shapeshifting.”
“Oh, yes,” Elena said tightly. “I knew that from what happened to
you and Bonnie. They can look exactly like someone.”
“Yes, but always with some small flaw if you have the wits to
notice it. They can never make a perfect replicate. But they can have up
to nine tails, and the more tails they have, the better at everything they
are.”
“Nine? Terrific. We’ve never even seen a nine-tailed one.”
“Well, we may get to yet. They’re supposed to be able to cross
over freely from one world to another. Oh, yes. And they’re specifically
in charge of the ‘Kimon’ Gate between dimensions. Want to guess what
that translates to?”
Elena stared at her. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes.”
“But why would Damon take us all the way across the country, just
to get in through a Demon Gate that’s run by fox spirits?”
“Sa…But when Matt told us you were headed to someplace near
Sedona, that was really what decided Bonnie and me.”
“Great.” Elena ran her hands through her hair and sighed.
“Anything else?” she asked, feeling like a rubber band that had been
stretched to its utmost.
“Only this, which ought to really bake your cookies after all we’ve
been through. Some of them are good. Kitsune, I mean.”
“Some of them are good—good what? Good fighters? Good