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"No! Shut the doors! Don't let anybody out until the police get here," shouted a werewolf beside
her, taking off his mask. Elena turned in astonishment at the voice and saw that it was not Matt, it was
Tyler Smallwood.
He'd been allowed back in school only this week, and his face was still discolored from the beating
he had taken at Stefan's hands. But his voice had the ring of authority, and Elena saw the bouncers
close the exit door. She heard another door close across the gym.
Of the dozen or so people crowded into the Stonehenge area, Elena recognized only one as a
worker. The rest were people she knew from school, but none she knew well. One of them, a boy
dressed as a pirate, spoke to Tyler.
"You mean… you think somebody in here did it?"
"Somebody in here did it, all right," said Tyler. There was a queer, excited sound to his voice, as if
he were almost enjoying this. He gestured to the pool of blood on the rock. "That's still liquid; it can't
have happened too long ago. And look at the way his throat's cut. The killer must have done it with
that." He pointed to the sacrificial knife.
"Then the killer might be here right now," whispered a girl in a kimono.
"And it's not hard to guess who it is," said Tyler. "Somebody who hated Tanner, who was always
getting in arguments with him. Somebody who was arguing with him earlier tonight. I saw it."
So you were the werewolf in this room, thought Elena dazedly. But what were you doing here in the
first place? You're not on staff.
"Somebody who has a history of violence," Tyler was continuing, his lips drawing back from his
teeth. "Somebody who, for all we know, is a psychopath who came to Fell's Church just to kill."
"Tyler, what are you talking about?" Elena's dazed feeling had burst like a bubble. Furious, she
stepped toward the tall, husky boy. "You're crazy!"
He gestured at her without looking at her. "So says his girlfriend – but maybe she's a little
prejudiced."
"And maybe you're a little prejudiced, Tyler," said a voice from behind the crowd, and Elena saw a
second werewolf pushing his way into the room. Matt.
"Oh, yeah? Well, why don't you tell us what you know about Salvatore? Where does he come from?
Where's his family? Where did he get all that money?" Tyler turned to address the rest of the crowd.
"Who knows anything about him?"
People were shaking their heads. Elena could see, in face after face, distrust blossoming. The
distrust of anything unknown, anything different. And Stefan was different. He was the stranger in
their midst, and just now they needed a scapegoat.
The girl in the kimono began, "I heard a rumor – "
"That's all anybody's heard, rumors!" Tyler said. "No one really knows a thing about him. But
there's one thing I do know. The attacks in Fell's Church started the first week of school – which was
the week Stefan Salvatore came."
There was a swelling murmur at this, and Elena herself felt a shock of realization. Of course, it was
all ridiculous, it was just a coincidence. But what Tyler was saying was true. The attacks had started
when Stefan arrived.
"I'll tell you something else," shouted Tyler, gesturing at them to be quiet. "Listen to me! I'll tell you
something else!" He waited until everyone was looking at him and then said slowly, impressively,
"He was in the cemetery the night Vickie Bennett was attacked."
"Sure he was in the cemetery – rearranging your face," said Matt, but his voice lacked its usual