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"Please, Meredith," Elena said again, ignoring his words, and stretched out her hands to her friend pleadingly.
"Oh, yes," Damon said mockingly, turning his sharp smile on Meredith. "Please, Meredith. Are you sure about who your allies are here, hunter?"
Meredith had lowered her stave a couple of inches, but her eyes were flat and hard as she glared at Elena. "You and Stefan jumped in to protect him awfully quickly," she said coldly. "How long has this been going on?"
Elena flinched. "I've known for a few days that Damon was hunting again," she said. "The girls were all right at the end, though. " She knew how weak that protest was. Worse, she wasn't sure she quite believed it - Damon had abandoned the girl she and Stefan found in the woods; she could have died. What else had he done?
But she couldn't let Meredith kill him.
"I'll take responsibility for him," she said quickly. "Stefan and I. We'll make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else. Please, Meredith. " Stefan nodded, his hand tight again around his brother's arm, as if he was restraining a disobedient child. Damon sneered at them both.
Meredith hissed through her teeth with frustration. "What about you?" she said, jerking her chin at Damon. "Do you have anything more to say for yourself?"
Damon tilted his chin and gave her a cool, arrogant smile, but said nothing. Elena's heart sank: Damon had clearly decided to be as irritating as possible. After a moment, Meredith jabbed the stave at Elena, stopping well short of touching her.
"Don't forget," she said. "This is your problem. Your responsibility, Elena. If he kills anyone, he'll be dead the next day. And we're not done talking about this. "
Elena felt Stefan, pulling Damon with him, move up behind her, a strong, supportive figure at her shoulder. "We understand," he said solemnly.
Meredith glared at them all, shaking her head, and then turned and walked off without a word. Alaric and Bonnie followed her, supporting Damon's victim between them, her choking sobs the only sound Elena could hear. Zander and Spencer gave Elena and the Salvatore brothers long, thoughtful looks before following the others. Elena trembled inwardly: the Pack could be a dangerous enemy, if it decided Elena wasn't on the right side.
As soon as her friends had rounded the bend in the path and were out of sight, Elena whirled angrily to face Damon. But Stefan, still clutching Damon by one arm, spoke before she could.
"You idiot," he said coldly, punctuating his words with a little shake of Damon's arm. "What were you thinking, Damon? You want to undo all the good you've done?" With each question, he shook his brother a little more.
Damon shoved Stefan's hand away, the mocking smile he'd worn dropping off his face. "I was thinking that I'm a vampire, little brother," he said. "Clearly a lesson you still have to learn. " He wiped the blood from his mouth.
"Damon - " Elena said in exasperation, but Damon was already turning away. Quicker than her eyes could see, he was gone. A moment later, from a tree on the other side of the athletic field a large crow flew up, letting out a raucous caw.
"We might not be able to save Damon," Stefan said in a troubled voice, taking her hand. "Not this time. "
Elena nodded. "I know," she said. "But we have to try. " Her eyes followed the bird, just a dot in the sky now, as it flew above the campus. Regardless of what she had promised Meredith, she didn't know if she could stop Damon from doing anything he wanted. But she and Stefan wouldn't let Damon die. Somehow, at some point, saving him had become more important than anything else.
Chapter 19
Elena had been no stranger to battle in the past year. Her younger self would never have dreamed about weapons practice and defensive maneuvers. That Elena had focused on trips to France and beautiful dresses. But now, the fight against evil was what gave Elena a thrill, as much as she hated to admit it. Now, she walked united with her friends and allies, all looking to her for guidance.
Usually they were all united and looking to her for guidance, anyway. Since she and Stefan had defended Damon, Meredith had been distant. The Pack had been eyeing them so suspiciously that Elena could almost see the hair bristling on their heads as they shied away from her. Elena had turned the other day to find Shay staring at her menacingly. Even Bonnie had seemed to be avoiding her for the last few days. Only Andres, although she'd told him what had happened, remained unchanged in his attitude toward Elena. They'd worked together the previous day, trying to unlock more of Elena's Powers, but hadn't been successful yet.
The fact that her other friends were suddenly suspicious of her hurt. The night after they found Damon feeding, Elena had been with Stefan in his room. "We're doing the right thing, aren't we?" she had asked him, hot tears stinging the corners of her eyes. "Even though our friends are scared, we can't abandon Damon. "
Stefan had dragged a heavy, comforting hand across her back. "Everything will be okay," he said, but Elena could hear the doubt and pain in his voice, mirroring her own.
Elena had to beg Meredith to follow her again as she tried to locate Klaus. But finding Klaus before he attacked was the best plan, Elena was sure, and this time they had all the fighters they could bring together. Klaus was so powerful; maybe the element of surprise would give them some advantage. Although a small comfort, they hoped that the daylight might also work in their favor.
The sunlight certainly seemed to be bothering Chloe, Elena thought. The curly-haired girl's dimples were nowhere in sight as she clung close to Matt's side, her head bowed. She looked strained and miserable, and Matt, although standing straight and alert as a soldier, seemed weary, his features sharper and paler than they'd been just a couple of weeks before.
Zander and his Pack of Original werewolves, on the other hand, were hyped up and practically bouncing off the walls. As Elena watched, Zander grabbed tall, shaggy Marcus in an armlock and forced him to his knees, both of them laughing and swearing as Marcus kicked at him. Even Shay, who usually seemed a little removed from the rest of the Pack, was getting in on the act, gleefully screeching from her perch on Jared's shoulders as he spun around and around, trying to dislodge her. Tonight would be a full moon, and the werewolves, sensing the change coming, were high on adrenaline.
Stefan was moving among their friends, calmly offering instructions and words of encouragement. The werewolves quieted to listen to him, their expressions alert. Bonnie and Alaric, looking through a book of spells Alaric had located, turned to show Stefan what they had found, obviously asking his advice. They might be angry at him for protecting Damon, Elena realized with a surge of pride, but when push came to shove, they all trusted Stefan.
Meredith remained silent as she prepared for the battle. She sharpened her knives and polished her stave with her face tight and closed off, refusing to look at Stefan or Elena. Impulsively, Elena started toward her hunter friend. She didn't know what she could say, but Meredith understood loyalty: she'd be able to forgive Elena even if she didn't agree with her. But before she made it more than a few steps, Elena felt a hand on her arm. She turned and there was Andres, smiling tentatively at her.
"You came," she said, simple pleasure bubbling up inside her.
"You called me," he answered. "We have to stick together against the evil things of this world, yes?"
"Absolutely," Stefan said as he joined them. Elena introduced Stefan and Andres, watching as Andres frowned and pulled back a little, clearly realizing for the first time that the Stefan she'd told him about was a vampire. But then he shook Stefan's hand enthusiastically, and Elena relaxed. She'd thought Andres would see through to the good person Stefan was, vampire or not, but she hadn't been entirely sure. The Guardians of the Celestial Court had not, after all, not really.
