AN::Thank you for the follows and favorites! Please review! I know people are reading so take the time to say some kind words haha. Hope you enjoy the chapter! Here's the link to my grooveshark account so you can hear what i listen to as i write. (If you care) Its a really strange mixture of music. /#!/playlist/New+Writing/80429972

Chapter 4

Damons POV

I handed Layla back off to Elena after my little interrogation. I think I'd pushed her as far as I could tonight. I don't know what I was more shocked by, the fact that she actually told me exactly what I wanted to know or that her secret is that she's a murderer. She seemed pretty surprised that I didn't react more dramatically. I mean who am I to judge? I've killed more people than are in my house right now. For some reason my interest in her doesn't feel like it's subsided at all. What drove her to kill her boyfriend? Did she walk in on him with another woman or something? That seems a little too petty for Layla. Like I even know the girl well. Maybe she's just a psychopath. The hot ones are almost always crazy. But I don't think that's it either. I'll just have to keep digging until my curiosity is sated.

I hear movement next to me, it snaps me out of my thoughts of Layla. "Having a good birthday brother?" Stefan looks happy for once, it's unnerving. I look down and see a shiny blue gift bag in his hand, blue tissue paper is sticking out of the top. I'm guessing its Elena's handiwork. Only she would do something so trivial and unnecessary.

"Best birthday in all my 173 years. You and Elena have made me the happiest vampire that ever did exist!" His eyes roll at my overly peppy sarcastic tone.

"Here." He unceremoniously thrusts the bag into my hands. I guess he didn't appreciate my remark. I can't help another jab before I open the present.

"Ooo, I really hope its' whatever hair gel you use. I've been dying to know the secret to your do Stefan." His eyes narrow making me chuckle.

I dig through the bag, not wanting to toss tissue paper on my floor. The house would be trashed enough after all these people left I didn't need to add to it. I'm the only one that really cleaned. Stefan would leave the garbage for a century if I didn't clean it up. There's a bottle of my favorite bourbon. Real original Stef. All traces of my arrogance and amusement disappear when I pull a small picture frame out of the bag. Inside the ornately carved wooden frame is a picture I didn't know was still in existence. Stefan and I are standing in front of our childhood home with our arms slung around each others shoulders, we both look so happy with huge smiles, we look like best friends. This was pre Katherine. Jesus Christ has he had this all these years? For once I'm at a loss for words. I actually feel like it would be inappropriate to make a sarcastic remark in this moment. Despite all of the shit we've put each other through over the years we're still brothers. This is a reminder of that, that before all the bullshit we truly cared for one another. This is his sentimental Stefan way of telling me he loves me without embarrassing the hell out of both of us by actually saying the words.

"Thanks brother." I pat him on the back before walking away to go upstairs. I let out a breathe I didn't know I was holding once I set the photograph on the table near my bed.

Tonight was just full of surprises. Next thing you know Elena would be giving me a hot blonde with a bleeding neck and no vervain laced jewelry. I go back downstairs to join the party. I find myself grinning when I see blondie and the pretty little murderess dancing in the middle of the living room with drinks in their hands. It appears that her confession has made her drink quite a bit more and lose her inhibitions. I don't mind watching her one bit. Little Gilbert stands next to me and follows my gaze.

"Hope you don't plan on messing with her too, my sister really likes her. I wouldn't want Elena to lose a friend because you fuck her over with your inability to keep it in your pants." I chuckle at the kids comment. I'd always respected Jeremy for having the balls to say whatever was on his mind even when he was talking to someone who could easily snap his neck.

"She might be too much for even me to handle, and that's saying something. Although watching her dance like that makes me think she'd be a firecracker in bed. Maybe I will mess with her after all." He glares after me as I walk towards the woman we were discussing. Did everyone think I was a rapist or something? It takes two to tango. I've never compelled or forced someone to sleep with me, that was entirely too fucked up.

The bitchy Miss Mystic Falls gives me her usual not happy to see me look as I saunter over to her and her dancing companion. Seems the new girl makes friends quick. Wonder if they'd all take to her that quickly if they knew she was a cold blooded killer. I almost laugh aloud at that thought, there's no way she was cold blooded in any way.

I smirk vainly at blondie as I come up behind Layla and pull her swaying hips against my own. Might as well have some fun. It was my birthday after all. Besides I loved dancing. I'm surprised that she doesn't even turn to see who's grinding so obscenely against her. She seems utterly lost in her movement. For some reason my breathe hitches when I see the look of pure abandonment and elation on her face. She's beautiful. A sudden rush of anger surges through me. I grab her wrist and yank her with me as I almost dash up the stairs and into my bedroom.

"Damon? What the hell!?" She snatches her arm out of my hold and rubs her wrist. She looks irritated. "I hope you have a good reason for almost breaking my damn wrist you asshole!" I wonder if she realizes she's slurring slightly.

"What did he do to you?" Confusion flashes across her flushed face. "Your boyfriend, what did he do to you?" The haunting emptiness returns to her green eyes for a moment.

She turns away from me and goes towards my bathroom. I watch her curiously as she very lightly traces her hand over the rim of my large tub. I never noticed that she was so graceful when she walked even in her drunken state.

"If you let me take a bath I'll tell you anything you want to know." That was definitely the last thing I expected her to say. She's not saying it in anyway that implies anything sexual. She looks vulnerable. Again I'm stunned by how odd she is.

"The tubs all yours princess." Her lips purse together and she nods her head.

My bewilderment hits me tenfold when she starts to undress. What the fuck? She's just undressing in front me like its no big deal. I'd seen so many women naked so it's not like it was anything new but the situation was just so damn weird.

She's standing there in nothing but a pair of royal blue lace boy shorts and bra. She turns the knobs on the bathtub to start the water. I don't even realize I've moved until I feel her gaze piercing me. I'm pouring jasmine scented bubble bath in the tub for her. What is going on here? The look on her face is almost childlike. I mechanically walk back to the bedroom and pull a chair near my bed into the bathroom. When I return Layla is sitting in the tub, bubbles obscuring my view of her body. Her lace undergarments are tossed carelessly beside the tub. I take a seat in the chair I brought into the bathroom. She lets out a contented sigh.

"When I was a kid, taking a bath was one of the only things that would calm me. No matter how shitty my day was the second I got in a hot bath all my problems would just dissolve. It's silly I know, but it comforts me. My bathroom was in a fucked up dilapidated crack house so it was nothing close to this. I've always said all I ever wanted out of life is a big bathtub." Her eyes are closed, she looks happy. I stand up and turn the running water off before it overflows. When I sit back down she begins to speak again.

"His name was Terrin. He was the most attractive guy I'd ever met, up until now." She opens her eyes with a small smile on her face and gives me a look I could only describe as cute. She's definitely still feeling the effects of the alcohol. Yea I know I'm hot honey.

"He had choppy blonde hair and the prettiest hazel eyes. He was tan and fit, he looked like a damn Hollister model that belonged on the beach. He was charming and sweet…at first." Her voice wavers at the end of her sentence.

She leans back and dunks her head into the water. She doesn't even ask when she grabs my very expensive Alterna Ten shampoo and lathers it into her hair. I can't even bring myself to care. I feel hypnotized by her in this moment.

"After my mother died Terrin convinced me to move in with him. We'd only been seeing each other for six months but I was so sure he was the one. I believed he loved me, hell I believed every word that left his mouth." She rinses her hair out in the bubbly water. I'm waiting with bated breathe for her to continue her story. Get a grip Salvatore! She's just an ordinary human girl.

"His cruelty started out as small things. He started telling me I couldn't leave the house wearing certain things, he wouldn't want me to go see me friends. He was such a textbook cliché of an abusive man. Eventually he started accusing me of cheating and dumb crap like that. I never understood how he could think I was capable of cheating when I was so ridiculously obsessed with him. He had me wrapped around his finger and he knew it. One day he decided he didn't like a remark I made about his choice in movie and he slapped me. I cried that first time and so did he. He apologized and told me he loved me. It was almost a month before it happened again but after that second time it was a daily occurrence. Soon the slaps turned to punches. He made me stay at home. I looked like a bruised mess most of the time. I let this go on for two years. He'd come home late at night sometimes smelling like cheap perfume. I knew he was cheating on me but that never kept me from welcoming him home and into bed with me. He'd get rough with me when he was drunk, he wouldn't take no for an answer. Whenever I got up the courage to fight back he'd just hurt me that much more. It wasn't until he told me how much I needed him one day that I snapped. He said I was nothing without him. That no one would help me, he said I deserved his treatment of me because I was worthless. Then he said no one would ever love me, that he understood why my mother abused me for years. That's what did it. I turned away from him went into the living room and opened his desk drawer and pulled out his Beretta. He laughed at me when I came back to the kitchen with the gun pointed at him. I didn't have it in me to pull the trigger he said, but I did. I shot both of his knees and when he fell to the ground screaming with fear in his eyes I smiled. I smiled and shot him in the heart and in one of his pretty eyes."

I'm surprised she's not crying. Her voice is even, maybe a little too quiet. She looks over to me. I don't know if she's waiting for me to say something or to react in some way. I keep my eyes trained on hers and nod for her to continue.

"I remember how the first thought that crossed into my foggy mind at that point was how in the world was I going to scrub the red stains off of my white linoleum." She laughs humorlessly. "I didn't feel any trace of remorse. I felt like I was looking at a strangers body that I just happened across…well no that's not right, if a normal person saw a dead body they'd probably freak out. I was numb. It's like I never loved the man. He was just gone and I didn't give a shit. I called the police and they rushed over. I didn't even have to say it was in self defense. I looked like id been run over by a truck. Just because he hadn't put a hand on me in the hour or so before that didn't make a difference, I was obviously beaten. My grandparents got me a great attorney and I got off practically scot free. And now here I am sitting in a vampires bathtub that I hardly know."

This Terrin guy obviously had it coming. Her lack of emotion is a little strange I guess. Or maybe I'm just used to being around overly emotional people. I never had a reaction when I killed people but I was an evil bad bad vampire as everyone liked to remind me all the time. So before I was interested in the girl, now I was just plain charmed by her. She was so strange and it was intriguing. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful fucked up friendship.

I stand up and grab one of my overly fluffy towels off the warmer and hold it up in front of her. Layla smiles weakly and stands with no hesitation. I have to let my eyes rake over her soapy body. She was fucking stunning. But now was not the time for me to be ogling her naked form. When she steps out of the tub I wrap the warm towel around her.

"Thanks Damon." Now she sounds shy. I think telling that story sobered her up. She looks up at me through her long eyelashes and I'm stricken by her beauty even as she stands her with soaking wet hair and no make up. Don't even think about it Salvatore. The last thing you need is to develop feelings for a woman, never again.

"No problem. What can I say, I'm a sucker for women who strip naked in front of me." I waggle my eyebrows for good measure. I have to get things back to my comfort zone.

"Can I crash here? I think I drank a little too much to drive back home." She lets out a yawn.

"Yep. One rule though, since it's my birthday any woman who wants to stay the night has to sleep naked." I smirk. I feel more in my element when I'm making crude remarks. She shakes her head with a small smile on her face. Her towel drops and she saunters over to my bed. She had a great ass. She climbs right under the cover with her hair still dripping.

"Night Damon." Strange ass interesting girl.