The Vampire Diaries: The Salvation: Unseen Read Free

polka-dot paper and tied with a pink bow; the smaller was much heavier and wrapped in a dark silk that shimmered with subtle rainbows.
    “The big one’s from us,” Elena said. “The other one’s from Damon. He sent it to us to give to you.”
    “Ooh, thank you,” Bonnie said, looking at the packages with interest. She’d never gotten a gift from Damon before, but she had a feeling it would be something special. Damon was so elegant, so sophisticated, so intriguing, with his sleek dark hair and sharp smile that every so often softened for Bonnie … he was unlikely to give a girl, say, a DVD. Not that there was anything wrong with a DVD.
    She politely opened Elena and Stefan’s present first: a delicate filmy top she’d had her eye on when she’d gone shopping with Elena a couple of weeks earlier. “Gorgeous,” she said with a wink, holding it up to herself amid a chorus of approval. “Thank you so much.” She held out her wrist to Elena and Meredith, showing them a bracelet of gold filigree dotted with semiprecious stones. “Look at what Zander gave me!
And
he got me about a year’s supply of dittany of Crete—an herb, for charm making,” she added, for Elena’s benefit. “It’s really hard to find. He must have had to order it especially for me.”
    “It’s beautiful,” Elena said, and Meredith nodded approvingly. For such a
guy’s
guy, Bonnie reflected, Zander was surprisingly good at buying presents for a girl. At least if that girl was Bonnie.
    She couldn’t concentrate on Zander’s many wonderful qualities just now, though, not with a mysterious package from Damon in her lap, waiting to be opened.
    She carefully unwrapped the silk. Inside was a small, rounded box that fit perfectly in the palm of her hand. It looked almost like a river rock, polished gray with a slight blue sheen to it. Opening the box, she found inside a delicate carved bird, in the same bluish-gray material, on a thin silver chain. There was also a note on thick, creamy paper, folded small.
    “Wow,” Elena said, bending to peer more closely at the bird. “What is it? It looks old.”
    Bonnie unfolded the note. In Damon’s elegant script, she read:
     
    My little redbird, congratulations on reaching the age of twenty-four. It’s still ridiculously young, but at least you’re not a child anymore. The enclosed comes from Egypt, and is older even than me. The bird is a falcon. A witch I met in Luxor tells me that it represents power, wisdom, and guardianship—all of which I wish for you. Be strong, be wise, be safe.
     
    Bonnie smiled. Damon could be surprisingly sweet and sentimental sometimes.
    Underneath, in a different ink, scribbled in as if he’d added it at the last minute, was:
     
    I hear you’re still running around with the overgrown wolf boy. Tell him to behave himself or he’ll answer to me.
     
    Still sort of sweet, Bonnie decided, and tucked the note in her pocket.
    “Here, let me fasten it.” Zander came over and swept her hair aside, hooking the necklace firmly and then placing a swift kiss on the back of her neck.
    “Damon called you an overgrown wolf boy,” Bonnie told him. “You’re supposed to behave yourself.”
    “Aw, he mentioned me?” Zander said affably. “I’m touched.”
    Jared snorted, and Shay’s eyes narrowed. Most of Zander’s Pack had never really understood Damon.
    Or, Bonnie admitted to herself, they’d understood him too well. When the Pack had met Damon, he’d been going through a … difficult time. Truthfully, he’d been dangerous, and despite the fact that he’d fought beside them once or twice against greater threats, the small band of Original werewolves that protected the Dalcrest area didn’t trust him.
    But now that the Guardians had connected him and Elena, he wasn’t so dangerous anymore. Because if Damon ever harmed a human, it would hurt Elena. If he killed anyone, Elena would die. And anyone who had seen Damon’s fierce desperation when Elena was in