CHAPTER TEN | WOKE UP WITH A MONSTER

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A SMALL GASP LEFT EVELYN AUSTIN'S LIPS AS HER HEAD BOBBED UP AND DOWN. Slowly, she managed to regain a sense of herself and her eyes fluttered open to see the inside of the Grill while she heard Kai Parker's voice droning on and on. The last thing she brunette vampire remembered, as she headed back home to see Damon after she found out that the barrier spell was no more, thanks to Kai, who managed to siphon the entire spell up. But, before she made it home, she was rendered unconscious by the siphon himself.

Evelyn wriggled her hands that appeared to be bound behind a chair with vervain rope. As her skin sizzled and burned, a weakened grunt left her lips. "What do you want, Kai?"

"Uh, well I spent eighteen years in abandoned restaurants, so now I'm showing off the fruits of my labor." The Parker witch shrugged lightly as he continued to cut his food, almost grinning at how weak the Austin vampire was. "Sorry, I'm nervous. You're really pretty."

"Do not let the fact that I'm weakened fool you into thinking I won't rip your heart out," Evelyn spoke through gritted teeth as she eyed up him. "Why am I here?"

"Well, as I'm sure Damon's already told you, I took the spell that was keeping supernaturals out of Mystic Falls, and I, like, absorbed it. Like, ate it, I guess." He smirked and shoved a fork full of food into his mouth. "It's cool, huh? First I eat magic, and then, eventually, I lose it. But, I mean a huge spell like that? I mean, come on. Magic's oozing out of me. It's all over the place. You know, I didn't quite realize I was so out of control until I met the manager of the Grill a few hours ago. And, he was all like, you can't come in here. We're closed. And, you have an unconscious girl over your shoulder. And, I was like, don't judge me. So, then I gave him a heart attack or tried to. All I did was make him vomit uncontrollably, which was like, ugh. Alright, let's stop that. So, I tried again, and I think I broke his spine. I'm not really sure. Because the third time I tried the spell, he kind of exploded in blood."

As Evelyn listened to Kai's deranged ramblings, her eyes widened fearfully. She had truly thought she had seen it all, especially with Klaus and everything in between, but Kai was a true psychopath. "What the hell is wrong with you, you psychopath."

"I just told you, I have too much magic. You know, it wasn't until after my test run with the manager that I realized, if I start to merge with Jo, and my gushing fountains of magic turn her into that guy, then I'm not gonna have a twin for the merge." Kai cleared his throat. "So, Evelyn, that is why you're here. Because I need to get my magic under control by practicing with you. Or rather, practicing on you."

"What, no!" Evelyn fearfully began to thrash against the restraints, but it was no use. "Let me go, Kai."

"Oh, hey. P.S, silver lining. After the manager finally stopped thrashing around, I finally managed a cloaking spell. Thank you. It's easy to do, and undo." Kai muttered an incantation softly and then the manager of the Grill appeared on the table in front of the two.

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Evelyn slowly regained consciousness once more and felt her hands were chained above her head. Once her eyes fluttered open, she realized that they had changed location— to Mystic Falls High. She wasn't quite sure why Kai had chosen the High School, out of everywhere, but it was the least of her worries. Especially since Kai had clearly been testing out his magic on her.

"Oh, hey, you're awake." Kai chuckled softly with his eyes fixed on the trophy cabinet. "I brought you here 'cause I wanted to snoop. Plus, there's plenty of restrooms. No flammable surfaces. And, everyone's on winter break, still. You know, it's no wonder America got dumb while I was locked up, they're never in school."

"Have you ever experienced school? Properly, I mean." Evelyn sadistically tilted her head once she saw a look of hurt appear on the Parker boy's face. "Hm. I thought not."

"Ooh, that was harsh. Do you mind if I try to turn your blood into acid again?" He raised an eyebrow toward the brunette, who knew that he would regardless. "I mean, that's kind of how you got here in the first place. I was trying to whole acid-blood thing, and I think I burst a few important capillaries in your brain 'cause you blacked out."

"Look, you don't need to do this to me." Evelyn weakly breathed out, barely able to keep her gaze on him. He simply ignored her and lifted his hand in the air, closed his eyes, and began to chant. "Kai. Just stop it. Kai, stop!" Evelyn screamed out in agony as she felt her body heat begin to rise, then she turned her gaze to her left and saw her daylight ring and her engagement both had started to melt. "Kai, you're melting my rings, stop it, Kai!"

Evelyn knew that she had to do something otherwise she was going to end up dead. She took a deep breath, mustered up what little strength she had left, and yanked the chains down. As she pulled, the lights fell to the floor with the chains. She managed to slip them off with ease, then she sped off.

She quickly ran into one of the science labs, turned on the cold tap, ran her hand underneath the cold water. She prayed to God that her rings were salvageable, but they simply just fell to pieces on her fingers. "I take it that rings meant something to you?" Kai's voice boomed from behind her as he chuckled sadistically.

"More than you know." Evelyn breathed out softly. She glanced at her surroundings, trying to find something that she could use to fight off Kai.

Eventually, she placed her hand in direct sunlight just long enough for it to catch fire, then she turned a gas tap on and placed her hand in front of it. The blames grew and immediately blew Kai backward so that Evelyn was able to make her escape.

"Phone. Phone, I need a phone." The brunette vampire muttered to herself, as she sped down the hallways, attempting to find any sort of way to communicate with Damon. She eventually saw one planted on the wall and grabbed hold of the large red phone just as she typed Damon's phone number in.

"Magic camp, how many I help you?" Damon answered in his usual sarcastic tone.

The brunette rolled her eyes and clutched the phone against her ear. "Damon, oh thank, God. Listen, Kai's got me trapped at the high school. I need your help."

"Woah. Evelyn—" Before he could say anything further, a loud crash against one of the doors caused the brunette to shudder in fear, then she slammed the phone down. She knew that Kai obviously had caught wind of her location, so she needed to just keep avoiding him until Damon got to her.

She ran toward the door, but as soon as she opened it, Kai was on the other side. He extended her hand and caused the vampire to stumble backward while he tossed dozens of chairs around the room. "Really?" He rolled his eyes at his technique, almost as if he was trying and failing to do something. "Damn it." Just as Evelyn lifted herself from the ground, he flicked his wrist and broke her neck. "Bingo."

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Once she slowly recovered from her neck snap, Evelyn learned that Kai had once again bound her wrists to a table leg with vervain rope that sizzled against her skin. "Oh, hello," Kai smirked softly, then he gestured to the Timberwolves shirt he was wearing. "Hey, do you like my shirt? I had to find a new one since, you know, somebody burned my other one. Which was awesome, by the way." Evelyn tilted her head and smiled. "I am starting to see why Damon digs you. I mean, you are crazy-pants. Oh, it sucks about that shirt, though."

"What strikes me as a little odd, is the fact that you're so caught up about a shirt, yet you can take a life without blinking." Evelyn raised an eyebrow toward the siphoner.

"Ugh. Is this gonna be like an episode of Ricki Lake? Where I come face to face with my demons and change for the better?" Kai rolled her eyes and got down in front of the brunette. "

"I guess what Damon said is true, huh? You don't give a damn about anyone else."

"I guess I liked my brother, Joey. We played Dr. Mario together, and he'd always win. Actually, one of my favorite memories is when I finally beat him." A sadistic smirk appeared on his face as he glanced back up to Evelyn. "Of course, my favorite memory is when I finally beat him to death. You don't have to waste your energy trying to change me. If Ricki taught me anything, it's that liking yourself is the most important thing. And, I like me."

"Well, I'm really glad someone does." Evelyn rolled her eyes and took a deep breath as she watched him sit cross-legged and start to stare at her. "What're you doing?" She was met with nothing but silence. "Oh, right. Another spell? Can't wait."

Gently, he lifted his index finger and started to draw a K against her cheek with his magic. The K appeared almost like a few scratches of a knife, but he almost seemed proud of his work until it healed away. "Wow." He smiled to himself, licked his thumb, and rubbed the blood away. "I was just working on my self-control. Anyway, I'm gonna grab another soda."

A loud sigh escaped Evelyn's lips as she watched him wander out of the cafeteria without a second glance. Once he left, she knew that she had to pull against the restraints and somehow free herself. But, as she grew weaker with every breath she took, it was hard. After a moment, she felt the restraints immediately break, then Damon and Jo appeared in front of her.

"Hey, baby." He breathed out with a smile once he clutched her hand. "Jo's doing an invisibility spell. If you can see us, that means you joined the party."

"Come on, we need to get out of here." Jo weakly told the couple as she stood a short distance from Damon.

"Wait, no. I can't. Kai melted my daylight ring, and—" Evelyn held up her hand to show that her daylight ring was gone whilst Damon examined her bare hand. "Damon, I'm so sorry about the engagement ring, I—"

"—Shh. It's okay. It's just a ring." He breathed softly, then placed a delicate kiss on her forehead. "Look, there are tunnels underneath the school, we can get out that way."

As he helped lift his fiancé to her feet, the pair ran toward the exit. Damon furrowed his brows, then turned to Jo. "You good?"

"I'm good." She breathed back and then followed both Damon and Evelyn out of the room and down the hallway. As they approached the boiler room, the effects of the spell appeared to be taking its toll on Jo. She was coughing uncontrollably. "Sorry. Three people are just a lot more to cloak than two." Eventually, she dropped but Damon managed to catch her before she fell to the floor.

"Woah." He helped her stand up straight but soon saw the blood pouring from her nose. "Why's your nose bleeding?"

"I have a guess." Kai Parker's voice boomed from the end of the hall as all eyes averted to him. "Magic's hard, isn't it, Jo?"

As Jo wiped the blood from her nose, she glanced between Damon and Evelyn. "I'm so sorry."

Evelyn felt a wave of sadness rush through her. She saw that Jo was visibility distraught by the fact that she couldn't keep the spell up long enough to save them. "Hey, Jo, don't be."

"Don't sweat it. I want him to see me while I kick his ass. Now, get out of here, okay?" The Salvatore vampire whispered in Jo's ear before she hurried off down the corridor. Once Jo was gone, Damon prepared himself to attack Kai, but suddenly, Evelyn disappeared. "Where's Evelyn?"

"Oh? Are we not cloaking people anymore? I thought that's what this was." Kai chuckled to himself just as Damon lunged at him, but he disappeared and reappeared behind the vampire. Damon grabbed a mop, snapped it in half over his knee, and tossed it into Kai's chest, only to have another one appear beside him. "That's gotta' hurt. I am definitely getting the hang of this. Cloaking spells, illusions. You know, it's all the same wheelhouse."

He lifted his hand and suddenly Kai, who Damon thought he had thrown the make-shift stake at, turned into Evelyn. She held her hand against the mop and dropped down against the lockers. "No!" Damon cried out just as Kai dropped him to the ground with a pain infliction spell before he eventually disappeared.

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