Kai didn't know what to think when he saw her. Never in his 18 years of imprisonment had he ever had visitors, least of all beautiful women with magnetic green eyes. He didn't make his presence known—he just stood in the shadows in hopes that she didn't notice he was there, but his efforts proved to be futile when she turned around to face him.
"Are you going to stay hidden forever?"
He knew she didn't mean anything by, but he couldn't help but take it as an insult—like it was his choice to be here. He stepped into the light and she finally got a good look at him. From his boyish features you wouldn't guess that a violent murderer lived underneath, but she of all people knew that looks could be deceiving.
"Who are you?"
She eyed him tentatively. "We'll get to that," she said walking past him into the living room. It looked surprisingly clean—as though the horrors it saw had been completely wiped. She sat down on the couch in front of the pristine coffee table.
"Not that I'm complaining because I could really use the company, but how the hell did you get here?"
"Come, sit and I'll tell you."
He walked toward her slowly. Even though he knew he couldn't die he felt a deep seated fear for his life—like she had the power to take it or worse. He sat across from her on coffee table. She gave him the same look his mom did when he did that, but she let it go.
"Alright I'm sitting now talk."
She gave him a look of indignation. "I don't take orders ."
"Kai. 's my dad. 's a dick."
"That he is."
"So is that what this is about? Did my dad send you here to punish you too?"
"Your dad couldn't send me anywhere even if he tried."
"You sure about that? He is after all the big scary Gemini King."
"Are you scared of him?"
"No." Silence fell over them.
"Well neither am I, that's why I'm here."
"I'm listening, for now."
"I'm a witch."
"Yeah, I guessed that much."
"Let me finish. I'm a witch—a special kind of witch that your dad doesn't like."
"Sounds like him, but why is that his business?"
"My thoughts exactly and I would have brushed him off as some fanatical lunatic but his crusade got a little too close for comfort. He killed my Grams."
"I'm sorry?"
"Don't be, you didn't do it."
"It's cool, I do know what it's like to have something important taken away by him."
She snorts. "Thank you."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Why do you think I'm here? To get your help."
"And what makes you think I'll help you."
"You want to get out of here right?"
"A lot, but I like to know what I'm getting into before I sell my soul. Why is my father sending the entire coven to you? Why did he kill your Grams? He didn't even do that to me and I murdered his kids."
"I don't really know why. He just said that what I am, what I can do goes against nature, and that I need to be stopped. My Grams tried to stop him, but she wasn't strong enough."
"What exactly can you do?" Is she like me?
"I bring things back from the dead."
"Then why didn't you bring your Grams back?"
"Because some things need to remain dead." A silence fell over them. "Are you one of them?"
"Do I really have a say in it?"
"You do now."
"So what's the deal? You let me out of here to kill my dad and then what put me back?"
"Not exactly what I have in mind. I'm not a murderer Kai."
"But I am."
"Your father's fate is entirely up to you I just need you to do one thing for me."
"And what might that be?"
"Win."
"Well you're in luck because I always win."
She broke her carefully maintained calm and laughed. "Is that why you're here?"
"You know I could just kill you now, right?" He tried to grab her arm but his hand went through her.
"That wasn't nice."
"I'm not nice."
"No, you're alone."
"And apparently hallucinating."
"You're not hallucinating I'm just not here."
"Because that makes perfect sense."
"You're a siphon witch, since when does anything need to make sense."
He looks at her curiously. "Who are you?"
"I'm Bonnie, Bonnie Bennett, and your only ticket out of here."
He weighed his options in his head. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to get out and win the merge against his sister, but nothing in life was ever that easy. "What do you get out of this?"
"Peace. The ability to live my life without having to worry about the next thing trying to kill me."
"And you thought to come to me?"
"It's the easiest way, the best way. I'm tired and life is too short for me to keep finding loopholes. I get you out, you become king, your coven leaves me alone, and then we both go our merry ways."
"What if I don't want to go my merry way? A king is nothing without his queen."
"Is that your subtle way of hitting on me?"
"There was nothing subtle about it."
She rolled her eyes. "I see, we're done here."
"Wait, hear me out. You want people to stop trying to kill you, what better way than with me."
"Are you suggesting an arranged marriage?" she said with laughter in her voice.
"Maybe."
"Romantic."
"I'm not a romantic guy."
"Clearly."
"I'm just pointing out the obvious, sue me."
"No offence, but I don't want any part of your coven and the way they do things."
"None taken, but you have to admit I'm right. No one would mess with you not only as the queen of the Gemini coven, but also as a Bennett witch."
"That's the difference between you and me, I don't want power. I just want to live."
"You don't think I want that too?"
"If you did you wouldn't be here."
"You know you can want more than one thing?"
"I'm aware, but power doesn't get me what I want. All it's brought is pain. I don't need more of that. So do we have a deal?"
"Yes."
"Alright. I know you know where the ascendant is, so all you need is to go to this location." She pulled out a map and pointed to Qetsiyah's rock. "There you will find magic and Bennett blood. From there you should be able to get yourself out. Once you're back in our world meet me at the Mystic Grill in Mystic Falls, Virginia. From there we'll figure out our next move. Got it?"
"Yep."
"Good." She got up to leave.
"Wait." He tried to stop her by grabbing her hand but just like before it went through. She stopped to listen anyway. "You still haven't told me how you're here."
"A spell."
"What spell?"
"One that allows me to be in two places at once." She faded away and he was left in his empty house wondering if what he saw was real.
It took a little longer than he expected to get out of his prison. He knew Canada was cold but he didn't expect a storm of that magnitude. While he does have excellent flying skills they weren't that well versed with flying in giant snow storms. He crashed the plane and had to make the rest of trek back on foot until he could find a car. He died five times getting there and back to the caves to perform the spell. But it was all worth it because he was back.
The first thing he noticed when he got back was how loud everything was. Birds chirping, cars running, people talking, it was almost overwhelming, but then the significance of that set in making him smile like a maniac.
He considered ignoring Bonnie's instructions. Just going back home and rubbing it in his father's face that he was back, but that wasn't wise. He wanted to win and Bonnie was his best shot. Plus he wouldn't mind seeing her again. She was honestly the most beautiful creature he'd come across and included Pamela Anderson—he loved Baywatch.
Mystic Falls was a quaint little town in Virginia—he hated quaint, but he had a feeling that Mystic Falls would prove to be anything but quaint. She's the first thing he saw when he walked in to the Mystic Grill. In the back of his mind he wondered how she knew to be here—she told him where to meet her but she never said when. He wondered if psychic was another one of her special abilities.
"I see you made it. I hope you didn't have too much trouble getting here."
"Oh, you know, I died a few times, but nothing I couldn't get right back up from."
"Good to hear. So down to business." She pulls a note book out of her bag. "I did a little digging and your sister is nearby. The next celestial event is in a month, the full moon so you'll merge then, and after that you take your dad and the Geminis out of my life for good."
"My offer still stands."
"And my answer is still no."
"Fine," he said with a sigh. "So where is Josette?"
"I'll tell you when the time is right."
He glares at her exhaustedly. "Always so cryptic."
"I'm doing what's necessary."
"If you want me to merge with Jo I'm going to need to know where she is."
"And you will in time." He groans. "Don't give me that look I'm being smart about this—it's my life on the line. While you are a cold and calculating murderer, you're also impulsive—it's what got you locked up—and I can't have you going to Jo too early and ruining everything. So for now, just know she's nearby and that you'll get to merge soon. It's been 18 years, what's another month to you?"
He knew she was right, but that didn't mean he was happy about. "Alright, but what do you suppose I do for a month."
"I don't know, what do you feel like doing?"
"I feel like murdering my whole family but you keep telling me I have to wait, so I'll settle for second best, sex."
"Well, good luck finding a girl willing to fuck a sociopath."
"I don't need luck, all I need is a yes." He winked at her.
She gave him a tight lipped smile. "Well, anyway, you'll be staying here." She hands him a slip of paper with an address on it. "It's an old abandoned boarding house. No one lives there, but someone keeps paying the electric bill so watch out for whoever that is. Stay low, don't make a spectacle of yourself, and most of all, STAY AWAY FROM JOSHUA. We need the element of surprise. I know you're imagining his face when he realizes you're not where you're supposed to be—now imagine that face after he's lost everything to you. Be patient."
As before she fades away and he's left alone in a small town diner.
Patience was not one of his virtues, but he needed it. The boarding house was a creepy as advertised, but at least it was huge. Gave him a lot of places to explore—including an ominous dungeon—to starve off the boredom.
But it wasn't long before he felt the loneliness from the prion world start to creep in. It surprised him how lonely get got while stuck there—he was never really attached to people, found them annoying most of the time—so when there were none he thought he could handle that part easily. It surprised him when the loneliness killed him—literally.
Not wanting to dwell on the past he left the boarding house. There wasn't much to do. There was the Grill and the town square—everything else was touristy stuff and that was not how he planned to spend his freedom.
He found her in a garden. It was winter so most of the plant life around was dead—all except this garden. It had all types of plants, some he recognized as ingredients for spell, some he's never seen on this side of the continent. It was simply beautiful something he never thought about many things—it was beautiful just like her.
"You grow all of this yourself?"
Bonnie jumps a little at his voice, but caught herself quickly. "I told you to stay low."
"And I am. Staying low doesn't mean being locked up. I might as well have still been in 1994."
"In my defense I thought it would take you longer to make your way out." She continued to tend to her garden.
"Really?"
"Yes, I sent you to Nova Scotia, quite a trek for essentially a human from Portland. But you impressed me, we'll need that."
"So, how did you grow all of these? The coven had a go to Botanist but even she couldn't pull this off."
"I told you, I bring things back from the dead. My Grams used to sell some of it to your father—that obviously worked out well."
"My Dad wants to kill you over some plants?"
"Yep."
"Sounds like him."
"Did you come all this way to talk about your Dad? If so, no offense, but I'd rather you left."
"No I didn't come here to talk about my Dad, I came here because I was drawn to it."
"Drawn to it?"
"It's like a beacon of magic, much like you."
"So what you're saying is I'm easy to find."
"No."
"But it's true. That's how they found my Grams—looking for me—and it's how they're going to find you."
"They can come for me all they want, in fact, I'm banking on it."
"But not yet, you should leave."
"What if I don't want to."
"I'm not playing this game Kai. Go," she said with finality.
He squatted down to her level. "My dad must have done a number on you." She glares back at him. "That means we have something in common."
"No offense but I don't want to sit around and talk about shared traumas."
"And we won't, but I'm going out of my mind staying in that house and it seems you are the closest thing I have to a friend, so I'm not going anywhere."
