Darkness Visible ➳ TVD ✔️

🪁||41|| ''Ev, that's what has to be done.''

Very Long Chapter this time, took me absolutely ages to write 😂 Enjoy 🤭

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When the music stopped, Elena wasn't back. Damon pulled away from me and ignored me shaking my head at him. I caught Stefan's eye from where he stood, and he started walking after Damon with a grim look on his face.

Then, Elena came out above the stairs in her black dress and Damon stopped.

I took a shaky breath. Well, that was one crisis averted. Gathering my dress, I walked up behind Damon. ''She seems fine,'' I said to his back.

''Yeah,'' Damon replied without turning around, and then he walked off. I sighed and tried to come to terms with that he'd probably be mad at me about this for a while. He should be mad at me. I was, but kept hoping that it had been worth it. And the only one who knew was Elena, but there was no sight of her.

Finding a black dress in a lit room with white walls was a lot harder than it sounds. Everywhere I looked, there was a man in a dark suit or a woman in a dark blue or grey dress, and they all moved around. A woman I'd never seen before looked at me funny, and I realised that I'd stared her down a few times already.

Then everybody stopped moving, and I thought I was finally going to make some progress, until I too heard the clink of someone proposing a toast. Everyone was facing the staircase again. My eyes went to where they were all looking, and saw Esther positioned above all of us, alone.

She had a smile on her face as she spoke. ''Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.'' Her voice was smooth, with the hint of an accent different from both Elijah's and Klaus'. In her hand, she had a glass of something sparkling and pink. ''Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy then to see my family back together as one. I'd like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers!''

I couldn't put my finger on it. Something about her words was off.

Suddenly, her eyes went to mine and I was unable to look away until she did.

The drink in my hand remained untouched, but I didn't realise why until everyone around me had taken a sip. Something in me refused to drink it. Not that I thought it would be poison, but my gut was screaming that there was something wrong with it.

~~~~~~~~~~

I scoured the room for Elena. My gaze swept over the people there, for the first time this night getting a good look at them. Carol Lockwood was there, so were several others from the Founder's Council. A few teachers from school... and then a bunch of people I'd never seen before.

Slowly making my way through the crowd, I kept my head up and eyes peeled for any glimpse of long dark hair or dress. All of a sudden, someone who was a lot taller than me and dressed in black came in my way, and I had to stop before I bumped into him.

''Well, hello there.''

It was one of the brothers, I didn't know his name. He looked young, with brown hair and a wide smile on his face. His eyes were dark, like Elijah's, but a different kind of dark. The way he was looking at me sent shivers down my spine, and not the good kind.

''I'm Kol,'' he said. ''Kol Mikaelson.''

''Evangeline,'' I said slowly. In my mind, I went over all the possibilities for him wanting to talk to me; because right now, I was pretty sure no Original engaged in small talk that didn't lead to anything useful for them.