Saudade | D. SALVATORE

25 | burn marks

Bonnie was out in the crowd and waved at Evelyn and she smiled and waved back, happy to see someone she knew. Damon stood in front of her, waving as she had and Evelyn rolled her eyes as they passed them.

"Let's cheer for the Mystic Falls high school football team. Alright! Let's show them our support, everybody!"

Evelyn let out a sigh of relief as their float stopped.

"I need to get out of this thing," she complained, following Stefan down the float.

Evelyn took a wrong step and almost fell but Stefan caught her before she could. He stood her up straight and she flattened out her dress.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

He looked down at her for a moment, "Are you ever going to forgive me?"

"I...I don't know," she answered honestly before walking away to change.

After changing out of the awful dress, which took ages, Evelyn made her way to the Mystic Grill to get something to eat. She had avoided eating all day out of fear of the dress ripping from how tight it had been but now she didn't have to worry.

She approached Caroline and Matt who were mid conversation. Caroline eyed him, "There was this time, freshman year, when Bonnie and I were in a fight and we swore that we would never talk again."

"Caroline," he began, "Give it a rest,"

"Hey," Evelyn greeted once they saw her. The door jingled indicating that someone had entered and turned to see Mayor Lockwood enter and approach his son.

"What are you doing here?" he said angrily, "I told you to go home."

Tyler looked up at him, "I decided not to."

"If I tell you to do something, you do it!" he said, grabbing the boy's arm.

"Let go of me!" Tyler shouted.

Evelyn quickly made her way over, "Mayor, is everything okay?" Tyler looked at her in confusion as Matt and Caroline joined them.

"Please Tyler," the mayor begged, "I need you to go home now. Take your friends with you."

"Why?" Matt asked. "What's going on?"

"I can't explain. All of you need to get home, now. Please."

"Yeah, okay."

"Here, take my car," he said, handing Tyler his keys, "it's out back. Caroline, Matt, Evie go with him."

"Yeah, I can drive myself," Evelyn said, sounding a lot ruder than she intended, before walking out the door, ignoring Tyler's shouts after her.

Evelyn made her way to her car. She stopped for a moment to look at the fireworks that had exploded above when there was a high pitch ringing in her ear. She held her head as she fell against her car. It felt like her brain was being stabbed by a bunch of tiny needles.

Two people grabbed her from both sides and injected her with something. They threw her down carelessly in what Evelyn had determined to be the basement of her father's practice.

"Anna," John said and Evelyn turned over to see her grabbing at his leg. He turned to the deputy who brought Evelyn down, "You can head up, I'll take it from here."

The deputy obeyed and Anna tried to stand up. John pulled a stake out from behind his back.

"Please...no!" she begged but he staked her anyway.

Damon looked up at him as he continued to pour gasoline. He walked up the stairs, pouring a trail of gasoline behind him. John lit a match and threw it into the gasoline before quickly leaving.

The fire began and slowly grew down to where all the vampires were. Evelyn stood up warily as the vampires around her started to burn.

"Evelyn?" Damon asked weakly from the floor and she turned to him.

"Damon?" she asked in confusion, as she walked over to him. "What's going on?"

"It's the device," he told her. "That little witch lied to us."

"Bonnie?" she shook her head. "She wouldn't lie."

"She did."

Damon looked behind her with an odd expression and she followed his eyes, "Mayor. Is that you?"

"What are you doing here?" he asked Damon

"I'm a vampire. What's your excuse?" Damon explained and the mayor looked shocked, "No, really. The vervain didn't affect you, you're not a vampire, what the hell are you?"

The mayor moved backwards to get away and bumped into one of the tomb vamps, "Mayor Lockwood!"

The vampire reached an arm around him and his chin before snapping his neck violently.

"We have to get out of here," Evelyn concluded frantically and she helped Damon stand. They went to move when a beam fell in front of them, burning Evelyn and she dropped him, falling down with him.

"Ha. Last time I was here was when I found out about vampires," she laughed bitterly, the smoke inhalation getting to her. "Funny how things tend to come full circle."

Damon rolled his eyes at her before looking at the girl, "Why are you even down here?"

"I guess it has something to do with what Isobel said," she replied, pushing herself up on the wall. "Because I'm 'part' vampire, the device worked on me, much like the compass, but the vervain didn't."

"Part vampire," he repeated. "That's a new one."

"Yeah, well it actually kind of makes sense."

"Yeah?" he mused before coughing.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm glad I'm not dying alone," she told him, half joking, half serious. She reached over to him and intertwined her hand with his before resting her head on his shoulder.

"Me too..." he mumbled weakly.

Evelyn closed her eyes at this, ready to drift off peacefully. Or as peacefully as one can while coughing up their lungs. A noise from above pulled her from her drifting.

"Damon!" a familiar voice shouted. "Come on, hurry!"

Stefan appeared at the bottom of the stairs and his eyes widened as he looked at the two, "Evelyn?"

He helped the two of them up the stairs and carried them out of the building before it was engulfed in fire. Damon recovered relatively fast while Evelyn leaned on Stefan for support.

"Evelyn?" Bonnie asked in shock, "You...you're a...?"

"Nope," Damon answered for Evelyn, which she was thankful for, "But I assume that would change how you feel about her?" The witch stared at him, "Run. Before I change my mind about killing you."

Bonnie obeyed and walked away, shooting a glance at Evelyn. Elena ran over to Stefan and hugged him before turning to her sister, "Can you stand?"

"I don't know..." she trailed off, her voice hoarse. She let go of Stefan and tried to stand but failed. She fell to the floor and both of the brothers rushed toward her.

Evelyn pushed herself up on her hands, coughing as she did so. Stefan wrapped his arms around her waist for support and Damon appeared in front of her.

He bit into his wrist and pressed it to her mouth. She took it gratefully, "Thank you." Damon watched her for a moment and he appeared as though he were going to say something when Elena spoke up.

"Let's get home," she suggested. "You need the rest."