Chapter 6

Damon sat in his favorite chair in the sitting room, swirling his glass and staring into the fire. It had been a crazy week. He felt like some witless human teenager, sneaking time with his girlfriend so her dad wouldn't find out about them. It was actually kind of insane if he thought about it too much- he was a grown adult, a vampire for goodness sake. Why did he need to sneak around and hide his relationship?

And that word. Relationship. What was up with that? The only person he had ever loved, beside his brother and father, was Katherine; and that was more of an unhealthy obsession than love. He had to love his brother and father, they were family. This...thing, these feelings he had toward Emma, they were foreign to him. He wondered if they were an indication of love, if he could even feel that emotion as a vampire.

Stefan did. Stefan loved Elena and there was no doubting that. Just looking at the two of them was like looking at a sickeningly sweet Valentine card. It was enough to make one want to vomit. So, if he used that as a case in point, vampires could feel love.

But is that what this was? It had only been a week so he supposed he didn't have to define it quite yet. It was definitely something he wasn't used to however, caring about someone more than himself. He wanted nothing more but to be around her and protect her. He couldn't remember the last time he didn't want to destroy a human, save Elena. This was definitely strange.

Jake was a complication. He wasn't sure what to do about it. Jake wouldn't be happy with either of them when he found out they had been seeing each other against his wishes. Not that he was scared of Jake. Even though Jake knew the secrets, he was helpless against a vampire at full strength- and Damon was at full strength. But he didn't want to fight Jake, he just wanted Jake to understand- he wanted him to realize Damon wasn't going to hurt his little sister.

Though could Jake understand that? Look what Damon had done to his girlfriend back at Bradford. What reason had he given to make anyone think he'd changed? Not a whole lot.

His head hurt. This was too much thinking about something that was way more complicated than it should be. He looked at his watch. Six PM on a Sunday evening. Maybe he could reason with Jake.

Damon stood, finished his glass, then headed for the door. One thing was sure- he was tired of sneaking around and hiding. It was only a week and he was already tired of it. If he was going to do this, he was going to do this right. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out into the night and began running.

"Spaghetti again?" Emma whined from the living room. Jake's favorite food was spaghetti and he made it often. Emma didn't really mind but she was growing tired of it. Jake came to the doorway of the kitchen to stick his tongue out at her before returning to his cooking. "As long as I'm not cooking, I shouldn't complain." She grumbled under her breath, using the remote to silence the TV. She headed for the kitchen.

They just sat down to eat when the doorbell rang. Emma began to rise to answer it but Jake motioned for her to sit. "I'll get it." He disappeared through the door.

Emma had a bad feeling. She hoped Damon wasn't just 'in the neighborhood' again. She and Jake were just getting to a point where they were talking normally; she didn't want to start fighting all over again.

After a few moments of silence, she began to worry. What was taking so long at the door? If it was Damon, maybe they had gotten into an argument. She couldn't hear them, but that didn't mean they hadn't stepped outside, though she was fairly positive Jake wouldn't do that.

Curious, with an ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach, she got up and went toward the front door.

It was wide open and empty.

"Jake?" She called cautiously, walking slowly toward the door. The whole scene was very Halloween 3D and she didn't like it. "Ja-"

She was cut off by someone grabbing her from the side, from the living room doorway. Her mouth was covered and her arms pinned behind her back before she could react. Emma immediately began to struggle but stopped when she felt something cold and sharp at her throat. "No so squirmy now, are ya?" A menacing voice whispered in her ear.

A man she didn't recognize but was immediately afraid of, stepped into her line of sight. In her peripheral vision, she could see Jake similarly held by two men, one with a knife to his throat. "Niiice." The man in front of her drew the word out as a lecherous smile spread on his face. "We chose this neighborhood for it's fancy houses. We were expecting money. We weren't expecting...entertainment."

This wasn't happening. Emma closed her eyes and opened them again, hoping to wake from the nightmare. It didn't work. Reality washed over her like a cold flood of water, chilling her to her bones.

The man holding her dropped her to the ground, holding her arms uncomfortably above her head with one hand, the other still covering her mouth. Whoever held the blade to her throat removed it but she knew that wouldn't be for long. A noise from her brother got her attention. She looked up then followed his gaze to the open front door; to where Damon was standing in the doorway.

She had never seen a scarier sight than Damon Salvatore at that moment. Fury danced in his eyes and his muscles were tensed, ready to pounce, tear, shred anything in his way. She had never witness his transformation into a vampire- if she hadn't believed it before, she believed it now. The only problem was, he couldn't get in the door.

The men followed her gaze and laughed at a single, unarmed man, staring at them, unmoving. That was their mistake, the one that lead to their downfall- underestimating one man. Because he wasn't a just a man.

Emma knew all it would take was a word or a motion. She couldn't find her voice in her terror so she motioned him in the best she could with her bound hands. It was all he needed.

She had to be honest, she closed her eyes for much of it. He moved in a blur, so fast she didn't see him. One second her hands were held, the next she was free. She kicked the man closest to her in the face to knock him off balance. She saw Jake stomp on a foot while the blur that was Damon snapped the neck of the other man holding her brother. That was more than she wanted to see. She grabbed Jake's hand and they raced to the kitchen to wait for Damon to finish. Neither one had a doubt he wouldn't leave survivors.

They sat on the kitchen floor, listen to the mayhem and dying shouts of the men. They breathed heavily, holding hands, unable to speak or really move. The situation had been scary- they nearly lost their lives. They had been saved, but in a way, that had been horrific as well. Emma knew she'd never want a vampire for an enemy, that was certain.

"Sorry." She finally whispered. The chaos in the other room was dying down. Damon must be finishing.

"Sorry?" Jake looked at her with confusion.

"I broke my promise." She felt tears filling her eyes. She wasn't sure why that particular thing was going to make her cry but she felt the wave of emotion coming to the surface and she was powerless to stop it. She sobbed into her brother's shoulder while he comforted her best he could. When she stopped, he tipped her chin up to make her look at him.

"It's okay. That was the best reason to break your promise, ever. It saved our lives." Jake smiled assuredly. "You helped save us."

The kitchen door opened. Damon's shirt had blood stains on it, mostly hidden by the dark color. He'd had enough sense to clean off his face; he looked fairly normal. "You both okay?" He asked, his eyes not leaving Emma's tear stained face. She nodded.

"Are they?" Jake asked, attempting to look out the kitchen door.

"No." Was the simple reply. Jake just nodded. He looked as if he wanted to say more but was biting his tongue. Sirens sounded in the distance.

"What are we going to say?" Emma realized the neighbors had heard the screaming. If there was carnage in their living room, she wasn't quite sure how they were going to explain it.

"Leave it to me." Damon held up a hand. "Stay here, I'll be back when the coast is clear."

Jake looked as though he wanted to argue but after glancing at his sister he simply nodded. Damon disappeared, leaving the kitchen in silence again.

After a while of hearing lowered, indiscernible voices coming from the foyer, Jake sighed loudly and looked over at her. "What was he doing here?"

Emma didn't need to ask him to clarify. She knew what he meant. "I don't know." She answered honestly. They hadn't planned on meeting up tonight; she had no clue why he was at her door this evening.

"He's been here before?"

Emma drew her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. "You saw. He couldn't come in until I invited him."

"Don't be deliberately evasive." Jake frowned. "You know what I mean."

"He might have stopped by. Once." He groaned at her reply. "But I made him leave." She added defensively.

Jake stood and began pacing. That seemed to be his thing; when he was nervous or upset, he paced. Emma watched him carefully. He couldn't be too mad; Damon did just save their lives.

Before the conversation could continue, Damon burst his way through the door. He was alone. "Done. Taken care of." He told them.

"You didn't-" Jake started but Damon cut him off with a look.

"I compelled the officers to report a TV turned up too loud. Then I had them take the bodies into the woods and forget about them. Tomorrow they will stumble across them and report wolves attacked campers in the forest. It's lame, but it will work, for now." He looked over at Emma. "Best I could do on short notice."

Jake was shaking his head, obviously not liking it. But he did say, "thank you."

Damon nodded his acceptance. "Are you two going to be okay tonight? The boarding house has plenty of rooms..."

"Yes-"

"No-"

Jake had been ready to kick Damon out but Emma was afraid to be alone. The incident had her freaked, as it would anyone. Jake sighed loudly again. "I'll pack a bag."

"You'll stay at the boarding house?" Emma asked, surprised.

"I won't like it." Jake replied, running a hand through his hair that was already standing on end. "But yes, for your sake. I think you'll feel...safer there." Jake glared at Damon but the vampire kept his gaze steady on Emma. Jake left without another word, heading upstairs.

"You should get some things." Damon finally told her.

She stood, hesitating at the door. "Is it messy?" She was worried about her parents' living room looking like Texas Chainsaw Massacre had been filmed in it.

Damon smiled flippantly, no humor in his eyes. "I cleaned most of it up. I tried not to be messy."

Emma wasn't sure she was ready to talk any more about what happened so she took a deep breath and went through the door. She walked to the stairs without a side glance in either direction, heading for her room. Her overnight bag was packed quickly and she was out in Jake's car before she had time to process what was going on.

Jake was going to the boarding house, the one place in town he forbid her to go. The one place where the brothers he hated more than anything lived. She suddenly began to worry that this trip was less about her safety and well being than it was about revenge.