Prey

Title: Prey
Rating: PG-13
Author: Reportergirl13
Fandom: Vampire Diaries
Pairing: Damon/Katherine Damon-Centric
Word Count: 680
Prompt: Week #17 of Fandom_Friday’s “I was off to drink you away.”



The flames of the fire danced filling the large room with an eerie glow as Damon sat on the couch elbows poised against his knees. It was too warm for the fire, but temperature didn’t exactly affect him. Three empty bottles sat in front of him, strewn across the table.

He lifted the half filled glass of bourbon to his lips, eyes never leaving the fire as the sting of alcohol burned his throat. All those years he’d spent searching for a way to free Katherine, waiting for the perfect time, finding the right witch, uncovering the spell book and it had all been for nothing.

She’d been free all along, roaming the world of her own accord never once attempting to let him know she was alright. He’d spent the better part of 100 years guilt ridden because of what had happened all those years ago.

The hate for Stefan that had built inside of him stemming from the moment Katherine had been put in that church to her death was overwhelming. It was built on years of frustration and unexplored pain. It’s why Damon was the way he was.

Why he did the things he did. She was the reason he tormented Stefan. His brother, the one person in the world he’d put his faith in, had betrayed him and the only woman he’d ever loved had been taken away. So he punished him, made him hurt like he’d been hurting.

Years of rage and destruction, demolishing every life Stefan ever managed to build for himself because in his mind it was all justified. No matter how much he hurt his brother or how many people he killed they’d never be even.

A tight knot welled inside the pit of his stomach, pulling at him to acknowledge the mistakes he’d made, the pain he’d caused. All that time penalizing Stefan for something that hadn’t truly been. Katherine could have fixed his relationship with his brother in seconds and yet she chose to stay away.

She chose to let him believe she was trapped in that cave like a pitiful prisoner. He tossed back the rest of the bourbon before standing and hurling the glass into the flames. He loved Katherine. If it hadn’t been obvious then it was certainly obvious now.

Katherine did not love him. He hadn’t realized it then. He’d been too young, too naïve and lost in her soft skin and whispered promises, but he knew now. Damon was just another one of her many admirers, a source a food, sex, and passion.

He walked around the couch and grabbed the last bottle from the liquor cart, lifting the top and drinking straight from the crystal. It burned, but he didn’t care, he just kept swallowing the amber liquid hoping to dissolve his love in a pool of unconsciousness.

If he drank enough maybe the pale face of the beauty he had once loved…still loved, would evaporate from his memory, if only he could drink her away…

Instead the burn in his chest intensified emotions that had been hidden for too long bubbling to the surface as he broke down, bottle slipping from his hands, crashing to the ground, liquid pooling at his feet. Damon dropped to his knees, the jagged glass cutting through his flesh.

“Last I saw her was Chicago 1983…she knew where you were Damon…she didn’t care. I’m sorry…”

The words echoed in his head as his body was wracked with sobs. The past 100 years finally catching up with him. In all his life he’d never felt weak, or inconsequential.

She didn’t care, not about their relationship and not about him. It’s possible she never had. His eyes slid shut as his palms flattened on the floor. His world was slowly turning into his own version of hell.

He was Damon Salvatore; feared, respected, admired and emulated, but with a few words his world had crashed in on him, breaking him and turning him into everything he despised…He’d become, pathetic, weak. Damon was no longer the hunter, he was the prey.