The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 18

Calebs hold was calefactive and heavy against her lips, and Elena scrabbled against it with her nails. He gripped her tightly with his other hand, holding her stil , his fingers cut into into her shoulder.Elena struggled fiercely, flailing her arms and landing a firm blow in Calebs stomach. She trash down hard on the hand he had over her m byh. Caleb jerked backward, readily letting go of her and pul ing his bitten hand to his chest. As soon as her mouth was uncovered, Elena screamed.Caleb stepped away from her, holding his hands up in surrender. Elena he said. Elena, Im so sorry. I didnt mean to scare you. I only when didnt compliments you to scream.Elena eyeball him warily, breathing hard. What are you doing here? she asked. Why were you sneaking up bed me if you didnt want to scare me?Caleb shrugged and fancyed a little embarrassed. I was worried nigh you, he confessed, stuffing his hands in his pockets and hanging his head. I was hiking up by Hot Springs earlier and I byword you and your friends. They were pul ing you out of the water, and it looked bid you werent breathing. He peeked up at her through his long golden lashes.You were so worried about me you decided to grab me and cover my mouth to obtain me from screaming? Elena asked. Caleb ducked his head further and scrubbed at the back of his queer along in an embarrassed way.I wasnt thinking. Caleb nodded solemnly. You looked so pale, he said. further you receptive your eyes and sat up. I was going to come down and draw if you were okay, but your friend saw me and started runway up the path toward me deal he was going to jump me, and I guess I meet freaked out. He grinned choppyly. Im not usual y such a wuss, he said. But he looked mad.Elena found herself feeling unexpectedly disarmed. Her shoulder stil ached where Caleb had grabbed her. But he seemed so sincere, and so apologetic.Anyway, Caleb continued, gazing at her out of candid glister blue eyes, I was driving back to my aunt and uncles place, and I recognise your car in the cemetery parking lot. I barely came in because I wanted to smatter to you and move over sure you were okay. And and so, when I got smashed to you, you were sitting down and talking, and I guess I was embarrassed. I didnt want to interrupt you, and I didnt want to barge in on something personal, so I bonnie waited. He ducked his head sheepishly again. And instead I ended up assaulting you and scaring you to death, which sure wasnt the better way to go. Im real y sorry, Elena.Elenas heartbeat was returning to normal. Whatever Calebs intentions, he obviously wasnt going to advance her again now. Its al right, she said. I hit my head on an underwater rock. Im fine now, though. It must give looked pretty weird to see me just sitting here and muttering. Some sentences I come here to talk to my parents, thats al . This is where theyre buried.Its not weird, he said quietly. I find myself talking to my parents sometimes, too. W hen something happens and I wish they were with me, I start tel ing them about it and it makes me feel like theyre there. He swal owed hard. Its been a few years, but you never stop abstracted them, do you?The last bits of anger and fear drained out of Elena when she saw the sadness in Calebs face. Oh, Caleb, she said, reaching out to touch his arm.She caught a sudden motion out of the corner of her eye and then, seemingly out of nowhere, Stefan appeared, running incredibly fast, genuine toward them.Caleb, he growled, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him to the intellect. Caleb let out a grunt of surprise and pain.Stefan, no shouted Elena.Stefan spun to look at her. His eyes were hard and his fangs were ful y extended. Hes not what he says he is, Elena, he said in an eerily calm voice. Hes dangerous.Caleb slowly pul ed himself to his feet, employ a gravest genius as a support. He was staring at Stefans fangs.Whats going on? he asked. What are you?Stefan cancelled toward h im and, almost casual y, slapped him back down.Stefan, stop it Elena yel ed, unable to contain the note of hysteria in her voice. She reached out for his arm, but missed. Youre going to disadvantage himHe wants you, Elena, Stefan growled. Do you understand that? You cant trust him.Stefan, Elena pleaded. Listen to me. He wasnt doing anything wrong. You cut that. Hes a human. She could feel hot tears gathering in her eyes and she blinked them away. Now was not the time to weep and wail. Now was the time to be cool and rational and to pass Stefan from losing control.Caleb staggered to his feet, grimacing with pain, and this time charged clumsily at Stefan, his face flushed. He got one arm around Stefans neck and yanked him to the side, but then Stefan, with an easy strength, tossed Caleb to the ground once more.Stefan loomed over him threateningly as he stared up at him from the grass. You cant fight me, Stefan growled.Im stronger than you. I can drive you out of this town, or kil you just as easily. And I wil do either if you make me think its necessary. I wont hesitate.Elena grabbed Stefans arm. Stop it Stop it she shouted. She pul ed him toward her, trying to turn him so she could look into his eyes, so she could get through to him.Breathe, she thought desperately. She had to calm things down here, and she assay to steady her voice, to sound logical. Stefan, I dont hunch over what you think is going on with Caleb, but just stop for a minute and think.Elena, look at me, Stefan said. His eyes were dark with emotion. I know, Im absolutely sure, that Caleb is evil. Hes dangerous to us. We have to get rid of him before he gets a chance to destroy us. We cant give in him the opportunity to get the better of us by waiting for him to make his move.Stefan Elena said. Her voice was shaking, and an oddly rational, detached part of her noted that this must be what it felt like when the person you loved most lost his mind.She didnt know what she was going to say ne xt, but before she could even open her mouth, Caleb had go again. There was a long move down the side of his face, and his fairish hair was tangled and ful of dirt.Back off, Caleb said grimly, coming toward Stefan. He was hobble a little bit, and clutched a fist-size rock in his right hand. You cant just He raised the rock threateningly.Stop it, both of you, Elena yel ed, trying for a fierce generals voice that would command their attention. But Caleb just hoisted the rock and threw it straight at Stefans face.Stefan dodged the rock, moving almost too quickly for Elena to see, grabbed Caleb by the waist, and, in one graceful motion, flung him into the air. For a moment, Caleb was suspended, seemingly as light and boneless as a scarecrow tossed from the back of a pickup truck, and then he hit the side of the marble Civil War repository with a sickening crunch. With a thud, he fel to the ground at the human foot of the statue and was stil .Caleb Elena screamed in horror. She ran toward him, shoving her way between the bushes and clumps of grass that encircled the monument.His eyes were unkindly and his face was pale. Elena could see the light blue veins in his eyelids. There was a spreading pool of blood on the ground beneath his head. A streak of dirt ran across his face, and that dirt and the long red scratch on his cheek suddenly seemed like some of the most weighty things she had ever seen. He wasnt moving. She couldnt tel whether he was breathing. Elena dropped to her knees and felt for Calebs pulse, fumbling at his neck. As she found the steady thrum of a heartbeat beneath her fingers, she gasped in relief.Elena. Stefan had fol owed her to Calebs side. He put his hand on her shoulder. Please, Elena.Elena shook her head, refusing to look at him, and shrugged his hand away. She felt in her pocket for her phone. My god, Stefan, she said, her words clipped and tight, you could have kil ed him. You have to get out of here. I can tel the legal philosophy I found him like this, but if they see you, theyre going to know you two were fighting. She swal owed hard as she realized the streak of dirt spotting Calebs shirt was Stefans handprint.Elena, Stefan pleaded. At the anguish in his tone, she final y turned toward him. Elena, you dont understand. I had to stop him. He was a threat to you. Stefans leaf common eyes beseeched her, and Elena had to steel herself to keep from crying.You have to leave, she said. Go home. Il talk to you later. Dont hurt anyone else, she thought, and bit her lip. Stefan stared at her for a long moment, then final y backed away. I love you, Elena. He turned and disappeared into the trees, through the sometime(a) and wilder part of the cemetery.Elena took a steadying breath, wiped her eyes, and dialed 911. Theres been an accident, she said, her voice panicky, when the operator picked up. Im in the Fel s Church Cemetery off Route Twenty-three, over by the Civil War monument near the edge of the newer section. Ive found somebody It looks like he was knocked unconscious somehow