CHAPTER NINE | AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL

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AFTER THEY WORKED OUT THAT ELENA WAS SIRED TO DAMON, HE WAS SUPPOSE TO STEER CLEAR OF HER. So, she was sent back home to Mystic Falls while Damon stayed at her parents' lakehouse with Jeremy and Matt to help the new hunter grow his mark. Then, Evelyn broke down and told Stefan that Damon slept with Elena and in true Stefan fashion, he decided to go on a bender.

"You know, when you said bender, this was not what I had in mind." Evelyn glanced at Stefan as the two vampires took yet another shot of tequila.

"What were you expecting?" Stefan let a slight scoff escape his lips. "Us to be knee-deep in bodies and my humanity to be a distant memory?"

"I mean, yeah?" Evelyn awkward chuckled as she watched his cellphone vibrate from the center of the table. Caroline's caller ID and perky picture caught their eyes, and he knew he was in trouble. "Uh, oh. You're in for it now."

"Hey. You just missed the mandatory all-school assembly." Caroline's voice was more stern and irritated than concerned.

"Well, that's because Evelyn and I are at a mandatory drinking party," Stefan explained before he and the brunette pushed their glasses together before downing another shot.

"Seriously? You decide to go on a ripper bender now?" Caroline whisper-exclaimed all while Stefan rolled his eyes.

"Oh, he's not doing anything remotely Ripper-Like." Evelyn leaned forward and explained into the speaker of the phone that was pressed against Stefan's ear. "I'm on Stefan-Salvatore-Watch."

"My brother slept with Elena, kind of puts a little bit of a damper on things." Stefan shrugged immediately. It pained him to even say that Damon had slept with Elena, and it pained Evelyn to hear it.

"First of all, you're not supposed to know that, and second of all, Tyler is already spiraling and he gets priority."

After the fact that Klaus had found out that nearly all of his Hybrids were planning on killing him, Tyler's Mom had died. Though, they assumed it wasn't a coincidence. "His mother just died, what do you expect?"

"I'm his girlfriend, I expect him to talk to me. But instead, he's all angry and it doesn't help that everyone keeps referring to his mother's death as an accident which we all know is a polite way of saying that she was drunk." The Forbes vampire sighed.

"Coincidence that a big, bad Hybrid was supposed to die yesterday but instead it turned out to be Tyler's mother." Evelyn raised her eyebrow, hearing that Caroline was also suspicious that Klaus had something to do with it.

"Exactly. I don't think she drowned in her Martini glass. Just get it together, the pair of you. I can't do this alone." One last sigh left Caroline's lips before she ended the call.

"One-hundred-percent, Klaus killed Mayor Lockwood," Evelyn stated bluntly toward Stefan, who shrugged. "Oh, come on. It's obvious. Take it from a girl who's had experience with the Originals, and Klaus, nobody does revenge better than him.

"You're not the only one experienced, I—" Stefan started to explain his summer of fun that he endured with Klaus but was interrupted by his cellphone ringing with no caller ID. "What?"

"Guess who? I'm back, dagger-free and I'm holding Elena and Caroline hostage at the high school. Just thought you should know." Rebekah's voice echoed through the speakerphone. Last Evelyn heard, Rebekah had been daggered.

"Rebekah?" The Austin vampire gasped in almost relief. She was friends with Rebekah, or she used to be. She didn't quite know where they stood anymore. "Who pulled the dagger out?"

"I'll be asking the questions today, thank you, Evelyn. I'll see you and Stefan very soon."

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Rebekah pushed Stefan and Evelyn into the same classroom that she was holding Elena inside. As they entered, they saw Elena and Caroline seated at the table. Elena had a look of relief when she saw Stefan— who was determined not to look at her or even talk to her.

"Class is in session. You've all been compelled, you know the rules. Answer my questions honestly, no disobedience. No one leaves." The blonde Mikaelson vampire turned to April Young, who didn't seem to be compelled. "April, my sweet, take notes. This is how you get answers in this town."

Evelyn turned to her left to see April Young quite literally taking notes as Rebekah had told her to. The Austin vampire scoffed, though Rebekah didn't seem amused.

"Let's start with a little quiz: In the year 1114, my brother learned, thanks to yours truly, about a brotherhood of vampire hunters with tattoos that grew with each kill. These tattoos revealed, what, Elena?" Rebekah glanced at Elena as she began to circle the table of compelled vampires.

"A map." The doppelganger deadpanned in a vague tone that only seemed to annoy Rebekah.

"Which led to, Caroline?"

"The cure for vampirism." The Forbes girl rolled her eyes.

"Perfect. So, we're all caught up." Rebekah smiled before darting her eyes at Stefan. "Stefan Salvatore, the last time we saw each other you had a vampire hunter, but in order to decode the map you needed the location of the hunter's sword—which you got out of me using some very dirty tricks. Assuming you found the sword, you also found the cure, and yet you're all still vampires which means something went wrong." She then turned to April once she noticed she was taking notes. "What're you doing?"

"Oh. You asked me to take notes." The human girl innocently responded.

"I wasn't being literal, darling. But, now that you mention it, a flow-chart would be nice. Which means index cards and push pens, go fetch." She gestured to the door which saw April wander out of soon enough.

"Beks, this is an entire waste of time." Evelyn set her sights on the blonde vampire. "We don't know a thing."

"So you just gave up?" She turned her eyes to Stefan. "I thought you'd do anything to save Elena, even if it meant taking the cure yourself so that you could grow old and die with her." Rebekah teased but soon noticed the surprised looks on their faces "Why do you look so surprised? I'm missing something, what is it?"

"They broke up, okay? Now let us go!" Caroline demanded as Rebekah just stood with a massive smirk on her face.

"Broke up? Wait, I'm confused. I thought Elena was your epic love, Stefan." Rebekah dropped her eyes on the Salvatore who was clearly trying to fight the compulsion. "I asked you what happened, you have to tell me."

"She slept with Damon." Stefan reluctantly revealed as Elena's eyes widened fearfully, but then she turned to Caroline and Evelyn, who were the only people that knew.

"So, vampire-Elena is a trollop who likes bad boys, which explains why Stefan reeks of alcohol but what it doesn't explain is why, sweet, loving, innocent Elena could be so heartless towards Stefan." She chuckled from beside Elena before she turned her eyes back to Stefan. "How could she hurt you like that? Answer, please."

"She didn't know it at the time, but she was sired to Damon." Stefan reluctantly answered again as he listened to Elena take a shaky breath.

"A sire bond, fascinating." Rebekah turned her eyes to Evelyn. "It also doesn't explain why you reek of alcohol too. More specifically, tequila. Explain, now."

"Because I'm in love with Damon, but he would rather be with a girl that jumps straight from one bed to another," Evelyn spoke, without regret until she finished her sentence. She had never admitted out loud that she was in love with Damon. She'd truly never even admitted it to herself, but Rebekah's compulsion exposed it all.

"Oh my, God," Caroline whispered to herself as she covered her mouth with her hands.

Rebekah hummed in response. It seemed she was loving the drama and then turned to Elena. "Wow, and what do you think about that, Elena?"

"I think you're sad and bored and in desperate need of a hobby." Elena spat viciously once she turned her head to the blonde.

"You're hiding something, fess up," Rebekah demanded once she compelled the doppelganger again.

"I didn't sleep with Damon because of the sire bond. I slept with Damon because I'm in love with him." Elena finally revealed her feelings but, similar to Evelyn, she regretted it soon thereafter.

"What does any of this have to do with the stupid cure?" The blonde vampire spoke up in an attempt to break the tension that started to fill the air around them.

"You're right, we got off the point." Rebekah turned to the Salvatore that sat beside her. "Stefan, how do I find the cure? Unless you'd rather talk about Elena and Damon all day."

"There's a professor, he knows where the cure is." He answered quicker than usual.

"Thank you, and uh, where do I find this professor?"

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After Rebekah had compelled Elena to tell Stefan how she truly felt about him and his brother, Tyler ran into the classroom after Rebekah had called him. "Ah, good. You're here. It was just getting very depressing."

Tyler glanced at the four vampires that were all sat around a circular table. "What the hell is going on?"

"Listen to the rules, carefully. Stay in the building. No vamp-running in the hallways."

Evelyn furrowed her brows. "Vamp-running from what, exactly, Rebekah?"

The blonde Original vampire grinned and then turned back to Tyler as she started to compel him. "Turn."

"No, he can't." Caroline immediately told Rebekah with fear in her eyes. "He'll lose control."

"That's the whole point. I've exhausted all your knowledge, now I have the Professor to help me find the cure, you're just competition. Whoever finds it first gets to decide what to do with it: use it, share it, destroy it, save it. I want that to be me."

"But if I turn, I'll kill them," Tyler whispered fearfully toward Rebekah who still didn't seem to care about the lives of the four vampires.

"Uh. Beks, would now be a good time to remind you that I'm your only friend, and killing me would be a massive mistake?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow to the woman.

"Hm. Yes, I suppose you and I were great friends. But, unfortunately, Evelyn, you and I hit our expiration date." Rebekah then turned back to Tyler with one final smirk. "Turn!"

The compulsion to immediate effect and before they knew it, Tyler had reluctantly started to turn. He began to smash up the library. "I can fight this!" He yelled out to the vampires while Stefan pushed all three girls behind him. "Get out of here!"

"Go!" Stefan yelled toward Caroline, who ran out of the room with Elena at her side. "Eve, with me." He and the Austin vampire ran out of the room just as Tyler broke out of the classroom.

"It's a dead end." Evelyn cried out once she and Stefan ran through another set of double doors and then slammed them shut. The Salvatore grabbed an ax and pushed it through the door.

Tyler persisted to try and push his way through the doors, so Evelyn yanked off the door off one of the lockers and then slid it through the handle, too. Eventually, Tyler's attempts at entry stopped and the two vampires stared at each other. "Is it?"

"Yeah. It's over." Stefan nodded with a sigh of relief. "You know, I'm sorry. I don't even think you knew the way that you felt about Damon. It was a horrible thing to do."

"Yeah, well. Having feelings for him doesn't exactly feel much better."

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All Evelyn felt was conflicted. On the one hand, she hated Damon Salvatore for sleeping with Elena and she hated the fact that he obviously didn't feel the same for her. But, on the other hand, all Evelyn wanted to do was tell him how she truly felt, and then maybe she would feel some sort of relief.

The vampire laid in the middle of the road, the same road that Damon had taken her to feed. Evelyn felt numb as she lifelessly waited for the next car to approach—her next meal to approach. But, instead of the sound of a car engine, she heard her phone vibrate.

As she pulled it from her pocket, she saw Damon's caller ID. She furrowed her brows and reluctantly accepted the call. "Uh. Hello?"

"Hey." Damon's voice was enough to lift Evelyn straight up from the road. As she lifted herself up, she found herself walking across the middle of the road like she was on a tight-rope. "Sorry. I just wanted to call and see how you were doing? it's been a while since I heard your voice."

"That's because I found out you slept with Elena." Evelyn boldly admitted finally as she heard an immediate sigh to escape Damon's lips. "Honestly, when I found out I didn't want to speak to you. I packed up my stuff and I've been staying at Caroline's."

"Oh, Eve. I'm so—I'm so sorry." He breathed out finally. "I really—I think you and I need to talk. There's far too much that's gone unsaid."

"I was thinking the same thing," Evelyn revealed as she watched the headlights of a car approach in the distance. "I don't know what's wrong with me right now, but I think that I need to get a few things off of my chest."

"Okay. Then, come to me." Damon immediately spoke as Evelyn watched the car turn around the corner of the road. "I'm at Elena's family's lakehouse. I'll send you the location. Come here and we can talk." Damon heard the hesitation in Evelyn's voice. "Please, Evelyn."

"Okay. Fine. I'll be there as soon as I can." Evelyn reluctantly agreed, ended the call, and slid her phone into her back pocket just as the car approached. She walked In front of it, waving her hands as it stopped.

"Hey, are you ok—" The man driving the car asked Evelyn as she approached his window, but instead she just opened the door and smiled.

"Get out of the car." She compelled him and he obeyed without any arguments. "Thank you." She jumped in and immediately drove off to find Damon Salvatore.

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