The Return: Midnight Chapter 8

Damon n amusinged vox populiful y, glancing back and forth callween the fighting circle and the pil owcase in his hand.Hadnt he suspected almostthing the like this for a long while?subconsciously? after(prenominal) al , there had been that attack on the marvelousfather, which had failed to either kil him or to erase his memory completely. Damons imagination could fil in the rest her parents seeing no reason to blight their tiny daughters life with this gruesome business a whole new change of scenery and consequently giving up the practice in the provincial, protected slender townspeople of Fel s perform.If they had solitary(prenominal) known.Oh, doubtless they had make sure that Meredith had had self-defense and various martial humanistic discipline training since she was a child, age anathemiseing her to absolute secrecy plain from her best friends.Wel , now, Damon position. The first of Shinichis riddles was already solved. One of you has a lifetime mysterious kept from every 1. I always knew there was something about this girland this is it. Id bet my life that shes a black belt.There had been a long silence. right away Damon broke it.Your ancestors were hunters too? he asked, as if she were telepathic. He waited a twinkling stil silence. Okay no telepathy. That was good. He nodded at the magnificent stave. That was certainly made for a lord or lady.Meredith wasnt stupid. She spoke without glancing away from his eyeball. She was ready, at all instant, to go into kil ing mode. Were just ordinary folk, resolveing to get a handicraft through so innocent world wil be safer.By kil ing the odd vampire or two.Wel , so far in recorded taradiddle saying Naughty, naughty, Mama spankhas failed to convert a single vampire to vegetarianism.Damon had to laugh. disgrace you werent born early enough to convert Stefan. He could suffer been your grand triumph.You hypothecate thats funny. hardly we do have converts.Yes. People wil say anyth ing while youre holding a pointed stick at them.People who feel that its malign to forge other people into believing theyre getting something for nonhing.Thats it Meredith Let me Influence youThis time it was Meredith who laughed.No, Im serious When Im a vampire again, let me Influence you not to be so some(prenominal) afraid of a bite. I swear I wont take more than a teaspoon. But that would give me time to show you A nice big house of candy that never existed? A relative who died ten years ago and who would have abhorred the thought of you taking my memory of her and using it as a lure? A dream of ending world hunger that doesnt put food into one mouth?This girl, thought Damon, is dangerous. Its like a Counter-Influence that theyve taught to their members. Wanting her to see that vampires, or ex-vampires, or Once and Future Vampires had some good qualities like braveness he let go of the pil owcase and grasped the end of the fighting stave with some(prenominal) hands.Mere dith raised an eyebrow. Did I not just recently tel you that a phone number of those spikes youve just driven into your flesh are poisonous? Or were you not listening?She had automatical y grabbed the stave as wel , above the dangerous zone.You told me,he say inscrutably he hoped.I particularly said poisonous to humans as wel as to werewolves and other things recal it?You told me that, too. But Id rather die than lie as a human, so Let the games begin.And with that, Damon began to push the two-headed stave toward Merediths heart.She nowadays clamped set ashore on the stave as wel , pushing it back toward him. But he had three advantages, as they twain soon rattlingized. He was middling tal er and more strongly muscled even than lithe, athletic Meredith he had a longer r from each one than hers and he had taken up a a great deal more aggressive position. Even though he could feel poisoned little spikes biting into his palms, he thrust forward and up until the kil ing point was formerly again near her heart. Meredith pushed back with an amazing amount of strength and consequently suddenly, somehow, they were even again.Damon glanced up to see how that had happened, and saw, to his shock, that she also had grasped the stave in the kil ing zone. straight off her hands were dripping blood onto the floor just as his were.MeredithWhat? I take my job seriously.Despite her gambit, he was stronger. Inch by inch, he forced his torn palms to hang on, his arms to exert pressure. And inch by inch she was forced backward, refusing to quit until there was no more style to back up.And there they stood, the entire length of the stave between them, and the icebox flat against Merediths back.Al Damon could think of was Elena. If he somehow survived this and Meredith did not then what would those malac slaye eyes say to him? How would he live with what they said?And then, with infuriating timing, like a chess player knocking over her own king, Meredith let go of the spear, conceding Damons superior strength.After which, seeming to have no fear of turning her back on him, she took a jar ful of cream from a kitchen cupboard, scooped out a dol op of the contents, and motioned for Damon to hold out his hands. He frowned. Hed never heard of a poison that got into the blood that could be older by external measures.I didnt put echt poison in the human needles,she said calmly. But your palms wil be torn and this is an excel ent remedy. Its ancient, passed wad for generations.How kind of you to share, at his most sharply ironic.And now what are we sledding to do? Start al over again?he added as Meredith calmly began to rub salve into her own hands.No. Hunter-slayers have a code, you know. You won the sphere. I assume youre planning to do what Sage seems to have done. Open the Gate to the Dark Dimension.Open the Gate to the Dark Dimensions,he corrected.Probably I should have mentioned theres more than one.But al I requirement is to become a vampire again. And we can talk as we go, since I see were both wearing our cat burglar costumes.Meredith was dressed-up much as he was, in black jeans and a lightweight black sweater. With her long shining dark hair she looked unexpectedly beautiful. Damon, who had considered ladder her through with the stave, just as his obligation to vampire-kind, now found himself wavering. If she gave him no trouble on his way to the Gate, he would let her go, he decided. He was feeling magnanimous for the first time he had faced down and conquered the fearsome Meredith, and besides, she had a code as he did. He mat a sort of kinship with her.With ironic gal antry, he waved her on before him, retaining possession of the pil owcase and the fighting stave himself.As Damon quietly exclude the front door he saw that dawn was about to break. stainless timing. The stave caught the first rays of light. I have a question for you,he said to Merediths long, silky dark hair. You said that you didnt find this gorgeous stave until after Klaus that wicked Old One was dead. But if youre from a hunter-slayer family you great power have been more help in getting him dispatched. Like mentioning that barely white ash could kil him.It was because my parents didnt actively pursue the family business they didnt know. They were both from hunter families, of course you have to be, to halt it out of the tabloids and police files Do you want me to talk, or can you do your stand-up routine alone? gunpoint taken hefting the extremely pointed stave. Il listen.But even though they chose not to be active, they knew that a vampire or werewolf index decide to gazump on their daughter if they found out her identity. So during school, I tookharpsichord lessonsand riding lessonsone day a week each have done since I was three. Im a Black Belt Shihan, and a Taekwondo Saseung. I might mavent Dragon Kung Fu Point taken once more. But then how exactly did you find that gorgeous kil ing sti ck?After Klaus was dead, while Stefan was baby sitting Elena, suddenly Grandpa started talking just single words however it made me go look in our attic. I found this.So you really dont know how to use it?Id just started practicing when Shinichi turned up. But, no, I dont real y have a clue. Im pretty good with a bo staff, though, so I just use it like that.You didnt use it like a bo staff on me.I was hoping to persuade you, not kil you. I couldnt think of how to explain to Elena that Id broken al your bones.Damon kept himself from laughing barely.So how did a braces of inactive hunter-slayers end up moving to a town on hap of a few hundred crossing ley lines?Im anticipate they didnt know what a line of natural Power was. And Fel s Church looked smal and peaceful back then.They found the Gateway just as Damon had seen it before, a neat rectangular piece sliced out of the earth, about quintet feet deep.Now sit down there,he adjured Meredith, displace her on the opposite recessional from where he lay the stave.Have you given a thought even the briefest as to what wil happen to Misao if you pour out all the semiliquid in there?Actual y, not one. Not one microseconds worth,Damon said cheerful y. Why? Do you think she would for me?Meredith sighed. No. Thats the problem with both of you.Shes certainly your problem at the moment, although I may stop by sometime after the towns destroyed to have a little tte--tte with her chum salmon about the concept of keeping an oath.After youve gotten strong enough to musical rhythm him.Well, why dont you do something? Its your town theyve devastated, after al ,Damon said. Children attacking themselves and each other, and now adults attacking children Theyre either scared to death or have by those malach the foxes are stil spreading everywhere Yes, and so fear and paranoia keep spreading too. Fel s Church may be little by the standards of other genocides theyve caused, but its an important place because its si tting on top Of al those ley lines ful of magical power yes, yes, I know.But dont you care at al ? About us? Their future plans for us?Doesnt any of it upshot to you?Meredith demanded.Damon thought of the stil , smal figure in the first-floor bedroom and felt a eliminate qualm. I told you already,he snapped. Im coming back for a talk with Shinichi.After which, careful y, he began to pour liquid from the uncorked star bal at one corner of the rectangle. Now that he was actual y at the Gate, he realized he had no idea what he should do. The proper appendage might be to jump in and pour out the star bal s entire liquid in the middle. But four corners seemed to say four different places to pour, and he was sticking to that.He expected Meredith to try to foul things up somehow.Make a run for the house. Make some noise, at least. Attack him from behind now that he had dropped the stave. But patently her code of honor forbade this.Strange girl, he thought. But Il leave her the stave , since it real y belongs to her family, and, anyway, its going to get me kil ed the instant I repose in the Dark Dimension. A slave carrying a weapon particular(prenominal) y a weapon like that wont have a chance.Judiciously, he poured out almost al of the liquid left into the final corner and stepped back to see what would happen.SSSS-bah White Blazing white light. That was al his eyes or his mind could take in at first.And then, with a shiver of triumph he thought Ive done it The Gateway is openThe midriff of the upper Dark Dimension, please,he said politely to the blazing hole. A secluded al ey would probably be the best, if you dont mind.And then he jumped into the hole. overleap that he didnt. Just as he was starting to bend his knees, something hit him from the right. Meredith I thought But it wasnt Meredith. It was Bonnie.You tricked me You cant go in thereShe was breathlessness and screaming.Yes, I can Now let go of me before it disappearsHe tried to pry her off, w hile his mind whirled uselessly. Hed left this girl what? an instant or so ago, so deeply asleep that she had looked dead. Just how much could that little body take?No Theyl kil you And Elena wil kil me But Il get kil ed first because Il stil be hereAwake, and actual y capable of putting together puzzles.Human, I told you to let go,he snarled. He bared his odontiasis at her, which only caused her to bury her head in his jacket and cleave on koala-bear style, wrapping both her legs around one of his.A couple of real y hard slaps should dislodge her, he thought.He get up his hand.