Damon Salvatore was reading the newspaper in his small apartment, taking notes of the locations of where animal attack victims were found, when his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He tried to ignore it as could either be his boss, asking him where the hell he was and why he was late for work, again. Or, it could be his annoying girlfriend, Katherine. Absently wondering why they were still together, especially after finding out about her little affair with Matt Donovon. It was painful to think about it this way but, Damon couldn't think of a good enough reason to let go of one of the very few people that still cared about him.

It was only now that Damon noticed his phone had stopped vibrating, only to start again. With an annoyed huff, Damon gave up and pulled his phone from his pocket to check the caller's Id. The young man rolled his eyes and finally decided to pick up the phone.

"What."

"Damon, hey brother. What's up?"

"No I meant to say, what do you want?"

"Why do you always assume I need something whenever I call you?" Stefan said defensively,

"Because you only call me when you do need something."

"Jesus, okay fine, I do need a small favor. Look.. I need money, ok?"

"Why don't you just ask your father for money? He's-"

"hey come on you know how dad is, you're lucky you don't have to deal with him anymore. But I'm stuck in this house for another year or two.. He's just gonna ask me what I need the money for-"

"And what do you need the money for, Stefan?"

"Damon-"

"Stefan. What do you need the money for."

"I.. well, there's this party tonight and-"

"Great. Sorry buddy but, no." Damon said and was ready to hang up the phone when his brother started practically begging for the money,

"Damon please don't hang up! You used to party all the time when you were my age, I'm not allowed to do anything! and I'm not like you, I can't just say No to dad and get away with it! And if he finds out I'm going to a party he's gonna punish me, maybe even not pay for my college, do I need to beg more?"

Damon sighed and closed his eyes, and thought that maybe, just maybe, if he concentrated a little harder, squeezed his eyes a little tighter, then his little brother would disappear and he will have one less thing to worry about in his life. But Damon had once made a promise. One that's changed the course of his life, forever.

It all started when Damon was just a kid. Barely eleven years old. Damon woke up one night. What disturbed his sleep that day, Damon is still unsure of. After deciding to go downstairs to get himself a drink, he heard noises coming from the porch. Damon took a couple of deep breaths. You're a man. He slowly approached the porch, where he saw through the window his own mother, Mary, who seemed to be arguing with a man Damon couldn't see very well. He was about to open the door and yell at the stranger to leave his mother alone when at that exact moment his mother turned around and opened the door herself,

"Go away, leave me and my family alone," Mary whispered, still not noticing her son standing in the kitchen, Mary tried to close the door but the man tried to force his way in, and it was then that Damon, the young eleven-year-old, yelled,

"Leave mom alone!"

"Damon honey what are you doing here?" Damon looked at his mother, and then at the door, but he didn't find the man standing there anymore. He just.. disappeared.

"You're having a bad dream," Mary said, with a smile. She took him to his bed and told him to go to sleep, and that it was just a bad dream, and that he needed to forget all about it.

And so Damon did. Or, he thought he did.

A couple of months later, his mother was found dead. Animal attack, his father tried to explain to him. It didn't make much sense to Damon. And being the curious, smart child he was, he started investigating his own mother's death. And until this day, Damon was convinced that the man that was arguing with his own mother, one night, is the one responsible for her death. But for a reason Damon himself couldn't explain, he felt the need to keep what he saw that night a secret. Maybe to protect his younger brother, and his father, whom, by time, drifted apart from to the point where they only spoke on Christmas and Thanksgiving, despite living in the same small town.

Damon never gave up. He continued his investigations, and made sure to train to kill. And that's how he had spent his teen years. Training to kill vampires, making vampire hunting his life career, until the day he finally kills his mother's murderer.

Of course, Stefan didn't need to know the details. He is, however, the only person that knows Damon is a vampire hunter, and he vowed to keep his brother's secret, although he would never understand why, and wished his brother would be as dedicated to his real life career as he was to hunting vampires.

Who would want to be a journalist in Mystic Falls, anyways. It just helps Damon pay the rent.

"Okay, Stef."

"Oh man I love you! Thank you so much. Hey can you like, come by my school and-"

"Sure. I'll.. see you."

To Be Continued