by L. J. Smith
“I’ll see you later,” Matt said, his stomach tying itself in knots. He hesitated in the doorway. There was a cool wind blowing, and the full moon shone, heavy in the sky. He wanted to stay, wanted just to wrap himself up in her, in her honey skin and soft smile. Jasmine tilted her face up toward him and he kissed her gently.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, his heart aching just a little bit.
And then he was on his way out into the night, shutting the door behind him.
“This customer’s voice mailbox is full. Please try again later. Thank you,” an electronic voice chirped. Elena pushed her phone’s off button a little more violently than necessary.
Why hadn’t Damon listened to any of her messages? He must have ignored every single one for his entire mailbox to be full.
“I’m worried about Damon,” she told Stefan through the balcony doorway. He was pacing back and forth across the balcony, scowling at the tops of trees as if he could see straight through them to find someone lurking below.
“Damon’s fine,” he said absently.
“I don’t think so,” Elena said. “He’s worried about something. I think he might be in danger.”
Whenever she reached out to Damon through their shared connection, all she felt was a sort of grim anxiety. She closed her eyes and concentrated on their bond, but she couldn’t get any clear picture, just images of forests and cities. It felt like he was running from something.
“If Bonnie were here, she could use a spell to contact him,” she said, frustrated. “I wish … I can’t do anything.”
Stefan finally looked up to meet Elena’s gaze. His face softened, and he took the few steps across the balcony to stand before her. “Elena,” he said, reaching out to touch her cheek. “Just because Damon isn’t responding to you doesn’t mean something’s wrong. He’s always been hard to pin down. He’ll get in touch in his own time.”
Elena shook her head. “This time is different. I’m worried,” she said.
Tilting her chin up, Stefan gazed into Elena’s eyes. “I know,” he said. “But with everything going on here, Damon’s probably safest of all of us. And even if he is in trouble, Damon’s very, very good at taking care of himself. I wish he were here, too, but only because he could help protect you from Solomon.”
“I’m not helpless, Stefan,” Elena said sharply.
Stefan blinked in surprise at her tone. “I never said you were,” he replied. “But you’re the one Solomon’s after. Don’t worry about Damon; worry about yourself.”
“Okay,” Elena said, sighing inwardly. She knew Stefan was only trying to protect her. But she’d saved people, she’d killed Klaus; surely she could hold her own against any threat.
She tried her best to push away her anxiety over Damon. Whatever was going on with him, she couldn’t do anything to help him now. No matter how strongly she felt that something was wrong.
Elena’s sensation of wrongness didn’t go away, not even later, when they met the others on the hills overlooking campus. It was a clear night, the full moon high. Zander and his Pack were in wolf form and alert, sniffing the wind, their ears cocked for any sound. One of them, Daniel, raced around the others to greet them, his heavy tail wagging, and Zander snapped at him, herding him back into place.
Once upon a time, Elena remembered, she hadn’t been able to tell any of the wolves apart—except for Zander, with his snow-white fur. Now they were as distinct to her in wolf form as they were as humans. The reddish-tinged one that was Shay yelped a short bark at oversize Jared. He pulled his lips back in a lazy laugh, cocking his black-tipped ears. Tristan sprang at Enrique, growling playfully, and toppled him to the ground, where they rolled in a mock battle. Zander yipped once and they sprang apart guiltily, joining the rest of their group as the Pack paced the hillside.
There were a couple of hours yet till midnight. If they could just figure out where Solomon would come from, they could get into position, launch an attack.
Elena shut her eyes and focused her Power, trying to force open the doors within herself that would help her track down evil. Nothing. With a huff of irritation, she opened her eyes again.
Matt was climbing up the hill toward Elena and Stefan. He carried a flashlight, which he cast over the trees and grass around them, but he didn’t speak. He looked grim, his lips pressed tightly together.
Meredith and Alaric followed him, Alaric also holding a flashlight, while Meredith balanced her stave in one hand.
“Where do you think we should look?” Stefan asked, glancing at Meredith.
“If I were going to meet a bunch of brainwashed humans to get a report on their evil mission,” Meredith said thoughtfully, “I’d head for a good, clear space with plenty of moonlight. He’ll need light to see them, to Influence them. We could get into the tree cover near the biggest clearing and wait.”
Stefan nodded. “Makes sense. The most open spot is up on top of the ridge. When Jack’s team gets here, we’ll head up.”
Zander raised his head, his tail wagging, and a moment later, Jack and his group appeared over the crest of the hill. Jack and Roy raised their hands briefly, acknowledging Elena and the others, while Trinity shot Elena a warm smile. Darlene and Alex had their heads down, watching their step. Both carried heavy-looking bags of weapons.
“Looks like it’s going to rain,” Jack said in greeting when they reached them. Elena glanced up in surprise. It was true—black clouds had blocked out the moon while they talked, and the sky, clear a few moments ago, looked ominously heavy.
“That was fast,” Alaric said uneasily. A cold wind blew across the hillside, lifting Elena’s hair and bringing goose bumps out on her arms.
Meredith and Elena exchanged a worried glance. “Remember how Klaus could change the weather?” Elena said slowly. “Even Damon can make it storm, if he’s angry enough.”
Meredith swore. “Solomon knows we’re here. He planned it.”
“It’s a trap. We need to get out of here.” Stefan stepped closer to Elena, wrapping his arm around her shoulders protectively, his eyes scanning the tree cover around them. Her heart sped up. Which way could they go to escape? The dark shadows beneath the trees were suddenly menacing.
Something hit Elena’s cheek, and she jumped. At almost the same moment, one of the wolves yelped. Her arm stung, hit by something sharp and heavy.
“Hail!” Alex shouted just as a burst of lightning cracked across the sky. Thunder rumbled, and the wind picked up, whipping stinging shards of hail into their faces.
Stefan was trying to shout something above the roar of the wind, and Elena huddled closer to him, shielding her head from the hail. “What?” she yelled back.
“Let’s go!” he shouted. The hail was coming down faster now, ripping into the ground. Stefan swung Elena into his arms and began to run at top vampire speed for the cover of the trees, wolves and hunters on his tail. Elena peered over Stefan’s shoulder to see Matt and Alaric bringing up the rear, their flashlight beams swinging wildly.
There was a flash of bright light all around them and thunder cracked again, closer this time. Stefan backpedaled, Meredith and Jack flinching back just as a tree fell in flames right in front of them. Elena felt the searing heat of the flames on her cheeks, close enough that her hair sizzled. Behind them, another deafening crash resounded as lightning hit and flames rose up, blocking their retreat.
They were all trapped.
Stefan’s arms tightened around Elena. Bright ashes were blowing everywhere, setting the grass around them ablaze. She blinked the smoke out of her eyes and tried to see.
Trinity was shouting something, but Elena couldn’t hear her over the crackle of the flames. With a grimace, the brown-haired girl pulled some sort of long scythe from the case on her shoulder. As they watched, she began to gouge the ground, tearing up a long strip of sod.
Meredith stared at her for a second, and then began to imitate her, using the sharp edges at the end of her stave to dig a trench.
They’re getting rid of the grass so the fire can’t get any closer, Elena realized. She struggled out of Stefan’s arms and began to pull and yank at the grass as the rest of the hunters lowered their weapons to dig at the ground, making a firebreak. The wolves whined anxiously around them and one—Tristan, Elena thought, squinting through the smoke—gave a low, unhappy howl. She bent her head back down, pulling at the grass.
Hot ash scorched their skin, but soon they had carved out a fireproofed circle of black dirt around them. They stood in a tight group at the center of the firebreak, the wolves on the outer rim, growling at the flames as if they could scare them into submission. A spark flew to land on Meredith’s cheek, and she batted it off, wincing with pain. This isn’t going to work, Elena realized, her heart sinking. They were still trapped, and Solomon’s Power seemed limitless.
But as if the fire were losing interest in them, the flames began to die down, and the storm faded. “He’s playing games,” she told Stefan, as soon as the smoke had cleared enough for her to speak. “He could have killed us, but he’s not trying, not yet. He wants us to be afraid of him.”
“I know,” Stefan said tightly. He looked down at her, his mouth a narrow line and his green eyes dark with worry. “I’m afraid of what’s going to happen when he does try.”
“I’m the one he wants,” Elena said miserably. “You’re all in danger because of me.”
Dark steam was still rising from the ground around them. The stench of burning was everywhere.
But the fire was out, and the clouds were clearing. Looking up, Elena saw that the moon shone peacefully overhead once more. If not for the damage that had been done to her friends—Jared’s fur was ragged and scorched, burned right off in a couple of places, and a long red burn was rising on Darlene’s cheek—she could almost believe she’d imagined the whole thing.
Matt coughed, a deep, rattling cough, and waved the smoke away.
“We know he’s somewhere,” Jack exclaimed, his face smudged with soot. “He’s in the area. Even he doesn’t have enough Power to do this from too far away. It’s the best lead we’ve ever had, because he’s not going to leave—” He broke off.
“Until I’m dead,” Elena finished, her voice flat.
Jack winced, looking apologetic.
“We will not use Elena as bait,” Stefan said coldly. “Our first priority is keeping her safe.”
“But I won’t be safe until we find Solomon,” Elena told him, guilt stabbing through her chest. Everyone was risking their lives for her, and so far she hadn’t been able to do anything to help, despite all her Power. “Look, I haven’t been much use in tracking him. I think we should call in Andrés. Maybe he can help.”
Just thinking of Andrés made Elena feel better. He’d taught her how to access and control her Power, but more than that, he was her friend. Andrés was wise. He understood Elena, and his Guardian Power, while different from her own, was equally strong.
“We can do this,” she told the others, looking at the dying flames all around them. “We’re not going to give up until we find Solomon, and kill him.”
#TVD11LightningStrikes
The flames burned fiercely, yellow and orange with a flash of cold azure at the base. Frowning with concentration, Bonnie refused to be pulled into their hypnotic patterns. She clutched her falcon charm tight in one hand and breathed deeply, calling upon the stone’s properties.
The charm Damon had given her was made of blue lace agate, which contained the properties of tranquility, and balance between mind, body, and spirit. This balance allowed Bonnie to access more Power than she’d ever dreamed of.
The falcon was cool in her palm, the sharp points of its beak and claws almost painful as she clutched it, yet somehow the little sharp pricks were reassuring. Bonnie could feel her own energy flowing into the stone and then circling back to her, calmer and steadier. After a few moments, she turned this Power outward to the flames, as easily as flipping a switch.
The flames flickered once and then went out.
Bonnie’s new friends burst into applause and came up to congratulate her. Poppy squeezed her shoulders in a side hug, while Rick thumped her enthusiastically on the back. Marilise, always more reticent, hung back, but the smile on her face was one of pure delight. Bonnie smiled back at her proudly.
“Bonnie, that was amazing!” Alysia was grinning so widely that her freckles flowed together in little islands of brown across her cheeks. “I can’t believe how far you’ve come in such a short time!”
Bonnie really couldn’t believe it either. Finding her working stone had been a big step. The fact that it had come from the necklace Damon had sent her for her birthday couldn’t be a coincidence. Sometimes he knew things about her; she was sure of it.
During the short time she had been with this group, she’d learned so much. Rick had turned out to know more about astrology and the influence of the stars and planets than anyone Bonnie had ever met. Marilise grew her own herbs at her cottage in North Carolina and had, in her gentle, quiet way, shown Bonnie helpful new ways of using them. And Poppy could see the future in crystal balls and cards—with more control than Bonnie had ever had over her own visions.
Tonight they, and all the other groups, had gotten a chance to demonstrate their new skills to everyone else.
Now Bonnie, full of gratitude, pulled Alysia into a spontaneous hug. “Thank you,” she said. “If you hadn’t talked me into coming here, I never could have done that. Every day, I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger.”
Alysia’s grin spread even wider, and she squeezed Bonnie back affectionately. “I’m glad you’re here. You’re making me look good.” She stuck out her tongue playfully at an older man on the other side of the room, and he threw back his head and laughed. There was a core group of five who had organized the retreat, and each was in charge of mentoring a group of recruits. Alysia had said there was a friendly rivalry among the core group as to whose protégés would learn the most.
Bonnie glanced around the massive apartment, which had seemed so frightening at first but was now almost cozy, full of magic. It took up three floors of the building, complete with balconies and a roof deck. It felt like an expensive, grown-up version of a college dorm, Bonnie thought, communal and built for temporary living rather than someone’s home.
“And now for the feast!” Alysia exclaimed, leading Bonnie to the dining room as the others followed. “It’s a celebration,” she explained. “So we threw together something special.”
A wall of windows covered one wall of the dining room, looking out over the car headlights tracing a river of light far below. Alysia had created one of her beautiful illusions—pale flower petals falling ceaselessly from the ceiling, disappearing before they hit the floor.
The long table in the center of the room was heaped with food: a hodgepodge of everyone’s favorites, from roast chicken to curry to peanut brittle to a bright pile of stir-fried vegetables. “Yum,” Bonnie said and took a seat. “It’s like a magic menu.”
“I wish,” Alysia said, rolling her eyes. “We were working on this all afternoon.”
Bonnie was reaching for a platter of pork chops when her phone rang. Zander. “Oh, I need to take this. I’ll be right back,” she said, excusing herself and slipping out of the dining room.
“Hey,” she answered, once she was alone back in the mosaic-floored living room where she had first met her team. “How’s it going? I miss you.”
“Sure you do.” Zander’s voice sounded rougher than usual, tired, but she could hear the smile in it. “That’s because I’m awesome.”
“Modest, too,” Bonnie told him. She wandered over to a window and looked out at the streets far below. “How are things there?” Zander didn’t say anything for a moment, and Bonnie tensed. “What’s going on?”
“I’m thinking,” Zander said. “How’s witch camp?”
“Witch camp is fantastic. Soon I will be the queen of all witches. Seriously,
I’m getting really strong.” She wanted to go into more detail, tell Zander all the amazing things she was learning to do, but she didn’t like the way he had paused when she asked him what was going on back home. His voice wasn’t quite right—he sounded worried. She used her firmest tone. “What do you mean you’re thinking? Give me a straight answer. Is everything okay?”
Zander sighed. “The Old One—Solomon—is getting closer. He’s sent compelled humans after us. And he killed Elena’s cat. Last night, we thought we had him, but we just stumbled into a trap.” He paused. “He drew lighting and fire down around us.”
Bonnie stiffened, feeling the blood drain out of her cheeks. Fire was one thing that the Pack couldn’t fight. “I’m coming home,” she said.
“No.”
“You need me.” She was already crossing the living room, heading for the stairs that would lead to her bedroom. She could pack and be at the airport in an hour, catch the next flight to Richmond or Washington, D.C. … “You’ll pick me up at the airport, right?”
“Bonnie, stop,” Zander insisted. “Listen to me.”
“I have to be there!”
“We can handle it!” Zander said loudly, and Bonnie stopped in her tracks.
“If you’re in danger—”
“We’ve got the Pack,” Zander interrupted. “We’ve got hunters; we’ve got Stefan. We’ve got Elena, and she’s bringing her other Guardian friend out. Solomon’s tough, but there’s a whole superhero alliance here.”
Bonnie felt like her heart was being squeezed. “You don’t need me?” she said in a tiny voice.
“Of course we need you,” Zander said, his voice warm and reassuring. “I need you. Even when you’re not here, you’re helping protect us. We’re all using the charms and everything you left. But right now, you need to stay there, keep working on your own stuff. You’ll be stronger than ever when you come back, and then you’ll fix whatever we haven’t taken care of yet. Trust me and the Pack and the others for now, okay?”