Read The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unseen Online

Authors: L. J. Smith,Aubrey Clark

The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unseen (20 page)

BOOK: The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unseen
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When he called, she picked up immediately. “Damon? Are you okay?” Her voice was thick with tears, and he stiffened automatically.

“What’s wrong, princess?” he asked, peering over the side of the museum. Was that a vampire far below, moving purposefully toward him? He sent his Power questing, found nothing. Sometimes they seemed to turn up out of nowhere, and he wasn’t good at sensing this new kind of vampire at all.

“Andrés is dead,” Elena told him, her voice cracking. “We think … the Old One we thought Stefan and Andrés killed, he’s not dead after all. And he murdered Andrés.” She gave a desolate little sob that went straight to Damon’s heart.

“Oh, Elena,” Damon said softly. “I’m sorry. I know you cared for him.” The Guardian had been a friend to Elena, and, for that, Damon found it in himself to feel sorry he was gone.

Wait a minute. The Old One had been strong enough to trick Stefan and murder a Guardian?

Damn
Stefan, anyway. He had told Damon that everything was fine.

“Stefan couldn’t kill the Old One?” he asked, his eyes fixed on the walkway below. There were definitely more figures gathering there.

“It wasn’t Stefan’s fault,” Elena argued. Damon sighed. Elena would always defend Stefan.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s okay,” he said. “Stefan thought he was in control, and he wasn’t. He told me you’d be fine.”

Damon got to his feet, keeping a careful eye on the little knot of people—or vampires?—far below. Straightening his jacket, he realized his hands were shaking slightly. It was so
typical
of Stefan. He wasn’t as careful as he thought he was.

“Nothing’s ever Stefan’s fault, is it?” he went on, surprised at the bitterness in his own voice. “I asked him to come out here to help us, and he said
no.
And now Katherine’s dead. He said he would protect you, you and all your little human friends out there wallowing in small-town America, and now they’re dying.”

Elena sucked in a short, horrified breath. “Katherine’s dead?” she asked.

“Yes,” Damon said. He could hear Elena starting to cry again. Belatedly, he tried to soften his tone. Katherine and Elena, he had forgotten they had their own tie. “We just … weren’t enough to fight what’s after us, not this time. I asked Stefan to help, but he wouldn’t come. I’ll kill them, though, I promise you that.”

“I had no idea,” Elena said bleakly. “I’m so sorry, Damon. I know how much she meant to you.”

For a moment, Damon was surprised that Elena knew how he’d felt about Katherine, when he’d only just figured it out himself. But of course Elena knew; she could feel everything he felt. He pressed his fist against his chest, letting the ache of sorrow pass between them.

“She and Stefan were the only ones left,” he said. “The only ones who knew who I used to be. Now there’s only Stefan.”

Elena sighed softly through the phone, thousands of miles away, and Damon felt her sympathy like a warm pulse in the bond between them.

The group down below was streaming into the museum. It was dark and silent inside; these were no tourists. Time to go. “Elena, I can’t talk,” he said, speaking quickly, slamming shut her link to his emotions. “I’ll call again soon.”

He clicked the phone off and tucked it into his pocket, ignoring her call of “
Damon
!” Closing his eyes, he searched for his Power and pulled it around him.

For a moment, he didn’t think he would be strong enough. He was so tired and hungry. He’d raced across most of Europe in the past few weeks, trying to get away from these nearly unkillable vampires, but they just kept coming. He could hear footsteps on the grand staircase of the museum, far below. Maybe Paris was as good a place as any to die one more time.

No.
Fiercely, he dug deep in himself for more Power. He was
Damon Salvatore.
He was an aristocrat, a gentleman, a vampire. No one was going to bring
him
to his knees.

In his rage, he found what he needed. Long before his pursuers reached the roof of the museum, Damon had stretched his wings and flown into the darkness.

Elena couldn’t breathe. Andrés dead. Katherine dead. Trinity dead, or possessed—who knew how much of her was still in there?

Damon had asked Stefan to help him, and Stefan had said no. Why hadn’t he told her?

She was gripping her phone so tightly that its edges hurt her hand. Carefully, she hit the off button and put it down. Then she went to find Stefan.

He was sharpening the machete, the long-bladed weapon propped carefully against his knee as he slid a file along it.

“I need some more blood from you for the weapons,” he said without looking up. “If Solomon’s still out there, we need to go after him.”

“Damon just called,” Elena told him. “Katherine’s dead.”

Stefan’s hand jerked, slicing a long cut on his arm with the machete, and he gave a small cry of pain. But his leaf-green eyes were unsurprised. “I know,” he said. “I’ve known since it happened.”

Elena found a cloth for him in the kitchen. “Here,” she said. “Put some pressure on it.” But the cut was already healing. Stefan just wiped the blood away and went back to sharpening the machete, his face closed off again.

“I thought—I felt something; I knew she was gone. How did she die?” he asked, his eyes on the blade. Elena knelt beside him and pressed her face against his shoulder, and he stopped sharpening the machete for a moment to rest his hand heavily against her hair.

“Damon didn’t have time to say. I think something is chasing him.” Elena drew back and watched Stefan keep moving the file steadily along the blade. Then she said, hesitantly, “He told me he asked you to come and help them. Days ago.”

Stefan nodded, still not meeting her eyes. “I couldn’t,” he explained. “We were hunting for Solomon. I had to keep you safe.”

“Stefan! Look at me.” Stefan’s head was still bowed, his gaze averted. Elena grabbed the handle of the machete and pulled it away from him. Stefan hissed in shock, yanking his hands back before it cut him again. Elena tossed the machete onto the floor.

“I am not that vulnerable,” she said hotly. “I’m a Guardian, and I have Power of my own.” Powerful and amazing, Trinity had called her. Elena knew she needed to remember that, to remember that she didn’t need to be protected.

Getting to his feet, Stefan stared at her, stricken. “Andrés was a Guardian,” he said. “And look what happened.”

“And we weren’t able to prevent it,” Elena said. She was tired of this, tired of Stefan treating her like she was more vulnerable than the rest of them. Yes, Andrés had died, and it was terrible and frightening. Any of them could die, not just Elena. “All I’m saying is that I can take care of myself sometimes. And when I can’t, there are people around me who can help. Meredith. The other hunters. A whole Pack of werewolves. I’m not alone.”

Stefan reached out and took Elena’s hands, pressing them against his chest, above his heart. “I had to be here,” he said. “I want to protect you.”

“It’s not just about me,” Elena said. “When Damon called you for help, you should have gone. He’s your brother, and he needed you.”

Stefan’s mouth twisted into a bitter parody of a smile, still clinging to her hands. “It’s always Damon, isn’t it?” he asked. “Even when he’s thousands of miles away, he manages to come between us.”

Elena stared at him, and then she pulled away. “This has nothing to do with Damon. This is about
us
. I’m not something to protect. I’m a protector. We need to work together, and we need to keep the big picture in mind. I’m not the only person in the world, Stefan.”

“To me you are,” Stefan said, and reached for her again. Elena shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. How had they gotten to this state?

The room blurred around her, and she wiped her eyes. “Maybe you should sleep out here tonight,” she said, her heart aching. “I need some room to breathe.”

#TVD11TroubleInParadise

D
ear Diary,

Stefan said that, to him, I’m the only person in the world.

There was a time when I would have loved to hear that. But now, it just makes my blood run cold.

He’s out on the balcony, staring into the night, watching for danger instead of curling up in here with his arms around me. Most of me wants to run out there and apologize. He’d lose that miserable look he has, and we’d hold each other, and everything would be back to normal. For the night.

But when we woke up, the problem wouldn’t be gone.

Everyone Stefan has ever loved—including me, including Damon—has died, and left him.

It breaks my heart how much Stefan has suffered, how it’s almost impossible for him to believe that terrible things aren’t about to happen.

Of course it’s scary that Solomon’s still alive, and still hunting me. But I’m a Guardian, and I’m strong in my own way.

I ought to be protecting everyone. That’s what I’m here for, after all.

I keep worrying about Damon. If he asked Stefan for help, he must have really needed it, and Stefan would have known that. What’s changed, that Stefan thinks protecting me is the only thing that matters?

I love him. So much. And I’ve never regretted choosing to drink the Fountain of Eternal Youth and Life, so that I could be with Stefan, forever.

I’ve never wondered if I made the right choice. Not until now.

“Looks quiet,” Jack said, parking his van in front of the storage place. Row upon row of heavy metal sliding doors lined the walls of the huge concrete building, each marking a separate unit. “Our extra weapon stash is in row J. If Solomon’s possessing Trinity and can access her memories, he might come here.” He gave a half shrug as he unfastened his seat belt. “Worth a shot.”

In the middle row of the van, Stefan closed his eyes wearily, just for a moment. He’d been dragging all morning, feeling like he was moving at half speed.

He was so tired. Elena’s words still echoed in his mind:
I’m not the only person in the world, Stefan.

To him, she was.

From her seat beside Stefan, Elena gave him a tiny, fragile smile. Stefan’s chest ached a little at the peace offering. He smiled back, then, sighing, reached for the door handle. Tired or not, they needed to keep hunting Solomon.

“Wait a sec,” Alaric said. “There’s something you guys need to see.” Leaning forward from the back row of seats, he handed Stefan a piece of paper. Zander craned his neck to get a better look, but Meredith, sitting between them, didn’t react. She must have already known.

It was a computer printout of a “Missing” poster from the 1980s. Elena gave a sharp, high gasp when she saw it, and Stefan turned the paper so Jack and Darlene could see from the front as well. The photo was washed-out but recognizable: a young, sharp-featured man with tawny, shoulder-length hair, giving the camera an easy smile.

“That’s Solomon,” Zander said, cocking his head to one side. “Definitely. But the poster says Gabriel Dalton. I don’t understand.”

“When Meredith told me that you guys thought Solomon had possessed Trinity before he died, it didn’t quite make sense,” Alaric told them. “Possession doesn’t work like that. If Solomon had his own corporeal body, the shock of it being destroyed would have jolted him right back out of Trinity. I thought something else might be going on, so …” He spread his hands, his eyes on the smiling photo of Gabriel Dalton. “I did some research. I think Solomon body-swapped into Trinity’s body from Gabriel Dalton’s, pulled her spirit out, and put his own in. The body we saw wasn’t his original form either.”

“This is proof that Solomon’s done it before,” Meredith said. “The body Solomon was using was once someone else’s.”

“So who did we kill in Solomon’s—or, Gabriel’s, body?” Jack asked, looking grim. “This Gabriel Dalton? Trinity?”

Alaric spread his hands in a
who knows?
gesture. “I think Gabriel Dalton’s been dead for a while. Solomon wouldn’t leave any loose ends, and if someone believed they were Gabriel Dalton in another form, it would make things … messier for him.”

Stefan felt ill. Abruptly, he reached again for the door handle and hurried out of the van. He felt the others startle behind him, then follow toward the hunters’ storage locker.
There’s nothing you can do about it now
, he told himself. There was a bitter taste in his mouth. He’d thought killing Solomon was a triumph, but instead he’d murdered an innocent ally. He didn’t want to believe it, but it felt true.

BOOK: The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unseen
9.29Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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