Toxic » Salvatore

five

five
~~~~~~~

Stefan was struggling, his resolve deteriorating with each passing moment. His hands remained clinched tightly at his sides as he tried to remain in control of his vampiric side. "This would be so much easier if you'd just let me teach you, brother."

"I can't, Damon."

"No," He denies immediately. "You choose not to and when you finally fall off the rocker, you let it consume you."

Stefan glared at his brother, not able to respond immediately because it was the truth. "Why are you so adamant on making me feed."

"Because this would be so much easier if you would just drink in moderation. That way, you can be at your strongest and you won't have to worry about vamping out at the smallest drop of human blood."

The green eyed Salvatore thought about his brother's word for a long moment. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

A smirk came upon Damon's face knowing he'd won. "You won't, all you have to do is control it."

Before Stefan had time to comprehend what was going on, his older brother had already chosen a victim, sinking his fangs into her neck after compelling her to silence.

As a reaction, Stefan's veins tingled under his eyes, his fangs aching against his gums begging to partake in Damon's antics. "What are you doing?"

"Resistance training," The raven haired man answers, blood dripping along the corner of his mouth. "Just feed from her without killing her."

"I don't know if I can."

"You can," Without another word, Damon threw the girl's body into Stefan's arms, her blood soaked neck being laid before him.

He tried to stop, tried to hold back but her blood was so tempting and before he knew it, Stefan had his fangs into her neck taking large gulps of the crimson liquid.

Deep animalistic growls came from within Stefan's chest, his whole body tingling with excitement from the blood. "Alright, that's enough you're going to drain her." Damon stepped closer, urging his brother to stop. "Come on, you'll kill her."

Taking matters into his own hands, Damon pulled Stefan from the girl, blood dripping from the sides of his mouth, staining his skin. Stefan made a move to go back to the warm body but he was stopped by a hand.

"I can't teach you control if you aren't willing to learn. If I say stop you have to stop or else you're going to be racking up a body count higher than the ripper did."

It took everything in Stefan to listen to his brother, the dark veins under his eyes going away while his fangs retracted back into his gums. "I almost killed her."

"But you didn't, that's progress." Damon bit into his wrist, feeding the compelled blonde his blood to heal her body.

Turning away from her, Stefan wiped his mouth, ridding himself of any proof that he'd just done everything he swore to himself he'd never do again.  

"How do you feel?"

"Like I shouldn't have just done that."

Rolling his pretty blue eyes, Damon compelled the woman away and walked before his brother. "Physically, Stef, ignore your annoying conscience and tell me how you feel."

Stefan was silent for a moment. "Stronger, my gums don't ache anymore."

"See? Feeding straight from the tap has its perks, pretty soon you might be able to control the fog, like me."

"You were killing people to get that strong, Damon. I don't want it to get to that point."

Damon purses his lips in agreement, now thinking about the cons of having his brother that strong. Power and lack of restraint was a toxic combination, something he wasn't sure he could handle. "I guess you're right, baby steps."

Stefan sighed loudly, closing his eyes tight as his hand brushed through his hair. "You can't tell Juliette about this, if she knew she'd never speak to me again."

"You give this girl a god complex, you can't honestly think she hasn't sunken her fangs into a few passerby's, we're vampires, creatures of habit."

The comment went overlooked, the younger Salvatore not bothering to respond to it. "I can't be that anymore, Damon. "

"Just let me help you."

"I don't need your help."

"You said that to me once before, in nineteen-twelve and then you became the Ripper of Monterey because you couldn't stop it and it was my fault. I urged you to feed on human blood again after your decades of stopping. I was the reason you were like that and I'm doing everything I can so that you don't have to be like that again."

Stefan shook his head at the memory, the blood, the decapitated bodies because he couldn't control his hunger. "I couldn't do it then, what makes you think I can do it now?"

"Because, back then I let you run away. This time I refuse to let you give up on yourself. I have faith in you brother, you can do this."

"I don't want to be the bad guy anymore, Damon."

His face grew softer, one strong hand resting on Stefan's shoulder as a comfort. "Just let me help you, let me teach you so you don't have to be that person anymore."

A moment passed between the brothers before Stefan put his hand over his brother's, looking up with such a childlike innocent that it made Damon's heart clench tight in his chest. "Okay, I trust you."