The Fury

archly, 'And anyway, I'm leaving. I don't know about you, but I'm going hunting.' She was reassured to sense Stefan's presence nearby, on the roof probably, and to hear his instant amendment: We're going hunting, Damon. You can sit there all night if you want.

Damon gave in with good grace, shooting one last amused glance toward Bonnie before disappearing from the window. Bonnie and Meredith both started forward in alarm as he did, obviously concerned that he had just fallen to his death.

'He's fine,' said Elena, shaking her head again. 'And don't worry, I won't let him come back. I'll meet you at the same time tomorrow. Good-bye.'

'But—Elena—' Meredith stopped. 'I mean, I was going to ask you if you wanted to change your clothes.'

Elena regarded herself. The nineteenth-century heirloom dress was tattered and bedraggled, the thin white muslin shredded in some places. But there was no time to change it; she had to feed now.

'It'll have to wait,' she said. 'See you tomorrow.' And she boosted herself out of the window the way Damon had. The last she saw of them, Meredith and Bonnie were staring after her dazedly.

She was getting better at landings; this time she didn't bruise her knees. Stefan was there, and he wrapped something dark and warm around her.

'Your cloak,' she said, pleased. For a moment they smiled at each other, remembering the first time he had given her the cloak, after he'd saved her from Tyler in the graveyard and taken her back to his room to clean up. He'd been afraid to touch her then. But, Elena thought, smiling up into his eyes, she had taken care of that fear rather quickly.

'I thought we were hunting,' Damon said.

Elena turned the smile on him, without unlinking her hand from Stefan's. 'We are,' she said. 'Where should we go?'

'Any house on this street,' Damon suggested.

'The woods,' Stefan said.

'The woods,' Elena decided. 'We don't touch humans, and we don't kill. Isn't that how it goes, Stefan?'

He returned the pressure of her fingers. 'That's how it goes,' he said quietly.

Damon's lip curled fastidiously. 'And just what are we looking for in the woods, or don't I want to know? Muskrat? Skunk? Termites?' His eyes moved to Elena and his voice dropped. 'Come with me, and I'll show you some real hunting.'

'We can go through the graveyard,' Elena said, ignoring him.

'White-tailed deer feed all night in the open areas,' Stefan told her, 'but we'll have to be careful stalking them; they can hear almost as well as we can.'

Another time, then, Damon's voice said in Elena's mind.

EIGHT

'Who—? Oh, it's you!' Bonnie said, starting at the touch on her elbow. 'You scared me. I didn't hear you come up.'

He'd have to be more careful, Stefan realized. In the few days he'd been away from school, he'd gotten out of the habit of walking and moving like a human and fallen back into the noiseless, perfectly controlled stride of the hunter. 'Sorry,' he said, as they walked side by side down the corridor.

'S'okay,' said Bonnie with a brave attempt at nonchalance. But her brown eyes were wide and rather fixed. 'So what are you doing here today? Meredith and I came by the boardinghouse this morning to check on Mrs. Flowers, but nobody answered the door. And I didn't see you in biology.'

'I came this afternoon. I'm back at school. For as long as it takes to find what we're looking for anyway.'

'To spy on Alaric, you mean,' Bonnie muttered. 'I told Elena yesterday just to leave him to me. Oops,' she added, as a couple of passing juniors stared at her. She rolled her eyes at Stefan. By mutual consent, they turned off into a side corridor and made for an empty stairwell. Bonnie leaned against the wall with a groan of relief.

'I've got to remember not to say her name,' she said pathetically, 'but it's so hard. My mother asked me how I felt this morning and I almost told her, 'fine,' since I saw Elena last night. I don't know how you two kept—you know what—a secret so long.'

Stefan felt a grin tugging at his lips in spite of himself. Bonnie was like a six-week-old kitten, all charm and no inhibitions. She always said exactly what she was thinking at the moment, even if it completely contradicted what she'd just said the moment before, but everything she did came from the heart. 'You're standing in a deserted hallway with a you know what right now,' he reminded her devilishly.

'Ohhh.' Her eyes widened again. 'But you wouldn't, would you?' she added, relieved. 'Because Elena would kill you… Oh, dear.' Searching for another topic, she gulped and said, 'So—so how did things go last night?'

Stefan's mood darkened immediately. 'Not so good. Oh, Elena's all right; she's sleeping safely.' Before he could go on, his ears picked up footfalls at the end of the corridor. Three senior girls were passing by, and one broke away from the group at the sight of Stefan and Bonnie. Sue Carson's face was pale and her eyes were red-rimmed, but she smiled at them.

Bonnie was full of concern. 'Sue, how are you? How's Doug?'

'I'm okay. He's okay, too, or at least he's going to be. Stefan, I wanted to talk to you,' she added in a rush. 'I know my dad thanked you yesterday for helping Doug the way you did, but I wanted to thank you, too. I mean, I know that people in town have been pretty horrible to you and—well, I'm just surprised you cared enough to help at all. But I'm glad. My mom says you saved Doug's life. And so, I just wanted to thank you, and to say I'm sorry— about everything.'

Her voice was shaking by the end of the speech. Bonnie sniffed and groped in her backpack for a tissue, and for a moment it looked as if Stefan was going to be caught on the stairwell with two sobbing females. Dismayed, he racked his brains for a distraction.

'That's all right,' he said. 'How's Chelsea today?'

'She's at the pound. They're holding the dogs in quarantine there, all the ones they could round up.' Sue blotted her eyes and straightened, and Stefan relaxed, seeing that the danger was over. An awkward silence descended.

'Well,' said Bonnie to Sue at last, 'have you heard what the school board decided about the Snow Dance?'

'I heard they met this morning and they've pretty much decided to let us have it. Somebody said they were talking about a police guard, though. Oh, there's the late bell. We'd better get to history before Alaric hands us all demerits.'

'We're coming in a minute,' Stefan said. He added casually, 'When is this Snow Dance?'

'It's the thirteenth; Friday night, you know,' Sue said, and then winced. 'Oh my God, Friday the thirteenth. I didn't even think about that. But it reminds me that there was one other thing I wanted to tell you. This morning I took my name out of the running for snow queen. It—it just seemed right, somehow. That's all.' Sue hurried away, almost running.

Stefan's mind was racing. 'Bonnie, what is this Snow Dance?'

'Well, it's the Christmas dance really, only we have a snow queen instead of a Christmas queen. After what happened at Founders' Day, they were thinking of canceling it, and then with the dogs yesterday—but it sounds like they're going to have it after all.'

'On Friday the thirteenth,' Stefan said grimly.

'Yes.' Bonnie was looking scared again, making herself small and inconspicuous. 'Stefan, don't look that way; you're frightening me. What's wrong? What do you think will happen at the dance?'

'I don't know.' But something would, Stefan was thinking. Fell's Church hadn't had one public celebration that had escaped being visited by the Other Power, and this would probably be the last festivity of the year. But there was no point in talking about it now. 'Come on,' he said. 'We're really late.'

He was right. Alaric Saltzman was at the chalkboard when they walked in, as he had been the first day he'd appeared in the history classroom. If he was surprised at seeing them late, or at all, he covered it faultlessly, giving one of his friendliest smiles.

So you're the one who's hunting the hunter, Stefan thought, taking his seat and studying the man before him.