each one lifted him to a higher level of fury than the last. And here, at
the top…
“I’ll KILL YOU!” Stefan shouted. “You took it—my humanity!
He gave it to me— and you took it!”
“You’ll kill me? I’ll kill you, you—you bastard! There was one
flower in the middle. A black rose, bigger than I have ever seen. And it
smelled…heavenly…”
“It’s gone!” Matt reported, producing the bouquet. He displayed it.
There was a gaping hole in the center of the mixed flower arrangement.
Despite the hole, Stefan ran to it, and stuck his face into the
bouquet, sucking in great heaving breaths of air. He kept coming up and
snapping his fingers and each time lightning flared between his
fingertips.
“Sorry, bud,” Matt said. “I think it’s gone.”
Elena could see it all now. That kitsune…he was one of the good
ones, like the stories Meredith had told them about. Or at least good
enough to sympathize with Stefan’s plight. And so, when he had gotten
free, he had made up a bouquet—kitsune could do anything with plants,
although surely this was a great feat, something like finding the secret of
eternal youth…to turn vampires into humans. And after Stefan had
endured and endured and endured and should have finally gotten his
reward…right