"Drink more," Damon instructed impatiently, glancing nervously behind his back. The flames were higher now, having caught onto the wal .
"What are you doing here?" I asked as more blood trickled down my throat.
"Saving your life," Damon said, dragging me to my feet and pul ing me outside and into the forest, just as my tiny cabin exploded into flames behind us. "After you left the party I realized Samuel was the one who must have kil ed Violet," Damon continued. "The blood under his fingernails practical y gleamed against his champagne glass. When I confronted him about it, he said he had a plan in motion, for both of us, and he took off.
Let's just say I decided to not let you die, at least not today. You can thank me later," Damon said, brusquely depositing me on the cool forest floor.
Far in the distance, I heard a cacophony of bel s, screams, and thudding horse hooves. It was just like the siege Father had begun in Virginia. And once again, my brother and I were side by side, sticking together.
"We have to run!" I said raggedly. "Turn left." We didn't have time for a long explanation, but if Damon could have some compassion in him, I thought we could escape anything. I knew the forest better than anyone, and once we got to the center, underneath trees so tal the sky wasn't visible even on a clear summer day, we'd be al right.
Damon picked Cora up and threw her over his shoulder with one hand while half-dragging me with another. We ran over the brook and around a quarry, circling the far perimeter of the Abbott farm, and final y, I brought them to the glen below the Chiltern River. It was a place that would take humans half a day to reach, but with us running at vampire speed, we had reached it in no time. We were safe. At least for now.
"I'm going to find Samuel," Damon said, his face red from exertion. "He needs to know the consequences of his actions."
"Damon, do you know what he's done? He's framed you for the Jack the Ripper murders. The police are getting a sketch of you even now. You can't fol ow him; it's not safe," I said.
"I won't let him get away with this, brother," Damon said angrily. "Stay here. I'm going to see if I can find him." I didn't have the strength to argue with him. I could hardly believe I was alive. I sat down on a rock and cradled my head in my hands. Then I held my hand over my wound. It was shrinking, but it stil hurt, and I felt like there was a tiny heart beating in time to my breath.
"Are you al right?" Cora asked final y, breaking the silence. She was sitting on a fal en tree branch opposite me, nervously biting her fingernails.
I wondered how much she knew about Damon's true nature. But I had no energy to ask questions. I sank back upon the leaves as Cora sat beside me, eyeing me like a hawk. I could hear her heart thumping - ba-dump, ba-dump - and I sighed in relief. If I could hear her heart, that meant she hadn't turned. She was human. I concentrated on the noise, as reassuring as the raindrops during an April shower.
I had to tel her about her sister.
"Violet . . ." I began.
"How is she?"
I shook my head. "Not wel ," I managed to say. Cora's heart sped up, but her breathing continued to be steady.
"Is she a vampire?" Cora asked, locking eyes with me.
I couldn't lie.
"Yes, she turned," I said. "Samuel forced her."
A flash of hope lit up Cora's eyes. "She did? So she's not dead. Wel , not dead dead. But . . . where did she go?" she asked in confusion.
"Samuel took her," I said. "She didn't have a choice. She must be frightened."
"I'm sure she is," Cora said in a smal voice, twisting her vervain charm around her index finger. "When we were children, Violet used to have to fal asleep with a candle burning al night. She was always afraid of monsters coming to get her."
"She'l get over that soon enough," I said wryly. As a vampire, the dark was soon to become Violet's biggest comfort.
"I suppose so," Cora said, staring into space.
"Are you al right?" I asked.
Cora shrugged. "I hardly know. I was at the party, and Samuel came up to me, and I started shrieking. I didn't know where the sound had come from. I didn't even know that it was me. But he terrified me. And then your brother found me and made me talk. He brought me on the train. I kept praying Violet would be al right, but . . . could she be al right?" she said in a smal voice.
I nodded. I didn't want to give her false hope. "She'l be different. But I can teach her. There are things that make being a vampire less terrible," I said.
"Good." We lapsed into silence. The wound in my chest was shrinking, and far above us I saw the faintest signs of dawn breaking through the inky night. I'd be al right. I'd live to see another day, another decade, another century. But Oliver wouldn't. And where was Damon?
"Damon's taking a long time," Cora said, echoing my own thoughts. "Do you think he'l be safe?"
"Yes," I said. In truth, I didn't know. I was only beginning to become aware of the different and vast expanse of vampires living in the world.
Before, I'd thought I only needed to concern myself with Originals, like Klaus. But there were so many others to be worried about, in ways I'd never considered. "Damon's very good at looking after himself," I said.
A silence fel between us.
Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the woods. I stiffened as the footsteps drew closer, and conversation carried through the trees.
"Anything, men? Nothing over in those bushes?"
I heard the loud barking of several dogs. Footsteps passed nearby and I pushed my back against the rough bark of a tree. Cora squeezed my hand tightly until the group left, spurred on by the manic barking of the dogs.