Destiny Rising (The Vampire Diaries 10)

"I'm terrified," Meredith confessed. She twisted her hand around, playing with Alaric's fingers. "There's nothing Klaus wouldn't do, and knowing that he's out there somewhere, waiting, planning something, is . . . I don't know what to do with that. "

She clenched her jaw and looked up, meeting Alaric's eyes. "He has to die," she said softly. "He can't start over, not now. "

Alaric nodded. "Okay," he said, shifting from sympathetic to businesslike. "I have some good news, I think. " He unzipped the black messenger bag he'd been carrying over his shoulder and pulled out his notebook, flipping over a few pages until he found the information he wanted. "We know that white ash wood is the only wood deadly to Klaus, right?" he asked.

"That's what they say," Meredith told him. "Last time, we made Stefan a weapon of white ash, but it didn't turn out to be that useful. " She remembered Klaus tearing the white ash spear out of Stefan's hand, breaking it, and using it to stab at Stefan himself. Stefan's screams as a thousand deadly splinters had torn into him had been . . . unforgettable. He had almost died.

Damon had wounded Klaus with the spear of white ash after that, but in the end, Klaus had managed to pull the bloody wood out of his own back and had stood triumphant, still powerful, still able to bring Stefan and Damon to their knees.

And this time, we don't even have Damon, Meredith thought bleakly. She'd given up on asking Elena and Stefan where Damon was. He'd always been unpredictable.

"Well," said Alaric with a little smile, "there's an Appalachian folk legend I found in my research that says a white ash tree planted at the full moon under certain conditions is more powerful against vampires than any other wood. A white ash with that kind of magic in its origins ought to pack a real punch against Klaus. "

"Sure, but how are we going to find something like that?" Meredith asked, and then she cocked an eyebrow. "Oh. You already know where one is, don't you?"

Alaric's smile grew wider. After a second, Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "You're my hero," she said.

Alaric blushed, the pink rising from his neck to his forehead, but he looked pleased. "You're the hero," he said. "But with luck, we'll have a real weapon against Klaus. "

"Road trip," Meredith said. "But not until we've made sure the campus is as safe as we can get it. Klaus is lying low and we don't have any leads on where he is, so we have to focus on the newly made vampires for now. " She smiled ruefully at Alaric, scuffing her sneakers below the bench. "It's important to face the immediate threat first. But this is good. "

Alaric pressed her hand between both of his. "Whatever you need, I'll help," he said earnestly. "I'll stay here as long as I'm useful. As long as you wan

t me. "

Despite the seriousness of their problems, despite the gory mess that was her past and the almost definite horror of her future, Meredith had to laugh. "As long as I want you?" she said, flirting, glancing up at him through her lashes, basking in Alaric's smile. "Oh, you're never getting away from me now. "

Chapter 12

Chloe stalked silently through the forest, every move precise. She tilted her head alertly, her eyes tracking some near-invisible movement in the undergrowth.

Matt followed her, messenger bag slung over his shoulder. He was trying to walk quietly, too, but sticks and leaves crackled under his feet, and he winced.

Stopping, Chloe blinked for a moment, sniffed the air, and then stretched her hands out toward the bushes to their left. "Come on," she murmured, almost too low for Matt to hear.

There was a rustling, and slowly a rabbit nosed its way out from between the leaves, staring up at Chloe with wide, dark eyes, its ears quivering. With a quick swoop, Chloe snatched it up. There was a shrill squeak, and then the little animal was still and docile in her arms.

Chloe's face was buried in the rabbit's light brown fur, and Matt watched with a sort of detached approval as she swallowed. A drop of blood made a long, sticky track down the animal's side before dripping to the forest floor.

Waking from its doze, the rabbit spasmed once, kicking out with its hind legs, and then lay still. Chloe wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and laid the rabbit onto the ground, looking down at it mournfully.

"I didn't mean to kill it," she said, her voice low and sad. She pushed back her short ringlets of hair and looked up at Matt beseechingly. "I'm sorry. I know how gross and weird this is. "

Matt opened his messenger bag and pulled out a bottle of water to hand to her. "You don't have to apologize," he said. Yeah, watching her feed on animals was sort of weird and gross, but less so now than the first time he'd seen it. And it was a hundred percent worth it: Chloe hadn't relapsed at all, seemed content with drinking animal blood instead of hunting humans. That was all that mattered.

Chloe rinsed out her mouth, spitting pink-tinged water into the bushes, then took a drink. "Thanks," she said shakily. "It's been hard, I guess. Sometimes I dream about blood. Real human blood. But the things I did, in those days with Ethan, I can't really forgive myself for. I don't think I'll ever be able to. And Ethan - why did I ever trust him?" Her Cupid's-bow mouth trembled.

"Hey. " Matt caught her arm and shook it lightly. "Ethan had us all fooled. If Stefan hadn't saved me, I'd be in the same situation you are. "

"Yeah. " Chloe leaned against him. "I guess you're saving me, too. "

Matt tangled his fingers with hers. "I wasn't ready to lose you. "

Chloe tipped her face up to his, her eyes widening. Matt brushed his mouth against her cheek and then her mouth, just a light brush of lips at first, and then more deeply. Matt closed his eyes, feeling the softness of her lips against his. He felt like he was falling. Each day he spent with Chloe, helping her turn toward the light, seeing her strength, he loved her just a little more.

Meredith stretched and groaned quietly to herself. The room was dark, except for the light of her laptop screen. Elena and Bonnie were fast asleep in their beds, and Meredith glanced longingly at her own bed. Nights of patrolling and days spent at the gym meant that she had been collapsing gratefully into deep dreamless sleep as soon as she lay down lately.

But unlike many of the classes on campus, her English section was still meeting, and Meredith had a paper due. She'd been a straight-A student in high school, and her pride wouldn't let her miss the deadline on a paper or do a shoddy job, no matter how tired she was. Forcing herself back into student mode, Meredith yawned and typed: From their first encounter Anna and Vronsky's relationship is clearly doomed to end in mutual destruction.