Destiny Rising (15 page)

Chapter 23

S
tupid Guardians,
Elena thought, hurrying away from the gym.
If they want something from me, why can’t they just tell me?
She and Meredith had been sparring before Meredith’s morning class and now she was in a rush to get back home. Being alone on campus made her nervous, and she wasn’t sure if it was paranoia, but something felt close to Elena. Too close.

The Guardians were game players; that was all there was to it. Not straightforward, not honest.
Nothing like me,
she told herself fiercely.
Not anymore, not for a long time.
Andrés certainly wasn’t like them, anyway, which was a reassuring fact.

She caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of her eye, just the barest impression of movement. All across campus she’d had the creeping sensation of being watched. Someone was following her.

Elena whipped around, but where she had been sure she’d seen another person, there was no one.

The back of her neck prickled, and she hunched her shoulders unhappily. Was Klaus out there? She tried to sense him, but felt nothing. She couldn’t see an aura anywhere.

She pulled out her phone and tried to call Stefan. She didn’t want to take her chances, and she would feel much safer if she weren’t alone. Where
was
everyone? It was the middle of the morning—although the campus had gotten emptier and emptier as the students got more nervous and classes were canceled, there should have been someone else
somewhere
around.

Stefan didn’t pick up. Shoving the phone back into her bag, she walked faster.

Just as she reached her dorm, a cool, commanding voice spoke behind her. “Elena Gilbert.”

Elena froze and then, slowly, turned around. “Yes?” she said.

The tall woman standing behind her was serious and businesslike, her blond hair pulled back in a neat bun, dressed in a simple navy suit. Golden-flecked blue eyes gazed solemnly at Elena. This woman was not Ryannen, the Guardian of the Celestial Court who had once tried to recruit Elena to their ranks, but she was similar enough that Elena had to look carefully to be sure. The likeness bothered Elena: Ryannen had not been kind, not at all.

Quickly, she tried to read the woman’s aura, but saw nothing but white light.

After a swift all-encompassing glance at Elena the woman said levelly, “I am Mylea, one of the Principal Guardians, and I have come to administer your oath of Guardianship and assign you your first task.”

Elena immediately stiffened. This was what she had been waiting for, true. But was she completely ready? “Wait a minute,” she said. “I’d like to know more before I swear any oaths. Were you one of the Guardians that killed my parents?”

The Guardian frowned, a line appearing between her perfectly arched eyebrows. “I’m not here to discuss the past, Elena. You have done your best to awaken your Powers even before my approach. You have brought another human Guardian here to guide and teach you. It’s clear from your actions that you are eager for the responsibilities and abilities only Guardians have. You will be given the information that you need after you take your oath.”

Flustered, Elena bit her lip. Everything Mylea said was true. Elena had already accepted that she was going to be a Guardian. No matter how tragic her parents’ death was, nothing Mylea said now would bring them back. Elena had to think of all the people she
could
save with her Guardian Powers in full effect.

Mylea shrugged and continued. “Your life was always fated thus,” she said calmly. “I could not stop it any more than I could stop the leaves from changing in the autumn.” A glimpse of humor flashed suddenly across her face, making it infinitely more human. “Which means, perhaps I could stop it, but it would be difficult and in the end would cause great harm to both you and your world. What will be will be.” Then the touch of humor faded, and she stared at Elena, businesslike once more. “Time is short,” she said. “Answer yes or no: Are you prepared to give your oath and receive your task?”

“Yes,” Elena said, and shivered. Her agreement was irrevocable. There was no changing her mind now, she knew. But she was about to be given the Power she needed to fight Klaus.

“Come, then,” Mylea said. She led Elena around the corner of the dorm and into a walled alcove where an oak tree grew. Closing her eyes for a second, she nodded, and then opened them again. “No one will bother us here. Kneel and hold out your hand.”

Hesitantly, Elena got to her knees on the cold grass beneath the tree and held her right hand out before her. Mylea firmly turned Elena’s hand over so that it was extended palm up, and pulled a small silver, blue-jeweled dagger from her pocket. Before Elena could react, Mylea had quickly drawn the dagger across Elena’s palm in a curved pattern, blood springing up in its wake. Elena hissed at the pain and automatically tried to pull back her hand, but Mylea’s grip was strong.

“Repeat after me,” she said. “I, Elena Gilbert, pledge to use my Powers for the betterment of the human race. I will gladly accept the tasks given me and see them to completion. I will shelter the weak and guide the strong. I acknowledge that my tasks are for the greater good and, should I fail to fulfill them, I may be subject to losing my Powers and being reassigned to the Celestial Court.” Elena hesitated—
reassigned to the Celestial Court?—
but Mylea’s eyes were steady and she could feel the pull of Power all around her. Blood ran down her wrist as she repeated Mylea’s words, Mylea prompting her when she hesitated. The blood dripped from her hand onto the roots of the oak tree and soaked into the earth. As Elena spoke the last words, the cut across her hand healed, leaving a pale figure eight of scar tissue across her palm.

“The symbol of infinity and of the Celestial Court,” Mylea said, giving Elena a small smile. She helped Elena to her feet and kissed her ceremoniously on both cheeks. “Welcome, sister,” she said.

“What does it mean by ‘lose my place on Earth and be reassigned to the Celestial Court’?” Elena asked. “I’m a human—I belong here.”

Mylea frowned, tilting her head to one side to study Elena. “You are no longer a human,” she said. “That is the price we have to pay.”

Elena gaped at her, horrified, and Mylea waved a hand dismissively and went on. “But you will remain on Earth as long as you perform your duties properly. And now for your first task. An old vampire has come to your campus, one who has caused much damage across the world. He is strong and clever, but you have confronted him before and escaped unscathed. The history you share will give you the ability to defeat him now that your Power is blossoming. At one time, he was no longer a threat.”

Elena nodded, thinking of the year Klaus had been dead. “But now he has begun to kill and brought himself to our attention once again. His fate is sealed,” Mylea continued. “You must kill the vampire Damon Salvatore.”

Elena gasped.
No,
she thought dazedly.
Klaus, she’s supposed to say Klaus.

In the split second in which Elena was reeling, Mylea turned neatly away, pulling an elaborate golden key from her pocket, and twisted the key in midair.

“No!” Elena said, finding her voice. But she was too late. The empty air rippled, and Mylea was gone.

Chapter 24

S
tefan had a very strong sense of déjà vu. Here he was again, heavyhearted outside the dark wood door of Damon’s apartment, ready to plead with his brother but knowing already that his words would be pointless. He could hear Damon moving quietly inside the apartment, the pages of a book flicking, his brother’s shallow breaths, and he knew that Damon could hear him, too, hesitating in the hall.

He knocked. This time, when Damon opened the door, he didn’t immediately snarl at Stefan but instead gazed at him patiently, waiting for Stefan to speak.

“I know you don’t want to see me,” Stefan said. “But I thought I should tell you what’s going on.”

Damon stepped back and waved Stefan in. “Whatever you like, little brother,” he said airily. “I’m afraid I can’t ask you to stay long, though. I’ve got a date with a delicious little undergraduate.” His smile broadened as Stefan winced.

Deciding not to respond to that, Stefan sank down into one of sleek chrome-and-pale-green chairs in Damon’s ultramodern living room. Damon was looking better than he had the last time Stefan had been here. His clothes and hair were perfectly, stylishly arranged, and his pale skin had a slight flush, a sure sign that Damon had been feeding freely. Stefan grimaced a little at the thought, and Damon arched one eyebrow at him.

“So, there is
something going on
?” he prompted. His voice took on a mocking tone with the last few words.

“Katherine’s back,” Stefan said flatly, and had the pleasure of seeing the smile fall off Damon’s face. “Klaus raised her from the dead somehow.”

Damon blinked slowly, his long black lashes veiling his eyes for a moment, and then he flashed his cruel smile again. “The dynamic duo together again, hmm?” he asked. “That should be quite a handful for you and your humans.”

“Damon.”
Stefan heard the catch in his own voice. Damon had constructed a wall around himself, but the real Damon was still in there, wasn’t he? He couldn’t have stopped caring about Elena, stopped caring about Stefan himself, so absolutely in such a short time, could he? If Stefan’s plan against Klaus was to work, he would need Damon to care. “Klaus is determined to find out the truth about Elena,” he said quickly. “They’re bound to use Katherine as a weapon against you. They’ll see how you’ve separated yourself from the rest of us. I’m begging you, please don’t tell them anything. If you don’t give a damn about any of us anymore, at least remember how much you hate Katherine and Klaus.”

Tilting his head to one side, Damon narrowed his eyes speculatively at Stefan. “I’ve never been the weakest link, brother,” he said. “But, as a matter of simple curiosity, tell me,
what
truth about Elena?”

The floor swung dizzyingly under Stefan’s feet and he closed his eyes for a moment. He was such a fool. He hadn’t asked for the details of Elena’s and Damon’s midnight meeting in the woods, and he’d just assumed Elena had told him she was a Guardian. He could have kept his mouth shut, and Damon would have been no danger to them, at least not on this count.

But no, Damon had known that Elena was a potential Guardian, that they had once planned for her to join them. She had told him that the Guardians had killed her parents, trying to get to her. And he knew that Elena had Power now, that she could see auras. If he had let those facts slip to Katherine or Klaus, it would have been dangerous enough. Better that Damon be warned off with a partial truth. Right? Stefan shook his head slightly. It was impossible to know what Damon might do.

Damon was still watching him, his eyes bright and cruelly amused, and Stefan had the uncomfortable feeling that his indecision was playing out boldly across his features, plainly evident to someone who had known him as long as Damon had.

“The truth that Elena is connected to the Guardians,” he said at last. “Klaus would use it against her if he could.
Please
, Damon. You say you don’t care, but you can’t want Klaus to kill Elena. Klaus nearly destroyed you.” He could hear the begging note in his own voice.
Please, my brother,
he thought, unsure about whether Damon was reading his thoughts.
Please. Don’t abandon us. There’s nothing but pain that way, for all of us.

Damon smiled briefly and flicked his fingers dismissively at Stefan before turning away. “No one hurts me, little brother,” he said over his shoulder. “Not for long. But don’t worry, I’m sure I can handle Katherine if she comes to me.”

Stefan shifted closer to his brother, moving to meet Damon’s eyes again. “If something happens to me,” he said somberly, “tell me you’ll look out for Elena. You loved her once. She could love you, if . . . if things were different.” No matter what happened, Elena couldn’t be left unprotected.

For a moment, Damon’s mask of indifference seemed to lift, his mouth going taut and his midnight-dark eyes narrowing. “What do you mean, if something happens to you?” he said sharply.

Stefan shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “It’s a dangerous time, is all.”

Damon stared at him for a moment longer, and then the mask slammed back into place. “All times are dangerous,” he said, smiling faintly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me . . .” He wandered off in the direction of the kitchen, and after a few minutes, Stefan realized he wasn’t coming back.

Stefan pushed himself to his feet and hesitated only briefly before turning toward the door. The meeting had gone as well as he could have reasonably expected: Damon hadn’t guaranteed his own silence, but he hadn’t threatened them either, and he’d seemed scornful of any suggestion that he might help Katherine and Klaus. As far as protecting Elena was concerned, all Stefan could do was say his piece. He knew that if it really came down to it, his brother would do the right thing.

Stefan called a farewell, which went unanswered, and headed out the door. For all he knew, Damon had left through a window and was already winging his way across campus as a crow.

His heart sank at the thought of leaving his brother now without a good-bye, but he kept going. If they both survived, he and Damon would connect again as brothers. He couldn’t let go of that hope. But he didn’t know when or how it would happen. Maybe he’d lost his brother for another century or two. The thought made him feel bleakly, unutterably alone.

Chapter 25

M
att’s feet dragged as he walked slowly toward the boathouse doors. In his hand, the sack he carried thrashed violently, the rabbit inside kicking and squirming. Chloe would be able to calm it with a touch of her Power.

Matt didn’t like catching animals for her to feed on. He couldn’t help feeling sorry for the poor things, so wide-eyed with terror. But he was responsible for Chloe. And she needed lots of blood to keep control; Stefan had warned them of that. It didn’t help that seeing Klaus’s army of vampires had terrified her. They were so much more powerful than she was, and she knew they would show no mercy to a vampire who fought against them. Worse, the excitement of the battle had stirred her urge to drink human blood. She didn’t trust herself around the others, so she’d been sequestering herself in the boathouse ever since.

She would never hurt Matt, though; she assured him of that every night, holding him tightly, her cold body against his warmer one, her head pillowed on his shoulder in the darkness.

A board creaked under Matt’s feet and he glanced down at the water lapping against the pilings beneath him. The dock creaked again, this time in the distance, as if someone else was walking across it.

Matt hesitated. There shouldn’t be anyone else here. He stepped forward again, cautiously, and heard the echoing sound of another board creaking in the distance, just a second after his own footstep.

“Hello?” he called into the darkness, and then felt like an idiot. If his enemies were out there, the last thing he wanted to do was draw their attention.

He took a few steps closer to the entrance to the boathouse. The creaking didn’t come again; instead, a small splash rose from the shallow lake. Maybe the noises had been an animal.

He broke into a run anyway, slamming through the boathouse doors. What if something had gotten to Chloe? Matt’s eyes flew to the tableau in the center of the boathouse.

Klaus stood triumphantly in front of him, his skin lit silver by the moonlight coming through the holes in the roof. A battered raincoat covered his broad figure, and slumped in his arms was a bleeding girl, a stranger.

God.
She was young, maybe a small freshman, maybe a high-school girl from the town, and her long, dark hair was matted with the blood streaming from the side of her neck. She wasn’t struggling, but she gazed at Matt with a terrified look that reminded him nauseatingly of the rabbit’s expression when he’d lifted it out of the trap.

He automatically dropped the sack, hearing it thud behind him, the rabbit scrabbling out and bolting for the door. He had to help the girl. Klaus flicked his eyes toward him for a split second and Matt froze, his muscles tensed helplessly against the force holding him in place.

“Hello, boy,” Klaus said, flashing his mad smile. “Come to join the party? Your girlfriend and I have been waiting for you.”

Matt followed Klaus’s gaze to Chloe, who was huddled in a corner as far from Klaus and the girl as possible, her knees pulled up to her chest. There was a bite mark on her neck, as if Klaus had already drunk from her, too, and she was extraordinarily pale.
She needs to feed,
Matt thought, as if he could just hand her the rabbit he’d had a moment ago. Chloe was clearly frightened, but there was something else showing in her face. Matt’s stomach rolled unhappily as he identified it:
hunger
.

“Now, where were we?” Klaus turned back to Chloe. “Ah, yes. If you just let go, everything will be so easy.” His voice was soft and soothing. “Tell me everything. Tell me the secret these
humans
are hiding. How have the witches protected Elena from me? If you do, I’ll let you join me. You won’t be alone. You won’t have to be afraid, or feel guilt, or anything anymore.” His face twisted with scorn as he said the word
humans
, and he went on, his voice dropping into a lower register. “Taste the girl,” he said. “You can have her. I know you can smell the rich sweetness of her blood. This is no way for you to live, hidden away, ashamed, feeding on vermin. Come to me, Chloe,” he said, commanding now.

Chloe uncurled slowly, climbing to her feet. Her eyes were fixed on Klaus and on the girl, who was sobbing quietly now in Klaus’s arms. From the shift in Chloe’s jaw, Matt could see that her canine teeth had lengthened. Klaus beckoned, and Chloe took one stumbling step forward.

Struggling to cry out, to stop Chloe somehow, Matt realized that his tongue was as frozen as the rest of him, held still by Klaus’s Power. The best he could do was let out a small, stifled moan.

Chloe heard it, though. She licked her lips, then slowly dragged her eyes from the girl’s throat and focused on Matt. She stared at him for a long moment, and then stepped back, pressing herself flat against the wall. The bones of her face looked sharp and the drying blood on her own throat cracked and flaked as she shook her head.

“No,” she said in a tiny voice.

Klaus smiled again and held the girl out toward her. “Come on now,” he urged. His victim whimpered and closed her eyes, her face crumpling in misery. Chloe stood still against the wall, seemingly riveted by the long stream of blood running down from the girl’s throat to pool on the floor at her feet.

Klaus reached for Chloe and took her by the hand. “Tell me what I want to know, and you can have her. She tastes so
good.
” He tugged Chloe toward him. She gasped sharply, her nostrils flaring as she got closer to the scent of blood, and let herself be drawn closer and closer. Klaus let go of Chloe’s hand and stroked her cheek. “There,” he said, as if he were talking to a small child. “There we go.” Cupping his hand behind her head, he pushed her firmly down, brought her toward the throat of the girl he held.

Matt tried to struggle but he couldn’t move, couldn’t cry out to Chloe again. Her tongue flickered out quickly across her lips.

Then Chloe pushed away from Klaus, ducking out from under his hand. “No!” she repeated, louder this time.

Klaus snarled, a maddened sound, and with one quick twist, snapped the bleeding girl’s neck, dropping her in a heap on the floor.

“Tell your friends they’ll all be hearing from me soon,” Klaus said, his voice level and cold. He sounded
less
insane than usual, and for some reason, that made Matt’s heart clench with fear. “I will find the truth. I’ll take them apart, one by one, until I get what I want.”

As he strode out the door, Klaus looked up, reaching one hand toward the sky, and with a crash of thunder, a bolt of lightning struck from the clear, cloudless sky, sparking the boathouse into flames.

Flipping over a page in her psychology textbook, Bonnie firmly pushed the thought of Zander away. She missed him—of course she did—but she would be
fine.

Without looking up, Bonnie checked in on the other occupants of their dorm room. The gentle scritching sound of a pen came from Elena’s bed, where she was writing in her journal. And on the floor, Meredith and Alaric murmured softly to each other, their hands entwined, for once not sharpening weapons or examining spell books, but just enjoying each other.

Except for the constant empty ache in Bonnie’s heart, everything was fine.

Somebody pounded violently on the door, and they all looked up, tensing, ready to slip into fight mode. Meredith jumped to her feet and grabbed a knife from her desk, holding it out of sight as she cracked the door open.

Matt and Chloe, streaked with blood and covered in ash, tumbled through the door.

Meredith was the first to react, grabbing Chloe and turning her under the light to examine the bite on her neck. It looked raw and gruesome, and Chloe nearly collapsed in Meredith’s arms before Alaric steered the young vampire into Bonnie’s desk chair.

“What happened?” Bonnie exclaimed.

“Klaus,” Matt gasped. “Klaus was in the boathouse. There’s—oh, God—he left a body in there. And set the place on fire. She was dead, though. I’m sure she was already dead before she burned.”

Elena’s fingers flew over her phone as she sent a quick text, and a moment later, Stefan was there, taking in the situation at a glance. He knelt in front of Chloe, examining her wound with careful fingers.

“Animal blood isn’t enough to heal her right now,” he said to Matt, who was watching with a tense, hunted expression, his lips tight and pale. “And a taste of human might send her over the edge.” He bit his own wrist and held it to Chloe’s lips. “This isn’t ideal, but it’s the best of some bad options.”

Matt nodded tightly, and Stefan held Chloe’s hand as the vampire girl gulped hungrily at his arm. “It’s all right,” he told her. “You’re doing well.”

Once Chloe had drunk enough to begin healing from Klaus’s bite, she and Matt explained what had happened.

“Klaus offered me the girl if I’d tell him what I knew about Elena and why he couldn’t kill her with his dagger,” she said. Her eyes dropped to the floor. “It was . . .” She paused. “I wanted to say yes.”

“She didn’t, though,” Matt told them. “Chloe did really well. She broke through Klaus’s compulsion.”

“But he said he would come after us one by one until he got what he wanted?” Bonnie asked faintly. “This is bad. This is really very bad.” Her heart was pounding hard, drumming against her chest.

Elena sighed, tucking her hair behind her ears. “We knew that he would be coming after us,” she pointed out.

“Yes,” Bonnie said, her voice shaking, “but, Elena, he can get into my
dreams
. He did before, when he told us he was coming.” She hugged herself tightly and took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady. “I don’t know if I can stop him from seeing things in my dreams.”

There was a nasty pause in the conversation. “I hadn’t thought of that,” Meredith admitted.

“I’m sorry, you guys,” Elena said, her voice breaking. “He’s coming after you because of
me
. I wish I could defend you. I need to get stronger.”

“You will,” Meredith said firmly.

“And it’s really not your fault,” Bonnie said supportively, pushing her own panic down. “If the alternative was you dying, I’d rather he was coming after us.”

Elena smiled wanly. “I know, Bonnie,” she said. “But even if I get more Power, I don’t know how we can protect you in your dreams.”

“Are there ways she can protect her dreams herself?” Stefan asked, turning to Alaric, their research expert. “Conscious dreaming and that kind of thing?”

Alaric nodded thoughtfully. “It’s a good idea,” he said. “I’ll look it up right away.” He smiled reassuringly at Bonnie. “We’ll find something. We always do.”

“And we all will stick together,” Stefan said, looking around, his leaf-green eyes confident. “Klaus can’t break us.”

There was a murmur of agreement, and Bonnie automatically reached out, taking Meredith’s and Matt’s hands in hers. Soon, they were all holding hands, and Bonnie felt a thrum of Power, maybe from Elena, maybe from Stefan, maybe from herself, run around the circle. Perhaps it was from all of them.

But that sense of Power wasn’t the only thing she felt. Everyone was nervous; everyone was scared. Klaus could come after any one of them next, and it was impossible to know what he might do.