The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Fifteen

Klaus thigh-slappered, a scream that reminded middling of ancient predators, of the sabertooth cat and the bull mammoth. Blood frothed kayoed of his m extincth on with the scream, turning that handsome grimace into a worm mask of fury.His hands scrabb lead at his nates, trying to get a appreciation on the white ash s bow and pull it out. just now it was inhumed too deep. The throw had been a good 1.Damon, beautiful whispered.He was stand at the edge of the clearing, framed by oak trees. As she watched, he took a step toward Klaus, and consequently some other lithe stalking travel filled with deadly purpose.And he was angry. bonnie would pay run from the opinion on his aspect if her muscles hadnt been frozen. She had never seen such menace so except held in check. compress outdoor(a) from my brother, he verbalize, almost brea issue it, with his eyeb each(prenominal) never leaving Klauss as he took another step.Klaus screamed again, solely his hands stop their frantic scrabbling. You idiot We dont have to fight I told you that at the house We can ignore each otherDamons example was no louder than ahead. Get outside from my brother. sightly could olfaction it inside him, a clotheshorse of Power same a tsunami. He continued, so softly that beautiful had to strain to hear him, Before I tear your heart out. seemly could move after every furthest(predicate). She stepped clogward.I told you screamed Klaus, frothing. Damon didnt ac issueledge the words in every way. His whole being seemed focused on Klauss throat, on his titty, on the w altogetheroping heart inside that he was out allow to tear out.Klaus picked up the ceaseless lance and rushed him.In spite of all(a) the pitch, the blond humanness seemed to have plenty of strength left-hand(a). The rush was sudden, violent, and almost inescapable. sightly maxim him gouge the lance at Damon and shut her eye involuntarily, and wherefore(prenominal) undefended them an instan t later as she heard the flurry of wings.Klaus had plunged reclaim by the spot whither Damon had been, and a black crow was soaring upward small-arm a single feather floated atomic pile. As sightly stared, Klauss rush took him into the swarthiness beyond the clearing and he disappeared.Dead silence fell in the wood. mediocres paralysis broke slowly, and she first stepped, and then ran to where Stefan lay. He didnt on the fence(p) his look at her approach he seemed unconscious. She knelt beside him. And then she matt-up a pattern of horrible calm creep over her, equal some mavin who has been swimming in ice water and at last feels the first irrefutable signs of hypothermia. If she hadnt had so many successive shocks already, she strength have fled screaming or dissolved into hysterics. But as it was, this was simply the last step, the last subatomic slide into unreality. Into a world that couldnt be, only when was.Shed never seen anybody hurt similar this. no even Mr . Tanner, and he had split upd of his wounds. nought Mary had ever verbalise could assistant fix this. Even if theyd had Stefan on a stretcher out bum seeward(a) an operating room, it wouldnt have been enough.In that state of dreadful calm she looked up to see a flutter of wings blur and shimmer in the moon elucidate. Damon stood beside her, and she spoke rather collectedly and rationally.Will giving him line of products serve oneself?He didnt seem to hear her. His eye were all black, all pupil. That just now leashed violence, that sense of ferocious energy held keister, was gone. He knelt and satisfyed the dirty bye on the ground.Stefan? comely shut her look.Damons scared, she thought. Damons scared-Damon-and oh, God, I dont know what to do. Theres nothing to do-and its all over and were all lost and Damon is scared for Stefan. He isnt going to throw care of things and he hasnt got a solution and somebodys got to fix this. And oh, God, please help me because Im s o frightened and Stefans dying and Meredith and Matt are hurt and Klaus is going to come backward.She candid her eyes to look at Damon. He was white, his panorama looking terrifyingly young at that moment, with those dilated black eyes.Klaus is orgasm back, Bonnie said quietly. She wasnt horrified of him any more. They werent a centuries-old hunter and a seventeen-year-old human girl, sitting here at the edge of the world.They were just two people, Damon and Bonnie, who had to do the best they could.I know, Damon said. He was holding Stefans hand, looking completely unembarrassed around it, and it seemed quite logical and sensible. Bonnie could feel him sending Power into Stefan, could also feel that it wasnt enough.Would profligate help him?Not much. A little, maybe.Anything that helps at all weve got to try.Stefan whispered, No.Bonnie was surp airliftd. Shed thought he was unconscious. But his eyes were open now, open and alert and smoldering green. They were the only viva cious thing some him.Dont be stupid, Damon said, his voice hardening. He was gripping Stefans hand until his knuckles whitened. Youre badly hurt.I wont barge in my promise. That immovable stubbornness was in Stefans voice, in his pale face. And when Damon opened his mouth again, undoubtedly to say that Stefan would break it and desire it or Damon would break his neck, Stefan added, Especially when it wont do any good.Only the justness would do. And Stefan was telling the truth.He was mollify looking at his brother, who was looking back, all that fierce, furious wariness focused on Stefan as it had been focused on Klaus earlier. As if in some manner that would help.Im not badly hurt, Im dead, Stefan said brutally, his eyes locked on Damons. Their last and superlative struggle of wills, Bonnie thought. And you bring to get Bonnie and the others out of here.We wont conduce you, Bonnie intervened. That was the truth she could say that.You have to Stefan didnt glance aside, did nt look away from his brother. Damon, you know Im right. Klaus will be here any minute. Dont throw your keep away. Dont throw their lives away.I dont give a damn about their lives, Damon hissed. The truth also, Bonnie thought, curiously unoffended. There was only one life Damon cared about here, and it wasnt his own.Yes, you do Stefan flared back. He was hanging on to Damons hand with just as fierce a grip, as if this was a contest and he could deposit Damon to concede that way. Elena had a last request well, this is mine. You have Power, Damon. I compliments you to use it to help them.Stefan Bonnie whispered helplessly.Promise me, Stefan said to Damon, and then a spasm of pain twisted his face.For uncountable seconds Damon simply looked down at him. accordingly he said, I promise, quick and sharp as the stroke of a dagger. He let go of Stefans hand and stood, turning to Bonnie. rise on.We cant leave himYes, we can. There was nothing young about Damons face now. Nothing vulner able. You and your human friends are leaving here, permanently. I am coming back.Bonnie shook her head. She k clean, dimly, that Damon wasnt betraying Stefan, that it was some case of Damon putting Stefans ideals above Stefans life, but it was all too abstruse and incomprehensible to her. She didnt understand it and she didnt trust to. all(prenominal) she knew was that Stefan couldnt be left lie there.Youre coming now, Damon said, reaching for her, the steely ring back in his voice. Bonnie prepared herself for a fight, and then something happened that made all their debating call upingless. There was a crack similar a giant chew up and a flash care day wispy, and Bonnie was blinded. When she could see through the afterimage, her eyes flew to the flames that were licking up from a newly blackened hole at the base of a tree.Bonnies eye darted to him next, as the only other thing moving in the clearing. He was waving the crashing(a) white ash stake hed pulled out of his own bac k resembling a bloodstained trophy.Lightning rod, thought Bonnie illogically, and then there was another crash.It stabbed down from an give up sky, in huge saturnine-white forks that lit everything like the sun at noon. Bonnie watched as one tree and then another was hit, each one closer than the last. Flames licked up like peckish red goblins among the leaves. two trees on either side of Bonnie exploded, with cracks so loud that she mat up rather than heard it, a piercing pain in her eardrums. Damon, whose eyes were more sensitive, threw up a hand to protect them.Then he shouted Klaus and sprang toward the blond man. He wasnt stalking now this was the deadly pelt aprospicient of attack. The burst of killing speed of the hunting cat or the wolf.Lightning caught him in midspring.Bonnie screamed as she truism it, jumping to her feet. There was a blue flash of superheated gases and a smell of shineing, and then Damon was down, lying motionless on his face. Bonnie could see tin y wisps of smoke rise from him, just as they did from the trees.Speechless with shame, she looked at Klaus.He was swaggering through the clearing, holding his bloody stick like a golf club. He bent down over Damon as he passed, and smiled. Bonnie wanted to scream again, but she didnt have the wind. There didnt seem to be any air left to breathe.Ill deal with you later, Klaus told the unconscious Damon. Then his face tipped up toward Bonnie.You, he said, Im going to deal with right now.It was an instant before she realized he was looking at Stefan, and not her. Those electric blue eyes were restore on Stefans face. They locomote to Stefans bloody middle.Im going to eat you now, Salvatore.Bonnie was all alone. The only one left standing. And she was afraid. But she knew what she had to do.She let her knees collapse again, move to the ground beside Stefan. And this is how it ends, she thought. You kneel beside your k darkness and then you face the enemy.She looked at Klaus and mov ed so that she was shielding Stefan. He seemed to notice her for the first cadence, and frowned as if hed form a spider in his salad. Fire go down flickered orange-red on his face.No.And this is how the ending starts. manage this, so simply, with one word, and youre going to die on a summer night. A summer night when the moon and stars are twinkling and bonfires burn like the flames the Druids used to summon the dead.Bonnie, go, Stefan said painfully. Get out musical composition you can.No, Bonnie said. Im sorry, Elena, she thought. I cant save him. This is all I can do.Get out of the way, Klaus said through his teeth.No. She could wait and let Stefan die this way, instead of with Klauss teeth in his throat. It might not seem like much of a difference, but it was the most she could offer.Bonnie Stefan whispered.Dont you know who I am, girl? Ive walked with the devil. If you move, Ill let you die quickly.Bonnies voice had given out. She shook her head.Klaus threw back his own h ead and laughed. A little more blood trickled out, too. All right, he said. Have it your own way. Both of you go together.Summer night, Bonnie thought. The solstice eve. When the line between worlds is so thin.Say good night, sweetheart.No clock time to trance, no time for anything. Nothing except one desperate appeal. Elena Bonnie screamed. Elena ElenaKlaus recoiled.For an instant, it seemed as if the name alone had the power to alarm him. Or as if he expected something to respond to Bonnies squall. He stood, listening.Bonnie drew on her powers, putting everything she had into it, throwing her need and her call out into the void.And felt nothing.Nothing hare wized the summer night except the crackling threatening of flames. Klaus dark back to Bonnie and Stefan, and grinned.Then Bonnie saw the mist creeping along the ground.No-it couldnt be mist. It must be smoke from the fire. But it didnt behave like either. It was swirling, rising in the air like a tiny whirlwind or dust dev il. It was gathering into a puzzle out roughly the size of a man.Mist was flowing out of the ground, between the trees. Pools of it, each separate and distinct. Bonnie, sodding(a) mutely, could see through each patch, could see the flames, the oak trees, the bricks of the chimney. Klaus had halt smiling, stopped moving, and was watching too.Bonnie turned to Stefan, unable to even frame the question. neural hard drink, he whispered huskily, his green eyes intent. The solstice. And then Bonnie understood.They were coming. From across the river, where the old cemetery lay. From the woods, where countless makeshift graves had been dug to red cent bodies in before they rotted. The unquiet spirits, the soldiers who had fought here and died during the Civil War. A magic host answering the call for help.They were forming all around. There were hundreds of them.Bonnie could truly see faces now. The misty outlines were filling in with pale hues like so many runny watercolors. She saw a flash of blue, a gleam of gray. Both Union and Confederate troops. Bonnie glimpsed a pistol thrust into a belt, the glint of an ornamented sword. Chevrons on a sleeve. A bushy depressed beard a long, well-tended white one. A small descriptor, child size, with dark holes for eyes and a drum hanging at thigh level.Oh, my God, she whispered. Oh, God. It wasnt swearing. It was something like a prayer.Not that she wasnt frightened of them, because she was. It was every nightmare shed ever had about the cemetery come true. Like her first day-dream about Elena, when things came crawl out of the black pits in the earth only these things werent crawling, they were flying, skimming and travel until they swirled into human form. Everything that Bonnie had ever felt about the old graveyard-that it was alive and full of watching eyes, that there was some Power lurking behind its waiting stillness -was proving true. The earth of Fells Church was giving up its bloody memories. The spirits of those whod died here were walking again.And Bonnie could feel their anger. It frightened her, but another emotion was waking up inside her, making her catch her breath and clench tighter on Stefans hand. Because the misty army had a leader.One figure was floating in front of the others, closest to the place where Klaus stood. It had no shape or definition as yet, but it glowed and scintillated with the pale golden light of a candle flame. Then, before Bonnies eyes, it seemed to take on substance from the air, shining ableer and brighter every minute with an unearthly light. It was brighter than the circle of fire. It was so bright that Klaus leaned back from it and Bonnie blinked, but when she turned at a low sound, she saw Stefan staring straight into it, fearlessly, with wide-open eyes. And smiling, so faintly, as if glad to have this be the last thing he saw.Klaus dropped the stake. He had turned away from Bonnie and Stefan to face the being of light that hung in the clearing l ike an avenging angel. Golden hair streaming back in an invisible wind, Elena looked down on him.She came, Bonnie whispered.You asked her to, Stefan murmured. His voice trailed off into a labored breath, but he was still smiling. His eyes were serene.Stand away from them, Elena said, her voice coming simultaneously to Bonnies ears and her mind. It was like the chiming of dozens of bells, distant and close up at once. Its over now, Klaus.But Klaus rallied quickly. Bonnie saw his shoulders swell with a breath, observe for the first time the hole in the back of the tan raincoat where the white ash stake had pierced him. It was stained dull red, and new blood was flowing now as Klaus flung out his arms.You speak up Im afraid of you? he shouted. He spun around, laughing at all the pallid forms. You think Im afraid of any of you? Youre dead Dust on the wind You cant touch meYoure wrong, Elena said in her wind-chime voice.Im one of the Old Ones An Original Do you know what that means? K laus turned again, addressing all of them, his unnaturally blue eyes appear to catch some of the red glow of the fire. Ive never died. Every one of you has died, you gallery of spooks But not me. Death cant touch me. I am invincibleThe last word came in a shout so loud it echoed among the trees. Invincible invincible invincible. Bonnie heard it fading into the hungry sound of the fire.Elena waited until the last echo had died. Then she said, very simply, Not quite. She turned to look at the misty shapes around her. He wants to spill more blood here.A new voice spoke up, a fatuous voice that ran like a trickle of cold water down Bonnies spine. Theres been enough killing, I say. It was a Union soldier with a duple row of buttons on his jacket.More than enough, said another voice, like the holloa of a faraway drum. A Confederate holding a bayonet.Its time somebody stopped it-an old man in home-dyed butternut cloth.We cant let it go on-the drummer boy with the black holes for eyes.N o more blood spilled Several voices took it up at once. No more killing The beef passed from one to another, until the swell of sound was louder than the roar of the fire. No more bloodYou cant touch me You cant kill meLets take im, boysYou cant kill me Im immortalThe tornado brush away into the darkness beyond Bonnies sight. Following it was a trail of ghosts like a comets tail, shooting off into the night sky.Where are they taking him? Bonnie didnt mean to say it aloud she just blurted it out before she thought. But Elena heard.Where he wont do any harm, she said, and the look on her face stopped Bonnie from asking any other questions.There was a squealing, bleating sound from the other side of the clearing. Bonnie turned and saw Tyler, in his distasteful part-human, part-animal shape, on his feet. There was no need for Carolines club. He was staring at Elena and the few remaining ghostly figures and gibbering.Dont let them take me Dont let them take me tooBefore Elena could spe ak, he had spun around. He regarded the fire, which was higher than his own head, for an instant, then plunged right through it, crashing into the forest beyond. Through a parting of the flames, Bonnie saw him drop to the ground, beating out flames on himself, then rise and run again. Then the fire flared up and she couldnt see anything more.But shed remembered something Meredith-and Matt. Meredith was lying propped up, her head in Carolines lap, watching. Matt was still on his back. Hurt, but not so badly hurt as Stefan.Elena, Bonnie said, catching the bright figures attention, and then she simply looked at him.The swank came closer. Stefan didnt blink. He looked into the heart of the light and smiled. Hes been stopped now. Thanks to you.It was Bonnie who called us. And she couldnt have do it at the right place and the right time without you and the others.I tried to keep my promise.I know, Stefan.Bonnie didnt like the sound of this at all. It sounded too much like a farewell-a p ermanent one. Her own words floated back to her He might go to another place or-or just go out. And she didnt want Stefan to go anywhere. Surely anyone who looked that much like an angelElena, she said, cant you-do something? Cant you help him? Her voice was shaking.I can do something, she said. But I dont know if its the kind of help he wants. She turned back to Stefan. Stefan, I can cure what Klaus did. this night I have that much Power. But I cant cure what Katherine did.Bonnies numbed brain struggled with this for a while. What Katherine did-but Stefan had recovered months ago from Katherines torture in the crypt. Then she understood. What Katherine had done was make Stefan a vampire.Its been too long, Stefan was saying to Elena. If you did cure it, Id be a pile of dust.Yes. Elena didnt smile, just went on looking at him steadily. Do you want my help, Stefan?To go on living in this world in the shadows Stefans voice was a whisper now, his green eyes distant. Bonnie wanted to th row off him. Live, she thought to him, but she didnt dare say it for fear shed make him make up just the opposite. Then she thought of something else.To go on trying, she said, and both of them looked at her. She looked back, chin thrust out, and saw the beginning of a smile on Elenas bright lips. Elena turned to Stefan, and that tiny hint of a smile passed to him.Yes, he said quietly, and then, to Elena, I want your help.She bent and kissed him.Bonnie saw the visible light flow from her to Stefan, like a river of sparkling light engulfing him. It flooded over him the way the dark mist had surrounded Klaus, like a shower of diamonds, until his entire body glowed like Elenas.For an instant Bonnie imagined she could see the blood inside him turned molten, flowing out to each vein, each capillary, mend everything it touched. Then the glow faded to a golden aura, soaking back into Stefans skin. His shirt was still demolished, but underneath the flesh was smooth and firm. Bonnie, sens ation her own eyes wide with wonder, couldnt help reaching out to touch.It felt just like any skin. The horrible wounds were gone.She laughed aloud with sheer excitement, and then looked up, sobering. Elena- theres Meredith, too-The bright being that was Elena was already moving across the clearing. Meredith looked up at her from Carolines lap.Hello, Elena, she said, almost normally, except that her voice was so weak.Elena bent and kissed her. The brightness flowed again, comprehend Meredith. And when it faded, Meredith stood up on her own two feet.Then she went to Damon.He was still lying where he had fallen. The ghosts had passed over him, taking no notice of him. Elenas brightness hovered over him, one shining hand reaching to touch his hair. Then she bent and kissed the dark head on the ground.As the sparkling light faded, Damon sat up and shook his head. He saw Elena and went still, then, every movement careful and self-contained, stood up. He didnt say anything, only looked as Elena turned back to Stefan.He was silhouetted against the fire. Bonnie had scarcely noticed how the red glow had self-aggrandising so that it almost eclipsed Elenas gold. But now she saw it and felt a thrill of alarm.My last gift to you, Elena said, and it began to rain.Not a thunder-and-lightning storm, but a thorough pattering rain that soaked everything-Bonnie included-and doused the fire. It was fresh and cool, and it seemed to wash all the horror of the last hours away, cleansing the glade of everything that had happened there. Bonnie tilted her face up to it, shutting her eyes, wanting to stretch out her arms and embrace it. At last it slackened and she looked again at Elena.Elena was looking at Stefan, and there was no smile on her lips now. The wordless sorrow was back in her face.Its midnight, she said. And I have to go.Bonnie knew instantly, at the sound of it, that go didnt just mean for the moment. Go meant forever. Elena was going somewhere that no trance or dream could reach.And Stefan knew it too.Just a few more minutes, he said, reaching for her.Im sorry-Elena, wait-I need to tell you-I cant For the first time the serenity of that bright face was destroyed, showing not only gentle sadness but bust grief. Stefan, I cant wait. Im so sorry. It was as if she were being pulled backward, retreating from them into some dimension that Bonnie could not see. Maybe the same place Honoria went when her task was finished, Bonnie thought. To be at peace.But Elenas eyes didnt look as if she were at peace. They clung to Stefan, and she reached out her hand toward his, hopelessly. They didnt touch. Wherever Elena was being pulled was too far away.Elena-please It was the voice Stefan had called her with in his room. As if his heart was breaking.Stefan, Elena called again, but her voice came as if from a long distance. The brightness was almost gone. Then, as Bonnie stared through helpless tears, it winked out. exit the clearing silent once again. They were all gone, the ghosts of Fells Church who had walked for one night to keep more blood from being spilled. The bright spirit that had led them had vanished without a trace, and even the moon and stars were covered by clouds.Bonnie knew that the wetness on Stefans face wasnt due to the rain that was still splashing down.He was standing, chest heaving, looking at the last place where Elenas brightness had been seen. And all the relish and the pain Bonnie had glimpsed on his face at times before was nothing to what she saw now.It isnt delightful, she whispered. Then she shouted it to the sky, not caring who she was addressing. It isnt fairStefan had been breathing more and more quickly. Now he lifted his face too, not in anger but in unbearable pain. His eyes were searching the clouds as if he might find some last trace of golden light, some flicker of brightness there. He couldnt. Bonnie saw the spasm go through him, like the agony of Klauss stake. And the cry that burst out of him w as the most terrible thing shed ever heard. Elena