The Return: Shadow Souls

“So that means the show can commence,” cried one of the young vampire fans, stepping toward Elena.

“But I don’t have my amulet back,” Damon said flatly, moving in front of Elena like an impenetrable wall.

“But you will in minutes, surely. Look, couldn’t some fellows backtrack with the dog to wherever the bad guys came from — came to the estate from, if you get me? And meanwhile we can be getting on with the show?”

“Can Saber do that?” Damon asked. “Follow a carriage?”

“With a fox in it? But of course. Actually, I could go with them,” Sage said quietly. “I could make sure that these two enemies are caught if they are on the other end of the trail. Show them to me.”

“These are the only shapes I know.” Damon reached out two fingers and touched Sage’s temple. “But, of course, they’ll have more forms, possibly infinite ones.”

“Well, they are not our priority, I assume. The, ah, amulet is.”

“Yes,” Damon said. “Even if you don’t land a blow on them, get the key half and race back.”

“So? Even more important than revenge,” Sage said softly, shaking his head in wonder. Then he added quickly. “Well, I will wish us good luck. Any adventurous types who want to go with me? Ah, good, four — very well, five, Madame—is enough.”

And he was gone.

Elena looked at Damon, who was looking back with blank, black eyes. “You really expect me to do — that — again?”

“All you need to do is stand there. I’ll make sure you lose as little blood as possible. And if you ever want to stop we can have a signal.”

“Yes, but now I understand. And I can’t handle it.”

His face went cold suddenly. Shutting her out.

“You’re not required to handle anything. Besides, isn’t it enough if I say it’s a fair bargain for Stefan?”

Stefan! Elena’s entire body went through some sort of elemental change. “Let me share it,” she begged, and knew that she was begging and knew what Damon was going to say.

“Stefan is going to need you when we get out. Just make sure you can handle that.”

Stop. Think. Don’t bash his head in, Elena’s brain told her. He’s pushing your buttons. He knows how to do it. Don’t let him push your buttons.

“I can handle both,” she said. “Please, Damon. Don’t treat me as if I were — one of your one-nighters, or even your Princess of Darkness. Talk to me as if I were Sage.”

“Sage? Sage is the most frustrating, cunning—”

“I know. But you talk to him. And you used to talk to me, and now you’re not. Listen to me. I can’t bear to go through this scenario again. I’ll scream.”

“Now you’re threatening—”

“No! I’m telling you what will happen. Unless you gag me, I’ll scream. And scream. As I would scream for Stefan. I can’t help it. Maybe I’m breaking down….”

“But don’t you see?” Suddenly he had whirled around and taken hold of her hands. “We’re almost at the end. You, who’ve been the strongest all along — you can’t break down now.”

“The strongest…” Elena was shaking her head. “I thought we were right there, on the verge of understanding each other.”

“All right.” His words came as hard chips of marble now. “What if we do five?”

“Five?”

“Five strokes instead of ten. We’ll promise to do the other five when the ‘amulet’ is found, but we’ll run when we do find it.”

“You would have to break your word.”

“If it takes that—”

“No,” she said flatly. “You say nothing. I’ll tell them. I’m a liar and a cheat and I’ve always played with men. We’ll see if I can’t finally put my talents to good use. And there’s no point in trying any of the other girls,” she added, glancing up. “Bonnie and Meredith are wearing gowns that would fall right off if you slashed them. Only I have a bare back.” She pirouetted in place to show off how her dress met only very high at the neck in a halter and very low in the back in a V.

“Then we’re agreed.” Damon had a slave refill his goblet and Elena thought: we’re going to be the tipsiest act in history, if nothing else.

She couldn’t help but shiver. The last time she had felt an inner trembling was from Damon’s warm hand on her bare back as they danced. Now, she felt something much icier, just a draft of cold air perhaps. But it drew her mind to the feeling of her own blood running down her sides.

Suddenly Bonnie and Meredith were there beside her, forming a barricade between her and the increasingly curious and excited crowd.

“Elena, what’s happened? They said a barbarian human girl was to be whipped—” began Meredith.

“And you just knew it had to be me,” completed Elena. “Well, it’s true. I don’t see how I can get out of it.”

“But what have you done?” Bonnie asked frantically.

“Been an idiot. Let some fraternity-type vampire boys think that it was a sort of magic act,” Damon put in. His face was still grim.

“That’s a little unfair, isn’t it?” Meredith asked. “Elena told us about the first time. It sounded as if they jumped to the conclusion that it was an act all by themselves.”

“We should have denied it then. Now, we’re stuck with it,” Damon said flatly. Then, as if he were making an effort, “Oh, well, maybe we’ll get what we came for, anyway.”

“That was how we found out — some idiot came running down the steps yelling about an amulet with two green stones.”

“It was all we could think of,” Elena explained wearily. “It’s worth it for Damon and I to do this if only we can find the other half of the key.”

“You don’t have to do it,” Meredith said. “We can just leave.”

Bonnie stared at her. “Without the fox key?”

Elena shook her head. “We’ve already been through all that. The unanimous decision was to do it this way. She looked around. “Now where are the guys that wanted to see it so much?”

“Looking in the field — that used to be a ballroom,” Bonnie replied. “Or getting shovels — lots of ’em — from Bloddeuwedd’s gardening compound. Ow! Why’d you pinch me, Meredith?”

“Oh, my, did that pinch? I meant to do this—”

But Elena was already striding away, as eager now as Damon was to get it over with. Half over with. I just hope he remembers to change into his leather jacket and black jeans, she thought. In white tie — the blood—

I won’t let there be any blood.

The thought was sudden and Elena didn’t know where it came from. But in the deepest reaches of her being, she thought: he’s been punished enough. He was trembling in the litter. He thought about another person’s well-being from minute to minute. It’s enough now. Stefan wouldn’t want him to be hurt any more.

She glanced up to see one of the Dark Dimension’s small, misshapen moons moving visibly above her. This time the surrender she made to it was bright red, a feather shining in sullen crimson light. But she gave herself up to it unreservedly, body and soul, and it rested on the hallowed spring of eternal blood that was her womanhood. And then she knew what she had to do.

“Bonnie, Meredith, look: we’re a triumvirate. We have to try to share this with Damon.”

No one looked enthusiastic.

Elena, whose pride had been entirely broken from the moment she first saw Stefan in his cell, knelt down in front of them on the hard marble step. “I’m begging you—”

“Elena! Stop that!” Meredith gasped.

“Please get up! Oh, Elena—” Bonnie was a breath away from tears.

And so, it was small, softhearted Bonnie who turned the tide. “I’ll try to teach Meredith how. But anyway, we’ll at least share it between the three of us.”