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"I don’t remember," he said bleakly "I used the Power to persuade him to do what you wanted Then I left But later I felt the dizziness and the weakness come over me Asit has before" He looked up at her directly "The last tiht by the church, the night Vickie Bennett was attacked"

"But you didn’t do that Youcouldn’t have done that Stefan?"

"I don’t know," he said harshly "What other explanation is there? And I did take blood froirls ran away froh to harm him, but he almost died And I was there when both Vickie and Tanner were attacked"

"But you don’t re the in her mind was now almost a certainty

"What difference does it make? Who else could have done it, if not me?"

"Dahten again "It’s a nice thought I hoped at first that there ht be someone else, someone like my brother But I’ve searched with , no other presence The simplest explanation is that I’m the killer"

"No," said Elena, "you don’t understand I don’t just s we’ve seen I mean Damon is here, in Fell’s Church I’ve seen him"

Stefan just stared at her

"Ita deep breath "I’ve seen him twice now,story, and now I’ve got one to tell you"

As quickly and simply as she could, she told hiyhtened into a white line as she told hirew hot as she reiven in to hi

About the crow, too, and all the other strange things that had happened since she had come home from France

"And, Stefan, I think Daht," she finished "Just after you felt dizzy in the front room, someone passed me He was dressed up like-like Death, in black robes and a hood, and I couldn’t see his face But so about the way he moved was familiar It was him, Stefan Damon was there"

"But that still wouldn’t explain the other times Vickie and the old man Idid take blood from the old man" Stefan’s face was taut, as if he were almost afraid to hope

"But you said yourself you didn’t take enough to harm him Stefan, who knohat happened to thatin the world for Da on you all along, maybe in some other form"

"Like a crow," murmured Stefan

"Like a crow And as for Vickie Stefan, you said that you can cast confusion over weaker minds, overpower the to you? Overpowering your mind as you can overpower a hu his presence fro excitement in Stefan’s voice "That’s why he hasn’t answered my calls He wanted-"

"He wanted just what’s happened to happen He wanted you to doubt yourself, to think you were a killerBut it isn’t true, StefanOh, Stefan, you know that now, and you don’t have to be afraid anyh her Out of this hideous night, so wonderful had come

"That’s why you’ve been so distant without her hands to hiht do But there’s no need for that any longer"

"Isn’t there ?" He was breathing quickly again, and he eyed her outstretched hands as if they were two snakes "You think there’s no reason to be afraid? Damon may have attacked those people, but he doesn’t control ht about you"

Elena kept her voice level "You don’t want to hurt me," she said positively

"No? There have been ti you in public, when I could scarcely bear not to touch you When I was so tempted by your white throat, your little white throat with the faint blue veins beneath the skin" His eyes were fixed on her neck in a way that reminded her of Damon’s eyes, and she felt her heartbeat step up "Tiht there in the school"

"There’s no need to force me," said Elena She could feel her pulse everywhere now; in her wrists and the inside of her elbows-and in her throat "I’vehis eyes "I want to"

He sed thickly "You don’t knohat you’re asking for" "I think IdoYou told me hoith Katherine, Stefan I want it to be like that with us I don’t e , can’t we? I know," she added, even one now, and I’m here And I love you, Stefan I want to be with you"

"You don’t knohat you’re talking about!" He was standing rigid, his face furious, his eyes anguished "If I once let go, what’s tokeep er than you can iine Don’t you understand yet what I am, what I can do?"

She stood there and looked at hie hih yet? Or do I have to show you ht do to you?" He strode over to the cold fireplace and snatched out a long piece of wood, thicker than both Elena’s wrists together With one ile bones," he said

Across the rooht it up and with a slash of his nails left the silk cover in ribbons "Yoursoft skin" Then he moved toward Elena with preternatural quickness; he was there and had hold of her shoulders before she kneas happening He scared into her face a e hiss that raised the hairs at the nape of her neck, drew his lips back

It was the same snarl she’d seen on the roof, those white teeth bared, the canines grown to unbelievable length and sharpness They were the fangs of a predator, a hunter "Your white neck," he said in a distorted voice

Elena stood paralyzed another instant, gazing as if co deep in her unconscious took over She reached up within the restraining circle of his arht his face between her two hands His cheeks were cool against her palms She held hirip on her bare shoulders And she saw the confusion slowly coht him or to shove him away

Elena waited until that confusion reached his eyes, shattering his gaze, beco She knew that her own face was fearless, soft yet intense, her lips slightly parted They were both breathing quickly now, together, in rhyth as he had when the meently and deliberately, she drew that snarling entleness was stronger than all his inhuht only of Stefan, not of the dreadful things she had learned tonight but of Stefan, who had stroked her hair as lightly as if she ht of that, and she kissed the predatory o

She felt the change, the transfor helplessly to her,her soft kisses with equal softness She felt the shudder go through Stefan’s body as the hard grip on her shoulders softened, too, beco an embrace And she knew she’d won

"You will never hurtaway all the fear and desolation and loneliness inside the, and she could sense the answering passion in Stefan But infusing everything else was a gentleness al in its intensity There was no need for haste or roughness, Elena thought as Stefan gently guided her to sit down

Gradually, the kisses grewflicker all through her body, charging it,her heart pound and her breath catch It ely soft and dizzy, made her shut her eyes and let her head fall back in abandon

It’s tiently, she drew his raze her skin, felt his breath war

But the pain faded al of pleasure thatsweetness filled her, flowing through her to Stefan

At last she found herself gazing into his face, into a face that at last had no barriers against her, no walls And the look she saw there made her feel weak

"Do you trust me?" he whispered And when she si beside the bed It was the dagger She regarded it without fear, and then fixed her eyes again on his face

He never looked away from her as he unsheathed it and made a small cut at the base of his throat Elena looked at it wide-eyed, at the blood as bright as holly berries, but when he urged her forward she did not try to resist hi time, while the crickets outside made their music Finally, he stirred

"I wish you could stay here," he whispered "I wish you could stay forever But you can’t"

"I know," she said, equally quiet Their eyes ain in silent coether "Toainst his shoulder, she whispered, "Whatever happens, Stefan, I’ll be with you Tell me you believe that"

His voice was hushed, muffled in her hair "Oh, Elena, I believe it Whatever happens, we’ll be together"