A/N: Thanks for reviewing. :) Long chapter, much drama, enjoy!

Chapter 7

Damon had smelled danger before he got to the front door. When the scene played out in front of him, he felt rage but beyond that, what scared him, was the sheer panic at seeing Emma being hurt. He couldn't remember the last time he felt panicked about anything. It was immediately followed by angry frustration as he couldn't set a foot in the door, having not been invited in previously.

Somehow, Jake saw him and caught Emma's attention. All it took was that one little motion from her and he was free to spend his wrath on death and destruction. That was something he could do- he was good at it. As he ripped through the evil men in the house he was reminded of all the times he used to do the same thing for pleasure, for the pure heck of it. Now all he could think of was destroying the people that tried to hurt his friend, the one girl he might actually be in love with.

He didn't know when Emma and Jake left and he wasn't sure how long he spent killing the men. He did know when he was through he was disappointed he couldn't hurt them even more. Dead men didn't feel pain. He spat on their corpses before going off to find Emma and Jake.

Taking care of the cops had been easy; most minds were easy to manipulate but on such a power high after such a large feast, it took barely a nudge to get them to do exactly as he wanted. He had been momentarily worried that the sheriff might have her men ingesting vervain regularly, but it seemed he was in the clear. They did as he said and left without an extra word.

He had been ready to stay the night, even against Jake's wishes. He never expected Jake to agree to come to the boarding house. It never crossed his mind to object. He just wanted Emma safe and it seemed Jake did, too.

Now, sitting in the back seat of Jake's car, he mused at how easy it had been to get Jake to agree to come over. He wondered if Jake was just shaken up or if he had other plans in mind. Despite the fact that Damon saved his and his sister's lives tonight there was still an element of hatred coming off the man in Damon's direction. The past might be momentarily forgotten but it wasn't forgiven.

The ride to the boarding house was silent. What was there to say? A random act of violence happened and it happened to them. Things like that happened every day and yet you never think of it happening to someone you know. Damon wondered what would have happened if he hadn't showed up when he had- or if he hadn't showed up at all. Anger flared so he pushed the thought away.

Climbing out of the backseat, he held the passenger side door open for Emma to get out. He took her bag and slung it over his shoulder, leading the way into the building. "Stefan! We have guests!" He called as he walked in the door. He knew Stefan had heard them coming but he still wanted to make the announcement. He needed his brother to know that Jake was in the house.

Stefan appeared in the sitting room when they walked in. He smiled at Emma but the smile froze in place when he saw her brother there too. "Jake." He said, obviously stunned. "This is a surprise."

Damon didn't speak. He dropped Emma's bag by his chair and went to pour himself a drink. Realizing he wasn't hungry he reached for the bourbon instead of the blood and poured a sizable amount into his glass. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Emma slump onto the couch. He poured her typical glass of water and brought it over to her, handing it to her without looking at her. He was trying to keep his eyes on Jake; to figure out what he was up to.

"No explanation?" Stefan finally broke the silence with confused looks directed at each person in turn. "We're just all friends now?"

"I will never be friends with vampires." Jake spat. Stefan frowned. Damon took a step forward.

"A vampire saved your life today. And your sister's. A little gratitude would be nice."

"You murdered five people in my parents' house today-"

"To save your life!"

"Don't pretend you did anything for me."

"Jake..." Emma's warning fell on deaf ears.

"I'm not!" Damon shouted. The guys had been taking steps toward each other and now they were only a foot or so apart. Damon felt like ripping off Jake's head but Jake looked like he would put up a pretty good fight before Damon got his way. "I didn't go in there to save you but I think you made out pretty good on that deal."

"Guys!" Stefan stepped between them, looking back and forth. "Someone needs to tell me what in the hell happened."

Damon could hardly breath his temper was flared so hot. It was all he could do to take deep breaths and keep himself in check. Jake didn't seem to be speaking either.

"We were attacked." He heard Emma stand behind him as she spoke. Stefan turned to her but Jake and Damon kept their gazes locked. "Jake and I. Our house was broken into. They wanted money or something. They were going to hurt us, they had knives..." Her voice trailed off, her mind probably reliving the moment as she told the story. Damon shook his head. He was being a jerk, making her explain and relive the memories. She had been the victim; he should be explaining.

She ended up being stronger than he gave her credit for. To his surprise she kept going. "Damon showed up, just in time. I was able to invite him in. He...took care of them." Damon turned to see her hugging herself, shivering involuntarily. He stepped toward her but then stopped himself. He didn't want her in more trouble with her brother than she already was. Friendship would tick him off but if knew they had been practically dating it would probably set him off again. As much as Damon relished pissing Jake off in that moment he pushed his own needs to the side, as difficult as it was. Instead he shoved his free hand into his pocket and took a big swig from his glass.

"What did you do?" Stefan asked Damon, turning his attention to his younger brother.

"I saved them." Damon couldn't believe he had to defend himself or his actions. "Those men were evil," he pointed with his hand that held his glass in the direction of the Chamblee house. "They were going to do terrible things. They didn't deserve to live."

Stefan stared at him another minute. Damon was about ready to rip his own brother's head off when Stefan nodded, looking to the floor. "I'm sure you did what was best." He said quietly. Damon rolled the words around in his head but didn't detect any hit of sarcasm or disappointment. Stefan was being real.

Damon finished off his glass with a tilt of his head. "If you could let Jake know that, it'd be great." He couldn't hide his own hint of sarcasm as he left the room without looking back.

He went to his room and lay on his bed, his hands folded behind his head. He didn't even bother to take his shoes off. He didn't know why he had expected gratitude from Jake; he had thought humans tended to value their lives and the lives of their families. Just goes to show that stupidity and stubbornness could outdo reason. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to find solace in the fact he had saved Emma and he knew at least she was grateful. He hated to leave her down there with Stefan and Jake but had no way of getting her out of sitting room at the moment. The only thing that set his mind at ease was the strength he had seen in her when he left the room. She was going to need it to deal with her brother.

"Jacob, you're a jerk." Emma folded her arms and sat on the couch. As soon as Damon had left the room she sent dagger glares toward her brother. He had merely returned them.

"You're a liar." He replied in a soft, unemotional tone. She didn't have an immediate come back to that so he continued on. "You've been seeing them behind my back." She saw him look over at Stefan with barely concealed disgust.

"You might be my brother but you don't control me. I might not have mentioned it out of the need to keep drama low but I never lied to you." This was true. Emma had made sure everything she actually said to Jake had been the truth. She hated lying and she was bad at it so she just made sure every word was true and mostly avoided him when at all possible.

"I told you to stay away from them."

Emma was tired of his constant hatred toward her friends. She didn't know the story, no one would tell her the story, and until she heard it she would never understand why her brother felt the need to keep repeating himself. Since he refused to explain she decided she would refuse to comply.

"Why?" She asked, knowing she'd get no answer. Jake looked away from her, pressing his lips together. She looked at Stefan instead. "Why?" She repeated, asking him instead.

"It's not really my place to say-" Stefan began but she cut him off.

"No, really, it is. Because no one will tell me what the hell happened between you three back at Bradford. Something terrible, I get it. But until I know what the story is, it just sounds like a bunch of nonsense, like you're being a bunch of children who can't get over being cut in line. I can't believe there is something so bad that he did back then, that saving our lives can't help relieve a bit of the animosity."

Stefan looked at Jake, who still had his back toward them, then back to Emma. She looked at him expectantly. Sighing, he gave in. "Damon, Jake, and I were really good friends. He knew about us being vampires but he accepted it as part of us, just like a quirky thing I guess."

"My mistake." Jake muttered but didn't offer any more.

"Yea, well, I didn't realize it at the time but Damon was still drinking human blood. He was careful and quiet about it. He kept it mostly to people that wouldn't be missed so no one really noticed any disappearances. But then, I don't know, I guess he lost his cool one night." Stefan took a deep breath and didn't exhale right away. He looked as though he didn't want to say any more.

"So he killed someone he shouldn't have." Emma predicted from the beginning of the story Stefan was telling. Stefan nodded slowly in agreement.

"One evening, no one knows why, he killed a girl. A girl from our college. He's never told me his reasoning behind it. I guess I never asked." Stefan ran a hand through his hair. "It was...it was Jake's girlfriend."

Emma's eyes grew wide. She had figured it had been someone Jake had known but he never mentioned a thing about an ex being murdered, by vampire or otherwise.

The story was indeed horrible. She looked over at her brother. His head was hanging in sadness and though she couldn't see his face she figured he had tears in his eyes. She wanted to comfort him, to hug him, but she knew her touch wouldn't be wanted right now. He was, and always had been, inconsolable.

"We just left. I tried to tell Damon to go to Jake, to explain. But I think...I think Damon was embarrassed or ashamed. I've never known him to be either of those things but there was something weird about his reaction when he found out who she was. Anyway, he disappeared instead. I thought about sticking around but I knew Jake would blame us both. So I just left, too." Stefan stared at the back of Jake's head. "Sorry, Jake. I know it's not a whole lot, but I am sorry."

"You're a vampire. You can't be sorry." Jake's voice was shaky but determined.

He was being unfair. Intellectually, Emma realized it was not fair for him to blame Stefan for what Damon did. Emotionally, however, she understood it. Jake just wanted to lash out at the world for what happened to him, to his girlfriend. It was hard to be rational when someone you loved died. She knew that just as well as he did.

She also knew that Damon had been a bad person, a bad vampire. He had admitted to her many of his past evils. She also knew he was in the process of leaving that person behind. No matter what he had done in his past, he was a different person now. In her mind, she had always compared it to a wolf acting on instinct. Could you blame a wolf for killing a rabbit? It was instinct, survival. Just because it was different, did it mean it was wrong.

Then there was the moral justification. Was murder ever okay? Self defense. Survival. These were all court upheld, justified reasons, for killing. In a way, Damon's actions could be construed in that light, especially since he was trying to change. If he was constantly haunted by his past, always being told he was evil because of what he had done, would there ever be a chance of him moving on?

"Jake," Emma whispered. "You have to let go." There was more to what she said than the actual words but only she and Jake knew what they meant. He turned to her.

"That's unfair." He seethed.

"You're being unfair." She didn't skip a beat.

"He's a murderer." Jake motioned toward the stairs.

"He's not the same person you knew at college."

"You're defending him? Now that you know, you're still defending him?" Jake was incredulous.

"Now that I know, I understand your pain. I do, Jake. I get it." She took a deep breath to calm her next words down. "I also know Damon. And he's not perfect. He has more demons in his closet than most people. But he isn't a bad person. I don't see that."

"He isn't a person." Jake pointed out through grit teeth.

"You keep arguing that, but that's all you have. Your only reason for hating him is what he is. Once you know who he is, then you can make up your mind. But until then, you have no right to judge. Your past isn't squeaky clean either."

She saw a muscle in his jaw flinch but he didn't speak. It had been a low blow but she had to say something to snap him out of his broken record arguments. "I'm going to find a room, go to sleep, and leave first thing in the morning." He stated, picking up his bag.

"Up the stairs, second room on the right is empty and ready for use." Stefan offered. Jake grumbled to let him know he heard him and disappeared.

"Sorry, Stefan." Emma felt the need to apologize for her brother's rudeness.

"No, no." Stefan shook his head. "You don't need to apologize. He doesn't either for that matter." He gave her a sad smile. His gaze went toward the door Jake had just left through as his smile faded."We're the ones that need to apologize. That and more."