"Here I am," he murmured into her hair as he pul ed her close to him. "It's real, I promise you."
Elena stepped back and smacked him hard across the face. Damon glared at her and reached up to rub his cheek. "Ouch," he said, and then cracked a narrow, irritating smile. "I can't say that was completely unexpected
- I get slapped by women more often than you'd think possible - but not a nice welcome for the long-lost love, sweetheart."
"How could you?" Elena said, dry-eyed now and furious.
"How could you, Damon? We've al been mourning you. Stefan's fal ing apart. Bonnie blames herself. I... I... A piece of my heart died. How long have you been watching us? Didn't you care? Was this al some kind of joke to you?
Did you laugh when we cried?"
Damon winced. "Darling," he said. "My princess. Aren't you glad to see me at al ?"
"Of course I am!" said Elena indignantly. She took a breath and cooled down a little. "But, Damon, what were you thinking? We al thought you were dead! Permanently dead, not show-up-in-my-bedroom-a-few-days-laterlooking-perfectly-healthy dead! What's going on? Did the Guardians do this? They told me they couldn't when I begged them to, that death is permanent for a vampire once it happens."
Damon graced her with a genuine, laughing smile. "Wel , you of al people ought to know that death isn't always permanent."
Elena shrugged and wrapped her arms around herself.
"They told me that when I came back, it was different," she said in a smal voice, her emotions zigzagging al over the place. Because you're in shock, a tiny voice at the back of her head said wisely. "Mystical stuff, you know. My time wasn't up. Hey!" She poked him with one finger, perking up.
"Are you human now? I was human when I returned."
Damon gave a long, theatrical shudder. "God forbid. I had enough of that when that meddling kitsune made me a mortal. Thank heaven - or whoever - I don't have to go looking for an obliging vampire princess to turn me back this time." He grinned slyly at Elena. "I'm as bloodsucking as ever, darling." He eyed her neck. "Speaking of which, I'm rather hungry..."
Elena smacked him again, though more gently this time.
"Knock it off, Damon."
"Can I sit down now?" Damon asked and, when she nodded, settled himself on the foot of her bed and drew her down to sit beside him. Elena looked searchingly into his eyes, then gently traced her hand over his sharp cheekbones, his sculpted mouth, his soft raven hair.
"You were dead, Damon," she said quietly. "I know it. I saw you die."
"Yes," he said, and sighed. "I felt myself die. It was horribly painful and it seemed to both go on forever and be over in a few moments." He shuddered. "There was a little bit left of me even then though" - Elena nodded - "and Stefan told me, told him, to fly away. And you held him -
held me - and told me to close my eyes. And then that last little bit of me was gone, too, and even the pain was gone. And then... I came back." Damon's dark eyes were wide with remembered wonder.
"But how?" asked Elena.
"Remember the star bal ?"
"How could I forget? It was the root of al our problems with the kitsune. It was vaporized when I... Oh, Damon, I used my Wings of Destruction on the tree on the Nether World's moon. But they destroyed the kitsune's star bal , too, and I had to go to the Guardians to save Fel 's Church. The Wings of Destruction were... like nothing I've ever seen or felt before." She shivered.
"I've seen what you did to that moon," Damon said, smiling slightly. "Would it make you feel better, my lovely angel, if you knew that using your Powers like that and destroying the star bal is what saved me?"
"Don't cal me that," said Elena, scowling. The Guardians were the closest thing she had ever seen to real angels, and she did not have fond memories of them. "How did it save you?"
"Do they explain how condensation works in modern schools?" Damon asked with the supercilious expression he always wore when he teasingly criticized her world in comparison to the one he had grown up in. "Is it al sex education, empathy, and second-rate novels now, or do they stil tel the children a little about science? I know they've dropped Latin and Greek in favor of theater and consciousness-raising." His voice dripped with contempt. Elena told herself not to rise to his bait. Instead she folded her hands neatly in front of her in her lap. "I think you may be a few decades out-of-date. But please, O wise one," she said, "assume that my education didn't include the connection between condensation and rising from the dead, and enlighten me."
"Nice." Damon smirked. "I like to see a young woman who is respectful of her elders and betters." Elena cocked an eyebrow at him warningly. "Anyway," he continued, "the liquid in the star bal , the pure magic, didn't vanish. It's not that easy to get rid of real y strong magic. As the atmosphere cooled, the magic turned from vapor back into liquid and fel down on me, with the rain of ash. I was soaking in pure Power for hours, gradual y being reborn."
Elena's mouth dropped open. "Those sneaks," she said indignantly. "The Guardians told me you were gone for good, and they took al the treasures we bribed them with, too." She thought briefly of the one last treasure she stil had, a water bottle ful of the Water of Eternal Youth, hidden high up on the shelf in her closet, and pushed the thought away. She couldn't even acknowledge that hidden treasure to herself for more than a moment, for fear the Guardians would realize she had it, and she couldn't use it... not yet, maybe not ever.