The Return: Nightfall Chapter 39

We won the battle, exclusively not the war, Elena said sadly. She thought it was the day after their fight with the kitsune twins. She couldnt be received of everything except that she was alive, that Stefan was g wizard, and that Damon was back to his old self again.Maybe because we didnt have my precious brother, he said, as if to prove it. They were driving in the Ferrari, trying to find Elenas jaguar in the real world.Elena ignored him. She also ignored the soft but vaguely annoying hiss that came from some device hed inst exclusivelyed that was not a radio, that average seemed to play voices and static.A new kind of Ouija board? Audio instead of all that tedious spelling?Elena felt herself shiver inside.You did give your word to go with me and find him. I swear it by by the Other World.You discriminate me that I did, and youre not a liar no, not to me. I send packing enter your facial expressions now that youre a human. If I gave my word, I gave my word.Human? Elena th ought. Am I?What am I? with the kind of Powers I have? Even Damon can see that the Old Wood has changed in the real world. Its not an ancient, half-dead forest anymore. Thither are spring flowers in midsummer. Theres life everywhere.And in any case, it protrude out give me plenty of time to be alone with you my princess of darkness.And were back to that again, Elena thought wearily. But hed leave me here stranded if I once suggested that we had laughed and walked in a clearing together with him on his knees to adjust my footstool. Even Im beginning to wonder if it was real.There was a slight bump as nearly as one could tell from Damons style of driving.Got it he cheered himself and thus, when Elena turned, ready to wrench the wheel to make him stop he added coolly, It was a piece oftire , for your information. Not many animals are black, arched, and a few tenths of an inch thick.Elena said nothing. What was there to understand to Damons quips? But deep d avow she felt reli eved that Damon wasnt given to running over furry short animals as an amusement.Were going to be alone together for quite some time, she thought and then realized that there was another reason she couldnt just tell Damon to dry up and die. Shinichi had put the location of Stefans cell into Damons mind, not hers. She needed him desperately, to take her to the location, and to fight whoever was keeping Stefan captive.But it was fine if he had forgotten that she had any Powers. Something to save for a rainy day.At just that moment, Damon exclaimed What the and leaned forward to adjust dials on the not-radio. peating all units be on the lookout for one vapidhew Honeycutt, male Caucasian, tail fin foot eleven inches, blond hair, blue eyes What is that?Elena demanded.A police scanner. If you want to be able to real live in this great record of freedom, its best to know when to run Damon, dont get me started on your lifestyle. I meant what was that somewhat Matt?It looks as if th eyve decided to bring him in at last. Caroline didnt get much revenge yesterday night. I guess shes taking a shot at it now.Then weve got to get to him first anythingcould happen if he girdle in Fells church. But he cant take his car, and he wont fit in this one. What are we going to do?Leave him to the police?Dont, please. We have to Elena was beginning, when in a clearing to the left, like some vision sent to approve her scheme, the Jaguar appeared.Thatsthe car were taking, she told Damon flatly. At least its roomy. If you want your police scanner doo-hickey in it, then youd better start uninstalling it from this one.But Ill go get Matt. Im the only one hell listen to. Then well leave the Ferrari in the Wood or dump it in the creek if you want.Oh, the creek, byall means.Actually, we may not have time for that. Well just leave it in the Wood.Matt stared at Elena. No. I wont run.Elena turned the full meretriciousness of her blue eyes on him. Matt, get in the car.Now . You ha ve to. Carolines dad is related to the judge who signed the order to get you. Its a lynching, Meredith says. Even Meredith is utter you to run. No, you dont need clothes well get clothes.But but its not true Theyll make it true. Caroline will weep and sob. I never thought a girl would do this to get revenge, but Caroline is in a class of her own. Shes gone nuts.But I said, get inTheyll be here any minute. Theyve already been to your house and Merediths house. What are you doing at Bonnies, anyway?Bonnie and Matt glanced at each other. Uh, just having a look at Bonnies moms car, Matt said. Its on the fritz again, and Never mind Come with me Bonnie, what are you doing? Calling Meredith back? Bonnie jumped slightly. Yes.Tell her good-bye and we love her and good-bye. Take care of the town well be in touch As the red Jaguar pulled away, Bonnie said into the phone, You were right. Shes pulling a Straight A away. I dont know whether Damons going he wasnt in the car.She listened f or a moment and then said, Okay, I will. Ill see you.She hung up and got into runion.Dear Diary,Today I ran away from kinsfolk.I guess you cant really name it running away when youre almost 18 and you take your own car and when nobody knew you were home in the first place. So Ill just say, tonight Im on the run.The other slightly shocking thing is that I ran away with two different guys. And neither of them ismy guy.I say that, butI cant help retention things. The look in Matts eyes in the clearing I honestly think he was prepared to die to protect me. I cant help but think about what we once were to each other. Those blue eyesoh, I dont know whats wrong with meAnd Damon. I know now that theres living flesh infra the layers and layers of stone hes wrapped around his soul. Its deeply hidden, but its there. If Im being honest with myself, I have to admit that he touches something deep inside me that makes me shiver a part of myself even I dont understand.Oh, Elena Stop right n ow You cant go near that dark part of yourself, especially now that you have Power. You dont dare go near it. Everything is different now. You have to be more responsible (something youre not at all good at).And Meredith wont be here to help me be responsible, either. How is this ever going to work out? Damon and Matt in the same car? On a road trip together? Can you suppose? Tonight, it was so late and Matt was so stunned by the situation that he couldnt really take anything in. And Damon only smirked. But hell be in hellish form tomorrow, I know he will.I still think it was a great pity that Shinichi had to takeWings of Redemption from Damon along with his memories. But I intemperately believe that, deep down, theres a tiny part of Damon that remembers how he was when we were together. And now he has to be worse than ever to prove that what he remembers was all a lie.So while youre reading this,Damon I know youll get hold of it somehow and snoop let me tell you that you were nice for a while, actuallyNICE,and it was fun. We talked together. We even laughed at the same jokes. And youyou were gentle.And now youre going, Nah, its just another Elena-plot to get me to think I can turn around butI know where Im going, and I dont care. Does that ring a bell, Damon? wipe out yousaid those linguistic communication to someone recently? And if not, how do I know them? Could it be that for once Im telling the truth?Now Im going to forget that youre totally besmirching your award by reading secret things that dont belong to you.What else?First I miss Stefan.Second I didnt really pack for this. Matt and I swung by the boardinghouse, and he grabbed the money Stefan left for me while I grabbed an armful of clothes out of the closet heaven knows what Ive got Bonnies tops and Merediths pants, and not a decent nightgown to my name.But at least I also got you, precious friend, a present Stefan was saving for me. I never really liked typing in a send marked Diary any way. Blank books like you are my style.Third I miss Stefan. I miss him so badly that Im crying while Im report about clothes. It looks as if thats what Im crying about, which makes me seem insanely shallow. Oh, sometimes I just want to scream.Fourth I want to screamnow.It was only when we got back to Fells Church that we found what horrors the malach had left for us. There is a fourth little girl I think may be possessed like Tami, Kristin, and Ava I couldnt really tell, so I couldnt do anything. I have the feeling that we definitely havent heard the last of this possession thing.Fifth But worst is what happened in the Saitou house. Isobel is in the hospital with raging infections in all her piercings. Obaasan, as everyone calls Isobels grandmother, was not dead as the first paramedics who got there thought. She was in a deep trance hit out tous . Whether some of the courage I got, some of the belief in myself, was really due to her, is something Ill never know.But in the den wa s Jim Bryce. He hadoh, I cant write it. He was the captain of theb asketball team But he hadeaten away at himself his whole left hand, most of his right-hand fingers, his lips. And he had put a pencil through his ear into his brain. They say (I heard this through Tyrone Alpert, the doctors grandson) that its called Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome (sp? I only heard it said) and that its rare, but there are others just like him. Thats what the doctors say. I say it was a malach making him do it. But they wouldnt let me in to try to take it out of him.I cant even say hes alive. I cant say if hes dead. Hes going to a sort of institution where they keep long-term cases.We failed there. I failed. It wasnt really Jim Bryces fault. So he was with Caroline just one night, and from there he passed the malach to his girlfriend Isobel and to his little sister Tami. Then both Caroline and little Tami passed it along to others. They tried to give it to Matt, but he wasnt about to let them.Sixth, the tercet little girls that most definitely did get it were all under the orders of Misao, from what Shinichi said.They say that they dont remember anything about decorating themselves or propositioning strangers. They dont seem to remember anything about the time of their possession, and they act like very different little girls now. Nice. Calm. If I thought Misao gave up easily then I would be sure theyll be all right.worsened is the thought of Caroline. She was a friend once and now well, now I think she needs help more than ever. Damon got toher diaries she kept her own diary by recording herself on video, and we watched her talk to the mirrorand watched the mirror talk back. Mostly it was her own image that showed, but sometimes, at the beginning or end of a session, it was Shinichis face. Hes good-looking, if a little wild. I can see how Caroline might fall for him and agree to be his carrier of malach in the town.Thats all over. I apply the last of whatever Power I know I have taki ng the malach out of those girls.Caroline, of course, wouldnt let me near her.And then there were those fateful words of Carolines I need a husband Any girl knows what that means. Any girl feels sorry for another who says it, even if theyre unfriends.Caroline and Tyler Smallwood were going together until about two weeks ago. Meredith says Caroline dropped him, and that kidnapping her for Klaus was Tylers revenge. Butif before that theyd been sleeping together with no protection (and Caroline is dumb enough to do it), she could certainly have cognize she was pregnant and been looking for another guy by the time Shinichi turned up. (Which was just before I returned to life.) Now shes trying to pin it on Matt. It was small bad luck that she said it happened on the same night the malach attacked Matt and that that old man from the Neighborhood Watch saw Matt drive home and pass out at the steering wheel as if he were drunk or on drugs.Or maybe it wasnt just luck. Maybe that was all p art of Misaos game, too.Im going to sleep now. Too much thinking. Too much worry. And, oh, I miss Stefan He would help me deal with the worry in his own gentle but keen-sighted way.Im sleeping inside the car with the doors locked. The guys are sleeping outside it. At least, thats how were starting at their insistence. At least they agree on that.I dont think Shinichi and Misao will stay away from Fells Church for long. I dont know if theyll leave it alone for a few days, or weeks, or a few months, but Misao will heal and theyll come back for us eventually.That means that Damon, Matt, and I were fugitives in two worlds.And I have no idea whats going to happen tomorrow.Elena