AN: Hey guys! I was shocked to see 761 views last night! :D You guys are awesome, and I was beaming all night because of the amount of reviews! I get them on my blackberry, so they make me happy wherever I am! Here's the next chapter, I hope you guys like! I'm having trouble writing Elena, so let me know if I'm on target or not. Much love and happy reading!
"Can you remember where it is?" Elena asked from the backseat. They'd decided to go back to the site of the coven to look for answers. If there were any, they'd be back there.
Damon bit back a retort. "When we drove there two days ago, we were still lucid. We remember getting out of the car, but nothing after. We should be coming up to it soon." He said, pulling off one of Stefan's best comforting smiles. He saw a flash of anger cross Stefan's face as he sat behind the wheel, something else that Damon had skilfully orchestrated. Elena had to know that Damon always insisted on driving the Camaro, and Stefan had only clued in to that halfway through the drive.
"You've been awful quiet, Damon" Elena said, leaning forward between the seats to look at Stefan.
"Not much to say right now." He'd given up on trying to tell her that he was really Stefan. Damon was doing an amazing job pretending to be him, and Elena was eating it up. OF course, Damon was the master manipulator, Stefan should have seen this coming. Either way, Elena would eventually notice what had happened. Damon could only keep acting for so long, and Stefan had already seen him bite back snide remarks.
"Someone's in a mood" Elena said, reaching forward to tweak the dial on the radio.
"I think he's upset that his little charade hasn't been working" Damon said, looking at Stefan.
Elena turned to Stefan, smirking. "Seriously, Damon. I'm disappointed that you didn't put more work into it. 'No Elena! I'm Stefan!'? Really? You can do much better than that." She ruffled Damon's hair, and if he wasn't pretending to be humble, he would have gloated. This was working perfectly.
"Seriously. If you two had switched places, I would know." She slid back to her seat, crossing her arms and catching Stefan's eyes in the rear-view mirror. For Damon's piercing blue, there definitely wasn't any mischief in them.
"We're coming up to the turnoff" Damon said, pointing from the passenger seat. A grown-over sign read Spirits of the Eastern Dawn. Apparently this place used to be a big enough deal to have a sign. Odd, Elena thought. Didn't covens keep themselves hidden, like Bonnie and her grandmother? They turned and headed down a narrow dirt road, and Elena was surprised that the low-sitting Camaro wasn't sinking into the mud.
"Why would we take the Camaro?" She asked, looking at Stefan. "We could have taken Jenna's Ford SUV...it would have made more sense." She looked at the deep tire ruts ahead of them, wondering how they'd driven over this road before.
"Because Damon always has something to prove" Stefan said from Damon's body. Elena raised an eyebrow.
"Starting this up again?" She asked, sighing.
"I'm telling you the truth, Elena" Stefan said, locking eyes with her in the mirror. Elena didn't look impressed.
"I wonder why I don't believe you, after all the other times you were supposedly telling the truth..." Damon flinched in his seat, not visibly enough for Elena to see. Stefan smiled.
"You'll see eventually." Stefan said. With that, they hit a low point in the road that sent the Camaro screeching to a halt. Elena lurched forward, and was pushed back by Stefan's arm from the passenger's seat. Damon turned to her.
"Seatbelt, Elena?" He asked, lowering Stefan's arm and giving her a stern look of disapproval.
"Sorry, I'm used to Damon driving...normally he's a lot more on the ball" She said, playfully punching Stefan in the arm. Stefan sighed, stepping out of the driver's side door and examining the damage. An overgrown root was blocking the bumper.
"We won't be able to go any farther by car, but then again it doesn't look like anyone else has gone further anyways" Stefan said, motioning to the lack of tire treads on the road after the root. He stepped over it, not remembering this part. They'd gotten out of the carat the same point, but Stefan couldn't seem to remember anything after it, including hitting the root.
"Are you ok, Elena?" Damon asked, running a hand through her hair and putting on a concerned face that was only half fake.
"I'm fine Stefan, just a little dizzy" She said, smiling. The three of them started walking down the road, Stefan more annoyed by the second. He slid his hands into the pockets of Damon's Jeans, watching Damon and Elena walk ahead hand in hand. It hurt.
Damon looked up, seeing smoke drifting lazily through the trees. He could see the beginnings of a clearing up ahead, and he recognized it somewhere in his mind. "I think that's it" He said, turning to Stefan. The smoke meant one of two things; either the witches were still here, or they were destroyed. They'd find out soon enough.
They walked towards the clearing, more and more of it starting to come into view. A large building stretched across the back of the clearing, and the smoke was coming from behind it. They walked across the clearing quickly, wanting to see what was happening. Damon walked to the edge of the building, pressing his back flat to it and peering around the corner. He walked around the side of the building.
"We don't have much to worry about. No one here is going to talk". There were bodies everywhere. There were easily twenty bodies, all killed in various ways. Bite marks were everywhere on them, and they were ghostly pale. The fire burning in the center of the gruesome scene was from a pit that was burning itself dead.
"Oh my god..." Elena said, covering her mouth and turning away, heaving. Stefan flashed to her, wrapping his arms around her and running a hand through her hair.
"It's ok, Elena."
"No Damon, it's not!" She said, looking at Stefan. He moved to wrap his arms tighter around her, and she slipped out of them.
"Did you do this!" She demanded, stepping backwards towards Stefan.
"No, Elena!" He looked confused "I mean, I don't know, but it wasn't me, it couldn't have been!" He looked at Damon.
"Damon, they were people" She said, turning to Damon and burying her face in his shoulder. She looked back at the scene, suddenly sick again.
"Elena, I didn't do it!" Stefan said "he did! We switched bodies somehow, I'm telling you the truth! The witches must have done it!" He looked at her with pleading eyes. "You have to know that I'd never do something like...like this!"
"Right, Damon" Damon said, looking at Stefan. "Seriously? After all you've done you expect her to believe that this wasn't you?" Stefan looked at him with hate. He wanted nothing more than to seriously injure Damon.
"All you care about is your stupid little game, Damon. People are dead here, and you're still pretending to be Stefan! What's wrong with you?" She slid her hands around Damon's waist. "Besides, if Stefan had done it, he'd be having trouble with the amount of blood here. You know he can't handle blood like you!"
Stefan placed his head in his hands. "Elena, it's Damon's body. It handles blood much better than mine."
"Even if you're right, why would you have drank blood other than mine yesterday?" She said, turning away from Damon.
"He gave me the glass right before you walked in! I didn't have any of it!" He pleaded.
"Can we just go?" She said, looking at Damon "I don't have time for this, and I can't look at that anymore" She motioned towards the bodies.
"Of course, hun" Damon said. Elena tipped her head, Stefan never called her hun. "We have to look for the Grimoire, though."
"Why?" Elena demanded, turning to him.
"We don't know what spell they put on Bonnie, and if she's going to reverse it she needs to know what they did" Damon said, pulling the answer out of thin air. "I talked to her yesterday afternoon, and the headaches are still there." He pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"No, He wants it so he can have his body back!" Stefan said, snapping at him.
Elena looked from one to the other, not sure what to believe. She stepped away from Damon, looking at him sideways. She wasn't so sure anymore.
Stefan stood. "Can we finish this later? We should find the Grimoire. It would be great to switch back and end this nightmare" He wanted Elena to have the idea that they'd switched thoroughly in her mind.
"Fine, but it's going to be a long ride home" She said, looking at them both. She decided it was better not to be close to either one until she figured out if they were telling the truth or not. She looked at Stefan, who shrugged.
"I'm not sure what's with him, but you're only going to give him time to play with you more than he already has. You have to know it's me, Elena. I'm not like him" Damon said, looking at Stefan. It was hard, not being sarcastic.
"If that's what it takes, then fine. Stefan, you shouldn't worry. I love you" She said, looking at Damon. He smiled.
"I love you too."
Stefan shook his head; he couldn't believe what was happening.
Elena dragged them both over the coals on the drive home. The Grimoire was nowhere to be found, and they made their way home after burying the bodies. Elena still wasn't sure whether or not Damon was making it all up, or if they actually had switched, and she decided to spend the night at home. Jenna was chopping away at some carrots in the kitchen, and from the looks of it she was hating it.
"Dinner not cooperating?" She asked, picking up one of the orange veggies.
Jenna sighed and stopped for a moment. "Damon gave me this recipe, and it's about as easy as the dessert one I got from him a while back. I think the two of us need to have a one-on-one cooking session"
"I'm sure that'll be lovely" Elena said sarcastically.
"Oh, I fully expect that it'll be the most sarcastic two hours of my life". Elena smiled. She liked talking to Jenna. It made her feel like there were no vampires, witches, or anything supernatural. She could talk about everyday normal things and feel like she was a part of them for five minutes. It was a good thing.
Jenna started chopping again "Jenna, how do I know that Stefan's the one?" She asked, biting into the carrot.
Jenna chopped more slowly. "I'm probably the last person to ask, but I'd say because he's always there for you." She thought for a moment. "Alaric makes me feel safe, keeps me on the edge of my seat (because I never know what he's up to!), and it's easy to be me around him. I don't have to be good or bad or humble, I can be me, and say whatever I'm thinking." She smiled. "I guess that's it. Find someone who excites you and loves you, and is honest with you. I'm sure Stefan isn't perfect, and he probably does things that annoy you, but as long as he loves you and watches out for you, you'll be fine."
"Thanks, Jenna. You're getting a lot better at the mom thing." Elena chewed her carrot slowly. Stefan was always there for her and protected her, but he wasn't always honest. He kept things from her, and more than once she'd felt betrayed because of it. Damon on the other hand could always be counted on to tell her exactly what was going on. Still, Damon wasn't the most stable of people in the world. She didn't know what to think. She'd been wondering if Stefan really was the one ever since Klaus had entered the picture. He'd gotten a lot more secretive, and he'd been treating her like a child. She knew he loved her, but love wasn't always everything.
"I'm gonna jump in the shower, and I'll be back down to check on your culinary mastery" Elena said, smiling.
"Don't expect too much, I'd hate to ruin your night!" Jenna called after her as she headed to the stairs.
"You've already made it better, Jenna." She smiled. She had a lot of thinking to do, and she didn't know where to start.
"Let's hope Stefan is really Stefan..." she said. Knowing that would make things much easier, for sure.