CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | I NEVER COULD LOVE LIKE THAT

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

SINCE LILY HAD RETURNED BACK FROM THE PRISON WORLD WITH DAMON AND EVELYN, DAMON HAD REFUSED TO SEE HER AS HIS MOTHER. Even with words of wisdom from his fiancé, the Salvatore's mind remained unchanged. Damon was stubborn, almost as stubborn as the Austin vampire was, but it was also one of the reasons she was so in love with him. Evelyn stood in the mirror with a towel wrapped around her waist, applying mascara after she and Damon had finished showering.

Once Damon had finished wrapping a towel around his waist, he stepped closer to Evelyn and snaked his arms effortlessly around her body while a small smile drifted across her lips. "God, you're beautiful."

"Hm. I wish you were this joyful every morning." A small hum of concentration left the vampire's lips. She was determined not to mess up her make-up, despite all of the attention Damon appeared to be giving her. "What's got you so happy this morning, huh?"

"Uh. So, what're you saying? That I'm not incredibly joyful to be around all the time?" Damon gave her a teasing pout and rested his chin against her shoulder. "Evelyn, I'm almost offended by that, you know."

"Really? Well, somehow I think you'll survive." Evelyn mocked him with a small chuckle just as she dropped her mascara back into her make-up bag. The sudden smell of food filled the two vampire's nostrils and they began to sniff the air, curiously. "Do you smell that? Is that Bacon?"

Evelyn wriggled herself free from his hold and wandered back into their bedroom, whilst Damon rolled his eyes. "Yeah, or some baby she abducted from a nearby village." He commented with a snide smirk.

The brunette attempted to keep her laughter held in, but instead, she turned back to him with a stern look. "She's a vampire, dumbass. She can hear us!" She placed her finger on his lips in an attempt to stop him from saying anything he'd end up regretting. "I said if you couldn't be nice to her, at least pretend. She's your mother."

"No, Evelyn." Damon's gaze was stern. "She is a tool to get Stefan's humanity back because there is no doubt that he and Caroline are fangs-deep in bodies right now. So, the sooner we get our supernatural-born killers out of circulation, the better."

"You're so irritatingly stubborn, you know that?" Evelyn scowled with a huff just as she pulled a pair of blue ripped jeans on, followed by a white jumper.

"Sh." Damon stepped forward and grabbed the brunette's hand with a light smile on his face. "Now, come on, we should probably go downstairs and see what she's actually cooking. Because human flesh smells a lot like bacon."

"Lovely, fresh scent of human flesh to make me up in the morning." Evelyn rolled her eyes as Damon led her downstairs and into the kitchen where Lily had prepared the table for breakfast.

It was obvious that she wanted to make a good impression on both the vampires, especially since they were the things standing between her and the rest of the vampires she left behind in the prison world.

"Wow. You really went all out, didn't you?" Evelyn thankfully smiled up to the Salvatore woman as she and Damon took a seat at the dining room table. Damon, however, reminded silent and his face was stern, so Evelyn jabbed him in his side with her elbow.

Lily noticed the exchange between the couple, then the forced smile that swept across her son's face, and nodded. "This was always Damon's favorite. Eggie in baskie."

Damon picked up his fork and took a small bite of his favorite childhood dish, though immediately scrunched up his face in disappointment. "Doesn't taste like I remember."

"Well, you were human last time you tasted it. Our tastes change over time." Lily explained briefly, then turned her eyes toward the brunette sat beside Damon. "Evelyn, am I right in thinking you turned around the same time as Damon?"

"I did." Evelyn nodded slowly as she remembered back to the first time she had awoken as a vampire. "It wasn't the easiest of things I've had to go through. But, I learned to adjust to the lifestyle over time."

An understanding smile crept onto Lily's face whilst she nodded slowly. "So, If I understood correctly, in order to free my companions from that place where I was trapped, we'll need the magical device?"

"The Ascendant." Her son corrected with a blunt tone.

"Yes. The Ascendant. Where is that?"

"Safe. Very safe." Damon commented once more. It was important that he and Evelyn didn't let Lily anywhere near the Ascendant since they didn't want any more vampires loose in Mystic Falls.

"And we'll also need a celestial event." Lily continued on from the list of thing's that they needed.

"Yeah, we do." The brunette vampire nodded slowly as she took yet another bite of her breakfast. "But those kinda things take a lot of time and research. Don't really get a lot of celestial events happening around here."

"There's a full moon coming up. Will that work? If not, the Lyrid's meteor shower is in two weeks."

Damon awkwardly cleared his throat, evidently surprised at how well his mother had been accustomed to the tools needed to travel to the prison world. "Well, look at you. If you're not a one-woman Farmer's Almanac."

"Actually, I took your advice and I've been dabbling on Stefan's computer." She explained with a proud grin on her face. "What a wondrous invention, all the knowledge!"

"And videos of cats riding robot vacuum cleaners," Damon abruptly added as soon as Evelyn's phone began to buzz on the table. As she grabbed it and examined her text message, a small grunt of irritation left her lips. "What's up?"

"Apparently, someone's been attacking people at Whitmore."

"Let me guess: one of them's blonde and the other one liked turning people into human Pez dispensers?" Damon rolled his eyes and sighed.

"My thoughts exactly. I'm gonna have to go, but I'll text you with updates." Evelyn quickly stood up excused herself with an apologetic smile. "Thank you for breakfast, it was lovely."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Evelyn arrived at Whitmore and wandered through the halls in search of Jo or Elena, but all she could see were the casualties of Caroline and Stefan's games. Eventually, Evelyn's eyes locked onto the Gilbert girl, who headed straight over to her. "This is insane."

"Yeah, the more these victims pile up, the hider it is to hide the reason they're here," Jo commented as she walked over to the two vampires in the midst of dozens of casualties.

"Well, that's why I'm here. Damon and his mom are off attempting to find Stefan and Caroline, so I figured you guys could do with my help here. I mean, it's not hard to feed a few patients vampire blood, right?" Evelyn spoke in a hushed tone, but Jo and Elena seemed to be caught on the part where Evelyn mentioned Damon's mother.

"Wait. Hold up." Elena's eyes widened at the girl. "Damon's mother?"

"Isn't she dead?" Jo continued on with furrowed brows.

"Huh. Looks like I'm gonna have to get you up to speed. Damon's mom was trapped in a 1903 prison world. We went over there to grab Damon's mom and coincidentally forgot Kai on the way back. So, he's trapped there now."

"Kai is in a 1903 prison world?" A heavy sigh of relief escaped Jo's lips. Ever since Kai's return, Jo had been terrified about what he would do to her next. "Oh, that's amazing news. Like, really amazing news."

"You're pregnant?" Elena raised an eyebrow once her eyes fell to Jo's stomach, where her hands had immediately rested. "I was wondering why you switched to decaf. Especially while working a thirteen-hour shift."

"The last thing this baby needs is an uncle psychopath."

"Wow. You and Ric are having a child, that's amazing." Evelyn told the woman with the utmost sincerity but a part of her was jealous. As Elena pulled the woman in for a hug, Evelyn's phone began to ring. "Oh. Uh— excuse me."

"Hey, you." Damon's preppy yet irritably voice boomed through the phone. "Quick question: what'd you do when your mom, who you rescued from a prison world even after thinking that she was dead, tells you that once she found a new life and a new family, she realized she didn't love you anymore."

As Evelyn listened to the hurt in Damon's voice, a scoff of disbelief left her lips. "Wait, just back up a second. Lily told you that she didn't love you?"

"Well, she was her overly-proper self, but yeah, that was the gist of it." A heavy sigh left the Salvatore's lips."But, hey, you know, I'm not planning on honoring my end of the plan to jail-break her friends, so, figured we're even. It's fine. A hundred-and-fifty years is a long time to care."

"Damon, it's okay to feel upset by this, you know? I mean, Lily was the second woman who abandoned you. That's gotta' leave a mark whichever way you spin it."

"Says the woman who never has. I mean, obviously that time we both thought each other was dead, but let's not count that." A small chuckle escaped Damon's lips. "Look, you can sit here and flirt with me, or you can help me come up with a plan B. Because Lily's a no-go."

"Right, okay. Plan B." Silence befell the line for a moment as Evelyn's eyes widened. "So, you know that Lily's a bitch. I know that Lily's a bitch. But, who doesn't, hm?"

"Stefan's not a moron."

A chuckle left Evelyn's lips. "No, he's not. But, clearly, your mom is an excellent liar."

"Oh, Evelyn Austin, there is a reason you're called my better half." The Salvatore hummed out in realization that Evelyn's plan could actually work. "Meet me at Skull Bar, fifteen minutes."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Damon was the first to yank the door to the Skull Bar open as he, Evelyn, and Lily all wandered inside. It appeared that Stefan and Caroline had taken Matt and Tyler hostage as part of another one of their games. The scent of blood filled Evelyn's nostrils as her eyes darted over to Matt.

Caroline immediately noticed Stefan's entire body tense up as the brunette woman walked inside the bar. "Who's that?"The Forbes vampire questioned.

"It's my mother," Stefan's eyes were fixed with his mother with an overwhelmed look in his eyes.

"Yo, Tyler. Get Matt out of here. now." Evelyn told the Lockwood boy, who was constantly applying pressure to Matt's wound.

"Here, take my car." Damon tossed the keys towards Tyler who caught them and hurried his way out of the bar with Matt's arm swung over his shoulder.

Once the two humans were out of the bar, Caroline jumped off of the counter and stepped beside Stefan. She eyed the female Salvatore up and down almost like a predator observing its prey. "So, you have a mother?"

"I had a mom. She died. So, whoever this is is Damon and Evelyn's lame attempt to get my humanity back on." Stefan's gaze flickered between Evelyn and Damon with a bitter look.

"And let me guess, then you get my humanity back on." The blonde rolled her eyes.

"Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner," Evelyn clapped with a tilted head just as Caroline grabbed a stake from the counter and jammed it into Stefan's back.

"Sorry, Stefan, but thanks for the head start." The blonde smirked toward the group before she hurried out of the bar without a second glance.

"Here, let me help you." Lily wandered over to her son, who was on the ground attempting to yank the stake from his back. She effortlessly grabbed hold of the wood and pulled it from his skin. As he rose to stand, he stared into her eyes with a look of confusion. "I'm sure you have many questions."

"Well, the fact that you haven't aged a day answers the big one."

Stefan shook his head, clearly unwilling to face his mother. Then, he tried to head toward the back door, but Damon sped in his way. A small grunt left his lips, then he turned to try the other exit, which was blocked by Evelyn, who sarcastically waved at him.

"I'm a ripper." Lily blurted out which caused Stefan to face her with widened eyes. "All of the guilt you've carried for your lack of control, it's my fault, not yours. You get it from me. That's why I had to leave. I was so new to the bloodlust, I was afraid I would hurt you and your brother. The last time I saw you was the day of my funeral. You weren't imagining it, I was your angel. If only I'd be there to see you grow into a young man. To protect you from your father's temper. But, I was so ashamed of the things that I'd done. Of what I'd become. By the time I got my appetite under control. and was coming back for you and your brother, I was hunted down and banished to a prison world by the Gemini. The one thing that helped you get through being trapped in that awful place was the hope of seeing my sons again. I know I can't make up for abandoning you, but we have all eternity for me to try. Your angel has returned to you." She delicately pressed her hand against his cheek. "And I will not leave you again."

In that moment, Evelyn watched in awe while Stefan clamped his eyes shut and suddenly melted into the woman's hold. "Mother." He breathed.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───