Fetch the Fatted Calf

Ever since he returned to Mystic Falls things had been a mess. First Damon had been quite happy going around town and using people as he pleased, even turning Vicki Donovan because he was bored, and his actions together with those of other vampires in town had been enough to draw unwanted attention their way. The activation of the Gilbert Device had been the starting point, so many vampires had lost their lives that day but there had been one other casualty among them – Richard Lockwood. Even now Stefan didn’t know why he too had been affected by the Device but that was a mystery he had a feeling that they would get to solve sooner or later. For now they had bigger problems to worry about, though. Katherine hadn’t been in the tomb the way that Damon had felt certain that she was and even though Stefan didn’t agree with the lengths that his brother had gone to in order to open the tomb and find out he did feel bad for him. Damon had loved Katherine and would have become a vampire to be with her willingly. His brother would have left him far behind so that he and Katherine could have rode off into the sunset together and that was something that still bothered Stefan even now. Despite the fact that Damon had promised him an eternity of misery after he was made to complete the transition and that was something that his brother seemed intent on sticking to Stefan still loved him and he would be lying if he said that deep down there wasn’t still a part of him that hoped that the brother he had known throughout his childhood was still in there somewhere and might eventually put in an appearance.

At the moment any chance of that happening seemed to be pretty far off, however. Months had passed since Damon thought that he had kissed Elena and while it was true that Stefan was still angry with his brother for trying something when he knew that the two of them were together he knew that his brother was hurting because of Katherine so he was doing his best to ignore it. As things stood Damon had been gone for a while now, he had left so that he could get his head together and the truth was that the Boarding House had been far too quiet without him in the weeks that had followed. Having Skylar and Tatia around now helped but there was still a part of Stefan that missed his brother even if he knew that it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy to let his guard down around him at the moment. That day Stefan was alone at the Boarding House and as he heard a car pull up at the house and the front door open followed by a familiar voice he knew that was probably going to be a good thing. The last thing he needed was for Damon to say something to either of the girls and make them feel like they were no longer welcome so he knew that he had to head him off at the pass and explain the situation before he met either of them. Leaving the book that he had borrowed from Ric so that he could do some research on the Mikaelsons open on his bed, Stefan made his way downstairs and leaned against the banister as he reached the living room. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to come back at all. Did you figure out what you needed to?” he asked as he looked over at his brother. There was a time before Damon left when it had felt like the two of them were getting back to being brothers once more but now he wasn’t sure where they stood.

DAMON SALVATORE

Between Skylar and Tatia Stefan often had company around the Boarding House but the truth was that it just wasn’t the same without Damon there, no matter how much he might hate to admit it. For years the two of them had been at each other’s throats, Stefan knew that he had been wrong to make Damon complete the transition so that he could have his brother by his side for eternity and he didn’t blame Damon at all for promising him all those years ago that he would make it an eternity of misery. Stefan hadn’t planned on becoming a vampire himself, he hadn’t known that Katherine was compelling him to drink her blood until it was too late and he had gone to see his father with good intentions. He had planned on saying goodbye to him and die rather than complete the transition but then his father had tried to attack him and Stefan had acted on instinct. Since that night Damon had hated him and even though they had come close to patching things up a few times over the years there had always been something that had stood in their way. When they were in London they had worked together really well to try and save both Claire and Violet and since then Stefan had asked Damon to join him in going to war so that they could both do some good with their lives. Unfortunately his brother hadn’t turned up and Stefan had gone alone but it had made him see that no matter how much evil there was in the world it was still possible to do something good and he refused to stop fighting for what he believed in. He knew that it wasn’t going to be easy to stop the ritual that Klaus was determined to carry out but he knew that there had to be a way and he had to find it but he knew that would be much easier with Damon’s help.

As things stood his brother had been gone for some time and didn’t even know about their two new house guests. Stefan knew that he could have called Damon and told him but he could just imagine how that conversation would have gone so he knew that it was a much better one to be had face to face. It was just like Damon to walk back in like nothing had happened and the truth was that Stefan knew he really shouldn’t have expected any different. Damon liked playing by his own rules and showing how he was really feeling wasn’t something that he had ever done very well but Stefan at least knew the signs of when his brother was struggling by now. He knew that it hadn’t been easy for Damon to learn that Katherine was still alive after all and had simply chosen to live her life without either of them in it and Stefan couldn’t blame him for being upset. Truth be told even after everything that had happened he had been worried about his brother and he was glad to see that he was back. Before Damon left they had started to get their relationship back on track and even though Stefan knew that there were some pretty tough challenges coming their way he couldn’t deny that he still had hope that he would be able to get the brother he had always looked up to back one day. “Whatever gave you that idea?” Stefan asked, unable to resist teasing his brother as he sat down opposite him. Stefan’s next question had been a loaded one but for just a moment the mask that Damon always seemed to wear slipped and Stefan was able to see just how much it had affected his brother. Even when things between them were at their worst he never wanted Damon to hurt like that and he could only hope that his brother’s words were true. “I know it can’t be easy so if you need to talk to someone I’m here,” he offered even though he knew that chances were Damon would never take him up on it. He got the feeling that even now Damon was still trying to shield him from certain things so he knew that getting him to have a drink with Ric might work better. As Damon said he’d heard about Mystic Falls during his travels Stefan couldn’t stop his expression turning to one of surprise. “What did you hear?” he asked, not bothering to protest as Damon poured him a drink and instead thanking him before lifting the glass to his lips and taking a sip.

DAMON SALVATORE

For weeks Stefan had thought about contacting Damon and asking his brother for help finding a way to stop the ritual Klaus planned on performing but his brother had left so that he could get his head together and Stefan had respected his need for time. That didn’t mean that it had been easy, there were times when he had felt like his worry for what was coming their way was going to consume him completely but he had no choice but to stay strong for Elena and their friends. Instead of letting it get to him when they were around he had done his best to make everyone around him believe that he was just fine but when he was alone it was a different story. Pretty much every moment he was alone was spent trying to find a way to stop the ritual but so far he hadn’t found a thing and he was starting to lose hope. Not for the first time he found himself wondering if it would have been better for Elena and the others if he hadn’t returned to Mystic Falls in the first place but deep down he knew that this was something that would have caught up with her sooner or later anyway due to her connection to Katherine and it was the same for Tatia so all he could do was try and keep both girls safe.

“If you don’t give me a reason to lock you up again then I won’t,” Stefan assured him. The last thing he wanted was to do that to Damon again but in the past his brother hadn’t really given him much of a choice. When he first returned to Mystic Falls Damon had been out of control, he had been feeding in a way that could have led to both of them being exposed and that was something that Stefan hadn’t wanted to happen. Not just that but Damon had gone after both Caroline and Vicki for no other reason than because he was bored and it had cost the latter her life. Too much innocent blood had been spilled and he knew that he needed to make sure no one else died if he could help it but things had been better between him and Damon than they had been for a while before he left so Stefan knew he just had to hope that they still stood a chance at being able to get back to being brothers again. “If it’s a choice between that or you doing something reckless again then yeah, I’m sure I can manage it,” he nodded. The truth was he was worried about Damon so it talking things through helped then he would do it without so much as a second thought. No matter what happened Damon was still his brother and one thing Stefan had learned a long time ago was that nothing was going to change that. As Damon spoke again, Stefan took another sip of his drink. He hadn’t known how he was going to break the news about Tatia to his brother but he had a feeling that now was as good a time as any. “Actually that leaves two people in trouble,” he corrected. “We have a couple of new house guests and one of them is another doppelganger. Her name is Tatia and she was born over a thousand years ago,” he explained as he drained the rest of the contents of his glass in one go. “An Original Vampire needs either Elena or Tatia to break a curse and I need your help protecting them both,” he added even though he had a feeling he knew exactly what his brother’s answer was going to be.

DAMON SALVATORE

Despite everything that had happened between the two of them, Stefan knew that his brotherly instinct towards Damon had never disappeared. He knew that he was responsible for everything that had happened since they became vampires, he had been so scared of spending his new eternal life without his brother that he had forced Damon to complete the transition with him and that action, while it had been done out of good intentions, was exactly what had driven a wedge between them in the first place. Now they knew that Katherine was alive there was a split second where he had thought that perhaps that might make things better between them but knowing that Katherine had never been trapped in the tomb in the first place and had instead been living her life without either of them in it had devastated Damon and the truth was that Stefan could understand that. For a long time he had convinced himself that Katherine had compelled him into loving her even though deep down he had always known that it was impossible given what he knew about compulsion but it had helped. Being reminded that she never could have compelled his love had given him a lot to process and he knew that it had to have been ten times worse for Damon after learning that she wasn’t in the tomb after all. He understood his brother’s need to take some time out and while it was true that he had been worried about Damon while he was away at the same time Stefan had known that it was probably exactly what he had needed.

Now he was back and things were still a little strained between them but Stefan knew better than to give up the hope that they might be able to get things back to the way they used to be between them one day. Growing up Damon hadn’t just been his brother, he had also been his best friend, his protector, and Stefan refused to believe that the Damon he had once known was gone forever. A lot had changed between them and they had both done some awful things but when push came to shove they were always there for each other and he knew that that had to count for something. “That may be so but I know you could do it if you wanted to,” Stefan shrugged. Damon had ruffled more than a few feathers the first time that he was in Mystic Falls and that wasn’t going to be easily set right but Stefan knew that his brother could find a way to do it if he really put his mind to it, the question was more whether Damon wanted to do it than if he was capable of doing so. As he spoke again, Stefan shook his head. “I wouldn’t say that but if it will stop you having the urge to kill innocent people then I’ll do it,” he explained. The last thing he wanted was for Damon to go about things the way he had done last time as that had just resulted in people getting hurt and there had also been a few casualties along the way. He still hadn’t forgotten that Damon was the one who had turned Vicki and killed Lexi and if there was any chance that he could stop him from doing that again then he had to take it. Stefan couldn’t say that he was surprised when Damon’s first thought was to hand Tatia over to Klaus and he found himself studying his brother carefully for a moment. “Elena asked me to help her and that is what I’ve been doing. We’re not handing her over Damon, she is as innocent in all of this as Elena is,” he explained, hoping that his brother would understand. It would be just like Damon to act rashly and hand her over anyway but something told Stefan that Elena would never forgive him if that happened, nor would Elijah. “We have to find a way to stop this ritual without anyone getting hurt and that includes Tatia.” The Original Vampire had filled him in a little about the ritual and he knew that it was time that Damon learned the truth too. “Klaus’ brother Elijah is in town and he told me a little about what Klaus is trying to do. Apparently he doesn’t just need a doppelganger, he also needs a vampire and a werewolf so we need to watch our step.”

DAMON SALVATORE

When he and Damon were younger the two of them were best friends and Stefan had never thought that anything would be able to change that. He had been devastated when Damon had gone off to war and he had sought comfort in getting to know Katherine when she arrived at the Veritas Estate. Until then he and Damon liking the same girl had never been a problem but she had changed everything and even now things weren’t the same between the two of them. Stefan knew that his brother hated him for making him complete the transition but he hadn’t wanted to go through his life as a vampire without his best friend by his side. He knew that he had been selfish but his intentions had been good although he still wasn’t sure if Damon would ever be able to see that. For over a hundred years his brother had hated him and Stefan couldn’t really blame him but he still had hope that one day they would be able to get their relationship back on track. Things were better now between them than they had been for a long time but he knew just how easy it would be for one thing to tip the scales the other way and that was the last thing that he wanted. Knowing that Katherine was alive after all had come as a complete shock to both of them, so much so that Damon had left town so that he could take some time to get his head around it, but now that the truth was out in the open he couldn’t deny that he had hope that sooner or later he might end up getting his brother back properly.

For now they also had other things to worry about but having Damon back was a good distraction from that for a while. Talking to Elijah had opened his eyes to a lot of things, he had learned more about the ritual and Elijah had confirmed that werewolves were real after all but they still hadn’t come up with a solution as to how they were going to find a way to stop the ritual. If they didn’t then innocent people were going to die and that was something that Stefan knew he couldn’t let happen. So much of his time and energy had been spent desperately trying to find a way to stop the ritual lately that he knew it would do him some good to think about something else for a while. “I wouldn’t go that far, I’ve just always believed in you more than you do,” he assured his brother. Damon had given him plenty of reasons to give up on him but Stefan still believed that the brother he had grown up with, the one he had always looked up to when he was younger and the one who had always protected him from their father, was still in there somewhere and even now he wasn’t ready to give up hope that that version of Damon might end up making an appearance again sooner or later. “I’m going to hold you to that,” Stefan said, knowing that he could trust Damon to stick to his word at least for the time being. His brother had made it clear that he enjoyed toying with people and Stefan had seen for himself that Damon also enjoyed killing but he believed him when he said that he would hold off for now, he just hoped that it would be for the foreseeable future. As Damon spoke again, Stefan shook his head. “You know I wouldn’t, I love her,” he said, disgusted that Damon could even think such a thing. “With or without your help I’m going to make sure that nothing happens to Elena but I’m also going to respect her wishes and do what I can for Tatia. They both deserve to live so we need to stop fighting each other and find a way to stop this.” That was going to be much easier said than done but he knew that they had to try. Stefan never would have been able to bring himself to hand Tatia over anyway but the fact that Elena had asked him to help the other girl meant that there was no way he was going to do anything to let her down. As Damon spoke again, Stefan felt a half smile tug at the corner of his mouth. “We’re probably going to end up there because of our connection to Elena anyway so we might as well go down fighting,” he shrugged. From what Elijah had told him there were only three sacrifices needed for the ritual anyway so if it came down to it he knew that he would do what he had to in order to save his brother. “As for the werewolves, it sounds like there might be more in town than there appears. I’ve been hearing a few strange things around town, rumours about wolves out in the woods, so I think everyone Klaus needs is here in town.”

DAMON SALVATORE

Stefan knew that chances were not everyone was going to make it through the ritual alive, things never seemed to go completely their way after all, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t still try and make sure that everyone stayed safe. He had no idea how they were going to stop Klaus from completing the ritual or if he even could be stopped considering he had already waited hundreds of years for another human doppelganger to be found but Stefan knew that he wasn’t going to give up without a fight. Elena didn’t deserve to have her life cut short for Klaus’ ritual nor did Tatia and there were others who were needed for it too. Stefan had been doing his best to come up with another way but so far he kept drawing a blank so if he was honest he was glad that Damon was back in town. Even though they’d had their differences over the years Damon was still his brother and Stefan knew that he could trust him to have his back when he really needed it. Damon didn’t always do the right thing but when push came to shove no matter how much Damon hated him he always came through in the end and Stefan knew that he just had to trust that the same thing would happen again. They were always better when they worked together and he knew that they stood a much better chance keeping everyone safe if he was working alone.

“I’m not the only one who never gives up, I got that from you,” Stefan grinned. He had always looked up to Damon while he was growing up, he had idolized his brother and the truth was that he still did even now despite the fact that Damon probably still hated him for making him complete the transition. No matter what happened they were always going to be family and no amount of bad blood could come between that. “You’re right though, I’m not going to give up on any of them and I hope you won’t either,” he added. Stefan knew that Damon often did what he thought was the right thing despite the fall out that it might cause and he wouldn’t be surprised if Tatia ended up falling prey to his brother’s best intentions but he hoped that it wouldn’t come to that and he would do everything he could to make sure that it didn’t happen. “In an ideal world neither of them will have to die for this ritual,” Stefan said, knowing that the world they were living in was far from ideal. He knew that he had dodged the question but the truth was that it wasn’t something that he even wanted to think about so for now he knew that he just had to believe that there had to be another way. “I know,” he nodded as Damon said that they might not get their way. That was something that was weighing heavily on Stefan’s mind but for now at least he knew he wasn’t ready to give up hope. “I appreciate the help anyway.” When Damon first returned to Mystic Falls Stefan knew that there was no way that his brother would have made such an offer so it really did mean a lot that Damon was willing to at least try and help. As Damon spoke again Stefan knew that his brother was only joking but his voice was completely serious as he spoke. “If that’s what it takes.”

DAMON SALVATORE