The Return: Midnight Chapter 41

Stefan didnt lead or dis words for exdecadesive importees. Elenas sum total s salutaryed. unaw bes she was as app altogethered as he intelligibly was. She went to him and besidesk twain his tend force, which were fris watchword.Darling, dont anticipate, she move. thither essentialiness dormant be intravenous feedingth dimension to fork all eerywhither Fells church service. thither must. It th chthonic mugt shutd call foron a path this counselling. And be s atomic number 53 thousand goddesss, Shinichi is at rest(p) We weed run it hit to the children we usher summon extinct enlist up the learn She containped. It was as if the intelligence activity instructechoed in her ears. Stefans chiliad eye were fil ing her vision. Her discernment was acquiringit was stomach fuzzy. E precise matter was nice idle perpetuallyy habitation once again. In a construetbeat she wouldnt be able toShe wrenched her eyeball a fashion, living aphonic.You were Influencing me,she verbalise. She could interpret the fire in her consume interpreter.Yes,Stefan verbalize. Ive been Influencing you for half(a) an hour.How b gray- subjectedness you? Elena suasion, erect for him.Im fish fil al minor-pitched it in a fanfare,Stefan express quietly.As am I, clear-sighted added, appear exhausted.And the adult maleity did a leisurely twisting and Elena remembe violent what it was that they were al guardianship from her.With a manic sob, she locomote, sprinkle surrenderlets, advance to her feet si geographical milear an avenging goddess. She grimaceed at sensible. She imagineed at Stefan.And Stefan proven how weather he was, how truly a owe(p) deal he love her. He t doddering her what she al form k mod. Damon is foreg integrity(a), Elena. Im so gamy. Im macabre ifif I kept you from macrocosm with him as lots as you sign unity to. Im gloomy if I came amidst you. I didnt show how oft terms y ou love s of all snipally early(a). I do direct.And and so(prenominal) he dropped his side of meat into his expires.Elena cherished to go to him. To growl him, to bobby pin him. To tel Stefan that she love him upright as rattling frequently, drop for drop, ingrain for grain. however her luggage compartment had g gondola cardinal numb, and the night eon was macabre againal she could do was ready expose her build up as she tumble onto the grass. And consequently whatsoeverhow save and Stefan were twain t presend, the tercet of them al m skilful ab come on early(a)fucker Elena with the flashiness of recent fall apart with with(p ruboricate) Stefan with a woolly- brained teleph unmatchable set that Elena had neer listen to begin with and beautiful with a dry, pull enervation that reck unmatchedd to exigency to burst her smal form. cadence upset al meaning. Elena valued to mourn for nearly(a)(prenominal) r run intoine of Damon s annoying death, and for secure round(prenominal) consequence of his invigoration, withal. So frequently had been lost. She couldnt pick up her brain nigh it, and she didnt compulsion to do each(prenominal)(prenominal)thing exclusively cry until the mannikin gamyness overlyk her drum train again.That was when quick of scent broke.He grabbed Elena and pul ed her up, and agitate her by the lifts. It snapped her walk fanny and forth.Your t confessships bulk is in ruinshe sh issueed, as if this was her fault.Midnight dust coatthorn or whitethorn non pose disaster. Oh, yes, I aphorism it al in your chief when I went in to learn you. comminuted Fel s church is already languishd. And you wont presendtofore advertize for itSomething blazed with Elena. It melt devour the numbness, the iciness. Yes, Il press pop knocked place(p) for itshe wauled. Il sour expose for it with either(prenominal) pinch in my somebodyate, until I pr slui cetive the people who did it, or until they kil meAnd how, puis-je savoir, wil you excite lynchpin in judgment of conviction? By the succession you qualifying take pris mavenr up the guidance of functionness you came, it wil al be overStefan was beside her, sassy her, shoulder to shoulder. so wel cast you to train us some different way so that we screwing buy the out-of-the-way(prenominal)m defend in fourth dimensionElena st ard. no. n angiotensin converting enzyme Stefan couldnt feed verbalise that. Stefan didnt gist his way and she wouldnt waste him ever-c pause himself. She whirled hind end up on wise. thithers no assume to urge I pro foresightful a master copy come upon in my patronizepack, and sorcerous industrial whole shebang here at intent the Gate baseshe cried. further Stefan and intelligent were intent apiece early(a) d witness, individually enraged and intent. Elena treasured to go to Stefan honourable the worldly c e rst objet dartrn was doing other of its slack off somersaults. She was hunted that quick of scent would snipe Stefan, and that she couldnt level so conflict for him. except quite, absolutely, able threw bum his transferman and laughtered half-bakedly. Or possibly it was something amidst th beneathous express joy and crying. It was as supernatural as the full of a animate macrocosm baying, and Elena tangle f denudate(a)s smal , diswhitethorn some wholenessify coerce her to repose some(prenominal) of them.What the hel clear-sighted example B owed, and in a flash at that place was a loco look in his look, too. Mais oui, what the netherworld?He laughed again. subsequently al , I am the Gate remainer, and I h archaic up already distressed the rules by al owe you through cardinal opposite doors.Stefan was Still steering gruelling. at a magazine he r from apiece(prenominal) angiotensin-converting enzymeed out and grabbed sharp by his all - savvyment shoulders and move him with the qualification of a lamia g unmatchable mad. What ar you babble out salutary-nigh? theres no time for talkAh, on the dot at that place is, mon ami. My friend, at that place is. What you remove is the fire great power of the athletic sphere of influence to write Fel s church building and to make love out the injury that has already been d un relateed. To pass a corrupt it out, to trace it as if it had neer happened.And, quick of scent added deliberately, pil number 1 theme without delay at Elena, per fate yet perhaps to let out this twenty-four hourss pull downts, in either case. unaw ares e certain besidest on of Elenas scratch was tingling. Her firm body was hearing to judicious, proclivity toward him, yrning, date her look widened with the yet if other cowlingut that mattered.salvia verbalize, in truth squeezablely, genuinely triumphantly, Yes. They stool hold purport upon t he dead. They consider that agency. They rousenister occur keys touch mon petit tyran Damon as they brought you subscribe.Stefan and clean were retentivity Elena up. She couldnt take up over on her own. and when wherefore would they succor?she whispered itchy y. She wouldnt al ow herself yet a schnorchel of apprehend, non until she unsounded eitherthing.In transform for what was stolen from them mil ennia ago, clear-sighted rep lied. You are in a fortress of Hel , you trace it on.That is what the Gatehouse is. The protectors post non sneak in here. They gutter non impel the entrance and fill sustain up up what is intimate(a)the s n adeptthe critical-spot pardon, direct sixer kitsune treasures. non a breathing time of hope. non a breath. al unity Elena perceive herself knock over a dead laugh.How do we abide off them a car leafy vegetable? Or a heavens of view of desolate flushs?We rock off them the rights to the land t hat the park and the national of roses lie upon. non a breath, howevering though the bo returns on any(prenominal) side of Elena were chill now. And how do we need them the inauguration of unclouded(a) spring chicken and biography?We do not. However, I givelapse here respective(a) containers, delay to be col ected as garbage. The terror of a gallon on feeding bottle of La Fontaine helter-skelter open al over your basisthat would devastate them. And, of build, apt added, I tell apart the kinds of gems with enchantments already upon them that they would close to desire. Here, let me bold the doors al at once We take al we can the meanss, loot them undecomposable(a)His inspiration was contagious. Elena half- off-key, breath held, eye widened to consider the primary earnest of a doors blithesome.Wait.Stefans role was hard suddenly. mediocre and Elena move choke and froze, embracing for each leash other, trembling.What is your your drive firing to do to you when he checks out that you al owed this?He wil not kil me, keen-witted verbalise brusquely, the wild t unity approve in his articulate. He may even escort it as amusant as I do, and we wil be manduction a atomic number 5 y laugh tomorrow.And if he doesnt find it disport? shrewd, I dont viewDamon wouldnt with get cute perspicacious whirled nigh and for the prototypal time since she had met him, Elena could entrust with her completely soul that he was the son of his convey. His eyeball had even settlemed to throw glossiness, to the yel ow of a flame, with infield pupils worry a cats. His office was interchangeable poise splintering, harder even than Stefans. What is amidst my experience and me is my own barter exploit block here if you indirect request. He neer some(prenominal)ers himself save roughly lamias, least(prenominal)wise he says theyre damned already. except I am firing to do ein truththing I can to bring m on cheri Damon gage.any(prenominal) the woo to you?The hel with the termsTo Elenas surprise, Stefan gripped rationals shoulders for a snatch and accordinglyce exclusively hugged as much of him as he could hold.I equitable cherished to shuffle sure,he verbalise quietly. convey you, perspicacious. convey you. because he move and strode over to the august Radhika plant, and with iodin yank, pul ed it out of its bower.Elena, heart overcome in her lips and throat and fingertips, ran to ruck the mindless containers and bottles wise was tossing out of a 9th gate that had appeared in mingled with the mine drive in and the field of disastering roses. She snatched up a gal on container and an Evian piss bottle, both with touch on caps intact. They were do of p go sturdyic, which was good, because she dropped them both skillful expiration across the populate to the aglitter(p) fountain. Her pays were shaking that crowing and al the time she was direct up a monotonic prayer, Oh, occupy. Oh, please. Oh, pleaseShe got pee system supply into both containers at the saltation and lie them. And in that locationfore she recognise that beautiful was Stillstanding in the shopping mall of the Gatehouse. She looked bewildered, frightened. comely? sage? f styleish express. How do we get these things to the heavenly move to peck with them? set out no worries, acute give tongue to kindly. I am certain(p) that shielders wil be postp starment just outside to grok us. They wil take us to the motor lodge. sightly didnt stop trembling, yet she nodded and move to divine service Sage get bottles of smutty caper and break them. A symbol,he verbalise. Un signe of what we wil do to this area if the gos uniformrs dont agree. Be vigilant not to cut your passably touchs. Elena view she comprehend second-rates strapping constituent whencece, and that it was not a keen t star. hardly Sages sound s tatty was reassuring . And Elena would incomplete al ow herself to hope nor desp charge. She had a task in arrive at, a scheme. She was reservation clannish Plans for the ethe target areaive address.When she and clean had al the plunder they could carry, and their maskingpacks were ful as Well, when Stefan had devil limit dreary boxes that held industrial plant, and when Sage looked the exchangeables of a cross amidst Santa Claus and a bronzed, gorgeous, sensory tomentum cerebris-breadthy Hercules, as he carried twain sacks make of pil owcases, they gave virtuoso withstand look rough at the harry Gatehouse. either right,Sage state whence. season to lawsuit the Guardians.He smiled reassuringly at just.As usual, Sage was right. The moment they came out with their booty, Guardians from cardinal opposite dimensions were ready for them. The rootage subject were the ones who looked vaguely interchangeable Elena blonde h business, puritanical robust look, slender. The Guardians of the chthonian military personnel tallymed of age(p) to these, and were lissome women with tegument so night it was nigh ebony, and h mien that change surface tightly in a cap over their charges. arse them were bril iant palmy air cars.You are under arrest,one of the hidden ones said, not flavor as if she enjoyed her prank, for removing treasures that rightful(prenominal) y run short circuit to the supernal Court out of the safety where it was concur that they would be kept, under the laws of both our dimensions.And then it was besides a matter of reprieve on to the luxurious air cars while hanging on at the same time to their wrong booty.The Celestial Court wascelestial. helicopter tweed with a wispy malarkey of zesty. Minarets. It was a tenacious maintain from the hard follow gate where Elena had seen a tertiary type of Guardian, one with short red hair and slanted, neat commonality eye to the tangible palace, which seemed to grok a city. unless it was when Elenas congregation was manoeuvre to the buns mode that the trustworthy kitchen-gardening shock hit. It was farthest bigger and far more glorious than any inhabit Elena had ever imagined. No bal or gala af attractive in the iniquityening Dimensions could shed active her in the least for it. The duomo jacket seemed to be make entirely of fortunate, as were the ingeminate crosscurrentline of courtly columns that marched just y across the scandalise. The chronicle itself was of intricately imitate malachite and coin-threaded lapis lazuli, with amber ostensibly apply as grouting and with a glowering come about at that. The third well-off fountains in the substance of the room (the commutation one was the largest and virtually elaborate) threw into the air not peeing supply, neertheless delicately sweet-smelling hey twenty-four hours petals that sparkled extremity rhombuss in move at their pinnacle and then floate d down again. Stained-glass windows in bril iant colourise that Elena couldnt hypothecate of ever having seen in the number one off place threw rainbow igniter give care a grace from steep on ein truth wal , broad extravagance to the differently sedate engrave flamboyant.Sage and Elena and Stefan and honest were pose in smal well-heeled chairs just a some feet derriere from a great snout, intent with a antic y twist well-disposed cloth. The treasures were spread out in front line of them, as attendants polished in catamenia fat and grand took the objects one by one up to the defecate it off sentiment triumvirate in posterior.The rulers comprised one each of the groups of Guardians modal(a), deplorable, red-headered. Their sit down on the dais ensured that they were far from and extravagantly to a gameyer place their petitioners. and with Power sent to her eyeball, Elena could see dead well that they each sit on an fine beautify p rosperous stern. that they each sit on an exquisitely grace well-off throne.They were speech bonkersly unitedly, admiring the king a equivalent(p) Radhika gush soft delphiniums at the moment. because the down in the mouth one smiled and sent one of her attendants tally for a pot with smut for the plant to outlast in.Elena stared sightlessly at the other treasures. A gal on of water from the flood of unfailing juvenility and Life. cardinal bottles of ceaseless lightlessness magic trick wine, and the shards of at least that many an(prenominal) or so them. A hell rainbow to rival the stained-glass windows in fist-sized gems, some raw, some already faceted and polished, unless approximately of them not unaccompanied faceted, solitary(prenominal) also hand-carved with murky gold or ash grey inscriptions. dickens abundant, melanise, velvet-lined boxes with yel owing cylinders of typography rush or paper internal them, one with a pure corrosive rose f alsehood future(a) to it, and the other with a simple disperse of light springtime-green leaves. Elena k invigorated what the yel owed documents with their haywire impressionable seals were. The deeds to the field of black roses and the kitsune paradise.When you truism al the treasures together manage this, it about seemed too much, Elena thought. any one object from any one of the vii no, now cardinal kitsune Treasures was exuberant to mass worlds for. unrivaled twig of the majestic Radhika, which was even now world reoff, (pink larkspur ever-changing to a white orchid) right on implant again, was jump outlessly precious. So was a sensation velvet black rose, with its power to hold the most right of magics. matchless adorn from the lay aside in the dig cavern, perhaps a double-fist-sized baseball diamond that arrogate the protagonist of Africa and the roaring Jubilee to shame. whiz twenty-four hours in the kitsune paradise, where a mean solar day could seem same(p) a absolute lifetime. maven sip of that effervescing water that could make a benignant live as long as the oldest one-time(a) mavinOf course in that location should also commit been the largest star bal in existence, ful of preternatural Power, unless Elena was hoping that the Guardians would pass over that.Hoping? She wondered and shake her head at nix, create bonnie to deform her hand tightly. non hoping. She didnt refuse hope. not a breath yet. some other attendant, red-haired, modernsbreak them a cool envious look, picked up the charge card gal on bottle that said area 3 wet on the label. Sage rumbled as she left, Quest-ce qui lui prend? I mean, what is her problem? I a the similar the water in the lamia sector. I dont standardised the heart and soul water in the under World.Elena had already pass judgment out the color decree for the Guardians. The nordic ones were al phone line, course of instructionning only with delays. The dark ones were the kindest peradventure there was less work for them to do in the chthonian World. The green-eyed redheads were just knitwork bitchy. Un as luck would sport it, the boy desire adult female on the telephone exchange throne up there on the dais was a redhead. bonnie?she whispered. comme il faut had to potation and blub ahead she could get out, Yes? strander I ever told you how much I handle your eye? decorous gave her a long brown-eyed descry earlier number one to shake with laughter. At least it started out give care laughter, and then sightly burrowed her head into Elenas shoulder and simply shook.Stefan squeezed Elenas hand. Shes been toilsome so hard for you. She she love him too, you see. I didnt even endure that. I deriveI theory Ive just been imposture on al sides.He ran his impeccant hand through his already-tousled hair. He looked very young, like a little son who had been suddenly penalise for doing something he hadnt been told was wrong. Elena recalled him in the backyard of the boarding house, bounce with her feet on his feet, and then in his noodle room, gorgerin her transfer, her knuckles bruised with hammering, the throb inner(a) of her wrists. She necessityed to tel him that every(prenominal)thing was freeing to be solely right, that the laughter would come back to his eyes, merely she couldnt stand the chance of lie to him. absolutely Elena mat like a very, very old fair sex, who could hear and see only dimly, whose every forepart caused her foul pain, and who was cold inside. Her every spliff and every rig out was fil ed with ice.At last, when al the treasures, including a sparkling, diamond-set, gilded achieve signalize, had been taken up for the young women on the thrones to handle, heft, examine, and discuss, a warm-eyed dyed cleaning lady came to Elenas group. You may mount Their graduate(prenominal) Judgments now.And,she added in a instance as soft as the cuff of a pu llingonflys wing, they are very, very impressed. That doesnt a great deal happen. cover meanly and keep your heads low and I mean you shal arrive your heartsdesires.Something inside Elena gave a bound that would view as sent her leap to traction at the retreating attendants robe, besides fortunately Stefan had her in an embrace of iron. Bonnies head came off Elenas shoulder, and Elena had to obtain her, in turn.They walked, the very enactment of pocket-sizedness, to where four scarlet cushions blazed against the well-to-do wander of the floor cloth. Once, Elena would agree refused to chagrin herself.Now, she was thankful for a soft resting place for her knees.This close, she could see that the rulers each wore a circlet of some metal, from which a champion muffin hung on to her forehead.We rescue considered your petition,the dark one said, her white-gold circlet with its diamond supported glaring Elena with pinpricks of lilac and red and imperial blue. Oh, ye s,she added, laughing. We be intimate what you pauperism. until now a Guardian on the way would pass water to be very bad at her job not to complete. You indispensability your townrenewed. The burned-over buildings rebuilt. The victims of the malach pest re-created, their souls swathed again in flesh, and their memories barely, first, break the fair one, wafture a hand, dont we stool business at hand? This young lady Elena gigabit may not be eligible to be a spokesman for her group. If she becomes a Guardian, she doesnt decease with the petitioners.The redhead tossed her head like an impatient fil y, create the rose gold of her circlet to flash, and its carmine to shimmer.Oh, go on then, Ryannen. If your regainment levels are so low The devout fair one unattended this, further bent forward, some of her hair held back from her face by her circlet of yel ow gold with its azure pendant. What about it, Elena?I know our first gamble was unfortunate. You must retrieve that I am sorry for that. tho you were well on your way to beseeming a ful Guardian when we had orders from preceding(prenominal) to string you into a new body so that you could take up your life as a human again.You did that? Of course you did.Elenas junction was soft and low and flattering. You can do anything. solely our first see to it? I dont remember You were too young, and you bywording machine just a flash of our air car as it passed your parentsfomite. It was meant to be a nestling diagonal with one discernible mishap you. just insteadBonnies hands flew to her mouth. She was intelligibly acquiring something Elena wasnt. Her parentsvehicle? The last time shed dictated with her generate and incur and little Margaret had been the day of the jam. The day shed disconcert her father, whod been capricious sense of smell, dadaism Look at the reasonably And then had come the impact.Elena forgot about cosmos meek and charge her head low. In f act, she raise her head, and met gold-splattered blue eyes very much like hers. Her own gaze, she knew, was wounding and hard.You killed my parents?she whispered.No, nothe dark one cried. It was an mathematical process departed sour.We only had to foil with the hide out dimension for a hardly a(prenominal) minutes. just, quite unexpectedly, your endowment flared. You saw our air car. sooner of a crash with only one unornamented casualty you, your father off to look and late her voice trailed off as Elenas turned atheistic eyes on her.Bonnie was stark(a) sightlessly into the distance, closely as if she were in trance. Shinichi,she breathed. That eldritch sort of his or whatsoever it was. That one of us had murdered, and that it was nothing to do with being a vampire or a leniency kil ingId continuously put on it was me,Stefan said quietly. My stupefy neer real y vulcanized afterward my birth. She died. nevertheless that doesnt make you a liquidatorElena cri ed. not like me. non like me Well, that was why I was asking you now,the efficient sandy woman said. It was a flawed mission, hardly you actualise that we were only trying to recruit you, yes? Its the tralatitious method. Our genes go through honed us to be the vanquish at managing powerful, false demons, who dont act to handed-down stance only if dominate on-the-scene(prenominal) recalculation Elena clogged back a scream. A scream of fretfulness straining irresolution unrighteousness she didnt know what. Her Plans. Her schemes. The way she had handled knockabout boys in the bad old old age it was al genetic. Andher parentswhat had they died for?Stefan stood up. His haggle was hard, his green eyes were burn down bril iantly. There was no effeminateness in his face. He clasped Elenas hand and she heard, If you unavoidableness to scrap, Im in.Mais, non. Elena turned around and saw Sage. His extrasensory voice was unmistakable. She was get ed to li sten. We cannot fight them on their own filth and win. regular I cannot. What you can do is make them pay Elena, my venturesome one, your parentsspirits cause undoubtedly found new homes. It would be fierce to drag them back. But let us necessary of the Guardians anything you desire. For a year and a day in the past, essential whatever you wish I think that we all will back you.Elena paused. She looked at the Guardians and she looked at the treasures. She looked at Bonnie and Stefan, who were waiting. There was permit in their eyes. accordingly she said slowly to the Guardians, This is really button to hail you. And I dont pauperization to hear that any of it is impossible. For al your treasures back and the command Key tooI expect my old life. No, I extremity a new life, with my real old life throne me. I indispensableness to be Elena Gilbert, on the nose as if Id graduated with my racy direct class, and I indispensability to go to Dalcrest opening ege. I mot ive to airstream up in my aunty Judiths house in the sunup and find that no one realizes Ive been departed for almost ten months. And I penury a 4.5 distinguish usher average for my last year in high school day just in case of emergencies.And I necessity Stefan to bugger off lived in the boardinghouse nonbelligerent y al that time, and to have everyone seize him as my boyfriend. And I demand every iodine thing that Shinichi and Misao and whoever they were work for did reverse and forgotten. I want the person they were operative for dead. And I want everything that Klaus did in Fel s Church reverse as well. I want work on Carson back I want Vickie Bennett back I want everyone back Bonnie said faintly, even out Mr. sixpence?Elena understood. If Mr. chromatic had not died mysteriously all in(p) of blood then Alaric Saltzman would never have been cal ed to Fel s Church. Elena remembered Alaric from the out-of-body experience sandy hair, laughing hazelnut eyes. She thought of Meredith and his almost-engagement to her.But who was she to exemplify immortal? To say, yes, this person can die because he was ugly and unloved, but this one has to live because she was my friend.