The Return: Midnight Chapter 23

In the car, unconditional sat by the sleeping Meredith with cut crammed in at their feet, listening in shock and mutual exclusiveness as they recounted Merediths story. When they were d whizz, he was able to speak ab give away his own experiences.Im release to select nightmargons al my life ab let on Cole Reece,he admitted. And level though I slapped an amulet on him, and he cried, Dr. Alpert tell he was Stillinfected.How can we fight something this far out of control?Elena knew he was looking at her. She dug her nails into her palms. It isnt that I fall innt tried to put on Wings of refining over the town. Ive tried so threatening that I feel as if Il burst. nevertheless its no severe. I cant control any Wings Powers at all I count on after what Ive learned about Meredith that I may rent training. save how do I get it? Where? From who? thither was a longsighted silence in the car. At belong flavorless say, Were al in the dark. Look at that courtroom How can t hey have so many werewolves in adept town?Wolves are sociable,Stefan express quietly. It looks as if there is a whole community of werewolves in Ridgemont. spill among the various Bear and Moose and Lions Clubs of course. For spying on the only(prenominal) creatures theyre panicky of humans.At the boardinghouse Stefan carried Meredith to the first- blow out of the water bedroom and Elena pul ed the covers over her. Then she went to the kitchen, where the discourse was continuing.What about those werewolvesfamilies? Their wives?she demanded as she rubbed Matts shoulders where she knew the muscles must pique fiercely from universe handcuffed tail his substantiate. Her soft fingers soothed bruises, comely this instant her hands were strong, and she kept kneading and kneading until her own shoulder muscles began to entrust at herand beyond.Stefan stopped her. Move over, neck, Ive got evil vampire incantation. This is necessary medical checkup treatment,he added sternly to Matt. So you have to take it no field how frequently it hurts.Elena could Stillfeel him, if faintly, with their connection and she saw how he anesthetized Matts psyche and and so dug into the knotted shoulders as if he was kneading stiff dough, meanwhile stretchiness out with his Powers of healing.Mrs. Flowers came by on the nose then with mugs of hot, sweet cinnamon tea. Matt drained his mug and his channel fel back slightly. His eyeball were shut, his lips parted. Elena matte up a huge wave of pain and tension flood a focusing from him. And then she hugged both of her boys and cried.They picked me up on my own driveway,Matt admitted as Elena sniffled. And they did it by the book, solely they wouldnt charge look at the the chaos al slightly them.Mrs. Flowers approached again, looking serious. Dear Matt, youve had a terrible day. What you need is a long rest.She glanced at Stefan, as if to see how this would impact him, with so few breed donors. Stefan smiled reass uringly at her. Matt, Stillbeing kneaded pliant, had just nodded. After that his interruptionor aesthesisted coming back and a superficial smile curved his lips.Theres mmain man,he said, when sabre butted his way through traffic to pant directly in Matts face. Buddy, I love your dog breath,he declared. You saved me. Can he have a treat, Mrs. Flowers?he asked, turning slightly unfoc utilize blue eyes on her.I know just what hed like. I have half a ridicule left hand in the refrigerator that just needs to be heated a bit.She punched buttons and in a short while, said, Matt, would you like to do the honors? Remember to take the bone out he might halter on it.Matt took the large pot roast, which, heated, smel ed so good it fed up(p)e him aware that he was starving. He mat his morals col apse. Mrs. Flowers, do you think I could make a sandwich forwards I give it to him?Oh, you poor dear boyshe cried. And I neer hitherto thought of course they wouldnt give you lunch or dinne r.Mrs. Flowers got cowardly feed and Matt was happy enough with that, bread and meat, the simplest sandwich imaginable and so good it curled his toes.Elena wept just a little more. So aristocratic to make twain creatures happy with one simple thing. More than two they were al happy to see Matt safe and to watch Saber get his proper reward.The enormous dog had fol owed every movement of that roast with his eyes, tail swishing back and forth on the floor.But when Matt, Stillchomping, offered him the large gear up of meat that was left, Saber just cocked his head to one side, staring at it as if to say, You have to be joking.Yes, its for you. Go on and take it now,Mrs. Flowers said firmly. Final y, Saber opened his enormous mouth to take give birth of the end of the roast, tail twirling like a helicopter blade. His body address was so clear that Matt laughed out loud.This once on the floor with us,Mrs. Flowers added magnificently, spreading a large carpeting over the kitchen f loorboards.Sabers joy was only surpassed by his good manners. He put the roast on the rug and then trotted up to each of the humans to push a unshakable nose into hand or waist or chthonic a chin, and then he trotted back and attacked his prize.I wonder if he misses wise?Elena murmured.I miss Sage,Matt said indistinctly. We need al the magic divine service we can get.Meanwhile Mrs. Flowers was hurrying around the kitchen making overplay and cheese sandwiches and bagging them like school lunches. Anybody who wakes up tonight ravenous must have something to eat,she said. Ham and cheese, chicken salad, some nice precipitous carrots, and a big hunk of apple pie.Elena went to help her. She didnt know why, but she wanted to cry some more. Mrs. Flowers patted her. We are al feeling er, thread out, she announced gravely. Anyone who doesnt feel like breathing out right to sleep is in all probability running on too much adrenaline. My sleeping aid wil help with that.And I think we can trust our animal friends and the wards on the cap to keep us safe tonight.Matt was practical y dormant on his feet now. Mrs. Flowers someday Il repay youbut for now, I cant keep my eyes open.In other words, bedtime, kiddies,Stefan said. He closed Matts fingers firmly around a packed lunch, then steered him toward the stairs. Elena gathered several more lunches, kissed Mrs. Flowers twice, and went up to Stefans room.She had the edible bean bed straightened and was opening a p persistic bag when Stefan came in from displace Matt to bed.Is he okay?she said anxiously. I mean, wil he be okay tomorrow?Hel be okay in his body. I got about of the damage healed.And in his psyche?Its a tough thing. He just ran smack into Real Life. Arrested, subtile they might lynch him, not kno captivateg if anybody would be able to figure out what had happened to him. He thought that crimson if we tracked him it would come down to a fight, which would have been hard to win with so few of us, an d not much magic left.But Saber fixed em,Elena said.She looked thoughtful y at the sandwiches shed laid out on the bed. Stefan, do you want chicken salad or ham?she asked.There was a silence. But it was moments before Elena looked up at him in astonishment. Oh, Stefan I I actual y forgot. I just today has been so exotic I forgot Im flattered,Stefan said. And youre sleepy. Whatever Mrs.Flowers puts in her tea I think the governance would be interested in it,Elena offered. For spies and things. But for nowShe held her arms out, head bent back, neck exposed.No, love. I remember this afternoon, if you dont. And I swore I was pass to start hunting, and I am,Stefan said firmly.Youre going to leave me?Elena said, startled out of her warm satisfaction. They stared at each other.Dont leave,Elena said, combing her hair away from her neck. I had it al planned out, how youl drink, and how wel sleep shielding each other. Please dont leave, Stefan.She knew how hard he found it to leav e her. Even if she was grimy and worn out, even if she was wearing grungy jeans and had dirt under her fingernails. She was incessantly beautiful and endlessly powerful and mysterious to him. He longed for her. Elena could feel it through their lodge, which was starting to hum, beginning to warm up, beginning to draw him in close.But, Elena,he said. He was exhausting to be sensible Didnt he know she didnt want sensible at this particular moment?Right here.Elena tapped the soft spot on her neck.Their bond was singing like an electric power line now. But Stefan was stubborn. You need to eat, yourself. You have to keep your strength up.Elena immediately picked up a chicken salad sandwich and bit into it. Mmmyummy. Real y good. She would have to pick Mrs. Flowers a wildflower bouquet. They were al so well taken care of here. She had to think of more ways to help.Stefan was watching her eat. It made him hungry, but that was because he was used to being fed round the clock, and not us ed to exercise. Elena could hear everything through their connection and she heard him thinking that he was glad to see Elena revolution herself. That he had learned discipline now that it wouldnt do him any injure to go to bed one night feeling hungry. He would seduce his sleepy adorable Elena al night.No Elena was horrified. Since hed been imprisoned in the pitch-dark Dimension, anything that hinted at Stefan going without fil ed her with appal ing terror. Suddenly she had trouble swal owe the bite shed taken.Right here, right hereplease?she begged him. She didnt want to have to seduce him into it, but she would if he forced her to. She would wash her hands into immemorial cleanliness, and change into a long, clinging nightgown, and stroke his stubborn canines in between kisses, and emergency them with her tongue tip gently, just at the base where they wouldnt cut her as they responded and grew. And by then he would be dizzy, he would be out of control, he would be hers comp letely.All right, All right Stefan thought to her. pardonI dont want to give you mercy. I dont want you to let me go,she said, retentiveness her arms out to him, and heard her own voice soft and cutlery and yearning. I want you to hold me and keep me forever, and I want to hold you and keep you forever.Stefans face had changed. He looked at her with the look hed worn in prison when she had come to visit him in an outfit very contradictory the grubby one she wore now and hed said, bewildered, Al thisits for me?There had been razor fit out between them then. Now there was nothing to separate them and Elena could see how much Stefan wanted to come to her. She reached a little farther and then Stefan came into the bout of her arms and held her tightly but with infinite care not to use enough strength to hurt her. When he relaxed and leaned his forehead against hers, Elena established that she would neer be tired or sad or frightened without being able to think of this feeling and that it would uphold her for the rest of her life.At last they sank down together on the sheets, comforting each other in equal measure exchanging sweet, warm kisses. With each kiss, Elena felt the outside serviceman and al its horrors drift farther and farther away. How could anything be wrong when she herself felt that heaven was near? Matt and Meredith, Damon and bonnie would surely al be safe and happy too. Meanwhile, every kiss brought her closer to paradise, and she knew Stefan felt the kindred way. They were so happy together that Elena knew that in brief the entire universe would retell with their own joy, which overflowed like pure light and transformed everything it touched. middling woke and receivedized she had only been unconscious for a few minutes. She began to shiver, and once she started she couldnt seem to stop. She felt a wave of heat envelop her, and she knew that Damon was trying to warm her, but Stillthe trembling wouldnt go away.Whats wrong?Damon ask ed, and his voice was different from usual.I dont know, average said. She didnt. Maybe its because they kept starting to throw me out the window. I wasnt going to scream about that,she added hastily, in case he assumed she would. But then when they talked about torturing me She felt a sort of spasm go through Damon. He was holding her too hard. Torturing you They threaten you with that?Yes, because, you know, Misaos star bal was gone. They knew that it had been poured out I didnt tel them that. But I had to tel them that it was my imperfection that the last half got poured out, and then they got mad at me. Oh Damon, youre hurting meSo it was your fault it got poured out, was it?Well, I figure it was. You couldnt have done it if I hadnt gotten drunk, and wh-whats wrong, Damon? Are you mad too?He real y was holding her so that she real y couldnt breathe.slowly, she felt his arms loosen a little. A word of advice, little redbird. When people are threatening to torture and kil you, it might be more expedient to tel them that its someone elses fault. Especial y if that happens to be the truth.I know thatBonnie said indignantly. But they were going to kil me anyway. If Id told about you, theydve hurt you, too.Damon pul ed her roughly back now, so that she had to look him in the face. Bonnie could also feel the delicate touch of a telepathic mind probe. She didnt resist she was too busy wondering why he had plum-colored shadows under his eyes. Then he shook her a little, and she stopped wondering.Dont you understand even the basics of self-preservation?he said, and she thought he looked angry again. He was sure as shooting different from any other time that shed seen him except once, she thought, and that was when Elena had been Disciplinedfor providence Lady Ulmas life, back when Ulma had been a slave. Hed had the same expression then, so ill that even Meredith had been frightened of him, and yet so fil ed with guilt that Bonnie had longed to comfort him.B ut there had to be some other reason, Bonnies mind told her. Because youre not Elena, and hes never going to treat you the way he treats Elena. A vision of the brown room rose before her, and she felt authoritative that he would never have put Elena there. Elena wouldnt have let him, for one thing.Do I have to go back?she asked, realizing that she was being lowly and sil y and that the brown room had seemed like a haven just a little while ago.Go back?Damon said, a little too quickly. She had the feeling that hed seen the brown room too, now, through her eyes. Why? The landlady gave me everything in the room.So I have your real clothes and a set of star bal s down there, in case you werent through with one. But why would you think you might have to go back?Well, I know you were looking for a lady of quality, and Im not one,Bonnie said simply.That was just so I could change back into a vampire,Damon said. And what do you think is holding you up in the air right now?But this time B onnie knew somehow that the sensations from the Never Everstar bal s were Stillin her mind and that Damon was seeing them too. He was a vampire again. And the table of contents of these star bal s were so abominable that Damons stony exterior last-place y cracked.Bonnie could almost guess what he thought of them, and of her, left to shiver under her one blanket every night.And then, to her total astonishment, Damon, the ever-composed, spic-and-span vampire blurted, Im sorry. I didnt think about how that place would be for you. Is there anything that wil make you feel better?Bonnie blinked. She wondered, seriously, if she were dreaming. Damon didnt apologize. Damon famously didnt apologize, or explain, or speak so nicely to people, unless he wanted something from them. But one thing seemed real.She didnt have to sleep in the brown room anymore.This was so exciting that she flushed a little, and dared say,Could we go down to the ground? Slowly? Because the truth is that Im just terr ified of heights.Damon blinked, but said, Yes, I think I can manage that. Is there anything else youd like?Well there are a couple of girls whod be donors happily if well if theres any gold left if you could save themDamon said a little sharply, Of course theres some money left. I even wrung your share back out of that crone of a landlady.Well, then, theres that secret that I told you, but I dont know if you remember.How soon do you think youl feel well enough to start?asked Damon.