Lisa Smith - The Awakening

“Matt, we have to take her back first. We have to,” she said. “Listen to me, I’m as worried about Elena as you are. But Vickie needs a doctor, and we need to call the police. We don’t have any choice. We have to go back.”

Matt stared down the road for another long moment, then let out his breath in a hiss. Slamming the door shut, he put the car into gear and turned it around, each motion violent.

All the way back to town, Vickie moaned about the eyes.

Elena felt Stefan’s lips meet hers.

And… it was as simple as that. All questions answered, all fears put to rest, all doubts removed. What she felt was not merely passion, but a bruising tenderness and a love so strong it made her shake inside. It would have been frightening in its intensity, except that while she was with him, she could not be afraid of anything.

She had come home.

This was where she belonged, and she had found it at last. With Stefan, she was home.

He pulled back slightly, and she could feel that he was trembling.

“Oh, Elena,” he whispered against her lips. We can’t -

“We already have,” she whispered, and drew him back down again.

It was almost as if she could hear his thoughts, could feel his feelings. Pleasure and desire raced between them, connecting them, drawing them closer. And Elena sensed, too, a wellspring of deeper emotions within him. He wanted to hold her forever, to protect her from all harm. He wanted to defend her from any evil that threatened her. He wanted to join his life with hers.

She felt the tender pressure of his lips on hers, and she could hardly bear the sweetness of it. Yes , she thought. Sensation rippled through her like waves on a still, clear pond. She was drowning in it, both the joy she sensed in Stefan and the delicious answering surge in herself. Stefan’s love bathed her, shone through her, lighting every dark place in her soul like the sun. She trembled with pleasure, with love, and with longing.

He drew back slowly, as if he could not bear to part from her, and they looked into each other’s eyes with wondering joy.

They did not speak. There was no need for words. He stroked her hair, with a touch so light that she could scarcely feel it, as if he was afraid she might break in his hands. She knew, then, that it had not been hatred that had made him avoid her for so long. No, it had not been hatred at all.

Elena had no idea how much later it was that they quietly went down the stairs of the boarding house. At any other time, she would have been thrilled to get into Stefan’s sleek black car, but tonight she scarcely noticed it. He held her hand as they drove through the deserted streets.

The first thing Elena saw as they approached her house was the lights.

“It’s the police,” she said, finding her voice with some difficulty. It was odd to talk after being silent so long. “And that’s Robert’s car in the driveway, and there’s Matt’s,” she said. She looked at Stefan, and the peace that had filled her suddenly seemed fragile. “I wonder what happened. You don’t suppose Tyler’s already told them…?”

“Even Tyler wouldn’t be that stupid,” said Stefan.

He pulled up behind one of the police cars, and reluctantly Elena unclasped her hand from his. She wished with all her heart that she and Stefan could just be alone together, that they would never need to face the world.

But there was no help for it. They walked up the pathway to the door, which was open. Inside, the house was a blaze of lights.

Entering, Elena saw what seemed like dozens of faces turned toward her. She had a sudden vision of what she must look like, standing there in the doorway in the sweeping black velvet cloak, with Stefan Salvatore at her side. And then Aunt Judith gave a cry and was holding her in her arms, shaking her and hugging her all at once.

“Elena! Oh, thank God you’re safe. But where have you been? And why didn’t you call? Do you realize what you’ve put everyone through?”

Elena stared around the room in bewilderment. She didn’t understand a thing.

“We’re just glad to see you back,” said Robert.

“I’ve been at the boarding house, with Stefan,” she said slowly. “Aunt Judith, this is Stefan Salvatore; he rents a room there. He brought me back.”

“Thank you,” said Aunt Judith to Stefan over Elena’s head. Then, pulling back to look at Elena, she said, “But your dress, your hair — what happened?”

“You don’t know? Then Tyler didn’t tell you. But then why are the police here?” Elena edged toward Stefan instinctively, and she felt him move closer to her in protection.

“They’re here because Vickie Bennett was attacked in the cemetery tonight,” said Matt. He and Bonnie and Meredith were standing behind Aunt Judith and Robert, looking relieved and a little awkward and more than a little tired. “We found her maybe two, three hours ago, and we’ve been looking for you ever since.”

“ Attacked ?” said Elena, stunned. “Attacked by what?”

“Nobody knows,” said Meredith.

“Well, now, it may be nothing to worry about,” said Robert comfortingly. “The doctor said she’d had a bad scare, and that she’d been drinking. The whole thing may have been in her imagination.”

“Those scratches weren’t imaginary,” said Matt, polite but stubborn.

“What scratches? What are you talking about?” Elena demanded, looking from one face to another.

“I’ll tell you,” said Meredith, and she explained, succinctly, how she and the others had found Vickie. “She kept saying she didn’t know where you were, that she was alone with Dick when it happened. And when we got her back here, the doctor said he couldn’t find anything conclusive. She wasn’t really hurt except for the scratches, and they could have been from a cat.”

“There were no other marks on her?” said Stefan sharply. It was the first time he’d spoken since entering the house, and Elena looked at him, surprised by his tone.

“No,” said Meredith. “Of course, a cat didn’t tear her clothes off — but Dick might have. Oh, and her tongue was bitten.”

“ What ?” said Elena.

“Badly bitten, I mean. It must have bled a lot, and it hurts her to talk now.”

Beside Elena, Stefan had gone very still. “Did she have any explanation for what happened?”

“She was hysterical,” Matt said. “Really hysterical; she wasn’t making any sense. She kept babbling about eyes and dark mist and not being able to run — which is why the doctor thinks maybe it was some sort of hallucination. But as far as anyone can make out, the facts are that she and Dick Carter were in the ruined church by the cemetery at about midnight, and that something came in and attacked her there.”

Bonnie added, “It didn’t attack Dick, which at least shows it had, some taste. The police found him passed out on the church floor, and he doesn’t remember a thing.”

But Elena scarcely heard the last words. Something had gone terribly wrong with Stefan. She couldn’t tell how she knew it, but she knew. He had stiffened as Matt finished speaking, and now, though he hadn’t moved, she felt as if a great distance was separating them, as if she and he were on opposite sides of a rifting, cracking floe of ice.

He said, in the terribly controlled voice she had heard before in his room, “In the church, Matt?”

“Yes, in the ruined church,” Matt said.

“And you’re sure she said it was midnight?”

“She couldn’t be positive, but it must have been sometime around then. We found her not long after. Why?”

Stefan said nothing. Elena could feel the gulf between them widening. “Stefan,” she whispered. Then, aloud, she said desperately, “Stefan, what is it?”