Succession Chapter 1: The Wedding, a vampire diaries fanfic

a.n:

In this story I'm ageing up Liv and Luke, they're about five years younger than Jo and Kai.

The Dress

The annual Samhain Ball, this year held by the Martin witches, is the event of the year and greatly anticipated. Covens across the country prepare for the occasion weeks in advance, painstakingly creating dresses and sending designs to coven tailors. Each year the gathered would dazzle in their attire, proclaiming their skill, a testament to their coven.

Bonnie Bennett just hoped she would not trip over and set the top table on fire. At sixteen she is now of age and as tradition she and others from many different covens had to perform a small display of their magic, something that they had created themselves. This was the official entering into witch society, putting your name out there and hopefully making a case of interest for any potential employer. Or suitor.

Maybe I can make myself invisible, after I've set the coven leaders on fire of course… Bonnie frets at the seat below her, chewing on her lip as she stares out of the car window. Her cousin Lucy, next in line for the Bennett leadership, eyes her peripherally from the driver's seat. They're on their way to the mall, to pick up their dresses.

"Bonnie I swear if you singe the upholstery..." she warns as the smell of burning leather starts to fill the car. Bonnie gasps and then pats at the seat either side of her knees. Lucy shakes her head, smirking.

"Sorry."

"I still hear Grams screaming when you set out own damn cradle on fire. You had laughed, not a scorch mark on you."

"I can't help it, it's my element."

"I know, I know. Just promise me you won't combust if you don't like the dress...or if you do," she adds, laughing at Bonnie's thinning lips. She watches the shops flicking passed, not much to boast of in Mystic Falls but the town had been home to Bennett witches for generations, though their actual coven headquarters is in Salem. There are many establishments that are invisible to the normal human eye and even the not so human. Vampires thrive in that small town like weeds, no matter how hard they prune.

Bonnie thinks of the strange people she had met while at High School over the last years and pushes them from her mind. Those brothers and their influence are gone, she just wishes that her friends since childhood had not drifted away too. She is a witch, she has a whole other life, one that she is just about to totally submerge into. Her old life, and the friends in it, are now on another shore. Not gone or barred, just distant.

She looks at Lucy as they drive fast, the lights a steady green and wonders how her older cousin can be so cool. The weight of responsibility must be heavy but more often than not you'll find Lucy in bars or getting into mischief with people that the coven leaders would frown upon.

She's having fun while she can, can't blame her…if I had to marry someone I don't even know…and a freaky Gemini at that!

Bonnie keeps her face impassive as they approach the mall but inside she is grateful that in the long line of Bennett's she is way down the list of succession. Fourteen to be exact. She will never have to endure the duty of her cousin or other leaders, her life will likely be simple but hopefully busy. She is going to be Grams apprentice at the university, a position that they both know she will one day claim. She is a small town witch and she wants it to stay that way.

Her stomach knots strangely but she ignores it as they reach their destination. The town square is busy, shoppers going about their business and do not give two witches a second glance. Lucy walks to a non descriptive door, one that normally leads to the back of the Mystic Grill. She places her hand against it for a moment, letting it recognise her before it swings backwards on its hinges and they walk into the bright depths of a vast mall, not a dark bar.

"Damn we should have gotten here earlier," Lucy says as they head into a throng of witches. The mall, no other name, is accessible from many different doors, a building that defies the laws of psychics, which is what any witch built building worth its salt should do of course. A huge dome ceiling made of coloured glass flickers, depicting many different coven sigils, casting warm light on marble floors. Through the air lights dart this way and that, flashing the names of many shops, beckoning you to follow. The storeroom apparently goes on forever, and there are tales of unaware assistants coming out weeks later, shell shocked, clutching silks and tape measures.

Bonnie focuses on Lucy's back, walking tall and straight and people part to let her pass. People know who she is but she earns that immediate respect, she has that energy around her. Bonnie lifts her chin and is pleased to see the people wait for her to pass too. They walk under an arch, into their coven's clothing premises and the music and chatter becomes muffled.

Lucy had promised to treat her to a dress, as she is of age and Bonnie had finally agreed. The dress she had picked for her is a surprise, Lucy had insisted. Anticipation rushing through her she watches as a sales assistant pushes two boxes wrapped with red velvet ribbons towards them, their names written on tags.

"No peeking until the day Bon Bons," Lucy stresses as Bonnie starts to loosen the ribbons.

"Please tell me it's not a loin cloth?"

"Come on, what do you take me for?" she asks with a wicked smile. Bonnie clutches the box to her chest. She had tried for the last week to get the truth from her but Lucy had kept her mouth shut. Seeing the uncertainty on her face her cousin relents and takes her arm.

"It's a dress fitting for someone so beautiful, I promise."

Bonnie smiles, a bloom of warmth spreading through her. She points at the box in Lucy's hand. "What did you get?"

"A loin cloth, duh. Gotta make an impression on my future husband," she adds, rolling her eyes. Lucy has been prepared and tutored for leadership from a young age but she has always made her distaste for the arranged marriage that all covens partake in. It strengthens ties between them, when before all they did was fight. She could refuse, of course, but then the leadership would pass onto the next in line, her sister. Lucy wants that throne and she makes no bones about it.

"I'm sure this Luke person is okay."

Lucy opens her mouth, about to speak but closes it, looking away with smile and a small shrug. "Whoever it is..." Bonnie looks after her, blinking. For a moment misery had flashed across Lucy's face.

She's just nervous, as I would be. Jittery, that's all, Bonnie tells herself and almost believes it. As she follows to catch up she looks over the passing crowd and spots someone watching Lucy head for the exit. He is young, tall, lithe and handsome but dressed like any mallrat in America, though at least one from twenty years prior. He sits on a banister with a slushy in one hand and a skateboard in the other, a fifty foot drop below him. He leans back, utterly unconcerned and takes the chewed straw between his teeth. Blue eyes, previously curious, look away, dismissive before falling on her. He blinks and then intensely watches her pass with a warm smile. Feeling emboldened by her proximity to Lucy, and a heavy dose of attraction, she stares back sardonically, arching an eyebrow.

Yeah keep looking boy.

Soft lips curl into a smirk as she looks away and follows Lucy back out into Mystic Falls. A breeze plays over her hot face and Lucy tilts her head, eyes narrowing playfully as she places the boxes in the trunk.

"You're flushed. What are you grinning at?"

"Nothing. Just some stupid boy."

"Oh, I see…" Lucy laughs, walking to her car and Bonnie ignores her, pressing the back of her hand to her cheek. She is not blushing over a stranger, she has a boyfriend and she stopped blushing over him months ago.

Which is the problem.

The Halloween Ball

October 31st dawns cold and crisp. Multitudes of brown and red leaves scatter from trees, blowing over boots and pilling in corners begging to be jumped in. This is Bonnie's favourite season, one that can make the most of her comfy wardrobe. Comfy, not drab thank you very much Caroline.

Standing in front her floor length mirror Bonnie wonders what her bubbly friend would say if she saw her now. She may even leave her speechless, well at least for thirty seconds. It hurts that she cannot share this side of herself with her friends but it is part of their strict code. She had meddled in the affair of vampires for her friend's sake and her grandmother had almost paid the price. She will not repeat those mistakes...but maybe taking one sneaky picture wouldn't hurt…

Lucy had not tricked her and gifted her with a napkin or even a onesie, as she had started to suspect. A pale blue ball gown, made from layers of soft silk organza, billow from her hips, the bodice snug, her shoulders bare. As she stands in a beam of sunshine she swishes the skirts from side to side and a faint opalescent sheen ripples through the fabric. It is simple and elegant, looking more like a wedding dress than anything.

What if it is? Bonnie stills, the smile frozen on her face. What if this had been meant for her cousin, maybe a discarded design for her upcoming wedding to her unknown spouse? Would Lucy do that? Bonnie shakes her head, scolding herself.

"She's like a foot taller than me. Stop overthinking. I look...good - great," she admits, inhaling deeply and nods. "Now I just have to promise myself not to screw my presentation up."

She had been practising with Grams for weeks and she was as ready she was ever going to be.

"Child stop fretting," Sheila Bennett urges as they line up with a crowd of witches. The ball, like the mall, is accessed through doorways placed throughout the country. So the exact position of both places is a mystery to Bonnie. Not that she cares right now.

"The more you tell me to stop the more it happens Grams," Bonnie grumbles, trying not to scrunch the dress in her sweaty hands. She has been attending this ball for as long as she can remember but never in such a public way. Never before had she been the centre of attention but tonight she will be.

"Five minutes Bonnie, just a few moments and it'll be over. It's normal to be nervous child but I have faith in you. You'll do just fine," Grams smiles at her encouragingly and Bonnie nods, trying to believe it. As a pair of witches from New Orleans are announced she and Grams pause, waiting for their names to be called. Lucy had entered earlier, with the other future leaders.

"Sheila Bennett is accompanied by her granddaughter Bonnie Bennett," there is a smattering of polite applause as she and Grams pass through the plush red curtains and enter the hall. Hundreds of witches gather around the room, densely packed around the mirrored walls so the crowd appears double, more dancing in the centre. Through a set of ceiling high doors a dining room waits, long tables festooned with pumpkins, candles and turning crystal chandeliers. It is a beautiful spectacle but Bonnie, who has seen it many times, hardly notices as she and Grams shake the hosts' hands. Jonas and Lila Martin smile and greet them warmly, while their children Luka and Greta shake their hands quickly with a muted welcome. Luka squeezes Bonnie's hand overlong, eyes widening as he recognises her and Bonnie smiles quickly in greeting, avoiding eye contact. Greta laughs quietly at her brother and Bonnie is free.

"Chill. You haven't even gotten her a ring yet."

"Shut up," he hisses as Bonnie and Grams head further into the ballroom. Grams smirks at Bonnie's mortified face. For as long as she can remember she and Luka have been jokingly told that they would be paired off together, which Bonnie had dismissed but now that she is older and Luka's interest in her became more apparent the prospect seems less unlikely.

"I'm not marrying Luka Martin," Bonnie says under her breath.

"It's not a bad match, he's a powerful witch and seems decent," Lucy replies as she appears in front of them. She wears a clinging red velvet dress, rubies circling her throat. She eyes Bonnie up and down, smiling happily. "You look amazing."

"So do you!" Bonnie hugs her briefly and watches as her cousin mingles. She looks up and smiles. The ceiling ripples with fire, a calm lake of it, lapping at the walls but never spreading. The ballroom is split into two, one half dedicated to the dance floor with small tables dotted around the walls while at the top of the room two long tables stand upon two plinths, one set higher than the other. Here the coven leaders and future leaders sit, though now most of them are mingling. Anna Bennett, her coven leader and Lucy's mother, talks to Liv and Luke Parker. The twins, both blonde and in their late twenties, look miserable. Liv, with her masses of curly blonde hair, looks like she is eating nettles, her eyes burning while Luke looks dazed as he listens to Anna talk. She has never spoken to either, they probably have no idea who she is but she is curious. She knows that leadership is meant to be passed down when the Gemini twins reach 22, otherwise their coven's magic begins to weaken. They're now pushing 30. Strange but not unheard of. Bonnie looks away from this private moment and sees Vincent Griffith, the Regent of New Orleans, sidling up to Lucy and whispering in her ear. Her cousin turns with shining eyes.

Oh, I see...but he's betrothed to another, Bonnie recalls with a sinking feeling. Clearly some rearranging is in order because she can clearly see when two people are in love. But tradition and prophecy dictate that the next match is between a Bennett and a Parker, which is nonsense as far as Bonnie is concerned. So what if some ancient prophecy foretells calamity if this arrangement is ignored? Okay so said calamity had befallen a few covens in the past when they turned their back on the tradition but it wasn't the end of the world. The prophecy sounds more and more like a curse to Bonnie.

As she and Grams find a table to sit at Bonnie watches her peers moving around her. Witch events like these are a prime time to make connections, share information and form alliances, especially for young witches. So far she has escaped the pressure of having to marry, her position within the Bennett coven too far down the line to worry about who she is paired with, no matter her ability. Also she is only 16, soon approaching 17; being someone's wife is the furthest thing from her mind. That is why the relationship between her and Jeremy has gone without question. Well her family has not said a word against it, since they started dating in highschool. Now, looking at the couples around her, sharing spells and secrets she wishes for a moment to have that kind connection, that drama, that heat. Just something...

I could have that with Luka, I guess but he does nothing for me. Kinda like Jeremy now...

Realising the connection she yearns for is decidedly romantic Bonnie guiltily looks at the menu, where the schedule is printed on the back. The coming of age ceremony will start in half an hour, to take place before the whole court. The year before she had been sick and missed the ball, so she had not seen the previous years' display. It had been one of the best, according to reports though one of the Parker's had not turned up, just sent a rabbit in a top hat instead. Or was it a rabbit wearing a top hat? The Geminis are a weird bunch so she is not surprised either way. Bonnie slaps the menu down, reaching for a glass of wine that has appeared on the table. She gulps it down as Sheila watches her sardonically for a moment before turning to speak to a witch from Mexico.

She drains the glass, a warning ringing her mind that she and alcohol don't mix but she ignores it. Just enough to dull her nerves, that's all. She rises, watching girls in gowns that float behind them on real breezes, flowers that smell sweet adorning their hair and gems that shine with magic. Bonnie looks down at her beautiful but plain dress and feels a little bare. Making sure to swish her hips a little she skirts the edge of the dance floor, watching as the music reaches a crescendo and the dancers float up in the air for a moment before descending gracefully into the waiting arms of their partners.

Bonnie smiles, clapping along with the rest. Once upon a time these gatherings would descend into an orgy, a hedonistic outpouring of power but now it has become something refined and managed. Bonnie finds it romantic but wonders what those dances were truly like in the old days, likely more similar to the small coven parties that she has been to. Those are fun but usually broken up before any real damage is done.

Bonnie catches her reflection in a mirror and swears under her breath as she notices that a few curls of hair has slipped from a pin. She and Grams had spent a long time braiding and pinning her hair up off her neck, slotting small posies of baby's breath around the dark tresses. As she fusses with her hair, a silver pin clenched between her teeth, she sees Luka making a beeline for her and the candles framing the mirror flare upwards. The pin falls to the ground.

"Oh no," she moves towards a door to her left, which leads onto a balcony, one that looks like it rings the massive building she is in. They had walked through a door in Gram's office to get here and now below her Bonnie can see a lake rippling, a snow capped mountain in the distance as the sun sets. Shivering and wishing she had taken her coat she moves into the shadows as Luka pokes his head around the door, searching for her before he withdraws, looking a little disappointed.

I gotta tell him, set him straight, she thinks but waits for another minute until the coast is clear. As she moves from the shadows a gasp of pain punctures the air and Bonnie frowns, looking around a pillar to see two figures under a potted tree. A woman in a short blue dress is on her knees, grimacing in pain while a man holds her wrists, his back to her. The dark haired woman swears and he laughs.

Bonnie does not think, she just reacts. "Motus!" she yells and the man is blasted off his feet, slamming against the balustrade and the woman spills to the ground, gasping for breath. Bonnie prowls forward, concerned eyes on the lady, who gets on her knees. Another curse forms on Bonnie's tongue as the man stands.

"Stop, don't hex him," she begs and her eyes are a striking blue. She appears in her mid thirties or so.

"But he was hurting you," Bonnie replies, reaching down to help the witch to her feet, warily watching the young man. He is dressed in a black suit and blazer, white shirt gleaming brightly in the dark but as he comes into the light Bonnie's hand trembles.

It's the boy from the mall.

Gone are the jean-jacket and chucks but the amused smirk on his face is still the same. Getting a better look at his hairless face she sees she is mistaken, he is older than he first appeared, early twenties. There is just something boyish about him. The smirk on his face grows broader as recognition enters his eyes. The woman steps before him, hands still up.

"He's my brother. My name is Jo."

"He wasn't hurting you?"

"...No."

"First time for everything."

"Shut up Kai," Jo snaps and her brother smirks again. His eyes never leave Bonnie's face, his gaze thoughtful. Jo draws her attention, though she finds it hard to look away from him. "Okay I was in pain but it's just an unfortunate side effect."

"Of what?" she asks but gets no answer. Jo looks at her brother before Kai answers.

"Siphoning."

Bonnie inhales sharply and says nothing. The ability to siphon magic from others is not something anyone admits to, a rare and frowned upon practise. It only affects witches from the Gemini coven and from what she has heard they treat those members with disgust and dismissal. Bonnie stares from Jo to her brother, who still regards her carefully.

"Why tell me?"

"Because you look totally trustworthy. I think it's all the white," he answers with a smile, motioning at her dress and Jo rolls her eyes.

"Listen it was a mutual exchange. He got magic, I got what I wanted. No one needs to know. Thank you for sending him on his ass but I'm okay, I promise," Jo stares at her intensely and after a while Bonnie nods. She does not know what happened but there is no fear around the woman.

Jo turns around to Kai, who finally tears his eyes off Bonnie. "Behave yourself," she orders and he crosses his heart as she moves away, back to the ballroom.

"Same time next year?"

Jo doesn't answer, just flips him the bird over her shoulder before she disappears through the doorway. Kai chuckles and turns his attention back to Bonnie. She frowns and he pouts.

"You're confused. I'm from the Gemini coven and even though me and Josette are twins we actually only see each other at these events. It's common practice in my coven to separate twins at birth."

Bonnie blinks, even more confused. "Your twin? She's at least ten years older than you." He has to be lying.

"That's what I keep telling her but she keeps slapping me every time I bring it up," he hums and then shrugs. "I had a time out," he explains, which explains nothing and Bonnie shakes her head, trying to clear it.

"Why are twins separated?"

"Makes the whole merge ordeal less emotional or something. So we only really get to see each other at these social soirées, aside from birthdays but that's just too awkward, even for me," he widens his eyes comically, inching closer and Bonnie narrows her eyes at him. He's a smartass, a fantasist judging by the weird twin lie and talks in maddening riddles but that sounds awful.

"...I'm sorry?" she offers, not really sure if it is needed. He does not seem the least bit troubled by this predicament. Kai shrugs, hands in his pockets and begins walking around her. "I haven't seen you at one of these before."

"Busy," he answers carelessly.

"But we have met," she says without thinking. He makes it hard to.

"Hmm care to refresh my mind?"

"You were slurping on a slushy at the time."

His pink lips ring in remembrance "Oh yeah! I was checking on my future consort," he says lightly, smiling and coldness floods Bonnie. Consort? She stares at his smooth grinning face and realisation dawns on her like an icy cascade.

"You're in line for the Gemini leadership."

"...That's my other siblings. Luke and Liv," he answers and the friendliness switches off from his face in a blink. Now he is stone cold. "You might know them? Blonde and freakishly short."

Bonnie furrows her brows, trying to make sense of it. "So you're not actually in line for anything?" That coven only selects twins, Kai is not one, no matter what he says. Jo is clearly older than him.

"I was. My father didn't take my mutation too well. So now the spares are the heirs," he smiles, looking aside. Bonnie can feel the anger in him, one that he hides well. But then his previous statement about why he had been at the mall comes back to her and she narrows her eyes suspiciously.

"You said you were at the mall to spy on Lucy. You think you're gonna marry the next leader of that coven? You're crazy," she scoffs. Kai grins, standing too close. She keeps her ground.

"Look at this, you know me so well already, though I don't even know your name."

Please, you probably know what the name of my favourite teddy is. Bonnie, amused at this strange guy she sent into the dirt, cocks her head. "Guess."

His face breaks into a delighted grin and he rocks on his heels. "I will Sherlock the shit out of you. Okay, so," he grows serious, or tries to, narrowing his eyes. "Pretending I never saw you before this night and going by the judgemental beat down I just got I'm gonna hazard a guess that you're of the Bennett variety."

"Correct."

He smiles in accomplishment but lifts a finger as she is about to tell him her name. "Now you're wearing a purple ribbon around your wrist, which means that today is your coming of age day. Congratulations," he says with utmost sarcasm and Bonnie gives him a heavy lidded look as he continues. "So you've recently turned 16. Happy belated birthday Miss Bennett. So your aunt is the Bennett coven leader, who has one other sister: Sheila Bennett, along with a boat load of brothers. I happened to see you arrive with her before you were introduced. Your mom couldn't make it?" he asks innocently, too innocently and Bonnie scowls at him. Her mother had abandoned her at a young age, her and everything else to do with being a witch.

"No, couldn't yours?"

"She's dead," he answers conversationally and Bonnie cringes but Kai carries on talking like nothing had happened. "You're Sheila's granddaughter."

"Correct again but I doubt you'll know my name. No one knows who I am."

"Small town witch huh? Must be nice," he says wistfully and then leans close to her, eyes intense. "If I get your name right will you dance with me later?"

"No."

"If I get it wrong will you dance with me?"

"...Maybe."

He grins and she cannot help but grin back. Stop, you have a boyfriend and this guy is weird, you can't deny it. She senses it, recalling the manic grin on his face as he siphoned from his sister even as she cried out in pain. He's a charming snake and wants to twist around her. Her heart beats hard but not with fear. Bonnie steps away, head thrown back a little as she gives him a once over before patting dust off his shoulder.

"Sorry but not tonight," he might not be next in line but he is likely higher up the ladder than her. He will have someone waiting in the wings, likely since birth. Or maybe being a siphoner changes that?

Kai smiles softly, inclining his head after a moment. "You're right. Now isn't the time...will you come to the wedding?"

"Sure but only because it's happening between your family and mine," she does not know much of anything about how the Gemini coven select their leaders, only that the twins have to pass some kind of test. So either Liv or Luke will survive but the word is that Luke is immensely more powerful and sure to win. That must be a terrible burden, Bonnie considers.

"I'll make sure of it. We'll have that dance Bonnie," his promise is darkly assured and for all his youth something beyond his years shows on his face. He is powerful, no matter how he gets his magic. Bonnie turns on her heel, something inside her pulsing with a lusty hot strength. She walks to the door, knowing with each step that his eyes are burning a hole in her. She does not look back.

The display begins shortly after her encounter with the odd Geminis. She had almost been late for her own initiation, great. However the previous anxiety that had plagued her for weeks has morphed into a giddiness, likely spurned by her violent confrontation. The floor is clear but for a single witch, spectators lining the walls as the coven leaders and heirs watch from their seats, including the Gemini twins. The blondes look bored and sullen, their other siblings now sitting around them along with their father Joshua, the current Gemini leader. Kai smiles sweetly at his older brother Luke, who looks pale before staring at the floor.

The witch now performing throws his hands into the air and a cloud forms over their heads, rumbling thunder and flickering lightning. Weather manipulation. People clap as rain sizzles before falling on them. A beam of light breaks through the clouds, shining on the coven leaders and the crowd cheers. Bonnie rolls her eyes as she claps, though a smile stretches her mouth. She had missed a few displays, which she is grateful for because she is starting to doubt her performance piece. Well too late now. One more person before her and then she is next.

The witch, a red headed girl, walks stiffly onto the floor, accompanied by polite claps which die down. She stands there, not moving and then with a tiny squeak she disappears. Bonnie blinks, thinking she has turned invisible before a shrill scream makes her jump and people point at the ground. A red haired mouse scurries away from the floor and people move aside, careful not to step on the escaping shapeshifting witch. Laughter echoes around the room but Bonnie does not join them. Maybe they think it was part of her act but maybe not. As they clap and talk to each other Bonnie suddenly feels someone at her back, a hand wringing her arm and hot breath against her cheek.

"You're next Bonnie. Told ya I'd guess your name," his voice whispers in her ear and then the heat of him against her back is gone as another voice calls her name. Bonnie blinks, staring at the now empty floor and inhaling a deep breath she steps forward.

For years to come the performance would be talked about from coven to coven, written about in books and talked about in reports. If they could look into her mind all they would be able to discern are the thoughts Kai and screw him.

Bonnie closes her eyes, calming herself and lifts her head. All the lights around the room wink out, the fire above burning into nothing, making those gathered gasp in surprise before those noises turn into ones of delight. Confused Bonnie opens her eyes. I haven't even started yet, she thinks but then she looks down at her dress.

It is no longer white. In the dark of the room her previous plain dress twinkles like fine blue starlight. She stares at her reflection in the mirror and notes that even the tiny white flowers in her hair shines. She glows like some strange and beautiful florescent deep sea creature. Bonnie spins around slowly, staring down at herself, lost in the surprise. One person is not surprised and Bonnie looks up with a smile, catching Lucy grinning at the table. She winks and Bonnie laughs.

"Wow, upstaged by a dress. I should just go huh?"

People laugh and she inhales again, concentrating as she lifts her hands, placing them close together and then drawing them apart slowly. In the space between her palms a spark appears, growing larger until a ball of fire drifts between her hands. She flicks her hands out and the fireball flies up into the air where it hangs like a miniature sun. Fire is her element, sometimes it feels like it controls her but right now she wields it completely.

The sun spins slowly, sending small fire bursts outwards, casting rays and shadows along the walls. As Bonnie does, sparkling in her dress. As she lifts her hands and sprawls her fingers out a tinkling sound is heard and with another gasp from the crowd silver cutlery, empty plates and glasses lift from tables and begin to spin around the sun, caught in it's gravity. Bonnie lets herself glance at the crowd and then the top table. Everyone watches with childlike wonder, all eyes on the magic. Except for one. Kai stares at her, head tilting to the side and then with the faintest smirk her magic starts to change.

The sun flares with a sudden brightness, sending a hot pulse through the room and the smiles start to falter as the spinning debris begin to move faster and faster, circling the sun as it flashes and boils dangerously.

What the hell. This isn't me.

The magic sustaining her fire is stable, it should not be out of control but it is. The crowd move back, some still laughing, thinking it part of her act but when the sun suddenly gives a huge burst the crowd duck, screaming as it harmlessly explodes and darkness fills the room. For a breathless moment there is silence, only panting in the dark but then the knives and forks begin to clutter and from the now eerie blue glow from Bonnie's dress she sees that the sun has not truly gone, it's just collapsed on itself. A black hole. Wind rushes through the room, sucking in the silverware and then chairs flip over and tumble towards the darkness, some hitting people as they try to run. Panic suddenly bursts alive throughout the room.

"Wait! Stop! This isn't me!" Bonnie screams, her spell finished long ago but still the room shakes and spins madly and witches head for the exits but some stay, moving towards the maelstrom with harsh faces, hands outstretched. Bonnie, crouching on the ground watches as the leader of the Gemini coven, his face thunderous, cuts his arm visually through the air, barking out two words.

"Phasmatos oculix!"

Kai Parker suddenly appears behind the black hole, his hands outstretched, but as soon as he sees that he has been caught he lowers them and grins.

"Oops."

Bonnie, beyond appalled, watches as the destruction that had sent people screaming disappears in a blink, sending the contents of the room to land in a pile in the centre of the dance floor. Kai's father roars his son's name, chest billowing like an angry bull but Bonnie does not care.

Hurt squeezes her chest, humiliation making her throat tight and tears prick her eyes. She feels hands on her shoulders and her grandmother's soothing words in her ears but she only has eyes for Kai. Before he and the rest of his coven cloak themselves he stares at her and the giddy smile on his face dims and she thinks for a just a moment he looks disappointed.

Then he and his family are gone.

The Wake

After the disastrous Halloween ball Bonnie does not run into Kai Parker or any member of the Gemini coven for years. After the embarrassing spectacle they seem to have gone into hiding, avoiding all social events and Joshua only attending emergency summits with other covens if dire enough. She assumes the Gemini coven still meets in secret, though she can only guess what they get up to. The enter act at the ball had been an illusion, a speciality of that particular coven but it took Bonnie a long time to get over the hurt. Why had he done such a thing, when she had been under the impression that he was flirting with her? But it soon came to light.

"He's a certified psycho," Lucy explains with relish and Grams thins her lips but says nothing. "That's why you hardly see him, most of use didn't even know he existed. His family don't want him to cause trouble I bet."

"Well they failed. Lucky it's not him you have to marry then?"

"Or any Parker, if luck is on our side," Lucy answers. She wants to be with the Regent of New Orleans and Bonnie hopes it works out somehow.

"Joshua Parker is growing older, weaker and that affects all the members linked to him. A new leader must be chosen and soon," Grams says, stirring sugar into her coffee. She looks troubled but just pats Bonnie's cheek when she tries to get answers.

"Don't worry yourself child, I'm sure it will come together in the end..."

Soon thinking on that strange family is overshadowed by exams and graduation until she finds herself a college graduate and with a job that keeps her as busy as she suspected it would.

She is content.

"Luke Parker is dead!"

"What? No way!"

"A sudden illness, according to reports but all scoop is saying that he killed himself."

This news is met with a sad gasp and Bonnie freezes in the hallway, next to a dorm room filled with freshman. Whitmore College houses only students learning the craft, though these witches could learn to burn some more sage.

"He was next in line for the Gemini leadership, if he won but I guess he couldn't take the stress. That's probably why they kept putting the merge off. That poor family..." a high pitched voice says with mock concern and Bonnie shakes her head. She had never spoken to Luke but she remembers the trouble clear in his blue eyes. Kai's brother…

"So his sister is the leader now huh?"

"Nope. I just said they didn't do the weird ritual. So they need another set of twins asap!"

There are more whispers and chatter, mostly about the tragedy of it all and what they will do. Bonnie tries not to think abut Kai but her mind wanders to him constantly. He seems to have been missing for years, which is normal according Lucy. The family could hide for decades and no one would bat an eye. They take that cloaking technique to a next level but for all of that they are one of the most powerful and eldest covens in the world. Probably because they keep out of trouble, unless provoked.

To have all that riding on the shoulders of twins is not only mad but dangerously foolish. Bonnie begins walking back to her office, mind whirling. For the rest of the day, in fact the entire week all she hears about is Luke Parker's death and what the ramifications are for their secretive coven.

"Why pick leaders that way? It's insane."

Maybe it's like the marriages, maybe they're cursed...explains the crazy too. The entire coven is cracked but she supposes the Bennett-Parker nuptials are dead in the water. Lucy will have to find someone else. Sighing Bonnie focuses on writing up lecture notes but her mind strays to events that happened years ago and the mystery of the present.

The funeral had been a small affair but as is customary the memorial and wake is open to all invited covens. Bonnie is sent a handwritten invitation from Joshua Parker himself. He must still feel ashamed for his son's behaviour. She supposes someone has to, because Kai certainly doesn't seem to.

Pushing down a flare of ire at the memory Bonnie stands in a simple black dress with her coven as Jo Parker speaks quietly, her gaze steady but tear rimmed. Liv Parker stands beside her father, her eyes utterly vacant. Bonnie wonders if she is on any medication but then all thought is blasted from her mind as her eyes drift to the end of the Gemini coven and lands on a man she has not seen in years.

Kai Parker has not aged a day. He stands with his hands in the pockets of his black pants, staring at the large picture of his brother. He appears sad, though no tears touch his eyes but as Jo starts to cry Bonnie catches his subtle eye roll before he gives his sister a small smile but it does not reach his eyes. Jo Parker, unlike her brother, has gotten older. Is he a vampire? It would explain his callousness too. What is going on?

Bonnie tears her eyes away when he suddenly catches sight of her and the contact is electric. Bonnie's heart pounds and her body flares with heat, a heat sparked by rage and something else. Having seen her he spends the next twenty minutes constantly staring, hardly noticing when his family speaks to him and the warmth spreading through her reaches her face.

Stop it, I'm not a teenager any more. He's practically a stranger. Emphasis on strange.

But after the words had been said and tears dried the covens make their way to a tent pitched on the Parker's lush lawn. Portland is rainy but today the skies are a spotless blue. Bonnie follows Lucy, who is hand in hand with Vincent. The two are not official but it is only time. The potential union with the Parkers now seems a lifetime ago.

As the smell of food and music surrounds her a hand grips her elbow and she is tugged back.

"Hey!"

"If you go in there I might never see you again," Kai says, drawing her along the tent wall, away from the guests lining up until they are hidden from view. Bonnie rips her arm away and he stops, turning to her. Up close her assessment that he has not aged rings true but he does look a little different. Stubble covers his face and he appears to have put on more muscle. He looks like a man.

"What do you want?"

"No condolences?" he asks, offended at her coldness and Bonnie's stomach squeezes.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your loss, truly but I don't want to speak to you."

"Why not?" he frowns, looking upset and Bonnie almost laughs.

"Why? Hmm maybe it has something to do with my presentation going supernova?"

"I was just joking around," he says with a shrug, leaning forward with a winning smile. Bonnie shakes her head, snarling.

"You embarrassed me, I was a teenager, and for what? Because I pushed you over? Because I found out what you were?" she had tried to reason why he had sabotaged her display and this is the only reason she can logically accept. Pay back. The other is that he did it for a laugh and that makes her feel sick and unbalanced.

Kai tilts his head. "I told you what I was, at great risk to my reputation by the way."

Bonnie scoffs. "I'm sure it must be crystal clear."

"Pretty much. My coven doesn't get into a lot of mischief you know. Except amongst ourselves," he adds thoughtfully and then focuses on her. His gaze becomes soft, tracing her features.

"I never said but you looked beautiful that night."

"Because of the dress?"

"Because for your first display you decided to literally play god. You created light."

Bonnie rolls her eyes even as something within her leaps pleasantly at the compliment. She scowls at him. "And you destroyed it."

"It was just a trick, I'm sorry okay? I might not get another chance to say this so there, that's my apology."

"Not accepted," she fires back, turning around but he takes her arm again, pulling her back. His touch burns and she inhales sharply, expecting him to suck her magic but he does not.

"They let me out on compassionate grounds before, to stupid balls and yearly events, so as not to draw suspicion but this time I'm not going back," he whispers harshly. Bonnie shakes her head.

"Back? Where?"

"It doesn't matter. I just want what's rightfully mine, my birthright," he says, as if trying to reason with her but Bonnie is lost. A noise makes her turn and she sees Jo Parker approaching them, her face white and furious.

"What are you still doing here? We agreed you would leave once the ceremony was over."

"But the DJ is playing my song!" he whines and Jo growls and Kai is suddenly slammed against the wall of the tent. He laughs, falling to his knees.

"You don't do this here, not after what you did," she hisses, pointing her finger at him and the smile on his face falls.

"I had nothing to do with his death. How could I have?"

"Liar. You did something, I know you did and he killed himself because of it," Jo utters shakily and Bonnie wants to look away, to leave them but she is rooted to the ground.

Kai shakes his head. "Maybe he just couldn't take the pressure, ever think of that? He died so Liv could, well live," he adds, the corner of his lips twitching. "Not everything is my fault sissy."

"You're full of shit," Jo stares at Kai suspiciously but he catches Bonnie's confused gaze as he gets to his feet. He sighs, looking back at his sister with effort.

"I don't expect you to believe me, what with my awesome track record but I didn't kill him. The only sibling I wish would die is you."

How those words can be said without even the tiniest bit of threat or hate in them bewilders Bonnie. He sounds completely sincere and reasonable and Jo nods with a sardonic smile.

"Right back at you asshole," she replies and eyes Bonnie before turning on her heel, walking away from them. Bonnie, incredibly confused and disturbed looks back at Kai.

"What the hell is going on? Are you all crazy?"

"Pretty much. Don't worry yourself, it's just coven business."

Business? God she needs to get away from him, from his entire family. She begins walking after Jo, thinking about the many flumes of alcohol that have her name written on them when something makes her stop, tugging her back gently.

"Dance with me? I did get your name right..." his arms circle her, and she is pressed against his body for one heart stopping moment before he turns her around. Hands clasping hers Bonnie twirls right out of them, making him laugh.

"There. Quick and to the point," she does a little mock curtsey and after a moment he bows formally, his mouth pursing in bemusement. Bonnie inspects his face, thinking about what he said to Jo. "...Are you really twins?"

"Yup."

"You suspended your ageing? She grows older but you don't," she knows some witches do this, usually when they reach middle age but she has not heard of it happening to someone who appears to be so young. "How vain are you?"

Kai barks out a laugh. "It' a side effect. Look one day I will tell you my thrilling tale but a lady has to keep some of her secrets. It'll keep you keen," he bats his eyelashes and Bonnie glares, leaning back.

"So if you're telling the truth and you win this merge, you're gonna marry my cousin?" Bonnie laughs at the possibility. "She'd chew you up."

"Possibly...you jealous?" he asks suddenly and Bonnie flushes and snorts, about to fire back a retort when she realises where she is. Kai clearly does not care about his dead brother and though she did not know Luke she is not going to engage in flirtations while his family grieves meters away.

"Good bye Kai, hopefully we won't met again," she utters, walking away and lets herself cast a glance back when she gets to the entrance of the tent. Kai is gone, leaves fluttering through the air before settling.

The next time she sees him it is not years later but a matter of months and it is in a wake of more sudden and tragic deaths.

Jo Parker is dead, a handful of months after her younger brother. The details are sketchy but it seems she and Kai took part in the Merge ritual and she did not survive. Kai Parker, certifiable psychopath and possible murderer, is now the absolute leader of a two millennia old coven. Any doubts about being a twin is now mute but Bonnie barely thinks about him or his coven because it proceeds the worst day of her life.

Some called it an accident, others an assassination attempt but to Bonnie thirteen members of her family died suddenly in one fell swoop, so terribly that not even a body remained to be identified. Bonnie had clung to this hope, that they had found no bodies but Grams had gently dashed it. When a witch is born their name is written in a red book of life and a white book of death by cursed seers of each coven, a deeply responsible duty. All thirteen names appeared in the white book.

Grams comforts her as best she can but with the elders of their coven dead she is busy keeping the now confused and desperate witches together. The information is murky but all agree that a linking spell had gone terribly wrong, taking the most powerful of their coven with it. One had died, taking the rest with him. He had been old, they said, frail and prone to accidents but no measure of reason can make the pain less.

Their leader is dead and the line of succession withered on that vine. Lucy is gone, her cousins, her aunts and uncles…and her magic dies with them, buried and blocked under grief and shock. Bonnie drifts around her house in a daze, her father trying to talk to her but she hardly sees him, let alone hears him. Jeremy is an afterthought, a boy from a little girl's dream. What do they matter? For two months she exists in this foggy pain until one day her grandmother brings her out of it, but not with a warm ray of hope but with a blast of cold revelation.

"You know what this means child, don't you?"

"What?"

"Don't make me say it," she whispers, almost like a child herself and Bonnie grips her hand on the table. The kitchen is quiet, her favourite room. "If I say it then it'll have power and this you can't push away."

"It's okay. Just speak."

"Thirteen died Bonnie, thirteen and you were next. You're the last."

Bonnie blinks, the words taking a long time to sink in but when they do they slam into her with force, making her stand. "No! I can't be! I - I'm your granddaughter, not Anna's."

"Her line died with her," Grams says of her sister, tears in her eyes. "Its true marrying your grandfather, God rest him, disqualified me from leadership, a man with no magic but you...you're the next rightful ruler Bonnie."

"My mom?"

Grams inhales at the question and the tears overspill. "Does not have anything to do with this life and this life has shunned her in turn. I wish now that she had taken you with her to avoid this...but it has to be done," she stresses and through her sadness something angry takes root. Had she sensed this before in the murky weeks of mourning, this rage simmering under her grandmother's sadness?

"What is it?"

"It was not an accident Bonnie, I know it was not because one person witnessed it. The Regent was there, though he did not take part. He was there for Lucy…" she adds sadly. "He was attacked by someone he could not see, someone grabbed him and his magic was drained before he passed out. He survived, not his attacker's intention I'm sure. No one but you, me and Vincent knows this. The linking spell was something they had been working towards for months and one coven did not want it to happen, wanted to stop them."

"...The Gemini?"

Grams nods, angry lines around her mouth. "They are the only coven who can absorb magic from others, an affinity for cloaking themselves like cowards. We had suspected that they had stolen a Bennett spell, used it for their own ends, used it for something it was never meant to be used for. We tried to undo it...but someone stopped them. Someone sapped them of their magic, and their life along with it."

Kai...the thought sends an icy chill through her, followed by a wave of fury. She sits back down, leaning forward. "What was the stolen spell?"

Grams stares at her in silence, clearly deciding whether to say anything before she opens her mouth. "Our coven is not innocent Bonnie, we have done our share of evil, though we've tried to serve the balance," Sheila inhales and though she does not mention vampires Bonnie knows. Her coven once used dark magic and it's results still walk the earth. "Our speciality, as cloaking and illusion is the Geminis, is preserving life and spirit. We created immortality, the Other Side...and other worlds."

"What?"

"This is knowledge that only a few hold Bonnie but you must know now. There are countless worlds, parallel to this one, that our coven sprang into being."

"Why?" she can hardly speak.

"We're not sure, the knowledge is lost in time but some think as a safe haven, a place to go if things got bad here. Others theorize these empty worlds are test sites, places that we can practice the most dangerous forms of the art without repercussion."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know Bonnie, that's what the inner circle were hoping to find out. Jo Parker, before she died, handed over an artefact and someone killed to get it back."

"We have to prove it! If Kai is responsible..." she cannot finish, her rage and hurt so intense.

"That coven is too well hidden and protected. I don't want to prove it Bonnie, I want them to pay. Be clear child, this is not justice, this is revenge and when someone crosses a Bennett witch their souls won't reach the otherside. We should know, we created it."

Her grandmother, small, stern and scholarly looks at that moment like the stories of witches that fill terror into the hearts of men. Bonnie nods and feels content for the first time in weeks. It is the first time she has ever felt hate.

She will make Kai Parker pay.

The announcement

Condolences pour in, flowers and enchantments of well being and they receive them with gratitude. Nothing appears from the Parker family until months later and it has nothing to do with the passing of her family.

"...Is he serious? An invitation? Why would he send this?"

"I expect he is following tradition," Grams answers, not looking up from her grimoire. Bonnie's mouth falls open.

"What?"

"You know what," she says, looking up and her gaze is steady but regretful. Bonnie pauses, her mind blank but then the truth hits her like a bat.

"No! Fuck no!"

"Child -"

"No! I'm not going to marry him, are you crazy?"

"I don't put much stock in prophesy, mostly the word of mad men and scared folk who just make it happen. But curses, those are not to be mocked. The covens, even ours, dress this situation up in ribbons and vows of alliance but it's a simple need to save our own skins. Witches were cursed by nature for our past sins Bonnie and I do not want to lose even one more to calamity," Grams says softly and the dissent in Bonnie stalls, doesn't vanish, just freezes. Her grandmother sighs, rubbing at her eyes. "Malachai Parker merged with his twin, a ritual that combines their souls into one. He is irreversibly different. Now if that is for the best I cannot say but I am hoping so."

"But he likely killed them. He's a siphoner!"

"We don't know that for sure Bonnie. There are lots of siphoners, though you wouldn't know it...but yes it could be a possibility but we'll never know sitting here. I can't get close enough to find out the truth. You can."

Bonnie sits weakly, thinking it over. If she agrees and marries Kai, who may be responsible for murdering her family, can she play nice and work from within, finding out the truth only to bring the whole thing down? Can she do that? Does she want to?

"Do I have a choice?"

"You always have a choice Bonnie. If you want to stay here, eventually take my place then I will never speak of this again, I promise."

Bonnie imagines it. Standing in front of a full lecture hall filled with young witches, sharing the history of their coven and others. Updating their approach for this century finally, making it viral, spreading it far and wide...while the curse her grandmother seems so sure of, frightened of, could just rip that life apart, likely taking the Parker family with it.

"I can't go on like nothing has happened, wilfully forgetting. I have to know the truth," Bonnie cries, despair twisting her insides and Grams takes her in her arms tightly.

"I'm sorry child. I truly am."

The Wedding

Rain pitter-patters against tall windows, a view of a rough Pacific sea and heavy clouds. A perfect day for a miserable wedding. The guests who would normally be sunning themselves in the garden crowd rooms and spill through hallways but she has an entire room to herself, a waiting area. The Parker family, as she had been told, are very wealthy and it is apparent in the mansion she has spent the last few days in. The time has sped past in a blur since she had agreed to his proposal, so fast she suspects magic. Now she stands with a veil over her face, in a dress chosen for her and surrounded by people who are her enemy.

She has not spoken to Kai, lucky for him. He keeps his distance, as is customary. She had expected him to come bounding down the stairs, grin on his smug face but whenever she catches sight of him, usually at the end of her wing of the house, he just waves shyly at her. She did not return the greeting. It just reinforced the artificial life she is about to partake, a make believe and neither knows the roles they should be playing.

But like any role this will not last forever. She just has to perform, sign a contract and then find out the truth. These bastards are likely responsible for the death of her family and the man waiting for her down the aisle the main culprit. The ink will not even have time to dry, or his blood, if he is guilty. Then she can figure out how the hell she is going to run her own coven.

Bonnie turns from the window, inhaling deeply and straightens the ivory and lace veil over her face, per tradition which is also fortunate because everyone gathered would just see a pair of green eyes plotting murder. Members from two covens talk and mingle easily, none but a few knowing the possible truth, if they did she does not think they would be so ready to accept anything from their hosts. Her mind flicks to her grandmother, who waits in the hall beyond, along with her father. Rudy Hopkins, non magical and happy to keep it that way, is bewildered and overwhelmed by the sudden whiplashes that have befallen his family, a family that Bonnie knows he has only ever been on the outskirts of. But he is here, along with her giant of a grandfather. She can still hear that deep booming laugh from the night before, his green eyes twinkling as the whiskey glasses had refiled themselves and wondered aloud about the possibility of remarrying in his old age to a good witch.

Her mother was sent an invitation, how she is not sure but Grams said she tried. She has not turned up. Bonnie, with an old half healed hurt, feels something in her harden even more at the absence. She had not expected anything and that is what she has received. Those that truly love her, that support her are waiting through the mirrors and that is all she needs. She had fought for Elena and Caroline to be her bridesmaids but even her new leadership cannot thwart old dusty rules. Only family, only witches and those are now growing thin in her coven.

Well, I can only imagine who their plus ones would be...anyway this is not real, no point getting Caroline into a spin over nothing.

She stiffens when Joshua Parker walks into the room. He had greeted her formally on arrival but had not said a word to her since. Where Kai is kinetic mad heat his father is deliberate ice. Around the room many portraits of twins hang but she has to really search to find any of his children. Something bugs her about it, but she cannot say what.

"They're ready for you now," he motions at the mirrors that open up to the hall beyond. That is where her Gram waits. And Kai. Bonnie, dressed in a stunning gown of ivory lace and silk, rises to her feet. The bodice is stitched with amaranth, the sigil of her coven, growing around the hourglass like symbol of the Gemini coven. Through the light fabric she watches the former coven leader and he does the same.

"I'm sorry for your loss," she says quietly and he inclines his head.

"And I you...You've met Kai before?"

Bonnie's lips purse. "Unfortunately."

Joshua smirks softly and then sighs. "I'm sorry but if it means anything you're about to face a different person."

"How different?" she asks as they face the mirrors.

"His spirit is a combination now, all that was good and strong about Jo resides in him. My son was an abomination," he says with cold disappointment and Bonnie lifts her brows under the veil. "This was not meant to be his fate, as I suppose this wasn't to be yours...but things change."

"And the bad?" she remembers Jo, the suspicion in her voice that her twin had something to do with Luke's death.

"...Tempered. Remember this is your last chance to turn away, to keep the veil down. You can walk away."

If Bonnie keeps the cloth down, refuse to show her face then that is her sign of rejecting his offer. She can walk away from this insane family, look after her own, what's left of them. But if she does that she may be bringing even more hardship down on them…

"I'm coven leader in my own right now too. I have my own duties, so I have to leave at some point."

Joshua smiles. "How far down were you?"

"...Fourteen."

"My wife was leader of a tiny coven in my jurisdiction but she never forgot, least of all me..." he sobers from the fond memory. "Coven comes before family, remember that."

"But they're the same thing," she says and he stares at her as the mirrors swing slowly open.

"Are they?"

Bonnie does not have time to answer this as he moves aside and her grandmother takes his place. Bonnie looks at her father, who had been upset that he would not walk his daughter down the aisle but it is customary to have the eldest matriarch do the honours. Again she has to push away feelings of guilt. This is not real and not worth her or anyone's feelings.

Witches stand on either side of the hall, leaving a space for them to walk down. This usually takes place out in the open air, under the sky with the grass between her toes but Bonnie had been adamant and gotten her way. This is a sham and it would be disrespectful to ape the real custom, to disrespect nature. Let the rose petals under her feet be enough.

Kai stands with his back to her at the top end of the hall, not looking around but she notices that his hands are shaking, probably with the effort not to look at her. Before him stands a stone altar and a witch from neither of their covens, who will officiate. The Regent has recovered and offered before being asked to marry them. His face is serious but open, perfectly fitting the situation. He gives nothing away, inclining his head a little in greeting. If anyone knows he witnessed the linking no one says anything.

Grams smiles briefly before taking her elbow and begins to walk slowly. Her voice enters her mind, speaking softly.

You can keep the veil down Bonnie, that's what this whole circus is about…

If I do I think Kai would rip it off me anyway...Grams, what if he killed them so he could marry me?

Through the mental link Bonnie feels her grandmother recoil, the thought had not occurred to her but Bonnie has been thinking of nothing else for the last week. Did he kill off the line of succession just so he could snap her up? Was he desperate enough to do such a thing? Obsessed enough? Evil enough?

Be strong Bonnie, just know whatever you decide I am so proud of you…

Bonnie feels tears welling in her eyes as her grandmother's presence leaves her mind and then her side as she finally comes to stand before Kai. She has not seen him for a long time but the change in him is immediately apparent. Once nothing but giddy joy or cold calculation shone in those blue eyes, now there is something soft and haunted that had not been there before. His eyes fall on her covered face and he exhales a long breath, his gaze taking in her dress. He stares open mouthed before speaking.

"...Hi," he chirps and then looks down awkwardly. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Is this another trick?" she whispers, trying not to be overheard and his head shots up. His face is fuller, his shoulders broader in his dark suit. He is very handsome but right now he looks like a nervous boy.

"No. I - I sent the invite, the proposal. I never thought you'd accept but…"

"But it's time for your coven and mine to join together."

"If you lift the veil," he says and swallows. Desperation radiates from him, so thick she can almost smell it. He wants her badly but has he killed to make it happen? Bonnie watches him in silence, her heart remarkably calm. She does not know the truth yet and if she keeps hidden, goes back to Mystic Falls, she never will. Bonnie steps forward, lifting her hands and he takes them. He shakes like a leaf, she is stone.

"I won't make this easy for you."

The Regent, who is pretending not to hear, smirks as he turns around to lift a cup and knife from the alter. Since coming face to face the old Kai finally shines through, a flash in his sharp grin. "I rise to challenges."

"You better hope you can fly because the fall is gonna be a long one asshole," she mutters through her teeth and his eyes gleam, his chest rising and falling quickly and the sudden shift in dynamic, the power she has over him makes her head feel light and her belly on fire.

Easy...Bonnie inhales, closing her eyes and pulls her hands away from him and then slowly lets them rise towards her face. The whole room holds it's breath and his eyes are round with what she can only call fear before she lifts the veil back. The rest of the ceremony is a blur of stumbling vows and passing cups and knives to each other. By the time her wrist is placed above his and a ribbon tied around them she is so disoriented that she barely hears the Regent say her name. It is like lifting the veil has taken her senses with it. Or maybe it's the incense burning around the room.

"Light the oil in the bowl," Vincent repeats under his breath as he unwraps the ribbons, glancing at the golden dish on the altar and Bonnie opens her mouth but no words come out. The burning of the oil is meant to represent the start and warmth of their union and it will only go out once one or both die. Or divorce.

"Need a match?" Kai whispers and Bonnie glares at him as he lifts a hand, hovering his palm over the bowl. It shines gold against his face.

"I think I do," she admits and both Kai and the Regent look surprised.

"What?"

"My magic, it - it's blocked. It has been for weeks," she says and the guests behind them start to murmur. She stares at Kai fiercely. "Just do it for me, what difference does it make?"

"It's meant to be a joint effort," he grumbles but turns to the bowl, grabs her hand and together they chant the spell loudly.

"Phasmatos incendia."

The oil catches, a low wave of blue before rising, changing colour. The flames are white hot. Bonnie pulls her hand back from his and then they cup the bowl and turn, carrying it between them. The flames should now adorn the hearth in their home. If she's lucky it may even burn the hypothetical thing down. Bonnie bites her lip, stifling hysterical laughter. She looks at Kai and she knows the exact same image is flaring though his mind.

They keep silent until they pass the clapping guests and walk out of the hall into falling rain. Water hisses as they reach the gazebo, sending smoke up their noses and they cough, half choked with suppressed laughter. Pink roses climb over the hut, slick with rain and then they are under its shelter. The bowl will then endure the elements for a week, to withstand them. A test.

"Looks a little damp already," she quips and he laughs hard, something he had been holding and she sighs, smiling but then catches herself.

"Don't worry, I'll keep it burning for both of us," Kai smiles at her and this is the first time they have truly been alone since this whole mad affair began.

I'm here to find out the truth, the fire can go out or spread for all I care.

Bonnie inhales, calming herself and walks around as Kai stands by the fire, which now rests on a plinth in the middle of the gazebo, watching her every move. Waves crash in the distance, a beach she has not had the opportunity to explore. The grounds, the beach and even the sea are now under his jurisdiction. He holds the west coast, she the east…

"I can't stay here for long, you know that."

"I know, got your coven to rule, as I do...but I think you should probably be able to light a candle before you start. At least," he moves up to her and she stares at him over her shoulder, her hands on the banister.

"Gonna help me?"

"If you want?" he smiles but it falls as she looks away.

"I thought all you do is take magic? Unless the merge changed that?"

"...No, I still have that ability but I can generate my own now. I mean I generate Jo's…" he admits and his voice catches as he says his sister's name. Bonnie turns and it is his turn to look away.

"You killed her."

"No, she just lost. Neither of us decided who won, both our lives were hanging there, weighed and then I tipped the scales," he explains and Bonnie frowns.

"So you got what you wanted? Your birthright," she spits the words back at him and he spins around, furious.

"This was my right and it always should have been...but I keep expecting her to be here because these events were the only time we could see each other. She didn't even have a funeral, you know that? My coven doesn't believe that the merge ends in death, just a transference."

He sounds disgusted but uncomfortably so, like he does not know what to do with the feelings rushing through him. Bonnie cocks her head.

"So does she whisper in your ear, telling you to be good?"

Kai squints. "You met my sister right?" he smiles and then sighs tiredly, leaning against a post. "If she was my conscious she'd cuss me out constantly, while also wondering how I got Bonnie Bennett to agree to marry me."

"Multi tasker huh?"

"My twin was gifted," he jokes but then sorrow glows in his eyes. Regret. Bonnie comes closer. Is this Kai, the notorious psychopath? Or is his father right? She does not think Kai can tell her either way.

"You feel bad?"

"I...miss her. You may have noticed that my family members were thin on the ground in there…"

Liv had been absent, and Luke of course. "You have no other siblings?" she thinks of the portraits on the walls, pictures showing unfamiliar faces and as she thinks back she figures out what had bugged her. There had not been one picture of Kai.

Kai hesitates before answering, licking his lips. "Not any more." Bonnie looks up at him as a faint rumble of thunder sounds out to sea and he inhales, lost in her eyes. "You're my wife," he whispers, as if just realising.

"In name only," she responds quietly and he shakes his head and leans closer.

"Not to me."

"Tough."

"Bonnie," he growls and the sounds makes her flush. She moves back and he goes with her, eyes burning. "It's early days, we gotta get to know each other."

Only long enough to prove or disprove your innocence, she thinks. "I have a coven to run."

"A coven that I'm now part of," he says quickly, surprising her. He grins. "Never thought of that, did you? I'm part of your family as much as you're part of mine. Bennett-Parker, sounds good. Be kinda lousy to dismiss a new member Bon. Come on, talk to me."

"I've got no time or desire to play house with you Kai."

"Well we do for the next two weeks. Can't get out of that," he says and she slumps. He's right, they have to spend some time together, tradition but the vacation had been paid for by her father, who was adamant about providing something for the wedding. The joining of their covens is to show a united front, a strengthening of bonds so that if either gets into danger the other will back them up. Alliances. What a joke.

"This is so stupid," she grumbles and he grins.

"And yet you agreed," he takes her arms in his hands. Every time his touch makes her body feel ready to ignite. "Come on, we have an entire villa to ourselves, white sands and palm trees and your live in cook will make you breakfast in bed. Who is moi. We'll work on manifesting your magic together. It'll be fun," he assures her happily as his father waves at them from the house. The dinner is ready, the guests at their seats and waiting for the guests of honour.

Kai looks at the rain falling and then the wet hem of her dress and gives her a look of mock pity before staring up at the storm clouds. He whispers a spell under his breath and with an easy but clear show of immense power the skies clear and the sea calms.

A show of his strength or just wanting to impress?

Both. God help me.

The night lengthens and the number of empty champagne bottles cumulates until Bonnie has quite an impressive collection around her. Kai, drunk but unlike her is able you stand without tripping over himself, tries to dance with her but she focuses on her family, ignoring him utterly. Which is what everyone seems to do and Kai sits and stews, watching her from under a heavy frown. His father had departed as soon as the deserts had been cleared. Bonnie dances with strange men, strange women and takes the hands of small laughing children and swings them around and around until the room spins, until nothing seems real.

Now barefooted, an empty bottle in one hand and full glass in the other, she walks out into the night and stares at the gazebo. The fire burns steadily, the warm light contained within the structure. She stares at it for a long time, lost and trying not to cry again. She had just bid farewell to her family, though Grams assured her that she would see her very soon.

"...What have I done?"

"A brave thing," a quiet voice says and Bonnie turns to Vincent. He stands a few paces back, hands behind his back.

"I thought you had left with the others."

"I'm about to but not before I give you a gift," he answer and comes to her, smiling but his eyes intense. Bonnie, far too drunk and emotional watches as he pulls out a slim silver bracelet and small round bottle, it's neck ringed with a white ribbon.

"Perfume?"

"It was, now it holds a truth serum," Vincent says quietly and Bonnie smells sage and knows that whatever they say will not be overhead. He takes the glass and bottle from her and rings her fingers around the potion. "Put this on his skin and it will smoke if he is lying. He'll also be forced to tell the truth."

"And the ring?" she takes it from him carefully and immediately grimaces. It feels wrong, the rubies studded around the edge bright red, like it soaks up blood.

"Slip that over his hand and it'll dampen his magic for awhile."

"...You think he did it?" she tries to clear her foggy mind.

"That's what I want to find out. All we know is that Jo Parker, before her death, sent this artefact to the leader of your coven," he pulls out his cell phone and shows Bonnie a picture of a flat metal contraption, made up of intricate pieces, wheels, cogs and chains. "I'll send it to you."

"What is it?"

"No idea. Jo wouldn't say but she was scared and didn't trust it with her coven. The night of the linking the members had it but when I woke up the relic was gone. They all were," he adds darkly.

"...Someone stole it?"

"Maybe, that's what I'm hoping you'll find out."

Bonnie shakes her head, trying to digest what she has heard. "You didn't see anything?"

"I saw the eldest member drop and then someone was taking my magic. Hurt like a bitch and then I was out cold. I was lucky to survive. I didn't see Kai, I didn't see anyone but someone was there...if he knows anything then maybe…" he trails off, his brown eyes desperate but not with sadness or even rage. Hope.

"You - you think they're still alive don't you? The white book -"

"Can be wrong," he says and then inhales. "Bonnie I don't know, they could be dead. Lucy could be...but I feel it in my heart that she is not. If there is any chance…" his eyes shine in the firelight and Bonnie nods.

"Okay, I'll do it tonight. I'm not wasting even a night here if I don't have to."

Vincent leans back and smiles. "Thank you. I meant what I said, you're brave for doing this...High Priestess," he says as someone approaches and bows to her and Bonnie inclines her head as he walks away. Kai stares after Vincent, deeply suspicious. Bonnie slips the bracelet over her wrist, where it immediately clamps against her skin. There is a momentary pain but then nothing. Her magical block is too strong. Something vicious blooms in her, giving her heat and focus.

"What did he want?"

"To give me a wedding gift," Bonnie explains, brazenly showing him the perfume bottle, which he barely glances at. He comes closer, staring at the gazebo over her head and then down at her face. His eyes settle on her lips, which she licks.

"...Everyone has left."

"Not everyone," she smirks at his frustrated exhale. "I'm going to bed," she says but he grab her arm, pulling her to his side. She calls on her magic, forgetting.

"We've got two weeks together. Are you gonna spend it ignoring me?"

"You really think we'll be able to spend that long together peacefully?"

"Relatively, yeah. I know you think this is a mistake but I want it to work."

"Then work," she whispers, eyes slipping to his lips and then away. She pulls away and she thinks he will not let go but he does suddenly, making her stumble for balance. She scowls at his grin, trying to walk on with some dignity. She lifts up her heavy skirts, realising that the people who helped sew her into the thing are now gone. She reaches behind her back, absent-mindedly searching for the hanging laces when suddenly the bodice around her chest becomes loose as the ribbons keeping the dress tight begin unlacing themselves. Bonnie gasps, clutching the bodice to her chest and looks over her shoulder, scandalized.

"Looked like you needed help," he breathes into her ear, his face pushing against the side of her throat as he brushes quickly past. Bonnie throws out her hand, wanting to blast him over the cliff but he escapes unharmed back into the house. Breeze blowing against her bare back she scrunches her hands into fists.

"God damn it!"

"So...do I get that dance now?"

"No," Bonnie sips on water, watching Kai from her seat in the kitchen. She had tried to sleep but her head spins and decided to look for the kitchen. She had gotten lost but managed to locate it only to find Kai waiting for her. She needs to sober up and fast. He comes closer, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up to his elbows, his coat and vest long gone. As are her shoes. She had left the wedding dress in a puddle on her bedroom floor and found some sweatpants and a overly large t-shirt, which she suspects is his. The veil she had forgotten to take off still hangs down the back of her head, the ribbons caught between his slim fingers as he passes. He smiles softly at her, almost adoringly. She hopes to have dashed him of any illusions. He will not be happy with her.

"I said we'd dance if I got your name right, which I did, and at my wedding."

"Which was very convenient, wasn't it?" she asks sharply, sitting back. "Anyway I did dance, just not with you."

Kai clenches his jaw, staring down at her in conflicted silence before the words burst from him. "Is there someone else? A boyfriend?"

Bonnie cocks her head, enjoying his obvious jealousy. She could lie, watch his no doubt entertaining reaction but she has no desire to. "There isn't but even if there was it makes no difference. I don't care if you see anyone else, actually I encourage it. We're not bound to each other."

He blinks, mouth parting and then laughs. "You want an open relationship? Kinky, I never would have guessed."

Bonnie rolls her eyes as she takes another sip of water. "There is no relationship. You know this is going to be very unconventional Malachai. Just because I'm gonna be your wife on paper doesn't mean anything. This is more like a business transaction. So if someone catches my eye..."

Kai stares at her, silent until he speaks through stiff lips. "Well as your business partner I'd be careful who you...negotiate with," he warns quietly and Bonnie's heart drums in her chest.

"Is that a threat?"

"I don't share."

"That assumes that I'm yours to begin with," she laughs as he leans back, jaw clenching. "Come on, there must be loads of scam marriages, just getting together for the position or whatever. I mean, if things had been different I would be sitting next to Luke right now…or your sister," she adds and Kai smirks.

"Marriages between witches is different from your garden variety, love and obey, death do us part shtick but I'm not most witches and neither are you. If this was nothing why go through the ceremony, dress up, bring your family?"

Something sharp and painful cuts through her at this, thinking of the emotional tears in her grandfather's eyes. To him this had been a happy day, his grandchild getting married to someone he believes she loves.

What have I done? She thinks yet again, the thought loud through the fog in her mind. Bonnie inhales, shaking her head. "I will never be a wife to you, in every sense of the word. This is...a matter of convenience. My members are down, our power with it...your coven is large, old and strong. That's why I'm here...and because it's our turn. I don't want to bring any more hardship down on my family."

The curse aside nature demands balance and having separate covens, vying for power does not serve nature. Keeping them connected, those ties forged tightly in a perpetual cycle keeps the blood from flowing. One huge family, whose blood is wild with magic, even ones like the man beside her.

It was meant to be bonds of love, originally...Bonnie pushes the thought away. Kai stares at her hard, shaking his head before he sits beside her at the table. She looks away, catching sight of the bowl of fire through the window. It still burns.

"We probably won't even see each other that much," she says quietly, half to herself and looks back at him.

He stills, gazing at her deeply and sighs. "You became leader through a fluke of fate, you weren't prepared for it," he sounds sad.

"Fluke of fate? You think that?"

"I heard it was an accident, one of the members was old, couldn't keep the circle…" he frowns at the murderous look in her eyes and leans back sharply as she suddenly gets to her feet.

"I'm going to bed," she mutters, walking to the door and then turns. "You know that trick you did to my sun all those years ago? Picture that but ten times worse if you come into my room uninvited," she pulls the veil from her head, shaking out her hair and walks out, leaving him watching after her in bemusement. She does not see his smile die.

She has no intention of sleeping, or spending even a night resting, as if she could. She will get the truth out of him and there is no time to waste. Bonnie tip toes into his room, where he sleeps in a large four post bed. She listens to Kai breathing, deep and slow. Finally. He clearly has trouble falling asleep, tossing and turning fretfully.

Another reason to be grateful we're not sharing a bed...

Sure that he is really under Bonnie slips from the door and tip toes to him, the wedding knife Kai had used to cut the cake held in one hand while the potion is in another. The wedding cake had been stunning, decorated with a flower design that appeared too real. He had confessed to making it and then dabbed a bit of cake on her nose and laughed. Bonnie focuses, leaning over him, not breathing as she widens the bracelet and then slips it gently over his wrist. It manacles around him immediately. Kai frowns a little but does not wake.

Bonnie upends the clear potion before gently tracing a cross over his forehead and then binds it in a circle. He blinks awake and for a long breathless moment they stare at each other in the dark. He sees the cake knife in her hand, the cold look in her eyes and moves but Bonnie is quicker. She has no magic but she is not defenceless. She jumps onto the bed, forcing him down as his legs get tangled in the sheets and straddles him, the knife against his throat.

"What are you doing?"

"Getting answers."

He grits his teeth, confused and starting to anger when he suddenly freezes, eyes widening. "Where's my magic?"

"Relax, it'll come back, if you tell me the truth."

"What truth?" his hands ring her upper arms, tight enough to bruise but she barely feels it. She narrows her eyes.

"I have no magic and now neither do you. It's just you and my mercy."

Kai narrows his eyes, lips pursing in calculation and slumps down, calming. He gazes at her face and then downwards and she becomes acutely aware of his body under her thighs, the heat and every shift of his hips. He starts smiling softly, his hands rubbing her bare skin.

"Will I get a prize for these answers?"

"No. The incentive has already been used," she whispers and the amusement in his eyes dims and that calculation shines. He sighs and if he is scared he does not show it.

"Okay Bonster, what is it?"

"Nuh-uh, it's your turn to spill your guts," she rises, tip of the wedding knife under his chin and his grin is back. And something else. Bonnie inhales sharply but manages to keep her face impassive as she feels how hard he is under her. She is turning him on like this? Of course she is.

"Three questions and the potion means that you have to answer truthfully," she says. "Question number one: did you always plan to marry me?"

"Yes," he answers without hesitation but the bemusement is gone. He looks deadly serious. The fluid against his forehead remains unchanged. It will smoke if he lies. "Though now I realise I should have been more...restrained," his eyes flick to the bracelet on his wrist, the rubies flashing. "You know, mixtapes, movie nights, making out in the back of stolen cars…"

His eyes linger on her lips. Bonnie swallows and grimaces, ignoring this. "Question two...did you kill to make this marriage happen?"

"...Yes," he answers breathlessly, startled at his own honesty. He remains silent for a long time, time enough for his gaze to become heavy with regret. "You have to understand I -"

"No, I haven't finished," she hisses, covering his mouth with her hand. She bares her teeth and leans close until her chest touches his. "Final question...Did you kill my coven members? Did you kill my family?" her voice shakes, her throat tight. She pulls her hand away and Kai opens his mouth in soft shock before speaking.

"No."

Bonnie looks up at the cross on his forehead, expecting it to be gone but the water is clear. He is telling the truth. The anger, the revenge that has moved her from one side of the country to another, that has made her sign into a loveless marriage, dwindles and is blown out by a wave of anguish and confusion.

"But I thought…if you didn't than who did?"

"I don't know," he answers and the potion bubbles. Bonnie growls, pressing the blade into his skin and his hand rings her wrist. "Okay, I suspect but that's not truth. I have no evidence, just suspicions."

Bonnie stares at the circle, which is calm, becoming clear. Bonnie thinks of the picture of the metal artefact that Vincent had sent to her after he left, considers showing it to Kai but immediately dismisses it. He may be telling the truth but she does not trust him. She rises, smearing the potion with her fingers, drawing them into his hair and tugging. His hands glide around her back, keeping her in place.

"I didn't kill your family Bonnie...but I did make sure that Luke died so I could become leader," his eyes become glassy but he does not cry, if he even can. "I manipulated him into it, I didn't put that pill in his hand but I as good as…" he swallows, his voice rough and he growls at the pain that must be rushing through him.

"How could you do it? Your own brother?"

"...My coven doesn't view it's members like you do, he was never my family in that sense. Backstabbing, plotting and all that shit is as normal as breathing to my coven. The climb to power, to keep it, what's family to that?" he whispers this with no shame, just stating facts but his face grows conflicted. "I'm a psychopath Bonnie, I mean I was I guess. Certifiable, and those tendencies are not gone...but now I pay for them, that little chastising voice in my head, usually after I fuck up. Marrying you...I wanted it the moment I saw you but I didn't care who I hurt, even you. You had to be mine."

"...And now?"

"...Now I wish you had not accepted the stupid invite...but if you hadn't I probably would have hand delivered it to your door," he admits with a humourless laugh and then hums thoughtfully. "Actually I probably would have killed Luka Martin, who you likely would have married, took his place and married you anyway."

Bonnie snarls in disgust. "And reveal yourself on the wedding night? You're a monster!"

"Of course not, I would have done right when we're supposed to kiss. Imagine the reaction..." he grins wistfully but sighs in irritation at the disgust on her face. "I said I would have, not now...you're mine," he states with a simple finality.

"Tendencies…" she looks upwards for strength, thinking about the wake of death that has hit both their covens and looks down at him. "Do you mourn them?" she asks quietly and Kai opens his mouth, hesitates.

"...Yes," he answers, unsure, looking at her to tell him the truth.

"You don't know what's the truth do you? What you feel?"

"I get confused...Imagine you spend a long time experiencing two polar opposites and suddenly there's this huge spectrum right? Colors that were invisible to your eye are suddenly everywhere, uncontrolled and unstoppable. Before you could pretend but now it's sensory overload and you don't know what to call them, how to even describe them but they're real...this is real, it hasn't faded. You're everywhere, all the time," he finishes quietly and Bonnie is still, not know how to respond to this admittance of feeling. She could mock and scorn him but something makes her stop.

Whatever he feels for her it doesn't matter, the whole thing has been for nothing. She sighs, sitting upright and his fingertips brush against her abdomen before gripping her hips tightly. He is still hard and for one mindless moment she imagines guiding his hands under her t-shirt, grinding her pelvis against him. Fuck away the disappointment, it is her wedding night...Through the low feeling something molten rolls and she has felt it for him before. She could give in so easily, play him until he tells her everything with no need of magic. She has power over him, the question is how much?

Kai breathes shallow and his cheeks redden, as if reading her mind. He is intensely turned on. "How long is this stuff in my system for?"

"The whole night."

"Hmm, I could tell you anything...wanna play truth or dare?" he asks suddenly with a boyish grin and Bonnie laughs tiredly, unable to stop.

"God, this is not how I imagined my wedding night," she admits, looking down at him and he smirks.

"This is pretty close, even the right face," he says, brushing her cheek and she leans back. Kai narrows his eyes, something wicked in them. "The bed is mine Bonnie, sorry but if you think sitting on me will make me move you're mistaken," he says and Bonnie clicks her tongue, her body thudding with embarrassment and shameful lust. She places her hands on his chest, about to zap him but then remembers she has no magic. She growls in frustration.

"I need my damn magic back! Does this ever happen to you?"

"Nope," he says and offers the bracelet to her. The rubies are dead and dark. Bonnie rocks back but he grabs her, laughing. "Relax, if I wanted to take your magic or attack you I could have a long time ago. These things don't work on me, I can just suck out the magic making them work."

"You can siphon no matter what? You never get blocked?"

He thinks before speaking, weighing what to say. He can only tell her the truth but she cannot force him to say everything. "Emotionally? No, though maybe I can now. I'm developing, my mother would be proud," he jokes, grinning before he shrugs a shoulder. "Before the merge I could only consume it from others for a short while, eventually it would fade away. But the ability is always there…" he answers, looking thoughtful and his hands move down her arms, wrapping around them. "I might be able to help."

"...You think you can draw it from me?"

He grins, excited. "I don't know, never tried before. What do you say?"

Bonnie bites her lip. She is in a strange place, with an even stranger coven and without her magic. She will try anything. She nods, inhaling as his fingers tighten.

"Will it hurt?" she asks and Kai pauses, the joy on his face fading a little.

"Yes," he answers and she nods. She closes her eyes, imaging it will be like having a band aid ripped off when she feels the heat building from his hands, getting hotter until it stings and then it is delving inwards, drawing powerfully. At first nothing happens, just this greedy force that wants to devour her magic. Wincing she feels Kai's lips against her forehead and then his voice in her ear, telling her to let go and then with a gasp she does.

"Oh god," Kai arches below her and her eyes fly open as she cries out. The pain is intense at first but as the block comes loose her magic rushes forward like a river, joyous and excited to be moving again and the mad mix of the two sensations makes her body shudder with pained pleasure. Hands gripping his shoulders Bonnie screams at the release and the room answers to her call. The writing desk and chair flip over, sending paper into the air while the lights flick off and on. Candles roar and gutter in iron stands and the wallpaper rips and reforms in great strips. The bed bangs against the wall, the blankets rolling over and over until the entire room is in pandemonium.

Kai laughs and groans, his lips pressed roughly against the side of her cheek, his fingers digging into her arms as she rocks above him, lost in the outpouring of her magic, a magic that he can hardly contain. Aroused beyond anything she has experienced she turns her head and they kiss violently, open mouthed and panting. Bonnie rocks her pelvis against his erection and he arches into her again, his fingers hooking into the neck of her shirt, wanting to rip it off her.

Stop, this is too fast. Where's your head?

"Gone," she mutters against his lips and then leans back, Kai chasing the kiss. Her mouth throbbing with use, his hands on her breasts, about to rip her clothes off Bonnie throws her hands out. "Stop."

The room and Kai freeze and when he lowers his hands the content around them tumbles to the floor. Bonnie, coiling her magic and her senses back in, gets to her feet, shaking and hunching on herself.

"Bonnie?"

"This can't happen. I don't know you."

"You can learn to! I'd drink a litre of that potion if you asked," he urges, sitting up but she holds up a hand, shaking her head quickly and he stops, relenting. He nods. "It's okay. Go if you want...but this is as much your room as mine. Remember that."

Bonnie doesn't give him a chance to say more. Clutching at her chest she runs from the room, her magic and her heart beating wildly inside her. Just before she races into the other room and the door slams behind her she hears his yell of frustration followed by the loud bang of his door opening and closing again and again until an eerie silence settles over the house, broken only by their heavy breathing.

In the dark of the night the gazebo burns until all that is left when the sun rises are blacked timbers, cracked tiles and one untouched but still burning bowl of oil.

a.n:

this was only meant to be a one shot lol. I'll carry on if people are interested.