CHAPTER THREE | WELCOME TO PARADISE

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IT HAD BEEN THREE DAYS SINCE CAROLINE SNAPPED EVELYN'S NECK IN SAVANNAH. She and Enzo brought Evelyn back to Whitmore College, where they had Liv Parker place a barrier spell on one of the vacant dorm rooms available in the college. It was Alaric's idea to keep Evelyn locked up and to begin the process of attempting to get the vampire to turn her humanity back on. Evelyn was not only a danger to innocent lives but without her humanity, she was a danger to herself.

A grunt left the brunette's lips as she weakly dropped her feet onto the hardwood floor and wandered over to the door. She had hoped that maybe the spell had faltered and that she would be able to escape, but instead, she was bound into the room with no way out and no blood in sight.

Evelyn growled under her breath and then began thrashing at the magical barrier. "You can't keep me in here forever, you know that right?" The brunette's body yearned for just a sip of warm, human blood. "You're pathetic, all of you!" She screamed again.

"That's where you're wrong," Alaric stepped into view with his arms folded across his chest as he glared at the humanity-free vampire. "I can keep you in here until you decide that you're gonna co-operate, and then maybe we can work on getting the real you back."

"This is the real me, Ric. It's you bunch of idiots that aren't willing to accept that. The sooner you people get that into your heads, the better." Evelyn scoffed with a stern look in her eyes.

"No. This isn't you, at all."

The brunette vampire rolled her eyes. "Alaric, you don't even know me. But, I'm willing to play the waiting game if you are. But, believe me, I'm much better at it than you."

"Come on, Evelyn. What about Damon, huh?" Alaric spoke as the brunette's head slowly lifted at the mention of his name. "I know he wouldn't want to see you like this, and deep down, so do you. You know it would kill him to see you hurting."

"Well, it's good that he's already dead then, isn't it?" A devilish, emotionless look formed across the brunette's face. "Now, if you aren't gonna give me any blood, I suggest you get lost."

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After making it clear that she was not turning her humanity back on, Alaric called Caroline in an attempt to trigger some sort of emotion inside Evelyn. They knew that the reason Evelyn was so against turning her humanity back on was that she knew she would immediately have to face the loss of Damon and all the pain she had been suppressing since he died.

Caroline stepped toward the magical barrier with a tight-lipped smile on her face as she looked at Evelyn, whose skin had turned pale and the underneath of her eyes was a dim red color. "Hey. How're you feeling, Eve?"

"Wonderful. You're here now, too." The vampire rolled her eyes with a bored tone of voice. "He called you over here to try and trigger some emotion in me, and get me to come back. But, I assure you, you're wasting your time, Caroline. I don't want to come back. I don't understand why you idiots can't accept that."

"Because we miss you, Evelyn. I miss you. You're my best friend!" Caroline's voice trailed off with a look of sadness in her eyes. "I miss you, and Bonnie. I'm grieving just like you're grieving for—"

Evelyn's eyes clapped dangerously onto Caroline's, almost as if she were challenging her to speak about Damon. "Don't you dare,"

The blonde vampire raised an eyebrow. "Don't what, Evelyn?"

"Don't use him in an attempt to trigger something in me, Caroline. You talk and talk about how Damon wouldn't wanna see me like this, well newsflash— the guy's dead." Evelyn viciously spat just as Stefan Salvatore stepped into view. "Well, would you look at that? Aren't I a lucky girl today? Getting all kinds of visitors."

"Evelyn." Stefan looked down at the floor in guilt. "I'm sorry."

"My God, you guys really are stupid, aren't you?!" The girl chuckled to herself, "Keep your Oscar-winning apology, pal. I really don't need, or want it."

"Fine." The Salvatore vampire shrugged. "Then, I'll apologize to you again once we've got you to turn your humanity back on."

"You've got more chance of getting Damon back from the dead than me turning my humanity back on. But, if it'll provide you guys with some light-hearted entertainment from your otherwise boring lives, go ahead." Evelyn smirked. "We both know your lives revolve around me, anyway."

"Shut up, Evelyn." Caroline snapped. "Why can't you just turn it back on? We can help you get through it. I promise."

"Are you dense?" The brunette vampire rolled her eyes, then laid herself down on the hardwood floor. "I don't want to."

"Care, let's just go— there's no point talking to her yet. Maybe once she's spent a little longer without blood, we'll come back." Stefan gave Evelyn one final look before he and Caroline headed off down the hall.

"Aw. Bye, friends! Same time tomorrow, yeah?" Evelyn waved sarcastically toward the door, then laid her head back against the hardwood floor. "Idiots."

After about ten minutes of being alone, Evelyn raised an eyebrow as she heard the sound of breathing at the threshold of the dorm room. She turned her head toward the door and noticed Luke Parker, who stood silently staring at her.

"Wow. I—" He stuttered, nervously as the vampire weakly got up to her feet.

"What's up, Luke? Never seen a starved vampire before?" Evelyn let a small chuckle escape her lips as she made her way to the threshold. "What exactly do I owe the displeasure?"

"I wanted to apologize to you, I feel like this is partly my fault, you know?" Luke shuffled with he stuffed his hands anxiously into the pockets of his jeans. "If I didn't stop the spell to bring people back from the Other Side, then—"

"You know, what? You're right. It is your fault." Evelyn snapped with a viciously look in her eyes, then her face fell. "I just— I guess the person that I've been blaming is myself, Luke. But, really, It's you."

"Evelyn, I really, really am sorry." Luke stuttered nervously with a guilty look in his eyes. "I swear if I could go back and change things somehow, I would do it in a heartbeat. I just wanted to keep my sister safe."

"I get it. I really do." Evelyn sighed heavily as she ran her hands through her hair. "Luke, if you mean what you said about being sorry, you'll take down this boundary spell, and let me walk out of here? Come on, I promise I won't hurt you."

The Parker witch furrowed his brows, then stepped backward in fear. "I told you I was sorry, Evelyn. But, I can't— nobody's supposed to let you out. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you right now."

"Yeah. But, you are the reason I'm in here. You are the reason that I turned my humanity off, and the reason that's Damon Salvatore is dead. So, Luke Parker, I suggest you drop the damn spell, or I promise you when I get out of here, humanity or not, I will rip your sister apart right in front of you. Then, I'll do the same to you." Evelyn's face turned from a soft smile to a dark glare that contained nothing but venom and hate.

The Parker witch hesitated for a moment, but he knew that there was truth in what Evelyn was saying. It was his fault, and she would surely kill him when she got out. With a reluctant nod, he closed his eyes and waved his hand. "There. You're free to go."

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, then stepped her foot over the threshold line before she smirked. "Thanks. I still think you're one-hundred percent to blame though, so you should probably keep your distance from now on." Before Luke could respond, Evelyn was gone.

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Evelyn found herself on the table of a bar in Whitmore as she danced her cares away. The music blared through the bar as she encouraged more people to dance on the tables. She tossed her leather jacket off and grabbed another shot glass that was placed at her feet. She smirked at the feeling of the liquid burning her throat as it went down.

"Another drink, gorgeous?" A man yelled up to Evelyn with a smirk on his lips. His piercing green eyes locked with hers as she jumped down off of the table and took the bottle of liquor from his hands. "I'll take that as a yes."

"What can I say, I'm a thirsty girl." Evelyn purred seductively as she smirked toward the man.

He held his hands in the air with a twinkle in his eyes. "Hey. Never said there was anything wrong with that, baby."

Baby. Evelyn shuddered at the use of the word. She hadn't had anyone call her baby since Damon. She couldn't work out why a word so simple as baby affected her so greatly, especially when she didn't care about anything. "Don't call me that." She snapped immediately with a venomous look in her eyes.

"What?" He scoffed in disbelief, but his hands moved around her waist as he slurred his words. "You got a problem with me callin' you baby, baby?"

Evelyn felt something burn inside of her. She wasn't sure whether it was bloodlust or emotion, but whatever the hell it was, she needed to silence it. "Actually—"

"—Evelyn." Stefan's voice boomed as he grabbed her by the arm with an innocent look on his face. He knew that Evelyn was probably moments away from tearing the boy's throat out, so he thought he better intervene before he ended up dead. "Let's chat."

The brunette vampire rolled her eyes and then turned her attention away from the Salvatore. "Hm. Let's not."

"Yo, man. Get your own chick. She's off-limits."

"Go away." A scoff left Stefan's lips as he compelled Evelyn's meal to wander off, which he did without any saying a word. Stefan folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. "What're you doing, Evelyn?"

"Well, I was having fun. That was until you ruined it." The vampire teased with a smirk on her face, though Stefan's stone expression remained unchanged. "What? You're not even gonna ask me how I got out?"

"You took advantage of the fact that Luke Parker has a conscience. He already told me."

A melodic chuckle left Evelyn's lips as she downed yet another shot. "Ha. I know! Smart, right?"

"I wouldn't call manipulating someone into doing what you want them to do, smart. So, you gonna come back to the dorm willingly, or do I have to snap your neck first?" He raised an eyebrow as a sigh left the brunette's lips.

"Um. How about neither." Evelyn offered up as she watched his brows knit together in sheer confusion. "You don't need to lock me up, Stefan."

"Of course we do. You're a vampire who's turned off her humanity and shut out everything that makes you who you are. You have absolutely no morals or self-control. You're dangerous, Evelyn." He argued back. "And, you need to be locked up. It's for your own good as much as anyone else."

"Hm. I figured you'd say just that." Evelyn hummed to herself as she jumped back up on the bar top where she was once dancing. "Hey! Everyone, listen up—"

Stefan's eyes widened fearfully as he heard the music stop and watched every single pair of eyes fall to the brunette vampire in front of him. "Evelyn, what're you doing?"

"You all remember the conversation I had with you earlier, I'm gonna need to you go ahead and do it," Evelyn yelled loudly as every single person in the bar smashed their glasses or beer bottles and pointed the sharp, broken edges against their necks. The Austin vampire smirked, then let her eyes fall to Stefan.

"It was a trap," Stefan mumbled lowly to himself as his eyes glazed over with fear. "You compelled them all."

"Yup." Evelyn nodded with a smirk as she jumped off of the bar. "You, Caroline, Ric, and everyone else needs to back off, or I tell everyone in this bar to slit their own throats. Have I made myself clear?"

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