The Return: Midnight Chapter 32

Damon doesnt mean to be such a a bastard, average said explosively. Hes just so often he feels like its the triple of us against him and and Well, who started that? Even book binding riding the thurgs,Stefan said.I deal, but theres whatsoeverthing else, sightly said humbly.Since its merely snow and rock and ice hes I dont feel.Hes al tight. Somethings wrong.Hes hungry,Elena said, stricken by a sudden realization.Since the thurgs there had been nothing for the two vampires to hunt. They couldnt exist, like foxes, on insects and mice.Of course Lady Ulma had provided plenty of Black phantasy for them, the only thing that rase resembled a substitute for blood. But their lend was dwindling, and of course, they had to think of the trip back, as well .Suddenly Elena k radical what would do her good.Stefan,she murmured, pul ing him into a nook in the craggy stone of the cave entrance. She pushed rancid her cowling and unrol ed her scarf enough to expose one face of her nec k.Dont obtain me say please to a fault many times,she whispered to him. I cant wait that long.Stefan looked into her look, saw that she was heartbreaking and determined and kissed one of her mittened hands.Its been long enough now, I think no, Im sure, or I would never so far attempt this,he whispered. Elena tipped her drift back. Stefan stood wagerween her and the wind and she was almost warm. She felt the little initial torture and wherefore Stefan was drinking and their minds slid together like two raindrops on a glass window.He took very little blood. Just enough to involve the difference in his eyes between Stillgreen pools and sparkling, effervescent streams.But then his gaze went Stillagain. Damonhe said, and pa utilise awkwardly.What could Elena say? I just severed al ties placardh him? They were supposed to assist one another along these trials to show their wit and courage. If she refused, would she fail again?Send him quick then,she said. Before I diverge my mind.Five minutes later Elena was again tucked into the little nook, bit Damon turned her head back and forth with dispassionate precision, then of a sudden darted forward and sank his fangs into a prominent vein. Elena felt her eyes go wide.A bite that hurt this much Well, she hadnt experienced it since the days when she had been stupid and unready and had fought with al her strength to get free.As for Damons mind there was a nerve wal . Since she had to do this, she had been hoping to see the little boy who lived in Damons innermost soul, the one who was the unwil ing Watch-Keeper everyplace al of his secrets, but she couldnt even thaw the steel a little.After a minute or two, Stefan pul ed Damon off of her not gently. Damon came away sul enly, wiping his embouchure.Are you okay?Bonnie contended in a worried whisper, as Elena rummaged through Lady Ulmas medicine box for a piece of gauze to staunch the unhealed wounds in her neck.Ive been better,Elena said briefly, as s he wrapped up her scarf again.Bonnie sighed. Meredith is the one who real y belongs here,she said.Yes, but Meredith real y belongs in Fel s Church, too. I only hope they can hold on long enough for us to come back.I only hope that we can come back with something that wil help them,Bonnie whispered.Meredith and matt spent the time from 200 A.M. to flick pouring infinitesimal drops from Misaos star bal onto the streets of the town, and asking the Power to somehow help them in the fight against Shinichi. This brisk movement from place to place had as well netted a surprising bonus kids.Not crazy kids. expression ones, terrified of their brothers and sisters or of their parents, not daring to go home because of the ineffable things they had seen there. Meredith and unconditional had crammed them into Matts mothers second-hand SUV and brought them to Matts house.In the end, they had more than thirty kids, from ages five to sixteen, al too f honorableened to play, or talk, or even to ask for anything. But theyd eaten everything Mrs. Flowers could visualise that wasnt spoiled in Matts refrigerator and pantry, and from the pantries of the deserted houses on either side of the Honeycutts.Matt, watching a ten-year-old girl cramming plain white bread into her m byh with wolfish hunger, tears running down her grimy face as she chewed and swal owed, said quietly to Meredith, Think weve got any ringers in here?Id bet my life on it,she replied just as quietly. But what are we qualifying to do? Cole doesnt know anything helpful. Wel just lose to pray that the un-possessed kids wil be able to help us when Shinichis ringers attack. I think the best filling when confronted by possessed kids who whitethorn ache weapons is to run.Meredith nodded absently, but Matt sight she took the stave everywhere with her now. Ive devised a little test for them. Im going to smack every one with a Post-It, and see what happens. Kids whove done things they regret may get hysterical, kids whore already just terrified may get some comfort, and the ringers wil either attack or run.This I have to see.Merediths test lured out only two ringers in the whole mob, a thirteen-year-old boy and a fifteen-year-old girl. Each of them screamed and darted through the house, shrieking wildly.Matt couldnt stop them. When it was al over and the older kids were comforting the younger ones, Matt and Meredith finished boarding up the windows and pasting amulets between the boards. They spent the evening scouting for food, questioning the kids about Shinichi and the decision Midnight, and helping Mrs. Flowers treat injuries. They tried to keep one person on guard at alltimes, but since they had been up and moving since 130 A.M., they were al very tired.At a quarter to eleven Meredith came to Matt, who was modify the scratches of a yel ow-haired eight-year-old.Okay,she said quietly, Im going to take my car and get the new amulets Mrs. Saitou said shed have done by now. Do you mind if I take Saber?Matt shake his head. No, Il do it. I know the Saitous better, anyway.Meredith gave what, in a less refined person, might have been cal ed a snort. I know them well enough to say, vindicate me, Inari-Obaasan excuse me, Orime-san were the troublemakers who keep asking for huge amounts of anti-evil amulets, but you dont mind that, do you?Matt smiled faintly, let the eight-year-old go, and said, Well, they might mind it less if you got their names straight.Obaasanmeans grandma, amend?Yes, of course.And sanis just a thingy you put at the end of a name to be polite.Meredith nodded, adding, And a thingy at the endis cal ed an honorific suffix.Yeah, yeah, but for al your big linguistic process youve got their names wrong. Its Orime-grandma and Orime-Isobels-mother. So Orime-Obaasan and Orime-san, too.Meredith sighed. Look, Matt, Bonnie and I met them first.Grandma introduced herself as Inari. without delay I know shes a little wacky, but she would certainly know her own n ame, right?And she introduced herself to me and said not just that she was named Orime, but that her lady friend was named after her. Talk your way out of that one.Matt, shal I get my notebook? Its in the boardinghouse den Matt gave a short exquisite laugh almost a sob. He looked to make sure Mrs. Flowers wasnt approximately and then hissed, Its somewhere down at the center of the earth, maybe. There is no den anymore.For a mummyent Meredith looked simply shocked, but then she frowned. Matt glared darkly. It didnt help to think that they were the two most unlikely of their group to quarrel. here they were, and Matt could practical y see the sparks flying. All right,Meredith said concluding y, Il just go over there and ask for Orime-Obaasan, and then tel them it was al your fault when they laugh.Matt shook his head. Nobodys going to laugh, because youre going to get it right that way.Look, Matt,Meredith said, Ive been reading so much on the Internet that I even know the name Inari. Ive come across it somewhere. And Im sure I would have mademade the connectionHer voice trailed off. When Matt turned his eyes down from the ceiling, he started. Merediths face was white and she was breathing quickly.Inarishe whispered. I do know that name, butSuddenly she grabbed Matts wrist so hard that it hurt.Matt, is your calculating machine absolutely dead?It went when the electricity went. By now even the source is gone.But you have a mobile that connects to the Internet, right?The urgency in her voice made Matt, in turn, take her seriously. Sure,he said. But the batterys been destroyed for at least a day. Without electricity I cant recharge it. And my mom took hers. She cant live without it. Stefan and Elena mustve left their stuff at the boardinghouse He shook his head at Merediths hopeful expression and whispered, Or, should I say, where the boardinghouse used to be.But we have to find a mobile or computer that works We have to I need it to work for just a minu teMeredith said frantical y, breaking away from him and beginning to pace as if trying to beat some world record.Matt was staring at her in bewilderment. But why?Because we have to. I need it, even just for a minuteMatt could only gaze at her, perplexed. Final y he said, I guess we can ask the kids.The kids One of them has got to have a live mobile Come on, Matt, we have to talk to them right now.She stopped and said, rather huskily, I pray that youre right and Im wrong.Huh?Matt had no idea what was going on.I said I pray that Im wrong You pray, too, Matt please