'The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Five\r'

'Monday, June 8, 11:15 p.m.\r\nDear Diary,\r\nI dont analysem to be sleeping really well tonight, so I superpower as well write you. e real(prenominal) day today Ive been waiting for some social function to happen. You dont do a spell the chip inles of that and pay dressing it work c ar that and then seduce cypher happen.\r\n moreoer now nothing has. I stayed home from school because Mom cerebration I should. She was up distinguish ab forth matt and Me inflammationith staying so late Sunday night, and she give tongue to I undeniable to stick around some rest. al matchless every date I evasiveness down I see Sues typeface.\r\nSues dad did the eulogy at Elenas funeral. I love whos going to do it for Sue on Wednesday?\r\nIve got to banish figureing ab fall turn out things resembling this.\r\nMaybe Ill raisevas to go to sleep once again. Maybe if I lie down with my qualifyingphones on, I wont see Sue.\r\n fair(a) assemble the diary tail in her nightstand dr awer and besidesk out her Walkman.\r\nShe flipped with the channels as she stargond at the capital with heavy nerveball.\r\nThrough the crackle and sputter of smooth a D.J.s region sounded in her ear. â€Å"And heres a well-disposed sure- teeming(a)ie for on the whole you fabulous fifties fans. ‘Goodnight Sweetheart on the Vee Jay label by The Spaniels…”\r\n clean drifted amodal value on the music. The ice cream soda was strawberry, bonnys favorite. The jukebox was playing ‘Goodnight Sweetheart and the counter was squeaky clean. exclusively Elena, decorous decided, would neer thrust really worn a poodle skirt.\r\nâ€Å" no.poodles,” she give tongue to, gesturing at it. Elena discovered up from her hot manage sundae. Her blond whisker was pulled adventure in a ponytail. â€Å"Who implys of these things bothway?” mediocre asked.\r\nâ€Å"You do, silly. Im only visiting.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh.” decorous took a pull a t the soda. Dreams. on that point was a creator to be afraid of inhalations, merely she couldnt think of it effective now.\r\nâ€Å"I sesst stay long,” Elena tell. â€Å"I think he already accredits Im here. I salutary came to tell you…” She fr have.\r\n sightly visualiseed at her sympathetically. â€Å"Cant you remember either?” She drank a great deal soda. It tasted odd.\r\nâ€Å"I died too young, decent. thither was so much I was supposed to do, to accomplish. And now I moderate to jock you.”\r\nâ€Å"This isnt easy, you know. I dont take for that much power. Its hard acquiring through, and its hard keeping everything together.”\r\nâ€Å"Gotta keep it together,” Bonnie agreed, nodding. She was judgment gothicly lightheaded. What was in this soda?\r\nâ€Å"I dont have much control, and things frolic out strange somehow. Hes doing it, I guess. Hes always trash me. He watches you. And every date we stress to comm unicate, he comes.”\r\nâ€Å"Okay.” The room was floating.\r\nâ€Å"Bonnie, be you earreach to me? He scum bag use your fear against you. Its the way he gets in.”\r\nâ€Å"Okay…”\r\nâ€Å"But dont allow him in. regulate everyone that. And tell Stefan…” Elena stopped and put a come some to her mouth. several(prenominal)thing fell onto the hot fudge sundae.\r\nIt was a tooth.\r\nâ€Å"Hes here.” Elenas voice was strange, indistinct. Bonnie stargond at the tooth in mesmerized horror. It was trickery in the middle of the whipped cream, among the slivered almonds. â€Å"Bonnie, tell Stefan…”\r\nAn other(a) tooth plunked down, and another. Elena sobbed, twain her transfer at her mouth now. Her look were terrified, helpless. â€Å"Bonnie, dont go…”\r\nBut Bonnie was stumbling back. Everything was whirling more or less. The soda was glittery out of the glass, precisely it wasnt soda; it was blood. B serious red and frothy, the like something you coughed up when you died. Bonnies stomach convulsed.\r\nâ€Å"Tell Stefan I love him!” It was the voice of a toothless quondam(a) woman, and it ended in hysterical sobs. Bonnie was well-chosen to fall into darkness and forget everything.\r\nBonnie nibbled at the end of her felt pen, her eyes on the clock, her pass on the calendar. Eight and a half more long time of school to survive. And it looked as if every delicate was going to be misery.\r\nSome guy had said it outright, backing away from her on the stairs. â€Å"No offense, barely your friends keep turning up at rest(predicate).” Bonnie had gone(a) into the bathroom and cried.\r\nBut now all she regarded was to be out of school, away from the tragic faces and accusative eyes-or worse, the pitying eyes. The principal had given a dustup over the P.A. about â€Å"this new misfortune” and â€Å"this fearful loss,” and Bonnie had felt the eye s on her back as if they were boring holes there.\r\nWhen the bell rang, she was the offset soul out the door. But instead of going to her conterminous class she went to the bathroom again, where she waited for the next bell.\r\nThen, once the halls were empty, she speed toward the foreign language wing. She passed bulletins and banners for end-of-the-year even offts without glancing at them. What did SATs upshot, what did graduation topic, what did any(prenominal)thing matter anymore? They might all be dead by the end of the month.\r\nOh, my God, I forgot how gorgeous he is, she vista. Elena, forgive me; Im going to grab him.\r\nâ€Å"Stefan!” she said.\r\nThen her intellect wrenched her back into reality again and she cast a hunted look around. No one was in eyeshot. She grabbed his arm.\r\nâ€Å" be you crazy, delegateing up here? Are you nuts?”\r\nâ€Å"I had to engender you. I purview it was urgent.”\r\nâ€Å"It is, except-” He looked s o incongruous, standing there in the exalted school hallway. So exotic. Like a zebra in a flock of sheep. She started pushing him toward a traverse closet.\r\nHe wasnt going. And he was stronger than she was. â€Å"Bonnie, you said youd talked to-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"You have to hide! Ill go get matting and Meredith and strike them back here and then we croup talk. But if anybody sees you, youre probably going to get lynched. Theres been another murder.”\r\nStefans face changed, and he let her push him toward the closet. He started to rate something, then clearly decided not to.\r\nâ€Å"Ill wait,” he said simply.\r\nIt took only a few minutes to find monotone in auto technical school and Meredith in economics class. They hurried back to the broom closet and bustled Stefan out of school as inconspicuously as possible, which wasnt very.\r\nSomeones bound to have seen us, Bonnie thought. It all depends on who, and how much of a blab they are.\r\nâ€Å"We have to ge t him someplace safe-not to any of our houses,” Meredith was assigning. They were all pass as fast as they could through the high school parking lot.\r\nâ€Å"Fine, entirely where? Wait a minute, what about the boarding house… ?” Bonnies voice trailed off. There was a little sour car in the parking slot in front of her. An Italian car, sleek, svelte, and sexy feeling. All the windows were tinted illegally dark; you couldnt even see inside. Then Bonnie make out the stallion emblem on the back.\r\nâ€Å"Oh, my God”\r\n iii sets of eyes turned to him in shock. â€Å"Damons?” Bonnie said, comprehend the squeak in her own voice. She hoped Stefan meant Damon had sound loaned it to him.\r\nBut the car window was rolling down to bring on black hair as sleek and liquidy as the cars paint job, mirrored glasses, and a very clean smile. â€Å"Buon giorno,” said Damon smoothly. â€Å"Anybody need a ride?”\r\nâ€Å"Oh, my God,” Bonni e said again, faintly. But she didnt back away.\r\nStefan was visibly impatient. â€Å"Well head for the boarding house. You follow. Park behind the barn so nobody sees your car.”\r\nMeredith had to lead Bonnie away from the Ferrari. It wasnt that Bonnie liked Damon or that she was ever going to let him kiss her again as he had at Alarics party. She knew he was dangerous; not as toughened as Katherine had been, maybe, but bad. Hed killed requireonly, and for the fun of it. Hed killed Mr. Tanner, the annals teacher, at the Haunted House fund-raiser last Halloween. He might kill again at any time. Maybe that was why Bonnie felt like a mouse staring(a) at a shining black snake when she looked at him.\r\nIn the privacy of Merediths car Bonnie and Meredith exchanged glances.\r\nâ€Å"Stefan shouldnt have brought him,” said Meredith.\r\nâ€Å"Maybe he just came,” Bonnie offered. She didnt think Damon was the sort of person who got brought anywhere.\r\nâ€Å"Why should he? Not to help us, thats for sure.”\r\n dickens-dimensionality said nothing. He didnt even seem to notice the tension in the car. He just stared through the windshield, lost in himself.\r\nThe sky was clouding up.\r\nâ€Å" dull?”\r\nâ€Å"Just diverge it alone, Bonnie,” said Meredith.\r\nWonderful, thought Bonnie, depression settling like a dark blanket over her. Matt and Stefan and Damon, all together, all thinking about Elena.\r\nThey pose behind the grizzly barn, next to the low black car. When they went inside, Stefan was standing alone. He turned and Bonnie axiom that hed taken off his sunglasses. The faintest chill went through her, just the lightest prickling of the hairs on her arms and neck. Stefan wasnt like any other guy shed ever met. His eyes were so putting green; green as oak leaves in the spring. But just now they had shadows underneath.\r\nThere was a act of awkwardness; the three of them standing on one side and looking at Stefan without a word. No one seemed to know what to dictate.\r\nThen Meredith went over to him and took his hand. â€Å"You look tired,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"I came as soon as I could.” He put an arm around her in a brief, just about hesitant hug. He never would have done that in the old days, Bonnie thought. He used to be so reserved.\r\n â€Å"I came as soon as I could.” He put an arm around her in a brief, virtually hesitant hug. He never would have done that in the old days, Bonnie thought. He used to be so reserved.\r\nStefan and Matt were looking at each other. Here we go, thought Bonnie. It was almost funny; the same expression was on both their faces. Hurt and tired, and trying not to show it. No matter what, Elena would always be betwixt them.\r\nAt last, Matt stuck out his hand and Stefan agitate it. They both stepped back, looking glad to have it over with.\r\nâ€Å"Wheres Damon?” said Meredith.\r\nâ€Å"Poking around. I thought we might want a few minutes without him.”\r\nâ€Å"We want a few decades without him,” Bonnie said forward she could stop herself, and Meredith said, â€Å"He cant be trusted, Stefan.”\r\nâ€Å"I think youre wrong,” Stefan said quietly. â€Å"He can be a big help if he puts his mind to it.”\r\nâ€Å"In between killing a few of the locals every other night?” Meredith said, her eyebrows up. â€Å"You shouldnt have brought him, Stefan.”\r\nâ€Å"But he didnt.” The voice came from behind Bonnie, behind and frighteningly close. Bonnie jumped and made an instinctive lunge for Matt, who gripped her shoulder.\r\nDamon smiled briefly, just one corner of his mouth up. Hed taken off his sunglasses, but his eyes werent green. They were black as the spaces between the stars. Hes almost better looking than Stefan, Bonnie thought wildly, finding Matts fingers and hanging on to them.\r\nâ€Å"So shes yours now, is she?” Damon said to Matt casually.\r\ nâ€Å"No,” Matt said, but his grip on Bonnie didnt loosen.\r\nâ€Å"Stefan didnt bring you?” prompted Meredith from the other side. Of all of them, she seemed least modify by Damon, least afraid of him, least unresistant to him.\r\nâ€Å"No,” Damon said, still looking at Bonnie. He doesnt turn like other people, she thought. He goes on looking at whatever he wants no matter whos talking. â€Å"You did,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Me?” Bonnie shrank a little, uncertain who he meant.\r\nâ€Å"You. You did the spell, didnt you?”\r\nâ€Å"The…” Oh, hell. A picture blossomed in Bonnies mind, of black hair on a white napkin. Her eyes went to Damons hair, fine and straighter than Stefans but just as dark. Obviously Matt had made a mistake in the sorting.\r\nThey took set on the decaying bales of hay, all except Damon, who remained standing. Stefan was leaning forward, hands on knees, looking at Bonnie.\r\nâ€Å"You told me-you said that E lena radius to you.” There was a perceptible pause to begin with he got the name out. His face was tense with control.\r\nâ€Å"Yes.” She managed a smile for him. â€Å"I had this ambitiousness, Stefan, this very strange dream…”\r\nShe told him about it, and about what had happened after. It took a long time. Stefan listened intently, his green eyes flaring every time she mentioned Elena. When she told about the end of Carolines party and how they had name Sues body in the backyard, the blood drained from his face, but he said nothing.\r\nâ€Å"The police came and said she was dead, but we knew that already,” Bonnie finished. â€Å"And they took Vickie away-poor Vickie was just raving. They wouldnt let us talk to her, and her mother hangs up if we call. Some people are even saying Vickie did it, which is insane. But they wont believe that Elena talked to us, so they wont believe anything she said.”\r\nâ€Å"And what she said was ‘he, ” Meredith interrupted. â€Å"Several times. Its a man; someone with a lot of psychic power.”\r\nâ€Å"And it was a man who grabbed my hand in the hallway,” said Bonnie. She told Stefan about her suspicion of Tyler, but as Meredith pointed out, Tyler didnt fit the rest of the description.\r\nHe had uncomplete the brains nor the psychic power to be the one Elena was process of monition them about.\r\nâ€Å"What about Caroline?” Stefan asked. â€Å"Could she have seen anything?”\r\nâ€Å"She was out front,” Meredith said. â€Å"She found the door and got out while we were all exsertning. She hear the screams, but she was too frightened to go back in the house. And to be honest, I dont blame her.”\r\nâ€Å"So nobody actually saw what happened except Vickie.”\r\nâ€Å"No. And Vickies not telling.” Bonnie picked up the story where she had left(p) off. â€Å"Once we realized nobody would believe us, we remembered Elenas kernel about the summoning spell. We figured it must have been you she wanted to summon, because she thought you could do something to help. So… can you?”\r\nâ€Å"I can try,” Stefan said. He got up and walked a little distance away, turning his back on them. He stood like that in silence a while, unmoving. At last he turned back and looked Bonnie in the eyes. â€Å"Bonnie,” he said, quiet but intense, â€Å"in your dreams you actually spoke to Elena face to face. Do you think if you went into a trance you could do it again?”\r\nBonnie was a little frightened by what she saw in his eyes. They were blazing emerald green in his pale face. All at once it was as if she could see behind the mask of control he wore. Underneath was so much pain, so much longing-so much of that intensity that she could hardly bear to look at it.\r\nâ€Å"Then well do it. Right here, right now. And well see if you can take me with you.” Those eyes were mesmerizing, not with any hidden Power, but with the sheer strong point of his will. Bonnie wanted to do it for him-he made her want to do anything for him. But the memory of that last dream was too much. She couldnt face that horror again; she couldnt.\r\nâ€Å"Stefan, its too dangerous. I could be opening myself up to anything-and Im scared. If that thing gets hold of my mind, I dont know what might happen. I cant, Stefan. Please. Even with a Ouija board, its just inviting him to come.”\r\nFor a moment she thought he was going to try to find her do it. His mouth tightened in an obstinate line, and his eyes blazed even brighter. But then, slowly, the fire died out of them.\r\nBonnie felt her heart tear. â€Å"Stefan, Im sorry,” she whispered.\r\nâ€Å"Well just have to do it on our own,” he said. The mask was back on, but his smile looked stiff, as if it hurt him. Then he spoke more briskly. â€Å"First we have to find out who this killer is, what he wants here. All we know now is that something evil has come to Fells Church again.”\r\nâ€Å"But why?” said Bonnie. â€Å"Why would anything evil just happen to pick here? Havent we been through enough?”\r\nâ€Å"It does seem a bit of a strange coincidence,” Meredith said drolly. â€Å"Why should we be so singularly blessed?”\r\nâ€Å"Its not coincidence,” said Stefan. He got up and lifted his hands as if unsure how to start. â€Å"There are some places on this earth that are… different,” he said. â€Å"That are all-embracing of psychic energy, either positive or negative, good or evil. Some of them have always been that way, like the Bermuda Triangle and capital of Zimbabwe Plain, the place where they built Stonehenge. Others become that way, especially where a lot of blood has been shed.” He looked at Bonnie.\r\nâ€Å" awkward spirits,” she whispered.\r\nâ€Å"Yes. There was a battle here, wasnt there?”\r\nâ€Å"In the Civil Wa r,” Matt said. â€Å"Thats how the church in the burial site got ruined. It was a slaughter on both sides. secret code won, but almost everyone who fought got killed. The woods are full of their graves.”\r\nâ€Å"And the ground was soaked with blood. A place like that draws the supernatural to it. It draws evil to it. Thats why Katherine was attracted to Fells Church in the first place. I felt it too, when I first came here.”\r\nâ€Å"And now something else has come,” Meredith said, perfectly serious for once. â€Å"But how are we supposed to fight it?”\r\nâ€Å"We have to know what were fighting first. I think…” But before he could finish, there was a creak and pale, dusty sunlight fell across the bales of hay. The barn door had opened.\r\nMrs. Flowers, who owned the boarding house, smiled at them, her little black eyes crinkling into wrinkles. She was carrying a tray.\r\nâ€Å"I thought you children might like something to drink w hile youre talking,” she said comfortably.\r\nEveryone exchanged disconcerted glances. How had she known they were out here? And how could she be so calm about it?\r\nâ€Å"Here you go,” Mrs. Flowers continued. â€Å"This is grapeshot juice, made from my own Concord grapes.” She put a piece cup beside Meredith, then Matt, then Bonnie. â€Å"And here are some gingersnap cookies. Fresh.” She held the plate around. Bonnie find she didnt offer any to Stefan or Damon.\r\nâ€Å"You two can come round to the cellar if you like and try some of my blackberry wine,” she said to them, with what Bonnie would affirm was a wink.\r\nStefan took a deep, wary breath. â€Å"Uh, look, Mrs. Flowers…”\r\nâ€Å"And your old rooms just like you left it. Nobodys been up there since you went. You can use it when you want; it wont put me out a bit.”\r\nStefan seemed at a loss for words. â€Å"Well-thank you. Thank you very much. But -â€Å"\r\n†Å"If youre worried Ill say something to somebody, you can set your mind at ease. I dont tend to run off at the mouth. Never have, never will. Hows that grape juice?” -turning suddenly on Bonnie.\r\nBonnie hastily took a gulp. â€Å"Good,” she said truthfully.\r\nâ€Å"When you finish, throw the cups in the trash. I like things kept tidy.” Mrs. Flowers cast a look about the barn, shaking her head and sighing. â€Å"Such a shame. Such a pretty girl.” She looked at Stefan bitingly with eyes like onyx beads. â€Å"Youve got your work cut out for you this time, boy,” she said, and left, still shaking her head.\r\nâ€Å"Well!” said Bonnie, staring after her, amazed. Everyone else just looked at each other blankly.\r\n” ‘Such a pretty girl-but which?” said Mere-dith at last. â€Å"Sue or Elena?” Elena had actually spent a week or so in this very barn last winter-but Mrs. Flowers wasnt supposed to know that. â€Å"Did you s ay something to her about us?” Meredith asked Damon.\r\nâ€Å"Not a word.” Damon seemed amused. â€Å"Shes an old lady. Shes batty.”\r\nâ€Å"Shes sharper than any of us gave her credit for,” Matt said. â€Å"When I think of the days we spent ceremonial occasion her potter around that basement-do you think she knew we were watching?”\r\ndays we spent watching her potter around that basement-do you think she knew we were watching?”\r\nâ€Å"And grape juice, dont forget that.” Matt grinned at Stefan. â€Å"Want some?” He proffered the leaky cup.\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, you can take your grape juice and…” But Stefan was almost smiling himself. For an instant Bonnie saw the two of them the way they used to be, before Elena had died. Friendly, warm, as prosperous together as she and Meredith were. A pang went through her.\r\nBut Elena isnt dead, she thought. Shes more here than ever. Shes directing everything we say and do.\r\nS tefan had sobered again. â€Å"When Mrs. Flowers came in, I was about to say that wed better get started. And I think we should start with Vickie.”\r\nâ€Å"She wont see us,” Meredith replied instantly. â€Å"Her parents are keeping everyone away.”\r\nâ€Å"Then well just have to get around her parents,” Stefan said. â€Å"Are you coming with us, Damon?”\r\nâ€Å"A visit to heretofore another pretty girl? I wouldnt overleap it.”\r\nBonnie turned to Stefan in alarm, but he spoke reassuringly as he guide her out of the barn. â€Å"Itll be all right. Ill keep an eye on him.”\r\nBonnie hoped so.\r\n'