by L. J. Smith
Maybe not pulled back, Elena thought, looking critical y at herself in the mirror. She tugged the barrette out of her hair and let her golden locks tumble, sleek and flat-ironed, down around her shoulders. Much better.
She looked good, she noted, running her eyes dispassionately over her reflection. Her strappy short black dress accentuated her rose-petal skin and pale hair, and her dark blue eyes seemed huge.
Without Stefan, though, what did it matter how she looked?
She watched her own mouth tighten in the mirror as she pushed the thought away. However much she missed the feeling of Stefan’s hand in hers, his lips on hers, however much she wanted to be with him, it was impossible for now.
She couldn’t be Katherine. And her pride wouldn’t let her just mope around, either. It’s not forever, she told herself grimly.
Bonnie came up and threw her arm around Elena’s shoulders, regarding them both in the mirror. “We clean up nice, don’t we?” she asked cheerful y. “Ready to go?”
“You do look amazing,” Elena said, looking at Bonnie with affection. The shorter girl was practical y glowing with excitement—eyes sparkling, smile bright, cheeks flushed, mane of red hair flying out seemingly with a life of its own—
and her short blue dress and strappy high-heeled shoes were adorable. Bonnie’s smile got bigger.
“Let’s get going,” Meredith said, al business. She was sleek and practical in jeans and a soft fitted gray shirt that matched her eyes. It was hard to know what Meredith was thinking, but Elena had overheard her murmuring to Alaric on the phone late at night. She figured that Meredith, at heart, might not be into the party either.
Outside, people walked quickly in large, silent groups, glancing around nervously as they went. No one lingered, no one was alone.
Meredith stopped midstride and stiffened, suddenly aware of a potential threat. Elena fol owed her gaze. She was wrong: one person lingered alone. Damon was sitting on a bench outside their dorm, his face tipped toward the sky as if he was basking in the sun despite the darkness of the evening.
“What do you want, Damon?” Meredith said, warily. Her voice wasn’t actual y rude—they’d gotten past that, working together this summer—but it wasn’t friendly, and Elena could feel her bristling beside her.
“Elena, of course,” Damon said lazily, rising and smoothly taking Elena’s arm.
Bonnie looked back and forth between them, puzzled. “I thought you weren’t going to spend time with either of them for a while,” she said to Elena.
Damon spoke quietly into Elena’s ear. “It’s about the Vitale Society. I’ve got a lead.”
Elena hesitated. She hadn’t told her friends about the hints she and Damon had found that the Vitale Society might be more than a myth, or that they might be connected to her parents in some way. There wasn’t real y anything much to go on yet, and she didn’t feel quite ready to talk about the possibility that her parents might have been mixed up in some kind of dark secret or how she felt, seeing the images of them when they were young.
Making up her mind, she turned to Meredith and Bonnie. “I’ve got to go with Damon for a minute. It’s important. I’l explain it to you guys later. See you at the party in a little bit.”
Meredith frowned but nodded, and she steered Bonnie toward McAl ister House. As they went, Elena could hear Bonnie saying, “But wasn’t the whole point…” Keeping his hand tucked firmly under Elena’s arm, Damon led her in the opposite direction. “Where are we going?” she asked, feeling too aware of the softness of Damon’s skin and the strength of his grip.
“I saw a girl wearing one of those pins from the photo,” Damon answered. “I fol owed her to the library, but once she got inside, she just disappeared. I looked everywhere for her. Then, an hour later, she came out the library doors again. Remember when I said we needed to look for answers somewhere other than the library?” He smiled. “I was wrong. There’s something going on in there.”
“Maybe you just didn’t see her?” Elena wondered aloud.
“It’s a big library, she could have been tucked away in a study carrel or something.”
“I would have found her,” Damon said briefly. “I’m good at finding people.” His teeth shone white for a moment under the streetlights.
The problem was that the library was so normal. Once they were inside, Elena looked around at the gray-carpeted floors, the beige chairs, the rows and rows of bookshelves, the buzzing fluorescent lights. It was a place to study. It didn’t look like any secrets were hidden here.
“Upstairs?” she suggested.
They took the stairs rather than the elevator and worked their way down from the top floor. Going from floor to floor, they found … nothing. People reading and taking notes.
Books, books, and more books. In the basement, there was a room of vending machines and smal tables for study breaks. Nothing unexpected.
Elena paused in a hal way of administrative offices near the vending machine. “We’re not going to find anything,” she told Damon. His face twisted in frustration, and she added, “I believe you that there’s something going on here, I do, but without any leads, we don’t even know what we’re looking for yet.”
The door behind her, marked Research Office, opened, and Matt came out.
He looked tired, and Elena felt a quick flash of guilt.
After Christopher’s death, she and Meredith and Bonnie had meant to stick close to Matt. But he was always busy with footbal or class and didn’t seem to want them around.
She realized with a shock that she hadn’t talked to him in days.
“Oh, hey, Elena,” Matt said, looking startled. “Are you going to the party tonight?” He greeted Damon with an awkward nod.
“Mutt,” Damon acknowledged, giving a half smile, and Matt rol ed his eyes.
As they chatted about the party and classes and Bonnie’s new semiboyfriend, Elena cataloged her impressions of Matt. Tired, yes—his eyes were a little bloodshot, and there was grimness to his lips that hadn’t been there a few weeks ago. But why did he smel so strongly of soap? It wasn’t like he was particularly clean, she thought, inspecting a grubby trail tracing down Matt’s cheek to his neck. It looked like something had been dripped on his head. It was almost like he had been cleaning something. Something real y dirty.
Struck by a new thought, she glanced at his chest.
Surely he wouldn’t be wearing one of the V pins? As if aware of what she was wondering, Matt pul ed his jacket more tightly around him.
“What were you doing in that office?” she asked him abruptly.
“Uh.” Matt’s face was blank for half a second, and then he glanced up at the door, at the sign saying Research Office. “Research, of course,” he said. “I’ve got to go,” he added. “I’l catch you at the party later, okay, Elena?” He had half turned away, when Elena impulsively put out her hand to catch his arm. “Where have you been, Matt?” she asked. “I’ve hardly seen you lately.” Matt grinned, but he didn’t quite meet her eyes.
“Footbal ,” he said. “Col ege bal ’s a big deal.” He gently pul ed away from her restraining hand. “Later, Elena.
Damon.”
They watched him walk away, and then Damon nodded toward the door Matt had come out of. “Shal we?” he said.
“Shal we what?” Elena asked, puzzled.
“Oh, like that wasn’t suspicious,” Damon said. He put his hand on the knob, and Elena heard the lock snap as he forced it open.
Inside was a very boring room. A desk, a chair, a smal rug on the floor.
Maybe a little too boring?
“A research office without books? Or even a computer?” Elena asked. Damon cocked his head to one side, considering, then, with a swift movement, pul ed aside the rug.
Below it was the clear outline of a trapdoor. “Bingo,” Elena breathed. She stepped forward, already bending down to try and pry it open, but Damon pul ed her back.
“Whoever is using this could stil be down ther
e,” he said. “Matt just left, and I doubt he was alone.” Matt. Whatever was going on, Matt knew about it.
“Maybe I should talk to him,” Elena said.
Damon frowned. “Let’s wait until we know what we’re dealing with,” he said. “We don’t know what Matt’s involvement is. This could be dangerous for you.” He had taken hold of her arm again and was pul ing her gently, steadily out of the room. “We’l come back later.” Elena let him lead her away, grappling with what he’d said. Dangerous? she thought. Surely Matt wouldn’t be doing anything that would be a danger to Elena?
21
“What’s taking so long?” Bonnie asked, bouncing on the bal s of her feet. “Stop being so hyper,” Meredith said absently, craning her neck to see over the crowd outside McAl ister. There was some kind of bottleneck by the entrance to the dorm that was slowing everyone down. She shivered in her thin top; it was starting to get cold at night.
“Security’s at the door,” Bonnie said as they got closer to the entrance. “Are they carding people to get in?” Her voice was shril with outrage.
“They’re just checking that you have a student ID,” someone in the crowd told her, “to make sure you’re not a crazed kil er from off campus.”
“Yeah,” his friend said. “Only on-campus kil ers al owed.” A couple of people laughed nervously. Bonnie fel silent, biting her lip, and Meredith shivered again, this time for reasons that had nothing to do with the cold.
When they final y got to the front of the line, the security guards glanced quickly at their IDs and waved them through. Inside, it was crowded and music was pumping, but no one real y seemed to be in a partying mood. People stood in smal groups, talking in undertones and glancing around nervously. The presence of the security guards had reminded everyone of the danger lurking unseen on campus. Anyone could be responsible, even someone in the room at that very moment.
As she thought about that, Meredith’s view of the room shifted, the other students around her changing from innocent to sinister. That curly-headed frat boy in the corner
—was he eyeing his pretty companion with something more than simple lust? The faces of strangers twisted viciously, and Meredith took a deep breath, calming herself until everyone looked normal again.
Samantha was coming toward her, a red plastic cup in her hand. “Here,” she said, handing Meredith a soda.
“Everyone’s on edge tonight, it’s creepy. We’d better stay alert and not drink,” she said, already on the same wavelength as Meredith.
Bonnie squeezed Meredith’s arm in farewel and took off into the crowd to look for Zander. Meredith sipped her drink and warily eyed the strangers surrounding her.
Despite the general malaise hanging over the party, some people were so wrapped up in each other that they were managing to have a good time anyway. She watched a couple kiss, as ful y focused on each other as if there was no one else in the world who mattered. They weren’t worrying about the attacks and disappearances on campus, and Meredith found herself feeling a sharp pang of envy. She missed Alaric, missed him with a bone-deep longing that stayed with her, even when she wasn’t consciously thinking about him.
“The kil er could be right here at this party,” Samantha said unhappily. “Shouldn’t we be able to sense something?
How can we protect anyone if we don’t know who we’re up against?”
“I know,” said Meredith. The crowd parted, and she saw a face she hadn’t expected: Stefan, leaning against the far wal . His eyes lit up when he saw her, and he glanced past her with a hopeful half smile already forming on his lips.
Poor guy. No matter what Meredith thought about Elena’s decision to take a break—and, for the record, Meredith thought that Elena was doing the right thing; her entanglement with both Salvatore brothers meant that they had al been heading for trouble—she couldn’t help pitying him. Stefan had the look of someone who was experiencing the same sharp pang of loneliness and desire as Meredith did when she thought of Alaric. It must be worse for him, because Elena was so close and because she chose to separate herself from him against his wishes.
“Excuse me for a second,” she said to Samantha, and went to Stefan.
He greeted her politely and asked about her classes and her hunter training, although she could tel that he was burning to talk about Elena. He had such good manners, always.
“She’s not here yet, but she’s definitely coming,” she told him, interrupting one of his pleasantries. “She had something to do first.” His face bloomed into a smile of grateful relief, and then he frowned.
“Elena’s coming here alone?” he asked. “After al the attacks?”
“No,” Meredith reassured him. She hadn’t thought of this, and she didn’t think she should tel him Elena was with Damon. “She’s with other people,” she settled for saying and was glad that her answer seemed to satisfy him.
Meredith sipped her drink and hoped grimly that Elena had the sense not to bring Damon to the party.
Matt spotted Chloe from across the room. Tonight was the night, he decided. Enough playing around, enough exchanging glances and gentle, platonic hugs and hand squeezes. He wanted to know if she felt the same way he did, if she felt like maybe there was something between them worth exploring.
She was talking to someone, a guy he recognized from Vitale, and her curly brown hair shone softly in the light from overhead. There was so much life in Chloe: the way she laughed, the way she listened to what the guy was saying, attentive and involved, her face focused.
Matt wanted to kiss her, more than anything.
So he started working his way across the room toward her, nodding at people he knew as he passed them. He didn’t want to look too uncool and eager, not like he was making a beeline for her, but he didn’t want to stop and lose her in the crowd, either.
Matt.
Matt jerked as if he’d been stung as the silent greeting hit him. Twisting around to see where it was coming from, he found Stefan standing right behind him and frowned irritably at him. He hated when Stefan got into his head like that.
“You could have just said hi,” he told Stefan, as mildly as he could. “You know, out loud.”
Stefan ducked his head apologetical y, his cheeks flushing. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was rude of me, but I just wanted to get your attention. It’s so loud in here.” He gestured around, and Matt wondered, as he sometimes had before, how the life of a modern teenager seemed to the vampire. Stefan had experienced more than Matt probably ever would, but the loud rock music and the press of bodies al around him seemed to make him uncomfortable, showing the cracks in his disguise as someone young. He tried hard, for Elena’s sake, Matt knew.
“I’m waiting for Elena,” Stefan said. “Have you seen her?” The lines of his face were anxious, and, just like that, Matt’s picture of Stefan as someone too old, too out of place here, snapped. Stefan looked achingly young, lonely and worried.
“Yeah,” Matt said. “I just saw her at the library. She said she was coming here later.” He bit his tongue to keep from adding that he’d seen her there with Damon, of al people.
Matt wasn’t quite sure what was going on between Elena and the brothers, but he figured Stefan didn’t need to know that Elena and Damon were together.
“I’m supposed to be staying away from her,” Stefan confided sadly. “She feels like she’s coming between Damon and me, and she wants some time for us al to work things out before the two of us can be together again.” He glanced up at Matt, almost beseechingly. “But I thought since there are so many people here, it isn’t like we’d be alone.”
Matt took a swal ow of his beer, his mind working furiously. Now he knew he’d been right not to mention that Damon and Elena had been together. What game was Elena playing now?
It was a shock, too, to realize how far out of the loop he’d gotten. When did al this happen? Since Christopher’s death, he’d been avoiding his friends, spending so much time focused on the Vitale Society tha
t he missed this big development in their lives. What else was he missing?
Stefan was stil looking at him as if he was seeking some kind of approval, and Matt rubbed the back of his neck thoughtful y, then offered, “You should talk to her. Let her know how unhappy you are without her. Love is worth taking the chance.”
As Stefan nodded, considering, Matt’s eyes sought out Chloe in the crowd again. The guy she’d been talking to was gone, and she was alone for the moment, biting her lip as she looked around the room. Matt was about to excuse himself and head toward her when another voice spoke in his ear.
“Hi, Matt, how’s it going?” Ethan came up beside him, his golden brown eyes focused on Matt’s. Matt felt himself straightening up and pul ing back his shoulders, trying to look loyal and honorable, a promising candidate, everything the Vitale wanted him to be. Matt saw this reaction to Ethan in the other pledges as wel : whatever Ethan wanted them to be or do, they wanted, too. Some people were just natural leaders, he guessed.
They chatted for a minute, not about the Vitale Society, of course, not in front of Stefan, but simple friendly stuff about footbal and classes and the music that was playing, and then Ethan turned the warmth of his smile on Stefan.
“Oh, uh, Ethan Crane, Stefan Salvatore,” Matt introduced them, adding, “Stefan and I went to high school together.” Stefan and Ethan started making conversation, and Matt looked for Chloe again. She wasn’t in the last place he had seen her, and he started to panic, until he found her again in the crowd, moving to the music.
“I can’t help noticing just a slight accent, Stefan,” Ethan was saying. “Are you from Italy original y?” Stefan smiled shyly. “Most people don’t hear it anymore,” he said. “My brother and I, we left Italy a long time ago.”
“Oh, does your brother go here, too?” Ethan asked, and Matt decided the two of them seemed happy enough together and that it was okay for him to leave now.
“I’l catch up with you guys later,” he said. Taking another swal ow of beer, Matt strode through the crowd, straight toward Chloe. Her eyes were shining, her dimples were showing, and he knew the time was right. Like he had told Stefan, love was worth taking the chance.
