"Maybe I got out so I could take you back with me. I mean- careful Bon, you have to stand still or you'll get nicked." His fangs traced her skin, nearly getting caught as they skimmed past a dip in her neck. Goosebumps formed on her arms.
"It's not like it's nothing we haven't done before, right? Shared a world together. Even if it wasn't for very long. But that would be stupid of me." Though he just cautioned Bonnie not to move he still swayed gently with her. Who had started that he wasn't sure. "Why would I lock myself up with the one person who'd find every way to make me miserable?"
Then why are you here? Bonnie thought.
"I can't think of anyone who'd want to be stuck alone with you in prison." She said.
"Katherine and I got along. We had a lot to talk about. She's not still around is she?" He just needed to put his mouth on her skin. He was barely listening to the words he was saying. But what he wanted to tell her didn't require much concentration. He'd only heard himself say it a thousand times.
"No." Bonnie said. She wasn't sure what she wanted to escape from first, his fangs that nearly scraped her as they followed a trail lower to her collar bone, his measured breathes, his monologuing. Still she kept moving her weight from foot to another.
"Shame." He stopped his path downwards and now retraced his path. "No, taking you to a prison you trapped me in, even if I wanted to repay you, leave you there to rot." He held her waist tighter with his right hand. "It would be irrational to go back."
"You're here to try and kill me?" She asked. He could try to scare her but she had been through too much.
He heard how she phrased the question. "I'm here because-" He paused and she hoped maybe he'd finally stop talking. "I got ideas. Had a whole year to plan. Take the first plane to Alaska. I wish I didn't have to make a pit stop with you."
This… Hovering had to stop, she thought. "You knew better not to do that last time."
"Last time? When I escaped hell? I was just warming up to see you. You found me first."
"Can't help yourself. You want to be found. That's why you're here."
She could've sworn she felt Kai smile against her skin. His hand was on the other side of her neck but he wasn't siphoning her, only palming it.
"I wanted to see you." The words were like poison in his mouth.
"You're just looking to get caught." She argued again, missing the nuance in his words. "Feel good now that you told me your travel plans so it's easier for me to stop you?"
What was in Alaska? Bonnie didn't pause to question whether he was lying as Kai angled her face to the side. She searched through her contacts silently, trying to remember if any of them lived there. Could she warn someone?
"Bon, I'm going to have to taste you." He felt her tense her arms as he gently angled her head further. Moved by something he later still couldn't explain, he dipped her back, returning his mouth to her neck. His shoulder ached but he ignored it. His teeth moved briefly then paused their caress and steadied on their final destination. His lips formed a kiss on her skin as he bit into her.
Just minutes ago she was pulling books from the shelves. She loved the study room at the Salvatore Boarding House. She made it her own, decorating walls with book shelves, putting up paintings depicting mountains and valleys. With Stefan gone Damon felt the place too empty and with promises he wouldn't involve Bonnie in his problems she set temporary shop at his place.
Her hands shook as she piled a few books on top of each other. She regretted drinking her third cup of coffee for the day. She had time to get the research done for Sandra and Fiona so she wasn't sure why she'd drank the last one. She felt on edge soon after she woke up and the first two cups helped.
Collaborations Bonnie started with witches across the country and overseas didn't stop when she visited home, taking a break from her voyages around the world. She didn't want to stop. She got used to the adrenaline, to feeling needed. Working with witches felt like tapping into what she was supposed to do.
She pulled the book from the middle of the pile, setting it beside her laptop. She could just scan some of these books for her computer – in fact some of them she could probably find online. She had disabled the internet on her laptop, not wanting to be distracted. Even left her phone back in her dorm. Anyway, she liked leafing through books' pages, sometimes finding lapsed magic inside them. Magic left behind.
"Bon."
Bonnie's eyes shot up and she stepped back, picking up and holding her book to her chest. The word didn't match up with the face looking at her. She hadn't heard it in so long.
"How are you here?" She blinked.
Kai's face cleared, like he finally believed it was her. "Questions later. Home welcoming first." He said.
He rushed to her but when he stood in front of the book shelves she was gone. She was already standing beside him when he turned his head. Bonnie used his confusion to motus him and he fell back.
It felt like a weight of ten tons lay on his stomach. He couldn't have the welcome party he wanted when she was throwing her magic to press balls of burning light through his pores. He concentrated on the pain enveloping him. Flipped it around so instead it was cheering him on. He dug inside himself to that space where he'd deeply felt anguish for the first time, mimicked the sensation into a spell, turned it into spikes and hurled it back at her.
She stumbled and stepped back away from him, closing her eyes. She felt the pain subside and opened them, saw Kai look over her book and glance at her laptop's monitor.
"That's not what you want." She taunted him, tapping her hand down and her laptop cover closed.
He was curious but it was fleeting. He pushed her books off the table.
"No." He shook his head, vanished and appeared in front of her. She shot an offensive spell at him and he crouched backwards again, flinging back a spell at her. Bonnie held her hand up and it deflected. She made her hand into a fist. Kai tugged at his chest.
"Going for my heart." He said through groans. "Typical."
His thoughts grew foggy and he knew what she was doing. He read signs to that lightning speed by now. He felt his chest being torn back. Could almost see himself in the chair, nearly hear the incessant song pounding again in his ears. He couldn't take the torture of that melody anymore. Chains were seconds from forming on his feet and suffocation of being alone, again, took hold of him. Utterly alone forever and ever.
"Not again." he grunted out. Every bit of him rebelled, each part that had waited and nearly given up in what may as well been an empty vacuum. He reached out and took her arm, used some of her weight as leverage to get up.
He wasn't going to underestimate her and he held the back of her neck in his palm, fought to keep his fingers steady as they filled, like the rest of him, with thrill of anticipation.
"I did some time in prison then hell. Prison again. Who knows, maybe I paid for my crimes and this is heaven. Why don't we pick up where we left off?"
He sensed it as he spoke, her magic pouring through his palm and all the way through his arm to his chest, his body rejoicing where he felt her. He had missed it. He lowered his other hand to her arm.
"Mmm. Remember this? Remember how good this felt?" He asked, feeling her power get under his skin.
His siphoning overwhelmed her, he could see. Since he didn't want to take any chances he was draining her faster than he would've liked. It was like drinking gin. His taste buds relished the journey. Feeling drunk felt good though. But not like this. And nothing felt like Bonnie's magic.
Bonnie shut her eyes and held back any sounds. She resisted him but siphoning was like a giant breathing out fire on a torch. He had an impulse to do something else but it was just an impulse, like grabbing her hand when they were standing in snow.
How would he have her power otherwise? How would he get back at her without taking everything she had? On the way here he glanced at a newspaper. It was 2019. He didn't remember the month or day. But people wore shorts and dresses so it was warm. He barely felt the temperature but he couldn't get enough of the warm breeze.
"I felt it. Felt my femur break into two pieces, then four, then six. You hesitated too long. Liked torturing me too much. If you didn't enjoy it so much I'd be gone already."
"Going to take all of it finally? That's what you waited for?" She tried to keep an even voice.
"Mmm. Don't worry, I wouldn't want to kill you. Just chill you out a little." He said and she struggled in his arms against the pain.
Bonnie's head swirled. He had never taken that much before and she was just focused enough to think straight. If he had caught her any other day she would've been ready. It's not like she never thought that he'd find a way to get out, as seal proof as she hoped it would be. Her mind cleared. He'd stopped. His voice threaded through.
"I mean, why wouldn't you kill me?" He asked. "I was in hell and I got out. Why take that chance?"
His hands were on her waist. Found themselves there after taking her magic. Like it was the most natural spot for them to be.
"It would've been too easy." Bonnie met his eyes.
He searched her face. "You knew I was a lost cause."
"Not even back for a day and headed for your nieces with an ax? Yeah. Making sure no one's left for Parker reunions made it a done deal." She'd need to warn Alaric and Caroline.
He still held on to her waist and no part of her liked that. If he was in a hurry to his next destination he showed no sign of it.
"I hear people come back rehabilitated after a vacation in hell."
"Sarcasm. Like you ever enjoyed being anything but evil." She said.
She never did believe me. It was easier for her to pretend that the man he was for the short time after the merge wasn't real. He remembered. The kind of anguish he felt when- he couldn't pretend it wasn't genuine. Luke's the only reason she was still alive.
She closed her eyes and muttered something. And he felt it, a surge of magic from somewhere, he didn't want to take the time to figure out, building inside her and focusing right in her eyes and she pushed him off her and knocked him to the ground. He hadn't seen her look as satisfied as when she left him the second time.
Her magic was again drawing him in. But he'd already taken so much of hers that he used it and his own to put a shield up, deflecting her assault and he rolled over, Bonnie's spell sparking off all over the walls and books and couches and-
He grabbed at her again, covering the top of her head with his hand. She had left herself open. It wouldn't make sense for her to die right now. Bonnie didn't move and violins started playing, the record player having been moved to life by a lingering offshoot of her spell.
Bonnie moved her head back, a nasty cut on her cheek. He had felt the spell's flames take aim at him but he couldn't feel a thing.
"You want me gone so bad it almost killed you." He said, trying to hide his awe, his hands falling to her waist and holding her firmly.
"You've been back for five minutes and it hasn't worked out well for me." She fought against his arms on her waist but she had taken out so much of her strength on her spells and Kai had siphoned much of her magic. She held her hands at a distance above his, refusing to lower them and come in contact with them.
He fought himself from pulling her any closer to him. His ears registered the music. Not his go-to but the longing in the singer's voice tapped into some latent crevice of his. As she wrestled against him he realized she hadn't fought before because she had waited. Waited for him to lower his defenses so she could send him away. Good thing he reminded himself while he was put away to try, try, to stay focused when he saw her again.
"You already knew. I always win. That's my thing." He lowered his head bringing it closer to hers.
Her green eyes peered at him and it wasn't helping. He could hear her thoughts. This is you winning? She had no idea.
"If you'd kill me you'd never have to deal with me anymore." He raised his eyes up. "Leaving me in a prison, it's like you wanted me to get out. Did I not lie to you enough? There are always loop holes."
She was rocking her body softly and he thought she was losing her balance. She still held her hands to her stomach but there was no distancing herself from him anymore. He wouldn't let her.
She didn't need to know he had no clue as to how he got out. He had half expected it was her if only because she'd put him away. But the slackness of her jaw when he laid eyes on her left no doubt. Uch, it had pinched his heart to realize it.
Earlier that day he had woken up in the woods and started walking like he'd know when to stop. The agonizing months he had coached himself that once he'd be out he'd head straight to the airport didn't matter. Guess I had to see whether she was still somewhere in the world. And look, she was practically where I left her. But he hadn't needed to confront her at the Salvatore House. When he saw her, at that point he couldn't stop.
As the song continued, he went back and forth between holding her waist to wrapping his arms all the way around her.
"Although… Prison guard putting me back in jail? There's some role-play in there I could get into."
"There aren't enough loopholes for me not to drag you back to where you belong." She said, feeling her hands touch his. She pulled them back up. He smiled, lowering his gaze to her hands.
Bonnie's eyes filled with contempt. "When have you been back and not tried to kill anyone?" She asked.
"Ah-" Kai thought out loud, rolling his eyes in half a circle. He was tempted to take his hands off Bonnie, to cup his chin in thought, then changed his mind.
"Never." She saw him mimic her swaying – or maybe she was mimicking him – and to distract herself from what they were doing and the fact she had no place to rest her hands she raised two fingers to his chest. "When have you lived in this world and not killed anyone?"
"It's what I do." He moved away from her by a few inches, made a biting motion with his mouth at her fingers and smiled when she met his eyes.
She pulled her fingers back and he closed the distance he had put between them. Why did he look at her like that, like he wanted to hug her? More than once she wanted to look away from his eyes. He looked at her too intensely and it wasn't just animosity. It didn't add up. The last time someone looked at her like that – she paused her thoughts – was him. It had felt as discombobulating then as it did now but back then she had taken efforts to squash any ambivalence it came to Kai.
She had always enjoyed the song that played for them while they talked. Now its words rang cruelly incongruent with the scene unfolding in front of her. "At Last" was just about the opposite of what she was thinking. But nothing with Kai made sense. Not even that at this moment when they were practically dancing together. Her hands shook a little and she wished she could take back the last caffeinated drink she had.
"You're making a winning case for yourself."
He turned her around and she held onto his arms for balance, then let go.
"My jailer and my judge." He said as he tipped his head one side, then the other. "Ever give me a thought while I was gone? Both times? The woman who never hurt anyone at all."
"I moved on. I lived my life with my friends, I dated- date. I went to school. I work as a researcher. If I gave you any thought it was relief that you were gone."
"Look at all that success. Never even had to kill anyone- oh, but you did. But it was just you. None of your other friends. Clean slates when you met them all."
He saw her react to his words. Her mouth opened then froze.
"If you feel no remorse, and from anything you've said to me right now you don't, why should I let you run loose?"
She didn't bite and it shouldn't have surprised him. When she had made up her mind about something it was going to take like forever to change it. He'd have to be around for that. One step at a time.
"I'm waiting for the day you make a prison for each of your friends for when they show remorse and then kill again. If that counts, I dunno." He searched her face. "I got eternity so I got time. And witches can live for what, 150 years? And still look great. I had this one aunt-"
She had checked out on him, her face grimacing.
"Chin up. Maybe the love of a decent woman can turn me ar-" Kai laughed so hard his body shook. "I can't even say it. Still, hey, if I found someone, any message you'd have me pass along to her?"
"Yeah, she has my immeasurable pity."
Kai laughed. Bonnie ignored him. He stopped talking and with that only the song accompanied them. It had been a while since she had a moment like this. Not that this would count. But while her conscience yearned to reject him she wanted to relax into him all the same. It was probably the exhaustion from being drained of magic, of knowing she had to recuperate her strength back. His arms, if she closed her eyes, she could imagine they were comforting. She moved with him.
He pulled back a few inches. "This isn't yours and Enzo's song is it?"
"What?" She tried to back out of his embrace and he responded by doing what he did each time she had tried before. He held on.
"You're not still pining for the guy are you?" His eyes regarded her coldly.
"No," She shook her head and fidgeted uncomfortably. "No, it's not our song." She stressed the words to make it clear she was answering his first question.
What I felt about Enzo was none of your business. She looked away from him. Even when it got complicated with Enzo it never was like this. Her and Enzo never made sense in the way this spectacularly failed to make sense with Kai. The way they kept finding each other.
His attention slowly moved to her neck, his eyes feeling her veins underneath.
"Not the kind of music I usually listen to. Soothing." He said. "Can I put in for a song change?" He lowered his head to her neck, touching it with his nose.
His playfulness only annoyed her. "Even if that's what would keep you in that room that's not going to happen."
She felt his teeth graze her neck, so sharp they were bound to slice her just by exploring her skin.
"That's what I thought." He said.
Bonnie peeled her eyes open and sat up on the couch. She looked behind her at the laptop and books piled on the table. She was researching and she fell asleep. She barely remembered looking through her books.
So much for all the coffee she had. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her neck to the sides. Her body stiffened. Kai's teeth. Her hand flew to her neck, expecting it to hurt. It felt smooth. She rushed to the bathroom and inspected her neck in the mirror. Nothing out of place reflected back to her. No mark on her shirt. Just some soreness from sleeping on that couch.
She walked back in the study. Magic lingered in the room. But she usually cast a few spells if she was researching. She couldn't help it, it was like tapping a pen on a book. The books in the pile by her laptop were exactly the ones she had taken off the shelves. Why wouldn't they be?
A bizarre dream. Bizarre… She still heard it. A faint melody. Her eyes shot up from the books across the room. The record player. She put the books down and took plaintive steps towards it. It can't be it. It can't be it. It took her several moments to gather the strength to move her fingers to turn it on. She fisted her hand on the table.
Etta James' voice replaced the silence and the sound was familiar, painted his face so it almost stood in front of her, but something wasn't quite right. She went through a few songs, going down the playlist. Her breathing grew shallow when she heard violin strings undulate like a hypnotizing spell and immediately felt hands on her waist. She turned her head in a flash only to find air. At the song's first words she tasted blood in her mouth.
She pressed her hands against the table. He got out. She latched on to words that twisted in his voice, trying to work her way back from the end. Hazy images took shape and spun into the last memory of the night.
She let out a guttural, short cry. Kai stuttered and moved his lips back. She heard him lick his teeth, utter a sound made up of anguish and pleasure.
"Vervain. That's what it feels like? Ugh. Ugh, for no one else Bo-" his voice muffled into her vein and her legs nearly gave out for an altogether different reason.
At Last's final notes had dimmed by the time Kai pierced her skin. All I Could Do Was Cry was already playing. Kai pulled her up, dragging the beds of his fingers on the back of her neck.
He wouldn't drain her. She wouldn't let him. Feeling his attention captivated by her blood, she pretended to stumble a couple of steps backwards and hit the table where the record player sat. His tongue swirled around her incisions. She swept her hands behind her on the desk, feeling for anything sharp, any weapon.
Finding a long narrow item, making it out to be a letter opener she grabbed it blindly and shoved it through Kai's stomach. She'd stab his heart but he was holding her too tightly. Kai responded, groaning, but barely let go of her, putting his hands on hers, not even stopping to take it out.
"It's going to hurt more if you move." He said barely an inch away from her neck before settling his mouth back on her skin.
By the time he pulled away from her she barely registered it, her head falling to her side, no longer supported by him. She didn't see a cloud of soft remorse wash his eyes before it was edged away by a louder voice, telling him he had one reason to dip her again, like they were still dancing, to bring his bloodied wrist to her mouth. He didn't expect the relief to charge through him when he saw the cut on her cheek close and felt her become less rigid in his arms. Didn't expect to feel so light headed because of it. He needed to punish her for it.
"I'm not gonna go after my nieces." Bonnie heard as she was fading. "Not the way you think. They're the only family I got left. I had a lot of time to think. One good thing you gave me. Last time I was here I said there's no such thing as redemption. But there isn't just one path to revenge. You'll have to wait."
The memory faded into the harsh light of the of the sunny room. He had healed her. So what, why would he kill me? That would be too eas-
"Luke's the only reason that you're still alive but don't think I can't shut him out. Heaven knows you've seen me do it before."
These were the last words Kai said to her. She believed him. As for the rest of their interaction, listening to the song was bringing back bits and pieces but not in any chronological form.
He told her he'd be back. I'll just have to beat him to it. She wasn't going to wait around. Would she put him in prison again or just end it, she wasn't sure. It was safer for him to be in prison. She at least knew where he was. He had already come back from death. Was there no escaping him?
She had witch friends who'd travel to Mystic Falls in a moment's notice. Or to wherever he was by now. If she didn't want to see him alone. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring back up. She rubbed her hands as warmth filled her stomach. They'd actually danced to a love song. That memory she wished she could thread out of her brain for good.
She pushed aside the addictive sinking feeling she felt in the center of her chest when his eyes softened after she told him he never enjoyed anything but being evil, how he looked at her when they danced, and focused on what it felt like when he pierced her skin, then stopped thinking about that because it didn't have the expected effect. Responses like this she'd been so adept at pushing away, she wouldn't stop now, look I forgot it entirely already.
She grabbed her laptop and books and started putting them away in her bag. Lizzie and Josie. She had to warn Caroline and Alaric. She didn't have her phone but she knew some of the boarders, was sure she could borrow a phone from one of them. She put the bag and books down and headed out of the study.
In her haste to leave the room she didn't open her laptop. She'd later come back and find it. A note tucked in with a scribble in his handwriting: I missed you too.
A/N Happy Bonkai Day!
Took some liberties with TVD mythology.
5/12/2018 Edited for clarity, grammar, and wording.