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  “Oh, Stefan,” Elena said, “I’m so glad that you’re safe.” She reached out and wrapped her arms around him and, just like when she took his hand, he tensed for a moment before hugging her back.

  “I’m glad that both of you are safe,” she amended, and looked at Damon. His black eyes met hers cool y, and she knew that, without their having to discuss it, he understood that things weren’t going to go on the way they had been.

  She loved Stefan. She had chosen.

  When Stefan told them of Ethan’s plan to take both of the brothers’ blood and use it to resurrect Klaus, she was horrified. Not just because of the danger Stefan had been in, or because of the terrifying idea of Klaus alive again, and no doubt vengeful against them, but because of the trap Ethan had laid for Damon. He had planned to take the best of Damon—the reluctant, often marred, but stil strong love he had for his brother—and use it to destroy him.

  “I’m eternal y glad you’re both okay,” she said again, and reached out to hug Damon, too.

  Damon came into her arms wil ingly, but, as she squeezed him tightly, he winced.

  “What’s wrong?” Elena asked, puzzled, and Damon frowned.

  “Ethan cut me,” he said, the frown turning into a grimace of pain. “I’m just a little sore.” He tugged at his shirt, fingering a torn edge, and pul ed it up, exposing a swath of pale taut skin. Against the white skin Elena saw the long cut was already healing.

  “It’s nothing,” Damon said. He shot Elena a wicked smile. “A little drink from a wil ing donor and I’l be as good as new, I promise.”

  She shook her head at him reprovingly, but didn’t answer.

  “Good night, Elena,” Stefan said, and brushed her cheek gently with the back of his hand. “Good morning, real y, I guess, but try to get some sleep.”

  “Are you going after the vampires?” she asked anxiously. “Be careful.” Damon laughed.

  “I’l make sure he takes care with the nasty vampires,” he said. “Poor Elena. Normal life isn’t going so wel , is it?” Elena sighed. That was the problem, wasn’t it? Damon would never understand why she wanted to be an ordinary person. He thought of her as his dark princess, wanted her to be like him, to be better than ordinary people. Stefan didn’t think she was a dark princess; he thought she was a human being.

  But was she? She thought briefly of tel ing them about the Guardians and the secrets of her birth, but she just couldn’t. Not right now. Not yet. Damon wouldn’t know why it upset her. And Stefan was so pale and tired after his ordeal with the vervain-soaked ropes that she couldn’t bring herself to burden him with her fears about the Guardians.

  As she thought this, Stefan staggered, just a fraction, and Damon reached out automatical y to steady him.

  “Thank you,” Stefan said, “For coming to save me. Both of you.”

  “I’l always save you, little brother,” Damon said, but he was looking at Elena, and she heard the echo of when he had said the same words to her. “Even though I might be better off without you,” Damon added.

  Stefan gave a tired smile. “Time to go,” he said.

  “I love you, Stefan.” Elena brushed her lips against his softly.

  Damon gave her a brief nod, his face neutral. “Sleep wel ,” he said.

  Then the door was closed behind her, and Elena was alone. Her bed had never looked more comfortable or inviting, and she lay down with a sigh, looking up at the soft light that was beginning to break through the window.

  The Vitale Society was gone. Ethan’s plan had been stopped. The campus was safer, and a new day was dawning. Stefan had forgiven her, and Damon didn’t leave, didn’t turn against them.

  It was, for now, the best she could hope for. Elena closed her eyes and fel wil ingly asleep at last. Tomorrow would be another day.

  Epilogue

  Ethan gasped, sucking in a long breath of air, and coughed his way awake, his whole body shaking.

  Everything hurt.

  Gingerly, he patted himself down, finding that he was sticky with half-dried blood, covered with a score of smal injuries. Reaching up, he felt the already healing indentation in his back with delicate fingers. The stave the girl had thrust into him had brushed his heart, but it hadn’t pierced it.

  A half centimeter to one side, and he would have been dead. Real y dead, this time, not undead.

  Grabbing hold of a velvet-covered chair with one hand, Ethan pul ed himself to his feet and looked around. His lieutenants in the Vitale Society, his friends, lay dead on the floor. The Salvatore brothers, and the girls who were with them, had escaped.

  Nervously, he felt in one pocket and sighed in relief as his hand closed on a smal vial. Pul ing it out, he looked at the thick red liquid within. Stefan Salvatore’s blood. He fished in the same pocket and drew out a cloth bearing a long reddish-brown stain. Damon Salvatore’s blood.

  He had what he needed.

  Klaus would rise again.

  About the Author

  L. J. SMITH has written a number of bestsel ing books and series for young adults, including The Vampire Diaries (now a hit TV show), The Secret Circle, The Forbidden Game, Night World, and the #1 New York Times bestsel ing Dark Visions. She is happiest sitting by a crackling fire in a cabin in Point Reyes, California, or walking the beaches that surround that area. She loves to hear from readers and hopes they wil visit her updated website at www.ljanesmith.net.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCol ins authors.

  Other Works

  The Vampire Diaries novels

  VOL. I: THE AWAKENING

  VOL. II: THE STRUGGLE

  VOL. III: THE FURY

  VOL. IV: DARK REUNION

  THE RETURN VOL. 1: NIGHTFALL

  THE RETURN VOL. 2: SHADOW SOULS

  THE RETURN VOL. 3: MIDNIGHT

  THE HUNTERS VOL. 1: PHANTOM

  THE HUNTERS VOL. 2: MOONSONG

  Stefan’s Diaries novels

  VOL. 1: ORIGINS

  VOL. 2: BLOODLUST

  VOL. 3: THE CRAVING

  VOL. 4: THE RIPPER

  VOL. 5: THE ASYLUM

  VOL. 6: THE COMPELLED

  The Secret Circle novels

  THE INITIATION AND THE CAPTIVE PART I

  THE CAPTIVE PART II AND THE POWER

  THE DIVIDE

  Credits

  Cover art © 2012 by Carrie Schechter

  Cover design by Tom Forget

  Copyright

  HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

  The Vampire Diaries: The Hunters: Moonsong Copyright © 2012 by L. J. Smith

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 40

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