Free The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Shadow Souls by L J Smith

Elena could see the benefits of this—at least after they held a summit to decide on a rotation schedule between the cars for Elena. She sighed. “Well—if Matt agrees…”
    “Mutt will agree,” Damon said, looking very briefly— very briefly—as innocent as an angel.
    “What have you got behind your back?” Elena said, deciding not to pursue the question of what Damon intended to do to Matt.
    Damon smiled again, but this time it was an odd smile, just a quirk of one side of his mouth. His eyes said it was nothing much. But his right hand came out and it was holding the most beautiful rose Elena had ever seen in her life.
    It was the deepest red rose she had ever seen, yet there wasn’t a hint of purple to it—it was just velvety burgundy, and open at exactly the moment of full bloom. It looked as if it would be plush to the touch, and its vivid green stem, with just a few delicate leaves here and there, was at least eighteen inches long and straight as a ruler.
    Elena resolutely put her own hands behind her back. Damon wasn’t the sentimental type—even when he got on his “Princess of the Night” soapbox. The rose probably had something to do with their journey.
    “Don’t you like it?” Damon said. Elena might be imagining it, but it almost sounded as if he were disappointed.
    “Of course I like it. What’s it for?”
    Damon settled back. “It’s for you, Princess,” he said, looking hurt. “Don’t worry; I didn’t steal it.”
    No—he wouldn’t have stolen it. Elena knew exactly how he would have gotten the rose…but it was so pretty ….
    As she still made no move to take the rose, Damon lifted it and allowed the cool, silky-feeling petals to caress her cheek.
    It made her shiver. “Stop it, Damon,” she murmured, but she didn’t seem to be able to step backward.
    He didn’t stop. He used the cool, softly rustling petals to outline the other side of her face. Elena took a deep breath automatically, but what she smelled was not flowerlike at all. It was the smell of some dark, dark wine, something ancient and fragrant that had once made her drunk immediately. Drunk on Black Magic and on her own heady excitement…just to be with Damon.
    But that wasn’t the real me, a small voice in her head protested. I love Stefan . Damon…I want…I want to…
    “Do you want to know why I got this particular rose?” Damon was saying softly, his voice blending in with her memories. “I got it because of its name. It’s a Black Magic rose.”
    “Yes,” Elena said simply. She’d known that before he said it. It was the only name that fit.
    Now Damon was giving her a rose kiss by swirling the blossom in a circle on her cheek and then applying pressure. The firmer petals in the middle pressed into her skin, while the outer petals just brushed it.
    Elena was feeling distinctly light-headed. The day was warm and humid already; how could the rose feel so cool? Now the outermost petals had moved to trace her lips, and she wanted to say no, but somehow the word wouldn’t come.
    It was as if she had been transported back in time, back to the days when Damon had first appeared to her, had first claimed her for his own. When she had almost let him kiss her before she knew his name….
    He hadn’t changed his ideas since then. Vaguely, Elena remembered thinking something like that before. Damon changed other people while remaining unchanged himself.
    But I’ve changed, Elena thought, and suddenly there was quicksand under her feet. I’ve changed so much since then. Enough to see things in Damon I’d never imagined could be there. Not just the wild and angry dark parts, but the gentle parts. The honor and decency that were trapped like veins of gold inside that stone boulder in his mind.
    I have to help him, Elena thought. Somehow, I have to help him—and the little boy chained outside the boulder.
    These thoughts had trickled slowly through her mind while it seemed separated from her body. She was so