Unseen (The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation #1) 3

Dear Diary,

Stefan said that, to him, I'm the only person in the world.

There was a time when I would have loved to hear that. But now, it just makes my blood run cold.

He's out on the balcony, staring into the night, watching for danger instead of curling up in here with his arms around me. Most of me wants to run out there and apologize. He'd lose that miserable look he has, and we'd hold each other, and everything would be back to normal. For the night.

But when we woke up, the problem wouldn't be gone.

Everyone Stefan has ever loved-including me, including Damon-has died, and left him.

It breaks my heart how much Stefan has suffered, how it's almost impossible for him to believe that terrible things aren't about to happen.

Of course it's scary that Solomon's still alive, and still hunting me. But I'm a Guardian, and I'm strong in my own way.

I ought to be protecting everyone. That's what I'm here for, after all.

I keep worrying about Damon. If he asked Stefan for help, he must have really needed it, and Stefan would have known that. What's changed, that Stefan thinks protecting me is the only thing that matters?

I love him. So much. And I've never regretted choosing to drink the Fountain of Eternal Youth and Life, so that I could be with Stefan, forever.

I've never wondered if I made the right choice. Not until now.

"Looks quiet," Jack said, parking his van in front of the storage place. Row upon row of heavy metal sliding doors lined the walls of the huge concrete building, each marking a separate unit. "Our extra weapon stash is in row J. If Solomon's possessing Trinity and can access her memories, he might come here." He gave a half shrug as he unfastened his seat belt. "Worth a shot."

In the middle row of the van, Stefan closed his eyes wearily, just for a moment. He'd been dragging all morning, feeling like he was moving at half speed.

He was so tired. Elena's words still echoed in his mind: I'm not the only person in the world, Stefan.

To him, she was.

From her seat beside Stefan, Elena gave him a tiny, fragile smile. Stefan's chest ached a little at the peace offering. He smiled back, then, sighing, reached for the door handle. Tired or not, they needed to keep hunting Solomon.

"Wait a sec," Alaric said. "There's something you guys need to see." Leaning forward from the back row of seats, he handed Stefan a piece of paper. Zander craned his neck to get a better look, but Meredith, sitting between them, didn't react. She must have already known.

It was a computer printout of a "Missing" poster from the 1980s. Elena gave a sharp, high gasp when she saw it, and Stefan turned the paper so Jack and Darlene could see from the front as well. The photo was washed-out but recognizable: a young, sharp-featured man with tawny, shoulder-length hair, giving the camera an easy smile.

"That's Solomon," Zander said, cocking his head to one side. "Definitely. But the poster says Gabriel Dalton. I don't understand."

"When Meredith told me that you guys thought Solomon had possessed Trinity before he died, it didn't quite make sense," Alaric told them. "Possession doesn't work like that. If Solomon had his own corporeal body, the shock of it being destroyed would have jolted him right back out of Trinity. I thought something else might be going on, so ..." He spread his hands, his eyes on the smiling photo of Gabriel Dalton. "I did some research. I think Solomon body-swapped into Trinity's body from Gabriel Dalton's, pulled her spirit out, and put his own in. The body we saw wasn't his original form either."

"This is proof that Solomon's done it before," Meredith said. "The body Solomon was using was once someone else's."

"So who did we kill in Solomon's-or, Gabriel's, body?" Jack asked, looking grim. "This Gabriel Dalton? Trinity?"

Alaric spread his hands in a who knows? gesture. "I think Gabriel Dalton's been dead for a while. Solomon wouldn't leave any loose ends, and if someone believed they were Gabriel Dalton in another form, it would make things ... messier for him."

Stefan felt ill. Abruptly, he reached again for the door handle and hurried out of the van. He felt the others startle behind him, then follow toward the hunters' storage locker. There's nothing you can do about it now, he told himself. There was a bitter taste in his mouth. He'd thought killing Solomon was a triumph, but instead he'd murdered an innocent ally. He didn't want to believe it, but it felt true.

Jack fell into step beside him.

"I killed Trinity," Stefan said, defeated. Everything had happened so fast; he'd been so focused on killing Solomon, on ending all this.

"There's no way you could have known," Jack said roughly. "And Trinity was a good hunter; she knew the risks." He twisted a ring on his finger with an angry, abrupt gesture. "The important thing is that we know what form Solomon's in now. We should act quickly before he has time to swap into a body we don't know." He glanced back at Elena cautiously, then slowed to let her catch up. "Can you do that thing Andres did? Channeling life force?"

Elena stopped dead and stared at him, aghast. "You mean kill her?" she asked angrily. "No. I won't. There's no proof that Trinity isn't still in there. She could be possessed, helpless while her spirit is controlled by Solomon." The others came up beside them, their faces worried.

A muscle at the side of Jack's mouth twitched, and Stefan broke in. "What do you suggest we do, Elena?" he asked. "Alaric believes this is a case of body-swapping, and Solomon's too powerful for us not to go after him with everything we have. If we hesitate, we put everyone in danger."

Elena's eyes narrowed. "By everyone, you mean me," she said tartly. "But Trinity matters, too. We need to capture her, not kill her. We can't kill her unless we're completely sure she's gone, that there's no trace of her left in her body."

His jaw clenching, Stefan glared back at her. For a moment, he felt like the world had narrowed to just the two of them. "You're not the only one threatened here," he said, his voice tense. "Think of Andres. We can't risk everyone to save one person who is probably already dead."

"Yes, we can," Elena insisted. "We don't sacrifice innocent people to keep ourselves safe. That's not us, Stefan."

They stared at each other, Elena flushed and breathing hard.

"If there's a chance Trinity's still in there ..." Darlene said slowly.

"She was a good hunter," Jack said again. "Trinity would give anything if it meant we killed Solomon."

There was a slight shifting in the room, as the group began to realize that there were two distinct sides, and they would all have to pick one. Jack agreed with him, Stefan knew: The risks of trying to capture Solomon without killing him were too high.

He'd fought with Elena before, over personal things, over Damon, but never over what the right course of action was. Looking at her outraged face, Stefan knew that if he ignored her, if he succeeded in killing Trinity, Elena might never forgive him. He could side with Elena, or he could keep her safe.

Either way, he might lose her forever.