Elena's P.O.V
We walked in silence and I have to say, it was starting to get to me. Why couldn't someone talk? All Damon did was make sarcastic comments to Jarrett, who for the record, was trying to be civil, Damon was just pushing his buttons, intentionally I might add. So, it was, in fact, Damon's fault.
"How far in Blodwedd's ballroom exactly?" I asked, breaking the silence.
"About…….two days? Yeah, I'd say about that far, well on foot anyway." I had squeezed Damon's hand when he'd said two days but at the mention of another way, I slackened my death grip.
"There are cars here?"
Jarrett chuckled, looking back at me from over his shoulder. His eyes flashed to my hand in Damon's and his laugh began to sound forced. He turned back ahead. "No, not exactly." He said curtly.
"What's the other way? A boat?" I wanted to save Stefan as soon as possible.
"Wrong."
"Then how?!" I asked, frustrating. He was almost as bad as Damon when it came to getting a straight answer.
"I doubt you'd want to mess with them. Let's just walk."
"But if it's quicker-" I started to object weakly, I wanted to get there but he sounded like he wasn't going to budge.
"Listen Jarrett," Damon spat his name like the worse insult, cutting off my feeble attempts at persuasion. "Just tell us the other way to get there. We're kind of pressed for time." He said, glaring at the werewolf's back. Jarrett was quiet and I squeezed Damon's hand, looking up at him, trying to tell him thank you for sticking up for me. His black orbs flicked to meet my gaze and he rolled his eyes, a look of slight amusement on his face. He was enjoying degrading Jarrett; he didn't really need a big reason. I glared at him with that thought and he just shook his head, a smirk on his features.
"Well?" Damon asked, breaking whatever he just happened between us. It was like we were bickering like a couple, I thought, before chunking the thought from my head. Stefan, Stefan, Stefan, I began chanting my mantra in my head. Almost instantly, I released Damon's head as if he had burned me. This was wrong, so very wrong. I looked down in shame. Stefan, I love Stefan, not Damon. Damon's bad, Stefan's good. Stefan. And this little chant continued in my head, making me feel increasingly guilty.
"There are these things," I was pulled back into reality as Jarrett began his slow explanation. "I believe in the world of the living they're called horses."
"Horses? There are horses here?"
"They aren't like the horses you're custom too, I'm sure. The bird you took down back there, that was a canary. I believe in the world of the living, canary's are quite smaller and cuter and non-bloodthirsty, am I right?" He looked back over his shoulder and he flashed me a smile when he saw that my hand was no longer in Damon's.
"Yeah….." I said, thinking. What would a horse look like here? I might not want to meet them, I thought.
"Well our horses are bloodthirsty, are wild, but are relatively the same size."
"I don't want to be eaten by a horse." I said. Jarrett started laughing.
"Don't worry, there are muzzles, but I doubt you want to deal with them. They're usually quite the handful. I bet the leech could handle one but you, I'm not so sure. He said. "Not on your own anyway." He added as an after thought, looking off in the distance at nothing in particular. Thinking.
"Where would we get these crazy muzzled horses?" I asked, watching him intently. He seemed shocked, staring at me like I was crazy.
"You seriously want to try to ride one?"
I shrugged. "Sure, as long as we get to Blodwedd's ballroom as quick as possible." I said. He shook his head, a small smile on his face.
"You are definitely a rarity, I'll give you that." He mumbled and I saw Damon glare at him. Jealous much? I thought. I chuckled at the thought. Damon? Jealous? Yeah, that'll be the day.
Jarrett's P.O.V (didn't expect that did ya?)
"You are definitely a rarity, I'll give you that." I mumbled, feeling the angered gaze of the leech on my back. I turned forward again, hiding my rolling eyes. The last thing I needed was one of them suspecting me. Elena…….she was a rarity. One I wasn't going to let get away. Only, this stupid bloodsucker keeps hanging around. I have to think of a way to shake him. Obviously, she's not sure about her feelings for him. I don't know if she told me the whole story last night, but either way, she's not in love with Damon. I can tell. He loves her though and he obviously doesn't trust a word I say, so he won't leave me with her for a minute. I can't fight him, he'd kill me in a second. So I've got to get Elena to make him go away. I smiled, making sure that neither of them saw. This will be perfect.
"The horse farm actually isn't very far from here." I threw over my shoulder, ignoring the leech. A plan was beginning to form in my head. Perfect.
I led them through the forest until I came to the hill. I pointed to a house at the bottom with fields of demon horse surrounding it.
"That's the rancher's house." I said to Elena. She nodded and we all went down the hill. I knocked on the door.
"Hello?" an older man asked as he opened the door. I smiled at him.
"Hi Jim. I need three horses." The plan revolving around in my head. This would work perfectly, it had too.
"Right this way." Jim said leading us into the barn. "Give me a hand, would ya Jarrett?" Jim called as he went to fetch three horses. I nodded and ran to catch up with him.
When we were far away from Damon and Elena I said, "Jim, get me two that are trained."
"And the other one?"
"Get me Shadow." I said. Jim eyes widened a little.
"What ya want with that beast?"
"I want to become acquainted with the blond. The beautiful Miss Elena."
"And how does killing yourself ridin' Shadow benefit you?"
"Oh no, he's not for me."
"Ah, getting' rid of the competition, good idea."
"Again, wrong."
Jim looked confused. "What, you goin' to get the girl killed if you let 'er ride Shadow."
"I want her to get thrown off."
Jim gave me a skeptical look. "I don't think I understand your mind, boy."
"The leech would expect that I'd hurt him, so of course he would know I was intentionally going to hurt him. Plus, I'm pretty sure he'd be able to handle Shadow anyway."
"Can't nobody handle Shadow, boy." Jim corrected. I shrugged.
"Maybe but that's not the point. See if Elena can't handle her own horse, she'll have to ride with someone else, namely me."
"Shadow will kill her, Jarrett." Jim said sternly. I shook my head.
"The moment he acts up, Damon will step in. He's very……protective of her. And while he's taking care of Shadow, I can take care of the beautiful Elena."
Jim shook his head. "You're messed up in the head, boy, but whatever. Go through with your crazy plan if you want too. I'll play along."
"Thanks Jim." I said, grinning as we headed to the pens. We grabbed two of the tamer ones and then Jim went to catch Shadow. I smirked at this thought. This'll work perfectly.
I got back to them then and Elena ran her eyes over the two horses.
"There's only two there." She stated the obvious, giving me a suspicious look.
"I know, Jim's going to get another one."
"Why couldn't he just get one with these?"
"These were the only two left in that barn. It's a pain trying to catch these things so he went to the other barn. He already had a few caught and muzzled in there."
"Oh, okay." Elena said.
"Well, here you go." Jim said as he came up behind me with Shadow in tow. The demon looked slightly tamer than usual. I threw Jim a curious look and he smiled slightly. Okay, so he had something planned. "I thought, seeing as you two new at this, that you'd like to try it out in the field. Don't wanta lose any of my horses if ya'll fall off." Ah, genius.
"Sure, I think I need it!" Elena said excitedly, running over to Shadow's side. He was, by far, one of the more beautiful horses, though he was completely and totally wild and untamable. I hope she doesn't get hurt too much.
I looked over at Damon, seeing his black eyes flash around, observing and taking in everything. He met my gaze and he glared at me, showing his obvious hatred. I smirked. Annoying he was but he could take care of Shadow, while I care for any of Elena's wounds. This is so brilliant.
"Well, follow me." Jim said and he led Elena and Shadow out. I offered Damon a horse, a smirk on my face, and he surprised me by taking the offered pair of reins.
"What, don't think I picked an evil horse and just gave him too you?" I said. He rolled his eyes, a little humor along with some superiority. He thought he was better than me.
"What I ruin your plans?"
I shrugged. "Just wondering."
"If you must know, it's that simple question that let's me know that you didn't set me up with an 'evil' horse."
"How?" I asked, wondering how he could know that. Again, there was that superiority and humor as he rolled his eyes yet again. It was like I was a child and he was the grown up, playing along with what I said thought really thinking I'm stupid.
"I hate you. You know that. If you did pick an evil horse, you wouldn't offer him too me, cause you'd think I wouldn't take it. You're a lot of things but I don't believe you have a death wish. I doubt any of these horses are any danger to me anyways." Then he looked up at Elena, who was chatting with Jim. "But, if anything happens to Elena though," his black eyes looked at me and once again I fought to not shudder. They were like black ice, cold and hard. "If anything happens to Elena though, you'd better tuck your tail between your legs and run like that dog you are, because I'll hunt you down and kill you." I looked ahead, trying to keep my face neutral. I really hope this works, because if it doesn't, I'm dead. I knew Damon wouldn't play around when it came to Elena.
"How 'bout you give it a try first, boy. See how you do." Jim said to Damon. Damon rolled his eyes, but with less coldness as it had been with me. At least he doesn't hate Jim, I thought.
"Though it's has been awhile since I've ridden a horse," he started before throwing a leg over the horse and sitting on top of the horse. "I seriously doubt I'll have any problems."
"Whatever you say, boy." Jim said. "Guess it's you next then, little lady." He said, holding Shadow still as she mounted him. Suddenly I said Shadow's eyes spark. Whatever Jim dosed him with was wearing off. I looked at Damon who was watching Elena and Jim as he explained the basic rules of riding.
"Well," Jim was finishing up his little talk. "that's about it. Why don't you try taking him for a little walk?" he said, before backing up as Elena patted Shadow's neck. Suddenly, I could feel the tension. Damon, sensing something, tensed in the saddle.
Then just like that, Shadow went crazy. He jumped in the air before bucking and spinning in a circle. Ready for it, I ran as Elena went flying off and just managed to catch her before she crashed into the ground.
"Elena? Elena?! Are you okay!? I'm so sorry, I had no idea that would happen! Are you okay? Elena?!" I asked, acting shocked and scared. She gave me a weak smile before standing on her on feet, though she grabbed onto my shoulder for balance.
"I'm fine and of course you didn't have anything to do with it. You were no where near us and it's a horse, they're kind of unpredictable." She said, giving a weak laugh. She was trembling a little, obviously shaken.
"I'm still so sorry, maybe we just shouldn't ride the horses." I said, knowing her answer.
"No, no! I can ride!" Though I saw her hesitation.
"I don't think it's safe. Maybe you shouldn't ride alone?" I said. She gave me a curious yet not untrusting look. "You could ride with me; I could make sure you didn't fall."
She smiled, "That's sounds perfect, and we can still get to Stefan faster than on foot." I smiled at her.
Suddenly, I noticed the lack of ruckus. I looked up and saw Shadow, chewing idly and dully at the ground as Damon stood by him, running his pale fingers slightly across his neck while glaring at me. Jim look utterly shocked and confused. I have to say, I was shocked too, though I tried to hide it. Damon made Shadow as tame as a kitten in less than a minute. Bet he used some sort of mind manipulation.
"Elena, please tell you me don't believe a word this idiot says." He said.
"What do you mean Damon?" she asked.
"You most likely set this up." I hid my expression, instead putting on a little hurt but not extremely hurt, that would be over-kill.
"Damon, I might do that to you but not Elena." I said sternly, yet still slightly hurt. I mentally smirked, I'm getting good at this.
Damon rolled his eyes, that stupid superiority coming in again, only this time, there was no humor. Only hatred. "Which is exactly why you just told me that. You want me to believe that. No, correction, you could careless what I think, it's what Elena thinks of you."
I glared at Damon. Dang, he's smarter than I thought. "Damon-" I started to object but was cut off by Elena's laugh.
"Damon, you're reading too much into it. You're worried for nothing. Jarrett wouldn't hurt me." She said, like it was the silliest thing in the world. Damon glared at me for a second or two more before rolling his eyes and completely changing his features to be one of complete humor.
He flashed Elena a half-second smile, which she returned with a smile of her own. I felt a wave of jealousy as he got that reaction out of her.
"I guess you're right. What would he gain from hurting you? Or me for that matter. I'm not the only competition after all." He said, throwing me a half-second smile as well, taunting me with his eyes. He had to of seen the slight shock and jealousy in my eyes before I managed to hide it.
Not the only competition?
I think this is a little longer than usual. What do you think? I like what Damon says at the end, you know, messing with Jarrett's mind. It's funny and Elena's obvious. No matter, please review and tell me how you like it please!