“Werewolves,” she wailed as Meredith pul ed her into the room. “They’re al werewolves.”
“What are you—” Meredith broke off. “Bonnie, do you mean Zander and his friends? They’re werewolves?” Bonnie nodded furiously, burying her face against Meredith’s shoulder. Meredith pushed her back and looked careful y into her eyes. “Are you sure, Bonnie?” she asked gently. She looked to Elena, and they both turned and glanced out the window at the sky. “Did you see them change? It’s not the ful moon yet.”
“No,” Bonnie said. She tried to catch her breath, taking harsh sobbing gulps of air. “Zander told me. And then—oh, Meredith, it was so scary—I ran, and they chased me.” She explained what happened, on the roof and on the lawns of the col ege.
Meredith and Elena looked at each other quizzical y, then back at Bonnie. “Why did he tel you?” Elena asked.
“He couldn’t have thought you would have a good reaction to the news; it would have been easier to keep hiding it.” Bonnie shook her head helplessly.
Meredith arched an ironic eyebrow at her. “Even monsters can fal in love,” she said. “I thought you knew that, Elena.” She glanced at her hunting stave, leaning against the foot of her bed. “When the ful moon comes, now I’l know what to look for.”
Bonnie stared at her in horror. “You’re not going to hunt them, are you?” It was a stupid question, she knew. If Zander and his friends real y were behind the murders and disappearances on campus, Meredith had to hunt them. It was her responsibility. Al of their responsibilities, real y, because if they were the only ones who knew the truth, they were the only ones who could keep everyone else safe.
But Zander, something inside her howled in pain. Not Zander…
“None of the attacks occurred during a ful moon,” Elena said thoughtful y, and Meredith and Bonnie both blinked at her.
“That’s true,” Meredith agreed, frowning as she thought back. “I don’t know how we didn’t realize that before.
Bonnie,” she said. “Think careful y before you answer this question. You’ve been spending a lot of time with Zander and his friends. Did anything about them make you think they might hurt someone, real y hurt them, when they’re not in wolf form?”
“No!” Bonnie said automatical y. Then she stopped and thought and said, more slowly, “No, I don’t think so.
Zander’s real y kind, I don’t think he could fake that. Not al the time. They play rough, but I’ve never seen them fight with anyone except one another. And even with one another, they’re not real y fighting, just more sort of messing around.”
“We know what you mean,” Meredith said dryly. “We’ve seen it.”
Elena tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “The disappearances weren’t during the ful moon, either,” she said thoughtful y. “Although I guess they could have been taking people and holding them prisoner, planning to kil them when they were in wolf form later, but that doesn’t—I mean, I don’t have much werewolf experience besides Tyler, but—it doesn’t sound very wolfy to me. Too sterile, sort of.”
“But…” Bonnie sank down on her bed. “You think there’s a chance Zander and his friends might not be the kil ers?
Then who are the kil ers?” She felt bewildered.
Meredith and Elena exchanged a grim glance. “You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff that happens on this campus,” Elena said. “We’l fil you in.” Bonnie rubbed her face with her hands. “Zander told me he was a good werewolf,” she said. “That he didn’t hurt people. Is that possible? Is there even such a thing as a good werewolf?”
Meredith and Elena sat down next to her, one on each side, and wrapped their arms around her. “Maybe?” Elena said. “I real y hope so, Bonnie. For your sake.” Bonnie sighed and cuddled closer to them, resting her head on Meredith’s shoulder. “I need to think about al this,” she said. “At least I’m not alone. I’m so glad I have you guys. I’m sorry we fought.”
Elena and Meredith both hugged her more tightly.
“You’ve always got us,” Elena promised.
A wild hammering came at the door.
Elena glanced at Bonnie, who tensed visibly on her bed but kept her hands over her face, and then at Meredith, who nodded firmly to her and climbed to her feet, reaching for her stave. It had occurred to both of them that, if Zander wanted to talk to Bonnie, he knew exactly where she lived.
Elena flung open the door, and Matt tumbled in. He was wearing a long black hooded robe, and his eyes were frantic as he gasped for breath.
“Matt?” she said in surprise, and looked to Meredith, who gave a tiny shrug and put her stave back down.
“What’s the matter? And what are you wearing?” He grabbed Elena by the shoulders, holding her too tightly. “Stefan’s in danger,” he said, and she froze. “The Vitale Society—they’re vampires. Stefan saved me, but he can’t fight them al .” He quickly explained what happened in the secret chamber below the library, how Stefan came to his rescue, then sent him to get help. “We don’t have much time,” he finished. “They’re kil ing—they’re changing al the pledges into vampires. I don’t even know what Ethan’s got planned for Stefan. We have to go back. And we need Damon.”
Meredith picked up her stave again and, grim faced, was taking her satchel of weapons from her closet. Bonnie was on her feet, too, fists clenched, jaw firm.
“I’l cal Damon,” Elena said, picking up her phone.
Damon had dropped her off at the dorm after walking her back from James’s house, but he was probably stil nearby.
Stefan in danger. If he … if anything happened to him, if something happened while they were apart, while he was stil hurt and it was her fault, Elena would never forgive herself. She wouldn’t deserve to be forgiven.
Guilt was like a knife in her stomach. How could she have hurt Stefan like that? She was attracted to Damon, sure, even loved him, but she’d never had any question that Stefan was her true love. And she had broken his heart.
She’d do anything to save Stefan. She’d die for him if she had to. And, as she listened to the ringing on the other end of the line and waited for Damon to pick up, she realized that there was no question in her mind that Damon would do anything to save Stefan, too.
39
Stefan hadn’t had a plan when he agreed to stay in Matt’s place. He just knew he had to save Matt, and now he hoped Damon would come for him. Stefan’s wrists ached with a dul , throbbing insistent pain that was almost impossible for him to ignore. He tried once more to pul against the ropes that were holding him to the chair, turning his hands from left to right as far as he could to try and loosen his restraints, but it was hopeless. He couldn’t shift them.
He looked around dazedly. The room looked both serene and mysterious again now, as it had when he first kicked in the door. A good place for a secret society.
Torches burned brightly, flowers were arranged around the makeshift altar. The Vitales had taken the time to clean up after binding him and kil ing the pledges.
The ropes were crossed over his chest and stomach and wound around his back; his ankles and knees were tied to the chair legs, his elbows and wrists to the arms of the chair. He was wel trussed, but it was the ones around his wrists that hurt most, because they lay against his bare skin. And they burned.
“They’re soaked in vervain so that you’l be too weak to break free, but I’m afraid it must sting a bit,” Ethan said pleasantly, as if he was explaining an interesting element of the secret chamber’s architecture to his guest. “See, I may be new at this, but I know al the tricks.” Stefan rested his head against the back of the chair and looked at Ethan with fervent dislike. “Not all of the tricks, I suspect.”
Ethan was cocky, but Stefan was pretty sure he hadn’t been a vampire for very long. If Ethan was stil human, if he had never become a vampire, Stefan guessed he would look more or less the same as he did now.