Casual Encounters of the Brotherly Kind
1952- New York City, NY
Damon sat at the corner café sipping on some hot coffee, pretending to read the newspaper. Actually he was waiting for a blonde man to walk around the corner, so he could quietly follow him. The man he was waiting for was his brother, someone that he hadn’t seen in twenty five years. Damon recently discovered that the two were in the same city, and he couldn’t leave for his next place of residence without a sibling reunion, that would just be wrong.
After waiting for twenty minutes Damon saw Stefan turn the corner and he placed his paper on the counter and left the café, as if he was never there in the first place. He followed the man all the way to a small apartment building in Queens, a rundown building that only Stefan would feel was appropriate for his eternal damnation. It was now or never for Damon to confront his younger brother.
“Stefan,” he said slowly and simply.
Stefan spun around, dreading that the voice belonged to his brother, the same brother he forced to become vampire almost ninety years before. He closed his eyes in what appeared to be pain at seeing the face of the brother that he had done everything to avoid. “Damon.”
Stefan stared, waiting for his brother to tell him why he was in front of him, knowing that there would have to be a reason behind his sudden appearance in his life.
“Aren’t you going to invite your brother into your home?” Damon asked with a sneer.
“No, but that isn’t going to stop you from coming in, is it?” Stefan turned back to the door and undid the lock, heading up the stairs to his small efficiency apartment. Damon followed behind, like a shadow.
They entered the apartment and Damon could see that Stefan, as always was trying to spend his life, or second life as miserable as possible. They had grown up in the majestic world of the plantations of Virginia, and now he was spending his life in a tiny, dirty apartment.
“Still trying to pay for your sins by living in squalor I see…”
“Apartments in New York aren’t cheap, Damon.”
“They are when you compel your landlord, come on Stefan, all this power and you don’t even use it. Next you are going to tell me you don’t drink human blood.”
Stefan grimaced; the truth was he really wasn’t. He made trips out of the city and fed on animals mostly.
“You can’t be serious? That is just disgusting, really.” Damon laughed at the idea of drinking an animal instead of a willing human being. “You live in this great city where millions of people can go missing without notice and you drink animals?”
“Let’s get to the point here, Damon. What are you doing here, what do you want?” Stefan started tapping his foot in irritation. There was a reason that the brothers generally avoided each other, the last time they saw each other, in the twenties, Damon tried to kill Stefan.
“Actually I live here. Well not here, since I would never live in such a dismal apartment, but in the city. I have a place in Manhattan, but I think I am about to move on. Can’t a guy say hello to his brother when they are in the same city? It would have been rude for me to leave not at least stopping by for a chat.”
“Last time you came by for a chat you tried to ram a stake through my heart, brother,” Stefan noted.
“Let’s just say that this vampire thing isn’t so bad anymore. Sure I was mad for a while, but things are better now. Friends?” Damon held out his hand for his brother to shake.
Stefan looked at him wearily, knowing that trusting Damon never led to good things in his life. He didn’t shake his brother’s hand, knowing that would be a mistake that he would regret later. Stefan just wanted him gone so that he could continue his little life in the city.
Stefan had a job working at a pawn shop, sure it wasn’t the greatest career, but the store owner didn’t seem to care that Stefan didn’t have any legal paperwork to prove his age (which he said was eighteen) and the work was interesting, most days. After the war he had seen a lot of vets coming in, trading their handguns for engagement rings, but he also saw a lot of paranoid citizens arming up to defend themselves against the communists that were supposedly invading any day.
He had been living in the city for almost a year now, and he had settled into an almost normal life. Stefan had only run into one vampire since he got to the city, after a week of feeling like someone was following him he finally spoke with a vampire named Joseph who was dying (figuratively) to know how he was able to walk in the sunlight. Stefan didn’t tell the man the whole truth, since if every vampire knew no one would be safe. He simply told Joseph that it was with the help of a witch. Stefan tried to live his life like a normal American in the 50’s, working nine to five to pay for his apartment. Sure it wasn’t the American dream, but it was as close as he was going to get.
“I like my life right now, so if you are leaving town, great. If you want to stay, whatever, just leave me alone,” Stefan told his brother coolly.
“I expected a little more warmth from my own flesh and blood,” Damon replied.
His life in New York City was about living lavishly and spending lavishly. He lived on the upper east side of the isle of Manhattan, after charming a landlady into believing that he was some kind of foreign dignitary and paid for a year’s rent in advance, he lived his life as a member of high society, sucking the blood of New York’s rich and famous. It was a great lifestyle of him, sex and drugs and all while drinking champagne. After living this way for a few years he was ready to move on, plus he was concerned that his acquaintances were starting to notice the fact that he hadn’t aged a day since the moment he introduced himself as Jacques D’Lune. It was a great life for him to lead for a short while at least. He wanted to move on though, meet some new people. So he was going to head towards the west coast, maybe see what the hollywood scene was all about.
“I can’t say that you have always been the type for brotherly love,” Stefan said to his brother.
“Can we just get over the fact that I tried to kill you? As you can see, I like my life now, so let’s just call it even,” Damon answered.
“No, how about we don’t. Just get out of here, every time you show up in my life you destroy it somehow, so get out before you do something stupid.”
“You mean like kill your boss?”
“You did what? Why would you kill Charles?”
“He got me angry, couldn’t stop myself,” Damon told him simply.
“How is it even when I don’t know you are around you can manage to destroy everything I have built?” Stefan asked, frustrated.
“Talent?” Damon asked with a smirk. He hadn’t really meant to kill the older man that ran the pawn shop. He was just asking some questions about Stefan and the older man was getting the wrong idea, and was considering calling the cops. Damon flipped the switch in his brain and the blood lust took over. The man was dead in minutes.
“Just get out. Please.” Stefan gestured towards the door and waited for his brother to make his exit.
“Fine, be that way,” Damon started towards the door before he turned to face his brother one last time. “See you in a few years, brother.”
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1994 - Chicago
Stefan was bobbing his head to ‘No Excuses’ as Alice in Chains performed on the stage in front of him. He could see Lexi getting really into it, bouncing around and dancing to the drum line. It made him smile to see how enthused his friend could get by something as simple as a song. They had been living in the city for a few years, going to rock concerts whenever they could, since Lexi had a way of getting into clubs that normal people weren’t blessed with.
“Come on Stefan! Live a little!” She screamed over the loud music.
“This isn’t really one of their dance songs, Lex.”
“So that means that you can’t ever enjoy yourself? You are a party pooper, you know that? We have been waiting months for this show and you are now pretending like you don’t even care,” Lexi almost whined as she complained to her friend.
“I’m going to head outside for a few minutes, get some fresh air. Do you want me to get you another beer?”
Lexi nodded her head and then turned back towards the band. She was going to enjoy the show whether Stefan was going to be moody or not. Stefan headed out the side door of the packed club. As he stepped into the alleyway he could hear commotion, what sounded like a fight going on further down the dark alleyway. Curious he headed towards the noise and found a vampire ripping out the throat of the bouncer that had let Stefan and Lexi into the club without tickets or IDs. The lighting in the alley was dismal, but he could see the long dark hair of the vampire, and something in his gut made him know who it was.
“Damon,” he said simply.
Damon turned to face his brother, dropping the now dying bouncer on the pavement. “Brother,” he replied.
Stefan wanted to sigh; frustrated that once again he was going to have to deal with his brother. They hadn’t seen much of each other through the years, but he was starting to feel like it was going to become a more common occurrence. “What brings you to Chicago?”
“Just passing through, actually. Thought I would take in a show, but this bouncer,” Damon looked back at the large man that was bleeding out in the alley, “didn’t want to let me in. Something about fire codes.”
“Why don’t you just keep moving,” Stefan said coolly.
“I’m getting her out,” he told his brother quite simply. “I’ve been working on it for a while now and I think I know how. But that won’t be for a few more years. Something about that there has to be a comet.”
Stefan pretended that he had no idea who his brother was referring to, trying to put Katherine out of his mind for good. He couldn’t believe that his brother was still after her, after so many long years. It had been over a hundred years and Damon still wouldn’t get past the manipulative woman that had stolen their hearts and lives.
“What, now you can’t hear me?” Damon laughed. “I am going to get her out Stefan. Maybe we’ll send you a postcard after we settle down somewhere.”
“Just get out of here Damon. Leave me be and if you do free her from that tomb, I want nothing to do with it.”
“Fine, your loss brother.”
“Yeah it will be. Just let me live my life in peace, okay?” Stefan was sick of running into Damon every few years, it was getting old. Damon would pop into his life, destroy some aspect of the life Stefan had created for himself and then get out of the way
“Sure, consider me gone,” Damon left in a flash, but that is exactly when the cops showed up to look for the missing bouncer. Stefan was left in the alley with the body of the large bouncer at his feet. Now wanted for murder, Stefan found his life in Chicago was over.
Damon sat at the corner café sipping on some hot coffee, pretending to read the newspaper. Actually he was waiting for a blonde man to walk around the corner, so he could quietly follow him. The man he was waiting for was his brother, someone that he hadn’t seen in twenty five years. Damon recently discovered that the two were in the same city, and he couldn’t leave for his next place of residence without a sibling reunion, that would just be wrong.
After waiting for twenty minutes Damon saw Stefan turn the corner and he placed his paper on the counter and left the café, as if he was never there in the first place. He followed the man all the way to a small apartment building in Queens, a rundown building that only Stefan would feel was appropriate for his eternal damnation. It was now or never for Damon to confront his younger brother.
“Stefan,” he said slowly and simply.
Stefan spun around, dreading that the voice belonged to his brother, the same brother he forced to become vampire almost ninety years before. He closed his eyes in what appeared to be pain at seeing the face of the brother that he had done everything to avoid. “Damon.”
Stefan stared, waiting for his brother to tell him why he was in front of him, knowing that there would have to be a reason behind his sudden appearance in his life.
“Aren’t you going to invite your brother into your home?” Damon asked with a sneer.
“No, but that isn’t going to stop you from coming in, is it?” Stefan turned back to the door and undid the lock, heading up the stairs to his small efficiency apartment. Damon followed behind, like a shadow.
They entered the apartment and Damon could see that Stefan, as always was trying to spend his life, or second life as miserable as possible. They had grown up in the majestic world of the plantations of Virginia, and now he was spending his life in a tiny, dirty apartment.
“Still trying to pay for your sins by living in squalor I see…”
“Apartments in New York aren’t cheap, Damon.”
“They are when you compel your landlord, come on Stefan, all this power and you don’t even use it. Next you are going to tell me you don’t drink human blood.”
Stefan grimaced; the truth was he really wasn’t. He made trips out of the city and fed on animals mostly.
“You can’t be serious? That is just disgusting, really.” Damon laughed at the idea of drinking an animal instead of a willing human being. “You live in this great city where millions of people can go missing without notice and you drink animals?”
“Let’s get to the point here, Damon. What are you doing here, what do you want?” Stefan started tapping his foot in irritation. There was a reason that the brothers generally avoided each other, the last time they saw each other, in the twenties, Damon tried to kill Stefan.
“Actually I live here. Well not here, since I would never live in such a dismal apartment, but in the city. I have a place in Manhattan, but I think I am about to move on. Can’t a guy say hello to his brother when they are in the same city? It would have been rude for me to leave not at least stopping by for a chat.”
“Last time you came by for a chat you tried to ram a stake through my heart, brother,” Stefan noted.
“Let’s just say that this vampire thing isn’t so bad anymore. Sure I was mad for a while, but things are better now. Friends?” Damon held out his hand for his brother to shake.
Stefan looked at him wearily, knowing that trusting Damon never led to good things in his life. He didn’t shake his brother’s hand, knowing that would be a mistake that he would regret later. Stefan just wanted him gone so that he could continue his little life in the city.
Stefan had a job working at a pawn shop, sure it wasn’t the greatest career, but the store owner didn’t seem to care that Stefan didn’t have any legal paperwork to prove his age (which he said was eighteen) and the work was interesting, most days. After the war he had seen a lot of vets coming in, trading their handguns for engagement rings, but he also saw a lot of paranoid citizens arming up to defend themselves against the communists that were supposedly invading any day.
He had been living in the city for almost a year now, and he had settled into an almost normal life. Stefan had only run into one vampire since he got to the city, after a week of feeling like someone was following him he finally spoke with a vampire named Joseph who was dying (figuratively) to know how he was able to walk in the sunlight. Stefan didn’t tell the man the whole truth, since if every vampire knew no one would be safe. He simply told Joseph that it was with the help of a witch. Stefan tried to live his life like a normal American in the 50’s, working nine to five to pay for his apartment. Sure it wasn’t the American dream, but it was as close as he was going to get.
“I like my life right now, so if you are leaving town, great. If you want to stay, whatever, just leave me alone,” Stefan told his brother coolly.
“I expected a little more warmth from my own flesh and blood,” Damon replied.
His life in New York City was about living lavishly and spending lavishly. He lived on the upper east side of the isle of Manhattan, after charming a landlady into believing that he was some kind of foreign dignitary and paid for a year’s rent in advance, he lived his life as a member of high society, sucking the blood of New York’s rich and famous. It was a great lifestyle of him, sex and drugs and all while drinking champagne. After living this way for a few years he was ready to move on, plus he was concerned that his acquaintances were starting to notice the fact that he hadn’t aged a day since the moment he introduced himself as Jacques D’Lune. It was a great life for him to lead for a short while at least. He wanted to move on though, meet some new people. So he was going to head towards the west coast, maybe see what the hollywood scene was all about.
“I can’t say that you have always been the type for brotherly love,” Stefan said to his brother.
“Can we just get over the fact that I tried to kill you? As you can see, I like my life now, so let’s just call it even,” Damon answered.
“No, how about we don’t. Just get out of here, every time you show up in my life you destroy it somehow, so get out before you do something stupid.”
“You mean like kill your boss?”
“You did what? Why would you kill Charles?”
“He got me angry, couldn’t stop myself,” Damon told him simply.
“How is it even when I don’t know you are around you can manage to destroy everything I have built?” Stefan asked, frustrated.
“Talent?” Damon asked with a smirk. He hadn’t really meant to kill the older man that ran the pawn shop. He was just asking some questions about Stefan and the older man was getting the wrong idea, and was considering calling the cops. Damon flipped the switch in his brain and the blood lust took over. The man was dead in minutes.
“Just get out. Please.” Stefan gestured towards the door and waited for his brother to make his exit.
“Fine, be that way,” Damon started towards the door before he turned to face his brother one last time. “See you in a few years, brother.”
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1994 - Chicago
Stefan was bobbing his head to ‘No Excuses’ as Alice in Chains performed on the stage in front of him. He could see Lexi getting really into it, bouncing around and dancing to the drum line. It made him smile to see how enthused his friend could get by something as simple as a song. They had been living in the city for a few years, going to rock concerts whenever they could, since Lexi had a way of getting into clubs that normal people weren’t blessed with.
“Come on Stefan! Live a little!” She screamed over the loud music.
“This isn’t really one of their dance songs, Lex.”
“So that means that you can’t ever enjoy yourself? You are a party pooper, you know that? We have been waiting months for this show and you are now pretending like you don’t even care,” Lexi almost whined as she complained to her friend.
“I’m going to head outside for a few minutes, get some fresh air. Do you want me to get you another beer?”
Lexi nodded her head and then turned back towards the band. She was going to enjoy the show whether Stefan was going to be moody or not. Stefan headed out the side door of the packed club. As he stepped into the alleyway he could hear commotion, what sounded like a fight going on further down the dark alleyway. Curious he headed towards the noise and found a vampire ripping out the throat of the bouncer that had let Stefan and Lexi into the club without tickets or IDs. The lighting in the alley was dismal, but he could see the long dark hair of the vampire, and something in his gut made him know who it was.
“Damon,” he said simply.
Damon turned to face his brother, dropping the now dying bouncer on the pavement. “Brother,” he replied.
Stefan wanted to sigh; frustrated that once again he was going to have to deal with his brother. They hadn’t seen much of each other through the years, but he was starting to feel like it was going to become a more common occurrence. “What brings you to Chicago?”
“Just passing through, actually. Thought I would take in a show, but this bouncer,” Damon looked back at the large man that was bleeding out in the alley, “didn’t want to let me in. Something about fire codes.”
“Why don’t you just keep moving,” Stefan said coolly.
“I’m getting her out,” he told his brother quite simply. “I’ve been working on it for a while now and I think I know how. But that won’t be for a few more years. Something about that there has to be a comet.”
Stefan pretended that he had no idea who his brother was referring to, trying to put Katherine out of his mind for good. He couldn’t believe that his brother was still after her, after so many long years. It had been over a hundred years and Damon still wouldn’t get past the manipulative woman that had stolen their hearts and lives.
“What, now you can’t hear me?” Damon laughed. “I am going to get her out Stefan. Maybe we’ll send you a postcard after we settle down somewhere.”
“Just get out of here Damon. Leave me be and if you do free her from that tomb, I want nothing to do with it.”
“Fine, your loss brother.”
“Yeah it will be. Just let me live my life in peace, okay?” Stefan was sick of running into Damon every few years, it was getting old. Damon would pop into his life, destroy some aspect of the life Stefan had created for himself and then get out of the way
“Sure, consider me gone,” Damon left in a flash, but that is exactly when the cops showed up to look for the missing bouncer. Stefan was left in the alley with the body of the large bouncer at his feet. Now wanted for murder, Stefan found his life in Chicago was over.