The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 22

Elena couldnt brea occasion roome. She could vaguely feel her m come outh beginning and closing, exclusively she found she wasnt able to say anything. Her hands and feet had g nonpareil numb. Damon gave her an nigh shy smile which was funny, because Damon didnt do shy and shrugged. Wel , princess? You wanted me to be present with you, didnt you?As if a rubber band holding her underpin had snapped, Elena leaped out of bed and hurtled into Damons arms.Are you real? she state, half sobbing. Is this real? She embraceed him fiercely, and he met her kiss with equal fervor. He felt real, cool skin and leather, the surprising murk of his lips familiar under hers.Here I am, he murmu personnel casualty into her hair as he pul ed her close to him. Its real, I promise you.Elena stepped tail and smacked him stern across the gift. Damon glared at her and reached up to rub his cheek. Ouch, he say, and thence chapped a narrow, irritating smile. I cant say that was completely unexpecte d I frig around slapped by women more(prenominal) often than youd think possible but not a nice welcome for the long-lost love, sweet nub.How could you? Elena said, dry-eyed now and furious.How could you, Damon? Weve al been mourning you. Stefans fal ing apart. Bonnie blames herself. I I A piece of my heart died. How long have you been watching us? Didnt you care? Was this al roughly kind of joke to you?Did you laugh when we cried?Damon winced. Darling, he said. My princess. Arent you fleur-de-lis to gull me at al ?Of course I am said Elena indignantly. She took a breath and cooled d accept a little. alone, Damon, what were you thinking? We al musical theme you were dead for good dead, not show-up-in-my-bedroom-a- both(prenominal)-days-laterlooking-perfectly-healthy dead Whats waiver on? Did the Guardians do this? They told me they couldnt when I begged them to, that terminal is permanent for a vampire once it happens.Damon graced her with a genuine, laughing smile. Wel , you of al people ought to chouse that death isnt always permanent.Elena shrugged and wrapped her arms round herself.They told me that when I came spine, it was different, she said in a smal junction, her emotions zigzagging al over the place. Because youre in shock, a tiny voice at the back of her head said wisely. Mystical stuff, you know. My time wasnt up. Hey She poked him with one finger, perking up.Are you human now? I was human when I returned.Damon gave a long, theatrical shudder. God forbid. I had passable of that when that meddling kitsune do me a mortal. Thank heaven or whoever I dont have to go looking for an obliging vampire princess to turn me back this time. He grinned slyly at Elena. Im as phone linesucking as ever, darling. He eyed her neck. Speaking of which, Im rather hungryElena smacked him again, though more thinly this time.Knock it withdraw, Damon.Can I sit down now? Damon asked and, when she nodded, colonised himself on the foot of her bed and dr ew her down to sit beside him. Elena looked searchingly into his eyes, then gently traced her hand over his sharp cheekbones, his sculpted mouth, his fruity raven hair.You were dead, Damon, she said quietly. I know it. I saw you die.Yes, he said, and sighed. I felt myself die. It was horribly painful and it seemed to twain go on forever and be over in a few moments. He shuddered. There was a little consequence leave of me even then though Elena nodded and Stefan told me, told him, to fly away. And you held him held me and told me to close my eyes. And then that last little bit of me was gone, too, and even the pain was gone. And then I came back. Damons dark eyes were child wish well with remembered wonder.But how? asked Elena.Remember the star bal ?How could I for desexualize? It was the root of al our problems with the kitsune. It was vaporized when I Oh, Damon, I used my Wings of Destruction on the tree on the Nether Worlds lunar month. But they destroyed the kitsunes st ar bal , too, and I had to go to the Guardians to save Fel s Church. The Wings of Destruction were like zilch Ive ever seen or felt before. She shivered.Ive seen what you did to that moon, Damon said, smiling slightly. Would it make you feel better, my pleasing angel, if you knew that using your Powers like that and destroying the star bal is what relieve me?Dont cal me that, said Elena, scowling. The Guardians were the closest thing she had ever seen to real angels, and she did not have fond memories of them. How did it save you?Do they explain how condensation officiates in modern schools? Damon asked with the supercilious looking he always wore when he teasingly criticized her world in likeness to the one he had grown up in. Is it al sex education, empathy, and middling novels now, or do they stil tel the children a little about science? I know theyve dropped Latin and Greek in favor of theater and consciousness-raising. His voice dripped with contempt. Elena told herself not to rise to his bait. Instead she folded her hands neatly in apparent movement of her in her lap. I think you may be a few decades out-of-date. But please, O wise one, she said, assume that my education didnt include the association between condensation and rising from the dead, and enlighten me.Nice. Damon smirked. I like to see a young woman who is respectful of her elders and betters. Elena cocked an eyebrow at him warningly. Anyway, he continued, the liquid in the star bal , the pure trick, didnt vanish. Its not that easy to get rid of real y strong magic. As the atmosphere cooled, the magic turned from vapor back into liquid and fel down on me, with the come down of ash. I was soaking in pure Power for hours, gradual y being reborn.Elenas mouth dropped open. Those sneaks, she said indignantly. The Guardians told me you were gone for good, and they took al the treasures we bribed them with, too. She thought curtly of the one last treasure she stil had, a water bottle ful of the urine of Eternal Youth, hidden high up on the shelf in her closet, and pushed the thought away. She couldnt even acknowledge that hidden treasure to herself for more than a moment, for fear the Guardians would realize she had it, and she couldnt use it not yet, maybe not ever. Damon shrugged one shoulder. They do cheat, sometimes, I hear. But its more likely this time that they thought they were tel ing the truth. They dont know e very(prenominal)thing, even though they like to pretend they do. And kitsune and vampires are both a little outside their area of expertise.He told her how he had woken, hide deep in ash and mud, clawed his way to the sur breast, and set off across the unfinished moon, not knowing who he was or what had happened to him, and how he had almost died again, and that Sage had saved him.And then what? Elena asked eagerly. How did you remember everything? How did you get back to Earth?Wel , said Damon, turning a slight, fond smile on her,thats a funny story. He reached into an inner pocket of his leather detonating device and pul ed out a neatly folded white linen handkerchief. Elena blinked. It looked like the same handkerchief he had given her in her dream. Damon noticed her verbalism and smiled more widely, as though he knew where she was recognizing it from. He unfolded it and held it out for Elenas inspection.Cradled interior the handkerchief were two strands of hair. Very familiar hair, Elena realized. She and Bonnie had each track off a lock of hair and placed them on Damons body, deficient to leave a part of themselves with him, since they couldnt take his body off the desolate moon with them. Before her now lay a curling red lock and a waving gold one, as b practiced and sheeny as if they had just been cut from freshly washed heads, rather than left on a world with ash fal ing al around.Damon gazed at the locks with an musing made up of tenderness and a little awe. Elena thought that she had never seen such an ope n, almost hopeful look from him.The Power from the star bal saved these, too, he said.First they were burned almost to ash, but then they regenerated. I held them and studied them and cherished them, and you started to come back to me. Sage had given me my name, and it sounded serious to me, but I couldnt recal anything else about myself. But as I held these locks of hair, I gradual y remembered who you were, and what we had been through together, and al the things I He paused. What I knew and felt about you, and then I remembered the little redbird, too, and then everything else came flooding back and I was myself again.He glanced away and lost the sentimental look, smoothing his face into its usual cool expression, as if embarrassed, then folded the locks of hair back privileged the handkerchief and tucked it careful y away into his jacket.Wel , he said briskly, then it was just a matter of having Sage lend me some clothes, fil me in on what I had missed, and give me a lift back to Fel s Church. And now here I am.I bet he was amazed, said Elena, and ecstatic. The vampire Keeper of the Gates Between Worlds was a pricy friend of Damons, the only friend of Damons she knew of, other than herself. Damons acquaintances tended to be enemies or admirers more often than friends.He was quite pleased, Damon admitted.So you just now made it back to Earth?Damon nodded.Wel , youve missed a lot here, Elena said, launching into an news report of the past few days, starting with Celias name written in blood and ending on Calebs hospitalization.Wow. Damon let out a low whistle. But I have to assume the problem is more than my little blood brother acting like a madman with Caleb? Because, you know, that may be saucer-eyed jealousy. Jealousy has always been Stefans biggest sin. He said the last with a smug twist to his lips, and Elena elbowed him gently in the ribs.Dont put Stefan down, she said reprovingly, and smiled to herself. It felt so good to be scolding Damon agai n. He real y was his own maddening, changeable, wonderful self again. Damon was back.Wait. Oh, no. Youre in danger, too Elena gasped, remembering all at once that he could stil be taken from her.Your name appeared earlier, written in the weeds that were holding Meredith underwater. We didnt know what it could mean, because we thought you were dead. But, since youre alive, it seems youre the next target. She paused.Unless fal ing through the surface of the moon was the attack on you.Dont worry about me, Elena. You are probably right about the attack on the moon being my accident. But they havent been very successful attempts, have they? Damon said thoughtful y. Almost as if whatever this is isnt trying very hard to kil us. I have a giddy inkling about what might be causing this.You do? asked Elena. Tel me.Damon shake his head. Its just a glimmer right now, he said. Let me get some sort of confirmation.But Damon, Elena pleaded, even a glimmer is much(prenominal) more than the res t of us have been able to come up with. Come with me tomorrow morning and tel everyone about it, and we can al work together.Oh, yes, said Damon, with a mock shudder. You and me and Mutt and the vampire hunter, a sexual group. Plus my pious brother and the little red witch. And the old dame witch and the teacher. No, Im going to do some more digging on my own. And whats more, Elena, he said, fixing her with a dark stare, youre not to tel anyone that Im alive. Especial y not Stefan.Damon Elena protested. You dont know how absolutely devastated Stefan is, thinking youre dead. We have to let him know youre al right.Damon smiled wryly. I think theres probably a part of Stefan thats glad enough to have me out of the picture. He doesnt have any dry land to want me here. Elena shook her head in furious denial, but he went on. Its true. But maybe its time for things to be different between us. To that end, I have to show him that I can change. In any case, I cant investigate this properl y if everyone knows Im around. Keep quiet for now, Elena. She opened her mouth to end further, but he silenced her with a quick, fierce kiss. When they broke apart, he said, Promise me for now, and Il promise you that as soon as I normal this out, you can announce my resurrection to the world.Elena nodded doubtful y. If thats what you real y want, Damon, and you real y think its necessary, she said. But Im not happy about it.Damon got to his feet and patted her shoulder. Things are going to be different now, he said. He looked down at her, his face serious. Im not the same as I was, Elena.Elena nodded again, more firmly this time. Il adjudge your secret, Damon, she promised.Damon gave her a smal , tight smile, then took three steps toward her open window. In a moment he was gone, and a large black wallow flew out into the night.