personal, so I just waited." He ducked his head sheepishly again. "And instead I ended up assaulting you and scaring you to death, which sure wasn't the better way to go. I'm real y sorry, Elena."
Elena's heartbeat was returning to normal. Whatever Caleb's intentions, he obviously wasn't going to attack her again now. "It's al right," she said. "I hit my head on an underwater rock. I'm fine now, though. It must have looked pretty weird to see me just sitting here and muttering. Sometimes I come here to talk to my parents, that's al . This is where they're buried."
"It's not weird," he said quietly. "I find myself talking to my parents sometimes, too. When something happens and I wish they were with me, I start tel ing them about it and it makes me feel like they're there." He swal owed hard. "It's been a few years, but you never stop missing them, do you?"
The last bits of anger and fear drained out of Elena when she saw the sadness in Caleb's face. "Oh, Caleb," she said, reaching out to touch his arm.
She caught a sudden motion out of the corner of her eye and then, seemingly out of nowhere, Stefan appeared, running incredibly fast, straight toward them.
"Caleb," he growled, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him to the ground. Caleb let out a grunt of surprise and pain.
"Stefan, no!" shouted Elena.
Stefan spun to look at her. His eyes were hard and his fangs were ful y extended. "He's not what he says he is, Elena," he said in an eerily calm voice. "He's dangerous."
Caleb slowly pul ed himself to his feet, using a gravestone as a support. He was staring at Stefan's fangs.
"What's going on?" he asked. "What are you?"
Stefan turned toward him and, almost casual y, slapped him back down.
"Stefan, stop it!" Elena yel ed, unable to contain the note of hysteria in her voice. She reached out for his arm, but missed. "You're going to hurt him!"
"He wants you, Elena," Stefan growled. "Do you understand that? You can't trust him."
"Stefan," Elena pleaded. "Listen to me. He wasn't doing anything wrong. You know that. He's a human." She could feel hot tears gathering in her eyes and she blinked them away. Now was not the time to weep and wail. Now was the time to be cool and rational and to keep Stefan from losing control.
Caleb staggered to his feet, grimacing with pain, and this time charged clumsily at Stefan, his face flushed. He got one arm around Stefan's neck and yanked him to the side, but then Stefan, with an easy strength, tossed Caleb to the ground once more.
Stefan loomed over him threateningly as he stared up at him from the grass. "You can't fight me," Stefan growled.
"I'm stronger than you. I can drive you out of this town, or kil you just as easily. And I wil do either if you make me think it's necessary. I won't hesitate."
Elena grabbed Stefan's arm. "Stop it! Stop it!" she shouted. She pul ed him toward her, trying to turn him so she could look into his eyes, so she could get through to him.
Breathe, she thought desperately. She had to calm things down here, and she tried to steady her voice, to sound logical. "Stefan, I don't know what you think is going on with Caleb, but just stop for a minute and think."
"Elena, look at me," Stefan said. His eyes were dark with emotion. "I know, I'm absolutely sure, that Caleb is evil. He's dangerous to us. We have to get rid of him before he gets a chance to destroy us. We can't give him the opportunity to get the better of us by waiting for him to make his move."
"Stefan..." Elena said. Her voice was shaking, and an oddly rational, detached part of her noted that this must be what it felt like when the person you loved most lost his mind.
She didn't know what she was going to say next, but before she could even open her mouth, Caleb had risen again. There was a long scratch down the side of his face, and his blond hair was tangled and ful of dirt.
"Back off," Caleb said grimly, coming toward Stefan. He was limping a little bit, and clutched a fist-size rock in his right hand. "You can't just..." He raised the rock threateningly.
"Stop it, both of you," Elena yel ed, trying for a fierce general's voice that would command their attention.