by L. J. Smith
“Vickie?” Elena said, peering beneath the hood. “Have you seen Matt or Caroline?”
Vickie frowned, thinking hard. “I can’t say,” she said.
Beside her, Elena felt Stefan stiffen, turning his full focus onto Vickie. “You can’t say?” he asked slowly. “Vickie, can we come into the Fun House?”
“The Fun House is closed,” Vickie told them.
“What? No, it’s not,” Bonnie said, and tried to dodge past her, but Vickie shoved her backward.
“You can’t go in there,” she said. There was something flat behind Vickie’s usually timid brown eyes, and Elena finally figured out what was going on: Damon had compelled Vickie to keep them out.
Stefan wouldn’t be able to compel Vickie to let them in—his Power wasn’t as strong as Damon’s—but he was stronger than any human. Her eyes met Stefan’s green ones, and she knew they were in perfect agreement. He would have to overpower Vickie.
“Hang on,” Bonnie said. Her small hand gripped Elena’s, and she pulled on Stefan’s arm with her other hand. She tugged them down the hall with her, looking back to smile over her shoulder at Vickie.
“Damon’s compelled her,” Stefan said, pulling out of Bonnie’s grasp as soon as they turned the corner away from Vickie’s gaze. “Caroline or Matt—maybe both of them—must be in the Fun House. There isn’t much time.”
“I know,” Bonnie said. “But there’s another way into the Fun House.”
Crooking a finger for Elena and Stefan to follow, Bonnie led them to a narrow opening between two partitions and pulled aside a swathe of black cloth. “Duck under here,” she said softly, “and we’ll come out on the other end of the Fun House.”
“You’re the best, Bonnie,” Elena whispered and ducked under the cloth.
When Elena straightened up, she had to blink and shield her eyes for a moment. Strobe lights were flashing here, too, but far faster and brighter than in the Druid Room, as if they had been turned up to their maximum settings.
In one bright flash of light, Elena saw a twisted face, pale and staring. A corpse. They were too late, she realized, with numb horror. Everything was lost.
“Elena?” Stefan asked. He must have been able to hear the panicked change in her breathing. The lights flashed again and she realized there was no corpse, just her own reflection, distorted by a fun-house mirror.
The mirrors were everywhere. An image of Elena and Bonnie stretched out like rubber bands stood by a reflection of Stefan with an enormous head. Loud carnival music blared all around them.
The whole effect was dizzying, and Elena wanted to shut her eyes, but there was no time. They had to find Damon.
The hall of mirrors curved in front of them, and they couldn’t see the other end. Cocking her head to indicate the direction, Elena led Bonnie and Stefan up the hall, stumbling as the lights dimmed, then flashed again.
As they rounded the bend, she saw Damon and Caroline, reflected over and over. There were a hundred Damon and Carolines in the flashes of light, all around her, squashed and bulbous, long and thin, bulging oddly.
In the center, two perfectly beautiful people, one human and one vampire, were locked in what was almost an embrace.
Damon had thrown off his cloak and wore jeans and a black button-down. His head was bent back, exposing his long white throat to Caroline. In one hand, he clasped a dagger loosely—Stefan’s dagger, Elena realized, one of his stolen treasures—and Elena could see that he had made a cut along his breastbone for Caroline to feed from. Her face was pressed against Damon’s chest, and, with a shudder of disgust, Elena realized Caroline was swallowing his blood eagerly.
When Caroline raised her head for a moment, her mouth was red and slick with blood. It dripped down her chin and marked her pure white shift. Elena recoiled. The girl’s cat-green eyes seemed dazed, and, as she gazed up at Damon adoringly, Elena was quite sure he’d put Caroline heavily under his Power.
“Stay back, Elena,” Stefan said softly.
At the sound of Stefan’s voice, Damon looked up and threw him a dazzling, brief smile. Turning Caroline gently around so that she faced them, he raised his dagger and laid it against her throat. Caroline hung in his grasp, blinking slowly, not seeming to even see them.
“No,” Stefan said. Elena could feel him tensing himself for one desperate run at Damon. And she knew, as surely as if she had seen it, that if Stefan made a move toward him, Damon would cut Caroline’s throat.
“Stop,” she said, her voice breaking. “Everybody, just stop.” She pushed back her own red hood so that she and Damon could see each other more clearly. His eyes held hers, wide and dark, and his lips tipped up in a mocking smile.
“You need each other, you and Stefan,” she said. “Why are you trying to make another family when your family is here?”
Damon sneered. “Family. Stefan hasn’t been my family since he stuck a sword through my heart.”
Beside her, Elena felt Stefan stiffen. Then he stepped forward. “There is nothing I regret more than that. I killed you. My only brother.” His green eyes were full of tears. “Even if I lived forever, I could never make it up to you.”
Damon stared at him, his handsome face blank.
“Remember how Stefan followed you when you were a child?” Elena asked. “He’d take a beating from your father rather than ever betray your secrets. He worshipped you.” She felt Stefan glance at her curiously, wondering how Elena could know that, but it didn’t matter now. She kept her attention firmly fixed on Damon.
Was his grip on the dagger pressed to Caroline’s throat loosening? Elena wasn’t sure.
“Remember Incognita, the beautiful black mare you won playing cards, when you were just sixteen?” Stefan said hoarsely. “That morning when you brought her home, you let me ride behind you, and we went so fast, her hooves hardly touched the ground. We were invincible then. Happy.”
Surely the taut line of Damon’s mouth was softening, Elena thought. The dagger had slipped a little, resting gently against Caroline’s throat as she sagged, half-conscious in Damon’s arms. But then Damon tensed again.
“Sentimental tales from the nursery,” he scoffed. “Those children have been dead for centuries.” He took a fresh grip on the knife.
“It still matters,” Elena said desperately. “You’re both still here. There are only two people left in the world who remember you when you were alive, Damon. Once Stefan is gone, only Katherine will remember, and she’s the one who changed you. No one else knows anything but the monster. It’s not too late to change that.”
Damon hesitated for a split second. “Again with these promises you can’t keep. If you want the good brother, you already have him.”
Elena shook her head. “No,” she said. “This isn’t about that. I never had either of you, not in this world.”
Damon’s forehead creased in a puzzled frown, but Stefan held out his hands to his brother beseechingly, walking slowly toward him. “I never meant to kill you,” he said, as softly and soothingly as he would have spoken to a wild animal. “I would spend the rest of my days trying to right that wrong, if you would be my brother again.”
There was a long, tense moment. The cheerful, hectic carnival music was at odds with the mood of the room.
In a quick motion, Damon pushed Caroline forward so that she fell onto the floor, landing hard and lying motionless. Bonnie gasped and rushed to her.
Looking past Stefan, Damon’s black eyes met Elena’s. “I won’t turn your friends,” he said shortly. His gaze shifted back to Stefan’s. “I won’t kill you, either, I suppose. Not now at least.”
There was no embrace between Stefan and Damon, no show of catharsis. But Elena caught a hint of a smile on Damon’s face—a small, private smile Elena had seen before, in the future she left behind. It was a smile Damon only ever gave to his brother.
Joy flooded through her, as if she was filling with sunlight. Mr. Tanner had survived. Bonnie and Meredith and Matt and Caroline—who Bonni
e was fussing over now—were still human. Halloween night was almost over.
She was going to have a future. They were all going to live.
“It went really well, don’t you think?” Meredith said, tucking a long lock of dark hair behind her ear and looking up at the closed entrance to the Haunted House.
It was late, but they’d only managed to clear out all the customers about half an hour before. Across the parking lot, the last of the costumed workers were climbing into their cars, laughing and calling good-byes to one another. The heavy clouds that had hung overhead at the beginning of the evening had cleared and now stars shone brightly in the sky.
Elena linked her arms through Bonnie and Meredith’s, pulling her best friends close, and smiled at Matt beside them. “I thought it was amazing.”
Stefan and Damon had disappeared somewhere together shortly after their reconciliation, but that was all right with Elena. She was happy, for now, to have this last time with her oldest, dearest friends.
And it was the last time, she was suddenly sure of it. The Guardians hadn’t sent Elena to start over; they had only sent her to change things. There would probably be an Elena here tomorrow, she thought, but she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be her, it wouldn’t be the Elena who had lived this more than once.
She was going to wake up in that Elena’s future, whatever future she had made. And she hoped that Matt, Meredith, and Bonnie would be part of that future somehow, but they wouldn’t be the ones she knew now.
This was good-bye.
“You did such a good job planning the whole thing, Meredith,” Elena said. “It seems like you can do anything you put your mind to. You’re wonderful.”
Meredith’s olive cheeks flushed pink. “Thanks,” she said, dipping her head shyly.
They’d reached Matt’s car, and Meredith opened the passenger door and climbed in. As Matt crossed to the driver’s side, Elena hugged him. “You’re one of the best people I know, you know that?” she said. She was choking up a little. “I promise everything will be okay. Remember that.”
Kissing her on the cheek, Matt drew back with a little rueful half smile. “You still have to help us clean up the Haunted House tomorrow,” he told her. Elena just laughed.
As Matt closed the car door behind him, Elena turned to see Bonnie watching her with an affectionate, knowing gaze. “This is it, huh?” she said. She was smiling, but her lips were quivering a little.
“I guess so,” Elena told her.
With a sniff, Bonnie threw herself into Elena’s arms and held her tightly.
“Oh, Scarecrow,” Elena murmured into her friend’s bright curls. “I think I’ll miss you most of all.”
After one tight hug, Bonnie pulled back, swiping a hand quickly under her eyes. “Seven years in the future isn’t that long. You’ll see me then.”
“I hope so,” Elena said. She reached out and took Bonnie’s hand for a moment, squeezing it tightly. She tried to memorize the feeling of Bonnie’s small, strong hand gripping hers.
She would remember this, just in case. She would remember Matt’s open, honest face, and Meredith’s wry smile. Whatever happened, she wouldn’t forget them.
For now, there was one more thing she had to tell Bonnie. “You should go talk to Mrs. Flowers. You saw how much Power you have, and she’ll be able to teach you how to use it. I expect you to be crazy-powerful seven years from now.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” Bonnie said, saluting ridiculously. Then her gaze slipped past Elena and Elena turned to follow it.
Stefan was crossing the parking lot toward them. Elena and Bonnie exchanged a glance.
“I’ll tell the others to wait. Take your time,” Bonnie said, and slipped into the car.
Elena walked slowly toward Stefan. As she reached him, he looked down into Elena’s eyes. There were no words worthy of expressing what either of them felt.
Elena wanted to take him in her arms and hold on tight, but she didn’t. He wasn’t hers now.
She might never see him again. The thought filled her with an almost painful sorrow, but not with the angry bewilderment she’d felt at his death. Now she had the chance to say good-bye.
Stefan’s green eyes searched hers, as if he was looking for answers. “I wanted to say thank you,” he said finally. “Damon and I are leaving. We’ve decided to go back to Italy for now. I wanted—we wanted—to see what’s left of the Florence we remember.” His lips quirked up in a half smile. “We’ll see if we can find more of our humanity there, I suppose.”
Elena nodded. “I’m glad,” she said.
He reached out and took her hands, so gently and carefully that Elena’s heart ached with longing. “What can I do to thank you?” he said slowly.
Elena squeezed his hand once, fiercely, and then pulled away. “You don’t need to thank me,” she said, hearing the roughness of almost-tears in her own voice. “Just take care of Damon. And of yourself.”
She turned toward the car where her friends were waiting, and Stefan touched her on the shoulder. “Will I see you again?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I don’t think so. But just … keep going, okay? For yourself, and for Damon. Remember that there’s someone out there who cares about you, the real you.”
“You are a mysterious one, Elena Gilbert,” Stefan said. With one last nod of appreciation, Stefan turned to go.
Hot tears were running down her cheeks as Elena watched Stefan walk out of her life forever. But Elena wasn’t sad, or not only sad. This Stefan might live. And that made it all worthwhile.
As Elena rode home in the backseat of Matt’s car, her thoughts drifted to the one person she hadn’t gotten a chance to say good-bye to. Maybe it was for the best. She didn’t know how she’d say good-bye to Damon.
In the front seat, Matt and Meredith were laughing, talking about the Haunted House. They’d missed everything. With luck, they’d never know about vampires, never be touched by the darkness all around them. They’d be normal. Happy.
Bonnie jostled Elena gently. “Are you okay?” she whispered.
Elena sighed and laid her head on her friend’s shoulder, just for a moment.
Bonnie wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You helped them. From what you told me, I think you’ve saved a lot of people.”
“Yeah,” Elena said, her voice small. She blinked back the sting of tears in her eyes. She’d saved herself, too. Stefan. Damon.
In the big picture, it didn’t matter if she never got to say good-bye to Damon, if she never saw either Salvatore brother again. Not if they all got to live.
When they pulled up to her house, Elena hugged all three of her friends again, fast and hard, before climbing out of the car and waving good-bye.
Aunt Judith had left the porch light on for her, but the windows of the house were dark. They must already be in bed.
As Elena crossed the lawn, a dark shape detached itself from the shadows beneath the quince tree and came toward her.
“Damon,” she said, happiness flaring up inside her, hot and sudden.
Damon came close and looked at Elena for a few moments without speaking, his black eyes unreadable. “I suppose I should say thank you,” he said at last.
“You’re welcome,” Elena said, holding his gaze steadily.
“You’re no coward,” Damon gave her his quick, devastating smile.
Elena smiled back, and Damon took her by the arm and led her to her front porch. “More comfortable here,” he said, sitting down on the porch steps, and Elena sat beside him. She was still wearing the Red Riding Hood cloak, and she was glad of its warmth.
Damon tilted his head back to look at the stars. “I suppose Stefan told you we’ve decided to go back to Italy,” he said conversationally. “He seems to think that things might get sticky here, with the fire and the graveyard desecration and all that.” Damon lifted one shoulder in a graceful shrug.
“I can imagine,” Elena said. She let herself lean into him a lit
tle bit. She felt as if her heart was, very quietly, breaking.
“Come with us,” Damon said suddenly. “I have this strange feeling that it would be a terrible mistake to leave you behind.”
He was still looking up at the stars, as intensely as if he could read the future written in the sky. The moonlight and the porch light combined threw shadows across his face, softening Damon’s aristocratic features and the stubborn set of his mouth.
“Oh, Damon,” Elena said. Tears started to pool in her eyes.
Damon tore his gaze away from the sky and looked at her, his eyes dark and more open than she had ever seen them in this time. “Come,” he said again. “Please.”
“I can’t,” Elena said. Damon flinched and, on an impulse, she put out one hand and covered his heart. “You’re good,” she told him furiously. “In here. You can be so good, so wonderful if you decide to be. Don’t forget that.”
Tears ran down Elena’s face, hot on her cold skin. She scrambled to her feet and backed away toward the front door.
“Good-bye, Damon,” she said quickly, longingly. His face was full of confusion, and he started to rise, but she was already closing the door behind her.
Elena leaned against the door and just let the tears fall. Every part of her yearned to go with Stefan and Damon.
What if she did? Would she wake up in a future where she and Damon and Stefan had been traveling Europe together, a happy triumvirate, for the last seven years?
No. Elena shook her head. She wasn’t going to be selfish like that, not the way she’d always been selfish with the Salvatore brothers. She’d seen where it led. She wasn’t going to make Katherine’s mistakes. Not again.
Wiping her eyes, Elena peered out the window by the front door, but Damon was gone.
Her shoulders slumped and Elena started up the stairs, feeling unutterably exhausted.
Margaret’s trick-or-treat bag was in the hall outside her door, stuffed with candy, and Elena smiled a little.
Turning into her own bedroom, Elena kicked off her shoes and lay down on the bed, not bothering to change into her nightgown.