A/N: Here's Chapter 2! Hope you all like it—this one brings out more things about Kai's past that will hopefully clarify some things for our favorite Bennett witch! WARNING: the ending is intense and not in a good sense—the following chapter will also be very intense and violent so just a heads up!

RR, please!

#########################################

"Hi."

Kai gulped. "Hi."

Bonnie had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling.

Kai was sweating and his hands were shaking like a leaf—he was clearly extremely nervous and most likely struggling to grasp the foreign emotion—it was oddly comical.

She hated to admit it but aside from the shaking and the sweating, Kai looked—incredibly handsome.

Damn it.

There went those odd, tumultuous feelings again; swirling around in the pit of her stomach and then skyrocketing to her chest where they instantly triggered a very warm, tingly sensation.

She couldn't deal with all this right now! She had to focus on dinner, try to look like she was thrilled to be celebrating and concentrate on being civil and not cordial towards Kai—which for some stupid reason, she was having trouble distinguishing between the two!

"Um, Kai?" Elena's voice broke through the haze and Bonnie's jade green eyes blinked a few times as she cleared her throat awkwardly.

At the sound of his name, Kai finally managed to pull himself out of that bizzare—whatever-the-hell-that-was-foggy haze and took the glasses from Elena.

Turning on his heel, he walked confidently to the dining room and set each glass at its prospective place.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Elena was giving Bonnie one of her classic scrutinizing stares and the Bennett witch squirmed uncomfortably.

"Okay Elena, stop drilling me with your eyes and just ask the question."

"You're acting different; is everything okay?"

Bonnie scoffed, eying her skeptically. "Really. That was the burning question you had in mind?"

"Okay fine." Sidling up to Bonnie, she bent her head low and whispered so that hopefully, neither Kai nor Damon would overhear. "You walk in here, you take one look at Kai and you're speechless."

"What?!" Bonnie hissed incredulously, tiptoeing to reach the top of the wine rack.

"Uh yeah. And you were gawking at him—like up-and-down gawking."

Bonnie shook her head, grunting and straining her arm to reach the bottle of wine.

Suddenly, a long, hard body lightly pressed up against her back as a hand reached above her, successfully grasping the bottle of wine.

She knew better than to assume it was Damon—Damon didn't smell like hot cinnamon spice and whiskey.

Her back instantly stiffened and she held her breath as the warm body shifted away from her, wine still in hand.

Turning, she came face-to-face—with Kai's chest. If she'd been fair-skinned, her cheeks would've doubtlessly gone up in flames—at any rate, they were already burning with embarrassment at his close proximity and she didn't dare meet his eyes until she'd taken a few seconds to compose herself.

"Sorry." His deep voice stirred her insides and she suppressed the urge to squirm.

"I just—noticed you were straining a bit so—thought I could help." He lightly tossed the wine bottle up, letting a modest smile curve his lips upwards before turning away, taking the wine to the table.

"Uh, thanks." Bonnie called somewhat uncertainly after him and when he tossed a lopsided grin over his shoulder at her, a shiver shot through her body and she turned her back, groaning in frustration.

"Okay. That? That, was not 'nothing.' That was definitely something. Bon, what's going on?"

Bonnie leaned heavily on the counter with her palms, brushed the back of her hand across her cheek and sighed heavily.

"I don't—I don't know Elena. I really don't! Honestly, if I had even a clue of what the hell was going on with me, I'd tell you believe me. I just—I can't."

Pouring a small shot glass of bourbon, Elena handed it to Bonnie then pulled up a stool and settled down next to her.

"Okay. I'm not trying to dig into your personal life Bonnie and who knows, I may not even know what the hell I'm talking about but—maybe—I don't know, the way you're acting right now? The way you've been acting whenever Kai's around—reminds me a lot of how I started acting around Damon when I—started to feel things."

She was expecting a venomous protest from her best friend but to her surprise, Bonnie just turned and looked at her with an expression of guilt and defeat.

She already knew.

"Look, Bon I could be totally wrong on this one but—I don't know I'm just telling you what it looks like from where I'm standing."

"Yeah—I know. I'm not upset, 'Lena I'm just—really really confused." She downed the shot of bourbon, wiped the corners of her mouth with her fingers, and then let out a half-hearted laugh.

"I just—I don't know how to put a name to what I'm feeling, you know?"

Elena nodded her head in understanding but then she gave a definitive shake of the head as she poured her own glass of bourbon.

"You can't. Trust me, I tried—so many times to figure out just what exactly it was that I felt for Damon and why; but I never had an answer! And the more time I spent with him, I just ended up all the more confused—not to mention guilty."

"Because you were with Stefan."

"Yeah! I mean—I was in love with Stefan and I knew that without a doubt but—"

"But you still couldn't get Damon out of your head."

Elena looked at her and the two young woman shared a kindred moment.

"It was—one of the hardest times in my life but—what helped is when I realized and acknowledged that I did feel something for Damon; when I stopped denying it and running from it. That's when I started to get clarity and even though I still wasn't sure what those feelings were, it really helped me to gain perspective."

Bonnie sighed heavily, combing a bit of hair out of her eyes. "Well—I guess that's why I needed you to talk to; I mean Caroline's not here and even if she was—she'd most likely flip her shit and then scream at me for being out of my mind."

"Aaaaand then she'd call me up and try to convince me that we needed to do an intervention." Both women laughed knowingly at the neurotic tendencies of their blond friend and experienced a tinge of sadness as Caroline's presence was greatly missed.

"Okay! Ladies, dinner's on the table so—shall we?" Damon clapped his hands together as he ushered the two women into the dining room.

Bonnie noted that Kai was already seated and after exchanging a private look with Elena, she squared her shoulders and moved to the seat next to him.

To her surprise, when Kai spotted her, he stood to his feet and pulled her chair back for her. His gentlemanly behavior baffled her but what was even more astounding is he made it look like the most natural action in the world for him.

She chanced a glance at Elena who was hiding a smile—and Damon who only stared raised brows and a blank expression.

"Thank you." She said softly when Kai pushed her chair and she was rewarded with a timid smile as he seated himself once again.

The rest of dinner went on smoothly with an easy flow of pleasant conversation and only two slightly awkward lapse of silence.

As much as Bonnie didn't want to admit it, celebrating tonight had been a good idea and she was enjoying herself quite thoroughly when dessert came around.

It was Angel Food cake with a sinfully thick chocolate fudge frosting and when Bonnie licked the decadent frosting from her fork, her eyes fluttered closed and she moaned in pleasure.

"Oh. My god. Elena, this is—sinful. No, this is criminally forbidden!"

Damon butted in between mouthfuls. "Actually—this decadent sin is Kai's creation so if anyone's getting arrested, it should be him."

Bonnie paused mid-chew and her eyes slid over to Kai who was presently staring at his plate—and blushing. Furiously.

She nearly choked in disbelief—whether because he'd made such a delicious dessert, or because he was blushing—she wasn't sure; maybe it was both.

"Well this is—amazing." She waited for him to meet her eyes, then offered him a small smile.

Kai shrugged modestly. "It's nothing really, just an old family recipe."

Damon cocked his eyebrow skeptically. "I honestly wouldn't have pictured Papa Gemini as the chef."

Kai let out a sarcastic scoff. "That's because 'daddy dearest' never set foot in the kitchen—the recipe would be my mother's."

The room feel silent; at the mention of Kai's mother, a look of regret passed through his dark eyes and his voice took on an edge of reverence mixed with despair.

Bonnie watched him intently and her heart twinged in sympathy.

"Well I think I ate a little too much of the Salmon filet—"Kai pushed back from the table and stood to his feet. "So I think I'm gonna walk this off." He let out a half-hearted chuckle as he excused himself—ignoring Bonnie's intense stare as it followed him out.

"He's—never mentioned his mother before." Bonnie's voice was quiet as she looked across the table at Damon and Elena.

"Maybe there's something extremely personal about his mom." Elena offered.

"There's always something personal about mothers—especially mothers and sons; take it from one who knows." Damon's eyes took on a far off look as he quietly sipped on his bourbon.

Bonnie stared at her lap, then bit the corner of her mouth and stood to her feet.

"B-Bonnie?"

Bonnie paused in doorway and turned towards Elena. "It's okay, Elena—I'm—just gonna go check on him."

With that, Bonnie headed for the front door—squaring her shoulders and hoping to God, she wasn't making a mistake.

# # # #

She found Kai with his back to the door, leaning against the railing and for a split second, she wondered how she hadn't noticed how broad his back was, until now.

"Hey."

Kai's head snapped around, clearly surprised to find Bonnie standing there.

When he said nothing, Bonnie bit her lower lip, trying to hold back a smile—she failed.

"You seemed a little tense in there…"

Kai's mouth widened into a charismatic smirk.

"You came to check on me—now that's ironic, Bon Bon, considering me heading for a walk, gives you an automatic out from having to play the "cordial dinner guest" for your friends." He made air quotations as he said this which elicited a snort from Bonnie as moved to stand beside him.

"Yeah well—I always keep my promises but—to be honest, I haven't been having a—terrible time."

His dark eyes snapped in her direction, alight with mirth and curiosity. "Really?" He half-whispered conspiratorially. "I'm—fascinated."

Bonnie rolled her eyes as he punctuated every syllable and shoved him with her shoulder before even thinking about it. "Don't read too much into it."

Her voice was laced with disdain but her lips curved upwards into a begrudging smile, causing Kai to snort bemusedly to himself.

"So. You heading for a walk or…?"

He pushed off from the railing, shoving his hands in his pockets as he let out a long breath.

"Yeah, why not."

"Care for some company?"

He stopped at the bottom stair, his body angled half-way towards her. "Are you sure about that? I mean it's getting kinda late—lots of woods around here I mean, aren't you afraid of me dragging you off somewhere?"

Bonnie deadpanned and she glared at him dryly.

"Too soon?" His expression was already dipping into a sheepish apologetic frown when she reached the stair next to him.

"Yeah. Yeah, maybe just—just a tad." She pinched her index finger and thumb together and tossed him a withering look before heading down the rest of the way.

Once they'd reached the sidewalk, they fell in step with each other, though neither one seemed confident enough to break the silence.

They went on for a ways like this until they were just about to reach the grass and Bonnie halted.

"Okay I—these need to—come off." She grunted as she effortlessly gripped Kai's shoulder with one hand to steady herself, then pulled off her heels one by one, flexing her toes as she did so.

"Oh my god—so much better." She breathed in relief as her hand slipped from his shoulder and she bent over to pick up her shoes with the other.

"Okay, please—please explain something to me; why in hell do you women wear shoes that are clearly unbelievably painful, if you're just gonna end up taking them off before the day is out, anyway? Correct me if I'm wrong but, there's no logic there."

Bonnie rolled her eyes but she couldn't fight down a small smirk.

"Do you have any idea how many guys have asked me that?"

"Mmmhm, so what do you tell them?"

"I tell them all the exact same thing I'm about to tell you—and I'm only gonna say this once, so pay attention."

Kai wanted to laugh at her sudden seriousness but he bit it back.

"Heels make a woman's legs look hot and sexy. But not only that, they make her feel hot and sexy and for a woman, that's kinda huge especially when we spend the other twenty hours of every day, criticizing ourselves and hating almost everything else about our massively imperfect bodies.

Not only that, but we notice how men look at a woman who's wearing heels; Hm? You've probably done it—her hips sway a bit more when she walks, that unmistakable 'click click' of the heel just demands attention wherever we go and for those of us—like me—who are on the shorter side, the heels give us a bit more height which also serves in making us feel a bit more powerful and good about ourselves—even if it's just for those few hours, it's worth it to us."

Kai's brows pinched together in confusion and he scratched his chin. "Okay. So let me get this straight. You wear painful shoes—because you look in the mirror every morning and you think you look hideous and the shoes—make you feel better…?"

At this, Bonnie guffawed and it took a few minutes for her to compose herself.

Kai couldn't resist admitting how much he loved her laugh—it made him feel crazy and warm which was an unfamiliar sensation—but definitely one he liked.

"Something like that—a little less drastic but yeah, you get the idea."

She looked over at Kai and was a bit surprised to find a deep scowl darkening his usually boyish features.

"O—kay that look? Not likin' the look, Kai."

He gave her a sidelong glance and the scowl softened but his lips were still pressed together in a hard line.

"I'm having a bit of an issue with your—reasoning behind heeled shoes."

"Okay…? Well it's not that big of a deal, Kai; it's a girl thing, I don't expect you to get it."

He shook his head slightly, fixing his eyes straight ahead as they continued walking. "Nah, I just—I don't see how someone like you could look in the mirror every morning and think you needed to fix it."

Bonnie's footsteps suddenly stopped and she stared at his back.

"Okay, what? What the hell are you talking about? I was just talking about heels and why we wear them, I—"

Kai's steps eventually halted as well and he turned around to face her. His expression was calm and a bit matter-of-fact as he spoke. "No, I get it; you find imperfections with yourself so you do whatever you can to avoid them. I just happen to find you incredibly beautiful so when you put you and 'imperfection' in the same sentence, it frankly sounds really ridiculous to me. That's all."

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and an honest smile curved the corners of his mouth upwards.

Bonnie gasped. Of all the things Malakai could have said to her, that was the last thing on earth she would have ever expected.

But Kai didn't seem to notice her shock and waved his hand dismissively. "But I digress, you were conveying the whole concept of the heels—which is what I asked and what I got so—still really confused, but I think I got the gist." His trademark boyish smirk returned as he faced forward and continued walking.

"You coming?" He called as he noticed the brunette still frozen in place, staring at him with an expression that was quite indecipherable.

"Uh—mm, yeah." She shook her head as if to clear it of muddled thoughts and jogged a little to catch up with him.

They resumed their evening stroll and after a long period of stifling silence, Bonnie decided to break the ice. "So um—you've never mentioned your mother before. I guess—I guess that I sort of assumed that your family wasn't really high on your list of interests…"

Kai's eyes grew wistful and Bonnie gulped in disbelief at the poignant emotion evident in his eyes—she was still adjusting to this whole Kai-with-feelings thing and she wasn't sure if it was getting easier.

"The truth?—I wasn't always like this, Bonnie. Well. Like I used to be, you know the whole sociopath thing." He let out a chuckle at this and Bonnie just shook her head; he found humor in the most morbid things—at least that hadn't changed.

"See, most people believe that you have to be born this way—but I wasn't. When I was seven, I came home one day from school and—I could hear my parents yelling at each other, right when I got off the bus. You know it's funny? You never really think about arguments meaning anything at that age because you know you—you fight with your siblings or Tommy baker next door, over something stupid and then in the next ten minutes, you're back to playing in the sand box or whatever, like—nothing happened." He was smiling but it didn't reach his eyes.

"So whenever I heard my parents arguing—I just assumed 'oh—mommy hid daddy's keys' or 'daddy broke mommy's favorite vase' but it was never a big deal—because I always assumed that they fought just like kids do."

His eyes had darkened considerably the hint of a smirk was still on his lips and the striking contrast unsettled Bonnie and she felt a chill in the air.

"So I walk in—and there they are!" He let out a maniacal laugh at this and Bonnie shivered, remembering how he always laughed like that, right before he did something insane.

"Both my parents, they're right there in the kitchen—and my dad—he had his hand wrapped around my mother's neck."

Bonnie let out a gasp and she froze.

Kai didn't meet her eyes but he must have sensed she'd stopped because his steps halted also.

"I mean he wasn't just holding her—you know? It's like I could see—I have this—crazy memory of his fingers—they were white, like ghost white and I knew he had to be holding her—really tight."

In that moment, his smile completely faded and in the next, his face paled and his eyes took on the most mournful of expressions as he relieved the worst day of his life.

"See the thing is—my mom did something wrong. She betrayed the coven somehow and—daddy dearest found out. And with him being the leader and all, well it was up to him to—make an example of her. And since I was half of the oldest Parker twins, he knew that there was a 50/50 chance that I'd be the next leader of the Gemini coven."

Bonnie's blood turned cold as she realized where this story was going.

Dear God. She never could've imagined it. She didn't even want to believe it now, even though the ugly horror was staring her right in the face and she was seconds away from being broad-sided—she still steeled herself against it—defiant and unwilling to believe that a parent could do something this horrible to their child.

"So he made me watch. I stood there—too shocked to even move, I guess—and watched him—choke the life out of her."

The air was deathly silent until at length, Kai let out a scoff, his eyes glistening yet harsh as he stared off into the distance.

"There's this old saying—I used to hate it, I thought it was the stupidest thing ever; I think it might be a text in the Bible actually-"By beholding, you become changed.'" Kai let out a humorless laugh. "So cliché, isn't it?" He met Bonnie's eyes for the first time and was completely shocked to find the witch's lip trembling and tears streaming down her face.

His throat constricted and for a moment, he couldn't breathe—he hadn't expected that the story would affect her that much, I mean the girl had most likely seen more death in her short eighteen years, than most people saw in a lifetime—if any of the snippets he'd heard from Damon, were any indication.

Not only that, they weren't exactly friends so it's not like she knew hardly anything about him on that level and she'd made it clear that her feeling towards him was merely tolerance—so why on earth was she crying?

"B-Bonnie?"

Hearing her name seemed to bring the witch a little out of it as her eyes blinked rapidly and clashed wildly with his own.

"I—I'm sorry I—I was just—I thought you were asking about my mother so I—"

"N-no, no it's f-fine!" She furiously brushed away the tears with the back of her hand, suddenly realizing that her makeup was most likely running.

"It's fine, r-really."

Kai felt his chest constrict painfully and the sudden ache to pull her into his arms, was overwhelming—and a little frightening.

"Look, Bonnie—" He took a step towards her but beyond that, he wasn't sure what to do next. If he tried to touch her, she'd probably kill him so that was definitely not the best idea—but—

"I'm s-s-sssorry."

"You're—apologzing? For what?!"

Bonnie let out a shaky laugh, sniffling. "I don't—I don't know; it's silly I guess—I just—I never expected—"

Her voice started to break again and Kai found it was more than he could bear.

"Hey, Bonnie…" Without thinking, his hand reached out and touched her shoulder.

Surprisingly, Bonnie only stiffened at the contact but relaxed in the next moment which gave Kai a bit more confidence that he'd made the right move.

"No really, I'm fine, honestly, Kai I'm—"

The way she said his name sent a shock of electricity through his body; it wasn't laced with malice, annoyance or even pressed through gritted teeth like before, as if it was painful to utter.

She'd spoken it so softly and gently—almost like a caress—it was the closest he'd ever felt to her forgiveness.

"Bonnie—look at me." He took her gently by the shoulders and turned her towards him.

She let out a sigh of defeat, stalling a few more seconds before she finally met his eyes—her face still tear-stained and streaked with smudges of mascara.

He almost smiled at how she'd most likely be horrified if she could see herself now—but he shook his head mentally, realizing that he'd always see her as beautiful, no matter how 'terrible' she might look.

"I didn't mean to upset you—I was just clarifying why I've never mentioned my mother but—clearly, I didn't anticipate that it would—upset you like this so I'm sorry for taking it too far." Sensing he might be pushing it with the physical contact, he slowly let his hands slip from her shoulders and made to take a step back.

However, Bonnie surprised them both when she suddenly reached out and took one of his hands in hers.

The gesture came out of nowhere and Kai had to physically fight the urge to flinch.

Heat and electricity shot up his arm and he briefly wondered if he was the only one affected by it as his eyes suddenly shot up from their joined hands to meet Bonnie's face.

"Don't—apologize anymore. Okay? Please I'm—I'm getting to the point where your—apologies are just piling up and—I don't know how to deal with them all just yet. But I especially don't want you apologizing for this—"

He could sense how much she was struggling to put her emotions into words and as if on reflex, his hand squeezed hers gently.

"I'm the one—who needs to apologize."

He couldn't believe his ears. "Whoa, Bon—"

She held up her free hand. "Don't. Let me finish, alright? –before I change my mind."

He hesitated but nodded nonetheless.

"I need to apologize—because I've made judgements about you—without taking a minute to think about where you might have come from—what your life must have been like. I'm not saying that it excuses everything that you've done—but—I am saying—that it changes how feel about the reasons why."

Kai didn't respond—all he could focus on at the moment was Bonnie's fingers entwined with his and the slight trembling in his hand every time her fingers tightened around his.

"So—I'm sorry."

Kai took a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking. "Listen, Bonnie—if—if apologizing is gonna make you feel better, then—I'll accept it. BUT, just so you know—that doesn't mean I agree with you being the one that needs to apologize and I'm still gonna keep saying sorry."

At this Bonnie sighed and looked away, but a tug on her hand caused her to meet Kai's eyes again.

She was taken aback by the deep emotion reflected there.

"And I'm not gonna stop…until you forgive me."

He moved closer to her as he spoke and Bonnie could feel the subtle heat radiating from his body and his warm breath ghosting across her cheek.

"W-well don't—hold your breath."

Kai's features darkened into a heated stare and when he heard Bonnie's sharp intake of breath, his mouth curved into a boyish smirk.

Hooking his finger under her chin, he tilted her face upwards and looked deeply into her eyes, his own sparkling with laughter.

"Oh com'on, Bonnie—admit it; you're starting to like me—just a little bit."

Bonnie's head felt light and dizzy. "I—you're being ridiculous."

His face was inches from hers now. "Am I?"

"Kai!"

The two were startled by the harsh voice and pulled apart, Kai's eyes flashing to the lone figure standing in the driveway.

"After all this time—the last place I ever expected to find you—was at the Salvatore mansion—with her."

Kai couldn't quite make out the face but somehow—he knew that voice; it was eerily familiar.

"Considering how you tortured her mercilessly for months on end, I was hoping they would've taken care of you by now—at the very least sent you back to where you belong."

Suddenly, Kai's eyes flashed in recognition and Bonnie noticed how his entire body stiffened and his jaw clenched.

"Well, considering you were the one who refused them when they came to you for help, I'm actually not surprised, since I'm the one who found the ascendant and got them to Bonnie, in spite of great bodily injury to myself in the process."

Bonnie watched Kai carefully.

Even though his expression was smoothed into his characteristic go-lucky smirk, she noticed the harsh coldness in his eyes and the tense edge to his voice as he spoke.

"You may have fooled them all into believing that you've changed—but I know better; I've raised you and I've seen what you've become. You're dangerous, Kai and I can't allow you to go free."

"Kai? Who is he?"

Kai's eyes never left the older man's face. "Joshua Parker. My father."

Bonnie's blood went cold and instinctively, she gripped Kai's arm.

"You—you're Bonnie Bennett. The one responsible for releasing my son?"

"Wow!" Kai let out a joyless laugh. "All my life, you told me I was nothing more than an abomination and now, all of a sudden—after you turn me into a sociopath, you call me your son. You are just—you astound me!"

His laugh turned maniacal and he shook his head in disbelief.

"You know—considering the fact that you're still pretty convinced I'm a sociopath—I really wonder what would possess you to come all this way—all by your lonesome." His expression morphed into a look of smug defiance.

Joshua's stoic expression changed into a semblance of a smile before sobering once again.

"And what exactly makes you think—that I came alone?"

In the next moment, dark cloaked figures emerged from the woods, forming a circle as they closed in on the threesome.

Kai's arrogant smirk had long since faded and instinctively, he put an arm in front of Bonnie, protectively pushing her behind his back.

"Kai—who are they."

Bonnie was a tough woman—Kai knew this first hand—and he could tell she was forcing herself to be calm.

He really admired her bravery—but still, the vice-like grip she had on his arm, said it all; she was terrified.

"Aren't you forgetting something? Luke merged with me in an attempt to save Jo—he lost, I won, which means—oh! Automatically makes me the new leader of the Gemini coven?" Kai gasped in mock surprise. "I'm so touched! Seriously, I wasn't expecting this, it's—wow, it's such an honor really, I'm flattered."

If it were at any other time, Bonnie would have rolled her eyes and scoffed in disgust at Kai's incessantly annoying arrogance.

But this was a seriously dangerous situation and now was not the time to get on Kai's bad side.

"We didn't come for you." And Joshua's eyes immediately shifted to Bonnie.

In that moment, all mock amusement and false composure faded from Kai's expression and his blue-grey eyes flashed with the beginnings of stormy rage.

He reached an arm behind his back, protectively gripping her shoulder as he pushed her further behind him—completely shielding her from Joshua's view.

"You so much as touch her—or even breathe on her—and I swear to God, I will forget the promise I made to Mom, the day she died."

Joshua's face visibly darkened at the mention of Kai's mother and his jaw clenched as he took a step towards them.

"You may be the leader, Kai—but I have a responsibility and that is to make sure that the other Gemini blasphemers do not make it out of that prison world; we put them there for a reason, they are dangerous and they will come after us—all of us. Bonnie is a Bennett witch and that means she is the only one with the power to cast the freeing spell—it's her blood that triggers the power of the ascendant and after you're untimely release, I cannot risk her making anymore reckless decisions—"

"I have no intention of ever going back to that place! In case you've forgotten, you created a literal hell to entrap your son for eternity and I'm pretty sure that the 1903 prison world is no coincidence; you could never get me to go back to that place and as for releasing a bunch of crazed vampire-witches, I'd rather die first!"

"Bonnie!" Kai hissed.

"I appreciate your sentiments—but regardless I cannot risk trusting that you'll keep your word; frankly, you're too powerful and far too great of a liability."

Kai fixed a vengeful glare on his father and the rest of the coven and in that moment, he knew—there was only one way that Bonnie was getting out of this alive.

"Bonnie, get inside."

Bonnie balked at his back and tugged on his arm, forcing him to look at her. "Are you insane?! There's at least thirty of them, you cannot be seriously considering taking them all on, by yourself!?"

"Bonnie, this is no time to fight me!" He gritted out; his stormy eyes met her frightened ones and he softened.

"Listen to me—this is the only way you have a chance of getting out of this; get inside, get Damon and—"

"But what about you?"

The worry filling her voice sent a warmth through his body and for a brief moment, he forgot that he was—most likely—about to die, and gave her a genuine smile.

"Don't worry about me, silly; I'm a sociopathic siphoning witch, remember? I've totally got this."

His mouth curved into that boyish arrogant smirk of his—but this time, it didn't reach his eyes at all and that terrified her more than anything.

The coven closed in on them, some of them raising their hands towards the sky and beginning to chant.

Bonnie's eyes darted from Kai's face, to the group of closing assassins and back.

Just then, a door slammed open and Damon appeared. "Bonnie!" He screamed.

Bonnie's eyes flashed to where he stood off in the distance at the base of the porch—his cerulean eyes were filled with terror.

"Bonnie. Go."

Kai's commanding voice brought her back and her eyes flashed to his face once again.

"Bonnie, Get. Inside. Now!" His voice came out louder and this time, he shook her firmly, his eyes darting to the throng of approaching witches.

Bonnie let out an angry gasp, mixed with a whimper of terror as she took one final look at the approaching murderers.

She nodded curtly but just before turning away, she gripped Kai's hand, cupped his cheek and looked straight into his eyes. "You put them down—and then you come back."

The fear for him in her eyes would have made his heart soar, if it weren't for the fact that he would very likely never see her again. But regardless, he nodded, not having the heart to tell her the truth.

Bonnie nodded back and in the next second, her hand slipped from his face and she took off across the lawn as fast as she could.

The witches let out a unified cry as they joined hands and with Joshua Parker leading the way, they set upon Kai with a vengeance.

Aaaaaaand it's a cliff hanger! Sorry guys but I just couldn't resist! It also guarantees that I'll keep you all coming back for more!

Xxooxo!