Chapter Two: March, 1995
Damon cursed his stupidity...and lack of willpower, as he once again stood outside the Davies' family home in Lawrence, Kansas.
The house itself didn't look any different than it had three months ago, and at eleven o'clock at night, all the lights, except the living room were off. Listening carefully, Damon could hear the two separate heart beats, both slow, even and calm.
Even though the house didn't look different, Damon could feel an undercurrent of magical energy thrumming around the property, focused mostly on the house. It wasn't anything that could keep him away, but there was a definite 'back off' sign, flashing loud and clear to those who knew what to look for. When he started wandering quietly around the house, he saw the reason why.
Ancient protection symbols, symbols that Damon had only seen at the most powerful of vampires' nests, were placed strategically and discreetly around the home, some carved into small tree branches, one underneath the porch, and one just outside Sophie's bedroom window.
He growled in annoyance and frustration. This meant he'd have to thank Jasmine for putting forth the effort in keeping up her end of the bargain. Granted, those symbols didn't do a whole lot for vampires, but other things would have a hard time getting in.
Damon wasn't naive enough to believe he was the only supernatural entity in Lawrence.
As he finished another circle around the house, he noticed it wasn't Jennifer or Mike in the living room watching TV, but it was a young girl, close to sixteen or seventeen. She had her feet curled up underneath her and a book on her lap. Her dirty blonde hair fell over her face, keeping Damon from seeing anything else about her.
Damon turned away from the door, his intention to scale up the wall of the house to Sophie's bedroom, and go in and see the little girl. That was all. He just wanted to make sure she was okay. Protection symbols and promises aside, Damon didn't trust Jasmine and her minions not to hurt her, just to prove a point. They were vampires after all.
As he walked away from the front window, he heard movement, slight and quiet. Damon turned around as the young girl from the couch suddenly looked up and out the window. She frowned slightly, and set down a calculator and a notebook, giving Damon a glimpse of what she'd been working on: algebra. Damon winced in sympathy for her as she got up and walked softly to the window. Her steps were quiet, so quiet they were almost silent, and Damon had to strain to hear them. Still, as he flattened himself in the shadows, he didn't count her as anything other than a girl. A pretty girl, he noted, when he caught a glimpse of her bright green eyes, almost as bright as Sophie's, but still just a teenage girl. Not someone to bother with.
That was, until she opened the door, looked both ways, and muttered the word 'christo' under her breath.
Damon blinked in surprise, but stayed still and silent, out of her sight. A few moments later, she shut the door. Damon heard her lock the deadbolt, and then listened carefully as she made her way around the house. Damon followed her by ear, listening as she carefully checked each door and window, making sure nothing could get in. Damon listened as she made a quick stop at the upstairs landing, and then seemed to glide down the stairs.
"Okay, its time to stop doing homework when you start hallucinating." he heard her mutter to herself as she settled back down on the couch and pulled a book from the backpack sitting against the coffee table.
Damon watched her for a moment, and once he was sure she was good and settled for a while, slipped around the side of the house, scaled the wall, and landed on the small ledge outside Sophie's room. He carefully slid the window open, and crawled in.
The room hadn't changed in the few months he'd been gone, and Sophie was curled up under a bundle of pink and white blankets, the locket he'd given her shining against the darkness. He allowed himself a soft smile, and walked towards the bed. He sat down gingerly on the edge, doing his best not to wake her up.
Sophie's hair had gotten longer, and it fell over her face as she slept, her small breaths blowing it away from her face, and then sucking it right back to stick to her lips. Damon indulged himself, against his better judgement, and gently brushed it away from her face. He let his fingers run along her scalp, as careful as if she were made of glass.
Sophie's green eyes blinked open lazily at the touch and Damon froze, as she yawned, and then looked at him steadily. There was no way she'd remember the random stranger she'd met a few months ago. She was only three. Children didn't have that kind of memory.
Damon braced himself for the screaming.
Instead, Sophie's eyes widened, and she pushed herself off the bed. In seconds, she had launched herself at Damon.
"Damon!" she cried out, wrapping her arms around his neck. Damon let his own arms snake around to hold her close, allowing himself to inhale her scent.
Sophie pulled back to sit quietly on her bed, and smiled blindingly at Damon. "I missed you." she said cheerfully.
Damon smiled slightly at the child. He couldn't understand why she looked at him that way, with a smile and eyes bright as the sun, as if he were the center of her own little universe. He wasn't a good man...vampire. He didn't deserve to have something so pure and innocent look at him the way she did.
"Hi, Sophie." Damon said, letting his fingers drift through her hair. He decided to go for honesty. "I missed you too."
If possible, Sophie smiled even wider. "You were gone for so long." She said. Then, "Guess what? I'm this many now." She held up four fingers.
Damon felt a wave of guilt wash over him at missing her birthday. "Wow, Sophie. You're getting to be such a big girl."
Sophie smiled again. "Yup! Oh! And I get to go to dancing school now! My teacher is also my babysitter! Mommy and Daddy went to dinner, and she stayed with me. We played Candyland! And made s'mores!"
"That's great, Sophie." Damon said, with feigned interest. Honestly, he couldn't care less what she'd done with her babysitter, he just enjoyed listening to her talk. Her innocence seemed to blanket him with warmth. It'd been so long since he'd felt that warmth.
"You'll be nice to her, right?" Sophie asked, a slight frown on her face. "Like how nice you are with me?"
"Of course." Damon said. As the words left his mouth, he knew he would promise her the world, if that was what it took to make her smile. That blindingly, innocent smile that she gifts him with.
Movement on the stairs forced Damon to quickly untangle himself from the four-year-old, and leap for the closet. Sophie looked at him funny, and then turned a bright smile to the teenage girl standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Sophie." she said. "What'cha doing up kiddo?"
Sophie shrugged. "Nofin'."
"Nothing huh?" the girl asked, casting suspicious eyes around the room. She frowned at the open window. "It sounded like you were talking to someone."
"To Damon." Sophie said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Damon groaned quietly in frustration.
"To Damon, huh?" she asked, going over to the window and shutting it. She looked back and forth, out the side, and then turned around to look at Sophie. He could hear the smile in her voice as she said, "I thought I said that you and Damon had to sleep."
Damon frowned slightly, and counted to ten before he leaned forward slightly to look out the crack between the door and the wall. The girl was sitting on the edge of Sophie's bed, holding a stuffed brown bear in her hands.
Sophie reached for the bear. "Damon woke me up." she said. "But he just wanted to say 'hi'."
The girl shook her head, obviously amused. "Well now, Damon is saying 'good night'." She tapped the bear's nose against Sophie's, and then settled both bear and girl back under the covers. Sophie leaned down against the pillows and closed her eyes.
The girl watched for a moment, cast one more suspicious glance around the room, and then shut the door quietly behind her.
Damon came out from his hiding place, and watched Sophie for a moment longer, before slipping out the window and sliding down the side of the house. and then slipped down the side out of the house.
About an hour later, Mike and Jennifer came home, laughing and smiling. The teenage girl left not long after, and got in the beat up and rusted Chevy that had been parked on the street. She drove off into the night, and Damon made sure to memorize her license plate number, before slinking off into the darkness.
O~O~O
Damon walked up to Jasmine's front door early the next morning. Granted, it wasn't his smartest move, but he's done all kinds of stupid things since the sun came up, and it wasn't even noon yet: following Sophie to school and then eavesdropping when her mom was trying to figure out how to get her to dance class later that evening, 'cause Mike had to work late.
The door opened almost immediately, a blond haired vampire standing just outside of the sun's rays, eying him with distaste.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Salvatore?" the scorn practically dripped from her lips.
"I want to talk to Jasmine."
She stared at him for a moment, and then walked back inside. Damon waited impatiently on the porch, wanting to bang on the door. He resisted the urge. Jasmine put in defenses to help keep Sophie safe. Damon had checked the only dance studio in the small town, her pre-school, and her mom's car. As much as it killed a little bit of the soul he's wasn't sure he even had anymore, it's Sophie. He'd apologize to Stefan, sincerely, if that was what it took to keep her safe, guarded and happy.
The blonde vampire returned, after a long moment, a graying, middle aged woman at her side. The woman's eyes were glazed, and a permanent smile was etched onto her face.
"Mrs. Robins, this is Damon. Please invite him inside."
The woman tilted her head, and Damon could see the bite marks marking up her shoulder and along her neck. She smiled. "Hello, Damon. Please. Come inside."
Damon smiled politely, and stepped over the threshold. The blond ignored the woman and turned towards the stairwell. Damon followed, up the stairs and into a lavish office at the top of the landing.
Jasmine was sitting with her back to the door, at a large wooden desk, looking the same as she had the few months before when he'd encountered her at the Davies' house. Her long dark hair fell down her back, and she was wearing a tight, black dress.
"Damon." She said, not turning around. "What do I owe this pleasure?"
Damon shuffled his feet and then shoved his hands deep in his pants pockets. He swallowed his pride, reminding himself that it was for Sophie, held his head up, and said, "I just wanted to thank you, for taking measure to keep Sophie safe. I...appreciate it."
Jasmine turned to look at him then, cocking one perfectly manicured eyebrow. "Excuse me?" She looked genuinely confused.
Damon tilted his head at her. "The protection symbols around her house and bedroom." And other places.
Jasmine shrugged. "It wasn't me."
Damon narrowed his eyes at her. "You said you'd protect her."
Jasmine sighed. "No. I said myself and the vampires under my care wouldn't hurt her. Aside from my order she wasn't to be touched, I have not even given a second thought to your little pet. She is your responsibility to protect. Not mine. "
Damon nodded. "My mistake." He had a new suspicion as to who it was, and wanted to look into it. He nodded to Jasmine, who just flicked her hand at him and turned back to her desk. Damon's pride prickled at being so obviously dismissed, but he kept his mouth shut, not willing to antagonize the few vampires he didn't have to worry about eating Sophie just yet.
Maybe later.
Ignoring the other vampires, Damon headed out into the sunlight.
O~O~O
By that evening, Damon had tracked down Sophie's babysitter from the night before.
Deanna Winchester: 16 years old.
Damon watched the supposedly normal girl from across the street. She was sitting at a coffee shop, apparently doing homework, sipping her coffee and tapping her pen against her notebook. Damon could hear the rhythm underneath the tapping.
Deanna brushed her hair away from her face, and began tapping her foot in sync with her pen. Nothing about her said she wasn't a normal teenage girl. Nothing said she wasn't exactly what she seemed to be.
Except last night she'd muttered 'christo' into the darkness. That was protection against demons. Normal girls didn't know about demons. And she was likely the culprit who'd placed the protection symbols around the Davies' home...and the elementary school...and the local high school...and the dance studio...and a dozen other places he'd noticed around the small town while tracking down the young girl that evening. And those were symbols that Damon had only seen a time or two, and not something a sixteen-year-old girl should know just off the top of her head.
Damon quickly made up his mind, and stalked across the street. He walked into the coffee shop, pulled out the chair in front of her, and sat down as if he belonged there.
Deanna raised an eyebrow at him, and then set her pen down. She crossed her arms defensively, and leaned against her chair. "Can I help you?"
"Christo." He said to her, without preamble.
Deanna didn't flinch, like a demon would have, but her eyes did narrow dangerously. "Excuse me?"
Damon could see the thread of danger lurking just under her skin, and wondered if it was genetic, or if she really was as dangerous as she seemed to be. "Just checking." he said. Damon leaned forward and co-opted her coffee.
Deanna frowned at him. "You're checking to see if I'm a demon...and then you take my coffee? Who the hell are you?"
"I think the better question would be, who are you?" Damon replied.
"I asked you first." Deanna said.
Damon shrugged. "I'm Damon Salvatore."
"So?" Deanna asked.
Damon smirked. "You asked who I was. That's it. Now, your turn."
"I'm Deanna Winchester. But...I'm betting you already knew that." Deanna said, reaching over and taking her coffee back.
Damon relinquished her coffee, and then took the muffin that was sitting next to her elbow. Not that he actually wanted it, but he figured it would piss her off, and after being polite to bloodthirsty vampires he didn't even like, he was more than happy to let his attitude show through with the teenage girl who was looking at him like a dangerous bug. The almost silent frustrated huff he got from her, told him he was getting close, and Damon took perverse pleasure in annoying her. "I did know that actually." He said. "The very nice woman in the office at your school was very helpful. She told me all about you."
"All about me, huh?" Deanna asked. "Like what?" She was still looking at him smugly, showing outwardly she wasn't afraid of him. Her green eyes however showed her emotions. Wary, almost fear shone back at him.
"Like, when you were four, your mother was killed in a mysterious fire, and your dad and two brothers disappeared. Like, your neighbors took you in, and the very nice Warren family has been raising you for the last twelve years." Deanna frowned, and Damon continued. "She told me you have a 4.0 GPA, that you teach at the gymnastics center in Kansas City on weekends, and the local dance studio during the week. She told me you babysit, and her kids think you are the best thing since sliced bread. Am I missing anything?"
Deanna was staring at him with a look that made Damon want to check and make sure he wasn't on fire. "And why on Earth would she tell you any of that?"
"I can be very persuasive," Damon said, shredding her muffin into tiny bits. "But what I don't know is how or why a sixteen-year-old high school student would know what the word 'christo' means, let alone how to use it."
"I read." she said immediately, looking at him suspiciously.
"Or how said sixteen-year-old would know how to draw ancient Sumerian protection symbols."
"I don't even know what you're talking about." she said. Damon almost believed her. She was a good liar. Again, Damon wondered if it was genetic, or if took practice. "I'm just a dance teacher. A high school student, like you said."
Damon raised his own eyebrow at her. "So you weren't the one who put the symbols underneath Sophie Davies' bedroom window?"
Deanna jerked slightly. "And what were you doing under Sophie Davies' window?"
"I was in the neighborhood..." Damon shrugged. "So...you have no idea how they got there."
Deanna shook her head and flipped hair out of her face. "Nope." she said as she picked up her pen and began tapping again.
Damon nodded. "Okay. Now, see, I know you're lying. 'Cause I can smell it on you." Deanna's eyes narrowed even more.
"What kind of person can smell a lie?" Deanna asked, pausing just long enough in her tapping to fix him with another intense stare.
"The kind that's not quite a person." Damon responded. Deanna's eyes widened slightly. "What kind of dance instructor know about ancient Sumerian protection rites?"
"The kind who's been aware of what lives in the darkness since she was four." Deanna said. "So, since you're not a person, and 'christo' doesn't work on you, what does?"
Damon leaned back in the chair, Deanna's muffin crumbled into a pile of crumbs on the plate in front of him. "Well, not garlic...or crucifixes."
"So there's two things down." Deanna smirked. "Ninety-eight more possibilities."
"Oh, sweetheart," Damon laughed. "There are so many more possibilities. You have no idea the kinds of things that roam in the darkness. Things that make me look like a fluffy, kind-hearted kitten."
"And you're not?" Deanna asked. "Gee, and all I thought you were able to do was stalk people and take their coffee while pretending to be scary."
"I'm the kind of thing that nightmares are made of." Damon said, leaning forward. "You would not believe how dangerous I could be."
"Could?" Deanna asked.
Damon nodded. "When it suits me. Now, for instance? I'm more just curious about the supposed dance instructor who babysits a friend of mine."
"Sophie." Deanna nodded. Damon could see when the light bulb came on for her. "I thought you were her imaginary friend."
"Believe me, princess." Damon said, "If I wasn't concerned about you threatening that family, you wouldn't have even known I was here. As it was, I told Sophie I'd be nice to you. So I'm talking to you first, before ripping your throat out."
Deanna didn't even blink at the threat. "Good to know I've got a four-year-old looking out for me."
"She likes you." Damon said.
"And I like her." Deanna replied. "I like all my students. And no, I'm not a threat. Unlike some 'not quite people' I know, I'm actually human. Now, Mr. Imaginary Friend, the question at the mercy of the court here is: Are you a threat?"
Damon stared at her for a moment, and saw complete honesty in her eyes. She might not be an average human, but she wasn't lying about caring about her students. And that apparently counted Sophie.
"No." Damon answered her. "I'm not a threat. God only knows why, but I like the kid. I'm not ever going to hurt her."
Deanna stared him down. "I'm not saying I'm trusting you, but I do believe you aren't going to hurt her. Sophie has that affect on people. But I'm giving you fair warning: I'm not your average high school student, and I have resources that people my age don't even dream about having. You hurt her, Mike, Jennifer, or anyone else in my town, and I will end you. I won't think twice." She held out her hand. "Do we have an understanding?"
Damon shook her hand. "As long as you understand the same goes for you. It's nice to know I'm not the only one looking out for her, and Sophie wants me to 'be nice, but don't think for one second I won't put your head on my mantle if she ever retracts her protection."
"All right then." Deanna retracted her hand, and went back to looking at her book, history from the looks of things. She glanced up at him. "No offense, but I have paper to write on the Civil War, and if I don't get it done tonight, I won't have time to do it later. And it's worth about half my grade."
Damon shook his head, wondering at the kind of person who could talk about ending him in one breath, and her history grade in the other. He got up to walk away, but turned when Deanna said, "Next time you decide to wake Sophie up in the middle of the night, you might want to be a little bit quieter. And maybe not make it so late. She does need rest, and I can't have her yawning through dance class again."
Damon huffed under his breath, and a second later, when Deanna looked up from her book, Damon was gone.
O~O~O
It had been two weeks since Damon had threatened Deanna, and been threatened in return. He hadn't seen the girl since, except for to find the Warren's family home and dump a couple of books on the Civil War on her front step. But as he showed up at Sophie's house that night, the same busted Chevy truck that had been parked outside the first night was there again.
Damon looked in the front window, and saw Deanna, again sitting on the couch, nose stuck in a book.
Damon ignored her, and scaled the wall, like he did every night, and slipped quietly into Sophie's room. Sophie was sitting up, holding tight to her bear, ('My Damon Bear, silly!' she'd told him a few nights ago). She looked up as he dropped almost silently into her room.
"Damon!" she cried out softly to him. She jumped out of bed, and into his arms. Damon carefully tightened his grip on her as tight as he dared, and carried her back to her bed.
"Hey, Soph." Damon whispered miserably in her ear.
Sophie pulled away, and put her tiny hands on both sides of his face. "What's wrong?" she asked, whispering softly.
Damon took her hands away from his face, and studied them. Back when he was still human, his mother had purchased a tiny, porcelain doll for one of the small neighbor children. Looking at Sophie's hands, he was amazed at how tiny and delicate they were.
Just like that doll.
Damon shook his head, trying to fight through memories. He knew what he had to do, but it cut him up inside to have to do so.
"Sophie," Damon said seriously. "I want you do listen to me very carefully, okay?"
Sophie leaned back against her pillows, hugging 'Damon' close to her chest. She nodded, showing she was listening. Damon had to stop and remind himself she was only four. Sometimes, she seemed so much older than her few years.
Damon took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm not going to be able to come over anymore, kiddo. I have to go away for a while."
"But, why?" Sophie asked before she started to speak. Damon gave in to his impulses, and pulled her into his arms. She tightened her grip around his neck immediately, turning her face into the space between his shoulder and his neck. Damon let himself inhale her scent, memorizing for the long road ahead.
"I have some work to do, Soph. Work that will keep you safe. But I can't do it here. I have to go away for a little while."
"What kind of work?" Sophie asked, her voice muffled by Damon's shoulder.
"The secret kind." Damon said, stroking her hair gently. He didn't want to go, but he also knew that in order to keep up his end of the deal with Jasmine, and to keep the precious gem inside his arms safe from the things in the darkness, he had to go.
But he didn't have to leave her alone.
Damon didn't realize how long he'd been sitting there, until he glanced down at Sophie and found her asleep in his arms. He laid her down gently, ran his fingers one more time through her hair, and then walked out of her bedroom.
Deanna was still sitting on the couch, and looked up at him with mild surprise when he walked down the hallway.
"I suppose I have you to thank for my 'A' on my report." she said, reaching for her backpack.
"The books were helpful I take it?" Damon said, leaning against the door jam.
"Incredibly so." She said, holding them out to him. "So...and this actually hurts to say, thank you. I kind needed that 'A' to keep up my 4.0."
Damon shook his head. "Keep them. Someone should use them."
Deanna looked at him carefully. "Thanks. They really are fascinating."
Damon nodded, and watched her as she gently put the old, cracked books back in her backpack. She then turned to stare at him. "What's going on?"
Damon sighed, and raked his fingers through his hair. "I made a deal, about three months ago. A deal to keep Sophie safe."
Deanna frowned. "Is this something I'm going to have to be prepared for?"
"No." Damon assured the teen. "But I do have to uphold my end of the deal. And to do that, I have to leave for a while."
Deanna nodded in understanding. "Did you tell Sophie?"
"Yeah. Just now. I don't like it, and neither does she, but it's not something that can be avoided. To keep her safe, right now that means I have to go."
"And let me guess..." Deanna started, scooting back on the couch and brushing hair back behind her ears.
"I need you to watch out for her." Damon said. "I run in dangerous circles. I wasn't lying when I said I'm the kind of thing that nightmares are made of. There are only two people in the universe I even care enough about to put in danger, and I do my damnedest to keep them safe. "
"Sophie being one of them." Deanna said.
Damon just reached into his pocket. "I've made a lot of enemies in my time. Enemies that won't care Sophie is an innocent little girl. Hell, three months ago, I wouldn't have cared." He handed her a piece of paper."This hurts me, just as much as it hurts you. I don't work well with others, and I certainly don't work well with humans. I trust you, just about as much as you trust me, but I believe you can and will keep her safe. Ask anyone, I don't ask for help, ever, but right now I am begging you to help me protect her. Please."
Deanna looked down at the paper Damon had handed to her, and noted the number. She nodded and blinked patient green eyes at him. "I'll watch her." she said. "I'll keep her safe."
Damon sighed in relief. He wasn't sure what she would say. "If something comes up I should know about, you can call me at that number. I'll get the message."
Deanna nodded, and watched as Damon walked towards the door. As he opened it, and prepared to walk out the door, Deanna stopped him with a question.
"What makes her so special?" she asked, and when Damon turned back to her, he saw honest curiosity in her eyes. "What makes her so worth protecting?"
Damon shrugged. "I'll get back to you on that."
Without another word, Damon disappeared into the darkness.
He didn't look back.
Author's Note: Send me a review and tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you. :)