The Vampire Diaries Imagines

Can't Be Selfish

Summary: killing people for Cade is terrible enough, it only becomes more so when Damon sees somebody that he used to know on one of the hospital beds

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries

Pairing: Damon Salvatore x reader

Warnings: angst, mentions of murder and killing, death, mention of sickness

Word Count: 1285

These were your last breaths, they were staggered and slow as you breathed through the oxygen mask. This wasn't how you wanted your death to be, in your mind it was supposed to be meaningful, not only painful. Your death would serve no purpose, it was just one of many. There were so many things that you were unaware of, like how everyone back in Mystic Falls were doing.

You left a couple of years back, and you had never returned. A part of you wanted to look back, but you had made a life for yourself, and the involvement of vampires, witches and werewolves and whatever else was new would ruin that. Your husband stroked the back of your hand as your children said their goodbyes.

This was not what you had expected when you were younger. At one point, you were dating a vampire, his name was Damon Salvatore. Just thinking of him made you feel as though you were opening up a history book. There were a lot of bad times, from when he turned his humanity off to where he was almost killed by the Originals. But they didn't triumph over the good, like the morning bubble baths you soaked in together, or the pub games you participated in at the Grill.

For all you knew, he could be dead now. And you wouldn't even be told, and that was how you wanted it. That life that you had lived was insanely dangerous, it was a surprise that you hadn't died sooner.

Chase, your husband, kissed your forehead, as he got up from his seat. Your children crushed you in a light hug, he was going to take them to his parents' place for the night. They didn't need to see you get any sicker, it wasn't fair on them, they were only three and five.

Before your significant other could leave, you grabbed his hand with a gentle grip. You weren't strong enough to hold it any tighter. "Will you come back?" You asked him. You didn't want to spend the night alone. Frankly, you were terrified. There was no longer another side to cross into, maybe you'd just be enveloped into nothing. A part of you hoped you would, so that you wouldn't need to reminisce about your regrets or the past you had tried so hard to forget.

But it was unforgettable. Mystic Falls would always be a part of you, whether you wanted it to be or not. That place was like hell on earth, there was so much death and pain and suffering that had rendered from the borders witches had installed. Somehow you had escaped all of that madness, but death had been persistent, and followed you all the way to your new home.

"Of course I will." He smiled, slowly removing your hand from atop of his, placing one more kiss upon the skin before he disappeared out of the door, leaving you alone in the white walled room.

It was all too light. You were adapted to darkness. A part of you had hoped that you would die a vampire, at least then you would have lived longer, or so you would have anticipated. Even being shot would be better than this ultimatum. It would be quick, in a sudden instant you would be gone. If you could ask for one last wish, it's be for this process to hurry its ass up, because it sure as hell was taking its sweet time.

For a moment, you thought you were hallucinating. A shadow crossed in front of the hospital bed, one that carried a familiar eeriness. It had black hair, and blue eyes that made you freeze in place. "(Y/N)?" Damon asked in shock.

He was doing his bidding for Cade, with his brother. They came into hospital to kill the already dying, and here you were, your face drained and thinned out, your eyes lacking the lustre of life that they had once held so dearly.

"Damon, is that really you?" You couldn't be sure, the doctors had upped your medication to make your ease that bit easier. The vampire could feel his eyes welling up at the sight of you. He could just leave right now, and find someone else to contribute to the cause.

As he thought that, Stefan leant himself against the door frame. He was unhinged, he would make him do this. "Yeah, it is." His voice croaked as he came closer to you, analysing everything that was different about you. There was a ring on the side, one far too big for your pencil thin fingers, but he presumed it belonged to you.

"Of course you had to show up when I was on my deathbed." You laughed to yourself, wincing when you threw your head back onto the hospital pillow.

"You can't die..." He spoke more to himself than you. You were too young, too kind to die. But maybe you were dying because you were too human. At his optimistic statement, you smiled.

"Don't go soft Salvatore, it doesn't suit you." At that, you began coughing, it was visible that it was causing you pain. If only you had stayed in Mystic Falls, then they could have stopped this. Bonnie could have made a potion, or he could have...

"I'll turn you." Stefan shook his head with a dark smirk, but he let you respond instead. The least he could do was give an old friend her last words.

"No Damon, you won't." The last thing you wanted was to be a vampire. It would be like a cruel game against your family, messing with the minds with the fact that you wouldn't leave this room to cowering from the sunlight. "I don't want that. I just want this to hurry up. The end has finally come for me, and nothing can be done, or at least nothing normal."

He was desperate to help you, but you hadn't changed. You were still independent, wanting to do everything yourself. That was one of the first qualities he had realised about you when you had met, and it had made him more attracted to you. But now he was cursing it. If only you were open to interpretation, then maybe you wouldn't be in this defeated state.

"Brother, it's time." Stefan spoke, walking in and shutting the door. "Make sure to make it quick, there are others that need to also be taken care of." At the tone and words of Stefan, you frowned. It was so un- Stefan- like, or at least from what you remembered.

"What's he talking about Damon?" In this moment, there was a heavier weight of trust on Damon's shoulders.

"He has to kill you." Stefan answered in his place, placing on hand on the end rail of your bed. However, your reaction wasn't what he had expected. He thought tears would fall and you'd reek of fear, but you were rather calm.

"Okay." You answered, breaking Damon's heart for a second time. "Just pull these out." You showed him your arm which had tubes going through it, tape holding them in place.

"I'm sorry." He said, sitting on the side as he removed them all individually. Everything became slow after a couple of minutes, he held you as you became dazed. And then you went limp, he could no longer hear your heart or the blood pulsing through your veins.

Out of everyone, you least deserved to go to hell, but from his duty, he had sent you to Cade's dominion.

When Chase returned, it was just your body. He had come back, but not to what he had expected.