The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation, Unspoken(14)

She gave a quick, broken sob, her eyes dropping as her face colored with shame. “Damon,” she said, pleading. “Damon, I didn’t mean to. I’ve kept myself from feeding for so long, and I just couldn’t stop this time. I don’t want to kill her. I can’t—I can’t let her go like this—”

He swallowed and pushed away his shock. Meredith was clinging tightly to her victim, who seemed close to unconscious, her head sagging on Meredith’s shoulder. Of course she couldn’t influence the girl to make her forget: Jack’s vampires had no magic or Power, they were creatures of science.

“Please,” Meredith begged, bringing her desperate gaze up to meet Damon’s. She was biting her lip nervously, and a thin trail of her own blood trickled down her chin.

Slipping a cool mask over his surprise—When did this happen? How could I not have known?—Damon heaved a theatrical sigh and tugged the human out of Meredith’s arms. “Wake up,” he said, and shook her gently. The girl’s head bobbled from side to side, her short hair sweeping forward across her cheeks. Meredith had really made a mess of her victim’s neck—it was raw and ripped, blood still streaming out. Damon wrinkled his nose fastidiously. “Come on, now.” He shook her again, until she blinked blearily up at him.

Efficiently, Damon bit his own wrist and pressed it against the girl’s lips. He forced her to drink a few swallows, enough to make the bites on her throat begin to heal. “That’s enough.” Without waiting for an answer, he stroked his Power along her mind, pushing for obedience. “You won’t remember what happened. You were out late, and you fell, that’s how you hurt your neck. Everything’s fine. Go home.”

The girl stared at him blankly and dragged her tongue across her dry lips. “I have to go home,” she muttered. “I was out too late.”

“Good girl,” Damon said, setting her on her feet and straightening her top. It was a pity about the bloodstains, but there was nothing he could do. “Go on.”

The girl nodded and staggered off through the parking lot. Damon watched her go and then turned his attention to Meredith.

She was staring at him, her eyes wide and horrified, her chest heaving with panicky panting breaths. Damon could feel warmth radiating off her, and her heart was pounding hard. If Damon hadn’t known better—if he hadn’t seen her long, sharp canines and sensed that little bit of wrongness under her false aura, he would have thought Meredith was still human.

“So…” he said, enjoying her distress just a little bit, now that his shock had faded. “What’s new with you?”

Meredith gulped unhappily. “I was just so hungry,” she said, her voice strained.

Damon shrugged, keeping his expression bland. “You don’t need to explain to me, hunter,” he said. “How long since Jack changed you?”

Meredith rubbed at her face, trying to wipe away the blood and only smearing it across her cheek. “A week,” she said, her eyes downcast. It felt odd, seeing Meredith so humbled. “He was working on me before that, taking me in the middle of the night. I thought I was dreaming. I couldn’t see his face.”

Damon nodded. “Does anyone else know?” he asked. It wouldn’t be the first time that they’d kept him out of the loop, but he couldn’t believe Elena had known. He would have sensed her shock through the bond between them, and he’d felt nothing but her constant, aching grief.

Eyes widening in horror, Meredith grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him close to her. “You can’t tell them,” she said fiercely. “No one else can know. I’m going to find some way to reverse it.”

Damon unwrapped Meredith’s fingers from his shirt. With a little thrill, he realized that Meredith’s predicament could be good. He could use this. “Fine,” he told her. “I won’t breathe a word. But there’s something I want you to do.”

Meredith’s eyes narrowed. It was admirable, Damon thought, how she could go from a quivering wreck to sharply suspicious, pulling herself together in an instant. “What do you want, Damon?”

“Don’t worry,” he assured her with a bitter laugh. “It won’t hurt. Probably.” She flinched, and he sighed, feeling guilty. “I want you to connect with Jack,” he went on, in a softer tone. “He made you for a reason. Surely he must want you to work with him.”

Meredith’s mouth opened in an automatic denial, and then she stopped. “You want me to spy on him for you,” she said thoughtfully.