Chapter 6

At exactly six-thirty, the doorbell rang and Jessenia knew her ride had arrived, staring in the mirror one final time. Her hair was down in loose curls with just a hint of hairspray to hold them in place, flowing over her shoulders and down her back. She had a black ribbon in her hair, bangs angled for style and it went a little above her waist. The dress was strapless and pale green with a black band around the waist that went just below the breasts.

It was two inches above the knee, which was the perfect length because Jessenia really didn't want to be construed as a whore. Her makeup was simple with thin black eyeliner that made her jade eyes pop with a hint of green eye shadow. Her lips were painted in clear gloss and foundation was applied to hide a few blemishes.

She had her necklace on that Alaric gave her, which went with the dress surprisingly, but Jessenia had also added another one. It had an oval shaped emerald stone, all silver, Jessenia hated gold and went perfect with the outfit. Two inch black open toed heels completed her outfit, no nylons because Jessenia couldn't stand the feeling of them and wanted to be somewhat comfortable.

"Coming!" Jessenia called out, fluffing her hair one last time and grabbed her purse that had everything she needed, heading down the stairs.

As soon as the door opened, Jessenia felt her breath catch in her throat as aquamarine eyes met hers. He looked incredibly handsome in a long sleeved dark blue shirt that had three buttons on the top undone with black dress pants and a black suit jacket, black shoes on his feet. His hair was that sexy haphazard style and Jessenia suddenly felt the urge to run her fingers through it, fighting temptation.

"Damon…"

"Elena asked me if I would pick you up." Damon explained, after slowly devouring her with his eyes, the image almost too beautiful to be true. "You look exquisite."

Flushing, Jessenia lowered her eyes from his and tried to get her cheeks to stop burning, clearing her throat. "Thanks, you look nice too. Come in for a second, I forgot to grab something."

The biggest smirk crossed his face as Damon slowly did so, the barrier broken since she invited him in her home. "Take your time, Senia." Now Damon could enter whenever he wanted and Jessenia didn't even realize it.

Walking into the living room, Jessenia just pretended she had to grab something so she could learn how to breathe again, taking a few seconds to compose herself. 'I can do this, just pull it together.' She mentally coached and took a few deep breaths, finally feeling herself calm down. 'Okay here we go.' Turning around, Jessenia let out a small shriek when she bumped right into Damon's chest. "Christ, you scared me!"

Damon chuckled softly, grabbing her arms since she'd stumbled back. "Did you find what you needed?" She didn't need anything, Damon had watched her silently and knew she was having an inner battle about him. It was obvious. "You ready to go?"

Nodding, Jessenia followed him to the front door and walked out, locking it behind her. Damon guided her to his car, which was a beautiful blue 1967 Chevy Camaro that looked in perfect condition. She went to open the door when Damon stopped her, looking up at him and smiled when he did it for her, slipping inside. Jessenia clicked her seatbelt on while Damon simply pulled out of the driveway, heading to his and Stefan's house.

"Did you mean it?"

Damon looked over at Jessenia, raising a black brow. "What?"

Jessenia turned to face him. "Did you mean what you said earlier today about us having a clean slate?"

"Of course I did." Damon stated, nodding. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't, Senia."

Chewing her bottom lip, Jessenia reached into her bag and handed over the small black bottle of mace, setting it in the middle of the seat. "Then prove it."

Looking back out the window, Jessenia stared into the woods they lived apparently lived in, the moon shining brightly in the sky with a million stars glittering. Damon slowly picked up the black bottle while he drove down the path, eyeing it carefully and could instantly smell the vervain coming from it. He thought it was her necklace, which was also laced with it, but that overshadowed the mace bottle. That's why Damon hadn't caught onto it until she sprayed the mixture in his face.

"Here." He handed it over to her, pulling up to the house and cut the ignition. "You need to protect yourself, Jessenia." Not only from him, but other vampires that were lurking in the area.

"What does that even mean?" She was really tired of people telling her she had to protect herself and figured there had to be something nobody was telling her. "Why do I need protection so badly?"

So she didn't know about vampires, Damon leaned back against the seat, rolling his head to stare back at her. "From people like me." He left her with that thought and stepped out of the car, walking around to open her door for her, extending his hand. "I won't hurt you, I promise."

"I know you won't." Jessenia believed that wholeheartedly and slipped her hand into his, having placed the mace bottle back in her purse, stepping out of the car.

"You have a lot of faith in people you don't even know." He pointed out, not sure if that was a good or bad thing because he didn't want Jessenia trusting the wrong people. Extending his arm, Damon flashed another charming smile, raising a brow when she just stared at him. "Shall we?"

Linking her arm through his, Jessenia let Damon guide her into the huge house that looked more like a mansion. As soon as the door opened, Jessenia was greeted by both Elena and Stefan, who were both dressed up as much as she was. She had a feeling Damon didn't enjoy dressing up and honestly felt the same way, but figured since this wasn't her dinner party she would look presentable.

"You look beautiful!" Elena praised, taking Jessenia by the hand and smiled softly at Damon. "Thank you for picking her up."

Damon saluted, walking past them to head to the parlor for a much needed drink. Elena gave Jessenia the grand tour, but stayed away from Damon's bedroom. Jessenia was very observed and noticed they didn't see that room, but kept it to herself, looking at all the fantastic décor the house had. It was very old, she could tell, but also well preserved. Once the tour finished, they headed into the room where Damon currently nursed a tumbler of bourbon, standing in front of the fire.

"I'm going to go check on dinner. Make yourself at home, Jesse." Elena offered, walking out of the parlor to go see what Stefan was doing in the kitchen.

Jessenia watched Elena walk out of the room before turning back to sit down, gasping when Damon was right in front of her. "You really need to stop doing that." She ordered, placing a hand over her heart and walked past him down the few stairs to one of the couches, sitting down.

"Why is that?" Damon smirked when she jumped again, now sitting beside her on the couch, chuckling. "You're really jumpy, Senia. Do I scare you?"

"Stop it." Jessenia whispered, starting to scoot away from him, but Damon's arm wrapping around her waist prevented that. "Damon…"

"I asked you a question and it's rude to ignore me." Damon murmured, his mouth by her ear again like earlier that day. "I just want to know."

Jessenia moved her head away from him, but she couldn't go far because of his tight grip on her waist. "Fine, yes I am. You terrify me, now please let me go." She trembled slightly when he gently gripped her chin, turning her face until their eyes met.

"No." Damon whispered, running the pad of his thumb over her cheek, those jade eyes piercing him again. "Breathe, you're safe here."

"I don't believe you."

Damon mockingly touched his chest with his free hand, scoffing. "Oh you wound me. And here I thought we were making some progress."

"There is no progress with you. You were an asshole when we first met and you're an asshole now. There is no starting over. Now let go of me." Jessenia ordered, pulling her chin out of his grasp and stood up from the couch.

"Your spunk is very attractive." Damon grabbed her wrist and yanked her to sit sideways on his lap, causing her to squeak out. "Admit it, you're enjoying this little fling we got going on."

"I'd hardly call this a fling." Jessenia snorted, folding her arms in front of her chest and was thankful her legs automatically crossed, not sure what Damon was capable of. "This is you manhandling me and being an asshole."

Damon laughed, finding this incredibly amusing. "I'm not manhandling you, Senia." He suddenly buried his hand in her hair and yanked, causing her head to snap back until their eyes met again. "Now THIS? This is manhandling."

Now she was terrified, tears forming in her jade eyes and swallowed hard when his head dipped down to her neck. "Please don't do this…" She pleaded and knew Damon could hear how fast her heart currently pounded.

"Don't do what?" His hand moved from her hair to grip the back of her neck gently, not wanting to hurt her. "You like this, admit it."

"No I don't!" Jessenia gritted out, a few tears slipping down her cheeks and shivered when his lips softly caressed her neck. "Let me go!"

"You didn't say please."

The smell of jasmine surrounded him, inviting him in and saw how fast the vein in her neck pulsed. He just wanted a taste, she smelled delectable and he was having a hard time controlling himself. If only he could use compulsion, Damon could have his wicked way with her.

The thought of just taking her to his bedroom and locking them both inside was very tempting, but Damon also didn't want to deal with his brother. He wasn't worried about Elena so much as Stefan, especially since he now drank human blood instead of living off of animals. Still, Damon didn't have a struggling human in his bed in awhile, it could be fun.

Panic set in again as Damon continued assaulting her neck and Jessenia wondered where the hell Stefan and Elena were. Gritting her teeth, Jessenia reached over to grab the closest sharp object she could get her hands on, which was a tumbler. She pretended to start enjoying what Damon was doing to her, overpowering the fear in exchange for survival.

A second later, glass shattered as Damon released her instantly, Jessenia falling to the hard floor. "YOU LITTLE BITCH!" He roared, holding his head and blocked out the pain when he noticed she was getting ready to run.

Jessenia skidded to a halt when Damon ended up right in front of her, stumbling back and fell down the few stairs right back into the parlor, hitting her head. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed, tears pouring down her face and scrambled back on her hands and heels, knocking things over to try stopping him from getting too close.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE?" Stefan roared, both him and Elena rushing inside, their eyes wide at the still bloody Damon.

"H-How are you…oh god, what's happening?" Jessenia cried out as she watched the cuts on Damon's head heal by themselves, terrified now as she kept scrambling back.

"That little bitch just smashed a glass over my head all because I wanted to have a little FUN." Damon growled, ice blue eyes spitting daggers at her while Elena went to her side, glaring at Stefan's disapproving eyes.

Stefan shook his head, heading over to check on Jessenia. "Go get cleaned up, Damon." He ordered in a low voice, daring his big brother to fight him right now. "Now."

"You're not going to order me around, Stefan. She saw what just happened, she needs to either die or compelled." He said flatly, wiping the rest of the excess blood from his head. "And since that LOVELY necklace is on her, death it is."

Damon was over to Jessenia in a flash, yanking her away from both Elena and Stefan, his arm feeling as though it might crush her throat at any second. "N-No please, PLEASE I won't say anything! Please don't kill me!" Jessenia screamed, struggling against him and shot pleading jade eyes to both Elena and Stefan to stop him.

"You know this has to be done." Damon stated, not caring about a human life because he'd taken so many in all the time he'd been on this earth. "Unless we use compulsion, which isn't an option. Too bad, I was starting to really like this one…"

Jessenia closed her eyes when Damon pressed his cheek against hers, applying more pressure across her throat, trembling so hard her teeth were chattering. "Please don't kill me…" She whispered brokenly, both of her hands gripping his forearm to try to relieve some kind of pressure.

"LET HER GO NOW, DAMON!"

Elena and Stefan whipped around at the sight of Alaric, their eyes wide. "Alaric…"

"Oh you've GOT to be kidding me!" Damon crowed sarcastically, backing away with Jessenia slowly, refusing to release her. "And what happens if I DON'T, Alaric? You going to kill me?"

"Yes." Alaric already had the sharpened wooden stake in his hand, eyes narrowed to slits, daring Damon to take another human life that was linked to his girlfriend. "She's done nothing wrong. Now let her go or ELSE!"

"Take one more step and she dies." Damon stated, meaning every word he said and smirked coldly when Alaric stopped advancing. "Good boy. Now, here's what's going to happen." Yanking back on Jessenia's hair, Damon stared down into her tear-streaked face, her eyes still closed. "You're going to tell me what you're doing in Mystic Falls or I will drain every last drop of blood in your body, Jessenia. Do you understand?"

"T-That's all you w-want?" Jessenia stammered out in a whisper, feeling as though she might faint from everything that happened.

"Yup, that's all I want. You tell me your dirty little secret," He grunted, running his tongue down her cheek to catch a few more salty tears, groaning. "And I'll let you walk out of here with Alaric completely free."

Elena knew her lies were now costing her a friendship with Jessenia and she hated Damon for it, shaking her head. "You're such a bastard! I know the reason why and you couldn't leave well enough alone, Damon!"

"Elena!"

"No Stefan, I have to tell him or he'll kill her! That's the only way he knows how to eliminate the problem is by force or death! I won't let that happen to her!" Elena backed away from Stefan and slowly walked toward Damon, her brown eyes pleading with him to let Jessenia go. "I know the reason, I'm not going to lie to you again. Just please let her go."

"No." Damon applied more pressure, pissed that Elena actually lied to him and his suspicions of it were true. "I want to hear it from HER mouth, not yours."

"Jesse, just tell him why you're in Mystic Falls and he'll let you go." Elena pleaded, hoping her friend did the right thing because Damon would not hesitate to kill her.

Nodding, Jessenia knew she had no choice and started crying even harder, everything crashing down around her at that moment. "I-I came to Mystic Falls because…of my father." Damon instantly released her, dropping her to the floor like a sack of potatoes and Jessenia started coughing, grabbing her throat.

"Who is your daddy dearest?" Damon demanded, daring this girl to deny him answers because he would snap her head clear off her shoulders.

Slowly looking up at him with tear-filled jade eyes, Jessenia locked them on his ice cold blue ones, her bottom lip trembling. "Logan Fell."