The Fury

White owl… hunting bird… flesh eater… she thought. And then she remembered great white wings that seemed to stretch to the horizon on either side. A great bird made of mist or snow, coming after her, focused on her, full of bloodlust and animal hate…

"No!" she cried, memory engulfing her.

She felt Stefan’s hands on her shoulders, his fingers digging in almost painfully. It brought her back to reality. Honoria Fell was still speaking.

"And you, Stefan, it has been watching you. It hated you before it hated Elena. It has been tormenting you and playing with you like a cat with a mouse. It hates those you love. It is full of poisoned love itself."

Elena looked involuntarily behind her. She saw Meredith, Alaric, and Matt standing frozen. Bonnie and Stefan were next to her. But Damon… where was Damon?

"The Snow Dance!" Meredith said sharply.

"Yes. And this time they will kill until the last of them is killed."

"We have to warn those people," Matt said. "Everyone at that dance-"

"You will never be safe until the mind that controls them is destroyed. The killing will go on. You must destroy the Power that hates; that is why I have brought you here."

There was another flux in the light; it seemed to be receding. "You have the courage, if you can find it. Be strong. This is the only help I can give you."

"Wait-please-" Elena began.

The voice continued relentlessly, taking no heed of her. "Bonnie, you have a choice. Your secret powers are a responsibility. They are also a gift, and one that can be taken away. Do you choose to relinquish them?"

"I-" Bonnie shook her head, frightened. "I don’t know. I need time…"

"There is no time. Choose." The light was dwindling, caving in on itself.

Bonnie’s eyes were bewildered and uncertain as she searched Elena’s face for help. "It’s your choice," Elena whispered. "You have to decide for yourself."

Slowly, the uncertainty left Bonnie’s face, and she nodded. She stood away from Elena, without support, turning back to the light. "I’ll keep them," she said huskily. "I’ll deal with them somehow. My grandmother did."

There was a flicker of something like amusement from the light. "You’ve chosen wisely. May you use them as well. This is the last time I will speak to you." "But-"

"I have earned my rest. The fight is yours." And the glow faded, like the last embers of a dying fire.

With it gone, Elena could feel the pressure all around her. Something was going to happen. Some crushing force was coming toward them, or hanging over them. "Stefan-"

Stefan felt it too; she could tell. "Come on," Bonnie said, her voice panicked.

"We have to get out of here."

"We have to get to the dance," Matt gasped. His face was white. "We have to help them-"

"Fire," cried Bonnie, looking startled, as if the thought had just come to her. "Fire won’t kill them, but it will hold them off-"

"Alaric." Stefan spoke with the ring of command. "You go back. Take the others; do what you can. I’ll stay-"

"I think we all should leave!" Alaric shouted. He had to shout to be heard over the deafening noise surrounding them.

His weaving flashlight showed Elena something she hadn’t noticed before. In the wall next to her was a gaping hole, as if the stone facing had been ripped away. And beyond was a tunnel into the raw earth, black and endless.

Where does it go? Elena wondered, but the thought was lost among the tumult of her fear. White owl… hunting bird… flesh eater… crow, she thought, and suddenly she knew with blinding clarity what she was afraid of.

"Where’s Damon?" she screamed, dragging Stefan around as she turned, looking.

"Where’s Damon?"

"Get out!" cried Bonnie, her voice shrill with terror. She threw herself toward the gate just as the sound split the darkness.

It was a snarl, but not a dog’s snarl. It could never be mistaken for that. It was so much deeper, heavier, more resonant. It was a huge sound, and it reeked of the jungle, of the hunting bloodlust. It reverberated in Elena’s chest, jarred her bones.

It paralyzed her.

The sound came again, hungry and savage, but somehow almost lazy. That confident. And with it came heavy footfalls from the tunnel.

Bonnie was trying to scream, making only a thin whistling sound. In the blackness of the tunnel, something was coming. A shape that moved with a rangy feline swing. Elena recognized the snarl now. It was the sound of the largest of the hunting cats, larger than a lion. The tiger’s eyes showed yellow as it reached the end of the tunnel.

And then everything happened at once.

Elena felt Stefan try to pull her backward to get her out of the way. But her own petrified muscles were a hindrance to him, and she knew that it was too late.

The tiger’s leap was grace itself, powerful muscles launching it into the air. In that instant, she saw it as if caught in the light of a flashbulb, and her mind noted the lean shining flanks and the supple backbone. But her voice screamed out on its own.

"Damon, no!"

It was only as the black wolf sprang out of the darkness to meet it that she realized the tiger was white.

The great cat’s rush was thrown off by the wolf, and Elena felt Stefan wrench her out of the way, pulling her sideways to safety. Her muscles had melted like snowflakes, and she yielded numbly as he put her against the wall. The lid of the tomb was between her and the snarling white shape now, but the gate was on the other side of the fight.

It was an impossible match. The black wolf, vicious and aggressive though it might be, didn’t stand a chance. One swipe of the tiger’s huge claws laid the wolf’s shoulder open to the bone. Its jaws snarled open as it tried to get a bone-cracking grip on the wolf’s neck.