The Vampire Diaries: A Cage of Burning Light (Kindle Worlds Novella) by L.J. McDonald

and if she was right, then the road would cross
the top of the hills, and at the base on the other side it would join one of
the main thoroughfares that crossed the valley and the river. Beyond that was
the exit to the main highway and the local airfield.
    If they
reached the highway, she didn’t think she’d be able to stop them.
    She let
that thought fight her fear as the sedan she was driving raced around another
corner and then the cube truck was right ahead of her, chugging its way up the
hill with the fading afternoon sunlight dappling through the forest leaves and
onto its dirty white sides.
    Elena
didn’t let herself think and just pushed on the gas, forcing the sedan up and
beside the truck as it reached the top of that hill and a short straightaway
before it started on the next. She started hammering on the horn before she was
even fully beside them and leaned over in the driver’s seat to try and see
through the passenger window who was driving the truck.
    He was no
one she recognized, stocky and dark with an angry expression on his face as he
rolled down his side window and shouted at her.
    “What the
hell’s wrong with you, you crazy bi-”
    “Stop!”
Elena shouted at him. “You have to stop!” If he’d had nothing to do with it,
maybe he saw something, and asking him at least one question would make her
feel less of a total idiot if she turned out to be wrong about all of this.
    “Are you
crazy, lady?” the man shouted, but the truck did begin to slow down.
    A moment
later, Wilson
leaned over from the passenger side of the truck, and he and Elena saw each
other at the same time. She yanked back into her seat with a gasp of surprised
fright, but her hearing could still make out what he said to his partner.
    “Drive
faster, She’s a vampire!”
    “Oh, for
the love of….” The van put on as much of a burst of acceleration as it
could manage and swerved into the middle of the road. Elena was left behind it,
and with a deep breath, she put the gas pedal to the floor in pursuit.

    Bonnie
cursed until Elena and her car were out of sight. Crazy stupid…. If Elena
got hurt, she’d never forgive herself. She better just be chasing after some
normal little delivery truck. She hoped she was. She’d tease her endlessly if she
was.
    Bonnie
eyed the somber expanse of the green warehouse. If she was, then there was
someone really unpleasant inside that building. She pulled out her phone.
    Five
minutes later, Caroline pulled up and stepped out of her car, her blonde hair
tossed back over her shoulder as she eyed her friend.
    “So this
is the place where Elena’s been stuck?”
    “Damon
now,” Bonnie told her. “Elena got free a while ago.”
    “What?
You could have told me!”
    Bonnie
winced. “Sorry, Care. It’s been a rotten day. So much is happening…. I’m
sorry. I should have called you a lot sooner.”
    Caroline
frowned and then obviously forgave her. “So tell me what’s going on.”
    Bonnie
did. She told her Elena’s story about what happened after she was kidnapped,
about Wilson
and his experiments, and how she escaped to be picked up by Bonnie, only for
them both to realize that Damon was now a prisoner in her place.
    Caroline
listened, but once she’d heard everything and she knew that Elena was all
right, there was an amused smirk on her face. She and Elena were friends, but
there’d always been that level of rivalry and competition between the two of
them. Bonnie saw it and had to resist the urge to ask her how well she would have done if she’d been the
one Wilson
attacked. Caroline would likely have had a long answer to that question, and
she didn’t really want to hear it.
    “Damon
could be inside that warehouse,” she said instead. “We need to go in and make
sure.”
    Caroline
looked a little dubious. “Can’t Damon take care of himself?”
    Bonnie
sighed. The history between Caroline and Damon could be called interesting at
best. Bonnie knew she wouldn’t