CHAPTER FIVE | MONSTER'S BALL 

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AT THE REQUEST OF BONNIE BENNETT, ELENA HEADED BACK TO WHITMORE. Evelyn felt a little relief once she knew that Elena was no longer lurking around every corner of the house. Since the funeral, Evelyn had been drinking— a lot. She felt guilty that she and Damon were having the time of their lives while Stefan was drowning and Bonnie was dead. She lifted herself up from her bed and reached over to the bedside table to grab a bottle of bourbon, but Damon grabbed it first.

"That's not going to help, you know." Damon's stern voice caused Evelyn to lift her head up, she sighed when she saw him. "Come on, Eve, you're better than this. This is getting dangerously into my territory and, in order for this relationship to work, you and I don't step into each other's lanes."

"I wanted a drink. Sue me." Evelyn rolled her eyes as she lifted herself out of the bed. She was completely naked, though she didn't have a care in the world.

Damon pursed his lips as Evelyn stood in front of him, his eyes slowly moved down her body, admiring the view she had given him. But, then he shook his head. "Evelyn."

"What?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Man, I can't believe him about to do this." Damon stepped past her and toward her dresser. He grabbed a white t-shirt, black jeans, and tossed them to her. "Put some clothes on."

Evelyn rolled her eyes and slipped the white t-shirt over her head, then glanced to Damon as she pulled her jeans up. "What's with the face, Mr. Buzzkill?"

"Mr. Buzzkill might've found a way to bring back Bonnie. So, a little loss moping from you would be amazing." Damon tilted his head to the side and watched Evelyn's eyes widen. "Come with me."

Damon and Evelyn wandered downstairs to see Jeremy Gilbert, who almost looked as if he were waiting for them. Evelyn glanced between Damon and then the Gilbert boy. "Jeremy. What're you doing here?"

"Damon says he has a plan to bring back Bonnie, so I'm here to listen," Jeremy stated immediately with a shrug and a look of hopefulness.

"I do." Damon wriggled his eyebrows. "So, as we know, in a psychotic lapse of judgment, Bonnie brought you back to life and died in the process. May she rest in peace."

"She's actually right over there," Jeremy explained with a chuckle as he glanced over to an empty spot in the room. Evelyn smirked as Damon just rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Look. The whole point is, I just happen to know a supernatural being who just happens to want to die. And in the spirit of nature needing balance and a life for a life, and all that stuff. I just think it would be a huge waste of a perfectly good death."

Confusion spread across the Gilbert boy's face. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait. Wait. Back up." Evelyn lifted her hand up to stop Damon from speaking. "Damon, are you suggesting that we work with Silas?"

"From the beginning, Silas's whole bad-guy plan was to kill himself, pass on to wherever he was gonna pass on to, and reunite with his dead girlfriend, Amara," Damon explained with a light shrug. "I wanna use his death to bring Bonnie back to life. To die, he has to be mortal. If he's mortal, he's a witch. And, if he dies as a witch, then he's stuck on the Other Side forever."

"He already tried to bring down the veil to the Other Side. He failed." Jeremy's voice was stern, almost as if he didn't hold out any hope for Damon's plan.

Evelyn raised an eyebrow as she watched Jeremy turn to the spot that he had told them Bonnie was. The brunette vampire crossed her arms over her chest. "Jer, what's she saying?"

"She thinks Silas wants to destroy the Other Side completely."

"Back to my original question: Let's say Silas destroys the Other Side, cures himself, becomes a witch. Is it supernaturally possible that he can do a spell that swaps her life for his life once he—kills himself?" Damon's eyes up Jeremy, who seemed to be conversing with the Bennett witch on the Other Side.

"It makes sense. I mean, I'd say it's worth a shot, right?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow, though Jeremy seemed hesitant for a moment.

"She's in."

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Even though Evelyn wasn't a student at Whitmore, she had compelled herself entry to the Historical Ball, with Damon as her date. They had secured a deal with Silas, who was prepared to trade his life for Bonnie, and in return, he wanted the location of the Anchor— the one thing that was holding the Other Side together.

"God. This dress reminds me of a time I'd rather forget." Evelyn grumbled as she wandered into Whitmore College while she held the skirt of her dress up from the floor. "Don't tell me you're enjoying this."

"Not really." Damon shrugged with his hand looped around Evelyn's waist. "I just wanna get this done so you're not drinking us dry at home."

Evelyn narrowed her eyes toward Damon, though she couldn't stay mad at him. Not when he looked that good. "You're not funny. Would you rather I tore through several people's throats?"

"Sh. There's a time and a place for foreplay, and it definitely isn't here." Damon licked his lips with a smirk before his eyes cast over to Stefan, who was dressed at James Dean. "Well, would you look at that? Little bro is talking to just the woman we need."

"Oh. So, that's Qetsiyah." Evelyn hummed. "I figured she'd be prettier."

Damon and Evelyn wandered over to Qetisyah and Stefan with a complete disregard for the conversation they had interrupted. "Pardon us." Damon patted his brother on the shoulder and then pushed him into a backroom.

A loud sigh of irritation left the youngest Salvatore's lips as he followed after Damon and Evelyn. "You two make terrible wingmen, and women."

"You were hitting on her? Really?" The Austin vampire scoffed in disbelief when she saw a bewildered look on Stefan's face. "I figured you had better taste in women, Stefan. Guess not."

"So, what exactly are we doing here?" Stefan raised an eyebrow.

"Well—" Before Damon could even finish speaking, Silas wandered into the room.

"Hello, me." Stefan turned around with wide eyes as he saw his doppelganger. Once Stefan's attention was taken by the arrival of his nemesis, Silas, Damon stepped forward and snapped his brother's neck with ease.

"And, now is the part where you tell us why you needed Damon to do that." Evelyn tilted her head toward the immortal as Stefan's dead body laid at their feet.

Silas rolled his eyes as he bent down to Stefan's body and took his leather jacket. "Well, Tessa's spell mentally linked us. I lost my psychic abilities, Stefan lost his memories." He shrugged Stefan's leather jacket over his shoulders.

"And this severed the link?" The eldest Salvatore asked, skeptically.

"Yes, Damon. I can read your mind again. No, I'm not lying. And, I agree. It would be interesting to see with Evelyn looks like out of this dress." Silas turned his gaze to the brunette vampire though a low grow left Damon's lips. "I'll cozy up to the witch and sift through her mind, figure out where she's hiding the Anchor. And you two, all you gotta do is keep him dead."

"Question: Isn't Tessa, Qetisyah, or whatever the hell her name is, gonna be a little confused when Stefan starts hitting on her?" Evelyn folded her arms across her chest.

"Of all the men here, Tessa went straight for Stefan. This face won her heart before. See, a woman never forgets her first love, no matter how badly it ended." Silas smirked at Evelyn. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"

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Evelyn was bored of snapping Stefan's neck, but she knew that they needed to do whatever Silas wanted to ensure Bonnie returned from the Other Side. A grunt left Stefan's lips as his eyes slowly fluttered open. "Breaking my neck, huh? Pumping me full of vervain. All we need is a Damon-sized rationalization."

"Stefan, before you say anything. You need to know it's nothing personal. The new you really need to understand what sacrifices mean." Evelyn rolled her eyes as she leaned against the wall.

The younger Salvatore scoffed, then lifted his hand up to massage the back of his neck. "How would the old me deal with this, Evelyn? Barrell full of laughs?"

"He'd know it wasn't about him."

"Oh, who is it about, Damon, huh? About you? Your desperation to prove to Evelyn that you're a worthy boyfriend?" Stefan stated bluntly as Damon's irritation started to grow.

"This isn't even about me, right now. This is about Bonnie, and getting her back." Evelyn scoffed as she watched Stefan slowly try to lift himself from the chair. She sped forwards and snapped his neck, which caused him to slump backward in the chair. "Dick."

"Ouch." Damon chuckled softly as he wandered over to Evelyn and wrapped his arms around her. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just— I just really want this to work."

It wasn't long before Stefan's body started to twitch. Evelyn raised an eyebrow, and then glanced at Damon. The pair were unsure whether he was unconscious or not. Damon was the first to step forwards with furrowed brows.

"You awake? Stefan? Stefan?" Damon hummed softly as he gently patted Stefan's cheek in an attempt to stir him awake. "You alive again, huh?"

Evelyn shrugged and then turned away from Stefan with Damon, but a crunch came from her left, and then she noticed Damon's body had dropped to the floor beside her. She turned around and came face-to-face with a furious Stefan Salvatore. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you just take a few neck snaps like a champ."

"Hm. Maybe it's time I returned the favor." Stefan tilted his head and then snapped Evelyn's neck without a second thought.

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"Wait, so your professor knows about vampires?" Evelyn asked Elena as she handed the doppelganger a drink, while Damon dumped Silas' desiccated body onto the couch.

"He said if I don't drop out of school, the wrong people are gonna start asking the right questions." Elena gritted her teeth in fury and then sipped her drink. "Thanks."

"That's not good." Damon hummed. "What're you gonna do?"

"I don't know. All I know is finding out the truth about Megan isn't gonna bring Bonnie back."

"Hm. Well, neither is desiccated Silas over here." Evelyn rolled her eyes softly as she used the bottom of her boot to nudge his leg. "Kind of a day of dead ends, if you ask me."

"So, the only way for Silas to trade in his life for Bonnie's is if he's a witch, but the only way to become a witch is to have the cure." Elena nodded to herself slowly as there was a sudden knock on the door. The doppelganger and Evelyn glanced at each other with confusion as Damon smirked. "What?"

"Now, who could that be?" He grinned and hurried over to the door to reveal Katherine Pierce. "Why, hello."

"What's so urgent? I'm on the run. I don't exactly have time for a pit-stop." As she sauntered in, her eyes were fixed on the immortal enemy that laid desiccated beside Evelyn. "Or maybe I do. Maybe I have all the time in the world. Katherine Pierce illudes death yet again." She chuckled to herself then turned around to face the vampires. "And you three did something right for once. How does it feel?"

"Thrilling," Damon responded in a monotone voice as he rubbed his hands together.

He stepped closer to Katherine slowly, and that's when the doppelganger realized why she was there. "Damon. No."

Evelyn got up from her feet and grabbed Katherine by the throat. "Sorry, Kitty-Kat but Silas needs the cure to become a witch. And, if I'm being honest, I would really rather Bonnie Bennett here right now than you." The Austin vampire took a bite out of Katherine's neck as the doppelganger yelped in her hold.

"No, no, Evelyn, please. He needs all of my blood. It'll kill me. Evelyn, Evelyn please I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die, Evelyn!" Katherine begged and thrashed against Evelyn's hold as Damon and Elena silently watched. "Please."

"Consider this my revenge. Funny how thing's come full circle, isn't it?" Evelyn pushed the open wound on Katherine's neck against Silas' mouth while Katherine screamed in agony. She held the Pierce woman there for a moment until she stopped fighting and Silas dropped her body to the ground.

"I figured it was yours for the taking." Damon softly spoke as Evelyn stepped back into his hold.

The three vampires stood over Katherine Pierce's dead body for a moment, then they heard a soft thumping: a heartbeat. They didn't want to believe it, but it was true. Katherine Pierce was still alive.

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