The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unspoken (15 page)

“I’ll do everything I can.” Bonnie put the shirt down on the table and reached out to squeeze Elena’s hand. “Is it okay if I cut this shirt? Just to get a piece with some blood on it.” Elena nodded, and Bonnie let go of her hand and picked up the shirt again, along with a pair of silver scissors to snip at it.

Taking a glass of water from the counter, she dunked the cloth into it, and they watched as the water gradually turned a cloudy reddish-brown. Tiny flakes of dried blood floated to the bottom of the glass.

“Now I need some of your blood,” Bonnie said, picking up a black-handled knife from where it lay beside the glass. Elena arched an eyebrow questioningly but held out her arm. The blade stung as Bonnie drew it quickly across Elena’s arm. Bonnie held the glass so that a few drops of Elena’s blood fell into the water and mixed with Stefan’s. They both watched as the bright red of the fresh blood spiraled through the browner liquid.

“Okay, don’t freak out, but I’m going to put some of this on you,” Bonnie said. Elena nodded. Bonnie dipped her finger in the liquid, and Elena squeezed her eyes shut as Bonnie lifted her finger to Elena’s face. The water was cold, and Elena shivered as Bonnie’s finger traced lightly over her cheekbones, marking what felt like angular symbols on her forehead and below her eyes.

“We want to call him to you,” Bonnie told her, and Elena opened her eyes again to see Bonnie tracing circles and runes on her own cheeks with the thin mixture of blood and water. When she had finished, she placed the glass on the table and lit the five black candles. Their flickering light highlighted the wet brownish streaks on her cheeks, making her look like some kind of pagan priestess. “Give me some Power.”

Elena took a deep breath and tried to let her Power expand. Blinking, she could see her own golden aura entwine with the rose-pink of Bonnie’s. Then Bonnie began to chant in a language Elena didn’t recognize, something Germanic-sounding, and picked up the candle at the peak of the pentacle. Shielding the flame with one hand, she dipped the candle and ignited the mixture of herbs inside the brass bowl.

There must have been some kind of accelerant in with the herbs and roots, Elena thought, because flames shot up immediately, blue and green at their base.

“
Koma!
” Bonnie said firmly. Her voice rose. “
Hitta heima! Koma hyrggr! Leita Stefan Salvatore!
” The flames burned higher, and with her last words, she upended the glass over them, dumping out the mixture of blood and water. The flames sizzled and went out, sending up a plume of black smoke.

The shadows in the corners of the room seemed to grow darker. A chill crept up Elena’s spine. There was a breathless feeling all around them, as if someone stood just outside their field of vision, waiting to speak.

Stefan? Elena strained her eyes, watching the shadows. Bonnie slipped a cold hand into hers, and they waited. Elena’s heart was pounding, and she held her breath.

He was coming closer, she was sure of it. She could feel him, that indefinable, comforting feeling that Stefan was somewhere nearby. It was like coming into a room and
knowing he was around the corner, just out of sight. Elena’s mouth was dry with anticipation.

Slowly, the feeling faded. After a moment, the room grew brighter again. Somehow, it seemed emptier. Elena took a deep, rough breath, her hands shaking. It hadn’t worked, she realized. Whatever had hovered at the edges of the room had departed. Elena swallowed hard.
It hadn’t worked.
Nothing was going to work, she realized, coldness spreading through her. Stefan was gone. Forever.

Bonnie looked at Elena, her eyes wet, and took a great gasp of air, letting go of Elena’s hand. “I’m sorry, Elena,” she said.

Elena sagged against the edge of the table and closed her eyes. She shouldn’t have hoped, she knew. But, just for a minute, Stefan had seemed so close. Her eyes burned with tears, and one slid from beneath her lids and trickled down her cheek.

Immediately, she felt Bonnie’s arms twine around her neck. “I’m so sorry,” Bonnie whispered, her voice shaking.

“I know,” Elena said, bending to rest her face against the smaller girl’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m just—” Her voice broke with a miserable half-laugh. “I’m so tired of crying all the time.”

Bonnie sighed, and hugged her tighter. “I know,” she said, her voice thick with tears of her own.

#TVD12Bloodlines

M
eredith watched carefully as two of Jack’s vampires sparred. After a series of hunts, they were back in the warehouse where she’d first found Jack and joined his team.

“Again,” she said, and they lunged at each other. Jack had asked her to help make them better fighters, and she hoped it meant he was starting to trust her, to depend on her. She was conscious of Jack shadowing her as she walked around the fighters. Even when she wasn’t looking at Jack, she was hyperaware of him, a prickling at the back of her neck letting her know that his dark eyes were fixed on her.

Soon, maybe, he’d be ready to tell her his secrets.

Broad-chested, stocky Conrad went in with his fists as she’d expected, telegraphing his moves so obviously that anyone could have seen them from about a hundred miles
away. Nick, lanky and alert, blocked each blow easily and repeatedly.

“Stop,” Meredith said. She’d seen enough. Sliding between them, she put a hand on each side of Conrad’s face. “You’re looking where you’re planning to strike. Keep your eyes on Nick’s, and he won’t be able to guess your next move so easily. Trust your peripheral vision.”

Nick smirked at Conrad, and she stepped back so she could talk to both of them. “Neither of you is using your feet at all. You’re more agile now, you need to trust that.” She showed them how to do a roundhouse kick and watched as they tried it out, nodding approvingly when Conrad landed a solid blow, sending Nick stumbling backward, and Nick returned a solid kick. “Good.”

She told them to continue sparring and watched with satisfaction as Conrad slipped a punch past Nick’s blocking—they were learning fast.

Maybe tomorrow the whole group could work with weapons. She’d noticed that Sadie liked to work with a stake or an axe, but she’d have more reach with a stave or machete.

Conrad slammed into Nick, knocking him to the floor. “Nice, Conrad!” Meredith cheered. “You took him off guard there.”

“Meredith, walk with me,” Jack said from behind her. “The rest of you, keep sparring.”

His face was blank, giving nothing away, and Meredith felt a trickle of unease. She followed Jack across the warehouse floor, wondering what he wanted. Was there something wrong with what she was teaching the others?

But when he’d led her to the other side of the warehouse—far enough, Meredith noted, that they had some privacy—Jack grinned. “You’re a natural. I knew you would be.”

Laying a heavy hand on Meredith’s shoulder, he looked steadily into her eyes. “You’re ready,” he told her. “I want you to lead this group of vampires when I leave them. You’ll be my lieutenant, my right hand.”

“When you leave them?” Meredith asked. “Where are you going?” She was careful to keep the panic out of her voice. If Jack left, what good would being with the other vampires do? How could she learn his weaknesses, find the cure for what he’d done to her?

Squeezing her shoulder, Jack smiled. “I’m going to go on with my research, of course. This—you five—are my youngest group. Once the others are ready to hunt under your leadership, I’ll go back to the lab. If we’re going to eliminate the older vampires, we’ll need larger numbers.”

Meredith nodded. It made sense, she supposed. Tracking and killing the toughest vampires was a difficult job.
And, usually, a worthwhile one.
If it hadn’t been for
Stefan’s death, and for the fact that Jack’s people were just as dangerous to humans as any other vampire, she might have supported them. In a lot of ways, they were hunters, like she had been. Like she
was.

Jack let go of her shoulder and tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “So, if you’re going to be my second-in-command here, you need to prove that I can trust you, Meredith.”

Meredith nodded again. This was what she had been waiting for.

Jack looked at her searchingly. “Do you know where Damon Salvatore is? I know that Stefan was your friend.”

This is a test.
Meredith was sure of it. Jack knew that Damon wasn’t in Europe.

But nothing she’d ever said to Jack would make him think she cared for Damon. She tried to think back over any conversations they’d had about the Salvatore brothers, back when she’d thought Jack was a human, and a hunter. Stefan had mattered to her. But, even if she’d fought side by side with Damon, he’d never been her friend.

“I think Elena and Bonnie would have hidden him with the Pack,” she said, her voice steady. It would have been a smart move if it was true, and if Damon would ever agree to be hidden. “They’re strong and hard to kill, and they hate vampires. But they’d protect Damon; they’ve fought beside him before.”

Jack nodded thoughtfully, rocking back on his heels. “That’s a problem,” he said. “Any ideas?”

“About getting past the Pack?” Meredith thought. If she really wanted to help him, what would she suggest?

Go after Bonnie.
She shuddered at the idea. It would work, probably. Zander and the Pack would trade Damon for Bonnie in a heartbeat. But she wasn’t going to make that suggestion, not even to win Jack’s trust.

“Most of them can change no matter what the moon’s like,” she said instead. “But some of them need the full moon, and all of them are weaker when there’s no moon at all. That’ll be the best time to attack them.” It was true, which made it the best kind of lie, and the moon was waxing now. If Jack wanted to go against the Pack for Damon, he’d have to wait. “I’d lure them out with a false attack and, once the Pack is engaged in battle, go after Damon with another group. They’ll protect each other rather than fight for Damon.”

“Interesting,” Jack said. “That may be useful.” He rubbed a hand across his cheek, his ring rasping against his stubble. Giving her a brief nod, he began to turn away.

“Wait,” Meredith said, her heart thumping. “I wanted to ask you something.” She focused on slowing her breathing and pulse through meditation, the same way Jack had taught them to shield their true natures
from others. She couldn’t let Jack guess how important this was to her.

“What’s our end game here?” she asked first. “We kill vampires—regular vampires. Is that all there is to it?”

Jack smiled. “We’re going to kill all of them. And then we won’t have any competition.”

“I like the sound of that.”
Another lie that’s true.
The hunter in Meredith beamed approval at the idea of killing all the vampires. “But what happens then? When all the vampires are dead?”

Jack’s smile widened, and one of his eyelids dropped in a slow wink. “One step at a time, my dear.”

Across the warehouse, there was a scuffle and a shout as Nick got Conrad in a headlock, swinging him around.

“Is there a cure?” Meredith asked, her eyes fixed on the fighters. She kept her voice level, but Jack smirked.

“Do you miss the little human hunter you used to be?” he asked. “You’re better now, Meredith, and you know it.”

“I like to know everything,” Meredith said stolidly, not letting out a flicker of emotion.

Jack shrugged. “No cure,” he said. “This is who we are. Forever.”

He might be lying.
Meredith swallowed hard. “Is it true that we’re invulnerable?” she asked, trying to sound calm and businesslike. “There’s no way to kill us? If I’m going to be in charge, I need to know our weaknesses.”

She glanced at Jack casually, trying to gauge his reaction. He looked thoughtful, his lips pursing, but not suspicious, she thought.

“Come on,” he said, suddenly, as though he’d made up his mind. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled, almost yanking her off her feet and through the warehouse door. She had to race after him, across the gravel parking lot and through the thin scattering of trees and waste ground beyond, and then across the highway.

“Where are we going?” Meredith gasped. Jack kept running, his hand like a vise around her wrist, tugging her onward. The sound of rushing water filled her ears, and they finally halted on a bridge, the river flowing down below.

“The others won’t hear us here,” Jack told her, his voice low. “No one else can know.” His eyes were steady on hers, searching, his hand still around her wrist. Meredith could feel her pulse pounding beneath his fingers. She nodded, her face earnest.
You can trust me.

Whatever Jack saw in her, he seemed satisfied. “Look,” he said, twisting sideways and bending his head so that the base of his skull was exposed to her. “See the scar there?”

Meredith could see it, a thin white line, maybe half an inch long.

“You’ve got one, too,” Jack said. “We all do. It’s where the injections were administered.” He shrugged, almost
bashfully. “We’re
almost
unkillable, but we do have an Achilles’ heel. Nothing’s perfect.”

“So…” Meredith put a hand up to feel the same place on the back of her own head.