The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 17

Once he got outside, Stefan remembered that Elena had taken his car. Turning into the woods, he began to run, using his Power to speed his pace. The lbf. of his feet seemed to thud, Guard her, Guard her.He knew whither Tyler Smal wood had lived. subsequently Tyler had attacked Elena at a dance, it had made sense to keep an eye on him. Stefan burst from the woods at the edge of the Smal woods property.They owned an ugly house, in Stefans opinion. An inaccurate portrayal of an old Southern manor estate, it was too big for the lawn it sat on and bulged with unnecessary columns and crook rococo decorations. Just looking at it, Stefan had been able to tel that the Smal woods had much m matchlessy than taste, and that the architects whod designed it werent educated in true classical forms.He rang the bacillus at the front door, then froze. What if Mr. or Mrs. Smal wood answered the bel ? He would subscribe to to Influence them to give him as much information as they could most Caleb , and then to forget Stefan had been on that point. He hoped he had the Power to do it He hadnt been eating enough, not even of animal blood.But no one came. After a few seconds, Stefan sent questing t polerils of Power through the house. It was empty. He couldnt go in, couldnt search Calebs room like he wanted to. Without an invitation, he was stuck out here. He wandered around the house, peering through the windows, but finding nothing out of the ordinary other than entirely too many gilded frames and mirrors. Behind the house he found a smal white dangle. Sending Power toward it, he felt something slightly off. Just the slightest tinge of darkness, a feeling of frustration and il intent.The shed was padlocked, but the lock was easy enough to snap. And as no one lived here, he didnt need an invitation to enter.The first thing he axiom was Elenas face. Newspaper clippings and photos were tacked al over the wal s Elena, Bonnie, Meredith, himself. On the floor was a pentagram with more pictures and roses.Stefans certainty that something was wrong solidified. Elena was in danger. Sending Power before him, searching desperately for any trace of her, he took off running again.As she drove away from the florists, Elena turned the conversation with Stefan over and over in her mind. What was going on with him since theyd come lynchpin to Fel s Church? It felt like there was part of him that he was holding back, hiding from her. She remembered the loneliness, the sinking, dizzy feeling of isolation that she had perceived when she kissed him. Was it Damons loss that was changing Stefan?Damon. Just the thought of him was enough to cause an almost physical pain in her. Mercurial, difficult, beautiful Damon. Dangerous. Loving, in his own way. The thought of his name, scripted in water plants across Merediths legs, floated through her mind.She didnt know what it meant. But there was no hope. She needed to stop lying to herself about that. She had seen Damon die. Yet i t seemed impossible that somebody as complex and strong and seemingly undefeatable as Damon could be gone so quickly and so simply. But that was the way it happened, wasnt it? She should know that death didnt very much come with a grand show, that it usual y came when you were least expecting it. She had known that before al this al this stuff with vampires and werewolves and evil mysterious opponents. She had known al about the suddenness and simplicity of death for years, back when she was just normal Elena Gilbert, who didnt believe in anything supernatural, not even horoscopes or fortune-tel ing, much less monsters.She glanced at the passenger seat next to her, where there lay the bouquet of pink roses she had picked up to give to Margaret. And, next to them, a simple bunch of forget-me-nots. Like Id constantly forget, she thought. Elena remembered riding in the car toward home with her parents and baby Margaret on an ordinary Sunday afternoon. It had been a beautiful sunny fa l day, the leaves of the trees by the roadside just blood line to be painted with red and gold.Theyd gone to lunch at a little inn out in the country. Margaret, who was teething, had been cranky at the restaurant, and theyd taken turns paseo her up and down on the porch of the inn for a few minutes at a time while the others ate. But in the car she was quiet, half drowsing, her light golden lashes fluttering down to rest for longer and longer periods against her cheeks.Elenas father had been driving, she remembered, and the radio had been tuned to the local station so he could catch the news. Her baffle had twisted to look at Elena in the backseat, her sapphire blue eyes so like Elenas own. Her golden hair, touched with a little gray, was pul ed back in a French braid, elegant and practical. Smiling, she had verbalize, Do you know what I think would be nice?What? asked Elena, smiling back at her. Then she saw a strange glitter, high in the sky, and leaned forward without waitin g for a reply. Daddy, whats that? Shed pointed upward.Elena never found out what her mother had thought would be nice. Her father never answered what that was. The last things Elena remembered were sounds her fathers gasp and the screech of the cars tires. Everything after that was blank, until Elena had woken up in the hospital, Aunt Judith by her bedside, and learned that her parents were dead. They had died before the paramedics had even pried them out of the car.Before they restored Fel s Church, the Guardians had told Elena that she should catch died in that accident, and that her parents should have lived. The glitter had been their air car, and Elena had distracted her father at the worst possible moment, causing al the wrong people to die. She could feel the weight down of it now, the guilt at surviving, her anger at the Guardians. She glanced at the dashboard clock. There was stil plenty of time before she had to be at Margarets recital. Turning off the highway, she pul e d into the cemeterys parking lot.Elena parked the car and walked briskly through the newer part of the cemetery, carrying the forget-me-nots. Birds were chirping gaily overhead. So much had happened in this cemetery in the last year. Bonnie had seen one of her first visions among these tombstones. Stefan had fol owed her here, watching her secretly when she thought he was just the gorgeous new guy at school. Damon had nearly drained an old tramp down the stairs the bridge. Katherine had chased Elena out of the cemetery with fog and ice and a far-reaching, far-seeing evil. And, of course, Elena had driven off a bridge to her death here by the cemetery, at the end of that first life, the one that seemed so long ago now.Elena picked her way past an ornate marble memorial to Fel s Churchs Civil War veterans and down to the queer glen where her parents were buried. The tiny wildflower bouquet she and Stefan had left two days before had withered, and Elena threw it away and put the forg et-menots in its place. She picked a bit of moss off her fathers name.The lightest crunch of reproof sounded from the path behind her, and Elena whirled around. There was no one there.Im just jumpy, she muttered to herself. Her voice sounded oddly loud in the quiet of the cemetery. Nothing to worry about, she said more firmly.She settled in the defecate by her parents graves and traced the letters on her mothers headstone with one hand.Hi, she said. Its been a while since Ive actual y sat here and talked to you, I know. Im sorry. An awful lot has happened She swal owed. Im sorry, too, because I found out that you werent supposed to die when you did. I asked the Guardians to to bring you back, but they said you had moved on to a better place and they couldnt reverse that. I wish Im glad youre happy wherever you are, but I stil miss you.Elena sighed, lowered her hand from the gravestone, and trailed it through the grass by her knees. Somethings after me again, she continued unhappil y. After al of us, I guess, but Bonnie said I brought it here when she was in a trance. And later she said he wants me. I dont know if its two different people or whatever after us, or just one. But its always me the bad things decoct on. She twisted a blade of grass between her fingers. I wish things could be simpler for me, the way they are for other girls.Sometimes Im so glad to have Stefan, and glad I could help protect Fel s Church, but its hard. Its real y hard. A sob was building in her throat and she swal owed it back. And Stefans always been there for me, but I feel like I dont know al of him anymore, especial y because I cant read his thoughts. Hes so tense, and its like he require to be in control al the timeSomething shifted behind her, just the slightest hint of movement. She felt a warm, damp breeze like a confidential information on the back of her neck.Elena whipped her head around. Caleb was crouching behind her, so close they were almost nose-to-nose. She scre amed, but Caleb slapped his hand over her mouth, muffling her cry.