CHAPTER SEVEN | MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
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THE NEWS THAT STEFAN SALVATORE AND ELENA GILBERT HAD BROKEN UP TRAVELED FAST. Caroline was the first person to inform Evelyn of the couple's untimely demise since the two had become fast friends. Evelyn understood it from Stefan's point-of-view, who would want to be in a relationship with someone who clearly has feelings for someone else.
"I don't know," Caroline spoke as she flicked through Evelyn's closet. She was helping the vampire prepare for the Miss Mystic pageant, though Evelyn was keen on missing the event altogether. "What does this even mean for you and Damon? Isn't your sole reason for coming back, him?"
"Well, it's not my sole reason." Evelyn awkwardly answered as she scratched the back of her neck. "He played a big part in the reasoning, but no. I just missed my home town. I mean, I grew up here."
"Well, I think you and Damon are a much better fit, anyway." Caroline scrunched her nose at the thought of Damon and Elena being together when Evelyn was the much better fit. She then turned around and held out a red dress. "What about this?"
"Too dressy." The Austin girl shook her head, almost noticing the growl that left Caroline's lips. "Besides, I think Damon and I are just friends. Apart fro—"
The blonde vampire swung round quicker than anything Evelyn had seen. "—Apart from what?"
"Last night he might've tried to kiss me?"
"What?!"
"But, I didn't kiss him." Evelyn shook her head while a huff of annoyance left the girl's lips and she turned back around to the dresses. "I just— While he's in this weird limbo in his head about who he wants and how he feels, I don't want to put myself in a potential place to get hurt, you know?"
"I know, but if you don't tell him how you feel how is he ever going to know?" Caroline asked with a sympathetic look on her face. She then pulled out a short, black-laced dress. "This?"
Evelyn nodded in approval. "Oh. That's gorgeous."
"Wear that today and I'm sure Damon will think so, too." Caroline wriggled her eyebrows as soon as Evelyn's cellphone started ringing from the nightstand. Her eyes cast over to the phone to see it was Damon calling. "Damon is calling."
"Shut up, Caroline." Evelyn rolled her eyes before she reached over and grabbed the phone. "If you're calling because you have a problem, I'm busy."
"Can't I call my best friend and have a casual chat?" Damon asked suggestively, while Evelyn's eyes darted to Caroline. The blonde appeared to be mouthing something, though Evelyn sucked at lip-reading.
"I—uh." Evelyn removed the phone from her ear and muted it. "Caroline, I don't know what you're saying!" She yelled in a hushed tone.
"Ask him to be your date!" She rolled her eyes.
"Evelyn, you there?" Damon's voice echoed from the phone as the brunette placed it back up to her ear.
"Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I got distracted." She chuckled awkwardly and cleared her throat. "So, uh, what's with the call?"
"Well, there's this Mystic Pagent thing coming up and I don't know about you, but I don't really feel like going alone." Damon paused for a moment while Caroline started vigorously nodding. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to be my date this afternoon?"
The Forbes vampire sped over to Evelyn and yanked the phone from her grip. "She'll be there!" Before they knew it, Caroline had ended the call and handed Evelyn her phone back. "Thank me at your wedding."
"Shut up, Caroline."
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Evelyn stepped onto the Lockwood Estate in search of either Damon or Caroline, though she couldn't see either of them. Instead, she moved straight over to one of the waitresses that were wandering a tray full of champagne and decided to make the most of the free alcohol.
"Well, don't you look stunning." Damon's blue eyes glistened in the sunlight as she turned around to see them wandering down the steps and toward her.
"Having a date means you have to make an effort, so—" Evelyn gestured to the effort that she had made, and it didn't go unnoticed. Damon hadn't taken his eyes off of her since he noticed her.
"About last night..." Damon began. He scratched the back of his neck as the two slowly began to walk together. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. I don't know what I was thinking."
"I don't want to kiss you." Evelyn blurted out nervously but shook her head the moment she looked as if she offended him. "No, I mean I do. I just think that if something were to happen between us, I want you to be sure. At the moment you're in this weird limbo where you don't know what you want. I don't want to put myself in a position to get hurt."
"Damon Salvatore, Evelyn Austin. Looks like we three travel in the same circuit." Professor Shane wandered over to the couple, completely unaware that he had interrupted their conversation.
"Professor Shane. Just the man I wanted to see." Damon hummed as his eyes fell to the human. "So, we're in search of another Hunter."
"Hunter, with a capital H. Why?" Shane furrowed his eyebrows.
"Uh, we can't really disclose the why." Evelyn covered for Damon, who clearly had trouble thinking of the reason why. "We just need one."
"I thought you said you already had a potential?"
"I did. But, he ended up being a potential problem." Damon clicked his tongue, referring to Jeremy.
The Professor immediately shrugged and glanced between the two vampires. "There's nothing I can do to help you."
"Hm. Well, why don't you help us with this?" Damon moved directly in front of his and narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here? What's in your little lesson plan there, Professor?"
"You think too highly of me, Damon." Shane shrugged. "I'm gonna go find the other judges."
"Hey, don't be taking pity on April Young. Just cause her Dad blew up a house full of council members doesn't mean she should win." Evelyn noticed the look on Shane's face and smirked. "You knew him, didn't you? Damon and I heard that you two spent a lot of time taking on the phone."
"If you want to know something about me, Evelyn, just ask." Shane threatening glared to the brunette, though Damon made a conscious effort to slip in front of Evelyn.
"Don't speak to her. You speak to me." Damon gritted his teeth. "How did you convince the Pastor to kill all those people?"
Shane scoffed in disbelief. "Did you just accuse me of mass murder in the middle of a high school pageant?"
"Welcome to this season's Miss Mystic Falls." Carol Lockwood's voice echoed throughout the Estate which gave Shane the perfect escape. "We are so excited to showcase our most outstanding community leaders in the making."
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The pageant was well underway and the girls were getting ready to take their places with their dates. April Young's date was supposed to be Jeremy, though the Gilbert boy hadn't turned up so Matt agreed to step in and take his place so April wasn't left stranded.
Jeremy had gone missing and Elena couldn't help but panic. Damon tried to convince Elena that everything was okay, and to their surprise, the minute Damon told her to calm down, she did. He told the doppelganger that he and Evelyn would search the property for the wayward Gilbert.
"Call Stefan," Evelyn ordered the Salvatore as they walked back inside the Lockwood Mansion. "If I had to bet money, I'd say Stefan knew exactly where Jeremy was. He's so desperate to get that cure for Elena, I don't really think he cares about anything else.
"Way ahead of you." Damon already had his phone pressed to his ear. "Stefan. Please don't tell me you've roped Jeremy into a word of crazy."
"I had no choice. Elena needs a cure." Stefan spoke and Evelyn rolled her eyes.
"Because you want to help her, or because you want that girl that fell in love with you back?" Evelyn voiced her concerns with a raised eyebrow as she heard Stefan sigh.
"She isn't herself anymore, Evelyn. You don't know what she was like before she was a vampire." The younger Salvatore snapped almost irritably. "This isn't her."
"Of course you would think that. Leave it alone, Stefan." Damon rolled his eyes and ended the call. He shoved his phone back into his suit jacket pocket and glanced at Evelyn. "Sorry. In hindsight, this isn't much of a date. Is it?"
"I didn't know it was a date. I thought you were just escorting me to the event." Evelyn wriggled her brows. "But, no. It's not."
"Fancy investigating Professor Nutjob again?" Damon noticed Shane walk into one of the rooms. Evelyn nodded immediately and the two followed after him.
"You two, again." Shane let a chuckle escape his lips. "I must be the least intimidating mass murderer ever."
"Well, you still never gave us a name. And, it's kind of urgent."
"Listen, there is no other name." Shane stressfully answered back. "Look, at any given moment, there are five hunters in existence, alright? Most of them have no idea who they are or what their purpose is. Means finding more than one in a lifetime is next to impossible."
Shane attempted to leave the room, but Evelyn sped right in front of him and blocked his exit. Her use vampire speed confirmed everything that Shane already knew. "Let's just skip the part where you pretend you didn't already know what we were. I'm gonna give you five seconds to give us another name, or I kill you."
"You know, since it's generally unwise for a vampire to seek out a Hunter, it means you two are interested in the mark. It's probably because of where it leads, but here's the thing: Even if you complete the mark and you get the map, the thing that you're looking for is sealed with a spell only a certain kind witch can perform."
Damon furrowed his brows. "What kind of witch?" Shane didn't appear to want to talk, so Damon grabbed his by the wrist and his entire body went limp. "I love pressure points. What kind of witch?"
"Come on. You two can figure this one out."
Evelyn's eyes widened in realization. "A Bennett. A Bennett witch."
"Aren't too many of those lying around, as I'm sure you know." Shane nodded. "So none of this matters until Bonnie is back in touch with her magic. Between the three of us, who do you think she trusts to help her get there?" Damon let go of Shane's hand as he glanced to Evelyn. "Five seconds are up, Evelyn. Unless you just realized you need me alive. Now if you'll excuse me I have a scholarship to award."
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Elena had moved into the Salvatore house since Jeremy was a potential Hunter and he was having a hard time resisting the urge to kill him. Which meant Stefan had moved out. He didn't want to be around his ex-girlfriend so Evelyn helped him take some of his things to Caroline's.
Evelyn knew that the breakup was hitting Stefan harder than he wanted to let on, so Evelyn pulled out a bottle of bourbon and poured the three of them a shot each.
"Cheers." Stefan thankfully grabbed hold of the glass. "Elena is right. I need to let go."
"No. You're right, Stefan. It's not pretty and it's not easy, but you can't give up on her." Caroline encouragingly spoke toward the broken-hearted Salvatore who nursed his shot.
"Caroline, she looked me in the eye and told me to move on," Stefan explained for the benefit of the two girls who hadn't witnessed his earlier conversation with Elena Gilbert.
Evelyn remained silent as an irritated sigh escaped Caroline's lips. "She's lost, okay? You and her— Epic. Her and Damon— Ugh, God. There's something wrong with her."
"I think your best bet is to just keep looking for this cure." Evelyn gave her opinion on the situation once she finished her shot. "I didn't know Elena before she was a vampire, you were right. If you both are saying she's changed, maybe looking for the cure is the fastest way to fix her."
"Klaus won't let me stop looking, even if I wanted to.
Caroline raised an eyebrow. "What does he care? He doesn't even want it."
"To make Hybrids, probably. If Elena becomes human, he can use her blood to make more." Evelyn shrugged.
"He's gonna need them. Tyler's almost got all of them unsired." A moment of silence fell across the room as Caroline slowly sat forwards in her chair. "Oh, my God. Ugh, I was trying to figure out why Klaus was so intrigued by Damon and Elena. He said I would figure it out. This is what he was talking about."
"What are you talking about?"
"Think about it, every time Elena's had a problem; Damon's been the magic solution. Today, Elena was worried about Jeremy. Who swoops in and tells her to relax?" Caroline glanced at Evelyn, whose eyes had widened.
"Damon..." The brunette vampire trailed off as she remembered the conversation. "Oh, my God. I did think it was weird how she suddenly calmed down."
"When Elena started feeding, who said that she could only drink blood straight from the vein?"
Stefan nodded slowly. "Damon."
"And when she tried to drink from animals?" The blonde carried on.
"She couldn't keep the blood down." Evelyn noticed where Caroline was going.
"And blood bags?"
"Same thing."
"Name one vampire in the history of vampires who couldn't drink from a blood bag. Damn said she couldn't, so she couldn't Damon likes the red dress, Elena likes the red dress." Caroline continued to list examples for the two.
"Damon says kill Connor, she kills Connor." Stefan nodded.
"What if it's possible? Damon's blood made her a vampire, right? It's rare, but it happens. What if this is one of those times? What if this is really happening."
Stefan moved forward with a pointed look on his face. "Elena's sired to Damon."
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