Dark Reunion

Damon, least afraid of him, least susceptible to him.

'No,' Damon said, still looking at Bonnie. He doesn't turn like other people, she thought. He goes on looking at whatever he wants no matter who's talking. 'You did,' he said.

'Me?' Bonnie shrank a little, uncertain who he meant.

'You. You did the spell, didn't you?'

'The…' Oh, hell. A picture blossomed in Bonnie's mind, of black hair on a white napkin. Her eyes went to Damon's hair, finer and straighter than Stefan's but just as dark. Obviously Matt had made a mistake in the sorting.

Stefan's voice was impatient. 'You sent for us, Bonnie. We came. What's going on?'

They took seats on the decaying bales of hay, all except Damon, who remained standing. Stefan was leaning forward, hands on knees, looking at Bonnie.

'You told me—you said that Elena spoke to you.' There was a perceptible pause before he got the name out. His face was tense with control.

'Yes.' She managed a smile for him. 'I had this dream, Stefan, this very strange dream…'

She told him about it, and about what had happened after. It took a long time. Stefan listened intently, his green eyes flaring every time she mentioned Elena. When she told about the end of Caroline's party and how they had found Sue's body in the backyard, the blood drained from his face, but he said nothing.

'The police came and said she was dead, but we knew that already,' Bonnie finished. 'And they took Vickie away—poor Vickie was just raving. They wouldn't let us talk to her, and her mother hangs up if we call. Some people are even saying Vickie did it, which is insane. But they won't believe that Elena talked to us, so they won't believe anything she said.'

'And what she said was 'he,' ' Meredith interrupted. 'Several times. It's a man; someone with a lot of psychic power.'

'And it was a man who grabbed my hand in the hallway,' said Bonnie. She told Stefan about her suspicion of Tyler, but as Meredith pointed out, Tyler didn't fit the rest of the description.

He had neither the brains nor the psychic power to be the one Elena was warning them about.

'What about Caroline?' Stefan asked. 'Could she have seen anything?'

'She was out front,' Meredith said. 'She found the door and got out while we were all running. She heard the screams, but she was too frightened to go back in the house. And to be honest, I don't blame her.'

'So nobody actually saw what happened except Vickie.'

'No. And Vickie's not telling.' Bonnie picked up the story where she had left off. 'Once we realized nobody would believe us, we remembered Elena's message about the summoning spell. We figured it must have been you she wanted to summon, because she thought you could do something to help. So… can you?'

'I can try,' Stefan said. He got up and walked a little distance away, turning his back on them. He stood like that in silence a while, unmoving. At last he turned back and looked Bonnie in the eyes. 'Bonnie,' he said, quiet but intense, 'in your dreams you actually spoke to Elena face to face. Do you think if you went into a trance you could do it again?'

Bonnie was a little frightened by what she saw in his eyes. They were blazing emerald green in his pale face. All at once it was as if she could see behind the mask of control he wore. Underneath was so much pain, so much longing—so much of that intensity that she could hardly bear to look at it.

'I could, maybe… but Stefan-—'

'Then we'll do it. Right here, right now. And we'll see if you can take me with you.' Those eyes were mesmerizing, not with any hidden Power, but with the sheer force of his will. Bonnie wanted to do it for him—he made her want to do anything for him. But the memory of that last dream was too much. She couldn't face that horror again; she couldn't.

'Stefan, it's too dangerous. I could be opening myself up to anything—and I'm scared. If that thing gets hold of my mind, I don't know what might happen. I can't, Stefan. Please. Even with a Ouija board, it's just inviting him to come.'

For a moment she thought he was going to try to make her do it. His mouth tightened in an obstinate line, and his eyes blazed even brighter. But then, slowly, the fire died out of them.

Bonnie felt her heart tear. 'Stefan, I'm sorry,' she whispered.

'We'll just have to do it on our own,' he said. The mask was back on, but his smile looked stiff, as if it hurt him. Then he spoke more briskly. 'First we have to find out who this killer is, what he wants here. All we know now is that something evil has come to Fell's Church again.'

'But why?' said Bonnie. 'Why would anything evil just happen to pick here? Haven't we been through enough?'

'It does seem a bit of a strange coincidence,' Meredith said drolly. 'Why should we be so singularly blessed?'

'It's not coincidence,' said Stefan. He got up and lifted his hands as if unsure how to start. 'There are some places on this earth that are… different,' he said. 'That are full of psychic energy, either positive or negative, good or evil. Some of them have always been that way, like the Bermuda Triangle and Salisbury Plain, the place where they built Stonehenge. Others become that way, especially where a lot of blood has been shed.' He looked at Bonnie.

'Unquiet spirits,' she whispered.

'Yes. There was a battle here, wasn't there?'

'In the Civil War,' Matt said. 'That's how the church in the cemetery got ruined. It was a slaughter on both sides. Nobody won, but almost everyone who fought got killed. The woods are full of their graves.'

'And the ground was soaked with blood. A place like that draws the supernatural to it. It draws evil to it. That's why Katherine was attracted to Fell's Church in the first place. I felt it too, when I first came here.'

'And now something else has come,' Meredith said, perfectly serious for once. 'But how are we supposed to fight it?'

'We have to know what we're fighting first. I think…' But before he could finish, there was a creak and pale, dusty sunlight fell across the bales of hay. The barn door had opened.

Everyone tensed defensively, ready to jump up and run or fight. The figure nudging the huge door back with one elbow, however, was anything but menacing.

Mrs. Flowers, who owned the boarding house, smiled at them, her little black eyes crinkling into wrinkles. She was carrying a tray.

'I thought you children might like something to drink while you're talking,' she said comfortably.

Everyone exchanged disconcerted glances. How had she known they were out here? And how could she be so calm about it?

'Here you go,' Mrs. Flowers continued. 'This is grape juice, made from my own Concord grapes.' She put a paper cup beside Meredith, then Matt, then Bonnie. 'And here are some gingersnap cookies. Fresh.' She held the plate around. Bonnie noticed she didn't offer any to Stefan or Damon.

'You two can come round to the cellar if you like and try some of my blackberry wine,' she said to them, with what Bonnie would swear was a wink.

Stefan took a deep, wary breath. 'Uh, look, Mrs. Flowers…'

'And your old room's just like you left it. Nobody's been up there since you went. You can use it when you want; it won't put me out a bit.'

Stefan seemed at a loss for words. 'Well—thank you. Thank you very much. But—'

'If you're worried I'll say something to somebody, you can set your mind at ease. I don't tend to run off at the mouth. Never have, never will. How's that grape juice?'—turning suddenly on Bonnie.

Bonnie hastily took a gulp. 'Good,' she said truthfully.

'When you finish, throw the cups in the trash. I like things kept tidy.' Mrs. Flowers cast a look about the barn, shaking her head and sighing. 'Such a shame. Such a pretty girl.' She looked at Stefan piercingly with eyes like onyx beads. 'You've got your work cut out for you this time, boy,' she said, and left, still shaking her head.

'Well!' said Bonnie, staring after her, amazed. Everyone else just looked at each other blankly.

' 'Such a pretty girl'—but which?' said Mere-dith at last. 'Sue or Elena?' Elena had actually spent a week or so in this very barn last winter—but Mrs. Flowers wasn't supposed to know that. 'Did you say something to her about us?' Meredith asked Damon.