would think her too presumptuous—or too attached.
But one look at Stefan was enough to assure her that she was doing
the right thing.
They clung to each other.
It wasn’t as hard as Elena had imagined it would be—handing
Stefan over to other humans to be bled. Stefan had a clean pair of
pajamas on, and the first thing he said to all three donors was, “If you
get frightened or change your mind, just say so. I can hear perfectly
well, and I’m not in bloodlust. And anyway, I’ll probably sense it if
you’re not enjoying it before you do, and I’ll stop. And finally—thank
you—thank you all. I’ve decided to break my oath tonight because
there’s still some little chance that if I slept I wouldn’t wake up
tomorrow without you.”
Bonnie was horrified and indignant and furious. “You mean you
couldn’t sleep all that time because you were afraid to—to…?”
“I did fall asleep from time to time, but thank fortune—thank
God—I always woke up again. There were times when I didn’t dare
move to conserve energy, but somehow Elena kept finding ways to
come to me, and every single time she came, she brought me some kind
of sustenance.” He gave Elena a look that sent her heart spinning out of
her chest and high into the stratosphere.
And then she set up a schedule, with Stefan being fed every hour