The Daughter or Damon Salvatore
Chapter Three
Stefan and Jessica chatted the rest of the way to Mystic Falls. She felt more comfortable around Stefan now that she knew he was being honest with her. Jessica and Stefan talked about the supernatural and Stefan told her all about what vampires could do. He also confirmed that werewolves were in fact a myth despite what Jessica's mother had taught her. Stefan also told her about his current life and told Jessica more about Mystic Falls High, as that was where she was going to be going and he told her about Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie. He decided to keep information about Damon to himself, he did not want his opinion to encourage her own opinion of her father. He wanted her to make her decisions on her own accord by discovering for herself what Damon was like.
They eventually pulled up in front of the Salvatore Boarding House. Stefan took immense joy in watching the teenager's eyes widen at the beauty and size of the place as he grabbed her small suitcase from the car and ushered her towards the front door.
He opened the door, and she hesitantly took her first steps inside the building.
"Wow!" she explained, feeling a little breathless and slightly overwhelmed by the place.
"Welcome home" he smiled.
Jessica grinned at how amazing the place was.
"You think this is cool? Let me show you to your room, and then I will give you a tour of the place" he said.
"Ok" she replied.
Stefan led her up the staircase and down the hallway to her bedroom, he opened the bedroom and let her walk in.
The first thing she noticed was the massive four-poster bed to the left side of the room in the centre. The bed was surrounded by a beautiful piece of carpet. She had a walk-in wardrobe…not that she had enough clothes, shoes, or accessories to fill it. Nonetheless, she marvelled over it. Over to the right side of the room, there was another door. She poked her head around the doorway and saw a massively beautiful marble bathroom complete with a shower and a bath.
"This can't be all for me! I can't accept all of this! This room is bigger than my entire house in England was" she whispered in disbelief.
"This is all for you and you can accept all of this, and you will. You are family, and you will be treated as such. Get used to being spoiled rotten, I've got fifteen years to make up for" Stefan informed the young girl.
The girl smiled appreciatively, and Stefan left her to get settled in. He told her to meet him back down in the living room once she was ready. He wanted to give her some space to process everything before he bombarded her regarding school, and he wanted to show her around the town so that she could get a feel for the town she was now going to be living in.
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Jessica joined Stefan a short while later.
"How are you doing kid?" he asked her.
"Ok…I think?" she answered.
He nodded at her.
"So, any more questions?" he asked her.
"You mentioned earlier about your friends. Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie. How much do they know about you and the supernatural etc.?" she asked.
"Elena knows about me and Damon and vampires. She found out a couple of weeks ago and I spent a whole day talking to her about it all. I definitely scared her but, I couldn't lie to her anymore. It's not fair on her, it's not fair on us. I gave her the whole day to ask me every question she had and give me a chance to explain everything to her" Stefan confessed.
Jessica nodded.
"Sounds fair" she said.
Stefan decided to not mention the whole Vicki incident for now.
"Anyway, enough about that. Let me give you a tour of the rest of this place before you get lost" Stefan said.
Jessica nodded and walked beside her vampire uncle as he showed her the kitchen which he had stocked up with a variety of different foods and beverages that he was hoping Jessica would be alright with as he did not know what she liked and did not like to eat yet.
Jessica smiled appreciatively and his thoughtfulness. She now knew that vampires didn't really need to eat proper food in order to survive.
Next Stefan showed Jessica the massive library, she stared in awe at all the books that surrounded her. She was definitely going to be spending a lot of time in this room. Stefan briefly showed her the study which was still full of Zach's papers that Stefan realised he still needed to sort through.
Stefan also showed Jessica the basement and tried not to freak her out with the dungeon cell that they had down there. He just wanted to take her down there to show her where the vervain was. He then pulled out a few pieces of antique jewellery from a box that Jessica did not notice him having before and stared in surprise as Stefan asked her to choose a piece that she was to keep on her person at all times. He told her he had some other pieces of modern jewellery that she could use to put the vervain in if she wanted.
She nodded and looked at the pieces Stefan was offering. She felt drawn to a particular silver piece that was flat, it reminded her of a dog tag that a soldier might wear.
Stefan chuckled as she picked it up and inspected it. There was a small hole at the top of the piece that would allow her to put a chain through so that she could wear it as a necklace.
"What's so funny?" she asked as Stefan's chuckle shook her out of her thoughts.
Stefan just shook his head and shrugged.
"It's just curious that you would pick that particular piece" Stefan stated as headed towards the staircase out of the basement.
Jessica frowned in confusion as she stared back down at the piece and quickly realised that she was now alone in a creepy basement and ran after Stefan before she scared herself stupid.
Stefan showed Jessica upstairs. He pointed out her room again as they walked down the hall, Stefan also indicated which bedroom was Damon's. Jessica gulped and made a mental note to always avoid that room as much as possible even though it was the room opposite hers.
"Does Damon still live here?" she asked her uncle.
"Both Damon and I come and go. This is a place that has been constant for a long time so that we both always have a place to go to. However, we both tend to travel around rather than settle in one place for too long. At the moment, yes Damon is here. I don't know why he is back in town but yet, here he is like the giant pain in my ass he's always been" Stefan informed her.
She giggled at her uncle's words, despite how the thought of living under the same roof as her father terrified her.
"You sound like you hate him" Jessica stated.
Stefan sighed.
"Once upon a time, we were as close as two brothers can be. We were best friends. All that changed in 1864 and he has promised me an eternity of misery since then" Stefan answered.
"Oh, so he doesn't hold a grudge then?" Jessica asked sarcastically.
Stefan chuckled.
"That's Damon for you. We had started to drift apart just before we were turned into vampires but turning into vampires severed our connection completely. We see each other now and then but it never ends well" Stefan said.
"Wow! What on earth could have caused two close brothers to be suddenly torn apart like that?" she asked.
Stefan just stared at her and shook his head, not sure if he wanted to dive into this subject tonight.
Jessica assessed his reaction to her question before continuing.
"Ah! I see. Did she have a name?" Jessica asked.
Stefan just stared at her in surprise that she had pretty much hit the nail on the head with that question.
"We are not going there tonight" Stefan replied.
Jessica sensed that this was not a topic he openly and easily discussed with anyone, so she nodded and the two continued the tour up to the next level of the house.
"Finally, this is my room. If you ever need anything, this is where you are most likely to find me" Stefan informed her.
Jessica thanked him as the two headed back down to the main room of the house. Jessica was quickly falling in love with that beautiful fireplace. The pair spent the rest of the evening chatting and just learning a little about each other.
After a while, Jessica started to yawn.
Stefan chuckled.
"I think we will call that bedtime. We've both had an exhausting day, you're jetlagged, and it might do you some good to get as much restful sleep as possible" Stefan said.
She agreed, the plane journey had snuck up on her and she was ready to crawl into that beautiful bed.
Jessica said goodnight to Stefan and headed for her room. She fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow.
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A few days later:
Jessica was well and truly settled into the house by now. She had finally learned how to find her way around the house and had even ventured out to the vast grounds of the property and had found a couple of spots that she enjoyed going to when she wanted to relax outside.
Stefan had been great at making her feel welcome, she had everything she needed and Stefan, although he was not around all the time, was actually becoming a great friend. Stefan had yet to show her the town, but she didn't mind. She was more anxious about starting school, she had been out of school for a while and was scared that she had fallen so far behind that she would struggle to get back on top of the schoolwork, not that she actually cared that much about school.
Stefan had not long been home from school, and he cooked them both something nice for dinner. Jessica appreciated every meal that Stefan made for her, he was quite the cook. Stefan had noted that she had quite a small appetite but put it down to her being stressed and trying to settle it. Jessica supposed that after a hundred and something years, and having Italian ancestry, it made sense that he could cook like he was a pro-chef. Everything was perfect but Jessica couldn't shake the feeling that the peace she had been feeling the past week was about to be shattered.
Stefan and Jessica ate their meal, light conversation between each bite. Once they had both finished, the pair headed into the main living room. Jessica picked up a book she was reading which she had found in the library.
Stefan watched as Jessica relaxed into her book. He was glad that she felt relaxed and…damn!
Stefan heard that Damon was finally home having disappeared for a week, and he had entered the house via the backdoor. It sounded like Damon was currently rummaging around the kitchen.
"What the hell?!" Stefan heard Damon mutter at the same time he heard the fridge door close.
Damon must have caught the scent of all the food from the dinner and gone to the fridge to investigate.
Stefan could hear Damon now approaching the room he and Jessica were relaxing in. This could get awkward fast, and Stefan did not have time to remove Jessica from the room.
"Brother, why on earth have you got loads of food in the fridge? Bunnies not doing it for you? Or are you trying to stuff your girlfriend to death?" he joked darkly as he entered the room.
He paused as he entered the room and immediately noticed the unfamiliar girl. He studied her as he moved across the room towards his whiskey decanter and poured himself a glass. Jessica immediately snapped out of her book and instantly stood, on high alert at the strange man in the room. She looked hesitatingly at Stefan.
"Ooooo, who's our new houseguest Steffie?" Damon asked, smirking at the stricken pair.
When the pair remained silent, Damon continued to sip his whiskey as he unnerved the young girl with his stare.
"Not cheating on your girlfriend already, are you? That is a sign of extremely poor manners on your part. However, if it means Elena's free, why should I complain?" Damon grinned at them.
"Errrrr…Damon, I wasn't expecting you home. Or at all actually" Stefan said.
"I've changed my mind little brother; I want to hang out with you a little more. Endless misery and all that. Anyway, are you going to answer my question? Who is your new squeeze? If you're not going at it with her, I certainly will. She's gorgeous and I bet she would be down to…" Damon was cut off.
"DAMON! I beg you not to end that sentence and shut your damn mouth" Stefan yelled back at his brother in horror.
"Oh! I seem to have struck a chord there. Oh well! Can't blame a guy for trying. So gorgeous, do you have a name? Have we met before? You look kinda familiar" he asked, turning his complete attention to Jessica.
Jessica gulped.
"My name is Jessica" she answered.
"Jessica hmmmm…pretty name for a pretty girl and, that is not a local accent…consider me intrigued. So, Jessica, what brings you to our home?" he asks her.
Jessica felt really nervous now. Both Stefan and Damon noticed this as she turned her attention to Stefan begging silently for help.
"Jessica arrived earlier this week from England, she's going to be staying with us for a while Damon" Stefan answered.
Now THAT got Damon's attention and he instantly became suspicious.
"Since when do we have unknown houseguests stay with us Stefan?" Damon asked defensively, he did not like unknown persons being in his home.
What game was his little brother playing? He was trying to keep a low profile at the moment.
"Jessica's mother recently passed away and Zach had promised to take her in as she has no close relatives, and now that Zach is….out of town on business…the care of Jessica falls to us until he returns" Stefan informed him.
Damon paused, feeling a brief moment of guilt for killing Zach, even if he would never allow anyone to see it.
"I see. I'm sorry for your loss. Was your mother a close friend of Zach's?" Damon asked.
Jessica tried to control her emotions.
"I believe so. I've never met Zach personally, but my mother spoke fondly of him" she replied.
"Well, you don't look a day over thirteen so does that mean Zach and your mother have not seen each other for at least thirteen years? Why would she trust him completely with your care after thirteen years of no known communication with the man? That doesn't sound like very good parenting to me" Damon grinned annoyingly at her as he took another sip of his whiskey.
Jessica snapped.
"Firstly, I'm fifteen. Secondly, don't talk about my mother like you knew her you wretched bastard" she ground out.
Damon's eyebrows flew to his hairline in genuine disbelief. He quickly regained his composure.
"Excuse me little girl, you watch your mouth. We don't have to take you in and care for you so don't you dare be disrespectful to me in my own home, you little brat" he said in a dangerous tone of voice.
"Don't talk about my mother like you knew her" Jessica stood firm, getting even angrier at him.
"Honey, I will talk about your mother however I please and it would be in your best interest to not successfully piss me off" he smirked sarcastically as he went to take another sip of bourbon.
As he lifted the glass to his smirking lips, Jessica's resistance shattered as did Damon's glass of bourbon.
He stared in shock at the shattered remains of his whiskey glass in his now bloody hand. His dangerous gaze lifted to Jessica and his ice-cold eyes pierced her very soul.
Jessica was in shock; she hadn't lost control of her emotions like that in a long time. She looked at Damon as he slowly approached her. As a predator would stalk its prey.
"Who the hell are you?" Damon spat at her dangerously.
Jessica knew she had to say something, even if Stefan was ready to jump to her defence if needed.
"My mother's name was Joanna Casimir; I understand she spent some time here with you in 1994" Jessica stated more confidently than she actually felt.
At the name of her mother, he froze for a second before using his vampire speed to reach her almost instantly.
"What did you just say?" he said through clenched teeth as he stared into her ice-blue eyes…his eyes.
"You bloody well heard what I just said, don't you dare ever speak ill of my mother again. If she put up with you longer than five minutes, that in itself earns her all the respect in the fucking world" Jessica spat back at him.
Damon was too stunned to reprimand her for her language. Jo had told him, begged him…even pleaded with him, all those years ago. He had simply walked away and left her to fend for herself against the proverbial wolves with an unborn child. Damon had known that Jo was pregnant, he could hear the baby's heartbeat, but refused to believe it was his. Pregnant women infuriated him for a while after that and he went on a rampage, not caring who he killed. But now, the living, breathing proof of his denial was stood defiantly in front of his very own eyes. He couldn't deny his association to her now. Not when his mirror image was stood in front of him.
"You're a witch?" he gulped.
"Actually, I'm half-witch. I'm also half-vampire." She stated.
Damon just stared as the chaos unravelled around him uncontrollably.
Jessica wanted to go and crawl into bed; the burst of magic had exhausted her.
"Sorry about your whiskey glass, apparently I get my temper from my father" she growled at him.
Without another word, she glared at him once more before politely wishing Stefan a good evening and heading up the stairs towards her bedroom. She lightly closed the door behind her and crawled into bed and fell into a restless sleep.