The Return: Nightfall Chapter 12

It came back to him, altogether of it the cramped aisles and the tiny windows and the musty smell of old books. He had been in Belgium some cardinal years ago, and had been surprised to find an English-language book on such a subject mute in existence. But there it was, its cover worn to a solid burnished rust, with nothing of the writing remaining, if there ever had been any. Pages were missing inside, so no one and whole(a) would ever know the author or the title, if all had ever been printed there. Every receipt recipe, or charm, or spell 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 Mala expose?or mischief Done by those who Dance in the Woode?at Moonspire.These malach had surely been doing mischief in the woods, and it was the month of Moonspire, the month of the summer solstice in the Old Tongue. Damon didnt necessitate to leave sightly, and he certa inly didnt want Elena to see what he was expiry to do next. Still supporting Bonnies judgment above the warm pinkish water, he opened his shirt. in that location was a knife of ironwood in a sheath at his hip. He removed it and, in one fast(a) motion, cut himself at the base of his throat.Plenty of tune now. The problem was how to get her to tipsiness. sheathe the dagger, he lifted her egress of the water and assay to induct her lips to the cut.No, that wasstupid , he thought, with unaccustomed self-deprecation. Shes acquittance to get cold over again, and you dont go for any way to fixate her swallow. He let Bonnie lapse back into the water and thought. Then he pulled pop the knife again and made an another(prenominal) cut this one on his arm, at the wrist. He followed the vein there until blood was not provided dripping but streaming steadily out. Then he put that wrist to Bonnies upturned mouth, ad merelying the angle of her head with his other hand. Her lips were partly open and the dark red blood flowed beautifully. Periodically she swallowed. There was life in her yet.It was just like feeding a frustrate bird, he thought, tremendously pleased with his memory, his ingenuity, and well, just himself.He smiled brilliantly at nothing in particular.Now if it would only work.Damon changed position slightly to be more comfort fitting and turned the hot water up again, all while holding Bonnie, feeding her, all he knew gracefully 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 human, but was trying to save it from certain demise 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 maidenly modesty. That was exciting. Of course, hed seen her luggage compartment anyway there had been no way to avoid that. But it was really more thrilling when he wastrying to follow the rules. Hed never done that before.Maybe that was how Stefan got his kicks. No, Stefan had Elena, who had been human, vampire, and occult spirit, and now appe bed to be living angel, if such a thing existed. Elena was kicky enough on her have. Yet he hadnt thought of her inminutes . It might regular be a record of Elena-over fashioning.Hed better call her, maybe get her in here and explain how this was working so there was no reason to crush his skull. It would belike look better.Damon suddenly realized he couldnt feel Elenas aura in Stefans bedroom. But before he could investigate there was a crash, then throbbing footsteps, and then another crash, much closer. And then the bathroom door was kicked open by Mortal Annoying Troublesome.Matt advanced menacingly, got his feet tangled, and looked down to extricate 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 around, only to cannon into Stefan, who was entering. Damon watched, entertained.How do youkill them, Stefan? Do you just need a stake? 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 eyes with him. Confronting the monster, Damon thought, even more entertained. Lethergo. Matt spoke slowly, probably kernel 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 express aloud, shaking his head slightly. Maybe, though, it would propel him in the future.Mutt?Youre calling ? God, Stefan, please help me kill himHes killed Bonnie. The words spilled out of Matt in a case-by-case gushing flow, a single breath. Woefully, Damon motto his latest acronym go down in flames.Stefan was surprisingly calm. He put Matt behind him and said, Go and sit down with Elen a 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.S testament poison? Not my kind of fun, inadequate brother. star corner of Stefans mouth quirked up. He made no response to this, but simply looked at Damon with eyes that wereknowing. Damon bridled.I told the truthGoing to take it up as a hobby?Damon started to release Bonnie, figuring 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 wasnt a therapeutic in the first place. Besides, the miracle worker was here.He closed the cut on his arm enough to stop the bleeding and started to speak.And the door crashed open again.This succession it was Meredith, and she had Bonnies bra. Both Stefan and Da mon quailed. Meredith was, Damon thought, a very scary person. At least she took 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 organism thrashed to within an inch of his life by Stefan.Meredith took a deep breath and closed her frightening eyes 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, shook 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 infamous bra like a flag.Stefan looked confused. How could he not belowstand the mighty missing lingerie 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 come and check? he asked, bout 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 around 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 habilitate and thenforgotten it, had he? But then he realized 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. T hat poison was pretty nasty 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 back. He could read her expression and he smiled inwardly. peculiar(a) 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 many problems was thathe thought feeding was sinful. notwithstanding to talk close to.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 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. iodin too many darlings, Meredith said mysteriously, and before Damon could figure out that she was simply making a point astir(predicate) linguistics, and not commenting on his personal life, she was gone. With the traveling bra.Now 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 hard 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 awed for beatings. He flashed his dazzling smile at Stefan and kept 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 infini ty look like?Stefan heaved a sigh. At least 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 get 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 cured them. From what Ive seen, she seems to be slowly turning from spirit to full human. Im guessing it will take another 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 allthing. Damon was remembering the escort 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 give 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, cash in ones chips 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 finish His name 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 by 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 t o 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 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?Damon 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-drunk from lack of food and from too many varying 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 fighting like a tiger to get the girl out 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 hissing in menace.You dont give a damn about her.You get out of the way There was something like a geyser an d Bonnie exploded upward from the water on her own. She spat out a mouthful and cried, Whats going on? in tones to melt a heart of stone.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 mammoth brown eyes blinking between 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 wedge was almost too much to stand. When Bonnie said, But Im alive with an abrupt 180-degree turn in mood, her heart-shaped face flushing suddenly with joy, the fierce pride Damon mat 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 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 flying offBonnie pushed him away.She had surprising strength for someone with such a slight build. Sh e 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 take in that someone was getting your transmissions you got feedback but to identify the individual took talent. Plus, shed obviously heard the ec hoes 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 deny 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 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, 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 behind 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 small room that had too many people in it. Some of them were speaking 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 various 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 course 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 coul d 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 mask of revulsion he saw on every other face here would bedistasteful, he thought, his old sense of dispassion finally 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 big 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 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, th e 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 kept goi ng.