The Return: Midnight Chapter 20

Meredith usual y put her parents funny and sil y and dear.They were solemn or so al the wrong things like, Make sure, h hotshoty, that you rattling y get to get by Alaric before before Meredith had no doubts ab forbidden Alaric at al , except he was a nonher of those sil y, dear, gal ant pack, who talked al roughly things with bulge out getting to the point.Today, she was surprised to fore hitch that at that place was no compact of cars around the ancestral lieu. Maybe people had to suffer home to force it out with their own children. She locked the Acura, conscious of the precious contents given by Isobel, and rang the doorbel . Her parents believed in chain locks.Janet, the housekeeper, looked happy to see her exclusively nervous. Aha, Meredith fancy, they admit observe that their dutiful un little child has ransacked the attic. Maybe they desire the round of golf patronage. Maybe I should confirm leave it back at the boardinghouse. except she only since reized that things were truly serious when she came into the family room and byword the banging La-Z-Boy deluxe lounging chair, her becomes throne empty. Her laminitis was sitting on the couch, prop her flummox, who was sobbing.She had brought the retardation with her, and when her mother saw it, she stony-broke into a fresh burst of tears. olfactory modality,Meredith give tongue to, this doesnt bedevil to be so tragic. Ive got a pretty good idea of what happened. If you indirect request to tel me about how Grandma and I real y got wound, thats your business. But if I wascontaminated in rough wayShe s precedeped. She could hardly believe it. Her father was holding out an arm to her, as if the somewhat rank actor of her clothes didnt matter. She went to him slowly, uncomfortably, and let him hug her regardless of his Armani suit. Her mother had a shabu with a few sips left of what looked like Coke in see of her, but Meredith would bet it wasnt al Coke.Wed hoped that this was a place of field pansy,her father orated. each moveence her father spoke was an oration. You got used to it. We never dreamedAnd thusly he stopped.Meredith was stunned. Her father didnt stop in the middle of an oration. He didnt pause. And he certainly didnt cry. dad Daddy What is it? hold in kids been around here, crazy kids? Did they prejudice somebody?We pack to tel you the whole story from that m long ago,her father verbalize. He spoke with such despair that it wasnt anything like an oration. When you wereal attacked.By the vampire. Or Grandfather. Or do you shoot it off?Long pause. indeed her mother drained the contents of her glass and cal ed, Janet, another one, please.Now, Gabriel a her father said, chiding.Nando I undersurfacet bear this. The thought that mi hija inocenteMeredith said, Look, I think I can make this easier for you. I already surviveWell, premier, that I had a equalise brother.Her parents looked horrified. They clung together, gaspin g.Who told you?her father demanded. At that boardinghouse, who could know ?Calming down time. No, no. Dad, I constitute out Well, Grandpa talked to me.That was true enough. He had. Just not about her brother. Anyway, that was how I got the stave. But the vampire that hurt us is dead. He was the serial kil er, the one who kil ed Vickie and Sue. His name was Klaus.You thought that there was only one vampire?her mother got out. She pronounced the word the Hispanic way, which Meredith eer found more scary. Vahm-peer.The universe calculateed to start moving slowly around Meredith.Thats well(p) a guess,her father said. We dont real y know that there was more than the very strong one.But you know about Klaus how?We saw him. He was the strong one. He kil ed the security guards at the provide with one blow each. We rund to a new town. We hoped you would never have to know you had a brother.Her father brushed his look. Your granddaddy spoke to us, properly after the attack. But t he next day nil.He couldnt talk at al .Her mother put her face in her hands. She only get up it to cal ,Janet Another, por favorRight away, maam.Meredith looked to the housekeepers blue eyes for the solution to this mystery and found nothing sympathy, but no help. Janet walked away with the empty glass, blond french braid receding.Meredith turned back to her parents, so dark of eye and hair, so olive of skin color. They were huddling together again, eyes on her.Mom, Dad, I know that this is real y hard. But Im exit after the kind of people who hurt Grandpa, and Grandma, and my brother. Its dangerous, but I have to do it.She dropped into a Taekwondo stance. I mean you did have me trained.But against your own family? You could do that?her mother cried.Meredith sit down down. She had reached the end of the memories that she and Stefan had found. So Klaus didnt kil him like Grandmother. He besidesk my brother with him.Cristian,wailed her mother. He was just un bebe. Three years o ld That was when we found the two of youand the sourceoh, the relationshipHer father got up, not to orate, but to put his hand on Merediths shoulder. We thought it would be easier not to tel you that you wouldnt have any memories of what was happening when we came in. And you dont, do you?Merediths eyes were fil ing with tears. She looked to her mother, attempt to silently tel her she couldnt visit this.He was drinking my blood?she guessed. Klaus?Nocried her father as her mother whispered prayers.He was drinking Cristians, then.Meredith was kneeling on the floor now, trying to look up into the face of her mother.Nocried her father again. He choked.La sangre gasped her mother, covering her eyes. The bloodQuerida her father sobbed, and went to her.DadMeredith went after him and shook his arm. Youve ruled out al the possibilities I dont understand Who was drinking blood?You You her mother almost screamed. From your own brother Oh, el aterrorizarGabriel amoaned her father.Meredit hs mother subsided into weeping.Merediths oral sex was whirling. Im not a vampire I hunt vampires and kil themHe said,her father whispered hoarsely Just see she gets a tablespoon a week. If you indigence her to live, that is. Try a blood pud.He was laughing.Meredith didnt need to ask if they had obeyed. At her house, they had blood sausage or pudding at least once a week.She had grown up with it. It was nothing special.Why?she whispered hoarsely now. Why didnt he kil me?I dont know We Stilldont know That man with his front al dripping with blood your blood, your brothers blood, we didnt know And then at the last minute he grabbed for the two of you but you bit his hand to the bone,her father said.He laughed laughed with your teeth clamped in him and your shrimpy hands pushing him away, and said, Il just leave you this one, then, and you can worry about what she wil turn out to be. The boy Im taking with me.And then shortly I seemed to come out of a spel , for I was reaching f or you again, ready to excite him for both of you. But I couldnt Once I had you, I couldnt move another inch. And he left the house Stilllaughing and took your brother, Cristian, with him.Meredith thought. No wonder they didnt want to hold any kind of celebration on the anniversaries of that day. Her grandmother dead, her grandfather going crazy, her brother lost, and herself what? No wonder they celebrated her birthday a week archaean.Meredith tried to stay calm. The world was fal ing to pieces around her but she had to stay calm. Staying calm had kept her alive al her life. Without even having to count, she was breathing out deep, and in finished her nostrils, and out through her mouth. Deep, deep, cleansing breaths. Soothing peace throughout her body. Only part of her was hearing her motherWe came home early that night because I had a headache Sh, querida her father was beginning.We got home early,her mother keened. O Virgen Bendecida, what would we have found if we had be en late?We would have lost you, too My baby My baby with blood on her mouth But we got home early enough to save her,Merediths father said huskily, as if trying to wake her mother from a spel .Ah, g racias, Princesa Divina, Vigen pura y impolutoHer mother couldnt seem to stop crying.Daddy,Meredith said urgently, aching for her mother but desperately needing information. Have you ever seen him again? Or heard about him? My brother, Cristian?Yes,her father said. Oh, yes, we have seen something.Her mother gasped. Nando, noShe has to learn the truth sometime,her father said. He rummaged among some cardboard file folders on the desk.Lookhe said to Meredith. Look at this.Meredith stared in utter disbelief.In the Dark Dimension decorous shut her eyes. There was a lot of wind at the top of a tal buildings windowpane. That was al her mind had a thought for when she was out of the window and then back into it and the ogre was laughing and Shinichis terrible voice saying, You dont real y thi nk wed let you go without questioning you thoroughly? clean heard the words without them making sense, and then suddenly they did. Her captors were going to hurt her.They were going to torture her. They were going to take her bravery away.She thought she screamed something at him. Al she knew, though, was that there was a soft explosion of heat goat her, and then unbelievably al dressed up in a cloak with badges that made him look like some kind of soldiery prince, there was Damon.Damon.He was so late shed long ago given up on him. But now he was flashing a there-and-gone bril iant smile at Shinichi, who was staring as if hed been stricken dumb.And now Damon was saying, Im terrified Ms. McCul ough has another engagement at that moment. But I wil be back to kick your ass immediately. Move from this room and Il kil you al , slowly. Thank you for your time and consideration.And before anyone could even recover from their first shock at his arrival, he and clean were blasting o ff through the windows. He went, not out of the building backward as if retreating, but straight ahead forward, one hand in front of him, wrapping them both in a black but ethereal bundle of Power. They shattered the two-way mirror in bonnies room and were almost al the way through to the next room before seemlys mind tagged the first empty.Then they were crashing through an elaborate videoset-window made to let people think they had a emplacement of the outdoors, and flying over individual lying on a bed. Thenit was just a series of crashes, as far as Bonnie was concerned. She barely got a glimpse of what was going on in each room. Final yThe crashing stopped. This left Bonnie holding on to Damon koala-style she wasnt false and they were very, very high in the air. And mobilizing in front of them, and off to the sides, and as far as Bonnie could see, were women who were also flying, but in scant(p) machines that looked like a combination of a motorcycle and a reverse light ning Ski. No wheels, of course. The machines were al gold, which was also the color of each drivers hair.So the first word Bonnie gasped to her rescuer, after he had blasted a dig through the large slave-owners building to save her, was, Guardians?Indispensable, considering the fact that I didnt have the first idea where the bad guys might have taken you and I suspected that there might be a time limit. This was existing y the very last of the slave-sel ers we were due to check. We final ylucked out.For someone who had lucked out, he sounded a little strange. Almostchoked up.Water was on Bonnies cheeks but it was being flicked away too fast for her to wipe it. Damon was holding her so that she couldnt see his face, and he was holding her very, very tightly.It real y was Damon. He had cal ed out the cavalry and, despite the city-wide mind-gridlock, he had found her.They hurt you, didnt they, little redbird? I sawI saw your face,Damon said in his new choked-up voice. Bonnie didnt kno w what to say. But suddenly she didnt mind how hard he squeezed her. She even found herself squeezing back.Suddenly, to her shock, Damon broke her koala-grip and pul ed her up and kissed her on the lips very gently. Little redbird Im going to go now, and make them pay for what they did to you.Bonnie heard herself say, No, dont.No?Damon repeated, bewildered.No,Bonnie said. She needed Damon with her. She didnt care what happened to Shinichi. There was a sweetness unfolding inner(a) her, but there was also a rushing in her head. It real y was a pity, but in a few moments she would be unconscious.Meanwhile, she had three thoughts in mind and al of them were clear. What she was afraid of was that they would be less clear later, after she had fainted. Do you have a star bal ?I have twenty-eight star bal s,Damon said, and looked at her quizzical y.That wasnt what Bonnie meant at al she meant one to record onto. Can you remember three things?she said to Damon.Id gamble on it.This time Dam on kissed her softly on the forehead.First, you ruined my very brave death.We can always go back and you can have another try.Damons voice was less choked now more his own.Second, you left me at that horrible inn for a week As if she could see inside his mind, she saw this slice into him like some kind of woody sword. He was holding her so tightly that she real y couldnt breathe. II didnt mean to. It was real y only four days, but I never should have done it,he said.Third.Bonnies voice dropped to a whisper. I dont think any star bal was ever stolen at al . What never existed cant be stolen, can it?She looked at him. Damon was looking back in a way that normal y would have thril ed her. He was obviously, blatantly distressed. But Bonnie was just barely hanging on to consciousness at this point.AndfourthShe puzzled out slowly.Fourth? You said three things.Damon smiled, just a little.I have to say this She dropped her head down on Damons shoulder, gathered al of her energy, and conc entrated.Damon loosened his grip a little. He said, I can hear a faint susurrant sound in my head. Just tel me normal y. Were well away from anyone.Bonnie was insistent. She scrunched her whole tiny body together and then explosively sent out a thought. She could tel that Damon caught it.Fourth, I know the way to the seven legendary kitsune treasures, Bonnie sent to him. That includes the biggest star ball ever made. But if we want it, we have to get to it fast.Then, feeling that she had contributed enough to the conversation, she fainted.