Destiny Rising (The Vampire Diaries 10)

Everyone was blinking and dazed, as if Klaus's exit had left a vacuum. The Vitale vampires were looking at one another uncertainly and, before Meredith and the rest could collect themselves enough to begin fighting again, the vampires were leaving, running away in a panicked, disorganized mob. Meredith reached for the stake in her belt, but it was too late. Frowning, she silently crossed the clearing to pick up her stave, turning it over in her hands to check for damage.

Zander, his fur bloody and bedraggled from the fight, lowered his head, and the rest of his Pack crowded around him anxiously. One of the other wolves licked quickly at his wound, and Zander leaned against him.

Chloe had not disappeared with the other vampires. Instead, she stood by Matt, biting at her lips with blunt teeth, staring at the ground. After a moment, Matt put his arm carefully around her and Chloe huddled close to his side.

Elena sighed wearily and let her head drop onto Stefan's shoulder. She could still taste Klaus's vile kiss, and tears stung her eyes.

Ethan was dead, but nothing was over. The fight was just beginning.

In a tree high above the clearing, a large black crow ruffled its feathers, eyeing the battleground below him. He had watched the fight critically, thinking that there were things he would have done differently, more aggressively. But no, this wasn't Damon's place anymore. He hadn't wanted to be seen, hadn't wanted to get involved with Elena and Stefan and all their problems. But the scent of blood and fire had led him here.

&nbs

p; After everything, he still wanted to save Elena and Stefan, didn't he? That was what was pulling him to the fight, an almost unnatural urge to do what he was built to do: to kill. When he'd seen Klaus fling his brother aside, everything in him had tensed to attack. And when the arrogant Original vampire had dared to touch Elena - Damon's Elena, his heart still insisted - Damon had flown to the edge of the clearing, his normally slow pulse hammering with rage.

But they didn't need him, they didn't want him; he was done with them. He'd tried - he'd done his best, he'd changed - all for Elena's love, and for the friendship he'd found with his brother at last. After centuries of caring for no one but himself, Damon had suddenly been caught in Elena's world, wrapped up in the lives of a handful of mortal teenagers. He'd become someone he barely recognized.

And it hadn't mattered. In the end, Damon was still left on the outside.

Klaus was gone and they were fine. This wasn't his fight. Not anymore. Now, all he had was the cloak of night and the cold comfort of once again relying on no one but himself.

Damon was, he told himself fiercely, free.

Chapter 9

Matt craned to look over Stefan's shoulder and through the creaking door of the abandoned boathouse. It was dark and musty inside, and Matt's hand tightened automatically on Chloe's.

"This should be a safe place for now," Stefan told them.

Elena and the others had headed back to campus, shaken and quiet from the fight, but Chloe had nowhere to go. "I don't know what to do now," she'd said. "I can't go back to the Vitale house. Will you help me?"

Matt had taken her hand, feeling a wave of guilty compassion wash over him. If only he hadn't trusted Ethan. The other Vitale pledges had been innocent victims, but Matt had known vampires. Why hadn't he suspected? "Wherever you go, I'm coming with you," he'd said stubbornly. So Stefan had brought them here.

Matt rubbed the back of his neck and looked around. Safe or not, the old boathouse certainly was grim-looking. Stefan had said that students didn't come here anymore, and Matt could easily believe it.

This had once been the boathouse for the Dalcrest crew team, but new docks and a boathouse had been built closer to the river. Since then, the small artificial lake this boathouse fronted had silted up. Now algae-scummed, brackish water lay shallowly across the muddy lake bottom, and the boathouse itself had been left to rot. Foul-smelling water sloshed below damp, softened wood underfoot. Above their heads, the rotting roof let in glimpses of the night sky.

"I'm not sure Chloe should be living like this," Matt said slowly, not wanting to offend Stefan.

Stefan's lips curled up in a bitter smile. "The first lesson you both need to learn is that she's not living like this. She's not living at all - not anymore. "

Next to Matt, Chloe hunched her shoulders protectively and crossed her arms. "I feel alive," she muttered. Matt waited for the wry, dimpling twist of her mouth he'd gotten used to from the human Chloe, but she just gazed down at her feet somberly.

"This is what it is, Chloe," Stefan said to her. His voice was dispassionate. "Until you can learn to survive without hurting humans, you can't stay near them. Any scent or sound might set you off. It takes a long time to get to the point where you can trust yourself, and until you do, you'll be skulking in the shadows, existing in the places where no human would go. Sewers. Caves. Places that make this boathouse look like luxury. "

Chloe nodded, looking up at Stefan with wide, earnest eyes. "I'll do anything I have to," she said. "This is my second chance - I understand that. I'm going to fix myself. "

Stefan gave her a small smile. "I hope so, Chloe," he said. Rubbing the bridge of his nose between two fingers in a familiar weary gesture, he turned to Matt. "There are things you can do to help her," Stefan told him. "She's young. It's important she have plenty of blood or she won't be able to think about anything else. "

Matt started to speak and Stefan cut him off. "Not your blood. Animal blood. If you go with her into the woods when she's hunting, you can help keep her grounded and away from humans. You can bring her animals when she doesn't feel like she can go out. " Matt nodded, and Stefan turned to Chloe. "You're fast and strong now; you'll be able to catch deer if you want to. If you concentrate, you should be able to call smaller animals - birds and rabbits - to you. You can try not to kill them if you want, but you probably will anyway, at least until you learn to control yourself. "

"Thank you, Stefan," Chloe said solemnly.

"Practice deep breathing," Stefan told her. "Meditation. Listen to your own heartbeat, learn the new slower rhythm it has now that you've been turned. You're going to get pretty agitated sometimes, and you should find out how to calm yourself down. Do it with her, Matt. It'll help her focus. "

"Okay. " Matt wiped his sweaty hands against his jeans and nodded again. "We can do this. "

His eyes met Stefan's, and Matt was surprised by the look on the vampire's face. Despite the matter-of-fact tone Stefan had been using, he could tell Stefan was concerned. "It's dangerous for you," Stefan said gently. "I shouldn't leave you with her. "