'I never really loved you Damon.'

The words made every inch of Damon ice up inside and begin to crack, the look of seriousness in Katherine's eyes made him finally shatter. For a while Damon could not move, he simply stood there and looked at her with complete disbelief. The silence filled the air and grew heavy around him as the pain he finally began to feel seeped out and around him. It felt as though the air around him was turning into some poisonous gas and it was suffocating him. His chest heaved as he tried to breathe, every artery and every air way in him seeming to constrict.

Katherine did nothing but stand there, her eyes cold, serious and completely empty, not a flicker of emotion in them. Damon swallowed hard, trying to force the lump in his throat down. Finally he found the ability to move and walked past her. With every step he took a piece of him would grow numb until he felt like a mindless zombie just stumbling around. He walked out into the cool night air and headed off back to the boarding house, not taking notice of anything around him. Not feeling anything, not hearing anything, and just letting his legs lead him back home. He opened the door and walked inside. He poured himself a drink, looked at the glass and tossed it into the fireplace before grabbing the bottle and heading upstairs.

'Damon, is everything alright?'

Damon stopped when he saw his brother and simply shook his head.

'What the hell do you care Stefan?' Damon whispered before turning and walking into his room.

Stefan frowned and followed his brother into the room.

'I'm still your brother Damon and I've never seen you look like this so yeah, I'm going to show concern. So what's wrong?'

Damon took the top off the bottle, tossed it somewhere on the floor and began to guzzle down the Jack Daniels whiskey, enjoying the burn because it made him realize he was still…well still a non-living, living person. Stefan sighed and walked over to Damon, grabbing the bottle and setting it down on the table.

'Damon, talk to me.'

Damon glared at his brother and then picked up the bottle once more.

'First off, don't touch my booze and second, I'm not really into trying to have some heart-to-heart conversation with my younger brother. I'm not into all the mushy stuff among siblings thank you,' Damon replied, taking another long swig of the whiskey and walking over to the window. Stefan shook his head and looked down at the floor, a frown on his face as he tried to think of reasons why Damon would be like this and then the obvious one hit him.

Stefan looked up and walked over to Damon.

'You saw Katherine didn't you?'

Damon stood at the window, staring out of it, not saying a word. That was Damon's way of saying 'yes it is and I suggest you leave it at that.' But Stefan wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to just leave it alone because he had seen Katherine too and he needed to know what she had said to Damon.

'What did she say to you Damon?'

Damon turned and looked at Stefan, a scowl on his face.

'What the hell do you care? What she said to me was for me alone and not you. So just get the hell out of my room.'

Damon turned to stare out the window once again, taking another long swig from the bottle, the alcohol finally seeming to warm him up and now he was regretting it because the more it warmed him up the more of the pain he could feel. But Damon was good at hiding his pain…at least around his brother. Stefan looked at his brother and let out a sigh, shaking his head.

'Please just tell me Damon. I'm asking this because…because she came to see me the other day and she told me why she was back here in Mystic Falls.'

Damon snapped his head back in his brother's direction at those words, a frown still evident on his face.

'Why the hell would she come and see y-'

Damon stopped as all the pieces fell into place, a low growl rumbling through his chest as the blade she planted deep into his chest with her words just seemed to be twisted round and round, driving itself deeper into his undead heart at the sudden realization.

'Damon she-'

Stefan's words weren't even out of his mouth fully when Damon flung him across the room. He moved in front of his brother within a matter of seconds, picked him up off the floor and pinned him against the wall, crushing his throat. Damon's eyes were blood red and his fangs exposed as he hissed low.

'She came back….for you! She's here because she loves you!'

'Da…mon…let…me…go,' Stefan choked out, clawing at his brother's hand.

Damon glared up at his brother, his grip tightening. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to snap Stefan's neck and rob Katherine of the one person she clearly loved because he wanted to make her suffer. But then Elena came floating into his mind and he knew if he did this, if he killed Stefan, she would hate him forever and that was something he could not bare to have. Damon growled and released his brother.

Stefan slumped down onto the floor, rubbing his neck and coughing. He looked up at Damon.

'I'm s-'

'Don't tell me you're sorry Stefan,' Damon snapped at his brother before bending down on his haunches to be at eye level with his brother. 'You want to know what she said to me. She told me that she never really loved me,' Damon said each word slowly. Damon glared at his brother his chest heaving. Stefan remained silent, unable to think of anything to say, other than sorry of course. Damon let out a short sigh and then stood up, glaring down at his brother, shaking his head.

'As always Stefan you get everything, you get your happy ending and what do I get left with? A big, fat nothing. You got Elena, now you have the satisfaction of knowing that I was really the one that Katherine just turned out of boredom and you're the one that she truly loved and wanted to be with.' Damon swallowed hard against the lump forming in his throat. 'Thank you for giving me just one more reason to really and truly hate you brother.'

Damon stormed out of his room and headed downstairs, leaving Stefan in a silent state of shock on the floor. Damon threw the door open and headed out into the cold, dark night, heading off towards the woods, not noticing Katherine appearing out of the shadows on from the side of the house, a small, cold smile on her face. Katherine slipped into the boarding house and headed up the stairs to find Stefan. Moments later a car pulled into the drive, the engine cut off and Elena got out. She had come around to speak to Stefan and ask him about how the meeting with Katherine went. As she got out the car she noticed Damon storming off towards the woods. She frowned slightly, head tilted to the side.

'Damon!'

No response.

'Damon!'

No response and then he disappeared into the shadows. Elena shook her head and rolled her eyes wondering what had gotten to him. She let out a sigh and turned and headed off towards the boarding house.