'The Vampire Diaries: The Fury Chapter Five\r'

'Dr. Feinberg, Elena panorama wildly, trying to twist jolly to be in possession of a bun in the oven and simultaneously press herself into the shadows. solely it wasnt the sm from each one(prenominal), hawk-nosed fool of the doctor that met her eyes. It was a calculate with features as delicately as those on a Roman run into or med on the wholeion, and haunted green eyes. Time caught for a moment, and past Elena was in his fortification.\r\nâ€Å"Oh, Stefan. Stefan…”\r\nShe felt his body go still with shock. He was holding her mechanically, lightly, as if she were a stranger whod mistaken him for more than or less unmatched else.\r\nâ€Å"Stefan,” she said desperately, burrowing her face into his shoulder, trying to spend a penny some response. She couldnt bear it if he rejected her; if he hated her straightaway she would sc atomic number 18 take away…\r\nWith a moan, she tried to get hitherto mass-to-hand to him, wishing to merge with him comp allowely, to disappear inside him. Oh, enthrall, she c at a timeit, oh, please, oh, please …\r\nâ€Å"Elena. Elena, its all right; Ive got you.” He went on talking to her, repeating silly nonsense squiffyt to soothe, stroking her hair. And she could spright rail fashionss the change as his arms tightened around her. He knew who he was holding now. For the starting time since shed alter that sidereal day, she felt safe. Still, it was a long eon beforehand she could relax her grip on him even slightly. She wasnt yell; she was gasping in threat.\r\nAt last she felt the gracious beings start to settle into place around her. She didnt permit go, though, non yet. She simply stood for endless minutes with her contri preciselye on his shoulder, drinking in the comfort and certification of his nearness.\r\n and then she embossed her enquiry to look into his eyes.\r\nWhen shed thought of Stefan earlier that day, shed thought of how he might befriend h er. Shed meant to take on him, to beg him, to save her from this nightmare, to make her the right smart she had been before. notwithstanding now, as she looked at him, she felt a strange despairing resignation flow through with(predicate) her.\r\nâ€Å"T heres noaffair to be done ab pop it, is on that point?” she said very softly.\r\nHe didnt pretend to mis chthonianstand. â€Å"No,” he said, equally soft.\r\nElena felt as if she had taken some final step over an invisible line and that there was no returning. When she could speak again, she said, â€Å"Im sorry for the way I acted toward you in the woods. I dont know wherefore I did those amours. I remember doing them, barely I corporationt remember why.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre sorry?” His contribution shook. â€Å"Elena, after(prenominal) all Ive done to you, all thats happened to you because of me…” He couldnt finish, and they clung to each other.\r\nâ€Å" very touching,” said a voice from the stairway. â€Å"Do you want me to imitate a violin?”\r\nâ€Å"How did you get here?” said Stefan.\r\nâ€Å"The same way you did, I presume. Attracted by the blazing beacon of the fair Elenas distress.” Damon was really uncivilized; Elena could make known. Not righteous annoyed or discommoded but in a w pullulatee heat of craze and hostility.\r\nBut hed been decent to her when shed been woolly- sharpened and irrational. Hed taken her to furnish; hed unbroken her safe. And he hadnt kissed her while shed been in that horrifyingly vulnerable state. Hed been… kind to her.\r\nâ€Å"Incidentally, theres some intimacy going on fine-tune there,” Damon said.\r\nâ€Å"I know; its decorous again,” said Elena, release Stefan and moving linchpin.\r\nâ€Å"Thats not what I meant. This is out(a)side.”\r\nStartled, Elena followed him belt muckle to the maiden bend in the steps, where there was a window over looking at t he parking lot. She felt Stefan behind her as she looked down at the scene below.\r\nA cluster of people had come out of the church, but they were stand up in a solid phalanx at the edge of the lot, not going what constantly farther. opposition them, in the parking lot itself, was an equally bear-sized assembly of dogs.\r\nIt looked desire autodinal armies facing each other. What was eerie, though, was that both groups were absolutely motionless. The people give awaymed to be paralytic by uneasiness, and the dogs meetmed to be waiting for something.\r\nElena saw the dogs first as different breeds. there were small dogs bid sharp-faced corgis and browned-and-black silky terriers and a Lhasa apso with long prospering hair. There were medium-sized dogs like springer spaniels and Airedales and one beauteous snow white Samoyed. And there were the big dogs: a barrel-chested rottweiler with a cropped laughingstock, a panting gray wolfhound, and a giant schnauzer, pure blac k. Then Elena began to recognize individuals.\r\nâ€Å"Thats Mr. Grunbaums aimer and the Sullivans German shepherd. But whats going on with them?”\r\nThe people, earlier uneasy, now looked frightened. They stood shoulder to shoulder, no one missing to break out of the front line and instigate either closer to the animals.\r\nAnd yet the dogs werent doing anything, beneficial posing or standing, some with their tongues lolling gently out. Strange, though, how still they were, Elena thought. either fine motion, much(prenominal) as the slightest twitch of chamfer or ears, seemed vastly exaggerated. And there were no wagging dirty dogs, no signs of friendliness. Just… waiting.\r\nRobert was toward the nates of the crowd. Elena was surprised at see him, but for a moment she couldnt trust of why. Then she realized it was because he hadnt been in the church. As she watched, he drew farther apart from the group, disappearing low the overhang below Elena.\r\nSome one had moved out of the front line at last. It was Douglas Carson, Elena realized, Sue Carsons unite older brother. Hed stepped into the no-mans-land between the dogs and the people, one hand slightly extended.\r\nA springer spaniel with long ears like brown satin turned her betoken. Her white stump of a tail quivered slightly, questioningly, and her brown-and-white muzzle lifted. But she didnt come to the young man.\r\nDoug Carson took some other step. â€Å"Chelsea… frank girl. roll in the hay here, Chelsea. Come!” He snapped his fingers.\r\nâ€Å"What do you sense from those dogs down there?” Damon murmured.\r\nStefan shook his head without looking away from the window. â€Å"Nothing,” he said shortly.\r\nâ€Å" incomplete do I.” Damons eyes were narrowed, his head tilted clog appraisingly, but his slightly bared teeth reminded Elena of the wolfhound. â€Å"But we should be able to, you know. They ought to put one over some emotions we tail pick up on. Instead, of all timey time I try to probe them its like running into a blank white wall.”\r\nElena wished she knew what they were talking about. â€Å"What do you mean ‘probe them?” she said. â€Å"Theyre animals.”\r\nâ€Å"Appearances can be deceiving,” Damon said ironically, and Elena thought about the rainbow lights in the feathers of the crow that had followed her since the first day of school. If she looked closely, she could see those same rainbow lights in Damons silky hair. â€Å"But animals endure emotions, in any case. If your Powers are good enough, you can examine their minds.”\r\nAnd my Powers arent, thought Elena. She was startled by the twinge of envy that went through her. Just a few minutes ago shed been clinging to Stefan, frantic to get rid of any Powers she had, to change herself patronise. And now, she wished she were stronger. Damon eternally had an matchless effect on her.\r\nâ€Å"I may not be ab le to probe Chelsea, but I dont conjecture Doug should go any closer,” she said aloud.\r\nStefan had been unadulterated fixedly out the window, his eyebrows drawn together. Now he nodded fractionally, but with a sudden sense of urgency. â€Å"I dont either,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Cmon, Chelsea, be a good girl. Come here.” Doug Carson had al nigh reached the first row of dogs. All eyes, human and canine, were fixed on him, and even such tiny movements as twitches had polish offped. If Elena hadnt seen the sides of one or two dogs hole and fill with their breathing, she might have thought the unit group was some giant museum display.\r\nDoug had come to a halt. Chelsea was watching him from behind the corgi and the Samoyed. Doug clucked his tongue. He stretched out his hand, hesitated, and then stretched it out farther.\r\nâ€Å"Yes.” She could see his gaze unfocus with compactness; then, he shook his head, exhaling like a individual whos tried to lift some -thing too heavy. â€Å"Its no good; Im burnt out. I cant do it from here.”\r\nBelow, Chelseas lips skinned pole from her teeth. The red-gold Airedale rose to her feet in one beautifully unflustered movement, as if pulled by strings. The hindquarters of the rottweiler bunched.\r\nAnd then they sprang. Elena couldnt see which of the dogs was the first; they seemed to move together like a great wave. Half a dozen hit Doug Carson with enough force to knock him backward, and he disappeared under their massed bodies.\r\nThe air was full of hellish noise, from a gilded baying that set the church rafters ringing and gave Elena an instant headache, to a deep-throated continuous growl that she felt rather than memorised. Dogs were bowelless at clothing, snarling, lunging, while the crowd scattered and screamed.\r\nElena caught big bucks of Alaric Saltzman at the edge of the parking lot, the only one who wasnt running. He was standing stiffly, and she thought she could see his li ps moving, and his hands.\r\n all over else was pandemonium. Someone had gotten a hose and was turning it into the wooden-headed of the pack, but it was having no effect. The dogs seemed to have gone mad. When Chelsea raised her brown-and-white muzzle from her masters body, it was tinged with red.\r\nElenas heart was pounding so that she could moreover breathe. â€Å"They have help!” she said, just as Stefan broke away from the window and went down the stairs, taking them two and three at a time. Elena was halfway down the stairs herself when she realized two things: Damon wasnt following her, and she couldnt let herself be seen.\r\nShe couldnt. The hysteria it would cause, the questions, the fear and hatred once the questions were answered. Something that ran deeper than compassion or sympathy or the need to help wrenched her back, flattening her against the wall.\r\nIn the dim, cool interior of the church, she glimpsed a boiling pocket of activity. People were dashing b ack and forth, shouting. Dr. Feinberg, Mr. McCullough, Reverend Bethea. The still point of the circle was Bonnie lying on a pew with Meredith and aunt Judith and Mrs. McCullough bent over her. â€Å"Something roughshod,” she was moaning, and then Aunt Judiths head came up, turning in Elenas direction.\r\n Elena scuttled up the stairs as quickly as she could, praying Aunt Judith hadnt seen her. Damon was at the window.\r\nâ€Å"I cant go down there. They think Im dead!”\r\nâ€Å"Oh, youve remembered that. pricey for you.”\r\nâ€Å"Hell think youre an interesting specimen, all right.”\r\nâ€Å"Then I cant go. But you can. Why dont you do something?”\r\nDamon continued to look out the window, eyebrows hiking up. â€Å"Why?”\r\nâ€Å"Why?” Elenas alarm and overexcitement reached shoot point and she almost slapped him. â€Å"Because they need help! Because you can help. Dont you care about anything besides yourself?”\r\nDamon was wearying his most impenetrable mask, the way of polite inquiry hed raddled when he invited himself to her house for dinner. But she knew that beneath it he was angry, angry at determination her and Stefan together. He was bemock her on purpose and with savage enjoyment.\r\nAnd she couldnt help her reaction, her frustrated, unfertile rage. She started for him, and he caught her wrists and held her off, his eyes boring into hers. She was startled to hear the sound that came from her lips then; it was a hiss that sounded more feline than human. She realized her fingers were hooked into claws.\r\nWhat am I doing? Attacking him because he wont defend people against the dogs that are claping them? What kind of sense does that make? living hard, she relaxed her hands and wet her lips. She stepped back and he let her.\r\nThere was a long moment while they stared at each other.\r\nâ€Å"Im going down,” Elena said lightly and turned.\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"They need h elp.”\r\nâ€Å"All right, then, maledict you.” Shed never hear Damons voice so low, or so furious. â€Å"Ill-” he broke off and Elena, turning back quickly, saw him slam a fist into the window-sill, alive(p) the glass. But his attention was outside and his voice absolutely composed again when he said dryly, â€Å" jock has arrived.”\r\nIt was the fire department. Their hoses were much more powerful than the tend hose, and the jet streams of water drove the lunging dogs off with unspotted force. Elena saw a sheriff with a gun and microprocessor chip the inside of her cheek as he aimed and sighted. There was a crack, and the giant schnauzer went down. The sheriff aimed again.\r\nIt ended quickly after that. Several dogs were already running from the barrage of water, and with the due south crack of the pistol more broke from the pack and headed for the edges of the parking lot. It was as if the purpose that had driven them had released them all at once . Elena felt a rush of rest period as she saw Stefan standing unharmed in the middle of the rout, shoving a dazed-looking golden retriever away from Doug Carsons form. Chelsea took a skulking step toward her master and looked into his face, head and tail drooping.\r\nâ€Å"Its all over,” Damon said. He sounded only lightly interested, but Elena glanced at him sharply. All right then, damn you, Ill what? she thought. What had he been about to say? He wasnt in any mood to tell her, but she was in a mood to push.\r\nâ€Å"Its all over,” Damon said. He sounded only mildly interested, but Elena glanced at him sharply. All right then, damn you, Ill what? she thought. What had he been about to say? He wasnt in any mood to tell her, but she was in a mood to push.\r\nHe stiffened, then turned. â€Å" easy?”\r\nFor a second they stood looking at each other, and then there was a step on the stair. Stefan had returned.\r\nâ€Å"Stefan… youre hurt,” she said, blinking, suddenly disoriented.\r\nâ€Å"Im all right.” He wiped blood off his cheek with a tattered sleeve.\r\nâ€Å"What about Doug?” Elena asked, swallowing.\r\nâ€Å"I dont know. He is hurt. A lot of people are. That was the strangest thing Ive ever seen.”\r\nElena moved away from Damon, up the stairs into the choir loft. She felt that she had to think, but her head was pounding. The strangest thing Stefan had ever seen… that was locution a lot. Something strange in Fells church.\r\nShe reached the wall behind the last row of sit down and put a hand against it, sliding down to sit on the floor. Things seemed at once confused and frighteningly clear. Something strange in Fells Church. The day of the founders jubilation she would have sworn she didnt care anything about Fells Church or the people in it. But now she knew differently. Looking down on the memorial service, she had begun to think perhaps she did care.\r\nAnd then, when the dogs had attac ked outside, shed known it. She felt somehow responsible for the town, in a way she had never felt before.\r\nHer earlier sense of desolation and loneliness had been pushed diversion for the moment. There was something more important than her own problems now. And she clung to that something, because the uprightness was that she really couldnt deal with her own situation, no, she really, really couldnt…\r\nShe heard the gasping half sob she gave then and looked up to see both Stefan and Damon in the choir loft, looking at her. She shook her head slightly, putting a hand to it, knowing as if she were coming out of a dream.\r\nâ€Å"Elena… ?”\r\nIt was Stefan who spoke, but Elena addressed herself to the other one.\r\nâ€Å"Damon,” she said shakily, â€Å"if I ask you something, will you tell me the truth? I know you didnt chase me off Wickery Bridge. I could chance whatever it was, and it was different. But I want to ask you this: was it you who dumped Stefan in the old Francher well a calendar month ago?”\r\nâ€Å"In a well?” Damon leaned back against the opposite wall, arms crossed over his chest. He looked politely incredulous.\r\nâ€Å"On Halloween night, the night Mr. Tanner was killed. subsequently you showed yourself for the first time to Stefan in the woods. He told me he left you in the clearing and started to walk to his car but that psyche attacked him before he reached it. When he woke up, he was trapped in the well, and he would have died there if Bonnie hadnt led us to him. I always assumed you were the one who attacked him. He always assumed you were the one. But were you?”\r\nâ€Å"As a case of fact, no,” he said.\r\nElena let out her breath.\r\nâ€Å"You cant study that!” Stefan exploded. â€Å"You cant believe anything he says.”\r\nâ€Å"Why should I lie?” Damon returned, all the way enjoying Stefans loss of control. â€Å"I admit freely to cleansing Tanner. I drank his blood until he shriveled like a prune. And I wouldnt mind doing the same thing to you, brother. But a well? Its hardly my style.”\r\nâ€Å"I believe you,” Elena said. Her mind was rushing ahead. She turned to Stefan. â€Å"Dont you feel it? Theres something else here in Fells Church, something that may not even be human-may never have been human, I mean. Something that dog me, forced my car off the bridge. Something that made those dogs attack people. Some terrible force thats here, something evil…” Her voice trailed off, and she looked over toward the interior of the church where she had seen Bonnie lying. â€Å"Something evil…” she repeated softly. A cold wind seemed to quilt inside her, and she huddled into herself, feeling vulnerable and alone.\r\nâ€Å"If youre looking for evil,” Stefan said harshly, â€Å"you dont have to look far.”\r\nâ€Å"Dont be any more stupid than you can help,” said Damon.  "I told you four days ago that someone else had killed Elena. And I said that I was going to find that someone and deal with him. And I am.” He uncrossed his arms and straightened up. â€Å"You two can continue that private discourse you were having when I interrupted.”\r\nâ€Å"Damon, wait.” Elena hadnt been able to help the shudder that part through her when he said killed. I cant have been killed; Im still here, she thought wildly, feeling panic well up in her again. But now she pushed the panic aside to speak to Damon.\r\nâ€Å"Whatever this thing is, its strong,” she said. â€Å"I felt it when it was after me, and it seemed to fill the whole sky. I dont think any of us would stand a chance against it alone.”\r\nâ€Å"So?”\r\nâ€Å"So…” Elena hadnt had time to reach her thoughts this far. She was running purely on instinct, on erudition. And intuition told her not to let Damon go. â€Å"So… I think we three ought to stick together. I think we have a much better chance of finding it and dealing with it together than separately. And maybe we can stop it before it hurts or-or kills-anyone else.”\r\nElena stared at him. Of course it wasnt her choice, if he meant romantically. She was wearing the ring Stefan had given her; she and Stefan belonged together.\r\nBut then she remembered something else, just a trashy: looking up at Damons face in the woods and feeling such-such excitement, such affinity with him. As if he understood the burn that burned inside her as nobody else ever could. As if together they could do anything they liked, conquer the humans or destroy it; as if they were better than anyone else who had ever lived.\r\nI was out of my mind, irrational, she told herself, but that little flash of memory wouldnt go away.\r\nAnd then she remembered something else: how Damon had acted later that night, how hed kept her safe, even been gentle with her.\r\nStefan was looking at her, and his expression had changed from belligerence to bitter anger and fear. Part of her cherished to reassure him completely, to throw her arms around him and tell him that she was his and always would be and that nothing else mattered. Not the town, not Damon, not anything.\r\nBut she wasnt doing it. Because another part of her was saying that the town did matter. And because still another part was just terribly, terribly confused. So confused…\r\nShe felt a trembling begin deep inside her, and then she found she couldnt make it stop. Emotional overload, she thought, and put her head in her hands.\r\n'