It seems the two days pass by quickly. The first day Damon spiraled. He ended up getting drunk. He wanted to have Blaise with him the whole time but he was so drunk he could barely walk so I told him if he was holding Blaise he was lying down. I didn't want him to drop him. Once Damon sobered up he felt even worse about almost hurting him. They did end up napping together so that gave me a bit of a break.
I'm driving out to Whitmore. I left Blaise with Jenna for now. Her, Jer, and Blaise are driving out meeting me here to get our tattoos. I arrive and a man in a lab coat is waiting for me. I brought a little chem experiment that will eventually start a small fire then go out. They won't be able to put it out, it will only go out when it burns out. I'm hoping to leave it somewhere to get time alone with Enzo.
"Doctor Maxfield," I greet.
"Please call me Wes. It's a pleasure to meet you Evelyn." He greets shaking my hand. We head into a mansion on the property. We take an elevator to the basement.
"This is fancy." I comment hoping to seem like I'm on his side.
"Yes, Whitmore money has been funding Augustine for a long time." He tells me.
I notice he doesn't actually invite me in. Good thing Damon wasn't here. Or maybe it's not owned by anyone. But it looks like I will have to save Enzo on my own. Damon will not be happy.
"Does anyone own the house?" I ask looking around like I'm admiring it.
"Why?" He asks sceptically.
"I'm hoping they are either single or I can kill off the competition to move into here. It's gorgeous." I lie laughing. He laughs.
"Yes Aaron Whitmore. He is single and about your age as well." He tells me probably thinking he can set us up for us to make little pro Augustine babies.
Sorry buster, I'm not helping you. We arrive to the basement. I look around seeing rooms and rooms. There are random organs in bowls on tables.
"Can I see the patients?" I say with a chuckle. Pretending I made a joke.
"Of course." He says he takes me to a room with rows of cells. I see so many other people here. They all look weak.
"Are they all vampires?" I ask quietly feeling horrible. Trying to stop myself from throwing up.
"No, this is the werewolf wing. We have a witch wing I'll show you. Right now we only have one vampire, sadly." He says excitedly.
We head to the other wing with all the witches who all also look weak. I pretend to trip and drop the experiment just out of Wes's sight. It will go off hopefully when I get to Enzo's cage. I'll be able to talk to him.
"Are you alright?" He asks.
"Of course. I can sometimes be clumsy." I laugh off. We head to Enzo's cage. He looks like he can't see. We keep further away.
"This is 12144," Wes presents happily to me. All of a sudden another tech comes in calling Wes. "Will you be alright here for a few minutes?" I nod. I smirk at his back happy it worked out. Wes leaves and I walk closer to the bars.
"Who's there?" Enzo asks.
"Hi Enzo," I greet trying not to be rude.
"Who are you?" he asks almost seeming to freak out.
"My name is Evelyn Gilbert. I know my dad hurt you. I'm so sorry. Do you remember Damon?" I ask.
"You just surround yuorself with assholes don't you honey?" He seems to tease. "If I see either one again I'll kill them both."
"Well, my dad died. I don't expect any sympathies from you over that. But I do hope you won't kill my child's father." I admit to him.
"Child? Vampire's can't have children sweetie." Enzo says.
"Well, turns out I can give vampires children. I found out the hard way. Enzo, I will get you out. You will be free. I just want you to know it broke Damon's heart to leave you behind, he thought you were dead. He says he flipped the switch, but I'm not really sure what that means. I just want you out and with us. Damon's been telling our son all about you." I tell him.
"Really?" Enzo asks surprised. "The last escape attempt didn't go so well."
"Well, this time you have a human on your side." I reply confidently.
"I wish I had your confidence." He says with a sigh.
"Do you know if they leave the facility minimally manned at any point?" I ask.
"Yeah, at night there is only about two guards, that's all." He tells me.
"So, why can't you see?" I ask confused.
"They took my eyes about a day ago. I won't have vision for another day."
"I'm so sorry," I say putting my hands over my mouth in shock. "I never want anyone to go through this. I'm hoping to get everyone out, but you're first priority. I won't let you or Damon down." I say I look to see Wes walking back looking at a clipboard. "I'm sorry for anything I say. Just know I don't mean it." I get out quickly before Wes enters again. I step back to where I was before just as he looks up.
"Sorry about that. A witch got a little testy." He says. I internally wince hoping none of them got hurt because of me.
"It's alright. This vampire seems harmless." I say with a shrug.
"We give him just enough blood to keep from desiccating, so he isn't harmful. He can be dangerous though if you get too close." He warns.
"Alright." I reply.
We quickly finish up the tour, we pass an office and I manage to sneak a picture of a map of the basement on my phone, while Wes is talking to a guard. I leave with promises to Wes to return. Only thing Wes doesn't know is I will be returning when he isn't there.
I'm so happy to have all the information I need to get Enzo out. Hopefully it won't take too long. I just need to rent a car from somewhere. Actually I'll get Damon to do that. I'm not old enough to rent cars. I want a rented car that way it's harder to track who helped Enzo.
I was surprised by the lack of electronic security. I guess they keep everyone weak that way they don't have to do much. Maybe I'll get a bus for everyone to be able to get out. I should help them get to a bus depot. I know Damon would pay for tickets for them to get out of here. I will also need to get a couple bags of blood to help Enzo have the strength to get out. Hopefully, he will help me break everyone out as well.
I arrive at the tattoo parlor and see Jenna and Jer already there with Blaise. We all head in. Jer designed a heart with a stethoscope around it. An Anatomically correct heart. We all put ours on our left calf. It doesn't take too long for us all to get them done with the ink I made. Jer made sure to bring it with him. We all head out Jenna goes in her own car. I take Blaise and Jer in mine. I beat Jenna home and head up to my room.
I hear Jenna call me downstairs a little while later. I grab Blaise and see her sitting with her laptop at the dining table. Elena standing next to her. I put Blaise in his playpen and go stand on her other side.
"What's up?" I ask her.
"I was planning on telling you and Elena what I know about your birth mother." Jenna offers. Your dad kept everything from his medical practice—records, logs, old appointment books. I found an entry from the night you were born. Patient and a birth date. Isobel Peterson.
"Do you think that's her real name?" Elena asks.
"Pregnant teenage runaway? Probably not. First name, maybe. But where'd she get Peterson? Classmate? Best friend? So I binged it."
"Not google?" I tease as ahe pulls up the Internet and types in a name in the search engine.
"I searched for all the Petersons in this area born the same year as Isobel, found 3-2 men and a woman, Trudie, who lived in Grove Hill, Virginia." She just rolls her eyes at me and continues.
"That's not far from here." Elena points out.
"Well, watch this." Jenna types something else into the search engine and pulls up an image of Isobel from high school.
"Isobel." Elena says in awe as she looks at the picture with a smile. "She was a cheerleader." I look with disinterest.
"Trudie still lives there." She hands Elena a post-it note. "This is her address."
"What about Isobel?" Elena asks.
"I couldn't find anything about her." Elena looks disheartened as she sits down at the table. "Listen. There's something else. Mr. Saltzman, Ric, his wife was from around here, and her name was also Isobel."
"Wait. "Was," as in..." Elena trails off.
"She died." Jenna tells us. Elena leaves the room. "Do you want to go see her? I noticed you not asking questions."
"I just can't imagine giving up my child. I could never give up Blaise no matter what." I tell her.
"Yeah, I kinda thought you would think that way. I'm not surprised." Jenna admits.
"Besides, I have an amazing family right here. I don't need her." I say with a smile. Jenna give me a hug.
"Thanks kid," she says.
I head out to the boarding house with Blaise. Damon was dissecting my dad's journal while I was gone.
"Find anything interesting?" I ask placing Blaise on his floor play mat.
"Not really, sorry." He says with a shrug. "How bout you?"
"I saw Enzo and talked to him. I will need you to rent a bus." I tell him.
"For Enzo?" he asks confused.
"No for everyone else. I can't leave anyone there. I need to get them all out." I say sounding desperate.
"You have such a big heart Evie." He says walking over and pulling me to his chest. "I can do that. I'll also get you some bagged blood."
"I was hoping you could also get all the others bus tickets to get out of here." I say timidly.
"Yeah, I guess I can do that. I would rather they not stay here." He says with a sigh. "How did Enzo look?"
"Not very good. He couldn't see." I say.
"Those days were some of the worst," Damon says with a shudder.
"Good thing is Enzo is the only vampire there."
"That is good news." He says. "So, lets see the new ink?"
I lift up my pant leg to show him. He looks appreciatively at it. Stefan walks in while Damon is pouring himself a glass of bourbon. Damon glances over.
"Oh no, it's buzzkill bob." Damon says sarcastically. I burst out laughing. Blaise laughs with me. Damon heads over and picks him up. "Daddy's funny huh?" He asks Blaise in a baby voice.
"Can we talk Damon?" Stefan asks.
"Anything you need to say you can say in front of Evie," Damon tells him. Still Stefan takes him to the corner of the room to whisper something to him. I just roll my eyes at Stefan's antics. Stefan leaves shortly after that. I get a text from Elena asking if I want to go meet Trudie. I tell her no.
"What did Stefan want?" I ask when Damon walks back over to me.
"He wants to know if I killed someone a while ago." He says.
"I imagine you did." I reply.
"I'm not sure who he's talking about so I gave him some vague thing that I probably did." He shrugs finishing his drink. "Want to go to the grill for dinner? We can get a caramel apple pie."
"Yes! Always yes." I say running to the door. Damon hands me Blaise then vamp speeds around to get Blaise's stuff ready to go. We head into the car.
"Did Jeremy enjoy his pie?" He asks as we pull into the Grill.
"Yeah, he did. Thank you." I reply.
"Did he share?"
"Yeah, we both dug into it like usual." I reply.
"Well, then I will have to get you both another one." He says as we walk in. We go sit at the bar where Alaric is drinking a glass of bourbon.
"Bourbon and caramel apple pie piece for the lady and a whole pie to go." Damon orders. The bartender pours a glass and pushes it to Damon. I sit and Damon takes Blaise into his lap to keep him busy. "Behold the teacher. Don't you have some papers to grade?"
"It's, uh, more fun with a buzz." Alaric says.
"Well, most things in life are. Sobers depressing." Damon says.
"You don't strike me as somebody who gets depressed." Alaric admits. I give Damon a confused look. Alaric doesn't know Damon so that makes no sense.
"You say that like you know me." Damon says exactly what I'm thinking.
"Nope. Just a hunch." He says. Damon and Alaric exchange long looks. Alaric finishes his drink and places it down on the bar.
"You two have a good afternoon." Alaric says.
"Not likely." Damon replies. Alaric gets up and leaves. Not long after his departure, Liz walks up to the bar, standing next to Damon.
"Daytime drinking, huh?" Sheriff comments.
"It's all the rage." Damon replies.
She looks over at me. "I hope your not drinking Evie."
"I couldn't even if I wanted to. I'm still breastfeeding" I tell her with a smile.
"Listen, I need a favor." Sheriff asks him.
"She'll have what I'm having." Damon orders the bartender. The bartender pours another bourbon.
"Sit down." Damon says patting the seat next to him. Liz takes a seat next to Damon.
"There's a fundraiser here tonight that the Founder's Council is throwing. The town's most eligible bachelors get raffled off for dates, and, well, we're short a bachelor." Liz tells him.
"Is this what you do when there's no, um..." Damon lowers his voice "Vampires? Organize bachelor raffles?" He asks. Liz laughs.
"Oh, trust me. At this point, I miss the vampires. Look, you're a hero to this town, Damon. I know most people don't know it, but you are, and a catch. I know you're not single, but I was hoping you would do me this favour. Oh, come on, help me out. Carol Lockwood won't let me live it down if I come up empty-handed." She please. He looks at me I nod agreeing that it might be fun.
"You know, a room full of women clamoring to win a date with me. Sounds tasty." Damon replies.
"Thank you." Liz laughs relieved.
"One thing. Can you get information on someone for me? Alaric Saltzman, the history teacher. There's just something a little off about him, and I just - I just wanna make sure that the high school did their homework on this guy." Damon asks her. I give him a confused look. Liz gets up.
"You got it." She agrees.
"Thanks." Damon replies as Liz leaves. He takes a sip of his bourbon. Blaise tries to reach for it knocking more in his mouth forcing him to take a gulp. He puts the glass down and we both laugh.
"So, what's this about your concern of Alaric?" I ask.
"Just a weird feeling about him. I just want to check up on him. I don't want you to be with him for an hour a day and him not be safe." Damon says protectively. "What did Elena text you about?"
"She wanted to go see a friend of our birth mother. Asked me if I wanted to go. I really don't want anything to do with her. She doesn't deserve to be a part of mine or my sons life." I say passionately.
"Good, she sucks." Damon says agreeing with me. "But why did you come to that decision?"
"I think I would have been like Elena had I not had Blaise. But having Blaise put things into perspective. I couldn't imagine doing literally everything I could for him. I would walk across hot coals for him." I reply my gaze not moving from Blaise.
A little while later we are back at the house when Elena texts me that Trudie knows about vampires and something is up. Damon and I head into Stefan's room to see if he has a good jacket for the event.
"Stefan." Elena calls walking into the room.
"Better. Me." Damon says with a chuckle, walking out of the washroom without a shirt on. Blaise is in Damon's room napping.
"You look, um..." Elena trails off.
"Dashing? Gorgeous? Irresistible?" Damon tries to fill in. He crosses the room to me and pulls me into his chest. My back to his chest. His arms wrapped around me.
"Wrecked. You look wrecked." Elena says.
"No reason why. Do you know that I am one of Mystic Falls' most eligible bachelors?" Damon says to her.
"Huh." Elena replies confused.
"I think he actually looks pretty good. And honestly Damon you're doing this as a favour to Liz. Don't let it go to your head." I tell him turning around and patting his chest.
"How are you doing?" Elena asks.
"Never better." Damon answers. He's doing a lot better. He is still hurt about Katherine, but he isn't drinking as much. He's more playing the part of crushed for Stefan now. Just so he doesn't suspect that we are up to something. Because Stefan would be against freeing Enzo.
"What can I do for you? I'm a barrel of favors today. It's my newfound purpose—how can I help people?" Damon asks while putting on a shirt.
"I'm just meeting Stefan. We're going to the fundraiser." Elena tells us. "So I found out who my birth mother is."
"Evie mentioned it earlier. Who cares?" Damon brushes off. Elena looks at him, hurt. She's taking this a lot harder then I am. "She left you. She sucks."
"Stefan. There you are." Elena says looking behind us.
Elena walks over to Stefan. Stefan smiles at her. Damon starts to put his jacket on.
"Uhh. I need a bigger jacket. Wow. You know, an occasional sorority girl might, um, you know, help fill you out a little bit." Damon says putting Stefan's jacket on. Damon throws the jacket onto Stefan's bed and leaves the room. I leave with him. I stop outside the room to listen to them talk for a minute.
"He's fine." Elena says.
"He's Damon." Stefan replies.
"Maybe this heartache will be good for him. It'll remind him that he has one, even if it doesn't beat."
"Won't hold my breath." Stefan says. Elena laughs at this. I frown.
"So I went to see Trudie Peterson." Elena says "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't plan it."
"How was it?"
"She has vervain. She knows about vampire stuff, and it can't be a coincidence."
"It isn't. This is Alaric's wife." Stefan says. I guess she looks at a picture Stefan handed her.
"This is her. This is Isobel. He gave this to you?" Elena asks.
I leave not wanting to hear anymore. This is just great Alaric's wife is our birth mother. This will keep Elena's obsession alive. I go change. I notice Damon and Stefan talking when I leave the washroom. Damon and I head out to the grill with Blaise. I stay quite the whole time. Damon gives me looks the whole time, but doesn't say anything. Probably wanting to give me my space. I just hope Elena doesn't confront Alaric. He doesn't deserve to deal with that. We arrive at the grill and Carol is on the stage, talking into a microphone, introducing the Fundraiser.
"Tickets for the raffle are now on sale. All proceeds benefit the annual Founder's Day celebration." She says. I see Alaric and Jenna having a serious talk. Damon has Blaise so I just wonder around. Eventually Caroline, Elena, and Matt arrive. I head to go wait with them.
"He's already been hit on, like, 35 times. He's total cougar bait." Care says as I walk up.
"Impressive." Elena says.
"More like embarrassing" Matt adds.
"Who are we talking about?" I ask
"Matt," Care replies.
"Ooo, you go Matt." I cheer on with a laugh. He looks down embarrassed. Caroline laughs and we see Kelly enter the Grill.
"Hi, Mrs. Donovan." Care greets. Kelly glances at Caroline with distaste and looks at Elena and I. That was rude of her.
"Elena, honey. Evie, Sweetie." Kelly greets us ignoring Care.
"Hi, Kelly." Elena and I both greet. We both give exchange hugs with her.
"Long time, no see." She says. "Evie where's your baby?"
"He's with my man, currently making all the ladies swoon." I say with a chuckle. She laughs.
"How are you doing?" Elena asks her after the laughter dies down.
"Oh, same old. Oh. Matty tells me you broke his heart." Kelly says.
"Mom." Matt whines.
"Just kidding. Calm down. He found his rebound girl." Kelly replies as she glances at Caroline. "Oh. Here you go, sweetheart. However many that'll buy." Kelly extracts some money and hands it to Caroline, who takes it with a small smile. "I just hope I don't get Bachelor 3. I dated him in high school. Not impressive." She whispers. "In any way." Matt shakes his head, embarrassed. Caroline hands Kelly her tickets and she takes them. "Very exciting."
Kelly walks off into the Grill.
"Well, was I the only one to think that was awkward?" I ask.
"No I think all of us did." Care replies. "Why does she like you so much Evie?"
"Best friends with Ty. Comes with the gig. Because him and Matt are bro's I get automatic liking status." I explain. "From what I gather the grudge with you is from before your time."
"Then I guess it isn't something I can fix." Care says deflating. Elena and Matt ae in their own conversation now.
"Not without time and sadly Kelly never sticks around long enough for that." I roll my eyes. "Don't worry about her. Matt doesn't take her opinion too highly anyway."
"Thanks Evie. You always have my back." She gives me a hug.
"Always," I reply hugging her back. I see Damon doing his job and flirting with Carol. Hopefully it will get more money for the fundraiser. After he drops Blaise off with me and gets on the stage. Stefan enters the Grill as Carol introduces each of the bachelors on stage. I go sit at a table with Jenna and Elena. Blaise sitting on my lap playing with a toy.
"And what do you do, Bachelor Number 3?" Carol asks him.
"Yeah, I'm a plumber." He says happily.
"Well, isn't that wonderful? We could always use more plumbers. Moving on. Number 4, 'Alaric Saltzman.' Wow. That's quite a mouthful. What do you do, Alaric?" Carol quickly moves on.
"I'm a teacher at Mystic Falls High." Alaric says. He still looks pretty embarrassed.
"Oh, beauty and brains, ladies. This one's a keeper. What do you teach?" Carol asks.
"History." He replies.
"History. Oh, well, give us a fun fact about Mystic Falls, something crazy." Carol insists. Alaric looks over at Damon. Damon places his hand up to his ear, sarcastically anticipating a response.
"Uh, well..." Alaric trails off. I just cringe.
"He's probably saving the best stories for his date." Carol says moving down the line "And last, but not least, Damon Salvatore. We don't have much on you." Stefan stops in the middle of the room and looks at Elena. Elena smiles at him and waves from a table she is sharing with Jenna and I . Stefan smiles back and waves, then looks back at the stage.
"Well, I'm tough to fit on a card." Damon says. Which is very true. Eternal vampire is tough to put on a card.
"Do you have any hobbies, like to travel?" Carol asks trying to get more out of him.
"Oh, yeah. L.A., New York. Couple of years ago, I was in North Carolina. Near the Duke campus, actually. I think—I think Alaric went to school there. Didn't you, Ric?" Damon says. I cock my head confused on where he is going with this. Damon turns to look at Alaric, who does the same. "Yeah, 'cause I- I know your wife did."
Oh he better not be. He has so much better taste then this. Elena's face starts to falter. Stefan makes his way over to us.
"I had a drink with her once. She was—she was a great girl. I ever tell you that? Cause she was - Delicious. Mmm! Mmm mmm mmm." Damon says.
My mouth drops. I look over at Elena. Her mouth hangs open as well. Her eyes filled with tears as she stares at Damon. Jenna looks over at her.
"Are you okay?" Jenna asks.
"I just need some air." Elena says. Elena gets up and walks past Stefan, out of the Grill. Stefan follows her.
"I'll go check on her. It's probably just the shock that Damon might know our birth mother." I say to Jenna. I stand and put Blaise on my hip. He pouts enjoying where he was. I had him his toy to take with him. Outside, Elena paces around. Elena and Stefan are talking.
"He killed her? Damon was the vampire that killed her?" Elena asks upset. I just listen standing next to Elena. Showing my support for her but also wanting to know more.
"I don't know what happened. Alaric said that they never found the body." Stefan says.
"Oh, my god. Stefan." Elena says.
"I know. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you. But I just—I wanted to know more."
"I was feeling sorry for him, hoping that this whole Katherine thing would change him. I'm so stupid."
"He doesn't know about the connection to you. I thought about confronting him, but he's already so on edge."
"Why are you protecting him?" Elena asks.
"Because you're not the only one hoping that he might actually change." Stefan says with a sigh.
"He has changed. Just in the time being here. Sure what he did was stupid and petty. Hand him his ass for being so callus about the way he said it. But if he killed her it was before he even knew you and I existed." I tell Elena hoping she will see how Damon has grown and changed.
Elena shakes her head slightly.
"That man." Elena points over Stefan's shoulder. I look at him. Stefan turns around and looks at the man, who watches us. "I saw that man outside of Trudie's."
"Get back inside. Come on you two." Stefan says gently pushing Elena back inside. I head right behind her not wanting the man to hurt Blaise.
Elena runs right into Damon as she walks in.
"Whoa. Easy there. Buy a ticket like everyone else." Damon jokes.
"Did you enjoy that? Rubbing it in to Alaric Saltzman?" Elena asks pissed off.
"What?" Damon asks confused.
"Just as I was starting to think that there was something redeemable about you." Elena keeps going. Stefan walks up to us.
"Elena." Stefan cautions. He shakes his head at Elena. Damon looks at all of us in confusion.
"Am I missing something here?" Damon asks. He tries to take Blaise from my hands. I move him away to keep holding him.
"Did I forget to mention earlier when we were talking about my birth mother? The one that gave me up?" Elena asks.
"Mm-hm." Damon responds focusing on me.
"Her name was Isobel." Elena finally tells him. Damon registers what she means then his face drops. "Go ahead. Reminisce about how you killed her." Elena and Stefan leave.
"Evie, I'm so sorry. I didn't know." Damon apologize.
"I really don't think here and now is the place to talk about it." I tell him in a clipped tone. "There is a man following Elena. She saw him when she went to see a friend of Isobel's."
"Alright, I'll keep an eye out." Damon says. Him and I walk out to leave.
"Don't you have to wait to find out who your going on a 'date' with?" I ask
"You're more important. I have a story to tell you. It's one that's probably overdue." He says.
Walking outside I see Elena and Stefan. Damon and I walk over so I can tell Elena that I'm going back to Damon's place. The man from earlier is suddenly standing in front of her and I. Stefan stands slightly in front of Elena, placing his hand out to protect her. Damon senses something is off and quickly takes Blaise and pushes me behind him.
"I have a message for you." The man says to Elena. Not paying attention to me at all.
"What?" Elena asks.
"Who are you?" Stefan asks right after.
"Stop looking." The man says.
"Stop looking for what?" Elena asks what we are all thinking.
"She doesn't want to know you. She doesn't want to talk to you." The man tells her.
"Isobel?" Elena asks still confused.
"You need to stop looking. Do you understand?" The man asks her.
"She's alive? Does that mean she's a—" Elena starts to inch forward and Stefan puts his arm out to keep her behind him. She cuts off at this.
"Elena, he's under compulsion." Stefan explains.
"Do you understand?" The man asks.
"Yes we do." I finally answer. He looks at me for the first time. It seems almost like he's looking through me.
"Good." The man says as he looks down the street. Damon puts Blaise's face into his chest and pulls me closer to his back sensing that something is about to happen. I peek out from behind his back. "I'm done now."
The man steps backwards into the road. A large truck blares its horn but runs over the man, killing him. I turn my head into Damon's back with a whimper. Only a moment after the incident, I pull my head out and see Stefan and Elena run into the middle of the street. People around them are yelling. Stefan kneels down and looks at the man. I see Elena pick something up.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Damon says. Damon pulls me to the car. He opens the door for me and closes it behind me then buckles Blaise in his seat. He vamp speeds into the car and drives towards his house. "Are you alright?"
"No, Damon. That was horrible." I say with a whimper.
"I know. You don't need to worry about Blaise he didn't see anything." Damon reassures me. "Do you still want to hear about the story of your birth mom, tonight?"
"Yeah, when we get back and put Blaise down, please." I say in a small voice.
"Of course, Evie. I owe you this explanation either way. I just didn't know if you wanted to hear it after seeing that." He says as we pull into the drive.
He gets Blaise and we both head inside. We put Blaise down and I get a text from Jenna saying she won the date with Alaric. I congratulate her as Damon and I walk back downstairs. He leads me to the couch and pours himself and I a glass of juice that he keeps in a decanter just for these occasions. I thought it was silly when he did it, but now I'm comforted by it.
"I told you that I had to turn my emotions off when I left Enzo right?" He checks as he hands me my drink, sits down next to me and puts his arm around the back of the couch. I nod. "When Isobel came to me, I still didn't have them on. She begged me to turn her into a vampire. That's exactly what I did. Alaric must have seen me drinking her dry after I gave her my blood. I didn't turn my emotions back on till I saw you at that party, that day."
"So, you didn't kill her. You turned her?" I clarify.
"Yeah, she successfully turned. Now that I know Katherine was out of the tomb and that her doppelganger is Isobel's daughter, I think Katherine sent her my way." Damon tells me.
"Alright, I can imagine she would be interested in her doppelganger. I know I would be." I agree with him.
We start talking about the plan to get Enzo out tomorrow night. I start yawning after a while. I head upstairs and head to bed. I wake up to a loud bang. I get up and head downstairs. I head to the living room and see Alaric dead on the floor.
"Damon!" I yell.
"Evie? What are you doing awake?" He asks taking me into his arms. "He tried to stake me."
Stefan walks in the room and looks at Alaric. He rushes over to the body and kneels down next to it, checking for a pulse.
"What happened? What did you do?" Stefan asks.
"Do what? He attacked me." Damon says me still in his arms.
"What do I tell Jenna?" I ask in horror. Damon pulls my head to rest on his chest.
Stefan sits up and looks at Damon.
"Damon." Stefan says.
"All I did was tell him the truth. His wife didn't want him anymore. It's not my fault he couldn't handle it." Damon explains.
"Like you've been handling Katherine?" Stefan asks clearly buying his act.
"I'm handling it fine. I have Evie and Blaise. I don't need Katherin. You know what? Isobel came to me. She found me. And if she's related to Elena, that means she's related to Katherine. Maybe Katherine sent her to me." Damon explains his thinking to Stefan.
"Stop it. You don't have to keep looking." Stefan says.
"I'm not looking for her. I'm staying with Evie and Blaise until Evie graduates, then we are going to tour the world. But it can't be a coincidence Isobel sought me out." Damon says. He points at Alaric "I'm assuming you'll take care of this."
Damon starts to pull me away but I resist seeing Alaric breathing. Stefan sits down next to Alaric's body. Suddenly, Stefan sees Alaric's fingers move. He furrows his brow and leans over Alaric. Suddenly, Alaric gasps back to life, panting heavily. He sits up, confused.
"What happened? What's going on?" Alaric asks.
"You were just...Did Damon turn you?" Stefan asks. Damon and I both looked shocked.
"No. I - I went for him and then he, uh- he stabbed me." Alaric tells him.
"No, no, no. You must have vampire blood in your system. Somebody slipped it to you." Stefan refutes.
"No. It's, uh, it's something else." Alaric says. I notice him flexing his fingers and I see the ring on it. I go to take a step forward but Damon holds me back.
"I recognize that ring. My dad wore it everyday. I remember asking him about it. He said it was a family heirloom." I say realizing what I'm looking at. "He said it protected our ancestors from monsters."
"How is that even possible?" Stefan asks. I just shrug my shoulders.
"This ring protected me." Alaric says.
"That's impossible." Damon says. He pulls me out of the room and up to his room. He sits on the bed with his head in his hands. "A ring can save you from dying from vampires? Where is your dad's ring?"
"My uncle John took it. It goes to Jer next." I tell him. "I don't need a ring Damon. I have you."