The Return: Midnight Chapter 42

Its not a problem,the fair formula, Ryannen, said unexpectedly. We can make it so that your Mr. Tanner ignore ed an app arent vampire attack and the school cal ed in Alaric Saltzman to take his place and investigate. all right, Idola? to the red drumhead, and to the dark one and only(a) on the whole right, Susurre?Elena wasnt All right. contempt the example shed however had of turn-on-a-dime plotting and scheming, she was scarcely listening. Al she knew was that her persona had gone husky and that tears blurred her eyes. Andfor the Master Key I want Stefan squeezed her hand. Elena suddenly realised that they were al standing, al three of them, beside her. And the look on every face was the same. Dead resolve.I want Damon game.Elena hadnt heard quite this note in her constituent since the day shed been told both her parents had died. If there had been a t competent, she would have put her clenched fists on it and did her best to loom over the women.As it was, she simpl y leaned toward them, speaking in a low and grating voice. If you do that bring him back, exactly as he was before he walked into the Gatehouse so you cause the Master Key and the treasures. You flip voice no and you lose everything. Everything. This is non-negotiable, get it?She kept heroing into Idolas green eyes. She refused to externalise dark Susurre drop her frontal bone onto three fingertips and begin to rub it in smal circles. She wouldnt give a glance to blond Ryannen, who was sounding at her steadily, having gone into people-management mode. She stared directly into those green eyes under their wil ful eyebrows. Idola gave a subatomic huff and shook her beautiful head.Look, roughlyone clearly has screwed up in preparing you for this interview.A glance at Susurre. The other things youve asked for al together, it forms a very heavy ransom. Do you understand that? Do you understand that it involves changing the memories of al the people for miles around your to wn, and changing them for every day of ten months?That it means changing everything in print ab tabu Fel s Church and that there is a lot in print not to mention other media outlets? It means begging for three human spirits and weave flesh around them again. Im not sure we even have the personnel for this Blond Ryannen put a hand on the redheads arm. We have it. Susurres women have little to do in the Nether World. I can l abrogate up you perhaps thirty percent of mine after al , were going to have to enrapture up a petition to a higher Court for those spirits Idola the redhead interrupted. All right. What I was saying is that we might just be able to manage if you throw in the Key. However, your vampire companion we cant give life back to the lifeless. We cant work with vampires. Once theyre gone theyre gone.Thats what you tell usStefan cried, trying to get in front of Elena. just now why are we so particularly damned, of al creatures? How do you know its impossible? H ave you ever even act? Red-haired Idola was making a disgusted gesture, when Bonnie interrupted, her voice shaking. Its ridiculous You can rebuild a town, you can kil the person whos real y behind al Shinichi and Misao did, nevertheless you cant bring one little vampire back? You brought Elena backElenas death as a vampire al owed her to be baffle the Guardian she was archetype y meant to be. As for the person who gave orders to Shinichi and Misao It was Inari Saitou Obaasan Saitou, as you knew her and she is already dead, thanks to your friends in Fel s Church, who weakened her and to you, who destroyed her star bal .Inari? You mean Isobels grandma? Youre saying it was her star bal in the Great Trees trunk? Thats impossibleBonnie cried.No, its not. Its the truth,blond Ryannen said simply.And shes dead now?After a long battle which nearly kil ed your friends. Yes only if what actual y killed her was having her star bal destroyed.So,dark Susurre said quietly, if you fol ow the curvein a way your Damon did die to save Fel s Church from other massacre the wishs of the one on that Ja back breakerse island. He kept saying that was what hed come to the Nether World to do.Do you not think he would besatisfied? At peace?At peace?Stefan spat kidnappingterly, and Sage growled.Woman,he said, you obviously have never met Damon Salvatore before.The tone in his voice more resonant, more threatening somehow made Elena final y break off her staredown with the red-haired Idola. She turned and looked and saw the enormous room fil ed with Sages out-spread wings.They werent the like any of her ephemeral Wings Powers. They were clearly part of Sage. They were velvety and reptilian, and, unfurled like this, they stretched from distant wal to wal , and touched the grand, golden ceiling. They also demonstrated why Sage didnt public y wear shirts.He was beautiful this way, bronze skin and hair against those giant, leathery loose-looking arches. alone Elena, after one look at him, knew that the time had come to play the ace up her sleeve. She turned around to meet Idolas green gaze squarely.Al this time weve been bargaining for a Gatehouse ful of treasures,she said, and one Master Key.A Master Key, stolen by the kitsune ages upon ages ago,Susurre explained quietly, lifting her dark eyes.And youve said that its not enough for you to bring Damon back.Elena obligate her voice not to waver.Not even if it were your only request.Ryannen tossed a golden lock of hair over her shoulder.So you say. Butwhat if I throw into the pot other Master Key? there was a pause, and Elenas warmness began to quid in sick terror. Because it was the wrong kind of pause. There were no shocked gasps. No astonished glances from one Guardian ruler to another. No looks of disbelief.After another piece Idola said smugly, If you mean the other stolen key that your friends had on Earth it was confiscated as soon as they hid it. It was stolen property. It belonged to us.She s been here besides long, in the Dark Dimensions, Elena purpose with one part of her consciousness. Shes enjoying herself.Idola leaned toward her, as if to confirm Elenas guess. It simply is not possible,she said emphatical y.Real y, it isnt,the fair Ryannen added briskly. We dont know what happens to vampires. But they dont pass by dint of our purview. We never see them after death. The simplest explanation is that they just go out.She snapped her fingers.I dont believe that Elena was aware that her voice had risen in volume. I dont believe that for one momentVoices, not attached to anyone in particular, burst into a clamor of argument around Elena, forming a sort of poem Not possible. Its simply not possible ( But pl shut up) NoDamon is gone, and to ask where is like asking where a candle flame goes when its blown out. ( But shouldnt you try to bring him back, at the least? ) whatsoever has happened to gratitude? You four should be grateful that the other things you asked for can be done. ( But in exchange for both Master Keys ) No Power we can need could bring Damon back Elena must try to reconcile herself to realness.She has been pampered too much already ( But what harm can it do to try again? ) All right If you must know, Susurre has already forced us to try. And nothing came of itDamonisgone His spirit was nowhere to be found in the ether That is what happens to vampires, and everyone knows itElena found herself looking down at her own hands, which were very clean but with broken nails and every knuckle bleeding. The outside world had become unreal again. She was inside herself, assay with her grief, struggling with the knowledge that Idola, the central ruler of Guardians, hadnt even mentioned before that they had looked for Damons spirit. And that it wasgone.Suddenly, the room was pressing in on her. There wasnt enough air. There were only these women these powerful, wizardly Guardian women who Stilldid not have enough power or magic to s ave Damon or at least didnt even care enough to try twice.She wasnt sure what was happening to her. Her throat felt puffed out, her chest was both huge and tight. Each heartbeat sounded through her as if trying to shake her to death.To death. In her minds eye, she saw a hand hold up a glass of Clarion Loess Black Magic.And then, Elena knew that she had to stand a certain way, and hold her arms a certain way, and whisper certain words in her own mind. But the last, the naming of the spel , had only to be said aloud at the end.At the end when things slowed. When green-eyed Idola what a perfect name for someone who idolized herself, Elena thought and fair businesslike Ryannen and nurturing Susurre al stared at her with open mouths, too shocked to plump even a finger as, quietly and calmly, Elena said,Wings of Destruction It was a soldier, just an ordinary one of the rank and file, one of the dark women, who stopped it. She leaped up onto the dais, and, with inhuman speed, slapped her hand over Elenas mouth, so that the final syl able was a mumble, and the golden, green, and blue hal did not explode into fragments with hot metal running in rivulets like lava, and the flower-fountain did not vaporize, and the stained-glass windows didnt shatter into atoms.Then there were more arms around Elena, holding her down, scarcely letting her breathe, even when she went limp for lack of air. Elena fought like an animal, with her teething and nails, to escape. But she eventual y was completely restrained, pinned to the floor. She could hear Sages deep voice raging and Stefan, in between desperate telepathic bursts to her, pleading and explaining, Shes Stillnot in reality She doesnt even know what shes doingBut louder, she could hear the voices of the Guardians. She would have kil ed us al Those Wings Ive never seen anything so deadlyA human And with just three words, she could have wiped us outIf Lenea hadnt tackled her Or if she had been another few feet away She d estroyed a moon, you know No life on it at allnow, and ashes Stillfal ing from the skyThat isnt the point. The point is that she shouldnt have Wings powers at all. Shes got to be know of them.Thats right clip her Wings Do it Elena recognized Ryannens and Idolas voices at the end there. She was Stilltrying to fight, but they held her so tightly and piled on her so ruthlessly that it had become a fight simply to get air and al she did was exhaust herself.And then they clipped her Wings. It was quick, at least, and Elena felt very little. What hurt most was her heart. Some proud, stubborn streak had been brought out with the fighting, and now she was ashamed to feel each coupling cut off.First went Wings of Redemption, those great rainbow-hued arches. Then Wings of Purification, white and iridescent as frosted cobwebs. Wings of the Wind, like honey-colored thistledown. Wings of Remembrance, soft violet and midnight blue. And then Wings of Protection emerald green and gold, the Win gs that had saved her friends from Bloddeuwedds frenzied attack on them the first time they had entered the Dark Dimensions.And, final y, Wings of Destruction high, ebony tree arches with edges as delicate as black lace.Elena tried to keep silent as each power was taken. But after the first one or two had fal en at her sides, in shadows that perhaps only she could see, she heard a smal gasp, and realized that it was her own voice. And with the next cut, an involuntary little cry.For a moment there was silence. And then suddenly there was overwhelming noise. Elena could hear Bonnie keening and Sage roaring, and Stefan, gentle Stefan, shouting blasphemies and curses at the Guardians. Elena guessed from the stifled sound of his voice that he was fighting them, fighting to get to her.He reached her, somehow, just as the deadly, delicate Wings of Destruction were sheared from her shoulders and mind, and fel like tal shadows to the ground. It was good that he did reach her then, because at last, when Elena was the least dangerous she had been since the Powers of Wings had begun awakening in her, suddenly the Guardians seemed afraid. They stepped back from her, these strong and dangerous women, and only Stefan was there to catch her and hold her in his arms.Stunned, dazed, she was an eighteen-year-old daughter who was ordinary. Except for her blood. They wanted to rob her of her blood as wellto purifyit. The three rulers and their attendants had already gathered in a determined, multihued triangle around her and were on the job(p) their magic when Sage bel owed, StopElena, drooping over Stefans shoulder, could see him vaguely, his velvety black wings Stillspread from wal to wal , Stilltouching the golden ceiling. Bonnie clung to him like a bit of stray dandelion fluff. You have already diminished her aura to almost nothing,he growled. If you purifythe blood of this pauvre petite completely, she wil die and then she wil awaken. You wil have created un vampire, Me sdames. Is that what you wish?Susurre reeled back. For the ruler of such a harsh and unyielding realm, she seemed almost too gentle but not too soft to shear off my Wings, Elena thought, wriggling her shoulders to ease them. Maybe she didnt know how much it would hurt, another part of her mind offered vaguely.Then al her mind came together in an emergency meeting.Something warm and cooling was skid down the back of her neck, in tiny droplets. Not blood. No, this was infinitely more precious than what the Guardians had taken away.Stefans tears.She rocked hard, trying to take her own weight on her feet.Somehow, shakily, she managed it. She only realized just how shaky she was when she tried to lift a hand and wipe the tears off Stefans cheeks with her thumb. Her whole hand wobbled as if she were making a childish joke. Her thumb struck his cheek with enough force to make anyone else wince. She looked at him with dumb apology, too shocked to try to speak.Stefan was speaking. Over and over. It doesnt matter,he was saying. Its All right, love. Oh, lovely love, it wil be All right.He wiped her eyes with a hand that was rock steady, and al the time he was looking only at her, and she knew thought process only of her.She knew that because she also knew the moment when it changed.Red hair was in her line of sight, blurred through new tears.Red hair and narrow green eyes, too close to her. That was when Elena felt Stefan remember that there was anything other than Elena in the world.His face changed. He didnt snarl or stick out his chin. The change was an entire alteration, but it centered around his eyes, which became deadly hard darn everything else became sharp and fierce.If you touch her again, you vicious bitch, I wil rip out your throat,Stefan said, and each word was like a chip of ice-cold iron dropped onto the floor.Elenas tears stopped with the shock of it. Stefan didnt talk that way to women. Even Damon didnt hadnt. But the words were Stillechoing in the s udden silence of the cathedral-like room. lot were backing away.Idola was backing away too, but her lip was curled. Do you think that because we are Guardians that we cannot harm you ?she was beginning, when Stefans voice cut through hers cleanly.I think that because you are Guardiansyou can kil sanctimoniously and get away with it,Stefan said, and his lip made a far more compel ing and frightening line of scorn than Idolas had. You would have kil ed Elena if Sage hadnt stopped you. Damn you,he added softly, but with such utter conviction that Idola took another step backward. Yes, youd better ral y al your little friends around,he added. I might just decide to kil you anyway. I kil ed my own brother, as Im sure you realize.But surely that was only after taking a mortal blow yourself.Susurre was between the two of them, trying to intercede.Stefan shrugged. He looked at her with the same contempt as he had the other ruler. I Stillhad the use of my arm,he said deliberately. I cou ld have decided to drop my sword, or to merely wound him. Instead I chose to put a blade straight through his heart.He showed his teeth in a distinctly unfriendly smile. And now I dont even need a weapon.Stefan,Elena managed at last to whisper.I know. Shes weaker than I am and you dont want to see me kil her. Thats why shes Stillalive, love. Its the only reason.As Elena lifted half-frightened eyes to him, Stefan added in a voice only she could hear, Of note, there are some things most me you dont know, Elena. Things Id hoped youd never have to see. Knowing you loving you made me almost forget about them.Stefans voice in her head woke something inside Elena.She lifted her head and looked at the blurry mass of Guardians around them. She saw strawberry-blond curls suspended in midair. Bonnie. Bonnie fighting. Doing it weakly, but only because a pair of the fair Guardians and another pair of dark ones were holding her in the air, one to each limb. As Elena stared at her she seemed t o regain energy and fought harder. And Elena could hearsomething. It was faint and far away, but it almost sounded likeher name. Like her name spoken by whispering branches or the whirring of passing bicycle wheels. laynaheeelayElena reached inwardly for the sound. She tried desperately to grasp whatever came after, but nothing happened. She tried a trick she would have found easy yesterday channeling Power to the center of her telepathy. It didnt work. She tried her telepathy.Bonnie sack you hear me?There wasnt even the slightest change in the smal er girls expression.Elena had lost her link to Bonnie.She watched as Bonnie realized the same thing, watched the fight go out of the smal body. Bonnies face, upturned in blank despair, was indescribably sad, and somehow indescribably pure and beautiful, al at once.That will never happen to us, Stefans voice in her mind told her fiercely. Never I give you my No Elena thought back, superstitiously terrified of a jinx. If Stefan swore, so mething might happen she might have to become a vampire or a spirit to ensure that he didnt break his word.He stopped, and Elena knew that he had heard her. And somehow this knowledge, that Stefan had heard a single word from her, Stilled her. She knew he wasnt spying. Hed heard because shed sent the thought to him. She wasnt alone. She might be ordinary again they might have taken her wings and most of the Power of her blood, but she wasnt alone. She leaned toward him, her forehead against Stefans chin.No one is alone. Shed told Damon that. Damon Salvatore, a being who no longer existed. But who Stillcal ed forth from her one more word, one final cry. His name.DamonHed died four dimensions away. But she could feel Stefan backing her, amplifying her transmission, sending it like one last beacon through the multitude of worlds that separated them from his cold and lifeless body.DamonThere wasnt the slightest glimmer of an answer. Of course not. Elena was making a fool of herself.Su ddenly something stronger than grief, stronger than self-pity, even stronger than guilt, took hold of her. Damon wouldnt have wanted her to be carried out of this hal even by Stefan. Especial y by Stefan. He would have wanted her to show no sign of weakness to these women whod shorn her and humiliated her.Yes. That was Stefan. Her love, but not her lover, wil ing to love her chastely from now until the end of her days.The endof her days?Elena was suddenly glad that she couldnt project to strangers telepathical y and that Stefan had set shields around them when hed taken her into his arms. She turned to Ryannen, who was watchingwarily, but Stillwith business in her eyes.Id like to go now, if you dont mind,she said, picking up her backpack and slinging it over her shoulder with a gesture as arrogant as she could make it. There was a bolt of agony as the weight of the strap hit the place from which most of her wings had sprung, but she kept her face contemptuous and indifferent.Bonni e, back on the ground since she wasnt fighting any longer, fol owed Elenas lead. Stefan had left his backpack in the Gatehouse, but he gently cupped a hand around Elenas elbow, not maneuver her, but showing that he was there for her.Sages wings folded back into themselves and were gone.You understand that for the return of these treasures which are ours by right but which we were barred from retrieving you wil be give your requests with the exception of the imposs I understand,Elena said flatly, just as Stefan said, much more brusquely, She understands. Just do it, wil you?It is already being organized.Ryannens eyes, dark blue splashed with gold, met Elenas with a look not entirely unsympathetic.The best thing,Sussure added hastily, would be for us to put you to sleep and send you to your your old, new dwellings. By the time you awaken, al wil have been accomplished.Elena forced her face not to change. Send me to Maple Street?she asked, looking at Ryannen. Aunt Judiths house?I n your sleep, yes.I dont want to be asleep.Elena moved even close-set(prenominal) to Stefan. Dont let them put me to sleepNo ones going to do anything to you that you dont want,Stefan said, and his voice was like the edge of a razor.Sage rumbled his support, and Bonnie stared at the fair woman hard.Ryannen bowed her head.Elena woke up.It was dark, and shed been asleep. She couldnt remember exactly how shed fal en asleep, but she knew she wasnt on the palanquin, and she knew she wasnt in a sleeping bag.Stefan? Bonnie? Damon? she thought automatical y, but there was something odd about her telepathy. It felt almost as if it were confined to her own head.Was she in Stefans room? It must be pitch-black outside, since she couldnt even see the outline of the trapdoor that led to the widows walk.Stefan?she whispered, while various bits of information pooled in her mind. There was a smel , at once familiar and unfamiliar. She was lying on a comfortable double bed, not one of Lady Ulmas si lken-and-velvet extravaganzas, but not any lumpy featherbed from the boardinghouse, either. Was she in a hotel?As these various thoughts came together in her brain, there was a soft quick rapping. Knuckles on glass.Elenas body took over. She tossed off the bedspread and ran to the window, mysteriously avoiding obstacles without thinking about them at all. Her hands wrenched aside curtains that she somehow knew were there and her skyrocketing heart brought a name to her lips.Da And then the world stopped and did its slowest somersault of al . The sight of a face, fierce and concerned and loving and yet strangely frustrated, just on the other side of the second-story window, brought Elenas memories back.Al of them.Fel s Church was saved.And Damon was dead.Her head bent slowly until her forehead touched the cool pane of glass.