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smudged and grimy with dirt. She was wearing only a thin white slip.
"Get her in the car," said Matt. Meredith was already opening the car door. She jumped out and ran
up to the dazed girl.
"Vickie, are you all right? What happened to you?"
Vickie moaned, still looking straight ahead. Then she suddenly seemed to see Meredith, and she
clutched at her, digging her nails into Meredith's arms.
"Get out of here," she said, her eyes filled with desperate intensity, her voice strange and thick, as if
she had something in her mouth. "All of you – get out of here! It's coming."
"What's coming? Vickie, where is Elena?"
"Get out now. …"
Meredith looked down the road, then led the shaking girl back to the car. "We'll take you away," she
said, "but you have to tell us what's happened. Bonnie, give me your wrap. She's freezing."
"She's been hurt," said Matt grimly. "And she's in shock or something. The question is, where are
the others? Vickie, was Elena with you?"
Vickie sobbed, putting her hands over her face as Meredith settled Bonnie's iridescent pink wrap
around her shoulders. "No… Dick," she said indistinctly. It seemed to hurt her to speak. "We were in
the church… it was horrible. It came… like mist all around. Dark mist. And eyes. I saw its eyes in the
dark there, burning. They burnt me…"
"She's delirious," said Bonnie. "Or hysterical, or whatever you call it."
Matt spoke slowly and clearly. "Vickie, please, just tell us one thing. Where is Elena? What
happened to her?"
"I don't know." Vickie lifted a tear-stained face to the sky. "Dick and I – we were alone. We were…
and then suddenly it was all around us. I couldn't run. Elena said the tomb had opened. Maybe that
was where it came from. It was horrible…"
"They were in the cemetery, in the ruined church," Meredith interpreted. "And Elena was with them.
And look at this." In the overhead light, they could all see the deep fresh scratches running down
Vickie's neck to the lace bodice of her slip.
"They look like animal marks," said Bonnie. "Like the marks of cat's claws, maybe."
"No cat got that old man under the bridge," said Matt. His face was pale, and muscles stood out in
his jaw. Meredith followed his gaze down the road and then shook her head.
"Matt, we have to take her back first. We have to," she said. "Listen to me, I'm as worried about
Elena as you are. But Vickie needs a doctor, and we need to call the police. We don't have any choice.
We have to go back."
Matt stared down the road for another long moment, then let out his breath in a hiss. Slamming the
door shut, he put the car into gear and turned it around, each motion violent.
All the way back to town, Vickie moaned about the eyes.
Elena felt Stefan's lips meet hers.
And… it was as simple as that. All questions answered, all fears put to rest, all doubts removed.
What she felt was not merely passion, but a bruising tenderness and a love so strong it made her shake
inside. It would have been frightening in its intensity, except that while she was with him, she could
not be afraid of anything.