Chapter Two

She ran into Kai sooner than she expected. She was sitting at the dining table in the Salvatore kitchen, chatting with Elena while sipping her coffee when she heard the door open. Bonnie instantly rolled her eyes because she knew exactly who it would be. She didn't have to see him to feel his presence. Elena only watched her with wonder in her eyes and when Kai stepped into the kitchen, she realized that Bonnie had just recognized him by his footsteps. She looked at her with a smug grin and Bonnie had to hit her arm for her to drop it before she mentally prepared herself for Kai's unstoppable babbling.

It never came though. He only noted to her that he was hitting the grimoires in the library and disappeared again. He didn't even make her join him like he usually did. Bonnie looked at Elena in question, but the brunette only shrugged, not seeing the problem. Maybe she was right, maybe Bonnie was thinking too much into all of it and Kai had just learned how to behave around her. But even though she tried to tell herself that, while she got up to join him in the library, she didn't believe herself.

When she entered the dark room, she found him at the small table in the corner of the room. He was facing her with his back and seemed to be focused on something written in the book in front of him. On her way over to him, Bonnie grabbed one of the other grimoires and dropped it on the table next to Kai making him startle.

"Jesus, are you trying to kill me?", Kai said, a little out of breath.

"Sorry, I didn't even see you there.", Bonnie scoffed and plopped down on the chair next to Kai which made him wince once more.

"What the hell is going on with you this morning?", Bonnie asked scornfully. It was not like she bothered but it was odd how he was so easily scared today, considering that he was the almighty big bad coven leader and all.

"Nothing, I just didn't sleep that well, okay?", Kai responded in defense.

Bonnie turned her head lightly to have a better look at him. He did seem a little tired, there were light shadows forming underneath his eyes and even though he was looking down at the pages in front of him, Bonnie noticed that he wasn't reading them. It seemed like he was lost in his thoughts. What could possibly have happened to make Kai Parker lose his cool like that?

Bonnie wasn't in the mood to ask him and so she refocused her energy on finding a solution to the problem. They spent the first few hours in more or less complete silence, which was actually more comfortable since they didn't waste so much time arguing. It was also odd because she never thought it would be possible to spend an entire morning with Kai and not get her ear talked off. He tended to do so.

At noon, Elena crashed their little silent party and kidnapped Bonnie into the kitchen where she was about to make some lunch. When she was done, she also invited Kai to join them but he declined. Another weird thing since he would never decline food. Was he sick or something?

Bonnie wanted to slap herself for worrying about him like that. What difference would it make if he was sick? She didn't care about him, she didn't necessarily need him to look through the grimoires, she could do that herself and maybe ask for Caroline's help if it really came down to it.

When they resumed their work, she kept glancing at him but she couldn't find any indication to an illness. Maybe he was acting like this only due to lack of sleep. In the late evening hours, as they had spent yet another day without finding a solution, Bonnie closed the grimoire and sighed. There was still time to research further but she figured that she and Kai could use a break.

Bonnie told him to stay at the Boarding House, to grab one of the free rooms and get some rest. Not because she cared, she told herself, but because he was more useful with 100 % of his focus on the subject at hand. Before she went to bed herself, she went up to Damon's room where Elena was watching TV. The two girls had a little talk about this and that before Bonnie felt the exhaustion catching up with her. Maybe the weird dream from last night had drained her more than she thought. She quickly hugged Elena and went back to the room she had occupied last night.

As soon as her head hit the pillows she was out. Her last thought was that tonight, she would have a dreamless night.

Which she didn't. The feeling she had felt during last night's dream had instantly returned as she found herself in a dark corner of some house. She shivered a little from the cold air that filled the room. In the far she could see small windows at the very top of the walls. She figured that she was in some sort of basement and started pacing around.

There were shelves, filled with preserving jars, milk and orange juice cans and other utensils for a household that seemed to have at least one child since she also found diapers. As she looked around in the small room, she heard the door to the upper floor being opened.

There was a dark male voice saying something in a harsh tone and the sound of feet getting dragged across the floor. The voice of a kid that sounded desperate and pleading filled Bonnie's ear and she shivered again, but not from the cold. Then the door got slammed.

For a while it was completely silent in the basement and Bonnie wondered if the kid had disappeared again but then she heard the scuffling of two feet as the kid went down the small wooden staircase into the basement. Bonnie tried to hide further into the corner she was hiding in, not wanting to get seen. Then she caught a glimpse of the boy in the corner of her eye and she turned around to take a closer look.

The boy from last night was now sitting on the wooden stair, arms resting in his legs and his hands up to hold his head. His facial expression was a mixture of a pout and honest desperation. He was wearing cargo shorts and a demin jeans jacket. In comparison to the last time she saw him, he looked a little out of time, but the 90s were coming back heavily, weren't they? Somehow Bonnie got the feeling this wasn't his first time down here. Slowly, not to scare him, Bonnie stepped out of the dark and peeked around the corner.

"Hey there champ.", Bonnie whispered, and the kid looked up into her direction. It took him a second to recognize her but then his facial expression lit up.

"Bonnie? Is that you?"

"In the flesh!", Bonnie went to stand in front of the boy and took in his features in detail. He didn't seem to be much older than the last time she saw him, but he seemed a little thinner. He hadn't been a bulky kid before, but now he seemed more fragile.

"What are you doing here?", the boy wants to know. "How did you get into my house?"

"Oh, so this is your house, heh? I was wondering where I ended up." Bonnie pointed at the place right next to the child and he scooted over so Bonnie was able to sit down next to him. "I'm not too sure why I'm here again but maybe it has to do with you?"

"Me? Why me?"

"Not sure, but this is the second time I pop up and the only constant between the two events is you. Haven't talked to anyone else, haven't seen anyone else. Just you." Bonnie lightly bumped her side into his to lighten his dark mood, but it only seemed to make him brood more.

"Then it can't be good. Nothing good ever happens when I'm around.", he said and let his head hang low.

Bonnie wasn't too experienced when it came to talking to kids. The only kid she actually knew was her neighbor's little daughter and she only ever told her about her newest toy when Bonnie passed her by. This kid didn't seem to be too worried about new toys, it seemed like he had real issues. Bonnie swallowed and decided to just go for it. This was only just a dream slash vision, this wasn't real or wasn't real yet, so there was no way she would screw this up.

"Wanna tell me why you are down here when you can be up there playing games?", Bonnie asked.

The boy sighed. Maybe he wouldn't open up to her, after all she had only seen him once before. She wouldn't talk to her either if she were in his shoes. But she felt oddly connected to the kid already and maybe he was feeling the same.

"Even if I could get back up there, I wouldn't be able to play. We have magic lessons right now and dad doesn't allow us to skip. It takes the entire afternoon and after that my sister is always so tired that she doesn't want to play anymore.", the boy explained.

"And you aren't?", Bonnie kept asking to get the whole picture.

"No, I never make it to the end of the lesson. I mostly screw up and dad gets angry and tells me to go to the basement until he is done with Josie." His voice was filled with sadness and something else, disappointment. The weird thing is that he seemed to be disappointed in himself.

Bonnie started to feel furious with the father of the boy. She hadn't even met the guy, but she knew if she did, she would have to hold herself back from punching his face. How could he punish his kid like this for something that he had no control over? Witchcraft was hard and it took time to learn, Bonnie knew that all too well. Exiling his son into the basement was cruel and completely inefficient. He wouldn't get better a magic if he spent all his time in the cold and dusty cellar.

"Why don't you just leave this place. It's way too wet and dark down here.", Bonnie suggested, trying to get the kid out of this unsettling environment.

"Can't. Dad locked the door. I have to wait until he lets me out."

Bonnie didn't know what was worse, the fact that the boy was locked up down here or that he talked about it like he accepted his fate, like it was his fault. Bonnie suddenly got up and went up to the door to check it.

"What are you doing? It's locked we can't get out. I already tried everything and I don't have magic to open it.", he said.

"Well, but I do.", Bonnie said. She felt it lingering inside her and was positive that she would get them out. The child was on his feet now and took a few steps towards her. His eyes glowed from the prospect of escape.

"What do you say, we get this door opened and sneak out of the house? Maybe we can visit the Fresh quarter and get some ice cream.", Bonnie suggested.

The boy only frowned at her. "French quarter? We're not in New Orleans anymore, Bonnie."

"No? Then where are we?", Bonnie wondered out loud but before the kid could answer her, they both startled because of an angry male voice coming from the other side of the door.

"Who the hell are you talking to?", the voice, that Bonnie recognized from earlier, yelled. The boy's eyes widened and he indicated Bonnie to stay silent.

"No one, sir. I'm talking to myself.", he yelled back.

There was a sound reaching through the wooden door, as someone slammed something, maybe a fist, onto it. "You know the rules. Stay quiet until I get you. You got it?", the deep voice asked angrily.

The body stayed silent and Bonnie watched the poor kiddo as his shoulders started to hang down and his face turned sad again. She wanted to reach out to him and comfort him but the male voice on the other side made her alarm bell ring again.

"MALACHAI, ARE WE CLEAR?"

Bonnie's eyes widened in shock. Everything in her head started overlapping as she looked at the kid once more and realization hit her. The way he was dressed. The way she had found him familiar the first time she looked at him. The way he mentioned his sister Josie. His ocean blue eyes. His eyes. Why hadn't she recognized his eyes? They had been haunting her in her nightmares ever since he had left her in the prison world. There wasn't a day that she didn't see them in her mind and she literally saw them today. It seemed impossible not to notice the connection.

Maybe it had been too hard to see because this kid had shown genuine emotions in his eyes and Kai was an emotionless killer. If any of what she was experiencing right now was true, how the hell did this poor little boy become this ruthless man?

"Yes, sir.", the little version of Kai replied to his father like a little soldier and Bonnie could hear the footsteps leading away from the door.

She couldn't keep her eyes off of him. She was in shock. This was Kai standing in front of her. Poor, innocent Kai. She had felt sorry for the kid a second ago, now she didn't know what she was feeling anymore. What the hell did she get herself into now? She wanted to believe that this was just a dream, but a witch knows when there is more going on. And this was one of those times.

"I think he's gone now.", Kai whispered and was about to turn around again but stopped seeing the expression on her face. "Are you okay?"

Bonnie couldn't say anything, she just kept on staring at him. It seemed to freak the young boy out as he took a few steps backwards. What an irony that he was trying to escape her. Wasn't it the other way around just a few month ago?

"I- I think I'm leaving again.", Bonnie finally got out the words as she felt a drag on her inner core.

"So soon? Am I going to see you again?", Kai looked a little disappointed.

"I'm not sure.", she lied because she knew exactly that he would see her again, but she couldn't say anything else because she awoke in her bed, once again covered in sweat and breathing heavily.

Her heart was beating like she had run a marathon and she couldn't move. The shockwave that hit her just a few moments earlier made that impossible. Kai, she had seen Kai in her dream. She had no idea what that meant, and she didn't really know if any of it was real. But it felt so real and the boy had looked just like him. Of course, she couldn't be sure that Kai had actually looked like this when he was a kid and she couldn't very well ask him if he had a photo of himself as a 7-year-old. She needed to be cautious. If this was anything else than a simple dream, it meant something. She was supposed to do something, to prevent something or to help someone, normally in the present. But she wasn't seeing things in the present but in the past. How was she supposed to act? She didn't even know if she was really interacting with anyone at all or if it was only her imagination. Maybe she could only be seen by Kai.

Kai. A shiver went down her spine as she thought of the sociopath that was currently residing in one of the other rooms. She remembered him being off the entire day and saying that he had trouble sleeping. Had he experienced the same thing as her? She couldn't risk telling him. If he didn't share the dream with her, he would certainly find a way to taunt her with the information or use her vulnerability in the night to hurt her.

No, she was going to keep her mouth shut until she knew what this was. Unfortunately, she wouldn't have too much time to figure it out since she had more pressing issues at hand. When the thought of Elena popped into her head, she realized that she couldn't waste more time laying around like this. She needed to find a solution and she couldn't do that while being lazy.

So, she got up and ready for the day heading for the library only to find it abandoned. Kai was nowhere to be found and she wondered if he had left the house early in the morning. Or he was sleeping in, after all, the bastard didn't have any good motivation to help her find a solution to the Elena problem. Maybe he got tired of all the reading and left. Something that Bonnie had expected him to do way earlier, if she was honest. Bonnie ignored the little pinch inside her as she thought about the possibility to be in this alone. She hadn't been around many witches in her life, and frankly she'd rather prefer spending her time with any other witch, but Kai was undeniably of her kind. He grew up around witches, even if he didn't have powers of his own back then. He knew about lore and spells beyond Bonnie's imagination. Going through his grimoires had been fascinating for Bonnie and all the different ways to do magic like using the power of stars or creating magic through the purity of two peoples' emotions, not even needing to say the spell out loud, Bonnie had found out about were amazing. There was so much she hadn't known and Kai, as uncomfortable as it was being around him, gave her the feeling of belonging somewhere.

Bonnie shook her head as she realized what she was thinking. Kai didn't mean anything to her and he didn't have any redeeming qualities, so he wasn't helping her do anything.

Bad for her he was in the possession of important grimoires that seemed to have vanished along with him. Bonnie rolled her eyes and searched the room not finding anything. She even tried a search-spell even though she knew that it wouldn't work. Grimoires were highly guarded objects. Every witch was keen on making it as hard to steal as possible.

Bonnie sighed and decided that she would get upstairs again and search the room he had stayed in, maybe he left them behind. She had no idea in which room he had stayed so she just burst into every single one, not trying to be careful. After she entered the third room, she stopped though. There he was, lying in the bed and sleeping with a grimoire dragged across his chest. The other books lay on the side of his bed. Bonnie was surprised to see him here, she had figured that he had left but from the looks of it, he had been studying the books for a long while.

Bonnie moved closer to the sleeping sociopath, now very keen on being silent. She told herself that she didn't want to wake him because she didn't want to put up with his morning grumpiness, a thing she remembered he had from spending so much time around him in '94. When she had reached the side of his bed, she took a closer look at him.

He looked drained, even though he was sleeping. Bonnie wondered how long he had been up in the night for looking so tired. But he also looked cute. His features were completely relaxed and he looked about 5 years younger. Bonnie was suddenly spooked when she realized this. It reminded her of her dreams and of baby-Kai. The boy had been so sweet and adorable, she couldn't believe that he would turn out to become such a monster. Not that she didn't understand that now. If what she experienced with his dad had really happened, anyone could have ended up snapping in the end. Still, it was no excuse.

Bonnie leaned over his sleeping form and carefully reached for the grimoires on the other side of the bed. She was careful not to make any sound or touch him so he would stay asleep. Luckily, she managed to grab one grimoire without waking him up but it was heavier than she had anticipated and it slipped out of her fingers and fell right onto Kai's stomach.

The warlock started up from his sleep and was sitting in the bed within a second of time. He looked around, confused as to what was going on, and when he finally found Bonnie's face he frowned.

"What- are you doing?", he asked out of breath.

"I-", Bonnie stuttered, feeling like she was caught in the act of doing something illegal. But she didn't, so she shook her head and tried to explain once more. "I was coming for this.", Bonnie said while grabbing the grimoire she just dropped on him.

Kai seemed to need a second to figure out what she was talking about but then his features indicated that he understood. With a groan he let himself fall back into the pillows, covering his eyes with his left hand. "Jesus, I think you gave me a heart attack."

"Don't be overdramatic.", Bonnie scoffed and wanted to turn around and leave but he called out for her to stop.

"Wait, Bonster. I think I found something."

Bonnie quickly turned around as she heard the news and was too excited to call him out to the nickname he used. She went back to the bed and watched Kai drag out an old looking spell book from underneath a pile of other grimoires.

"So, there is this very ancient ex-leader of the Gemini Coven that wrote tons of books on various topics. He was kind of mad, so most of the things he wrote about are crap but when I went through this book-," Kai opened the book on a certain page and Bonnie stooped closer to see properly. "I found this weird text that is written in some gibberish language and I was about to toss it away when I found this."

Kai pointed at some small sign in the corner of the page. The page was so yellowed that it was hard to make out anything and Bonnie had to take the grimoire from Kai's hands to see what he was showing her. The symbol was a rune, whose meaning Bonnie didn't know. "What is this?", Bonnie asked as she looked up from the book and locked gazes with Kai. She handed the book back to him.

"It's a Gemini symbol. Back in the day, coven members used to decode important spells and information so that no one would steal them. Most of the texts were decoded years ago, except for the ones that are deemed too dangerous. The rune is telling us what the text is about in general and that is why I think this might help us."

"Why? What does it show?", Bonnie asked. She was so intrigued by his story that she hadn't realized that she had crawled onto the bed next to him. Kai scooped over a little so that Bonnie was able to sit more comfortably.

"It's a mixture of two ancient runes. One could be translated as 'the cure' and the other stands for Qetsiyah."

"Your ancestor knew Qetsiyah?", Bonnie was surprised.

"I doubt it.", Kai said while turning away from her to reach for his phone. "This dude came way after Qetsiyah. But there used to be a fraction within the Gemini Coven that was obsessed with her work. I think he might have been an important part of them. I can translate the texts, all I need is the codebreaker."

For the first time, Bonnie felt something like hope in their matter. It wasn't much, maybe even nothing, but they had to figure it out. "Good, how long will it take you to translate?"

"The translation will be done in no time, it's the retrieving of the codebreaker that is the problem.", Kai said and typed something into his phone. Then he looked up at her. "And I will need your help to get it."

Bonnie frowned. "My help? What do I have to do with any of this?"

"The codebreakers were all stored in some Gemini archive. As a teenager I was really eager to get my hands on them to use them on some really nasty hexes so my father sealed the archive up, so that I wouldn't be able to get to them."

Bonnie rolled her eyes as she heard about the typical Kai-related drama. "And what am I supposed to do about it."

"Well, actually it was your grams that sealed up the place."

Bonnie stared at him for a while. This was news to her. She knew Grams was involved with the Geminis somehow, but she hadn't realized it was for anything else but creating Kai's prison world. "You need my blood?"

"Ahhh, I wish it were that easy. She sealed the place up with her magic, so I need you to be there to open it."

"Brilliant.", Bonnie commented. "Okay, tell me what I am looking for and I'll go get that stupid book for you."

Kai breathed in, seemingly wanting to say something but he closed his mouth once more.

"What now?", Bonnie asked annoyed.

"You can't go into the archive."

"What? Come on, this is stupid. I know you guys are secretive as hell, but I have read all of the books you have brought lately. I promise not to take anything else. Just give me the location and we can get on with it."

"It's not that. I mean, you are physically not able to get into the archive. It is bound to be only open to members of the Gemini Coven unless you get personally invited into the building by an Elder or the leader. It's a little like vampires and houses, I need to be there to invite you in."

Bonnie looked at him and tried to keep her face as blank as possible. In order for him to decode the text, they would have to go get the codebreaker- together. She kept quiet for a long while and that made Kai talk again.

"I know there is a work around. My father didn't have a Bennett to his disposal 24/7 and he needed the unlimited access to the archives. So, there is a way to get into it without needing Bennett magic but I don't know it. I could find out, but it's gonna take me a while. I know I am not your favorite person,-" Kai handed Bonnie his phone. When she looked at the screen she saw what he was typing in it. He was at some airline website, trying to book two tickets to Seattle for tomorrow. "-so, this is your choice."

It was. She was able to choose if she wanted to make a trip to Seattle with the nemesis sitting next to her, or if she wanted to stay in safe distance to him. It was ironic since she was literally sitting only inches from him, in his bed. When she realized this she suddenly felt uncomfortable and tried to scoop away a little. But she knew she needed this topic figured out sooner rather than later.

It was really not a choice at all. Elena couldn't spend the rest of her now human life within these walls. Bonnie sighed and clicked on the book-button on the website, handing Kai his phone back. He silently took it, nodding to himself.

Bonnie wanted to get out of his bed and as far away from him as possible. But something made her stay. She absentmindedly stared at the closet in front of her, not realizing that Kai had said something.

"Hello, earth to Bonnie. You okay?"

Bonnie turned around to look at Kai. Her eyes locked with his and suddenly she was entranced by the ocean-blues. They were so stormy all the time or shining with mischief but right now she saw honest concern in them. It reminded her of the little boy she saw in her dreams. Maybe he wasn't completely gone after all.

No! What was she doing? What was she thinking? She needed to find a solution to this dream-problem or otherwise spending this much time with Kai would end up being her downfall. She couldn't let herself feel like this about him. Kai was a murderer and not capable of feelings. Bonnie shook her head and tried to get off the bed by moving backwards.

"Yeah, all good.", she started talking while retracing from his side. She didn't anticipate the edge of the bed to come this early, so she couldn't help it when she fell off the bed a second later.

"Ouch.", Bonnie let out as she landed on her ass. Kai's concerned face peaked over the side of the bed.

"You okay?"

Bonnie quickly got up from the floor and cleaned herself up. "Sure. I just- I mean- I have to pack my stuff. I'll- see you tomorrow I guess." Bonnie stuttered, trying not to sound too weird but failing miserably by the looks on Kai's face.

"Yeah, I guess.", he hesitantly replied. Bonnie nodded once more before she awkwardly turned around and left his room. What the hell had just happened? She tried to tell herself that she was only so creeped out because she embarrassed herself in front of Kai, but deep inside her she knew that was not it. She didn't care what he thought of her, so why would she care what he thought about her little fall? Why would she care about him at all?

Instead of getting home and getting her stuff ready, Bonnie ran back to the room in the Boarding House she had stayed in for the last days. She grabbed her grimoire from the bed and tried to find anything on blocking spells. She needed to get rid of these dreams.