[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
least, and Stefan held the back of his shirt and guided him urgently up the
path to the church.
Inside, Stefan pushedTyler onto the ground near the open tomb. "Now," he
said, "we are going to talk. And you're going to cooperate,Tyler , or you're
going to be very, very sorry."
Ten
Meredith sat down on the knee-high wall of the ruined church. "You said it
was going to be dangerous, Stefan, but you didn't say you were going to let
him strangle me."
"I'm sorry. I was hoping he'd give some more information, especially after he
admitted to being there when Sue died. But I shouldn't have waited."
"I haven't admitted anything! You can't prove anything,"Tyler said. The
animal whine was back in his voice, but on the walk up his face and body had
returned to normal. Or rather, they'd returned to human, Meredith thought. The
swelling and bruises and dried blood weren't normal.
"This isn't a court of law,Tyler ," she said. "Your father can't help you
now."
"But if it were, we'd have a pretty good case," Stefan added."Enough to put
you away on conspiracy to commit murder, I think."
"That's if somebody doesn't melt down their grandma's teaspoons to make a
silver bullet," Matt put in.
Tylerlooked from one to another of them. "I won't tell you anything."
"Tyler, you know what you are? You're a bully," Bonnie said. "And bullies
always talk."
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"You don't mind pinning a girl down and threatening her," said Matt, "but
when her friends turn up, you're scaredspitless ."
Tylerjust glared at all of them.
"Well, if you don't want to talk, I guess I'll have to," Stefan said. He
leaned down and picked up the thick book he'd gotten from the library. One
foot on the lip of the tomb, he rested the book on his knee and opened it. In
that moment, Meredith thought, he looked frighteningly like Damon.
"This is a book byGervase ofTilbury , Tyler," he said. "It was written around
the year 1210a.d . One of the things it talks about is werewolves."
"You can't prove anything! You don't have any evidence "
"Shut up,Tyler !" Stefan looked at him. "I don't need to prove it. I cansee
it, even now. Have you forgotten what I am?" There was a silence, and then
Stefan went on. "When I got here a few days ago, there was a mystery. A girl
was dead. But who killed her?And why? All the clues I could see seemed
contradictory.
"It wasn't an ordinary killing, not some human psycho off the street. I had
the word of somebody I trusted on that and independent evidence, too. An
ordinary killer can't worka Ouija board by telekinesis. An ordinary killer
can't cause fuses to blow in a power plant hundreds of miles away.
"No, this was somebody with tremendous physical and psychic power. From
everything Vickie told me, it sounded like a vampire.
"Except that Sue Carson still had her blood.A vampire would have drained at
least some of it. No vampire could resist that, especially not a killer.
That's where the high comes from, and the high's the reason to kill. But the
police doctor found no holes in her veins, and only a small amount of
bleeding. It didn't make sense.
"And there was another thing.You were in that house,Tyler . You made the
mistake of grabbing Bonnie that night, and then you made the mistake of
shooting off your mouth the next day, saying things you couldn't have known
unless you were there.
"So what did we have?A seasoned vampire, a vicious killer with Power to
spare? Or a high school bully who couldn't organize a trip to the toilet
without falling over his own feet? Which? The evidence pointed both ways, and
I couldn't make up my mind.
"Then I went to see Sue's body myself. And there itwas, the biggest mystery
of all.A cuthere ." Stefan's finger sketched a sharp line down from his
collarbone. "Typical, traditional cut made by vampires to share their own
blood. But Suewasn't a vampire, and she didn't make that cut herself. Someone
made it for her as she lay there dying on the ground."
Meredith shut her eyes, and she heard Bonnie swallow hard beside her. She put
out a hand and foundBonnie's and held tight, but she went on listening. Stefan
had not gone into this kind of detail in his explanation to them before.
"Vampires don't need to cut their victims like that; they use their teeth,"
Stefan said. His upper lip lifted slightly to show his own teeth. "But if a
vampire wanted to draw bloodfor somebody else to drink , he might cut instead
of biting. If a vampire wanted to give someone else the first and only taste,
he might do that.
Page 69
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"And that started me thinking about blood. Blood is important, you see. For
vampires, it gives life, Power. It's all we need for survival, and there are
times when needing it drives us crazy. But it's good for other things, too.For
instance& initiation.
"Initiation and Power.Now I was thinking about those two things, putting them
together with what I'd seen ofyou ,Tyler , when I was inFell's Church before.
Little things I hadn't really focused on. But I remembered something Elena had
told me about your family history, and I decided to check it out
inHonoriaFell's journal."
Stefan lifted a piece of paper from between the pages of the book he held.
"And there it was, inHonoria's handwriting. IXeroxed the page so I could read
it to you.TheSmallwoods ' little family secret if you can read between the
lines."
Looking down at the paper, he read:
"November 12. Candles made, flax spun. We are short on cornmeal and salt, but
we will get through the winter. Last nightan alarm; wolves attacked Jacob
Smallwood as he returned from the forest. I treated the wound with
whortleberry and sallow bark, but it is deep and I am afraid. After coming
home I cast the runes. I have told no one but Thomas the results.
"Casting the runes is divining," Stefan added, looking up. "Honoriawas what
we'd call a witch. She goes on here to talk about 'wolf trouble' in various
other parts of the settlement it seems that all of a sudden there were
frequent attacks, especially on young girls. She tells how she and her husband
became more and more concerned. And finally, this: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl fopke.keep.pl
least, and Stefan held the back of his shirt and guided him urgently up the
path to the church.
Inside, Stefan pushedTyler onto the ground near the open tomb. "Now," he
said, "we are going to talk. And you're going to cooperate,Tyler , or you're
going to be very, very sorry."
Ten
Meredith sat down on the knee-high wall of the ruined church. "You said it
was going to be dangerous, Stefan, but you didn't say you were going to let
him strangle me."
"I'm sorry. I was hoping he'd give some more information, especially after he
admitted to being there when Sue died. But I shouldn't have waited."
"I haven't admitted anything! You can't prove anything,"Tyler said. The
animal whine was back in his voice, but on the walk up his face and body had
returned to normal. Or rather, they'd returned to human, Meredith thought. The
swelling and bruises and dried blood weren't normal.
"This isn't a court of law,Tyler ," she said. "Your father can't help you
now."
"But if it were, we'd have a pretty good case," Stefan added."Enough to put
you away on conspiracy to commit murder, I think."
"That's if somebody doesn't melt down their grandma's teaspoons to make a
silver bullet," Matt put in.
Tylerlooked from one to another of them. "I won't tell you anything."
"Tyler, you know what you are? You're a bully," Bonnie said. "And bullies
always talk."
Page 68
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"You don't mind pinning a girl down and threatening her," said Matt, "but
when her friends turn up, you're scaredspitless ."
Tylerjust glared at all of them.
"Well, if you don't want to talk, I guess I'll have to," Stefan said. He
leaned down and picked up the thick book he'd gotten from the library. One
foot on the lip of the tomb, he rested the book on his knee and opened it. In
that moment, Meredith thought, he looked frighteningly like Damon.
"This is a book byGervase ofTilbury , Tyler," he said. "It was written around
the year 1210a.d . One of the things it talks about is werewolves."
"You can't prove anything! You don't have any evidence "
"Shut up,Tyler !" Stefan looked at him. "I don't need to prove it. I cansee
it, even now. Have you forgotten what I am?" There was a silence, and then
Stefan went on. "When I got here a few days ago, there was a mystery. A girl
was dead. But who killed her?And why? All the clues I could see seemed
contradictory.
"It wasn't an ordinary killing, not some human psycho off the street. I had
the word of somebody I trusted on that and independent evidence, too. An
ordinary killer can't worka Ouija board by telekinesis. An ordinary killer
can't cause fuses to blow in a power plant hundreds of miles away.
"No, this was somebody with tremendous physical and psychic power. From
everything Vickie told me, it sounded like a vampire.
"Except that Sue Carson still had her blood.A vampire would have drained at
least some of it. No vampire could resist that, especially not a killer.
That's where the high comes from, and the high's the reason to kill. But the
police doctor found no holes in her veins, and only a small amount of
bleeding. It didn't make sense.
"And there was another thing.You were in that house,Tyler . You made the
mistake of grabbing Bonnie that night, and then you made the mistake of
shooting off your mouth the next day, saying things you couldn't have known
unless you were there.
"So what did we have?A seasoned vampire, a vicious killer with Power to
spare? Or a high school bully who couldn't organize a trip to the toilet
without falling over his own feet? Which? The evidence pointed both ways, and
I couldn't make up my mind.
"Then I went to see Sue's body myself. And there itwas, the biggest mystery
of all.A cuthere ." Stefan's finger sketched a sharp line down from his
collarbone. "Typical, traditional cut made by vampires to share their own
blood. But Suewasn't a vampire, and she didn't make that cut herself. Someone
made it for her as she lay there dying on the ground."
Meredith shut her eyes, and she heard Bonnie swallow hard beside her. She put
out a hand and foundBonnie's and held tight, but she went on listening. Stefan
had not gone into this kind of detail in his explanation to them before.
"Vampires don't need to cut their victims like that; they use their teeth,"
Stefan said. His upper lip lifted slightly to show his own teeth. "But if a
vampire wanted to draw bloodfor somebody else to drink , he might cut instead
of biting. If a vampire wanted to give someone else the first and only taste,
he might do that.
Page 69
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"And that started me thinking about blood. Blood is important, you see. For
vampires, it gives life, Power. It's all we need for survival, and there are
times when needing it drives us crazy. But it's good for other things, too.For
instance& initiation.
"Initiation and Power.Now I was thinking about those two things, putting them
together with what I'd seen ofyou ,Tyler , when I was inFell's Church before.
Little things I hadn't really focused on. But I remembered something Elena had
told me about your family history, and I decided to check it out
inHonoriaFell's journal."
Stefan lifted a piece of paper from between the pages of the book he held.
"And there it was, inHonoria's handwriting. IXeroxed the page so I could read
it to you.TheSmallwoods ' little family secret if you can read between the
lines."
Looking down at the paper, he read:
"November 12. Candles made, flax spun. We are short on cornmeal and salt, but
we will get through the winter. Last nightan alarm; wolves attacked Jacob
Smallwood as he returned from the forest. I treated the wound with
whortleberry and sallow bark, but it is deep and I am afraid. After coming
home I cast the runes. I have told no one but Thomas the results.
"Casting the runes is divining," Stefan added, looking up. "Honoriawas what
we'd call a witch. She goes on here to talk about 'wolf trouble' in various
other parts of the settlement it seems that all of a sudden there were
frequent attacks, especially on young girls. She tells how she and her husband
became more and more concerned. And finally, this: [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]