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Tyler tried to roll off, giggling suddenly, his limbs heavy and uncoordinated, almost useless. "Aw,<br />
c'mon, Elena, don' be mad. I was jus' warmin' you up. Elena the Ice Princess, warmin' up… You're<br />
gettin' warm now, aren' you?" Then Elena felt his mouth hot and wet on her face. She was still pinned<br />
beneath him, and his sloppy kisses were moving down her throat. She heard cloth tear.<br />
"Oops," Tyler mumbled. "Sorry 'bout that."<br />
Elena twisted her head, and her mouth met Tyler's hand, clumsily caressing her cheek. She bit it,<br />
sinking her teeth into the fleshy palm. She bit hard, tasting blood, hearing Tyler's agonized yowl. The<br />
hand jerked away.<br />
"Hey! I said I was sorry!" Tyler looked aggrievedly at his maimed hand. Then his face darkened, as,<br />
still staring at it, he clenched the hand into a fist.<br />
This is it, Elena thought with nightmare calmness. He's either going to knock me out or kill me. She<br />
braced herself for the blow.<br />
Stefan had resisted coming into the cemetery; everything within him had cried out against it. The last<br />
time he'd been here had been the night of the old man.<br />
Horror shifted through his gut again at the memory. He would have sworn that he had not drained the<br />
man under the bridge, that he had not taken enough blood to do harm. But everything that night after the<br />
surge of Power was muddled, confused. If there had been a surge of Power at all. Perhaps that had<br />
been his own imagination, or even his own doing. Strange things could happen when the need got out<br />
of control.<br />
He shut his eyes. When he'd heard that the old man was hospitalized, near death, his shock had been<br />
beyond words. Howcould he have let himself get so far out of hand? To kill, almost, when he had not<br />
killed since…<br />
He wouldn't let himself think about that.<br />
Now, standing in front of the cemetery gate in the midnight darkness, he wanted nothing so much as<br />
to turn around and go away. Go back to the dance where he'd left Caroline, that supple, sun-bronzed<br />
creature who was absolutely safe because she meant absolutely nothing to him.<br />
But he couldn't go back, because Elena was in the cemetery. He could sense her, and sense her<br />
rising distress. Elena was in the cemetery and in trouble, and he had to find her.<br />
He was halfway up the hill when the dizziness hit. It sent him reeling, struggling on toward the<br />
church because it was the only thing he could keep in focus. Gray waves of fog swept through his<br />
brain, and he fought to keep moving. Weak, he felt so weak. And helpless against the sheer power of<br />
this vertigo.<br />
He needed… to go to Elena. But he was weak. He couldn't be… weak… if he were to help Elena.<br />
He needed… to…<br />
The church door yawned before him.<br />
Elena saw the moon over Tyler's left shoulder. It was strangely fitting that it would be the last thing<br />
she ever saw, she thought. The scream had caught in her throat, choked off by fear.<br />
And then something picked Tyler up and threw him against his grandfather's headstone.<br />
That was what it looked like to Elena. She rolled to the side, gasping, one hand clutching her torn<br />
dress, the other groping for a weapon.