The Return: Shadow Souls

area of Fell’s Church. A banner headline read:

POSSESSION IN THE 21ST CENTURY?

Under the headline were many lines of gray print, but what really caught the eye was a photo of a three-way fight between girls, all of whom seemed to be undergoing seizures or contortions impossible to the human body. The expressions of two of the girls were simply those of pain and terror, but it was the third girl who froze the blood in Elena’s veins. Her body was humped so that her face was upside down, and she was looking directly at the camera with her lips skinned back from her teeth. Her eyes — there was just no other way to put it — were demonic. They weren’t rolled back in her head or malformed or anything. They weren’t glowing eerily red. It was all in the expression. Elena had never seen eyes that made her sick to her stomach before.

Bonnie said quietly, “Do you ever sort of slip and get that feeling like, ‘Oh, whoops, there goes the whole universe’?”

“Constantly, since meeting Stefan,” Meredith said. “No offense meant, Elena. But the point is that all this has happened in just a couple of days; from the minute the adults who knew that there was something really going on got together.”

Meredith sighed and ran fingers with perfectly manicured nails through her hair before continuing. “Those girls are what Bonnie calls possessed in the modern sense. Or maybe they’re possessed by Misao — female kitsune are supposed to do that. But if we could just find these things called star balls — or even one — we could force them to clean all this up.”

Elena put the newspaper down so she wouldn’t have to see those upside-down eyes staring into hers. “And while all this is happening, what is your boyfriend doing during the crisis?”

For the first time, Meredith looked genuinely relieved. “He may be on his way as we speak. I’ve written to him about everything that’s happening, and he was actually the one who said to get Bonnie out.” She flashed a glance of apology at Bonnie, who simply lifted her hands and face to the heavens. “And as soon as he’s finished with his work on some island called Shinmei no Uma, he’s coming to Fell’s Church. This kind of thing is Alaric’s specialty, and he doesn’t get spooked easily. So even if we’re gone for weeks, Matt will have a backup.”

Elena threw her own hands up in a gesture similar to Bonnie’s. “There’s just one thing you’d better know before we start. I can’t help Bonnie. If you’re counting on me to do any of the things I did when we fought Shinichi and Misao last time — well, I can’t. I’ve tried over and over, as hard as I could, to do all my wings attacks. But nothing has ever come of it.”

Meredith said slowly, “Well, then, maybe Damon knows something—”

“Maybe he does, but, Meredith, don’t push him right now. Not right this minute. What he knows for certain is that Shinichi can reach in and take his memories — and who knows, maybe even possess him again—”

“That lying kitsune!” Bonnie spat out, sounding almost proprietory. As if, Elena thought, Damon was her boyfriend. “Shinichi swore he wouldn’t—”

“And he swore he’d leave Fell’s Church alone, too. The only reason I have any faith at all in the clues that Misao gave me about the fox key, is that she was taunting me. She never thought we’d do a deal, and so she wasn’t trying to lie or be too clever — I think.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here with you, to get Stefan out,” Bonnie said. “And if we’re lucky, to find the star balls that will let us control Shinichi. Right?”

“Right!” Elena said fervently.

“Right,” Meredith said solemnly.

Bonnie nodded. “Velociraptor sisterhood forever!”

They laid their right hands over one another’s quickly, forming a three-spoked wheel. It reminded Elena of the days when there were four spokes.

“And what about Caroline?” she asked.

Bonnie and Meredith consulted each other with their eyes. Then Meredith shook her head. “You don’t want to know. Really,” she said.

“I can take it. Really,” Elena said in almost a whisper. “Meredith, I’ve been dead, remember? Twice.”

Meredith was still shaking her head. “If you can’t look at that picture, you shouldn’t hear about Caroline. We went to see her twice—”

“You went to see her twice,” Bonnie interrupted. “The second time I fainted and you left me by the door.”

“And I realized I could have lost you for good, and I’ve apologized—” Meredith broke off when Bonnie put a hand on her arm and gave her a little push.

“Anyway, it wasn’t exactly a visit,” Meredith said. “I went running into Caroline’s room ahead of her mom and found her inside her nest — never mind what that is — eating something. When she saw me, she just giggled and went on eating.”

“And?” Elena said, when the tension got to be too much for her. “What was it?”

“I think,” Meredith said bleakly, “that it was worms and slugs. She would stretch them up and up and they’d squirm before she bit them. But that wasn’t the worst. Look, you had to have been here to appreciate it, but she just smirked at me, and said in this thick voice, ‘Have a bite?’ and suddenly my mouth was filled with this wriggling mass — and it was going down my throat. So I was sick, right there on her carpet. Caroline just started laughing, and I ran down again and picked Bonnie up and ran out and we never went back. But…halfway down the path to the house, I realized Bonnie was suffocating. She had the — the worms and things — in her mouth and her nose. I know CPR; I managed to get most of them out before she woke up vomiting. But—”

“It was an experience I would really rather not have again.” The very lack of expression in Bonnie’s voice said more than any tone of horror could.

Meredith said, “I’ve heard that Caroline’s parents have moved out of that house, and I can’t say I blame them. Caroline’s over eighteen. All I can add is that everybody’s sort of praying that somehow the werewolf blood will win out in her, because that seems at least to be less horrible than the malach or the — the demonic. But if it doesn’t win out…”

Elena rested her chin on her knees. “And Mrs. Flowers can deal with this?”

“Better than Bonnie can. Mrs. Flowers is glad to have Matt around; like I said, they’re a solid team. And now that she has finally spoken to the human race of the twenty-first century, I think she likes it. And she’s been practicing the craft constantly.”

“The craft? Oh—”

“Yeah, that’s what she calls witchcraft. I have no idea whether she’s any good at it or not, because I don’t have anything to compare her to — or with—”

“Her poultices work like magic!” Bonnie said firmly just as Elena said, “Her bath salts certainly work.”

Meredith smiled faintly. “Too bad she isn’t here instead of us.”

Elena shook her head. Now that she had reconnected with Bonnie and Meredith she knew she could never go into the Darkness without them. They were more than her hands; they were so much more to her…and here they were, each prepared to risk their life for Stefan and for Fell’s Church.

At that moment, the door to the room opened. Damon walked in, carrying a couple of brown paper bags in one hand.

“So everybody’s said bye-bye nicely?” he asked. He seemed to have trouble looking at either of the two visitors, so he stared particularly hard at Elena.

“Well — not really. Not as such,” Elena said. She wondered if

Damon was capable of throwing Meredith out a fifth-story window. Best to break it easily to him, by degrees….

“Because we’re going with you,” Meredith said, and Bonnie said, “We forgot to pack, though.”

Elena slid quickly so that she was between Damon and the others. But Damon just stared at the floor.

“It’s a bad idea,” he said very softly. “A very, very, very bad idea.”

“Damon, don’t Influence them! Please!” Elena waved both hands at him in a gesture of urgency, and Damon raised one of his hands in a gesture of negation — and somehow their hands brushed each other’s — and tangled.

Electric shock. But a nice one, Elena thought — although she didn’t really have