The Return: Midnight Chapter 10

Damon was making his way up the beautiful rose-coered trel is at a lower place the window of the bedchamber of M. le Princess Jessalyn DAubigne, a truly wealthy, beautiful, and much-admired girl who had the bluest line of flat coating of any vampire in the Dark Dimension, according to the books hed bought. In fact, hed listened to the locals and it was rumored that Sage himself had changed her ii years ago, and had given her this bijoux roll uple to live in. excellent gem that it appeared, though, the microscopical castle had already presented Damon with several problems. T here had been that razor-wire fence, on which he ripped his leather detonating device an unusual y dexterous and stubborn guard whom it had genuine y been a pity to throttle an inner moat that had almost taken him unawares and a few dogs that he had treated with the Saber-tranquilizer mathematical function using Mrs. Flowerss sleeping powder, which hed brought with him from Earth. It would nonplus be en easier to poison them, precisely Jessalyn was reputed to live with a very soft nubble for animals and he needed her for at least three days. That should be long enough to get buck him a vampire if they did nothing else during those days. nary(prenominal), as he pul ed himself silently up the trel is, he mental y added long rose thorns to the list of inconveniences. He also rehearsed his first speech to Jessalyn. She had been was would forever be eighteen. exactly it was a young eighteen, since she had provided two yearsexperience at being a vampire.He comforted himself with this as he climbed silently into a window.Still silently, moving slowly in case the princess had guardian animals in her bedchamber, Damon parted layer after layer of filmy, translucent dreary curtains that kept the blood-red light of the insolate from shining into the chamber. His boots sank into the thick pile of a black rug. Making it out of the enfolding curtains, Damon saw that the finished chamber was decorated in a simple theme by a master of contrast. sable and off-black. black.He standardisedd it a lot.There was an enormous bed with more bil owing filmy black curtains almost encasing it. The only way to approach it was from the foot, where the diaphanous curtains were thinner.Standing there in the cathedral- akin silence of the groovy chamber, Damon looked at the slight figure under the black silk sheets, among dozens of smal throw pil ows.She was a jewel like the castle. Delicate b bingles. A look of utter innocence as she slept. An ethe substantive river of mulct, scarlet hair spil ing well-nigh her. He could recognise individual hairs straying on the black sheets. She looked a little like Bonnie.Damon was pleased.He pul ed out the same knife he had put to Elenas pharynx, and unspoiled for a moment hesitated solely no, this was no time to be thinking of Elenas golden warmth. Everything depended on this fragile-shouldered child in front of him. He put the point of the knife to his chest, deliberately placing it wide of his heart in case some blood had to be spil edand coughed.Nothing happened. The princess, who was wearing a black negligee that showed frail-looking arms as fine and pale as porcelain, went on sleeping. Damon noticed that the nails on her smal fingers were lacquered the exact scarlet of her hair.The two large pil ar burndles set in tal black stands were giving off an enticing perfume, as wel as being alfilaria the farther down they burned, the easier to tel time. The lighting was perfect everything was perfect except that Jessalyn was stil asleep.Damon coughed again, loudly and bumped the bed.The princess woke, starting up and concurrently bringing two sheathed blades out of her hair.Who is it? Is some hotshot there?She was looking in every mode but the stock-still off one.Its only me, your highness.Damon pitched his voice low, but fraught with unrequited need. You dont have to be afraid,he added, now that sh ed at last gotten the right direction and seen him. He knelt by the foot of her bed.Hed miscalculated a bit. The bed was so large and high that his chest and the knife were far below Jessalyns line of sight.hither I wil take my life,he announced, very loudly to make sure that Jessalyn was keeping up with the program. after(prenominal) a moment or two the princesss head popped up over the foot of the bed. She balanced herself with hands spread wide and narrow shoulders hunched close to her. At this distance he could see that her eyeb in all were green a complicated green consisting of many different rings and speckles.At first she just hissed at him and lifted her knives held in hands whose fingers were tipped with nails of scarlet.Damon bore with her. She would learn in time that al this wasnt real y necessary that in fact it had gone out of fashion in the real world decades ago and was only kept alive by pulp fiction and old movies. here(predicate) at your feet I slay myself,he said again, to make sure she didnt miss a syl able, or the entire point, for that matter.You yourself?She was suspicious. Who are you? How did you get here? Why would you do such a thing?I got here through the road of my madness. I did it out of what I turn in is madness I drop no longer live with.What madness? And are you going to do it now?the princess asked with interest. Because if youre not, Il have to cal my guards and grasp a minute,she interrupted herself.She grabbed his knife before he could stop her and licked it.This is a coat blade,she told him, tossing it back.I know.Damon let his head fal so that hair curtained his eyeball and said painful y I ama human, your highness.He was covertly watching through his lashes and he saw that Jessalyn brightened up. I vox populi you were just some weak, useless(prenominal) vampire,she said absently. plainly now that I look at youA rose petal of a pink tongue came out and licked her lips. Theres no point in wasting the good st uff, is there?She was like Bonnie. She said exactly what she thought, when she thought it. Something inside Damon wanted to laugh.He stood again, looking at the girl on the bed with al the fire and passion of which he was confident and felt that it wasnt enough. Thinking approximately the real Bonnie, alone and unhappy, waswel , passion-quenching. But what else could he do?Suddenly he knew what he could do. Before, when hed stopped himself from thinking of Elena, he had cut off any genuine passion or desire. But he was doing this for Elena, as much as for himself. Elena couldnt be his Princess of Darkness if he couldnt be her Prince.This time, when he looked down at M. le Princess, it was differently. He could feel the atmosphere change.Highness, I have no right compensate to speak to you,he said, deliberately putting one booted foot on the metal scrol work that formed the frame of the bed. You know as wel as I that you can kil me with a oneness blowsay, here pointing to a spo t on his jaw but you have already slay me Jessalyn looked confused, but waited. with love. I fel in love with you the moment I saw you. You could break my neck, or as I would say if I were permitted to touch your perfumed white hand you could curl those fingers around my throat and strangle me. I beg you to do it.Jessalyn was beginning to look puzzled but excited.Blushing, she held out one smal hand to Damon, but clearly without any intention of strangling him.Please, you must,Damon said earnestly, neer taking his look off hers. That is the only thing I ask of you that you kil me yourself instead of cal ing your guards so that the last sight I see wil be your beautiful face.Youre il ,Jessalyn trenchant, stil looking flustered. There have been other unbalanced minds who have made their way past the first wal of my castle although never to my chambers. Il give you to the doctors so that they can make you wel .Please,said Damon, who had forged his way through the last of the filmy black hangings and was now looming over the seated princess. Grant me instant death, rather than leaving me to die a little each day. You dont know what Ive done. I cant stop dreaming of you. Ive fol owed you from shop to shop when you went out. I am already dying now as you ravish me with your nobility and radiance, knowing that I am no more than the paving stones you walk on. No doctor can change that.Jessalyn was clearly considering. Obviously, no one had ever talked to her like this.Her green eyes fixed on his lips, the lower of which was stil bleeding. Damon gave an indifferent little laugh and said,One of your guards caught me and very properly move to kil me before I could reach you and disturb your sleep. Im afraid I had to kil him to get here,he said, standing mingled with one pil ar candle and the girl on the bed so that his shadow was thrown over her.Jessalyns eyes widened in approval even as the rest of her seemed more fragile than ever. Its stil bleeding,she w hispered. I could You can do anything you want,Damon encouraged her with a wry quirk of a smile on his lips. It was true. She could. consequently add here.She thumped a place by the nearest pil ow on the bed. What are you cal ed?Damon,he said as he stripped off his jacket and lay down, chin propped on one elbow, with the air of one not unused to such things. Just that? Damon?You can cut it stil shorter. I am nothing but Shame now,he replied, taking another minute to think of Elena and to hold Jessalyns eyes hypnotical y. I was a vampire a powerful and proud one on Earth but I was tricked by a kitsuneHe told her a garbled version of Stefans story, omitting Elena or any non awareness about absentminded to be human.He said that when he managed to escape the prison that had taken his vampire self, he decided to end his own human life.But at that moment, he had seen Princess Jessalyn and thought that, serving her, he would be happy with his sorry lot.Alas, he said, it only fed his disgraceful feelings for her highness.Now my madness has driven me to factual y accost you in your own chambers. Make an example of me, your highness, that wil cause other evildoers to tremble. Burn me, have me flogged and quartered, put my head on a pike to cause those who might do you il to cast themselves into a fire first.He was now in bed with her, leaning back a little to produce his bare throat.Dont be sil y,Jessalyn said, with a little catch in her voice.Even the meanest of my servants wants to live.Perhaps the ones that never see you do. Scul ions, stable boys but I cannot live, knowing that I can never have you.The princess looked Damon over, blushed, gazed for a moment into his eyesand then she bit him.Il get Stefan to go down to the root cel ar,Elena said to Meredith, who was angrily thumbing tears out of her eyes.You know we cant do that. With the police right here in the house Then Ill do it You cant You know you cant, Elena, or you wouldnt have come to meElena lo oked at her friend closely. Meredith, youve been donating blood al along,she whispered. You never seemed even slightly botheredHe only took a tiny bit always less from me than anyone.And always from my arm. I just pretended I was having blood drawn at the doctors. No problem. It wasnt even bad with Damon back in the Dark Dimension.But nowElena blinked. Now what?Now,Meredith said with a far expression, Stefan knows that Im a hunter-slayer. That I even have a rubbish meanwhile. And now I have toto fix toElena had gooseflesh. She felt as if the distance from her to Meredith in the room was getting larger. A hunter-slayer?she said, bewildered. And whats a fighting stave?Theres no time to explain now Oh, ElenaIf Plan A was Meredith and Plan B was Matt, there was real y no choice. Plan C had to be Elena herself. Her blood was much stronger than anyone elses anyway, so ful of Power that Stefan would only need a NoMeredith whispered right in Elenas ear, somehow managing to hiss a par ole without a single sibilant. Theyre coming down the stairs. We have to find Stefan now Can you tel him to meet me in the little bedroom behind the parlor?Yes, but Do itAnd I stil dont know what a fighting stave is, Elena thought, al owing Meredith to take her arms and propel her toward the bedroom. But I know what a hunter-slayersounds like, and I definitely dont like it. And that weapon it makes a stake look like a malleable picnic knife. Stil , she sent to Stefan, who was fol owing the sheriffs downstairs Meredith is going to donate as much blood as you need to Influence them.Theres no time to argue. Come here fast and for Gods sake look gay and reassuring.Stefan didnt sound cooperative. I cant take enough from her for our minds to touch. It might Elena lost her temper. She was frightened she was suspicious of one of her two best friends a horrible feeling and she was desperate. She needed Stefan to do just as she said. Get here fast was al she projected, but she had the feeling that shed hit him with al of the feelings ful force, because he suddenly turned touch and gentle. I will, love, he said simply.While the female police officer was searching the kitchen and the male the animate room, Stefan stepped into the smal first-floor guest room, with its single rumpled bed. The lamps were turned off but with his night vision he could see Elena and Meredith perfectly wel by the curtains. Meredith was holding herself as stiffly as an acrophobic bungee jumper.Take all you need without permanently harming her and try to put her to sleep, too. And dont invade her mind too deeply Ill take assist of it. Youd better get out in the hallway, let them see at least one of us, love, Stefan replied soundlessly. Elena was seemingly simultaneously frightened for and defensive about her friend and had sped right into micromanagement mode. While this was usual y a good thing, if there was one thing Stefan knew about even if it was the only thing he knew it was tak ing blood.I want to ask for peace between our families,he said, reaching one hand toward Meredith. She hesitated and Stefan, even trying his hardest, could not help but hearing her thoughts, like smal , scuttling creatures at the base of her mind. What was she committing herself to? In what sense did he mean family?Its really just a formality, he told her, trying to gain ground on another front her acceptance of the touch of his thoughts to hers. Never mind it.No,Meredith said. Its important. I want to trust you, Stefan. completely you, butI didnt get the stave until after Klaus was dead.He thought swiftly. Then you didnt know what you were No. I knew. But my parents were never active. It was Grandpa who told me about the stave.Stefan felt a surge of unexpected pleasure. So your grandfathers better now?Nosort of.Merediths thoughts were confusing. His voice changed, she was thinking. Stefan was truly happy that Grandpas better. Even most man wouldnt tutorship not really.Of course I care,Stefan said. For one thing, he helped save al our lives and the town. For another, hes a very brave man he must have been to survive an attack by an Old One.Suddenly, Merediths rimed hand was around his wrist and words were tumbling from her lips in a rush that Stefan could barely understand. But her thoughts stood bright and clear under those words, and through them he got the meaning.Al I can know about what happened when I was very young is what Ive been told. My parents told me things. My parents changed my birthday they actual y changed the day we celebrate my birthday on because a vampire attacked my grandpa, and then my grandpa tried to kil me. Theyve always said that. But how do they know? They werent there thats part of what they say. And whats more likely, that my grandpa attacked me or that the vampire did?She stopped, panting, trembling al over like a white-tailed doe caught in the forest. Caught, and thinking she was doomed, and unable to run.Stefan put o ut a hand that he deliberately made warm around Merediths cold one. I wont attack you,he said simply. And I wont disturb any old memories. Good enough?Meredith nodded. After her cathartic story Stefan knew she wanted as few words as possible.Dont be afraid,he murmured, just as he had thought the console phrase into the mind of many an animal hed chased through the Old Wood. Its all right. Theres no reason to fear me.She couldnt help being afraid, but Stefan soothed her as he soothed the forest animals, drawing her into the darkest shadow of the room, calm her with soft words even as his canines screamed at him to bite. He had to fold down the side of her blouse to expose her long, olive-skinned column of neck, and as he did the calming words turned into soft endearments and the kind of reassuring noises he would use to comfort a baby.And at last, when Merediths breathing had slowed and evened and her eyes had drifted shut, he used the greatest of care to slide his aching fangs int o her artery. Meredith barely quivered. Everything was softness as he easily skimmed over the resurrect of her mind, too, seeing only what he already knew about her her life with Elena and Bonnie and Caroline. Parties and school, plans and ambitions.Picnics. A swimming hole. Laughter. quiet that spread out like a great pool. The need for calm, for control. Al this stretching back as far as she could rememberThe farthest depths that she could remember were here at the centerwhere there was a sudden plunging dip. Stefan had promised himself he would not go deeply into her mind, but he was being pul ed, helpless, being dragged down by the whirlpool. The waters closed over his head and he was drawn at tremendous revive to the very depths of a second pool, this one not composed of tranquility, but of rage and fear.And then he saw what had happened, what was happening, what would forever be happening there at Merediths stil center.