Chapter Text
The sharp, bitter scent of hair spray and hot iron filled the cramped motel room, doing little to mask the lingering smell of decay that always clung to Evelyn’s skin when her reserves were dry.
"Hold still, Katherine," Evelyn muttered, clamping the flat iron down on another section of dark, glossy curls.
Katherine glanced at her reflection in the chipped vanity mirror, her dark eyes narrowing as she caught the subtle, rhythmic tremor in Evelyn’s hands. The ceramic edge of the iron bumped against Katherine’s shoulder.
"You're twitching," Katherine noted, her tone laced with immediate irritation. She reached back, her hand moving with terrifying vampire speed to snap around Evelyn’s wrist. "If you burn my hair, I'll snap your fingers."
Evelyn pulled against the grip, but her human strength was nothing against a five-hundred-year-old bloodsucker. Her veins felt hollow, dry, like crackling paper waiting for a spark. It had been nearly two days since she’d last siphoned, and the withdrawal was setting in: a gnawing, frantic itch under her skin that screamed for power.
"I'm fine," Evelyn gritted out, her jaw tight.
"You're not fine, you're starving," Katherine corrected, rolling her eyes. She released Evelyn's wrist and turned in her chair, casually pulling back her silk sleeve to offer her forearm. "Drink up, darling. You're completely useless to me at the Lockwood mansion if you can't do the simplest spell. I need that moonstone back tonight, and the Salvatore brothers aren't going to hand it over out of the goodness of their hearts."
Evelyn didn't hesitate, pride was a luxury she’d lost years ago. She grabbed Katherine’s arm, her fingers sinking into the cool skin.
The moment skin touched skin, the rush hit her like an electric shock. The dark, ancient vampiric magic bound to Katherine’s blood flooded into Evelyn’s empty veins: hot, intoxicating, and heavy. Evelyn closed her eyes, letting out a sharp breath as the tremors vanished, replaced by the raw, heady high of borrowed power. It was the only time she ever felt whole.
As a siphoner born into the Gemini Coven, Evelyn had spent her childhood labeled an abomination: an unnatural siphon with no magic of her own, a leech living off the grace of real witches. When she was eighteen, an older coven member had ambushed her in an alley, intent on putting down the "creature." Evelyn had only grabbed the girl’s arm to push her away, but her instincts took over. She had siphoned every last drop of magic from the witch's blood until the girl collapsed dead on the pavement. The Gemini Elders immediately declared a hunt.
For two miserable years, Evelyn ran. She slept in filthy motel rooms, scraping by, constantly suffering from the agonizing physical withdrawals of having no internal magic. She had resorted to siphoning weak enchanted trinkets or whatever dark magic she could find, just to keep the physical illness at bay.
Then came Katherine. Six months ago, Katherine had tracked Evelyn down in a dive bar in Chicago. The vampire offered a simple, transactional arrangement: Evelyn would serve as Katherine’s personal spell-caster, and in exchange, Katherine would keep her hidden from the Gemini. And act as an infinite, walking magic battery, a five-hundred-year-old vampire was an endless source of dark magic, and for Evelyn siphoning from Katherine was better than starving on the run.
Evelyn held on a second too long, taking just enough power to make Katherine wince before pulling her hand back.
"Careful, witch," Katherine warned, though a smirk touched her lips as she smoothed her perfectly straightened hair.
"We've been in Mystic Falls too long," Evelyn said, her voice steady now, though her heart pounded. "My family... If they trace the magic I'm using, they'll find me."
"And as soon as I have that moonstone, we leave," Katherine promised smoothly, standing up to adjust her lace mask. "Trust me, Evelyn. I always get what I want, and I don't leave my assets behind."
Evelyn set the flat iron down, her mind shifting to the town below. She didn't know the Gilbert girl well, she’d only spied on Elena a handful of times when Katherine needed eyes on the doppelgänger. From a distance, Elena looked like nothing more than an innocent high schooler caught in the middle of a war she didn't understand.
"What happens if the Salvatores push back tonight?" Evelyn asked quietly. "Damon isn't known for his self-control."
Katherine offered a cold, satisfied smile in the mirror. "Let them try. Lucy is setting up a contingency for me. A linking spell. If those idiot brothers manage to hurt me, Elena will feel every scratch."
Evelyn froze. For a split second, a heavy knot of guilt twisted in her gut, sharp enough to turn the stolen magic in her veins into something resembling poison. "Elena didn't do anything to you, Katherine. She's just a human girl."
Katherine turned around slowly, her dark eyes flashing with disdain as she caught Evelyn’s sour expression. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You are entirely too soft, Evelyn, it’s pathetic. This is survival, if dragging that little doppelgänger down with me keeps a stake out of my heart, I will do it without blinking. You'd do well to remember how the real world works. Or have you forgotten why your own family wants you dead?"
Evelyn clenched her jaw, biting back the rage threatening to spill over. She knew better than to push Katherine further, but the bitterness stayed locked in her throat as Katherine stood up, dusting off her dress.
Evelyn nodded silently, but deep down, a cold knot tightened in her stomach. She wasn't an idiot. Over the last six months, she had watched Katherine manipulate, use, and discard everyone who crossed her path without a second thought. Human, vampire, witch: it didn't matter, everyone was collateral to Katherine Pierce. Evelyn had never trusted her, she had simply hoped she’d have more time before Katherine turned on her too.
An hour later, that familiar knot of unease followed Evelyn straight into the suffocating crowd of the Lockwood mansion. Music echoed through the grand halls, masked guests moved in blurred waves of velvet, and silver trays of champagne glided past. Evelyn kept to the perimeter, sipping a glass of bourbon to keep her hands occupied while her eyes tracked Katherine across the room.
"You shouldn't be here," a quiet voice spoke from behind her.
Evelyn turned, finding a young woman with sharp eyes and an aura of crackling, natural magic standing a few feet back.
"Lucy," Evelyn acknowledged softly.
Lucy Bennett took an instinctual step back, her gaze dropping to Evelyn’s hands. Evelyn recognized that look instantly, it was the same disgust every natural-born witch showed her.
"I don't know how you can stand being around her," Lucy said, keeping her voice low. "I owe Katherine a debt, but you... you act like she's your keeper."
"She keeps me safe," Evelyn replied coolly. "Which is more than my bloodline ever offered."
Lucy watched her, a flicker of pity crossing her face before hardening back into distaste. "You think she's protecting you? I hate your kind, Evelyn. But I dislike people who play both sides even more." Lucy stepped closer, leaning in so only Evelyn could hear. "Be careful with her. Katherine’s been asking me about the Gemini Coven. She wanted to know who leads it, and how to reach him. I gave her a contact number yesterday."
Evelyn’s blood went ice cold and the world seemed to tilt. "What? Why?" Evelyn whispered.
"I don't know what she promised you," Lucy said quietly, backing away into the crowd. "But Katherine Pierce doesn't save people. She trades them."
Lucy vanished into the sea of guests, leaving Evelyn standing frozen beside a marble pillar. Lucy’s words hit like a physical blow, instantly putting every subtle detail of the past few weeks into brutal perspective. The hushed phone calls, Katherine's sudden insistence on staying in Mystic Falls, the vague promises...
Panic clawed at her throat and Evelyn set her half-empty glass on a passing waiter’s tray, pushing her way toward the French doors leading out to the patio. The cool night air hit her face, but it did nothing to quiet the roaring in her ears.
She leaned against the stone balustrade, her knuckles white as she stared into the dark gardens. Six months, she thought bitterly. Six months of playing loyal pet, and this was the thanks she got for it. Evelyn closed her eyes, letting the magic she’d siphoned earlier pulse through her veins. She could run right now, but her duffel bag, and what little cash she had saved, was still locked in Katherine’s trunk.
A sudden spike of raw, suffocating magic echoed from the floor above, snapping Evelyn out of her spiral. Evelyn turned back toward the house, a surge of adrenaline cutting through her panic. She re-entered the mansion, slipping past the laughing partygoers and ducking up the grand staircase unobserved. The oppressive hum of the spell grew louder with every step, guiding her down the dimly lit hallway toward an isolated room at the end of the corridor.
When Evelyn reached the threshold, her breath hitched. The invisible barrier sealed the doorway entirely, trapping three figures inside.
Stefan and Damon Salvatore were locked in the room with Katherine, and the female vampire was laughing, a cruel, taunting sound, her eyes glinting as she baited them. "Go on, Damon. Do it," she purred, even as Stefan shouted for him to stop.
Damon had snapped. Straddling Katherine on the floor, he had her pinned down, his face twisted in pure rage, a wooden stake held high above her chest. He didn't care about the spell linking Katherine to Elena anymore, Katherine had pushed him past his limit.
"Damon, no! It'll kill Elena!" Stefan yelled, lunging to pull his brother off, but Damon was already swinging the stake downward.
Instinct took over before Evelyn could even process the move. Thrusting both hands forward toward the invisible boundary, she tapped into the dark, stolen vampiric magic still buzzing under her skin.
A sharp, violent burst of telekinetic force hit the center of the room like a shockwave. The blast lifted Damon completely off Katherine, throwing him, and the wooden stake, hard into the far corner of the room. He slammed into the wall, dropping to the floor with a low groan as the wooden stake shattered against the baseboard.
Stefan froze, whipping his head toward the doorway. Katherine scrambled up onto her knees, breathless and wild-eyed, gasping for air.
"There you are!" Katherine snapped, pushing herself off the floor, her voice instantly turning sharp. "Where the hell were you? Why didn't you break the spell before they trapped me in here?"
Evelyn lowered her trembling hands, her chest heaving as the last drop of siphoned energy drained from her veins, leaving her feeling cold and empty once more. She stayed outside the threshold, refusing to touch the barrier spell.
"Evelyn, siphon it!" Katherine demanded, her voice rising in command. "Break the damn spell and get me out of here!"
Damon pushed himself up off the floor, dusting off his jacket and glaring at Evelyn through the invisible barrier with murderous eyes. "Who the hell is this?" he spat. "Another one of your sidekicks, Katherine?"
"Ignore him and do your job!" Katherine hissed, taking a step toward the doorway.
Evelyn didn't budge. She stared through the boundary, her eyes locked on Katherine. "Why were you asking around about the Gemini Coven?"
Katherine froze, a rare split-second of hesitation flickering across her features before her expression hardened into pure annoyance. "Don't be ridiculous. This isn't the time."
"Why did you need a way to contact them, Katherine?" Evelyn’s voice trembled, but her stance remained rigid.
Damon leaned against the wall, a dark, mocking grin spreading across his face despite the tension. "Oh, look at that. Trouble in paradise? Turns out Katherine’s a backstabbing bitch. What a shocker."
"Shut up, Damon!" Katherine growled. She turned back to Evelyn, her tone shifting into something terrifyingly sweet. "Evelyn, darling... break the spell. We'll talk about this in the car."
"Give me your phone," Evelyn said flatly. "Let me see who you called."
"No."
"Give me the phone," Evelyn repeated, her voice cutting through the room. "Let me see the call log. Prove I missunderstood, and I'll siphon the barrier right now, get you the moonstone, and we leave."
"I said no," Katherine barked, her dark eyes flashing with lethal intent.
The heavy silence that followed was damning. Evelyn closed her eyes for a brief second, feeling the sickening reality settle into her gut. "Right," Evelyn whispered, opening her eyes. She took a deliberate step backward, putting distance between herself and the threshold. "That's what I thought."
"Evelyn!" Katherine slammed her hands against the invisible barrier, her face contorting in rage. "Don't you dare walk away from me! You wouldn't even be alive without me!"
"I am so sorry for getting dragged into her mess," Evelyn said quietly, looking past Katherine to the Salvatore brothers. Stefan’s defensive posture relaxed slightly as he realized Evelyn wasn't going to free her.
"Wait," Stefan stepped closer to the barrier as Evelyn turned to leave. "There’s a spell… she’s linked to Elena. Whatever happens to Katherine happens to Elena. Can you break the link?"
Evelyn paused at the top of the stairs, looking back over her shoulder. She thought of Lucy, who had handed her the truth despite her hatred for siphoners. Betraying Lucy to the Salvatores wasn't an option.
"I didn't cast the linking spell," Evelyn said softly, meeting Stefan’s eyes. "And I'm not the only witch in this house. You have a Bennett downstairs. Ask her, she’ll know what to do."
Without waiting for another response, Evelyn turned on her heel and walked away down the corridor, leaving Katherine’s furious, echoing screams behind her as she headed out into the night to disappear once again.