The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion Chapter Four

Meredith tilted an ironic glance at Matt. â€Å"Hmm,† she said. â€Å"Now, who do you think Elena would call in time of trouble?† Bonnie's grin gave way to a twinge of guilt at Matt's expression. It wasn't fair to tease him about this. â€Å"Elena said that the killer is too strong for us and that's why we need help,† she told Matt. â€Å"And I can think of only one person Elena knows who could fight off a psychic killer.† Slowly, Matt nodded. Bonnie couldn't tell what he was feeling. He and Stefan had been best friends once, even after Elena had chosen Stefan over Matt. But that had been before Matt found out what Stefan was, and what kind of violence he was capable of. In his rage and grief over Elena's death Stefan had nearly killed Tyler Smallwood and five other guys. Could Matt really forget that? Could he even deal with Stefan coming back to Fell's Church? Matt's square-jawed face gave no sign now, and Meredith was talking again. â€Å"So all we need to do is let some blood and cut some hair. You won't miss a curl or two, will you, Bonnie?† Bonnie was so abstracted that she almost missed this. Then she shook her head. â€Å"No, no, no. It isn't our blood and hair we need. We need it from the person we want to summon.† â€Å"What? But that's ridiculous. If we had Stefan's blood and hair we wouldn't need to summon him, would we?† â€Å"I didn't think of that,† Bonnie admitted. â€Å"Usually with a summoning spell you get the stuff beforehand and use it when you want to call a person back. What are we going to do, Meredith? It's impossible.† Meredith's brows were drawn together. â€Å"Why would Elena ask it if it were impossible?† â€Å"Elena asked lots of impossible things,† Bonnie said darkly. â€Å"Don't look like that, Matt; you know she did. She wasn't a saint.† â€Å"Maybe, but this one isn't impossible,† Matt said. â€Å"I can think of one place where Stefan's blood has got to be, and if we're lucky some of his hair, too. In the crypt.† Bonnie flinched, but Meredith simply nodded. â€Å"Of course,† she said. â€Å"While Stefan was tied up there, he must have bled all over the place. And in that kind of fight he might have lost some hair. If only everything down there has been left undisturbed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I don't think anybody's been down there since Elena died,† Matt said. â€Å"The police investigated and then left it. But there's only one way to find out.† I was wrong, Bonnie thought. I was worrying about whether Matt could deal with Stefan coming back, and here he is doing everything he can to help us summon him. â€Å"Matt, I could kiss you!† she said. â€Å"All the girls say that,† he replied calmly at last, with a shrug of mock resignation. It was as close as he'd gotten to lightheartedness all day. Meredith, however, was serious. â€Å"Let's go. We've got a lot to do, and the last thing we want is to get stuck in the crypt after dark.† The crypt was beneath the ruined church that stood on a hill in the cemetery. It's only late afternoon, plenty of light left, Bonnie kept telling herself as they walked up the hill, but goose-flesh broke out on her arms anyway. The modern cemetery on one side was bad enough, but the old graveyard on the other side was downright spooky even in daylight. There were so many crumbling headstones tilting crazily in the overgrown grass, representing so many young men killed in the Civil War. You didn't have to be psychic to feel their presence. â€Å"Unquiet spirits,† she muttered. â€Å"Hmm?† said Meredith as she stepped over the pile of rubble that was one wall of the ruined church. â€Å"Look, the lid of the tomb's still off. That's good news; I don't think we would have been able to lift it.† Bonnie's eyes lingered wistfully on the white marble statues carved on the displaced lid. Hon-oria Fell lay there with her husband, hands folded on her breast, looking as gentle and sad as ever. But Bonnie knew there would be no more help from that quarter. Honoria's duties as protector of the town she'd founded were done. Leaving Elena holding the bag, Bonnie thought grimly, looking down into the rectangular hole that led to the crypt. Iron rungs disappeared into darkness. Even with the help of Meredith's flashlight it was hard to climb down into that underground room. Inside, it was dank and silent, the walls faced with polished stone. Bonnie tried not to shiver. â€Å"Look,† said Meredith quietly. Matt had the flashlight trained on the iron gate that separated the anteroom of the crypt from its main chamber. The stone below was stained black with blood in several places. Looking at the puddles and rivulets of dried gore made Bonnie feel dizzy. â€Å"We know Damon was hurt the worst,† Meredith said, moving forward. She sounded calm, but Bonnie could hear the tight control in her voice. â€Å"So he must have been on this side where there's the most blood. Stefan said Elena was in the center. That means Stefan himself must have been†¦ here.† She bent down. â€Å"I'll do it,† Matt said gruffly. â€Å"You hold the light.† With a plastic picnic knife from Meredith's car he scraped at the encrusted stone. Bonnie swallowed, glad she'd had only tea for lunch. Blood was all right in the abstract, but when you were actually confronted with so much of it-especially when it was the blood of a friend who'd been tortured†¦ And then, thought Bonnie, she faked her own death to get Stefan and Damon to stop fighting over her. But it didn't work. They hated each other more than ever, and she hated both of them for that. She'd gone back to the vampire who made her, and over the years she'd turned as evil as he was. Until at last all she wanted to do was destroy the brothers she had once loved. She'd lured them both to Fell's Church to kill them, and this room was where she'd almost succeeded in doing it. Elena had died stopping her. â€Å"There,† Matt said, and Bonnie blinked and came back to herself. Matt was standing with a paper napkin that now held flakes of Stefan's blood in its folds. â€Å"Now the hair,† he said. They swept the floor with their fingers, finding dust and bits of leaves and fragments of things Bonnie didn't want to identify. Among the detritus were long strands of pale gold hair. Elena's-or Katherine's, Bonnie thought. They had looked much alike. There were also shorter strands of dark hair, crisp with a slight wave. Stefan's. It was slow, finicky work sorting through it all and putting the right hairs in another napkin. Matt did most of it. When they were through, they were all tired and the light sifting down through the rectangular opening in the ceiling was dim blue. But Meredith smiled tigerishly. â€Å"We've got it,† she said. â€Å"Tyler wants Stefan back; well, we'll give him Stefan back.† And Bonnie, who had been only half paying attention to what she was doing, still lost in her own thoughts, froze. She'd been thinking about other things entirely, nothing to do with Tyler, but at the mention of his name something had winked on in her mind. Something she'd realized in the parking lot and then forgotten afterward in the heat of arguing. Meredith's words had triggered it and now it was suddenly all clear again. How had he known! she wondered, heart racing. â€Å"Bonnie? What's the matter?† â€Å"Meredith,† she said softly, â€Å"did you tell the police specifically that we were in the living room when everything was going on upstairs with Sue?† â€Å"No, I think I just said we were downstairs. Why?† â€Å"Bonnie, if you're trying to suggest Tyler was the murderer, it just won't wash. He's not smart enough to organize a killing spree, for one thing,† Meredith said. â€Å"But there's something else. Meredith, last year at the Junior Prom, Tyler touched me on my bare shoulder. I'll never forget it. His hand was big, and meaty, and hot, and damp.† Bonnie shivered at the recollection. â€Å"Just like the hand that grabbed me last night.† But Meredith was shaking her head, and even Matt looked unconvinced. â€Å"Elena's sure wasting her time asking us to bring back Stefan, then,† he said. â€Å"I could take care of Tyler with a couple of right hooks.† â€Å"Think about it, Bonnie,† Meredith added. â€Å"Does Tyler have the psychic power to move a Ouija board or come into your dreams? Does he?† He didn't. Psychically speaking, Tyler was as much a dud as Caroline. Bonnie couldn't deny it. But she couldn't deny her intuition, either. It didn't make sense, but she still felt Tyler had been in the house last night. â€Å"We'd better get moving,† Meredith said. â€Å"It's dark, and your father's going to be furious.† They were all silent on the ride home. Bonnie was still thinking about Tyler. Once at her house they smuggled the napkins upstairs and began looking through Bonnie's books on Druids and Celtic magic. Ever since she'd discovered that she was descended from the ancient race of magic workers, Bonnie had been interested in the Druids. And in one of the books she found a ritual for a summoning spell. â€Å"We need to buy candles,† she said. â€Å"And pure water-better get some bottled,† she said to Meredith. â€Å"And chalk to draw a circle on the floor, and something to make a small fire in. I can find those in the house. There's no hurry; the spell has to be done at midnight.† Midnight was a long time coming. Meredith bought the necessary items at a grocery store and brought them back. They ate dinner with Bonnie's family, though no one had much of an appetite. By eleven o'clock Bonnie had the circle drawn on the hardwood floor of her bedroom and all the other ingredients on a low bench inside the circle. On the stroke of twelve she started. With Matt and Meredith watching, she made a small fire in an earthenware bowl. Three candles were burning behind the bowl; she stuck a pin halfway down the one in the center. Then she unfolded a napkin and carefully stirred the dried flakes of blood into a wineglass of water. It turned rusty pink. She opened the other napkin. Three pinches of dark hair went into the fire, sizzling with a terrible smell. Then three drops of the stained water, hissing. Swift on the heel thou comest, Thrice summoned by my spell, Thrice troubled by my burning. Come to me without delay. She read the words aloud slowly, three times. Then she sat back on her heels. The fire went on burning smokily. The candle flames danced. â€Å"And now what?† Matt said. â€Å"I don't know. It just says wait for the middle candle to burn down to the pin.† â€Å"And what then?† â€Å"I guess we'll find out when it happens.† In Florence, it was dawn. Stefan watched the girl move down the stairway, one hand resting lightly on the banister to keep her balance. Her movements were slow and slightly dreamlike, as if she were floating. Suddenly, she swayed and clutched at the banister more tightly. Stefan moved quickly behind her and put a hand under her elbow. â€Å"Are you all right?† She looked up at him with the same dreaminess. She was very pretty. Her expensive clothes were the latest fashion and her stylishly disarrayed hair was blond. A tourist. He knew she was American before she spoke. â€Å"Yes†¦ I think†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Her brown eyes were unfocused. â€Å"Do you have a way to get home? Where are you staying?† â€Å"On Via dei Conti, near the Medici chapel. I'm with the Gonzaga in Florence program.† Damn! Not a tourist, then; a student. And that meant she'd be carrying this story back with her, telling her classmates about the handsome Italian guy she'd met last night. The one with night-dark eyes. The one who took her back to his exclusive place on Via Tornabuoni and wined her and dined her and then, in the moonlight, maybe, in his room or out in the enclosed courtyard, leaned close to look into her eyes and†¦ Stefan's gaze slid away from the girl's throat with its two reddened puncture wounds. He'd seen marks like that so often-how could they still have the power to disturb him? But they did; they sickened him and set a slow burning in his gut. â€Å"What's your name?† â€Å"Rachael. With an a.† She spelled it. â€Å"All right, Rachael. Look at me. You will go back to your pensione and you won't remember anything about last night. You don't know where you went or who you saw. And you've never seen me before, either. Repeat.† â€Å"Good. Do you have money to get back? Here.† Stefan pulled a fistful of crumpled lire-mostly 50,000 and 100,000 notes-out of his pocket and led her outside. When she was safely in a cab, he went back inside and made straight for Damon's bedroom. Damon was lounging near the window, peeling an orange, not even dressed yet. He looked up, annoyed, as Stefan entered. â€Å"It's customary to knock,† he said. â€Å"Where'd you meet her?† said Stefan. And then, when Damon turned a blank stare on him, he added, â€Å"That girl. Rachael.† â€Å"Was that her name? I don't think I bothered to ask. At Bar Gilli. Or perhaps it was Bar Mario. Why?† Stefan struggled to contain his anger. â€Å"That's not the only thing you didn't bother to do. You didn't bother to influence her to forget you, either. Do you want to get caught, Damon?† Damon's lips curved in a smile and he twisted off a curlicue of orange peel. â€Å"I am never caught, little brother,† he said. â€Å"So what are you going to do when they come after you? When somebody realizes, ‘My God, there's a bloodsucking monster on Via Tornabuoni'? Kill them all? Wait until they break down the front door and then melt away into darkness?† Damon met his gaze directly, challengingly, that faint smile still clinging about his lips. â€Å"Why not?† he said. â€Å"Damn you!† said Stefan. â€Å"Listen to me, Damon. This has got to stop.† â€Å"I'm touched at your concern for my safety.† â€Å"It isn't fair, Damon. To take an unwilling girl like that-â€Å" â€Å"Oh, she was willing, brother. She was very, very willing.† â€Å"Did you tell her what you were going to do? Did you warn her about the consequences of exchanging blood with a vampire? The nightmares, the psychic visions? Was she willing for that?† Damon clearly wasn't going to reply, so he went on. â€Å"You know it's wrong.† â€Å"As a matter of fact, I do.† With that, Damon gave one of his sudden, unnerving smiles, turning it on and off instantly. Damon tossed away the orange. His tone was silky, persuasive. â€Å"Little brother, the world is full of what you call ‘wrong,' † he said. â€Å"Why not relax and join the winning side? It's much more fun, I assure you.† Stefan felt himself go hot with anger. â€Å"How can you even say that?† he flashed back. â€Å"Didn't you learn anything from Katherine? She chose ‘the winning side.' â€Å" â€Å"Katherine died too quickly,† said Damon. He was smiling again, but his eyes were cold. â€Å"And now all you can think about is revenge.† Looking at his brother, Stefan felt a crushing weight settle on his own chest. â€Å"That and your own pleasure,† he said. â€Å"What else is there? Pleasure is the only reality, little brother-pleasure and power. And you're a hunter by nature, just as much as I am,† Damon said. He added, â€Å"I don't remember inviting you to come to Florence with me, anyway. Since you're not enjoying yourself, why don't you just leave?† The weight in Stefan's chest tightened suddenly, unbearably, but his gaze, locked with Damon's, did not waver. â€Å"You know why,† he said quietly. And at last he had the satisfaction of seeing Damon's eyes drop. Stefan himself could hear Elena's words in his mind. She'd been dying then, and her voice had been weak, but he'd heard her clearly. You have to take care of each other. Stefan, will you promise? Promise to take care of each other? And he had promised, and he would keep his word. No matter what. â€Å"You know why I don't leave,† he said again to Damon, who wouldn't look at him. â€Å"You can pretend you don't care. You can fool the whole world. But I know differently.† It would have been kindest at this point to leave Damon alone, but Stefan wasn't in a kind mood. â€Å"You know that girl you picked up, Rachael?† he added. â€Å"The hair was all right, but her eyes were the wrong color. Elena's eyes were blue.† With that he turned, meaning to leave Damon here to think it over-if Damon would do anything so constructive, of course. But he never made it to the door. â€Å"It's there!† said Meredith sharply, her eyes on the candle flame and the pin. Bonnie sucked in her breath. Something was opening in front of her like a silver thread, a silver tunnel of communication. She was rushing along it, with no way to stop herself or check her speed. Oh, God, she thought, when I reach the end and hit – The flash in Stefan's head was soundless, lightless, and powerful as a thunderclap. At the same time he felt a violent, wrenching tug. An urge to follow- something. This was not like Katherine's sly subliminal nudging to go somewhere; this was a psychic shout. A command that could not be disobeyed. Inside the flash he sensed a presence, but he could scarcely believe who it was. this was a psychic shout. A command that could not be disobeyed. Inside the flash he sensed a presence, but he could scarcely believe who it was. Stefan! It's you! It worked! Bonnie, what have you done? Elena told me to. Honestly, Stefan, she did. We're in trouble and we need- And that was it. The communication collapsed, caving in on itself, dwindling to a pinpoint. It was gone, and in its aftermath the room vibrated with Power. Stefan and his brother were left staring at each other. Bonnie let out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and opened her eyes, though she didn't remember closing them. She was lying on her back. Matt and Meredith were crouched over her, looking alarmed. â€Å"What happened? Did it work?† Meredith demanded. â€Å"It worked.† She let them help her up. â€Å"I made contact with Stefan. I talked to him. Now all we can do is wait and see if he's coming or not.† â€Å"Did you mention Elena?† Matt asked. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Then he's coming.†

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Investment and Portfolio Management for Pricing - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theInvestment and Portfolio Management for Asset Pricing. Answer: Asset Pricing Model Asset pricing model is theoretically a model that is used to determine the accurate expected or estimated return rate of an asset in order to implement decisions linked with the addition of assets so that it can be displayed in a diversified portfolio. Essentially the model aims at determining the sensitivity of the particular asset in respect to a market risk. The asset pricing model is applied by the investors in order to verify and ultimately choose a set of securities that will add to the rate of return and finally result in a higher rate of portfolio return, keeping in mind the optimum level of risk. The Capital Asset Pricing Model is one of the most acclaimed methods which are largely used by investors in order to determine and select a well diversified portfolio. The two major variables included in the selection of portfolio management is the desired risk involved and the expected rate of return that is assumed after keeping the risk in mind. There are a lot of applications of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. The first application is where the CAPM is used to define the risk premium of an asset which is observed as a contribution by risk related to the total assets in the portfolio of the investors. The next application lies in the fact that the CAPM is used to get a more real or true rate of return rather than selecting an investmen t on the basis of estimated rate of return. The most effective application of CAPM lies in the method where the beta coefficient is calculated using the regression analysis. The validity of the CAPM model is based on arguable terms. This means that some experts are of the view that the beta coefficient though does properly assess the rate of return but it is not the only determinant of the expected returns. The other experts also noted that the beta if not measured properly will definitely lead to errors. But in spite of all these limitations CAPM is used worldwide by investors (Dempsey 2013). For instance when a choice is provided between two investments, the one with the higher beta coefficient has to be selected. Bonds -sensitivity to interest rate changes Bonds are essentially financial statements that are used in order to obtain a continuous inflow of cash payments in the form of interest at regular intervals. Risk related to the payment of interests related to a bond is the factor that affects the price of bonds. Bonds are highly sensitive to the change in interest rates. The yield or discount rate that is attached with a particular bond when increases, the price of the bond decreases and when the yield decreases the price increases. Thus when the interest rates fluctuate in the market, the yield or discount rates of the bonds increase therefore the price of the bonds decrease. The fluctuations in short-term interest rates will definitely affect different types of bonds with different maturity terms. In times of inflation a particular firm may increase the yield of a particular bond in order to retain its investors but in the process the price of the bond will surely decrease. The weaknesses related to the bonds are the credit risk and fluctuation in the rate of interest risk. The fluctuation in the rate of interest risk is the primary weakness as described above and secondly the credit risk is the risk that is associated with risk of default. Therefore these are the two weaknesses associated with bonds (Woodford 2012). Portfolio performance The performances of the portfolio of an investor depend not only upon the estimated rate of return but also on the percentage of desired risk that is involved in the particular investment. In order to measure the effectiveness of the portfolio there are three measures namely the Treynor Measure, Sharpe ratio and Jensen measure. Treynor measure refers to the method in which the concept of security maket line has been introduced. According to this concept the relationship between the market rate of returns and the portfolio returns is defined with the help of a curve in which the slope of the curve measures the volatility between the market and the portfolio. The Treynor measure is generally used when the a particular sub portfolio has to be analyzed out of a set of large number of portfolios. Sharpe ratio is probably similar to the Treynor measure only that the risk involved in the venture is measured with the help of standard deviation of the portfolio rather than just considering the market risk involved. This method is used when the portfolio acts as a representative of the entire investment. Lastly the most effective measure is the Jensen measure which is primarily based on Capital Asset Pricing Model. This method tends to measure the excess return over the estimated or expected rate of return and the return is measured with the help of alpha. The Jensen measure is used to calculate the amount that is to be payable to the portfolio manager. For an instance a particular manager managing more than one investments in hand will obviously compare them to each other on the basis of the above measures provided and select the one with optimum rate or return as well optimum percentage of risk involved. Therefore this is the way in which the effectiveness and rate of return can be measured thus helping the investors to select the venture in which the investment has to be done (Unger, Gemnden and Aubry 2012). Referencing Dempsey, M., 2013. The capital asset pricing model (CAPM): the history of a failed revolutionary idea in finance?. Abacus, 49(S1), pp.7-23. Woodford, M., 2012. Methods of policy accommodation at the interest-rate lower bound. The Changing Policy Landscape, pp.185-288. Unger, B.N., Gemnden, H.G. and Aubry, M., 2012. The three roles of a project portfolio management office: Their impact on portfolio management execution and success. International Journal of Project Management, 30(5), pp.608-620.

Manipulation In Animal Farm Essays - British Films, Cold War Films

Manipulation in Animal Farm Manipulation in Animal Farm The easy manipulation of human nature is illustrated in "Animal Farm" The Pigs of Animal Farm repetidly abused the animals. Because of their lack of intelligence and strength the animals became victims of the pigs. The easy manipulationof human nature is illustrated in "Animal Farm" A. The animals weren't strong enough to compete with the stronger pigs. 1. Napoleon's dogs killed many of the animals, "the remaining animals, except for the pigs and dogs, crept away in a body" (p. 837). 2. The pigs trained the sheep to stop the animals from speaking, "they might have uttered some word of protest...all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating"(p. 852). 3. Mr. Pilkington said "they have lower classes, and pigs have lower animals" (p. 854). 4. The pigs strength wasn't the only advantage they had over the animals. B. Many of the animals didn't have enough education to know what happened on the farm. 1. Only a few animals knew the alphabet, "none of the other animals on the farm could get further than the letter A" most didn't even know their names (p. 819). 2. Boxer couldn't remember but a few letters, "Boxer could not get beyond the letter D" (p. 819). 3. The animals needed other animals to read for them, "Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written" (p. 853). 4. Because of the lack of intelligence the animals could easily be vitimized. C. The farm animals didn't realize they were being manipulated. 1. Squelar claimed the farm was better off than in Jones's day, "he had no difficulty in proving to the other animals that they awere better off" (p.845). 2. Boxer was sent to the slaughterer, Squelar tricked the animals into believing otherwise, "his little eyes darted sucpiciously" (p. 849). 3. The animals didn't realize the pigs had changed the commandments, "Clover had not remembered that the fourth commandment mentioned sheets" (p. 832) 4. Napoleon and the pigs easily tricked and lied to the animals without their knowledge. D. The pigs from the beginning to the end used force to overpower the farm animals. 1. Squelars speaches and convincing arguments kept the animals from knowing to much. 2. Training the sheep and using other tactics left the animals powerless to stop the pigs, as long as the pigs kept up their lies. 3. I disliked the pigs, Napoloen showed what can happen with absolute power.