“I’m Elena.”

“Yoroshiku. I am—”

The door shut between them.

“Is it that you have gone crazy?” Sage cried. “Taking a bouquet

from a fox!”

“You’re the one who seems to know him, Monsieur Sage,”

Meredith said. “What’s his name?”

“I do not know his name! I do know he stole three-fifths of the

Seine Cloister Treasure from me! I know that he is expert, but expert at

cheating at the cards! Ahh!”

The last was not a cry of rage but an exclamation of alarm, for the

little room was moving sideways, plunging downward, almost stopping,

before it resumed its former steady motion.

“Will it really take us to Fell’s Church?” Bonnie asked timidly, and

Damon put an arm around her.

“It’ll take us somewhere,” he promised. “And then we’ll see.

We’re a pretty able set of survivalists.”

“Which reminds me,” Meredith said. “I think Stefan looks better.”

Elena, who had been helping to buffer him from the dimensional

elevator’s motion, glanced up at her quickly.

“Do you really? Or is it just the light? I think he should be

feeding,” she said anxiously.

Stefan flushed, and Elena pressed fingers to her lips to stop them

trembling. Don’t, darling, she said voicelessly. Every one of these

people have been willing to give their life for you—or for me—for us.