They were all implacable. Even Bonnie's small face was unforgiving.
"Gervase of Tilbury mentions one interesting thing," Stefan said, almost pleasantly. "There's a cure for werewolves besides the traditional silver bullet. Listen." By moonlight, he read from the book on his knee. "It is commonly reported and held by grave and worthy doctors that if a werewolf be shorn of one of his members, he shall surely recover his original body. Gervase goes on to tell the story of Raimbaud of Auvergne, a werewolf who was cured when a carpenter cut off one of his hind paws. Of course, that was probably hideously painful, but the story goes that Raimbaud thanked the carpenter 'for ridding him forever of the accursed and damnable form.' " Stefan raised his head. "Now, I'm thinking that if Tyler won't help us with information, the least we can do is make sure he doesn't go out and kill again. What do the rest of you say?"
"All we have to do is relieve him of one of his members," Bonnie agreed.
"I can think of one right off," Meredith said under her breath.
Tyler's eyes were starting to bulge. Under the dirt and blood his normally ruddy face had gone pale. "You're bluffing!"
"Get the ax, Matt," said Stefan. "Meredith, you take off one of his shoes."
Tyler kicked when she did, aiming for her face. Matt came and got his head in a hammer-lock. "Don't make it any worse on yourself, Tyler."
The bare foot Meredith exposed was big, the sole as sweaty as Tyler's palms. Coarse hair sprouted from the toes. It made Meredith's skin crawl.
"Let's get this over with," she said.
"You're joking!" Tyler howled, thrashing so that Bonnie had to come and grab his other leg and kneel on it. "You can't do this! You can't!"
"Keep him still," Stefan said. Working together, they stretched Tyler out, his head locked in Matt's arm, his legs spread and pinned by the girls. Making sure Tyler could see what he was doing, Stefan balanced a branch perhaps two inches thick on the lip of the tomb. He raised the ax and then brought it down hard, severing the stick with one blow.
"It's sharp enough," he said. "Meredith, roll his pants leg up. Then tie some of that cord just above his ankle as tight as you can for a tourniquet. Otherwise he'll bleed out."
"You can't do this!" Tyler was screaming. "You can't dooooooo this!"
"Scream all you want, Tyler. Up here, nobody's going to hear you, right?" Stefan said.
"You're no better than I am!" Tyler yelled in a spray of spittle. "You're a killer too!"
"I know exactly what I am," Stefan said. "Believe me, Tyler. I know. Is everybody ready? Good. Hold on to him; he's going to jump when I do it."
Tyler's screams weren't even words anymore.
Matt was holding him so that he could see Stefan kneel and take aim, hefting the ax blade above Tyler's ankle to gauge force and distance.
"Now," said Stefan, raising the ax high.
"No! No! I'll talk to you! I'll talk!" shrieked Tyler.
Stefan glanced at him. "Too late," he said, and brought the ax down.
It rebounded off the stone floor with a clang and a spark, but the noise was drowned by Tyler's screaming. It seemed to take Tyler several minutes to realize that the blade hadn't touched his foot. He paused for breath only when he choked, and turned wild, bulging eyes on Stefan.
Little whimpers were coming from Tyler's throat and there was foam on his lips. "I don't know his name," he gasped out. "But he looks like you said. And you're right; he's a vampire, man! I saw him drain a ten-point buck while it was still kicking. He lied to me," Tyler added, the whine creeping back into his voice. "He told me I'd be stronger than anybody, as strong as him. He said I could have any girl I wanted, any way I wanted. The creep lied."
"He told you that you could kill and get away with it," Stefan said.
"He said I could do Caroline that night. She had it coming after the way she ditched me. I wanted to make her beg-but she got out of the house somehow. I could have Caroline and Vickie, he said. All he wanted was Bonnie and Meredith." "But you just tried to kill Meredith."
"That was now. Things are different now, stupid. He said it was all right." "Why?" Meredith asked Stefan in an undertone.
"Maybe because you'd served your purpose," he said. "You'd brought me here."
Then he went on, "All right, Tyler, show us you're cooperating. Tell us how we can get this guy."
"Get him? You're nuts!" Tyler burst into ugly laughter, and Matt tightened the arm around his throat. "Hey, choke me all you want; it's still the truth. He told me he's one of the Old Ones, one of the Originals, whatever that means. He said he's been making vampires since before the pyramids. He said he's made a bargain with the devil. You could stick a stake in his heart and it wouldn't do anything. You can't kill him." The laughter became uncontrolled.
"Where's he hiding, Tyler?" Stefan rapped out. "Every vampire needs a place to sleep. Where is it?"