"Wait a second. Who is Solomon?" Bonnie asked. Elena's white cat, Sammy, had stretched out on his back in her lap. Bonnie rubbed his belly without looking down at him, her fingers twining through his fur affectionately.
"Solomon's an Old One," Jack said heavily. "Maybe the last of the Old Ones."
Stefan's heart sank. Elena had been right; there was always danger. How naive of him to think that, just because they'd killed all the Old Ones they could track, there weren't others tracking them. And this one must know about Elena's secret weakness, if he had tried to kill her with a car accident. Elena was frowning worriedly, obviously having realized the same thing.
"I think I know a spell that'll help protect your next car," Bonnie said, her jaw stubbornly set. "I don't know how well it'll defend against deliberate attacks, though. I'll do some research."
Meredith took Elena's hand. "Hey, we've killed Old Ones before," she said reassuringly.
Stefan felt a surge of affection for Elena's friends: stepping up immediately, ready to protect her.
Jack gave a short laugh. "You've never killed one like Solomon," he said.
Stefan felt his fists clench. "You're surprisingly well informed," he snapped at the newcomer. "Who told you about Elena's blood?"
"We keep our ears close to the ground," Jack said. "When Old Ones started turning up dead and we figured out that blood had killed them, we were able to put that together with rumors about a new Guardian on the scene. Once we knew you existed, Elena, it wasn't hard to find you." Stefan, already tense, felt his canine teeth sharpening. He turned his back to the others and breathed deeply, gripping tight to the chair beside him, and, slowly, his teeth slipped back to normal.
"What's different about Solomon?" Elena was asking behind him. "Meredith is right-we've fought other Old Ones before. Klaus, Celine, Davos. They were all cunning and ruthless and terribly strong. They had to be, to survive as long as they did." Elena's voice was steady, but Stefan noticed the flash of panic in her deep blue eyes, the pink flush of her cheeks.
Jack leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "We've been tracking Solomon for years. I've never even seen him, just evidence that he's been somewhere. Most of the Old Ones, they're flashy. They want hunters to see how powerful they are, to show that they're not afraid of us. Solomon, though, he keeps to himself." Jack spread his fingers wide. "He can get anywhere, do what he wants, and, by the time we figure where he was, he's long gone. He has more power than you can imagine, and he's always a few steps ahead of us." He paused. "We think Solomon won't stop until he's killed Elena."
Stefan automatically moved closer to Elena. "He's not the first one to try, and I'm still standing," she said, looking pale but stubborn.
"I want to help protect you," Jack said intently, his eyes locking with Elena's. "It's been my mission for so long to bring Solomon down. But I've never gotten close. I think if we band together"-he glanced at the others again-"we might have a shot at defeating him. Meredith, I know you haven't known many hunters outside your family. You've done so much on your own, and with Stefan-but you could do even more with a team of hunters backing you up."
"I had another hunter I worked with for a while. Samantha," Meredith said. "But she died. Vampires killed her." Her face seemed impassive, but Stefan had known Meredith long enough to notice the strain at the corners of her mouth when she thought of Samantha. There was a longing there, he knew. Like werewolves, hunters did best in a pack. Elena bumped her knee comfortingly against Meredith's.
"These rumors," Stefan asked, "how widespread are they? Even if we manage to kill Solomon, will there be other Old Ones coming after Elena? Should we be running instead of fighting?" He reached for Elena's hand, his fingers tightening protectively over hers.
Elena shook her head, squeezing his hand in return. "We can't run forever, Stefan," she murmured.
Jack interrupted, his voice brisk. "Like I said, I think Solomon is the last. I've been hunting all my life, and there aren't any other Old Ones I know of, not now that you"-he nodded to Stefan and Meredith-"have killed so many. So, are you with me?"
Matt, who'd been following the conversation in silence, gave a quick jerk of a nod. "Anything we can do against Solomon," he said, like a pledge. "We have to stop him before it all begins again."
"We can do this, Stefan," Meredith said, her gray eyes shining. "We've already tracked down and killed three Old Ones. If Solomon's coming to us, that just makes it more convenient." She grinned. "We won't have to travel."
Rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, Stefan thought carefully. "If hunting Solomon gets too dangerous for Elena, she and I will leave town," he told Jack. "Her safety is the most important thing." Jack nodded solemnly.
"We'll work as a team," Stefan went on slowly, "like we always do. Bonnie and Alaric can use magic-Bonnie, maybe you can ask Mrs. Flowers what she knows about divination for evil creatures?" Bonnie nodded at the mention of her elderly mentor back in Fell's Church. "Elena, keep your Guardian Powers on alert. If there's an Old One near Dalcrest, there ought to be some signs of evil you can pick up on." He let go of Elena and began to pace the room, his steps quickening as he thought. "Jack, we should get together with your team, figure out how we can best work together."
He crossed to the closet and pulled out his hunter's bag, trying to think what they would need. More vervain for Meredith's weapons, to keep Solomon and any other vampires he might have with him from clouding the humans' minds. Stakes of white ash. Iron.
He unzipped the bag, and for a moment his mind stopped, unable to process what he was seeing. There was a fine dust all over his weapons. Wood dust, he realized, soft under his hands except for a few small splinters. Something cut into his palm and he pulled it back quickly, wincing. It was a tiny shard of metal. There was an ache in his gums as his canines extended slowly, throbbing in time with his beating heart, and he realized that he was smelling blood. Elena's blood.
"My stave," he said, slowly. "It's-it's been destroyed."