1875.
Benjamin sat on the edge of the bed where his younger brother's dead body was lying. It's been a few hours since his father forced them to drink his blood and snap their neck. It was also when they learned all about vampires. They never even had a chance to progress it all before they were turned into one.
Benjamin woke about half an hour after being killed, while Sebastian hadn't even woken up. He wasn't going to move from his place until his brother woke up; it was like his brother was being stubborn, not wanting to wake up, causing him to worry even more.
"He was furious with his father for taking something away from them without asking first. Damon had revealed the truth about supernatural beings but didn't give them any time to process it before killing them. To make matters worse, their uncle Jordan seemed to have known about it all along and never told them anything. Benjamin wanted answers, but he couldn't go through this new chapter of his life without his younger brother Sebastian by his side."
"Seb, I need you to wake up," he said, holding onto Sebastian's cold hands. "I can't do this without you. Please wake up. And I promise, if you do, I'll hurt Father for what he did to us."
Damon chose the wrong moment to walk through the door; behind him was Jordan. Jordan's once clean white shirt was now covered in blood, meaning he's completed his transition, and he's become the same thing his Damon was and soon Benjamin and Sebastian would become as well, that is if Sebastian ever woke up.
Damon was shoved hard against the wall by his eldest son, cutting him off mid-sentence. His son looked like he wanted to kill him then and there.
"What have you done?" Benjamin was furious. "You've turned us into monsters."
"B-"
Benjamin turned to his uncle and shoved him away from him. "This has got nothing to do with you!" he turned back to his father. "This is between me and you." and Sebastian if he ever wakes up. "Tell me why you did this to us? Why couldn't you have asked us what we wanted before you went and made the choice yourself? Don't we deserve to want what we want?"
Damon's eyes softened as he knew what it was like to have your choices taken away from you. He had personally experienced it himself. Katherine had forced him to drink her blood through mind control, and when he was transitioning into a vampire, Stefan forced him to complete the process because he didn't want to do it without his big brother. Seeing his sons reminded Damon of what he and Stefan used to be like before things fell apart.
"Yes, you deserve to make your own choice," Damon told him. "I apologize for not asking you and Sebastian what you wanted. However, I don't regret my decision. I couldn't bear to watch you grow up and experience the same fate as your mother."
Benjamin flinched when his father brought up their mother in a conversation like this. He knew that talking about her wouldn't win his father any points. Benjamin and his younger brother Sebastian had always wished they knew what it was like to grow up with a mother. They missed her terribly and wished she was still with them instead of being dead and buried. It wasn't fair for Sebastian, who only got to spend a week with her before she was taken away from them. Hearing stories from other people about what she was like wasn't the same as having her there. They only knew what she looked like because of some old photos they had, but even that wasn't enough. At least Benjamin got to spend a year with her before she was taken away. Right now, he wished that his mother was here with them instead of his father.
"I don't care about what you want. My only concern is Sebastian. If he doesn't wake up soon, then you'll lose not one but two sons." He moved away from his father, refusing to acknowledge the hurt look in his father's eyes. He believed that his father deserved to feel the same hurt and betrayal that he was experiencing, and he wasn't going to live like this without his brother.
"He's going to wake up," Damon assured his oldest son. "He'll come back."
As soon as Damon uttered the words, Sebastian woke up, alerting everyone. Benjamin rushed to his brother's side, looking down at him.
Sebastian woke up feeling confused, hungry and disoriented. The memories of the previous night came flooding back to him. He remembered his father meeting with them and revealing the existence of vampires, which surprised him and his brother Benjamin. However, Jordan seemed to already know about Damon's true nature. Sebastian also remembered his father feeding him and his brother his blood, which plunged them into darkness.
"Benja-" he sat up, looking for his brother. If he was going through this right now, then his brother was going through the same thing as well. He doesn't know about Jordan yet, who has already completed the train
"I'm here." Benjamin stopped Sebastian from getting up. "Everything is going to be okay."
"We died. How is that going to be okay? When you die, you are meant to stay dead."
"We are now vampires just like our father," Benjamin told his younger brother. "He didn't want us to grow old while he stays forever young, so like the selfish bastard that he is. He turned us into the one thing he never wanted to become."
"You have to feed, or else you will end up dying." Damon knew he was selfish, but he didn't want to have to watch his sons grow up and forget about who he was. So he did what he had to do to make sure he had them by his side forever. "I know this is hard to -"
"Can you go away -" Benjamin interrupted him from saying anything. "- let me deal with this." he gave his uncle a look, hoping he would step in and help with the situation.
Jordan recognized that Benjamin and Sebastian needed some time alone to cope with their current situation. Damon's presence was not doing anyone any good, as he was responsible for causing the problem in the first place. "Damon, let's go." Jordan held his friend's arm and didn't allow him to argue. He pulled him out of the room, giving the brothers a nod of understanding before exiting. He wanted them to have the privacy they needed to process things without any interference.
"I know what you are going through, Sebastian. I am going through it as well." Benjamin told his brother softly. "I want you to know that you are not alone in this."
"I don't want to become a monster. I don't want to kill anyone just because I have to." Sebastian didn't want to live his life like that. He was happy with the life he had and his father took that away from him. "I'm not going feed, I rather die than live like this. You don't have to -"
"I'm not living my life without you, brother. I already had to live my life without a mother, and we hardly see our father as it is." Now they knew the real reason why their dad wasn't in their life much growing up. "So if you are going to do this, then you're going to have to take me with you. Unless-"
"Unless what?"
"We feed as Dad says," he said, shaking his head when he sensed Sebastian was about to interrupt him. "I know you're scared, but so am I. I'm afraid I might hurt someone because of this. Before that, I was afraid of losing you like we lost Mom. And I'm still afraid of losing you. I can't do this without you. I can't become a vampire without you. What I'm trying to say is that we'll get through this together. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. We could live long enough to see what the future holds. We can travel to different parts of the world and see things we've never seen before. I want to see what life will be like a hundred years from now."
"What if we do lose control? What if we end up hurting someone -"
"Then we'll get through it together like always."
Sebastian nodded. "Together."
New York - 2009.
Benjamin Salvatore only intended to have a few drinks at a local bar. He had no intention of flirting with a stranger whose name he didn't know, let alone bringing her back to his hotel room for another hookup.
Things never go the way you want them to these days.
"I'm not this kind of girl. Doing these sorts of things is not who I am," the half-dressed girl under him said as he kissed the side of her neck. "I'm an eighteen-year-old college student who just wants to make her parents proud by getting through her first year of college and doing something meaningful with my life. But I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be proud of me if they found out I went to some bar, picked up a random guy and went back to his hotel room with him."
Benjamin should've thought about compelling the girl to stop talking, it's all she seems to be doing since they got to his room. Maybe he should do what his father would do and drain the girl of all her blood. If he ended up killing this girl, then his brother would probably be annoyed with him for killing someone who didn't deserve to be killed.
Sebastian came up with a no-killing the innocent rule. His brother wanted to kill the ones who deserved to die, like murderers, people who harmed children, etc. So if Benjamin wanted this girl's blood, then he could, but only some, and he had to make sure he healed her afterwards, then compel her to forget. At first, it was hard to control themselves, though they got the handle of things together and with the help of their uncle and sometimes their father when he was around.
"He paused, kissing the girl's neck, and looked down at her. "We do not have to proceed with this if you do not want to. No one is pressuring you, and you can leave at any time. Just say the word, and I will stop. I promise you."
She gazed into his deep blue eyes, something she had admired about him ever since they started talking at the bar. She even complimented him on his beautiful eyes, which were the first words she said to him. He had a smile that could make any girl's heart skip a beat. "I want to do this," she said, feeling a little scared, but not wanting to let him know. "I'm...I'm nervous, you know? Haven't you ever felt like this before sleeping with someone?" She worried that her words might come across as accusing him of being a manwhore, but he didn't seem to take it that way. "I-"
"Oh," Benjamin said, sensing the girl's fear. He could tell that she wasn't scared of him, but of what they were about to do. He made up his mind even before she finished telling him. He didn't want to do anything with her when she wasn't sure what she wanted. He wasn't the heartless monster that people often made him out to be.
The girl appeared confused as he got up and put his jeans back on. "What are you doing? I thought you wanted this?" When he didn't respond, she sat up and took a closer look at his face. She recognized the expression on his face all too well, the one that guys usually have when they lose interest. "You don't want this. You don't want me anymore." If she didn't talk then maybe it would be over with and both of them could move on with their lives and forget ever meeting.
Damn, now he has upset her by considering her feelings. He regrets going out for a drink at that awful bar. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be in this mess. "That's not it. I don't want you to do something you're not comfortable with. You're beautiful, and I'm sure you don't want your first time to be with someone who doesn't even remember your name or where it doesn't mean anything to them. Your first time should be special. I'm sorry."
"I don't want your goddamn apology," she snapped at him. "I know what I'm doing. If I didn't, then I wouldn't have come up to your room with you." She quickly picked up her clothes from the floor. "Oh, by the way, my name is Celine. You'll probably end up forgetting both my name and me by the time I leave."
Benjamin had no chance to speak as she stormed past him into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
"You're an idiot, Benji."
Benjamin was so caught up in trying to sort things out with Celine that he never heard his younger brother coming into the room. He shouldn't have been surprised since his little brother was good at sneaking into places and going unnoticed.
"I know." he agreed because he knew he was. He sat down on the bottom of the bed and ran his hand through his dark hair. When Celine returned back from the bathroom, he was going to have to compel her to forget about the whole thing and make sure she knew she was beautiful.
Sebastian sat down beside him. "Next time, think before you bring some girl up to your room. You made her upset, Benji."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"Alright, dad called." That got his brother's attention. "He wants us to come back home to Mystic Falls." he then went on to tell him everything their father said on the phone and the conversation he had with Jordan before he came to look for him. "So what do you think? Do you think we should go to Mystic Falls?"
"What harm is it going to do." maybe going back to Mystic Falls will be different this time. "It can't be as bad as the last time we were there when Dad killed a member of our family."
Sebastian sighed. "I guess."
The door to the room was opened, causing the two brothers to stand up, ready to fight if they had to. It was Jordan who rudely barged into Benjamin's room, looking a little lost.
"You do know you could've knocked?"
Jordan shook his head. "I know. Before you decide about going to Mystic Falls. There's something I've got to tell you first."
The brothers exchanged a look before giving their uncle their full attention. Ready to hear what he had to tell them.
Edited - 29/04/2024