The Return: Midnight Chapter 8

Damon nodded imaginationful y, glancing back and forth between the combat stave and the pil owcase in his hand.Hadnt he suspected something same this for a long time?Subconsciously? After al , there had been that attack on the grandfather, which had failed to either kil him or to erase his memory comp allowely. Damons imagination could fil in the rest her parents bewitching no reason to blight their tiny daughters life with this gruesome business a whole new change of scenery and because giving up the practice in the provincial, protected little t testify of Fel s Church.If they had only known.Oh, doubtless they had made sure that Meredith had had self-defense and various martial arts training since she was a child, while protesting her to absolute secrecy even from her best friends.Wel , now, Damon thought. The first of Shinichis riddles was already solved. One of you has a lifetime hugger-mugger kept from everyone. I always knew there was something about this missyand t his is it. Id bet my life that shes a black belt.There had been a long silence. Now Damon broke it.Your ancestors were hunters too? he asked, as if she were telepathic. He waited a moment stil silence. Okay no telepathy. That was intelligent. He nodded at the magnificent stave. That was certainly made for a schoolmaster or lady.Meredith wasnt stupid. She spoke without glancing away from his eyes. She was ready, at any instant, to go into kil ing mode. Were well(p) ordinary folk, trying to get a job done so non guilty humans wil be safer.By kil ing the odd vampire or two.Wel , so far in recorded history saying Naughty, naughty, Mama spankhas failed to convert a single vampire to vegetarianism.Damon had to laugh. Pity you werent born early enough to convert Stefan. He could hold back been your grand triumph.You turn over thats funny. precisely we do have converts.Yes. mint wil say anything while youre holding a pointed stick at them.People who feel that its wrong to Influe nce other people into believing theyre getting something for nothing.Thats it Meredith allow me Influence youThis time it was Meredith who laughed.No, Im serious When Im a vampire again, let me Influence you not to be so much afraid of a bite. I swear I wont take more than a teaspoon. just that would give me time to show you A nice big house of candy that never existed? A relative who get outd ten years ago and who would have abhorred the thought of you taking my memory of her and using it as a lure? A dream of shutting world hunger that doesnt put food into one mouth?This girl, thought Damon, is dangerous. Its like a Counter-Influence that theyve taught to their members. Wanting her to natter that vampires, or ex-vampires, or Once and next Vampires had some good qualities like courage he let go of the pil owcase and grasped the end of the fighting stave with some(prenominal) hands.Meredith raised an eyebrow. Did I not just recently tel you that a number of those spikes yo uve just driven into your flesh are poisonous? Or were you not listening?She had automatical y grabbed the stave as wel , to a higher place the dangerous zone.You told me,he said inscrutably he hoped.I particularly said poisonous to humans as wel as to werewolves and other things recal it?You told me that, too. solely Id rather die than live as a human, so Let the games begin.And with that, Damon began to push the two-headed stave toward Merediths heart.She immediately clamped down on the stave as wel , pushing it back toward him. But he had three advantages, as they both soon sureized. He was slightly tal er and more strongly muscled even than lithe, athletic Meredith he had a yearlong reach than hers and he had taken up a much more aggressive po baby-sition. Even though he could feel poisoned little spikes biting into his palms, he thrust forward and up until the kil ing point was once again near her heart. Meredith pushed back with an amazing amount of strength and then sudd enly, somehow, they were even again.Damon glanced up to see how that had go throughed, and saw, to his shock, that she also had grasped the stave in the kil ing zone. Now her hands were dripping blood onto the floor just as his were.MeredithWhat? I take my job seriously.Despite her gambit, he was stronger. Inch by inch, he forced his torn palms to hang on, his arms to exert pressure. And inch by inch she was forced backward, refusing to quit until there was no more room to back up.And there they stood, the entire length of the stave between them, and the refrigerator flat against Merediths back.Al Damon could think of was Elena. If he somehow survived this and Meredith did not then what would those malachite eyes say to him? How would he live with what they said?And then, with infuriating timing, like a chess player knocking over her own king, Meredith let go of the spear, conceding Damons superior strength.After which, seeming to have no fear of turning her back on him, she too k a jar ful of salve from a kitchen cupboard, scooped out a dol op of the contents, and motioned for Damon to hold out his hands. He frowned. Hed never heard of a poison that got into the blood that could be cured by outside(a) measures.I didnt put real poison in the human needles,she said calmly. But your palms wil be torn and this is an excel ent remedy. Its ancient, passed down for generations.How kind of you to share, at his well-nigh sharply ironic.And now what are we going to do? Start al over again?he added as Meredith calmly began to rub salve into her own hands.No. Hunter-slayers have a code, you know. You won the sphere. I assume youre planning to do what Sage seems to have done. Open the entrance to the Dark Dimension.Open the Gate to the Dark Dimensions,he corrected.Probably I should have mentioned theres more than one.But al I want is to become a vampire again. And we can lecture as we go, since I see were both wearing our cat burglar costumes.Meredith was dressed much as he was, in black jeans and a whippersnapper black sweater. With her long shining dark hair she looked unexpectedly beautiful. Damon, who had considered running her through with the stave, just as his obligation to vampire-kind, now found himself wavering. If she gave him no issue on his way to the Gate, he would let her go, he decided. He was feeling magnanimous for the first time he had faced down and conquered the fearsome Meredith, and besides, she had a code as he did. He felt a sort of kinship with her.With ironic gal antry, he waved her on before him, retaining possession of the pil owcase and the fighting stave himself.As Damon quietly shut the front door he saw that dawn was about to break. Perfect timing. The stave caught the first rays of light. I have a question for you,he said to Merediths long, silky dark hair. You said that you didnt find this beautiful stave until after Klaus that wicked Old One was dead. But if youre from a hunter-slayer family you migh t have been more help in getting him dispatched. Like mentioning that only white ash could kil him.It was because my parents didnt actively pursue the family business they didnt know. They were both from hunter families, of course you have to be, to bread and butter it out of the tabloids and police files Do you want me to talk, or can you do your stand-up routine alone? register taken hefting the extremely pointed stave. Il listen.But even though they chose not to be active, they knew that a vampire or werewolf might decide to pick on their daughter if they found out her identity. So during school, I tookharpsichord lessonsand riding lessonsone day a week each have done since I was three. Im a Black Belt Shihan, and a Taekwondo Saseung. I might start Dragon Kung Fu Point taken once more. But then how exactly did you find that gorgeous kil ing stick?After Klaus was dead, while Stefan was babysitting Elena, suddenly Grandpa started talking just single words but it made me go look in our attic. I found this.So you really dont know how to use it?Id just started practicing when Shinichi turned up. But, no, I dont real y have a clue. Im pretty good with a bo staff, though, so I just use it like that.You didnt use it like a bo staff on me.I was hoping to persuade you, not kil you. I couldnt think of how to explain to Elena that Id broken al your bones.Damon kept himself from laughing barely.So how did a couple of inactive hunter-slayers end up moving to a town on top of a few hundred crossing ley lines?Im guessing they didnt know what a line of natural Power was. And Fel s Church looked smal and inactive back then.They found the Gateway just as Damon had seen it before, a neat rectangular piece sliced out of the earth, about five feet deep.Now sit down there,he adjured Meredith, putting her on the opposite corner from where he lay the stave.Have you given a thought even the briefest as to what wil happen to Misao if you pullulate out all the liqui d in there?Actual y, not one. Not one microseconds worth,Damon said cheerful y. Why? Do you think she would for me?Meredith sighed. No. Thats the problem with both of you.Shes certainly your problem at the moment, although I may stop by sometime after the towns destroyed to have a little tte--tte with her brother about the concept of keeping an oath.After youve gotten strong enough to beat him.Well, why dont you do something? Its your town theyve devastated, after al ,Damon said. Children contend themselves and each other, and now adults attacking children Theyre either scared to death or possessed by those malach the foxes are stil spreading everywhere Yes, and so fear and paranoia keep spreading too. Fel s Church may be little by the standards of other genocides theyve caused, but its an important place because its sitting on top Of al those ley lines ful of magical power yes, yes, I know.But dont you care at al ? About us? Their future plans for us?Doesnt any of it matter to you?Meredith demanded.Damon thought of the stil , smal inning in the first-floor bedroom and felt a sick qualm. I told you already,he snapped. Im coming back for a talk with Shinichi.After which, careful y, he began to pour liquid from the uncorked star bal at one corner of the rectangle. Now that he was actual y at the Gate, he realized he had no inclination what he should do. The proper procedure might be to jump in and pour out the star bal s entire liquid in the middle. But four corners seemed to dictate four different places to pour, and he was sticking to that.He expected Meredith to try to foul things up somehow. birth a run for the house. Make some noise, at least. Attack him from behind now that he had dropped the stave. But apparently her code of honor forbade this.Strange girl, he thought. But Il leave her the stave, since it real y belongs to her family, and, anyway, its going to get me kil ed the instant I land in the Dark Dimension. A slave carrying a weapon especi al y a weapon like that wont have a chance.Judiciously, he poured out almost al of the liquid left into the final corner and stepped back to see what would happen.SSSS-bah White Blazing white light. That was al his eyes or his mind could take in at first.And then, with a rush of triumph he thought Ive done it The Gateway is openThe center of the upper Dark Dimension, please,he said politely to the blazing hole. A secluded al ey would probably be the best, if you dont mind.And then he jumped into the hole.Except that he didnt. Just as he was starting to bend his knees, something hit him from the right. Meredith I thought But it wasnt Meredith. It was Bonnie.You tricked me You cant go in thereShe was sobbing and screaming.Yes, I can Now let go of me before it disappearsHe tried to pry her off, while his mind whirled uselessly. Hed left this girl what? an hour or so ago, so deeply asleep that she had looked dead. Just how much could that little body take?No Theyl kil you And Elena wil kil me But Il get kil ed first because Il stil be hereAwake, and actual y capable of putting together puzzles.Human, I told you to let go,he snarled. He bared his teeth at her, which only caused her to bury her head in his jacket and cling on koala-bear style, wrapping both her legs around one of his.A couple of real y hard slaps should dislodge her, he thought.He lifted his hand.