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Matt saw no police lights through the curtains Nor did he see any sign of Shinichi and Misao attacking

"If we’re not being attacked,"Matt could hear Meredith saying to Bonnie, "then what is happening?"

Maddeningly, Bonnie just shook her head

Matt and Meredith looked at each other over Bonnie’s strawberry curls "The star bal ,"Meredith said softly, just as Matt growled, "That bastard"

"Elena won’t tel hi but the story,"Meredith said

And Matt nodded, trying to keep fro and Elena convulsing in agony

"Maybe it’s the possessed kids - the ones alk around hurting thelance at Bonnie, and squeezing Matt’s hand very hard

Matt was bewildered and fuet the star bal , Bonnie wouldn’t have run away She’s bravest when she’s scared And unless he’s kil ed Elena she shouldn’t be like this - "

Which left Meredith the gri big-sister voice "Soet you in this state Just breathe slowly and tel an to spil fro,"Bonnie said, gripping Meredith’s other hand with both of hers "And there was blood smeared al around on her neck And - oh, I dropped it! The bottle of Black Magic!"

"Oh, wel ,"Mrs Flowers said gently "No use crying over spil ed wine We’l just have to - "

"No, you don’t understand,"Bonnie gasped "I heard theo slow because it’s so hard not to trip They were talking about the star bal ! At first I thought they were arguing, but - she had her arms around Da a vampire anymore? She had blood al over her throat and he had it on his ot there he picked her up and threw her so I couldn’t see but he wasn’t fast enough

Shehi’!"

Matt’s eyes met Meredith’s and they both flushed and looked away quickly If Daotten the star bal fro food"to hi for a way out "Bonnie - aren’t youtoo much of this? Anyhat happened to Mrs

Flowers’s tray of food?"

"It was - al over the place They’d just tossed it away! But he as holding her with one hand under her knees and one under her neck, and her head ay back so that her hair was fal ing al over his shoulder!"

There was a silence as everyone tried to iht correspond to Bonnie’s last words

"Youher up to steady her?"Meredith asked, her voice suddenly al Stefan was probably asleep upstairs, and Meredith wanted to keep it that way

"No! They - they were looking at each other,"Bonnie cried

"Looking Into each other’s eyes"

Mrs Flowers spoke mildly "But dear Bonnie - maybe Elena fel down and Da remorselessly and fluently "Only if that’s what’s just happened to al those women on the covers of those romance books - what-d’you-cal -’eested unhappily when no one else spoke

"That’s right! Bodice-rippers That’s hoas holding her!

Ion with the two of theht al that would stop e found Stefan But it hasn’t!"

Matt felt sick in the pit of his stoht now Elena and Da and stuff?"

"I don’t knohat Iabout the star ball! He was holding her like a bride!

And she wasn’t fighting it!"

With a chil of horror, Matt could see trouble, and he could see that Meredith could see it too Even worse, they were looking in two different directions Matt was looking upstairs, at the staircase, where Stefan had just appeared Meredith was looking at the kitchen door, one glance at which showed Matt that Da in the kitchen? Matt wondered We were there until afroave the situation his best shot, anyway "Stefan!"he said in a hearty voice that made him wince inwardly "You ready for a little athlete’s-blood nightcap?"

A tiny part of Matt’s ht: But just look at him Only three days out of prison and he already looks like hio he was a skeleton Today he just looks - thin He’s even handsoain

Stefan s on the banister In his pale face, his eyes were rereen that made them actual y shine like jewels He didn’t look upset, and that made Matt’s heart twist for him How could they tel him?

"Elena is hurt,"Stefan said, and suddenly there was a pause - an utter silence - as every person froze in place "But Daht her to Mrs Flowers"

"True,"Damon said coldly from behind Matt "I couldn’t help her If I were stil a vampirebut I’m not Elena has burns, mainly Al I could think of was an ice pack or some kind of poultice Sorry to disprove al your clever theories"

"Oh my heavens!"cried Mrs Flowers "You ht now in the kitchen for a poultice?"She hurried out of the foyer toward the kitchen

Stefan was stil co, "Mrs

Flowers, she scalded her arnize her in the dark and jostled her And that he thought it was an intruder in his room, and nicked her throat with a knife The rest of us wil be in the parlor if you need help"

Bonnie cried, "Stefan,to you, he burned her - that’s torture - and he put a knife to her throat! Maybe he threatened her to make her tel us anted to hear Maybe she’s stil a hostage right now and we don’t know it!"

Stefan flushed "It’s so hard to explain,"he said very softly

"And I keep trying to tune it out But so far - sofaster than my ability to control them Most of the time I’m asleep, so it doesn’t o But I woke up and Elena was tel ing Damon that Mrs Flowers doesn’t have the star bal

She was upset, and injured - and I could feel where she’d been injured And then suddenly I heard you, Bonnie You’re a very strong telepath Then I heard the rest of you talking about Elena"

Ohsoibberish, and his feet fol owed Meredith’s to the parlor as if they were attached to her Italian sandals

But the blood on Damon’s mouth

There had to be some mundane reason for the blood, too

Stefan had said that Daot smeared around; wel , that actual y didn’t sound like vampirism to Matt He’d been a donor for Stefan at least a dozen times in the last days and the process was always very neat

It was strange, too, he thought, that it had never occurred to any of theht be able to hear their thoughts directly

Could he always do that? Matt thought, wondering at the saht now

"I try not to listen to thoughts, unless I’ood reason,"Stefan said "But when anybody mentions Elena, especial y if they sound upset - that I can’t help It’s like when you’re in a noisy place and you can barely hear, but when somebody says your name you hear it instantly"

"It’s cal ed the Cocktail Party Phenomenon,"Meredith said

Her voice was quiet and re to cal at his heart

"Wel , you can cal it whatever you want,"he said, "but what it means is that you can listen in on our minds any ti "When I was drinking anih unless I real y worked at it By the way, itback to hunting ani on what Mrs Flowers says,"he added with a significant glance around the rooainst the wal by the , looking disheveled and very, very dangerous "But that doesn’t

For that I honor and thank them - and, wel , we’l have a party soirls melted at once - even Meredith sniffled

Dah "Animal blood? Oh, bril iant Make yourself as weak as you can, little brother, even with three or four wil ing donors around you Then, when it comes to the final shoith Shinichi and Misao, you’l be about as effective as a piece of da to be a shonsoon?"

"As soon as Shinichi and Misao can e it,"Stefan said quietly "I think they’d rather not give o up in fire and ashes, you know But I can’t keep asking you and Meredith and Matt - and Elena - to donate blood You’ve already kept me alive the last few days, and I don’t kno to repay you for it"

"Repay us by getting as strong as you can,"Meredith said in her quiet, level voice "But, Stefan, can I ask a few questions?"

"Of course,"Stefan said, standing by a chair He didn’t sit himself until Meredith, with Bonnie almost in her lap, had sunk down on the love seat

Then he said, "Fire"