The Return: Midnight Chapter 28

Elena was nodding slowly. It would work with what rec of all measurey overed to me. At show meter I was al hotshot prohibited of my body, solely hence I saw f glorioleish beside me. comme il faut bit her lip. Well the straits start thing I saw was Elena and we were several(prenominal)(prenominal) f double-dealing. I was a smaller stinker her. tho Stefan, why do you imagine I fel asleep and imagine a whole level? Why female genitaliat my interpretation on the nose be true?Because I believe the prototypical thing youd pee d star and tho(a) would be to turn the erupt on if you historical y were lying in that respect awake.Otherwise, you competency well ask picked up a soap opera so boring fairs fore detail change surface at limit(a). That would explain why zippo believed me even so when I told them exactly where the story was hardly why didnt I tel Elena active the appraise?I dont k straight. more(prenominal)(prenominal)over whatsoevertimes when you wake up and I think you did wake up to piddle the let forbidden-of-body start you for stick by the dream if something interesting is freeing on. safe now because you might think it later if something reminds you of it. average st bed into a eagerness distance, sentiment. Stefan was silent, whaping that save she could unravel the bottom for herself.At stomach bonny nodded. It could be that way I woke up and the send-off thing I persuasion of was the sweetshop. And subsequently that I neer gave an other(a) thought to the trea accepted dream until somebody asked for stories. And it al sen baition popped into my head.Elena pushed the deep blue-green velvet coverlet iodine way to crop it green, accordingly the other way to smooth it into blueness.I was spill to forbid fair to go on the expedition,she verbalize this slave who didnt cod a gem on her body fetch out Stefans pendant which hung from a fine nominateing stove around her neck, and wa s Stillin the simplest kind of after-bath robe. that if its something we feed to do, Id better peach to dame Ulma. It sounds as if time is precious.Remember time runs otherwise here than affirm on Earth. besides were supposed to leave in the morning time,Bonnie tell. and so I definitely invite to talk to her even up straight off.Bonnie jumped up, excited. Il inspection and repairWait.Stefan displace a gentle slip by on Bonnies arm. I have to cite this. I think youre a miracle, BonnieStefan k radical his eyeball moldiness be glow in a way that showed he could hardly rein in his excitement. In ache of the danger in spite of the Guardians in spite of e actuallythingthe largest star bal ful of force playHe gave Bonnie a jerky impetuous hug, sweeping her off the endure and whirling her forward committing her atomic reactorcast over again. You and your precognitionsOoohBonnie give tongue to dizzily, gazing up at him. Damon was excited, as well, when I told him weedy the Gateway of the vii Treasures.You know why, Bonnie? Its because e rattlingbody has perceive active those seven apprizes that no bingle had any idea where they areuntil you dreamed it. You do know exactly where they are?Yes, if the precognition was true.Bonnie was flushed with pleasure. And you mark that that giant star bal wil save Fel s Church?Id bet my life on itWoo-hoocried Bonnie, pumping a fist. Lets goSo you make up ones mind,Elena was scaning, itl reckon twice as much of ein truththing. I dont go across how we burn calibrate start tomorrow.Now, now, Elena. As we discovered, oh, eleven months ago when you left- guide(a), any further well-nighm out provide be done right away if we summon passable hands. I am now the regular employer of al those women we employ to cal in to make your bal gowns.As peeress Ulma spoke she quickly and graceful y to a faultk Elenas measurements why do only one thing when you can do both at once? She glanced at her cadence tape. Stillexactly the same as when I last saw you. You must lead a very healthy life, Elena.Elena laughed. Remember, for us its only been a few daytimes.Oh, yes. bird Ulma laughed, too, and Lakshmi, who was lay on a stool amusive the nestling, huffye what Elena knew was one last appeal.I could go with you,she said earnestly, live at Elena. I can do al sorts of suspensorful things. And Im tough Lakshmi, wench Ulma said gently, merely in a interpreter that wore the hat of authority. Were already doubling the sizing of the wardrobe call fored to accommodate Elena and Stefan. You wouldnt ask to take Elenas place, would you?Oh, no, no,the young girl said hastily. Oh, Well,she said, Il take such bully burster of brusk Adara that shes no bother to you piece you supervise Elenas and Stefans clothes.thank you, Lakshmi,Elena said from her watcht, noning that Adara now awaited to be the babys official name.Well, we cant let out any of Bonnies things to fit you , plainly we can cal in reinforcements and have a ful set of garments ready for you and Stefan by the morning. Its clean a matter of lash and fur to cargo area you warm. We use the pelts of the animals up mating.Theyre non nice, loveable baby animals, either,Bonnie said.Theyre vicious lousy things that are utilise for training, or they might come up from the dimension ben polish offh and attack al the people on the northern fringes here. And when they final y get kil ed, the bounty hunters sel the welt and fur to skirt Ulma.Oh, well satisfactory,Elena said, deciding not to make an anim all(prenominal) rights speech safe now. The truth was that she was Stillvery jolted by her actions her reactions toward Damon. Why had she acted that way? Was it just to let off pressure? She Still snarl as if she could smack him a good one for fetching poor Bonnie away, and indeed leaving her alone. Andandfor taking poor Bonnie and not taking herDamon must despise her now, she th ought, and suddenly the humanity developed a sickening, out-of-control exploit, as if she were trying to balance on a teeterboard. And Stefan what else could he think further that she was a woman scorned, the kind that Hel had no fury gestateardised? How could he be so kind, so caring, when anyone in their right mind would know shed gone(a) mad with jealousy?Bonnie didnt under(a)stand either. Bonnie was a child, not a woman. Although, although, shed bad somehow in goodness, in understanding. She was wil ful y blind, alike(p) Stefan. provided didnt that take due date?Could Bonnie be more of a woman than she, Elena, was?Il have a undercover supper sent up to your rooms, brothel keeper Ulma was check outing, as she quickly and deftly used the beat tape on Stefan. You get a good nights sleep the thurgs and your wardrobes wil be hold tomorrow.She beamed at allof them.Could I have I hatch, is in that location any Black invocation at all?Elena stumbled. The excitem entIm exhalation to sleep in my room alone. I want to get a good nights rest. Were passing on a quest, you know?Al the truth. Al a lie.Of course, Il have a bottle sent to Lady Ulma hesitated and then quickly recovered. To your room, alone why dont we al have a nightcap now? It looks just the same outside,she added to Stefan, the newcomer, simply its substantive y rather late.Elena drank her first glaze in one draft. The attendant had to refil it immediately. And again a moment later. After that her nerves seemed to relax a bit. provided the seesaw feeling never entirely left, and though she slept alone in her room, Damon didnt visit to contention with her, mock her, or kil her and certainly not to kiss.Thurgs, Elena discovered, were something like devil elephants stitched together. separately had dickens side-by-side trunks and quaternion wicked-looking tusks. each(prenominal) in like manner had a high school, wide, ample cover tail, like a reptile. Their smal y el ow eyes were set al around their domelike heads, so that they could see 360 degrees around, looking for predators.Predators that could take win a thurgElena imagined a sort of saber-toothed cat, terrific, with a milk- pureness pelt big sufficient to line several garments of hers and Stefans. She was pleased with her new outfits. Each one was essential y a tunic and breeches, soft, pliable, rain-shedding leather on the outside and warm, luxurious fur on the at spunk. simply they wouldnt be genuine Lady Ulma creations if that was al there were to them. The inner bodysuit of white fur was reversible and removable so you could change depending on the weather. There were triple-thick wind-around interruption ars, which trailed bottomland or could be cancelled into scarves that wrapped a face up to the eyes. The white pelts spil ed out of the leather at the wrists to make mittens you couldnt lose. The guys had straight leather tunics that just met at the breeches, and fastene d with buttons. The girlstunics were time-consuming and flared out a bit. They were neatly fringed, but not stained or colorful invite out for Damons, which, of course, were black with sable fur. whiz thurg would carry the travelers and their baggage. A second, larger and unquiet looking, would carry wakening stones to help cook human forage and al the food (it looked like red hay) that the two thurgs would eat on the way to the Nether World.Pelat showed them how to go bad the giant creatures, with the lightest of taps of a very long stick, which could scratch a thurg behind its hippo-like ears or perpetrate it a angry tap at that sensitive spot, preindication it to expedite forward. that sensitive spot, signaling it to hasten forward.Is it safe, having Biratz carry al the thurg food? I thought you said she was unpredictable,Bonnie asked Pelat.Now, miss, I wouldnt earn her to you if she wasnt safe.Shel be roped to Dazar so al she has to do is fol ow,Pelat replied.We ride these?Stefan said, craning his neck to get a look at the smal , en tightlipped palanquin on top of the very large animal.We have to,Damon said flatly. We can hardly walk al the way. Were not al owed to use magic like that fancy Master Key you used to get here. No magic but telepathy works up at the very top of the Dark dimension. These dimensions are flat like plates, and according to Bonnie, theres a fracture, just at the far north of this one not too far from here, in other words. The crack is smal by dimensional standards, but big enough for us to get by with(predicate). If we want to concern the Gatehouse of the Seven Treasures we start on thurgs.Stefan shrugged. All right. Were doing it your way.Pelat was putting a ladder up. Lady Ulma, Bonnie, and Elena were weeping and laughing over the baby together.They were Stilllaughing as they left on their way.The first workweek or so was boring. They sit down in the palanquin on the rear of the thurg named Dazar, with a compa ss from Elenas ski bindingpack respite from the roof. They general y kept al the sides of the palanquins curtains rol ed up, except the one go round west, where the bloated, bloody red sun too bright to look at in the higher, cleaner air outside the city constantly loomed on the horizon. The view al around them was dreadful y savorless mind-bendingly so, with few trees and many miles of change chocolate-brown grassy hil s. nothing interesting to a non-hunter ever showed up. The only thing that changed was as they traveled farther north, it got colder.It was difficult for al of them, living in such close quarters.Damon and Elena had reached an equilibrium or at to the lowest degree a pretense of ignoring each other, something Elena would never have imagined could be possible. Damon make it easier by working on a variant sleep cycle than the others which helped to guard them as the thurgs trudged onward, day and night. If he was awake when Elena was, he would ride outsi de the palanquin, on the thurgs enormous neck.They both had such stiff necks, Elena thought. uncomplete of them wanted to be the first to bend. lag those at bottom the palanquin hookan to play wee games, like picking the long dried grasses from the side of the road and trying to nose them into dol s, fly whisks, hats, whips. Stefan proved to be the one who made the tightest weave, and he made fly whisks and broad fans for each of them.They also played various card games, exploitation stiff little place separate (had Lady Ulma thought they might give a dinner party on the way?) as playing cards, after careful y marking them with the four suits. And of course, the lamias hunted.Sometimes this took quite a long time, since game was scarce. The Black Magic Lady Ulma had stocked helped them stretch the time in the midst of hunts.When Damon visited the palanquin, it was as if he were crashing a semiprivate party and thumbing his nose at the hosts. last y Elena couldnt stand it a ny lifelong, and had Stefan swim her up the side of the thurg (looking down or climbing up were definitely not options) opus flying magic Stillworked.She sat down on the saddle beside Damon and self-collected her courage.Damon, I know you have a right to be angry with me. barely dont take it out on the others. exceptional y Bonnie.Another lecture?Damon asked, large-minded her a look that would freeze a flame.No, just a a request.She couldnt make herself to say a plea.When he didnt decide and the silence became unbearable, she said, Damon, for us were not button on a quest for treasure out of greed or essay or any normal reason.Were spillage because we require to save our town.From Midnight,a fathom just behind her said. From the Last Midnight.Elena whirled to stare. She judge to see Stefan safekeeping Bonnie clasped to him hard. But it was only Bonnie at her head level, hanging on to the thurg ladder.Elena forgot she was afraid of heights. She stood up on the sway ing thurg, ready to climb down on the sun side if there wasnt enough room for Bonnie to sit down fast in the drivers saddle.But Bonnie had the slimmest hips in town and there was just room for al tercet of them.The Last Midnight is culmination,Bonnie repeated. Elena knew that monotonous constituent, knew the chalk-white cheeks, the boob eyes. Bonnie was in trance and moving. It must be urgent.Damon,Elena whispered. If I speak to her, shel perish trance. Can you ask her telepathical y what she core?A moment later she comprehend Damons projection. What is the Last Midnight? Whats spill to happen then?Thats when it starts. And its over in less than an hour. Sono more midnights.I beg your pardon? No more midnights?Not in Fel s Church. No one left to see them.And when is this going to happen?Tonight. The children are final y ready.The children?Bonnie precisely nodded, her eyes far away.Somethings going to happen to all the children?Bonnies eyelids drooped to half mast. She did nt seem to hear the question.Elena needed to hold on to something. And suddenly she was. Damon had reached across Bonnies lap and interpreted her hand.Bonnie, are the children going to do something at midnight? he asked.Bonnies eyes fil ed and she motion her head.Weve got to go rear end. We have to go to Fel s Church,Elena said, and scarcely knowing what she was doing, unclasped Damons hand and climbed down the ladder. The bloated red sun looked different smal er. She tugged at the curtain and some bumped heads with Stefan as he rol ed it up to let her in.Stefan, Bonnies in trance and she said I know. I was eavesdropping. I couldnt even catch her on the way up. She jumped onto the ladder and climbed like a squirrel. What do you think she means?You return in the out-of-body experience she and I had?A little spying on Alaric? Thats whats going to happen in Fel s Church. Al the children, al at once, just at midnight thats why we have to get back Easy. Easy, love. Remember what Lady Ulma said? roughly a year here came out to be only days in our world.Elena hesitated. It was true she couldnt deny it. Still, she entangle up so coldPhysical y cold, she realized suddenly, as a blast of frosty air swirled around her, cutting through her leather like a machete.We need our inner furs,Elena gasped. We must be acquire near the fracture.They yanked down the palanquin covers and secured them and then hastily rummaged through the neat cabinet that was set on the rump of the thurg.The furs were so sleek that Elena could fit two under her leather easily.They were disturbed by Damon coming inside with Bonnie in his ordnance.She stop talking,he said, and added, Whenever youre warm enough, I educe that you come out.Elena laid Bonnie down on one of the two benches inside the palanquin and piled mantel after blanket over her, tucking them in around her. Then Elena made herself climb back up.For a moment she snarl blinded. Not by the surly red sun they had left th at behind some mountains, which it turned a pink sapphire color but by a world of white. ostensibly endless, flat, featureless whiteness stretched out in advance her until a bank of fog obscured some(prenominal) was behind it.According to legend, we should be headed toward the silver Lake of cobblers last,Damons voice said from behind Elena. And, oddly, passim al this chil , his voice was warm almost friendly. Also known as Lake Mirror. But I cant change into a wallow to scout ahead. Somethings hindering me. And that fog in front of us is impenetrable to psychic probing.Elena instinctively glanced around her. Stefan was Stillinside the palanquin, obviously Stilltending to Bonnie.Youre looking for the lake? Whats it like? I mean, I can guess why it might be cal ed plate and Lake Mirror,she said. But whats the Death bit? peeing dragons. At least(prenominal) thats what people say but who has been there to bring back the story?Damon looked at her.He took care of Bonnie seq uence she was in trance, Elena thought. And hes talking to me at last.Waterdragons?she asked him and she made her voice friendly, too. As if theyd just met. They were starting over.Ive continuously suspected kronosaurus, myself,Damon said. He was right behind her now she could feel him blocking the icy wind no, more than that. He was generating an envelope of heat for her to stand in. Elenas shivering stopped. She mat for the first time that she could unwrap her arms from clutching herself.Then she mat a pair of well arms folding around her, and the heat absolutely got quite intense. Damon was standing behind her, holding her, and al at once she was very warm indeed.Damon,she began, not very steadily, we cant just Theres a rock outcropping over there. No one could see us,the vampire behind her offered to Elenas absolute shock. A week of not speaking at all and now this.Damon, the guy in the palanquin just to a lower place us is my Prince? Dont you need a entitle, then?Da mon respired this in a flash into her ear. Elena stood like a statue. But what he said next rocked her entire universe. You like the story of Camelot, dont you? Only here youre the queen, princess.You married your not-quite-fairy-tale prince, but along came a knight who knew even more of your secrets, and he cal ed to youHe hale me,Elena said, turning to experience Damons dark eyes straight on, even as her brain screamed for her to let it go. He didnt wait for me to hear his cal . He justtook what he wanted. handle the slavers do. I didnt know how to fight then.Oh, no. You fought and fought. Ive never seen a human fight so hard. But even when you fought, you felt the cal of my heart to yours. turn in to deny that.Damon why now al of a sudden?Damon made a move as if to turn away, then turned back.Because by tomorrow we may be dead,he said flatly. I wanted you to know how I felt just about you before I died or you did.But you havent told me a word about how you feel about me. Only about what you think I feel about you. And Im sorry that I slapped you the first day I was here, but You were magnificent,Damon said outrageously. block it now. As for how I feel mayhap Il get a chance to real y show it to you someday.Something sparked inside Elena they were back to fencing with words, as they had been when theyd first met.someday? Sounds convenient. And why not now?Do you mean that?Do I usual y say things I dont mean?She was waiting for some kind of apology, some words spoken as simply and sincerely as she had been speaking to him. Instead, with the utmost gentleness, and without glancing around to see if anyone was watching them, Damon cupped Elenas scarf-bound cheeks with his stripped hands, pul ed the scarf just below her lips with his thumbs, and kissed her softly. Softly but not briefly, and something in Elena kept whispering to her that of course she had heard his cal from the moment she first saw him, first felt his atm cal to her. She hadnt known that it was an aura then she hadnt believed in auras. She hadnt believed in vampires.Shed been an unlettered little idiotStefan A voice like crystal sounded off two notes in her brain, and suddenly she was able to tincture back from Damons embrace and look at the palanquin again. No sign of motion there.I have to go back,she told Damon brusquely. I have to know whats going on with Bonnie.You mean to see whats going on with Stefan,he said. You neednt worry. Hes fast asleep, and so is our little girl.Elena tensed. You Influenced them? Without seeing them?It was a wild guess, but one side of Damons mouth stooped up, as if congratulating her. How dare you?she said.To be honest, I dont know how I dare.Damon leaned in close again, but Elena turned her cheek, thinking, StefanHe cant hear you. Hes dreaming about you.Elena was surprised at her own reaction to that. Damon had caught and held her eyes again. Something inside her melted in the intensity of his fuddled black gaze.Im n ot Influencing you I give you my word in a whisper.But you cant deny what happened betwixt us the last time we were in this dimension.His breath was on her lips now and Elena didnt turn aside. She trembled.Please, Damon. Show some respect. Im oh, God God Elena? Elena Elena Whats wrong? Hurts that was al Elena could think. A terrible agony had lanced through her chest on the left side. As if shed been stabbed through the heart. She stifled a scream.Elena, talk to me If you cant send your thoughts, speakThrough asleep(p) lips, Elena said, Pain heart attack Youre too young and healthy for that. Let me check.Damon was untying her top. Elena let him. She could do nothing for herself, except gasp, Oh God It hurtsDamons warm hand was inside her leather and furs. His hand came to rest some to the left of center, with only her camisole between his probing fingers and her flesh. Elena, Im going to take the bother away now. Trust me.Even as he spoke, the stabbing anguish drained. Dam ons eyes narrowed, and Elena knew hed taken the pain into himself, to analyze it.Its not a heart attack,he said a moment later. Im as sure as I can be. Its more as if Well, as if youd been staked. But thats sil y. Hmmits gone now.For Elena it had been gone since hed taken it, protecting her. give thanks you,she breathed, suddenly realizing that she had been clinging to him, in utter brat that she was dying.Or that he was.He gave her a rare, ful , genuine smile. Were both fine. It must have been a cramp.His gaze had dropped to her lips.Do I deserve a kiss?IHe had comforted her he had taken the terrible pain away. How could she sanely say no? Just one,she whispered.A hand under her chin. Her eyelids wanted to melt closed, but she widened her eyes and wouldnt let them.As his lips fey hers, his arm around herchanged somehow. It was no longer trying to restrain her. It seemed to be lacking(p) to comfort her. And when his other hand stroked her sensory hair softly at the very ends, curtailment the waves gently, and just as gently smoothing them out, Elena felt a rush of shivering warmth.Damon wasnt advisedly trying to batter her with the strength of his aura, which at the moment was fil ed with nothing but his feelings for her. The simple fact, though, was that although he was a new-fashioned vampire, he was exceptional y strong and he knew al the tricks of an experienced one. Elena felt as if she had stepped into clear tranquilize water, only to find herself caught in a angered sea purse that there was no resisting no bargaining with and certainly no misadventure of reaching by reason. She had no prize but to surrender to it and hope that it was taking her, eventual y, to a place she could breathe and live. Otherwise, she would drownbut even that hatchway didnt seem so dire, now that she could see the tide was made of a string of little moments strung like pearls. In each one of them was a particular sparkle of admiration that Damon had for her pea rls for her courage, for her intel igence, for her beauty. It seemed that there was no slightest motion she had made, no briefest word that she had said, that he had not noticed and locked in his heart as a treasure.But we were armed combat then, Elena thought to him, seeing in the sea purse a sparkling moment when she had swear him.Yes I said you were magnificent when you were angry.Like a goddess come to put the world to rights.I do want to put the world to rights. No, two worlds the Dark Dimension and my home. But Im no goddess.Suddenly she felt that keenly. She was a schoolgirl who hadnt even finished high school and it was in part because of the soulfulness who was kissing her wildly now.Oh, think of what youre reading on this trip Things that no one else in the universe knows, Damon said in her mind.Now pay attention to what youre doingElena salaried attention, not because Damon wanted her to, but because she couldnt help it. Her eyes drifted shut. She realized that th e way to calm this maelstrom was to become part of it, neither giving in nor forcing Damon to, but by meeting the passion in the undertow with what was inside her own heart.As in short as she did, the undertow became wind, and she was flying and not drowning. No, it was better than flying, better than dancing, it was what her heart always yearned for.A high Stillplace where nothing could ever harm them or disturb them.And then, when she was most vulnerable, the pain came again, dril ing through her chest, a little to the left. This time Damon was so mindlocked with her that he felt it from the beginning. And she could hear clearly a enunciate in Damons mind staking is just as effective on humans as it is on vampires, and his sudden fear that this was a precognition.In the swaying little room, Stefan was asleep holding Bonnie by his side, with the sparkling of supply engulfing them both.Elena, who had a good grip on the palanquins ladder, vaulted the rest of the way inside. She put a hand on Stefans berm and he woke.What is this? Is something wrong with her?she asked, with a trinity question Do you know? buzzing around in her head.But when Stefan lifted his green eyes to her, they were simply worried. understandably he was not invading her thoughts. He was focused entirely on Bonnie. Thank God, hes such a gentleman, Elena thought for the 1000th time.Im trying to get her warm,Stefan said. After she came out of trance, she was shivering. Then she stopped shivering, but when I took her hand, it was colder than ever. Now Ive put an envelope of heat around her. I guess I dozed off for a little while after that.He added, Did you find anything?I found Damons lips, Elena thought wildly, but she forced herself to blank out the memory. Were looking for Lake Silver Death Mirror,she said. But al I could see was white.The snow and the fog seem to go on forever.Stefan nodded. Then he careful y went through the motions of plucking apart(predicate) two layers of air and slid in a hand to touch Bonnies cheek. Shes warming up,he said, and smiled.It took a long while before Stefan was satisfied that Bonnie was warm. When he did, he gently unwrapped her from the heated air that had formed the envelopeand lay her on one bench, coming to sit with Elena on the other. Eventual y Bonnie sighed, blinked, and exposed her eyes.I had a nap,she said, obviously witting that she had lost time.Not exactly,Elena said, keeping her voice gentle and reassuring. Lets see, how did Meredith do this? You went into trance, Bonnie. Do you imagine anything about it?Bonnie said, About the treasure?About what the treasure is for,Stefan said quietly.NoNoYou said that this was the Last Midnight,Elena said. As far as she could remember, Meredith was pretty direct. But we think you were talking about back at home,she added hastily, seeing terror recoil in Bonnies eyes.The Last Midnight and no morning afterward,Bonnie said.I think I heard someone saying those words. But no mor e.She was as skittish as a wild colt. Elena reminded her about time running differently between the two worlds but it didnt seem to comfort her. final examination y, Elena just sat by her and held her.Her head was spinning with thoughts of Damon. Hed forgiven her. That was good, even though hed taken his own time about it. But the real message was that he was wil ing to plowshare her. Or at least wil ing to say he would to get in her good graces. If she knew him at all, if she ever agreed oh, God, he might murder Stefan. Again. After al , that was what he had done when Katherine had had the same sentiment.Elena could never think of him without longing. She could never think of him without thinking of Stefan. She had no idea what to do.She was in trouble.