Kai had barely sat down before he was called into his supervisor's office. "Parker!"
He kept a tight hold on the coffee cup that was the cause of his lateness, if he was going to endure an ass chewing, he might as well endure it with his cinnamon dolce latte.
"Sir?" Kai walked in and settled in one of the chairs facing his supervisor's desk.
"We got another one of those weird cases that you like." The file was open and facing him on the desk. "Small town in Virginia, three mayors in as many years all dead, each one by a different method. The local police closed each case, but it was just fishy enough to raise some eyebrows."
Kai set his drink down and took the file. The name of the town, Mystic Falls, tripped something in his brain, however none of the names rang a bell, he'd have to ask Jo if the coven had any people there.
"What am I looking for boss?" Kai asked as he closed the file with a snap. It was true that he liked the odd cases, and this one was already bouncing around in his brain.
"Fuck if I know, we got a summons down from on high to look into this. So I'm putting you on it. Go, investigate and report back." Kai took that as a clear dismissal and left the office with both his coffee and the file.
The drive to Mystic Falls, Virginia from North Carolina was uneventful. Plenty of time to think about what he read in the file and figure out an angle of attack. The first mayor had died by an electrical fire that had also taken a few other lives. He was rumored to have been blocked in by the fire when he went back downstairs to help more people get out, seeing as it had happened during one of the many town events that were held. His wife had taken up the mantle and had served for only a year or so before she was found in the town square drowned in the fountain. The autopsy reports had placed her blood alcohol content as twice the legal limit, so nothing out of line there. Their only child, a son named Tyler, had been interviewed each time, he had confirmed what the whole town seemingly knew, that his mother had a pretty big alcohol problem that had only gotten worse with her husbands death.
"Poor kid." Kai murmured to himself. As much as he hated his dad, if he had died so soon after his mother, he'd be even more messed up than he was right now.
The last mayor was Rudy Hopkins. His autopsy report had his cause of death down as a heart attack. Kai hated that he would be unable to examine his, or any of the other bodies. All three had been cremated, which was certainly unusual, especially in the case of the Lockwood's. They were what the town called one of the Founding Families, and as such there was an actual family crypt for their dead family members.
As far as he could tell, Rudy Hopkins wasn't a member of the Founding Family club, so his being cremated didn't ring any alarms in his head. What did was the fact that he was survived by his daughter who hadn't attended the service, and as far as he could tell, no one had actually spoken to. He spent a bit studying her picture in the accompanying file.
It was a graduation picture with her father, while she was outwardly beaming, the smile didn't seem to reach her green eyes. Her brown hair lifted in the air just so, and Kai could imagine that there was a slight breeze that kicked up just then. Although she was hugging her father, it looked stiff. He made a mental note to ask about the relationship between father and daughter.
Driving around the quiet town, he decided to grab a bite to eat prior to checking in at the bed and breakfast, plus it was never too early to start speaking to people. Pulling into the parking lot of The Mystic grill, he got out and stretched out the kinks in his neck and back. Walking in, he took a look around. It looked like a million other diners that he'd visited over the years.
"Just one?" The voice was young and flirty. He looked to his left at the hostess stand and turned on the charm.
"'Fraid, so." He grinned, allowing his dimples to show. He was enough of a realist to know that part of his ease in gaining information was due to his good looks, and he took advantage of it enough to be able to tell who would be susceptible and who wouldn't. This girl would be all too easy, all bright eyed and eager. She looked to be around the daughter's age, so if nothing else, he could use her for information on….what was her name again? Brianna? Barbara? It would come back to him later.
"Would you like a table or would you prefer to sit at the bar? If you sit at the bar, then he'll have to serve you, I'm not 21 yet." There was a slight roll of her eyes at this, Kai decided to stick with his talkative hostess.
"I'll take a table then."
Her smile brightened and she led him over to a table that was close to the bar. "Here's our menu, along with our specials for today," She made sure to lean down enough to brush her chest against his shoulder, "what can I get you to drink?"
"I'll take a Mystic burger with the works and a side of curly fries with a chocolate shake." He watched her write his order down and saw her sly grin at his request for a chocolate shake.
"Got it, I'll bring your shake out right now." She took the menu from him, "Oh, how forgetful of me, my name is Tiki, and if you need anything else just let me know." She sauntered away from him with an exaggerated sway of her hips.
Kai laughed to himself, she reminded him of one of his younger sister with her confidence. He took a look around, there weren't too many people in the place just yet. There was a couple in a booth, a few people shooting pool at the pool table and two guys at the bar looking to drink their weight in what looked like bourbon.
Kai frowned. Bourbon? At 2 in the afternoon? To each their own. He was broken from his thoughts by the appearance of his shake. He thanked Tiki with a smile and nodded when she said his food would only be a few more minutes. He was making a second pass over the restaurant when the door opened and a tall kid walked in. Kai watched as he warily eyed one of the men at the bar, while raising a hand at the other.
"Baby Gilbert still pissed at me, I'm guessing." This was said by the raven haired man at the bar.
"He walked in on you with his sister on the couch, I'm surprised he's even looking at you right now." The other man retorted.
"Yeah…" The dark haired man grinned lasciviously into his drink.
"Have you heard from Stefan?" The other man asked. The dark haired man stopped grinning and gulped down the rest of his drink. "No. I'm sure my little brother is just off licking his wounds somewhere, he'll be back."
Kai knew he was eavesdropping, but the gossip in small towns always seemed to be the juiciest. He pulled out his phone and played around on it while still listening to the two at the bar. He didn't let the arrival of his food stop him from listening. As he ate he continued to tune in, from what he could gather, the dark haired guy had moved in on his brother's girlfriend and now his brother was off somewhere as per some agreement the two had made.
He was on the last few fries when the door opened again and a long haired brunette walked in and nearly threw herself at the dark haired guy at the bar. He took note in how almost everyone in the place grimaced at their public display of affection. Obviously, their being together was a controversial decision.
"Ugh, whore." Tiki was back at his table, collecting his plate and shaking her head at the two. "I can't believe she traded one brother for the other."
Kai saw the couple tense and the guy looked over and shot a dirty look at their table. Kai raised his eyebrows, there was no way they should have heard what Tiki said, she was faced away from them (bending down to give him a more than generous view of her cleavage) and her voice had been pitched low so only he could hear.
A theory started to form in his head, and he decided to throw out a lure. "Tell me, Tiki" Kai smiled at her, "Where would I find the Sheriff's office?" Out the corner of his eye he saw the dark haired man tense and say something to his drinking buddy.
"It's not hard to find at all!" She rattled off directions that Kai didn't necessarily need, seeing as he already had the address. "Are you looking to join the ranks of Mystic Falls' finest?"
"Nah." He looked around dramatically before lowering his voice, "I have a meeting with Sheriff Forbes in the morning about a few deaths that fell on the FBI's radar."
Tiki's eyes widened, and Kai could barely contain his smirk, if there was anything that he'd learned in his handful of years working for the FBI is that any mention of the bureau had people nearly tripping over themselves to add any kind of information that they deemed helpful.
"Oh! You must be here about Mayor Hopkins." She took a seat unprompted at his table. "His death was so sad, and so unexpected! Poor Bonnie."
Bonnie, that was her name!
"I'd expect it was a shock to her." Kai prompted.
"I'm sure it was." Tiki leaned in closer, "She doesn't have a lot of family. Her mother left when we were kids, and her dad traveled so much that she normally was at her grandmother's house."
"Oh, that's good isn't it?" Kai was sure what he was learning now wouldn't be on any report that could be generated.
"Well, it would have been, except she was half parts crazy and drunk. After her grams died, she started acting really weird. She quit cheerleading and started skipping classes here and there, honestly I don't know how she even won Prom Queen."
Kai knew he needed to get the conversation back on track, he didn't care for high school gossip when he was in school, he sure as shit didn't have time for it now. "How did she handle his death?"
Tiki shrugged, "I'm sure she was sad, he was her only parent left, you know?"
"What, you didn't speak to her?"
"No, she wasn't here. She's been gone since graduation." Tiki shook her head, "We all thought she'd come back for the funeral, but nope. She sent instructions to Sheriff Forbes to have him cremated and she'd take care of his ashes when she got back."
Kai sat back, the mayor was dead, his daughter was gone, and nobody thought it was strange that she didn't come back for what was her only parent's funeral? He'd have to speak with the sheriff to get the whole story. His phone chirped a reminder to him of his check in time, he stood and threw some money on the table. "Thank you, Tiki you've been very helpful."
The girl quickly wrote something on his receipt and handed it to him, "It was my pleasure, if you need anything else, please feel free to giveme a call."
Kai chuckled as he made his way out of the restaurant, careful not to look in the direction of the bar. He knew though, without confirming that the small group clustered there would be watching him walk outside. As he got settled in his car and pulled his shades over his eyes, he took one last glance inside. The brunette girl was gesturing wildly to the tall boy that had entered earlier while he held out his hands in what looked like a 'don't blame me' pose. The other man seemed to be trying to mediate between the two, while the dark haired man….
Was looking right at Kai.
The bed and breakfast was a cute little building that happened to be right up the block from the Sheriff's office. He got checked in and unpacked his bags, his original plan was to stay only a few days, but with what he had just learned, he might be there longer. He opened up the secret compartment in his suitcase and withdrew the sachets from within. He quickly placed one in each corner of the room, and took a little bit of the magic inside to create a barrier over the doorway. It was a precaution that he always took, but he had the feeling that he would be especially needing it here. He checked for messages from his siblings, none so far on whether or not they had any Gemini in the area.
He decided to use the rest of his afternoon doing some leg work, it was relatively easy to find the cemetery, even easier to find the Lockwood section. There was a mausoleum devoted to the family going back at least a century, so why the cremation? He did discover that the male Mayor Lockwood had a brother Mason that died around the same time as he did, he made a mental note and kept looking around.
Try as he might, he wasn't able to find any other Hopkins buried in the cemetery, which wasn't too surprising. In his research he'd seen that the 'Founding Families' were made up of white people, it wasn't uncommon back in the day to have separate graveyards. It may be a new century, but for a town that still had parades and events to celebrate its founding, separate cemeteries may be one of the few things that no one thought to change.
He was surprised to notice that he felt the alluring pull of magic all over the town. It was faint in some areas, but in others it seemed to reach out and caress his skin, as if it were guiding him from place to place. The weird thing was that it didn't feel hostile or even unfamiliar, it felt like someone he'd met before.
His traipsing around the cemetery had taken longer than he thought, and by the time he made it back to where he was staying night was beginning to fall. One by one streetlights came on and lit the sidewalks, if Kai didn't know any better, he'd say this was the perfect setting for a Hallmark movie.
He walked around looking for a place to find some food and came across a pizza place that looked promising. He placed his order to go, figuring he could eat while he called back to Portland to see if they'd found he sat waiting for his order, the door opened and two guys entered. Kai recognized one as the boy who had been at the Mystic Grill earlier. He was with a blond haired blue eyed all American looking guy who looked agitated.
"Can you just let me talk to her the next time she calls?" Mr. All American said, running a hand through his hair.
"I don't know when she's gonna call, Matt." The dark haired boy snapped back, "I'll tell her, okay?" He side eyed his friend, "Why do you need to speak to her so bad?"
"I didn't know I needed a reason to speak to my friend. When did you get so possessive?" The blond, Matt, asked.
"I'm not possessive, she asked for time away from here and space to grieve her dad, I figure for everything she's done for us, especially me in the past, I can do this for her." The dark haired boy was speaking to his friend, but kept looking to his right.
Kai's attention was now firmly fixed on the two, with that last statement, he was pretty sure they were talking about the mayor's daughter, Bonnie. So it would seem at least one person besides the Sheriff had been in contact with her.
"Why do you keep looking around like that?" Matt frowned, "If you're back to doing drugs again Jer, I swear, Bonnie is going to kick your ass."
"I'm not! You know how I can-"
"Order 23!" Kai missed the next part due to his order being ready. He walked up to the counter and retrieved his dinner, passing by the now silent duo. When he turned to leave, he felt that familiar pull of magic that had accompanied him on his tour around the cemetery. This time is was stronger, but still non-threatening. If anything it felt inquisitive, like it wanted to figure out who or what he was. He closed his eyes and took a minute to let it wash over him. When he opened his eyes the blond was turned towards the counter studying the menu, but the dark haired boy had fixed him with a hard stare. He glanced to Kai's side, shook his head quickly and turned away.
The walk back to his temporary home was spent putting pieces together, he had a pretty good idea of what was going on in this sleepy little town, he just needed to figure out how many people were in on it.
"Hey man, do you know what time it is?" Kai almost dropped his pizza as the question came from seemingly nowhere. He tightened his grip and was readying his smart ass reply when he got a look at the person who had asked, it was the guy that he'd seen at the bar in the Mystic Grill earlier. The one with the clingy girlfriend and exceptional hearing.
Kai glanced up at the giant clock tower that stood tall amongst all the other buildings then down at the man impatiently. "It looks like it's a bit after 8:30." Kai raised an eyebrow, "Or you could have used the phone that I see sticking out of your pocket, too."
"You're a funny man." Kai took notice of the fog that suddenly seemed to roll in, "I don't think I've seen you around here before, you new in town?"
"Just passing through." Kai replied easily. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I wanna get into this pizza before it gets cold. Not that I mind cold pizza, but that's more of a next morning thing, you know?"
"Yeah, I get it. Just one thing," The other man moved so fast that Kai didn't even have time to blink. "You don't need to meet with Sheriff Forbes. You will go back to your office and close whatever case you have open in Mystic Falls. There was nothing unusual about any of the deaths here, eat your pizza, get a good night's sleep and leave in the morning." Then he was gone.
Kai blinked once, twice, then started to chuckle. This case had just turned even more interesting.
The next morning when he was getting ready to meet with the Sheriff, he found a message from Jo that simply said that she'd call him later. He mulled over what she could have found that warranted an actual call instead of just a text or email. It must be good.
He opened the door to the station, and looked around. It was a small entry with a reception desk that was being manned by a blond girl who was currently hissing into her phone.
"No, he's here. He just pulled up." A pause. "Then it must not have worked. I gotta go. I'll call you later." She hung up and Kai pretended that he hadn't heard the tail end of her conversation.
"Good Morning! How may I help you?" She smiled big and bright, and ordinarily Kai would have been charmed…
If he didn't feel the telltale aura of death around her.
Kai took out his badge and flashed it, "I have an appointment with Sheriff Forbes this morning." He smiled back at her, matching her dimples with his.
Her blue eyes widened at the FBI badge. "Oh, yes of course. She'll be just a moment. Can I get you something to drink while you wait? Coffee? Tea? Or would you prefer a latte? The Grill has the best-"
"Caroline." The voice comes from an older woman who appeared in the hallway.
"Oh, well, here she is. Mom….I mean Sheriff Forbes." Kai raised an eyebrow at the slip. So her mother either didn't know or didn't care that her daughter was a vampire.
Interesting.
"Please come on back, Agent Parker, we can talk in my office." Her handshake was firm and surprisingly human. Kai followed her into her office and wasted no time in disclosing why he was there. The Sheriff's face showed no outward emotion as she listened to him speak, nor did she seem like she was covering anything up. She willingly shared all her files with Kai and offered to set up interviews with whomever he felt the need to speak to. All in all, it was a very productive meeting.
Until he got to the latest death of Mayor Hopkins and the fact that his daughter was nowhere to be found.
Liz frowned, "Bonnie is off with her mother. I suppose we can try to set up some kind of video conference for you to speak to her."
"How did she seem when she found out about her father?" Kai looked down at his notes, he'd found nothing about the girls mother in his files, except the fact that she had left years ago.
"It's hard to tell emotion in a text, but I'm sure she was devastated-" She was cut off as Kai held up his hand.
"A text? You mean, you haven't actually spoken with her?" He asked incredulously.
Sheriff Forbes squirmed in her seat, "Well, no. She and Abby are visiting some pretty remote places, so there isn't always a signal."
"So it could be anyone pretending to be her?" Kai pressed. At that moment, a slight breeze went through the office, rifling through the papers on the desk.
Liz placed a stapler on top of the stack, "I know it may seem weird, but I've known Bonnie all her life. She and my daughter are best friends, so I've seen hundreds of texts between the two. It was her." She said firmly.
"Do you mind if I speak with your daughter?" Kai asked, "I just need to know if she's had any verbal contact with Bonnie as well." The breeze kicked up and Kai had to close his folder in order to not lose any papers.
"No, I don't. Matter of fact, I'll arrange it right now. Would you like to speak with her boyfriend as well?" Kai was pretty sure that was rhetorical, but he jumped at the chance anyway. "Yes, that would be great."
He watched as she barely contained a grimace as she walked out to speak with her daughter. Kai took the moment to look around her office. She had the normal pictures of family on her desk, as well as one with her daughter and Bonnie and someone who looked a lot like the long haired girl he'd seen in the Mystic Grill. They were all in matching cheerleading outfits and smiling big grins, like nothing bad would ever happen to them.
Liz comes back in with her daughter….and the dark haired boy that Kai has seen a few times now. His eyes widened as he takes in Kai and he glances nervously to his left. Kai feels the telltale flicker of magic settle around the room, his eyes narrow at the boy who's fidgeting in his seat.
"You have some questions about Bonnie?" Caroline drew his attention to her.
"Yeah, I'm just about done here, but honestly I'm a little concerned about the fact that nobody has spoken to her since just after graduation. Telling someone that their only parent is dead in a text seems a bit impersonal, don't you think?" Kai watched both for any signs of uneasiness.
"Bonnie can be like that sometimes." Caroline's eyes are downcast, "When she gets bad news, sometimes she likes to handle it on her own before she reaches out to others."
"But this is her father, the only parent that is in her life, doesn't it seem strange that she didn't even come back for his service?" Kai didn't let up.
"Her mother did come back-" Caroline started to protest before she cut herself off and looked up at her own mother when Liz interrupted."Abby was here? When? Did Rudy know?" Liz fired off questions at her daughter.
Caroline ducked her head and looked at her hands while she spoke "It was a while back, when we had the ball." She said in a quiet tone, "But, she left right after and I thought she was gone for good!" She looked up at that part and gestured to the still silent boy. "Then Jeremy told us that Bonnie and Abby made up and were going to spend the summer together!"
"Wait." Kai held up his hand again, "You mean you didn't speak to her either? You heard from him?" Kai tilted his head towards the boy.
"Bonnie didn't want to make a big deal out of it." Jeremy finally spoke, his eyes darting around the room. "Abby doesn't have the best track record of sticking around, and if it blew up in her face, the less people she'd have to explain to."
"How did she take her father's death?" He asked point blank.
"She was heartbroken." Jeremy said firmly. He fixed his eyes just to Kai's left. "She was inconsolable about the fact that she couldn't do anything to prevent it. I've never seen her that sad." Kai had no reason to believe he was lying, he watched as the boy blinked a few times as if to stop himself from tearing up. The feeling of magic got heavier in the office, Kai felt it waft around him to settle near Jeremy.
The mood in the office was somber, and Kai thought he'd quit while he was ahead. "One last thing, why didn't she come back for his funeral?"
"She didn't want to remember him like that." Jeremy said. "She wanted to remember him as her dad, not someone lying in a pool of his own blood."
Kai's head shot up at that, the autopsy report had said he'd died of a heart attack. Normally that wouldn't leave a pool of blood. The atmosphere in the office grew heavier, the outer door slammed and they all jumped at the sound of breaking glass.
"What in the world?" Liz stood up as the sound came again, this time closer to where they were sitting. "I think that was the lobby door." Caroline stood next to her mother as they glanced down the hall.
"I think I've got what I needed." Kai stood, wanting out of the small office before even more glass was thrown around. He noticed Jeremy stayed seated with his eyes focused on seemingly nothing. Kai moved to stand in front of Jeremy, drawing the boys eyes to him. "Would you mind if I got Miss. Hopkins' number? I'd like to try and speak to her myself if that's okay."
"Who's number?" Liz was tuned back into the conversation.
"Bonnie's number." Kai clarified. "I'd like to speak to her myself if I can."
Both mother and daughter frown and titled their head in a similar manner. "That's not Bonnie's last name." Caroline said at the same time her mother said "Her last name is Bennett."
Kai felt his mouth drop open. How the hell had he missed that?
"Their family is real into the whole matrilineal line thing." Caroline continued, oblivious of his surprise. "It's really cool in a 'I'm woman, hear me roar' kinda way, don't you think?"
"Yeah." Kai could feel the blood rushing through his ears. He had to get out of there and call Jo. "Thank you all for your time." He hurried out of the office, not realizing he hadn't gotten her number.
"Jo pick the fuck up right now!" Kai growled as the phone rang for the third time.
"Hey, I was just about to call you." Jo answered.
"Did you know?" Kai wasted no time. "Did you know there are Bennett's here?"
"You seriously don't remember? I thought your text was a joke." Jo sounded scandalized. "Kai, Mystic Falls is where Sheila lives. Hasn't she sought you out yet?"
Kai ran a hand down his face, "No," he thinks back to his conversation with the flirty waitress at the Mystic Grill, "and I think I know why." Kai heard a commotion in the background, "Oh, dad just walked in, gotta go." She hung up before he could say anything else.
Kai spread out on his bed, Jesus Christ, how had they all missed the fact that Sheila fucking Bennett of all people had died.
And had a granddaughter.
A granddaughter that was currently missing.
Or if he believed what everyone else was parroting, off with a previously absent mother who had only just resurfaced. He recalled Abby as someone who was never really interested in magic. He remembered harboring some resentment due to the fact that he couldn't generate his own magic, while she was content to let hers go to waste.
He groaned and turned to bury his head in the pillow beneath him, the suspicious nature of the murders all now made sense in a general way, even the bodies being cremated. Clearly they had died due to supernatural causes, he could work with that and get that cleared of the radar. The only thing that was still in question was where was Bonnie Bennett? Knowing what he knew about Sheila, there was no way Bonnie wouldn't be here for her father's funeral, so where was she?
The fact that the boy, Jeremy, mentioned a pool of blood, led Kai to believe that he and Bonnie knew what happened to her father. Was Bonnie actually here when it happened, and was currently off trying to bring her father back? Necromancy was one of the disciplines that Kai wasn't too familiar with, but he had no doubt that as Sheila Bennett grand daughter, Bonnie might be able to succeed where so many had failed. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine a young girl who had lost everyone else in her life trying to find a way to keep at least one parental figure around.
Suddenly he started chuckling, the bits of magic he felt around town made so much more sense now. Even the chaos that erupted in the sheriff's office. Clearly Bonnie didn't want anyone to know where she went off to, should he let it go and hope she succeeded, or try and find her to talk her out of it?
There were too many questions, and not enough answers for Kai. He needed to talk to Jeremy again, this time with no one else around.
He felt like an alcoholic sitting at a bar in the middle of the damn day, but the grill seemed to be the best spot for coming across people. He had already seen Mr. All American working, and although he didn't seem to notice Kai from the pizza place, Kai knew it probably wouldn't take long to run into Jeremy as well.
He was proven right a half hour later when the door opened and Jeremy walked in adjusting his shirt with the Mystic Grill logo on the front. He stopped dead in his tracks upon noticing Kai sitting at the bar, Kai wiggled his fingers in hello at the teen.
"Jeremy, finally. Get over here, man." Matt called out. Jeremy gave Kai a wide berth as he went around the corner to clock in for his shift. Kai didn't have to wait long for the feeling of magic to follow behind him. Except this time, it didn't follow Jeremy, instead it settled next to him. He smiled into his drink, "Hello there." He said softly. He felt it recoil as if surprised, "I'm just saying hi. No need to leave."
A few heartbeats passed before it came back, curiously weaving around him. "So listen, I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened here, and what you're trying to do, should I even waste my time telling you it's a lost cause?" His drink moved out of his reach. Kai huffed out a laugh, "Yeah, I thought so." He pulled his glass back to him, "Well, then how about be careful?" Another close press of magic.
He was sitting there enjoying his drink and the warmth of the magic around him when it abruptly fled. Kai frowned, what the hell? The door opened and the vampire who tried to compel him last night along with the long haired brunette girl entered. They passed him to settle in a booth that had a clear line of sight to the bar. Kai was shocked to feel the prickle of death coming from both of them. Was this whole damn town infested with vampires?
Jeremy came from behind the counter and spoke with the two. Kai turned in his seat and made no bones about the fact that he was watching the trio. He felt the press of magic nudge him, but he ignored it for now.
"You don't wanna poke that bear." He heard over his shoulder. Kai turned to see Matt at the sink rinsing dishes. Kai felt the magic leave his side and he saw Matt frown and look around in confusion for a moment.
So he was a good one, Kai surmised. "I live for poking bears." He said, continuing their conversation.
Matt shook his head, "May need more than a tranq dart for that one." He muttered.
"I don't know, I've found that what I've got tends to do the job." Kai smirked, acutely aware of the talismans he has on his body, just in case he needed to draw magic in a pinch. "One might even say it's downright magical how well it works." Kai watched as Matt's head shot up in surprise.
"I need to talk to your friend. Alone." Kai stressed the last word. "I'll be in the library if he feels inclined to take a break anytime soon." He got up and walked out.
The town library was predictably empty, so Kai had no distractions as he got down to business. He found that the town had had a whole host of 'mysterious deaths' in the past. How the hell had they gone this long without popping up on someone's radar was a mystery to Kai.
He also kept seeing the same family names pop up over and over again: Lockwood, Forbes, Gilbert, Salvatore. But no mention of the Bennett's anywhere. Kai had to hand it to Sheila and her family, they definitely knew how to lay low.
"Excuse me." Kai looks up at the sheriff's daughter. She was wringing wringing her hands and biting her lip, "Why do you need to talk to Jeremy? Or Bonnie for that matter? Do you think something bad happened to her?"
"Do you?" He volley's back.
She starts pacing back and forth, "I don't know!" She explodes, "One second were celebrating graduation and the next, she's gone with her mom? Abby has left her twice now, she's not exactly the model parent." She sits down heavily across from Kai, "Maybe I wanted to believe that she could change for Bonnie. She was so hurt when Abby left the second time."
Kai said nothing, knowing if he butted in, he might break her flow, so he let her continue her train of thought, "But for Bonnie not to come back for her dad's funeral? I mean, yeah, has always been away on trips, but he's her dad, you know? Him and Ms. Sheila were the two adults in her life and now that they were both gone, I know she would drop everything to bury her dad."
"Where do you think she is?" Kai asked gently.
She shrugged, "I have no reason not to believe Jeremy, but I haven't gone more than a two weeks without talking to Bonnie. Ever. In fact, when I don't hear from her, it usually means…." Caroline trails off and narrows her eyes. "I'll be right back."
She hurries off, and Kai continues his research. He didn't find anything on the Bennett's, but then again, he knew he wouldn't. What he was looking for wouldn't be out for everyone to see.
"Get your ass over here, Jeremy!" Caroline is back, tugging a reluctant Jeremy with her. Kai thinks that even if she weren't a vampire, she'd be a force to be reckoned with. The blond boy, Matt is with them trying to keep up.
"Sit." She drops Jeremy's tall frame into a chair. "Talk."
"What do you want me to say, Caroline? I told you, I haven't been able to reach Bonnie yet." Jeremy looked everywhere but at their faces.
"Enough bullshit! What's going on with Bonnie?" Caroline wasn't budging from in front of him.
"Nothing!" Kai wondered were the librarian was, because that was shouted out loud.
"Jeremy, man. Come on. I've called, texted, and emailed her, and I'm getting nothing back." Matt spoke up, "Something is wrong, I can feel it."
Jeremy looked to the side, then sighed in resignation. "She didn't want me to say anything." He starts.
Immediately the table starts to shake. "Calm down." Kai says out loud as he places a palm on the table, leaving a faint glow behind, the table stops shaking.
They all look at him in surprise, he waves a hand "I'm sure that's not the first time you've seen magic, continue."
"When she brought me back," Jeremy's voice hitched, "It was too much for her." His head was bowed over the table.
"What the fuck do you mean 'it was too much for her'"? Matt said in a low voice, "Jeremy, where is Bonnie?"
"Oh my god." Caroline's eyes filled with tears, "She died? She died bringing you back, and you didn't tell anyone?"
Well, shit. This was not what Kai had imagined at all. He thought the girl was off attempting to reanimate her father. He eyed the boy still slumped over the table, although it seemed like she had already done that before.
The explosion doesn't come from the blonde he thinks, he fully expected Caroline to start crying and yelling, but instead it's Matt who reaches out and nails Jeremy right in the jaw.
"You fucking asshole! You knew for months she was dead and you didn't tell us? What were you going to say when school started and she wasn't at Whitmore, huh?" Caroline was holding Matt back from charging at the now weeping boy, "She brought your sorry ass back to life TWICE and you couldn't even try ONCE for her?"
Kai did a double take at that. She brought him back to life twice? Who the hell was this girl? He felt the blanket of magic settle over Jeremy, but he quickly stood up and threw his arms out. "NO! I told you this was a dumb idea Bonnie, but you didn't want to listen."
And the hits just keep on coming.
Kai's eyes widened in realization; the magic that was following them around wasn't traces of Bennett magic, it was Bonnie herself! How the hell was Jeremy able to know that?
"She's here?" Caroline gasped, looking around wildly.
"She's always been here, she's on the other side." Jeremy answered morosely. This time Kai had to intervene when Caroline charged at him.
One hour, a magical hold for an irate vampire, and a change in location later, they got the whole story out of Jeremy. They had decided to adjourn to the Lockwood mansion where Matt and Tyler (who was apparently a hybrid, Kai was so coming back to that later) lived. Matt explained that Tyler was off with his wolf pack and assured Kai that he wouldn't mind any visitors.
"Where's her body? Please don't tell me you left it under the school?" An idea was beginning to take shape in Kai's mind. Bringing back the last Bennett would be a coup for him, and put him in great favor with the rest of his coven who didn't think he should have even survived the merge intact.
Not to mention something to hold over his asshole of a father.
"It's at the witch house." Jeremy confessed. "I couldn't bring myself to bury her, so I took her there."
Kai looked around for an explanation.
"Oh! It's this old house that was the site of a witch massacre. They burned like, a hundred witches there." Caroline elaborated. "Bonnie once took on all their power to fight Klaus."
"Klaus Mikealson, the original?" Kai asked. Seriously, who was this girl? But that gave him even more of an idea, if he could convince the witches to channel their power through him to bring her back, maybe he'd be left with his own magic, and not be dependent on talismans and charms or other witches to pull from.
"Yeah that's the one." Matt said. "If you're planning something, something that can bring her back, I'm in. No matter what I have to do." Kai had to give him props, the kid was serious.
"Me too!" Not to be left behind, Caroline raised her hand like they were in class. "Whatever you need."
"Alright then, I'll need directions to this witch house after I make a few calls." He arranged to meet with the three in an hour. Truthfully he had only one call to make. He wanted to run the idea by Jo to see what she would say. Technically, since he was a Gemini, he would need the council's permission before engaging in actions like these, but he figures this is a special occasion.
Jo was shocked into silence when he explained what he'd found out to her, and what he planned on doing in return. She had given her blessing, while telling him to be careful.
He had collected his supplies and was on his way out when a body appeared in front of him.
Great, this asshole again. Kai checked his watch, there was no time for this shit.
"Since you seem impervious to being compelled, let me just say outright-" He didn't get a chance to finish before Kai grabbed his shoulder and pulled. The vampire let out a yell of pain and sunk to his knees. Kai used the magic that he drained out of the vampire to snap his neck.
"Oh my god, Damon!" The cry is shrill and all Kai can see is brown hair as his girlfriend flies to the body on the ground. She's accompanied by the other man he was drinking with at the bar the day previously.
"Tell your friend to be smarter about the people he tries to control." He leaves them both there with the body and heads back to the Lockwood mansion to pick up his three helpers before setting out to the witch house.
"Okay, appropriately spooky." Kai says to himself as they pull up outside.
When he opens the door, he's overcome with the feeling of magic in the air. It was so thick he could taste it on his tongue. He didn't have to wait for the others to tell him where to go, it felt like he was being guided through the door that opened on its own.
Candles flared to life as he entered the entryway, and a cacophony of voices erupted in his ears. "Okay, one at a time." He tried to isolate one from the many.
"Welcome Malachai." Well, he knew that voice.
He turned to see Sheila Bennett standing in the doorway to what looked like it was the dining room at one time. She looked the same as she had the last time he had seen her years ago, after trying to argue with his father for his sake. He had never told her how much he had appreciated her going to bat for him when everyone else recoiled in revulsion from his touch.
"Good to see you again, Sheila." He said honestly.
She had been the one to sit with him and teach him how to somewhat control his siphoning. She had stopped visiting regularly when right after Kai had lost the merge, he had always thought it was because she had no more use for him. Now he knows it was probably because of all the craziness going on here in her hometown.
Sheila smiled and leaned slightly to her left, looking at the trio behind her. "Hello Caroline, Matt, Jeremy." Her voice hardened a bit on the last name.
"Hi Ms. Sheila." They chorused like the good southern kids they were raised to be.
"Okay, as fun as this reunion is, I'm actually here to work." Kai was anxious to see if his theory would be proven correct. "You were always so impatient, Malachai." Sheila gave him a soft smile, "I know why you want to do this, and even though your reasons aren't entirely altruistic, they are noble."
"Wait, why else would you do something like this?" He heard Caroline ask behind him.
Sheila led them into the room to where Bonnie was laid atop blankets on the ground and covered in a thin sheet.
"She's not all gross and rotted is she?" Caroline questioned to Jeremy "Cause I did not bring any makeup to cover that."
"Seriously, Care?" Matt snapped.
"Sorry." She whispered back.
Jeremy dropped to his knees beside Bonnie's body, "I'm so sorry, Bon." He traced a hand across where Kai guessed her face was. Seeing the emotion in his face and hearing it in his voice made Kai realize that the kid really had no idea what he was doing, he probably really thought he was being a good boyfriend by not telling anyone.
Kai held out the bowl to Caroline. The vampire had jumped at the chance to give up a bit of her supernatural essence. Bonnie would still be a witch, just a little harder to kill. Both Matt and Jeremy had offered as well, but Kai didn't feel right in taking from their human essence. Growing up in a town like Mystic Falls had probably already shortened their life span.
Kai made an incision along Bonnie's leg, dipped a hand in the offered blood, then placed his bloody hand directly on the incision and started chanting. He felt the spirits in the house respond at once, tendrils of magic snaking up from the floorboards and creeping down the walls to wrap around him.
"Whoa." He dimly heard Matt say as they crept back to make room for Kai.
Kai felt positively euphoric as he felt the magic flow through him. Was this what it was like for other witches all the time? Just walking around with all this power pulsing through them? If so, then he can see why they reacted with horror when he siphoned them, he would have hated to have this ripped from him against his will.
He tightened his hold on Bonnie's leg, feeling the minuscule amount of Gemini magic that ran in his veins rise to converge with the overwhelming amount of Bennett magic that permeated the air. He watched as Gemini blue met Bennett gold and exploded into an improbable purple mix that hovered in the air before rushing back down into Kai.
Kai was knocked clear of Bonnie's body and into the far wall. His head collided with something hard and unforgiving, and before he completely blacked out, he could have sworn he saw the edges of the sheet that covered Bonnie's body start to rise.
"Good job on closing that case, Parker." Kai looked up to see his boss pass by his desk on his way out the door, "Keep that up and maybe they'll think about approving your request to move back to the Portland field office."
"Thanks, boss." Kai said absently as he turned back to tidy the papers on his desk. It was just after 5 on a Thursday and he was anxious to get out so he could start packing. He had a plane to catch in the morning, his younger sister Sarah was getting married and Kai knew he couldn't skip out on this one.
Especially since he was eagerly awaiting the moment when he could reveal his own big news. The only person who knew at this point was Jo, but that was because he wasn't sure if he would still be recognized as a Gemini when he returned. She'd sworn that she would take care of it, he was a Gemini, she promised, no matter what mix of magic he had flowing through him. Kai had spent many nights since leaving Mystic Falls picturing the look of astonishment on his father's face when Kai would reveal that he was no longer an abomination.
Speaking of Mystic Falls…..
He pulled out his phone to answer the last text he'd received from Matt asking about the prerequisites for entrance into the FBI academy. The kid had had a million questions about what he needed to do before applying and Kai was walking him through the process.
After he brought Bonnie back to life, he spent an extra few days in Mystic Falls, recovering from the ordeal and getting used to having his own magic. He took special delight in doing all his mundane chores now that magic made them easier. Well, everything except cooking, that he still liked to do the old fashioned way.
He had also finally gotten the chance to actually speak to Bonnie. She had swung by the Bed and Breakfast where he was staying to personally thank him for bringing her back. The two had had a long talk about their respective childhoods and what was next for both of them. He was surprised that he actually liked talking to her, considering his patience for his own siblings, bar Jo, was never that high.
Kai wouldn't lie, he was intrigued by her. Bonnie Bennett was powerful, strong, and a great friend to have on your side, all wrapped up in a cute girl that Kai knew would blossom into a knockout woman. More than once he'd had to remind himself that she was barely 18 and had just graduated high school.
-Have a safe flight
Speak of the devil, Kai grinned as his phone chimed again.
-Caroline says don't overshadow the wedding with your magic reveal, it's considered tacky to upstage the bride
-Tell Caroline that I'm a grown ass man, and I'll do whatever the fuck I want
-Okay Mr. Cocky
He laughed as he arrived at his apartment, this trip home was gonna be so much fun, Kai couldn't wait.