“It’s not just you and Elena,” Meredith said to Bonnie. “I think he’s asleep, too, Matt is. You are all freaking raving.”
“And by the way, you made me forget,” Elena said to Meredith. “I almost had something, but then you went and—”
“And you’re not raving?” Bonnie asked Meredith as courteously as possible.
“Am I invisible and inaudible?” Caroline demanded of Bonnie with no courtesy at all. “Because my questions keep getting—”
“SHUT UP. ALL OF YOU. RIGHT NOW.”
Silence.
Bonnie looked at Elena. Elena was looking at Damon. Damon was looking at the doorway.
Bonnie turned to see who was there and fell fast asleep.
* * *
Stefan pulled his sweater, which had been hiding most of his face, down and stared at Damon. There were bits of ragged leaves in his hair, Damon noted. Not big ones, but still. He knew that he had never looked as if he was living in a tree, but then his little brother had all that wavy, unmanageable hair. He also probably didn’t carry a small comb along with a silver-edged switchblade in his jeans pocket.
Stefan was already ranting. “Che diavolo pensi di fare? Sei pazzo? Guarda tutti questi matti! Hai completamente rovinato tutto quello che ho fatto io, idiota! Lo sapevo che non potevo fidarmi di te, deficiente pigro, senza cervello e inaffidabile!”
There was a pause. Even vampires had to breathe to speak. Damon waited it out, and after a moment raised his eyebrows and tilted his head as if to say, “That’s all you’ve got?”
Stefan opened his mouth as if to continue, but this time Damon jumped in. “Stai zitto bestia! In primo luogo, tu gridi come una ragazzina di sei anni. E poi, mezza sega, stupido come un asino ma infuocato come i demoni dell’inferno! Terzo. . .
“Third”—he switched to English—“I’m going to tell you what’s wrong with everything you’re thinking. The most important thing is that I didn’t need to screw everything up. You already did that very efficiently yourself. I’ll explain more later. For now watch these humans; keep them frozen that way for fifteen minutes.”
“Why? You—”
“A, because they’re your responsibility; and, Two, because I am starving. Ye gods, I had to Influence Elena and Bonnie both by burning life energy! Right now, I’m going to find something soft and warm and I’m going to feed. You can either go to hell or watch over the people whose lives you’ve ruined; your choice.”
Stefan looked mutinous. “Your noise woke me up when I’d finally just gotten to sleep, and now I find—”
“I did not make noise. Scan me. I can hardly stand up and I couldn’t wake a flea. I’ve been trying to keep Elena safe . . .” Damon broke off. “Fifteen minutes.”
“Ten.”
“Don’t you try to bargain with me, cazzo! I’m the only thing standing between this lot of humans and bedlam.”
Without waiting for Stefan to frame a response, he turned and hastened out of the room. Once the door was shut behind him, his famished senses took him prowling down the hallway as if blown by a hot wind. He barely had the Power to see auras but a vivid one about seven rooms down was brilliant enough to attract him like a bee to a sweetly scented, pollen-loaded rose.
The nice thing about the dormitories was that one invitation into the building sufficed for every room that had been part of the same construction. In other words, Damon didn’t have to wake his newest best friend with the dazzling aura to get permission to enter her room.
Two minutes later, he was slaking his thirst from the throat of a girl with soft mouse-brown hair and a pair of glasses on her nightstand. Damon thought she was as beautiful as a half-open Jacqueminot rose. He’d given her one of his most charming dreams too; if she remembered it in the morning, she’d be surprised at how much she knew about Renaissance Florence.
He raised his head when ten minutes had gone by. Of course, he might delight Stefan’s heart by appearing early, but . . . it was such a wonderful idea, this roommate business. Just two steps away was another sleeping girl: bonier, more angular, more conventionally beautiful, but less cuddly and with only half the aura of his sweet-smelling rose, who, incidentally, was now smiling as she slept. Damon eyed the roommate t
houghtfully.
Oh, what the hell?
* * *
Stefan’s cold anger had melted as soon as Damon left the room. Now he was standing where he thought he would never stand again, directly in front of Elena, looking into her eyes. The problem was that those eyes were open but unseeing. He could see the flecks of gold in the dark blue, steady as the inclusions in a piece of lapis lazuli since she was simply staring without blinking.
That worried him suddenly. He’d held more people than this frozen at Mercy Havenwick ICU, but he hadn’t wondered if they were able to blink. There was probably something bad that could happen if you stared for fifteen minutes—twenty more likely, if he knew his brother—without blinking.
Stefan tossed out a tendril of Influence and everyone: Elena, Meredith, Bonnie, Matt, and Caroline all blinked at once. Then they all shut their eyes, as Stefan had an inspiration.