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The next uid, and that her eyes slid away if Stefan happened to glance at her But this was a time of crisis, and as soon as the breakfast dishes ashed, Elena cal ed ain the parlor There she and Stefan explained what Meredith hadthe visit from the sheriffs

Meredith smiled wanly when Elena told how Stefan had banished thes

Then Elena told the story of her out-of-body experience It proved one thing, at least, that Bonnie was alive and relatively well Meredith bit her lip when Mrs Flowers said this, for it only et Bonnie out of the Dark Dimension personal y

But on the other hand, Meredith wanted to stay and wait for Alaric’s photographs If that would save Fel ’s Church

No one at the boardinghouse could question what had happened on the Island of Doo here, on the other side of the world Already a couple of parents in Fel ’s Church had had their children taken away by the Virginia Department of Child Protective Services

Punisher would it be before Shinichi and Misao turned al the children into lethal weapons - or let loose those already turned? How long before so in the parlor discussed plans and methods

In the end, they decided to make jars identical to those Elena and Bonnie had seen, and prayed that they could reproduce the writing These jars, they were sure, were the inal y sealed off from the rest of the Earth

Therefore Shinichi and Misao had once fit into the rather craroup have now that could lure them back inside?

Power, they decided Only an areat that it was irresistible to the kitsune twins That hy the priestess had tried to lure them back with her own blood

Nowit meant either the liquid in a ful star bal or blood from an extraordinarily powerful vampire Or two va of this They didn’t kno much blood would be needed - but Elena feared that it would be more than they can afford to lose It had certainly been more than the priestess could afford

And then there was a silence that only Meredith could fil"I’ about this,"she said, producing the staff thing from thin air, as far as Elena could see How did she do that? Elena wondered She didn’t have it with her and then she did

They al stared in the bright sunlight at the sleek beauty of the weapon

"Whoever ination"

"It was one of my ancestors,"Meredith said "And I won’t contest that"

"I have a question,"Elena said "If you’d had that fro; if you’d been raised in that kind of world, would you have tried to kil Stefan? Would you have tried to kil ood answer to that,"Meredith said, her dark gray eyes pained "But I don’t I have nightmares about it But how can I ever say what I would have done if I’d been a different person?"

"I’ you, the person you are, if you’d had the training - "

"The training is brainwashing," Meredith said harshly Her coet that Would you have tried to kil Stefan, if you’d just had that staff?"

"It’s cal ed a fighting stave And we’re cal ed - people like my family, except that my parents dropped out - hunter-slayers"

There was a sort of gasp around the table Mrs Flowers poured Meredithon a trivet

"Hunter-slayers,"repeated Matt with a certain relish It wasn’t hard to tel who he was thinking about

"You can just cal us one or the other,"Meredith was saying

"I’ve heard that out west they’ve got hunter-kil ers But we hang on to tradition here"

Elena suddenly felt like a lost little girl This was Meredith, her big sister Meredith, saying al of this Elena’s voice was al "But you didn’t even tel on Stefan"

"No, I didn’t And, no, I don’t think I’d have had the courage to kil anyone - unless I’d been brainwashed But I knew Stefan loved you I kneould never make you into a vah about Da around so much I don’t think anybody knew that"Meredith’s voice was anguished, too

"Except , with a lopsided smile

"Don’t look so sad, Meredith It worked out"

"You cal having to leave your family and your town because everyone knows you’re dead, working out?"

"I do,"Elena replied desperately, "if it et to be with Stefan"She did her best not to think about Damon

Meredith looked at her blankly for a moment, then put her face in her hands "Do you want to tel the Stefan

Stefan looked startled "You reot from my mind Bits and pieces Stuff I don’t want to remember"

"Okay"Now Stefan looked relieved, and Elena felt frightened Stefan and Meredith had a secret together?

"We al know that Klaus made at least two visits to Fel ’s Church We know that he was - completely evil - and that on the second visit he planned to be a serial murderer He kil ed Sue Carson and Vickie Bennett"

Elena interrupted quietly "Or at least he helped Tyler Smal wood to kil Sue, so that Tyler could be initiated as a olf And then Tyler got Caroline pregnant"

Matt cleared his throat as so occurred to him "Uh -

does Caroline have to kil somebody to be a ful olf, too?"

"I don’t think so,"Elena said "Stefan says that having a olf litter is enough Either way, blood is spil ed

Caroline wil be a ful hen she has her twins, but she’l probably begin changing involuntarily before that

Right?"

Stefan nodded "Right But getting back to Klaus: What was it he was supposed to have done on his first visit? He attacked - without kil ing - an old randfather,"Meredith whispered

"And he supposedly randfather’s mind so much that this old hter So what is wrong with this picture?"

Elena was truly frightened now She didn’t want to hear whatever was colad that she’d only had toast for breakfast If only there had been someone to take care of, like Bonnie, she would have felt better

"I give up So what is wrong?"Matt asked bluntly

Meredith was staring into the distance again

Final y Stefan said, "At the risk of sounding like a bad soap operaMeredith had, or has, a twin brother"

Dead silence fel over the group in the parlor Even Mrs

Flowers’s Ma ma didn’t put in a word