Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries (the TV show). I wish I owned Damon, he's just so HAWT! I do, however, own this story and all the original characters that will appear in it as the story goes on. Thank you.

Chapter 2- Interviews

Three days later

"What's your name?"

"Dick Flasher."

"…… Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"Get out. NEXT!"


"Name?"

"Brittany Coleson."

"Hmm, nice to meet you Brittany. May I say that your hair looks really nice today."

Giggle. "Thank you Mr. Salvatore."

"Please call me Damon."

"Thank you Damon."

"You know what Brittany, I'm feeling a bit thirsty. Would you mind if I got something to drink?"

"Not at all. I'll just wait here."

"Well Kelly-"

"Brittany."

"Right, Brittany. I don't think that you quiet understood what I meant…"

2 minutes later

"Hey Damon, I just wanted to see how the interview was… What are you doing?"

"Having a snack."

"What did I say before? No snacking on the prospective clients. Now we have to wipe her mind and send her home."

"What do you mean, we?"

"…………"


"Hello, I'm Damon Salvatore, and you are?"

"Oh my God! My name is Damon too, but my last name is Burgess."

"Your name is Damon?"

"Yup. Oh my God, how fun would it be if we lived together? We could be all like, hey Damon, sup Damon, what you doing later Damon, don't know Damon. I mean, how fun is that?"

"Get out."

"What's your name?"

"Bill."

"Bill what?"

"Just Bill."

"Oookay, well 'just Bill', all your paperwork seems to be in order. And it seems like you're a…. somewhat sane person. I just need to ask you some questions."

Grunt.

"Do you have any pets?"

"……….."

"Bill?"

"What classifies as pets?"

"What do you mean, 'what classifies as pets?' A pet is a pet Bill, it… Did your beard just move?"


Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a blue Mini Cooper pulled into town. As it drove down Main Street, people who took a couple of seconds to look in the windows could see that the back seat was loaded with boxes, appliances and suitcases. Some murmured to each other that it must be a new resident, with all those boxes; it was safe to assume that they weren't on a run of the mill road trip.

The Mini made its way into town and stopped in front of an old brick building that was just on the end of the street. The vehicle parked on the side of the road and the engine cut off. The driver's side door opened and a Converse clad foot stepped out. The foot was followed by a jean clad leg that attached itself to a rounded pair of hips. The hips sloped gently into a waist, which then rounded again as it was made clear that the driver was, in fact, a woman.

Danielle Court was a 26 year old English major from a small town in southern Saskatchewan. Her chocolate brown eyes were framed by thick lashes. Her short, dark hair was pushed back from her face and waved slightly in the breeze. She stood as tall as her 5'10 frame would let her as she looked around the area.

Dani looked up at the worn old building in front of her. She glanced down at a little piece of paper that was folded in her palm. She glanced from the piece of paper to the tiled number beside the front door of the building. She nodded to herself as she pocketed the piece of paper, closed the car door, and walked up to the front step.

She reached out to open the door, but found that it was stuck. She tried pulling it out again, but still, it didn't budge. She knocked instead to see if anyone would answer.

A few minutes passed, and Dani knocked again. She rang the bell a couple of times just to make sure that no one was inside. Suddenly, she heard the patter of feet, and stepped back from the door as an old woman poked her head outside.

The old woman eyed Dani wearily. "What d'ya want?

Dani smiled at the woman politely. "Hello. My name is Danielle Court and I'm supposed to be moving into apartment 2C today. I'm the new tenant."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Sorry, but the building's being closed due to health violations. Apparently the health department doesn't consider rats to be pets. Goodbye."

She started to close the door, but Dani rushed forward to stop it with her hand.

"What do you mean; the building is being closed down? I came all the way from Canada for a job here! Where am I supposed to live?"

The old woman shoved Dani back, almost making her fall onto the curb. She glared at Dani hatefully. "I don't care where you live! That's not my problem! Now get lost before I call the police on your scrawny ass!"

Dani opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off as the door was slammed shut. She huffed in surprise before shouting, "My ass is not scrawny! It's proportionate to the rest of my body!"

After a brief moment of anger and annoyance, Dani sighed in defeat and sat on the hood of her car, thinking. Before too long, she started thinking out loud, which unfortunately happened whenever she was stressed.

"Ok, so what now? I don't have anywhere to live, my new job starts in a few days, all my teaching material is packed, and so are my clothes. I can't just quit and go home, so I need to find somewhere to live and fast. I should ask around to see if there's a motel nearb-"

"Um, excuse me."

Dani cut off from her rambling to look up at whoever spoke to her. She was met with the sight of a young woman, maybe a few years younger than herself, with straight dark brown hair, a slender figure and kind brown eyes.

The young woman smiled at her, putting her hand up in greeting. "Hello, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I couldn't help but overhear that you needed a place to stay?"

Dani nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, the building that I was supposed to be staying at is closing down, and now I have to find somewhere else to live."

"Well, I actually know of a place that just opened for residence a few days ago. They're looking for tenants."

Dani perked up at the news. "Really? Could you give me the address?"

"I can do you one better. I'm parked down the street, so how about you just follow me there? I personally know the owners, so it shouldn't be a problem getting you in to see them."

"Wow, thank you so much…… Um, sorry, but I guess I missed your name." Dani chuckled as she stretched out her hand. "My name's Danielle, but you can call me Dani."

The young woman smiled warmly, taking her hand in hers. "My name's Elena. It's nice to meet you."


Dani followed Elena's car out of the main part of town, and into the woods. They took an old road the lead into the forest. They drove for 10 minutes until Dani saw the outline of a large structure up ahead.

"That must be the house," she said to herself. She slowly made her way into the driveway, and parked behind Elena's car, just to the side. She stepped out and took in her surrounds. The house itself was magnificent. She felt a burble of excitement well up inside her, but quickly squashed it, knowing that nothing was guaranteed until she spoke to the owners herself.

Elena walked over to her. Dani smiled as she approached. She pointed to the house. "This is the place?"

Elena nodded, looking up at the building herself. "Yup, this is it. If you're impressed with the outside of it, you're gonna hit the roof when you see the inside." Without another word, she started towards the front door, leaving Dani to follow behind.

When Elena came up to the front door, she knocked on the polished wood, and immediately the door opened. A young man about Elena's age greeted her. He smiled at her and gave her a small, but familiar kiss on the mouth. As he pulled away, he noticed Dani standing behind her, and gave her a welcoming nod, his once warm and open smile now one of indifference and politeness.

Elena turned to Dani, her arm stretched out. "Stephen, this is Danielle. She's new in town and has nowhere to go, so I brought her here. Dani, this is Stephen Salvatore. He's one of the owners of the house and my boyfriend."

Dani walked up, putting on her own polite smile and put out her hand to shake with Stephens. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Stephens hand closed over hers, shaking it quickly before letting go. "Likewise. Please come in." He moved to the side to allow Elena and Dani through.

When Dani walked through the door, her eyes widened. The house was huge! It had not looked this big from the outside, and it was decorated tastefully. Very tastefully. So tastefully that she was afraid to tough anything. A touch at her elbow brought her back to Earth.

Elena smiled at her from over her shoulder. "I told you you'd be floored."

Dani grinned back. "Yes, you did say that didn't you."

Stephen motioned them to follow him as he walked forward into a room that Dani could only guess was what served as a living room/library.

"Please sit down and relax. I'll go get Damon." Dani's eyebrows rose in curiosity, and Stephen, seeing the question on her face, answered, "Damon is my older brother. He's the one who's been interviewing prospective tenants. You'll be making the actual living arrangements with him, that is, if he approves you."

Dani smiled nervously. Elena leaned over and patted her hand. "Don't worry. Damon is actually a nice guy, in his own way. Sometimes."

Getting more nervous by the syllable, Dani anxiously awaited the arrival of the oldest Salvatore brother. She didn't have to wait long. Stephen walked back into the room a few minutes later, with one of the world's most gorgeous men strutting in behind him.

Midnight black hair, bright blue eyes, and a smirk that could either kill you or make you swoon, Damon Salvatore was the most handsome-no scratch that- beautiful men Dani had ever seen.

She stood from her seat to introduce herself, but fell short when the man ignored her and bee-lined straight for Elena, picking her up in a tight hug. Dani saw Stephen scowl from the corner of her eye.

"Elena! How nice to see you! Have you been avoiding me, cause I haven't see you since-"

It was then that he took notice of Dani. Instantly, his eyes turned mistrustful and hard, and his smirking mouth quickly flattened itself out. "Who's this?"

Taken aback from his sudden change in attitude, Dani fidgeted on the spot for a moment. However, she quickly shook the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach off, and said in a clear and unwavering voice, "Hello Mr. Salvatore, it's nice to meet you. My name is Danielle Court and I came to see if there was any chance of me acquiring a room here."

Behind her, Stephen couldn't help the small smile that made it onto his face at the sound of Dani's formal introduction. Across the room, he caught Elena's eyes and he saw that she was trying to hide her smile as well.

Damon, on the other hand was not smiling. Slowly, his eyes roved from the tip of Dani's scuffed Converse sneakers to the top of her dark head. He tilted his head side to side, as if trying to see if a different angle would help with the view.

Needless to say that Dani was getting a bit uncomfortable and a bit annoyed as well. No one had ever scrutinized her so openly. So as she waited for Damon to finish his inspection, a random though about fool's gold came to her mind. How on the outside it looked like real gold, all shiny and bright, but once you cracked it open, you found nothing but dull rock on the inside. She wondered if the same fact would apply to Damon Salvatore.

After Damon's third rove over her body, Dani decided that she'd had enough. "Excuse me, but what are you doing?"

Damon's cool blue eyes met with hers, his brow raised. "What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh sorry, I was just trying to figure out if you were actually that chubby, or was it just your clothes that made you look fat."

A gasp of outrage came from Elena. "Damon!"

A, "Damon, that was uncalled for," came from Stephen behind her.

But from Dani, not a peep came from her mouth. Instead, she smiled sweetly at Damon, picked up her keys from the small table in front of her, and tilted her head forwards. "Thank you for taking the time to see me, but I'm afraid that I must be going now." Her eyes met Elena's and she smiled. "Thank you for trying to help me Elena, but I think it would be better if I just find a place on my own. I'm obviously not wanted here." She turned, smiled and tilted her head in farewell to Stephen. "It was nice meeting you Stephen." She didn't turn to Damon as she added, "I'm sorry that I can't say the same for your brother. Goodbye. I'll show myself out." With that, she walked away from the trio and out the door.

She got halfway to her car when a deep voice spoke up behind her. "So you wanna stay or what?"

She stopped mid-step and glanced over her shoulder to see Damon Salvatore standing behind her. Her brow furrowed in confusion for two reasons: 1) she hadn't heard any footsteps behind her, so how was he there now, and 2) What did he just say?

Verbalizing her thought, Dani said, "Excuse me?"

Damon sighed. "I really hate repeating myself you know. It's such a waste of time."

"Then I guess I shouldn't waste your time." She started turning to walk away again, but was stopped by a wall. No, not a wall, a chest. She looked up into ocean colored eyes.

"I said, did you want to stay or what?"

Dani's mouth opened and closed as she became mute. How had he moved so fast? Shaking her head to clear it, she answered, "I would like to stay, but I with all due respect I don't want to take that kind of verbal abuse again from a total stranger."

Damon sneered. "Sorry babe, but I say whatever the hell I want whenever the hell I want."

"Why did you just call me babe if you just said I was fat? Are you attracted to bigger women? Are you a- jeez, what do they call it- a chubby chaser?"

Damon looked down at the woman in front of him. For once, he didn't know how to answer. The question had completely caught him off guard. Was she serious?

Quickly trying to recover from his surprise, he said, "Why? Hoping that I'll go after you?"

Dani snorted. "Oh yeah, cause I'll I've ever wanted since I was a kid was for Babe to follow me around. No thanks. I asked just so I could know whether or not I should go on a diet."

Damon blinked. Her snarky comebacks and quick wit were refreshing. It wasn't too often that he met people that could clash verbal swords with him. Maybe having her living at the house wouldn't be so bad after all.

"You're in."