The Struggle

Chapter One

"Damon!"

Icy wind whipped Elena’s hair around her face, tearing at her light sweater. Oak leaves swirled among the rows of granite headstones, and the trees lashed their branches together in frenzy. Elena’s hands were cold, her lips and cheeks were numb, but she stood facing the screaming wind directly, shouting into it.

"Damon!"

This weather was a show of his Power, meant to frighten her away. It wouldn’t work. The thought of that same Power being turned against Stefan woke a hot fury inside her that burned against the wind. If Damon had done anything to Stefan, if Damon had hurt him…

"Damn you, answer me!" she shouted at the oak trees that bordered the graveyard.

A dead oak leaf like a withered brown hand skittered up to her foot, but there was no answer. Above, She turned – and gasped.

He was just behind her, so close that her clothes brushed his as she turned. At that distance, she should have sensed another human being standing there, should have felt his body warmth or heard him. But Damon, of course, wasn’t human.

She reeled back a couple of steps before she could stop herself. Every instinct that had lain quiet while she shouted into the violence of the wind was now begging her to run.

She clenched her fists. "Where’s Stefan?"

A line appeared between Damon’s dark eyebrows. "Stefan who?"

Elena stepped forward and slapped him.

She had no thought of doing it before she did it, and afterward she could scarcely believe what she had done. But it was a good hard slap, with the full force of her body behind it, and it snapped Damon’s head to one side. Her hand stung. She stood, trying to calm her breath, and watched him.

He was dressed as she had first seen him, in black. Soft black boots, black jeans, black sweater, and leather jacket. And he looked like Stefan. She didn’t know how she could have missed that before. He had the same dark hair, the same pale skin, the same disturbing good looks. But his hair was straight, not wavy, and his eyes were black as midnight, and his mouth was cruel.

He turned his head slowly back to look at her, and she saw blood rising in the cheek she’d slapped.

"Don’t lie to me," she said, her voice shaking. "I know who you are. I knowwhat you are. You killed Mr. Tanner last night. And now Stefan’s disappeared."

"Has he?"

"You know he has!"

Damon smiled and then turned it off instantly.

"I’m warning you; if you’ve hurt him – "

"Then, what?" he said. "What will you do, Elena? Whatcan you do, against me?"

Elena fell silent. For the first time, she realized that the wind had died away. The day had gone deadly quiet around them, as if they stood motionless at the center of some great circle of power. It seemed as if everything, the leaden sky, the oaks and purple beeches, the ground itself, was connected to him, as if he drew Power from all of it. He stood with his head tilted back slightly, his eyes fathomless and full of strange lights.

"I don’t know," she whispered, "but I’ll find something. Believe me."

"I do believe you," he said, relaxing, looking around the graveyard. Then he turned back and held out a hand to her. "You’re too good for my brother," he said casually.

Elena thought of slapping the hand away, but she didn’t want to touch him again. "Tell me where he is."

"Later, possibly – for a price." He withdrew his hand, just as Elena realized that on it he wore a ring like Stefan’s: silver and lapis lazuli. Remember that, she thought fiercely. It’s important.

"My brother," he went on, "is a fool. He thinks that because you look like Katherine you’re weak and easily led like her. But he’s wrong. I could feel your anger from the other side of town. I can feel it now, a white light like the desert sun. You have strength, Elena, even as you are. But you could be so much stronger…"

She stared at him, not understanding, not liking the change of subject. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. And what has it got to do with Stefan?"

"I’m talking about Power, Elena." Suddenly, he stepped close to her, his eyes fixed on hers, his voice soft and urgent. "You’ve tried everything else, and nothing has satisfied you. You’re the girl who has everything, but there’s always been something just out of your reach, something you need desperately and can’t have. That’s what I’m offering you. Power. Eternal life. And feelings you’ve never felt before."

Shedid understand then, and bile rose in her throat. She choked on horror and repudiation. "No."

"Why not?" he whispered. "Why not try it, Elena? Be honest. Isn’t there a part of you that wants to?" His dark eyes were full of a heat and intensity that held her transfixed, unable to look away. "I can waken things inside you that have been sleeping all your life. You’re strong enough to live in the dark, to glory in it. You can become a queen of the shadows. Why not take that Power, Elena? Let me help you take it."

"No," she said, wrenching her eyes away from his. She wouldn’t look at him, wouldn’t let him do this to her. She wouldn’t let him make her forget… make her forget…

"It’s the ultimate secret, Elena," he said. His voice was as caressing as the fingertips that touched her throat. "You’ll be happy as never before."

There was something terribly important she must remember. He was using Power to make her forget it, but she wouldn’t let him make her forget…

"And we’ll be together, you and I." The cool fingertips stroked the side of her neck, slipping under the collar of her sweater. "Just the two of us, forever."

There was a sudden twinge of pain as his fingers brushed two tiny wounds in the flesh of her neck, and her mind cleared.