No, Elena thought, and walked toward Klaus, pushing the fire ahead of her. She had to keep it away from her friends, keep it tight around Klaus himself.
The flames were all around her now. Looking back, though, she could see the air was clearer where her friends fought, and it looked like they might be winning. As she watched, Meredith pressed her stave against her brother's heart, and he said something to her. They were too far away and the flames were too loud for Elena to hear his words, but Meredith's face twisted into the saddest smile as she rammed the stave through his heart.
Elena coughed and coughed again. It was hard to catch her breath amid all this smoke, and her eyes were stinging. She used her mind to shove the flames closer to Klaus. It was so tiring, though, this new Power of hers, and she was so dizzy. She could feel the Power draining out of her now that it was no longer focused on Damon, and she tried to cling to it. Elena hacked and wheezed again. Klaus was glaring at her, reaching for her, and his filthy hands, splattered with ash and mud and blood, brushed her arm.
She gathered the last of her energy and poured her strength into her new Power, forcing the flames higher between her friends and Klaus's vampires, forcing them apart, forcing her friends backward, away from the end of the stable where she faced Klaus. Around Klaus and Elena, the fire roared.
"Elena! Elena!" She could hear their voices shouting, and she caught sight of Stefan's agonized face just before the walls collapsed on top of her and Klaus, bringing them down.
Chapter 36
Stefan clenched his fists together, the bite of his nails against his palms helping to stave off the fog of misery that was enfolding him. Elena wasn't dead. He wouldn't believe that.
Full dark had fallen, and firefighters had finally put out the blaze that had consumed the old stables. They were carefully working through the debris, dragging out body after body.
Outside the protective barriers, screened by a stand of trees, Stefan and the others waited. Meredith and Bonnie clung to each other, Bonnie in tears. Andres was seated, dazed and silent, on the ground, his eyes fixed on the slow movements of the firefighters.
Stefan remembered the look on Elena's face as the fiery wall had come down upon her. She had seemed so resigned, so peaceful as she looked back at him one last time, the flames she had put between them rising faster. The wall had fallen so fast - how could she possibly have escaped?
A hand landed on his shoulder, and Stefan looked up to see Damon frowning past him at the remains of the stable. "She's not in there, you know," Damon said. "Elena's got the luck of the devil. She'd never get trapped in there."
Stefan leaned into his brother's hand, just a little. He was tired and grief-stricken, and there was a comfort in Damon's familiarity. "She died twice before her high-school graduation," he told Damon bitterly. "I don't know if I'd call that lucky. And both times, it was our fault."
Damon sighed. "She came back, though," he said gently. "Not everyone gets to do that. Hardly anyone, really." His lips twitched into a half smile. "Me, of course."
Stefan twisted away, his eyes burning. "Don't joke," he said in a furious, low mutter. "How can - even you - how can you joke about this now? Do you care at all?" But he shouldn't have been surprised. Damon had spent the last few weeks showing - violently, capriciously - how little he cared, for any of them.
Damon looked at him, his dark eyes steady. "I care," he said. "You know I do. Even when I don't want to. But I know she's not dead. If you don't trust Elena's luck, think of Klaus. It would take more than a fire to kill him."
"Fire kills vampires," Stefan said stubbornly. "Even old ones."
"He played with lightning," Damon said, and shuddered. "I don't think there's much that could kill Klaus."
The firefighters had stopped their investigation, every inch of burned wood and earth turned over, and were covering the bodies with dark canvases.
I'll check it out, Damon told Stefan silently, and transformed into a crow, flapping through the night to land in a tree near the corpses.
A few moments later, he was back, becoming himself again before his feet had even hit the ground so that he stumbled a few paces, less polished and poised than usual. Stefan was vaguely aware of everyone, all their allies, gathering around, but his eyes were fixed beseechingly on Damon. He opened his mouth, but the question he needed to ask wouldn't come. Is Elena there? he thought desperately. Is she?
If Elena was gone, if she had sacrificed herself to save them, Stefan would be dead by morning. There was nothing for him without her.
"Elena's not there," Damon said shortly. "Neither is Klaus. It's all Klaus's descendants."
Bonnie gave one short, broken sob of relief and Meredith squeezed her hand hard, knuckles whitening.
"Klaus must have her," Stefan said, the world swimming back into focus now that he had a purpose. "We have to find them before we're too late."
His eyes met Damon's, leaf-green and black holding, for once, exactly the same expression: fear and hope in equal measure. Damon nodded. Stefan's fingers relaxed where they still clutched Damon's shirt and he pulled his brother to him in a brief embrace, trying to send him all the love and gratitude he would never be able to put into words. Damon was back. And if anyone could help Stefan save Elena, it was Damon.
"Is there anything you can do?" Stefan asked Andres. He could hear the pleading note in his own voice.
All around them, the others looked tense, waiting for the answer. Bonnie was tending to Shay's shoulder, bandaging a nasty vampire bite, and her deft fingers stiffened with anxiety until Shay gave a quiet grunt.