A/N: I just like to warn you I'm pretty new to Vampire Diaries. I've only seen the first 11 episodes of Season 1 but I am trying to do my best. I'm an avid writer so I hope I can do it justice. Please review but don't flame. Flamers will be ignored or laughed at. Especially if they're anonymous.

Warnings: Brotherly love, swearing, blood and impending death perhaps…

Pairings: N/A

Disclaimer: Seriously do not own this. Shame really, Damon is hot.

Stefan had expected the first day without human blood to be the difficult for Damon so he was pleasantly surprised when his brother hadn't shown any difficulty in the transition between blood donors. In all honesty he has expected to have to drag the older vampire off some poor unsuspecting human to make him stick to his new diet but it seemed Damon was actually capable of being persistent in more than just annoying and hurting him. Stefan had to admit to himself that Damon's self control was outstanding, but he wouldn't be giving his smug older brother the satisfaction of knowing that Stefan had found something admirable about him.

On the second day, Damon seemed a bit more agitated than normal. Stefan just brushed it off as a simple reaction to Bonnie's refusal to give up the medallion he so obviously wanted without thinking too much about it. His brother was often in a bad mood when he didn't get what he wanted, which was why he seemed so angry a lot of the time. The necklace was plainly no exception.

On the third day Stefan realised something was wrong. Damon had become less cocky and more irritable – something Stefan had previously thought impossible. The elder vampire couldn't seem to stand or sit still for more than a minute at a time, even when Stefan was trying to talk to him and it quickly became tiresome; he didn't want to constantly have to chase after his brother just to have a conversation with him. He tried forcing Damon to stay still but his attempts had been fruitless. Damon had just sped off somewhere after mere seconds of discussion. The lack of interaction scared Stefan slightly; Damon usually never missed a chance to gloat or piss him off, now he was openly avoiding any type of conversation with anyone, vampire or otherwise.

The fourth day made Stefan's fear worth while. He'd gone searching for Damon, needing to talk to his brother and wheedle out the reasons for his obsession with Bonnie's medallion. He hadn't expected to find him lying on his side brokenly on the floor struggling to move. The younger vampire had been by his side in an instant, rolling his brother over and moving him on to the sofa when he realised that Damon couldn't even get up let alone walk.

"What happened?" he asked firmly as Damon groaned. Even after all Damon had put him through Stefan couldn't hep but care about the other vampire. He'd been the one constant throughout his life; even if that constant consisted of continuous mental torture.

"I collapsed you idiot," Damon snapped. Any other time the reply would have sounded sharp and dangerous but the weakness in Damon's voice cancelled out any malice that he'd been trying to project. Stefan frowned, checking his brother's eyes for any signs of poison by Vervian or some other deadly herb. He found none of the symptoms but something in those blue orbs wasn't right. Something was missing and it wasn't the cockiness that had disappeared the day before. Damon's eyes were completely dull and lifeless, as if he wasn't living dead at all but just a corpse.

"Your eyes…" Stefan whispered anxiously, unconsciously brushing a lock of Damon's thick dark hair out of them in a tender gesture. Damon stared at him, the lifeless blues fixed unblinkingly on his brother.

"My…eyes?" he choked out, voice growing even fainter with every breath. His head hurt. Oh God it hurt so fucking much and Stefan was just sat there blabbering on about his eyes. "How about you…help rather t-than talk about useless shit little brother."

"I don't know what's wrong," Stefan murmured, fingertips brushing his cheek uncertainly. "You're overheating."

"I'm a vampire. V-vampires don't overheat." Stefan shook his head.

"You're at least 32 degrees Celsius Damon," he disagreed "What have you been doing differently? Has someone attacked you with something?"

"N-no," Damon breathed "The only thing…blood…animals not humans…" The older vampire's eyelids were fluttering. "I'm tired Stef…so tired…" The nickname made Stefan's breath catch in his throat. Damon hadn't called him Stef in over a hundred years. The fear for his brother magnified and he shook him quickly. He couldn't let Damon doze off or he feared he would never wake up.

"Don't go to sleep Damon," he urged "Open your eyes and stay awake. Please…"

"But I'm tired Stef," Damon moaned weakly.

"I know D, but you can't go to sleep…" Stefan told him, hoping his own use of Damon's childhood nickname would help convince the older vampire to fight the drowsiness. It seemed to work as Damon's eyes fluttered open once more, unfocused and still dulled. Stefan's mind was racing. The only thing that Damon had changed was his consumption of blood; animal rather than human and the weakness Damon was displaying suggested starvation at an increased rate. Stefan stared at his brother's barely moving form with wide eyes when a frightening thought occurred to him. The overheating wasn't a sign of starvation but a sign of allergic reaction, and the lifeless look in Damon's eyes? Poison. But not by Vervian or some other herb. Blood. Blood poisoning.

Damon was allergic to any animal meat (other than human) that was red; pig's meat, cow's meat and any type of steak.

Stefan had been providing him with pig's blood.

He'd been poisoning his own brother.

Stefan felt sick. Damon had offered to take on his diet as an act of remorse (or at least fake remorse) and Stefan hadn't even thought about his needs; just given him what was in his general stores. He was a monster. He might as well have driven a stake through Damon's heart.

"Wh-what's wrong with me?" Damon croaked, his eyelids drooping once more. Stefan bit his lip painfully hard.

"Poison…animal blood…pig's blood. I'm sorry D…I didn't-"

"You…you poisoned me?" Damon whispered, eyes shooting open.

"I didn't mean to. I swear to you D I didn't mean to."

"Don't call me that," Damon snapped, voice fading.

"Damon please, I'm begging you. Forgive me," Stefan pleaded, desperate.

"Get me blood, real blood. Now," the elder vampire ordered, his speech slurring slightly "It m-might override… the reaction…" Stefan nodded obediently and slipped off to Damon's 'secret' store of human blood, snatching four bags of blood and racing back to Damon's side in record time.

"I-I've got it," he stammered, kneeling beside the sofa. His brother whimpered weakly.

"You're gonna have to…" Damon's voice tailed off as his vocal processors stopped working. His dull blue eyes widened slightly in fear but Stefan had got the message. In frantic speed he managed to slice the edge of one of the blood bags off smoothly and gently put it to his brother's mouth. Damon didn't move and Stefan gasped in worry at the lack of response and movement from his brother.

"No…no…NO!" he half screamed. He couldn't have- He hadn't- He wasn't-

Gone.

Stefan couldn't believe that. He tipped the blood down Damon's throat helplessly, trying to coax his brother's unmoving body to swallow. Some of the blood trickled from Damon's lips when his mouth was full, the liquid not going down as Damon wasn't moving to drink it. Stefan threw the empty bag away in anger and despair. After everything they'd gone through; all the torment, the pain and suffering. For just a moment he'd though it had all been worth it and that he would get his brother back some day. Now he never would. Stefan put his head in his hands vulnerably.

"Damon…Damon…Damon please…come back…please just come back…" he whimpered, bury his head into his brother's chest hysterically. "Please…"

Silence. Unbearable silence. Then gentle hands in his hair, stroking softly. Stefan looked up, tears he'd never thought he'd shed streaming down his face, and a watery smile crossed his face.

"Damon?" The blood soaked lips of his brother tugged into a weak but teasing grin, eyes sparkling familiarly. All trace of dullness gone and replaced with life, laughter and cockiness.

"You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily did you?" Damon's voice was rough and worn but Stefan had never heard a more beautiful sound in the world. Damon was alive (at least in the walking and talking sense) and that was all that mattered right now. Without warning the younger vampire pulled his brother into a tight hug, just needing to feel Damon was still alive as well as see it.

"Drink whatever you want," he whispered in Damon's ear as he held him close. "Just never leave me again." Damon blinked in surprise but hugged his brother back carefully.

"I'll do my best little brother," he promised after a moment "I'll do my best."

And for once, after seeing the vulnerability in Stefan's eyes, Damon was going to keep a promise.