Chapter 3

Terms and Conditions

"You know, that may have been a tad harsh, Bonnie's not a bitch," Kai mused. "In fact, I kind of miss her." Damon's hand clenched tighter to his phone. He heard a distinct crack and made himself loosen his grip. "It almost makes me wish I'd brought her along, instead of stabbing her with my sister's knife. Oh well," Kai continued. Damon could practically see him now, his smug wide grin, silvery eyes gleaming manically as he postured and rambled on. "See Damon, I'm chock full of magic right now. That Traveler spell sure was yummy. I'm guessing it's going to last me a while, but not forever and I do have a merge to w- You know, hold that thought." He was greeted to silence, and then Damon could hear a sudden scuffle in the back ground, several grunts and the distinct sound of Kai muttering something, then nothing. "Kai? What's going on over there?" Damon shouted into the phone. He could feel his head pounding. Why did this have to be happening? God, would his life ever not be one series of fucked up occurrences after another? "I swear to God, if you've done somethi—", Kai cut him off once again sounding slightly out of breath, "You'll what Damon?" he drawled into the phone, "You'll come at me with your big bad fangs and growl at me?" Kai laughed into the phone at him, "oops sorry, forgot, that's werewolves." Damon had never wanted to kill someone more. "Look, this is simple," he continued, "I know Bonnie sent you her magic. I want it or Elena dies. See? Simple." Damon was shocked motionless. He had been pacing on the threadbare Persian rug and now had to clutch the low table he'd been working at to keep himself from crushing the tiny phone altogether. "I have no idea what you're talking about," Damon began slowly, trying to surmise exactly what Kai knew. After the trip to Oregon, and the run in with the Gemini Coven patriarch Joshua Parker which that had turned out well, he'd stored Mrs. Cuddles in a bag in the trunk of his car. When the bear had accidentally revealed Papa Parker's cloaking spell he'd known something was up. Only Bonnie would think a stuffed piece of cotton was her best hiding place for something as important as her magic. "How would I have Bonnie's magic? The last I checked, she wasn't here." Damon continued snidely. Kai audibly scoffed into the line, "Give me a break, Damon. I know she sent her magic over in that ridiculous bear. I was there with her, remember? And whether you knew that she'd put her magic in cute widdle Mrs. Cuddles or not, you'd have saved it." Kai laughed into the phone again, "You and the witch are close like that." Damon's mind was racing. He couldn't give Kai the bear, it took Bonnie so much to regain her magic and to just hand it over to the psychopath she'd undoubtedly risked her life trying to keep trapped in the Other Dimension? Just so Kai could maybe have the strength to win his freaky 'twin merge witchy woo-woo thingy'? No way. He'd already failed Bonnie so many times, especially by leaving her behind in that hellhole again, he couldn't betray her now. She'd trusted him with it, with her magic, and for once he was going to do the right thing. But first he had to get Elena away from Kai. "You're right I have the bear, but before I do anything I need to know Elena's alive." Damon spoke. He heard Kai speak to someone away from the mouthpiece and then Elena was breathing into Damon's ear, "Damon? Is that you?" Damon felt relief pour through his entire body. "Elena, are you alright? I'm going to figure this out okay, just hold on-." Elena's next words came out in a jumble, fading out rapidly as the phone was snatched from her hands, "Damon! I'm at the old Lock- " Her voice was abruptly cut off by a sharply spat out, "mortem torquent!"A slight rustle came through the line and then Damon was greeted with Kai's voice once more, "Sorry about that, I didn't want her giving away too much, we were just starting to have fun. Although now I have to wait for her to wake back up, she's not much fun dead. Ah, the many marvels of vampire magic," Kai sounded slightly winded, as if killing Elena with magic had drained him. Good Damon thought grimly. A powerless Kai was definitely better than a powerful Kai. "Besides, I can't have you trying to play misguided hero and actually attempting to rescue her or anything," Kai went on, "So this is it for now and hey, don't stress I'll find you. Oh and Damon? I suggest you go and collect a certain magic filled memento as soon as you can. I'm going to love practicing some fun spells on your girlfriend here while I wait."

Alaric could hear the frantic pounding coming from his front apartment door. The statuesque brunette on the couch froze with an almost empty glass raised partway to her wine stained lips. Alaric set the now empty take out containers back on the small coffee table and started towards the front door only when he heard a familiar voice shouting frantically though the thin barrier. "Ric! Open this damn door. Look I'm sorry I compelled you , I just-" Damon stumbled forward and smacked into an invisible barrier that prevented him from entering the apartment as Alaric swung the door open wide. "What the -? Invite me in damn it," Damon hissed at him as he clung to the door frame, body tensed to spring inside. "No!" A stern feminine voice emitted from inside the candle lit room. "We don't know what he's doing here Alaric, just wait a minute," she continued, heading towards the front door to stand in front of Damon simultaneously linking hands with the sandy haired man next to her. Damon's eyes flicked towards the joined hands and met the woman's eyes with a slight sneer to communicate her silent claim meant nothing to him. "I see your still around," he said leaning nonchalantly on the threshold, "Gosh what was your name Doc? Janette? Jean? Never mind, don't care. As I've been saying, I doubt you'll last long enough for it to matter and Alaric, what the hell? I'm uninvited now? That was quick. Rude." Alaric sputtered between the intensely glaring vampire to his left and the silently fuming woman to his right before heaving a sigh, stepping back, and opening the door fully, "Just get the hell inside Damon, I'm obviously going to need a drink for this." Damon quickly shouldered his way past the stiff woman in front of him and made his way to the bottle on the table. He promptly brought the bottle to his lips and took a healthy few swallows, setting it back down on the table with a slight grimace. Damon wiped the back of his mouth with his sleeve and stared the woman right in the eyes, "Bit dry for me, I prefer bourbon myself. " He scanned her up and down briefly before continuing, "So it's good you're here actually, you feeling witchy Janine? Because you could say I've got a serious problem I'm betting you can help me with it," he intoned. "Cut it out Damon," Alaric interrupted, "you know her name. If you're going to barge in here after what you did and ask for a favor at least try not being a total dick," he finished, going to sit on the worn overstuffed couch next to the rigidly perched doctor. Damon heaved a sigh and ran both hands across his head, tossing back a few wayward, dark strands, "Fine Jo, I'd very much appreciate your help in bringing down your psycho twin because he's currently kidnapped Elena you know my compelled ex-girlfriend," he shot Ric a look, which promptly cause Ric to roll his eyes, "and is seriously power hungry after his 20 year sabbatical, so he needs to die." Damon squared his shoulders and cut off a rising Jo, "Look," he started, "I'm not asking for permission anymore. Kai crossed one line too many and now he needs to die." Jo slowly sat back down, her face visibly paling and reached for the almost empty wine bottle on the table. "Okay so we kill Kai," Jo began slowly, much to Damon's surprise, after setting the bottle down with shaking hands, "but we need to get Elena away from him and drain any magic he's got left." Jo's steely eyes met Damon's and she spoke the next words slowly, as if to make sure he didn't miss anything, "if we're going to kill Kai, we're going to do it my way. He wants to merge. We'll merge. I'm tired of running from him."