Damon had dropped her off at the dorm after walking her back from James’s house, but he was probably stil nearby.
Stefan in danger. If he … if anything happened to him, if something happened while they were apart, while he was stil hurt and it was her fault, Elena would never forgive herself. She wouldn’t deserve to be forgiven.
Guilt was like a knife in her stomach. How could she have hurt Stefan like that? She was attracted to Damon, sure, even loved him, but she’d never had any question that Stefan was her true love. And she had broken his heart.
She’d do anything to save Stefan. She’d die for him if she had to. And, as she listened to the ringing on the other end of the line and waited for Damon to pick up, she realized that there was no question in her mind that Damon would do anything to save Stefan, too.
39
Stefan hadn’t had a plan when he agreed to stay in Matt’s place. He just knew he had to save Matt, and now he hoped Damon would come for him. Stefan’s wrists ached with a dul , throbbing insistent pain that was almost impossible for him to ignore. He tried once more to pul against the ropes that were holding him to the chair, turning his hands from left to right as far as he could to try and loosen his restraints, but it was hopeless. He couldn’t shift them.
He looked around dazedly. The room looked both serene and mysterious again now, as it had when he first kicked in the door. A good place for a secret society.
Torches burned brightly, flowers were arranged around the makeshift altar. The Vitales had taken the time to clean up after binding him and kil ing the pledges.
The ropes were crossed over his chest and stomach and wound around his back; his ankles and knees were tied to the chair legs, his elbows and wrists to the arms of the chair. He was wel trussed, but it was the ones around his wrists that hurt most, because they lay against his bare skin. And they burned.
“They’re soaked in vervain so that you’l be too weak to break free, but I’m afraid it must sting a bit,” Ethan said pleasantly, as if he was explaining an interesting element of the secret chamber’s architecture to his guest. “See, I may be new at this, but I know al the tricks.” Stefan rested his head against the back of the chair and looked at Ethan with fervent dislike. “Not all of the tricks, I suspect.”
Ethan was cocky, but Stefan was pretty sure he hadn’t been a vampire for very long. If Ethan was stil human, if he had never become a vampire, Stefan guessed he would look more or less the same as he did now.
Ethan crouched down in front of Stefan’s chair to look up into his face, wearing the same warm, friendly smile as when he’d tried to convince Stefan to join them. He looked like a pleasant fel ow, someone you wanted to relax with and trust, and Stefan glared at him. The smile was a lie.
Ethan was a kil er whose mask was less obvious than those of the other Vitale vampires, that was al .
“You’re probably right about that,” Ethan said thoughtful y. “I imagine there are al kinds of tricks you’ve picked up in, what is it, more than five hundred years?
Tricks that I don’t know yet. You could be very useful to me in that way, if you decide to join us after al . There are lots of things you can teach us about al this vampire stuff.” He flashed that appealing smile again. “I’ve always been a good student.”
Vampire stuff. “What do you want from me, Ethan?” Stefan asked wearily. It had been a long night, a long few weeks, and the vervain-soaked ropes were hurting his arms, muddying his thoughts.
Ethan knew how old he was. Ethan knew what to offer him when they first talked about the Vitale Society. It wasn’t a coincidence that he was the one in this room, then; Ethan wasn’t looking for just any vampire. “What’s your plan here?” Stefan asked.
Ethan’s smile grew wider. “I’m building an invincible vampire army, of course,” he said cheerful y. “I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but it’s al about power. And power’s never ridiculous.” He licked his lips nervously, showing a flash of thin pink tongue. “See, I used to just be one of the ordinary little people. I was just like everyone else on campus. My biggest achievements were good grades on exams or the fact that I had the leadership of some secret col ege club. You wouldn’t believe how lame the Vitale Society used to be. Just white magic and nature worship.” He made a little self-deprecating grimace: See how silly I was once. I’m telling you something embarrassing about myself, so trust me. “But then I figured out how to get some real power.”
One of the black-clad figures came up behind Ethan, and Ethan held up a finger to Stefan. “Hang on a sec, okay?” He rose and turned to talk to his lieutenant.
After tying Stefan up, Ethan had efficiently gone back to draining the pledges, one after another, dropping the bodies as soon as he finished with them. They had al gone through their transitions now and were back on their feet.
They seemed irritable and disoriented, growling and snapping at one another and gazing at Ethan with undisguised adoration.
Typical new vampires. Stefan eyed them warily. Until they had fed thoroughly, they would hover on the brink of madness, and it would be easy for Ethan to lose control of them. Then they would be even more dangerous.
“The pledges need to eat,” Ethan said calmly to the robed woman behind him. “Five of you should take them out and teach them how to hunt. You lead the hunting party and pick whoever you want to go with you. The rest wil stay here and help guard our guest.”
Stefan watched as the Vitales sorted themselves out.
Eight of Ethan’s fol owers remained, stationing themselves by the sides of the room. Stefan had managed to kil one other during the fight, ripping her throat out, but the body had been tidied away somewhere.
Stefan gave a little involuntary moan. It was hard to think straight—he was so tired, and the vervain was starting to hurt him al over, not just on his aching wrists, but anywhere the ropes touched him through his clothes. Damon, please come quickly. Please, Damon, he thought.
“You’re going to unleash nine newly made vampires on the campus?” he asked Ethan, his mind snapping back to the matter at hand. “Ethan, they’l kill people. People who were your friends, maybe. You’l draw attention to yourselves. There are already police al over campus.
Please, take them to the woods to hunt animals. They can live on animal blood.” He heard a pleading note
