AN: Here it is! You guys are awesome :D! I had fun writing this chapter, apologies if it's a little short. Happy reading!
"Stefan, there's a mob of angry witches, remember?" God, his brother was stupid. Accidentally killed someone and has to stay and contemplate the consequences. Damon ran and grabbed his brother, pulling him off the body of the young man he'd killed.
"Damon, no"
"Stefan, I don't have time for this. See the witches? They know all kinds of fun witchy things to make life miserable." He dragged him along. "Now run, will you?" Stefan started running, pushing Damon off of him.
Blackout.
Damon's eyes opened, there was ash on his body. A man was chanting over him. Blackout again.
Awake. The clearing is full of bodies. Two forms are standing amidst the corpses, a man and a woman. Faces.
Blackout.
Damon woke with a start. He remembered. There were two witches left alive, and he had to find them. The bodies in his dreams had no bite-marks, meaning Stefan and He hadn't done it. Made sense, neither of them was strong enough to have drank that many bodies worth of blood. Damon got out of bed and headed down the hall to Stefan's dismally disorganized room. It was amazing how unnerving it was, looking at his own body asleep.
"Stefan..." Damon said, tilting his head. No response. He leaned down to Stefan's ear. "Stefan!" He snapped. Stefan jumped, disoriented for a moment.
"What the...Damon?" He said.
"Yes. Now to the important part: I remembered something about the other day."
Stefan groggily looked at him. "Great, what is it?" He reached for a shirt, knowing that he probably wasn't going to get back to sleep. Damon had this irritating ability to ruin his comfortable moments.
"There were two other witches. Get dressed, I'm calling a friend. We're going to find them." He said, tossing a random shirt to him. Stefan shook his head. This would be another long day.
Elena knocked on Bonnie's door, praying that she was home. It was Saturday, and there wasn't much of anything going on in Mystic Falls that would drag her away. She raised her hand to knock again when Bonnie opened the door, confused.
"Elena, it's eight in the morning!"
"I know Bonnie, I'm sorry." She said apologetically. "There's just something up with Stefan and Damon, and I'm hoping you can tell me what it is for sure. I brought stuff from both of them" she said, holding up Stefan's brush and Damon's belt.
"Come in" Bonnie said, pulling her friend in the door and shutting it. "They switched bodies." She said, matter-of-factly. "No witchy powers needed".
Elena sat down and shook her head. "I was afraid of that." She said.
"What happened?" Bonnie sensed that something was off with her friend.
"I didn't believe Stefan when he tried to tell me what happened...it's just—you know how Damon is. He does a pretty convincing job of being normal when it suits him." She said.
"Don't get me started on Damon." She said, crossing her arms.
Elena sighed. "This is so messed up." She felt horrible. She should have known that something was different, but it was always so hard to tell in a normal situation whether Damon was joking or not. Stefan's pleas for her to believe him seemed like one of Damon's tricks that he pulled when he was bored.
"No kidding." Bonnie said. "I have no idea who those witches are, let alone why they were stealing my power. For some reason I still have a splitting headache; I've taken nearly everything in the house to try to dull it down.
"Sometimes I kick myself for getting messed up in all of this" Elena said.
"Only sometimes?" Bonnie smiled.
"I only have time to think about it sometimes!"
Damon had insisted on driving today, and Stefan assumed it had to do with the fact that Elena wasn't in the car. It was a fairly short drive from Mystic Falls to the large, well-kept house that they had pulled up to (unfortunately they hadn't driven from Mystic Falls, but from the Witches' Coven, adding a few good hours), and it seemed like Damon was almost in a good mood. Strange. Damon knocked on the door, hearing the dull echo of his knock inside. They heard a shuffling sound, and the door was pulled open, revealing an elderly woman. She looked at Stefan, her eyes widening in happy surprise.
"Damon! I thought someone must have killed you!" She said, flinging her frail arms around his shoulders. She recoiled when she realized that the person she hugged didn't feel at all like her old saviour.
"Me? No. Someone's been playing with me, though." The little woman turned to him, tilting her head.
"Damon?" She asked, unsure. She stretched out a hand to take his, smiling when she recognized the familiar aura.
"Well, you've changed a bit. You never visit anymore!" She said, shaking her head.
"You know me, Linda. I don't want to tease you with my youth!" He said. Her little brow furrowed as she realized that she hadn't invited them in. She looked at Stefan suspiciously, then back at Damon.
"Is he—"
"My brother." Damon said. "Don't worry. As far as he's concerned he's a vegetarian." The little woman's face seemed to break in relief, and she welcomed them in.
"Damon, I've hoped you'd come back over the years. From what I'd felt, you've been spending your time in Mystic Falls, am I right? Goodness, it's great that you've gotten over that harpy Katherine. What a dark lady she was." She picked up a plate of cookies, holding it out and then shaking her head, putting it back down. "I've gotten silly over the last few years, you'll have to excuse me." She said. "The large house has kept me busy, let me tell you."
Stefan looked at Damon, not entirely sure how he knew this woman. "How did you meet Damon?" Stefan asked, watching Damon reach for a cookie. Contrary to popular belief, food was still delicious...but it did nothing for the digestive system.
"Back in the 1940's, Damon here helped me stow away on a boat to America. The war made very few countries friendly to Germans, so he also helped me get my immigrant papers and set up a life. His more fictional abilities were a great help when getting away from the Gestapo. Horrible wretches, the most of them." She picked up a cookie. "Then, when I lost my home in Katrina (I loved New Orleans, you know) Damon gave me this beautiful home. I owe your brother quite a bit."
"Anything to see you smile." He said.
"I see you're still as charming as ever." She said "Now what brings you here. I know it isn't my looks anymore." She winked. "I assume it has something to do with your new look."
"Well, as I'm sure you can tell, I'm just not myself lately."
"Ah. You've been switched. I can't undo it, unfortunately." She said.
"We didn't expect you to be able to. From the looks of it, a whole coven was needed to do this." He said.
"It's true. Humans are no problem, but a vampire requires significant blood sacrifice to change. Switching you back should be simple enough, but first you need to find whomever sealed it. They're the only ones who can undo the spell."
Blood sacrifice. He thought. It explained the dead witches.
"Why would someone go through so much trouble to do this?" He asked.
"Because it'll kill you much slower than a stake." She nibbled her cookie thoughtfully. "Seems like you might get a taste of humanity, Damon."
"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, disturbed.
"Because these aren't your bodies, they'll start to age. You have about a year until the aging catches up with you...give it a few months and you'll be as frail as me."
Damon and Stefan looked at each other uncomfortably. "What do we need to do?"
"As I said, find the person who changed you, and find their Grimoire. After that, you'll need a sacrifice. I'll give you a hint." She said "Keep the witch alive who turned you. Revenge is sweet. Other than that, I can't help you unfortunately."
Stefan shook his head. "Wonderful cookies" Damon said, munching.
"They're storebought hun. I can't be bothered to cook anymore since you hired that chef for me." She turned to Stefan. "Your brother is quite the guardian. You'd do well to follow after him."
"I'll keep that in mind" Stefan said, watching Damon gloat. He had every intention of finding that itch as fast as possible.
"There is one thing you could help with" Damon said. "I remembered the faces of the two who were left alive. Can you recognize them?" He asked, leaning forward.
She placed a frail hand on either side of his head, closing her eyes and pursing her lips. "I recognize one of them; the woman. I can give you her information; she doesn't live far." She leaned forward and started to whisper. "And truth be told, she's a bit slow. She'll be at home panicking about what to do."
Damon smiled and opened his eyes. "As always Linda, you've been a great help". She was one of the few people that he would call a close friend.
"Well then, should we be heading off to find her?" Stefan said, shifting. He wanted out of Damon's body, and the sooner the better.
Elena turned to leave, but Bonnie stopped her.
"Elena, here." She handed Elena what seemed to be a mood ring. "It'll turn blue for Stefan, Red for Damon. All you have to do is stand within a meter of them, and it'll tell you who'se who. I'm sure it'll help once they switch back, too."
"When did you—?"
"When they came to me. I knew it wouldn't be long before you showed up." Bonnie smiled.
"Bonnie, thanks. It means a lot."
"I know. Now make sure you apologize to Stefan."