My Return (Vampire Diaries) (Book Seven)

Gods and Monsters

Bonnie answered the phone, putting it on speaker. "Nicola?"

"I need you to drive faster," I told them.

"Why?" Bonnie asked. "What happened?"

"I'm gaining on you," I told them. "Caroline, drive faster and don't stop."

"How'd you catch up to us?" Caroline asked.

"We have a police siren, okay?" I asked. "It's been helpful."

"Okay," Caroline told me. "We won't stop. I promise."

We heard a man's voice on Matt's police radio. "All units, we have a six-car pileup on eastbound 60 at Franklin Drive. Injuries reported. Please respond."

"Tell me we're not on 60," I told them.

Matt closed his eyes. "We're on 60."

I could feel Caroline and Bonnie pull over nearby the wreck due to traffic, horrified. "Oh, no."

"I got this," Caroline told us, pulling away from the traffic, turning around, driving toward oncoming traffic.

"Caroline?" Bonnie asked.

"Why do I feel you getting closer?" I asked.

Caroline drove toward us on the other side of the road. "All you gotta do is let us drive by you, Nicola."

I shook my head. "I can't do that."

"Yes, you can," Caroline told me.

"No, she can't," Matt told them.

"Come on, Nikki," Caroline told me.

"Bonnie," I told her.

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"Use your powers to stop me," I told her.

"Magic doesn't work on you anymore, not after the spell," Bonnie told me. 

"But it does work on a car," Matt told her. I could see them coming closer, unwillingly driving toward them headon, knowing that if I hurt Caroline, I would hurt Bonnie, too, desperate to stop. Matt struggled with the ropes. "Bonnie, do something!"

Bonnie held her hand toward the front wheel tire of the truck. "Motus!"

The tire exploded, making the car drive off the road and down a small hill.

The truck rammed into a tree.

        ~~~~~~~        

I woke up in the truck after Caroline and Bonnie had had enough time to get away. I saw that Matt was unconscious in the passenger seat, his head bleeding, looking at the blood hungrily. "Matt? Matt, are you okay?" Matt groaned in pain. "Are you okay?"

Matt sat up. "Yeah." He looked at where his leg was stuck in the truck underneath metal, bleeding profusely. "Just stuck." He noticed that I was transfixed by the blood. "How about you? Are you okay?"

"I need to leave," I told him.

"No, you can't go," Matt told me. "If you go, you'll go after them, and I can't let you do that."

"If I don't go, I'm going to snap and break and bleed you dry," I told him. I shook my head, looking away. "This is going to go on forever. Stefan, Damon and Caroline are marked, Matt. If I die, they die, and I'm a vampire. So this is just going to go on forever."