Dark Reunion

'He looks like the devil!'

It was almost a scream. Meredith sat on Vickie's other side and took her hand. She looked out through the window at Bonnie, who looked back wide eyed and shrugged slightly. Bonnie had no idea what Vickie was talking about.

'Tell me more,' Stefan said evenly.

Vickie's mouth twisted. Her nostrils were flared as if she were smelling something awful. When she spoke, she got out each word separately, as if they were making her sick.

'He wears… an old raincoat. It flaps around his legs in the wind. He makes the wind blow. His hair is blond. Almost white. It stands up all over his head. His eyes are so blue—electric blue.' Vickie licked her lips and swallowed, looking nauseated. 'Blue is the color of death.'

Thunder rumbled and cracked in the sky. Damon glanced up quickly, then frowned, eyes narrowed.

'He's tall. And he's laughing. He's reaching for me, laughing. But Sue screams 'No, no' and tries to pull me away. So he takes her instead. The window's broken, and the balcony is right there. Sue's crying 'No, please.' And then I watch him—I watch him throw her…' Vickie's breath was hitching, her voice rising hysterically.

'Vickie, it's all right. You're not really there. You're safe.'

'Oh, please, no—Sue! Sue! Sue!'

'Vickie, stay with me. Listen. I need just one more thing. Look at him. Tell me if he's wearing a blue jewel —'

But Vickie was whipping her head back and forth, sobbing, more hysterical each second. 'No! No! I'm next! I'm next!' Suddenly, her eyes sprang open as she came out of the trance by herself, choking and gasping. Then her head jerked around.

On the wall, a picture was rattling.

It was picked up by the bamboo-framed mirror, then by perfume bottles and lipsticks on the dresser below. With a sound like popcorn, earrings began bursting from an earring tree. The rattling got louder and louder. A straw hat fell off a hook. Photos were showering down from the mirror. Tapes and CDs sprayed out of a rack and onto the floor like playing cards being dealt.

Meredith was on her feet and so was Matt, fists clenched.

'Make it stop! Make it stop!' Vickie cried wildly.

But it didn't stop. Matt and Meredith looked around as new objects joined the dance. Everything movable was shaking, jittering, swaying. It was as if the room were caught in an earthquake.

'Stop! Stop!' shrieked Vickie, her hands over her ears.

Directly above the house thunder exploded.

Bonnie jumped violently as she saw the zigzag of lightning shoot across the sky. Instinctively she grabbed for something to hang on to. As the lightning bolt flared a poster on Vickie's wall tore diagonally as if slashed by a phantom knife. Bonnie choked back a scream and clutched tighter.

Then, as quickly as if someone had flicked a power switch off, all the noise stopped.

Vickie's room was still. The fringe on the bedside lamp swayed slightly. The poster had curled up in two irregular pieces, top and bottom. Slowly, Vickie lowered her hands from her ears.

Matt and Meredith looked around rather shakily.

Bonnie shut her eyes and murmured something like a prayer. It wasn't until she opened them again that she realized what she had been hanging on to. It was the supple coolness of a leather jacket. It was Damon's arm.

He hadn't moved away from her, though. He didn't move now. He was leaning forward slightly, eyes narrowed, watching the room intently.

'Look at the mirror,' he said.

Everyone did, and Bonnie drew in her breath, fingers clenching again. She hadn't seen it, but it must have happened while everything in the room was going berserk.

On the glass surface of the bamboo mirror two words were scrawled in Vickie's hot coral lipstick.

Goodnight, Sweetheart.

'Oh, God,' Bonnie whispered.

Stefan turned from the mirror to Vickie. There was something different about him, Bonnie thought—he was holding himself relaxed but poised, like a soldier who's just gotten confirmation of a battle. It was as if he'd accepted a personal challenge of some kind.

He took something out of his back pocket and unfolded it, revealing sprigs of a plant with long green leaves and tiny lilac flowers.

'This is vervain, fresh vervain,' he said quietly, his voice even and intense. 'I picked it outside Florence; it's blooming there now.' He took Vickie's hand and pressed the packet into it. 'I want you to hold on to this and keep it. Put some in every room of the house, and hide pieces somewhere in your parents' clothes if you can, so they'll have it near them. As long as you have this with you, he can't take over your mind. He can scare you, Vickie, but he can't make you do anything, like open a window or door for him. And listen, Vickie, because this is important.'

Vickie was shivering, her face crumpled. Stefan took both her hands and made her look at him, speaking slowly and distinctly.

'If I'm right, Vickie, he can't get in unless you let him. So talk to your parents. Tell them it's important that they don't ask any stranger inside the house. In fact, I can have Damon put that suggestion in their mind right now.' He glanced at Damon, who shrugged slightly and nodded, looking as if his attention was somewhere else. Self-consciously, Bonnie removed her hand from his jacket.

Vickie's head was bent over the vervain.

'He'll get in somehow,' she said softly, with terrible certainty.

'No. Vickie, listen to me. From now on, we're going to watch your house; we're going to be waiting for him.'

'It doesn't matter,' Vickie said. 'You can't stop him.' She began to laugh and cry at the same time.

'We're going to try,' Stefan said. He looked at Meredith and Matt, who nodded. 'Right. From this moment on, you will never be alone. There will always be one or more of us outside watching you.'

Vickie just shook her bent head. Meredith gave her arm a squeeze and stood as Stefan tilted his head toward the window.

When she and Matt joined him there, Stefan spoke to all of them in a low voice. 'I don't want to leave her unguarded, but I can't stay myself right now. There's something I have to do, and I need one of the girls with me. On the other hand, I don't want to leave either Bonnie or Meredith alone here.' He turned to Matt. 'Matt, will you…'

'I'll stay,' said Damon.

Everyone looked at him, startled.

'Well, it's the logical solution, isn't it?' Damon seemed amused. 'After all, what do you expect one of them to do against him anyway?'

'They can call for me. I can monitor their thoughts that far,' Stefan said, not giving one inch.

'Well,' Damon said whimsically, 'I can call for you too, little brother, if I get into trouble. I'm getting bored with this investigation of yours anyway. I might as well stay here as anywhere.'

'Vickie needs to be protected, not abused,' Stefan said.

Damon's smile was charming. 'Her?' He nodded toward the girl who sat on the bed, rocking over the vervain. From disheveled hair to bare feet, Vickie was not a pretty picture. 'Take my word for it, brother, I can do better than that.' For just an instant Bonnie thought those dark eyes flicked sideways toward her. 'You're always saying how you'd like to trust me, anyway,' Damon added. 'Here's your chance to prove it.'

Stefan looked as if he wanted to trust, as if he were tempted. He also looked suspicious. Damon said nothing, merely smiled in that taunting, enigmatic way. Practically asking to be mistrusted, Bonnie thought.

The two brothers stood looking at each other while the silence and the tension stretched out between them. Just then Bonnie could see the family resemblance in their faces, one serious and intense, the other bland and faintly mocking, but both inhumanly beautiful.

Stefan let his breath out slowly. 'All right,' he said quietly at last. Bonnie and Matt and Meredith were all