Phantom (26 page)

D
amon was the first to move, which didn’t surprise Elena. His leather jacket scorched, long burns running across his face and arms, he staggered past the others through the fire and threw open the garage door. Outside, thunder rumbled overhead and a heavy rain was falling.

Despite the rain, the garage was burning ferociously, flames licking their way up the sides of the small building and across the roof. As they all stumbled outside, Meredith, coughing, turned her face up to the rain. Matt and Alaric supported Mrs. Flowers and placed her in the driver’s seat of her car. Elena held her hands out, letting the driving rain wash away the soot and soothe her burns. The rest of her friends milled around not far from the burning garage, still stunned.

“Oh,
Damon
,” said Bonnie. She paused to cough and wheeze for a few seconds, then leaned carefully toward Damon, avoiding his injuries, and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m so happy you came back.”

“Thank you, redbird,” Damon said, patting her on the back. “Excuse me for a second; I need to take care of something.” He stepped away and caught Elena by the hand.

In the distance came the wail of sirens, signaling the advance of fire trucks and police cars drawn by the fire.

Damon pulled Elena toward the dark shadows under a tree near the house. “Come on,” he said. “You need blood now.” He felt his throat with charred fingers, then drew a fingernail against one of his veins. His leather jacket was practically destroyed, just rags and ashes hanging from him, and the long burns on his face and body were still red and raw-looking, but already better than they had been a few minutes before.

“I could do that,” said Stefan, approaching them and leaning against the wall of the house. He looked tired and bedraggled, but his injuries, too, were already healing. “Elena’s always welcome to my blood.”

“You can definitely pitch in. But that’s a bad injury she’s got,” said Damon matter-of-factly, “and you don’t have the Power to heal it right now.”

Elena had been trying not to look at her right hand. Although she couldn’t really move it, it didn’t hurt much anymore. Which was probably a bad sign, actually. Did that mean the nerve endings were dead? A quick, anxious glance down at her hand made her stomach churn. Even that tiny glimpse showed her horribly blackened and reddened flesh and peeling skin and—God—she thought she’d seen a glimpse of bone beneath the flesh. She let out a low, involuntary whimper.

“Drink,” said Damon impatiently. “Let me fix it before they come and drag you off to the burn unit.” Elena still hesitated, and Damon sighed and turned to Stefan again. “Look,” he said, his voice softening, “it’s not always about Power. Sometimes the blood is just about taking
care
of someone.”

“I know that,” Stefan replied, blinking tiredly at him. “I just wasn’t sure that you did.”

Damon’s mouth twisted in a wry smile. “I’m an old man, little brother,” he said. “I know a lot of things.” He turned back to Elena. “Drink now,” he insisted, and Stefan smiled reassuringly at her.

Elena nodded at Stefan before pushing her mouth tightly against Damon’s neck. The second she tasted his blood, Elena became wrapped in warmth and the pain in her hand stopped. She no longer felt the unpleasant cold drumming of the rain on her head and shoulders, the icy trickle of water down her body. She was cozy and safe and loved, and time had stopped just long enough for her to catch her breath.

Damon?
she thought, and reached out to his mind with hers. He answered her without words, but with a wave of affection and care, of undemanding love. Through the haze, Elena realized there was something new here. . . .

When she and Damon had allowed their minds to touch in the past, she had often sensed that Damon had been holding back a part of himself. Or, on the rare occasions when she got past the inner barriers he’d thrown up against intruders, she’d found hurt and rage, a lost child chained to a rock.

Now Elena sensed only love and peace as she and Damon melted into each other. When she pulled back from him at last, it took her a moment to return to the real world. Stefan was no longer next to them. It was raining still, cold water running through her hair, over her shoulders, down her neck and arms and body. Her hand ached and was still badly burned, but it had healed to the point of needing ointment and a bandage rather than surgery.

A couple of fire trucks and police cars pulled into the drive, lights blazing, sirens screaming. Closer to the garage, she saw Meredith abruptly drop Stefan’s arm, and Elena realized Meredith had been drinking from his wrist.

She realized vaguely that she would have been shocked by this only a few hours ago—she would have assumed Meredith would shy away from touching the blood of
any
vampire, and Stefan had always reserved his blood for Elena as part of the connection only they shared—but she couldn’t work up any real emotion about it now.

It felt like all the barriers between their group had broken down. Whether this new state of things lasted or not, they were all one for now. They’d seen the worst of one another. They’d told the truth and come out the other side. And now, if Meredith needed to be healed, of course Stefan would give her his blood. It would be the same for any of them.

The firemen jumped from their truck and unrolled the hoses. As they turned their attention to putting out the fire, a couple of uniformed police officers and a man who must be the fire marshal walked purposefully toward Mrs. Flowers, Matt, Alaric, Celia, and Bonnie, all of whom were now huddled in the car. Meredith and Stefan headed toward them, too.

“Why didn’t they help her into the house?” Elena wondered aloud suddenly, and Damon turned a blank gaze of surprise on her.

“I have no idea,” he said slowly. “It never even occurred to me that we could go inside. I guess everyone felt like they should be out here to watch it burn. Make sure the phantom doesn’t come out.”

“It’s like we were at the end of the world,” she said softly, thinking aloud. “Even the boardinghouse seemed so far away that it just wasn’t part of the picture. Now that other people are here, the world is starting to turn again.”

Damon
hmmm
ed noncommittally. “We’d better get over there,” he said. “I think they could use some help.” Mrs. Flowers’s voice was raised indignantly, although Elena couldn’t make out the words. As she trailed after Damon she smiled to herself: Since when had Damon cared whether anyone, except Elena herself, could use some help?

As they got closer, Elena could see that Mrs. Flowers had gotten out of the car and assumed her best expression of dottiness and eccentricity, blue eyes wide, arms akimbo, as Alaric held an umbrella over her head.

“Young man!” she snapped at the fire marshal. “What are you trying to imply by asking why my car wasn’t parked in the garage? Surely I have every right to distribute my possessions anywhere I like on my own property! What sort of world do we live in where I am penalized, where I am judged for not following conventions? Do you dare to suggest that I might have had some advance knowledge of this fire?”

“Well, ma’am, it’s been known to happen. I’m not suggesting anything, but the matter has to be investigated,” said the fire marshal stolidly.

“What’re all these kids doing here?” one of the police officers asked, shooting a glance around. His eyes lingered on Damon’s burned leather jacket and the raw skinless patch on Stefan’s cheek. “We’re going to need to talk to all of you,” he said. “Let’s start by getting your names and addresses.”

Stefan stepped forward and held the officer’s eyes with his. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary,” he said softly, compellingly. Elena could feel him using his Power. “The garage burned because it was struck by lightning in the storm. No one was here except the old lady in the house and a few of her guests. Everything’s so straightforward and simple, there’s no need to question anyone.”

The officer looked puzzled and then nodded, his face clearing. “These storms can cause a lot of property damage,” he replied.

The fire marshal snorted. “What are you talking about? Lightning didn’t strike anywhere near here.”

Stefan shifted his gaze to the fire marshal. “There’s nothing to bother investigating. . . .” But the spell was broken, and now all three men were looking at him with suspicion.

Stefan’s Power wasn’t going to be strong enough to use on all three, Elena realized, and he wouldn’t be able to convince even one of them if the men were all together, awakening one another’s doubts. Stefan’s face was drawn and tired. He had fought a long battle—more than one, actually. And Stefan was never strong in Power, not when he didn’t drink human blood. If he’d been worrying over her and preparing to fight the phantom, it had probably been days since he had had even more than a few swallows of animal blood.

Damon stepped forward. “Sir?” he said politely. The fire marshal looked at him. “If I could speak to you privately for a moment, I’m sure we can clear this up.”

The marshal frowned but followed him to the back porch of the boardinghouse, the second police officer tagging along. Under the porch light, they faced Damon, at first suspicious. Gradually, as he spoke to them, their shoulders relaxed and they began to nod and smile.

Stefan spoke softly to the other officer again. He’d be able to handle influencing one person alone, Elena knew, even in his current state.

Meredith and Bonnie had gotten into the backseat of Mrs. Flowers’s ancient automobile—so old that Elena suspected it might predate Mrs. Flowers herself—and were deep in conversation, while Alaric and Celia continued to support Mrs. Flowers under the umbrella as she listened to Stefan’s conversation with the police officer, Matt hovering nearby.

Elena walked quietly past them and slipped into the back of the car with Bonnie and Meredith. The door shut with a satisfyingly heavy clunk, and the black leather bench seat creaked and groaned under her.

Bonnie’s red curls were soaked straight, wet tendrils hanging down over her shoulders and sticking to her forehead. Her face was smudged with ash and her eyes were red, but she gave Elena a genuinely happy smile. “We won,” she said. “It’s gone for good, isn’t it? We did it.”

Meredith was solemn yet exultant, her gray eyes shining. There was still a smear of Stefan’s blood on her lips, and Elena stifled the urge to wipe it away for her. “We did win,” Meredith affirmed. “You both did so amazingly. Bonnie, it was really smart of you to start casting off jealousies as fast as you could. It kept the phantom off balance. And Elena . . .” She swallowed. “Plunging into the fire was so brave of you. How’s your hand?”

Elena held out her hand and flexed the fingers in front of them. “The incredible powers of vampire blood,” Elena said lightly. “Very useful for the aftermath of a battle, right, Meredith?”

Meredith flushed at Elena’s teasing, then smiled a little. “I don’t know,” she said. “It seemed silly
not
to use all our . . . advantages. I feel better already.”

“You were terrific, too, Meredith,” Bonnie said. “You fought like you were dancing. Graceful and strong and beautiful and so supertough, the way you used your stave.”

Elena agreed. “I never could have gotten the rose if you hadn’t cut the phantom.”

“I guess we’re all terrific,” said Meredith. “The first meeting of the Robert E. Lee High School Alumni Mutual Admiration Society is now called to order.”

“We’ll have to get Matt in and tell him how wonderful he is,” Bonnie said. “And I guess Stefan also counts as an alum, right? I think now that the world’s changed, he might have graduated with us.” She yawned, showing a small pink tongue like a cat’s. “I’m just worn out.”

Elena realized she was, too. It had been a very long day. A very long
year
since the Salvatore brothers had come to Fell’s Church and life had changed forever
.
She slumped down in the seat and rested her head on Meredith’s shoulder. “Thank you for saving the town again, both of you,” she said sleepily. It seemed important to say it. “Maybe tomorrow we can start working on normal again.”

Meredith laughed a little and hugged them both. “Nothing can defeat our sisterhood,” she said. “We’re
too good
for normal.” Her breath hitched. “When you were both taken by the phantom,” she said quietly, “I was afraid I had lost you forever. You’re my sisters, really, not just my friends, and I need you. I want you to know that.”

“Abso
lute
ly,” Bonnie said, nodding feverishly. Elena reached out for both of them. The three friends squeezed one another tightly in a laughing, slightly tearful group hug.

Tomorrow would come, and maybe
normal
—whatever that was at this point—would come, too. For now, Elena had her true friends. That was a lot. Whatever happened, that would be enough.

T
he next morning found them all back at the boardinghouse. After the previous night’s rain, the sunshine had a fresh quality to it, and everything felt bright and damp and clean, despite the smell of smoke that permeated the boardinghouse and the charred remains of the garage that could be glimpsed through the windows of the den.

Elena sat on the couch, leaning against Stefan. He traced the burn lines, nearly entirely faded, on the back of her hand. “How do they feel, heroine?” he asked.

“They hardly hurt at all, thanks to Damon.”

Damon, on the other side of Stefan, gave her a brief, blinding smile but said nothing.

They were all being careful of one another, Elena thought. She felt—and she thought everyone else probably did, too—like the day looked: shining and freshly washed, but slightly fragile. There was a lot of quiet murmuring back and forth, exchanged smiles, comfortable pauses. It was like they had completed a long journey or a difficult task together, and now it was time to rest.

Celia, dressed in pale linen trousers and a silk dove-gray top, elegant and poised as always, cleared her throat. “I’m leaving today,” she said when they all looked up at her. Her bags sat neatly on the floor beside her feet. “There’s a train to Boston in forty-five minutes, if someone will drive me to the station.”

“Of course I’ll take you,” Alaric said promptly, getting to his feet. Elena glanced at Meredith, but Meredith was frowning at Celia in concern.

“You don’t have to go, you know,” she told her. “We’d all like it if you stayed.”

Celia shrugged expressively and gave a little sigh. “Thank you, but it is time I get going. Despite the fact that we destroyed a priceless rare book and I will probably never be allowed on the Dalcrest campus again, I wouldn’t have missed this whole experience for the world.”

Meredith grinned at her and raised one eyebrow. “Even the brushes with death?”

Celia raised an eyebrow of her own. “Was there a part that wasn’t a brush with death?”

They laughed, and Elena was grateful to see that the tension between them had evaporated.

“We’ll be glad to have you anytime you want to come back, dear,” Mrs. Flowers said to Celia earnestly. “I will always have a room for you.”

“Thank you,” Celia said, looking touched. “I hope I can come back and see you all again someday.” She and Alaric left the room, and soon the rest of them heard the sounds of the outside door shutting and a car starting up.

“Good-bye, Celia,” Bonnie chirped. “She turned out to be okay in the end, though, didn’t she?” She went on without waiting for an answer. “What are we going to do today? We need to have an adventure before summer ends.”

“You haven’t had enough adventure yet?” Matt asked her disbelievingly from where he was sprawled on a rocking chair in the corner.

“I mean a
fun
, summery kind of adventure,” she said. “Not all doom and gloom and battles to the death, but fun-in-the-sun stuff. Do you realize we’ve got only about three weeks before it’s time to start
school
again? If we don’t want our only real memories of this summer in Fell’s Church to be one disastrous picnic and a horrific battle with a phantom, we’d better get started. I vote we go out to the county fair today. Come on!” she urged them, bouncing in her seat. “Roller coasters! Fun houses! Fried dough! Cotton candy! Damon can win me a big stuffed animal and take me through the Tunnel of Love! It’ll be an adventure!” She fluttered her eyelashes at Damon flirtatiously, but he didn’t take her up on her teasing. In fact, he was gazing down into his lap with a strained expression.

“You’ve done very well, children,” said Mrs. Flowers approvingly. “You certainly deserve some time to relax.”

No one answered. Damon’s tense silence was filling the room, drawing everyone’s eyes to him. Finally, Stefan cleared his throat. “Damon?” he asked cautiously.

Damon clenched his jaw and raised his eyes to meet theirs. Elena frowned. Was that
guilt
on Damon’s face? Damon didn’t do guilt—remorse wasn’t one of his many qualities. “Listen,” he said abruptly. “I realized . . . while I was making my way back from the Dark Dimension . . .” He stopped again.

Elena exchanged an anxious glance with Stefan. Again, stammering and having trouble finding the words to say what he wanted to say were not typical of Damon.

Damon shook his head and collected himself. “While I was remembering who I was, while I was barely alive again, and then while I was getting ready to come back to Fell’s Church, and everything was so painful and difficult,” he said, “all I could think of was how we—how
Elena
—had moved heaven and earth to find Stefan. She wouldn’t give up her hunt, no matter what obstacles she faced. I’d helped her—I’d risked everything to do so—and we were successful. We found Stefan and we brought him home, safe and sound. But when it was my turn to be lost, you all left me on that moon alone.”

“But Damon,” said Elena, reaching out to him, “we thought you were
dead
.”

“And we did try to move heaven and earth to save you,” Bonnie said earnestly, her big brown eyes filling with tears. “You
know
that. Elena tried everything to bribe the Guardians to get you back. She almost went crazy with grief. They just kept saying that when a vampire died, he or she was gone for good.”

“I know that now,” Damon said. “I’m not angry anymore. I haven’t been angry about it for what seems like ages. That’s not why I’m telling you this.” He glanced guiltily at Elena. “I need to apologize to all of you.”

There was a tiny collective gasp. Damon just didn’t apologize. Ever.

Elena frowned. “What for?”

Damon shrugged, and the ghost of a smirk passed over his face. “What not for, my princess.” He sobered. “The truth is, I didn’t deserve saving. I’ve done terrible things to you all as a vampire, and even when I became human again. I fought Meredith; I endangered Bonnie in the Dark Dimension. I endangered all of you.” He looked around the room. “I’m sorry,” he said to everyone, a note of sincerity and regret in his voice.

Bonnie’s lips trembled; then she threw her arms around Damon. “I forgive you!”

Damon smiled and awkwardly patted her hair. He exchanged a solemn nod with Meredith that seemed to indicate that she also forgave him—this time.

“Damon,” said Matt, shaking his head. “Are you sure you’re not possessed? You seem a little . . . off. You’re never polite to any of us but Elena.”

“Well,” said Damon, looking relieved at having gotten the confession off his chest, “don’t get used to it.
Matt
.”

Matt looked so startled and pleased that Damon had called him the right name for a change, instead of “Mutt” or nothing at all, that Damon might as well have given him a present. Elena saw Stefan give his brother a sly, affectionate nudge, and Damon elbowed him back.

No, she wouldn’t get used to it. Damon, temporarily drained of his jealousies and resentments, was as beautiful and intriguing as ever, but a heck of a lot easier to get along with. It wouldn’t last, but she could enjoy it for now.

She took a moment to really look at them, the Salvatore brothers. The vampires she loved. Stefan with his soft dark curls and sea green eyes, his long limbs and the sensitive curve of his mouth that she always longed to kiss. Sweetness and solidity and a sorrow she’d had a hand in lightening. Damon, leather and silk and fine chiseled features. Mercurial and devastating. She loved them both. She couldn’t be sorry, couldn’t be anything other than sincerely, wholly grateful for the fate that had thrown them in her path.

But it wouldn’t be easy. She couldn’t imagine what would happen when this new comfort and friendliness between the brothers, between all of them, ended. She didn’t doubt that it would dissolve. Irritations and jealousies were just a part of life, and they would build up again.

She squeezed Stefan’s hand in hers and smiled past him at Damon, whose dark eyes warmed.

Inwardly, she sighed a little, then smiled more widely. Bonnie was right: College was just around the corner, a whole new adventure. Until then, they should take their pleasures where they could find them.

“Cotton candy?” she said. “I can’t remember the last time I had cotton candy. I’m definitely up for Bonnie’s idea of adventure.”

Stefan brushed his lips against hers in a kiss that was as sweet and light as cotton candy itself, and she leaned into the comfort of his arms.

It couldn’t last. Elena knew it. But she was very happy. Stefan was himself again, not angry or fearful or grieving, but himself, the one she loved. And Damon was alive, and safe, and with them. All her friends were around her.

She was truly home at last.