Moonsong (28 page)

“So,” he said, sitting down again. Elena could tel that he was stil anxious, but also that he was beginning to enjoy tel ing the story. He was a natural gossip—the way he taught history was as gossip about the past—and this was even more familiar for him, because it was gossip about Elena’s parents, people they both had known. “Thomas and Elizabeth were both terrifical y flattered, of course.”

“And…” Elena prompted.

James laced his fingers across his stomach and watched her, his eyes shadowed. “They agreed that, when the child was twelve years old, they would give her up. The Guardians would take her away, and they would never see her again.”

Elena was suddenly very cold. Her parents had raised her intending to give her away? She felt like al her childhood memories were shattering. In an instant, James was at her side. “Breathe,” he said gently.

Gasping, Elena shut her eyes and concentrated on inhaling and exhaling deep breaths. That her parents, her beloved parents, had taken her on as some kind of temporary project, was devastating. She had never doubted their love until now.

She had to know the whole truth.

“Go on.”

“Honestly, that was the end of my friendship with your parents, and the end of my involvement with the Vitale Society,” James said, taking another long drink of his whiskey-laced tea. “I couldn’t believe that no one else in the Society saw the problem with raising a child to the cusp of adolescence and then giving her up forever, and I couldn’t believe that your parents—who I knew to be loving, intel igent people—would agree to such a plan. We graduated and went our separate ways, and I didn’t hear from your parents again for more than twelve years.”

“You heard from them then?” Elena asked quietly.

“Your father cal ed me. The Guardians had contacted them, ready to take you away. But Thomas and Elizabeth wouldn’t let you go.” James smiled sadly. “They loved you too much. They didn’t think you were ready to leave home—

you were only a child. They realized that they had agreed too quickly to the Guardians’ plan, that they didn’t real y know what was in store for you, and that they couldn’t let their daughter go without knowing for certain that it was the best thing for her. So Thomas asked for my help protecting you. They knew I had dabbled in sorcery when I was in col ege”—he waved his hand modestly when Elena looked up at him—“only smal magics, and I had mostly given them up by then. But he and Elizabeth were desperate. So I gathered what knowledge I could, intending to help them.” He paused, and a gloom settled over his face.

“Unfortunately, I was too late. A few days after our conversation, before I even set out for Fel ’s Church, your parents were both kil ed in a car accident. I checked up on you over the years, but it didn’t seem like the Guardians had gotten their hands on you. And now, here you are. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

“The Guardians kil ed my parents,” Elena said dul y. “I knew it, but I didn’t know… I thought it was an accident.” She was struggling to wrap her mind around the secrets of her childhood. At least in the end her parents hadn’t been able to give her away. They had loved her, as she had thought.

“They tend to get what they want,” James said.

“Why didn’t they take me then?” Elena asked.

James shook his head. “I don’t know. But I think there’s a reason you’re at Dalcrest now, where it began for you and for your parents. I think that some kind of task wil arise here, and you’l come into your Powers.”

“A task?” Elena asked. “But I had Powers once, and the Guardians took them away.” They had mercilessly stripped her of her Wings and al her abilities. Were they going to return them when the time was right?

James sighed and shrugged helplessly. “Plans sometimes have curious ways of presenting themselves, even those that are fated from the start,” he said. “Maybe these disappearances are the first sign of it. I don’t know, though. As I told the class, Dalcrest is the hub of a lot of paranormal activity. I tend to think that, when your task presents itself, you’l know.”

“But I’m not…” Elena gulped. “I don’t understand what this al means. I just want to be a normal girl. I thought I could now. Here.”

James reached across the table and patted her hand, his eyes deep wel s of sympathy. “I’m so sorry, my dear,” he said. “I didn’t want to be the one to burden you with this. But I wil give you any help I can. Thomas and Elizabeth would have wanted that.”

Elena felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had to get out of this cozy kitchen, away from James’s avid, concerned eyes. “Thank you,” she said, hurriedly pushing her chair away from the table and getting up. “I have to go now, though. I do appreciate your tel ing me al this, but I need to think.”

He fussed around her al the way to the front door, clearly unsure of whether to let her go, and Elena was almost ready to scream by the time she reached the porch.

“Thank you,” she said again. “Good-bye.” She walked quickly away without looking back, her shoes clacking against the cement of the sidewalk. When she was out of sight of James’s house, Damon slipped from the shadows to join her. Elena held her head high, blinking away the tears that had pooled in her eyes. For now, this secret would be hers.

37

Ethan had Chloe, was holding her tightly in his arms like a parody of a lover’s embrace. Matt moaned deep in his throat and strained toward her, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t even open his mouth to shout. Chloe’s large brown eyes were fixed on his, and they were fil ed with terror. As Ethan bent his head to her neck, Matt held her gaze and tried to send Chloe a comforting message with his eyes.

It’s okay, Chloe, he thought. Please, it won’t hurt for long. Be strong. Chloe whimpered, frozen, her eyes on Matt’s as if his steady gaze was the only thing keeping her from fal ing to pieces.

Keeping his eyes on hers and his breathing slow, Matt tried to emanate calmness, tried to soothe Chloe, as his mind worked frantical y. Including Ethan, there were fifteen Vitales. Al of them vampires. The other Vitales were watching quietly from behind the altar, letting Ethan take the lead and sire the pledges.

The bodies of four of the pledges lay at Ethan’s feet now. They’d be out of the picture for several hours at least, their bodies going through the transition that would take them from corpses to vampires. Including Matt and Chloe, there were six pledges left. The longer Matt waited to fight back, the worse the odds would get.

But what could Matt do? If only he could break this involuntary stil ness, if only he weren’t a helpless prisoner.

He tried again to move, this time focusing al his strength on lifting his right arm. His muscles tensed with effort, but after about thirty seconds of trying, he stopped in disgust. He was exhausting himself, and he wasn’t moving an inch.

Whatever held him was strong.

But if he could figure out a way to get free, then he’d be able to grab a torch from the wal , maybe. Beneath his robe, his pocket knife weighed heavily in his pants pocket.

Vampires burned. Cutting off their heads would kil them. If he could just hold the vampires off long enough to pul Chloe and whichever other pledges he could grab out of the room, then he could come back later with reinforcements and fight them with a chance at winning.

But if he couldn’t break this spel or compulsion that was holding him in place, any plan he came up with would be useless.

Ethan raised his head from Chloe’s neck, his long sharp teeth pul ing out of her throat, and licked gently at the red blood trickling from the wound in her neck. “I know, sweetheart,” he murmured, “but it’s only for a moment. And then we’l live forever.” Chloe’s eyes glazed over and fluttered shut, but she was stil breathing, stil alive. There was stil a chance for her.

At Ethan’s feet, Anna stirred and moaned. As Matt watched in horror, her eyes snapped open, and she looked up at Ethan, her expression confused but adoring.

No! Matt thought. It’s too soon!

As if he had caught the thought, Ethan turned to Matt and winked. “The herbs in the mixture you al drank worked to thin your blood and speed up your metabolism,” he said, his voice as casual and friendly as if they were chatting in the cafeteria. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it looks like it does. Makes the transition go a lot faster.” His smile widened. “I’m a biochem major, you know.” Ethan’s mouth was smeared with blood, and Matt shuddered but couldn’t look away from the golden eyes that held his.

It’s possible, Matt thought for the first time, that I might not survive this. His stomach rol ed with nausea. He real y didn’t want to become a vampire.

If the newly transformed pledges were waking up so soon, the already slim odds would quickly become impossible. New vampires, he remembered from Elena’s transformation back in the winter, awoke vicious, unreasoning, hungry, and fanatical y committed to the vampire who had changed them.

Ethan lowered his head to bite at Chloe’s neck again, as Anna climbed to her feet with a fluid, inhuman grace. On the other side of the altar, Stuart was now beginning to stir, one long leg shifting restlessly against the dark wood of the floor.

His throat burning with unvoiced sobs of frustration, Matt felt his last flame of hope begin to flicker and die. There was no escape.

Suddenly, the door at the far end of the chamber burst inward, and Stefan swept in.

Ethan looked up in surprise, but before he or the other vampires could move, Stefan flew across the chamber and ripped Chloe from Ethan’s arms. She fel flat in front of the altar, blood running down her neck. Matt couldn’t tel if she was stil breathing, stil clinging to life as a human, or not.

Stefan grabbed Ethan by his long robe and slammed him against the wal . He shook the curly-haired vampire as easily as a dog might shake a rat.

For a moment, the terrible fear that held Matt in its grip loosened. Stefan knew what was happening, Stefan had found him. Stefan would save them al .

The other Vitales were racing toward Stefan now as he struggled with Ethan, their long robes flowing behind them as they smoothly came forward, moving as one.

Stefan was without a doubt much stronger than any of them. He flung a black-clad female vampire—the one who had handed him the goblet, Matt thought—away from him easily, and she sailed across the chamber as if she was no heavier than a rag dol , landing in a crumpled heap against the opposite wal . Smiling viciously, Stefan tore at the throat of another with his teeth, and she fel to the ground and lay stil .

But there were so many of them, and only one of Stefan.

After just a few minutes of watching the fight, Matt could see that it was hopeless, and his heart sank. Stefan was much older, and much stronger, than any other vampire in the room, but together they outweighed him. The tide of the battle was turning, and they were overwhelming him through the sheer strength of their numbers. Ethan was free of him now, straightening his robes, and four of the Vitale vampires, working together, pinned Stefan’s arms behind him. Anna, her eyes shining, snapped at him viciously.

Ethan grabbed a torch from the wal behind him and eyed Stefan speculatively, absently licking at the blood on the back of his hand. “You had your chance, Stefan,” he said, smiling.

Stefan stopped struggling and hung limp between the vampires holding his arms. “Wait,” he said, looking up at Ethan. “You wanted me to join you. You begged me to join you. Do you stil want me?”

Ethan tilted his head thoughtful y, his golden eyes bright.

“I do,” he said. “But what can you tel me that’l make me believe you want to join us?”

Stefan licked his lips. “Let Matt go. If you let him leave safely, I’l stay in his place.” He paused. “On my honor.”

“Done,” Ethan said immediately. He flicked his fingers in the air without taking his eyes from Stefan, and Matt staggered, suddenly released from the compulsion that had held him in place.

Matt sucked in one long breath and then ran straight for the altar and Chloe. Maybe it wasn’t too late. He could stil save her.

“Stop.” Ethan’s voice cracked commandingly across the room. Matt froze in place, once again unable to move.

Ethan glared at him. “You do not help. You do not fight,” he said coldly. “You go.”

Matt looked imploringly at Stefan. Surely he wasn’t just supposed to leave, to abandon Chloe and Stefan and the others to the Vitale vampires. Stefan gazed back at him, his features rigid. “Sorry, Matt,” he said flatly. “The one thing I’ve learned over the years is that sometimes you have to surrender. The best thing you can do now is just leave. I’l be okay.”

And then, jarringly intrusive and sudden in Matt’s head was Stefan’s voice. Damon, he said fiercely. Get Damon.

Matt gulped and, as Ethan’s compulsion released him once more, nodded slowly, trying to look defeated while stil signaling to Stefan with his eyes that his message had been received.

He couldn’t look at the other pledges. No matter how much he hurried, some or al of them would die before he returned. Maybe Stefan would be able to save some of them. Maybe. Maybe he would be able to save Chloe.

His heart pounding with terror, his head spinning with fear, Matt ran for the exit and for help. He didn’t look back.

38

Bonnie didn’t have her keys. She knew exactly where they were, but that didn’t do her much good: they were lying on the bedside table next to Zander’s neat plain single bed.

She cursed and kicked at the door, tears running down her face. How was she going to get any of her stuff back?

Some guy opened the front door of the building for her.

“Jeez, relax,” he said, but Bonnie had already pushed past him and was running up the stairs to her room.

Please let them be here, she thought, clinging to the banister, please. She had no doubt that Elena and Meredith would comfort her, would help her, no matter what she had said to them during their fight. They would help Bonnie figure out what to do.

But they might be out. And she’d have no idea where to find Meredith and Elena, no idea where they spent their free time these days.

How had she grown so far apart from her best friends?