A Vampire's Heart(On Hold)

Chapter 11: Blood Addicts

Damon's POV

"I'm sorry about all this." Ric said as he came into the room shutting the door behind him.

"Jo texted me. How's he doing?"

"Jo just took him to the NICU. She's saying they'll get him stable and then let us know." Elena replied.

"Okay, how are you guys holding up?" Elena shrugged as I answered,

"We've been better buddy... So Jo said you've been trying to call me. What is it?"

"It's Stefan, he needs your help."

"Wait... What happened with Stefan?" My voice raised with irritation.

"He's okay, we locked him in the basement with your mom."

"Excuse me? You did what now?" I asked hoping I heard him wrong.

"I went back to the house to make sure I hadn't left my phone. When I got there the door was cracked open, so I went in."

"So you broke into my house?"

"No..." Ric remarked defensively. "The door was open, so I went in." He said again.

"Please Ric, what happened to Stefan?" Elena asked worriedly.

"I remembered I'd left it upstairs in your bedroom so I went upstairs and I walked in and there's Stefan sitting on the floor up against the bed drinking a blood bag, and it wasn't like he was just drinking it... He looked at me and I swear he looked like he was going to kill me. It was like he didn't know who I was."

"I called Caroline called to come help me get him to the basement and she's there with him now."

"Stefan wouldn't have just started drinking human blood again, I mean at least in the way you're saying. He had to have been tempted somehow." Elena said.

"All I know is that there were two blood bags in the room, maybe they were already open and he couldn't handle it."

That's when Elena looked at me in horror.

"What have we done?" She asked no one in particular.

"It'll be okay listen I'm going to go back to house to check on him. Ric would you mind staying here with Elena?" I asked as I kissed Elena and headed for the door.

"Any time man." I heard him say as I left the room.

When I got back to the house Caroline was waiting in the living room. "Where have you been?" She asked cramming a book back into the shelf.

"At the hospital with Elena." I told her shutting the door behind me.

"Oh my gosh is she okay?"

"Yeah she and the baby are fine."

"Wait... She had the baby? Isn't it like really early?" She asked frantically.

"Yeah, it is pretty early."

"Hey..." Said she stopping me as I turned to leave the room.

"They'll be okay." She reassured me as I walked slowly back into the living room.

"Elena has been through so much already, and you can't stand here and say that any kid related to you is just going to give up that easy."

"I don't get why you're being so nice to me." I told her after I registered what she said.

"I'm being nice because Elena loves you and I'm sick of trying to convince her that you're not good enough for her."

"Jeez thanks! Caroline, that really means a lot." I said sarcastically. "Well, I have to go visit the blood thirsty prisoners now so if you'd excuse me."

I wasn't normally phased by these types of comments, especially when they came from Caroline but after the wedding and Elena with the baby drama I had the strong urge to snap vampire barbie's neck.

I kept my cool though as I left the room and once again headed to the basement.

"Let's cut to the chase Stefan." I said as I looked through the slit on the cellar door.

"I screwed up and left the blood bags out in the bedroom." I admitted.

"Well that was nice of you." Stefan replied, his voice monotone. His eyes were bloodshot and his veins pulsated as he sat in a chair in the middle of the small room. Our mother was asleep in the corner. He's humanity was still on so at least I wouldn't have to worry about him being a danger, this was just apart of Stefan recovery process 

"So where'd you and Elena head off to?" Stefan questioned after following my gaze.

I should still be at the hospital with Elena and the baby but I'm here babysitting two blood addicts... Great. I thought absentmindedly, not realizing he'd asked me something.

"Huh?" I muttered looking at him again.

"Where'd you guys go?"

I had never fully trusted Stefan when he was like this. Yes he still had his humanity but still he made me a little  uneasy, most likely considering he was the one who encouraged me to turn in the first place. I'm not saying I blame him... It's not like he'd force me to feed and I could've ended it a long time ago by not feeding which had been my first choice in the beginning but now that things are different I'm glad I didn't.

"We went to the hospital...-"

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, yeah she's alright... They both are."

"Oh-."

"I'm only telling you this because you're down here." I told him folding my arms up on the door and resting my chin on them.

"I get it, you're doing damage control." His voice was weak and tired.

He stared at me with a blank unchanging expression until I finally found the right words.

"Everything that happened with Katherine I blamed you for, then Elena came into the picture I realized that what I was doing was partly because I was jealous of you, and how they both felt about you."

"They always wanted you... Katherine had just been using me and when Elena died a human the first time, she was headed back to you. They both told me at one time that you would always be their choice."

"And look how it turned out." He replied as he shifted his weight as he sat.

"My point is that now it's not about that, it's about trying to keep my family safe." I stood up straighter,

"That includes you buddy."

"So what's your plan?"

Still on the other side of the door I look to my left slightly to see our mother stand up and staggering to stand behind Stefan's chair.

Not wanting to continue talking with Lily listening I ended the conversation and Stefan smirked at me knowingly. "I'm going out but I'll be back tomorrow to check in." I said as I winked at Stefan and went upstairs.

When I got back upstairs Caroline was still in the living room.

"Damon... I'm sorry about earlier." She apologized as I went to open the front door and leave.

"Call me if they cause any trouble." I told her as politely as possible, then feelings of hurt, anger and regret struck me all at once as I turned to face her. Her voice had sounded sincere but her expression didn't show that she had regretted saying it.

"Just letting you know that I regret everything that I ever did to hurt Elena, or any of you but I was doing it to protect her in the long run. So if I had to do it all again... I wouldn't hesitate."

"Good night Caroline." I told her before stepping outside and shutting the door behind me.