Лиза Смит - The Return - Nightfall

And that was when Meredith straightened up slowly, painfully, from the other side of the bed, which was still jouncing up and down. She hadn’t seen anything of the kiss, and looked at Damon as if she couldn’t believe he was really here.

She was at a great disadvantage, and Bonnie knew she knew it. This was one of those situations where anyone else would have been too flustered to speak, or even stammer.

But Meredith just took a deep breath and then said quietly, “Damon. Thank you. Do you think — would it be too much trouble to make the malach let go of me, as well?”

Now Damon looked like his old self. He gave a brilliant smile aimed at something no one else could see and said sharply, “And as for the rest of you down there — heel!” He snapped his fingers.

The bed stopped moving instantly.

Meredith stepped away, and closed her eyes for a moment in relief.

“Thank you again,” she said, with the dignity of a princess, but fervently. “And now, do you think you could do anything about Caro—”

“Right now,” Damon cut in even more roughly than usual, “I have to run.” He glanced at the Rolex on his wrist. “It’s past 4:44, and I had an appointment I’m already late for. Come around here and prop up this dizzy bundle. She’s not quite ready to stand by herself.”

Meredith hastened to switch places with him. At that point, Bonnie discovered that her legs were no longer wobbling.

“Wait a minute, though,” Meredith said rapidly. “Elena needs to talk to you — desperately—” But Damon was gone, as if he’d mastered the art of simply disappearing, not even waiting for Bonnie’s thanks. Meredith looked astonished, as if she’d been certain that the mention of Elena’s name would stop him, but Bonnie had something else on her mind.

“Meredith,” Bonnie whispered, putting two fingers to her lips in amazement. “I kissed him!”

“What? When? ”

“Before you stood up. I — don’t even know how it happened but I did it!”

She expected some kind of explosion from Meredith. Instead, Meredith looked at her thoughtfully and murmured, “Well, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to do, after all. What I don’t understand is why he turned up in the first place.”

“Uh. That was me, too. I Called him. I don’t know how that happened either—”

“Well, there’s no point in trying to figure it out in here.” Meredith turned toward the bed. “Caroline, are you coming out of there? Are you going to stand up and have a normal conversation?”

There was a menacing and reptilian hiss from under the bed, along with the whipping of tentacles and another noise that Bonnie had never heard before but which terrified her instinctively, like the snapping of giant pincers.

“That’s answer enough for me,” she said, and grabbed Meredith to drag her out of the room.

Meredith didn’t need dragging. But for the first time today they heard Caroline’s taunting voice, lifted childishly high.

“Bonnie and Damon sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage; Then there comes a vampire in a baby carriage.”

Meredith paused in the hallway. “Caroline, you know that that isn’t going to help matters. Come out—” The bed went into a frenzy, bucking and heaving. Bonnie turned and ran, and she knew Meredith was right behind her. They still didn’t manage to out pace the singsong words:

“You’re not my friends; you’re the whore’s friends. Just you wait! Just you wait!”

Bonnie and Meredith grabbed their purses and left the house.

“What time is it?” Bonnie asked, when they were safely in Meredith’s car.

“Almost five.”

“It seemed like so much longer!”

“I know, but we’ve got hours of daylight left. And, come to that, I have a text message from Elena.”

“About Tami?”

“I’ll tell you about it. But first—” It was one of the few times Bonnie had seen Meredith look awkward. Finally she blurted, “How was it?”

“How was what?”

“Kissing Damon, you nitwit!”

“Ohhhh.” Bonnie melted back into the bucket seat. “It was like…kapow! Zap! Zowie! Like…fireworks.”

“You’re smirking.”

“I am not smirking,” Bonnie said with dignity. “I am smiling in fond remembrance. Besides—”

“Besides, if you hadn’t Called him, we’d still be stuck in that horror of a room. Thank you, Bonnie. You saved us.” Abruptly Meredith was at her most serious and sincere.

“I guess Elena was maybe right when she said he didn’t hate all humans,” Bonnie said slowly. “But, you know, I just realized. I couldn’t see his aura at all. All I could see was black: smooth hard black, like a shell around him.”

“Maybe that’s how he protects himself. He makes a shell so no one can see inside.”

“Maybe,” Bonnie said, but there was worried note in her voice. “And what about that message from Elena?”

“It says that Tami Bryce is definitely acting strangely and that she and Matt are going out to check out the Old Wood.”

“Maybe that’s who they’re going to meet — Damon, I mean. At 4:44, like he said. Too bad we can’t call her.”

“I know,” Meredith said grimly. Everyone in Fell’s Church knew that there was no reception in the Old Wood or the cemetery area. “But go ahead and try anyway.”

Bonnie did, and as usual got a no-service message. She shook her head. “No good. They must already be in the woods.”

“Well, what she wants is for us to go ahead and get a look at Isobel Saitou — you know, because she’s Jim Bryce’s girlfriend.” Meredith made a turn. “That reminds me, Bonnie: did you get a look at Caroline’s aura? Do you think she has one of those things — inside her?”

“I guess so. I saw her aura, and yuck, I never want to see it again. She used to be a kind of deep bronzy-green, but now she’s muddy brown with black lightning zigzagging all through. I don’t know if that means one of those things was inside her, but she sure didn’t mind cuddling up to them!” Bonnie shuddered.

“Okay,” Meredith said soothingly. “I know what I would say if I had to make a guess — and if you’re going to be sick, I’ll stop.”

Bonnie gulped. “I’m all right. But we’re seriously going to Isobel Saitou’s house?”

“We’re very seriously going there. As a matter of fact, we’re almost there. Let’s just brush our hair, take a few deep breaths, and get it over with. How well do you know her?”

“Well, she’s smart. We didn’t have any classes together. But we both got out of athletics at the same time — she had a jumpy heart or something, and I used to get that terrible asthma….”

“From any exertion except dancing, which you could keep up all night,” Meredith said dryly. “I don’t know her very well at all. What’s she like?”

“Well, nice. Looks a bit like you, except Asian. Shorter than you — Elena’s height, but skinnier. Sort of pretty. A little shy — the quiet type, you know. Sort of hard to get to know. And…nice.”

“Shy and quiet and nice sounds good to me.”

“Me, too,” Bonnie said, pressing her sweaty hands together between her knees. What sounded even better, she thought, was for Isobel to be not at home.

However, there were several cars parked in front of the Saitou house. Bonnie and Meredith knocked on the door hesitantly, mindful of what had happened the last time they had done this.

It was Jim Bryce who answered, a tall, lanky boy who hadn’t filled out yet and stooped a bit. What Bonnie found amazing was the change in his face as he recognized Meredith.

When he’d answered he’d looked awful; his face white under a medium tan, his body somehow crumpled. When he saw Meredith, some of the color came to his cheeks and he seemed to…well, to smooth out like a piece of paper. He stood taller.