Spin off of Vampire Diaries-

Damon Salvatore is a main character in the popular TV series Vampire Diaries. He has a best friend named Enzo that shows similar issues like being damaged, hurt, not wanting to trust or open up and searching for hope despite his tough and non-caring exterior. This fan fiction story will be giving Enzo a chance to meet a girl who opens his eyes to the hope and good in the world, similar to how Elena does so for Damon.

Enzo crossed the street in a hurry to get to his car while yelling on the phone. He unlocked his car while complaining to Damon.

"Well I still don't understand how the hell I ended up with this job. I don't know what the hell you were thinking." The irritation is clear in his voice as picks up a box, locks the car door, and heads back into the building.

As he crosses the street white lights flash in his face on one side and a moment later he feels something slamming against him from the other. A body? A body. A girl.

They lay on the floor as the car whips pass them, just barely missing their bodies. Enzo looks at the girl in confusion. He thinks to himself, well this is different. It appears he has a knight in shining armor, except she is not your normal night for she is a she.

Enzo was so caught up in yelling at Damon on the phone he didn't even think to watch out for passing cars in the street. Not that it would have mattered for Enzo since he is a vampire and although getting hit by a car would not feel good and be another annoying mess for him to clean up, it would not have kill him. But this human girl did not know that.

The situation made him chuckle. Some week human risked her life to save his life, one that was practically indestructible. His life was never in danger. If anything she saved him from ripping the drivers throat out for hitting him. He was in no mood today.

"Oh, so you are insane. That explains it.," the girl snaps at the sound of Enzo's chuckle.

This made him laugh harder. He has been told many times before he is out of his mind, but not in the way one would want to kill himself. More like, he didn't care about anyone, except Damon that is. With that came a freedom to say and do whatever one wants, acting vulgar and saying any thoughts that pops into ones mind, inappropriate or not. It also came with loneliness though, and the feeling could be so overpowering, so overwhelming, it was suffocating. Enzo had no physical weaknesses, but the internal suffocating loneliness that pulled at him, that was his only weakness he would never dare reveal to anyone.

"Love you don't even know the half of it," Enzo chuckles as he gets up and brushes himself off.

The girl gets up too. She was decently tall, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. The type of eyes that made you feel like she could see more than you wanted her to. Enzo did not like this and immediately felt like he needed to get away.

"If you're…"

"Sorry love I've got to run, but we should do this again sometime. Next time can be my turn to play hero," Enzo interrupted the girl and winked at her as he hurried off.

Even as he walked away the image of the girls eyes could not leave his mind. They were haunting. He shook it off as he walked into the old building and saw Damon at the bar, drinking. Enzo happily joined him, craving a stiff one himself.

"I'll have whatever he's having and you can put it on his tab."

"Well you look like hell. Do you know what a shower is?" Damon points to the dirt on Enzo's shirt as he speaks.

"I'm trying out this new theory that I am so irresistible, girls cannot resist me even when I don't shower," Enzo explains with a crooked smirk.

"Excuse me," a female voice speaks to Enzo from behind and a lady taps him on the shoulder.

"Point proven," Enzo says with a wink at Damon before turning around to see the source of the voice. As soon as he turned around it was like the wind got knocked out of him. It was that dam girl holding again, and she was holding his box.

"You forgot this," she said as she pushed the box into his chest. "And just so you know most people say thank you after someone risks their life to save them."

After she finished speaking she swiftly turned around with attitude and began to briskly walk away.

Now Damon, seeing the interesting interaction between the two could not help himself and jumped up, grabbing the girls arm. "Please forgive my rude friend. I'm still in the process of trying to teach him manners but haven't had much luck."

"Yes, I can see that," the girl replies while glaring at Enzo with those piercing eyes.

"Join us for a drink? On Enzo," Damon said playfully, getting his payback for Enzo's earlier encounter.

"Enzo. So that is your name. Normally people introduce themselves in order to be polite too, but you don't seem to follow any of these rules now do you?"

"Damon come on now, she doesn't even look old enough to drink." Enzo started to feel uncomfortable, a feeling he was certainly not used to.

"Man, you really are in one of those moods today. Buy the beautiful lady a drink to thank her for returning your box that," he grabbed the box from Enzo's hands and continued, "you know is very important to me."

"The lady," a voice interrupted the two, "has a name. It's Ashley. Not that either of you two thought to ask."

"She's feisty!" Damon laughed. "I like her."

Damon's laughed was followed by the sound of new footsteps into the empty bar. Damon looked over and saw three men standing in all black with stone faces.

"Dammit, they are early. I didn't get to finish my scotch in piece," as Damon complains he rips the box open and grabs a wooden dagger. One of the men looks at Damon and snarls showing his fangs. Ashley turns pale and freezes in place. She had no idea the box contained weapons. She also never saw a person with teeth like that.

"You gentleman wouldn't want to have a drink first before we tango, would you?" Damon politely asked the man in front with ashy blonde hair and skin so pale he looked like a walking corpse. Damon's words seemed to anger the bunch and the three charged forward with bared fangs.

Enzo's first instinct was to grab a wooden dagger and join Damon. He stabbed the man on the left right in the heart but than realized he forgotten something. Ashley. Enzo turned around to see where Ashley went and to his surprise she had already jumped toward the bar to grabbed a beer bottle, smashed it and now held the shattered glass bottle as a weapon in a fighting position. The third vampire was nearing her, fangs bared and getting ready to attack. He saw she was no threat.

Enzo was stunned. He couldn't help but admire her bravery. A vampire or vampire hunter would have known that glass cannot kill a vampire. You needed a wooden stake. This surely must be her first experience seeing vampires because she would never have survived using just glass.

"Enzo I got this. Get the girl out of here," Damon ordered Enzo as he staked the leader. Enzo knows Damon has taken on more than three men at once and could handle the lone two.

Enzo staked the vampire from behind before the vampire could touch Ashley. He than went to grab Ashley but she swung the glass bottle at his hand. Until that moment he forgot he naturally bared his fangs, ready to fight. Ashley was looking at the monster within him, and he knew it must have been horrifying. He grabbed her anyway and she actually stabbed him in the stomach while he did so. He didn't think she had it in her, but her blow was very powerful. Enzo pulled the glass bottle that was deeply embedded into his stomach and threw it at the vampire's head that Damon was fighting. He than threw Ashley over his shoulder and ran her out the back, completely unsure where he was running with her. All he knew was he needed to get her away to safety. There could be more vampires on their way. Three did not seem like enough for the group usually traveled in larger numbers.

"Told you next time would be my turn to play hero," Enzo yells over his shoulder to the girl, letting her know his monstrous form was not something she needed to fear. He felt her body slightly relax after his words. She understood he was a monster, but not to her.

He stopped in an ally a couple of blocks down and placed Ashley gently on the floor. The sun was going down but it was not dark out yet and his shirt was covered in blood. He looked down examining the wound.

"Sorry about um…" Ashley points to his wound trying to find the words, "that."

"This?" Enzo points to the wound nonchalantly, "is impressive. Nothing to be sorry for love. Fun fact, I heal. And quickly might I add. I looked like a monster and came at you. You responded the way you should have. I wasn't expecting you to hug me. Although, I was surprised by how strong your hit was… and how quick you jumped into action to defend yourself… and well just quite a few things. You really got some fire in you, don't you little one?"

"I am not little!" Ashley answered back, sounding offended. This made Enzo laugh. He did not mean to make her angrier but it could not be helped.

"Okay than, not so little one, I need to drop you off at the next place that seems safest and return to clean up the vampire bodies with my buddy…"

"V-Va-Vampire?"

"Yes love, try and keep up. All the fangs you just saw, remember?"

Ashley had held herself together decently well up until now. The adrenaline rush was fading and what had happened was starting to hit her all at once. She started shaking. Enzo realized she was probably having a panic attack. She was strong, very strong, but still human.

"Okay, look love…"

"I told you my name is Ashley!" Even during a panic attack she was still feisty.

"Right. Okay, Ashley…" saying her name made him smile. After everything that is happening she still stood her ground to be respected and referred to by her name. "If needed…."

Enzo was interrupted with a bullet hitting into his shoulder. The bullet was made out of wood… vampire hunter.

"Enzo!" Ashley cried out and jumped towards Enzo , embracing him by wrapping her arms around him.

"Well now what do we have here? Darling, this man is a vampire, a monster. I do not know what lies he has told you but please move out of the way and let me take care of it," a man in a long black jacket stood a couple of feet away with dark brown eyes, looking black in the middle of the night. The sound of his voice speaking so casual about killing Enzo sent chills throughout Ashley's body.

"Don't hurt him! He isn't the monster you think," Ashley cried out trying to explain to the hunter. Enzo was covered in blood with Fangs out, seeming like a monster from a horror movie, but his actions were not of a monster.

"Oh of course not dear, and pigs fly. Now if you could please move," but his words did not change Ashley's positioning of holding Enzo up despite the gun being pointed at them. The vampire hunter sighed. "Okay let me try this one more time. You have your arms wrapped around a murdering vampire. A monster that lives off of killing people by draining peoples blood. He must die or else he will kill more innocent people and you see I cannot allow that. Now move. Or else if you don't move you are siding with that heartless monster over humans, your own kind. Is that your wish?"

"That is not fair because that is not true! It is not as simple as that…"

"Move!" Enzo growled at Ashley, interrupting her. She was going to get herself killed trying to save him. What is the idiot girl thinking?

"You describe a monster but what I see is a man that just rushed me out of a bar to save my life. He is not the monster you claim. I do not deny he seems to have the abilities of a vampire but his heart and intentions are not monstrous. I cannot let you hurt him, just like you said you protect innocent lives, well so am I. He is not a monster that deserves to die. You are the one screaming murderer and so willing to jump to murdering two people in an ally you met seconds ago. If you kill us you are no better than the monsters you claim to hate." Ashley's words did not seem to change the vampire hunters mind, but they empowered Enzo's.

"I'm afraid they have brainwashed you to think they are something they are not. If it is to late for you and you are serious about turning against your own kind than you leave me no choice but to kill you too," the vampires tone sounds more matter of fact than like he is giving someone the death sentence.

"No!" Enzo's voice screeched across the ally as he pulled Ashley out of the way so she was shielded from the wooden bullet with his body. Who would have thought it only took a couple of hours for him to care enough about this annoying girl that he would be risking his life to save her. But she wasn't annoying. She was far from it. She was the first glimmer of light, of hope in his life he experienced in ages.

Ashley looked at him like he was someone else… someone better… someone worth saving. He did not believe he was the man she thought he could be, but he knew given the chance he wanted to spend the rest of his life trying to achieve becoming that man, starting now. Those eyes, if they really could see into him, could there really be hope for him?

"Enzo!" Damon's voice rang in Enzo's ears as he heard the cracking sound of someone's bones, maybe someone's neck? But the wooden bullet already pierced him. He fell to the floor. The bullet was in his chest, skimming his heart by a sliver. He fought the blackness that was pulling him in.

For the first time in what felt like forever he had a reason to fight like hell.

He had hope. He had the hope of a chance of being better. The type of man someone was willing to risk everything for. The type of man that would be missed if he were gone. The type of man he wanted to be but assumed he was not capable of being… that is until now…until someone else saw something in him he was not able to see before….not on his own, that is the man Ashley saw him being now, and he would fight like hell to make it so… to become that man that is worthy to be looked at the way Ashley is looking at him now.

If Ashley could see him as a man worthy to fight for, than maybe there is hope for him he cannot yet see. Just the possibility was enough for him to fight for life. Hope can be a very powerful thing.