"No," she said, directing her words at Meredith. Meredith was the one who mattered here, the one who wouldn't hesitate to kill Damon. "You can't," she told her. She glanced quickly at Damon, who opened his eyes briefly and gave her an irritated look, the look of a cat interrupted at its food dish. Then he closed his eyes again, working his fangs deeper into the girl's throat. Bonnie gave a soft, horrified moan.
"What the hell, Elena?" Meredith shouted. "He's killing her!" Balanced on the balls of her feet, she dodged to the side, stave raised, and Elena shifted quickly to stay between her and Damon. Someone was slipping past Elena on the other side, and she half turned to try to stop them, but it was Stefan, who pushed Damon away from his prey. Damon snarled but didn't try to grab her again. Stefan watched his brother tensely as he supported the girl and passed her carefully to Alaric.
"Meredith, please," Elena said, her voice thin and desperate to her own ears. "Please stop. There's something wrong with him. But it's Damon, he's saved us before. He's fought on our side in so many battles. You can't kill him. We have to figure out what's going on."
Stefan had hold of Damon by the arms now, but his brother shrugged him off with an irritated twitch of his shoulders. As Elena looked over at them, Damon straightened up and settled his clothing into place, shooting Elena a brilliant, unfriendly smile. There was still blood streaking his mouth and chin. "I don't need you to protect me, Elena," he said. "I've taken care of myself for a long time now."
"Please, Meredith," Elena said again, ignoring his words, and stretched out her hands to her friend pleadingly.
"Oh, yes," Damon said mockingly, turning his sharp smile on Meredith. "Please, Meredith. Are you sure about who your allies are here, hunter?"
Meredith had lowered her stave a couple of inches, but her eyes were flat and hard as she glared at Elena. "You and Stefan jumped in to protect him awfully quickly," she said coldly. "How long has this been going on?"
Elena flinched. "I've known for a few days that Damon was hunting again," she said. "The girls were all right at the end, though." She knew how weak that protest was. Worse, she wasn't sure she quite believed it - Damon had abandoned the girl she and Stefan found in the woods; she could have died. What else had he done?
But she couldn't let Meredith kill him.
"I'll take responsibility for him," she said quickly. "Stefan and I. We'll make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else. Please, Meredith." Stefan nodded, his hand tight again around his brother's arm, as if he was restraining a disobedient child. Damon sneered at them both.
Meredith hissed through her teeth with frustration. "What about you?" she said, jerking her chin at Damon. "Do you have anything more to say for yourself?"
Damon tilted his chin and gave her a cool, arrogant smile, but said nothing. Elena's heart sank: Damon had clearly decided to be as irritating as possible. After a moment, Meredith jabbed the stave at Elena, stopping well short of touching her.
"Don't forget," she said. "This is your problem. Your responsibility, Elena. If he kills anyone, he'll be dead the next day. And we're not done talking about this."
Elena felt Stefan, pulling Damon with him, move up behind her, a strong, supportive figure at her shoulder. "We understand," he said solemnly.
Meredith glared at them all, shaking her head, and then turned and walked off without a word. Alaric and Bonnie followed her, supporting Damon's victim between them, her choking sobs the only sound Elena could hear. Zander and Spencer gave Elena and the Salvatore brothers long, thoughtful looks before following the others. Elena trembled inwardly: the Pack could be a dangerous enemy, if it decided Elena wasn't on the right side.
As soon as her friends had rounded the bend in the path and were out of sight, Elena whirled angrily to face Damon. But Stefan, still clutching Damon by one arm, spoke before she could.
"You idiot," he said coldly, punctuating his words with a little shake of Damon's arm. "What were you thinking, Damon? You want to undo all the good you've done?" With each question, he shook his brother a little more.
Damon shoved Stefan's hand away, the mocking smile he'd worn dropping off his face. "I was thinking that I'm a vampire, little brother," he said. "Clearly a lesson you still have to learn." He wiped the blood from his mouth.
"Damon - " Elena said in exasperation, but Damon was already turning away. Quicker than her eyes could see, he was gone. A moment later, from a tree on the other side of the athletic field a large crow flew up, letting out a raucous caw.
"We might not be able to save Damon," Stefan said in a troubled voice, taking her hand. "Not this time."
Elena nodded. "I know," she said. "But we have to try." Her eyes followed the bird, just a dot in the sky now, as it flew above the campus. Regardless of what she had promised Meredith, she didn't know if she could stop Damon from doing anything he wanted. But she and Stefan wouldn't let Damon die. Somehow, at some point, saving him had become more important than anything else.
Chapter 19
Elena had been no stranger to battle in the past year. Her younger self would never have dreamed about weapons practice and defensive maneuvers. That Elena had focused on trips to France and beautiful dresses. But now, the fight against evil was what gave Elena a thrill, as much as she hated to admit it. Now, she walked united with her friends and allies, all looking to her for guidance.
Usually they were all united and looking to her for guidance, anyway. Since she and Stefan had defended Damon, Meredith had been distant. The Pack had been eyeing them so suspiciously that Elena could almost see the hair bristling on their heads as they shied away from her. Elena had turned the other day to find Shay staring at her menacingly. Even Bonnie had seemed to be avoiding her for the last few days. Only Andres, although she'd told him what had happened, remained unchanged in his attitude toward Elena. They'd worked together the previous day, trying to unlock more of Elena's Powers, but hadn't been successful yet.