"Yes." Stefan got up. "And he must be stopped."
"But how?" Since seeing Klaus, Bonnie was more frightened than ever, more frightened and less confident. "What could stop him, Stefan? I've never felt anything like that Power."
"But didn't you-?" Stefan turned to her quickly. "Bonnie, didn't you hear what Elena said at the end?"
"No. What do you mean? I couldn't hear anything; there was a slight hurricane going on at the time."
"Bonnie..." Stefan's eyes went distant with speculation and he spoke as if to himself. "That means that he probably didn't hear it either. So he doesn't know, and he won't try to stop us."
"From what? Stefan, what are you talking about?"
"From finding a victim. Listen, Bonnie, Elena told me that if we can find a surviving victim of Klaus's, we can find a way to stop him."
Bonnie was in completely over her head. "But... why?"
"Because vampires and their donors-their prey-share minds briefly while the blood is being exchanged. Sometimes the donor can learn things about the vampire that way. Not always, but occasionally. That's what must have happened, and Elena knows it."
She expected Stefan to be deflated, but he wasn't. "A vampire," he said simply.
"A human Klaus made into a vampire would qualify as a victim. As long as they've exchanged blood, they've touched minds."
"Oh. Oh. So... if we can find a vampire he's made... but where?" "Maybe in Europe." Stefan began to pace around the room, his eyes narrowed.
"Klaus has a long history, and some of his vampires are bound to be there. I may have to go and look for one."
Bonnie was utterly dismayed. "But Stefan, you can't leave us. You can't!" Stefan stopped where he was, across the room, and stood very still. Then at last, he turned to face her. "I don't want to," he said quietly. "And we'll try to think of another solution first-maybe we can get hold of Tyler again. I'll wait a week, until next Saturday. But I may have to leave, Bonnie. You know that as well as I do."
There was a long, long silence between them.
Bonnie fought the heat in her eyes, determined to be grown up and mature. She wasn't a baby and she would prove that now, once and for all. She caught Stefan's gaze and slowly nodded.
June 19, Friday, 11:45 p.m. Dear Diary,
Oh, God, what are we going to do?
This has been the longest week of my life. Today was the last day of school and tomorrow Stefan is leaving. He's going to Europe to search for a vampire who got changed by Klaus. He says he doesn't want to leave us unprotected. But he's going to go.
We can't find Tyler. His car disappeared from the cemetery, but he hasn't turned up at school. He's missed every final this week. Not that the rest of us are doing much better. I wish Robert E. Lee was like the schools that have all their finals before graduation. I don't know whether I'm writing English or Swahili these days.
I hate Klaus. From what I saw he's as crazy as Katherine-and even crueler. What he did to Vickie-but I can't even talk about that or I'll start crying again. He was just playing with us at Caroline's party, like a cat with a mouse. And to do it on Meredith's birthday, too-although I suppose he couldn't have known that. He seems to know a lot, though. He doesn't talk like a foreigner, not like Stefan did when he first came to America, and he knows all about American things, even songs from the fifties. Maybe he's been over here for a while...
Bonnie stopped writing. She thought desperately. All this time, they had been thinking of victims in Europe, of vampires. But from the way Klaus talked, he had obviously been in America a long time. He didn't sound foreign at all. And he'd chosen to attack the girls on Meredith's birthday...
Bonnie got up, reached for the telephone, and called Meredith's number. A sleepy male voice answered.
"Mr. Sulez, this is Bonnie. Can I speak to Meredith?"
"Bonnie! Don't you know what time it is?"
"Yes." Bonnie thought quickly. "But it's about-about a final we had today. Please, I have to talk with her."
There was a long pause, then a heavy sigh. "Just a minute."
Bonnie tapped her fingers impatiently as she waited. At last there was the click of another phone being picked up.
"Bonnie?" came Meredith's voice. "What's wrong?" "Nothing. I mean-" Bonnie was excruciatingly conscious of the open line, of the fact that Meredith's father hadn't hung up. He might be listening. "It's about-that German problem we've been working on. You remember. The one we couldn't figure out for the final. You know how we've been looking for the one person who can help us solve it? Well, I think I know who it is."