The Salvation: Unseen Page 0,63

can get.”

Jack crouched down to examine the spindly plants more closely. “I never would have considered hunting with a vampire before now,” he ventured. “Doesn’t it bother you? What he is?”

Meredith straightened up. She’d picked all the plants but left the roots, just the way Bonnie had taught her. They’d grow again and she could come back to this patch for more. “Stefan’s more than proven himself to me,” she said flatly. “And he’s not a killer. He doesn’t feed on humans.”

“I know that,” Jack said. “He told me. Doesn’t that make him weaker, though?” His dark eyes were intent.

“I guess, but he’s pretty strong anyway. He’s old, and vampires get stronger with age,” Meredith said, suddenly determined to defend Stefan. She took a few steps farther into the woods, continuing their trek, then stopped and turned back to Jack, feeling a fierce, protective rush of heat inside her. “I trust Stefan. I might be a hunter, but I’m always going to be on his side.”

Jack nodded and started walking again, shoulder to shoulder with her.

They walked in silence for a while after that. The day was getting hot, the sky a deep blue dome high above them. Meredith felt easier now, glad that she and Jack understood each other about Stefan. He wasn’t an enemy of the hunters.

“You look tired, Meredith,” Jack said, breaking the silence. “You doing all right?”

“I … I haven’t been sleeping well lately,” she admitted.

“Anything wrong?”

“I keep having these weird dreams,” Meredith said hesitantly. It wasn’t really in her nature to talk about things like this; she hated seeming weak. But she felt strangely comfortable with Jack: He was a hunter; he was like her. “I dream that I’m in a hospital room, or maybe a lab, and I can’t move.” Shuddering, she realized how lame her words sounded. It was hard to explain how disturbing the dreams were. “I just feel like something terrible is happening,” she said weakly.

Jack nodded, his warm brown eyes sympathetic. “Sounds scary.” His arm brushed Meredith’s reassuringly. “But you know the dreams can’t hurt you, unless you let them. They’re just images your mind has created while you’re asleep. It’s reality we need to worry about.”

“I know.” And to her surprise, Meredith did feel a little better. Just bringing the dreams into the daylight, putting them into words, had made them seem harmless. Jack was right. What was scary about a few dreams when she fought monsters in real life?

Chapter 26

Finally alone, Stefan gentled his Power and sent it questing through the woods. He was aching with hunger, but he hadn’t let himself feed in front of the hunters. They didn’t need him rubbing their faces in the fact that they were allied with their natural enemy.

He kept his Power warm and coaxing, beckoning come to me, come to me. Soon he heard a light step approaching through the undergrowth. A doe stepped delicately into the clearing, her big eyes fixed on Stefan.

“Yes, that’s right,” he murmured. He stretched out a hand, and the doe came to him willingly, nuzzling his fingers with her soft nose. She gazed up into his eyes and gradually grew still, until the only motion in the clearing was the steady rise and fall of her flanks. Stefan lowered his face to her neck, his canines lengthening, and drank.

Long before he was satisfied, Stefan pulled away. Taking any more would leave the deer weak, and he didn’t want her vulnerable to other predators because of him. “Go on,” he said, slapping her lightly on the side. Shocked out of her trance, the deer started violently and leaped away, crashing through the undergrowth as she went.

Just as Stefan raised his hand to wipe the blood from his lips, his phone rang.

He fished it out of his pocket, still feeling warm from feeding, and looked at the display. Damon.

He let it ring again, thinking of not answering, but stopped himself. Katherine was dead, and whether or not that was Stefan’s fault, he owed it to Damon to talk to him. Stefan had tried several times to reach Damon right after Elena had confirmed what he guessed about Katherine’s death, but this was the first time his brother was returning his calls.

“Stefan.” Damon’s voice sounded crisply determined, as if their last conversation had never happened. “I’ve been following up some leads on those vampires I keep meeting up with, and I wanted—”

“Damon,” Stefan broke in. “Are you all right?” He tried to put weight behind his words,