CHAPTER SIX | THE MORE YOU IGNORE ME, THE CLOSER I GET 

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IT WAS SAFE TO SAY THAT EVELYN AUSTIN WAS ANNOYED. Stefan had made zero attempts to be there for her, and there she was running to his aid as soon as he asked. As she walked up to the Salvatore crypt, she could see Stefan stood in front of one of the stained glasses windows with his back to the door. The brunette furrowed her brows and couldn't shake the feeling of immense anxiety that ran through her as soon as she stepped closer.

"There she is." A familiar voice called out and suddenly Evelyn felt her heart skip a beat. She wasn't sure whether or not she was hallucinating, but she swore that she heard Damon's voice. She stepped further inside and saw the Salvatore stood opposite her wearing a blue shirt and a smirk on his face while he sipped a bottle of Bourbon. "Hm. You've gotten even more beautiful while I've been away."

"No, this isn't real. It can't be." The brunette shook her head in disbelief as she blinked few times. But, every single time she opened her eyes, she saw Damon's figured still in front of her. "I don't— I don't understand. What's happening? You were gone."

"Well, you didn't think I was gone gone, huh? I promised you a wedding. And, I promised my little brother an eternity of misery." Damon smirked as he clapped his hand onto Stefan's shoulder.

"What about Bonnie?" Stefan raised an eyebrow toward his brother, barely able to take in the fact that he was talking to his brother once again.

"She sacrificed herself so I could come back. But, I don't want anyone to know. There's no sense making this harder than it already is." Damon vaguely explained as his eyes flickered to Evelyn, who took a deep breath at the thought of Bonnie sacrificing herself.

"What are we gonna tell people?" Stefan asked once more.

"That's simple. She wasn't over there." Damon snaked his arm around Evelyn's waist and pulled her into his hold.

"And where is there, exactly?" Evelyn softly asked as she glanced upwards.

"Mystic Falls, 1994. I know. If a bunch of witches were gonna get together, and create some space-time purgatory, you'd think they'd pick a better year than the one that Kurt Cobain killed himself. The whole thing was just very depressing." Damon took a sip from the bourbon bottle and rolled his eyes.

"So, how did you get back?" His younger brother pressed for more answers, but it was obvious that Damon wasn't the least bit interested in explaining his journey. All he was interested in was Evelyn.

"Long story. Big flash of light. Two decades' worth of jet lag. I will explain all my adventures in that flannel hell-scape but first—" Damon smiled at Stefan, then glanced down to the woman whose arms were wrapped tightly around his waist. "—My fiancé and I deserve to be properly reacquainted."

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"Huh." Damon hummed softly as he and Evelyn stood on the border of their hometown, their fingers intertwined. "I figured you guys would've fixed this little issue while I was gone."

"Yeah, well." Evelyn awkwardly shrugged her shoulders and then dropped down onto a patch of grass within the same area that Damon had proposed to her before he died. "I guess everyone was dealing with you and Bonnie being gone."

"Ah. That's true." Damon hummed softly as he sat down beside her. He could sense that something was not quite right about the woman— she seemed distant. "Evelyn, are you gonna tell me what's wrong, or do I have to get Ric to compel it out of you? He is— he's still an Original, right?"

"Right." The brunette vampire chuckled softly as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

"So, come on, my previous statement still stands. What's on your mind?"

"I just— I never imagined you'd be here, with me. God, I swear if I knew that you were gonna come back I'd never have—" Evelyn immediately cut herself off as she watched Damon's brows knit together.

"You'd never have done, what?" The Salvatore watched a look of guilt and shame wash over his fiancé's face. It was a look he knew all too well. "Oh, baby. You didn't."

"I— I had to, Damon. I had absolutely no idea how to cope with losing you again. Afterward, I just felt numb and like a piece of me was missing. I didn't wanna feel that way forever, so I turned it off." The Austin vampire shrugged softly as tears began to build in her eyes. "Yeah, it worked for a while. But, there were these moments right in between the killing where it was just still and my mind revert back, and I'd hate myself."

Damon lifted his hand up to Evelyn's cheek and carefully let his hand dance against her skin. "I understand. If it was you, instead of me, I probably would have lost my mind." The vampire instantly jumped up to his feet and smirked. "Meet me here, tonight. Eight?"

"Uh— what're you up to?" Evelyn chuckled softly as she saw a mischievous look in his eyes.

"You'll see." And, with that. He disappeared.

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As it turned out, Stefan had turned Enzo over to Tripp Cooke— Eastern Seaboards' new vampire hunter. Tripp had also killed Ivy, and also managed to capture Damon. The group of supernatural had devised a plan to stop Tripp and rescue the two vampires before he drove them over the border, into Mystic Falls, which would kill them instantly.

"You don't have to take apart the whole engine," Alaric told Stefan, who absentmindedly began pulling pieces of the engine apart. "We just need to lure Tripp in so we can grab him."

The Austin vampire's eyes turned back to Stefan, who clearly was not listening to a word Alaric was saying. She stepped over and yanked his hands away from the engine. "Stefan, stop it! It's not your fault, okay?"

"Pretty much is," Stefan muttered in response as he looked back down at the engine.

"Look, you're not the only one who gave up. You know, every second for the past four months, all I could think about was when I was gonna get my next sip of blood. When am I going to screw up, and hurt somebody? Why did I come back to life just to be this thing? That I used to hunt vampires, and I suddenly was one. Searching for Damon was the only thing that could take my mind off it, but I was basically going through the motions as a distraction because, honestly, I'd given up too."

Evelyn sighed heavily, and then she turned her attention to the border. With her gaze fixed harshly on the border, she desperately just wanted it to disappear. "You realize that's not going to help, don't you?" Stefan told her.

"Who knows, it might do. We've all seen lately that the strangest things are happening." Evelyn huffed in disagreement. She attempted to turn back around and walk away, but Stefan grabbed hold of her wrist.

"We'll get him back." The Salvatore spoke in a confident tone, but Evelyn just scoffed.

"And. what if we don't, Stefan?" Evelyn fired back. "We have only just got him back. I don't know what I'll do if he dies, again. Maybe— I don't think I'll be able to come back from that."

Headlights illuminated the road between them, and they knew that Tripp was a short distance away from them. Stefan turned his attention to the van that he immediately recognized as Tripp's. Quickly, Evelyn and Stefan made sure they were out of sight, while Alaric approached the van.

"Evening," Ric greeted with a smile once Tripp rolled down the window. "I'm trying to get my buddy to a bachelor party, and our car just stopped. You think you can help us out?"

"Uh, don't know anything about cars," Tripp responded in an innocent tone of voice.

Evelyn sped over to the back of the van, and immediately broke the lock on the door. She knew that whatever time she had left, she was going to make damn sure that Damon and Enzo were safe. Once she swung the door open, the two vampires looked at her with surprise.

"Hello, gorgeous," Enzo smirked once the brunette vampire stepped inside the back of the van and eyed up the chains that kept them bound inside the van.

"Ugh. I'm trying to save your life, Enzo, please pick a time and a place to flirt." Evelyn rolled her eyes, brushed the comment off, and looked at Damon who was smiling at her, "I leave you for a minute and look at all the trouble you're in."

She bent down and broke Damon's chains that kept Damon bound. Then, she moved over to attempt to release Enzo, but the van began to move which caused Evelyn to smash against the wall. The three vampires in the back of the van began to tumble and the van flipped on its side and skidded across the road.

"What the—" Evelyn's eyes widened once she pointed out Damon's shirt, which was soaked in blood while Enzo's complexion had turned pale. Then, she lifted her hand to her neck and felt a large slit. "We're not— we're over the border. You have got to be kidding me!"

"Ugh, I came back for this." Damon groaned out as his eyes softly, whilst his eyes drifted up to Enzo.

"Consumption," Enzo answered as Damon and Evelyn nodded slowly. "Wasn't much fun the first time around either."

Evelyn managed to move over to Damon and Enzo just as Stefan appeared with a crowbar. Like Damon, he had a bloodstain on his shirt but he used the crowbar to release Enzo's restraints."Thank god," Evelyn whispered softly to herself as she wrapped her arms around Damon, while Stefan grabbed Enzo.

The four vampires headed weakly set their sights on the other side of the border, panting and groaning in pain with every single step they took. With every second that they weren't across the border, it brought them a little closer to the night that died as humans. Eventually, they finally made it over the line, and immediately fell onto the ground with a sigh of relief as their wounds began to heal.

But, once they were over the borderline, Stefan and Evelyn's eyes caught hold of Alaric. He was laid on a patch of grass just inside the border, dying, while Jo was attempting to save his life. "Oh, my God," Evelyn whispered, quietly.

"What's happening?" Damon breathlessly glanced between his brother and Evelyn while he regained a sense of himself.

The vampires all watched silently as Jo screamed out for Alaric. The Austin vampire cupped her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, while the Salvatores both took a deep breath once they realized that Alaric was gone.

"Alaric. Stay with me. Come on!" Jo screamed out again as she continued the chest compressions until finally, a loud gasp of air left Alaric's lips. Not only was Alaric alive, but he was now mortal.

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