Free The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unspoken by L J Smith, Aubrey Clark

know what to do with the warmth of the feelings passing between them.
Stefan
, she thought, and bent her head, hiding her face behind her long fall of hair.
    Damon cocked his head, listening to sounds too faint for Elena to hear. “Finally. They’re here.”

    It smelled stale and musty in the basement, and Matt’s sneakers and Jasmine’s boots kicked up little clouds of gray dust as they walked. Jasmine had a black bag full of medical supplies dangling from one hand, and she looked tense and expectant, her lips tight.
    “You don’t have to do this,” Matt said suddenly. He couldn’t lie and say that having a doctor on their side wasn’t a big help, but they could figure something else out if they had to. He didn’t want to involve Jasmine in this—at least, any more than she was already.
    Jasmine shook her head, frowning at him. “I told you, I’m all in.” Her lips twitched in a small smile. “Besides, how many doctors get the opportunity to study this kind of physical transformation?”
    They rounded the corner into another row of barred storage rooms. Smoke hung in the air, and there were scorch marks on the concrete floor. Damon and Elena were outside the only occupied one, Elena leaning back as far from the locked cage as she could get. Above their heads, a fluorescent light flickered dizzyingly.
    “Thank God you’re here,” Elena said. “We really need a new tactic. Just attacking him isn’t doing anything.”
    As they drew level with the cage, Matt took another look at the vampire Damon had caught. He seemed like some little high school punk, the kind who, when Matt had been in school, would have had a skateboard and worn a lot of black clothing. “He doesn’t look like he’d be hard to handle.”
    Damon stiffened. “He’s stronger than he looks,” he said defensively, and Matt managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Damon was so
touchy
sometimes.
    A slow, metallic tapping noise drew his attention back to the young vampire. The kid was staring at Jasmine, clinking his handcuffs steadily against the bars of his cage. As Matt watched, he inhaled deeply and his mouth opened a little, showing his canines, extended and slick with spit. His tongue licked over them briefly, pink against the white of his teeth, and his lips tilted into an unfriendly smile. Instinctively, Matt pulled Jasmine closer.
    That reaction came from the part of him that would have kept his caveman ancestors crouching by the fire,
he thought,
the quick instinctive knowledge that there was something terrible out there in the dark.
    “Hold on,” Damon told them. Almost faster than Matt’s eyes could follow, he whipped open the door of the cage and dashed inside. The young vampire snarled at him, and there was a brief vicious scuffle. It ended whenDamon grabbed his opponent’s head with both hands and twisted sharply. There was a loud cracking sound and the kid slumped and slid down the bars, dangling from one chained hand. Jasmine gasped.
    “That should keep him down for a little while,” Damon told her. “Better hurry.”
    “He’s not dead?” Jasmine asked, stunned.
    “That wouldn’t even kill
me
, doctor,” Damon said, amused. “And he’s a lot harder to kill.”
    Hesitantly, Jasmine came into the cage and knelt down by the young vampire’s side. She felt for a pulse and frowned. “His heart’s beating,” she said, and Damon nodded, backing out of the cage to give her room.
    “It’ll do that,” Damon said.
    Gaining confidence, Jasmine pulled a syringe from her bag and briskly felt for a vein in the vampire’s arm. She drew one vial of blood and started a second. Matt loved watching Jasmine work. Anything nervous or shy about her slipped away immediately. Her hands were deft and quick, her manner calm. It made him feel weirdly proud, that a girl this capable, this self-assured, wanted
him.
    Jasmine gently moved the kid’s arm a bit to help the blood flow. Matt frowned, and took a step forward.