Ch. 7
The answer to her "where are you taking me?" had been pending for nearly half an hour now. Somehow, she knew they weren't heading back to their quarters, though he'd said nothing about it. The silence between them lasted a while, longer even than the vast stretch of unkempt trees and muddy ground that faced her on both sides of the country road. A bruising sky ahead warned her of the looming night. She gave sidelong glances at the man behind the wheel, his unruffled demeanor betrayed only by a tic along his jaw that winked back at her the longer she stared. Sometimes he returned the assessment. He didn't smile any of those times, not fully anyway, and she struggled to hide one threatening to form at the corner of her own lips as she congratulated herself for ruffling his feathers. But he didn't need to see her gloating, so she chose to keep her gaze out of the window for the rest of the ride.
He cleared his throat several times. Whether that was a preface to something, she didn't bother to find out, keeping her face averted as the wind nearly sandpapered her cheeks and nose. She'd had to roll her window down almost from the start, needing the fresh air, the noise of the wind, the distraction of pushing her hair out of her face. His scent had carried over to her the second he loaded her into the passenger seat, still thinking she was too drunk to maneuver herself.
It wasn't the hint of cologne, but of cinder and sweat and the lingering effects of a spell that put her on edge. Where had he spent the day? she wondered. It wasn't hard to picture him loping along cobblestoned streets, from St. Charles to Canal, or ducking into and out of trolleys or, probably more to his style, making his way nimbly down the tracks and avoiding being holed up in any one particular crowded space for long. His lazy movements were deceiving, the kind that could suit someone who needed to pick his way through a makeshift gypsy camp of mistrustful werewolves. The tangy hint of sweat in the air told her that last guess was more likely than the others. She could ask him. If it was Klaus, she already would have. But a part of her liked imagining his adventures, and wished she had the freedom, like him, to indulge himself wherever and whenever. Asking him invited the chance that reality would fall short of fantasy. What if he told her he'd just spent the day at the gym?
The mystery of Kai Parker had turned into an idle past time for Bonnie. She'd even wondered about his quarters in the Mikaelson stronghold.
"Where's your room, anyway?" she blurted out, halfway picturing him surrounded by candles and lines of a pentagram on the floor, a book or a scroll balanced on his lap, and his brows furrowed in concentration while sweaty, dewy drops formed on-
"Somewhere only I know," he sing-songed.
She groaned.
"Part of the deal. I stay in enemy territory, I get to make myself as difficult a target as possible," he finished in false cheer.
"So...you get to cloak your room?"
"Of course. I told Liv to do the same, but," he made a pish sound, waving his hand. "Stupid is as stupid does, as Forrest said."
She peered at him again. "Who's that?"
She braced herself for a look she'd gotten used to seeing from her three fellow Initiates, the one they wore anytime they mentioned a name that everyone was supposed to know. Liv, Luka, and Davina as a product of their environments had a long list of friends and acquaintances that included the supernatural community's VIPs-none of whom Bonnie had ever heard of. In time the wonder that crossed their faces soon gave way to impatient explanations and matter-of-fact dismissal that eventually, she would get to know such-and-such or so-and-so. Bonnie learned to shrug it off.
Kai's look of patent, rapid-blinking disbelief now was harder to ignore.
"Forrest Gump," he said in a soft near-scoff. "You don't know Forrest Gump."
She crossed her arms, scowling. "Is he some kind of super witch who taught you all your tricks?"
He bit his lip, bringing a hand to his mouth.
"What, wrong species?" She frowned. "Was he a vampire who tried to kill you and made you the not-so-lovable paranoid jerk you are today?"
Something like a choke escaped him, as she stared in growing suspicion. Whoever this Gump was, her guesses were clearly following a cold trail. Forrest, like River and Sky, could also be used as a girl's name. And by Kai's reaction, he didn't view Forrest as a respected elder or an enemy. Maybe Forrest was his girlfriend, some kind of Gemini princess that awed everyone. Maybe his girlfriend-like him-thought she was smarter than the rest of the world.
"Dumb name," Bonnie muttered.
Kai's laugh filled the cabin.
"Parents are awful," she continued, sullen even to her own ears.
"No argument here," he agreed readily. "I killed one of mine."
"Some of them are so flakey they inflict names like that on babies who can't defend themselves."
He only gave a nodding shrug, his features schooled into commiseration. But his eyes were merry now as he looked her over. "What's the worst your parents ever did, hmm? Aside from hiding your powers and your legacy from you nearly all your life, I mean." A dimple stole into the side of one cheek as he smirked. "They limit your TV time one too many, Bonnie?"
Her annoyance ebbed as she considered his question. The trees by now had given way to overgrown shrubs lining a muddy road, littered here and there with carrion as the narrowing path led, eventually, to a rusty gated fence. A large yellow sign (that once had probably been white) read in brown lettering (that once had probably been red): "No Trespassing - Violators Will Be Prosecuted." Atop it a sea of graffiti splayed across its surface, most hard to read, except for the one of a fist with a long middle finger raised in defiance, and a symmetrical W wedged perfectly on top of the fingernail. The car stopped right before the sign, Kai killing the engine and pocketing the keys before he leaned back in his seat and waited. She continued eyeing the finger poking the W, and soon enough it wasn't so much a letter of the alphabet as it was a plump representation of an isolated ass.
Bonnie snorted. When she turned her head to Kai, he was staring right at her, his eyes offering all the clarity of the murky water that surrounded them in this shitty swampland rife with political and social minefields for her. This trip now, here with him, was a mistake. Why had she even come? He hadn't even brought her close to where she needed to be, in the wolves' camp.
"My parents," she said, letting an undercurrent of warning sharpen her words, "taught me how to survive. Now that I know what I know, I'm happy I made it two decades without dying. They did that, on their own. I'm happy they're not dead."
She stepped out of the car; he wasn't long in following. The chain-link fence had been gutted on one side, a sloppy job that looked like the work of a poor cutter. The jagged opening meant others had made their way through, uncomfortably. It shouted nothing more than 'Tetanus' to Bonnie. Warily, she watched Kai study it, his features bored. He could easily make the opening a non-problem, with whatever magic trick he seemed to always carry up his sleeve. Instead he raised his eyebrows expectantly at her, then at the fence, in a manner suggestive of all those times he'd worn the slavedriver hat and made the entire class of Initiates retool their defensive spells over and over.
Bonnie huffed.
"You did not seriously bring me here for a one-on-one session."
"You're shaking off the alcohol, you're here, you've got a biiiig rite of passage to complete and wow people with at the Induction ceremony." His hands landed on his hips as he nodded to himself, giving her another once over. ""Yeah, I think you're ready for a private lesson, young Skywalker." He looked away, then back again. "You know who that is, right?"
Taming the urge to roll her eyes, Bonnie stepped to the fence and got to work.
-X-x-X-x-X-
She burned her way through the fence, naturally. Just as naturally, the effort produced the same end result. Not only did the fence burn, but so did large swaths of trees and hedges surrounding it, along with parts of the cracked, fading concrete. Kai had had the foresight to park the car further back, keeping it and himself well out of harm's way. While the flames hadn't affected her any, and actually casting the spell had been easier than the last time she tried, keeping it all under control had cost her.
Kai whistled a jaunty tune as they passed through a small tunnel. Halfway, an enormous downed clown head offered a sad, dilapidated smile at them. Kai kicked its nose absently, pieces of it crumbling apart. Bonnie-face and shirt sweaty from the spell, pants covered now in grime from passing through one too many dirty corners and turnstiles-tracked her torturer with baleful eyes.
"What are we doing here, Kai?" she demanded again.
Here being the zombie remains of what once had been a Six Flags amusement park. The hurricane years ago had decimated the site, flooding it, before leaving the rest of the work to time and neglect. The city had forsaken the roller coasters, the lifeless shops and buildings, the defunct rides. There was nothing here now but stretches of loops and tracks left abandoned, misbegotten walls and fixtures on the verge of falling in on themselves, faded paint married to obscene graffiti in an explosion of jarring colors, and stray weeds. Random birds flitted from their nests to forage unsuccessfully, before they, too, departed.
He ignored her, weaving his way around the battered, faded horses and dolphins on a rusty carousel ride. In the wan light of a pale moon, she could just make out the entropy welcoming her and Kai. Paint worn thin, the collection of once-bright animals clung desperately to bent and battered poles.
"Great," she said to a unicorn, its horn chipped off the base, "just me and a lunatic, roaming a lonely nightmare."
Kai paused beside one of the dolphins, half of its tail missing. He brushed off the seat before taking it, backwards, so he could face her. When their eyes met, her grip on the broken unicorn horn tightened.
"That was kinda deep," he said conversationally.
"You're kind of nuts."
"You would be too, if you weren't so uptight."
"Is that why you're such an ass to me, because you want me to go nuts? Cut loose?"
He shrugged again, his head bobbing, the expression on his face perfectly transparent as he scoffed a quick, "Yeah."
Then the ride began to spin, tangled notes of Muzak blaring to life. The effects of his sudden, silent spell coursed throughout the carousel, weak lights blinking haphazardly in time to the spinning. She stumbled a bit, no real danger of falling, but he caught her anyway, his fingers sure around her arms. The sight of his hands on her bare, damp skin stilled her. He didn't move either, except for a slight twitch of his thumb. A thought formed against her better judgment-the timing was too much for her to dismiss.
"If I cut loose enough," she murmured, so soft he had to bend his ear closer, her mouth nearly touching his neck, "for long enough, and you siphoned me...would it juice you up forever?"
The twitching thumb had fallen into a different pattern-more like a disjointed rub against her skin. His neck being so close, she saw his large Adam's apple bob wildly when he swallowed. His breathing hitched.
"I don't know."
"Do you want to try?"
"Depends, Bonnie." She raised her head, their noses inches apart as they stared at each other, unblinking. "Do you want to die?"
She shook her head.
His thumb stopped moving, yet his hold stayed. "I-I'm not looking for the Energizer bunny. Well, I am-but not right now. And not-" he stopped, shaking his head, something rueful in its movement. "I don't expect you to be my bunny." He grimaced. "That came out wrong."
"You think?"
"Why don't you smell more like alchohol?"
"Probably because I'm not drunk."
"You smell crispy."
That one arched her brow; she caught him wincing, his eyes abruptly dropping down to the ground before they quickly climbed back up, resting intently on her face.
"And nice. Crispy and nice." When he frowned, Bonnie ignored once again her mental warning bells. "You're not drunk."
"No."
He squinted. Danger had never before so blatantly stared her in the face; some perverse need to confront it urged her on. "And...were you ever?"
"From one drink? Kol wasn't lying about that. I can hold my own, Kai. I'm not some innocent...sacrificial virgin."
She'd never been the type to ascribe to all or nothing. Living under the radar meant living in incrementals. Baby steps. The caution that had guided her from her earliest memories, echoing in her brain as her parents' voices, went mute the longer Kai's narrow-eyed stare met hers. Her head felt woozy, maybe a result of the carousel's movements, or maybe something else. She didn't let herself dwell on it; she couldn't, with this one standing before her, clearly spinning his own mental wheels. If she hid behind her usual tactics, if she didn't let him in even a little, he might form objections, or prejudice-or worse, plots of his own that might counter hers. Stepping back, dropping her gaze, she hopped off the carousel and hoped Kai missed how unsteady her feet were. Going with her gut, going against her voice of reason, didn't have to mean obliterating her personal zone around dangerous men. It seemed to be a constant thing now, since arriving in this city...first with Klaus, and now with Kai. They were moths to her flame. She no longer had the inclination to end this pull between herself and the two men. Something was wrong with her.
This time, she bought herself a few minutes, enough to find a rickety wooden track and follow its path, precarious though it was. The set of cars resting near the bottom of the tracks still wore all of its wheels, though the seats had been stripped of every last one but the back car. She sat there, waiting, schooling her thoughts into order until warmth and a shadow blocked the trickle of moonlight that touched her.
"Much as I want to flatter myself you connived your way into just basking in my company," came the deep, beguiling tone. "I wasn't born yesterday. So whaddaya want from me, hmm?"
"You taught us how to counter hexes, grilled us on giving aneurysms and snapping vampires' necks until I felt like snapping your neck." She faced him. "What about the werewolves?"
"What about them?"
"You scout their camps with Marcel and his crew. You must know a lot about them by now." She shrugged, trying for casual. "Why haven't we practiced against one?"
"You think you're ready to fight a four-hundred pound furball of teeth, claws, and mass destruction?"
"Why not? It's a supernatural predator I could run into one day. We're sort of in a war against them and the Travelers, right?"
He chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets as he studied the area around them. "Unfortunately, the only available werewolves are ones from the camp. I'd be stepping on some really big, hairy toes if I snatched one to use as a practice dummy in your training. Wouldn't want to break the tenuous peace they've got going with Klaus, would you? He'd get even poutier than he is now and-ugh-who needs that?"
"Fine. No fighting. What about...I don't know. Field trips to the wolf camps?"
"Lemme think." He pursed his mouth as if considering it deeply. "No."
"Not all of us," she added hurriedly. "Anybody interested in learning more about them. It wouldn't be so hard to bring one of us along on your scouting trips, would it?"
The wood creaked in protest as he leaned a hip against the car, slouching indifferently. If it had been a month ago, she might have been fooled. Bonnie hunched over in her seat, a hand on her chin as she too stared out at the bleak landscape the derelict park offered. She liked it, despite everything, sensing a kinship in its forlorn nature, getting a small thrill in knowing something else in the world existed in a state of abject abandonment. On first glance, the sight had been depressing, yet the longer she wandered here allowing its shadows to claim her, the more relaxed she grew.
"They'd all have the connips," said Kai, sounding amused. "Cute little Bennett novice running around with moi? The blacksheep Gemini siphon?" He laughed. "Oh, boy."
"Doubt it," she replied detachedly. "They made you a mentor, didn't they? If you bring me along to the wolf camps, just so I can get my feet wet-can't you say it's part of the training?"
"Sooo, what you're really asking for," he paused, scratching his head, "are private lessons?"
The way he spoke made the scenario sound slightly awkward and she didn't think he meant to-she could better imagine him infusing innuendo into the question, with any other girl. She'd been around him long enough to know how, without a blink of an eye, he could make himself sound like he was turned on, especially in the weirdest place and the worst moments. It was part and parcel of his tactic to keep everyone else off-balance, she figured. Innuendo, she could've easily ignored. But this...Kai was fidgeting, as if the thought of testing his boundaries with the Mikaelsons made him twitchy. Or was it the thought of having to spend extra time with her? Was she such a terrible pupil?
Grimacing, she said, "I've been practicing cloaking spells. Nobody would even have to know I'm there. And...if something happens, I've gotten better. I broke that vampire's spine the other day from long-range and it only took-"
"Twenty-nine seconds, and you didn't break his spine first, you broke his pinky finger." He sucked air in through his teeth, crinkling his eyes. "Not exactly bowling anyone over with the offensive spells there. Really, Bonnie, you knew he wasn't one of the volunteer fangers. The ones I bring in for lethal practice have been sentenced anyway by the city council. You know, for crimes of murder and mayhem." How he spoke that last bit seemed as if he would've liked to have joined. "Since they'll be getting roasted and toasted anyway, they might as well be useful in the process."
"Speaking of roast, if we run into trouble, I can always use my fire. Nobody's better than me with that."
His brows raised, he nodded in a non-committal gesture. "Mm."
And now he sounded bored once more, inflicting the impression on her, like always, of being a third-rate, fringe-witch poser. Was it an improvement over awkward? She wasn't sure. It struck her that this effort was going to waste. Restlessness surged, because if he wasn't going to help her, her next bet was to appeal to Marcel himself, to let her shadow someone on his crew on their next scouting mission. Marcel was more approachable than Kai anyway despite being a member of the bloodthirsty undead. Maybe she would've been better off finding him first.
Bonnie stood, struggling against feeling lame somehow.
"It's late," she said after a moment, her gaze averted. "We should go. They'll be looking for me."
"Don't."
His voice sounded hoarse. She snuck a look and found him peering at her, his apathy from moments ago now replaced with a frowning intensity, the kind that brought lines between his brows and made her wonder if he thought she was going to hijack his car and leave him behind here. She should, he deserved it, the ass.
"Do you know why I'm here?" he asked, appearing torn as he looked at her.
To creep her out, she once would have said, but now she only returned his stare with a confused one of her own. Instead of mocking her, he scrambled inside the car. His chest pressed against her shoulder, so cramped was the space they shared in the rundown seats of a misbegotten roller coaster. His head bent towards her, and in his low voice that carried a hint of a plea, his breath brushing a tendril of her hair, he asked again, "Stay."
A/N: Happy Bonkai day, everybody! :)
