CHAPTER FOURTEEN | NO EXIT 

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EVELYN STARED BLANKLY UP AT THE CEILING AS SHE LAID IN BED AT THE SALVATORE HOUSE. She returned back there after Stefan saw the state she was in right after Damon decided to leave, but she refused to sleep in the room she once called her bedroom. It reminded her too much of Damon and felt wrong without him beside her. Instead, she took up residence in one of the many spare rooms that were dotted around the large house. The vampire heard voices from downstairs, she groaned and pulled herself from the bed, and sped herself down the staircase.

"You were right. He's off the rails, and this is from my mom." The blonde vampire walked inside the house and, handed Stefan a folder. As she handed Stefan the case file, Evelyn stepped into view.

"Let me guess, missing persons and animal attacks?" Stefan raised an eyebrow and guessed the contents of the file before he even opened it.

"Okay, is someone going to explain what's going on, please?" The Austin vampire raised an eyebrow and glanced between Stefan and Caroline with a look of confusion on her face.

"I asked Caroline to track down Damon." Stefan shrugged back.

"Wait, hold up. You did what?" Evelyn lifted her hand up in complete and utter shock as her eyes widened. "So, when I suggested looking for him, you ignored me. But, now you're looking for him like some kind of supernatural CSI? God, you're ridiculous"

"Yes, that was until I heard that there were dozens of victims, all with their skin desiccated, and their heads missing." Stefan deadpanned with his eyes narrowed toward the brunette. "Damon's feeding on vampires."

The three vampires wandered around the room. Evelyn panicked and blamed herself for what he was currently going through, as did Stefan as he flicked through the folder of evidence of his victims while Caroline remained level headed.

"I shouldn't have let him go," Stefan concluded after a moment of staring at the crime reports.

"God, If I had just begged him to stay, then maybe— maybe it would've triggered something." Evelyn took a deep breath as she rubbed her forehead with her hand. "God. Why the hell did I have to go and be stubborn about it. I'm such an idiot."

"No. Uh-uh, no. Neither of you are turning Damon's roosting chickens into a guilt trip. No one could've stopped him going after Wes the other night." Caroline looked between the two vampires and then dropped her eyes to Evelyn. "Not even you, Eve."

The Salvatore hummed softly in an attempt to make sense of the situation. "I guess Wes must've injected him with whatever he was gonna give Evelyn and Elena that makes vampires feed on vampires."

"Good news, bad news— bad news is when this happened to Jesse, we had to kill him. But, the good news is—" Caroline paused. "—Uh, I'm sorry. Usually, there's some good news."

"We have to find him." Stefan's eyes fell over to Evelyn who nodded without hesitation.

"Well, I can come with you." Elena wandered into the room and gave Stefan, Evelyn, and Caroline her signature innocent grin.

"Elena, hey." Caroline blurted out in a confused tone as she noticed Evelyn's face suddenly drop the minute Elena stepped into the room. "I didn't know that you were here."

"And, if I knew that you were here, I would've crashed somewhere else," Evelyn muttered under her breath while Elena gave her a pointed look.

The doppelganger stepped into the room and perched on the arm of the couch, beside Stefan. "Well, Stefan has been helping me study."

"Oh. Stefan, who doesn't go to college." Caroline chuckled back.

"Stefan, who's an expert in history."

"Stefan, who clearly is so interested in this conversation!" Evelyn let a small groan leave her lips. As much as the idea of being in a confined space with Elena Gilbert irritated her right now, all Evelyn cared about was finding Damon. "Right. Come on, if we're going, let's go."

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Evelyn, Stefan and, Elena had been on the road for what felt like forever. And, if Evelyn were being completely honest, she was thankful for the gas and bathroom break that Stefan suggested. Once they had pulled up so that the Salvatore brother could refuel, Elena hurried into the store.

"Okay, it's not just me, right? Please, tell me you think something's off with little-miss-sunshine." The Austin girl muttered to Stefan, who leaned against his car while filling up the tank.

"Like, what?" He scoffed quietly. "You sure you're not just overthinking everything around Elena because you saw, what? Damon and Elena hug."

Evelyn narrowed her eyes toward Stefan and then gently slapped his arm. "Shut up! When you say it like that, I sound like a raging psychopat—"

"—That's because you are a raging psychopath."

"I know what I saw, okay! I don't know, it was like she needed to be held by him. It was weird." Evelyn rolled her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Just— just relax, okay? We'll find him, and he can explain the entire thing to you." Stefan shrugged innocently before he started toward the store. "Wait here. I'll be back in a second."

Evelyn nodded. With her back pressed against the car, she felt the sudden buzz of her phone in her pocket. Once she pulled it out and read the caller ID, her heart thumped. "Damon?!" She spoke without a hint of hesitation the moment she put her phone up to her ear.

"Sorry, love. Not him I'm afraid." Once Evelyn heard Enzo's voice, a sigh of disappointment left her lips. "Although, I'm with him if that's any consolation."

"Where is he?" Evelyn immediately asked, again.

"I'm in a spot of trouble, actually."

"What makes you think I care what trouble you're in." Evelyn immediately scoffed. "Right now, all I care about is finding Damon, so what—"

"—Damon's part of the problem, gorgeous." Enzo deadpanned. "Look, I get that you very well do not care for my safety, but some of those singing witches have trapped us in this house, and obviously me being the only vampire in sight—I'm assuming you're getting the picture, Evelyn."

"Do not come here!" Evelyn's heart pounded the moment she heard Damon's yell. He sounded so desperate, yet so broken at the same time. She hated it.

"Why the hell wouldn't I come?"

"He doesn't wanna risk feeding on you. That's sweet, really, but he'll be fine." Enzo spoke with a lack of consideration for Evelyn's safety, but she didn't care. She just wanted Damon.

"Okay, fine." Evelyn stressfully ran a hand through her hair. "Where are you guys?"

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Once Evelyn got off of the phone with Enzo, she told Stefan and Elena about the phonecall, and the three vampires headed straight to the address that Enzo had texted her. Once they pulled up, the house seemed deserted. There was nothing around, which made them even more nervous to approach.

The three walked up to the front of the house where they saw Damon sat on the floor. His back was pressed up against a beam of wood as if he was completely lost in thought. His eyes darted to Evelyn's the moment he realized she was staring down at him from the threshold of the house.

"Evelyn." He breathed out. There was a sound of longing in his voice, but that soon disappeared when he watched her attempt to enter. He ran straight over to the threshold with wide eyes. "Don't! Do not. Don't, I said don't!"

"What exactly happened here?" Stefan looked around the house with a puzzled expression while his eyes finally met Damon's.

"I wanted revenge. I got stuck with a vampire virus. Almost killed my last friend. Typical Damon." Damon listed before finally shrugged toward the end.

"Enzo texted Evelyn the address." Elena tilted her head with an innocent look in her eyes and a smile on her face. "Damon, we're here to help you."

"You can't help me. I feed on vampires now. You're all vampires. Do yourselves a favor and leave." The stubborn Salvatore brother immediately shook his head at the thought of hurting anyone he cared about.

"Well, that's not going to happen," Stefan answered back.

"He's right, Damon. We didn't come all this way just to get pushed away And, you're one hell of a dick, but there's no way I'm leaving you inside this crack-den." Evelyn attempted to walk inside again, but Damon stopped her.

He rushed at the door but, remained inside of the house by the magical border. Once he was within a few inches of them, his face turned and the veins crawled underneath his eyes at the scent of their blood. "Stay back!"

"I'm not afraid of you, Damon." Stefan shrugged confidently.

"Neither am I." Elena stepped inside the house without a second thought. Evelyn's eyes widened and she felt her heart, while jealousy pulsed through her like a drug. Before she could even think straight, she was inside the house, too.

"No, no, no." Damon attempted to push both girls back out of the door, but it was no use. Evelyn and Elena were now trapped inside the house with Damon. "You need to get out! What the hell is wrong with you both?!"

"I'm proving to you that you're not a lost cause, Damon," Elena spoke up.

"God, when has he ever been a lost cause?" Evelyn snarled, then turned back around to look at the Salvatore, who faced away from her. Evelyn then placed her hands on his cheeks and pulled him back around to face her. "Damon, look at me. I know you can fight this, you wouldn't hurt me. I know you, and I know your heart."

Damon stared back at her, his eyes full of sadness. He finally got the one thing he craved more than vampire blood— her touch. The touch of the woman he loved more than life itself. "Evelyn."

The scent of blood filled the air and Evelyn turned around to see that Elena had cut the palm of her hand open with a shard of glass from the ground. "Elena, what the hell are you doing?!" Evelyn yelled out while Damon attempted to control himself.

"You can resist this, you can do it," Elena spoke up as Stefan joined the vampire's inside the house. "Damon, you can resist this. You can do this." Elena wiggled her hand in the air as the blood poured from her wound.

"Get away from me, Elena." Damon snarled out.

Stefan remained stood with widened eyes beside Evelyn as he watched Elena wave her hand in front of Damon. "He's gonna kill you."

"Elena, get away from him or I swear to God, Damon will be the least of your concerns." Evelyn tilted her head to the side with a venomous look in her eyes.

"No, no. Don't worry. He's not going to." She placed her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to turn him back around. "You can do this, Damon. There you go, turn around."

He paused for a moment as if he finally had control of his urges, but then he sped straight at the Gilbert girl and pinned her against the wall. As he sank his teeth into her neck, she yelped out in horror.

Stefan and Evelyn immediately hurried over to him in an attempt to get the hungry vampire away from Elena. "Let go of her, Damon."

"Damon, Damon, please! Just let her go!" The brunette vampire pleaded just as Elena kicked a stake in their direction. Both Evelyn and Stefan looked down at the fact that Elena had just suggested staking Damon. "No. Never."

"He's going to kill me!" Elena retorted back, terror in her voice as Damon continued to hungrily drink from her.

Stefan immediately bent down and picked up a shard of broken glass from the floor. He used the shard to slice his palm and then let the smell of his blood fill the air. "Here, Damon. Look over here, you smell that? Feed on me, not her."

"Stefan," Evelyn whipped her head in the younger Salvatore's direction. Instead of feeding on Elena, Damon had set his sights on his younger brother.

"That's good. That's good. Feed on me." Just as Damon was about to sink his teeth into the wound on Stefan's palm, Stefan nodded toward Evelyn, who sped right up behind him and snapped Damon's neck without a second thought.

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