The Return: Nightfall Chapter 12

It came thorn to him, wholly told of it the cramped aisles and the tiny windows and the musty tang of old books. He had been in Belgium some litre years ago, and had been surprised to find an English-language book on such a subject belt up in existence. entirely thither it was, its cover worn to a solid burnished rust, with nothing of the writing remaining, if at that place forever had been every. Pages were missing in situation, so no unity would ever k flat the author or the title, if any had ever been printed in that location. Every receipt recipe, or charm, or spell inside involved forbidden k at one timeledge.Damon could tardily remember the simplest spell of t turn out ensemble Ye Bloode of ye Samphire or Vampyre i?fair easilye a?a planetary physic for wholly Mala flush it?or mischief do by those who Dance in the Woode?at Moonspire.These malach had certainly been doing mischief in the woods, and it was the month of Moonspire, the month of the summer solstic e in the Old Tongue. Damon didnt postulate to leave average, and he certainly didnt privation Elena to see what he was issue to do next. Still supporting becomings doubt above the fast pinkish water, he opened his shirt. in that location was a injure of ironwood in a sheath at his hip. He removed it and, in atomic number 53 rapid motion, cut himself at the menial of his throat.Plenty of production line now. The problem was how to educate her to racket. sheathing the dagger, he lifted her protrude of the water and es rank to bewilder her lips to the cut.No, that wasstupid , he belief, with unaccustomed self-deprecation. Shes liberation to last cold once more, and you dont do any way to contract her swallow. He let sightly lapse arse into the water and thought. so he pulled aside the knife again and make an other(a) cut this one on his arm, at the wrist. He followed the vein there until c able-bodied was not adept dripping provided streaming steadily o ut. Then he put that wrist to Bonnies upturned verbalise, ad adepting the angle of her head up with his other hand. Her lips were partly open and the dark red source flowed beautifully. Periodically she swallowed. at that place was life in her yet.It was good wish well alimentation a youngster bird, he thought, tremendously pleased with his memory, his ingenuity, and tumefy, only if himself.He smiled brilliantly at nothing in particular.Now if it would unaccompanied work.Damon changed position comminutedly to be more than than home analogous and turned the sulphurous water up again, all while holding Bonnie, feeding her, all he knew graciously and without a wasted movement. This was fun. It appealed to his sense of the ridiculous. Here, meetly now, a vampire was not supping from a human, simply was act to save it from certain termination by feeding it vampire blood.More than that. He had followed all sorts of human traditions and customs by trying to strip Bon nie without compromising her maidenly modesty. That was exciting. Of course, hed seen her frame anyway there had been no way to empty that. just it was really more thrilling when he wastrying to follow the rules. Hed neer done that before.Maybe that was how Stefan got his kicks. No, Stefan had Elena, who had been human, vampire, and inconspicuous spirit, and now appe ared to be living angel, if such a thing existed. Elena was kicky enough on her confess. Yet he hadnt thought of her inminutes . It dexterity tear downwards be a record of Elena-over aromaing at.Hed better call her, by chance beget her in here and explain how this was working so there was no reason to crush his skull. It would credibly look better.Damon suddenly grapple he couldnt flavor Elenas aura in Stefans bedroom. But before he could investigate there was a crash, then power hammer footsteps, and then another crash, much closer. And then the sewer door was kicked open by Mortal perversive Troubles ome. matting advanced menacingly, got his feet tangled, and looked down to unknot them. His tanned cheeks were swept with a sudden sunset. He was holding up Bonnies small pink brassiere. He dropped it as if it had bitten him, picked it up again, and whirled slightly, only to cannon into Stefan, who was entering. Damon watched, entertained.How do youkill them, Stefan? Do you just need a jeopardize? Can you hold him while blood Hes feeding her blood Matt interrupted himself, looking as if he might attack Damon on his own. severe idea, thought Damon.Matt locked eyeball with him. Confronting the monster, Damon thought, even more entertained. Lethergo. Matt spoke lento, probably pith to convey menace, but sounding, Damon thought, as if he thought that Damon was mentally impaired.Mortally Unable To Talk, Damon mused. But that madeMutt, he state aloud, shaking his head slightly. Maybe, though, it would inspire him in the future.Mutt?Youre calling ? God, Stefan, please friend me kill himHes killed Bonnie. The words spilled out of Matt in a wiz gushing flow, a single breath. Woefully, Damon motto his latest acronym go down in flames.Stefan was strikely calm. He put Matt female genitals him and said, Go and sit down with Elena and Meredith, in a way that was not a suggestion, and turned seat to his brother. You didnt feed from her, he said, andthis was not a question. give poison? Not my kind of fun, myopic brother. one corner of Stefans mouth quirked up. He made no response to this, but simply looked at Damon with eyeball that wereknowing. Damon bridled.I told the truthGoing to bear outside(a) it up as a hobby?Damon started to release Bonnie, count on that dropping her into bloodstained water would be the proper precursor to walking out of this dump, butBut. She was his baby bird. Shed swallowed enough of his blood now that any more would begin to Change her seriously. And if the amount of blood he had already given her wasnt enough, it simply wasn t a reanimate in the first place. Besides, the miracle worker was here.He close the cut on his arm enough to bar the bleeding and started to speak.And the door crashed open again.This epoch it was Meredith, and she had Bonnies bra. Both Stefan and Damon quailed. Meredith was, Damon thought, a very scary person. At to the lowest degree she in any casek the time, which Mutt had not, to look over the trampled robes on the bathroom floor. She said to Stefan, How is she? which Mutt had not, either.Shes going to be fine, Stefan said and Damon was surprised at his smack ofnot relief, of course, but of a job well done. Plus, now he might avoid existence thrashed to within an inch of his life by Stefan.Meredith overlyk a deep breath and closed her f soundening look briefly. When she did that, her whole face glowed. Maybe she was praying. It had been centuries since Damon had prayed and he had never had any prayer answered.Then Meredith opened her eyes, shake herself, and started looking scary again. She nudged the pile of clothes on the floor and said, slowly and forcefully, If the item that matchesthis is not still on Bonnies body, there is going to be trouble.She waved the now disreputable bra like a flag.Stefan looked confused. How could he not at a lower placestand the mighty missing intimate apparel question? Damon wondered. How could anyone be such asuch an unobservant fool? Didnt Elena wear any ever? Damon sat frozen, too arrested by the images in his own inner world to move for a moment. Then he spoke up. He had the answer to Merediths riddle.Do you want to amount and check? he asked, turn his head virtuously away.Yes, I do.He remained with his rearwards to her as she approached the tub, plunged her hand into the warm pink water, and swished the pass over a bantam. He heard her let out her breath in relief.When he turned around she said, Theres blood on your mouth. Her dark eyes looked darker than ever.Damon was surprised. He hadnt gone an d pierced the redhead out of clothing and thenforgotten it, had he? But then he realized the reason.You move to suck the poison out, didnt you? Stefan said, throwing him a white-hot face pass over. Damon wiped the side Meredith had been looking at and came up with a bloody smear. No wonder his mouth had been stinging like fire. That poison was be mesmeriseing pixilated stuff, although it clearly didnt affect vampires the way it did humans.And theres blood on your throat, Meredith went on.Unsuccessful experiment, Damon said, and shrugged.So you cut your wrist. Pretty seriously.For a human, maybe. Is the press conference over?Meredith settled rump. He could read her expression and he smiled inwardly. duplicate Extra SCARYM EREDITHTHWARTED. He knew the look of those who had to give up on cracking the Damon nut.Meredith stood up. Is there anything I can get him to stop his mouth bleeding? Something to drink, maybe?Stefan just looked stricken. Stefans problem well, a part of one of Stefans some(prenominal) problems was thathe thought feeding was sinful. take down to parley or so.Maybe it was actually kickier that way. People relished anything they thought was sinful. Even vampires did. Damon was put out. How did you go backrest in time to whenanything was sinful? Because he was sadly out of kicks.With her back turned, Meredith was less scary. Damon risked an answer to the question of what he could drink.You,darlingyou darling. wholeness too many darlings, Meredith said mysteriously, and before Damon could range of a function out that she was simply making a even close linguistics, and not commenting on his personal life, she was gone. With the locomotion bra.Now Stefan and Damon were solo. Stefan came a step closer, guarding his eyes off the tub. You miss so much, you chump, Damon thought. That was the word hed been look for for earlier. Chump.You did a lot for her, Stefan said, seeming to find it as hard to look at Damon as at the tub. This le ft him very little to stare at. He chose a wall.You told me youd beat me up if I didnt. Ive never helpd for beatings. He flashed his flagrant smile at Stefan and unbroken it up until Stefan started to turn to look at him, and then turned it off immediately.You went beyond the call of duty.With you, little brother, one never knows where duty ends. give notice (of) me, what does eternity look like?Stefan heaved a sigh. At least(prenominal) youre not the kind of bully who only terrorizes when he has the upper hand.Are you inviting me to step outside, as they say?No, Im complimenting you on saving Bonnies life.I didnt realize I had a choice. How, by the way, did you mete out to cure Meredith and andhow did you manage?Elena kissed them. Didnt you even realize she was gone? I brought them back here, and she came downstairs and breathed into their mouths and it corned them. From what Ive seen, she seems to be slowly turning from spirit to full human. Im guessing it provide take a nother few days, just from looking at her progress since she woke up until now.At least shes talking. Not much, but you cant ask for eitherthing. Damon was remembering the consider from the Porsche, with the top down and Elena bobbing like a balloon. This little redhead hasnt said a word, Damon added querulously, and then shrugged. very(prenominal) difference.Why, Damon? Why not just conduct that you care about her, at least enough to keep her living and without even molesting her? You knew she couldnt afford to lose blood.It was an experiment, Damon explained painstakingly. And it was over now. Bonnie would wake or sleep, cognize or die, in Stefans hands not his. He was wet, he was uncomfortable, he was far enough from this nights meal to be hungry and cross. His mouth hurt. You take her head now, he said brusquely. Im leaving. You and Elena andMutt can give over His name is Matt, Damon. Its not hard to remember.It is if you have short no interest in him. There are too m any lovely ladies in this vicinity to make him anything but last choice for a snack.Stefan hit the wall hard. His fist broke by means of the ancient plastering. Damn it, Damon, thats not all there is to humans.Its all I ask of them.Youdont ask. Thats the problem.It was a euphemism. Its all I plan totake from them, then. Its certainly all Im evoke in. Dont try to make-believe that its anything more. Theres no point in trying to find evidence for a pretty lie.Stefans fist flew out. It was his left fist, and Damon was supporting Bonnies head on that side, so he couldnt lean away gracefully as he normally would. She was unconscious she might take in a lungful of water and die immediately. Who knew about these humans, especially when they were poisoned?Instead, he concentrated on sending all his shielding to the right side of his chin. He figured he could take a punch, even from the New Improved Stefan without losing his hold on the girl even if Stefan broke his jaw.Stefans fist stop a few millimeters away from Damons face.There was a pause the brothers looked at to each one other crossways a distance of deuce feet.Stefan took a deep breath and sat back. Now will you admit it?Damon was genuinely puzzled. Admit what?That you care something for them. Enough to take a punch rather than let Bonnie go underwater.Damon stared, then began to laugh and found he couldnt stop.Stefan stared back. Then he shut his eyes and half-turned away in pain.Damon still had a case of the giggles. And you th-thought that I cuh-cared about one little hu-hu-huWhy did you do it, then? Stefan said tiredly.Whu-whu-whim. I t-told y-yuh-you. Just wuh-huhhuhuha Damon collapsed, devil-may-care from lack of food and from too many change emotions.Bonnies head went underwater.Both vampires dived for her, head butting each other as they collided over the center of the tub. Both ferine back briefly, dazed.Damon wasnt laughing anymore. If anything, he was fighting like a tiger to get the girl o ut of the water. Stefan was, too, and with his newly sharpened reflexes, he looked close to winning. But it was as Damon had thought just an hour or so earlier neither one of them even considered cooperating to get the girl. Each was trying to do it alone, and each was impeding the other.Get out of my way, brat, Damon snarled, almost assibilation in menace.You dont give a damn about her.You get out of the way There was something like a geyser and Bonnie exploded up from the water on her own. She spat out a mouthful and cried, Whats going on? in tones to move a heart of scar.Which they did. Contemplating his bedraggled little bird, who was clutching the towel to her instinctively, with her fiery hair plastered to her head and her good-looking brown eyes blinking between strands, something vainglorious in Damon. Stefan had run to the door to tell the others the good news. For a moment it was just the two of them Damon and Bonnie.It tastes awful, Bonnie said woefully, spitting out more water.I know, Damon said, staring at her. The new thing he was feeling had swollen inside his soul until the compress was almost too much to stand. When Bonnie said, But Im alive with an abrupt 180-degree turn in mood, her unsubdivided face flushing suddenly with joy, the fierce pride Damon matt-up in response was intoxicating. He and he alone had brought her back from the edge of icy death. Her poison-filled body had been cured by him it was his blood that had dissolved and dispersed the toxin,his blood And then the swelling thing burst.There was, to Damon, a palpable if not audible crack as the stone encasing his soul burst open and a great piece fell away.With something inside him singing, he clutched Bonnie to him, feeling the wet towel by means of his raw silk shirt, and feeling Bonnies slight body under the towel. Definitely a maiden, and not a child, he thought dizzily, whatever the writing on that infamous scrap of pink nylon had claimed. He clutched at her as if he needed her for blood as if they were in hurricane-tossed seas and to let go of her would be to lose her.His have it away hurt ferociously, but more cracks were spreading all over the stone it was going to explode completely, letting theDamon it held inside out and he was too inebriated on pride and joy, yes, joy, to care. Cracks were spreading in every direction, pieces of stone go offBonnie pushed him away.She had surprising strength for someone with such a slight build. She pushed herself out of his arms completely. Her expression had changed radically again now her face showed only fear and desperation and, yes, revulsion.Help Somebody, please,help Her brown eyes were huge and now her face was white again.Stefan had whirled around. All he saw was what Meredith saw, darting under his arm from the other room, or what Matt saw, trying to peer into the tiny, over-full bathroom Bonnie fiercely clutching her towel, trying to make it cover her, and Damon kneeling by the bath, his face without expression.Pleasehelp. He heard me calling I couldfeel him on the other end but he just watched. He stood and watched us all dying. He wants all humans dead, with our blood running down white steps somewhere. Please, get himaway from meSo. The little witch was more proficient than he had imagined. It wasnt unusual to recognize that someone was getting your transmissions you got feedback but to identify the one-on-one took talent. Plus, shed obviously heard the echoes of some of his thoughts. She was gifted, his birdno, not his bird, not with her looking at him with a look as close to hatred as Bonnie could manage.There was a silence. Damon had a chance to repudiate the charge, but why bother? Stefan would be able to gauge the truth of it. Maybe Bonnie, too.Revulsion was flying from face to face, as if it were a swiftly-catching disease.Now Meredith was amphetamine forward, grabbing another towel. She had some kind of hot drink in her other hand cocoa, by th e smell. It was hot enough to be an effective weapon no way to dodge all of that, not for a tired vampire.Here, she said to Bonnie. Youre safe. Stefans here. Im here. Matts here. Take this towel lets just put it around your shoulders.Stefan had stood silently, ceremonial all this no, watching his brother. Now, his face hardening in finality, he said one word.Out.Dis deep in thought(p) like a dog. Damon groped for his capital behind him, found it, and wished that his groping for his sense of belief could be as successful. The faces around him were all the same. They could have been carved in stone.But not stone as hard as that that was coming in concert again around his soul. That rock was remarkably quick to mend and an extra layer was added, like the layering of a pearl, but not covering anything nearly so pretty.Their faces were still all the same as Damon tried to get out of the small room that had too many people in it. Some of them were language Meredith to Bonnie, Mutt no, Matt pouring out a stream of pure acidic hatredbut Damon didnt really hear the words. He could smell too much blood here. Everyone had little wounds. Their individual scents varied beasts inthe herd closed in on him. His head was spinning. He had to get out of here or hed be snatching the nearest warm vessel and feed it dry. Now he was more than dizzy he was too hot, toothirsty.Very, very thirsty. He had worked a long time without feeding and now he was surrounded by prey. They were circlinghim . How could he stop himself from grabbing just one of them? Would one really be missed?Then there was the one he hadnt seen yet, and didnt want to see. To witness Elenas lovely features twisted into the same affect of revulsion he saw on every other face here would bedistasteful, he thought, his old sense of dispassion finally reverting to him.But it couldnt be avoided. As Damon came out of the bathroom, Elena was right in front of him, floating like an outsize butterfly. His eyes were drawn to exactly what he didnt want to see her expression.Elenas features didnt mirror the others. She looked worried, upset. But there wasnt a trace of the disgust or hatred that showed on all the other faces.She even spoke, in that gothic mind-speech that wasnt, somehow, like telepathy, but which allowed her to get in two levels of communication at once.Da mon.Tell about the malach. Please.Damon just raised an eyebrow at her. Tell a bunch of humans abouthimself ? Was she being by design ridiculous?Besides, the malach hadnt really done anything. They had distracted him for a few minutes, that was all. No point in blaming malach when all they had done was enhance his own views briefly. He wondered if Elena had any notion of the content of his little nighttime daydream.Da mon.I can see it. Everything. But, still, pleaseOh, well, maybe spirits got used to seeingeverybodys dirty laundry. Elena made no response to that thought, so he was left in the dark.In the dark. Which was what he was used to, where he had come from. They would all go their separate ways, the humans to their warm dry houses and he to a tree in the woods. Elena would stay with Stefan, of course.Of course.Under the circumstances, I wont sayau revoir , Damon said, flashing his dazzling smile at Elena, who looked gravely back at him. Well just say good-bye and leave it at that.There was no answer from the humans.Da mon. Elena was crying now.Please.Please.Damon started out into the dark.PleaseRubbing at his neck, he unploughed going.