07 The Return_ Midnight - L. J. Smith

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Stefan whirled around and saw Bonnie, with only a towel wrapped around her, trying to physically
restrain Elena, who was similarly clad. Elena’s hair was wet and uncombed. Something had caused
her to leap out of the bathing pool and run directly into the corridor.
Stefan was surprised by Damon’s reaction. Was that a spark of alarm in the endlessly
dark eyes that had remained impassive watching a thousand disasters, calamities, cruelties?
No, it couldn’t be. But it certainly looked like one.
Elena was getting closer. Her voice rang out clearly through the hallway, which was
spacious enough to give it a slight echo. “Damon! I see you! You wait right there—I’m coming to kill
you!”
This time the flicker was unmistakable. Damon glanced at the window, which was partly
open.
Meanwhile Bonnie had lost the fight and Elena was running like a gazelle toward the
office. Her eyes, however, were definitely not doe-like. Stefan saw them glitter dangerously as Elena
herself eluded him—mainly because he didn’t dare grab her by the towel, and every other part of her
was slippery. Elena was now facing Damon, who had risen from his chair.
“How could you?” she cried. “Using Bonnie like that—Influencing her, drugging her—
all to get at what didn’t belong to you! Using almost all the Power that was left in Misao’s star ball—
what did you think Shinichi would do when you did that? He came after us, that’s what he did—and
who knows if the boardinghouse is still standing?”
Damon opened his mouth, but Elena wasn’t finished.
“And then to bring Bonnie to the Dark Dimension with you—I don’t care if you didn’t
want to waste opening the Gate or not. You knew you shouldn’t be taking her here.”
Damon was angry now. “I—”
But Elena cut him off without even hesitating. “Then once you drag her here you abandon
her. You leave her terrified, alone, in a room where she’s not even allowed to look out of the window,
with a collection of star balls that you don’t even bother to examine—but which are completely
unsuitable and give her nightmares! You—”
“If the little dolt had just had the sense to wait quietly—”
“What? What did you say?”
“I said, if the little dolt had just had the sense—”
Stefan, who was already on the move, shut his eyes briefly. He opened them again in time
to see the slap and to feel Elena putting all her Power into it. It snapped Damon’s head around.