The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Thirty-Nine

Stefan hadnt had a plan when he agreed to stay in Matts place. He besides knew he had to save Matt, and instantaneously he hoped Damon would get it on for him. Stefans wrists ached with a dul , throbbing insistent pain that was almost impossible for him to ignore. He tried once to a greater extent to pul against the ropes that were h obsolescenting him to the chair, turning his hands from left to right as far as he could to try and loosen his restraints, notwithstanding it was hopeless. He couldnt shift them.He looked around dazedly. The room looked both serene and mysterious again now, as it had when he beginning kicked in the door. A good place for a privy(p) society.Torches burned brightly, flowers were arranged around the makeshift altar. The Vitales had taken the time to clean up aft(prenominal) binding him and kil ing the pledges.The ropes were crossed over his chest and stomach and infract around his hold his ankles and knees were tied to the chair legs, his elbows and wrists to the arms of the chair. He was Welltrussed, further it was the ones around his wrists that hurt most, because they lay against his bare skin. And they burned.Theyre soaked in vervain so that youl be too woebegone to break free, but Im afraid it mustiness sting a bit, Ethan give tongue to pleasantly, as if he was explaining an interesting element of the cloak-and-dagger chambers architecture to his guest. See, I may be new at this, but I know al the tricks. Stefan rested his head against the back of the chair and looked at Ethan with fervent dislike. Not all of the tricks, I suspect.Ethan was cocky, but Stefan was pretty sure he hadnt been a lamia for precise long. If Ethan was stil human, if he had neer become a vampire, Stefan guessed he would look more or less the same as he did now.Ethan crouched down in front of Stefans chair to look up into his face, vesture the same warm, friendly smile as when hed tried to convince Stefan to join them. He looked like a plea sant fel ow, virtuallyone you wanted to relax with and trust, and Stefan glared at him. The smile was a lie.Ethan was a kil er whose mask was less obvious than those of the other Vitale vampires, that was al .Youre probably right about that, Ethan express thoughtful y. I imagine t here are al kinds of tricks youve picked up in, what is it, more than five hundred years?Tricks that I dont know yet. You could be very useful to me in that way, if you decide to join us after al . There are lots of things you can teach us about al this vampire stuff. He flashed that appealing smile again. Ive always been a good student.Vampire stuff. What do you want from me, Ethan? Stefan asked wearily. It had been a long night, a long few weeks, and the vervain-soaked ropes were hurting his arms, muddying his thoughts.Ethan knew how old he was. Ethan knew what to offer him when they first talked about the Vitale auberge. It wasnt a coincidence that he was the one in this room, then Ethan wasnt lookin g for just any vampire. Whats your plan here? Stefan asked.Ethans smile grew wider. Im building an invincible vampire army, of course, he said cheerful y. I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but its al about power. And powers never ridiculous. He licked his lips nervously, showing a flash of thin pink tongue. See, I used to just be one of the ordinary little people. I was just like everyone else on campus. My biggest achievements were good grades on exams or the fact that I had the leadership of some secret col ege club. You wouldnt believe how lame the Vitale Society used to be. Just white magic and nature worship. He made a little self-deprecating grimace See how silly I was once. Im grievous you something embarrassing about myself, so trust me. But then I figured out how to get some real power.One of the black-clad figures came up coffin nail Ethan, and Ethan held up a finger to Stefan. Hang on a sec, okay? He rose and turned to talk to his lieutenant.After tying Stefan up, E than had efficiently done for(p) back to draining the pledges, one after another, dropping the bodies as soon as he finished with them. They had al gone by fee-tails of their transitions now and were back on their feet.They seemed irritable and disoriented, growling and snapping at one another and gazing at Ethan with undisguised adoration.Typical new vampires. Stefan eyed them warily. Until they had fed thoroughly, they would hover on the room access of madness, and it would be easy for Ethan to lose control of them. Then they would be even more dangerous.The pledges need to eat, Ethan said calmly to the robed woman behind him. volt of you should take them out and teach them how to hunt. You lead the hunting party and pick whoever you want to go with you. The rest wil stay here and care guard our guest.Stefan watched as the Vitales sorted themselves out.Eight of Ethans fol owers remained, stationing themselves by the sides of the room. Stefan had managed to kil one other durin g the fight, ripping her throat out, but the body had been tidied away somewhere.Stefan gave a little involuntary moan. It was hard to deem straight he was so tired, and the vervain was starting to hurt him al over, not just on his aching wrists, but anywhere the ropes touched him through his clothes. Damon, please come quickly. Please, Damon, he thought.Youre going to unleash nine newly made vampires on the campus? he asked Ethan, his mind snapping back to the matter at hand. Ethan, theyl cut down people. People who were your friends, maybe. Youl draw attention to yourselves. There are already police al over campus.Please, take them to the woods to hunt animals. They can live on animal blood. He heard a pleading note enter his own voice as Ethan lonesome(prenominal) smiled absently at him, as if he was a child begging to go to Disneyland. Come on, Ethan, it hasnt been very long since you were a human, too. You cant want to stand by and lose innocent students murdered.Ethan shr ugged, patting Stefan lightly on the shoulder as he started to walk over to confer with another of his henchmen. They need to be strong, Stefan. I want them at their peak by the undermentioned equinox. And weve kil ed plenty of innocent students already, he said over his shoulder.Equinox? Ethan, Stefan shouted after him in frustration. He looked frantical y at the door by which the pledges and their escort had left. It would take them a while to select victims. Not as many students were walking the campus alone at night these days. If he could get free, if Damon came now and freed him, they could stil stop the slaughter. If al these brand-new vampires were al owed loose on campus, there would be a massacre.Ethan couldnt have changed the rest of the Vitale Society al at once, he realized. The number of murders they would have committed newly made as a group would have been impossible to disguise as a few disappearances. This must have been the first mass initiation. And who had made Ethan? he wondered. Was there an older vampire somewhere on campus?Damon, where are you? He had no doubt that Damon would come if he could.Despite their rift over Elena, things had changed enough between him and Damon that he knew he could rely on his brother to rescue him. He had saved him before, after al , when they fought Katherine, when they fought Klaus. There was something rock solid between them now, something that wasnt there a year ago, or in the hundreds of years before that. He closed his eyeball and heard himself give a dry, painful chuckle. It seemed like an inopportune moment to start having revelations about his own family issues.So, Ethan said chattily, returning to his side and pul ing up a chair, we were talking about the equinox.Yes, Stefan said, an acid bite to his tone.He wasnt going to let Ethan see how he was yearning toward the door, expectant. He needed to keep his cool, so that Damon could have the element of surprise on his side.He should keep Ethan tal king, keep him distracted in case Damon came, so he fixed an expression of interest on his face and looked at Ethan attentively.At the time of the equinox, when day and night are perfectly balanced, the line between life and death is at its most weak and permeable. This is the time when spirits can cross between the worlds, Ethan began dramatical y, moving one hand in a wide sweep.Stefan sighed. I know that, Ethan, he said impatiently.Just cut to the chase. He might have to keep Ethan distracted, but surely he didnt have to feed his ego.Ethan dropped his hand. You remember Klaus, dont you? he asked. The originator of your phone line? Were resurrecting him. With him at the head of our ranks, wel be invincible.Everything went stil for a moment, as if Stefans slow-beating heart had final y stopped. Then he sucked in a breath. He felt as if Ethan had punched him in the face. He couldnt speak for a moment. When he could, he gasped,Klaus? Klaus the vampire who He couldnt even finish the sentence. His mind was ful of Klaus the Old One, the Original vampire, the mad man. The vampire who had control ed lightning, who had bragged that he had not been made, that he just was. In Klauss earliest memories, he had told Stefan, he carried a bronze axe he was a barbarian at the gate, among those who destroyed the Roman Empire. He claimed that he began the race of vampires.Klaus had held Elenas spirit hostage and tortured innocent Vickie Bennett to death for fun. He turned Katherine, first into a vampire, then into a cruel dol instead of a person, changed her until she was vicious and mindless, eager only to torment those she once loved.Stefan, Damon, and Elena kil ed him at last, but it was nearly impossible, would have been impossible without the spirits of a battalion of unquiet ghosts from the Civil War tied to the blood-soaked battlegrounds of Fel s Church.Klaus who made the vampire who made you, Ethan said cheerful y. It was another of his descendants who I found in Euro pe this summer on my trip abroad. I convinced her to turn me into a vampire. She taught me some tricks, too, like how to use vervain, and how lapis lazuli can protect us from the sun. I put lapis lazuli in the pins we wear now, so al the members have it on them at al times. She was very helpful, this vampire who changed me. And she told me al about Klaus. He smiled warmly at Stefan again. See, you should like me, Stefan. Were practical y cousins. Stefan shut his eyes for a moment. Klaus was insane, he tried to explain. He wont work with you, hel destroy you.Ethan sighed. I real y think I can work it out with him, though, he said. Im very persuasive. And Im offering him soldiers. I hear he likes war. Theres no reason for him to turn us down we want to give him everything he wants. He paused and looked at Stefan, stil smiling, but there was a note now in that wide smile that Stefan didnt like, a false innocence. Whatever Ethan was going to ask Stefan now, he already knew the answer. D oes this mean youre not interested in joining our army, cousin? he asked with mock surprise.Gritting his teeth, Stefan strained against the ropes once more, but they didnt budge. He glared up at Ethan. I wont help you, he said. Never.Ethan came closer, bent down until his face was level with Stefans. But you wil help, he said lightly, a trace of self-satisfaction in his eyes. Whether you want to or not.See, what I need most of al to bring back Klaus is blood. He ran his hands through his curls, shaking his head. Its always blood for this kind of thing, have you noticed? he added.Blood? asked Stefan uneasily. Young vampires were never sane, in his opinion the initial rush of new senses and Powers were enough to bewilder anyone. He was starting to think, though, that Ethans grasp on sanity might not have been that strong to begin with. Hed convinced someone to turn him into a vampire?The blood of his descendants, specifical y. Ethan nodded smugly. Thats why I was so gay to find tha t you were right here on campus. I made a hobby of tracking down the descendants of Klaus this summer, after Id talked the first one I met into changing me into what she was.Some of them gave me blood wil ingly, when they heard what I wanted to do. Not al of Klauss descendants are as ungrateful as you. I only need a little more, and then Il have enough. Yours, of course, and his eyes flicked up toward the door that Stefan had been surreptitiously watching al this time, waiting for Damon, and your brothers. I assume hel be here any minute?Stefans heart plummeted, and he stared openly at the door. Damon, please stay away, he thought desperately.