the sister's neck and Klaus threatened to burn the house to the ground if she didn't let us in. She w-went into the house for a few minutes and then asked us to come in. She had all these candles around her and an open book"

"A grimoire"

Stefan nodded. "I t-think so. She gave us aneurysms but she wasn't st-strong enough to hold off two vampires and she said she knew why Klaus was there but she would never help him. Klaus got angry and bit into her. She was almost d-dead when he asked me t-to f-finish her off"

"That was why he was passed out. He drank a lot more blood than you did. Serves him right"

Damon heard the door open and turned round to see Alaric. He looked even more exhausted than Damon. "What's wrong?'

"It's Klaus. He's got worse. He's thrown up so much blood I can almost see him graying"

"So?

"What do you mean so?"

"Ric I don't care if Klaus dies. In fact I would be happy if that happens. You wanted to play nurse to the man who killed your girlfriend, so go ahead. It's none of my business"

"It will become your business when Elijah is killing you for not making it your business. I'm trying to save your life"

"I don't care about Klaus or Elijah. I'm trying to take care of my little brother. Its Klaus' fault Stefan is in this mess. Elijah should crawl out of whatever hole he's in and come and take care of his little brother. Stefan's my priority. Not Klaus" Damon snarled at Alaric.

"He's started to cry"

"Get him some tissues"

"Damon..."

"Leave me alone Ric"

Alaric sighed and left, shutting the door softly behind him

"D-Damon"

"Hmm"

"Please kill me" Stefan whispered

"What! No. Hang in there bro, Bonnie will find a cure you'll see. She has the power of a hundred witches. She'll get you a cure. I promise" Damon said, not sure if he was comforting Stefan or himself.

Stefan coughed, throwing up more blood, this time onto himself. Tears leaked out from the corner of his eyes and he looked up at his brother piteously. "M-my throat h-hurts and I'm p-parched. So h-hungry" he moaned as the veins popped around his eyes and his fangs dropped. Damon looked at him, confused. "I n-need b-blood" He brought his hand weakly to his lips and, before Damon's confused brain could comprehend what was going on, bit into his wrist.

"Stefan!" Damon reacted quickly, prying Stefan's wrist from his lips but not before he had drawn a mouthful of blood. Damon stared at him in horror and tried to get him to spit it out but he swallowed it with a gulp, staring at his older brother guiltily.

Alaric ran back into the room at top speed. "What happened?"

Damon looked at him incredulously. "He just drank from his own wrist"

"What?"

"And he hasn't thrown up" Damon noted, and then turned pale. "Bonnie was right. The only blood he can keep down is his own. Oh God"

Noticing Damon's distracted state; Stefan tried to steal another sip from his wrist. The blood he chugged down had helped his throat a great deal, and he wanted more. He slinked his arm back to his lips and dropped his fangs. At that moment, Damon's attention came back to him.

"No. Stefan don't" Damon shouted removing Stefan's hand before he could bite into his wrist again. Stefan growled at Damon angrily and tried to pull his arm back but he was no match for his older and much stronger brother. Damon trapped his wrists in one hand and pushed the other against his mouth to stifle the rabid noises he was making. Damon gave a little yelp suddenly when he felt Stefan bite into his hand. He withdrew his hand quickly and stared shocked at his brother, then at Alaric. "He drank from me" he stated to Alaric, still shocked.

But Alaric had a different look on his face. He stepped closer to Stefan, who seemed to have exhausted himself and he could swear a little color had returned to his cheeks. He looked up at Damon with a smile. "And he kept it down"

"What?"

"Your blood. He hasn't thrown it up yet"

"B-but Bonnie said …"

"Bonnie said the only blood he could keep down was his own blood. But you are his brother Damon, and you have the same blood type-don't ask me how I know that. Your blood is very similar to his. We found a loophole"

"I can give him my blood" Damon whispered, slowly starting to come out of his shock. Alaric smiled and nodded.

"And we can keep him alive until Bonnie finds a counter spell"

Klaus groaned as he clutched his stomach tightly. It felt like a master chef was chopping his insides with a red hot knife. He had been throwing up since he regained consciousness and found himself on the couch in the Salvatore house and was surprised he still ha any blood left to throw up since all attempts to get blood into him had proved futile. He knew there was something fishy about that witch when she had put up almost no fight as he drained her. If she wasn't already dead, he'd have had a wonderful time … Ahhhhhhh! Oh god that hurt. He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth as he tried to breath through the pain. Oh he hated witches. He really did. With a passion.

Bloody hell! He was startled when a choked sob erupted from his throat and tears streamed down his face. He weakly buried his face in the pillow and was glad Alaric was not here at the moment to see his weakness, though he had already seen him cry. Why the man was helping him again he did not know, and at the moment did not care. All he wanted now was some warm blood to soothe his aching throat. He looked at the specks of blood that had fallen on the bed during his last coughing fit and throw up session. He put his finger in one of the drops and licked it off, relishing the taste. His fangs dropped as he bit into his wrist and drank deeply. In the back of his mind he knew it would make no difference, and it was disgusting but his throat was so grateful for the blood he didn't care. That was how Damon and Alaric found him.

"Well it seems you have also reached the cannibalistic stage" Damon sneered

Klaus tried to glare at him, but he was just too weak.

"At this rate you'll be dead in a day, two tops" Damon continued, unfazed by his attempted glare. "But we've found a way to keep you alive until Bonnie gets back from her witchy conference. Turns out Stefan can keep my blood down because we're brothers and have similar blood. Elijah may be able to keep you alive with his blood. So you need to contact him from wherever the hell he is-and I'm assuming you know because instead of sticking to the deal and killing your sorry ass, he…"

"Damon" Alaric admonished

"Right. So contact Elijah and tell him to come save you, again, or you're gonna die. And this time he won't be able to whisk you away from the flames" Damon ended.

While Damon had been ranting, Klaus' eyes had been growing wider and wider with each word Damon spoke. Horror flicked over his face as he finally processed all that Damon had said, and Alaric noticed. He moved closer to the bed and squatted, staring Klaus straight in the eye.

"Where is Elijah?"

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