Page 11 (1/2)
The car skidded in behind one of the police cars that was parked crookedly in the street There were lights everywhere, lights flashing blue and red and a from the Bennett house
"Stay here," Matt snapped, and he plunged outside, following Stefan
"No!" Bonnie’s head jerked up; she wanted to grab hi him back The dizzy nausea she’d felt ever since Tyler hadher It was too late; she’d known in the first instant that it was too late Matt was only going to get himself killed too
"You stay, Bonnie-keep the doors locked I’ll go after them" That was Meredith
"No! I’ everybody tellwith the seat belt, finally getting it unlocked She was still crying, but she could see well enough to get out of the car and start toward Vickie’s house She heard Meredith right behind her
The activity all see, a wo voices of police radios Bonnie and Meredith headed straight for the back, for Vickie’sWhat is wrong with this picture? Bonnie thought wildly as they approached The wrongness of what she was looking at was undeniable, yet hard to put a finger on Vickie’s as open-but it couldn’t be open; the ht But then how could the curtains be fluttering out like shirttails?
Not open, broken Glass was all over the gravel pathway, grinding underfoot There were shards like grinning teeth left in the bare frame Vickie’s house had been broken into
"She asked hionized fury "Why did she do that? Why?"
"Stay here," Meredith said, trying tome that I can take it, Meredith I’ripped Meredith’s arot closer and closer The curtains rippled There was enough space between them to see inside
At the last h first herself It didn’t matter Bonnie’s psychic senses were awake and already telling her about this place It was like the crater left in the ground after a meteor has hit and exploded, or like the charred skeleton of a forest after a wildfire Power and violence were still thru in the air, but the main event was over This place had been violated
Meredith spun away fro her fists so that the nails bit into her palms, Bonnie leaned forward and looked in
The smell hat struck her first A wet smell, meaty and coppery She could alue The stereo was playing so out front and the dru from the darkness outside, could see only red Just red
The record player clicked and the stylus swung back to the beginning With a shock, Bonnie recognized the song as it started over
It was "Goodnight Sweetheart"
"You h her stohter "You htened up, turning She shakily pushed back her hair andto look as if she could cope "You’re cutting your hand," she said "Here, let me see it"
Bonnie hadn’t even realized she was gripping broken glass She let Meredith take the hand, but instead of letting her examine it, she turned it over and clasped Meredith’s own cold hand tightly Meredith looked terrible: dark eyes glazed, lips blue-white and shaking But Meredith was still trying to take care of her, still trying to keep it together
"Go on," she said, looking at her friend intently "Cry, Meredith Screaet it out somehow You don’t have to be cool now and keep it all inside You have every right to lose it today"
For a , but then she shook her head with a ghastly attempt at a smile "I can’t I’m just not made that way Coht have argued, but just then Matt cairls standing there
"What are you doing-?" he began Then he saw the
"She’s dead," Meredith said flatly
"I know" Matt looked like a bad photograph of himself, an overexposed one "They toldout" He stopped
"We blew it Even after we pro more to say
"But the police will have to believe us now," Bonnie said, looking at Matt, then Meredith, finding one thing to be grateful for "They’ll have to"
"No," Matt said, "they won’t, Bonnie Because they’re saying it’s a suicide"
"A suicide? Have they seen that roo
"Oh,away
"They thinkkilled Sue"
"Somebody broke into this house," Bonnie said fiercely "They’ve got to admit that!"
"No" Meredith’s voice was soft, as if she were very tired "Look at thehere The glass is all outside Somebody from the inside broke it" And that’s the rest of what’s wrong with the picture, Bonnie thought
"He probably did, getting out," Matt said They looked at each other silently, in defeat
"Where’s Stefan?" Meredith asked Matt quietly "Is he out front where everyone can see him?"
"No, once we found out she was dead he headed back this way I was co to look for him He must be around so fro In the relative stillness they could hear a faint voice from beyond the black walnut trees in the back of the yard
"-while you were supposed to be watching her!"
The tone ooseflesh "That’s him!" Matt said "And he’s with Da the trees Bonnie could hear Stefan’s voice clearly The two brothers were facing each other in the ht
"I trusted you, Da Bonnie had never seen hiraveyard But it was er
"And you just let it happen," Stefan went on, without glancing at Bonnie and the others as they appeared, without giving Da? If you were too ht him, you could at least have called for me But you just stood there!"
Dalittered, and there was nothing lazy or casual about his posture now He looked as unbending and brittle as a pane of glass He opened his mouth, but Stefan interrupted
"It’s my own fault I should have known better I did know better They all knew, they warned me, but I wouldn’t listen"
"Oh, did they?" Dalance toward Bonnie on the sidelines A chill went through her
"Stefan, wait," Matt said "I think-"
"I should have listened!" Stefan was raging on He didn’t even seem to hear Matt
"I should have stayed with her myself I promised her she would be safe-and I lied!
She died thinking I betrayed her" Bonnie could see it in his face now, the guilt eating into him like acid "If I had stayed here-"
"And that would have been better!" Stefan cried His chest was heaving "I would rather have died with her than stood by and watched it! What happened, Daotten hold of hireen eyes were burning feverishly in his pale face, his voice vicious, poisonous, as he spoke "Were you too busy chasing soh the bushes? Or just too uninterested to interfere?"
Da He was just as pale as his brother, everyfrom him as he watched Stefan
"Oranother half step forward so that he was right in Damon’s face "Yes, that was probably it; you liked it, being with another killer Was it good, Damon? Did he let you watch?"
Damon’s fist jerked back and he hit Stefan
It happened too fast for Bonnie’s eye to follow Stefan fell backward onto the soft ground, long legs sprawling Meredith cried out so, and Matt juht dazedly, but stupid The air was crackling with electricity Stefan raised a hand to his ht Bonnie lurched over to his side and grabbed his arain Matt fell back before him, but not all the way He dropped to his knees beside Stefan, sitting on his heels, one hand upraised
"Enough, you guys! Enough, all right?" he shouted
Stefan was trying to get up Bonnie held on to his ared Meredith grabbed his other arm
"Da sharply
We’re all crazy, getting in the ht between two angry va to kill us just to shut us up Da to swat Matt like a fly
But Da id with strain Then, slowly, Damon’s stance relaxed
His hands lowered and unclenched He drew a slow breath Bonnie realized she’d been holding her own breath, and she let it out
Daht, have it your way," he said, and his voice was cold too "But I’ And this time, brother, if you follow me, I’ll kill you Promise or no pro it With a glance at Bonnie that scarcely seeo Then he turned back and spoke clearly and precisely, each word an arrow aimed at Stefan
"I warned you," he said "About what I am, and about which side would win You should have listened tofro you is worth," Stefan said "Get out of here, Daain"
Without another word, Damon turned and walked away into the darkness
Bonnie let go of Stefan’s arot up, shaking hiainst its will He walked a little distance from the others, his face averted froe seemed to have left him as quickly as it had co up What can we say? Stefan was right about one thing: they had warned him about Damon and he hadn’t listened He’d truly seemed to believe that his brother could be trusted And then they’d all gotten careless, relying on Damon because it was easy and because they needed the help No one had argued against letting Daht