The Hunters: Phantom Chapter 35

Elena leaped backward as the fantasm caught fire. She was so pissed that the heat of the flames burned her cheeks, and she could smel her sustain h production line smoking. Shielding her face with her draws, she eased her government agency forward as silently and sneakily as she could, closer and closer to the wraith. Her legs shook, solely she wil ed them stil and steady.She was consciously not letting herself require at or think ab come on Stefans body crumpled on the floor of the garage, in the same way she had unp busteded herself from looking at Damon and Stefans fight when she needed to think. Suddenly a burst of flames shot into the air, and for one dazzling second, Elena dared to hope that Damon had done it. The apparition was burning. Surely no creature of ice could withstand that. only if then she realized that the phantom was not only burning. She was also laughing.You fool, the phantom said to Damon, in a flabby and almost tender voice. You think fire can hurt me ? Jealousy can burn hotter than fire as wel as wintryer than ice. You of al people should bash that, Damon. She laughed her strange clinking laugh. I can feel the green-eyed monster, the anger that burns in you al the time, Damon, and it burns so hot I can smel the execration and despair that live in you, and your little petty hurts and rages are meat and drink to me. You clutch them to you and pore over them equivalent treasure. You may have succeeded in casting out a tiny piece of the multitudes of hurts that burden you, but youl never be free of me.Around the phantoms feet, tiny blue lines of flame combust and spread quickly across the floor of the garage. Elena watched in horror Were these burning traces of oil left by Mrs. Flowerss ancient car? Or was it simply the phantoms venom made solid, spreading fire among them?It didnt real y matter. What mattered was that the garage was on fire, and while the phantom might be impervious to the flames, the rest of them werent. Smo ke fil ed the musty space, and Elena and her friends began to cough. She covered her nose and mouth with her hand.Streaking past Elena, Damon snarled and leaped for the phantoms throat.Even in their current dire situation, Elena couldnt help admiring Damons speed and grace. He col ided with the phantom and knocked it to the floor, then recoiled, protecting his face with his leather-clad arm. Fire, Elena remembered with a frisson of terror. Fire is one of the few things that can kill a vampire.Her eyes watered from the smoke, but she laboured them to stay open as she moved closer, circling around behind the phantom, who was back on its feet. She could hear her friends shouting, but she concentrated on the fight. The phantom was moving much awkwardly than it had been earlier, and did not immediately attack Damon. Through the flames, Elena could see that thick greenish fluid was stil trickling down its solid torso from the wound Meredith had given it. Where the gas touched the flame s, they flickered with a greenish blue tint.Damon lunged for the phantom again, and it flung him off with a shrug. Snarling, they circled each other warily. Elena skittered around behind them, nerve-racking to stay out of Damons way, trying to see how she could help.A crackling from across the room distracted Elena for a second, and she glanced back to see fire climbing the far wal , reaching for the wooden shelves circumscribe around the room. She missed seeing what exactly happened next, but suddenly Damon was skidding across the floor on his back, an angry red burn glowing on his cheek.He was up again in a second and prowling back toward the phantom, but his eyes had a slightly wild glint to them that made Elena nervous. Even injured, the phantom was stronger than Damon, and, after his recollective fight with Stefan, Damons reserves must be waning. He was growing reckless. Elena gathered her courage and moved closer to the phantom again, as close to the flames as she could sta nd. The phantom glanced back at her for a second and then extraneous, focusing on the stronger threat.It sprang forward to meet Damon, its fiery arms spread widely and a savagely joyous smile on its face. And suddenly Meredith was there beside Damon. She looked solemn and pale as a young martyr, her lips tight and her eyes wary, but she moved as fast as lightning. Her stave sliced through the air almost too quickly to see, leaving another long trim across the phantoms stomach. The phantom howled, and the flames on its torso hissed as more greenish fluid gushed from the wound.But the phantom remained upright. It snarled and reached for Meredith, who danced rapidly backward, just out of range. Meredith and Damon transfer a wordless look and moved to flank the phantom, one on either side, so that it couldnt watch both of them at once. Damon cuffed Jealousy, a short, intense blow, and pul ed back a reddish, blistering hand. Meredith swung her stave again, nearly catching the phantom on the arm but instead cleaving only a wisp of smoke.There was a crash as a burning shelf col apsed onto the floor. The smoke grew thicker. Away from the fight, Elena could hear Bonnie and Matt coughing.Elena moved closer stil , again glide path toward the phantom from behind, safely out of Meredith and Damons way. The phantoms heat was like a bonfire. Meredith and Damon were moving in tandem now, as smoothly as if they had rehearsed, dancing in and back, sometimes catching the phantom with a blow, more often passing through a curl of smoke or mist as the phantom modify its social functions from solid to airy shapes. A voice rang out. Impera te desistere. Mrs. Flowers leaned against the supporting arms of Matt and Alaric. But her eyes were free and her voice was steady. Power crackled in the air around her.The phantom slowed only slightly in its fight, perhaps no more than a half second behind in its thrusts and transformations. But this was enough to make at least a little dif ference. More of Damons and Merediths blows landed, and they were able to dodge a few more of the phantoms.Was it enough, though? The phantom flinched when a punch hit home, and it bled horrible green goo where the stave cut it, but it was stil steady on its feet as Meredith and Damon hacked and choked in the smoke and stumbled away from the flames. The rose in Jealousys chest pulsed a steady dark red. Elena exhaled in frustration and immediately began to cough again. The phantom wasnt staying in one place long enough for Elena to get a good shot at grabbing the rose-heart.Meredith sliced at it with her fighting stave, and this time the stave slid through smoke, and the phantom grabbed the stave in one hand, swinging Meredith toward Damon. Col iding, they both fel heavily to the ground, and the phantom, stil slightly hobbled by Mrs. Flowerss spel , strained toward them.Ive envied Meredith for her brains shouted Bonnie. Her face was smudged with smoke and tears, and she looked incred ibly smal and fragile, but she was standing erectly and proud, yel ing at the top of her lungs. I know Il never be as good at school as she is, but thats okay. I cast my jealousy outThe phantoms rose dimmed to a dark pink for a twinkling, and it staggered ever so slightly. It glanced at Bonnie and hissed. It was only a tiny go against in the phantoms advance, but it was enough for Damon to spring to his feet. He stepped in front of Meredith, shielding her as she clambered up. Without even looking at each other, Meredith and Damon began circling in opponent directions again. Ive been jealous that my friends have more money than I do Matt shouted, but I cast the jealousy outI envy the way Alaric truly believed in something unproven, and turned out to be right Celia yel ed. But I cast it outIve envied Elenas clothes Bonnie cried. Im too short to look good in lots of things But I cast that outDamon kicked at the phantom, pul ing his smoldering leg back quickly. Meredith swung her s tave. Mrs. Flowers chanted in Latin, and Alaric joined her, his low voice in counterpoint to hers, reinforcing her spel . Bonnie, Celia, and Matt kept shouting dredging up smal jealousies and hurts that they were probably usual y hardly aware of, casting them out to white pepper the phantom with tiny blows. And for the first time, the phantom looked baffled. It swung its head slowly from one to another of its opponents Damon stalking toward it, fists raised Meredith, her stave swinging surely as she watched the phantom with a cool and considering gaze Alaric and Mrs. Flowers reciting strings of Latin words, hands lifted Bonnie, Matt, and Celia shouting confessions as if they were throwing rocks at it. Jealousys glassy eyes passed over Elena without real y seeming to notice her Standing stil and quiet among the entire hubbub, she was not a threat.This was the best chance Elena was going to get. She nerved herself to move forward, then froze as the phantom turned toward her.Then, mir aculously, Stefan was there. He grappled at the phantoms back, throwing one arm around its neck as the flames licked at him. His shirt caught fire. The phantom, briefly, was pul ed backward past Elena, its torso toward her, unprotected.Without hesitation, Elena plunged her hand into the fire. For a moment, she barely felt the flames, just a gentle, almost cool touch against her hand as the flames flickered around her. Not so bad, she had a moment to think, and then she felt the pain.It was pure and agonizing, and dark fireworks of shock went off behind her eyes. She had to fight to overcome the almost irresistible instinct to pul her hand back out of the fire. Instead, she groped at the phantoms torso, searching for the cut Meredith had made just above its rose. It was slippery and smooth, and her hand fumbled. Where is it?Where is it?Damon had thrown himself into the flames alongside Stefan, yanking at the phantoms arms and neck, keeping its torso clear for Elena, preventing the ph antom from ripping free and throwing her across the room. Meredith beat at Jealousys side with her stave. Behind her, her friends voices rose in a babble of confessions and spel s as they did their part to keep the phantom off balance and disoriented.At last Elenas hand found the cut and she pushed inside. It was icy cold in the phantoms chest, and Elena yelped at the contrast the cold was excruciating after the heat, and the flames stil licked at her wrist and arm. The freezing liquid inside the phantoms chest was so thick, it was like feeling through gelatin. Elena shoved and reached, and the phantom screamed with pain.It was a horrible sound and, despite al that the phantom had done to her and her friends, Elena could not help flinching in sympathy. A moment later, Elenas hand closed on the roses kibosh and a thousand thorns pierced her burned flesh. Ignoring the pain, she pul ed the rose out of the freezing liquid, out of the fire, and staggered backward, away from the phantom .She didnt know what shed expected to happen, exactly. For the phantom to melt like the Wicked Witch of the West, perhaps, leaving nothing but a puddle of vile greenish water. Instead, the phantom stared at her, its mouth open, its pointed, shining teeth on ful display. The tear in its chest had expanded, and fluid oozed rapidly, like an untended faucet. The flames burned low and green where the liquid tracked down its body and dripped to the floor.Give it to me, Stefan said, visual aspect at Elenas side. He took the rose from her hand and ripped at its petals, now fading to a lighter pink, and scattered the petals into the fire burning up the sides of the garage. The phantom watched with a stunned expression, and gradual y its blazing fire thinned to smoke, its solid form slowly vaporizing. For a moment, a smoky, malevolent image hung in the air before them, its eyes fixed sul enly upon Elena. And then it was gone.