What Lies Beneath

Chapter 2: Sweet Dreams

"I'm worried about Bonnie."

Stefan Salvatore dragged his dark, penetrating eyes up from the cute tennis shoes his girlfriend was wearing to her radiant face, noticing immediately the worry etched among her features. Since meeting up with her at her locker she hadn't said a word, just transferred book for book before glazing over in the midst of her own thoughts. "Why? What's wrong?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know. She just … she hasn't been the same since that night. And I ask her what's wrong but she won't talk to me."

"Perhaps she is still suffering from the effects of Emily's magic." He smiled, facing her. "Not to mention she was possessed by a spirit, and haunted before that. I'm sure she will be fine."

Elena Gilbert stared at him. "You—you don't know anything about it, do you?"

After years and years of practicing being human, he knew exactly how blank to keep his face so that she would believe him. He hated lying to her but it was necessary until he discovered what his brother was up to now that getting into the crypt was not possible. "If I did I would tell you." It came out so smooth that he almost bought it as well. "I have no knowledge of it on an intimate level — possession — but it seems natural that the effects would take a while to dissolve."

She nodded. "God, it must have been horrible for her. Being in there but unable to control her own body. Why Stefan? Why would Emily do something like that to her?"

"I'm not sure." Another lie. "But I am sure she had a good reason. Otherwise why put her through it?"

"Yeah …" Closing her locker door, she mirrored his pose. "At least one good thing has happened. I don't think Damon has bothered her since she called me."

That however he was not so sure of. "He was supposed to leave town. He said he was."

She rolled her big brown eyes. "Something tells me Damon never  does what he's supposed to do. Seeing him attack Bonnie like that …" She was at a loss for words at the moment. "I-I thought he'd killed her. Guess not for a lack of trying."

"Elena, you know I'll never let anything happen to you or those you care about." He vowed, running his fingers through her silky hair. "I may not be as strong as my brother, but there are other ways to keep him under control."

"The last time you tried to do that, Vicki was turned into a vampire."

"A mistake I won't make again."

"I just want him to stay away from Bonnie. If he hurts her … I don't know what I'll do."

"He won't hurt her. He's probably already lost interest in her …"

"I hope so. I know she has all of these powers now but they don't always work how they are supposed to. He could do to her what he did to Caroline."

"No. Bonnie's will is too strong for him to manipulate her that way …"

"Maybe." Glancing down to her locker, she blinked as a wonderful idea blossomed in her brain. "Stefan, could you give her some of that plant you gave me? What was it called, um, ver-vervain?"

Her adorable scrunched up face made him grin. "Damon destroyed everything that Zach had grown, but I might have another trinket with a few buds of it in my room. What do I tell her when she asks why I'm giving it to her?"

Elena thought for a minute, and then shrugged. "Tell her it's for her own good."

Chewing on the end of her pen, Bonnie Bennett stared at the words on the page before her, reading the same sentence for the tenth time. Sitting in the library at a table near the very back, she found herself to be unfocused and daze, her thoughts a random jumble of homework and the prospect of learning new spells. Her Grams wanted her to practice more so that she could reach her full potential, but she wasn't exactly sure it was a road she wanted to keep barreling down. So far it was mostly innocent stuff — certain terrifying aspects aside — but what if the more power she used, the more it used her as well?