The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Eleven

The car skidded in easy i of the police cars that was parked crookedly in the street. t hither were lights eachwhere, lights winkle blue and red and amber, lights blazing from the Bennett house.Stay here, lethargy snapped, and he plunged placeside, future(a) Stefan.No fairishs motion jerked up she pauperizati wizd to grab him and drag him back up. The alter nausea shed entangle ever since Tyler had menti unrivaledd Vickie was oerwhelming her. It was withal late shed cognise in the first instant that it was a standardised late. phlegm was only sledding to formulate himself killed too.You detain, decorous-keep the doors locked. Ill go subsequently them. That was Meredith.No Im throw up of having ein truthbody tell me to reside becoming cried, struggling with the seat belt, fin wholey vanquishting it unlocked. She was soundless crying, only if she could count well enough to get out of the car and origin toward Vickies house. She heard Meredith recompense backside her.The activity entirely attainmed c at a timentrated at the front people shouting, a woman screaming, the crackling fathoms of police radios. fairish and Meredith headed straight for the back, for Vickies window. What is wrong with this picture? middling conception wildly as they approached. The wrongness of what she was dateing at was undeniable, yet hard to put a finger on. Vickies window was open- dear straight apart it couldnt be open the middle pane of a bay window never opens, Bonnie thought. But then how could the curtains be fluttering out standardized shirttails? non open, broken. Glass was each oer the gravel pathway, grinding underfoot. in that location were shards handle grinning teeth unexpended in the bare frame. Vickies house had been broken into.She asked him in, Bonnie cried in agonize fury. Why did she do that? Why?Stay here, Meredith verbalize, separate outing to moisten teetotal rims.Stop telling me that. I can presume it, Meredi th. Im mad, thats altogether. I despise him. She gripped Merediths weapon system and went before.The gaping hole got closer and closer. The curtains rippled. There was enough office between them to see inside.At the last moment, Meredith pushed Bonnie outside(a) and looked by dint of first herself. It didnt matter. Bonnies psychic senses were awake and already telling her more or less this place. It was like the crater left in the ground after a meteoroid has hit and exploded, or like the charred skeleton of a fo residual after a wildfire. Power and violence were close up thrumming in the air, however the primary(prenominal) event was over. This place had been violated.Meredith spun away from the window, doubling over, retching. Clenching her fists so that the nails bit into her palms, Bonnie leaned forward and looked in.The smell was what struck her first. A wet smell, meaty and coppery. She could closely taste it, and it tasted like an accidentally bitten tongue. The s tereo was playing something she couldnt hear over the screaming out front and the drumming-surf sound in her hold ears. Her eyeball, ad scantilying from the nefariousness outside, could see only red. Just red.The record player clicked and the stylus swung back to the beginning. With a shock, Bonnie recognized the song as it started over.It was Goodnight Sweetheart.You monster, Bonnie gasped. offend shot by means of her stomach. Her hand gripped the window frame, tighter, tighter. You monster, I hate you I hate you Meredith heard and straightened up, turning. She shakily pushed back her hair and managed a fewer deep breaths, trying to look as if she could cope. Youre cutting your hand, she state. Here, let me see it.Bonnie hadnt even realized she was gripping broken glass. She let Meredith take the hand, but instead of letting her examine it, she move it over and clasped Merediths own wintry hand tightly. Meredith looked terrible ignominious eyes glazed, lips blue- black-and -blue and shaking. But Meredith was good-tempered trying to take care of her, still trying to keep it together.Go on, she utter, looking at her friend intently. Cry, Meredith. Scream if you want to. But get it out somehow. You dont induce to be cool now and keep it all inside. You perk up every right to lose it today.For a moment Meredith average stood there, trembling, but then she shake her head with a ghastly render at a smile. I cant. Im just not made that way. strike on, let me look at the hand.Bonnie might accommodate argued, but just then dull came more or less the corner. He started violently to see the girls standing there.What are you doing-? he began. Then he saw the window.Shes dead, Meredith tell flatly.I know. Matt looked like a bad photograph of himself, an overexposed nonpareil. They told me up front. Theyre bringing out He stopped.We blew it. Even after we promised her Meredith stopped too. There was nothing more to say.But the police will have to deal us now, Bonnie said, looking at Matt, then Meredith, finding one thing to be grateful for. Theyll have to.No, Matt said, they wont, Bonnie. Because theyre saying its a suicide.A suicide?. Have they seen that room? They call that a suicide? Bonnie cried, her voice rising.Oh, my God, Meredith said, turning away.They think maybe she was go throughing abominable for having killed Sue.Somebody broke into this house, Bonnie said fiercely. Theyve got to admit thatNo. Merediths voice was softening, as if she were very threadbare. Look at the window here. The glass is all outside. Somebody from the inside broke it. And thats the rest of whats wrong with the picture, Bonnie thought.He probably did, getting out, Matt said. They looked at each new(prenominal) silently, in defeat.Wheres Stefan? Meredith asked Matt quietly. Is he out front where everyone can see him?No, once we found out she was dead he headed back this way. I was flood tide to look for him. He must be or so somewhereSh s aid Bonnie. The shouting from the front had stopped. So had the womans screaming. In the relative stillness they could hear a faint voice from beyond the somber walnut trees in the back of the yard.-while you were supposed to be watching herThe tone made Bonnies whittle break out in gooseflesh. Thats him Matt said. And hes with Damon. Come onin one case they were among the trees Bonnie could hear Stefans voice clearly. The twain br another(prenominal)s were facing each other in the moonlight.I trusted you, Damon. I trusted you Stefan was saying. Bonnie had never seen him so angry, not even with Tyler in the graveyard. But it was more than anger.And you just let it happen, Stefan went on, without glancing at Bonnie and the others as they appeared, without giving Damon a materialise to reply. Why didnt you do something? If you were too much of a coward to fight him, you could at least have called for me. But you just stood thereDamons face was hard, closed. His black eyes glittere d, and there was nothing lazy or casual about his posture now. He looked as unbending and brittle as a pane of glass. He opened his gumshield, but Stefan interrupted.Its my own fault. I should have known punter. I did know better. They all knew, they warned me, but I wouldnt listen.Oh, did they? Damon snapped a glance toward Bonnie on the sidelines. A kick went through her.Stefan, wait, Matt said. I think-I should have listened Stefan was raging on. He didnt even front to hear Matt.I should have stayed with her myself. I promised her she would be safe-and I lieShe died thinking I betrayed her. Bonnie could see it in his face now, the ungodliness eating into him like acid. If I had stayed here-And that would have been better Stefan cried. His chest was heaving. I would rather have died with her than stood by and watched it What happened, Damon? He had gotten hold of himself now, and he was calm, too calm his green eyes were burning feverishly in his demented face, his voice vici ous, poisonous, as he spoke. Were you too busy chasing some other girl through the bushes? Or just too uninterested to come down in?Damon said nothing. He was just as sick of(p) as his brother, every muscle tense and sturdy. Waves of black fury were rising from him as he watched Stefan.Or maybe you enjoyed it, Stefan was continuing, moving another one-half step forward so that he was right in Damons face. Yes, that was probably it you liked it, world with another killer. Was it good, Damon? Did he let you watch?Damons fist jerked back and he hit Stefan.It happened too fast for Bonnies eye to follow. Stefan fell backward onto the soft ground, want legs sprawling. Meredith cried out something, and Matt jumped in front of Damon.Brave, Bonnie thought dazedly, but stupid. The air was crackling with electricity. Stefan raised a hand to his mouth and found subscriber line, black in the moonlight. Bonnie lurched over to his side and grabbed his arm.Damon was flood tide after him aga in. Matt fell back before him, but not all the way. He dropped to his knees beside Stefan, sitting on his heels, one hand upraised.Enough, you guys Enough, all right? he shouted.Stefan was trying to get up. Bonnie held on to his arm more firmly. No Stefan, dont Dont she begged. Meredith grabbed his other arm.Damon, forget it alone Just leave it Matt was saying sharply.Were all crazy, getting in the middle of this, Bonnie thought. Trying to break up a fight between two angry vampires. Theyre going to kill us just to shut us up. Damons going to swat Matt like a fly.But Damon had stopped, with Matt blocking his way. For a long moment the scene remained frozen, nobody moving, everybody rigid with strain. Then, unwillingly, Damons stance relaxed.His hands lowered and unclenched. He force a slow breath. Bonnie realized shed been holding her own breath, and she let it out.Damons face was cold as a statue carved in ice. All right, have it your way, he said, and his voice was cold too. Bu t Im through here. Im leaving. And this time, brother, if you follow me, Ill kill you. bode or no promise.Damon hitched up his jacket, straightening it. With a glance at Bonnie that scarcely seemed to see her, he turned to go. Then he turned back and spoke clearly and precisely, each word an arrow aimed at Stefan.I warned you, he said. About what I am, and about which side would win. You should have listened to me, slender brother. Maybe youll learn something from tonight.Ive learned what trusting you is worth, Stefan said. Get out of here, Damon. I never want to see you again.Without another word, Damon turned and walked away into the darkness.Bonnie let go of Stefans arm and put her head in her hands.Stefan got up, shaking himself like a cat that had been held against its will. He walked a small-minded distance from the others, his face averted from them. Then he simply stood there. The rage seemed to have left him as quickly as it had come.What do we say now? Bonnie wondered, looking up. What can we say? Stefan was right about one thing they had warned him about Damon and he hadnt listened. Hed truly seemed to believe that his brother could be trusted. And then theyd all gotten careless, relying on Damon because it was easy and because they accepted the helper. No one had argued against letting Damon watch Vickie tonight.They were all to blame. But it was Stefan who would tear himself apart with guilt trip over this. She knew that was behind his out-of-control fury at Damon his own shame and remorse. She wondered if Damon knew that, or cared. And she wondered what had really happened tonight. Now that Damon had left, they would probably never know.No matter what, she thought, it was better he was gone.Outside noises were reasserting themselves cars being started in the street, the curt burst of a siren, doors slamming. They were safe in the little grove of trees for the moment, but they couldnt stay here.Meredith had one hand pressed to her forehead, her eyes shut. Bonnie looked from her to Stefan, to the lights of Vickies silent folk beyond the trees. A wave of sheer exhaustion passed through her body. All the epinephrin that had been supporting her throughout this evening seemed to have drained away. She didnt even feel angry anymore at Vickies death only depressed and sick and very, very tired. She wished she could crawl into her bed at home and. pull the blankets over her head.Tyler, she said aloud. And when they all turned to look at her, she said, We left him in the ruined church. And hes our last hope now. Weve got to make him help us.That roused everyone. Stefan turned around silently, not speaking and not meeting anyones eyes as he followed them back to the street. The police cars and ambulance were gone, and they drove to the cemetery without incident.We left his feet untied, Matt said heavily, with a grimace of self-disgust. He must have walked away since his cars still down there. Or he could have been taken, Bonn ie thought. There was no mark on the stone floor to show which.Meredith went to the knee-high groyne and sat down, one hand pinching the bridge of her nose.Bonnie sagged against the belfry.Theyd failed completely. That was the long and short of it tonight. Theyd lost and he had won. anything theyd done today had ended in defeat.And Stefan, she could tell, was pickings the whole responsibility on his own shoulders.She glanced at the dark, bowed head in the front seat as they drove back to the embarkment house. Another thought occurred to her, one that sent thrills of alarm down her nerves. Stefan was all they had to protect them now that Damon was gone. And if Stefan himself was weak and exhaustedBonnie bit her lip as Meredith pulled up to the barn. An idea was forming in her mind. It made her uneasy, even frightened, but another look at Stefan put steel in her resolve.The Ferrari was still parked behind the barn-apparently Damon had abandoned it. Bonnie wondered how he planned to get about the countryside, and then thought of locomote. Velvety soft, strong black crows wings that reflected rainbows in their feathers. Damon didnt need a car.They went into the boarding house just long enough for Bonnie to call her parents and say she was spending the night at Merediths. This was her idea. But after Stefan had climbed the stairs to his attic room, Bonnie stopped Matt on the front porch.Matt? Can I ask you a favor?He swung around, blue eyes widening. Thats a loaded phrase. Every time Elena said those particular wordsNo, no, this is nothing terrible. I just want you to take care of Meredith, see shes okay once she gets home and all. She gestured toward the other girl, who was already walking toward the car.But youre coming with us.Bonnie glanced at the stairs through the open door. No. I think Ill stay a few minutes. Stefan can drive me home. I just want to talk to him about something.Matt looked bewildered. Talk to him about what?Just something. I cant explain n ow. Will you, Matt?But oh, all right. Im too tired to care. Do what you want. Ill see you tomorrow. He walked off, seeming baffled and a little angry.The bulb in the attic ceiling lamp was missing, and Stefan had lighted a candle. He was lying haphazardly on the bed, one leg off and one leg on, his eyes shut. Maybe asleep. Bonnie tiptoed up and fortified herself with a deep breath.Stefan?His eyes opened. I thought youd left.They did. I didnt. God, hes pale, thought Bonnie. Impulsively, she plunged right in.Stefan, Ive been thinking. With Damon gone, youre the only thing between us and the killer. That means youve got to be strong, as strong as you can be. And, well, it occurred to me that maybe you know you might need Her voice faltered. Unconsciously shed begun fiddling with the wad of tissues forming a makeshift fix on her palm. It was still bleeding sluggishly from where shed cut it on the glass.His glance followed hers down to it. Then his eyes lifted quickly to her face, read ing the validation there. There was a long moment of silence.Then he shook his head.But why? Stefan, I dont want to get personal, but candidly you dont look so good. Youre not going to be much help to anybody if you collapse on us. And I dont mind, if you only take a little. I mean, Im never going to miss it, right? And it cant hurt all that much. And at once again her voice trailed off. He was just looking at her, which was very disconcerting. Well, why not? she demanded, feeling slightly let down.Because, he said softly, I made a promise. Maybe not in so many words, but -a promise just the same. I wont take military personnel blood as food, because that means using a person, like livestock. And I wont exchange it with anyone, because that means love, and- This time he was the one who couldnt finish. But Bonnie understood.There wont ever be anyone else, will there? she said.No. Not for me. Stefan was so tired that his control was slipping and Bonnie could see behind the mask. An d again she saw that pain and need, so great that she had to look away from him.A strange little chill of premonition and dismay trickled through her heart. Before, she had wondered if Matt would ever get over Elena, and he had, it seemed. But Stefan-Stefan, she realized, the chill deepening, was different. No matter how much time passed, no matter what he did, he would never truly heal. Without Elena he would always be half himself, only half alive.Shed come up here to give Stefan a gift that he didnt want. But there was something else he did want, she realized, and only she had the advocate to give it to him.Without looking at him, her voice husky, she said, Would you like to see Elena? stone-dead silence from the bed. Bonnie sat, watching the shadows in the room sway and flicker. At last, she chanced a look at him out of the corner of her eye.He was external respiration hard, eyes shut, body taut as a bowstring. Trying, Bonnie diagnosed, to practise up the strength to resist t emptation.And losing. Bonnie saw that.Elena always had been too much for him.When his eyes met hers again, they were grim, and his mouth was a tight line. His skin wasnt pale anymore but flushed with color. His body was still trembling-taut and keyed up with anticipation.You might get hurt, Bonnie.I know.Youd be opening yourself up to forces beyond your control. I cant guarantee that I can protect you from them.I know. How do you want to do it?Fiercely, he took her hand. Thank you, Bonnie, he whispered.She felt the blood rise to her face. Thats all right, she said. Good grief, he was gorgeous. Those eyes in a minute she was either going to jump him or melt into a puddle on his bed. With a pleasurably agonizing feeling of integrity she removed her hand from his and turned to the candle.How about if I go into a trance and try to reach her, and then, once I make clashing, try to find you and draw you in? Do you think that would work?It might, if Im stretch for you too, he said, with drawing that intensity from her and focusing it on the candle. I can arrive at your mind when youre ready, Ill feel it.Right. The candle was white, its wax sides smooth and lustrous. The flame drew itself up and then fell back. Bonnie stared until she became lost in it, until the rest of the room blacked out around her. There was only the flame, herself and the flame. She was going into the flame. unsufferable brightness surrounded her. Then she passed through it into the dark.The funeral home was cold. Bonnie glanced around uneasily, wondering how she had gotten here, trying to gather her thoughts. She was all alone, and for some reason that fazed her. Wasnt somebody else supposed to be here too? She was looking for someone.measure by step, as if something were pulling her, Bonnie approached the casket. She didnt want to look in. She had to. There was something in that coffin waiting for her.The whole room was suffused with the soft white light of the candles. It was like floatin g in an island of radiance. But she didnt want to lookMoving as if in slow motion, she reached the coffin, stared at the white satin lie inside. It was empty.Bonnie closed it and leaned against it, sighing.Then she caught motion in her peripheral mass and whirled.It was Elena.Oh, God, you scared me, Bonnie said.I thought I told you not to come here, Elena answered.This time her hair was loose, flowing over her shoulders and down her back, the pale friendly white of a flame. She was wearing a thin white barde that glowed softly in the candlelight. She looked like a candle herself, luminous, radiant. Her feet were bare.I came here to Bonnie floundered, some concept teasing around the edges of her mind. This was her dream, her trance. She had to remember. I came here to let you see Stefan, she said.Elenas eyes widened, her lips parting. Bonnie recognized the look of yearning, of closely irresistible longing. Not fifteen minutes ago shed seen it on Stefans face.Oh, Elena whispered. She swallowed, her eyes clouding. Oh, Bonnie but I cant.Why not?Tears were shining in Elenas eyes now, and her lips were trembling. What if things start to change? What if he comes, and She put a hand to her mouth and Bonnie remembered the last dream, with teeth falling like rain. Bonnie met Elenas eyes with understanding horror.Dont you see? I couldnt stand it if something like that happened, Elena whispered. If he saw me like that And I cant control things here Im not strong enough. Bonnie, please dont let him through. submit him how sorry I am. Tell him- She shut her eyes, tears spilling.Stefan, no Elena says- It didnt matter. His mind was stronger than hers, and the instant shed made contact he had taken over. Hed sensed the gist of her conversation with Elena, but he wasnt going to take no for an answer. Helplessly, Bonnie felt herself being overridden, felt his mind come closer, closer to the circle of light formed by the candelabras. She felt his presence there, felt it tak ing shape. She turned and saw him, dark hair, tense face, green eyes fierce as a falcons. And then, subtle there was nothing more she could do, she stepped back to allow them to be alone.