Monsters

Summary: "We're like monsters, but I don't mind, it was stemmed from something beautiful and there isn't a single soul I would accept this for, except you, Kai." Every sociopath has a story of how they became the way they are and for Kai, his story started with a girl and ended with heartbreak. But now, he can get Rosanna back and she may just hold the key to bringing Elena and Jo back.

Prologue

May 1991, Fairbanks, Alaska

"Listen Artie, I know you think that coming to these stupid coven meetings are going to make our families accept us for the weirdos we are, but you are dead wrong." Kai whispered to his best and only friend from the back row of a packed-out hall.

Artie was a nerdy looking teenager, a couple years younger than Kai and scared to death of losing his friendship. Kai didn't have any friends and neither did Artie but they were both bombs waiting to go off and everyone knew it.

"I just want to be included y'know. I know that the Capricorn coven will never want a Firestarter as their leader but I have that hope."

"Your coven should want you as their leader, I mean how kick ass would that be?"

"Very kickass?"

Kai patted Artie on the shoulder with a grin. "Exactly. So, tell me who all these people are; it's been years since I've shown my face at one of these things."

Artie fixed himself in his seat and looked at the back of people's heads as he tried to find something to tell Kai that would impress him. "See the blonde guy?"

"In the pink top?" he said as he swayed back and forth until he locked eyes on him.

"Yeah him… Apparently, he's the new leader of the Aries coven because he stabbed his brother in the back, literally."

Kai let out a quiet laugh and waggled his finger at the back of the blonde guy's head, "Not cool pink top. What about the ginger with the uneven bob, what's the story with her?"

"That's Janet Kennedy, she still hasn't got her powers yet." Artie looked up at Kai when he wasn't making a snarky comment and noticed him staring at someone else.

"Who's she?"

He was almost breathless when her blue eyes looked in his direction; part of him hoped she would look at him. Her hair looked like strands of black silk as she put the long length of hair over her shoulder, it made Kai gulp back his attraction to her; it was the first time he had found himself having any interest in anyone and it shocked him.

"That's Rosanna Cole. We used to hang out with her."

"Yeah when we were twelve, but she never looked like that!" he exclaimed as quietly as he could. "The last time I saw her she had big goofy glasses like yours and train tracks in her mouth."

Artie tried not to take offense as he pushed his retro glasses up the bridge of his nose. "She got them off three years ago. Interesting thing, her family actually exiled her too."

"Why, what can she do?"

"No one knows, it's one big secret."

Kai was intrigued by her and he had to know more; it wasn't everyday someone that attractive was in the Alliance of Covens and what made it even more fascinating for him was the bond they used to have when they were younger. His eyes kept roaming back to her and occasionally she glanced over at him; he was like a freak show that everyone stared at and whispered about. Everyone knew what he was and Kai wasn't exactly silent about it.

"What else have you got on her?" he turned in his seat to face Artie in desperation, pleading almost with his eyes.

"There's a rumour going around that she's bummed out about her prom. Her older brother, Samuel, was telling people that she wasn't welcome because she's doing weird stuff at school."

"What's with girls and prom? I didn't go to mine and I turned out just fine."

Artie raised a brow at him, barely visible over his thick frames and shook off Kai's remark. "If you're going to approach her, I'd suggest you behave less like an arrogant ape."

"Just say dick next time, it would hurt me more." He watched Rosanna get out of her seat and slip towards the exit. "Stay here, I'm going to make my move."

He got out of his seat and followed her path out of the hall. He couldn't get rid of his nerves no matter how many deep breaths he took. He didn't like this feeling, he never felt like this about anything. He cut out all his emotions except from anger because life wasn't fair to him; now he was starting to let his guard down slightly. He felt like he was drawn to the mysterious Rosanna like a magnet and he knew that he wouldn't be able to push it away. Temptation of the unknown was too strong.

When he got out of the hall he looked around for her and saw her walking towards a large oak tree outside her home. He followed her over, hanging back a bit and when he got there she was sitting on the floor with a cigarette.

"Those kill you know." He stated as he sat beside her.

"I have one when I'm stressed, and right now I'm one big bundle of stress." She looked at him and was almost taken aback that it was him. "It's so weird seeing you back at these meetings."

"It's weird being here again." He looked around as the sudden feeling of déjà vu hit him like a brick wall.

Rosanna glanced at him, picking up on his confusion, "We played here when we were kids."

He nodded a little as the memories fell back into place. "Now I remember, it was back when our families liked us."

"So it looks like everyone knows I'm an outcast now." She sighed, scratching the top of her head.

"Pretty much, but now you get to hang out with Artie and I like the good old days."

She laughed a little and looked away from him. "I think I'll pass."

"Artie isn't that bad, cut him some slack."

Rosanna raised her eyebrow at him. "Artie isn't the problem with that proposition, Artie's a sweet guy."

"So what's the problem?"

"You're the problem, Kai."

Kai furrowed his brows and scoffed, "How am I the problem?"

"Because you're mean and nasty. You didn't let me hang out with you two when you found out you were a Siphoner because I was the only one who didn't have a cool power." She threw her cigarette down and got up, patting grass off the back of her jeans. "You really hurt me and I guess seeing you here today made me realise that I'm still mad at you."

He thought back to their childhood and remembered all the bad things he did to her: exiling her from their group, laughing at her and making her the punchline of his joke. When he snapped out of his memories he realised she was walking away from him.

"Rosanna, wait. Let me apologise to you." He called out as he ran after her.

She stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms as she turned to face him. "Is this some sort of trick?"

He held his hands up defensively. "No, no tricks. I am sorry for being a dick to you when we were growing up. You should feel very proud of yourself because I never apologise to anyone, like ever."

"Well, apology accepted I guess. But only because it's your first ever apology." She smiled a little and clasped her hands.

"Let me make it up to you for all the years of being a shitty friend to you."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Well, Artie told me you're down about not going to your prom, so I was thinking that I would accompany you."

"It's tonight Kai, there's no point."

"Listen, I'll rent a tux and buy you one of those flower things,"

"A corsage?"

"Yes, a corsage and whatever else you want by tonight because I owe you one."

She thought for a moment and ran her fingers through her hair, giving into his idea. "I'm wearing blue, midnight blue so get a tie that matches."

"Midnight blue, I like that."

She smiled and bit her lip slightly. "Pick me up at seven and don't be late."

He looked at his watch and nodded. "I won't be late, I promise. I doubt it'll happen but if anyone asks where I am, just tell them I had errands. Don't tell anyone what I'm doing, people can't know I'm soft."

"Your secret's safe with me."

Rosanna had to get ready for her prom in secret because if her parents found out that she was going or who was taking her, she would be punished harshly. She knew that her brother was spreading rumours about her but there was no truth in what he said; she wasn't doing weird things in school, she was liked by most people including Janet, a witch in her coven but when she got out of school no one seemed to like her. Her life shouldn't have been like this; she was a good witch and had the capability to lead the Taurus coven to great strengths; but that would never happen.

As she looked at her reflection she could see headlights come down the drive way to the ranch she lived on. It had to be Kai coming to pick her up and surprisingly she felt excited to be going to prom with him. Luckily her bedroom was on the bottom floor so she could climb out with her dress on and sneak off to the car Kai rented for her special night. When she put eyes on him with his suit on, she got butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't be attracted to Kai Parker, could she?

"You look amazing, Rosanna." He smiled to himself knowing that he was going to be in the room with the most beautiful girl there.

"You don't look too bad yourself, I just think I'm in shock that I actually got an apology and a compliment from you in the same day."

"I'm not the bad guy I'm made out to be." He opened the passenger door for her and got into his side. "I think I get a bad reputation because I don't let what people say control me."

Rosanna looked at him and chewed the inside of her cheek. "There's not letting people control you and there's being hurtful."

"Tell me that the people who isolate us don't deserve a couple of nasty comments thrown their way?" he looked at her from the corner of his eye and by the look on her face, he knew he was right.

"Did I deserve it?"

He went silent and tapped the steering wheel awkwardly. "You know you didn't, I was just a stupid kid."

"Why did you even pick on me in the first place? That's something I want to know. It's not like you had loads of friends or anything."

"Because Artie and I always had this plan of revenge against the covens and we needed people of power. At the time, you weren't one of them."

"Is that why you're taking me to prom? Because I'm a person with power?"

He parked outside her school and turned in his seat to look at her. "Firstly, I don't even know what your power is and I don't really care what it is because that plan we had died a long time ago. Secondly, I don't really have a lot of power, I'm just a regular witch once I've taken magic from someone else. Thirdly, since I saw you yesterday you have been constantly in my mind. I wouldn't do all this for someone that I don't really care about." He seemed hurt by her accusation because in his mind he was proving himself to her that he wasn't the same kid that bullied her years ago.

She was dumbfounded and felt so low that she placed her hand on his and started to get tearful. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"I put a lot of work into this for you and I don't do this for just anyone. In fact, I haven't done it for anyone but you."

"And I'm the luckiest girl in the world." She leaned over and kissed his cheek, looking longingly into his eyes as she pulled away from him. "Let's go in, forget about my stupid comment and have a good time."

"You know, I've a better idea… If you trust that I can show you a good time other than pretending to like all those people in the school gym."

"I trust you." She nodded.

Kai started the car and smiled at her. "If you think what we're going to do sucks, then I'll happily take you back to your precious prom, deal?"

She nodded and slapped his shoulder playfully. "It's a deal now stop talking and drive!"

It was a crisp night and the stars in the sky were so close it was like they could touch them as they stood on a secluded cliff, looking over the small town. Kai handed her his jacket as they sat on the bonnet of the rental car and stared up at the twinkling stars above them. It was peace and quiet, something that neither of them knew growing up in the world of the covens. It was always like a commune more than a coven in their homes with people coming and going to visit their parents who were the leaders and more importantly councillors for every young witch except the two of them. Rosanna knew that if anyone understood how she felt, it was Kai; yes, he was a little rough around the edges but maybe she had to be like him to let things go. Even when they weren't friends, she admired how he refused to attend meetings with people who didn't want him there in the first place, but still expected him to show up.

"I got my power this time last year and it was one of the scariest things I've ever experienced." She said out of the blue.

Kai looked down at her and asked softly, "What happened?"

"I was sitting in my room doing homework and I heard this banging on my window. A bird flew into the glass and broke its neck so I ran out to see if it was going to live but it was dead when I got there." She looked up at him and quickly looked away again. "I picked it up and started to think 'what if it hadn't flown into the window, it would still be alive and flying about' and when I looked down it was alive in my hands. I brought this little bird back to life."

"I'm going to assume that someone saw you doing that?"

"No, Samuel came out when I decided to try out the reverse of what I did. He thinks that my power is to kill. But when I tried to tell my family that I can bring things back too they thought I was practicing necromancy."

"But you weren't, were you? You can tell me; I'd think you're cooler if you were." He teased a little.

"I've never even thought about practicing black magic but my family and the coven didn't believe me so now I'm the black sheep."

"You get used to it or you start to give up caring."

"How did you get over it so quickly? From what I know you were fine with your parents giving up on you."

Kai laughed a little cynically and shook his head. "At first I thought they were monsters, but then I got rid of my emotions. I didn't feel love for them, I don't feel anything for almost everyone. It's the easiest way to deal with life."

"Maybe I should be more like you, just ditch my emotions and show my coven that I don't give a damn what they think of me."

Kai shook his head at her and dropped his smile. "Never lose who you are, because you are strong and I like this Rosanna; I don't want to see her disappear." He cleared his throat a little to disguise the fact he said another nice thing about her but she already caught it before he could move on. "Besides you'll be heading off to college soon."

"No, I want to stay and perfect my powers. You know, I'm going to be the next leader because Samuel won't stand a chance against me."

"You can't ditch college; you don't want to devote your life to something they'll never let you have."

Rosanna looked at Kai with a kind of ruthlessness that he never saw in her before. It reminded him of himself in a strange way. "If I must kill him to get what I want, then so be it."

"Maybe we shouldn't hang out again, you're starting to sound like me."

"No, I want to hang out with you because you're the only one who'll actually talk to me without fearing what I can do." Her hand touched his as she leaned in closer to him. "I need to have someone like you because I'm going to end up going mad if I'm left by myself any longer."

He glanced at their hands and leaned in closer until their lips touched. It was only his first kiss and already he knew that he didn't want to kiss anyone else for the rest of his life. There was something about Rosanna that made him feel like she was the ying to his yang. With her by his side, he had the opportunity to show someone who he really was instead of the mean exterior everyone was used to.

"You'll never have to be alone again; I'll always have your back, if that's what you want."

Rosanna looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity of his words. She never saw this side of Kai but she liked it; he was one of the few people that understood what she was going through and he tried to give her a special night. Her first kiss under the stars lived up to her expectations, even if she didn't go to her prom.

"If you have my back, then I'll have yours too."

A:N Here's my new and improved version of the same story with the same name but there's so many things that are different. Hope you enjoyed!