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Jack paused, looking at her with his bright, inquisitive brown eyes, and then shook his head "Take the deal, Meredith," he said "If you don’t, I’ll coet what I want"

"Go to hell," Meredith snarled She clutched the stake in her pocket and gauged the distance between the He was so relaxed on the car’s hood, not alert to danger If she , beautiful, warht "This whole world is hell, Meredith, you should know that by now The only choice is whether you’re a derin widened, and he leaned back on his hands, turning his face up to the sun "You knohich side you’re on, don’t you?"

Now Yanking the stake froed at him

And, suddenly, Jack moved so fast that all she saas a blur Her hair lifted in the breeze as he passed

He was gone

Chapter 23

Dear Diary,

I shouldn’t be enjoying anything about this

We’re in serious trouble Jack won’t stop sending his vampires after us until either we kill him or he kills Daent he is--he fooled us all

When I close h his chest, and it feels so real I can see the pain in the tight lines of Daony rips through ht was forever

It feels just like when Stefan died

Our search for Siobhan is the slenderest of leads I should be panicking Da for Stefan just as hard as I was a otten worse

And yet…

Elena glanced up fro, his long, strong fingers curled around the wheel, his dark eyes fixed on the horizon He was so beautiful, Elena thought, exa the fine bones under his flawless pale skin, the soft curve of his lanced at her, and his lips curled into a brief smile before his eyes went back to the road A pulse of affection went through the bond between them, and Elena wasn’t sure whom it had co, she wrote, turning back to her journal Tunes I don’t recognize, dances and holycenturies he lived in Europe, but other things, too: the ballet s, pop froo, Damon’s more alive than most people I remember what Stefan said, back when he first told me their story

After they rose and realized what they had beco on ani hu his way across Europe, drinking huhter and confusion of battle

Stefan made the noble choice Damon icked, then But Stefan held hier theht there in the thick of it, always, and it’s kept hiled up with our warm bodies and complicated, messy emotions

I loved Stefan so much, with all my heart I still love him I’ll never stop

Damon is flawed and quick te as he is the right one

Damon and I are more alike than Stefan and I ever were I’, and I want everyone to fall in line with s anyone ever said about --despite Jack, and poor Meredith, and everyone depending on the sliht lead here--I’ the roads together, hunting for Siobhan

This isn’t the first ti, iether And it was fun then, too

But then, Stefan aiting for e Stefan, not save him It’s too late for that

Elena’s breath hitched, and she tightened her jaw She wasn’t going to cry again, not now Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Da, brushed her shoulder Elena sniffed and looked back down at her journal

Would it be so wrong? If Das we’ve always had for each other?

I retted it

But now he’s gone, and I’ every ti to lie to myself about that I can have hi myself back, I could fall into his arms, and I know he’d catch s for Damon tainted what Stefan and I had It hurt Stefan that I loved Da to Damon now be ain Da to himself, softly His eyes, fixed on the road, had a faraway look

Soht, unco Elena realized that, for maybe the first time ever, she had no idea what she wanted