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 12: Life and Love

Blackness clouded her vision and ice ran through her veins. Her breath stilled in her chest. Dani knew she was dead, there could be no other explanation for the amount of pain that she was currently in. Heavy pins and needles shot through her body. It felt exactly like when her foot or arm would fall asleep, just on a larger scale.

It made sense, in its own way. With her heart stopped, her blood slowed and stopped circulating. Soon she would feel nothing. She would just drift away into death silently, and that scared her. She wasn't a person who focused on religion, so she really couldn't say whether she believed in an afterlife or not. She had always thought of herself as spiritual, always trying to look at the big picture of life rather than concentrating on the meaningless little details that she noticed so many other people paid attention to.

Once, when she was younger, she gave the idea of death a great deal amount of thought. She didn't think that she would die anytime soon, no, she was too young for that. In her mind, she was invincible. She could ride her bike over a ramp, perform amazing feats on the jungle gym, and capture the flag in the woods with her friends, all without having to worry about whether or not she'd get hurt.

But once, just that once, she had stopped and thought about death. She thought about living her life, getting old, having children, having a job, retiring, having grandchildren, and then dying. But was that it? At the end, after she had endured years of happiness, sadness, anger, heartbreak, passion and love, she just simply died? What the hell was that? It wasn't fair to live a full life only to disappear at the end of it. What if she did disappear? What if there was nothing there after you died?

She had cried then, when she had thought about the end of her life. She remembered her mother finding her in tears, asking her what was wrong. Listening to her daughter, her mother had wrapped her arms around her and said, "Dear, no one really knows what happens after we die. The one thing that we can be sure about is the mark we leave behind. That is how we live on Dani. We give all our love to whoever we meet, and they remember us after we're gone. So we never really die, not really."

Her mother's words had comforted Dani then, but she could find no comfort in them now. She had loved, yes, but would Damon remember her? Would he remember her fifty years, or a hundred years from now? She hoped so.

Dani's thought's dimmed and blinked out as she died, her eyes dulling and losing life. Water from the river ran into her mouth, into her body. Her fingers, which had been clenched moments before, loosened and fanned out in the water. Danielle Court died at 10:23 pm.


Not sparing a glance at Zenna, Damon ran to the edge of the bridge and jumped over the side after Dani, leaving Alaric to deal with the other vampire.

The water was a shock when he dove in. He pushed it aside though and focused on finding Dani in the dark water. He caught movement in the corner of his eye. He looked to the side and saw a hand. He reached for it and grabbed hold of it. Pulling the hand to him, he pulled the rest of Dani's body up and into his arms. He quickly kicked his feet, swimming to the surface.

He wasted no time in making his way to the river bank. Alaric was there waiting for him, which Damon assumed meant that he had taken care of Zenna. Alaric took hold of Dani and pulled her up onto the bank. Damon hoisted himself up and quickly moved to Dani's side.

Her face was white, her lips blue as were the tips of her fingers. The chains that still bound her wrists clinked together as Damon tried to find a heartbeat.

"Is she.,,?"

Damon looked up at Alaric. He shook his head.

"Jesus, I'm sorry Damon."

"What are you sorry about?"

Alaric's brow furrowed. Damon's mouth turned up in a slow grin. "Stephen told you about what happened right? That she was attacked?"

Alaric nodded. "Yeah, but what does that- Holy shit, you gave her your blood didn't you?"

Damon laughed. It was a lighthearted sound, one that Alaric thought he would never hear from the sarcastic blood sucker. Damon took Dani's chains in his hands and broke them, then did the same thing to the ones around her ankles. He pulled the knife from Dani's chest, throwing it to the side. He slipped his arms around her body and lifted her.

Winking at Alaric, he said, "See you later. And don't worry about Dani. I'll make sure that she doesn't skip out on school." Not looking back, Damon speeded back to the house.


Dani groaned as she came back into consciousness. She felt sore all over and her throat felt so dry that she could swear that she could drink the Nile right then and there. Screw the ecosystem, she was thirsty dammit.

She opened her eyes to a dimly lit room. She recognized the canopy above her head as the one that was over her own bed at the boarding house. But that wasn't right, she couldn't be at the boarding house. Last thing that she remembered was the bridge…

Gasping, Dani shot up in bed. The bridge! Damon, he had been there. He had killed Katherine, and then… Then Zenna, he had…

Her hand flew up to her chest. Looking down, Dani saw that she was wearing large shirt that wasn't her own. Pulling down the collar, Dani saw…nothing. Absolutely nothing. She touched the skin above her heart gingerly, inspecting the unblemished skin. No mark marred her skin, no cut or wound. But how was that possible? How could she be alive? How?

A noise near the door caught her attention. Damon stood leaning against the doorframe, studying her with his cool eyes.

Before Dani could say anything to him, she was suddenly enveloped in a tight hug. Damon held her tightly against him, breathing in her scent and joyous of the fact that she was with him once again.

"Damon, what happened? Why am I alive?"

Damon pulled back to look into her eyes. "Remember what I told about vampire blood?"

Dani stared at him, her mind stalling with refusal and doubt. She shook her head feebly. "No, I can't be… I died and now I'm a… Am I a…a…"

Damon shook his head no. "Not yet. You need to drink human blood to complete the transformation."

A lump formed in her throat at the thought. "I have to drink…human blood?"

Damon nodded. "Yes, but you don't have to kill anyone Dani. I have a few bags of blood downstairs in a cooler that you can drink from. Just say the word and I'll go get one for you."

"What happens if I don't drink it?"

Silence filled the room for a few moments. Finally, Damon sighed and answered, "You die, and you won't be coming back."

Dani looked down, her eyes not seeing the covers that were clutched in her hands.

"I need some time to think about it."

"Dani…"

"Please Damon." She looked up at him, pleading. "I really need to think about it. I'll-I'll let you know soon what my decision is, but for now, I need you to leave and let me think." Her voice was on the verge of breaking, her tone begging him to leave.

Damon's face flitted from hurt to neutral in a matter of seconds, but Dani caught it. She felt guilty for hurting him, but she needed time alone if she was going to decide whether she wanted to die or spend an eternity with the man she loved and leave everything behind her.

Damon slowly righted himself and walked to the door. He gave Dani one last glance before closing the door behind him, leaving Dani alone.


'So what now Dani?' she thought to herself. She had two choices before her, there was no third door. She either died, or she drank some blood and lived forever. Dying didn't scare her anymore, she had done it once before and it hadn't been that bad. Except for the knife in her chest, her death hadn't been that bad at all. So she could live with dying… or something.

Living forever was another story altogether. Living forever would mean that she would get to experience all sorts of things, hopefully one of which would be flying cars. And she would be with Damon, that is if he loved her like she loved him and wanted her to be with him. But if he didn't want her, and she agreed to become a vampire, where would that leave her? Alone forever? No thanks.

It would also mean that she would have to drink blood for the foreseeable future. Would that mean that she couldn't eat normal food anymore? If she couldn't, then she'd be pretty bummed out. She loved food. What would she do after she had finished watching Titanic and she couldn't eat ice cream? Suck on a bag of blood that some poor person had donated it, hoping to save someone with their contribution? Although, she had seen Damon eat food on occasion, so she figured that she would be able to eat after changing.

And what about her family? Her parents were still alive, and she was very close to them. If she lived forever, then she would have to watch everyone that she loved die. She wouldn't be able to tell them that she was a creature of the night, they would freak out. Well, her dad would probably ask her to turn into a bat and her mother would ask her to use her super strength to move the furniture, but that was beside the point. The point was that she would outlive them. Would she be able to handle that?

Before she decided, she needed to know one thing first. There was only one person who could give her that answer.


Damon was sitting before the lighted fireplace, a glass of brandy in his hand. He didn't turn when he heard Dani's padded footsteps on the stairs. He waited for her to come to him. She didn't disappoint as she walked up to stand right in front of him, the light of the fire at her back.

"Where's Stephen?"

"With Elena at her place."

Silence, then, "I need to ask you something."

Damon took a sip of his cup, waiting.

"Do you love me?"

He looked up. Dani's eyes were shining with unshed tears. He could see that she was nervous and anxious for his answer. Her fingers were curling and uncurling at her sides.

He took a breath. "Dani, you have been by far, the most interesting woman that I have ever met. And that is worth saying something. What made me pay attention to you were your quirks. The way to speak to yourself without realizing is one of my favorites. It's refreshing, because it shows me that you're honest, which not a lot of people are. I don't think I'd ever get bored of teasing you about it either."

Dani felt the first tear fall from her eye and run down her cheek. "So you'd never be bored with me huh? That's not a good enough reason for me to become a vampire Damon."

"I know." Damon set down his glass and stood up, taking a step towards Dani. She didn't move however, just stood there, looking at him. "I love your quirks, but I also love other things about you. I love that you're caring, honest, considerate, smart, cute, and your body is a definite plus." He smirked.

Dani gave out a laugh that mixed in with a sob. She sniffed, waiting.

Damon reached up and wiped away the tears from Dani's cheeks. "Dani, I thought I loved Katherine, but I realized a long time ago that I was just infatuated with her. I loved the idea of being with her, but I didn't love her. I can only compare my feelings for you to the moon while Katherine was just a night light. I love you Dani. I want to be with you."

Dani sniffed again and grinned. She threw her arms around Damon, happier than she had ever remembered being before. Damon hugged her back, kissing the crown of her head. Suddenly Dani pulled back, looking up at Damon with wide eyes.

"What is it Dani?"

"Damon, when I become a vampire, will I still get my period?"