The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Twenty-Three

I dont know how it got so late, Elena utter for the ternary time as they hurried cut the path by the quad. clean and Meredith are probably worried ab egress me.They know youre with me, Damon said, pacing on unruffled beside her.I dont call up theyl find that comforting, Elena said, and bit her tongue as Damon shot her an expressive look.After al the time weve spent cont termination side by side, they stil dont trust me? he said silkily. Id be rottenly hurt. If I cared what they estimate.I dont mean that they think youd hurt me, Elena said.Not anymore. Or that you wouldnt protect me. I guess they worry that you might might give way a channelisespring at me. Or something.Damon stopped and looked at her. then(prenominal) he picked up her hand and held it, running cardinal finger down the inside of her arm, tracing the vein that led from Elenas wrist to her elbow. And what do you think? he asked, smiling gently.Elena snatched her hand back, glaring at him. Clearly they th row off a point, she said. Knock it off. Just friends, remember?Sighing amplely, Damon started go again, and Elena hurried to magnetize up.Im glad you decided to come to the party with me, she said even uptual y. Itl be pleasure. Damon shot her a velvet-black glance through his lashes still said nonhing.It was incessantly fun to be with Damon, Elena thought, listening to the clicking of her own heels and watching her shadow commence and disappear as they walked beneath the streetlights. Or at least, it was always fun when Damon was in a good mood and nonhing was exhausting to kil them, twain circumstances she wished coincided more often.Stefan, sweet, darling Stefan, was the love of her life.She had no doubts ab stunned that. but now Damon made her aroma breathless and excited, swept up in something larger than herself. Damon made her feel like she was special.And he was more easygoing than chronic tonight. After Matt left, theyd searched the library some more, and then Damon treated her to chips and carbonated water in the basement vending-machine room. They sat at one of the teeny tables and talked and laughed. It wasnt anything get a line or elegant, nothing like the parties hed escorted her to in the Dark Dimension, but it was prospering and fun, and when she looked at her phone, she was startled to see that more than an hour had passed.And now Damon even volunteered to come to a col ege keg party. Maybe he was trying to get along with her friends. Maybe they could real y be friends, erstwhile things somehow worked out between Stefan and him.Elena had reached this point in her musings when she suddenly got the straightforward creepy-crawly feeling that she was being watched. The little hairs on the back of her farawaye s to a faultd up.Damon, she said softly. Theres someone watching us.Damons pupils dilated as he sniffed the air. Elena could tel that he was direct out questing tendrils of Power, searching for an answering surge, for someone focusing on them.Nothing, he said after a moment. He tucked his hand infra her arm, pul ing her nastyr. It could just be your imagination, princess, but wel be careful. The leather of Damons jacket was gleam against Elenas side, and she held tightly to him as they stepped out into the road that divided the campus.Just crossways from them, a car that had been idling at the curb gunned its engine. Its headlights blazed on, blinding Elena. Damons armor locked slightly her waist, squeezing the breath out of her.The cars tires squealed and it shot toward them. Elena panicked oh God, oh God, she thought serve uplessly and froze. Then she was sailing through the air, Damon holding her so tightly that it hurt.When they hit the grass on the other side of the road, Damon paused for a moment, adjusting his empale on Elena, and Elena peered back at the car, which had passed where they were standing a moment in the first place and skidded back most in a U-turn. She couldn t make out anything, not what kind of car it was nor anything about the driver buns the bright lights, it was just a hulking dark hammer.A hulking dark shape that was veering onto the grass and coming back after them. Damon swore and yanked her onward, running instead than flying now, Elenas feet barely touching the ground. Her heart was pounding. She could tel Damon was hampered from using his ful speed by keeping Elena close. They dodged around the corner of a building and leaned against its wal , surrounded by bushes.The car hurtled by, then turned, its wheels leaving long skid marks, and lumbered back to the road.We broken him, Elena whispered, panting.Annoy anyone lately, princess? Damon asked, his look sharp.I should be asking you that, Elena retorted. Then she intent her arms around herself. She was so cold suddenly. Do you think it could direct been because of the Vitale Society? she asked, her voice quavering.Something about them and my parents?We dont know who or wh at could deplete been on the other side of that trapdoor, Damon replied somberly. Or maybe MattNot Matt, Elena said firmly. Matt would never hurt me. Damon nodded. Thats true. Hes ridiculously honorable, your Matt. He gave her a little wry sideways smile. And he loves you. Everyone loves you, Elena. He shrugged out of his jacket and clad it over her shoulders.One things certain, though. If the driver of that car thought I was man before, he knows differently now. Elena pul ed the jacket more tightly around herself. You saved me, she said in a tiny voice. Thank you. Damons eye were soft as he put his arms around her.I wil always save you, Elena, he promised. Dont you know that by now? His pupils dilated, and he pul ed her closer. I cant lose you, he murmured.Elena felt up like she was fal ing. The existence was being swal owed up in Damons midnight eyes, and she was being drawn along with it, into the darkness. A tiny part of her said no, but despite it she leaned toward him and met his verbalize with hers.Stefan tapped his fingers against the wal shadow him, looked around at al the people jammed too close together talking, laughing, arguing, drinking, dancing. His skin was crawling with anxiety. Where was she? Matt said hed seen her at the library more than an hour ago, that she had been planning on coming to the party then. fashioning up his mind, Stefan began to push his way toward the exit. Maybe Elena didnt want him in encounter with her right now, but people were dying and disappearing. It would be worth it to have her angry with him, as long as he knew that she was okay.He passed Meredith, deep in conversation with her friend, and said, Im going to find Elena. He had the quick belief of her faltering, starting to reach out a hand to stop him, but he left her behind. He pushed open the door and stepped out into the nerveless night air. Campus security was stil by the door checking IDs, but they let him pass without comment, solely interested in people trying to come into the party.Outside, the twist was rushing through the trees overhead and a crescent moon rode risque and white above the buildings around him. Stefan sent his Power out around him, feeling for the distinct traces of Elena.He couldnt sense anything, not yet. There were too many people too close together here, and Stefan could only feel the tangled traces of thousands of humans, their emotions and life force mixing together in one great underlying buzz from which it was impossible for him, at this surpass, to pick out any particular individual, even one as singular as Elena.If he had fed on human blood recently, it would have been easier. Stefan couldnt help thinking longingly of the way that Power had surged through him when he drank regularly from his friends. But that was when Fel s Church needed his best defense against the kitsune. He wouldnt drink human blood just for pleasure or convenience.Stefan started walking quickly across the quad, stil sendi ng out questing fingers of Power around and in front of himself. If he couldnt locate Elena that way, he would head for where she was last seen. He hoped that, as he got closer to the library, his Power would pick up some top of her.His whole body was thrumming anxiously. What if Elena had been attacked, what if she mysteriously vanished and never returned, leaving him with this strange distance as their last memory of each other? Stefan walked faster.He was midway to the library when the distinctive sense of Elena hit him like a punch. someplace nearby.He scanned left and right and then he saw her. A terrible pain shot through his chest, as if he could veridical y feel his heart breaking. She was kissing Damon. They were half hidden in the shadows, but their light skin and Elenas blond hair shone. They were focused only on each other, so much so that, despite his Power, Damon wasnt conscious(predicate) of Stefans presence, not even when he walked right up to them.Is this why y ou valued to take some time apart, Elena? Stefan asked, his voice sounding hol ow and distant. Final y noticing him, they broke away from each other, Elenas face pale with shock.Stefan, she said. Please, Stefan, no, its not what it looks like. She reached out a hand toward him, then drew it back uncertainly.Everything seemed so far away to Stefan he was aware that he was shaking, his mouth was dry, but it felt almost as if he was watching someone else in pain. I cant do this, he said. Not again. If I fight for you, Il just end up destroying us al . Just like with Katherine. Elena was shaking her head back and forth, her hands stretched out toward him imploringly again. Please, Stefan, she said.I cant, Stefan said again, endorse away, his voice thin and desperate.Then, for the first time, he looked at Damon, and a redhot temper slammed into him, overriding the numb distance instantly. Al you do is take, Stefan told him bitterly. This is the last time. Were not brothers anymore. Da mons face opened for a split second in dismay, his eyes widening, as if he was about to speak, and then he hardened again, his mouth twisting scornful y, and he jerked his head at Stefan. Very well, that question indicated, then get lost.Stefan stumbled backward, and then he turned and ran, moving with al the supernatural grace and speed at his command, leaving them far behind even as Elena screamed, Stefan