Paradise Lost (The Vampire Diaries 20)

“That’s right. Stay here and wait.”

When Stefan hastened back to Elena’s room, Bonnie was huddled forlornly beside Elena, holding her hand. Elena was still deeply asleep, to Stefan’s great relief, but Bonnie was shivering and crying.

“Where’s Meredith?” She looked at Stefan out of doe’s eyes in a pathetically pale face. But she didn’t stop there. She went straight on to, “Oh, my God, Stefan, all night I knew that something awful was going to happen. But who did this to Elena? It must have been a vampire, right? A werewolf would have killed her. I keep trying to catch her thoughts, but it’s all just whirly darkness. Are you all right?” She reached out to touch him and Stefan shook his head, fending her off with a warning wave.

Touching would only increase Bonnie’s telepathic ability. But she’d given him an idea with her “Are you all right?”

“I’m—still alive,” he said, pulling color out of his face. “But I need to ask you a favor, Bonnie. Only you can help me with this.”

“Anything,” Bonnie said instantly, and Stefan’s heart slammed against his ribs, tearing at his mask of careful disinterest. Bonnie’s naiveté was so much harder to face than Meredith’s sophistication.

Here she was, willing to do anything for a monster like him, without even asking what it was, or what the price might be.

“Has Elena woken at all?” he said, as if he didn’t know.

“Not even for a second.” Tears welled up in the doe eyes.

“Good,” Stefan said absently. “I—I mean, that means we can leave her for a few minutes,” he added quickly, cursing himself as Bonnie blinked at him. “I have to tell you something in private, and it’s good that she’s not awake yet. Please, Bonnie. You’re the only one who can help me.”

At that, Bonnie let go of Elena’s hand. She was needed: she would help. She followed Stefan into the room where he had taken Meredith, as docile as any lamb to the abattoir.

It was very dark in the room, so Stefan hoped to get an instant’s grace, but Bonnie rushed to the chair immediately. “Meredith! Are—are you all right? Stefan, what happened?”

“That’s what I want to tell you,” Stefan improvised. He allowed his voi

ce to tremble as he pulled her away from Meredith. “Now just let me tell you what it is. I have to whisper it—”

Vampire eyes are made to see clearly in what humans find pitch blackness. So Stefan saw everything that happened next: the way Bonnie turned to look at him, the expression on her face. She wasn’t fooled for an instant by the “Let me whisper in your ear” line. Instead, she was utterly, unmercifully terrified. And Stefan, once he had his hands clamped on her small round shoulders, didn’t even bother to keep up a pretense for her. He simply tilted up her chin and bit.

Bonnie’s mind was far less organized than Meredith’s, and Stefan could only hope the seek-and-destroy neuro-virus would be able to navigate through the chaos.

He spent a few minutes fine-tuning, then pulled out before he could drain too much blood from the fragile body in his arms.

Afterward, he did exactly what he’d done to Meredith, sealing Bonnie into coma-like sleep until he summoned her by name. He put her on the bed.

He glanced at his watch as soon as Bonnie was lying down. He really had to hurry now. Matt should already be here at the hospital, and Elena’s Aunt Judith was due to arrive at any minute.

This time Stefan hastened past Elena’s room and down into the ED lobby. There he found Matt with his fair hair all standing up like the feathers of a thrush, looking sleep-creased and dazed and sick.

“Stefan! This guy says that a blond girl was brought in here hours ago and that . . . He said she was—” Matt stopped to gulp.

So, Stefan thought, the rumor mill was already grinding out stories. It was lucky that Matt hadn’t heard anything specific about blood loss yet.

“Come quick,” he replied, matching Matt’s tone of urgency, and took the elevator back up. “There’s something I have to tell you before you see her, though. I have to tell you in private,” he added.

“But just one word,” Matt begged. “Just tell me if she’s going to be—”

“She’s going to be all right if you’ll just listen to me,” Stefan said, rapidly scanning the corridor before the double ICU doors for any private spaces. He spotted what looked like a supply closet. It would have to do.

“Come in here,” he said, and Matt followed. Once again, it struck Stefan to the heart to see how trusting this young man was—when all Stefan deserved was hatred and suspicion.

“What?” Matt whispered as soon as Stefan shut the door on the cramped space. “Do we have to dress like doctors or something? Get into scrubs?”

“No,” Stefan said, his canines responding to the smell of Matt’s blood. He realized, with a shock, that some part of him was eagerly anticipating biting another human. He already had such a heady mix of Power in his veins that it made him drunk.

“How can I help Elena?” Matt insisted. “What the hell is going—”

Stefan turned smoothly, seized him and Influenced him to be still even before he bit. He was tempted to take more than he needed from Matt, because the blood was rich in chemicals released by panic and haste. To a vampire, adrenaline was a delicious spice, a bit like paprika.