The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unseen (18 page)

Horrified, Damon flew across the room quickly enough to catch her before she hit the floor. Cradling Katherine carefully in the crook of one arm, he snapped the other vampire’s neck again before it could stake him, too. The strange vampire hit the floor with a thud as Damon turned his full attention to Katherine.

“No, darling, stay with me,” he begged, the shock hitting him. He pulled the stake from her chest, but he could tell already that it was too late. Her beautiful blue eyes were glazing over as he watched. Time seemed to stretch out as Damon thought of the long roads they’d traveled together, him and Katherine. From his days as a human, when he’d loved her with all his heart, to now, when they had become companions, even friends. Sharp, spiteful, sometimes charming, never boring. His Katherine.

“Damon,” she breathed, just a whisper of sound. His chest tight with sorrow, Damon watched as the life in Katherine’s eyes faded, and she went heavy and still in his arms.

He held her close for a moment, then slowly lowered her to the ground, stroking her cheek in silent apology. His eyes felt hot. He’d loved Katherine, and then he’d hated her. He’d died and killed for her, and he’d watched her die once before. Lately, she’d been his friend. His mind kept coming back to that. He didn’t have many friends. He never had. “I’m sorry, Katherine,” he whispered to her.

He kneeled, gazing down at her body, which looked painfully small and still on the floor of the church. She’d always loomed so large to him, his maker, his first love. “They’ll pay for this,” he swore solemnly. “I’ll find a way to kill them. I promise.”

One of the vampires on the floor stirred, and Damon slammed the stake in his hand through its chest. It wouldn’t kill the vampire, Damon knew that, but it would keep him down a few minutes longer. They were recovering faster than they had the first few times he and Katherine had fought them. Wasn’t
that
a wonderful thing to realize, he thought bitterly, now that he was alone.

Alone. Damon thought briefly of his brother, and anger whipped through him. Damon had asked Stefan to come. If he had been there, they wouldn’t have been quite so outnumbered, and maybe Katherine wouldn’t have died.

It was time to go. Damon got to his feet and scooped Katherine up in his arms, cupping her head carefully with one hand to hold it against his shoulder, her hair soft under his fingers. She was as light as she’d been the first day he’d met her, when he had lifted her down from her father’s carriage. She’d looked shyly at him through dark lashes, and his human heart had sped up, filled with emotions he’d barely understood. They’d been such children then.

He was going to take these strange, almost unkillable vampires down, no matter what. As Damon pushed his way through the front double doors, his footsteps echoing in the vast empty space of the church, he felt for the business card in his pocket. Lifetime Solutions. It was as good a place as any to start.

#TVD11FarewellKatherine

On the apartment’s balcony, Stefan closed his eyes for a moment. It was almost morning, and he was tired. Solomon was dead now, and Elena was safe. He wondered how long it would take for that to really hit him, for the gaping pit of anxiety he’d been carrying inside to heal.

A cool dawn breeze brushed his cheek, and just for a moment, it felt almost like a hand. It carried a fresh scent with it, the smell of damask roses. Stefan frowned.

Back at the beginning, when he’d been alive, Katherine had smelled like that. She used to bathe in rose water. It had been a long time since he’d smelled that scent—it wasn’t the kind of perfume modern women wore.

Good-bye, Stefan.
He didn’t know if he really heard the words, but suddenly they were there in his mind. Katherine’s voice. In a flash he knew what had happened, and his chest tightened with sorrow. Katherine was dead. She’d been his enemy those last times he’d seen her, but once upon a time he’d loved her.

He pushed the thought away.
I’m just tired and morbid
, he told himself, but something in him felt that it was true. He needed to call Damon to make sure he was okay.

Entering the living room from the balcony, Stefan almost ran into Jasmine, who flinched backward. “Sorry, oh, I’m sorry,” she said, breathlessly.

Stefan stepped deliberately away from her, his hands held up in what he hoped was a nonthreatening gesture. “No, excuse me,” he said. Earlier, Matt had made Stefan show Jasmine his fangs and his speed to convince her that he was a vampire, and she’d coped with it all surprisingly well. Matt followed Jasmine in from the bedroom and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Elena, Jack, and Meredith, who had been talking quietly on the sofa, jumped to their feet at Jasmine’s arrival.

“How is she?” Elena asked.

Jasmine smiled wearily. “Trinity’s stable,” she said. “I set her up with some saline to keep her from getting dehydrated, and the tranexamic acid helped with the bleeding. I’m going to leave some antibiotics with you that she should take twice a day for the next week and a half, but I think she’ll be fine.” Her eyes flittered hesitantly back to Stefan. “The—what you gave her, the blood, really helped her heal. I don’t think she would be alive without it.”

Jack clapped Stefan on the shoulder, and Elena threw her arms around Jasmine. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.” Matt grinned and hugged Jasmine, too, and then Meredith piled on, all four of them laughing now, loose with relief.

Stefan smiled, keeping his distance, but a great wave of gratitude washed over him. If Trinity lived, if she recovered, then they would have come through this amazingly unscathed.

After a little more talk, all of them promising to help with Trinity’s care, make sure she stayed in bed and took all her medications, Matt and Jasmine headed for the door. “Jasmine’s working the emergency room again tomorrow,” Matt said. “She’d better catch all the sleep she can. Meredith, do you want a ride?”

Meredith nodded. “Just let me grab my stuff,” she said. “It’s in the bedroom.” She put a finger to her lips. “I won’t wake her, I promise. Hunters can be as quiet as cats.”

Jasmine rested her head on Matt’s shoulder as they waited. Jack headed for the kitchen. “I’m going to tell the others,” he threw back over his shoulder.

Alone for a moment, Stefan took the opportunity to pull Elena aside, to tell her about the strange moment out on the balcony. “When I was outside—” he began.

But before he could continue, feet pounded down the hall and Meredith burst back into the living room, her olive skin unnaturally pale. “Trinity’s gone!”

“W
e’ll find her. We will find her,” Matt said, pushing his foot down on the accelerator. He wasn’t sure whom he was trying to convince, Jasmine or himself, but even he could hear the uncertainty in his voice. How could anyone have gotten to Trinity? She’d only been unattended for a couple of minutes at most. There’d been no sign of violence in the room, just the covers pushed back, the saline drip making a wet patch on the empty bed.

“I can’t understand how she could have walked away.” Jasmine shivered. “She was so sick. She just kept staring at me with those yellow eyes while I gave her the injections. I doubt she even saw me.”

“I don’t think she left on her own,” Matt said tightly. The sun was just coming over the horizon, dazzling him, and he squinted hard at the road ahead. Then the other part of what Jasmine had said registered, and his hands jerked on the wheel.

“Careful!” Jasmine yelped, and Matt swerved back into his own lane, his heart pounding.

“What do you mean, yellow eyes?” he asked. “Trinity has blue eyes; I’m sure of it.”

Shaking her head, Jasmine wrapped her arms around herself. “This is all too weird,” she muttered, and fell into silence for the rest of the ride home.

When they got to Jasmine’s building, Matt parked and walked Jasmine to her door. She turned to him, her key in her hand, and his heart sank. There was something unfamiliar in her face: a look of fear and doubt.
I did this. I wanted to keep all this from her so she’d never have to look like that.

“Trinity will be all right,” he said, babbling, desperate to take that look away. “We’ll find her tomorrow; everything will be fine. She can’t have gone far. And, you know, she’ll be all right because
you
saved her. I can’t—I’m so grateful to you, I can’t tell you how much—”

But Jasmine was shaking her head back and forth in denial, a strong
no no no.
“Matt—” she said.

“I love you,” Matt said quickly, talking over her. “It’s not always like this, I promise. And we can teach you to protect yourself.” Matt reached out a hand, trying to reassure her, but her arms were crossed over her chest.

That was the wrong thing to say; he knew it as he said it. Jasmine’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

Matt’s vision blurred. “I love you,” he said again, hearing the flat note of despair in his voice. He always lost everything. Everyone.

Jasmine’s eyes were shining with tears. She uncrossed her arms and reached out to take Matt’s hand. “I love you, too, Matt,” she said, steadily. “But this is too dangerous, for both of us.” She frowned. “Maybe I can finish my residency somewhere else. We could start fresh.”

Matt stepped back. “I can’t just
leave
,” he said. “These are my friends. We have to find Trinity and figure out—” He broke off. Jasmine’s face was miserable with longing, but her mouth was a firm line.

“I know,” she said, her fingers tightening on his as if she couldn’t bear to let him pull away. “You’re so loyal. I love that about you.”

“So … is this the end?” he asked her, dreading what she would say next. He felt like he was drying up inside, withering.

“I think it has to be,” Jasmine whispered. Tears were running down her cheeks, and she let go of his hand again to swipe at them, sniffing.

Part of Matt wasn’t surprised. All this time, he’d known that it would come down to this—his friends, or Jasmine. He couldn’t have both. Love didn’t work out for him. He ducked his head down, stared at his grimy sneakers. “I don’t want to lose you,” he said softly, “but I can’t change who I am.”

There was a choked-off sob from Jasmine, and then her lips brushed lightly over his cheek. He didn’t look up, just kept his eyes fixed on the tattered shoelaces on his right shoe, the rip in the side. Then she was gone, the door of her building slamming behind her.

Matt touched the spot where Jasmine had kissed him, holding onto this, the last kiss she would give him. The sun had risen over the horizon now, and everything seemed hard and cold and bright.

He turned and walked back to the car alone, the wind whipping against his cheeks where he could still feel Jasmine’s kiss.

T
he motel room Trinity had been sharing with Darlene didn’t seem to hold any immediate clues. It was small and sort of grimy: There was barely enough room for all of them to fit inside. Jack and Darlene were rifling through Trinity’s possessions while Stefan and Elena searched the furniture for anything hidden. Zander and Shay were mostly hanging around the kitchenette, doubtlessly searching for scent clues, and Meredith herself was examining Trinity’s weapon collection.