The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unspoken (2 page)

Dawn was breaking as Meredith opened the door to her apartment and walked quietly through the entryway, dropping her keys on the table.
I’m all right now
, she told herself. Jack had said she was a vampire, but Meredith didn’t feel any different. Maybe the treatment didn’t take.

She took a deep breath as she glanced around her familiar bedroom. Early morning light was beginning to come through the curtained windows, and everything seemed comfortingly ordinary. Her law books were lined up on the shelf across from the bed, her and Alaric’s wedding picture stood on top of her bureau. Without even bothering to take off her clothes, Meredith pulled back the
cool sheets and slipped into bed. Next to her, Alaric muttered something in his sleep and burrowed deeper into the pillows.

She was safe. Everything was terrible: Stefan was dead, Jack was a vampire, but the worst hadn’t happened.
I’m fine
, she told herself.

Experimentally, she ran a finger across her teeth. Normal. No extra-sharp canines. Her hands were warm, her heart was beating at a quick, human rate. She was
fine.
Her body must have fought off whatever Jack had tried to do.

She shifted closer to Alaric, then frowned. There was something in her jeans pocket. She reached inside, and her fingers closed around a thin cardboard rectangle. A business card. Meredith squinted as she pulled it out and held it up to catch the dim morning light. Printed on the card was an infinity symbol in black type and a company name:
Lifetime Solutions.
Below that, handwritten in black ink, a phone number.

Jack had been pretty sure of himself
, she thought angrily. She tightened her fingers around the card, crumpling it a little, before shoving it into the drawer of her bedside table. She didn’t ever want to see Jack again.

According to her clock, it wasn’t even five
A
.
M.
yet. Meredith took another deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to relax into sleep, trying to forget Jack’s face as he slid the final needle into her arm.

Her bed was soft, and the sheets smelled faintly of detergent. There was another smell, too. Something… salty. Slightly metallic. Meredith frowned a little, trying to identify it.

Gradually, she became aware of a sound as well. All around her came a slow, regular rushing that reminded her of the ocean, a deep, slow thudding beneath the steady sound of the surf. Breathing in time with the sounds, Meredith sank deeper into almost-sleep.

Something kept tugging at the edges of her attention, though, sharpening her appetite. Without conscious intent, she licked her lips. That salty, metallic smell… there was something about it more delicious than the roasted chicken her mother made, sweeter than fresh-baked apple pie. So familiar, somehow, and yet she couldn’t quite place it.

Meredith’s mouth was watering hungrily when something suddenly
shifted
in her jaw. In surprise, her hands flew to her mouth.

Her jaw moved again. Tentatively, she touched her lips. They were so sensitive, she winced at the pain-pleasure when her careful fingers met her teeth. More cautiously, she touched again.

Her canines were long and sharp.
Fangs
.

The rushing, thudding sound, the smell of salt and something else—copper—was almost overwhelming. With each thud, her stomach ached and her teeth ached.

It was Alaric. She was hearing Alaric’s heart beating. She was smelling Alaric’s blood.

Horrified, Meredith scrambled out of bed. She stared down at Alaric below her, so peaceful and oblivious.

Jack had done it. He’d turned her into a vampire.

And she was
famished.

#TVD12HungerGames

D
ear Diary,

I’ve lost everything. I’ve lost myself.

I don’t know who I am without Stefan.

For days now, I haven’t been able to write in here. I felt like, if I wrote down everything that’s happened, it would make it real.

But it is real, whether I write it down or not.

Stefan is dead.

Elena pulled her hands away from her laptop as if it had burned her, then pressed her fingers tightly against her mouth. Stefan was
dead
. Her eyes filled with hot tears, and she roughly wiped them away. All she’d done lately was cry, and it wasn’t making anything better.

It seems like the earth should have stopped turning. If Stefan is dead, the sun shouldn’t rise in the morning. But time passes and every day, there’s a new day. Except it means nothing to me, because Stefan is
still
dead.

We all trusted Jack. He and Stefan hunted side by side, tracking down one of the Old ones, Solomon. But while we were all celebrating Solomon’s defeat, feeling happy and safe at last, Jack plunged his stave through Stefan’s heart. Jack killed him.

Elena stopped typing again and rested her head in her hands, remembering. Stefan’s eyes had met Elena’s, and he’d given her a soft smile. She’d known that they were both thinking the same thing:
Now that the Old Ones are gone, our real life together can begin.

It had all happened so fast. Elena had
seen
that something was wrong, but before she could shout a warning, Jack had thrust his stave through Stefan’s heart. She’d been too late.

The smile had faded from Stefan’s face as his eyes widened. For just a moment, he’d looked innocently surprised, and then Stefan had simply gone blank. His eyes—those leaf-green eyes that had looked at her with such love—lost focus. His body crumpled to the floor, but Stefan was already gone.

It was true that Jack was hunting the Old Ones, just as we were. But he didn’t want to make the world safer.
Jack had created a new kind of vampire through drugs and surgeries instead of blood and magic. The vampires Jack made are terrifying: immune to sunlight and vervain and, according to Damon, impossible to kill by any of the usual methods.

Jack didn’t want any competition for his lab-created race of vampires. So he set out to eliminate the most dangerous vampires, the oldest ones. Not just the ancient Old Ones, but also the clever, long-lived vampires who have lasted a few centuries. Vampires like Katherine and Damon. Like Stefan.

Jack used us all—my Guardian Power, Stefan and Meredith’s fighting ability, Bonnie’s magic—as weapons against Solomon. The Old One was too well hidden for Jack to find on his own. But once Solomon was dead, Stefan was just another obstacle in Jack’s way.

We don’t know where Jack is now, or what he’s planning next. The hunters who traveled with him—Trinity, Darlene, and Alex—were as fooled by him as we were. They’ve left town, trying to track Jack. But they haven’t got a clue where he might be.

Elena swallowed hard and wiped her eyes again with the sleeve of her bathrobe.

Meredith and Damon don’t think Jack’s really gone at all. A few days ago, Meredith fought one of his strange synthetic
vampires. The vampire escaped, and Meredith barely survived. Is Jack continuing his experiments here in Dalcrest?

I should care. I should want vengeance. But instead, I’m numb.

Without Stefan, it’s like I’m dead, too.

A key rattled in the lock of the front door, and Elena looked up from her computer screen to see Damon coming in. The cold apartment warmed a bit, as if the sleek, dark-haired vampire had brought some of the late summer breeze into the air-conditioned room. He seemed to get smaller as he came in, though, hunching his shoulders. Through the bond between them, Elena sensed his wistful ache at finding himself once again surrounded by Stefan’s possessions, resenting the reminder that his brother was gone.

“You’ve been feeding,” she commented, looking at the near-human flush of his cheeks.

“If you want to call it that.” Damon curled his lip in disgust. “Stefan’s animal diet is utterly vile, just as I always suspected.”

Elena flinched, and Damon glanced up, his face falling. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know I shouldn’t—” She could see her own pain at the mention of Stefan reflected in his eyes.

“It’s okay,” she said, shaking her head hard. “You should be able to say his name, he’s your brother. I just—” Tears were rising up in her eyes again, and she willed them back. She needed to stop crying.

Damon took her hand, his fingers cool and smooth. “I promise you that Jack will pay,” he said quietly, his eyes as dark as night. “Whatever it takes.”

A wave of panic hit Elena, knocking the breath out of her, and she clutched Damon’s hand between hers. “No,” she said. “Damon, you have to be careful. Even if it means letting Jack go.”

Damon stiffened, his dark eyes fixed on hers. “We promised each other we would take vengeance on Jack,” he said firmly. “We owe it to Stefan.”

Elena shook her head. “I can’t lose you, too.” She hated the weak waver in her voice, but she straightened her shoulders and looked at Damon levelly, her face resolute. Sometimes it felt like Damon’s presence was the thin barrier between her and madness. Damon was the only one who understood, who’d really loved Stefan as deeply as she had.

Every night, she heard Damon’s soft footfalls pacing through the apartment, living room to kitchen to hall, hesitating sometimes outside her bedroom but never coming in, even when she yearned for his comfort. Guarding her as he wandered, and also pacing out the slow beats of his own
sorrow, unable to settle. The thought of Damon falling like Stefan had, his handsome face suddenly blank and still, made Elena’s heart pound frantically. “Please, Damon,” she begged.

His eyes softening, Damon sighed and brushed a finger gently over her knuckles, then pulled his hand back quickly, his jaw tightening. “I won’t do anything foolish. Remember, I’m good at taking care of myself.”

Elena started to nod gratefully, then paused as she thought through what he’d said. He hadn’t promised to stay out of danger, not really. “You can’t kill anyone,” she reminded him stubbornly. “The Guardians told you, if you kill anyone, I’ll die. So there’s not much point in looking for revenge.”

Damon smiled without humor, his features sharp. “Vampires aren’t human,” he said. “I
can
kill Jack, and I will.”

Elena let go of his hand. Damon would never stop hunting Jack.

Damon would die on this hunt, she was sure of it. And then Elena would truly have nothing.

D
amon paced across Elena’s living room, glaring at the afternoon sunlight stretching through the windows and across the floor. When he’d woken from his restless sleep an hour earlier, the apartment had already been empty.

Brushing his fingers across his chest absently, he let Elena’s emotions thrum through the bond between them. Nothing had changed; he still felt the same sharp, angry grief that had brought him back to Dalcrest, that had let him know his brother was dead. But nothing new. Wherever Elena had gone, she wasn’t in danger.

He ached to be out hunting Jack, to find him and tear him apart. Rage burned under his skin—how
dare
anyone touch his little brother. Even when he and Stefan had hated each other, no one else had been allowed to hurt him.