𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗌 𝗆𝗒 𝖻𝗈𝗒𝖿𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖽, 𝗇𝗂𝗄

━━━━━━━━━━

She felt scared. Petrified. And she felt lonelier. But she wasn't alone, she was in a nightmare and there was no waking up.

"Please don't hurt me again," she begged to the terror that would always haunt her mind.

With no light in sight, she tried to get out of the endless maze. Following the path, she ran her hand across all the trees. They felt weird, cold and wet, the bark sharp and bumpy. The further she went in to the forest, the more frightened she felt. The tall trees, which were masked by shadows, towered over her, almost like they were watching every step she took. Birds cried out in fear as they fled from their nests. The smell of wood flew through the air, twigs and dead leaves made a deafening crunch underneath her feet as her never-ending journey carried on.

When she turned to the next corner, everything went deadly silent. She was afraid if she took one tiny step, they would punish her. Just like all the other nightmares she experienced.

It felt too real. She could feel the intense pain she endured.

And that's all it took, a twig snapped beneath her shaking feet was enough to make her fear rise even more.

"Evelyn." She yelped and turned around to see a figure standing behind her.

"Stay– stay away from me," she stammered. "Please don't hurt me," she pleaded as the figure moved closer to her.

"It's okay, you're safe." The voice whispered. It was warm and gentle. Not like the one she was used to hearing in her nightmares.

"This is a trick," Evelyn snapped at the woman.

"I'm not here to hurt you." The woman sounded sincere.

"But– but they're going to hurt me. They always do," Evelyn's voice broke. "Please get me out of here."

Evelyn heard movements and could make out the woman had offered her hand. She hesitantly held it as the woman led them out of the forest.

And with every step Evelyn took, a bright light from a distance grew as she got closer to it. She was stepping away from the darkness and into sanctuary.

"You're safe." The woman whispered.

Evelyn opened her eyes, taking in the different scenery ahead of her.

It was a castle surrounded by an enchanted garden. Standing there as if conjured from a fairytale. Every stone was even and square. The walls were made to protect a community, to echo with laughter and provide the shelter they needed. It was perfect.

"Wait, is this Disneyland? Am I in Disneyland? I've always wanted to go there," Evelyn murmured.

She turned around, eyes widening when she was met with the person who helped escape her terror. "You."

━━━━━━━━━━

A tap on the shoulder was enough to wake Evelyn up as she quickly jumped up, pointing the dagger at the intruder.

"Woah, it's me," Elena raised her hands up.

"Elena?" Evelyn whispered.

"I'm sorry," Elena whispered back. "You weren't waking up. I was so scared."

"I just had the weirdest dream ever," she murmured, thinking about the woman.

Elena glanced over to Elijah's body, the dagger was removed. "Did you just–"

"Take the dagger out of him? Yeah," Evelyn nodded.

"I was going to," Elena mumbled.

"Really?" Evelyn looked surprised.

"I need to get answers from him," Evelyn and Elena whispered at the same time, their eyes widening.

"Woah." They spoke again.

"Stop that." They pointed to each other eventually smiling.

"Wow. It's been so long since we used to do that," Evelyn murmured. 

Elena nodded, suppressing in a laughter to avoid waking Stefan and Damon. They sat down leaning against the wall as Evelyn laid her head against her sister's shoulder whilst waiting for Elijah to wake up.

━━━━━━━━━━

Jeremy couldn't believe what he was seeing. Blinking a couple of times, he opened his mouth to say something but he was unable to utter a word.

Kenji was here.

He felt a sense of contentment erupting in him, seeing his best friend standing in front of him.

His hazel eyes were hues of comforting childhood memories, sweet and filled with happiness. His smile was a sight Jeremy hadn't seen in a such a long time, gentle and vibrant.

Kenji was the reminder that his life remained slightly normal. A person he was able to run away to from his problems.

But that all changed when Kenji left.

"Alright, stop admiring me. I know i'm good looking," Kenji teased.

Jeremy continued to stare at him, still in shock.

Kenji poked him on the cheek, lightly patting him too. "I'm real, Jer."

"Kenji?" Jeremy whispered.

"No, i'm your sugar daddy," Kenji rolled his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Are you still angry at me? This was a terrible idea," Kenji murmured to himself, ready to walk away.

Without uttering a word, Jeremy threw his arms around Kenji making him stagger back slightly but he quickly wrapped his own arms around him. The two sinking into this warm comfort they hadn't felt in a very long time.

"I was expecting you to shut the door on my face but this is nice I guess," Kenji chuckled, holding the tears back.

He missed Jeremy so much.

"You're back?" Jeremy tightened his hold on Kenji.

"I'm home," Kenji smiled.

"Okay, now you're suffocating me." Kenji patted him on the back and Jeremy released his hold on him as they both looked back at each other.

Jeremy shook his head, widening the door open. "Come in."

Kenji stepped inside, glancing around as Jeremy continued to follow his every movement. Kenji turned back making him quickly look away and nervously shift on his feet.

"Nothing's changed," Kenji stated.

"Yeah," Jeremy replied back. The room filled with an awkward silence.

"I–" Kenji began. "Why did you stop calling me? You said nothing would change between us."

"I'm so sorry. That night, I didn't mean to," Jeremy trailed off. "We left things on a bad note."

Kenji dismissed it with a wave. "What happened was in the past. Just like you said." Jeremy winced at the words.

"I'm just upset that you stopped talking to me. That shit hurt a lot," Kenji muttered.

"I wasn't sure if you even wanted to talk to me anymore," Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Kenji laughed, "Come on, Jer. We've known each other since diaper days. I could never cut you off from my life."

"I know," Jeremy nodded, the guilt building up in him more.

He knew deep down he didn't deserve Kenji at all yet here he was forgiving Jeremy.

"It was torture not hearing from you," Kenji said.

"Same here," Jeremy nodded.

"So– are we still friends?" Kenji asked, feeling a little anxious.

"Always."

Kenji brought his hand out forward and Jeremy smiled, gesturing to their secret handshake.

Now that he was here. Kenji just made it better for him.

"Enough of the emotional talk. Where are your sisters?" Kenji beamed.

"They're not at home."

"That sucks, I got EJ ice cream." Kenji opened up his bag, showing him the tub of ice cream.

"She's going to be so happy when she sees you especially with the ice cream," Jeremy laughed.

"I got your favourite too," Kenji waved the packet of jolly ranchers in his hand.

"Just blue raspberry?" Jeremy raised a brow.

"Obviously," Kenji threw the packet at him and Jeremy caught it.

"Want to play on the Xbox? I bet you missed losing against me," Kenji teased.

Jeremy scoffed, "That's because I always let you win." Kenji rolled his eyes.

"Didn't you say you'll never come back," Jeremy said and Kenji sighed, walking around the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

"I love Beacon Hill's but Mystic Falls will always be my home." Kenji turned back to him with a smile.

Jeremy noticed the way his mood changed for a split second. "Kenji?"

"Yeah?"

"What happened? And don't even try to change the subject. I know what that look means. Who upset you?" Jeremy asked.

Kenji sighed, hesitantly speaking, "Dad and I had a massive fight." He sat down on the stool.

Jeremy could tell it was a sensitive subject for him, respecting it and instead took a seat besides him. "But did he hurt you?"

Kenji shook his head. "He just said some awful things then I got angry so I stole his precious car to leave but then I broke it."

"Nice one," Jeremy laughed. "Your dad's always been a dick."

Kenji laughed, nodding. "I now understand why mum left his uptight ass."

"You finally dyed your hair green," Jeremy pointed to his hair. "I love it."

"Thanks," Kenji murmured with a shy smile.

"So how's it going with Anna?" He asked and Jeremy tensed.

"We broke up and she left town," Jeremy lied.

"I'm sorry," Kenji gave him a sympathetic smile.

Their moment had been interrupted when Jenna arrived. "Kenji?"

"Jenna!" Kenji rose up from his seat and ran towards her. "It's so good to see you and I must say you are looking beautiful as always."

Jenna laughed as the young boy embraced her in a warm hug. "I'm so happy you're here."

"Well, I needed to come back. Jeremy can barely function without me." Kenji looked back at Jeremy with a playful smile.

And it was true.

━━━━━━━━━━

The sun rose as Evelyn remained awake the rest of the night, her hand caressing Elena's hair who had been laying her head on Evelyn's lap.

A sound of snapping caught the twin's attention and they saw Elijah's body shaking, running to him.

"Hi, Eli," Evelyn whispered with a smile, giving him a wave.

He glanced at her with wide eyes. "It's you."

She nodded. "Yeah it's me. Your friend. Well I hope we still are."

He kept staring at her. "Could you stop staring please? It's starting to get weird," she politely asked.

He jolted up, frightening them as Elena rushed to her sister's side. "That was rude. Wake up like a normal person, will you?" Evelyn lightly scolded Elijah.

He struggled to stay still when the sisters realised he was no longer invited into the house. He sped away as they ran after him. Elijah stood up and tried to step back in but the invisible barrier was in the way, restraining him from entering.

"What happened?" He asked but they silenced him.

"We'll tell you. Not here," Evelyn whispered, pointing behind the house, to avoid waking the brothers up.

"Can we trust you?" Elena asked.

"I trust Eve but can I trust you?" He asked Elena, and she gave the dagger to him.

"Come on, let's go." Evelyn stepped out of the house. "Wait." Elijah and Elena stopped in front of her.

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding between us but I don't want our friendship to end so– um– can I hug you?" Evelyn asked Elijah.

Elijah nodded and a smile crept up on her face, wrapping her arms around his waist and he patted her head, gently.

"It's okay," he smiled. "It wasn't your fault." He gave a side glance towards Elena who shifted on her feet awkwardly.

"So we're still friends right?" Evelyn asked. "Just reassuring."

"Friends," Elijah nodded.

"Yay! Oh, I'm hungry and I need to change so let's go to our house first," Evelyn said.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Katerina quick question." Klaus, who was still in Alaric's body, spoke.

Since yesterday he couldn't stop thinking about Evelyn and Damon and how close they were. Too close much to his hatred

"Yes?" Katherine responded with a monotonous tone.

"Does Damon Salvatore have any romantic feelings for my soulmate?"

"No. They're best friends but some would think they are, seeing how close they are," Katherine smirked and Klaus scowled.

"Looks like I need to kill him," he gritted, thinking of the many ways to torture then kill Damon.

"If you do that, Eve will make it her life mission to torment you and she doesn't give up."

"Fine killing him is out of the options," he muttered angrily and Katherine snickered. He desperately had it bad for her.

"Whatever you do to any of them, she won't like it at all. Eve can be sweet and adorable but she has a raging temper that you wouldn't want to leash," she told him.

"Well lucky me then because I had a taste of that and she proved it amazingly." He pointed to his bruised right cheek and the slightly broken nose.

"But I must say she is feisty," he chuckled and Katherine rolled her eyes.

"Are they any other boys she's close to." He spat the word 'boys' with disgust.

"Just her little group of her friends. She's pretty much lovable by the whole town and they all adore her a lot. Even Elijah and her hit it off easily."

Klaus stopped walking, his eyes hardening. "What?"

Katherine nodded, "They became good friends when he arrived."

"Does my brother fancy her?" He asked, his voice sounding calm but a little threatening.

"I doubt it," Katherine shrugged. "Relax, Klaus it's Eve. She loves to make friends and has this thing about seeing the good everyone."

"Well that's my girl. She has a kind soul. Never fails to impress me," he smiled as he thought about her.

"Maybe she'll see it in you too," she mocked. He glared at her, making Katherine immediately regret what she said and cower in fear.

Would she be able to? He was an abomination, a monster after all.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Eve, hurry up," Elena urged her as she peeked through the window. Elijah was waiting inside the car for the sister's to finish.

"Wait." Evelyn took her time in eating her breakfast. "A girl's gotta eat."

Elena rolled her eyes, "You could've ate in the car."

"I am not going to create a mess in my car now please pour me some lemonade." She clicked her fingers. Elena groaned, giving her a glass of apple juice. "Elena, I said lemonade!"

"Just have orange juice," Elena argued.

"No." Evelyn stubbornly crossed her arms over chest. "I'm not moving until I have my lemonade."

Elena closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and poured her a glass of lemonade. "Happy?"

"Very much," Evelyn grinned. "You can have a hug." She wrapped an arm around Elena's waist and embraced her from the side.

Elena laughed. "Now can we go?"

"Hold on." Evelyn finished her breakfast. "Let me check on Jenna then we can leave." She ran up the stairs and into Jenna's room.

"Good morning, Eve." Jenna smiled, as she sat up.

"Good morning," Evelyn beamed. "I already made you breakfast so you don't need to cook."

"Thank you," Evelyn kissed her cheek, waving her a goodbye and ran back downstairs.

She spotted Jeremy walking towards her, a huge grin on his face. "You look very happy today," Evelyn pointed out. "Is your man period finally over?"

Jeremy scoffed with an eye roll. "I didn't know it was a crime to smile."

"Why are you smiling so much too?" Evelyn asked Elena too.

"What Jeremy said," Elena said.

Evelyn eyed them, shaking her head and made her way towards the door. "We're leaving now. Bye."

She opened the door, standing still and eyes widening when a loud scream escaped her lips.

Kenji screamed with her too. "Why are we screaming?!" He yelled.

"Is everything okay?" Jenna stood at the top of the stairs. "Oh, it's only Kenji." She walked back into her room.

"Kenji?!" Evelyn exclaimed.

"My favourite bitch!" He opened his arms for her.

Evelyn jumped in his arms as they both fell to the ground, laughing at each other.

Evelyn and Kenji rose back up, smiling at each other when Evelyn began to jump excitedly and Kenji followed her. "Why are we jumping now?" He asked.

"I don't know," Evelyn laughed and stopped.

"What are you doing here? Suki said we're going to meet you. Oh my God. I missed you so much. And your hair? You finally dyed it green. It looks so good on you. I can't believe you're here," Evelyn rambled.

Kenji stopped her, placing his hands on her shoulder. "I missed this," he laughed.

Evelyn turned to Jeremy. "Why didn't you tell me he was here?"

"He wanted to surprise you," Jeremy shrugged.

"I'm back," Kenji smiled.

"You just made my day!" Evelyn cheered.

Kenji's eyes then averted to the person sitting in Evelyn's car, curious who it may be. "By the way why is there a dude with a torn suit sitting in your car?"

The Gilbert siblings eyes widened when they forgot about Elijah.

"Oh, uh," Elena began, then looked at Evelyn to help her.

"That is a homeless guy we found on the streets. Elena and I offered to take him to a shelter," Evelyn blurted out.

Elijah heard from the car, frowning at the words. "Wonderful," he muttered sarcastically.

"That's nice of you. So what's the plan for the rest of the day then? I need a catchup. Shall we do a Marvel marathon? Harry Potter too?" Kenji beamed, cheerfully.

The siblings glanced at each other sharing a look. Klaus was still lurking around and now Kenji was back. This was a huge mess.

Kenji took notice of it. "Come on! This is not happening again. You're all doing that thing."

"What thing?" Elena asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Evelyn laughed.

"We're not doing anything," Jeremy scoffed, speaking at the same time as his sisters.

"Like i'm being left out of something. Just like how it was before," Kenji frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.

They all felt guilty. Keeping the supernatural world a secret was something neither wished to keep from him but it was for his own protection and also respecting Suki's wish to not involve her son in their business.

"How about you stay over tonight?" Evelyn suggested, changing the subject. "Elena and I need to take the homeless man first then I have to go study with Bonnie and Caroline for a test."

"And I need to go see my boyfriend," Elena also lied.

"I miss Stefan! I have to say that is the best upgrade you've ever made, Elena," Kenji laughed. "No offence to Matt."

"Matt's with Caroline anyways," Evelyn shrugged.

"He pulled Caroline?!" Kenji was surprised. "What's his secret?"

"He's just really nice," Evelyn said

"Come on, let's go," Jeremy told Kenji.

"Wait, you two are still friends?" Evelyn pointed between the two. "I thought something happened," she murmured to herself.

"They broke up?" Elena asked Evelyn. "When?"

"Why would you say it like that?" Jeremy interrupted them.

"Yeah, we didn't break up," Kenji let out a nervous laugh.

Evelyn eyed the two, trying to figure out what was going on. "Well that's great to hear. I just thought wrong then."

"You did," Jeremy nodded. Evelyn raised a brow and he quickly looked away.

"Anyways, Elena and I need to go. Bye," Evelyn dragged Elena out of the house.

Elijah rolled the window down when Evelyn approached him. "When will you be taking me to the shelter home?" He remarked, dryly.

Evelyn groaned. "I'm sorry about that. Our friend doesn't know about all of this."

"I understand," he nodded.

"Eve?" Evelyn glanced over her shoulder when Kenji ran up to her.

"Aren't you supposed to be going out with Jeremy?" Evelyn raised a brow.

"I am but I have some change with me and I thought why not give it to the homeless dude," Kenji told her as he searched inside his pocket.

Elijah rolled his eyes when he listened into the conversation.

"It's not much but here you go, sir," Kenji waited for Elijah to take the cash. Evelyn quietly snickered to herself.

Elijah reluctantly brought his hand out as Kenji happily handed the cash to him. "Don't buy drugs with it," he said.

"Thank you," Elijah replied with a forced smile making Evelyn laugh out loud but she immediately covered it with a cough.

Kenji smiled, looking back at Evelyn as she gave him a thumbs up and watched as he ran back to Jeremy.

"Okay." Evelyn sat down in her car. "You guys ready for some carpool karaoke?"

Elena looked horrified and Elijah frowned, "What is this carpool karaoke?"

"Oh, you are so going to love it," Evelyn beamed.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Don't you look better." Evelyn parked the car and gave Elijah an encouraging smile. Then turned to Elena. "Doesn't he look better?" She tried to ease the tension.

"Considering your friend thinks i'm a homeless man, gave me his spare change and having to listen to you pour your lungs out. I've never been better," Elijah replied, sass in his tone.

"I didn't know what to say," Evelyn shrugged. "And you enjoyed the carpool karaoke, don't even deny it. I saw you tapping your feet to the songs and you were humming too."

"No, I didn't," Elijah lied with a scoff.

"Where did you get the dagger?" He quickly changed the subject before Evelyn could tease him further.

"We'll tell you everything. But we have to work together, Elijah. I need your word," Elena spoke up.

"Your ability to make demands has long passed," he scowled at her.

"Elena! We spoke about this before. No demands," Evelyn whispered.

"We're offering you our help and in return we want yours," Elena negotiated.

"And why should I even consider this?" He asked, directing it to Elena.

"Because I thought we were friends," Evelyn pouted sadly and his eyes softened, giving her a warm smile.

"We are, Evelyn."

"You need my help to kill Klaus and I need you," Elena piped in.

The sound of Evelyn's ringtone played and she groaned when she saw the name. "It's Stefano." She answered it.

"Hi you've reached Evelyn. I'm either too lazy to answer your call or busy eating. Please leave a message after this tone. Beep," she spoke.

"Stop messing about," Stefan scolded her. "Where are you and Elena. Are you okay?"

"We're fine," she sighed and put the phone on speaker.

"Where's Elijah?"

"Who's Elijah?" She put on an act.

"I know you took the dagger out of him."

"Look, in my defence I was sleepwalking and my hands accidentally took the dagger out of him. Then he just disappeared but don't worry i'm finding him. It may take a couple of days or more but I can't guarantee we'll get him back," Evelyn said.

"Evelyn," Stefan warned.

"You're no fun. He's right here." Evelyn rolled her eyes.

"Where? I'm on my way," Stefan demanded.

"No, Stefan, we need some time alone," Elena spoke up.

"Listen to me. He can't be trusted. He'll use you to get to Klaus," he said.

"I don't think so." Evelyn shrugged and hoped he didn't. "I trust him."

"Elijah is a noble man. He lives by a code of honour. I can trust him. He knows that I'd be incredibly stupid to betray him again. By giving him the dagger, I have proven myself," Elena explained to Stefan.

"You can't do this alone," Stefan sighed.

"She's not alone!" Evelyn chimed in.

"It's my decision, Stefan. Please respect it," Elena said.

"Give me the phone." They heard Damon on the line. "Evelyn Jane Gilbert you better get your ass back here!"

"Hey, Salvawhore, hope you slept well considering I could hear your loud snores and was the reason why I had a nightmare. You sound like an elephant by the way," Evelyn remarked.

"Glad i'm not the only that can hear your snores," Stefan murmured to Damon.

"Shut up. Both of you," Damon's cheeks tinted, feeling embarrassed.

"I would love to speak to you but i'm busy right now. Make sure you don't do anything stupid." Evelyn ended the call.

Evelyn looked at Elijah and he brought out his hand. "Why my phone? Take hers." She clutched onto her phone. "Elena give him your phone." Elena sighed and handed her phone to him.

"So he's here," Evelyn said.

"Klaus is here?" Elijah asked her and they nodded.

"Yeah, I gave him a nose bleed and hit a chair on him," Evelyn proudly told him. "I also hit him with a stapler, a pen pot and books too."

Kol would love to see that. Elijah chuckled.

"I thought he was strong. Some powerful man he is," she scoffed.

"He's taken over Alaric's body," Elena explained to Elijah.

"Of course he has. One of his favourite tricks." Elijah simply stated.

"So how do we get Alaric back? Do we need a priest that could get him out of his body?" Evelyn fired questions at him.

Elijah held in his laughter. "A priest won't be of help."

"Then what are his other tricks? What is he going to do next? You're the only one who knows him," Elena said.

"Yes, I do." Elijah nodded.

"Wait, do you want to see what else I did?" Evelyn beamed with excitement.

Elijah looked confused but nodded. She laughed, scrolling through her phone as she showed him. "I kicked his ass. Look. He's practically kissing the floor although I wish he was in his actual body when I did this. Would've been much better," she continued to laugh.

Elijah eyes widened, surprised at what he was witnessing. This sweet girl just humiliated his brother?

"Could you send me this?" He asked.

"Of course," Evelyn nodded. "Can we take a selfie? We haven't taken one yet."

"What is a selfie?"

"Wow, you really are old," Evelyn gasped. "How long have you been hibernating in a coffin for?"

"My siblings still are," Elijah casually replied making the twin's eyes widened.

"Jeez. It was just a rhetorical question," Evelyn mumbled.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Where is he going?" Katherine handed Klaus a cup of coffee.

"To retrieve me. So I can get out of this bad hair do. I need to impress my girl," Klaus said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Well the full moon is almost upon us. I've killed the witch. I have the moonstone, the doppelgänger is waiting in the wings and i've finally found my girl," he smiled. "I am ready to break this curse."

"And why would you do that here? There's so many people that would try to stop you?"

"Because I have to. It's the birth place of the doppelgänger."

"I didn't realise that was a requirement," she murmured.

"Well, how could you? You betrayed me and fled England before I could give you the details. But I did find your birth place and slaughtered your family. So I guess we're cool," he shrugged.

"Let's just hope that Elena isn't as stupid as you were," he sneered and walked towards the door.

"And you think Eve will be okay with that? You'll be the bad guy in her eyes."

His jaws clenched as he strode over to her and slammed her against the wall, his hand gripping on her throat. "I will break this curse and I will have her. No matter what."

He released her and she gasped, catching for air. Looking into her eyes, he compelled her. "You can't leave until I tell you to."

━━━━━━━━━━

"How do you know she's not on vervain?" Elena asked when Elijah compelled Carol Lockwood to replace his torn suit with a clean one. 

"Cause I'm the one who got her off it," Elijah said. "Right before you and your friends except Evelyn, killed me. Twice."

"Ouch," Evelyn snickered and Elena lightly elbowed her. "What? I find it funny."

"If you'll excuse me. I'll be back in a moment." He left them alone.

A few minutes later, Elijah was now dressed in a new suit and they spoke about Klaus.

"So I assume the Martin witches are no longer with us?" Elijah asked.

"No. I'm sorry," Elena replied.

"Rest in peace," Evelyn murmured.

"And Katerina? She would have been released from my compulsion when I died," he said.

"Kevin took her," Evelyn said. "We think that she may be dead."

"I doubt that. Not Klaus' style. Death would be too easy for her after what she did," he told them.

"I don't understand. You say that you want Klaus dead, but you still made Katherine pay for betraying him," Elena said.

"I have my own reasons for wanting Katerina to pay. There was a time I'd have done anything for Klaus," he said.

He then revealed the truth about his family, Klaus and who he was to him, shocking the sisters.

"That ancient old creep is your brother?!" Evelyn exclaimed once Elijah finished talking.

"Yes," Elijah chuckled.

"How does he look then? A pot bellied man?" She asked and Elijah choked on the cup of tea that he had been sipping from.

"Pardon? A pot bellied man?" He wiped his mouth with a napkin.

Evelyn nodded. "Is he? Has he got a bald head? Wrinkles?"

Elijah smiled, "He would be deeply wounded if he ever hears this."

"Well your brother has a big ego. He compelled someone to tell me that he's hot. Now i'm certain he's not," Evelyn retorted.

"He loves to think highly of himself," Elijah murmured.

"He's actually your brother?" Elena asked, still recovering from the shocking news she heard.

"Yes, I'm a little behind on the times but I believe the term you are searching for is OMG," he said, taking a sip of his tea.

━━━━━━━━━━

"So you're telling me that you and your brother created the sun and moon curse? And made everyone search for the moonstone and fight like cats and dogs for it," Evelyn asked with disbelief and Elijah nodded with a smirk.

"I don't find it funny," Evelyn said and the smirk disappeared from Elijah's face.

"But if there's no curse–" Elena started but he cut her off.

"There is a curse. Just not that one. The real one is much worse. It's a curse placed on Klaus."

"That person must hate him so much," Evelyn murmured to herself.

"What is this curse?"

Elijah looked at Elena but her phone kept ringing. "Your phone will not stop it's incessant buzzing. Answer it, please."

She took it from him and stepped away while Evelyn crossed her arms, looking at the Original. "Yes?" Elijah asked.

"So, we've heard he's looking for something else?" She began. "All i've been hearing is that it means a lot to him, more than Elena?"

"It is someone that is very dear to him. He's been searching and waiting for a thousand years."

"Well, I hope he never finds them," she scoffed.

"I believe he already has," he murmured and she frowned, confused at what he meant.

Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, Elena came back. "Klaus went after Jenna. We have to go to her," Elena said and Evelyn's eyes hardened.

"He's asking for another nose bleed and I'll gladly give him more," Evelyn gritted, the anger rising in her and stormed away from them.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Where's Aunt J?" Evelyn ran inside the boarding house with Elena trailing behind her.

"In the living room," Stefan answered and Elena rushed inside to speak to Jenna.

"Where is he? I'm going to deal with him myself now. He's crossed the line now," Evelyn hissed, turning back around to leave.

Stefan stood in front of her. "You're not going back to your house. Not yet."

"Are you kidding me? He went after my aunt and he's still in my house? What if he steals something?" She exasperated, waving her arms in the air.

"Are you seriously concerned if he robs your house?" Stefan asked with an amused smile.

Evelyn narrowed her eyes at him, "Yeah." Stefan shook his head, placing his hands on her shoulders and turned her around.

"Go speak to Jenna."

"I will but let me just kick his ass again."

"No."

"We can do it together?" Evelyn offered.

"I'll think about it," Stefan chuckled.

"Okay," she mumbled and she entered the living room finding Elena and Jenna speaking to each other.

"I am the one who's supposed to be protecting you two and Jeremy." Tears brimmed in the corner of Jenna's eyes.

"I know, but there's nothing that you could have done. There's so much more to it," Elena spoke up.

"No, this is– this is so– I don't know how– it's–" Jenna cried as Evelyn quickly sat besides her, bringing her into her arms.

"We're so sorry." She soothingly rubbed Jenna's back to calm her sobs.

"Why didn't you tell me? I'm scared," Jenna whispered.

Evelyn and Elena shared a look. They couldn't risk losing the woman they saw as their mother figure.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Where do you think you're going?" Damon asked when Evelyn and Elena were about to leave.

"Back to Elijah." Evelyn blinked when he vamp sped in front of her.

"No."

"If this is about you snoring like an elephant, i'm sorry but I was just telling the truth. Don't be angry."

"If you so much as try to take a step out of this house–" He warned, his eyes flickering at both of the sisters.

"Damon, leave them alone," Andie spoke from behind him.

"Stay out of this Andie." Damon's eyes were still fixated on Evelyn.

"Elijah is not the bad guy. I trust him," Evelyn snapped. "Now let go of me."

He sighed in frustration, letting go of her hand and walked away. "Thank you!" She shouted. "You're supposed to say you're welcome back!"

Damon ignored her, instead flipping her off.

"Rude. Let's see who's your best friend now!" She retorted back.

━━━━━━━━━━

"Eli we're back! Told you we'd keep our word," Evelyn announced with a wide smile.

"Welcome back."

"So what is Klaus' curse?" Elena asked as they settled down on the couch.

Elijah went on to explain how his mother became unfaithful resulting in Klaus coming from a different bloodline and when his father found out and killed Klaus' biological father and family.

"So Klaus' real father was from a werewolf bloodline?" Elena asked. "So what does that make Klaus? A werewolf or a vampire?"

"He's both."

"Aw, he's a puppy too?!" Evelyn gasped.

Elijah choked on the water he was now sipping from. This time sending him in a coughing fit.

"He's choking!" Evelyn ran over to him and patted him on the back. "Better?" Elijah nodded.

"It's a good thing he's not here to listen to your insults," Elijah murmured as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

He then continued to explain what the nature of a hybrid was and how Klaus' wolf side was dormant because of their mother.

"That's the curse he wants to break?" Elena asked.

"He wants to trigger the part of him that's a werewolf. If allowed Klaus would sire his own bloodline, he'll build his own race. Endangering not just vampires, but everyone."

"Wow, that is dangerously so cool," Evelyn murmured and Elena side eyed her, sighing and shaking her head. "I mean so not cool."

"But you helped him," Elena told Elijah.

"I helped him because I loved him. That's changed, now he must die," he said.

Elijah's eyes then moved to Evelyn who was too busy eating a packet of M&M's, picking and eating only the blue and red ones whilst murmuring to herself. She looked up, smiling and offered it to him. "Want one?"

"No, thank you."

She was so caring and full of life. His brother didn't deserve her at all and Elijah didn't wish for her soul to be tainted to Klaus'.

And that is why he refused to tell her the connection she held with Klaus, how much she meant to him but rather just get it over and done with killing him, making sure she was away from all of this.

"Why can't we use the dagger on him?" Elena asked.

"When a werewolf is wounded by silver, it heals. An Original can't be killed by anything but white oak ash on a silver dagger. So you see the conundrum. The dagger does not work."

"So Klaus can't be killed?" Elena asked with annoyance in her tone.

"The curse must be broke during the full moon. When Klaus is in transition. That's when he'll be at his most vulnerable. A witch with enough power can kill Klaus."

"What if I told you that we knew a witch that could channel that much power?"

"Then I will tell you there's one more thing that you should know." He then explained how he had found a way to save the life of a doppelgänger.

"But unfortunately, Katerina took matters into her own hands first."

"You cared about her, didn't you?" Evelyn asked Elijah, seeing something in his eyes. A soft emotion.

"It's a common mistake i'm told and it's one I won't make again."

━━━━━━━━━━

"You have got to be shitting me?!" Evelyn yelled when her car broke down.

She stepped out and checked to see what was wrong, cursing out loudly when this unfortunate moment to happen.

"Stupid car." She kicked the wheel. "Ow," she winced, holding on to her foot.

Grabbing her phone from her bag, she called for help and waited, letting the mechanic check to see the damage only for it to be taken away to have it fixed. She frowned, watching her car get towed away.

Sighing sadly, she then screamed in frustration. "Urgh! Life must really hate you, Eve,"

She began to walk whilst searching through her bag and nodded to herself. "I have my pepper spray and taser too."

Now finally back in his body and ready to complete what he came for, Klaus stepped out of his car, walking outside when he heard a familiar voice from a distance.

Looking around, he took a turn when a body collided with his.

Evelyn groaned when she crashed onto a hard surface, a chest. The arms were placed around her waist before she could fall and her face was planted against the chest.

Klaus looked down to see it was Evelyn. "You are so clumsy," he remarked.

She took a step back, scowling at the person. "Fuck you– Nik?" She murmured, surprised to see him again.

"Hello, love."

"Hi," she whispered.

"You pushed into me," he accused her. "Do I deserve an apology this time?"

Evelyn gasped, crossing her arms over her chest. "I remember telling you to get yourself a pair of glasses."

"You were the one walking," he pointed out.

"And you should move to a side when people walk past," Evelyn argued back.

Klaus chuckled and Evelyn let herself smile back.

"What are you doing all alone in the middle of the night? It's dangerous to be by yourself," he said.

"I'm a big girl and besides you're a stranger yourself so how will I know you're not a psycho who is on a killing spree?" She placed her hands on her hip.

"Well not today," he joked, a cheeky smile playing on his lips.

"Oh." Evelyn took a slow step back, reaching into her bag to find her pepper spray or taser.

"I'm kidding," he chuckled. "I would never harm you. I promise."

She studied him for a second. He didn't look or act like a serial killer, he did genuinely seem like a good and kind man. The ice cream from the other day proved it. She was just doubting him too much.

"I totally knew that," she said with a nervous laugh.

"So what happened?" He asked.

"My car broke down?" She realised she had questioned herself and cleared her throat. "My car broke down," she nodded, wrapping her cardigan tightly around her.

"And you're walking home by yourself?"

"No," she shook her head. "I'm going to wait at the Grill for my friend." Klaus nodded.

"It seems like fate decided to have different plans for me today," she huffed, while rocking back and forth on her feet.

"Indeed it did," he muttered under his breath, happy they met again.

"Did you say something?" She asked and he shook his head.

"Oh well, it was nice meeting you again," she murmured. "Bye, Nik."

Klaus moved aside but Evelyn accidentally followed his movement, the two then moving side to side and blocking each other's way.

Evelyn placed a hand on his chest, laughing and stopping him from moving. He glanced down at her hand, smiling as his eyes met hers and she quickly moved it away.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to." She ran past him before she could make an embarrassment of herself.

Klaus watched her leave, contemplating with himself if he should follow after her to make sure she was safe.

━━━━━━━━━━

Evelyn entered the Grill, taking in her surroundings. It was rather quiet with a few people inside. Taking a seat at the bar she called the bartender. "Hey, can I have a chocolate milkshake?" The bartender nodded.

Evelyn took a cautious glance around her, stopping when she found a group of men staring at her and quickly looked away. She pulled out her phone, pretending to be busy.

"Hey." She heard a voice beside her, turning to find one of them standing next to her.

"Bye." She gave him a smile and looked back at her phone.

"I just want to talk." He took a seat besides her and Evelyn moved her seat further away from him. "Come on," he chuckled.

Evelyn's hands tightened on her glass of milkshake, deciding if she should throw it at him.

But she didn't want to waste it on him. It tasted so good.

"I'm not interested," she anxiously bit on her lip. "Please go away."

Evelyn looked behind him, his group of friends were looking at them and laughing.

She stood up, placing her bag over her shoulder when the man blocked her way, holding on to her wrist. "Let me buy you a drink at least."

Evelyn gave him a polite smile, yanking her hand away from his hold. "I already have one and like I said. I'm not interested." She was so close to using her taser on him.

"Why? You got company?"

"Yes, I do," she replied back. "You're in his seat actually."

"I don't see him anywhere." He looked around then back to her.

"That's it. I've had enough." Evelyn muttered, ready to kick his ass.

But an arm was placed around her waist, tugging her closer and her back hit their chest. Panicking, she tilted her head up to see who it was.

"Sorry for being late, my love."

Klaus glared at the man then shifted his gaze to Evelyn, giving her a warm smile and she relaxed, seeking comfort in his hold.

"It's fine," Evelyn smiled back then turned back to the man. "This is my boyfriend, Nik," she slipped out.

Evelyn looked back at Klaus, giving him an apologetic look but he brushed it off, playing along with her.

"Is there a problem, mate?" Klaus asked, his hand gently rubbing the side of Evelyn's hip to let her know she was safe now.

The man gulped, feared. "I'm sorry. I didn't know she was spoken for." He walked away.

"Perv," Evelyn muttered.

"Are you okay?" Klaus asked Evelyn.

She turned to him. "I am. Thank you but I had that."

"I know."

Beating me up multiple times proved it.

Evelyn sat back down, checking her phone when she found Klaus still standing and glaring at the man who was now looking away from her.

"Sit." She patted on the seat next to her. Klaus' gaze moved to her, seeing her smile at him. "But if you want to be left alone then that's fine. I just thought we could talk."

"I'd love to." He nodded with a smile of his own, mentally fist bumping the air that she wanted to spend her time with him.

He took a seat next to her and called the bartender, ordering himself a drink. Evelyn sighed, placing a hand on her cheek and tilting her head to look at him.

He looked so familiar.

"You know you haven't told me your name," Klaus said, pulling Evelyn out of her thoughts.

Like you never knew it and traumatised her in her history teacher's body.

"Oh, I've been so stupid lately, I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Evelyn."

"Evelyn," he murmured, staring into her eyes and Evelyn bit on her lower lip.

Oh my, why am I feeling like this?

"Um– I usually go by Eve. I really don't like my name and my sister's is better. Her name is Elena, she's my twin actually and I know what you're thinking, both of ours name start with E but my parents liked it. I have a little brother too. His name is Jeremy. Shit, I'm doing it again. I seriously need to shut up." She covered her mouth with her hand.

He chuckled at her rambling. He found it pleasant to hear.

"I have an annoying voice." Her voice was muffled. "I'm so sorry. Feel free to walk away."

"You don't have an annoying voice," he reassured her. I love it.

"Oh, thanks." He noticed her flushed face and those gorgeous eyes looking up at him. He only lingered for a moment more before shaking his head, trying to remove the need to have her close and in his arms like moments ago.

"So are you from Mystic Falls?" Evelyn asked, turning in her seat to face him.

He stole a side glance when his eyes traveled down to her toned legs and his breath hitched. He cleared his throat. "I'm just visiting." His voice came out deeper and looked away.

Can she get anymore tempting? He thought.

She squinted her eyes, confused as to why he was fidgeting but ignored it and continued to talk.

"You can visit anywhere you want but you decided to come here." She let out a laugh.

"Well I did get to meet a beautiful woman. Twice," he added.

"Beautiful?" She scoffed.

"It just made my visit even better and worth it," his lips curved into a smirk.

Does his smirk have to be sexy as well?

"You're quite the charmer," she teased and he laughed which formed butterflies in her stomach.

"I try my best."

"Well, the only good thing about this town is the ice cream next door," Evelyn told him. "I would suggest you try it out. Best dessert you'll have ever had. It's actually my favourite place."

"I will put that on the list," he nodded.

After I tear that man's heart out of his chest for touching you.

━━━━━━━━━━

The remaining short time they had left, Klaus attentively listened to Evelyn's rambling even when it was all nonsense but he didn't care. Being in her company was all that mattered to him.

Evelyn smiled, sipping on her second glass of lemonade which Klaus paid for.

He was so sweet and kind. She thought.

Taking a look over his shoulder she saw Kenji entering the Grill, searching for her. "My friend is here," she told Klaus.

Klaus frowned wishing they spent more time with each other. He enjoyed listening to her so much.

"Thank you for being a wonderful boyfriend," Evelyn said with a playful smile as she stood up from her seat.

Klaus too followed her. "It was a pleasure," he chuckled.

"It was nice meeting you, Nik." She offered her hand to him.

Instead of shaking it, he brought her hands close to his lips and placed a lingering kiss on her knuckles, keeping his eyes on her. She let out a quiet gasp feeling it yet again.

"You too, love."

She giggled, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks and waved at him. "Bye."

"Bye."

"Yeah. Bye," she whispered, not even making a move to leave.

A smug smile curved on Klaus' lips to see how flushed her cheeks grew when she was subconsciously gazing at him in awe.

What the hell is wrong with you today, Eve? You're practically undressing the poor man.

"I sh– should– go," she quickly walked away before she embarrassed herself further more.

I didn't fall! She cheered to herself.

"Why are you blushing so much?" Kenji asked.

"I'm not." Evelyn dragged him outside.

Klaus laughed, watching her walk away and turned back, leaving through the other door and his eyes now hardening, jaws clenched when he approached a particular person.

"Where are you going?" Klaus blocked his way. "Let's talk, shall we?" He smirked.

━━━━━━━━━━

"So what's his name?" Kenji asked when Evelyn linked her arm with his.

"Nik with a K," Evelyn said. "He even kissed my hand," she giggled.

"Just your hand?!" Kenji exclaimed. "Did he forget you have lips?"

"I only met him twice," Evelyn said.

"Go back inside and finish the job," Kenji pointed back to the Grill.

"No! He'll be freaked out," Evelyn shook her head. "He'll think i'm a weirdo."

"You're boring," Kenji murmured with an eye roll.

"Kenji?"

"What?"

"What if he's not single? Oh God, does that make me a home wrecker?!" She gasped.

"Okay," he shrugged, earning a slap on the back of his head. "Ow."

"This is serious."

"Relax, EJ. You didn't do anything wrong," he said.

Evelyn opened her mouth to say something when they both froze, hearing a loud scream echoing from a distance.

"What the hell was that?" Evelyn gasped.

"It's probably a couple fucking in the alley," Kenji dismissed it. "That person is a loud one though." He looked disgusted.

They heard another scream.

"I don't think it is. What if it's someone in danger?!" Evelyn whispered.

"Then we turn around and run away," Kenji stated the obvious. "Come on." He tugged on her hand.

"I'm going to check what's going on." Evelyn turned away.

"Are you crazy?" Kenji scolded her.

"You have no idea."

"This is a bad idea, EJ," Kenji tried to pull her back to him.

"What a pussy," Evelyn rolled her eyes.

"Incorrect. I have a dick," Kenji remarked sarcastically.

"I have my taser and pepper spray. We'll be fine," Evelyn reassured him.

"That's just great," he replied dryly.

Evelyn took a step forward when they heard another noise. "Okay, maybe you're right," she muttered and ran back to Kenji.

"That's what I thought. Now run!" Kenji ran with Evelyn following after him.

"I'm already tired!" Evelyn shouted, stopping to catch a breath

"This girl," Kenji muttered, running back to her and facing his back to her. Evelyn smiled, jumping as he gave her a piggy back.

She laughed out loud when he ran and tightened her arms around his neck.

"We're taking turns," he told her.

"Deal."

Meanwhile, in an abandoned alley, a body collapsed to the ground, blood dripping from it's neck as Klaus cleaned the stain off from the corner of his mouth with his thumb.

As he walked away, he remembered what Evelyn had mentioned to him.

Wondering what was so special about ice cream, he made his way over to the shop.

━━━━━━━━━━

Evelyn quietly shut the front door, making her way towards the stairs. "Why are you so late?" Jenna startled the girl as she turned around.

"Sorry, my car broke down and I was waiting for Kenji," she said.

"And?" Jenna knew there was more to it.

"And I met a really sweet guy tonight."

"Is he hot?" Jenna asked.

"Jenna!" She scolded and covered her tinted cheeks with her palms. "I need something cold." She went into the kitchen and placed a bottle of water against her cheek.

"Is he?" Jenna pressed further.

"He is so hot and sexy, Aunt J." Evelyn sighed. "It should be illegal."

Jenna stood next to her and rested her elbows on the counter, smiling. "Did you get his name at least?"

"Yep, it's Nik." She played with the hem of her dress. "We met a few days ago actually and he bought me ice cream. Bumped into him twice now."

Jenna squealed and pinched Evelyn's cheek. "My little Evie has a crush."

"I wouldn't call it a crush," she scoffed.

"Yeah right? You keep telling yourself that."

"Well I won't ever see him again, he was only visiting," she frowned sadly.

"You never know, you might see him again." Jenna shrugged.

"I doubt that," she mumbled.

"But still you should live a little. You're a stunning young woman, Eve. Go crazy and have some fun," Jenna beamed with delight.

"I am having fun, Aunt J," Evelyn said and Jenna scoffed. "What?"

"Nothing." Jenna smiled as she stroked her niece's cheek with her thumb. "I love you."

"I love you too," Evelyn said and Jenna placed a kiss on her forehead. "Good night."

"Good night and if you see this guy again, get his number!" She shouted.

"Like I said, it's the last time i'll see him." Evelyn waved it off.

Jenna shook her head and sighed. "When is this girl ever going to put herself first?"

━━━━━━━━━━

Evelyn entered her room, throwing her bag and cardigan on the bed. She entered the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror.

"I can't believe he saw me like this," she groaned.

It was a good thing she wouldn't meet him again.

As she was about to turn around, she glanced back at the mirror and shrieked in surprise when her eyes had changed colour.

It was a shade of dark purple with flecks of gold surrounding. She blinked again assuming she was seeing things. "What the hell?" She murmured to herself whilst touching under her eyes.

"Glowing hands and eyes. What's next? Glowing ears?!"

I honestly hate this chapter so much. I was debating to change all of this but I gave up.

I hope you're liking Kenji though. He's my fav soft human who the Mikaelson's are going to protect too which I'm excited to write about.

The next chapter is another fav of mine and if you think Eve was done beating Klaus' ass. Be prepared!

Thank you for 200k! I appreciate the love this book is getting.