You Did WHAT? (Stefan?)

[damonsalvatore]

Damon almost choked on the glass of brandy he was drinking when Stefan calmly told his big brother that he had freed Katherine to protect Elena. "You did WHAT? Let me get this straight, little brother- you're counting on our deceitful, murderering ex to protect your very fragile current human girlfriend? Do I need to remind you that, unlike you, Katherine is not on the vegan diet, and she never does anything out of the goodness of her heart?"

He shook his head. He had once labored to get Katherine free of that tomb, hoping that he could have her and Stefan could have Elena. However, Katherine had coldly told him that Stefan was the one she wanted. He had made her choose, and she had chosen Stefan. Despite the fact that Stefan could never love Katherine. Not anymore.

He threw the glass of brandy on the floor. There had only been two girls he ever really loved, Katherine and Elena. Both of them had rejected him. "Let me make the big plans from now on, Stefan! I can't believe you went around my back like that! We've protected Elena just fine! Why bring her into this?" He pushed Stefan back into the wall, hard enough that plaster shattered. Part of him distantly realized that he was going to have to get that repaired.

But right now, he just wanted a fight with Stefan- something to get the rage out of him. Hell, maybe he would kill Stefan this time.

[stefan benedetto salvatore]

Stefan of course hadn't expected that Damon would be calm when he told him, no just opposite... so it actually didn't come like a chock to him when he reacted like that. Yelled at him, threw the glass on the floor and pushed him with such anger that he actually destroyed that piece of the wall Stefan got pushed into.

He shook his head and looked at Damon. Tried to figure how to tell him. Tried to figure why he'd actually freed Katherine, the protect Elena, cause as Damon said, they protected her just fine... but he did it for one reason - that Katherine knew Klaus. They didn't and he'd been thinking that Katherine would be a big help because she knew him. Maybe she could handle him better than they could.

"Damon..." Stefan said and looked at him. No... it would sound so stupid when he said it. It would sound ridicules. So fucking ridicules... "Hey! I thought you'd actually be happy that I freed her, cause you've missed her all these years and you still love her, right?!" His voice had changed to that... mad one... not quite mad, but almost. "And I did it, because she can help us protect Elena from Klaus!" Now he just had to wait and see how Damon would react on that...

[damonsalvatore]

Stefan was obviously caught off-guard by Damon's attack. He tried to reason with Damon. Damon snarled and stepped back from Stefan. He turned away, breathing hard. "Days ago, that would have been true Stefan. But she told me she doesn't love me. It's always been you, Stefan." His voice choked as he said the words. He hadn't considered the possibility that Katherine had only told him how she felt without telling Stefan. No wonder he had made such a poor decision.

He Knew Stefan would be no happier with the news than he was. Katherine reminded Stefan of what he was- okay, maybe that wasn't really the issue. Stefan wasn't in denial about being a vampire, after all. Maybe it was more that Katherine reminded him of what he could be. Regardless, he knew Stefan would never accept Katherine's love.

The fact that Katherine was familiar with Klaus was a logical explanation for Stefan's actions. But the brothers had only Katherine's word that what she was interested in Elena's protection, and Katherine's word wasn't worth much.

"Stefan, if Katherine's lying to us, and she doesn't need Elena safe...she'll kill her to try to win you over." Damon knew it would never work, but Katherine wouldn't understand that. Katherine had always seemed to believe that if she wanted something badly enough, people wouldn't mind if she trampled over their desires to get what she wanted. That had been why she hadn't understood she had to choose between Damon and Stefan.

That was the difference between Damon and Katherine...Damon knew what other people wanted from him...he just didn't care.

Now, the question you have to ask yourself, Damon is if both women spurned you, why do you care what happens to Elena? He had no answer for that.

[stefan benedetto salvatore]

"Days ago, that would have been true Stefan. But she told me she doesn't love me. It's always been you, Stefan."

Stefan looked at Damon with big eyes. What was he just saying? Really... wow! He'd never thought that Katherine had only loved him, and not Damon. But why was it that she'd played around with both of them, then? "WHAT?!" he finally said. It sounded like one big joke to his ears.

No, he definitely wasn't happy to hear those words. He didn't love Katherine and he never ever would do that again! The only one he loved and always would, was Elena! He loved her of all his heart, and no one should ever try to change that. Neither should Katherine. And if someone someday would try to take Elena from him, he'd probably go kill someone.

"Stefan, if Katherine's lying to us, and she doesn't need Elena safe...she'll kill her to try to win you over."

It was true... he was right. And the reason why he'd freed her was ridicules, really ridicules, actually. But that couldn't be the only reason... he was sure there was another reason, but he didn't know what that should be. Actually he wasn't sure why he'd freed Katherine.

"First; you're right..." Stefan replied, shook his head and continued "second; ...I know it sounds stupid... but to be honest I don't know exactly why I freed her... it's like she'd compelled me to, or something, cause the reason I just told you sounds so fucking lame... I would never free her just because of that, but I really don't know what other reason I can tell..." he said and shook his head once more and sighed. He still looked at Damon. "I'm sorry Damon... what are we gonna do?" Wow! He actually said 'sorry' to his brother?! That was a looooong long time since he'd done that...

[damonsalvatore]

Under other circumstances, Damon would have loved to mock Stefan for admitting he was right about something. Now was not the time for such things, though.

He doubted Katherine had truly compelled Stefan to help her. Oh, sure, he supposed it was possible. Katherine was older than them; by how much he did not know. She might well have abilities the two of them could only dream of, including the ability to compel lesser vampires to do her bidding.

That was a frightening thought. Him, the ruthless Damon Salvatore, no longer master to his own thoughts or actions. No, he did not care for that thought at all.

But the reason he suspected Stefan was wrong about him being compelled was more than the fact that the idea that Katherine could compel lesser vampires frightened him. He suspected that deep down Stefan still harbored some level of feelings for Katherine. Plus, he was scared of Klaus and willing to risk anything to try to see Elena safe.

Damon shrugged, harnessing his anger and turning his energies to more constructive purposes than simply pummeling his brother, enjoyable as it was.

"Well, the cat's out of the bag now," Damon said bitterly with a sigh. The two of them didn't probably didn't have the power to take on Katherine on their own. Besides, there was the possibility that Katherine was telling at least a partial truth about needing to protect Katherine. "All the same, you should check with Bonnie- through Elena if necessary, and see if there's anything she can do about Katherine if we need her to. Bonnie doesn't seem to want to talk to me for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with me almost killing her.

"Hopefully, she'll actually perform a spell this time if we need her to, instead of stabbing us in the back, eh Stefan?" He was referring to, of course, her deception over disabling "The Weapon." "Of course, perhaps she'll be more inclined to help us when there are human lives at risk."

[stefan benedetto salvatore]

"Naah! It sounds to ridicules... cause we both know that vampires can't compel each other... but seriously... I don't know what made me free her? It's so weird!" Stefan said a few seconds after his last words. He knew it couldn't be true... yes Katherine was way older than the two of them, but he was sure that she couldn't do that no matter what. One who could maybe compel other vampires was a Original, such as Klaus. Maybe he could, but Stefan didn't know.

"Well, the cat's out of the bag now. All the same, you should check with Bonnie- through Elena if necessary, and see if there's anything she can do about Katherine if we need her to. Bonnie doesn't seem to want to talk to me for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with me almost killing her."

"Yeah, and that's all my fault... sorry for that!" he said as bitterly as Damon did. What the hell had he been thinking about? Why couldn't he just disappear from this world? From this universe? That would be better for everyone and everything! "Yeah that's probably the best, cause we need to know if she got our backs if we need her... so I'll do that." He really hoped that she would help, though she probably didn't trust Damon, because he'd almost killed her.

"Hopefully, she'll actually perform a spell this time if we need her to, instead of stabbing us in the back, eh Stefan? Of course, perhaps she'll be more inclined to help us when there are human lives at risk."

"Well... you never know, but we just have to hope that she won't stab us in the back again... that she'll actually help us this time!" Yeah... or else he'd be disappointed. Very disappointed, actually! She'd lied to them once, and he'd forgiven her for that, but if she did it once again, then he probably wont forgive her again, and he was sure that Elena wouldn't either.

[damonsalvatore]

Damon wasn't certain that a vampire that was old enough couldn't compel younger vampires. Lexi, Stefan's best friend, no doubt had a bazillion powers that Damon would love to have. Fortunately, she was such a kind and gentle soul that she wasn't a threat to him. The thought that she could be if she wanted to, however, had been what had driven him to try and frame her for his kills in Mystic Falls.

If Katherine had been able to compel Stefan...well they should consider the possibility. He really hoped it wouldn't come to him wearing vervain jewelry, though- the stuff was like poison and acid as far as vampires were concerned.


As much as he enjoyed seeing Stefan in torment over his role in Katherine's escape, he needed his brother to focus on the problem at hand. "We need to find where she's residing. And quickly. She should have a ring like us, after all, so she can move freely while the sun is up. We both go out looking for her residence, and call the other if we find it." He paced back and forth. Katherine's resemblance to Elena was also a problem- she could easily obtain an invitation into Elena's house. He wasn't sure what to do about that.


He was surprised that Stefan hadn't mentioned how he no doubt believed Bonnie's betrayal was his fault for being such a bad vampire. The way Damon saw it, Stefan must be deeply perturbed indeed in order for him to not lecture Damon about his past behavior.