Dark Reunion

more days of school to survive. And it looked as if every minute was going to be misery.

Some guy had said it outright, backing away from her on the stairs. 'No offense, but your friends keep turning up dead.' Bonnie had gone into the bathroom and cried.

But now all she wanted was to be out of school, away from the tragic faces and accusing eyes—or worse, the pitying eyes. The principal had given a speech over the P.A. about 'this new misfortune' and 'this terrible loss,' and Bonnie had felt the eyes on her back as if they were boring holes there.

When the bell rang, she was the first person out the door. But instead of going to her next class she went to the bathroom again, where she waited for the next bell. Then, once the halls were empty, she hurried toward the foreign language wing. She passed bulletins and banners for end-of-the-year events without glancing at them. What did SATs matter, what did graduation matter, what did anything matter anymore? They might all be dead by the end of the month.

She nearly ran into the person standing in the hall. Her gaze jerked up, off her own feet, to take in fashionably ratty deck shoes, some foreign kind. Above that were jeans, body hugging, old enough to look soft over hard muscles. Narrow hips. Nice chest. Face to drive a sculptor crazy: sensuous mouth, high cheekbones. Dark sunglasses. Slightly tousled black hair. Bonnie stood gaping a moment.

Oh, my God, I forgot how gorgeous he is, she thought. Elena, forgive me; I'm going to grab him.

'Stefan!' she said.

Then her mind wrenched her back into reality again and she cast a hunted look around. No one was in eyeshot. She grabbed his arm.

'Are you crazy, showing up here? Are you nuts?'

'I had to find you. I thought it was urgent.'

'It is, but—' He looked so incongruous, standing there in the high school hallway. So exotic. Like a zebra in a flock of sheep. She started pushing him toward a broom closet.

He wasn't going. And he was stronger than she was. 'Bonnie, you said you'd talked to—'

'You have to hide! I'll go get Matt and Meredith and bring them back here and then we can talk. But if anybody sees you, you're probably going to get lynched. There's been another murder.'

Stefan's face changed, and he let her push him toward the closet. He started to say something, then clearly decided not to.

'I'll wait,' he said simply.

It took only a few minutes to find Matt in auto tech and Meredith in economics class. They hurried back to the broom closet and bustled Stefan out of school as inconspicuously as possible, which wasn't very.

Someone's bound to have seen us, Bonnie thought. It all depends on who, and how much of a blab they are.

'We have to get him someplace safe—not to any of our houses,' Meredith was saying. They were all walking as fast as they could through the high school parking lot.

'Fine, but where? Wait a minute, what about the boarding house… ?' Bonnie's voice trailed off. There was a little black car in the parking slot in front of her. An Italian car, sleek, svelte, and sexy looking. All the windows were tinted illegally dark; you couldn't even see inside. Then Bonnie made out the stallion emblem on the back.

'Oh, my God'

Stefan glanced at the Ferrari distractedly. 'It's Damon's.'

Three sets of eyes turned to him in shock. 'Damon's?' Bonnie said, hearing the squeak in her own voice. She hoped Stefan meant Damon had just loaned it to him.

But the car window was rolling down to reveal black hair as sleek and liquidy as the car's paint job, mirrored glasses, and a very white smile. 'Buon giorno,' said Damon smoothly. 'Anybody need a ride?'

'Oh, my God,' Bonnie said again, faintly. But she didn't back away.

Stefan was visibly impatient. 'We'll head for the boarding house. You follow. Park behind the barn so nobody sees your car.'

Meredith had to lead Bonnie away from the Ferrari. It wasn't that Bonnie liked Damon or that she was ever going to let him kiss her again as he had at Alaric's party. She knew he was dangerous; not as bad as Katherine had been, maybe, but bad. He'd killed wantonly, just for the fun of it. He'd killed Mr. Tanner, the history teacher, at the Haunted House fund-raiser last Halloween. He might kill again at any time. Maybe that was why Bonnie felt like a mouse staring at a shining black snake when she looked at him.

In the privacy of Meredith's car Bonnie and Meredith exchanged glances.

'Stefan shouldn't have brought him,' said Meredith.

'Maybe he just came,' Bonnie offered. She didn't think Damon was the sort of person who got brought anywhere.

'Why should he? Not to help us, that's for sure.'

Matt said nothing. He didn't even seem to notice the tension in the car. He just stared through the windshield, lost in himself.

The sky was clouding up.

'Matt?'

'Just leave it alone, Bonnie,' said Meredith.

Wonderful, thought Bonnie, depression settling like a dark blanket over her. Matt and Stefan and Damon, all together, all thinking about Elena.

They parked behind the old barn, next to the low black car. When they went inside, Stefan was standing alone. He turned and Bonnie saw that he'd taken off his sunglasses. The faintest chill went through her, just the lightest prickling of the hairs on her arms and neck. Stefan wasn't like any other guy she'd ever met. His eyes were so green; green as oak leaves in the spring. But just now they had shadows underneath.

There was a moment of awkwardness; the three of them standing on one side and looking at Stefan without a word. No one seemed to know what to say.

Then Meredith went over to him and took his hand. 'You look tired,' she said.

'I came as soon as I could.' He put an arm around her in a brief, almost hesitant hug. He never would have done that in the old days, Bonnie thought. He used to be so reserved.

She came forward for her own hug. Stefan's skin was cool under the T-shirt, and she had to make herself not shiver. When she pulled back, her eyes were swimming. What did she feel now that Stefan Salvatore was back in Fell's Church? Relief? Sadness for the memories he brought with him? Fear? All she could tell was that she wanted to cry.

Stefan and Matt were looking at each other. Here we go, thought Bonnie. It was almost funny; the same expression was on both their faces. Hurt and tired, and trying not to show it. No matter what, Elena would always be between them.

At last, Matt stuck out his hand and Stefan shook it. They both stepped back, looking glad to have it over with.

'Where's Damon?' said Meredith.

'Poking around. I thought we might want a few minutes without him.'

'We want a few decades without him,' Bonnie said before she could stop herself, and Meredith said, 'He can't be trusted, Stefan.'

'I think you're wrong,' Stefan said quietly. 'He can be a big help if he puts his mind to it.'

'In between killing a few of the locals every other night?' Meredith said, her eyebrows up. 'You shouldn't have brought him, Stefan.'

'But he didn't.' The voice came from behind Bonnie, behind and frighteningly close. Bonnie jumped and made an instinctive lunge for Matt, who gripped her shoulder.

Damon smiled briefly, just one corner of his mouth up. He'd taken off his sunglasses, but his eyes weren't green. They were black as the spaces between the stars. He's almost better looking than Stefan, Bonnie thought wildly, finding Matt's fingers and hanging on to them.

'So she's yours now, is she?' Damon said to Matt casually.

'No,' Matt said, but his grip on Bonnie didn't loosen.

'Stefan didn't bring you?' prompted Meredith from the other side. Of all of them, she seemed least affected by