Elena’s sake, for his own pride.

For Stefan.

Elena didn’t dwell on these secret things she had no right to know.

She simply embraced them, let Stefan feel them in all their raw

vibrancy, and made sure there was no feedback to tell Damon that Stefan

knew. Angels were singing in heaven for her. Black Magic rose petals

were scattering around her body. There was a release of doves and she

felt their wings. She was happy.

But she was not safe.

She only learned it as she entered the lobby, but they were very

lucky that the Dimensional Door was on the side it was. Bloddeuwedd

had methodically destroyed the other side until it had collapsed into a

mound that was nothing but splintered wood. Elena and Bloddeuwedd’s

feud might have started out as a quarrel between a hostess who thought

her guest had broken the house rules and a guest who just wanted to run

away, but it had become a war to the death. And given the way

vampires, werewolves, demons, and other folk down here in the Dark

Dimension reacted, it had created a sensation. The Guardians had their

hands full keeping people out of the building. Dead bodies lay strewn on

the street.

Oh, God, the people! The poor people! Elena thought, as this at

last came into her field of view. As for the Guardians, who were keeping