Лиза Смит - The Return - Midnight

Meredith was still looking for a way out. “Bonnie — aren’t you making too much of this? Anyway, what happened to Mrs. Flowers’s tray of food?”

“It was — all over the place. They’d just tossed it away! But he was was holding her with one hand under her knees and one under her neck, and her head was way back so that her hair was falling all over his shoulder!”

There was a silence as everyone tried to imagine various positions that might correspond to Bonnie’s last words.

“You mean he was holding her up to steady her?” Meredith asked, her voice suddenly almost a whisper. Matt caught her meaning. Stefan was probably asleep upstairs, and Meredith wanted to keep it that way.

“No! They — they were looking at each other,” Bonnie cried. “Looking. Into each other’s eyes.”

Mrs. Flowers spoke mildly. “But dear Bonnie — maybe Elena fell down and Damon had to just scoop her up.”

Now Bonnie was speaking remorselessly and fluently. “Only if that’s what’s just happened to all those women on the covers of those romance books — what-d’youcall-’ems?”

“Bodice-rippers?” Meredith suggested unhappily when no one else spoke.

“That’s right! Bodice-rippers. That’s how he was holding her! I mean, we all knew that something was going on with the two of them in the Dark Dimension, but I thought all that would stop when we found Stefan. But it hasn’t!”

Matt felt sick in the pit of his stomach. “You mean right now Elena and Damon are in there…kissing and stuff?”

“I don’t know what I mean!” Bonnie exclaimed. “They were talking about the star ball! He was holding her like a bride! And she wasn’t fighting it!”

With a chill of horror, Matt could see trouble, and he could see that Meredith could see it too. Even worse, they were looking in two different directions. Matt was looking upstairs, at the staircase, where Stefan had just appeared. Meredith was looking at the kitchen door, one glance at which showed Matt that Damon was entering the foyer.

What was Damon doing in the kitchen? Matt wondered. We were there until a minute ago. And he was, what, eavesdropping from the den side?

Matt gave the situation his best shot, anyway. “Stefan!” he said in a hearty voice that made him wince inwardly. “You ready for a little athlete’s-blood nightcap?”

A tiny part of Matt’s mind thought: But just look at him. Only three days out of prison and he already looks like himself again. Three nights ago he was a skeleton.

Today he just looks — thin. He’s even handsome enough to make the girls all go crazy over him again.

Stefan smiled faintly at him, leaning on the banister. In his pale face, his eyes were remarkably alive, a vibrant green that made them actually shine like jewels.

He didn’t look upset, and that made Matt’s heart twist for him. How could they tell him?

“Elena is hurt,” Stefan said, and suddenly there was a pause — an utter silenceas every person froze in place. “But Damon couldn’t help her, so he brought her to Mrs. Flowers.”

“True,” Damon said coldly from behind Matt. “I couldn’t help her. If I were still a vampire…but I’m not. Elena has burns, mainly. All I could think of was an ice pack or some kind of poultice. Sorry to disprove all your clever theories.”

“Oh my heavens!” cried Mrs. Flowers. “You mean dear Elena’s waiting right now in the kitchen for a poultice?” She hurried out of the foyer toward the kitchen.

Stefan was still coming down the stairs, calling, “Mrs. Flowers, she scalded her arm and leg — she says because Damon didn’t recognize her in the dark and jostled her. And that he thought it was an intruder in his room, and nicked her throat with a knife. The rest of us will be in the parlor if you need help.”

Bonnie cried, “Stefan, maybe she’s innocent — but he isn’t! Even according to you, he burned her — that’s torture — and he put a knife to her throat! Maybe he threatened her to make her tell us what we wanted to hear. Maybe she’s still a hostage right now and we don’t know it!”

Stefan flushed. “It’s so hard to explain,” he said very softly. “And I keep trying to tune it out. But so far — some of my Powers have been growing…faster than my ability to control them. Most of the time I’m asleep, so it doesn’t matter. I was asleep until a few minutes ago. But I woke up and Elena was telling Damon that Mrs. Flowers doesn’t have the star ball. She was upset, and injured — and I could feel where she’d been injured. And then suddenly I heard you, Bonnie. You’re a very strong telepath. Then I heard the rest of you talking about Elena….”

Oh my God. How insane, Matt was thinking. His mouth was babbling some “Sure, sure, our mistake” gibberish, and his feet followed Meredith’s to the parlor as if they were attached to her Italian sandals.

But the blood on Damon’s mouth…

There had to be some mundane reason for the blood, too. Stefan had said that Damon had nicked Elena with a knife. As to how the blood got smeared around; well, that actually didn’t sound like vampirism to Matt. He’d been a donor for Stefan at least a dozen times in the last days and the process was always very neat.

It was strange, too, he thought, that it had never occurred to any of them that, even from the top of the house, Stefan might be able to hear their thoughts directly.

Could he always do that? Matt thought, wondering at the same time whether Stefan was doing it right now.

“I try not to listen to thoughts, unless I’m invited or I have a good reason,” Stefan said. “But when anybody mentions Elena, especially if they sound upset — that I can’t help. It’s like when you’re in a noisy place and you can barely hear, but when somebody says your name you hear it instantly.”

“It’s called the Cocktail Party Phenomenon,” Meredith said. Her voice was quiet and remorseful as she was trying to calm the mortified Bonnie. Matt felt another tug at his heart.

“Well, you can call it whatever you want,” he said, “but what it means is that you can listen in on our minds any time you like.”

“Not any time,” Stefan said, wincing. “When I was drinking animal blood I wasn’t strong enough unless I really worked at it. By the way, it may please my friends to know that I’m going back to hunting animals by tomorrow or the next day, depending on what Mrs. Flowers says,” he added with a significant glance around the room.

His eyes lingered on Damon, who was lounging against the wall by the window, looking disheveled and very, very dangerous. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll forget who saved my life when I was dying. For that I honor and thank them — and, well, we’ll have a party sometime.” He blinked hard and turned away. The two girls melted at once — even Meredith sniffled.

Damon heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Animal blood? Oh, brilliant. Make yourself as weak as you can, little brother, even with three or four willing donors around you.

Then, when it comes to the final showdown with Shinichi and Misao, you’ll be about as effective as a piece of damp tissue paper.”

Bonnie started. “Is there going to be a showdown…soon?”

“As soon as Shinichi and Misao can manage it,” Stefan said quietly. “I think they’d rather not give me time to get well. The whole town is supposed to go up in fire and ashes, you know. But I can’t keep asking you and Meredith and Matt — and Elena — to donate blood. You’ve already kept me alive the last few days, and I don’t know how to repay you for it.”

“Repay us by getting as strong as you can,” Meredith said in her quiet, level voice. “But, Stefan, can I ask a few questions?”

“Of course,” Stefan said, standing by a chair. He didn’t sit himself until Meredith, with Bonnie almost in her lap, had sunk down on the love seat.