CHAPTER TWENTY TWO | HOME

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EVELYN WAS IN NO WAY PREPARED FOR THE SIGHT OF STEFAN SALVATORE— DEAD. As she, Damon and, Elena all ran into Whitmore College, she saw Caroline hysterically crying beside Stefan's body which she had set on one of the couches in the common room. Evelyn immediately tensed up and her eyes fearfully widened when she saw the grey veins all over Stefan's skin.

Damon remained absolutely frozen. He stared down at the body of his little brother— he didn't know what to do or say. He just stared whilst the feeling of guilt, and sickness ran through his body like a drug.

"Oh, my God. Stefan!" The doppelganger suddenly gasped out in horror as she clasped her hand over her mouth to silence herself.

"I didn't know where to bring him, I just couldn't leave him outside." Caroline Forbes breathlessly explained through her sobs for the gaggle of vampires who remained silent and motionless.

"This is not happening." Evelyn shook his head, almost denying the fact that the Salvatore was lying there dead in front of them. "There is absolutely no way that this is happening.

"Bonnie has a plan, right?" Caroline looked around the room with a desperate look in her eyes. "She—she said that she could bring people back. Tell me that she can bring him back!"

"We'll bring him back," Damon nodded, with a determined voice. He stepped forward and grabbed hold of a blanket, then laid it over Stefan's desiccated body. " Come on. Let's get away from prying eyes."

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Bonnie had a plan to bring Stefan back, but they needed a witch. And, fortunately, they knew, two of them—Liv and Luke Parker, who now owed them since they attempted to kill both Stefan and Elena. Evelyn and the two vampires tracked down the witches and forced them out of their car.

"A little tip," Elena began with a smug look on her face as Liv and Luke jumped out of the SUV. "If you're gonna flee the scene of the crime, take backroads."

Evelyn folded her arms across her chest as she, Caroline, and Elena all glared at the witches. Liv shifted uncomfortably at the hostile situation. "You really want to do this, again?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Evelyn furrowed her brows, then scoffed. "Oh, right. You mean the whole, doppelganger-murder-thing. Guess you should probably know there's zero point in that." As Evelyn spoke, the Parker witches' furrowed their brows. "Stefan's dead."

Liv exhaled with a look of sadness on her face. "I know you don't believe me, but I am sorry."

"Good, because you're gonna help bring him back."

"Look, I get what you need from us, but if both doppelgangers are alive again, the travelers can restart their spell. Witch magic goes bye-bye, and all you vamps? You're goners." Liv tried her best to defend her cause to the three girls, but all they cared about was Stefan's survival.

"That's not gonna happen, Liv." The Austin vampire tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "We've got a way to bring Stefan back, but we're gonna have to kill a lot of them to do it— including Markos, himself."

"We can't help you," Luke protested again before his sister got them hooked into the plan. "Even if we wanted to, our coven would kill us."

"Stefan saved your life." The Forbes vampire snarled at Luke in disbelief. She knew that if it were the other way around, Stefan would do everything he could to return the favor.

"I know he did, but—"

"—We can't risk it." Liv finally told him.

In a moment of blind rage, Caroline Forbes sped forward and snapped Luke's neck without flinching. A gasp of horror escaped Liv's lips as she watched Luke's body drop to the floor. "Your brother's officially on the Other Side."

Evelyn folded her arms across her chest and glanced up at Liv. "Think you can risk it now, huh?"

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The plan was set, finally. Liz Forbes had lured the travelers into one spot— The Grill, where Matt and Jeremy had caused a gas pipe to leak. All that was left was for Damon to trigger the explosion. The Salvatore's eyes lingered on the entry sign to the small town, then he took one final sip of bourbon and climbed into the driver's seat of his car.

As he turned the key in the ignition, the passenger door swung open and Evelyn Austin jumped inside. She gave him a smirk, then yanked the bottle of bourbon from his lap. "Rude of you to not share. We're engaged, Damon."

"Evelyn, what the hell are you doing?" Damon glared at her with a look of both annoyance and surprise as she removed the bottle from her lips.

"What? Do you seriously think I'm gonna let you do this alone? No way." She smirked, then tilted her head to the side. "I'm coming with you."

"No. No, you're not." Damon immediately began to argue. "You're being stupid. Now, get the hell outta' the car, Evelyn."

"You and I are in this together. That's what you said when you put this ring on my finger, right?" Evelyn raised her hand up in the air and watched his eyes linger on the engagement ring. "Now, we've got a Grill to blow up. Drive."

A smirk flickered across Damon's lips but as soon as he drove over the border of Mystic Falls, the spell began to slowly take effect on them. Damon's eyes glanced to the brunette beside him as a slit suddenly appeared on the left of Evelyn's neck. "No! Come on!"

As they turned a sharp corner, the Grill was in sight. Evelyn's eyes widened fearfully as she felt herself choking on the blood. "Damon."

The Salvatore's eyes fixed with Evelyn's, then he nodded. "I know."

Damon took his fiancé but the hand as they prepared for the impact and clamped their eyes shut. The car immediately drove straight into the window of the Grill, all that was heard was a loud smash and then a massive bang followed by fire consuming everything, and then there was nothing.

Evelyn blinked uncomfortably and found herself back at the cemetery with Bonnie, who stood a little in front of her. She waited a few moments until she clapped eyes on Damo, who had also made it.

"Okay. When you guys pass through me, you're gonna wake up with your bodies on the Other Side. I need you to get back here as fast as you can."

The couple nodded vigorously once Bonnie stepped forward and touched their forearms. Then Evelyn found herself back in the burned down Grill, amongst dozens of dead bodies.

"It's a shame you and I only ever have gotten to meet under dire circumstances, huh?" A voice called from behind the brunette vampire. She twirled on her heels to see Alaric Saltzman, Damon's best friend. "You need to get out of here, Evelyn."

"I can't leave without Damon." Evelyn immediately shook her head, unwilling to leave without Damona at her side.

"I'll find him, I promise." He assured her, then placed his hand on her shoulder. "Go back to Bonnie, and get yourself safe. We'll meet you there."

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Reluctantly, Evelyn took herself back to the cemetery on the promise that Alaric would locate Damon. When she arrived back, Evelyn saw a small group of people who still hadn't passed through Bonnie.

"Where's Damon?" Stefan yelled out through the blowing wind that swept around them. The Other Side was going down within minutes and still, Damon was not with them.

"I don't know. Ric said he'll find him and bring him here." Evelyn assured the Salvatore, though she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she had.

Stefan nodded slowly, then glanced between his friend and Bonnie. "You go, I'll wait here."

"No, no way." The brunette vampire furiously yelled out, almost irritated by anyone that suggested her leaving without Damon. "I'm not going anywhere until Damon's here."

"This place is falling apart."

"No!" Evelyn screamed again, but then Bonnie grabbed her forearm and pulled her back to the land of the living where Caroline and Elena waiting.

"Evelyn! Thank God!" The two girls hurried over to Evelyn with a look of relief, but the brunette vampire snapped her eyes in Bonnie's direction.

"Bonnie, no. Why the hell would you do that, Damon's not there yet!" Evelyn cried out as the tears began to fall down her cheeks. Caroline held her in her embrace.

"We'll find him," Bonnie assured her with a nod.

"What's going on?" Caroline glared at both girls with a confused look. "Who are we missing? Where's Stefan?"

Bonnie became uneasy and began to cough violently into her hand as blood covered her palm. She stumbled backward, and as she did, Stefan appeared. "No, no, no." He breathed out helplessly once he noticed that stopping Bonnie from collapsing had caused him to unwillingly pass through her. "I was just trying to—"

"What's wrong?"

"She fell. I was just trying to—" Stefan's eyes fell on Evelyn, who looked completely broken. "Damon— he's not there yet."

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All Evelyn wanted was to be reunited with Damon. To get married to Damon. To live the life she always wanted, and she was so close but now it was all gone. She ran into the Salvatore crypt to see the candles burned down and Liv was nowhere to be found.

"Liv!" Evelyn screamed out in a desperate attempt to locate the missing witch, but then Bonnie appeared behind her. "Bonnie, we have to start the spell again. We need to do something. I can't—"

"We can't, Evelyn. That was our one shot." The Bennett girl told her with a sad expression but Evelyn didn't seem to take it in

"No. No, that's not possible. Damon's still trapped. We need to—"

"Evelyn!" Bonnie grabbed her by the arms and looked into the hysterical vampire's eyes. "It's too late. I'm so sorry."

Evelyn shook her head before she sank down against the wall of the crypt. She was hysterically crying and shaking with uneven breathing, almost like she was going to have a panic attack. She couldn't even think clearly, all she knew is that she wanted her fiancé back, but that goal seemed like an impossible task now.

Bonnie looked over her shoulder at an empty spot, then smiled warmly back to Evelyn. "He's here. You can say goodbye."

Bonnie left the couple alone, though Evelyn was unable to see Damon, she could still say what she wanted to say before it was too late. "God, why the hell did you do this? You're an idiot." She looked around the crypt with tear-filled eyes.

"Even if I wanted to apologize, you couldn't hear me. So, I won't." Damon got down in front of the girl, and brushed the strands of hair from her face, and tucked them behind her ear.

"Please, Damon—please, don't leave me." Her voice broke as she breathlessly spoke through the hysterical crying.

"I don't have a choice, baby." He whispered down to her. "You were by far the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my one-hundred and seventy-three years on this Earth. The fact that I get to die knowing that I was loved, not just by anyone, but by you, Evelyn Austin. It's the epitome of a fulfilled life. I would've got to finally marry you— the only woman that has ever managed to truly understand me. It's never gonna get any better than this. I peaked."

"I love you," Evelyn sobbed harder, while she rested her head against the wall with her hands against her forehead. "I love you so much, please— please, come back to me."

"I love you, Evelyn." He said finally before his hand gently caressed cheek once more. "Goodbye." He nodded to himself, took a deep breath, and left Evelyn Austin alone in the crypt.

Evelyn felt numb. She couldn't feel anything, but, more importantly, she didn't want to feel anything. The thought of losing Damon for a second time drove her insane. She just sat on the floor of the crypt and sobbed on her own until finally, she knew what she had to do to fix this.

There was only one way Evelyn knew how to deal with loss. She had seen so many people in her past succumb to the euphoria of turning their humanity off and she swore she would never do it, but she didn't see any other way.

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