Phantom

She reached out with her mind and emotions, past the tenderness, past the rock-solid love that was always waiting for her in Stefan’s kiss, and delved deeper into his mind. There was a fierce passion there, and she returned it, their emotions twining together, as their hands held each other harder.

Beneath the passion, there was grief, a terrible, endless grief, and farther stil , buried in the depths of Stefan’s emotions, was an aching loneliness, the loneliness of a man who had lived for centuries without companionship. And in that loneliness was the taste of something unfamiliar. Something… unyielding and cold and faintly metal ic, as if she had bitten into foil.

There was something Stefan was holding back from her. Elena was sure of it, and she reached deeper into his mind as their kisses intensified. She needed al of him… She started to pul back her hair, to offer him her blood. That always brought them as close as they could possibly be. But before he could accept her offer, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Almost immediately it opened and Aunt Judith peeked in. Elena, blinking, found herself alone, her palms stinging from the speed with which Stefan had pul ed away from her. She looked around hastily, but he’d vanished.

"Breakfast is on the table, Elena," Aunt Judith said cheerful y.

"Uh-huh," Elena said, distracted, peering at the closet, wondering where Stefan had hidden himself.

"Are you al right, dear?" her aunt said, her forehead creased with concern. Elena had a sudden picture of how she must look: wide-eyed, flushed, and disheveled, sitting in her rumpled bed and looking wildly around the room. It had been a long time since Stefan had needed to use his vampiric speed for anything as mundane as not getting caught in her bedroom!

She gave Aunt Judith a reassuring smile. "Sorry, I’m stil half-asleep. I’l be right down," she said. "I’d better hurry. Stefan wil be here to pick me up soon."

As Aunt Judith left the room, Elena final y caught sight of Stefan, waving from the lawn below her open window, and she waved back, laughing, the strange emotions at the bottom of Stefan’s mind put aside for the moment. He gestured that he was going around to the front of the house and that he would see her in a minute.

She laughed again and jumped up to get ready for the picnic at Hot Springs. It was nice to be the kind of girl who worried about getting grounded. It felt… pleasurably normal.

A few minutes later, as Elena, now dressed in shorts and a light blue T-shirt, her hair pul ed back in a ponytail, headed down the stairs, the doorbel rang.

"That’l be Stefan," she cal ed as Aunt Judith appeared in the kitchen doorway. Elena grabbed her beach bag and picnic cooler from the bench in the hal .

"Elena!" Aunt Judith scolded. "You have to eat something before you go!"

"No time," Elena said, smiling at the familiarity of the argument. "I’l grab a muffin or something on the way." She and Aunt Judith had exchanged these words, or similar ones, most mornings of Elena’s years in high school.

"Oh, Elena," Aunt Judith said, rol ing her eyes. "Don’t move, young lady. I’l be right back."

Elena opened the door and smiled up into Stefan’s eyes.

"Why, hel o there, stranger," she said softly. He kissed her, a sweet touch of his lips on hers.

Aunt Judith hurried back into the hal way and pressed a granola bar into Elena’s hand. "There," she said. "At least you’l have something in your stomach."

Elena gave her a quick hug. "Thank you, Aunt Judith," she said. "I’l see you later."

"Have fun, but please don’t forget Margaret’s dance recital tonight," Aunt Judith said. "She’s so excited about it."

Aunt Judith waved good-bye from the doorway as Elena and Stefan strol ed toward the car.

"We’re meeting the others at the boardinghouse and caravanning to Hot Springs," Stefan said. "Matt and Meredith are both bringing their cars."

"Oh, good, we won’t be as crowded as we were yesterday. Not that I minded sitting on your lap, but I thought I might squish Celia in the middle," Elena said. She turned her face up and stretched like a cat in the sunshine. A breeze tossed her ponytail, and she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation. "It’s a gorgeous day for a picnic,"

she said. The world was alive with birdsong and with the rustle of trees. A faint tracery of white clouds underscored the bright blue of the sky. "Would it be jinxing ourselves to say it feels like the kind of day where nothing could go wrong?" she asked.

"Yes, it absolutely would be jinxing ourselves to say that,"

Stefan said, straight-faced, unlocking the passenger-side door for her.

"Then I won’t say it," Elena said. "I won’t even think it. But I feel good. I haven’t been to Hot Springs for ages." She grinned with pure pleasure, and Stefan smiled back at her, but Elena was struck once again by that certain something new – something troubling – in his eyes.

Chapter 12

"It’s going to be a lovely day – perfect for a picnic," Meredith observed calmly.

Bonnie had tactful y but firmly steered Celia into Matt’s car instead of Meredith’s, and so Meredith was alone with Alaric – at last! – for the first time since he’d arrived. Half of her just wanted to pul off the road, grab Alaric, and kiss him and kiss him, she was so glad that he was final y here. Al through the insanity of the last few months, she’d wished that he were there to fight by her side, to depend on. But the other half of her wanted to pul off the road, grab Alaric, and demand that he explain to her exactly what his relationship was with Dr. Celia Connor.

Instead, here she was, driving placidly, hands at ten and two on the steering wheel, making smal talk about the weather. She felt like a coward, and Meredith Suarez was no coward. But what could she say? What if she was just paranoid, and making a ridiculous fuss about a strictly professional relationship?