Her soldiers weren't neatly falling in line with Bonnie's plan to face Kai. In fact her friends' responses to her putting feelers out were edging to demotivate her.
Caroline quickly dismissed the idea and reminded Bonnie of their last conversation with Elena. "You deserve this time Bonnie. She wanted it to be for you."
While Stefan agreed with Caroline not to make a move he first seemed a little more agreeable to the idea of confronting Kai. He argued though that the group wasn't ready yet and that he wanted to be cautious. But while that was what he said, Bonnie suspected he was really after honoring Elena's wishes and didn't want to act at all.
It was easier for her vampire friends to say no, Bonnie kept reminding herself, to cushion her disappointment at their responses. They'd likely see Elena again. But if Bonnie was going to be completely honest with herself she felt a little conflicted too. She remembered the change she felt when she escaped 1994. She fought back and got out of there. She got help from her friends to be sure. But ultimately she chose to see it through. Following the heart of Elena's intentions would mean Bonnie continuing to look out for herself and putting herself first. Elena was safe and in a strange way, Bonnie didn't need to worry about her.
Two factors pushed Bonnie onward. One was sheer rebellion. Bonnie saw her friends' unwillingness to help as them giving up on Elena. She wasn't going to do that. She also imagined that after what Kai had already done that he would continue to target her friends. He would go after innocent people. He needed to be stopped.
After talking with Stefan she didn't ask Matt what he thought. She was concerned he would try to change her mind or worse, put himself at risk. Matt was an asset but he was still human. She didn't share her plan with Tyler either. Whenever the subject of Kai came up Tyler would talk about the violence he would cause him, his grief for Liv overtaking him. Bonnie worried Tyler wouldn't hesitate to kill him before she could finish her plan. Or before Kai killed Tyler first.
She was up to Damon next. Timing was important because she sensed he was on the verge of following through with his traveling plan. Making sure they were alone, she waited for him to get that misty eyed Elena-on-my-mind look and jumped right in.
"No one has heard anything from Kai." She said. "Who knows what he's planning? We shouldn't let him surprise us. Let's surprise him."
It took some chipping away at his resistance but she quickly got to his core. He was struggling with his girlfriend gone and desperately wanted her back. Which made him much more open to hearing her out.
Damon asked to watch Kai's video. After finishing it he put the camera down and took on a pensive look, flexing his hand muscles as if trying to shake off what he saw.
"I really hate that guy. I was out of my mind that night I wasn't seeing straight." Damon said. "I can't believe I didn't kill him. But even if I wanted to do this, I don't want to risk you. Even though - you are suggesting something that in the worse case would bring Elena right back and that is really, really tempting." He laughed.
Bonnie ignored the comment. "How many times have I saved all of you?"
"We usually don't put you on the front line."
Bonnie nodded. "But you rely on my magic. My power. I need to face him. He caused all of this. I wouldn't need to ask your permission to see him if I was going alone, but after the last time I confronted him... I didn't think he'd take me out like that," she was embarrassed to admit it. She shook her head. "I underestimated how strong he was going to be. I know better now what to expect. But I need a partner."
Damon stared into space.
"What if you didn't have to wait?" Bonnie asked.
She knew that would get to him. Damon sighed and looked at her. "And the others? Wouldn't it help us to have a couple more vampires at least?"
"I tried. It's like it's too early for them to even consider it. They're not in the same place as you and me. And we don't want to waste time," she added, clumping her and Damon together as if he'd already agreed to the plan. "We need to stay focused because no one else is. I've been reading about linking spells. If there is any chance to reverse it, we need to know everything we can about it."
"Kai sticks around long enough some supernatural is gonna kill him for existing too much." Damon mumbled.
"After a lot of innocent people die." Bonnie said, though she had a feeling this wouldn't be the factor that'd push Damon to take action. "If someone else gets to Kai then we'll never know the answer." She looked at the mug she was drinking from. "I want to stop him before he gets to someone else we love."
"I don't know why I should be so worried. He's going to be fixated on you judging by that video. We do nothing I still get Elena in no time."
Bonnie scoffed. Damon could get so caught up in his tunnel vision because of his focus on Elena that he'd lose sight on anything else. But wasn't that why she felt more confident going to him than the others?
"Too bad he's not human. Link his life with a fruitfly and be done." Damon leaned back in his chair. "OK. So your plan. We take away his magic with this Lerbetross-"
"Lerethum."
"And we have a regular, though still mentally unstable, vampire."
Bonnie nodded. "Temporarily. Now that he can regenerate his own magic – we need to cut that down to subdue him."
"How temporary is temporary?"
"It's hard to tell, translation's iffy. But I think we have at least a few days and we don't need a long time to get him under control."
"But he can still siphon your magic."
"Yes."
"I hate these little catches. So we capture him and get him to tell us what we want to know?"
Bonnie nodded. "He misses a few meals and it may not matter as much whether he has magic or not. He'll be weaker. That much easier for us to get what we need."
"And once we capture him... How do you stop me from killing him right then and there?"
How to answer that, when Bonnie wasn't sure how she'd stop herself from doing it.
"We'll keep an eye on each other." She said. "And we only need him as long as he has information to give us."
After some more back and forth Damon finally agreed. They were going to get her best friend and his girlfriend back. After that they were going to end Kai.
Bonnie slept better after talking with Damon. She felt reassured to get some control back. She went over her spells and had dinner with Caroline and Tyler, telling them nothing. She danced in her room to take out her built up energy. Stefan and Caroline kept a distance from each other while Caroline and Tyler continued spending more time together. It bothered Bonnie less now that Caroline was distracted since she was working on something of her own.
She couldn't blame Caroline anyway. It wasn't that long ago that she felt a very real love towards Jeremy. Such a different love from the one she felt now. They still had a connection but her deep feelings for him had faded. That probably started a few months in to her time at the prison world. She did remember clearly how Jeremy helped her when she needed him the day she gave up. She was in the garage inhaling fumes and he gave her the push and love to keep going. But since returning from 1994 her everyday didn't include him and she felt no need for this to change.
She did think about him more since she saw him at Mystic Falls but she eventually understood that it wasn't just him she was thinking about. Rather she missed something that she could name when she hung out with Caroline and Tyler. They reminded her what companionship felt like. It had been such a long time. Even watching Damon and Alaric sitting side by side, Damon wordlessly supporting his friend, made her miss that feeling. She wished she could talk with Elena about it.
"Damon."
"What?"
"Focus."
Damon kicked his foot. "We practiced this a hundred times." He grumbled.
"Three times. We practiced it three times. You and I need to be in sync for this to work. This is the closest you can get to doing a spell as a vampire. You have to remember the-"
"Eye contact yes, I know. There's a reason vampires don't do spells."
"And there's a reason this spell works for heretics." Bonnie said as she fought her regret in enlisting Damon's help.
The Mystic Grill was empty apart from the two of them. They had only been there for thirty minutes and Bonnie was ready to lie down. Who knew that this would be what she'd need to help her insomnia? But this was important and she shouldn't have expected smooth prep with Damon even if he was as committed as her.
"This dummy really doesn't fit in for Kai." Damon pushed the Kai dummy that hung from a beam in the ceiling. "We should've gotten a tape of someone blabbing in the background to make it more real." Damon made a grumbling noise as he pushed the dummy again. "I still think the first time we did this it was a perfect run."
"The first time we completely charred the dummy's insides."
"And it felt great."
"We can't get answers from a heretic's ashes."
Damon sighed. "I know. I'm sorry."
"Just think of the big picture." Bonnie said. She struggled to keep her voice even. Damon relied on her to be rational and think ahead but the first time she did the spell her fury pushed it too far and it disintegrated the dummy's entrails. She didn't think keeping herself in check would be so challenging.
"Nowhere in your witchy couldron could you make this dummy fight back?" Damon eyed the dummy and turned to Bonnie. "Or at least have it lecture at me about how Pamela Anderson and Kurt Cobain should've done a duet together? Guess I'll be honest. I just want to go over my favorite part. Stabbing him with this fork," Damon held up silver forklike item with two long prongs.
"Lerethum," Bonnie corrected. "Make sure I finish my chanting."
"You can't expect me to remember the entire spell. Don't look at me like that. I remember the last sentence. And I definitely twist it?" Damon motioned to the Lerethum, asking with unhidden glee.
"Yes. It needs to keep contact with Kai's blood for at least three seconds."
"We're doing this." Damon picked up the Lerethum and held it to the light.
"We want her back. We're getting her back."
Damon smiled at her and his eyes filled with admiration.
"OK," he said and punched the dummy with one arm, taking out the Lerethum in his other and punching the air with it.
A click sounded from the front door and Bonnie turned her head to it. Damon walked towards the door, looking behind the blinds and then turning back. "I must've not locked it completely."
"OK, one more time."
"How can you still concentrate?" Damon asked, returning to stand near the dummy.
"This actually helps me." Bonnie smiled. And it did. It was like therapy. Damon smirked back.
"Friends."
Bonnie recognized the malice in the voice before she recognized who spoke. She turned her face to meet it and stood up to face Kai. He was leaning against the bar. She still had the image of him covered in blood but now in jeans and a brown T-shirt he looked like anyone. Like the guy she sat in front of in the diner when she asked about the 1903 ascendant. But unlike that guy there was no warmth (as disingenuous as it was) in this Kai's face.
"I use that term with irony. Or maybe it's not irony, I'm never sure. Workout session before lunch?" He indicated towards the dummy.
Bonnie exchanged faces with Damon who had moved away from the dummy to stand closer to her. She noticed he had stuck the Lerethum in his back pocket. A small jolt of panic went through Bonnie. They weren't ready yet.
Kai gave Bonnie a cold and dismissive glance before fixing his gaze on Damon.
"Kai. Let's skip the how are yous. What brings you here?" Damon kept his tone light.
"You won't believe it, but I stopped by to make myself a snack. In the mood for a burger. You weren't hungry were you?"
"No kitchens where you're coming from?"
"You know, I love the burgers here. Must be some spices they mix with the meat. Just add a little bit of fire and it's scrumptious. Sometimes I like the cook to make it for me but then I really get hungry and I have to kill him and I have to deal with people screaming. Sometimes you just want to have some peace when you're eating. Maybe I got used to being on my own too much. Easier to do it myself. Am I interrupting something? I do have tendency of crashing other peoples' parties. Of course, to be fair, I don't recall inviting either of you when you burst into my life in my prison world. Though when I look back, I'm so glad that you did."
"Unless you want to talk to us about Elena you can get out." Bonnie said.
Kai looked at her with mock shyness in his eyes. "Oh, talk about her we can do all day. Her and I actually spent some time here. I made her dinner. Fun memories." Kai put on a wistful expression. "Bonnie, you look well. Glad you healed. On the outside. Must be a mess in here though." Kai pointed at his head.
Bonnie felt her venom for him nearly burst out of her and she took a deep breathe to slow her thoughts down. Damon and Kai were talking and she wasn't listening. She didn't expect to be filled with so much disdain and she was surprised Damon was keeping his cool.
"I'm patient," Damon's words came into Bonnie's focus. "I don't need you to help me."
"Really? I don't know, whenever you two get together I always get locked up somewhere." Kai levitated a whiskey bottle behind him and grabbed a glass behind the bar. He poured himself a drink. "Somehow neither of you surprise me."
Kai looked at Bonnie who tried to keep his gaze.
"And what is it with everyone putting me away? I get so tired of that. You all know I'll find a way to get back. And you'll just end up with fewer people on this side when that happens. Be happy. I didn't kill Elena, I just put her on hold for a little bit. I mean, Bonnie I know it doesn't mean as much for you for obvious reasons, but Damon, you're like what, 4,000 years old, that's like a fraction of your existence-"
Damon bent over, blood streaming from his nose.
"Unless I get bored first and decide to kill you and Bonnie."
Bonnie felt a sharp pain go from the top of her head and spread down like thunder.
"Wouldn't that be a surprise for Elena when she wakes up."
Kai was targeting them both with his spells, Bonnie realized, struggling to take a breathe, the pain shooting through her limbs down to her fingers and toes. If it wouldn't be today Kai would try to get to them tomorrow, she thought. They had practiced the spell, gone through the steps. And if they weren't going to do anything they were both going to die.
The ache in her body stopped and she looked over at Damon who was still hunched over, but had found a way to blurt out a cutting remark to Kai. It worked. Kai had turned his focus to him.
Bonnie looked at the whiskey bottle next to Kai. She chanted quickly and it crashed loudly against the side of his face. Kai shook his head, shards of glass falling off. His eyes lit up.
"OK. That tickled a little. Bonnie," Kai said. "You know I'm much stronger than you. But don't stop. It won't make me any gentler if you give up now."
Kai shot bottles against Bonnie and Damon. Bonnie ducked and heard a thump in front of her. Damon had fallen in front of her and taken the brunt of the glassware. Bonnie moved quickly, pushing the broken glass back at Kai, circling them around him. She and Damon exchanged looks. They weren't ready, she thought, but would they ever be? Maybe she'd just be stalling if she'd wait longer.
Bonnie nodded shortly to Damon as if to say "we're doing this now." Damon nodded and Bonnie chanted, Damon immediately turning and rushing Kai. He and Kai wrestled in such a frenzy that Bonnie couldn't make out who was who. She cleared her head, the memorized spells appearing to her.
She chanted. "Vertasium bellity seriom."
Come on Damon. Come on, Bonnie silently nudged.
Kai cried out and Damon shot a look at Bonnie.
She continued, "Herenem Loki Senegrem. Selene fremen selene aderem."
"What are you doing?" Kai said. She liked the tinge of fear in his voice.
"Now, Damon!" Bonnie shouted, unsure if he knew she had finished the first part of the chant.
"You're taking my magic. How are you doing that?" Kai said, his face losing his confidence. Just for that Bonnie would do this forever.
Bonnie kept chanting while Damon held Kai still. Bonnie saw Kai was having a hard time to stand up.
"You're going to kill me." Kai said. "Wait, Damon. Bonnie! Wait! I can help you... Get Elena back. You don't have to die."
Bonnie knew the spell alone wasn't going to kill him but imagined that if he didn't know what was going on then that would be the effect. She didn't believe Kai for one second. But Damon stopped. In that moment Kai, his facial expression unchanging, murmured a spell, crashing Damon backwards. Overhead lamps crashed on Damon's head as he lay unmoving on the floor.
"Bon. That was impressive. Both of you. Damon, you'll excuse us, I want to have a word with Bonnie myself." He said and another set of lamps fell on the heap above the pile covering Damon. "Don't worry Bonnie, I didn't kill him. I think."
Kai tugged at the Lerethum in his leg and tried to pull it out without success. He cried out in annoyance.
Bonnie tapped her magic and realized with some terror that the fight and lack of sleep did its course and had taken out of her more than she she would've wanted by this point. But then she didn't expect a confrontation today. She had put a spell over the Mystic Grill to stop supernaturals from sensing magic inside it. She and Damon had come incognito. It struck her that maybe Kai really just stopped by to get some food. Unbelievable.
"I know we didn't finish our conversation. You know, from the other night," Kai said. His leg drooped a little and he leaned on arm on a high chair. "You probably have been thinking about it as much as I have."
She remembered. Remembered standing in front of him in a room full of bodies. She had absolutely no interest in rehashing it. She glanced at Damon, chanting softly. She needed him awake.
"Uh uh, I can hear that," Kai said and Bonnie held her head in pain. Kai sneered at her. "I can see you're tired. Why don't you rest?"
"Sounds more like you're offering me a permanent rest."
Kai smiled. "In good time, Bonnie. For now, I think I need a hand in letting me know how I can get this knife out of my leg."
It wasn't a- oh whatever. Bonnie could see that he was sweating and that he was injured even beyond one leg not functioning properly. She sensed his magic was reduced. She needed to finish that spell. She needed Damon awake for that and she needed Kai to keep the Lerethum in his leg.
Kai walked over to her with a slight stumble. "I mean what did you think that you and Damon would get by trying to trap me by yourselves? You remember how it ended last time."
Kai stopped to stand in front her, more than a foot still separating them.
"I mean, I'm flattered by the attention."
How warped that statement was.
"At least Damon was with you to help out this time. Sweet of him though a sorry attempt all in all. Maybe next time you could bring the rest of your friends. So Bon, what was your plan, tie me up until I agreed to help you?"
Bonnie stiffened. She sensed Kai wasn't looking for an answer.
"I've had my own magic for a while, now I have super vampire strength. You remember I can make my own magic. What do I have to show all of you so you understand you can't mess with me? You both tried-"
She felt her ankle strain. Was he going to break her bones one by one? No, she told herself. She chanted and a wave of heat pushed hard into Kai's face. Kai stumbled back, surprised, nearly losing his balance.
Bonnie took advantage of this, murmuring a few words and glasses flew out of their shelves and broke on Kai's back and his head. She wanted to laugh. She felt elated.
Kai chanted quietly and her smile vanished as she bent over, pain piercing her forehead into the back of her head. But she felt his spells were getting weaker. The Lerethum was working.
"If only I could tie your life to your best friend. But there's no one." Bonnie said, trying to swallow her grunt.
"Bonnie, that's the best you can come up with? Come on. You know I like being alone."
Then why haven't you left? Why haven't you killed all of us? But she knew the answer. How would Kai get pleasure from other people's pain if he was alone?
"You wanted to break us. But you didn't. The only way to break us is to kill us." She said.
This time she felt the pain in her chest and fell back, scrambling to get back on her feet. Kai tugged again at the Lerethum.
"You know watching you and your friends over the past two weeks, gave me a different impression. It really filled me with comfort. Or relish. Both, I think both. All of you together cared more about my family than I ever did. And poor Elena." He shook his head. "You deserve this. You left me." He said coldly.
"And I would do it again."
"Really? Even if it would you bring right back here? To me?"
Bonnie still seethed from his comment that she deserved this, bringing back a thought that she couldn't get rid of for weeks. She moved a chair that crashed on him, then another. She thrilled in the mayhem it caused him. She didn't just want to neutralize him, she wanted him to hurt.
She recognized the taunting face he was giving her. She chanted again and a radiating barrier came in front of him. "Damon! Wake up!" Bonnie shouted at her friend. She rushed to him. As she ran she felt herself pushed back and her back hit a column. Kai was in front of her and his hands held her arms back.
"Let go!" She yelled.
Something was wrong. That barrier was supposed to hold up longer and Kai was supposed to be without magic by now. But how could she know for sure - the spell wasn't completed. Kai squeezed her arms roughly and Bonnie let out a yelp.
"Sorry," She heard him mumble but that couldn't be right, she must have misheard him. He squeezed her arms even harder and after a second eased off the pressure, still not letting go of her arms.
She hated that she was virtually out of power and strength. Her anger still lit her stomach but she wasn't able to harness it anymore. Grief and exhaustion dampened it and left a woman who was at the moment without a plan. She tried to keep her face from showing that.
She squirmed against him, murmured a spell and watched with glee how Kai's face contorted in pain. She was pushing her luck and she didn't care. She loathed him and how close he was to her. He shot his vampire teeth out and then held back, clenching his teeth, and she saw his arms tense up.
Melting his face off. Wasn't that a spell she looked at, after the first time that she told him that's what she'd do when she'd see her face? A gnawing doubt stopped her. What if with Kai dead she'd lose any knowledge of bringing Elena back? She couldn't kill him.
"Who's going to help you? Does anyone know you're here?" Kai looked towards the door and stared out the windows. Now that she was closer to him she saw he had pieces of glass on his cheeks, his hair, his shirt. But he didn't seem affected by it. "You two planned this by yourselves. No one knows you're here." He said with some wonder in his voice.
Bonnie heard the arrogance in his words and the need to hurt him all but consumed her. Her rational mind tried to slow her down. Again she told herself that if she killed him Elena would be gone from her forever. She'd be able to save nothing from the destruction that happened at Jo and Alaric's wedding. But after that's fixed, when she'd get Elena back - she would destroy him and never need to give him another thought.
Bonnie looked at Damon's direction.
"I wouldn't bother with him," Kai said. "He's taking a vamp nap. That was weird wasn't it, how he fell in front of you like that? I thought vampires were more graceful than to trip over themselves."
"What would you know about what sacrifice means?" Bonnie asked without looking for an answer. Kai gave her a small smile and stared back at her as she refused to stand still.
"I don't know why you're struggling so much when you knew you'd end up like this."
She definitely didn't know that and she definitely wanted him to stop touching her. But she stopped moving against his hands, not wanting Kai to keep siphoning her. Kai pulled his hands back.
"Let me and Damon go."
"And-"
"And our friends won't kill you-"
"And let you go because you weren't able to finish whatever plan you had until next time you figure it out? Also, this is really annoying, my leg is asleep. I know that you put a spell on me but I can't siphon it out. Freaky. I figured this knife has something to do with it. Any reason I can't take it out?"
"Have you tried magic?" Bonnie asked.
"Mag-?" Kai looked at his leg. "Why would I need magic?"
Bonnie shrugged.
Kai looked at her suspiciously. "Why don't you use your magic?" He asked.
"I'm all tapped out."
Kai brushed her arm with the back of his hand. Bonnie shuddered. When he was holding her arms he wasn't trying to siphon her like this. It burned.
"You want me to keep you and Damon here until you get it all back? You have some left. Come on. I know how to get to each of your friends Bonnie. Remember that."
Damon was out of commission. She was low on magic against someone with vampire strength. She wasn't going to be able to see this spell through but at least she saw it already slowed Kai down. Maybe for now that would be enough. Bonnie closed her eyes and the Lerethum pushed a little out of Kai's skin. Kai grunted and pulled the rest of it out of his leg.
"Can't say anyone's tried to cook me before," He said, holding it. It slowly melted in his hands and fell to the floor in a big puddle. Bonnie held in her scream.
"I like that you don't give up." Kai looked at the puddle under beside his feet. "After everything you wanted to see me again."
He was taunting her. "I didn't want to see you. I want my friend back." She said.
"You brought us to this point. Don't forget that."
"You killed your family. You did exactly what you said you were going to do in 1994."
Kai considered her. "True. I'm curious, any of them check in on me when I was gone? Make sure I was OK, even though they now knew that my death would mean they'd die? Short sighted really, even if they didn't care about me. But still – why would I want to hurt them if you hadn't deserted me?"
"And not believe that you were a reformed killer? What a terrible mistake I made." She said pointedly.
"People become what you believe they are."
Bonnie shook her head. "People show you who they are. You're not safe to keep around. Your massacred family agrees," She said stubbornly.
"Again, Bon. My family didn't let me stay here. Twice. Why would I leave them in peace? You know, I told my own sister I wasn't going to touch her. Why wouldn't they let me stay-" His voice trailed. "When there's so much fun in this world." He slid a finger on her cheek. She trembled with reverberating pain. He was only showing her how unstable he was. "That's not even fun, Bonnie, you have so little left."
She moved her face away and his finger followed before reluctantly taking it away.
"Coven comes first. I heard that all my life, so much I kept hearing it when I hung out in my own little world for almost years. How was I different from my dad? Because I wanted a coven of one? They trained me to do what I did. What they should've done is stuck to the original plan of letting their firstborns merge. But I guess, if you really want to know, I do regret one thing." He brought his face closer to hers and whispered, "I wish I could've killed them one by one."
Bonnie didn't want to listen anymore. Not to the words or the casual tone he was using to talk about his actions. A murderer justifying killing his family. She felt no empathy for him.
"Now. What kind of games can I play with you and Damon?" Kai put his index finger on his chin. "Flay your skins off? Oh - Maybe reenactment? Have you ever drowned Bonnie?" Kai's face brightened.
Bonnie knew she couldn't hide her fear from her face. She saw something move over Kai's face for a moment and then disappear, his face returning to its playful and weirdly innocent expression.
"I know. I never get tired of a little dicing. Cooking really perfected my skills." Kai said and motioned with his hand to a knife on the floor. The knife remained still. Kai shook his head. "Sorry. I guess I'm, like, a little excited." He smiled like a little boy and moved his hand over the floor again with the same results.
"Why can't I use my magic? I have magic but I can't…" Kai held his hands up as if they were broken. He muttered a few spells. Nothing happened.
Alarm rushed over his face. "What did you do?"
"I honestly don't know." Bonnie said. She didn't. He wasn't supposed to have his magic. But to still have it and not be able to do anything with it – this she didn't expect. Kai looked down at the melted down puddle and tapped at it. A solid blob now, it seemed to have merged with the floor. Bonnie swallowed a smile at Kai's confusion. He looked vulnerable. She was confused as hell but tried to keep that from showing on her face.
"No, no-" Kai said. "Undo it. What-" Kai's mouth was left open with no sound coming out.
"Loophole, that's the word you're looking for? That's under your feet. I'm sure you'd know how to change it back. With your magic." She taunted him, knowing she had the upper hand.
"Fix it!"
"I can't. I didn't finish the spell."
The power she felt. It overwhelmed her senses. The last time she felt like this was when she stabbed him in 1903 and left him behind. This… Was something else. She saw his face turn from annoyance to calm indignation.
"Maybe I should turn Damon into a pile of dry bones. Maybe then you'll figure out something." Kai said. "I don't have magic, I'll turn to the next thing I have-" Kai shot out his right arm to point behind him to Damon.
Without thinking Bonnie grabbed his arm with her hand and shouted "No!"
Although it didn't look like Kai was going to use his magic, although she had no reason to believe she was going to win a physical fight with him she had to do something to protect Damon. Bonnie looked at her hand and back at Kai's face, seeing from the corner of her eye Kai's face following the same trajectory. She pulled her hand away cradling it in her other hand.
Kai smiled broadly at her and she felt her skin prickle with awareness of how close he was. He wasn't much closer than he had been from when he took out the Lerethum but something in the air had changed. Kai's smile faded as his eyes narrowed down at her.
"What did he do, Bon? For you not to give up on him?" He asked. "You know. Sometimes I wondered," he said, giving her a measured look.
Kai reached his hands out to hers and intuitively she pulled her hands behind her back. He moved closer, pushing her waist with the palms of his hands so her back pushed against the column, effectively locking her hands behind her.
Smart move, Bonnie chided herself while her ire at Kai sparked.
For a moment they stood still as Bonnie felt her anger cascading out of her ready to be channeled out. She opened her mouth at the same time Kai bent his face down and closed the gap between them, taking hold of her mouth with his. He kept his lips in place at first, as if savoring the contact. Slowly he started moving them, giving her lazy, short kisses. To Bonnie's horror she responded by her arms going limp, her brain on freeze, too shocked to respond. Kai moved to lick her lower lip, then put it in his mouth, sucking and tugging at it. Too gently for anything she'd expect.
Bonnie murmured out a startled cry but because his mouth was on hers what came out was a sharp and stifled "mm". Kai moaned into her mouth in response. The sound woke Bonnie up from her daze.
"Motus." She said at the same time she broke the kiss, pulling her lips forcefully from him. Kai flew backwards a few feet.
"What's wrong with you?!" She said, vaguely aware her tone was more suited to a guy making an unwelcome advance rather than a murderous villain. Bonnie wiped the back of her mouth and regretted it immediately, thinking that more of Kai was over her. Her lips tingled.
Kai looked at her face, down her body and up to her face again, his face blank. He raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth, still saying nothing. He took a few steps away, took one more glance at her, and vamp disappeared.
What was that? She didn't dream it. No, definitely not. She wasn't getting enough sleep but this wasn't a hallucination. What just happened didn't make sense but everything else was normal. She was at the Mystic Grill and now that Kai was no longer there she was able to hear cars driving by and see people walking outside, only their figures showing through the lowered blinds.
Bonnie looked around her, making sure Kai was gone, and took a deep breathe. She needed to sit down with her thoughts. She and Damon weren't able to finish the spell. Kai was still out there without magic – for now.
Wait - Damon. Bonnie's attention turned to him and she headed over to him.
"Damon. Damon!" She couldn't see him under the heap of metal and glass. She moved a few pieces of broken metal but some were too heavy and broken glass was everywhere. Damon wasn't showing any signs of waking up. Bonnie didn't doubt he'd wake up eventually. Something told her Kai would take his time to make her suffer. Somehow for that he'd have patience. But Damon would be too heavy for her to carry in the state she was at and in front of witnesses she couldn't compell. She was going to have to call for help.
She was able to get a hold of Stefan and gave him enough details so he would rush over. Stefan said he'd be right there and ended the call.
Bonnie walked over to the hardened silver puddle and put her hand over it, trying to reshape it to its previous form. She was so out of juice she was only able to get it to bubble up a little. She touched it. It was definitely molded to the floor. If Stefan wouldn't be able move it she would cast a spell to protect it from being affected by other magics. She didn't want Kai to get to it. At least he didn't have his magic for now. But he wouldn't be less dangerous without it, her thoughts cautioned her.
Why did he kiss her? Did he put a spell- No, he couldn't have done that. The way he left made her feel he hadn't plan to kiss her. Oh no. No no no. He kissed her. She felt utterly disgusted.
Stefan arrived and picked Damon up, taking in the destroyed Mystic Grill.
"What happened?"
Bonnie opened her mouth and the only word she could say was "Kai." Stefan looked at the dummy that still remained in place somehow and sighed. "You went to him didn't you?"
Bonnie started to answer and Stefan cut her off.
"I knew I should've kept an eye on you both. I'm going to take him back to the house. Are you gonna be OK getting there?" He asked.
"Yeah. I think he's gone."
"You're sure?"
She remembered Kai's blank face after he kissed her. "A witch's intuition," she said with a nod.
Stefan was able to remove what remained of the Lerethum with him, Bonnie promising she'd explain what happened when she'd get to Salvator House. Vampire friends sometimes did come in handy.
After Stefan left Bonnie stood for a moment, taking the scene in and replayed the fight in her mind. Think about strategies, she told herself. Think about what you do from here. About what on earth happened? Maybe she could use this, but what was this? Kai was unpredictable and unstable.
As she surveyed the room she felt pride. It maybe didn't fit with the destruction of the restaurant but she felt strong. She felt good that she held her own in this fight. Nothing compared to her and Kai's last confrontation. She wasn't herself at that face off. Talk about something that didn't make any sense. She must've been in some kind of mental block that she tried nothing except casting Ossox twice. But she didn't know then how powerful Kai was. She couldn't underestimate him.
She wasn't looking forward to talking with her friends about what happened. She figured that Damon was going to tell Stefan everything eventually even if she hadn't called him, which meant everyone was going to find out. She was going to tell them – almost – everything. She knew they'd have many questions. She was sure some of them would overlap with her own.
A/N
We were robbed of a proper Bonnie/Kai faceoff in season 6 finale... Bonnie deserved better (I've said that a lot while watching Vampire Diaries).
Thank you for reading.
Anonymous reviewer: You know, I didn't watch season 7 or 8 so I don't know if this idea came up. I suppose it may be an option, just not the route I'm thinking of going here.
Updated 3/31/2018 light editing
