Elena tilted a doubtful eye toward Bonnie. "Well... it would mean missing the dance itself-for those of us who could have gone, I mean."
Bonnie drew herself up. "Oh, who cares about missing a dance?" she said indignantly. "What on earth does a dance matter to anyone?"
"Right," said Stefan gravely. "Then it's settled." A spasm of pain seemed to overtake him and he winced, looking down. Elena was immediately concerned.
"You need to get home and rest," she said. "Alaric, can you drive us? It's not that far."
Stefan protested that he was perfectly able to walk, but in the end he gave in. At the boardinghouse, after Stefan and Damon had gotten out of the car, Elena leaned in Alaric's window for one last question. It had been gnawing at her mind ever since Alaric had told them his story.
"About those people who'd encountered vampires," she said. "Just what were the psychological effects? I mean, did they all go crazy or have nightmares? Were any of them okay?"
"It depends on the individual," Alaric said. "And with how many contacts they'd had, and what kind of contacts they were. But mostly just with the personality of the victim, with how well the individual mind can cope."
Elena nodded, and said nothing until the lights of Alaric's car had been swallowed by the snowy air. Then she turned to Stefan.
"Matt."
Stefan looked at Elena, snow crystals dusting his dark hair. "What about Matt?"
"I remember-something. It's not clear. But that first night, when I wasn't myself -did I see Matt then? Did I-?"
Fear and a sick sense of dismay swelled her throat and cut her words off. But she didn't need to finish, and Stefan didn't need to answer. She saw it in his eyes.
"It was the only way, Elena," he said then. "You would have died without human blood. Would you rather have attacked somebody unwilling, hurt them, maybe killed them? The need can drive you to that. Is that what you would have wanted?"
"No," Elena said violently. "But did it have to be Matt? Oh, don't answer that; I can't think of anybody else, either." She took a shaky breath. "But now I'm worried about him, Stefan. I haven't seen him since that night. Is he okay? What has he said to you?"
"Not much," said Stefan, looking away. " 'Leave me alone' was about the gist of
it. He also denied that anything happened that night, and said that you were dead."
"Sounds like one of those individuals who can't cope," Damon commented.
"Oh, shut up!" said Elena. "You keep out of this, and while you're at it, you might think about poor Vickie Bennett. How d'you think she's coping these days?" "It might help if I knew who this Vickie Bennett is. You keep talking about her, but I've never met the girl."
"Yes, you have. Don't play games with me, Damon-the cemetery, remember?
The ruined church? The girl you left wandering around there in her slip?"
"Sorry, no. And I usually do remember girls I leave wandering in their slips."
"I suppose Stefan did it, then," Elena said sarcastically.
Anger flashed to the surface of Damon's eyes, covered quickly with a disturbing smile.
"Maybe he did. Maybe you did. It's all the same to me, except that I'm getting a little tired of accusations. And now-"
"Wait," said Stefan, with surprising mildness. "Don't go yet. We should talk-" "I'm afraid I have a previous engagement." There was a flurry of wings, and Stefan and Elena were alone.
Elena put a knuckle to her lips. "Damn. I didn't mean to make him angry. After he was really almost civilized all evening."
"Never mind," said Stefan. "He likes to be angry. What were you saying about Matt?"
Elena saw the weariness in Stefan's face and put an arm around him. "We won't talk about it now, but I think tomorrow maybe we should go see him. To tell him..."
Elena lifted her other hand helplessly. She didn't know what she wanted to tell Matt; she only knew that she needed to do something.