Midnight

He must once again adjust to the taste of animal blood.

Stefan shut his eyes briefly, remembering the horror of the first time. The cramps. The shakes. The agony that seemed to tel his entire body that it wasn’t getting fed. The feeling that his veins might explode into flame at any moment, and the pain in his jaws.

He stood up. He was lucky to be alive. Luckier than he ever could have dreamed he would be in having Elena beside him. He would work through the readjustment without bothering her by tel ing her, he decided.

Just two hours later Stefan was back at the boardinghouse, limping slightly. Matt, who met him at the heavy front door, noticed the limp. "You okay? You’d better get in and ice it."

"Just a cramp,"Stefan said briefly. "I’m not used to exercise.

Didn’t get any back there in – you know."He looked away, flushing. So did Matt, hot and cold and furious at the people who had put Stefan in this condition. Vampires were pretty resilient, but he had the feeling – no, he knew – that Stefan had almost died in his prison cel . One day under lock and key had convinced Matt that he never wanted to be imprisoned again.

He fol owed Stefan to the kitchen where Elena, Meredith, and Mrs. Flowers were – what else? – drinking mugs of tea.

And Matt felt a twinge when Elena instantly noticed the limp and got up and went to Stefan, and Stefan held her tightly, running reassuring fingers through her hair. Matt couldn’t help but wonder, though – was that glorious golden hair turning lighter? More like the silvery gold it had been when Elena had first gone with Stefan and was on her way to turning into a vampire? Stefan certainly seemed to be inspecting it closely, turning each handful as he raked his fingers through it.

"Any luck?"Elena asked him, tension in her voice.

Wearily, Stefan shook his head. "I went up streets and down streets and wherever I found a – a young girl who was contorted, or whirling round and round, or doing any other of the things the papers mentioned, I tried to Influence them.

Well, maybe I shouldn’t have bothered with the whirling girls. I couldn’t catch their eyes. But the final count is zero for eleven."

Elena turned toward Meredith in agitation. "What do we do?"

Mrs. Flowers busily began rummaging through bundles of herbs that hung above her stove. "You need a nice cup of tea."

"And a rest,"Meredith said, patting him lightly on the hand.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Well  – I’ve got a new idea – scrying. But I need Misao’s star bal to see if it wil work. Don’t worry,"he added, "I won’t use any of the Power in it; I just need to look at the surface."

"I’l bring it,"Elena offered, getting up promptly from where she was sitting on his lap. Matt started slightly and looked at Mrs. Flowers as Elena went to the door of the root cel ar and pushed. Nothing moved and Mrs. Flowers simply watched benignly. It was Stefan who rose to help her, Stilllimping.

Then Matt and Meredith got up, Meredith asking, "Mrs.

Flowers, are you sure we should keep the star bal in that same safe?"

"Ma ma says we’re doing the right thing,"Mrs. Flowers answered serenely.

After that things happened very fast.

As if they’d rehearsed it, Meredith pressed the exact place to open the root cel ar door. Elena fel to her hands and knees.

Faster than even he had imagined he could go, Matt went barreling toward Stefan with one shoulder down. Mrs.

Flowers was frantical y pul ing great swaths of dried herbs down from where they hung above the kitchen table.

And then Matt was hitting Stefan with al the power in his body and Stefan was stumbling over Elena, his head going down and down and meeting no resistance on the way.

Meredith was coming at him sideways and helping him do a complete forward flip in the air. As soon as the flip took him out of the doorway and he was cartwheeling down the stairs, Elena got up and shut the door and Meredith leaned against it, as Matt shouted, "How do you keep in a kitsune?"

"These might help,"gasped Mrs. Flowers, stuffing odiferous herbs into the crack under the door.

"And – iron!"cried Elena, and she and Meredith and Matt al ran to the den where there was an enormous, tripartite iron fire screen. Somehow they bundled it back to the kitchen and set it upright against the root cel ar door. Just then the first crash came from the inside against it, but the iron was heavy and the second crash against the door was weaker.

"What are you doing? Have you al gone crazy?"Stefan shouted plaintively, but as the entire group began to cover the door in Post-it Note amulets, he cursed instead and became pure Shinichi. "You’ll be sorry, damn you! Misao’s not right. She cries and cries. You’ll make it up to her with your blood, but not before I introduce you to some special friends of mine. The kind who know how to cause real pain!"

Elena lifted her head, as if hearing something. Matt watched her frown. Then she cal ed to Shinichi, "Don’t even try to probe for Damon. He’s gone. And if you try to track him I’l fry your brains."

Sul en silence greeted her from the root cel ar.

"My goodness gracious, what next?"murmured Mrs. Flowers.

Elena simply nodded for the others to fol ow her, and they went al the way to the very top of the house – Stefan’s room – and spoke in whispers.

"How did you know?"

"Did you use telepathy?"

"I didn’t know at first,"Matt admitted, "but Elena was acting as if the star bal was in the root cel ar. Stefan knows it’s not there. I guess,"he added with a guilty start, "that I invited him in."

"I knew as soon as he started groping my hair,"Elena said with a shudder. "Stefan and D – I mean, Stefan knows I only like it touched lightly, and at the ends. Not mauled like that.