Huge thanks to ThroughMySoul44 for her help on this chapter!

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"I hope you like it here…" Damon rubbed his neck awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. "You can stay here if you want."

The girl smiled. "I have nowhere else to go. All I know is the brothel."

"Well, that is going to change now," Damon said with determination. "I'll help you adjust to this life and when you are ready, I'll help you find your own way. Only when you're ready."

168 nodded, sighing. She could feel butterflies in her stomach. She was living alone with a man that she didn't know. The entire world was new to her. She had hardly seen the stars, the sun, or nature for that matter, and that new kind of freedom was overwhelming her.

"Do you mind if I go outside for a while?" She asked him. "I…I just want to feel the fresh air on my face."

"Of course," Damon said with a smile. "Take all the time you need."

She nodded at him and offered him a grateful smile. "Thank you, Damon."

"Hey," He said as she turned on her heels. "You know my name. It's only fair you tell me yours."

She looked at him in confusion. It seemed foreign, telling her name to a man. She had spent so long trying not to forget it.

"Kimberly," She said.

At that, Damon's heart ached, his mind thinking about the daughter he had lost.

"You have a nice name, Kimberly…" He mumbled at last.

Kim blushed. "Thank you. I still feel strange when people use it to call me. I've been 168 for a long time. I have no idea who I am. I'm completely stripped of my identity and I have no idea of where I come from or what I am. They played with my mind, Damon. They used my mind and my body for their game."

"I can assure you that you're safe now," Damon promised. "Elena trusted you. It is therefore my duty to ensure that you're safe."

"Damon?" A small voice said and little legs hurried into the room. Kim tried to hide her look of shock when she saw the young girl hugging Damon's knees. She couldn't have been older than five.

"Emily?" Kim asked Damon. "Elena's little sister?"

"For everyone's sake," Damon whispered, "She's Elena's daughter."

The woman nodded in understanding and reached out for the girl, who was now hiding behind Damon.

"Come out Em, say hi to the lady," Damon spoke gently. The girl held onto Damon's jeans but peeked her head a tad bit to look at Kim.

"Hello," Kim said gently, smiling at the girl. Emily sucked on her thumb, but then smiled quickly at the woman.

"She seems shy," Kim commented.

"Just wait until she's comfortable with you," Damon smirked, looking down at the child. "Right, Em?"

Emily smiled back at him, but then quickly turned serious. "Where's Elena?"

Damon swallowed thickly. He couldn't lie to the girl anymore, but at the same time he was still clinging onto the hope that Elena might return. Telling her that her sister was gone would be a lie, even though he knew that his hope was futile. He had seen those cold eyes before, those Guardian eyes that show no mercy. She had just transformed, a newborn Guardian as he liked to call them. Thank Goodness for that, because if she had been a Guardian for too long, Damon knew that Elena wouldn't have stopped until she tore him apart the night before.

"Let's get you to bed, Emily. Elena's still out there. I have to fight the bad guys to get her out."

"But it's taking too long, Damon," Emily said, disappointed. "I miss her."

"I know you do," He said, looking at Kim before taking the stairs, "But I have to be careful when getting Elena out."

Emily finally nodded her head, accepting his answer. "I'm sleepy."

"Sleep then," He encouraged, tucking her in.

"Can you give me a goodnight kiss?" She asked him in a small voice.

Damon was taken aback. She had never asked him that before. Nonetheless, he pressed his lips to her cold forehead. The poor girl was being raised entirely by her nanny and even though she was a sweet woman, it was obvious that the girl lacked proper attention.

"Goodnight, Emily."

"Damon?" She said again.

"Yes?"

"I…I don't see him anymore."

"Who, sweetie?"

"The man that hurt Elena in my dream. He's gone."

"Adam?" Damon asked, shock taking over him.

"I don't know his name. But he's gone."

Damon wanted to know more, but he didn't want to scare the girl or confuse her. Instead, he smiled. "I'm glad you don't have nightmares anymore."

"Me too," She said happily, hugging the sheets.

Damon walked to the front porch and noticed Kim sitting on the bench, her eyes closed, a small smile on her lips. He cleared his throat, announcing his presence. He wasn't sure if he should interrupt her or not.

Kim turned to face him and even though it was still dark, he could still see the pink blush on her cheeks. The smile reached her blue eyes, his exact colour, and the moonlight created shadows under her eyes, reflecting her thick black eyelashes.

"I never knew any of this," She said, looking at the night sky.

Damon didn't know what to say. He felt his heart break at the thought of the girl whose freedom had been taken away so cruelly from her. Even worse, she didn't get to enjoy the outdoors, which was a basic need for everyone. The thought that Kim didn't even know what the sun felt like made him cringe.

"Never take these for granted," She told him again. "Everything you have…just don't. I used to lie in my bed all night looking through iron barred windows, wishing that I could feel the cool breeze on my skin or the warm rays on my face. They took everything away from me, Damon. Even my identity. My past, too. I have no idea who I am, what I am…isn't that funny to not know who you are?"

Damon looked at her, and in a firm tone, he said, "What you are does not define you. Your past, your time living in that hell…they are not who you are. What matters is how you're going to act from this point onwards."

"That isn't true and you know it," She replied. "I have to know. I have to remember…how I got there, in the brothel. Who I was before that and what I am now—Yes, Damon, what I am. I know that I'm not a Guardian, but what does it make me then? I have to know."

"And then what?" He asked her. "By knowing what you are, what are you going to get out of it? Some things are just meant to be forgotten, Kim. Sometimes I want to forget my past too. If you try to find out who you are it will only make things worse for you. You'll end up not only not getting the answers you need, but you will also find that if anything, there'll be more questions to ask—questions that you have never dreamed of asking."

"It's better than staying in the dark."

"What if you do not like the answers given? So what if you remember what life you lived before the brothel? You should focus on your future. Leave 168 behind. Start living as Kimberly."

"That's the point, Damon," She said sadly. "I need to figure out Kimberly's past before she can move on."

Damon didn't say anything. Deep down, he knew that she was right, but he hadn't been lying when he told her that she might not like the answers. For years he had tried to search, believing that his beloved daughter and Katherine were still alive. He simply couldn't believe that Wes was right. He had tried to remember the time where he too was taken as a slave by the Guardians, but he had never remembered anything about those thirty years he had spent with them. Then, when he had given up hope and realised that they were indeed dead, he had turned his faith into vengeance and took pleasure in killing, degrading, and hurting young Guardians and Guardians-to-be to honour his daughter's and Katherine's deaths. His life had been full of internal struggling, the struggle between good and evil, between vengeance and forgiveness, between the man and the vampire. He didn't want Kim to endure the same fate if she did not like the answers.

"The little girl…" Kim said after a while, changing the subject, "Is she a Guardian too? Is that why you never told anyone that she is Elena's sister?"

"She's showing pre-Guardian signs, but she's still very young," Damon replied. "She can already sense her sister's fears. You know that the Guardians' children never get the symptoms…that's why I told everyone that she's Elena's daughter. That way no one will suspect that Emily might be a Guardian."

"You care about them," Kim stated. "Even though you're a vampire. Even though you worked with Wes."

"Wait, how do you know that?"

"Wes was the proprietor of the brothel, Damon. The majority of the girls were locked in there because they were Guardians-to-be. Like you, Wes's vampires were assigned to break the Guardian part in them and then they would lock them in there so that they'd be sure that their powers would never develop. But you…You never broke Elena, did you? You never did what Wes told you to do. She was still a Guardian-to-be when she came to the brothel."

Damon looked down, sadness written all over his face. "I tried to, at first. I tried to hate her and treat her like crap. I knew that in a few years' time she was going to try and seduce me and then kill me. But I couldn't. I knew Elena before…I met her as a baby. She's not just any kind of Guardian, Kim. Wes has wanted her dead for years."

"Then why? Why did you give her up?"

"I didn't want to. I set her free. She was the one who decided to stay. But then I received a call from Wes and he made me a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"He said that he had my baby. I lost my daughter and wife over a hundred years ago and I've been in a bad place ever since."

"But if your daughter…"

"He said that he turned her into a vampire and that he was keeping her captive. He said that he'd release her if I handed Elena over."

"And you did."

"Yes, I did. He was lying and I was stupid enough to believe him. And I will forever regret that." He sighed. "But at the same time, something good came out from all of this. You're free and the brothel is destroyed."

Kim smiled a little at that. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Not just for getting me out, but for offering me shelter," She added. "I need some time to adjust. I need to know what it means to live. I've only seen these things in movies. I have no idea of what it means to buy your own house, have your own savings, or a job you worked hard to get into. I just…need to know." She admitted.

"And I'll help you. I'll guide you. You can stay here for as long as you want—this house is big enough. In return, you can help me look for Elena. I am not giving up on her just like I'm not giving up on you. If you want to search for your past then I'll help you."

He squeezed her hand.

Elena walked down the street in the cold night, but the chill of the air wasn't bothering her. She was still feeling powerful, almost as if she were high. She was still wearing her bra and underwear and it didn't even occur to her that people weren't going to be pleased. One thing she surely needed though was cash. She needed to buy cocaine. She didn't care how she got the money.

Stopping in front of a fashion store, she broke the front door and entered, watching in satisfaction as blood formed on her hands from the sharp glass. She headed straight to the cash register and pulled the drawer open with surreal strength. It opened easily despite the fact that it was locked. Taking all the money, which not surprisingly was sparse since the shop wasn't going to open until at least three more hours. She stuffed it into her underwear and stole a coat, a handbag, and a short skimpy dress. Then she casually brushed her hair and headed straight outside, not caring that she had left a mess behind.

Her face void of any emotion, Elena used her newly strong senses to search for her prey. She wasn't even aware of the change; the Guardian part of her had finally taken over and she was more than happy to put herself to good use. Standing in the middle of the quiet road, she was pleased when she heard a car pull over.

"Hey sweetcheeks, what are you doing out here all by yourself?"

The Guardian side of her kicked in almost immediately. She could tell by the sudden pull towards the man that he was not human. She had felt it once, with Damon. She used to feel that when she danced for him in Mason's club. If she were a Guardian back then she would've ripped him apart, because the sensation was driving her crazy. It was like an intensified version of lust.

She climbed inside the car without a word. Not even a smile covered her lips. All she knew was that when the man grabbed her face and kissed her senseless, animalistically like the rapist Elena was sure he was, she just kissed him back. She didn't scream or ask for help. Instead she straddled him in the best way she could in the small car and the man groaned in satisfaction. His eyes were boring into hers, and she was controlling him with just her eyes. It was as if the man were in a trance, completely under her control.

Only then, as she started to move her hips around him, the man did not scream in satisfaction. Soon, he was shrieking in pain as Elena bit him hard, dragging her teeth across his flesh like a cannibal, ripping him open as if she were separating his torso with a sword.

He was dead before he could even breathe out a word. Elena looked at the dead body, wiped her lips in the car mirror, and then with amazing calmness, put on some ruby red lipstick and arranged her mascara. She grabbed her handbag without even throwing one last glance at the battered body.

Again, thanks for reading, reviewing and supporting me. I would like to wish you and your families a Happy Christmas and New Year filled with love, joy, and fanfiction :))