Лиза Смит - The Return - Nightfall

“We won the battle, but not the war,” Elena said sadly. She thought it was the day after their fight with the kitsune twins. She couldn’t be sure of anything except that she was alive, that Stefan was gone, and that Damon was back to his old self again.

“Maybe because we didn’t have my precious brother,” he said, as if to prove it. They were driving in the Ferrari, trying to find Elena’s Jaguar — in the real world.

Elena ignored him. She also ignored the soft but vaguely annoying hiss that came from some device he’d installed that was not a radio, that just 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 tell me that I did, and you’re not a liar — no, not to me. I can read your facial expressions now that you’re a human. If I gave my word, I gave my word.”

Human? Elena thought. 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. It’s not an ancient, half-dead forest anymore. There are spring flowers in midsummer. There’s life everywhere.

“And in any case, it will give me plenty of time to be alone with you — my princess of darkness.”

And we’re back to that again, Elena thought wearily. But he’d 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 I’m beginning to wonder if it was real.

There was a slight bump — as nearly as one could tell from Damon’s style of driving.

“Got it!” he cheered himself — and then, when Elena turned, ready to wrench the wheel to make him stop — he added coolly, “It was a piece of tire, for your information. Not many animals are black, arched, and a few tenths of an inch thick.”

Elena said nothing. What was there to say to Damon’s quips? But deep down she felt relieved that Damon wasn’t given to running over furry little animals as an amusement.

We’re going to be alone together for quite some time, she thought — and then realized that there was another reason she couldn’t just tell Damon to dry up and die. Shinichi had put the location of Stefan’s cell into Damon’s 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 Matthew Honeycutt, male Caucasian, five foot eleven inches, blond hair, blue eyes—”

“What is that?” Elena demanded.

“A police scanner. If you want to be able to really live in this great land of freedom, it’s best to know when to run—”

“Damon, don’t get me started on your lifestyle. I meant what was that about Matt?”

“It looks as if they’ve decided to bring him in at last. Caroline didn’t get much revenge yesterday night. I guess she’s taking a shot at it now.”

“Then we’ve got to get to him first — anything could happen if he stays in Fell’s Church. But he can’t take his car, and he won’t fit in this one. What are we going to do?”

“Leave him to the police?”

“Don’t, 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.

“That’s the car we’re taking,” she told Damon flatly. “At least it’s roomy. If you want your police scanner doo-hickey in it, then you’d better start uninstalling it from this one.”

“But—”

“I’ll go get Matt. I’m the only one he’ll listen to. Then we’ll leave the Ferrari in the Wood — or dump it in the creek if you want.”

“Oh, the creek, by all means.”

“Actually, we may not have time for that. We’ll just leave it in the Wood.”

Matt stared at Elena. “No. I won’t run.”

Elena turned the full intensity of her blue eyes on him. “Matt, get in the car.Now. You have to. Caroline’s dad is related to the judge who signed the order to get you. It’s a lynching, Meredith says. Even Meredith is telling you to run. No, you don’t need clothes; we’ll get clothes.”

“But — but — it’s not true—”

“They’ll 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. She’s gone nuts.”

“But—”

“I said, get in!They’ll be here any minute. They’ve already been to your house and Meredith’s house. What are you doing at Bonnie’s, anyway?”

Bonnie and Matt glanced at each other. “Uh, just having a look at Bonnie’s mom’s car,” Matt said. “It’s 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 — we’ll be in touch—” As the red Jaguar pulled away, Bonnie said into the phone, “You were right. She’s pulling a Straight A away. I don’t know whether Damon’s going — he wasn’t in the car.”

She listened for a moment and then said, “Okay, I will. I’ll see you.”

She hung up and got into action.

Dear Diary,

Today I ran away from home.

I guess you can’t really call it running away when you’re almost 18 and you take your own car — and when nobody knew you were home in the first place. So I’ll just say, tonight I’m on the run.

The other slightly shocking thing is that I ran away with two different guys. And neither of them is my guy.

I say that, but…I can’t help remembering things. The look in Matt’s eyes in the clearing — I honestly think he was prepared to die to protect me. I can’t help but think about what we once were to each other. Those blue eyes…oh, I don’t know what’s wrong with me!

And Damon. I know now that there’s living flesh under the layers and layers of stone he’s wrapped around his soul. It’s deeply hidden, but it’s there. If I’m 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 don’t understand.

Oh, Elena! Stop right now! You can’t go near that dark part of yourself, especially now that you have Power. You don’t dare go near it. Everything is different now. You have to be more responsible (something you’re not at all good at!).

And Meredith won’t 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 imagine? Tonight, it was so late and Matt was so stunned by the situation that he couldn’t really take anything in. And Damon only smirked. But he’ll be in demonic form tomorrow, I know he will.

I still think it was a great pity that Shinichi had to take Wings of Redemption from Damon along with his memories. But I firmly believe that, deep down, there’s 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 you’re reading this,Damon — I know you’ll get hold of it somehow and snoop — let me tell you that you were nice for a while, actually NICE, and it was fun. We talked together. We even laughed — at the same jokes. And you…you were gentle.

And now you’re going, “Nah, it’s just another Elena-plot to get me to think I can turn around — but I know where I’m going, and I don’t care.” Does that ring a bell, Damon? Have you said those words to someone recently? And if not, how do I know them? Could it be that for once I’m telling the truth?