The Return: Nightfall Chapter 12

It came back to him, entirely of it the cramped aisles and the piffling windows and the musty sense of old books. He had been in Belgium some cardinal years ago, and had been impress to find an English-language book on such a subject unders to a faultd in existence. and on that buck it was, its c all over haggard to a solid burnished rust, with nonhing of the writing remaining, if in that location perpetually had been whatever. Pages were wanting inside, so no angiotensin converting enzyme would ever k forthwith the cause or the title, if either had ever been printed there. Every receipt recipe, or charm, or hug drug inside involved forbidden knowledge.Damon could easily remember the simplest spell of all Ye Bloode of ye Samphire or Vampyre i?fair goode a?a general physic for all Maladie?or mischief D hotshot by those who Dance in the Woode?at Moonspire.These malach had certainly been doing mischief in the woods, and it was the calendar month of Moonspire, the mon th of the summer solstice in the Old Tongue. Damon didnt want to leave becoming, and he certainly didnt want Elena to see what he was sacking to do next. fluid supporting Bonnies headroom above the warm tipish pee, he exposed his shirt. there was a knife of ironwood in a case at his hip. He removed it and, in one quick motion, fare himself at the base of his throat.Plenty of kind now. The problem was how to get her to drink. overlay the dagger, he lifted her emerge of the water and tried to put her lips to the cut.No, that wasstupid , he approximation, with unaccustomed self-deprecation. Shes going to get cold again, and you dont have any path to make her s contendow. He let Bonnie lapse back into the water and conception. and so he pulled bulge the knife again and made a nonher(prenominal)(prenominal) cut this one on his arm, at the wrist. He followed the vein there until blood was not expert dripping only when streaming steadily out. Then he put that wrist to Bo nnies up debateed mouth, ad howevering the angle of her head with his new(prenominal) hand. Her lips were partly break and the dark red blood flowed beautifully. sporadi promisey she swallowed. There was life in her yet.It was notwithstanding interchangeable feeding a baby bird, he thought, tremendously interestd with his memory, his ingenuity, and strong, just himself.He smiled bright at nothing in particular. direct if it would only work.Damon changed position or so to be more comfortable and turned the hot water up again, all while doing Bonnie, feeding her, all he knew graciously and without a wasted movement. This was fun. It appealed to his sense of the ridiculous. Here, right now, a vampire was not supping from a gentleman, but was trying to save it from certain decease by feeding it vampire blood.More than that. He had followed all sorts of human traditions and customs by trying to strip Bonnie without compromising her maidenlike modesty. That was exciting. Of course, hed seen her body anyway there had been no way to avoid that. and it was really more thrilling when he wastrying to follow the rules. Hed never make that before.Maybe that was how Stefan got his kicks. No, Stefan had Elena, who had been human, vampire, and invisible spirit, and now appeared to be living angel, if such a thing existed. Elena was kicky enough on her own. Yet he hadnt thought of her inminutes . It index horizontal be a record of Elena-over pictureing.Hed better call her, peradventure get her in here and explain how this was working so there was no reason to crush his skull. It would probably look better.Damon suddenly established he couldnt feel Elenas aura in Stefans bedroom. But before he could investigate there was a crash, wherefore pounding footsteps, and thus another crash, much closer. And then the bathroom door was kicked open by deathly Annoying Troublesome.Matt advanced menacingly, got his feet tangled, and looked master to untangle them. His suntanned cheeks were swept with a sudden sunset. He was holding up Bonnies low-spirited in the mouth pink brassiere. He dropped it as if it had bitten him, picked it up again, and whirled just about, only to cannon into Stefan, who was entering. Damon watched, entertained.How do youkill them, Stefan? Do you just need a s stick? Can you hold him while blood Hes feeding her blood Matt interrupted himself, looking as if he might attack Damon on his own. Bad idea, thought Damon.Matt locked eyeball with him. Confronting the monster, Damon thought, point more entertained. Lethergo. Matt spoke slowly, probably meaning 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 give tongue to aloud, shaking his head lithely. Maybe, though, it would remind him in the future.Mutt?Youre calling ? God, Stefan, please help me kill himHes killed Bonnie. The rule books spilled out of Matt in a single gushing flow, a single breath. Woefully, Damon aphorism his latest acronym go down in flames.Stefan was surprisingly calm. He put Matt fag end him and state, Go and sit down with Elena and Meredith, in a way that was not a suggestion, and turned back to his brother. You didnt feed from her, he said, andthis was not a question.Swill envenom? Not my kind of fun, junior-grade brother.One niche of Stefans mouth quirked up. He made no response to this, but alone looked at Damon with eye that wereknowing. Damon bridled.I told the virtueGoing to mystify it up as a hobby?Damon started to release Bonnie, figuring that dropping her into slaughterous 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 demoralize to Change her seriously. And if the amount of blood he had already given her wasnt enough, it only if wasnt a remedy in the first place. Besides, the mirac le worker was here.He closed(a) the cut on his arm enough to stop the bleed and started to spill.And the door crashed open again.This time it was Meredith, and she had Bonnies bra. Both Stefan and Damon quailed. Meredith was, Damon thought, a very shuddery person. At least(prenominal) she in like mannerk the time, which Mutt had not, to look over the trampled clothes 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 feeling ofnot relief, of course, but of a job well done. Plus, now he might avoid being thrashed to within an border of his life by Stefan.Meredith took a deep breath and closed her scare eyes briefly. When she did that, her whole font 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, shook herself, and started looking scary again. She nudged the bay window of clothes on the floor and said, slowly and forcefully, If the item that matchesthis is not quench on Bonnies body, there is going to be trouble.She waved the now infamous bra like a flag.Stefan looked confused. How could he not understand the mighty missing lingerie question? Damon wondered. How could anyone be such asuch an eyeless(prenominal) 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 acclaim and check? he asked, play his head virtuously away.Yes, I do.He remained with his back to her as she approached the tub, plunged her hand into the warm pink water, and swished the towel a little. He heard her let out her breath in relief.When he turned almost she said, Theres blood on your mouth. Her dark eyes looked darker than ever.Damon was surprised. He hadnt gone and pierced the redhead out of habit and thenforgotten it, had he? But then he r ealized the reason.You tried to suck the poison out, didnt you? Stefan said, throwing him a white face towel. 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 graceful nasty stuff, although it clearly didnt affect vampires the way it did manhood.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 collection over?Meredith settled back. He could read her expression and he smiled inwardly. free Extra SCARYM EREDITHTHWARTED. He knew the look of those who had to give up on snatch 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 umteen problems was thathe thought feeding was sinful. Even to talk most.Maybe it was in trut h kickier that way. People relished anything they thought was sinful. Even vampires did. Damon was put out. How did you go back 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.One too many darlings, Meredith said mysteriously, and before Damon could figure out that she was simply making a point near linguistics, and not commenting on his personal life, she was gone. With the traveling bra. without delay Stefan and Damon were alone. Stefan came a step closer, keeping his eyes off the tub. You miss so much, you chump, Damon thought. That was the word hed been searching for earlier. Chump.You did a lot for her, Stefan said, seeming to find it as rough to look at Damon as at the tub. This left him very little to stare at. He chose a wall.You told me youd beat me up if I didnt. Ive never cared for beatings. He flashed his dazzling smi le at Stefan and unploughed 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. Tell me, what does infinity look like?Stefan heaved a sigh. At least youre not the kind of hoodlum who only terrorizes when he has the upper hand.Are you inviting me to step outside, as they grade?No, Im complimenting you on saving Bonnies life.I didnt realize I had a choice. How, by the way, did you manage 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 cured them. From what Ive seen, she seems to be slowly turning from spirit to full human. Im guessing it will take another fewer days, just from looking at her progress since she woke up until now.At least shes talking. Not much, but you cant ask for everything. Damon was remembering the v iew 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. Same difference.Why, Damon? Why not just admit that you care or so her, at least enough to keep her living and without even molesting her? You knew she couldnt open to lose blood.It was an experiment, Damon explained painstakingly. And it was over now. Bonnie would wake or sleep, live(a) 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 anguish. You take her head now, he said brusquely. Im leaving. You and Elena andMutt can finish His pattern is Matt, Damon. Its not hard to remember.It is if you have absolutely no interest in him. There are too many lovely ladies in this vicinity to make him anything but last choice for a snack.Stefan hit the wall hard. His fist broke through 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 interested 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 shield 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 stopped a few millimeters away from Damons face.There was a pause the brothers looked at each other across a distance of two feet.Stefan took a deep breath and sat back. Now will you admit it?Damo n was genuinely puzzled. Admit what?That you care something for them. Enough to take a punch rather than letting 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, punch- rum from lack of food and from too many variable emotions.Bonnies head went underwater.Both vampires dived for her, head butting each other as they collided over the center of the tub. Both fell back briefly, dazed.Damon wasnt laughing anymore. If anything, he was struggle like a tiger to get the girl out of the water. Stefan was, too, and with his new 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 cooperat ing to get the girl. Each was trying to do it alone, and each was impeding the other. possess out of my way, brat, Damon snarled, almost hissing in menace.You dont give a demonic about her.You get out of the way There was something like a geyser and Bonnie exploded upward from the water on her own. She herald out a mouthful and cried, Whats going on? in tones to black market a heart of gemstone.Which they did. Contemplating his bedraggled little bird, who was clutching the towel to her instinctively, with her fiery hairsbreadth plastered to her head and her big brown eyes blinking amongst strands, something swelled 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 pressure was almost too much to stand. When Bonnie said, But Im alive wi th an abrupt 180-degree turn in mood, her heart-shaped face flushing suddenly with joy, the fierce pride Damon felt in response was intoxicating. He and he alone had brought her back from the edge of cold 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 through 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 neck hurt fiercely, 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 drunk on pride and joy, yes, joy, to care. Cracks were spreading in every direction, pieces of stone fast-flying 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 almost. All he saw was what Meredith saw, darting under his arm from the other room, or what Matt saw, trying to ally into the tiny, over-full bathroom Bonnie fiercely clutching her towel, trying to make it cover her, and Damon rest 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 wh ite steps somewhere. Please, get himaway from meSo. The little witch was more safe than he had imagined. It wasnt unusual to recognize that someone was getting your transmissions you got feedback but to break the individual 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 abomination as Bonnie could manage.There was a silence. Damon had a chance to disavow 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 hurrying forward, grabbing another towel. She had some kind of hot drink in her other hand cocoa, by the smell. It was hot enough to be an effectual 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 ar ound your shoulders.Stefan had stood silently, watching all this no, watching his brother. Now, his face hardening in finality, he said one word.Out.Dismissed like a dog. Damon groped for his jacket ass him, found it, and wished that his groping for his sense of humor 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 together 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 wasted room that had too many people in it. Some of them were talk Meredith to Bonnie, Mutt no, Matt pouring out a stream of arrant(a) acidic hatredbut Damon didnt really hear the words. He could smell too much blood here. Everyone had little wounds. Their individual scents different beasts inthe covey closed in on him. His h ead was spinning. He had to get out of here or hed be snatching the nearest warm vessel and draining 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 entomb of revulsion he saw on every other face here would bedistasteful, he thought, his old sense of dispassion in the end returning to him.But it couldnt be avoided. As Damon came out of the bathroom, Elena was right in front of him, floating like an oversized butterfly. His eyes were drawn to incisively 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 strange 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 deliberately 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 elicit his own views briefly. He wondered if Elena had any notion of the content of his little iniquity daydream.Da mon.I can see it. Everything. But, still, pleaseOh, well, maybe inspirit 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 bring 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 c ircumstances, 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 kept going.