This was the first time in months she'd seen Matt really care about anything. The light was back in those blue eyes-that cold flash of righteous anger that used to make even Tyler Smallwood back down. Matt was alive right now, and full of energy. He was himself again.
Bonnie bit her lip. For a moment she struggled with her pride. Then she conquered it and lowered her eyes.
"Thanks for rescuing me," she murmured, and left the yard.
Matt was so angry he didn't dare move closer to Damon for fear he might take a swing at him. And the chilling darkness in Damon's eyes told him that wouldn't be a very good idea.
But Damon's voice was smooth, almost dispassionate. "My taste for blood isn't just a whim, you know. It's a necessity you're interfering with here. I'm only doing
what I have to."
Contemptuously he said, "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size, then?"
Damon smiled and the air went colder. "Like you?"
Matt just stared at him. He could feel muscles clench in his jaw. After a moment he said tightly, "You can try."
"I can do more than try, Matt." Damon took a single step toward him like a stalking panther. Involuntarily, Matt thought of jungle cats, of their powerful spring and their sharp, tearing teeth. He thought of what Tyler had looked like in the Quonset hut last year when Stefan was through with him. Red meat. Just red meat and blood.
"What was that history teacher's name?" Damon was saying silkily. He seemed amused now, enjoying this. "Mr. Tanner, wasn't it? I did more than try with him."
"You're a murderer."
Damon nodded, unoffended, as if he'd just been introduced. "Of course, he stuck a knife in me. I wasn't planning to drain him quite dry, but he annoyed me and I changed my mind. You're annoying me now, Matt."
Matt had his knees locked to keep from running. It was more than the catlike stalking grace, it was more than those unearthly black eyes fastened on his. There was something inside Damon that whispered terror to the human brain. Some menace that spoke directly to Matt's blood, telling him to do anything to get away.
But he wouldn't run. His conversation with Stefan was blurred in his mind right now, but he knew one thing from it. Even if he died here, he wouldn't run.
"Don't be stupid," Damon said, as if he'd heard every word of Matt's thoughts. "You've never had blood taken from you by force, have you? It hurts, Matt. It hurts a lot."
Elena, Matt remembered. That first time when she'd taken his blood he'd been scared, and the fear had been bad enough. But he'd been doing it of his own volition then. What would it be like when he was unwilling?
I will not run. I will not look away.
Aloud he said, still looking straight at Damon, "If you're going to kill me, you'd better stop talking and do it. Because maybe you can make me die, but that's all you can make me do."
"You're even stupider than my brother," Damon said. With two steps he crossed the distance to Matt. He grabbed Matt by his T-shirt, one hand on either side of the throat. "I guess I'll have to teach you the same way."
Everything was frozen. Matt could smell his own fear, but he wouldn't move. He couldn't move now.
Damon's teeth were a white glitter in the dark. Sharp as carving knives. Matt could almost feel the razor bite of them before they touched him.
I will not surrender anything, he thought, and closed his eyes.
The shove took him completely off balance. He stumbled and fell backward, his eyes flying open. Damon had let go and pushed him away.
Expressionless, those black eyes looked down at him where he sat in the dirt. "I'll try to put this in a way you can understand," Damon said. "You don't want to
mess with me, Matt. I am more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. Now get out of here. It's my watch."
Silently, Matt got up. He rubbed at his shirt where Damon's hands had crumpled it. And then he left, but he didn't run and he didn't flinch from Damon's eyes.
I won, he thought. I'm still alive, so I won.
And there had been a kind of grim respect in those black eyes in the end. It made Matt wonder about some things. It really did.
Bonnie and Meredith were sitting in the car when he got back. They both looked concerned.
"You were gone a long time," Bonnie said. "Are you okay?"
Matt wished people would stop asking him that. "I'm fine," he said, and then added, "Really." After a moment's thought he decided there was something else he should say. "Sorry if I yelled at you back there, Bonnie."
"That's all right," Bonnie said coolly. Then, thawing, she said, "You really do look better, you know. More like your old self."
"Yeah?" He rubbed at his crumpled T-shirt again, looking around. "Well, tangling with vampires is obviously a great warm-up exercise."
"What'd you guys do? Lower your heads and run at each other from opposite sides of the yard?" asked Meredith.
"Something like that. He says he's going to watch Vickie now."
"Do you think we can trust him?" Meredith said soberly.
Matt considered. "As a matter of fact, I do. It's weird, but I don't think he's going to hurt her. And if the killer comes along, I think he's in for a surprise. Damon's spoiling for a fight. We might as well go back to the library for Stefan."
Stefan wasn't visible outside the library, but when the car had cruised up and down the street once or twice he materialized out of the darkness. He had a thick book with him.
"Breaking and entering and grand theft, library book," Meredith remarked. "I wonder what you get for that these days?"
"You mean you found it? You figured it out? Then you can tell us everything, like you promised," Bonnie said. "Let's go to the boarding house."