Midnight

Punishments and retaliations had begun. How much longer would it be before Shinichi and Misao turned al the children into lethal weapons – or let loose those already turned? How long before some hysterical parent kil ed a kid?

The group sitting in the parlor discussed plans and methods.

In the end, they decided to make jars identical to those Elena and Bonnie had seen, and prayed that they could reproduce the writing. These jars, they were sure, were the means by which Shinichi and Misao were original y sealed off from the rest of the Earth.

Therefore Shinichi and Misao had once fit into the rather cramped accommodations of the jars. But what did Elena’s group have now that could lure them back inside?

Power, they decided. Only an amount of Power so great that it was irresistible to the kitsune twins. That was why the priestess had tried to lure them back with her own blood.

Now…it meant either the liquid in a ful star bal …or blood from an extraordinarily powerful vampire. Or two vampires.

Or three.

Everyone was sober, thinking of this. They didn’t know how much blood would be needed – but Elena feared that it would be more than they can afford to lose. It had certainly been more than the priestess could afford.

And then there was a silence that only Meredith could fil . "I’m sure you’ve al been wondering about this,"she said, producing the staff thing from thin air, as far as Elena could see. How did she do that? Elena wondered. She didn’t have it with her and then she did.

They al stared in the bright sunlight at the sleek beauty of the weapon.

"Whoever made that,"Matt said, "had a twisted imagination."

"It was one of my ancestors,"Meredith said. "And I won’t contest that."

"I have a question,"Elena said. "If you’d had that from the beginning of your training; if you’d been raised in that kind of world, would you have tried to kil Stefan? Would you have tried to kil me when I became a vampire?"

"I wish I had a good answer to that,"Meredith said, her dark gray eyes pained. "But I don’t. I have nightmares about it. But how can I ever say what I would have done if I’d been a different person?"

"I’m not asking that. I’m asking you, the person you are, if you’d had the training – "

"The training is brainwashing," Meredith said harshly. Her composed fa?ade seemed about to break.

"Okay, forget that. Would you have tried to kil Stefan, if you’d just had that staff?"

"It’s cal ed a fighting stave. And we’re cal ed – people like my family, except that my parents dropped out – hunter-slayers."

There was a sort of gasp around the table. Mrs. Flowers poured Meredith more herbal tea from the pot sitting on a trivet.

"Hunter-slayers,"repeated Matt with a certain relish. It wasn’t hard to tel who he was thinking about.

"You can just cal us one or the other,"Meredith was saying.

"I’ve heard that out west they’ve got hunter-kil ers. But we hang on to tradition here."

Elena suddenly felt like a lost little girl. This was Meredith, her big sister Meredith, saying al of this. Elena’s voice was almost pleading. "But you didn’t even tel on Stefan."

"No, I didn’t. And, no, I don’t think I’d have had the courage to kil anyone – unless I’d been brainwashed. But I knew Stefan loved you. I knew he would never make you into a vampire.

The problem was – I didn’t know enough about Damon. I didn’t know that you were fooling around so much. I don’t think anybody knew that."Meredith’s voice was anguished, too.

"Except me,"Elena said, flushing, with a lopsided smile.

"Don’t look so sad, Meredith. It worked out."

"You cal having to leave your family and your town because everyone knows you’re dead, working out?"

"I do,"Elena replied desperately, "if it means I get to be with Stefan."She did her best not to think about Damon.

Meredith looked at her blankly for a moment, then put her face in her hands. "Do you want to tel them or should I?"she asked, coming up for air and facing Stefan.

Stefan looked startled. "You remember?"

"Probably as much as you got from my mind. Bits and pieces. Stuff I don’t want to remember."

"Okay."Now Stefan looked relieved, and Elena felt frightened. Stefan and Meredith had a secret together?

"We al know that Klaus made at least two visits to Fel ‘s Church. We know that he was – completely evil – and that on the second visit he planned to be a serial murderer. He kil ed Sue Carson and Vickie Bennett."

Elena interrupted quietly. "Or at least he helped Tyler Smal wood to kil Sue, so that Tyler could be initiated as a werewolf. And then Tyler got Caroline pregnant."

Matt cleared his throat as something occurred to him. "Uh –

does Caroline have to kil somebody to be a ful werewolf, too?"

"I don’t think so,"Elena said. "Stefan says that having a werewolf litter is enough. Either way, blood is spil ed.

Caroline wil be a ful werewolf when she has her twins, but she’l probably begin changing involuntarily before that.

Right?"

Stefan nodded. "Right. But getting back to Klaus: What was it he was supposed to have done on his first visit? He attacked – without kil ing – an old man who was a ful hunter-slayer."

"My grandfather,"Meredith whispered.

"And he supposedly messed with Meredith’s grandfather’s mind so much that this old man tried to kil his wife and his three-year-old granddaughter. So what is wrong with this picture?"

Elena was truly frightened now. She didn’t want to hear whatever was coming. She could taste bile, and she was glad that she’d only had toast for breakfast. If only there had been someone to take care of, like Bonnie, she would have felt better.