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"I'm fine," Elena answered, and kissed him. Stefan pulled her closer and she leaned into his embrace, taking comfort in the strength of his arms around her. "Andres held Klaus off, Stefan. He was so brave, and he told Damon to get me away. They saved me. " She swallowed back a sob. "We can't let Klaus kill him. "
"We won't," Stefan promised, his mouth against her hair. "We'll get there in time. "
Elena sniffed back her tears. "You can't know that. "
"We'll do our best," Stefan told her. "It will have to be good enough. "
The sun was low in the sky, and afternoon sunlight spread across the grass between the trees. Elena spent the next few minutes sharpening stakes. They didn't have wood from the blessed tree, but ordinary white ash would at least hurt Klaus. And any wood would kill his vampire descendants.
"All right," Stefan said at last, calling everyone together. "I think we're as ready as we're going to be. " Elena looked around at the gathered group: Meredith and Alaric, hand in hand, looking strong and ready for anything. Bonnie, her cheeks flushed and her curls going in every direction, but sticking her chin out defiantly. Matt and Chloe, pale but determined. Zander, still human-form for now, shooting wistful, confused glances at Bonnie, flanked by Shay and the other werewolves, an empty space among them.
Damon stood alone on the other side of the circle, watching Elena. When Stefan cleared his throat, preparing to speak, Damon shifted his eyes to watch his brother instead. He looked, Elena thought, resigned. Not happy, but not angry anymore.
Stefan smiled softly at Elena beside him and looked around at rest of the group. "We'll find Andres," he said. "Today we're going to rescue him, and we're going to kill Klaus and his vampires. We're a team now, all of us. No one - none of us here, and no one else on this campus or in this town - will be safe as long as Klaus and his followers are alive. We've already seen what they are capable of. They killed James, who was kind and knowledgeable. They killed Chad, who was smart and loyal. " The werewolves shifted angrily, and Stefan went on. "They've attacked innocent people across this campus and across this town in the last few weeks, and before that, the vampires in Klaus's army slaughtered the innocent all over the world. We have to do what we can. We're the only ones who can fend off the darkness, because we're the only ones here who know the truth. " His eyes caught on Damon's and they held each other's gaze for a long moment until Damon finally glanced away, fiddling with the cuff of his jacket. "It's time for us to take a stand," Stefan said.
There was a murmur of agreement, and everyone was turning to one another, picking up their weapons and gathering themselves, ready to fight. Elena grabbed Stefan in a tight, hard hug, her heart bursting with love. He tried so hard to take care of everyone.
"Are you ready, Elena?" Stefan asked her, and she let him go and nodded, wiping a hand quickly across her eyes.
Breathing deeply, she reached deep inside herself, thinking protection, thinking evil, trying to trigger her Power in the way Andres had taught her.
When she opened her eyes, she felt a strong, almost undeniable pull, jerking her toward Damon. Unable to stop herself, she stepped forward before she felt Stefan's hand on her arm, restraining her.
"No," he breathed. "You must find Klaus. "
Elena nodded, avoiding Damon's startled eyes. The pull to Damon was intense: she tried to ignore it, but she knew it was her Guardian task calling to her. Closing her eyes again, she breathed and concentrated on Klaus. Images flew in rapid succession across her mind: his cold, brutal kiss, his laughter as he kicked his feet at the top of the elevator, the way he had thrown Chad's poor wrecked body across the clearing.
This time, when she opened her eyes, the dark tug inside her was leading out of the clearing, away from Damon, and she felt like she could almost taste the thick, black, noxious fog of Klaus's aura.
Elena headed where her Power led her, and her friends followed, walking close together. As they went, Zander and Shay and the other werewolves who could change without the moon transformed, loping along beside the humans with their ears cocked for any sounds of attack, their mouths open to catch the scents the wind carried.
They skirted around the edge of campus, sticking to the trees and trying to stay out of sight. Elena expected her Power to lead them farther into the woods, toward where they had fought Klaus before, but instead it tugged her back onto the campus.
At the back of the campus lay the old stables. As they approached, the miasma of darkness seemed to be pulling her along toward the building, and an equal darkness was gathering overhead. Black clouds were hovering over the stables, low and threatening. Zander cocked his ears forward, his tail stiffening, and one of the human-form werewolves - Marcus, Elena thought - tilted his head as if he were listening.
"Zander says that's not a natural storm brewing," Marcus said apprehensively.
"No," Elena said. "Klaus can handle lightning. " The werewolves stared at her in alarm for a moment, their shaggy heads going up, ears erect, then refocused their attention on the door to the stables, looking even warier than before.
"He knows we're coming," Stefan said tensely. "That's what the storm clouds are showing. He's ready for us. Bonnie, Alaric, to the sides. Stay clear of the fighting, but keep casting as many spells as you can. Damon, Meredith, Chloe, I want you with me in the first wave. Zander, whatever you think best for the Pack. Matt and Elena, take weapons but hang back. "
Elena nodded. Part of her wanted to rebel against being kept in the rear while her friends were in battle, but it made sense. She and Matt were strong, but not as strong as vampires or werewolves, and not as well able to protect themselves and others as the magic-users. If she was supposed to kill Damon, she assumed some magic fighting Powers would show up eventually, but she didn't know how handy aura-reading and tracking would be now that they'd found Klaus.
As they reached the door, there was a beat of hesitation.
"For God's sake," Damon said scornfully. "They already know we're out here. " Slamming one elegant Italian-made boot into the center of the stable doors, he kicked them wide open.
It was only because of the speed of his vampiric r
eflexes that Damon survived at all. As soon as the doors opened, a heavy pointed beam that had been carefully rigged on top of them slammed down. Damon was able to twitch automatically aside just enough so that the blow caught him in the shoulder, propelling him backward and out the door, rather than through the chest. Clutching his shoulder, he folded over and fell into the dirt.
Automatically, Elena ran forward, only half-aware of Matt keeping pace beside her. The others, the fighters, were streaming through the doors: Meredith with her stave swinging, Stefan's face twisted with fury, werewolves leaping into the fray.
With Matt's help, Elena pulled Damon out of the way and felt at his chest, checking his injury. The beam had pierced his shoulder, leaving a gaping wound that both Elena's fists could have fit inside. The ground below him was already black and swampy with blood.
"It looks pretty bad," Matt said.
"Won't kill me," Damon gasped, clutching at the wound with one hand as if he could pull its edges back together. "Get back to the fight, you idiots. "
