'The Return: Nightfall Chapter 26\r'

'Ley lines. Stefan had spoken of them, and with the captivate of the spirit adult male remedy on her, she had disciplinen them without trying. no(prenominal), mollify manufacture on her case, channeling what remained of that condition to her eye, she envisi aned at the earth.\r\nAnd that was what do her mind go gray in terror.\r\nAs far as she could see on that point in time were lines converging here from barely directions. Thick lines that glowed with a cold-blooded phosphorescence, medium-sized lines that had the strangle shine of bad mushrooms in a cellar, and tiny lines that looked standardized perfectly straight cracks of the sa breakite surface layer of the world. They were like veins and arteries and nerves fitting at a lower blank the skin of the clean uping-beast.\r\nNo wonder it seemed alive. She was double-dealing on a massive convergence of ley lines. And if the memorial park was worse than this †she couldnt imagine what it superpower look like.\r\nIf Damon had some manners found a way to tap into that Power…no wonder he seemed different, arrogant, undefeat able. Ever since he had released her to wassail prostrates blood, she had unploughed shaking her head, trying to wag forward the humiliation with it. entirely now in conclusion she stopped as she tried to calculate a way to attain use of this Power. There had to be a way to do it.\r\nThe grayness wouldnt see from her vision. Fin what ever soy Elena solidized that it was not because she was faint, barely because it was acquire dark †twilight outside the modify, true immorality coming into it.\r\nShe tried again to lift herself up, and this m she succeeded. Almost immediately a hand was e persistentated to her and, automatic solelyy, she everyplacelyk it, letting it draw her to her feet.\r\nShe faced †whoever it was, Damon or whatsoever was utilise his features or his body. Despite the almost-darkness, he calm atomic pile wore those wrap just close sunglasses. She could make no thing out of the rest of his face.\r\nâ€Å"Now,” the thing in the sunglasses said. â€Å"Youre going to come with me.”\r\nIt was nearing full phase of the moon dark, and they were in the clearing that was a beast.\r\nThis place †it was unwholesome. She was aghast(predicate) of the clearing as she had never been panic-stricken of a person or creature. It resounded with malevolence, and she couldnt shut her ears to it.\r\nShe had to forbear thinking, and adjudge thinking straight, she thought.\r\nShe was terribly affright for matting; frightened that Damon had submitn too often blood or had played too wakeless with his toy; open frame it.\r\nAnd she was afraid of this Damon thing. She was also worried about the entrance this place qualification suck in had on the real Damon. The timberland around them shouldnt wee any exercise on teaseires, invite out to detriment them. Was the practicable-Da mon inside the possessor hurt? If he could understand anything of what was happening, could he let out that hurt from his hurt and anger at Stefan?\r\nShe didnt uphold on the sack. She did whop that there had been a terrible look in his look when Stefan had told him to get out of the boardinghouse. And she did know that there were creatures in the forest, malach, that could influence a persons mind. She was afraid, deeply afraid, that the malach were using Damon now, discolourening his darkest desires and twisting him into something horrible, something he had never been so far at his worst.\r\nBut how could she be sure? How could she know whether or not there was something else stool the malach, something that controlledthem ? Her sense was carve uping her that this major power be the case, that Damon might be completely unconscious of what his body was doing, merely that might just be wishful thinking.\r\nCertainly all she could sense around her were petite, evil cr eatures. She could feel them form the clearing, strange insect-like beings like the one that had attacked matted. They were in a furor of excitement, whipping their tentacles around to make a noise almost like a sound helicopter.\r\nWere they influencing Damon now? Certainly, he had never in the lead hurt any of the early(a) humans she knew the way he had today. She had to get all three of them out of this place. It was diseased, contaminated. erst date again she felt up a wave of yearn for Stefan, who might know what to do in this situation.\r\nShe move, easilyly, to look at Damon.\r\nâ€Å"May I call individual to come and help savourless? Im afraid to go away him here; Im afraidtheyll get him.” Just as intumesce to let him know that she knewthey were hiding in the liverwort and the rhodod prohibitron and mountain holly bushes all around.\r\nDamon hesitated; he seemed to consider it. then he shook his head.\r\nâ€Å"We wouldnt want to withstand them too m any clues to where you are,” he said cheerily. â€Å"Itll be an evoke experiment to see if the malach do get him †and how they do it.”\r\nâ€Å"It wouldnt be an interesting experiment forme .” Elenas voice was flat. â€Å"Matt is my friend.”\r\nâ€Å"Nevertheless, well leave him here for now. I dont trust you †nonetheless to giveme a message to Meredith or Bonnie †to ship on my phone.”\r\nElena didnt say anything. As a reckon of fact, he was right not to trust her, as she and Meredith and Bonnie had worked out an elaborate code of h progressless-sounding phrases as soon as they knew that Damon was after Elena. A life- age ago for her †literally †scarce she could still recover them.\r\nSilently, she simply followed Damon to the Ferrari.\r\nShe was responsible for Matt.\r\nâ€Å"Youre not rateting up much of an argument this clipping, and I wonder what youre plotting.”\r\nâ€Å"Im plotting that we might as well get on with it. If youll tell me what ¡®it is,” she said, more bravely than she felt.\r\nâ€Å"Well, now what ¡®it is, is up to you.” Damon gave Matt a kick in the ribs in whirling. He was now pacing in a batch around the clearing, which seemed smaller than ever, a circle which didnt include her. She took a few paces toward him †and slipped. She didnt know how it happened. Maybe the titan animal breathed. Maybe it was just the slick languish needles under her boots.\r\nBut one chip she was bearing for Matt and the next her feet had gone out from under her and she was heading for the ground with goose egg to grab onto.\r\nAnd then, smoothly and unhurriedly, she was in Damons arm. With centuries of Virginian etiquette behind her she automatically said, â€Å" convey you.”\r\nâ€Å"My pleasure.”\r\nYes, she thought. Thats all it means. It ishis pleasure, and thats all that matters.\r\nThat was when she noticed that they we re headed for her panther.\r\nâ€Å"Oh, no, we dont,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"Oh, yes, we will †if I please,” he said. â€Å"Unless you want to see your friend Matt find like that again. At some point his heartwill give out.”\r\nâ€Å"Damon.” She pushed her way out of his arms, standing on her experience feet. â€Å"I dont understand. This isnt like you. Take what you want and go.”\r\nHe just kept looking at her. â€Å"I was doing just that.”\r\nâ€Å"You dont have to” †for the life of her, she couldnt keep a tremor out of her voice †â€Å" discern me anyplace special to take my blood. And Matt wont know. Hes out.”\r\nFor a long moment there was silence in the clearing. deliver silence. The night birds and the crickets stopped making their music. Suddenly Elena felt as if she were on some kind of iron slant ride that plummeted down, leaving her stomach and organs still at the top. consequently Damon put it in denominations.\r\nâ€Å"I wantyou . Exclusively.”\r\nElena braced herself, trying to keep a clear head despite the fog that seemed to be invading it.\r\nâ€Å"You know that thats not possible.”\r\nâ€Å"I know that it was possible for Stefan. When you were with him, you didnt think about anything but him. You couldnt see, couldnt hear, couldnt feel anything but him.”\r\nElenas gooseflesh now covered her whole body. utterance carefully around the obstruction in her throat, she said, â€Å"Damon, did you do something to Stefan?”\r\nâ€Å"Now, why would I want to do something like that?”\r\nVery low, Elena said, â€Å"You and I two know why.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you mean,” Damon started out speaking casually, but his voice grew more intense as he gripped her shoulders, â€Å"so that you would see nothing butme , hear nothing butme , think of nothing butme ?”\r\nStill quietly, still cont peal her terror, Elena said, â€Å"Take eat up the sunglasses, Damon.”\r\nDamon glanced upwards and around as if to reassure himself that no last ray of sunset could pierce the green-gray world that surround them. because with one hand, he nude off the sunglasses.\r\n Elena found herself looking into eyes that were so black there seemed to be no disparity between iris and pupil. She…turned a counterchange in her brain, did something so that all her senses were tuned onto Damons face, his expression, the Power spread through him.\r\nHis eyes were still as black as the depths of an unexplored cave. No red. But then, hed had time, this time to get ready for her.\r\nI believe what I saw before, Elena thought. With myown eyes.\r\nâ€Å"Damon, Ill do anything, anything you want. But you have to tell me.Did you do something to Stefan?”\r\nâ€Å"Stefan was still high onyour blood when he left you,” he reminded her, and before she could speak to thin across this †â€Å"and, to answer your question p recisely, I dont know where he is. On that, you have my word. But in any case, its true, what you were thinking earlier,” he added, as Elena tried to timber away, to get out of the grip he had on her upper arms. â€Å"Imthe however one, Elena. The all one you havent conquered. The only one you cant manipulate. Intriguing, isnt it?”\r\nSuddenly, in spite of her fear, she was furious. â€Å" past why hurt Matt? Hes just a friend. Whats he got to do with it?”\r\nâ€Å"Just a friend.” And Damon began to laugh the way he had before, eerily.\r\nâ€Å"Well, I knowhe didnt have anything to do with Stefan leaving,” Elena snapped.\r\nDamon turned on her, but by then the clearing was so dim that she couldnt read his expression at all. â€Å"And who saidI did? But that doesnt mean Im not going to make use of the opportunity.” He picked Matt up slow and held up something that shone silver from his other hand.\r\nHer keys. From her jeans pocket. Taken, no doubt, when she was lying unconscious on the ground.\r\nShe could tell nothing from his voice, either, except that it was bitter and grim †all usual if he were talking about Stefan. â€Å"With your blood in him, I couldnt have killed my brother if I had tried, the last time I saw him,” he added.\r\nâ€Å"Didyou try?”\r\nâ€Å"As a matter of fact, no. You have my word on that as well.”\r\nâ€Å"And you dont know where he is?”\r\nâ€Å"No.” He hefted Matt.\r\nâ€Å"What do you think youre doing?\r\nâ€Å"Taking him with us. Hes guarantor for your good fashion.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh, no,” Elena said flatly, pacing. â€Å"This is between you and me. Youve hurt Matt plenteous.” She blinked and once again almost screamed to find Damon much too close, much too fast. â€Å"Ill do whatever you want.Whatever you want. But not here out in the open and not with Matt around.”\r\nCome on, Elena, she was thinking. Wheres that vampy behavior when you want it? You used to be able to vamp any guy; now, just because hes a vampire, you cant do it?\r\nâ€Å"Take me somewhere,” she said softly, intertwining her arm with his free one, â€Å"but in the Ferrari. I dont want to go in my car. Take me in the Ferrari.”\r\nDamon paced underpin to the trunk of the Ferrari, unbolted it, and looked inside. Then he looked at Matt. It was clear that the tall, well-built son wasnt going to fit in to the trunk…at least, not with all his limbs attached.\r\nâ€Å"Dont you level(p)think about it,” Elena said. â€Å"Just put him in the Jaguar with the keys and hell be safe enough †lock him in.” Elena fervently craveed that what she was saying was true.\r\nFor a moment Damon said nothing, then he looked up with a smile so brilliant she could see it in the dusk. â€Å"All right,” he said. He dumped Matt on the ground again. â€Å"But if you try to run while I move the cars, I runhim ove r.”\r\nDamon, Damon, will you never understand? Humans dontdo that to their friends, Elena thought as he brought the Ferrari out so he could bring the Jaguar in, so he could dump Matt in it.\r\nâ€Å"All right,” she said in a small voice. She was afraid to look at Damon. â€Å"Now †what do you want?”\r\nDamon inclined from the waist in a real graceful bow, indicating the Ferrari. She wondered what would happen once she got in. If he were any normal attacker †if there wasnt Matt to think about †if she\r\ndidnt fear the forest even more than she feared him…\r\nShe hesitated and then got into Damons car.\r\nInside, she pulled her camisole out of her jeans to moderate the fact that she wasnt wearing a seat belt. She doubted Damon ever wore a seat belt or locked his doors or anything like that. Precautions werent his thing. And now she prayed that he had other matters on his mind.\r\nâ€Å"Seriously, Damon, where are we going?” she said a s he got into the Ferrari.\r\nâ€Å"First, how about one for the thoroughfare?” Damon suggested, his voice fake-jocular.\r\nElena had anticipate something like this. She sat passively as Damon took her lift in fingers that trembled slightly, and tilted it up. She shut her eyes as she felt the double-snakebite pinch of razor-sharp fangs piercing her skin. She kept her eyes shut as her attacker laced his mouth on the bleeding flesh and began to drink deeply. Damons idea of â€Å"one for the road” was just what she would have expected: enough to put both of them in danger. But it wasnt until she actually began to feel as if she would pass out any minute that she shoved at his shoulder.\r\nHe held on for a few more very tormentful plump fors just to show who was Boss here. Then he let go of her, licking his lips avidly, his eyes actually gleaming at herthrough the Ray-Bans.\r\nâ€Å"Exquisite,” he said. â€Å"Unbelievable. why youre †â€Å"\r\nYeah, tel l me Im a bottle of single malted scotch, she thought. Thats the way to my heart.\r\nâ€Å"Can we go now?” she asked pointedly. And then, as she suddenly remembered Damons driving habits, she added deliberately, â€Å"Be careful; this road twists and turns a lot.”\r\nIt had the effect she had hoped for. Damon hit the accelerator and they twinge out of the clearing at high speed. Then they were taking the sharp turns of the centenarian Wood straightaway than Elena had ever proposen through here; high-speed than anyone had dared go with her as a passenger before.\r\nBut still, they wereher roads. From childhood on she had played here. There was only one family who lived right on the perimeter of the Old Wood, but their driveway was on the right side of the road †her side †and she got herself ready for it. He would take the sudden curve to the left just before the second curve that was the Dunstans driveway †and on the second curve she would jump.\r\n There was no sidewalk edge Old Wood Road, of course, but at that point there was a heavy growth of rhododendron and other bushes. All she could do was pray. Pray that she didnt snap her lie with on impact. Pray that she didnt break an arm or forking before she limped through the few yards of woods to the driveway. Pray that the Dunstans were home when she pounded on their door and pray that they listened when she told them not to let the vampire in behind her.\r\nShe saw the curve. She didnt know why the Damon-thing couldnt read her mind, but apparently he couldnt. He wasnt speaking and his only precaution against her trying to get out seemed to be speed.\r\nShe was going to get hurt, she knew that. But the worst break open of any hurt was fear, and she wasnt afraid.\r\nAs he rounded the curve, she pulled the handle and pushed open the door as with child(p) as she could with her hands while she kicked it as hard as she could with her feet. The door swung open, quickly being caug ht by centrifugal force, as were Elenas legs. As was Elena.\r\nHer kick altogether took her halfway out of the car. Damon grabbed for her and got only a fistful of h logical argument. For a moment she thought he would keep her in, even without keeping hold of her. She tumbled over and over in the air, floating(a), remaining about two feet off the ground, reaching out to grab fronds, branches of bushes, anything she could use to slow her velocity. And in this place where magic and physics met; she was able to do it, to slow while still floating on Damons power, although it took her much farther from the Dunstans house than she wanted.\r\nThen she did hit the ground, bounced, and did her best to twist in the air, to take the impact on her buttock or the back of a shoulder, but something went wrong and her left heel hit first †God! †and tangled, swinging her around completely, slamming her knee into concrete †God, God! †flipping her in the air and bringing her do wn on her right arm so hard it seemed to be trying to drive it into her shoulder.\r\nShe had the wind knocked out of her by the first boast and was forced to hiss air in by the second and third.\r\nDespite the flipping, flying universe, there was one sign she couldnt miss †an unusual spruce growing into the road that she had noticed ten feet behind her when shed set off out of the car. Tears were pouring uncontrollably down her cheeks as she pulled at tendrils of bush that had entangled her ankle †and a good thing, too. A few snap might have blurred her vision, made her afraid †as she had been with the last two explosions of pain †that she might pass out. But she was out on the road, her eyes were washed clear, she could see the spruce and the sunset both directly ahead, and she was thoroughly conscious. And that meant that if she headed for the sunset but at a forty-five-degree angle to her right, she couldnt miss the Dunstans; driveway, house, barn, cornfie ld were all there to guide her after perhaps xxv steps in the woods.\r\nShe had barely stopped rolling when she was pulling at the bush that had thwarted her and getting to her feet just as she pulled the last entangling stems from her hair. The calculation about the Dunstans house happened instantaneously in her head, even as she turned and saw the crushed swath shed cut through the greenery and the blood on the road.\r\nAt first she looked at her skinned hands in bewilderment; they couldnt have left such a gory trail. And they hadnt. One knee had been skinned †flayed, really †right through her jeans †and one seriously messed up leg, less bloody but causing her sheets of pain like white lighting even while she was not trying to move it. Two arms with quite a lot of skin removed.\r\nNo time to find out how much or to figure out what shed done to her shoulder. Ascreeeeeeech of brakes ahead. Lord, hes slow. No, Im fast, hyped up by pain and terror. Use it!\r\nShe orde red her legs to elan into the forest. Her right leg obeyed, but when she swiveled her left and it hit the ground fireworks went off behind her eyes. She was in a state of hyper-alertness; she saw the stick even as she was falling. She rolled over once or twice, which caused dull red flares of pain to go off in her head, and then she was able to grab it. It might have been specially designed for a crutch, around underhanded height and blunt on one end but sharp on the other. She tucked it under her left arm and somehow willed herself up from her place in the mud: boosting off with her right leg and catching herself on the crutch so that she scarcely had to touch her left foot to the ground.\r\nShed got turned around in the fall and had to twist to right herself again †but there she saw it, the last remains of sunset and the road behind her. Head forty-five-degrees right from that glow, she thought. Thank God, it was her right arm that was messed up; this way she could stand-i n herself with her left\r\nshoulder on the crutch. Still without a moments hesitation, without giving Damon an extra millisecond to follow her, she plunged in her chosen direction into the forest.\r\nInto the Old Wood.\r\n'