The Vampire Diaries: The Fury Chapter Ten

December 12, Thursday morningDear Diary,So after a week of work, what have we accomplished?Well, between us weve managed to play along our three suspects just about continuously for the furthest six or seven days. Results reports on Roberts movements for the last week, which he spent acting like whatsoever normal businessman. Reports on Alaric, who hasnt been doing anything unusual for a history teacher. Reports on Mrs. Flowers, who apparently croaks most of her conviction in the basement. But we havent re tot onlyyy learned anything.Stefan says that Alaric met with the principal a couple times, but he couldnt get close adequate to hear what they were public lecture about.Meredith and Bonnie distribute the news about other pets be expressions dogs being dangerous. They didnt need to work very hard at it it seems as if everybody in town is on the sceptre of hysteria already. Since hence t here(predicate)ve been several other animal attacks reported, but its hard to know whi ch ones to take seriously. Some kids were teasing a squirrel and it bit them. The Massases pet run scratched their littlest boy. Old Mrs. Coomber saw copperhead snakes in her yard, when all the snakes should be hibernating.The only one Im reliable about is the attack on the vet who was keeping the dogs in quarantine. A bunch of them bit him and most of them escaped from the place pens. After that they just disappeared. People are saying good riddance and hoping theyll starve in the woods, but I wonder.And its been snowing all the time. Not storming but not b intertwine upping, either. Ive neer seen so much snow.Stefans worried about the dance tomorrow night.Which brings us stomach to what have we learned so far? What do we know? None of our suspects were anywhere near the Massases or Mrs. Coombers or the vets when the attacks happened. Were no closer to finding the otherwise Power than we were when we started.Maries little get-together is tonight. Meredith intends we should go to it. I dont know what else there is to do.Damon stretched out his long legs and spoke lazily, looking nigh the barn. No, I dont think its dangerous, particularly. But I dont see what you expect to accomplish.Neither do I, exactly, Elena admitted. But I dont have any better ideas. Do you?What, you mean about other ways to spend the time? Yes, I do. Do you want me to tell you about them? Elena waved him to silence and he subsided.In the basement, chorused several voices.And were all just sitting here. Does anybody have a better idea?Meredith broke the silence. If youre worried about its being dangerous for me and Bonnie, why dont you all have a go at it? I dont mean you have to show yourselves. You could tote up and hide in the attic. Then if anything happened, we could scream for help and you would hear us.I dont see why anybodys discharge to be screaming, said Bonnie. Nothings going to happen there.Well, mayhap not, but it doesnt smart to be safe, Meredith said. What do yo u think?Elena nodded slowly. It makes sense. She looked around for objections, but Stefan just shrugged, and Damon murmured somewhatthing that made Bonnie laugh.All right, then, its decided. Lets go.The inevitable snow greeted them as they stepped immaterial the barn.Bonnie and I can go in my car, Meredith said. And you three-Oh, well find our own way, Damon said with his wolfish smile. Meredith nodded, not impressed. Funny, Elena thought as the other girls walked away Meredith never was impressed with Damon. His charm seemed to have no effect on her.She was about to mention that she was hungry when Stefan turned to Damon. Are you willing to proceed with Elena the entire time youre over there? Every minute? he said.Try and stop me, Damon said cheerfully. He leave outped the smile. Why?Because if you are, the two of you can go over alone, and Ill make for you later. Ive got something to do, but it wont take long.Elena felt a wave of warmth. He was trying to trust his brother. Sh e smiled at Stefan in approval as he drew her aside.What is it?I got a note from Caroline today. She asked if I would meet her at the school originally Alarics party. She said she wanted to apologize.Elena opened her mouth to make a kinky remark, and then shut it again. From what shed hear, Caroline was a sorry sight these days. And maybe it would make Stefan feel better to talk to her.Well, you dont have anything to apologize for, she told him. Everything thathappened to her was her own fault. You dont think shes dangerous at all?Be careful, Elena said as he started off into the snow.The attic was as she remembered it, dark and dusty and full of mysterious oilcloth-covered shapes. Damon, who had come in more conventionally through the front admission, had had to take the shutters off to allow her in through the window. After that they sat side by side on the old mattress and listened to the voices that came up through the ducts.I could think of more romantic settings, Damon mur mured, fastidiously pulling a cobweb off his sleeve. Are you sure you wouldnt rather-Yes, said Elena. Now hush.It was like a game, listening to the bits and pieces of conversations and trying to put them together, trying to match each voice to a face.And then I said, I dont care how long youve had the parakeet get rid of it or Im going to the Snow Dance with Mike Feldman. And he said--rumor going around that Mr. Tanners grave was take up last night--you hear that everybody but Caroline has dropped out of the snow queen competition? Dont you think--dead, but Im telling you I saw her. And no, I wasnt aspiration she was wearing a sort of silvery dress and her hair was all golden and blowing-Elena raised her eyebrows at Damon, then looked meaningfully down at her advised black attire. He grinned.Romanticism, he said. Myself, I like you in black.Well, you would, wouldnt you? she murmured. It was strange how much more comfortable she felt with Damon these days. She sat quietly, letting the conversations drift around her, almost losing track of time. Then she caught a familiar voice, cross, and closer than the rest.Okay, okay, Im going. Okay.Elena and Damon exchanged a glance and rose to their feet as the handle on the attic door turned. Bonnie peered around the spring.Meredith told me to come up here. I dont know why. Shes hogging Alaric and its a rotten party. AchooShe sat down on the mattress, and after a few legal proceeding Elena sat back down beside her. She was beginning to wish that Stefan would get here. By the time the door opened again and Meredith came in, she was sure of it.Meredith, whats going on?Nothing, or at least null to worry about. Wheres Stefan? Merediths cheeks were unusually flushed, and there was an odd look about her eyeball, as if she were holding something tightly under control.Nothing, or at least nothing to worry about. Wheres Stefan? Merediths cheeks were unusually flushed, and there was an odd look about her eyes, as if she were holding something tightly under control.Never mind where he is. Whos coming up the stairs?What do you mean, whos coming up the stairs? said Bonnie, rising.Everybody just stay calm, Meredith said, taking up a position in front of the window as if guarding it. She didnt look overly calm herself, Elena thought. All right, she called, and the door opened and Alaric Saltzman came in.Damons motion was so smooth that even Elenas eyes couldnt follow it in one movement he caught Elenas wrist and pulled her fag him, at the same time moving to face Alaric directly. He ended in a predators crouch, every muscle drawn taut and ready for the attack.Oh, dont, cried Bonnie wildly. She flung herself at Alaric, who had already begun to recoil a step from Damon. Alaric nearly lost his balance and groped behind himself for the door. His other hand was groping at his belt.Stop it Stop it Meredith said. Elena saw the shape beneath Alarics jacket and realized it was a gun.Again, she couldnt quite follow what happened next. Damon let go of her wrist and took hold of Alarics. And then Alaric was sitting on the floor, wearing a dazed expression, and Damon was emptying the gun of cartridges, one by one.I told you that was loggerheaded and you wouldnt need it, Meredith said. Elena realized she was holding the dark-haired girl by the arms. She must have done it to keep Meredith from interfering with Damon, but she didnt remember.These wood-tipped things are nasty they efficiency hurt somebody, Damon said, mildly chiding. He replaced one of the cartridges and snapped the clip back in, aiming thoughtfully at Alaric.Stop it, said Meredith intensely. She turned to Elena. Make him stop, Elena hes only doing more harm. Alaric wont hurt you I promise. Ive spent all week convincing him that you wont hurt him.And now I think my wrist is broken, Alaric said, rather calmly. His sandy hair was falling into his eyes in front.Youve got no one but yourself to blame. Meredith returned bitterly. Bonni e, who had been clutching solicitously at Alarics shoulders, looked up at the familiarity of Merediths tone, and then backed away a few paces and sat down.I cant wait to hear the explanation for this, she said.Please trust me, Meredith said to Elena.Elena looked into the dark eyes. She did trust Meredith shed said so. And the words stirred another memory, her own voice inquire for Stefans trust. She nodded.Damon? she said. He flipped the gun away casually and then smiled around at all of them, making it abundantly clear that he didnt need any such artificial weapons.Damon? she said. He flipped the gun away casually and then smiled around at all of them, making it abundantly clear that he didnt need any such artificial weapons.Oh, Im sure, Bonnie said.Elena walked toward Alaric Saltzman. She wasnt panicked of him, but by the way he looked only at her, slowly, starting from the feet and then continuing up, he was afraid of her.She stopped when she was a yard from where he sat on th e ground and knelt there, looking into his face.Hello, she said.He was still holding his wrist. Hello, he said, and gulped.Elena glanced back at Meredith and then looked at Alaric again. Yes, he was scared. And with his hair in his eyes that way, he looked young. Maybe four years older than Elena, maybe five. No more than that.Were not going to hurt you, she said.Thats what Ive been telling him, Meredith said quietly. I explained that whatever hes seen before, whatever stories hes hear, youre different. I told him what you told me about Stefan, how hes been fighting his nature all those years. I told him about what youve been going through, Elena, and how you never asked for this.But why did you tell him so much? Elena thought. She said to Alaric, All right, you know about us. But all we know about you is that youre not a history teacher.Hes a hunter, Damon said softly, menacingly. A vampire hunter.No, said Alaric. Or at least, not in the sense that you mean it. He seemed to come to some decision. All right. From what I know of you three- He broke off, looking around the dark room as if suddenly realizing something. Wheres Stefan?Hes coming. In fact, he should be here by now. He was going to stop by the school and bring Caroline, Elena said. She was unprepared for Alarics reaction.Caroline Forbes? he said sharply, sitting up. His voice sounded the way it had when shed overheard him talking with Dr. Fein berg and the principal, hard-edged and decisive.Yes. She sent him a note today, said she wanted to apologize or something. She wanted to meet him at school before the party.He cant go. Youve got to stop him. Alaric scrambled to his feet and repeated urgently, Youve got to stop him.Hes gone(p) already. Why? Why shouldnt he? Elena demanded.Because I hypnotized Caroline two days ago. Id tried it earlier with Tyler, with no luck. But Carolines a good subject, and she remembered a little of what happened in the Quonset hut. And she identified Stefan Salvatore as th e attacker.Dont you understand? Youre not just dealing with high school students anymore, Alaric said. Its gone too far. Carolines father knows about it, and Tylers father. Theyre concerned for the safety of the town-Hush Be quiet Elena was casting about with her mind, trying to pick up some principal of Stefans presence. Hes let himself get weak, she thought, with the part of her that was icy calm amid the whirling fear and panic. At last she sensed something, just a trace, but she thought it was Stefan. And it was in distress.Somethings wrong, Damon confirmed, and she realized he must have been searching, too, with a mind much more powerful than hers. Lets go.Wait, lets talk first. Dont just go jumping into this. But Alaric talent as well have been talking to the wind, trying to rein in its destructive power with words. Damon was already at the window, and the next moment Elena let herself drop out, landing neatly by Damon in the snow. Alarics voice followed them from above.Were coming, too. Wait for us there. Let me talk to them first. I can take care of itElena scarcely heard him. Her mind was burning with one purpose, one thought. To hurt the people who wanted to hurt Stefan. Its gone too far, all right, she thought. And now Im going to go as far as it takes. If they dare to touch him images flashed through her mind, too quickly to count, of what she would do to them. At another time, she might have been shocked at the quicken of adrenaline, of excitement, that coursed up at the thoughts.She could sense Damons mind beside her as they raced over the snow it was like a blaze of red light and fury. The fierceness inside Elena welcomed it, effulgent to feel it so near. But then something else occurred to her.Im slowing you down, she said. She was scarcely out of breath, even from running through unbroken snow, and they were making extraordinary time. But nothing on two legs, or even four, could match the speed of a birds wings. Go on, she said. Get there as fast as you can. Ill meet you.She didnt stay to watch the pig and shudder of the air, or the swirling darkness that ended in the rush of beating wings. But she glanced up at the crow that soared up and she heard Damons mental voice.Good hunting, it said, and the winged black shape arrowed toward the school.Good hunting, Elena thought after him, meaning it. She redoubled her speed, her mind fixed all the while on that glimmer of Stefans presence.Stefan lay on his back, wishing his vision wasnt so blurred or that he had more than a tentative hold on consciousness. The blur was partly pain and partly snow, but there was also a trickle of blood from the three-inch wound in his scalp.If only he could collect his thoughts enough to call for help but the weakness that had allowed these men to overcome him so easily prevented that, too. Hed scarcely fed since the night hed attacked Tyler. That was ironic, somehow. His own guilt was responsible for the the great unwashed he was in.I sho uld never have tried to change my nature, he thought. Damon had it right after all.Everyones the same-Alaric, Caroline, everyone. Everyone will betray you. I should have hunted them all and enjoyed it.He hoped Damon would take care of Elena. Shed be safe with him Damon was strong and ruthless. Damon would teach her to survive. He was glad of that.But something inside him was crying.The crows sharp eyes spotted the cut across shafts of headlight below and dropped. But Damon didnt need the confirmation of sight he was homing in on the faint pulsation that was Stefans life-force. Faint because Stefan was weak and because hed all but given up.You never learn, do you, brother? Damon thought to him. I ought to just leave you where you are. But even as he skimmed the ground, he was changing, taking a shape that would do more damage than a crow.The black wolf leaped into the knot of men surrounding Stefan, aiming precisely for the one holding the sharpened cylinder of wood above Stefans ch est. The force of the blow knocked the man ten feet backward, and the stake went skittering across the grass. Damon restrained his impulse-all the stronger because it fit the instincts of the shape he was wearing-to lock his teeth in the mans throat. He twisted around and went back for the other men who were still standing.His second rush scattered them, but one of them reached the edge of the light and turned, lifting something to his shoulder. Rifle, thought Damon. And probably loaded with the same specially treated bullets as Alarics handgun had been. There was no way to reach the man before he could get a shot off. The wolf growled and crouched for a leap anyway. The mans fleshy face creased in a smile.Quick as a liaison snake, a white hand reached out of the darkness and knocked the rifle away. The man looked around frantically, bewildered, and the wolf let its jaws fall open in a grin. Elena had arrived.