Chapter 3

A shower. Really. And now clothes. What was he, her manservent? He didn't want to be her babysitter, much less her slave but she hadn't asked for anything extravagant so he was exercising some restrain. That wasn't like him. He must be getting soft living with Stefan.

There were no woman's clothes in the closets in the guest rooms. He knew he didn't have any in his room and he was pretty positive Stefan wouldn't either. That left man's clothes. Well, at least they were clean. He grabbed some shorts and a t-shirt that he never wore and walked back to the bathroom. He could hear the shower running so he cracked the door, tossed the clothes in, and headed back toward the sitting room.

Her eyes had been more green than brown; that had surprised him. She had looked at him with intensity behind the pain and she hadn't been scared of him. She was taking everything in stride pretty well, to be honest. The shower had been an unexpected request but understandable. Emma Chamblee seemed to be full of surprises for him this evening.

He headed toward the front door, opening it and looking across the front yard. Everything was quiet; nothing stirred. That was good and bad. Good because nothing was coming after her and into his house, bad because it also meant Stefan and Elena weren't back yet.

He reached into his pocket for his phone and dialed his brother. No answer. Great. He shook his head and closed the door. He supposed that meant he was going to be answering a few questions. At least he had a few moments to get some lies straight in his head.

Damon sat back on the chair he'd been in earlier and opened his book, pretending to read it. He could hear her from this far if he tuned her in; the water had just shut off and she was stepping out of the tub. He tried to turn his mind from the mental picture that created but decided he enjoyed it too much so he let his mind rest on it for a few moments with a wicked smile.

A few minutes later he heard her bare feet on the stairs, heading back his direction. 'Here we go,' he thought, looking up just as she came in as though he hadn't heard her before.

"All better?" He asked, blinking a few times. It was amazing how good a girl can look in a man's clothes. No, the clothes themselves weren't sexy, but seeing her in his shorts and shirt was a huge turn on he hadn't expected. He cleared his throat and shook his head to clear it. "You look better." He added.

She was pulling her wet hair back into a pony tail that ended up hanging loosely on her neck. She sat back on the couch where she had been before and replied with a quiet, "Thank you." He hadn't been expecting quiet.

"I feel better." She finally added after studying him a bit. "Thanks for the clothes. They're yours?"

He nodded his response. She smiled. Damon squinted, wondering why her smile had an effect on him. He wanted to make her smile again. "It's all we had." He was suddenly at a loss for witty words. That wasn't like him.

"This is kind of crazy," she chuckled, smiling at him again. "But I don't even know your name. Who are you?"

It was his turn to smile. "Damon. Salvatore. Stefan's-"

"Brother." They said at the same time. He nodded once.

"I remember Elena telling me about you. She said Stefan had an older brother. She also said I would probably never meet him."

"Just goes to show; never say never." Damon smirked. "I'm surprised Elena mentioned me. I'm not her favorite."

"She told me you were 'misunderstood.' You and Stefan don't get along but you're brothers so she cares about you. That's about the extent of what she's said." Emma explained.

Damon paused. That was kind of Elena to put it that way. Things were actually way more complicated than that, but it sounded like Elena was open to giving him a chance. Actually, this moment felt like that chance, a chance to show that he wasn't all evil. He had killed indiscriminately in the past but he was trying hard to move on from that part of his life. He had started to like being around his broody brother and his tragic girlfriend; they made life so much more interesting than just playing with his food before killing it. He wanted to prove that he wasn't just a monster; and here, Elena was giving him that chance.

"My brother and I have been...estranged. We've recently started to reconcile, but it's a slow process." Damon admitted. "Elena was being generous."

"Sounds like Elena." Emma grinned, nodding her agreement. They lapsed into silence, she staring into the fire and he staring at her. It wasn't uncomfortable but Damon found many words in his head he wasn't sure he wanted to speak to her.

"Elena said your name was Emma Chamblee." Damon was surprised to hear his own voice. However, she smiled at him and nodded and he found her smile compelling yet again. He stood and walked over the couch, sitting next to her. "You own the bookstore in town?"

She nodded again, her eyes turning sad for an instant before looking at the floor. "Given to us. From my parents."

Damon was curious about the hidden meaning but picked up on a different word instead. "Us?"

She looked back into his eyes. If his heart had been beating, it would have stopped. As it was, his breath caught. What was wrong with him, he felt like a freakin romance novel gone bad.

"My brother and I. Our parents gave it to us. We moved back here to run it together. We moved into their old house. It's kind of quiet but peaceful. So far it hasn't been too bad." She looked back at her fingers twisting in her lap.

He had a sudden thought that turned into an uncontrollable urge. He put a gentle finger under her chin and tipped her head toward his. He didn't know if he wanted to sleep with her or kill her but she was in danger being here with him. There was something about her he was drawn to and it was going to lead to her demise if he didn't stop it.

In a quiet yet firm voice, he forced his eyes to compel her as he spoke. "You are scared of me. You need to go hide in the bathroom, right now." It was the best he could do on short notice. He couldn't let her leave the house but he couldn't stay near her, either. He was afraid by his sudden lack of self control.

Her eyes didn't dilate; she squinted at him in confusion. "What? I'm not scared of you, why would I hide?"

Caught off guard he chuckled humorlessly. "Sorry, bad joke." His eyes fell to her necklace. He hadn't noticed it before but it was a locket. His finger dropped from her chin to the locket. "Very pretty." He murmured. "Where did you get it?"

"My brother." She replied. She was still giving him a confused look."He gave it to me a year ago."

"What's in it?" Damon asked, turning it over in his hand. She shrugged.

"He said the clasp was broken but it was better that way. He told me it had been mom's and I should always wear it. It keeps her close..." She trailed away when she realized she had shared more than she intended. "It's pretty, anyway. It matches everything."

Vervain. That would make sense; it came from her brother when they moved back to Mystic Falls. Her brother was certainly in on the secrets of the Salvatore brothers. Apparently he hadn't shared the secrets with his little sister or their conversation would be going in a different direction.

"Your brother is Jake?" Damon found talking to be distracting from his earlier thoughts about her. He moved back to his chair away from her; better safe than sorry.

She blinked at the mention of her brother's name. "You know him?"

Damon smiled. "You could say that. He and Stefan and I go back."

She blinked again, this time with a little shake of her head. "That's weird, he never mentioned any friends with the last name Salvatore."

"There was a time in college when you didn't see much of him, if I recall." Damon pointed out. She nodded thoughtfully. "And after we parted ways, it wasn't on the... best of terms. We WERE friends; we parted less than so."

"You went to college together." She surmised. He could see the little wheels in her head spinning as she tried to piece together memories from the past with what he was saying now. "Those two years at Bradford when he only came home at Christmas and Easter. We hardly knew him, much less saw him."

"Bradford." Damon repeated the name with a hint of pleasure in his voice. Oh, the good times he had at Bradford.

Stefan and Damon had gone to the college together. It was one of the few sets of years the brothers had spent together. Stefan had been trying to get Damon to live a 'normal' life. Damon always told Stefan he wasn't going along with it but Stefan always insisted. Damon could never figure out why Stefan was a glutton for disappointment.

However, Bradford had been fun. Damon was having a good time with the coeds and even made a few human friends in a dorm. He sated his hunger on the homeless in the area, which made for bad blood between him and Stefan when Stefan found out, but the time spent at the college had mostly good memories.

It had ended badly, though. Jake Chamblee was one of the good friends Stefan and Damon had made. He was practically a third brother to the two vampires, and eventually was told the secret. Jake played it cool, kept his head, and even the friendship. He was the first human friend Damon had ever had. Hell, the only one.

But then there was that night. Approaching the end of their second year of school together, Damon was walking home when a scent hit him. It was a girl and she smelled delicious. Not used to controlling his cravings, and not really bothering to want to control them, Damon hunted down the source. He found her and drained her dry. To date he couldn't remember a better meal.

Unfortunately, this slip up had dire consequences. Not only was she a student at Bradford, she had been Jake's girlfriend. It was not the type of thing you just apologized for and moved on. This was a big deal. Even Damon could understand that. So he and Stefan just disappeared from the university. The brothers had split ways also, Stefan so disappointed by Damon's behavior that he hadn't spoke to him again- until they both wound up back in Mystic Falls.

He grabbed Emma's wrist in a rock iron grip as she went to snap her fingers in his face. "Don't."

"Sorry, but I said your name a dozen times. I didn't know if you had fallen asleep or what." She looked down at his hand and he loosened his grip. She looked back at him as she sat back on the couch. "You must have been really reliving some memories."

"Good and bad." He replied, grabbing his glass and taking a sizable gulp. Jake knew all the tricks and secrets about vampires and how to protect yourself from them. He had done a good thing by giving her vervain in her locket. He was actually glad to hear Jake was protecting his family.

"So what's it like, living with your brother?" Damon asked her, taking a second large gulp from his glass, finishing it off. "Is he still a crazy party guy? I could tell you some stories."

She laughed, a lilting sound that filled the room. It made her eyes light up. He wanted to make her laugh again. "It's hard to think of Jake as a 'crazy party guy.' He's so mellow and responsible now." She shook her head, laughing again. "He's actually great to live with, we're doing really well."

"Job?" He asked politely, standing up to refill his glass from the decanter on the table. He filled another glass with water to bring to her.

"Well, we share responsibility of the store but he's also one of the math teachers at the high school. He loves that job, educating young minds about the logic of mathematics." She giggled, her eyes twinkling as she reached up to take the glass of water from him. "Doesn't sound like the guy you used to hang with at Bradford, does it?"

Damon shook his head and found him sitting on the couch near her. "No, he was more into Friday night happy hour and beer pong at the frat house than math when I knew him."

"Jake and beer pong. Who'da thunk?" She chuckled again before taking a drink of her water. "You should stop over to see him. Maybe you could make amends."

Damon took a swig of his drink. "I don't think amends can be made for what I did." He replied, looking down into his glass.

"What's it like living with YOUR brother?" Emma asked. She probably figured out that a change of subject would be best. He had to work on looking less menacing while brooding.

"Oh, croquet and sunshine every day." Damon replied sarcastically, swirling the liquid in his glass. He finally stopped and looked her in the eye. "Stefan and I don't get along very well. He doesn't like me much. We're very good, though, at tolerating each other to achieve a common goal. Currently, that goal is living in Mystic Falls."

"You seem to have a problem with people not liking you." She pointed out, finishing off her water. "I haven't been able to tell why yet." He looked at her and she shrugged. "You've been nothing but nice to me tonight. You've put up with my questions; heck, I'd even say we've had a decent conversation. You're a little quiet and I can see you being broody, but I wouldn't say that's a reason to not like you. Your personality does not suck." She shook her head. "You must do some terrible things to people to get them to dislike you."

He had been overly talkative with her this evening, especially since it had been his goal to ignore her and let her be Stefan and Elena's problem. He hadn't been NICE per se but he also hadn't been a jerk. She had a point; he did do terrible things to make people not like him.

"I'm in the process of trying to change." He found himself admitting. He blinked, not sure why he just shared that with her. She was looking at him expectantly so he decided to go on. "I have done terrible things in the past. There's no way to reconcile what I've done. So, a few weeks ago, I decided I was going to try and change. To be a better person." He took a drink and leaned back on the couch. "And let me tell you, being a good person is freaking difficult."

Her laugh was small but it made him smile. He liked her laugh, it was soothing to his mind. "All you can do is move forward." She offered. He agreed.

He heard the front door open and the familiar footfalls of Stefan and the dainty footsteps of Elena following him. They entered the sitting room as Damon stood up. He heard Emma stand behind him but he kept his eyes on his brother. "Anything?"

"No." Elena replied, Stefan shaking his head at the same time. "We checked everywhere we could think of and they just vanished." She walked toward Emma, putting and arm around her. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Emma brushed off Elena's concern. "They? Are you looking for the guy that roofied me? Was there more than one?"

Elena looked from Stefan to Damon, back to Emma. In her hesitation, Damon stepped in. This girl wasn't fragile, she wasn't weak; she didn't need to be babied. "There was a group of them Elena saw. They moved toward you when you fell but she got there first. They went back to find them but apparently... poof."

"I'm glad you're okay." Stefan told her before glaring at his brother. Damon drunk from his glass indifferently.

"Sorry for the lousy introduction. This is Stefan, the guy I've been telling you about." Elena smiled at Stefan before looking back to Emma. "And I think you've met Damon."

"Yea, sorta." Emma replied. Damon could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head but he just kept staring at the fireplace. He was worried Stefan would be able to read him if he looked at her in front of him.

"We should get you home." Stefan said, not taking his eyes off his brother.

"I'll do it. It's late, you can stay here. I'll call when I get home." Elena said, taking Emma by the arm. Stefan nodded his response, giving her a quick hug. "Thanks, Damon." Elena looked at him but he merely took a drink, ignoring her.

"Good night, Damon. Thanks." Emma called over her shoulder and Elena hurried her from the room. He allowed his eyes to slip toward her as she left. A mistake apparently because when his eyes met Stefan's, all he could see was wrath.