Strange girl, he thought. But I'l leave her the stave, since it real y belongs to her family, and, anyway, it's going to get me kil ed the instant I land in the Dark Dimension. A slave carrying a weapon - especial y a weapon like that - won't have a chance.
Judiciously, he poured out almost al of the liquid left into the final corner and stepped back to see what would happen.
SSSS-bah! White! Blazing white light. That was al his eyes or his mind could take in at first.
And then, with a rush of triumph he thought: I've done it! The Gateway is open!
"The center of the upper Dark Dimension, please,"he said politely to the blazing hole. "A secluded al ey would probably be the best, if you don't mind."And then he jumped into the hole.
Except that he didn't. Just as he was starting to bend his knees, something hit him from the right. "Meredith! I thought - "
But it wasn't Meredith. It was Bonnie.
"You tricked me! You can't go in there!"She was sobbing and screaming.
"Yes, I can! Now let go of me - before it disappears!"He tried to pry her off, while his mind whirled uselessly. He'd left this girl - what? - an hour or so ago, so deeply asleep that she had looked dead. Just how much could that little body take?
"No! They'l kil you! And Elena wil kil me! But I'l get kil ed first because I'l stil be here!"
Awake, and actual y capable of putting together puzzles.
"Human, I told you to let go,"he snarled. He bared his teeth at her, which only caused her to bury her head in his jacket and cling on koala-bear style, wrapping both her legs around one of his.
A couple of real y hard slaps should dislodge her, he thought.
He lifted his hand.
Chapter 9
Damon dropped his hand. He simply couldn't make himself do it. Bonnie was weak, light-headed, a liability in combat, easy to confuse -
That's it, he thought. I'l use that! She's so naive -
"Let go for a second,"he coaxed. "So I can get the stave - "
"No! You'l jump if I do! What's a stave?"Bonnie said, al in one breath.
- and stubborn, and impractical -
Was the bril iant light beginning to flicker?
"Bonnie,"he said in a low voice, "I am deadly serious here. If you don't let go, I'l make you - and you won't like that, I promise."
"Do what he says,"Meredith pleaded from somewhere quite close. "Bonnie, he's going into the Dark Dimension! But you're going to end up going with him - and you'l both be human slaves this time! Take my hand!"
"Take her hand!"Damon roared, as the light definitely flickered, for an instant becoming less blinding. He could feel Bonnie shifting and trying to see where Meredith was, and then he heard her say, "I can't - "
And then they were fal ing.
The last time they had traveled through a Gate they had been total y enclosed in an elevator-like box. This time they were simply flying. There was the light, and there were the two of them, and they were so blinded that somehow speaking didn't seem possible. There was only the bril iant, fluctuating, beautiful light -
And then they were standing in an al ey, so narrow that it just barely al owed the two of them to face each other, and between buildings so high that there was almost no light down where they were.
No - that wasn't the reason, Damon thought. He remembered that blood-red perpetual light. It wasn't coming directly from either side of the narrow slit of al ey, which meant that they were basical y in deep burgundy twilight.
"Do you realize where we are?"Damon demanded in a furious whisper.
Bonnie nodded, seeming happy about having figured that out already. "We're basical y in deep burgundy - "
"Crap!"
Bonnie looked around. "I don't smel anything,"she offered cautiously, and examined the soles of her feet.
"We are,"Damon said slowly and quietly, as if he needed to calm himself between every word, "in a world where we can be flogged, flayed, and decapitated just for stepping on the ground."
Bonnie tried a little hop and then a jump in place, as if diminishing her ground-interaction time might help them in some manner. She looked at him for further instructions.
Quite suddenly, Damon picked her up and stared at her hard, as revelation dawned. "You're drunk!"he final y whispered. "You're not even awake! Al this