Midnight

"Do I have to go back?"she asked, realizing that she was being petty and sil y and that the brown room had seemed like a haven just a little while ago.

"Go back?"Damon said, a little too quickly. She had the feeling that he’d seen the brown room too, now, through her eyes. "Why? The landlady gave me everything in the room.

So I have your real clothes and a bunch of star bal s down there, in case you weren’t through with one. But why would you think you might have to go back?"

"Well, I know you were looking for a lady of quality, and I’m not one,"Bonnie said simply.

"That was just so I could change back into a vampire,"Damon said. "And what do you think is holding you up in the air right now?"But this time Bonnie knew somehow that the sensations from the "Never Ever"star bal s were Stillin her mind and that Damon was seeing them too. He was a vampire again. And the contents of these star bal s were so abominable that Damon’s stony exterior final y cracked.

Bonnie could almost guess what he thought of them, and of her, left to shiver under her one blanket every night.

And then, to her total astonishment, Damon, the ever-composed, brand-new vampire blurted, "I’m sorry. I didn’t think about how that place would be for you. Is there anything that wil make you feel better?"

Bonnie blinked. She wondered, seriously, if she were dreaming. Damon didn’t apologize. Damon famously didn’t apologize, or explain, or speak so nicely to people, unless he wanted something from them. But one thing seemed real.

She didn’t have to sleep in the brown room anymore.

This was so exciting that she flushed a little, and dared say,

"Could we go down to the ground? Slowly? Because the truth is that I’m just terrified of heights."

Damon blinked, but said, "Yes, I think I can manage that. Is there anything else you’d like?"

"Well  – there are a couple of girls who’d be donors – happily – if – well  – if there’s any money left – if you could save them…"

Damon said a little sharply, "Of course there’s some money left. I even wrung your share back out of that hag of a landlady."

"Well, then, there’s that secret that I told you, but I don’t know if you remember."

"How soon do you think you’l feel well enough to start?"asked Damon.

Chapter 24

Stefan woke early. He spent the time from dawn until breakfast just watching Elena, who even in sleep had an inner glow like a golden flame through a faintly rose-colored candle.

At breakfast, everyone was more or less Stillwrapped up in thoughts of the day before. Meredith showed Matt the picture of her brother, Cristian, the vampire. Matt briefly told Meredith about the inner workings of the Ridgemont court system and painted her a picture of Caroline as werewolf. It was clear that both of them felt safer at the boardinghouse than anywhere else.

And Elena, who had woken up with Stefan’s mind al around her, embracing her, and her own mind Stillful of light, was completely at a loss for a Plan A or any other letter. She had to be told gently by the others that only one thing made sense.

"Stefan,"Matt said, draining a mug of Mrs. Flowers’s pitch-black coffee. "He’s the only one who might be able to use his mind instead of Post-it Notes on the kids."

And, "Stefan,"said Meredith. "He’s the only one Shinichi might be afraid of."

"I’m no use at all,"Elena said sadly. She had no appetite. She had gotten dressed with a feeling of love and compassion toward al humankind and a desire to help protect her hometown, but as everyone pointed out, she was probably going to have to spend the day in the root cel ar. Reporters might come to cal .

They’re right, Stefan sent to Elena. I’m the only logical person to find out what’s really going on in Fell’s Church.

He actual y went while the rest of them were finishing breakfast. Only Elena knew why; only she could feel him at the limits of her telepathic range.

Stefan was hunting. He drove into the New Wood, got out, and final y startled a rabbit out of the brush. He Influenced it to rest and not be frightened. Surreptitiously, in this thin woodland without cover, he took a little blood from it…and choked.

It tasted like some kind of hideous liquid flavored with rodent.

Was a rabbit a rodent? He had been lucky enough to find a rat one day in his prison cel and it had tasted vaguely like this.

But now, for days, he had been drinking human blood. Not just that, but the rich, potent blood of strong, adventurous, and in several cases paranormal y talented individuals – the crème de la crème. How could he have gotten used to it so quickly?

It shamed him now, to think of what he’d taken. Elena’s blood, of course, was enough to drive any vampire wild. And Meredith, whose blood had the deep crimson taste of some primordial ocean, and Bonnie, who tasted like a telepath’s dessert. And final y Matt, the Al -American red-blooded boy.

They’d fed him and fed him by the hour, far past what he needed to survive. They’d fed him until he’d begun to heal, and seeing that he was healing, they’d fed him more. And it had gone on and on, ending with Elena last night – Elena, whose hair was taking on a silvery cast and whose blue eyes seemed almost radiant. Back in the Dark Dimension, Damon hadn’t exercised any restraint at all. Elena hadn’t exercised any on her own behalf.

That silvery cast…Stefan’s stomach clenched when he thought about it, about the last time he’d seen her hair that way. She’d been dead then. On her feet, but dead just the same.

Stefan let the rabbit scamper away. He was taking another oath. He must not make Elena into a vampire again. That meant no significant blood exchange between the two of them for at least a week – either giving or taking might tip her over the edge.