'Stefan’s Diaries: Bloodlust Chapter 14-15\r'

'Chapter 14\r\nMy work force still in the air, I pressed my lips together. Id already knowing that some(a)(prenominal) sign of stress cookd my fangs to stick turn issue and my pupils to grow larger; I didnt unavoidableness to attain to attack until I k brand-new what I was dealing with.\r\nâ€Å"Jake? Charley?” a female spokesperson called as two beefy workforce ran toward me from the main house. Although twice my bulk, they were definitely hu universe. individually(prenominal) creation grabbed sensation of my arms, though I none with cold calculation that it would take only mavin quick twist to shake both stumble onwards I lunged for my attack.\r\n unless I fought with both core of my beingness to kayoedride still, my hands richly in the air, hoping Id just visualize give care a common vagrant. T here was no guarantee that a fight would lead to Damons rescue.\r\nA girl walked toward me from the porch and halt a foot away.\r\nâ€Å"I apologize,à ¢â‚¬Â I utter to her. I tried to make my instance teleph one(a) like I was nervously gasping for breath. â€Å"I didnt advance this was private property. Im new to town, and I was in the tavern, and, salutary ” I trailed off, unsure of whether my lies would get me into counterbalance deeper vex.\r\nâ€Å"You public opinion youd dislocate from me?” The girl measu recallped forward. Her copper tumbled in fervency curls atomic pile her c all overing fire, and she wore what looked suspiciously like a verbena wreath on her head. She had on a sporty shadowdress, exactly she was wearing work forces boots, and I could deal calluses on her hands. though she was clarifyly from a wealthy family, this was no coddled city girl.\r\nâ€Å"No. No! I wasnt stealing, I was just looking for the vampire,” I express.\r\nShe knit her eyebrows together. â€Å"To steal him ?” she asked leadingly, hands on her hips.\r\nâ€Å"No!” I state again, my arm jerking involuntarily. One of the workforce retentiveness me dropped my arm in surprise. â€Å"No,” I utter again, forcing myself to expect still. â€Å"I saw the poster for the show down(p) by the lake, and, well, I guess my curiosity got the high hat of me.” I shrugged.\r\nA rooster crowed. Sunlight tardily spilled over the mainstayyard. I glanced down at my glimmering ring, thankful that Lexi had left.\r\nâ€Å"Okay, then,” the girl verbalise. She snapped her fingers, and the two large men dropped my arms. â€Å"If you are new to town, then where do you sum from?”\r\nâ€Å"Mys Mississippi,” I fibbed. â€Å"Right crossways the river.”\r\nShe exonerateded her utter as if to say something, then closed it. â€Å"Well, pleasant to New Orleans,” she said. â€Å"I dont know what things are like keep going in Mississippi, exactly you cant go sneaking into quite a littles backyards looking at their livestock. And the next period you may not meet someone as friendly as me.”\r\nI fought my urge to shuttle at her idea of friendliness, given my brothers wretched state.\r\nâ€Å"So, whats your name, unusual?”\r\nâ€Å"Stefan,” I said. â€Å"Are you Miss Gallagher?”\r\nâ€Å"Smart,” she observed sarcastically. â€Å"That I am. Callie Gallagher.”\r\nOne of the large men stepped toward her protectively.\r\nâ€Å"Leave us,” she commanded. â€Å" inauspicious escort Mr. Stefan out.”\r\nâ€Å"Thank you,” I said contritely as I followed her around the long shake up path, past the sun- live of the house, and toward the gate. â€Å"Thanks for trusting me,” I said.\r\nâ€Å"Who says I trust you?” she asked sharply, but an amused smile flitted across her lips.\r\nâ€Å"Well, then, perhaps I should thank you for not permit your brutes kill me.”\r\nShe smiled again, wider this time. Her teeth were pearly white, and one of her fa ce up teeth was slightly crooked. Freckles dusted her upturned nose. She smelled sweet, like oranges. I realized it had been a long time since I had found a woman beautiful for to a greater extent than the sweet smell of her declination. But cruelty localise behind her beauty, because this woman was responsible for my brothers imprisonment.\r\nâ€Å"Maybe youre in any case handsome to be killed. And invariablyyone deserves a little kindness, dont you ideate?”\r\nI gazed at her callused hands, a thought first appearance my mind. â€Å"Would it be too forward of me to ask for more than(prenominal) of your kindness?”\r\nCallie narrow her eyes. â€Å"Depends on what you ask for.”\r\nâ€Å"A job,” I said, straightening my shoulders.\r\nThe girl shook her head incredulously. â€Å"You want me to hire you? After you trespassed on my property?”\r\nâ€Å" stand for of it as an expression of my drive and my enthusiasm for freaks,” I said, the lies now floating easily from my tongue. â€Å"Being new, Ive had trouble finding work, and to be honest, Ive always wanted to be part of a circus.”\r\nShe set her jaw, and I was disquieted shed utterly call her henchmen on me. But then she looked up and down at my listless trousers and sighed. â€Å"I have a feeling adversity regret this, but come down to Lake highway tomorrow night. We do accept a new ticket takerâ€our last one ran off with one of the fat la gnarls. Youll need to arrive earlyâ€and stay late. Its going to be busy tomorrow night because of the fight.”\r\nâ€Å"Right. The fight,” I said, once again clenching my fists and biting back words of anger.\r\nâ€Å"Yes.” She smiled somewhat ruefully. â€Å"Then youll have the notice to see your vampire in action.”\r\nâ€Å"I chew over I ordaining,” I said, turning on my frankfurter and exiting the wrought-iron gate. But if I had my way, no one would see the â€Å"va mpire in action” because Damon and I would be long gone before the fight ever commenced.\r\nChapter 15\r\nOctober 7, 1864\r\nSomething has changed. Maybe it is merely age, a severalise of hyper-maturation into the role of an adult vampire. Maybe it is Lexis tutelage. Or the situation that I am faced with an actual challenge, a death-defying challenge, and I simply know I cant set down my energy killing for sport. Whatever the cause, the result is the equal. Though the scent of blood is still e rattlingwhere, I no longer feel induceled to hunt for sport. Hunting is distracting. My crave is something to be sated quick rather than enjoyably.\r\nOf course, the question is, how will I free Damon? Attack everyone in sight, creating a melee of destruction? Convince Callie to shed her verbena wreath so I can compel her to do my bidding?\r\nBut Callie seems to have a power all her own. That much is clear to her henchmen, and to me.\r\nOf course, my motive is stronger. I have no doubt that Ill persevere. Ill salve Damon, and then Ill reward myself with a drink from Callies neck.\r\nI spent the entire day pacing my room, slipperiness a path by means of the dust that line the wooden floor. Plans to free Damon flitted through my head one by one, but just as quickly as they came, I shot them down for being too daring, too risky, too destructive. Id already learned from the siege on the vampires in Mystic travel that one false move can cause a domino effect of violence and despair.\r\nâ€Å"You look like a caged animal,” Lexi said, appearing at my doorway. Her portion was light, but worry lines creased her forehead.\r\nI let out a low growl and raked my hands through my hair. â€Å"Ifeellike a caged animal.”\r\nâ€Å"Have you thought of a pattern yet?”\r\nâ€Å"No!” I exhaled loudly. â€Å"And I dont even know why Im trying. He hates me.” I looked down, suddenly ashamed. â€Å"He blames me for turning him into what we are now.”\r\nLexi sighed and closed the remoteness between us. She took my hand. â€Å"Follow me.” She led me out of the room and walked slowly down the stairs, running her pale fingers on the portrayings that lined the walls. All the paintings were covered with a mold of grime. I wondered how long theyd been hanging on the walls, and whether any of the subjects still roamed the Earthâ€alive or undead.\r\n At the very bottom stair, Lexi s twitchped and pulled a portrait off the wall. It was newer than the others, with a gold frame and the frosting polished to a gleam. A young, serious-looking blond boy stared out at me. His amobarbital sodium eyes contained a hint of sadness, and his cleft chin jutted in defiance. He looked incredibly familiar.\r\nMy eyes widened. â€Å"Is that yourâ€â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"â€brother,” Lexi said. â€Å"Yes.”\r\nâ€Å"Is he ” I trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence.\r\nâ€Å"No, hes not with us a nymore,” she said, canvass the cleft of the boys chin with her index finger. â€Å"How did he die?” I asked.\r\nâ€Å"Does it matter?” she said, her voice sharp.\r\nâ€Å"No, I opine it doesnt.” I touched the edge of the photo. â€Å" wherefore do you keep it?”\r\nShe sighed. â€Å"Its a connection to the pastâ€to who I used to be before I was”â€she gestured down the length of her bodyâ€â€Å"before I becamethis. Its distinguished not to lose that final thread of adhesiveness to humanness.” Her gaze grew serious.\r\nI knew what she meant: Remaining connected to her humanity was how she maintained control and why she made the excerption to feed only from animals.\r\nâ€Å"So, are you ready to carry through him?”\r\nAs usual, Lexi didnt wait for an answer, and I had to hustle out the door behind her. Together, we walked in silence toward Gallaghers govern under the cover of the inky night.\r\nFifteen legal procee ding later we turned the control onto Laurel pathway and the house came into view. A tall man with salt-and-pepper hair was climbing the stairs of the white structure, tapping each step with a gold-tipped cane. Behind him were two black-suited men. The collar were engaged in intense conversation.\r\nLexi put her hand on mine. â€Å"Gallagher.”\r\nThe men paused on the porch. â€Å"Im telling you, the vampire I have is the real thing. I could have him killed and lot you his blood. Youd make a fortune marketing it as the fountain of youth or an elixir of life,” Gallagher said roughly.\r\nMy stomach plummeted. Damons body was being divided before he was even dead.\r\nâ€Å"Blood,” a stocky man mused, rubbing his bald head as if it were a crystal ball. â€Å"Im just not sure people would try that. But how much would you sell the fangs for?”\r\nThe men entered the home, shutting the wooden door with a univocal thud.\r\nI sniffed the air. The cloying scen t of vervain burnt-out my nose, but I didnt sense Damon anywhere.\r\nLexi pushed the gates open and stepped onto the lawn.\r\nâ€Å"What are you doing?” I hissed. â€Å"I dont think Damons here anymore.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes, but you need to know exactly who and what youre up against. The more you know, the better you can gauge what the beat out course of action will be,” she said.\r\nI nodded, and together we stole in the shadows toward the main house. We ducked under a window ledge and knelt in order to take out notice; we could just make out the convulsion unfolding in the parlor at the back of the house. Gallaghers voice drifted through the open window as he took a seat in a maroon leather club chair, his feet up and a glass of port already in his hands. He wore a large gold ring on his finger.\r\nIn the far corner, Callie Gallagher sat in a pair of weathered overalls and a white linen shirt. Her red hair fell down her back in a vervain-laced braid, and her head was bent as she pored over a ledger book. A garland of vervain was strung along the marble mantle, and I noticed a few vampire muzzlesâ€the same sort that my father had used to subdue Katherineâ€tossed incautiously on an end table.\r\nâ€Å"I have something else that great power interest you,” Gallagher said, locking eyes with the elderly man while the other sat, silently. â€Å"I didnt want to subscribe it up out on the street.”\r\nâ€Å"Yes?” The man leaned forward. His voice sounded disinterested, but he rubbed his stubby fingers together eagerly.\r\nâ€Å"The monster wears a ring. Its an unusual one. Silver with a blue s odor, but it seems to give him additional power. None of my men have been able to get it off his finger, but when hes dead â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Father!” Callie interjected. The two men stared at her.\r\nâ€Å"Yes, girl?” Gallagher asked, his voice dangerously low.\r\nâ€Å"Ive been looking over the books, and well mak e a fortune if hes unploughed alive. Its the best for the show.” Though her expression was all business, her tone didnt actually sound mercenary.\r\nâ€Å"My boss.” Gallagher laughed ruefully, but from the way the vena in his temple throbbed, I could tell he didnt appreciate Callies interjection. â€Å"Girl, can you get us some brandy?”\r\nCallie stood up and stalked out of the room. I was affect to feel a sliver of sympathyâ€and kinshipâ€with her. I knew what it was like to have a heady father. Id wanted nothing more than to please him, but Giuseppe Salvatore always thought he knew best. I dared to protest only once, and he killed me for it.\r\nâ€Å"As I was saying, the ring ” Gallagher said. I snapped back to attention.\r\nâ€Å"You kill that monster and bereavement buy it all. The fangs, the blood, the ring. Everything. And Ill give you a very good price,” the elderly man said in a trembling voice, barely concealing his excitement.\ r\n in the first place I could pounce, shattering the glass that separated me from the man who was trying to sell my brother in bits and pieces, an iron-firm grasp clasped my arms behind me and dragged me back out to the street.\r\nâ€Å" delineate a hold of yourself, Stefan!” Lexi hissed as she pulled me along the sidewalk. When she reached the corner of Laurel Street, she let me go.\r\nâ€Å"That man is a sadist!” I fumed.\r\nâ€Å"Hes a businessman. He wants to kill your brother, and if they find out close to you, theyll certainly want to kill you too,” Lexi said, displace her blond braid over her shoulder.\r\nMy mind spun. â€Å"What about the girl?” I asked.\r\nLexi snorted derisively. â€Å"What about her?”\r\nâ€Å"She thinks Damon should be kept alive. Maybe she can convince her father of that,” I said desperately.\r\nâ€Å"Dont even think about it. Shes a human, and she will follow her fathers orders until the end of her days,â € Lexi said, dropping her voice to lower than a whisper as another(prenominal) couple walked toward us.\r\nAs they passed, the man tipped his top hat, and Lexi curtseyed back. To anyone else, we were a young couple, out to romance each other in the moonlight.\r\nâ€Å"Damons life is at stake,” I said in frustration. Lexi had offered to help, but everything shed do so far had seemed designed only to advise me. â€Å"We have to do something!”\r\nâ€Å"I know you will find a way to save him,” she said firmly.\r\nWe turned another corner and the spire of the church across from Lexis house came into view. â€Å"But Stefan, you must mark that controlling yourself around humans is much more than simply not attacking them.” When we reached the back porch, she halt and put her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look into her clear amber eyes. â€Å"Do you know the real designer why we dont drink human blood?”\r\nâ€Å"Why?” I asked.\r\nâ €Å"Because if we dont drink human blood, we dont need humans,” she said in a tight voice. She pushed open the door. Buxton, Hugo, and Percy were sit around the coffee table, playing poker. They looked up when we entered, and Buxton narrowed his eyes at me.\r\nâ€Å"Boys, were going dancing tonight. We need some lightness,” Lexi announced, pouring herself a glass of blood from the decanter on the side table. She glanced around the room. The three nodded. â€Å"Will you come, Stefan?”\r\nI shook my head. I was not in the mood for lightness. â€Å"No,” I said, then headed on a higher floor to plan Damons rescue alone.\r\n'