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

Chapter 6- Saturday Night

Damon moved through a sea of people to get to the bar. He ordered a martini from the bartender and waited for his drink. He caught the eye of a busty blond at the end of the bar and sent her a playful wink. She smiled at him, giving him a 'come hither' look with her hooded eyes. He smirked as the bartender set his drink before him. No matter how old you got, some things never changed.

Sipping on the drink, he leaned against the bar and surveyed the room. The place wasn't packed, but it was hard to move without brushing elbows with someone. It was a good turnout for sure. He'd be able to find some good company tonight.

"Hey bartender!"

Hey, I know that voice, isn't that Jenna? Damon thought as he turned his head in the direction of her voice and felt his thoughts come to a screeching halt.

Standing beside Jenna was a total knockout brunette. She had smoky brown eyes that flashed with humor and wit. Her mouth looked soft, and she had a lower lip that just tempted you to take a nibble. Her short hair was styled into an attractive faux hawk, and her dress! It hugged every curve of her body in all the right ways. Just the way that it hugged her round hips, it was like… Wait a minute. Was that Dani!

Shocked, Damon watched as Dani and Jenna grabbed their drinks from the bar and made their way into the crowd. Forgetting his own drink, Damon followed them, making sure to keep to the shadows.

He followed the pair to the back, where a bouncer who looked meaner than a bull waved them through the door. Damon decided to wait for them until they came back out, and if they didn't…well, no one really like 'Mad Damon' now did they?


Dani shifted nervously in her heeled feet. She and Jenna were standing outside the dressing room of the Flying Wheels, waiting to be let in. Tech people and roadies walked past her as they set up for the show. Finally, the door opened and they were ushered in.

Jenna was immediately swept up in a bear hug by a man with long sandy hair and a well trimmed beard.

"Tony! It's so good to see you! How have you been?"

As Jenna and Tony chatted about the good old days, Dani stood in the back, trying to blend in. Unfortunately, she was never one to blend in. Her gaze wondered around the room until they unexpectedly clashed with a pair of watery blue eyes. They belonged to a greasy little man with an off blonde comb-over and thin, mean lips, which were currently puckering themselves in her direction.

Trying to hide her disgust, she turned her head away right in time to catch Jenna turning towards her.

"Tony," Jenna said as she reached out to Dani, "This is Danielle Court. She's in charge of getting a concert together for Founder's Day. I thought of you and that maybe you and your band will be willing to play for us."

Tony scratched his beard. "Well, I'd love to Jen, but it's not really my decision. You're going to have to talk with our manager if you want to book the Flying Wheels for Founder's Day."

"Ok, so which in here is the manager?"

Dani watched in fascinated horror as Tony's finger pointed towards the small, greasy man. She groaned inwardly, dreading getting anywhere near him, but for the sake of Founder's Day, she'd suck it up.

Putting on a grim smile, she let Jenna lead her to the man. She learned that his name was Mr. Lester Hamilton and he had been the manager of the band for 5 years. His hand was warm and sweaty when Dani shook it, and his eyes had the unfortunate habit of falling to her chest.

Lester, as he preferred to be called, said that since the band was about to perform, he didn't have any time to talk business, but said he and the band would join them on the dance floor after they played their sets.

Dani agreed whole heartedly. The less time she had to spend around the man, the better. She and Jenna said goodbye to the band and walked out to join the rest of the club crowd. They grabbed a seat at a table to watch the show, and as the lights dimmed to welcome the band, Dani couldn't help but feel a little shiver of foreboding crawl up her spine.


After listening to a few of their songs, Dani thought the Flying Wheels were pretty good. They had some nice melodies, and good lyrics. She smiled at Jenna when they stepped off stage, giving her a thumbs up. Jenna grinned back and motioned that she was going to the bar for another drink.

Dani waited at the table for Jenna to come back. After about a minute, she felt a hand tap her shoulder. She turned, and felt her good mood check out for the night. Lester, or Leecher as Dani had dubbed him, stood behind her chair, a confident smile on his face as he looked at her.

"So I take it that you liked the show," he said. His tone insinuated that he knew she liked the show. He didn't bother to ask if she did like it, and that annoyed Dani. This man didn't know her, and shouldn't talk like he did.

"Yes, I did. I thought that the music was very original, and I especially loved the lyrics to the song-"

"Now hush dear. There's no need to act smart with me," he chuckled. "You've already impressed me in so many…other ways."

Dani repressed the curl of her lip.

Leecher moved closer and put a hand on her bare knee. "Tell you what baby, why don't you and me head out back and talk about the plans for your little concert." His fingers tightened on her knee. "I'm sure that we can work out a deal that makes everyone happy."

Dani pushed his hand away roughly. She stood up, towering over him as best as her 5'9 frame would let her. She looked down at him angrily before saying, "Mr. Hamilton, I will not take this kind of talk or behavior. I came here today to talk business."

"Well of course. Why don't we find someplace quieter to talk then?" Grinning, he grabbed her arm in a surprisingly strong grip and dragged her to the back stage door. The bouncer let them through without looking twice, even ignored the fact that Dani was trying to dislodge herself from Leecher.

It wasn't until they were inside the empty dressing room that he let her go.

Tumbling into the room, Dani began to feel very afraid. Quickly, she went over the different ways she could defend herself in her head, taking caution to not actually say anything out loud.

She watched as Leecher locked the door and turned to her, a hungry gleam in his eye.

"Mr. Hamilton-"

"I told you to call me Lester."

"I know, but I don't think it would be very professional if we-"

Lester moved closer to her, undoing his tacky tie. "Damn professionalism. I want you baby, and I know you want me too."

Dani made a face, and not a happy one.

She moved behind the couch as Leecher made it to the other side.

"Mr. Hamilton, please-"

"That's right baby, beg for it."

Dani quickly took off one of her heels. She brandished it in front of her.

"I mean it Mr. Hamilton, stop it!"

"Or what?" He skittered closer. "You'll punish me? Oh baby, that gets me so hot."

Dani glanced at the door, which was now unobstructed. If she could just get to it…

Glancing at Leecher, and seeing his dangerous expression filled with lust and lunacy, Dani made up her mind. She dashed around the couch and ran for the door. She almost made it before she felt the pair of bony arms close around her waist and bear her to the ground.

Crying out in fear, Dani swung her shoe backwards, hoping to catch Leecher off guard. Hearing a masculine cry of pain, Dani guessed that she got him.

"You bitch!"

Dani felt herself being forcibly turned around to face the crazed man, and was so panicked that she didn't see his hand coming towards her.

The force with which he slapped her snapped her head back. She was dazed for a few moments before she noticed that Leecher was no longer on top of her. She looked up and saw a man standing with his back to her, a back that looked very familiar.

A whimper reached her ears, and she looked around the muscular jean clad legs to see Leecher cowering on the floor a little a ways from her.

"Are you ok?"

Stunned, Dani stared up at her landlord. "Mr. Salvtore?"

Turning to look back at her, he asked again, "Are you ok Dani?"

Dani nodded slowly, her brown eyes locked on his blue ones. Damon nodded once in satisfaction before turning back to Leecher.

"Dani, I want you to go wait in my car outside. You know which one it is. I'll be out to drive you home as soon as I deal with this piece of shit."

Dani shivered at the sound of his voice. It was filled with cold malice and unbridled rage. She hesitated a moment, scared of what Damon might do to the little man cowering on the floor. Sure he had tried to hurt her, but she wouldn't want Damon to get blood on his hands because of her.

As if reading her thoughts, Damon said, "Don't worry, I won't hurt him."

Slowly, Dani got up from off the floor and unlocked the door. Taking one last look at Damon's rigid back, she stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind her.


Damon didn't take his eyes off of Hamilton until he was sure that Dani was out of the hall. He followed the sound of her heels until she exited out of the back door and into the club.

After the back door closed behind Dani, he focused all his attention on the worm in front of him.

This man, no, this insect, had dared to try to force Dani into… Argh! He didn't even want to think about it. If it had been anyone else, he would have ripped this guy's throat out and left him to bleed in his own filth, but sadly that would just cause problems. Problems he couldn't deal with.

Glaring at the bug in front of him, he decided to do the only thing he really could. He stepped forward and grabbed Hamilton by the back of his collar. Squeaking in fright, Hamilton looked up at him with watery eyes. With a curled lip of disgust, Damon slammed him against the wall and looked into his eyes, his pupils contracting.

"You will forget everything that happened tonight. You did not accost Danielle Court, you discussed business. That's it. And because you found Ms. Court so charming and genuine, you will do the Founder's Day concert pro-bono. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Hamilton said tonelessly.

Damon smiled. "Good. Oh, and one more thing Hamilton. If you ever try to force a woman to do something with you that she doesn't want to do, let this image flash in your mind."

Damon let his fangs grow longer and his eyes turn red as he looked down at Hamilton. The little man looked at him with a mixture of fear and awe.

"You should be very afraid Lester; very afraid."

With that said he opened his mouth in a hiss and struck.


Lester woke up with a start. He was lying on the couch in the dressing room, alone. He rubbed his head.

"Damn, what the hell did I drink?"

He didn't remember much, just something about playing a pro-bono gig in some town called Mystic Falls…

He shrugged. Whatever, if he said he would do it, he would. Listening to the sound of music through the walls, Lester figured that he hadn't been asleep for long. He rubbed his hands in anticipation. He still had a chance to have some fun tonight. He had had his eye on this little blond near the bar that-

Suddenly, the image of a monstrous face with long fangs and red eyes flashed through his mind. The image felt so real that he gave out a cry of fear. But as suddenly as the image appeared, it disappeared.

Lester sat there, sweating from fear. His breath came out in frightened pants.

"Maybe I should just go home."


The drive back to the boarding house was spent in silence. Dani had found Jenna and told her that she would be going home early. Telling Jenna that she would call her tomorrow, Dani made her way outside and found Damon's Camero. The doors were open and she sat in the passenger's seat, waiting.

When Damon walked out of the club about 10 minutes later, Damon got into the driver's seat without saying anything. Dani had opened her mouth to say something, but had thought better of it and stayed silent.

When they got to the boarding house, they both got out of the car and walked in the front door. Dani started to walk up the stairs, but was stopped by Damon's hand on her arm. He steered her to the kitchen, where he deposited her on the kitchen table once again.

She watched as Damon went to the fridge and opened the freezer. He took out an ice pack and wrapped it in a dish towel. He moved towards Dani and was about to place the cold pack against her already bruising cheek when Dani brought up a hand to stop him.

"I can do it myself."

"Oh really? Cause it looked like you were handling that situation back at the club rather well too."

Dani felt anger well up inside of her. "Look, I'm grateful that you showed up when you did, and took me home. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for that. But I can take care of myself now, so you don't need to worry."

Damon snorted. "Please. It always seems that I'm taking care of you."

"Like my burned hand?"

Damon looked down at her. Her eyes were downcast, letting her eyelashes cast shadows on her cheeks. He took her chin with his fingers, and forced her to meet his gaze.

"I'm… I'm sorry that I didn't help you to take care of your burn like I said I would. But I-"

"But what? You were too busy, right? That's fine! Like I said, I can take care of myself! I don't need you to look after me!" Pushing him away, she hopped off the table and made for the stairs again.

Damon blocked her way. Not caring or wondering how he had yet again been so fast as to get in front of her, Dani tried to get around him. He blocked her again and again. Finally, Dani looked up at Damon on the verge of tears and asked, "What do you want from me?"

Damon put his arms around her and held her close. Dani's surprise at this unexpected show of compassion broke the hold on her emotions and she started to cry.

Holding onto Damon, Dani sobbed into his shirt. Damon rubbed her back and whispered nonsensical things to her. After a few minutes, Dani's sobbing subsided and she sniffed as she pulled away from Damon.

"I'm s-so sorry. I just…I just needed to…"

"I know. After what you went through tonight, it's not unreasonable for you to behave like that. You've probably never had to deal with slime like him anyway. Now, since you're done crying, do you mind if I take care of that bruise?"

Dani shook her head. Damon sighed and took her hand, leading her to the kitchen. He picked up the pack and placed it gently against her cheek. With the other hand, he wiped away the tear tracks on her face with his fingers.

"Mr. Salvatore?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that…We could be friends?"

Damon stopped stroking her cheek. She was looking up at him with her big, brown eyes, waiting for his answer.

To say that Damon was stunned was an understatement. No one, not in his long lifetime, had anyone asked to be his friend. But this girl, no, this woman, with her innocent gaze and kind soul wanted to be friends with someone like him.

Noticing that Damon wasn't saying anything, Dani started to babble. "I know that-that you may not like me all that much since you've been avoiding me, but you've saved me, and you've been really nice to me since I moved in, and I thought that maybe, if you wanted, we could be friends and then-"

A large hand covered her mouth. Damon felt his own mouth stretch into something that wasn't a smirk or a scowl. He smiled down at Dani, his cold eyes warmer than before as they shone happily in the light.

Dani's breath caught in her throat as she looked upon a different Damon. This one she had never seen, and she had a feeling that not a lot of people saw it either. As he smiled down at her, she couldn't help but smile into his hand.

Removing his hand from her mouth, Damon said, "You know what Dani, I'd like to be friends."

Dani's smile grew wider. "Really? Thank you Mr. Salvatore."

"Call me Damon."