L. J. Smith - The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters: Phantom

Contents

E lena Gilbert stepped onto a smooth expanse of grass, the spongy blades collapsing beneath her feet. Clusters of scarlet roses and violet delphiniums pushed up from the ground, while a giant canopy hung above her, twinkling with glowing lanterns. On the terrace in front of her stood two curving white marble fountains that shot sprays of water high into the air. Everything was beautiful, elegant, and somehow familiar.

This is Bloddeuwedds palace, a voice in her head said. But when she had been here last, the field had been crowded with laughing, dancing partygoers. They were gone now, although signs of their presence remained: empty glasses littered the tables set around the edges of the lawn; a silken shawl was tossed over a chair; a lone high-heeled shoe perched on the edge of a fountain.

Something else was odd, too. Before, the scene had been lit by the hellish red light that illuminated everything in the Dark Dimension, turning blues to purples, whites to pinks, and pinks to the velvety color of blood. Now a clear light shone over everything, and a full white moon sailed calmly overhead.

A whisper of movement came from behind her, and Elena realized with a start that she wasnt alone after all. A dark figure was suddenly there , approaching her.

Damon.

Of course it was Damon, Elena thought with a smile. If anyone was going to appear unexpectedly before her here, at what felt like the end of the worldor at least the hour after a good party had endedit would be Damon. God, he was so beautiful. Black on black: soft black hair, eyes black as midnight, black jeans, and a smooth leather jacket.

As their eyes met, she was so glad to see him that she could hardly breathe. She threw herself into his embrace, clasping him around the neck, feeling the lithe, hard muscles in his arms and chest.

Damon, she said, her voice trembling for some reason. Her body was trembling, too, and Damon stroked her arms and shoulders, calming her.

What is it, princess? Dont tell me youre afraid. He smirked lazily at her, his hands strong and steady.

I am afraid, she answered.

But what are you afraid of?

That left her puzzled for a moment. Then, slowly, putting her cheek against his, she said, Im afraid that this is just a dream.

Ill tell you a secret, princess, he said into her ear. You and I are the only real things here. Its everything else thats the dream.

Just you and me? Elena echoed, an uneasy thought nagging at her, as though she were forgetting somethingor someone. A fleck of ash landed on her dress, and she absently brushed it away.

Its just the two of us, Elena, Damon said sharply. Youre mine. Im yours. Weve loved each other since the beginning of time.

Of course. That must be why she was tremblingit was joy. He was hers. She was his. They belonged together.

She whispered one word: Yes.

Then he kissed her.

His lips were soft as silk, and when the kiss deepened, she tilted her head back, exposing her throat, anticipating the double wasp sting hed delivered so many times.

When it didnt come, she opened her eyes questioningly. The moon was as bright as ever, and the scent of roses hung heavy in the air. But Damons chiseled features were pale under his dark hair, and more ash had landed on the shoulders of his jacket. All at once, the little doubts that had been niggling at her came together.

Oh, no. Oh, no .

Damon. She gasped, looking into his eyes despairingly as tears filled her own. You cant be here, Damon. Youre... dead.

For more than five hundred years, princess. Damon flashed his blinding smile at her. More ash was falling around them, like a fine gray rain, the same gray ash Damons body was buried beneath, worlds and dimensions away.

Damon, youre... dead now. Not undead, but... gone.

No , Elena... He began to flicker and fade, like a dying lightbulb.

Yes. Yes! I held you as you died.... Elena was sobbing helplessly. She couldnt feel Damons arms at all now. He was disappearing into shimmering light.

Listen to me, Elena....

She was holding moonlight. Anguish caught at her heart.

All you need to do is call for me, Damons voice said. All you need...

His voice faded into the sound of wind rustling through the trees.

Elenas eyes snapped open. Through a fog she registered that she was in a room filled with sunlight, and a huge crow was perched on the sill of an open window. The bird tilted its head to one side and gave a croak, watching her with bright eyes.

A cold chill ran down her spine. Damon? she whispered.

But the crow just spread its wings and flew away.

D ear Diary,

I AM HOME! I can hardly dare to believe it, but here I am.

I woke with the strangest feeling. I didnt know where I was and just lay here smelling the clean cotton-and-fabric-softener scent of the sheets, trying to figure out why everything looked so familiar.

I wasnt in Lady Ulmas mansion. There, I had slept nestled in the smoothest satin and softest velvet, and the air had smelled of incense. And I wasnt at the boardinghouse: Mrs. Flowers washes the bedding there in some weird-smelling herbal mixture that Bonnie says is for protection and good dreams.

And suddenly, I knew. I was home. The Guardians did it! They brought me home.

Everything and nothing has changed. Its the same room I slept in from when I was a tiny baby: my polished cherry-wood dresser and rocking chair; the little stuffed black-and-white dog Matt won at the winter carnival our junior year perched on a shelf; my rolltop desk with its cubbyholes; the ornate antique mirror above my dresser; and the Monet and Klimt posters from the museum exhibits Aunt Judith took me to in Washington, DC. Even my comb and brush are lined up neatly side by side on my dresser. Its all as it should be.

I got out of bed and used a silver letter opener from the desk to pry up the secret board in my closet floor, my old hiding place, and I found this diary, just where I hid it so many months ago. The last entry is the one I wrote before Founders Day back in November, before I... died. Before I left home and never came back. Until now.

In that entry I detailed our plan to steal back my other diary, the one Caroline took from me, the one that she was planning to read aloud at the Founders Day pageant, knowing it would ruin my life. The very next day, I drowned in Wickery Creek and rose again as a vampire. And then I died again and returned as a human, and traveled to the Dark Dimension, and had a thousand adventures. And my old diary has been sitting right here where I left it under the closet floor, just waiting for me.

The other Elena, the one that the Guardians planted in everyones memories, was here all these months, going to school and living a normal life. That Elena didnt write here. Im relieved, really. How creepy would it be to see diary entries in my handwriting and not remember any of the things they recounted? Although that might have been helpful. I have no idea what everyone else in Fells Church thinks has been happening in the months since Founders Day.

The whole town of Fells Church has been given a fresh start. The kitsune destroyed this town out of sheer malicious mischief. Pitting children against their parents, making people destroy themselves and everyone they loved.

But now none of it ever happened.

If the Guardians made good on their word, everyone else who died is now alive again: poor Vickie Bennett and Sue Carson, murdered by Katherine and Klaus and Tyler Smallwood back in the winter; disagreeable Mr. Tanner; those innocents that the kitsune killed or caused to be killed. Me. All back again, all starting over.