The Return: Nightfall Chapter 31

Let us at least expect the dignity of walking reveal(p) of your roach up on our own feet or should I say, using your own get a line?Damon sentiment to Shinichi. To Elena, he utter, Yes, were looking for whats-his-face. exactly you took a bad f entirely. I wish I would bid to ask you that you stay here(predicate) and reanimate maculationI go look for him.You pretend you have a go at it where Matt is? That was the entire prison term di restraineded for her. That was self-coloured she heard.Yes.Can we go directly ?Wont you allow me go alone?No, Elena verbalize simply. I have to find him. I wouldnt sleep at all if you went out alone. Please, cant we go now?Damon sighed. exclusively undecomposed. in that respect were some (there will be now) clothes that will fit you in the closet. Jeans and things. Ill get them, he tell. As long as I legitimately, really cant convince you to lie agglomerate and rest while I look for him.I can rile it, Elena promised. And if you go without me, Ill n perpetuallytheless jump out a window and marry you.She was serious. He went and got the promised pile of clothes and then sullen his back while Elena put on an identical version of the jeans and Pendleton shirt she had been wearing, whole and un-bloodstained. hence they odd the mansion, Elena coppice her hair vigorously, precisely glancing back every timbre or so.What are you doing? Damon asked, skillful when he had decided to carry her. postponementing for the house to disappear. And when he gave her his bestwhatre you talking somewhat? look, she express, Armani jeans, just my size? La Perla camisoles, same? Pendleton shirts, devil sizes too big, just manage the one I was wearing? That indue is either a warehouse or its magic. My bets on magic.Damon picked her up as a way to shut her up, and walked to the passengers limen of the Ferrari. He wondered if they were in the real world now or in anformer(a)(prenominal) of Shinichis globes.Did it disappear? he asked.Yup.What a pity, he thought. Hed have liked to asseverate it.He could try to renegotiate the bargain with Shinichi, save there were new(prenominal), more than than important things to think of. He gave Elena a slight squeeze, intellection, other, oft, much more important things.In the car he made sure of ternary small facts. First, that click which his brain automatically registered as passenger buckled up really did mean that Elena had her seat buckle properly fastened. Second, that the doors were locked fromhis master control. And third, that he drove quite slowly. He didnt think that anyone in Elenas shape would be throwing themselves out of cars again in the tight future, but he wasnt pickings any chances.He had no idea how long this spell was sledding to work. Elena must steadytually come out of her amnesia. It was just now logical, since he visualisemed to be, and hed been stir up much longer than she had. Pretty soon she would rememberwh at? That hed taken her in the Ferrari against her will (bad but forgivable he couldnt know shed launch herself out)? That hed been coquette Mike or Mitch or whoever and her in the illumination? He himself had a vague picture of this or was it another dream.He wished he k vernal what the law was. When wouldhe remember everything? Hed be in a much stronger bargaining berth once he did.And it was hardly possible that Mac was getting hypothermia in a midsummer snowstorm even if he were appease in that elucidation mightily now. It was a chilly night, but the worst the boy could expect was a twinge of rheumatism when he was virtually eighty.The rattling thing was that theydidnt find him. He cleverness have some rebarbative truths to tell.Damon noticed Elena devising the same gesture again. A touch to her throat, a grimace, a deep breath.Are you carsick?No, Im In the moonlight he could see her blush come and go could sense her heat with detectors in his face. She flushed dee ply. I explained, she state, about feelingtoo full. Thats what it is now.What was a vampire to do?Say,Im sorry Ive given it up for Moonspire ?Say, Im sorry youll hate me in the morning?Say,To hell with the morning this seat reclines two inches ?But what if they got to the clearing and found that something really had happened to Mutt Gnat the boy? Damon would regret it for the rest of the rest twenty seconds of his keep. Elena would call battalions of sky spirits down on his head. so far if no one else believed in her, Damon did.He found himself saying, as swimmingly as ever hed spoken to a Page or a Damaris, Will you trust me?What?Will you trust me for another fifteen or twenty minutes, to go to a certain place I think whats his name might be?If he is my bet is that you remember everything and you neer penury to see me again in your life then youll be spared a long search. If he isnt and the car isnt either its my lucky facereal day and Mutt wins the prize of a life m and then we go on looking.Elena was ceremonial him intently. Damon, do youknow where Matt is?No. Well, that was true enough. But she was a bright unretentive trinket, a pretty elfin pink, and more than all that, she was clever. Damon broke off his polyrhythmic contemplations on Elenas intelligence. Why was he thinking in poetry? Was he really going crazy? Hed wondered that forwardshand hadnt he? Didnt it prove you werent crazy if you wondered if you were? The truly insane never doubted their sanity, right? Right. Or did they? And surely all this talking to himself couldnt be good foranyone .Merda.All right, then. Ill trust you.Damon let out a breath he didnt learn and headed the car toward the clearing.It was one of the more exciting gambles of his life. On one hand, therewas his life Elena would find some way or other of killing him if hed killed Mark, he was certain. And on the other handa taste of paradise. With a automatic Elena, an eager Elena, an open Elenahe swallowe d. He found himself doing the thing approximate to praying that hed done in half a millennium.As they rounded the break on the road to the little lane, he unplowed himself in hyper-alertness, the locomotive engine a bare hum, the night air bringing all kinds of instruction to vampire senses. He was thoroughly aware that an ambush could have been set up for him. But the lane was deserted. And as he suddenly grade the accelerator to reveal the little clearing, he found it blessedly, bleakly, blankly fire of either cars or of college-aged young manpower whose names started with M.He relaxed against the seatback.Elena had been watching him.You thought he might be here.Yes. And now was the time for the real question. Without asking her this, the whole thing was a sham, a fraud. Doyou remember this place?She glanced close to. No. Should I?Damon grinningd.But he took the precaution of driving on up another three hundred yards, into a antithetical clearing, just in case she should have a sudden attack of memory.There were malach in the other clearing, he explained easily. This one is guaranteed monster-free. Oh, what a liar, I am, I am, he rejoiced. Have I console got it or what?Hed beendisturbed ever since Elena had come back from the Other Side. But if that setoff night it had thwarted him into literally giving her the shirt off his back well, there were still no words for how hed felt when shed stood before him newly returned from the afterlife, her skin animated in the dark clearing, naked without shame or the concept of shame. And during her massage, where veins traced out lines of blue comet fire against an inverse sky. Damon was feeling something he hadnt felt for 5 hundred years.He was feeling desire.Human desire. Vampires didnt feel that. It was all redirect into the need for the blood, always the blood.But he was feeling it.He knew why, too. Elenas gloriole. Elenas blood. Shed brought back with her something more substantial than wings. And while the wings had faded, this new giving seemed to be permanent.He cognize that it was a very long time since hed felt this, and that therefore he might be quite wrong. But he didnt think so. He thought that Elenas aura would make the about fossilized of vampires stand up and blossom into virile young men once again.He leaned away as far as the move confines of the Ferrari would allow. Elena, theres something I should tell you.About Matt? She gave him a straightforward, intellectual glance.Nat? No, no. Its about you. I know you were surprised that Stefan would leave you in the care of somebody likeme .There was no live for privacy in the Ferrari and he was sharing her body warmth already.Yes, I was, she said simply.Well, it whitethorn have something to do with It may have had something to do with how we decided that my aura would give even old vampires the jigsies. From now on, Ill need strong apology because of that, Stefan said.Damon didnt know what the jigsies were, bu t he was prepared to bless them for getting a delicate menstruation across to a lady. I think, he said carefully, that of all things, Stefan would want you to have security department from the evil folk pinched here from all over the globe, and above all other things that you not be forced to to, um, jigsy if it was not your wish.And now hesleft me like a selfish, stupid, graduate(prenominal)-flown idiot, considering all the wad in the world who might want to jigsy me.I agree, Damon said, careful of keeping the lie of Stefans willing departure intact. And Ive already promised what protection I can offer. I really will do my best, Elena, to see that no one gets near you.Yes, said Elena, but then something like this she made a little gesture probably to indicate Shinichi and all the problems brought about by his arrival comes up and nobody knows how to deal with it.True, said Damon. He had to keep shaking himself and reminding himself of his real purpose here. He was here t owell, he wasnt on St. Stefans side. And the thing was, it was easy enough.There she was, brushing her hair outa fair pretty maiden devolve on brushing her hair outthe sun in the sky was beau ideal so gold. Damon shook himselfhard . Since when had he gotten into ye Olde English folksongs? What waswrong with him?To have something to say, he asked, How are you feeling? just, as it happened, as she lifted her hand to her throat.She grimaced. not bad.And that made them look at each other. And then Elena smiled and he had to smile back, at graduation just a quirk of the lip, and then a full smile.She wasdamn it, she waseverything . Witty, enchanting, brave, smartand beautiful. And he knew that his look were saying all that and that she wasnt turning away.We might take a little walk, he said, and bells rang and huntsmans horns played fanfares, and confetti came raining down and there was a release of doves.In other words, she said, All right.They picked a little path off the cleari ng that looked easy to Damons night-acquainted vampire eye. Damon didnt want her on her feet too much. He knew that she still hurt and that she didnt want him to know it or to pamper her. Something inside him said, Well, then, wait until she says shes tired and help her to sit down.And something else beyond his control, sprang out at the first little hesitation of her foot, and he picked her up, apologizing in a dozen different languages, and generally acting the fool until he had her seated on a comfortably carved wooden bench with a back to it and a very light traveling blanket over her knees. He kept adding, Youll tell me if theres something anything else you want? He accidentally sent to her a snip of his thoughts of possible contenders, which were, a glass of water, him sitting beside her, and a baby elephant, which he had earlier seen in her mind that she admired very much.Im very sorry, but I dont think I do elephants, he said, on his knees, making the footstool more comfo rtable for her, when he caught a random thought of hers that he was not so different from Stefan as he seemed.No other name could have caused him to do what he did then. No other word, or concept, could have such effect on him. In an flash the blanket was off, the footstool had disappeared, and he was holding Elena bent backward with the excellent column of her neck fully exposed to him.The difference,he told her,between me and my brother is that he is still hoping somehow to slip in through some side door into heaven. Im not such a moaning ninny about my fate. I know where Im going.And I dont he gave her a smile with all canines fully prolonged give a damn about it.Her eyes were wide hed take aback her. And startled her into an unintentional, thoroughly honest response. Her thoughts were projected toward him, easy to read.I know and, Im like that, too. I want what I want. Im not as good as Stefan. And I dont know He was enthralled.What dont you know, sweetheart?She just sho ok her head, eyes shut.To break the breathlesslock, he whispered into her ear, What about this, thenSay Im gossamerAnd say Im badSay you vanities Im vainer.But you Erinyes, just addI kissed Elena.Her eyes flew open. Oh, no Please, Damon. She was whispering. Please Please not now And she swallowed miserably. Besides, you asked me if Id like a make happy, and then suddenly its no drink. I wouldnt mindbeing a drink if youd like, but first, Imso thirsty as thirsty as you are, maybe?She did the little tap-tap-tap under her chin again.Damons insides melted.He held out his hand and it closed around the stem of a delicate crystal glass. He swirled the splash of politic in it expertly, tested it for bouquet ah, exquisite then gently turn it on his tongue. It was the real thing.Black trick wine,grown from Clarion Loess Black Magic grapes. It was the only wine well-nigh vampires would drink and there were apocryphal stories of how it had kept them on their feet when their other thi rst could not be assuaged.Elena was drinking hers, her blue eyes wide above the deep violet of the wine as he told her some of its story. He loved to watch her when she was like this investigating with all her senses fully aroused. He shut his eyes and remembered some choice moments from the past. therefore he opened them again to find Elena, looking very much the thirsty child, eagerly gulping down Yoursecond glass? Hed discovered the first goblet at her feet. Elena, where did you get another one?I just did what you did. Held out my hand. Its not as if it were hard liquor, is it? It tastes like grape juice, and I was dying for a drink.Could she really be that naive? True, Black Magic wine didnt have the sharp odor or taste of most alcohol. It was subtle, created for the fastidious vampire palate. Damon knew that the grapes were grown in the daub, loess, that a grinding glacier leaves behind. Of course, that work was only for the long-lived vampires, as it took ages to build up enough loess. And when the soil was ready, the grapes were grown and processed, from graft to foot-stomped pulp in ironwood vats, without ever beholding the sun. That was what gave it its black velvet, dark, delicate taste. And nowElena had a grape juice mustache. Damon wanted very much to kiss it away.Well, someday you can tell people you drank two glasses of Black Magic in under a minute, and impress them, he said.But she was doing the tap-tap-tapping again under her chin.Elena, do you want to have some of your blood drawn?Yes She said it in the ringing-bell banknotes of somebody who has finally been asked the right question.She was drunk.She flung both arms backward, draping them against the bench, which conformed to accept her bodys every new motion. It had become a black suede couch with a high back a divan, and just now, Elenas slender neck was resting on the highest point of that back, her throat exposed to the air. Damon turned away with a little moan. He wanted to get E lena to civilization. He was worried about her health, mildly come to aboutMutts and nowhe couldnt haveanything he wanted. He could hardly extend her when she was drunk.Elena made a different sort of sound that might have been his name. Dmn? she mumbled. Her eyes had filled with tears.Just about anything that a nurse might have to do for a patient, Damon had done for Elena. But it seemed she didnt want to unswallow two glasses of Black Magic in front of him.Mshick, Elena got out, with a hard hiccup at the end. She gripped Damons wrist.Yes, this is not the kind of wine to guzzle. Wait, just sit up straight and let me try And maybe because he said the words without thinking, without thinking of being rude, without thinking of manipulating her one way or another, it was all right. Elena obeyed him and he put two fingers on either side of her temples and pressed slightly. For a split second there was a near disaster, and then Elena was breathing slowly and calmly. She was still affec ted by the wine, but she wasnt drunk any longer.And the time was now. He had to tell her the truth at last.But first, he needed to wake up.A triple espresso, please, he said, holding out his hand. It appeared instantly, aromatic and black as his soul. Shinichi says espresso alone is an alibi for the human race.Whoever Shinichi is, I agree with him or her. A triple espresso, please, Elena said to the magic that was this forest, this snowflake globe, this universe. Nothing happened.Maybe its only attuned to my voice right now, Damon said, flashing her a reassuring smile, and then he fetched her espresso with a wave.To his surprise, Elena was frowning.You said Shinichi. Whos that?Damon wanted nothing less than for Elena to get involved with the kitsune, but if he was really going to tell all she was going to have to. Hes akitsune , a fox spirit, he said. And the person who gave me that Web address that sent Stefan running.Elenas reflection froze over.Actually, Damon said, I find that I would rather get you home before taking the next step.Elena lifted exasperated eyes to the sky, but let him pick her up and carry her back to the car.He had just realized where the best place to tell her was.It was just as well that they didnt desperately need to get to any place that was out of the Old forest right now. They didnt find any road that did not lead to dead ends, little clearings, or trees. Elena seemed so unsurprised at finding the little lane that led to their small but perfectly appointed house that he said nothing as they entered and he took new chronicle of what they had.They had one bedroom with one large, luxurious bed. They had a kitchen. And a living area. But any of these rooms could become any kind of room you chose simply by thinking of it before opening the door. Moreover, there were the keys left behind by what Damon was realizing was a seriously shaken Shinichi that allowed the doors to do more. wrap a key in a door and announce what you wanted and there you were even, it seemed, if it should be outside Shinichis territory in spacetime. In other words, theyseemed to link to the real outside world, but Damon wasnt entirely sure about that.Was it the real world or just another of Shinichis play-traps?What they had right now was a long spiraling stairway to an open-air observatory with a widows walk around it, just like the roof of the boardinghouse. There was even a room just like Stefans, Damon noted as he carried Elena up the stairs.Were going all the way up? Elena sounded bewildered.All the way.And what are wedoing up here? Elena asked, when he had her settled in a president with a footstool and a light blanket on the roof.Damon sit down down on a rocker, rocking a little, his arms wrapped around one knee, his face tilted to the clouded sky.He rocked once more, stopped, and turned to face her. I suppose were here, he said, in the light self-mocking tone that meant he was very serious, so that I can tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.