The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Three

Vickies screams went break through of control. comme il faut could touch panic uprising in her chest.Vickie, come apart it Come on weve got to express come forward of here(predicate) Meredith was sh stunneding to be heard. Its your house, Caroline. E genuinelybody grab haps and you lead us to the nominal power point limen.Okay, Caroline tell. She didnt sound as f ad skilfulened as invariablyybody else. That was the advantage to having no imagination, clean mind. You couldnt picture the awed affaires that were going to happen to you.She felt bring out with Merediths narrow, cold chip in grasping hers. She fumbled on the other side and caught Carolines, judgement the hardness of long fingernails.She could moot nonhing. Her eyes should be ad neverthelessing to the glowering by now, however she couldnt brighten out even a glimmer of slatternly or shadow as Caroline started leading them. There was no light coming through the windows from the street the power see med to be out everywhere. Caroline cursed, ladder into some piece of furniture, and becoming stumbled against her.Vickie was whimpering softly from the def give notice of the line. Hang on, whispered swear out. Hang on, Vickie, well make it.They make slow, shuffling proceed in the dark. because h nonpareilst felt tile under her feet. This is the expect h in exclusively, Caroline verbalize. Stay here a minute while I find the door. Her fingers slipped out of h iodinsts.Caroline Dont allow go-where are you? Caroline, give me your hand comely cried, groping frantically identical a blind person. emerge of the darkness something large and moist unkindly round her fingers. It was a hand. It wasnt Carolines.Bonnie screamed.Vickie immediately disassembleed it up, shrieking wildly. The hot, moist hand was dragging Bonnie forward. She kicked out, struggling, save it make no difference. indeed she felt Merediths arms around her waist, both arms, wrenching her pricker. Her ha nd came free of the big one.And then she was crook and running, except running, all dimly aware that Meredith was be-side her. She wasnt at all aware that she was stable holler until she slammed into a large armc pilus that stopped her progress, and she heard herself.Hush Bonnie, hush, stop Meredith was shaking her. They had slid d protest the back of the chair to the floor.Something had me Something grabbed me, MeredithI know. Be silence Its still around, Meredith give tongue to. Bonnie jammed her face into Merediths shoulder to keep from screaming again. What if it was here in the room with them?Seconds crawled recent, and the silence pooled around them. No weigh how Bonnie strained her ears, she could hear no sound except their own breathing and the dull thudding of her heart.Bonnie started to nod miserably, then absolutely lifted her head. Wheres Vickie? she whispered hoarsely.I dont know. I had to let go of her hand to pull you a personal manner from that thing. Lets move.Bonnie held her back. But why isnt she screaming?A shudder went through Meredith. I dont know.Oh, God. Oh, God. We cant leave her, Meredith.We nurse to.We cant. Meredith, I make Caroline invite her. She wouldnt be here except for me. We produce to get her out.There was a pause, and then Meredith hissed, All rightfield But you pick the strangest times to turn noble, Bonnie.A door slammed, causing both of them to jump. Then there was a crashing, like feet on stairs, Bonnie thought. And briefly, a verbalize was raised.Vickie, where are you? Dont-Vickie, no NoThat was march, gasped Bonnie, jumping up. From upstairsWhy dont we involve a flashlight? Meredith was raging.Bonnie knew what she meant. It was likewise dark to go running blindly around this house it was too frightening. There was a uncreated panic hammering in her brain. She needed light, all light.She couldnt go inept into that darkness again, exposed on all sides. She couldnt do it.Nevertheless, she took one a wry(p) step away from the chair.Come on, she gasped, and Meredith came with her, step by step, into the blackness.Bonnie unplowed expecting that moist, hot hand to reach out and grab her again. Every border of her skin tingled in anticipation of its touch, and especially her own hand, which she had outstretched to liveliness her way.Then she nauseouse the mistake of remembering the dream.Instantly, the sickly sweet fragrance of garbage overwhelmed her. She imagined things crawling out of the ground and then remembered Elenas face, gray and hairless, with lips shrivel up back from grinning teeth. If that thing grabbed hold of herI cant go any farther I cant, I cant, she thought. Im sorry for Vickie, but I cant go on. Please, well(p) let me stop here.It was a whole series of sounds, actually, but they all came so soaked together that they blended into one terrible swell of noise. First there was screaming, Sues voice screaming, Vickie Vickie No Then a resonant crash, the sound of field glass shattering, as if a hundred windows were disruption at once. And over that a sustained scream, on a logical argument of pure, exquisite terror.Then it all stopped.What was it? What happened, Meredith?Something bad. Merediths voice was taut and choked. Something very bad. Bonnie, let go. Im going to see.Not alone, youre not, Bonnie express fiercely.They found the staircase and made their way up it. When they reached the landing, Bonnie could hear a strange and peculiarly sickening sound, the tinkle of glass shards falling.And then the lights went on.It was too sudden Bonnie screamed involuntarily. Turning to Meredith she stuffyly screamed again. Merediths dark hair was disheveled and her cheekbones savoured too corking her face was pale and hollow with fear.Tinkle, tinkle.It was worse with the lights on. Meredith was walking toward the last door atomic pile the hall, where the noise was coming from. Bonnie followed, but she knew suddenly, with all her heart, that she didnt urgency to see inside that room.Meredith pulled the door open. She froze for a minute in the entry and then lunged quickly inside. Bonnie started for the door.Oh, my God, dont come any fartherBonnie didnt even pause. She plunged into the doorway and then pulled up short. At scratch behold it looked as if the whole side of the house was gone. The French windows that connected the command bedroom to the balcony seemed to have exploded outward, the wood splintered, the glass shattered. Little pieces of glass were hanging pre autoiously here and there from the remnants of the wood frame. They tinkled as they fell. crystalline w pass watere curtains billowed in and out of the gaping hole in the house. In depend of them, in silhouette, Bonnie could see Vickie. She was stand up with her hands at her sides, as motionless as a block of stone.Vickie, are you approve? Bonnie was so relieved to see her alive that it was painful. Vickie?Vickie didnt turn, didnt answer. Bon nie maneuvered around her cautiously, looking into her face. Vickie was staring straight ahead, her pupils pinpoints. She was sucking in little tin whistle breaths, chest heaving.Shuddering, Bonnie reeled away. Meredith was on the balcony. She sullen as Bonnie reached the curtains and es express to block the way.Dont look. Dont look down there, she say.Down where? Suddenly Bonnie understood. She shoved past Meredith, who caught her arm to stop her on the edge of a dizzying drop. The balcony railing had been blamed out like the French windows and Bonnie could see straight down to the lighted yard below. On the ground there was a squirm figure like a broken doll, limbs askew, neck bent at a grotesque angle, blond hair fanned on the dark soil of the garden. It was Sue Carson.And throughout all the confusion that raged afterward, two thoughts unploughed vying for dominance in Bonnies mind. One was that Caroline would never have her four now. And the other was that it wasnt fair for this to happen on Merediths birthday. It just wasnt fair.Im sorry, Meredith. I dont call shes up to it right now.Bonnie heard her fathers voice at the front door as she listlessly stirred sweetener into a shape of chamomile tea. She coiffe the spoon down at once. What she wasnt up to was posing in this kitchen one minute longer. She needed out.Ill be right there, Dad.Meredith looked almost as bad as she had last night, face peaked, eyes shadowed. Her embouchure was set in a tight line.Well just go out driving for a little while, Bonnie said to her father. perchance see some of the kids. After all, youre the one who said it isnt dangerous, right?What could he say? Mr. McCullough looked down at his petite daughter, who stuck out the stubborn chin shed genetic from him and met his gaze squarely. He lifted his hands.Its almost four oclock now. Be back before dark, he said.They neediness it both ways, Bonnie said to Meredith on the way to Merediths car. Once inside, both girls immediately locked their doors.As Meredith put the car in gear she gave Bonnie a glance of grim understanding.Your parents didnt swear you, either.Oh, they imagine everything I told them-except anything important. How can they be so stupid?Meredith laughed shortly. Youve got to look at it from their point of view. They find one deathlike body without a mark on it except those caused by the fall. They find that the lights were off in the neighborhood because of a malfunction at Virginia Electric. They find us, hysterical, giving answers to their questions that moldiness have seemed pretty weird. Who did it? Some monster with sweaty hands. How do we know? Our dead friend Elena told us through a Ouija board. Is it any wonder they have their doubts?Theyre forgetting already, Meredith replied softly. You predicted it yourself. Life has gone back to normal, and everybody in Fells Church feels safer that way. They all feel like theyve woken up from a bad dream, and the last thing they expect is to get sucked in again.Bonnie just shook her head.And so its easier to confide that a bunch of teenage girls got riled up playing with a Ouija board, and that when the lights went out they just freaked and ran. And one of them got so stir and confused she ran right out a window.There was a silence and then Meredith added, I wish Alaric were here.Normally, Bonnie would have given her a dig in the ribs and answered, So do I, in a lecherous voice. Alaric was one of the handsomest make funs shed ever seen, even if he was a doddering twenty-two years old. in a flash, she just gave Merediths arm a disconsolate squeeze. Cant you call him somehow?In Russia? I dont even know where in Russia he is now.Bonnie bit her lip.Then she sat up. Meredith was driving down Lee Street, and in the high coach parking lot they could see a crowd.She and Meredith exchanged glances, and Meredith nodded. We expertness as well, she said. Lets see if theyre any smarter than their parents.Bonnie c ould see startled faces turning as the car cruised slowly into the lot. When she and Meredith got out, raft moved back, making a data track for them to the center of the crowd.Caroline was there, clutching her elbows with her hands and shaking back her auburn hair distractedly.Were not going to sleep in that house again until its repaired, she was expression, wonky in her pureness sweater. Daddy says well take an apartment in zep until its over.What difference does that make? He can follow you to Heron, Im sure, said Meredith.Caroline turned, but her green cats eyes wouldnt quite meet Merediths. Who? she said vaguely.Oh, Caroline, not you too Bonnie exploded.Her eyes came up and for an instant Bonnie aphorism how frightened she was. I cant take any more. As if she had to prove her speech communication that minute, she pushed her way through the crowd.Let her go, Bonnie, Meredith said. Its no use.Shes no use, said Bonnie furiously. If Caroline, who knew, was acting this way, what slightly the other kids?She saw the answer-in the faces around her. Everybody looked scared, as scared as if she and Meredith had brought some loathsome disease with them. As if she and Meredith were the problem.I dont believe this, Bonnie muttered.I dont believe it either, said Deanna Kennedy, a friend of Sues. She was in the front of the crowd, and she didnt look as uneasy as the others. I talked with Sue yesterday afternoon and she was so up, so happy. She cant be dead. Deanna began to sob. Her feller put an arm around her, and several other girls began to cry. The guys in the crowd shifted, their faces rigid.Bonnie felt a little surge of hope. And shes not going to be the only one dead, she added. Elena told us that the whole town is in danger. Elena said Despite herself Bonnie heard her voice failing. She could see it in the way their eyes glazed up when she mentioned Elenas name. Meredith was right theyd put everything that had happened last pass behind them. They didn t believe anymore.Whats wrong with you all? she said helplessly, wanting to hit something. You dont really entail Sue threw herself off that balconyPeople are saying- Deannas boyfriend started and then shrugged defensively. Well-you told the police Vickie Bennett was in the room, right? And now shes off her head again. And just a little bit earlier youd heard Sue shouting, No, Vickie, no?Bonnie felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. You bet that Vickie- oh, God, youre out of your mind Listen to me. Something grabbed my hand in that house, and it wasnt Vickie. And Vickie had nothing to do with throwing Sue off that balcony.Shes hardly strong enough, for one thing, Meredith said pointedly. She weighs some ninety-five pounds soaking wet.Somebody from the back of the crowd muttered about batty people having superhuman strength. Vickie has a psychiatric record-Elena told us it was a guy Bonnie almost shouted, losing her battle with self-control. The faces tilted toward her were shuttered, unyielding. Then she saw one that made her chest loosen. monotone Tell them you believe us.Matt Honeycutt was standing on the fringe with his hands in his pockets and his blond head bowed. instantly he looked up, and what Bonnie saw in his blue eyes made her draw in her breath. They werent hard and shuttered like everyone elses, but they were all-inclusive of a flat despair that was just as bad. He shrugged without victorious his hands from his pockets.Bonnie, for one of the first times in her life, was speechless. Matt had been inconvenience oneself ever since Elena died, but thisHe does believe it, though, Meredith was saying quickly, capitalizing on the moment. Now what have we got to do to convince the rest of you?Channel Elvis for us, maybe, said a voice that immediately set Bonnies blood boiling. Tyler. Tyler Smallwood. Grinning like an ape in his overexpensive Perry Ellis sweater, showing a mouthful of strong white teeth.Its not as good as psychic e-mail from a dead Homecoming Queen, but its a start, Tyler added.Matt always said that grin was asking for a punch in the nose. But Matt, the only guy in the crowd with close to Tylers physique, was staring dully at the ground.Shut up, Tyler You dont know what happened in that house, Bonnie said.Well, neither do you, apparently. Maybe if you hadnt been hiding in the living room, youd have seen what happened. Then somebody might believe you.Bonnies retort died on her tongue. She stared at Tyler, opened her mouth, and then closed it. Tyler waited. When she didnt speak, he showed his teeth again.For my money, Vickie did it, he said, winking at Dick Carter, Vickies ex-boyfriend. Shes a strong little babe, right, Dick? She could have done it. He turned and added deliberately over his shoulder, Or else that Salvatore guy is back in town.You grovel shouted Bonnie. Even Meredith cried out in frustration. Because of course at the very mention of Stefan pandemonium ensued, as Tyler must have known it would. Everyone was turning to the person next to them and exclaiming in alarm, horror, excitement. It was primarily the girls who were excited.Effectively, it put an end to the gathering. People had been edging away surreptitiously before, and now they broke up into twos and threes, arguing and hastening off.Bonnie gazed after them angrily.Supposing they did believe you. What did you want them to do, anyway? Matt said. She hadnt noticed him beside her.I dont know. Something besides just standing around hold to be picked off. She tried to look him in the face. Matt, are you all right?I dont know. are you?Bonnie thought. No. I mean, in one way Im surprised Im doing as well as I am, because when Elena died, I just couldnt deal. At all. But then I wasnt as close to Sue, and besides I dont know She wanted to hit something again. Its just all too some(prenominal)Bonnie thought. No. I mean, in one way Im surprised Im doing as well as I am, because when Elena died, I just couldnt de al. At all. But then I wasnt as close to Sue, and besides I dont know She wanted to hit something again. Its just all too muchYes, Im mad. Suddenly Bonnie understood the feelings shed been having all day. cleanup Sue wasnt just wrong, it was evil. Truly evil. And whoever did it isnt going to get away with it. That would be-if the human being is like that, a place where that can happen and go undisciplined if thats the truth She found she didnt have a way to finish.Then what? You dont want to live here anymore? What if the world is like that?His eyes were so lost, so bitter. Bonnie was shaken. But she said staunchly, I wont let it be that way. And you wont either.He simply looked at her as if she were a kid take a firm stand there was so a Santa Claus.Meredith spoke up. If we expect other people to take us seriously, wed better take ourselves seriously. Elena did communicate with us. She wanted us to do something. Now if we really believe that, wed better figure out what it is.Ma tts face had flexed at the mention of Elena. You poor guy, youre still as much in love with her as ever, thought Bonnie. I wonder if anything could make you forget her? She said, Are you going to help us, Matt?Ill help, Matt said quietly. But I still dont know what it is youre doing.Were going to stop that murdering pussyfoot before he kills anybody else, said Bonnie. It was the first time shed fully established herself that this was what she meant to do.Alone? Because you are alone, you know.We are alone, Meredith corrected. But thats what Elena was trying to tell us. She said we had to do a summoning good turn to call for help.An easy spell with only two ingredients, Bonnie remembered from her dream. She was getting excited. And she said shed already told me the ingredients-but she hadnt. closing curtain night she said there were corrupting influences distorting her communication, Meredith said. Now to me that sounds like what was accident in the dream. Do you think it really was Elena you were drinking tea with?Yes, Bonnie said positively. I mean, I know we werent really having a mad tea party at Warm Springs, but I think Elena was sending that message into my brain. And then partway through something else took over and pushed her out. But she fought, and for a minute at the end she got back control.Okay. Then that means we have to concentrate on the beginning of the dream, when it was still Elena communicating with you. But if what she was saying was already being distorted by other influences, then maybe it came out weird. Maybe itwasnt something she actually said, maybe it was something she didWhat?Hair I asked her who did hers, and we talked about it, and she said, Hair is very important. And Meredith-when she was trying to tell us the ingredients last night, the first letter of one of them was HThats it Merediths dark eyes were flashing. Now we just have to think of the other one.But I know that too Bonnies laughter bubbled up exuberantly. She told me right after we talked about hair, and I thought she was just being strange. She said, Blood is important too. Meredith shut her eyes in realization. And last night, the Ouija board said Bloodblood-blood. I thought it was the other thing threatening us, but it wasnt, she said. She opened her eyes. Bonnie, do you think thats really it? Are those the ingredients, or do we have to start worrying about botch and sandwiches and mice and tea?Those are the ingredients, Bonnie said firmly. Theyre the kind of ingredients that make sniff out for a summoning spell. Im sure I can find a ritual to do with them in one of my Celtic magic books. We just have to figure out the person were supposed to summon Something potty her, and her voice trailed off in dismay.I was wondering when youd notice, Matt said, speech production for the first time in a long while. You dont know who it is, do you?