But, if you get a chance, maybe talk to some of them? If you can, if they're reasonable and no one's in danger? Maybe they could learn to live without kil ing people. If you showed them how, Stefan." He rubbed at the back of his neck.
"Chloe was ... special. And the other pledges, they were good people. They didn't know what they were getting into. They deserve a chance."
Everyone was silent, and, after a moment, Matt looked up to find Stefan regarding him, his eyes dark green with sympathy, his mouth pul ed taut in lines of pain. "I'l do my best," he said kindly. "I can promise you that. But new vampires - vampires in general, real y - can be unpredictable. We might not be able to save any of them, and our priority has to be the innocent. We will try, though." Matt nodded. His mouth tasted sour and his eyes burned. He was beginning to realize just how tired he was.
"That's about the best I can expect," he said roughly. "Thank you."
"So there's a whole room ful of dead vampires down there?" Bonnie asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"Pretty much," said Elena. "We chained the doors closed again, but I wish we could close the chamber off more permanently. Someone's going to go down there eventual y, and the last thing this campus needs is another murder investigation, or another gruesome legend."
"Ta-da!" Bonnie said, grinning brightly and pul ing a little bag out of her pocket. "Final y something I can do." She held the bag up. "Remember al the hours Mrs. Flowers made me spend studying herbs? Well, I know spel s for locking and warding, and I've got the herbs to use right here. I thought they might come in handy, as soon as Matt told us we were going to a secret underground chamber." She looked so pleased with herself that Matt had to smile a little despite the heaviness inside him at the thought of Chloe and the others somewhere out in the night. "They might not work for more than a day or two," she added modestly, "but they'l definitely discourage people from investigating the trapdoor for that long."
"You're a wonder, Bonnie," Elena said, and spontaneously hugged her.
Stefan nodded. "We can get rid of the bodies tomorrow," he said. "It's too close to dawn to do it now." Bonnie got right to work, sprinkling dried plants across the trapdoor. "Hyssop, Solomon's seal, and damiana leaves," she said when she saw Matt watching her. "They're for strengthening of locks, protection from evil, and general protection. Mrs. Flowers dril ed me on this stuff so much I final y got them al down. It's too bad I didn't have her helping me with my homework in high school. Maybe I would have learned some of those French verbs." Damon was watching them, his eyes half hooded. "We should look for the new vampires, too," he said. "You know vampires aren't pack animals. They won't hunt together for long. Once they split up, we can pick them off," he told Stefan.
"I'm coming, too," Meredith said. She looked at Damon chal engingly. "I'l just walk Matt home and then meet up with you both."
Damon smiled, a peculiarly warm smile that Matt had never seen him direct at Meredith before. "I was talking to you, too, hunter," he said. "You've gotten better." After a second, she smiled back, a humorous twist of her lips, and Matt thought he saw something that might be the beginnings of friendship flickering between them.
"So the Vitales were definitely behind al the murders and disappearances?" Matt asked Stefan, feeling sick.
How could he have spent so much time with Ethan and not suspected that he was a murderer?
Bonnie's face went so white that her few freckles showed like little dark dots on plain paper. And then her color came flooding back, her cheeks and ears turning a bright pink. She climbed unsteadily to her feet. "I should go see Zander," she said.
"Hey," Matt said, alarmed, and moved to block the door.
"There's stil a whole bunch of vampires outside, Bonnie. Wait for somebody to walk you over."
"Not to mention that you have other commitments," Damon said dryly, looking meaningful y at the herbs scattered across the trapdoor. "After you work your witchy mojo, then you can go see your pet."
"We're sorry, Bonnie," Meredith said, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to another. "We should have trusted you to know a good guy when you saw one."
"Right! Al is forgiven," Bonnie said brightly, and plopped down in front of the trapdoor again. "I just need to say the spel ." She ran her hands through the herbs. "Existo signum," she muttered. "Servo quis est intus." As she scooped some of the herbs back into her bag, Bonnie kept smiling, and stopping, and staring into space, and then bouncing a little. Matt smiled at her tiredly. Good for Bonnie. Someone ought to have a happy ending.
He felt a strong, thin hand take his and turned to see Meredith beside him. She smiled sympathetical y at him.
Nearby, Elena laid her hand tentatively on Stefan's arm, and they both had their eyes on Bonnie. Damon stood stil , watching them al with an almost fond expression.
Matt leaned against Meredith, comforted. No matter what happened, at least they were together. His true friends were with him; he had come home to them at last.
The sun was low in the east when Bonnie climbed up the fire escape, her feet clanging on each step. As she came over the side of the building, she saw Zander sitting with his back against the rough concrete wal at the edge of the roof. He turned to stare at her as she came toward him.
"Hi," she said. She'd been so excited to see him on her way over here, enough so that Elena and Meredith got over their guilt and started to laugh at her, but now she felt weird and uncomfortable, like her head was too big. It was, she realized, total y possible that he wouldn't want to talk to her.