There was something terribly important she must remember. He was using Power to make her forget it, but she wouldn't let him make her forget…
"And we'll be together, you and I." The cool fingertips stroked the side of her neck, slipping under the collar of her sweater. "Just the two of us, forever."
There was a sudden twinge of pain as his fingers brushed two tiny wounds in the flesh of her neck there, and her mind cleared.
Make her forget… Stefan.
That was what he wanted to drive out of her mind. The memory of Stefan, of his green eyes and his smile that always had sadness lurking Behind it. But nothing could force Stefan out of her thoughts now, not after what they had shared. She pulled away from Damon, knocking those cool fingertips aside. She looked straight at him.
"I've already found what I want," she said brutally. "And who I want to be with forever."
Blackness welled up in his eyes, a cold rage that swept through the air between them. Looking into those eyes, Elena thought of a cobra about to strike.
"Don't you be as stupid as my brother is," he said. "Or I might have to treat you the same way."
She was frightened now, she couldn't help it, not with cold pouring into her, chilling her bones. The wind was picking up again, the branches tossing. "Tell me where he is, Damon."
"At this moment? I don't know. Can't you stop thinking about him for an instant?"
"No!" She shuddered, hair lashing about her face again.
"And that's your final answer, today? Be very sure you want to play this game with me, Elena. The consequences are nothing to laugh about."
"I am sure." She had to stop him before he got to her again. "And you can't intimidate me, Damon, or haven't you noticed? The moment Stefan told me what you were, what you'd done, you lost any power you might have had over me. I hate you. You disgust me. And there's nothing you can do to me, not any more."
His face altered, the sensuousness twisting and freezing, becoming cruel and bitterly hard. He laughed, but this laugh went on and on. "Nothing?" he said. "I can do anything to you. You have no idea, Elena, of what I can do. But you'll learn."
He stepped back and the wind cut through Elena like a knife. Her vision seemed to be blurring—it was as if flecks of brightness filled the air in front of her eyes.
"Winter is coming, Elena," he said, and his voice was clear and chilling even over the howl of the wind. "An unforgiving season. Before it's over you'll have learned what I can and can't do. Before winter is over you'll have joined me. You'll be mine."
The swirling whiteness was blinding her and now even his voice was fading. She could no longer see the dark bulk of his figure. She hugged herself with her arms, head bent down, her whole body shaking. She whispered, "Stefan—"
"Oh, and one more thing," his voice came back. "You asked earlier about my brother. Don't bother looking for him, Elena. I killed him last night."
Her head jerked up, but there was nothing to see, only the dizzying whiteness, which burned her nose and cheeks and clogged her eyelashes. It was only then, as the fine grains settled on her skin that she realized what they were.
Snowflakes. It was snowing on the first of November. Overhead, the sun was gone.
Two
An unnatural twilight hung over the abandoned graveyard. Snow blurred Elena's eyes and the wind numbed her body as if she'd stepped into a current of ice water. Nevertheless, stubbornly, she did not turn around toward the modern cemetery and the road beyond it. As best she could judge, Wickery Bridge was straight in front of her. She headed for that.
The police had found Stefan's abandoned car by the Old Creek Road. That meant he'd left it somewhere between Drowning Creek and the woods. Elena stumbled on the overgrown path through the graveyard, but she kept moving, head down, arms hugging her light sweater to her. She had been born in Fell's Church, she had known this graveyard all her life, and she could find her way through it blind.
By the time she crossed the bridge her shivering had become painful. It wasn't snowing as hard now, but the wind was even worse. It cut through her clothes as if they were made of tissue paper, and took her breath away.
Stefan, she thought, and turned onto Old Creek Road, trudging northward. She didn't believe what Damon had said. If Stefan were dead she would know. He was alive, somewhere, and she had to find him. He could be anywhere out in this swirling whiteness, he could be hurt, freezing. Dimly, Elena sensed that she wasn't rational any longer. All her thoughts had narrowed down to one single idea. Stefan. Find Stefan.
It was getting harder to keep to the road. On her right were oak trees, on her left, the swift waters of Drowning Creek. She staggered and slowed. The wind didn't seem quite so bad anymore, but she did feel very tired. She needed to sit down and rest, just for a minute.
As she sank down beside the road she suddenly realized how silly she had been to go out searching for Stefan. Stefan would come to her. All she needed to do was sit here and wait. He was probably coming right now.
Elena shut her eyes and leaned her head against her drawn-up knees. She felt much warmer now. Her mind drifted and she saw Stefan, saw him smile at her. His arms around her were strong and secure and she relaxed against him, glad to let go of fear and tension. She was home, she was where she belonged. Stefan would never let anything hurt her.
But then instead of holding her, Stefan was shaking her. He was ruining the beautiful tranquility of her rest. She saw his face, pale and urgent, his green eyes dark with pain. She tried to tell him to be still, but he wouldn't listen.
Elena, get up, he said, and she felt the compelling force of those green eyes willing her to do it.
Elena, get up now—
"Elena, get up!" The voice was high and thin and frightened. "Come on, Elena! Get up! We can't carry you!"
Blinking, Elena brought a face into focus.
"Bonnie," she said slowly. "What are you doing here?"
"Helping me look for you," said a second, lower voice, on Elena's other side. She turned slightly. Meredith's dark eyes, usually so ironic, were worried now, too. "Stand up, Elena, unless you want to become an Ice Princess for real."
There was snow all over her. Stiffly, Elena stood, leaning heavily on the two other girls. They walked her back to Meredith's car.
It should have been warmer inside the car, but Elena's nerve endings were coming back to life, telling her how cold she really was. Winter is an unforgiving season, she thought, as Meredith drove.
Aunt Judith was waiting inside, with blankets. "I knew if they found you you'd be half-frozen," she said in a determinedly cheerful voice as she reached for Elena. "Snow on the day after Halloween! I can hardly believe it. Where did you girls find her?"
"On the Old Creek Road, past the bridge," said Meredith.
Aunt Judith's thin face lost color. "Near the graveyard? Where the attacks were? Elena, how could you…" Her voice trailed off as she looked at Elena. "We won't say anything more about it right now," she said, trying to regain her cheerful manner. "Let's get you out of those wet clothes."
"I have to go back once I'm dry," said Elena. Her brain was working again and one thing was clear. She hadn't really seen Stefan out there; it had been a dream. Stefan was still missing.
"You have to do nothing of the kind," said Robert, Aunt Judith's fiancé. Elena had scarcely noticed him until then, standing quietly to one side. But his tone brooked no argument. "The police are looking for Stefan, you leave them to their job," he said.
"The police think he killed Mr. Tanner. But he didn't. You know that, don't you?" As Aunt Judith pulled her sodden outer sweater off, Elena looked from one face to another for help, but they were all the same. "You know he didn't do it," she repeated, almost desperately.
There was a silence. "Elena," Meredith said at last, "no one wants to think he did. But—well, it looks bad, his running away like this."
"He didn't run away. He didn't! He didn't—"
"Elena, hush," said Aunt Judith. "Don't ge
t yourself worked up. I think you must be getting sick, it was so cold out there, and you only got a few hours of sleep last night…" She laid a hand on Elena's cheek.
"I'm not sick," she cried, pulling away. "And I'm not crazy, either, whatever you think. Stefan didn't run away and he didn't kill Mr. Tanner, and I don't care if none of you believes me…" She Stopped, choking. Aunt Judith was fussing around her, hurrying her upstairs, and she let herself be hurried. But she wouldn't go to bed when Aunt Judith suggested she must be tired. Instead, she sat on the living room couch, by the fireplace, with blankets heaped around her. The phone rang all afternoon, and she heard Aunt Judith talking to friends, neighbors, the school. She assured all of them that Elena was fine. The—the tragedy last night had unsettled her a bit, that was all, and she seemed a little feverish. But she'd be good as new after a rest.
Meredith and Bonnie sat beside her. "Do you want to talk?" Meredith said in a low voice. Elena shook her head, staring into the fire. They were all against her. And Aunt Judith was wrong; she wasn't fine. She wouldn't be fine until Stefan was found.
Meredith and Bonnie and Aunt Judith and Robert tried to make conversation while they ate an early supper sitting by the fire. Elena couldn't eat and wouldn't talk. The only one who wasn't miserable was Elena's little sister Margaret. With four-year-old optimism she cuddled up to Elena and offered her some of her Halloween candy. Elena hugged her hard, face pressed into Margaret's white-blond hair for a moment. If Stefan could have called her or gotten a message to her he would have done it by now. Nothing in the world would have stopped him, unless he were badly hurt, or trapped somewhere, or…
She wouldn't let herself think about that last "or." Stefan was alive, he had to be alive. Damon was a liar.
But Stefan was in trouble, and she had to find him somehow. She worried about it all through the evening, desperately trying to come up with a plan. One thing was clear; she was on her own. She couldn't trust anyone.
It grew dark. Elena shifted on the couch and forced a yawn.
"I'm tired," she said quietly. "Maybe I am sick, after all. I think I'll go to bed."
Meredith was looking at her keenly. "I was just thinking, Miss Gilbert," she said, turning to Aunt Judith, "that maybe Bonnie and I should stay the night. To keep Elena company."
"What a good idea," said Aunt Judith, pleased. "As long as your parents don't mind, I'd be glad to have you."
"It's a long drive back to Herron. I think I'll stay, too," Robert said. "I can just stretch out on the couch here." Elena sat stonily, after looking once from the couch to the hall where the front door stood plainly in view. They'd planned this between them, or at least they were all in on it now. They were making sure she didn't leave the house.
When she emerged from the bathroom a little while later, wrapped in her red silk kimono, she found Meredith and Bonnie sitting on her bed.
"Well, hello, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," she said bitterly.
Bonnie, who had been looking depressed, now looked alarmed. She glanced at Meredith doubtfully.
"She knows who we are. She means she thinks we're spies for her aunt," Meredith interpreted. "Elena, you should realize that isn't so. Can't you trust us at all?"
"I don't know. Can I?"
"Yes, because we're your friends." Before Elena could move Meredith jumped off the bed and shut the door. Then she turned to face Elena. "Now, for once in your life listen to me, you little idiot. It's true we don't know what to think about Stefan. But, don't you see, that's your own fault. Ever since you and he got together you've been shutting us out. Things have been happening that you haven't told us about. At least you haven't told us the whole story. But in spite of that, in spite of everything, we still trust you. We still care about you. We're still behind you, Elena, and we want to help. And if you can't see that, then you are an idiot."
Slowly, Elena looked from Meredith's dark, intense face to Bonnie's pale one. Bonnie nodded.
"It's true," she said, blinking hard as if to, keep back tears. "Even if you don't like us, we still like you."
Elena felt her own eyes fill. "I'm sorry if I haven't been talking to you," she said. "I know you don't understand, and I can't even explain why I can't tell you anything. I just can't. But there's one thing I can tell you." She stepped back, wiping her cheeks, and looked at them earnestly. "No matter how bad the evidence against Stefan looks, he didn't kill Mr. Tanner. I know he didn't, because I know who did. And it's the same person who attacked Vickie, and the old man under the bridge."
Bonnie shook her head dazedly. Meredith said, "Why don't you tell the police?"
Elena's laugh was slightly hysterical. "I can't. It's not something they can deal with. And that's another thing I can't explain. You said you still trusted me; well, you'll just have to trust me about that."
Bonnie and Meredith looked at one another, then at the bedspread, where Elena's nervous fingers were picking a thread out of the embroidery. Finally Meredith said, "All right. What can we do to help?"
"I don't know. Nothing, unless…" Elena stopped and looked at Bonnie. "Unless," she said, in a changed voice, "you can help me find Stefan."
Bonnie's brown eyes were genuinely bewildered. "Me? But what can I do?" Then at Meredith's indrawn breath, she said, "Oh. Oh."
"You knew where I was that day I went to the cemetery," said Elena. "And you even predicted Stefan's coming to school."
"I thought you didn't believe in all that psychic stuff," said Bonnie weakly.
"I've learned a thing or two since then. Anyway, I'm willing to believe anything if it'll help find Stefan. If there's any chance at all it will help."
Bonnie was hunching up, as if trying to make her already tiny form as small as possible. "Elena, you don't understand," she said wretchedly. "I'm not trained, it's not something I can control. And… and it's not a game, not anymore. The more you use those powers, the more they use you. Eventually, they can end up using you all the time, whether you want it or not. It's dangerous."
Elena got up and walked to the cherrywood dresser, looking down at it without seeing it. At last she turned.
"You're right; it's not a game. And I believe you about how dangerous it can be. But it's not a game for Stefan, either. Bonnie, I think he's out there, somewhere, terribly hurt. And there's nobody to help him, nobody's even looking for him, except his enemies. He may be dying right now. He—he may even be…" Her throat closed. She bowed her head over the dresser and made herself take a deep breath, trying to steady herself. When she looked up she saw Meredith was looking at Bonnie.
Bonnie had straightened her shoulders, sitting up as tall as she could. Her chin was high and her mouth was set. And in her normally soft brown eyes a grim light shone as they met Elena's.
"We need a candle," was all she said.
The match rasped and threw sparks in the darkness, and then the candle flame burned strong and bright. It lent a golden glow to Bonnie's pale face as she bent over it.
"I'm going to need both of you to help me focus," she said. "Look into the flame and think about Stefan. Picture him in your mind. No matter what happens, keep on looking at the flame. And whatever you do, don't say anything."
Elena nodded, and then the only sound in the room was soft breathing. Stefan, thought Elena, gazing into the flame, trying to pour all her will into the thought. She created him in her mind, using all her senses, conjuring him to her. The roughness of his woolen sweater under her cheek, the smell of his leather jacket, the strength of his arms around her. Oh, Stefan…
Bonnie's lashes fluttered and her breathing quickened, like a sleeper having a bad dream. Elena resolutely kept her eyes on the flame, but when Bonnie broke the silence a chill went up her spine.
At first it was just a moan, the sound of someone in pain. Then, as Bonnie tossed her head, breath coming in short bursts, it became words.
"Alone…" she said, and stopped. Elena's nails bit into her hand. "Alone… in the dark," said Bonnie. Her voice was distant a
nd tortured.
There was another silence, and then Bonnie began to speak quickly.
"It's so dark and cold. And I'm alone. There's something behind me… jagged and hard. Rocks. They used to hurt—but not now. I'm numb now, from the cold. So cold…" Bonnie twisted, as if trying to get away from something, and then she laughed, a dreadful laugh almost like a sob. "That's—funny. I never thought I'd want to see the sun so much. But it's always dark here. And cold. Water up to my neck, like ice. That's funny, too. Water everywhere—and me dying of thirst. So thirsty… hurts…"
Elena felt something tighten around her heart. Bonnie was inside Stefan's thoughts, and who knew what she might discover there? Stefan, tell us where you are, she thought desperately. Look around, tell me what you see.
"Thirsty. I need… life?" Bonnie's voice was doubtful, as if not sure how to translate some concept. "I'm weak. He said I'll always be the weak one. He's strong… a killer. But that's what I am, too. I killed Katherine; maybe I deserve to die. Why not just let go…"
"No!" said Elena, before she could stop herself. "Stefan—"
"Elena!" Meredith cried sharply at the same time. But Bonnie's head fell forward, the flow of words cut off. Horrified, Elena realized what she had done.
"Bonnie, are you all right? Can you find him again? I didn't mean to…"
Bonnie's head lifted. Her eyes were open now, but they looked at neither the candle nor at Elena. They stared straight ahead, expressionless. When she spoke, her voice was distorted, and Elena's heart stopped. It wasn't Bonnie's voice, but it was a voice Elena recognized. She'd heard it coming from Bonnie's lips once before, in the graveyard.
"Elena," the voice said, "don't go to the bridge. It's death, Elena. Death is waiting there." Then Bonnie slumped bonelessly.
Elena grabbed her shoulders and shook. "Bonnie!" she almost screamed. "Bonnie!"
* * *
Look for another terrifying thriller from' Nicholas Adams,
bestselling author of Horror High.
Vampire Diaries 01 - The Awakening Page 18