Not a key?
Not a key!
The world was spinning wildly around Elena. Nothing mattered; not the object; not her own life. The kitsune twins had tricked them, had made fools of the idiot humans and the vampire who had dared to face up to them. There was no double fox key.
Still, hope refused to die. What was it Stefan used to say? Mai dire mai - never say never. Knowing what a chance she was taking, knowing she was a fool for taking it, Elena thrust her finger again into the pouch.
Something cool slipped onto one finger and stayed there.
She glanced down and for a moment was arrested by the sight. There, on her ring finger, gleamed a gold, diamond-encrusted ring. It represented two abstract foxes curled together, one facing each way. Each fox had two ears, two green alexandrite eyes, and a pointed nose.
And that was all. Of what use was a trinket like this to Stefan? It bore no resemblance to the double-winged keys shown in the pictures of kitsune shrines.
As treasure, it was surely worth a million times less than what they had already spent to get it.
And then Elena noticed something.
A light shone from the eyes of one of the foxes. If she hadn't been staring at it so closely, or if she hadn't been by now in the White Waltz Ballroom, where colors showed true, she might not have noticed it. But the light was shining straight ahead of her as she turned her hand sideways. Now it was shining from four eyes.
It was shining in exactly the direction of Stefan's prison cell.
Hope rose up like a phoenix in Elena's heart, and took her soaring on a mental journey out of this labyrinth of glass rooms. The music playing was the waltz from Faust. Away from the sun, deep into the heart of the city, that was where Stefan was. And that was where the pale green light from the fox's eyes was shining.
Riding high on hope, she turned the ring. The light winked out of both fox's eyes, but when she turned the ring so that the second fox was in line with Stefan's cell, it winked on.
Secret signals. How long could she have owned a ring like that and done nothing if she hadn't already known where Stefan's prison was?
Longer than Stefan had left to live, probably.
Now she only had to survive long enough to reach him.
Chapter 39
Elena waded into the crowd feeling like a soldier. She didn't know why. Maybe because she had thought of a quest and had managed to complete it and stay alive and bring back loot. Maybe because she bore honorable wounds. Maybe because above her there was an enemy who was still out for her blood.
Come to think of it, she thought, I'd better get all these noncombatants out of here. We can keep them in a safe house - well, a few dozen safe houses and -
What was she thinking? Safe house was a phrase from a book. She wasn't responsible for these people - idiots, mostly, who had stood, slavering, and watched her being whipped. But - despite that, maybe she should get them out of here.
"Bloddeuwedd!" she cried dramatically and pointed to a wheeling silhouette above. "Bloddeuwedd is free! She gave me these!" - pointing to the three lacerations on her back. "She'll go after you, too!"
At first most of the angry exclamation seemed to be about the fact that Elena now had a marked back. Elena was in no mood to argue. There was only one person here she wanted to talk to now. Keeping Bonnie and Meredith close behind her, she called.
Damon! Damon it's me! Where are you?
There was so much telepathic traffic that she doubted he would hear her.
But finally, she caught a faint, Elena?...Yes...
Elena, hold on to me. Think of holding me physically, and I'll take us to a different frequency.
Hold on to a voice? But Elena imagined holding on to Damon tightly, tightly, while she physically held Bonnie's and Meredith's hands.
Now can you hear me? This time the voice was much clearer, much louder.
Yes. But I can't see you.
But I see you. I'm coming to - WATCH OUT!
Too late, Elena's senses warned her of a huge shadow plummeting from above. She couldn't move quickly enough to get out of the way of a snapping, alligator-sized beak.
But Damon could. Leaping from somewhere, he gathered her and Bonnie and Meredith all in one great armful and leaped again, hitting grass and rolling.
Oh, God! Damon!
"Is anybody hurt?" he asked aloud.
"I'm fine," Meredith said quietly, calmly. "But I suspect I owe you my life. Thank you."
"Bonnie?" Elena asked.
I'm okay. I mean, "I'm okay. But Elena, your back - "
For the first time, Damon was able to turn Elena and see the wounds on her back. "I...did that? But...I thought..."
"Bloddeuwedd did that," Elena said sharply, looking upward for a circling shape in the deep red sky. "She just barely touched me. She has talons like knives, like steel. We have to go, now!"
Damon put both hands on her shoulders. "And come back when things have calmed down, you mean."
"And never come back! Oh, God, here she comes!"
Something out of the corner of her eye became baseball-sized in an instant, volleyball-sized in a second, human-sized in a moment. And then they were all scattering, leaping, rolling, trying to get away, except Damon, who seized Elena and shouted, "This is my slave! If you have any argument with her, you first argue with me!"
"And I am Bloddeuwedd, created by the gods, condemned to be a murderer every night. I'll kill you first, then eat her, the thief!" Bloddeuwedd called back in her raucous new voice. "Two bites is all it will take."
Damon, I need to tell you something!
"I'll fight you, but my slave is out of it!"
"First bite; here I come!"
Damon, we have to go!
A scream of primal pain and fury.