her neatly tucked under one steely arm.
“Damon!”
Damon’s eyes were slightly narrowed, as though at a joke only he could see. “Yes, the evil one himself. Tell me something, my fiery little fury.”
Bonnie had already exhausted herself trying to make him let go. She hadn’t even succeeded in tearing his clothes.
“What?” she snapped. Possessed or not, Damon had last seen her when she had Called him to save her from Caroline’s insanity. But according to Matt’s reports, he had done something awful to Elena.
“Why do girls love to convert a sinner? Why can you feed them almost any line if they feel that they’ve reformed you?”
Bonnie didn’t know what he was talking about, but she could guess. “What did you do with Elena?” she said ferociously.
“Gave her what she wanted, that’s all,” Damon said, his black eyes twinkling. “Is there anything so awful about that?”
Bonnie, frightened by that twinkle, didn’t even try to run again. She knew it was no use. He was faster and stronger, and he could fly. Anyway, she had seen it in his face: a sort of distant remorselessness. They were not just Damon and Bonnie here together. They were natural predator and natural prey.
And now here she was back with Jim and Obaasan — no, with a boy and girl she’d never seen before. Bonnie was in time to watch the transformation. She saw Jim’s body shrink and his hair turn black, but that wasn’t the striking thing about it. The striking thing was that all around the edges, his hair was not black but crimson. It was as if flames were licking up from the tips into darkness. His eyes were golden and smiling.
She saw Obaasan’s doll-like old body grow younger and stronger and taller. This girl was a beauty; Bonnie had to admit it. She had gorgeous sloe-black eyes and silky hair that fell almost to her waist. And her hair was just like her brother’s — only the red was even brighter, scarlet instead of crimson. She was wearing a barely-there laced black halter that showed how delicately built she was on top. And, of course, low-rise black leather pants to show the same thing on the bottom. She was wearing expensive-looking black high-heeled sandals, and her toenails were enameled the same brilliant red as the tips of her hair. At her belt, in a sinuous circle, was a curled-up whip with a scaly black handle.
Dr. Alpert said slowly, “My grandchildren…?”
“They don’t have anything to do with this,” the boy with the strange hair said charmingly, smiling. “As long as they mind their own business, you don’t have to worry about them a bit.”
“It’s suicide or an attempted suicide — or something,” Tyrone told the police dispatcher, almost weeping. “I think it was a guy named Jim who went to my high school last year. No, this is nothing to do with any drugs — I came here to watch my little sister Jayneela. She was baby-sitting — look, just come over, will you? This guy’s chewed off most of his fingers, and as I came in, he said, ‘I’ll always love you, Elena,’ and he took a pencil and — no, I can’t tell if he’s alive or dead. But there’s an old lady upstairs and I’m sure she’s dead. Because she’s not breathing.”
“Who the hell are you?” Matt was saying, eyeing the strange boy belligerently.
“I’m the—”
“—and what the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m the hell Shinichi,” the boy said in a much louder voice, looking annoyed to be interrupted. When Matt just stared at him, he added in an annoyed voice, “I’m the kitsune — the were-fox, you could say — who’s been messing with your town, idiot. I came halfway around the world to do it, and I’d think you’d at least have heard of me by now. And this is my lovely sister, Misao. We’re twins.”
“I don’t care if you’re triplets. Elena said somebody besides Damon was behind this. And so did Stefan before he — hey, what did you do to Stefan?What did you do to Elena?”
While the two strange males were bristling at each other — quite literally in Shinichi’s case, since his hair was almost standing on end — Meredith was picking out Bonnie, Dr. Alpert, and Mrs. Flowers by eye. Then she glanced at Matt and touched herself lightly on the chest. She was the only one strong enough to woman handle him, although Dr. Alpert gave a quick nod that said she would be helping.
And then, while the boys were working up to shouting volume, Misao was giggling at the ground, and Damon was leaning against a door with his eyes shut, they moved. With no signal at all to unite them, they were running, instinctively, as one group. Meredith and Dr. Alpert grabbed Matt from either side and simply lifted him off his feet, just as Isobel quite unexpectedly jumped on Shinichi with a guttural scream. They hadn’t expected anything from her, but it was certainly convenient, Bonnie thought as she hurtled over obstacles without even seeing them. Matt was still shouting and trying to run the other way and take out some primitive frustration on Shinichi, but he couldn’t quite manage to get free to do it.
Bonnie could scarcely believe it when they made it into the Wood again. Even Mrs. Flowers had kept up and most of them still had their flashlights.
It was a miracle. They had even escaped Damon. The thing now was to be very quiet and to try to get through the Old Wood without disturbing anything. Maybe they could find their way back to the real boardinghouse, they decided. Then they could figure out how to save Elena from Damon and his two friends. Even Matt finally had to admit that it was unlikely that they would be able to overcome the three supernatural creatures by force.
Bonnie just wished they’d been able to take Isobel with them.
“Well, we have to go to the real boardinghouse anyway,” Damon said, as Misao finally got Isobel subdued and semi-conscious. “That’s where Caroline will be.”
Misao stopped glaring at Isobel and seemed to start slightly. “Caroline? Why do we want Caroline?”
“It’s all part of the fun, isn’t it?” Damon said in his most charming, flirtatious voice. Shinichi immediately stopped looking martyred and smiled.
“That girl — she’s the one you’ve been using as a carrier, right?” He looked mischievously at his sister, whose smile seemed slightly strained.
“Yes, but—”
“The more the merrier,” Damon said, more cheerful with every minute. He didn’t seem to notice Shinichi smirking at Misao behind his back.
“Don’t sulk, darling,” he said to her, tickling her under the chin while his golden eyes gleamed. “I’ve never set eyes on the girl. But of course, if Damon says it’ll be fun, it will be.” The smirk became a full-fledged gloating smile.
“And there’s no chance of any of them actually getting away at all?” Damon said, almost absently, staring into the darkness of the Old Wood.
“Give me a little credit, please,” the kitsune snapped. “You’re a damned — a vampire, aren’t you?You’re not supposed to hang out in the woods at all.”
“It’s my territory, along with the cemetery—” Damon was beginning mildly, but Shinichi was determined to finish first this time. “I live in the woods,” he said. “I control the bushes, the trees — and I’ve brought a few of my own little experiments along with me. You’ll all see them soon enough. So, to answer your question, no, not one of them is going to escape.”
“That was all I asked,” Damon said, still mildly, but locking gazes with the golden eyes for another long moment. Then he shrugged and turned away, eyeing the moon that could be seen between swirling clouds on the horizon.
“We’ve got hours before the ceremony yet,” Shinichi said, behind him. “We’re hardly going to be late.”
“We’d better not,” Damon murmured. “Caroline can do an awfully good impression of that pierced girl in hysterics when people are late.”
As a matter of fact, the moon was riding high in the sky as Caroline drove her mother’s car to the porch of the boardinghouse. She was wearing an evening dress that looked as if it had been painted on her, in her favorite colors of bronze and green. Shinichi looked at Misao, who giggled with one hand covering her mouth and looked down.
Damon walked Caroline up the porch steps to the front door and said, “This way to the good seats.”
There was some bewilderment as people got themselves sorted out. Damon spoke cheerfully to Kristin and Tami and Ava: “The peanut gallery for you three, I’m afraid. That means you sit on the ground. But if you’re good,
