"Something is wrong." Kai's voice was thick with a fear Bonnie had never heard from him before.
This morning begun just like any other within the last six weeks: Bonnie awoke in Kai's arms. Although he seemed to enjoy cooking, it didn't seem fair that he did all of it. Bonnie made a concerted effort to wake before him today. Although she wasn't entirely sure what time it was, it was still dark out; she had time to figure out something they'd both enjoy.
Silently, she slid out of Kai's embrace, holding her breath as she did so. One wrong move and they'd end up staying in bed until well into the late morning. Bonnie certainly wouldn't have minded that, of course, but she wanted to try something different today. Kai shifted and snuggled deeper beneath the covers but didn't wake.
Bonnie took a moment to savor the sight of Kai. He looked so sweetly innocent when he slept. Shivering against the chill in the air, Bonnie grabbed a sweatshirt from the dresser. She pulled it over her head and inhaled the soft musk lingering in the fabric. There was something so wholesome about the way Kai smelled; it was earthy evergreen mingled with sandalwood soap and a dark masculinity that was simply Kai. Bonnie couldn't help but revel in it.
She wrapped her arms tighter around her waist as she tiptoed down the stairs. The house seemed colder than usual. Fleetingly, she wondered if she was coming down with something. The clock in the living room signaled that it was just after six; it was generally warmer by this time in the morning. Perhaps it was her internal thermometer that was off? Bonnie suddenly hissed against the brutal iciness of the tile floor in the kitchen. Dashing back onto the carpet, she connected with Kai's chest and he wrapped his arms around her. It wasn't until she met his gaze that she realized something truly terrifying was happening…
A thick layer of ice clouded the windows, spindly patterns lacing over the panes of glass. Kai held Bonnie behind him as he walked to the front door and threw it open. The world was shrouded in a thick blanket of snow and thick, fat flakes continued to fall at a steady clip. A gust of wind blasted through the house and Kai swore he heard Bonnie gasp. Slamming the door tightly, Kai's jogged over to the fireplace and began to throw whatever logs he could find into the hearth. He searched high and low, looking for a way to quickly start a fire. Kai cursed bitterly when he came up empty. What use did a coven have for matches?
Kai was about to search through the kitchen drawers when he felt Bonnie's hand rest on his shoulder. He glanced over and spied the dagger containing Jo's magic; Bonnie was offering it to him without hesitation. Grasping the object tightly, the magic flowed through him and into the fireplace. Flames sprang up and the room began to warm. Having lived in May for the last twenty years, Kai had no reason to turn on the central heating system; he wasn't even sure he remembered how. Once they warmed up a little more, he'd go searching. For now, Kai tugged Bonnie against him and wrapped a blanket around the two of them.
Bonnie huddled against Kai, shivering violently. She pulled the handmade quilt tighter around her side. While she fiddled with tucking the fabric beneath her legs, her fingers brushed against neat embroidery stitched onto the quilt. "Kai?" She lifted the edge of the blanket and watched his expression tighten. In the months since they'd arrived in Portland, Bonnie had never seen this blanket. Add that to the fact that the date in the corner read December 25, 1995 and Bonnie's heart was immediately in her throat. "What day is it?"
Kai's throat was bone dry as he stared at the blanket. He remembered it vividly but his mother had spent months working to complete it. In the end, it had been her Christmas gift to the entire family. Each of the squares represented their family and the Gemini coven's elders…Kai, on the other hand, was included. He cleared his throat and tucked the blanket tighter around Bonnie after he vacated the seat beside her. "I'll be right back."
Digging through the hall closet, Kai found a pair of winter boots that were two sizes too big and someone's winter coat. He stepped out the front door and waded through the knee-high snow until he reached the edge of the walkway. The newspaper was half buried in a snowdrift and he had to dig for it. Staring down at the date at the top, he felt as if his heart would explode…
The slamming of the front door startled Bonnie. The crackling fire was starting to take the chill out of the air and she felt warm enough to toss the blanket off. Bonnie met him at the door and her heart twisted in her chest. Kai's eyes were bright with emotion and his face flushed; she'd never seen him so distraught. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"No…" Kai handed the newspaper over to Bonnie. "But it's January 11th…1995. Something's happened to the spell. It's been warped or broken somehow." Even Bonnie snuggling into his warmth did not bring him any comfort. Perhaps this snowstorm was his father's way of killing them. They'd freeze to death without access to heat and eventually the food would run out. Kai's car wasn't made for traveling in the snow and he was pretty sure he'd left the windows cracked last night.
Bonnie's heart leapt within her chest, "Does that mean we're going to be able to go home? Time is moving forward again?" She felt a wave of dizziness slam through her at the realization. Bonnie held tighter to Kai in order to keep her balance, "Damon knows I'm still here. Maybe he found a witch who could undo it? Liv more than owes me one…"
"In order to undo the magic that went into this prison, the witch have to be part of the Gemini coven. Not to mention, they'd have to go through my father to do it." The muscle in Kai's cheek ticked dangerously. "That would never happen. My father is extremely powerful…" Kai's fingertips smoothed a strand of Bonnie's dark hair from her cheek. "Part of what cements our family's magic is a ritual unique to the Gemini coven. Twins are the only ones permitted to lead the coven for a reason."
If Kai and Jo went through the merging ceremony, Kai would've been the leader himself… "On our twenty-second birthday, it's required that Gemini twins merge our power. The stronger twin will harness the magic of their sibling and the weaker one dies." He glanced out the window, a gray haze surrounded them as the sun began to rise behind the thick storm clouds. Still, the snow showed no sign of letting up. "Even if Lukas and Olivia merged already and one of them took their place as head of the coven, I don't think they could be persuaded to bring me home…I did try to hack them into little bits, after all."
Bonnie chewed on her bottom lip. "So, if we're not being rescued…" Gazing deeper into his fathomless cobalt eyes, her breath caught in her throat. "Do you think they're trying to kill us."
"It's a logical conclusion, Bon Bon. If—"
Their conversation was cut short by the shattering ring of a telephone. Bonnie glanced around the house, her heart thundering against her ribcage. Kai dashed into the kitchen. The cream colored phone was mounted onto the wall and the cord was knotted in several places, where Jo had wrapped it around her finger all those years ago. "Hello?" Bonnie was instantly at Kai's side and he tipped the phone toward her so they could both listen.
The snarling, angry baritone of a man teetering on the edge crackled through the line. Kai instantly recognized the voice. His entire body went rigid. "Hello daddy," Kai's voice dripped with venom and twenty years of pent up rage. "Lovely weather we're having."
Bonnie hadn't seen Kai this unhinged since he'd stabbed her last. He was almost delirious with the force of hate. His fist clenched around the phone and she feared he would shatter the plastic. Bonnie reached out and grasped Kai's free hand, squeezing tightly in an attempt to comfort him. He gripped back so violently that it felt like the bones in her hand would shatter. Bonnie winced but she did not pull away. Kai's sanity was far more important than her comfort.
"I don't know how you did it," Joshua Parker's voice was coming in fits and spurts, as if he were being choked. "I assume the Bennett whore was the one who found a way to break the spell. Mark my words, Malachi, when you return to the present I will hunt you down and I will kill the both of you. There is nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide…" A long silence hung on the other end of the phone and Joshua let out a roar, "KAI!"`
Pain exploded in Kai's chest as he dragged air deep into his lungs. Throwing his head back, he laughed so forcefully that his entire body convulsed with it. Tears burned in his eyes and splashed down his cheeks as he cackled. It was a horrifying sight to behold. Bonnie felt her stomach twist as Kai slid to his knees, unable to support his weight anymore. The phone fell and hung there, swinging idly. Joshua's angry hollering and cursing continued over the line.
Bonnie knelt beside Kai, her hand resting on his back as he writhed. Fear burned through her; no matter what she did, Kai was inconsolable. Picking up the phone, Bonnie reached up and slammed the receiver down, disconnecting the call. Joshua Parker already had an enemy in Bonnie simply because of the way he'd ruined Kai. But the horrible words aimed at Kai made it was personal. Somehow, someway, they'd managed to break the curse of imprisonment and would return to the present…and when they got there, they were in for a fight.
Hesitantly, Bonnie reached out again. Kai was still trembling, wracked with giggles. She was terrified he'd finally broken. "Kai? Are you okay?" His attention snapped to her and it was as if he'd truly seen in her for the first time. Bonnie flinched when Kai lunged for her but it wasn't violence on his mind. Lust flared to life within her as Kai hooked his finger into the waistband of her pajama bottoms and tore them down. He crawled between her legs and Bonnie fully expected him to take her quickly and brutally. She arched her back in sweet anticipation.
Instead, Kai trailed hot kisses down the column of Bonnie's throat and teased lower as he knelt in worship of her. Kai slid down the length of her body, pausing to pepper soft kisses around her belly button. "We did it," Kai murmured, "We're getting out of here." Without warning he himself between her thighs, inhaling the sweetly feminine scent of her. Kai sighed in ecstasy as swirled his tongue over the bundle of nerves in the core of her and reveled in how responsive she was to him.
The suddenness with which Bonnie fell apart stunned the both of them. Waves of pleasure ripped through her center and she grounded herself by holding tighter to Kai. The dark pleasure of her nails dragging across his neck heightened his need for her. Bonnie wasted no time and she straddled him. Kai hissed at the stinging cold of the kitchen floor. Thankfully, it was being quickly warmed by the exertion of their lovemaking.
Bonnie caught Kai's lips in a searing kiss. The honey-sweet twang of her pleasure on his lips only fueled the fire raging inside her. Seating herself over him, she hissed at the blessed relief of taking him inside her. Pure, unadulterated joy washed over Bonnie in waves. Making love to Kai was no longer a guilty pleasure…it was her obsession. She was addicted.
Kai's hands slid up Bonnie's hips, gripping to give her some stability as she rocked against him. From this angle, he could watch every expression on her face as she succumbed to the passion again. Bonnie's nails raked down his chest, leaving livid, bloody streaks across his chest; he could control himself no longer. Kai erupted within her with a throaty moan. He chuckled between labored breaths and drew Bonnie to his chest again. Pressing a gentle kiss to her temple, he rubbed gentle circles across her back as they both came down from the incredible exhilaration of their high.
It took several minutes for Bonnie's heart to stop fluttering wildly in her chest. It was still chilly in the house and she pulled away from Kai long enough to pull her sweatpants and panties back up. Kai, on the other hand, didn't move at all. Bonnie sat crosslegged, peering down at him, "Are you okay?"
"Never better," Kai laced his fingers beneath his head. "My father can huff and puff all he wants but we're going home." He grinned wider. "It won't be long now. Once the magic starts to unravel, there's no stopping it."
Bonnie pulled her knees closer to her chest and wrapped her arms around them to conserve heat. "I still have no idea how the spell was broken." She glanced at him, "It was the dagger, wasn't it? You've been using it to do spells?"
"That's an interesting theory, Bon Bon, but no," Kai replied. "I won't lie to you, I knew where it was this whole time." He sat up. "But this was all your doing."
"I didn't do anything," Bonnie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "I don't even have magic, remember?"
"You have magic fingers," Kai teased. Bonnie rolled her eyes but he could see the smile tugging up the corners of her lips. "Come on, sweetheart, you know the answer to this one." Kai slid behind he and dragged her into his embrace. He slung his arms around her and rested his chin against her shoulder before he a tender kiss to the contour of her neck. "Witches are keepers of the balance. My father was able to suspend me here and halted the progression of time but it took the entire Gemini coven and an eclipse to perform a spell to counter the imbalance in the universe. Twenty years in this hell, reliving the same day…" The relief at being freed was palpable.
Bonnie rested against Kai, her mind spinning at an alarming rate. "I understand how the spell works. I read as much in the grimoire. It must have taken a ton of power to put you here, Kai. You'd need a coven of at least thirty adult witches even with the power from the eclipse." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "What the hell could have undid all of that?"
"Not what, Bon Bon…" Kai's grasp tightened around her waist, "Who."
Bonnie stared down at his hands. Suddenly, all the air was sucked out of her lungs. Wrenching away from him, Bonnie gripped the edge of the countertop and hauled herself up. "Kai, I'm…" She couldn't force the words from her mouth.
Thankfully, Kai finished the sentence for her: "Pregnant, yes." Kai pushed himself up from the kitchen floor. He took a step toward her but Bonnie skittered back. Kai's expression darkened. "I promised I would be good to you. I promised not to leave you behind. I also promised not to hurt you…nothing has changed, Bonnie. I'm a man of my word. Well, at least when it comes to you."
Walking on shaky legs, Bonnie hightailed it into the living room before she collapsed onto the couch. Kai entered the room a few minutes later and placed a hot cup of tea in her hands. He wrapped her in the quilt again and gazed at her indulgently, "You're in shock. It's understandable."
The warmth of the cup became overpowering and Bonnie's palms itched in response. She rested the cup against her knee and blew across the steaming liquid to cool it down. Kai's gaze burned through her and she knew she could not avoid him forever. Malachi Parker was the father of her unborn child; she'd never be able to avoid him again. That realization burned in her heart of her and she whirled to face him, nearly spilling her tea in the process. "You wanted this…"
"I wanted out of here, Bonnie. You refused to help me leave here with the Ascendant…so, I took matters into my own hands." Kai replied nonchalantly. There was absolutely no remorse in his tone or in his posture. Instead, he grinned handsomely, "It wasn't entirely my fault though, Bon Bon. It was bound to happen sooner or later. You can't keep your hands off me. Honestly, I am surprised it took as long as it did!"
Bonnie scoffed. She picked at a strand poking out from the edge of the quilt. There was a sick satisfaction in watching it unravel in her hands; she felt like destroying something right now. Chewing on her bottom lip, she fisted her hands in the ruined fabric of the quilt. "I don't feel pregnant…"
"It's early yet." His expression softened. "Magic within a child awakens the moment its heart begins to beat. It took a little while but eventually the conception of child alerted the universe to this unholy time loop we're stuck in. It was only a matter of time before the spell began to unravel. Nature has a way of correcting its mistakes." Kai's gaze slid to the still-flat plane of her belly, "You're six weeks along, at the most. I'm not surprised you're not symptomatic."
Bonnie took a long swallow of her tea. She wasn't sure she'd even known someone who was pregnant…let alone what to expect. "You seem to know a lot about this."
"My mother was eternally pregnant," Kai replied grimly. "No matter how tired or weak she became, he continued his quest. After all, my father needed another set of twins to take over the coven…and it was always coven before family." Shaking his head in disgust, Kai stared at the snow still tumbling from the sky. He paused and slid his fingertips over her abdomen. "Don't worry, Bon Bon, one is good enough for me…" He chuckled, "Or two. Twins do run in my family."
Maybe it was a symptom of her pregnancy or a response to her shock but Bonnie felt nausea churning in her stomach. On the one hand, Bonnie was ecstatic that they were getting out of this hellish prison and she'd finally get to go home. On the other hand, she had resigned herself to many long years here with Kai. In the process, Bonnie had let down her guard and allowed him to get under her skin. Now his baby was growing inside her and pretty soon, everyone was going to know about it. How the hell was she going to explain this situation to Jeremy, let alone Damon? Exhaling sharply, Bonnie glanced at Kai again, "How long before we're back in the present?"
Kai shrugged, "A week? A month? I can't be sure how quickly it'll happen but at least this will give us a chance to shore up our defenses." He got up to put another log on the fire and grabbed Jo's knife from where it sat on the hearth. "Sorry Bon Bon but I'm going to need to hold onto this from now on." Pacing to the window, Kai sighed, "And once this snow lets up, we're going to find a way Mystic Falls." He smiled, "You're going to need your magic if we have any chance of killing my traitorous family."
Bonnie's head snapped up, "I never agreed to help you murder the rest of your family, Kai."
Kai turned vicious again as he closed the distance between them. "That's my child in your belly, my blood runs in your veins." He let out a shaky breath and knelt in front of her, "Do you think my father would leave any trace of me behind? He's already vowed to destroy the both of us, Bonnie." Cupping her cheek, he drew in a shaky breath, "I don't care if he kills me but I'll be damned if he lays a single hand on our kid!"
The protectiveness Kai displayed rocked Bonnie to her core. If he was right about when she'd conceived, their child was barely the size of a pea…yet he was willing to lay down his life for it. Bonnie squeezed her eyes tightly and took a steadying breath. When she opened them again, Bonnie met his steely gaze with one of her own. "I'll help you take down Joshua…" Kai moved toward her and she rested a hand on his chest to halt his movement, "But I will not help you kill your siblings. They were children just like you. You can't blame them for what your father did to you. Let them live in peace."
"Fine." Kai did not hesitate for a second. "As long as they pose no threat to me, you, or the spawn, I'll leave them be."
"Don't call it a spawn," Bonnie chastised, her lips curving into a frown.
Kai's face lit up, "I knew it."
Bonnie frowned deeper, "Knew what?"
"You're going to be such a good mom." Leaning in, Kai kissed her chastely on the lips. "I'm going to make you some breakfast. The mother of my child deserves only the best." Before he bounded into the kitchen, he put several more logs onto the fire to keep the room warm and toasty.
Bonnie remained in the living room, stunned and silent. She never knew what to expect when it came to Kai…but this entire situation was almost beyond comprehension. The only comfort Bonnie had was that sometime soon they would be home. Bonnie would have Elena, Caroline, Damon, Stefan, Tyler, and Matt back in her life. Maybe one of them would have a brilliant idea as to what she was supposed to do.
The sounds of bacon cooking and Kai belting out Madonna brought a smile to Bonnie's face. She could take the boy out of 1994, but apparently she couldn't take 1994 out of the boy…despite the upheaval of the morning, Bonnie's mood brightened. Everything would work out the way it was supposed to; it was just like Kai said…nature had a way of maintaining the balance.
Let's just assume from now on, dirty stuff can happen at any moment, okay? Okay! Here is Part IV of Crazy On You. Crazy is IN the title…oh, and it is. I need your feedback like i need oxygen. I really, really, really want to know what you thought of this. Let me hear your voice! Tweet (MarinaBlack99), send messages, asks, likes, reblogs, comments…this is what will keep my muse jazzed.
Another huge shoutout to my beta, Josephine. She is the best ever! I love her, yes I do! I also love all of you!
I'm anxiously awaiting your responses! And as always, let me know if you want more.
Marina