Contents 1 страница. The Return: Shadow Souls

L. J. Smith

The Vampire Diaries

The Return: Shadow Souls

Vol. 2

For my wonderful agent, Elizabeth Harding

Contents

“Dear Diary,” Elena whispered, “how frustrating is this? I left…

Elena burst out of the backseat of the Jaguar and…

Time stopped. Elena found that she was instinctively groping for…

4 “

You’re shaking. Let me do it alone,” Meredith said, putting…

Elena got into the backseat of the Jaguar and put…

Elena was using all her considerable talents at negotiation to…

Elena woke to the sound of Damon impatiently rapping on…

As they hastened from the car to the secluded motel…

Even as Elena opened her mouth to speak, she could…

The next morning Elena got up and dressed quietly in…

Arizona was as hot and barren a state as Elena…

Elena checked the edges of the hotel room’s draperies for…

The Demon Gate.

“All right,” Damon said as he and Elena reached Bonnie…

Hurrying behind Damon, Elena tried not to look either to…

Damon clearly decided to throw himself on the mercy of…

“Her name’s Ulma,” a voice said, and Elena looked down…

Elena came back to the real world slowly, fighting it…

Damon wouldn’t have thought a sadistic old fool who whipped…

Elena had seldom felt such relief as she did when…

Pandemonium. Elena whipped her head up, confused as to

whether…

The afternoon after Elena’s “discipline,” Damon took out a

room…

That “night” they moved in, choosing the hour while the…

Elena put down the pen and stared at her diary…

“Oh, I just want to take a little peek,” Bonnie…

“We have to keep our minds on saving Stefan,” Elena…

Elena felt confident and just a little light-headed as they…

They walked right by the weeping door-guards. But very

quickly,…

Someone was trying to make her drink out of a…

Matt watched Mrs. Flowers go over Sheriff Mossberg’s badge,

holding it lightly…

“I’m feeling much better,” Elena told Dr. Meggar. “I’d like to…

Elena was radiantly happy. She had gone to sleep happy,…

To her surprise, Elena felt no anger, only a determination…

I don’t think about those things, Elena answered in the…

“Nevertheless”—Damon’s eyes took on a steely glint—“without

the amulet my…

“What?” shouted Damon over the music, while adding: Run—go!

telepathically…

Elena had been tied, like someone in a B-movie who…

“Talon! Uh—heel!” Elena shouted and began to race as fast…

Elena waded into the crowd feeling like a soldier. She…

Matt and Mrs. Flowers were in the bunker—the addition to the…

“Stefan!” Elena screamed and knew that she sounded like a…

By now Matt and Mrs. Flowers couldn’t ignore the blinding

lights…

Elena had a feeling she couldn’t quite describe. It wasn’t…

Elena was wakened by shouting. She’d already once awakened

to…

About the Author

Other Books by L. J. Smith

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

“D ear Diary,” Elena whispered, “how frustrating is this? I left you in

the trunk of the Jaguar and it’s two o’clock in the morning.” She stabbed

her finger on the leg of her nightgown as if she had a pen and was

making a period. She whispered even more softly, leaning her forehead

against the window, “And I’m afraid to go outside—in the dark—and

get you. I’m afraid!” She made another stab and then, feeling tears slip

down her cheeks, reluctantly turned her mobile on to record. It was a

stupid waste of the battery, but she couldn’t help it. She needed this.

“So here I am,” she said softly, “sitting up in the backseat of the

car. This has to be my diary entry for today. By the way, we made a rule

for this road trip—I sleep in the Jag’s backseat and it’s the Great

Outdoors for Matt and Damon. Right now it’s so dark outside that I

can’t see Matt anywhere…. But I’ve been going crazy—crying and

feeling lost—and so lonely for Stefan….

“We have to get rid of the Jaguar—it’s too big, too red, too flashy,

and too memorable when we’re trying not to be remembered as we

travel to the place where we can free Stefan. After the car is sold, the

lapis lazuli and diamond pendant Stefan gave me the day before he

disappeared will be the most precious thing I have left. The day

before…Stefan got tricked into going away, thinking he could become

an ordinary human being. And now…

“How can I stop thinking about what They might be doing to him,

at this very second—whoever ‘They’ are? Probably the kitsune, the evil

fox spirits at the prison called the Shi no Shi.”

Elena paused to wipe her nose on her nightgown sleeve.

“How did I ever get myself into this situation?” She shook her

head, hit the seatback with her clenched fist.

“Maybe if I could figure that out, I could come up with Plan A. I

always have a Plan A. And my friends always have a Plan B and C to

help me.” Elena blinked hard, thinking of Bonnie and Meredith. “But

now I’m frightened that I’ll never see them again. And I’m scared for

the entire town of Fell’s Church.”

For a moment she sat with her clenched fist on her knee. A small

voice inside her was saying, “So stop whining, Elena, and think. Think.

Start from the beginning.”

The beginning? What was the beginning? Stefan?

No, she had lived in Fell’s Church long before Stefan came.

Slowly, almost dreamily, she spoke into her mobile. “In the first

place: who am I? I’m Elena Gilbert, age eighteen.” Even more slowly,

she said, “I…don’t think it’s vain to say that I’m beautiful. If I didn’t

know I was, I’d have to have never looked in a mirror or heard a

compliment. It’s not something I should be proud of—it’s just

something that was passed down from Mom and Dad.

“What do I look like? I have blond hair that falls in sort of waves

past my shoulders and blue eyes that some people have said are like

lapis lazuli: dark blue with splashes of gold.” She gave a half-choked

laugh. “Maybe that’s why vampires like me.”

Then her lips tightened and, staring into the utter blackness around

her, she spoke seriously.

“A lot of boys have called me the most angelic girl in the world.

And I played around with them. I just used them—for popularity, for

amusement, for whatever. I’m being honest, all right? I considered them

to be toys or trophies.” She paused. “But there was something else.

Something that I knew all my life was coming—but I didn’t know what.

I felt as if I were searching for something that I could never find with

boys. None of my scheming or playing around with them ever touched

my…deepest heart…until one very special boy came along.” She

stopped and swallowed and said it again. “One very special boy.

“His name was Stefan.

“And he turned out not to be what he looked like, a normal—but

gorgeous—high school senior with rumpled dark hair and eyes as green

as emeralds.

“Stefan Salvatore turned out to be a vampire.

“A real vampire.”

Elena had to pause to take a few choked breaths before she could

get the next words out.

“And so did his gorgeous older brother, Damon.”

She bit her lips, and it seemed a long time later that she added,

“Would I have loved Stefan if I’d known he was a vampire from the

beginning? Yes! Yes! Yes! I’d have fallen in love with him no matter

what! But it changed things—and it changed me.” Elena’s finger traced

a pattern on her nightgown by touch alone. “You see, vampires show

love by exchanging blood. The problem was…that I was sharing blood

with Damon, too. Not really by choice, but because he was after me

constantly, day and night.”

She let out a sigh. “What Damon says is that he wants to make me

a vampire and his Princess of the Night. What that translates into is: he

wants me all to himself. But I wouldn’t trust Damon on anything unless

he gave his word. That’s one quirk he has, he never breaks his word.”

Elena could feel an odd smile curling her lips, but she was

speaking calmly now, fluently, the mobile almost forgotten.

“A girl involved with two vampires…well, there’s bound to be

trouble, isn’t there? So maybe I deserved what I got.

“I died.

“Not just ‘died’ like when your heart stops and they resuscitate you

and you come back talking about almost going into the Light. I went into

the Light.

“I died.

“And when I came back—what a surprise! I was a vampire.

“Damon was…kind to me, I suppose, when I first woke up as a

vampire. Maybe that’s the reason I still have…feelings for him. He

didn’t take advantage of me when he could have easily.

“But I only had time to do a few things in my vampire life. I had

time to remember Stefan and love him more than ever—since I knew,

then, how difficult everything was for him. I got to listen to my own

memorial service. Ha! Everybody should get a chance to do that. I

learned to always, always wear lapis lazuli so I wouldn’t become a

vampire Crispy Critter. I got to say good-bye to my little four-year-old

sister, Margaret, and visit Bonnie and Meredith….”

Tears were still sliding almost unnoticed down Elena’s face. But

she spoke quietly.

“And then—I died again.

“I died the way a vampire dies, when they don’t have lapis lazuli in

the sunlight. I didn’t crumble into dust; I was only seventeen. But the

sun poisoned me anyway. Going was almost…peaceful. That was when

I made Stefan promise to take care of Damon, always. And I think

Damon swore to take care of Stefan, in his mind. And that was how I

died, with Stefan holding me and Damon beside me as I simply drifted

away, like going to sleep.

“After that, I had dreams I don’t remember, and then suddenly, one

day everyone was surprised because I was talking to them through

Bonnie, who is very psychic, poor thing. I guess I had landed the job of

being Fell’s Church’s guardian spirit. There was a danger to the town.

They had to fight it and somehow, when they were sure that they had

lost, I got dumped back to the world of the living to help. And—well,

when the war was won I was left with these weird powers I don’t

understand. But there was Stefan, too! We were together again!”

Elena wrapped her arms around herself tightly and held on as if she

were holding Stefan to her, imagining his warm arms around her. She

shut her eyes until her breathing slowed.

“About my powers, let’s see. There’s telepathy, which I can do if

the other person is telepathic—which all vampires are, but to different

degrees unless they’re actually sharing blood with you at the time. And

then there are my Wings.

“It’s true—I have Wings! And the Wings have powers you

wouldn’t believe—the only problem being that I don’t have the faintest

idea how to use them. There’s one that I can feel sometimes, like right

now, trying to get out of me, trying to shape my lips to name it, trying to

move my body into the right stance. It’s Wings of Protection and that

sounds like something we could really use on this trip. But I can’t even

remember how I made the old Wings work—much less figure out how

to use this new one. I say the words until I feel like an idiot—but

nothing happens at all.

“So I’m a human again—as human as Bonnie. And, oh, God, if I

could only see her and Meredith right now! But all the time I tell myself

that I’m getting closer to Stefan every minute. That is, if you take into

account Damon’s running us up and down and everywhere to throw off

anybody trying to track us down.

“Why would anyone want to track us down? Well, you see, when I

came back from the afterlife there was a very big explosion of Power

that everyone in the world who can see Power saw.

“Now, how do I explain Power? It’s something that everybody has,

but that humans—except genuine psychics like Bonnie—don’t even

recognize. Vampires definitely have Power, and they use it to Influence

humans to like them, or to think that things are different from

reality—oh, like the way Stefan Influenced the high school staff to think

his records were all in order when he ‘transferred’ to Robert E. Lee High

School. Or they use Power to blast other vampires or creatures of

darkness—or humans.

“But I was talking about the burst of Power when I dropped down

from the heavens. It was so big that it attracted two horrible creatures

from the other side of the world. And then they decided to come see

what had made the burst, and if there was any way they could use it for

themselves.

“I’m not joking, either, about them being from the other side of the

world. They were kitsune, evil fox spirits from Japan. They’re

something like our Western werewolves—but much more powerful. So

powerful that they used malach, which are really plants but look like

insects that can be no bigger than a pinhead or big enough to swallow

your arm. And the malach attach themselves to your nerves and feather

out along your entire nervous system and finally they take you over from

inside.”

Now Elena was shuddering, and her voice was hushed.

“That’s what happened to Damon. A tiny one got into him and it

took him over from inside so that he was only a puppet of Shinichi’s. I

forgot to say, the kitsune are called Shinichi and Misao. Misao is the

girl. They both have black hair with red all around the tips, but Misao’s

is long. And they’re supposed to be brother and sister—but they sure

don’t act like it.

“And once Damon was fully possessed, that’s when Shinichi made

Damon’s body…do terrible things. He made him torture Matt and me,

and even now I know that sometimes Matt still wants to kill Damon for

it. But if he’d seen what I saw—a whole thin, wet, white second body

that I had to pull out with my fingernails from Damon’s spine—with

Damon finally passing out from the pain—then Matt would understand

better. I can’t blame Damon for what Shinichi made him do. I can’t.

Damon was…you can’t imagine how different. He was crushed. He

cried. He was…

“Anyway, I don’t expect to ever see him like that again. But if I

ever get my Wings’ powers back, Shinichi is in big trouble.

“I think that that was our mistake last time, you see. We finally

were able to fight Shinichi and Misao— and we didn’t kill them. We

were too moral or too gentle or something.

“It was a bad mistake.

“Because Damon wasn’t the only one who got possessed by

Shinichi’s malach. There were girls, young girls, fourteen and fifteen

and younger. And some boys. Acting…crazy. Hurting themselves and

their families. We didn’t know how badly until after we’d already made

a bargain with Shinichi.

“Maybe we were too immoral, making a bargain with the devil.

But they had kidnapped Stefan—and Damon, who was already

possessed by then, had helped them. Once Damon was unpossessed, all

he wanted was for Shinichi and Misao to tell us where Stefan was, and

then for them to leave Fell’s Church forever.

“In exchange for that, Damon let Shinichi into his mind.

“If vampires are obsessed with Power, kitsune are obsessed with

memories. And Shinichi wanted Damon’s memories for the last few

days—the time that Damon was possessed and torturing us…and the

time when my Wings made Damon realize that he had done it. I don’t

think Damon himself wanted those memories, either of what he’d done

or of how he’d changed when he had to face that he’d done it. So he let

Shinichi take them, in exchange for Shinichi putting Stefan’s location

into his mind.

“The problem is that we were trusting Shinichi’s word that he

would leave then—when Shinichi’s word meant nothing at all.

“Plus, ever since then he’s been using the telepathic channel that

he opened between his mind and Damon’s to take more and more of

Damon’s memories without Damon even knowing.

“It happened just last night, when we were pulled over by a

policeman who wanted to know what three teenagers in an expensive car

were doing that late at night. Damon Influenced him to go away. But just

a few hours later Damon had forgotten the policeman completely.

“It frightens Damon. And anything that frightens Damon—not that

he would ever admit it—scares me to death.

“And, you might ask, what were three teenagers doing out in the

middle of nowhere, in Union County, Tennessee, according to the last

road sign I saw? We’re heading toward some Gate to the Dark

Dimension…where Shinichi and Misao left Stefan in the prison called

the Shi no Shi. Shinichi only put the knowledge into Damon’s mind, and

I can’t get Damon to say much about what kind of place it is. But Stefan

is there and I’ll get to him somehow, even if it kills me.

“Even if I have to learn how to kill.

“I’m not the sweet little girl from Virginia I used to be.”

Elena stopped and blew out her breath. But then, cuddling herself,

she went on.

“And why is Matt along with us? Well, because of Caroline

Forbes, my friend since kindergarten. Last year…when Stefan came to

Fell’s Church, she and I both wanted him. But Stefan didn’t want

Caroline. And after that she turned into my worst enemy.

“Caroline was also the lucky winner of Shinichi’s first visit to any

girl in Fell’s Church. But more to the point: she was Tyler Smallwood’s

girlfriend quite a while before she was his victim. I wonder how long

they were together and where Tyler is now. All I know is that, in the

end, Caroline hung on to Shinichi because she ‘needed a husband.’ That

was how she put it herself. So I assume—well, what Damon assumes.

That she’s going to…have puppies. A werewolf litter, you know? Since

Tyler is a werewolf.

“Damon says that having a werewolf baby turns you into a

werewolf even faster than if you’re bitten, and that at some point in the

pregnancy you gain the power to be all wolf or all human, but before

that point you’re just a mixed-up mess.

“The sad thing is that Shinichi scarcely gave Caroline a second

glance when she blurted it all out.

“But before that Caroline had been desperate enough to accuse

Matt of—of assaulting her—on a date that went wrong. She had to have

known something about what Shinichi was doing because she claimed

her ‘date’ with Matt was at a time when one of the arm-swallowing

mallach was attacking him, making marks on his arm that looked like a

girl’s fingernail scratches.

“That sent the police after Matt, all right. So basically I just made

him come with us. Caroline’s father is one of the most important people

in Fell’s Church— and he’s friends with the district attorney in

Ridgemont and the leader of one of those men’s clubs where they have

secret handshakes and other stuff that makes you, you know, ‘prominent

in the community.’

“If I hadn’t convinced Matt to run instead of facing Caroline’s

charges, the Forbeses would have lynched him. And I feel the anger like

a fire inside me—not just anger and hurt for Matt, but anger and the

feeling that Caroline has let all girls everywhere down. Because most

girls aren’t pathological liars, and wouldn’t say something like that

about a boy falsely. She’s shamed all girls by doing what she did.”

Elena paused, looking at her hands, and then added, “Sometimes

when I get angry at Caroline, cups shake or pencils roll right off the

table. Damon says all this is caused by my aura, my life force, and that

ever since I came back from the afterlife it’s been different. First of all,

it makes anyone who drinks my blood incredibly strong.

“Stefan was strong enough that the fox demons could never have

forced him into their trap if Damon hadn’t tricked him in the beginning.

They could only deal with him when he was weakened and surrounded

by iron. Iron is bad news for any eldritch creature, plus vampires need to

feed at least once a day or they get weak, and I’ll bet—no, I’m sure that

they used that against him.

“That’s why I can’t stand to think about what shape Stefan might

be in right this minute. But I can’t let myself get too afraid or angry or

I’ll lose control of my aura. Damon showed me how to keep my aura

mostly inside, like a normal human girl. It’s still pale gold and pretty,

but not a beacon for creatures like vampires.

“Because there’s one other thing my blood—maybe even just my

aura—can do. It can…oh, well, I can say anything I want to here, right?

Nowadays, my aura can make vampires want me…the way human guys

do. Not just to bite, get it? But to kiss and all the rest. And so, naturally,

they come after me if they sense it. It’s as if the world is full of

honeybees and I’m the only flower.

“So I have to practice keeping my aura hidden. If it’s just barely

showing, then I can get away with seeming like a normal human, not

somebody who’s died and come back. But it’s hard to always remember

to hide it—and it hurts a lot pulling it in suddenly if I’ve forgotten!

“And then I feel—this is absolutely private, all right? I’m putting a

curse on you, Damon, if you replay this. But it’s then that I feel like I

want Stefan to bite me. It eases up the pressure, and that’s good. Being

bitten by a vampire only hurts if you fight it, or if the vampire wants it to

hurt. Otherwise, it can just feel good—and then you touch the mind of

the vampire who’s done it, and… oh, I just miss Stefan so much! ”

Elena was shaking now. As hard as she tried to quiet her

imagination, she kept thinking about the things that Stefan’s jailers

might be doing to him. Grimly, she gripped her mobile again, letting

tears fall on it.

“I can’t let myself think of what they might do to him because then

I really start to go crazy. I become this useless shaking insane person

who just wants to scream and scream and never stop. I have to fight

every second not to think about it. Because only a cool, calm Elena with

a Plan A and B and C is going to help him. When I have him safe in my

arms, I can let myself shake and cry—and scream, too.”

Elena stopped, half laughing, her head bent against the passenger’s

seatback, her voice husky with overuse.

“I’m tired now. But I have a Plan A, at least. I need to get more

information from Damon about the place we’re going, the Dark

Dimension, and anything he knows about the two clues Misao gave me

about the key that will unlock Stefan’s cell.

“I guess…I guess I haven’t mentioned that at all. The key, the fox

key, that we need to get Stefan out of his cell, is broken into two pieces

that are hidden in two different places. And when Misao was taunting

me about how little I knew about those places, she gave me flat-out

clues about where they were. She never dreamed I’d actually go into the

Dark Dimension; she was just showing off. But I still remember the

clues, and they went like this: The first half is ‘in the silver nightingale’s

instrument.’ And the second half is ‘buried in Bloddeuwedd’s ballroom.’

“I need to see if Damon has any ideas about these. Because it

sounds as if once we get to the Dark Dimension we’re going to have to

infiltrate some people’s houses and other places. To search a ballroom,

it’s best to somehow get invited to the ball, right? That sounds like

‘easier said than done,’ but whatever it takes, I’ll do. It’s simple as that.”

Elena lifted her head in determination and went still, then said in a

whisper, “Would you believe it? I looked up just now and I can see the

palest streaks of dawn in the sky: light green and creamy orange and the

faintest aqua…. I’ve talked all through the darkness. It’s so peaceful

now. Just now the sun peeked up o—

“What the hell was that? Something just went BANG on the top of

the Jag. Really, really loud.”

Elena clicked off the recorder on her mobile. She was scared, but a

noise like that—and now scrabbling sounds on the roof…

She had to get out of the car as fast as possible.

E lena burst out of the backseat of the Jaguar and ran a little way from

the car before turning to see what had fallen on top of it.

What had fallen was Matt. He was in the process of struggling to

get up off his back.

“Matt—oh, my God! Are you all right? Are you hurt?” Elena cried

at the same time as Matt was shouting in tones of anguish:

“Elena—oh, my God! Is the Jag all right? Is it hurt?”

“Matt, are you crazy? Did you hit your head?”

“Are there any scratches? Does the moonroof still work?”

“No scratches. The moonroof is fine.” Elena had no idea if the

moonroof worked, but she realized that Matt was raving, off his head.

He was trying to get down without getting any mud on the Jag, but he

was handicapped since his legs and feet were covered with mud. Getting

off of the car without using his feet was proving difficult.

Meanwhile, Elena was looking around. She herself had once fallen

from the sky, yes, but she had been dead for six months first and had

arrived naked, and Matt fulfilled neither requirement. She had a more

prosaic explanation in mind.

And there it was, lounging against a yellowwood tree and eyeing

the scene with a very slight, wicked smile.

Damon.

He was compact; not as tall as Stefan, but with an indefinable aura

of menace that more than made up for it. He was as immaculately

dressed as always: black Armani jeans, black shirt, black leather jacket,

and black boots, which all went with his carelessly windblown dark hair

and his black eyes.

Right now, he made Elena acutely aware that she was wearing a

long white nightgown that she had brought with the idea that she could

change her clothes underneath it if necessary while they were camping.

The problem was that she usually did this just at dawn, and today

writing in her diary had distracted her. And all at once the nightgown

wasn’t the correct attire for an early-morning fight with Damon. It

wasn’t sheer, being more akin to flannel than to nylon, but it was lacy,

especially around the neck. Lace around a pretty neck to a vampire—as

Damon had told her—was like a waving red cloak in front of a raging

bull.

Elena crossed her arms over her chest. She also tried to make sure

that her aura was pulled in decorously.

“You look like Wendy,” Damon said, and his smile was wicked,

flashing, and definitely appreciative. He cocked his head to the side

coaxingly.

Elena refused to be coaxed. “Wendy who?” she said, and at just

that moment remembered the last name of the young girl in Peter Pan,

and winced inwardly. Elena had always been good at repartee of this

kind. The problem was that Damon was better.

“Why, Wendy… Darling,” Damon said, and his voice was a caress.

Elena felt an inward shiver. Damon had promised not to Influence

her—to use his telepathic powers to cloud or manipulate her mind. But