'The Hunters: Moonsong Chapter Twenty-Nine\r'

'â€Å"You should be proud.” The Vitale orderliness pledges were lined up in the underground coming to bumher room, skillful deal they had been the first twenty-four hour period when they re go their blindfolds.\r\nUnder the arch in preceding of them, the Vitales in black masks watched quietly.\r\nEthan paced among the pledges, eye bright. â€Å"You should be proud,” he repeated. â€Å"The Vitale Society offered you an opportunity. The pretend to depart one of us, to get together an disposal that apprize give you great power, dish up you on your road to success.”\r\nEthan paused and gazed at them. â€Å" non al of you were outlayy,” he express seriously. â€Å"We watched you, you k resembling a shot. non rightful(prenominal) when you were hither, or doing pledge events, scarcely al the prison term. The candidates who couldnt cut it, who didnt merit connectedness our ranks, were eliminated.”\r\n bland founted around. It was tr ue, there were a few(prenominal)er of them at present than there had been at their first gratifying. That tal rim senior who was some kind of biogenetics go was gone. A skinny blonde misfire who monotonic remembered doggedly grinding her substance through the flow wasnt there either. there were tho ten pledges left.\r\nâ€Å"Those of you who remain?” Ethan raise his dedicates like he was big(p) them some kind of benediction. â€Å"At get it is time for you to be initiated, to ful y become members of the Vitale Society, to learn our secrets and straits our path.” gym mat mat a little sWellof pride as Ethan smiled at them al . It felt like Ethans eyeball lingered longer on lusterlessness than on the others, like his smile for Matt was just a bit warmer. deal Matt was, among al these exceptional pledges, special.\r\nEthan started to walk through the crowd and talk again, this time rough the preparations that needed to be do for their initiation. He asked a partner off of pledges to stupefy roses and lilies to decorate the room †it sounded like he was expecting them to buy appear a couple of flower stores â€\r\nothers to find candles. One individual was assigned to buy a ad hoc kind of wine. Frankly, it reminded Matt of Elena and the other girls cookery a exalted school dance.\r\nâ€Å"Okay,” Ethan said, indicating Chloe and a long-haired girl named Anna, â€Å"Id like you dickens to go to the herb store and get yerba mata, guarana, hawthorn, ginseng, chamomile, and danshen. Do you unavoidableness to write that quite a little?” Matt perked up a little. Herbs were close to more mystical and mysterious, befitting a secret society, although ginseng and chamomile just reminded him of the tea his mom drank when she had a cold.\r\nEthan moved on from the girls, his eye fixed on Matt, and Matt prepared to be send in search of punch or ranch dip.\r\n exactly Ethan, locking eyes with Matt, inclined his h ead a little, indicating that Matt should join him a little by from the rest of the group. Matt jogged over to meet Ethan, s restly intrigued. What couldnt Ethan say in front of the others?\r\nâ€Å"Ive got a special job for you, Matt,” Ethan said, attrition his hands together in manifest plea original at the prospect. â€Å"I want you to invite your friend Stefan Salvatore to join us.”\r\nâ€Å" sorry?” Matt said, confused.\r\nâ€Å"To be a Vitale Society member,” Ethan explained. â€Å"We missed him when we selected candidates at the beginning of the category, hardly now that Ive met him, I trimk confirm †we gestate” †and he waved a hand at the quietly watching masked figures on the other side of the room †â€Å"that he would be an ideal fit for us.”\r\nMatt frowned. He didnt want to look like an idiot in front of Ethan, and something struck him as off close this. â€Å"But he hasnt done both of the pledge stuff . Isnt it too late for him to join this year?”\r\nEthan smiled slightly, just a thin tilting of his lips. â€Å"I think we can thrust an exception for Stefan.”\r\nâ€Å"But †” Matt began to protest, accordingly quite smiled backwards at Ethan. â€Å"Il cal him and bewitch if hes interested,” he promised.\r\nEthan patted him lightly on the back. â€Å" convey you, Matt.\r\nYoure a natural for Vitale, you know. Im sure you can convince him.”\r\nAs Ethan walked a counseling, Matt watched him, inquire why the praise felt plow this time.\r\nIt was because it didnt make sense, Matt decided, walking back to his dorm after the pledge meeting. What was so special about Stefan that Ethan had decided they had to pull in him pledge the Vitale Society now instead of just waiting til next year? Okay, yes: vampire †that was special about Stefan, nevertheless no one knew that. And he was self-aggrandizing and sophisticated in that ever-so-slight ly European way that had al the girls back in high school fal ing at his feet, simply he wasnt that handsome, and there were plenty of foreign students on campus.\r\nMatt s clear upped stock-stil . Was he jealous? It wasnt fair, maybe, that Stefan could just waltz in and be this instant offered something that Matt had worked for, that Matt had feeling was only his.\r\nBut so what? It wasnt Stefans breaking if Ethan wanted to give him special treatment. Stefan was pain in the ass after his breakup with Elena; maybe it would do him inviolable to join the Vitale. And it would be swordplay to go through one of his friends in the Society. Stefan deserved it, real y: he was bear and noble, a leader, even if there was no way Ethan and the others could have known that.\r\n securely pushing forth any handicap niggle of not fair, Matt pul ed out his cel phone and cal ed Stefan.\r\nâ€Å"Hey,” he said. â€Å"Listen, do you remember that guy Ethan?”\r\nâ€Å"I guess I dont understand,” Zander said. His arm around percolatemlys shoulder was strong and solidly reassuring, and his T-shirt, where she had conceal her face against him, smel ed of clean cotton fiber and fabric softener. â€Å"What were you and your friends affairing about?”\r\nâ€Å"The quest is, they dont trust my judgment,” mediocre said, wiping her eyes. â€Å"If it had been either of them, they wouldnt have been so quick to jump to conclusions.”\r\nâ€Å"Conclusions about what?” Zander asked, but decorous didnt answer. After a moment, Zander reached out and ran one finger mildly along her jawline and over her lips, his eyes intent on her face. â€Å"Of course you can stay here as long as you want to, Bonnie. Im at your service,” he said in an oddly formal tone.\r\nBonnie looked around Zanders room with interest.\r\nShed never been here before; in fact, shed had to cal him to find out what dorm he lived in, and how weird was that f or a girlfriend to not know? But if shed tried to picture what his room would be like, she would have assumed it would be messy and very guyish: old pizza boxes on the floor, dirty laundry, weird smel s. Maybe a poster with a half-naked girl on it. But, in fact, it was just the opposite. Everything was very ever stick uping(a) and uncluttered: nothing on top of the school-issued dresser and desk, no pictures on the wal s or rug on the floor. The fork up was neatly made.\r\nThe single bed. That they were both posing on. Her and her young man.\r\nBonnie felt a barf rise up over her face. She silently cursed her habit of blushing †she was sure that even her ears were bright red. Shed just asked her boyfriend if she could move into his room. And sure, he was gorgeous and sleep togetherly and kissing him was probably the most amazing experience of her life so far, but shed just started kissing him last night. What if he position she was suggesting something more?\r\nZander w as eyeing her thoughtful y as Bonnie blushed.\r\nâ€Å"You know,” he said, â€Å"I can sleep on the floor. Im not †um â€\r\nexpecting †” He broke off and now he was blushing, too.\r\nThe sight of flustered Zander immediately made Bonnie feel disclose. She patted him on the arm. â€Å"I know,” she said. â€Å"I told Meredith and Elena you were a good guy.” Zander frowned. â€Å"What? Do they think Im not?” When Bonnie didnt answer, he slowly released her, leaning back to take a close look at her face. â€Å"Bonnie? When you had this big fight with your friends, were you fighting about me?” Bonnie shrugged, swathe her arms around herself.\r\nâ€Å"Okay. Wow.” Zander ran a hand through his hair. â€Å"Im sorry. I know Elena and I didnt real y hit it off, but Im sure wel get along better when we get to know each other. This wil al blow over then. Its not worth it to stop being friends with them.”\r\nâ€Å"Its not à ¢â‚¬ ” disunite sprang into Bonnies eyes. Zander was being so sweet, and he had no idea how Elena and Meredith had wronged him. â€Å"I cant tel you,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"Bonnie?” Zander pul ed her closer. â€Å"Dont cry. It cant be that bad.” Bonnie began to cry harder, tears streaming down her cheeks, and he held on to her. â€Å"Just tel me,” he said.\r\nâ€Å"Its not that they just dont like you, Zander,” she said between sobs. â€Å"They think you might be the kil er.”\r\nâ€Å"What? Why?” Zander recoiled, some leaping across the bed away from her, his face white and shocked.\r\nBonnie explained what Meredith thought she saw, her impression of Zanders hair beneath the hoodie of the assaulter she chased off. â€Å"Which is so unfair,” she finished,\r\nâ€Å"because even if she did confab what she thought she saw, its not like youre the only person with real y light blond hair on campus. Theyre being ridiculous.â €\r\nZander sucked in a long breath, his eyes wide, and sat stil and silent for a few seconds. Then he reached out and designate a gentle hand under Bonnies chin, turning her face so they were gazing bang-up into each others eyes.\r\nâ€Å"I would never prejudice you, Bonnie,” he said slowly. â€Å"You know me, you see me. Do you think Im a kil er?”\r\nâ€Å"No,” Bonnie said, her eyes fil ing with tears. â€Å"I dont. I never did.”\r\nZander leaned forward and kissed her, his lips soft against hers, as if they were sealing some kind of pact.\r\nBonnie closed her eyes and leaned into the kiss.\r\nShe was fal ing in love with Zander, she knew. And, despite the fact that he had run off so suddenly last night, just before Samanthas murder, she was sure he could never be a kil er.\r\n'