"Hello, pretty one," Klaus said, his voice soft and intimate. "I think the time has come, don't you? I'm ready to taste you."
The dagger's blade flashed in the setting sunlight as he raised it to her neck. Elena, with the sharp focus of terror, saw its hilt gleaming with runes and patterns. From below the blade, a curious wry-faced beast, something like a lizard, grinned at her cruelly. And then she couldn't see the dagger anymore, because Klaus had pressed it to her throat.
Stefan, Elena thought. She could see him across the clearing, his face frozen in despair. Even though she was becoming a Guardian, she'd always thought things would work out so that she could be that normal, happy girl with him. His heart would break without her, she realized, and she had just a moment of pure sorrow for him and for what they could have had together.
She felt the freezing cold blade cross her throat, and then the heat of flowing blood. Klaus leaned closer, his breath cool and rank, then suddenly pulled back. The blood had stopped, Elena realized. And she couldn't feel the pain anymore. She was healing almost as fast as Klaus could cut her.
Klaus's blade couldn't kill her. Was this because she was a Guardian? she wondered dazedly.
Klaus growled in fury and slashed at her neck again. Elena felt a shock of pain, but again, the wound seemed to heal. The others were seeing what was going on now, although Klaus's Power must have been holding them at bay. Elena met Stefan's horrified eyes as Klaus shoved her away from him.
"Your magician and witch have found a way to protect you, have they?" Klaus sneered. He glowered at Bonnie and Alaric, who both took an automatic step backward, their faces white with fear, and then he turned back to Elena. "Don't worry, pretty one, it won't stop me from having you." His voice dropped to an insinuating whisper and he reached out with one finger to trace the line of Elena's upper lip. He smiled, but his eyes were furious. "I'll figure out a way around whatever they've done, believe me."
He raised his voice again, looking slowly around the clearing. "We like it here, my children and I," he announced. "All the fresh, young blood - it's a continual feast." A ragged cheer came from some of the vampires. He smiled again, his sharp, white canines gleaming in the last rays of the setting sun, and his hand tightened around Elena's jaw, dragging her forward. "In the end," he said, his voice low and intimate, "not one of your friends will survive us."
Klaus turned away, striding across the clearing. As he passed the Pack, frozen still and silent by his Power, he grabbed up the closest wolf in one smooth, quick move - Chad, Elena realized, recognizing his wiry frame and the white blaze at his throat - and threw him easily into a tree. Elena heard Chad's bones crack and then the wolf collapsed limply at the bottom of the tree, motionless.
Klaus grinned and lightning cracked across the sky. "He's only the first. I'll see you all soon." He sauntered slowly and carelessly into the woods. His vampires melted into the night after him. As Klaus's army vanished, Elena felt his Power release her at last, and she slumped to her knees. The Pack, the first to spring back into motion, raced to Chad's side.
Gazing across the clearing, Elena saw Stefan. He was pale and still, and as their eyes met, Elena saw a mirror of her own fear.
Chapter 21
Elena, oh Elena," Stefan said, stroking her hair, feeling the urge to pull her to him and never, never let her leave his side again. "I was so afraid that I'd lost you. That I'd failed you."
As soon as Klaus had left the clearing, releasing the compelled stillness he'd held them all under, Stefan had raced to Elena, taking her in his arms. They were still on the battlefield, everyone nursing their wounds all around them, but he couldn't let go of her even for a moment.
"I'm okay," Elena said, grasping his hand and holding it against her cheek, letting him feel how warm and alive she was. She sounded bewildered. "How can I be okay, though? Klaus cut my throat."
"Do you know, Andres?" Stefan said, turning to the Guardian beside them. Behind him hovered Meredith, Alaric, and Bonnie. Bonnie was watching the werewolves across the clearing as they gathered around Chad's body, but she lingered with the other humans, giving them some space. A few steps away, Matt and Chloe stood half in the clearing, half below the trees, murmuring quietly to each other.
"I don't know for certain what protected her," Andres said slowly.
"You must have a pretty good idea," Stefan said sharply. "Tell us." He knew he should treat Andres more gently; he was, after all, the only one who could help Elena through her transition to Guardianship. But Stefan was still terrified, feeling sick and hollowed out from the moment when he had seen Klaus draw his dagger across Elena's throat. And he was sure that Andres knew more than he had told them.
"I have heard that, sometimes, Guardians who have very dangerous assignments are given special protections as well," Andres said. The full moon lit up the clearing and he looked pale and worn in its light. "Most commonly, they are safeguarded against death by paranormal means. The Power - the Guardian Powers - can't make them immortal, because they have to stay in tune with nature. Elena could be run over by a car or die of disease, but, if this is what's happened, she can't be killed by a vampire's bite or a spell, or" - he waved a hand in the direction that Klaus and his family had retreated - "by a magical dagger."
"If Klaus and his vampires can't kill her," Meredith said, starting to grin a wild, delighted grin, "then we have a weapon. Elena's safe."
Andres frowned. "Wait," he said. "They can't kill her by supernatural means. If Klaus figures that out, he could kill her with a rope or a kitchen knife." Stefan flinched, and Andres looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know. It's hard to love someone as fragile as a human."