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SECRETS AND LIES OF A SHADOWHUNTER
Unfortunately, she couldn't stop drawing that handsome chiseled face, or the dark rage behind those murky blue. For hours, she tried to forget what happened last night, but her mind kept replaying the same scene over and over in her head. None of it made any sense, and yet in her heart she knew what she saw was unmistakably real.
"Who are you?" Bonnie asked herself in exasperation, looking down at the boy she drew. She had to get her mind off this. Tearing up another sketch from the sketchbook, she tossed it in the trash bin, along with the others. Bonnie knew she didn't have the same talent for art as her mother, who made Pablo Picasso seem like an amateur.
Fed up with her failures for today, she hurled the sketchbook across the room and went down to the living room. The room buzzed with disturbance because of the sound of her house phone ringing when she entered the living area.
"Is this Bonnie Bennett?" a familiar voice asked. Bonnie didn't recognize the number, though.
"Yes?" she replied with what's left of her dignity.
"We met last night," he pauses, and she hopes it's not for dramatic effect, "I was the knife wielding thug from Pandemonium. I was hoping you'd give me a second chance…"
"Jeremy, fuck off." Bonnie says disapprovingly, while Jeremy laughed harshly at her obvious agony. "This isn't a game."
"How would I know? You aren't telling me the whole truth about last night," he says, puffing with pride.
Bonnie kept quiet. She doesn't even know why she was keeping this a secret.
"I pissed my mom off with how late I got in last night," she says insignificantly, as if his last comment had been an offhand statement. "She flipped out on me."
"Not as if she can ground you anymore," Jeremy responded. "You're biologically and legally an adult now."
"She can kick me out," Bonnie replies dryly, "Maybe I got too excited with my newfound freedom, she just isn't ready to accept that I'm not her little girl anymore."
"College starts in a few weeks." Bonnie could hear a loud rumble of voices in the call's background. A cymbal clashed, making Bonnie winced. "Come out tonight. Ben is doing his poetry reading at Java Jones. Everyone will be there." Ben McKittrick was Jeremy's next-door neighbor and friend before Bonnie and her mom moved to New York. Once they started high school, Ben started a band with Jeremy and two other guys, Harper and Henry. This didn't help their popularity in school, but the boys had fun rocking out in Ben's garage every weekend.
Bonnie shook her head. "Trying to get back into my mom's good graces, Jer."
"And staying home, allowing her to treat you like a kid, will not do you any good. Come out and chill with us," her best friend quipped, "I'll come over and talk to her, you know how much your mom adores me."
It's true, Abby was a big fan of Jeremy. She loved how respectful and responsible he was. "Okay, fine." The shouting got even louder, and with that Jeremy clicked off.
Bonnie stared at the mantel over the fireplace. There stood a photo of her deceased father, Atticus Shane. An exceptional husband and loyal friend, according to her mother. Which is all Bonnie knew of the man, since he passed away before she was born. He died in a car crash while he was on vacation with his college buddies in New Hampshire. And Abby refused to talk about him, which left so many doubts in Bonnie's mind about what really happened to her father.
Speak of the devil. The sound of the front door alarmed Bonnie. She threw herself down on the couch, pretending as if she wasn't judgementally, staring at her father's photo. She grabbed a home and style magazine that was on the coffee table so she could pretend to be reading it.
Instead of Abby, it was Mason Lockwood with several cardboard boxes. He set them down and turned to face Bonnie with a smile.
"Hey, Un⎯ hey, Mason." She grimaced, awkwardly. About a couple months ago, Mason begged her to stop calling him uncle. He said it made him feel like an old man, but Bonnie believes Mason was feeling sensitive because he was already in his forties with no wife or kids. "What are the boxes for?"
Mason shrugged, nonchalant. He tried to convey a mood of serenity, though he hadn't felt such in months. "Your mom said she needed them to pack some stuff up."
Bonnie, chewing on her thumb's fingernail for a moment, which was a gesture that Mason apparently found distasteful. "Wait, what stuff?"
"Some old artwork and clothes, you know your mom is a hoarder." He murmured, shrugging again. Mason moved to grab a tool kit and searched for the tape gun.
Bonnie dropped her magazine on the coffee table. "Mason, can I ask you something?" The older man turned to face her, nodding his head. "What would you do if you saw something that couldn't be explained? Something no one else could see, but you?"
She noticed the tight grip he had on the tape gun, clearly leaving a dent in it. "Bonnie, what do you think you saw?"
One thing that Bonnie was learning. Lying was the only way to figure out the truth.
"Nothing, I just…" she replied shortly. What else is there to say? She witnesses a murder that no one else could see. "It's just stress. Turning eighteen, and college starting soon, my head is all over the place."
"You know your mom is really proud of you. She never got to go to college." Bonnie knew this story, Abby traveled abroad to Europe for a couple of years, that's where she met Bonnie's father before getting hitched and pregnant.
Before she said another word to Mason, her mother walked through the doors. Walking up behind Mason, with a bright and cheerful smile, though with a worry in her brown eyes.
Abby Bennett was a full-figured woman, with short natural curls and skin-tone a few shades darker than Bonnie's. Dressed in a fitted casual pant suit that was the color of olive green with fabric that gleamed. Her hair defying gravity, styled on the top of her head, kept together with jewel-studded bobby pins. Many people could easily spot the similarities between the two women, but Bonnie never saw it. There was something overwhelmingly beautiful about her mother.
Abby was the woman that made men's heads turn when she walked by. Those wide hips, big bust, and long legs had every man in New York drooling. Meanwhile, Bonnie was short and petite. She bore more similarities to her grandmother Sheila, who was also a knockout beauty queen, unlike Bonnie.
"Thanks for the help, Mason." Abby said to her friend. "There was no parking out there. I had to circle the block three times…"
"What are the boxes for?" she cut in, sounding brisk.
Abby looked up smiling and spoke cheerfully, "We're going on vacation."
"You and Mason are going on vacation." Bonnie spoke with a flourish, swatting her right hand at Mason.
"No, we as in you, me and Mason are going on vacation." Mason's cheeks tinged with pink as Abby continued. "We're going to the farmhouse."
Mason had a farmhouse in upstate New York, some old rundown dwelling that he spent ten years restoring and renovating.
Bonnie, with a perplexed expression, looked over at Mason. "Is this a weekend trip?"
"More like the rest of summer." Abby said pleasantly, contradicting her previous tone.
Her eyes grew wide as she got to her feet. "I have school in a few weeks, I can't spend all my summer at a farm," Bonnie shouted, and Abby flinched. "Me and Jeremy have plans…"
Her mother took a step back. "Exactly why we need some family time together, you'll be moving out and I'll never see you again. It's the least you can do for me, after last night." She grabbed onto Bonnie's shoulder, the sharpness of her fingernails nearly clawing through the shirt's fabric, and tugged Bonnie.
At Abby's words, Bonnie's face grew red with anger. "Mom, you're crazy, I'll be home like every weekend." She sighed, kicking the couch, livid. "Mason, tell her she's overreacting."
Mason shook his head, smoothing her hair down. "Look, give your mother a break. It's been hard on her. You know she hates changes," he pleaded, biting his lip. "I promise you a good time on the farm."
Bonnie scoffed as Mason sling an arm around her smaller shoulders. She looked at Mason for a moment, mulling over what he had just said. Then, reluctantly, Bonnie nodded her head in agreement.
"You owe me, Mason." Bonnie muttered, more to herself than anything. As for now, Mason was on her mother's side, something that Bonnie had failed to realize.
Just then, the front door flew open. There stood Jeremy, letting himself in. "Do you guys always leave your door open?" he spoke, sounding as though he was talking on the phone again.
"Do you always have to enter without knocking, Jeremy?" Abby stated, her jaw aching over how forced her smile was.
"Sorry about that," Jeremy mumbled. "You ready, Bon?"
Not answering, Bonnie shrugged Mason's grip off and pushed past her mother. She grabbed her tote bag from the hook by the door and walked out without a word to anyone. Jeremy awkwardly said his goodbyes to Mason and Abby. Bonnie thudded down the stairs at a rapid pace.
Jeremy chased after her. "Why do I feel like I missed something dramatic?" She paused at the foot of the stairs. "Bonnie, what's wrong, what happened?" Their eyes met, and they gazed at each other for a moment.
Standing outside the door with the gold plaque that proclaimed Madame Pearl, Seeress and Prophetess. It was home to an elderly Asian woman who ran a psychic shop out of her apartment. Bonnie never went inside, and she rarely saw people coming or going through those doors. So it surprised her to see the door half-opened, getting a whiff of incense burning.
"Huh, never thought Pearl got any customers." Jeremy stated, taking another leap down the stairs. "Good for her."
Feeling suddenly defensive. "Don't be a dick." Bonnie wasn't a huge fan of Pearl, but she was a good friend to her mother.
"Hey, sarcasm is my only defense." Jeremy muttered, cheeks glowing red. Bonnie snorted derisively. Sure, Stiles Stilinski, she thought, taking a breath.
Madame Pearl's door swung open fully this time. A man stepped out. And oh boy, was he gorgeous; with that sun-kissed skin, golden-green eyes, and tousled, tawny blond hair. His beauty was shocking to Bonnie. He grinned at her, showing off his pearly whites. She could tell it blew Jeremy away at how captivating this stranger was. But there was something about the way he looked at her, like he was familiar with her. Bonnie tried to see if she could remember his face. But nothing was coming to her.
After he left the building, Jeremy stopped. Slowly, he looked up at Bonnie, one eyebrow rising as he did. "What's a guy like that doing here?"
Bonnie simply shrugged, turning her gaze away from the door. No point in standing around here trying to figure out why anyone would go to Madame Pearl. "Let's get out of here, I haven't eaten since yesterday." In fact, Bonnie felt a wave of dizziness hitting her.
Jeremy grabbed her shoulder suddenly. "I'll treat you to a scone and a cup of java."
"An entire month on a fucking farm with those two making googly eyes at each other." Bonnie spat for the fifth time as she drank her third cup of coffee. "She's trying to guilt me about college, saying I'm leaving forever, and she'll never see me again."
When they arrived at Java Jones, Ben was onstage serenading his new girlfriend, Amber Bradley. With Harper behind him, beating his goblet drum, as Ben swayed back and forth, dancing against the microphone.
"Stop letting her baby you," Jeremy proclaimed with a broad smile and a mug in his hands. "I love your mom, but she's overprotective all the time."
"Mason wants me to give her a break," Bonnie scoffed at the idea, giving Jeremy a sideways glance. "I just don't want to ruin our relationship over this."
"She'll get over it, stand your ground and be stern. Don't let her walk all over you, don't let Mason guilt you either." He commented airily.
She shifted her weight slightly on the bar stool. "Something is off about her, about both of them." Bonnie tattled on. "We never go to Mason's farm, and now she wants to spend an entire summer there. I think she's hiding something from me."
Jeremy made a humming noise, contemplating, as he stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah, like what?"
"Everything," Bonnie muttered, letting her arms fall away from where they had been perched. "There's just so much about her I don't know. She keeps her entire life hidden from me. My dad died before I was born. We moved from Mystic Falls when I was six. I hardly remember my grandmother. Not to mention her only real friend is Mason, who is just a friend."
"Maybe she's been through something traumatic and she doesn't want to share it with you." Jeremy suggested. "She has those scars on her back and her arms."
"Wait, what scars?" Clearly Jeremy has been imagining a lot of things when he saw her busty mother in that two-piece string bikini three summers ago.
Interrupting their conversation was the loud blaring from her cell phone. Her eyes rolled when she saw the name that popped up. Exhaling deeply, Bonnie rubbed her forehead, placing her elbows onto the tabletop and resting her chin in her palms.
Jeremy let out a nail-down-the-blackboard type of laugh, staring at Bonnie intently as his fingers tapped against his chair's armrests. "If you're not going with them, you know you can crash with me. Mom won't mind."
"I think we both need a break from each other. I'll talk to her later." Bonnie let her phone go to voicemail. "I could use another coffee, I'll be back."
Bonnie had not expected the coffee shop to be packed on a Monday afternoon. However, it was summer, everyone was out of school, and had nothing but free time to hang out at the local java shop. When she made her way into the line, a young Asian girl with long blonde-brown hair tapped her shoulder.
"Excuse me," Bonnie stared up in surprise. "Is that tall guy your boyfriend?"
"Umm, no." Her arms crossed, she gazed over at Jeremy, who was on his phone not listening to Ben's poetry reading. "He's just a friend."
Her eyes fleeting over Bonnie with a meaningful gleam. "So is he single?"
Bonnie couldn't help but squint in suspicion. "Yeah, I guess…"
Taking on a nonchalant look, adding casually, "He's not gay, is he?"
Her jaw clenched, a slight of muscle she hadn't meant to let happen, but the blonde hadn't seemed to notice. "No, he's pansexual."
The blonde, slightly gagged, Bonnie was gearing up to kick her ass until she heard someone cough loudly behind her. It was a disdainful chuckle. When she twirled around to see who it was.
The dark-haired guy with cold eyes stood before her. Still wearing the clothes from the night before. His arms weren't covered in tattoos anymore, except white lines that looked like scars. She has those scars on her back and her arms. Bonnie recalled Jeremy's words earlier. But she shook it off.
An alarm began going off inside of Bonnie's mind, "You're stalking me now?"
"Excuse me?" The blonde looked at her, ruffled. Meanwhile, Kai gave her a smug look. Oh right, no one else can see him. Kai whipped his head back and forth between them and the front door.
Bonnie exited out the line and raced towards the entrance door. She hoped Jeremy didn't see her. She burst through the doors and walked down to the deserted alley. There was Kai, posted up against the wall, like a Calvin Klein model.
"Why are you following me?" her insides successfully boiling hot.
"Who said I was following you?" her stalker snapped, almost seeming hysterical, with such a pained expression in his eyes.
"So you come here often?" she let out a gritted sigh. "Because this is the first time I've seen you, and I've been coming to Java Jones for several years now. In fact, I've never seen you around this neighborhood until last night when you killed that man."
Kai paused in his movements, glancing up at her. "That thing wasn't a man."
"I don't care what you thought he was," Bonnie wrinkled her nose "You know, I'm just going to call the cops." She reached into her back pocket for her phone.
"How do you plan on explaining any of this to them?" the brunette started off, evidently surprised by Bonnie's manner and watching her with a raised eyebrow. "No one else can see us? That murder you witness had no evidence at the crime scene. You'll be lucky if you aren't locked up in a mental hospital."
Bonnie kept her gaze steady on him, his back still against the wall. She stayed silent, lips in a soft line, arms crossed over her chest in an almost relaxed disposition, even if she felt as though her body was currently as stiff as a board.
Finally, Kai blinked at her before letting out a tiresome sigh. "Look, I'm just as curious as you are, little girl."
"My name isn't, little girl," she started slowly, edging herself on, bit by bit, observing her words as they exited her mouth. "It's Bonnie, Bonnie Bennett."
"Pretty name, for a pretty girl," Kai said, a dauntless smile on his lip. Bonnie's face was turning red. She wasn't sure if it was from the anger or his compliment. "I've never heard of any Shadowhunters named Bennett."
A momentary silence was placed over them, Bonnie merely gathering the words in her mouth, taken from her own mind before she paused and looked over at him, green eyes sharpening. "It was my grandmother's last name. When my father passed, my mother changed her name back."
"Who's your father?"
Bonnie hesitated before she answered. "Atticus Shane."
Kai stared at her, deadpanned for only a moment, before relaxing his shoulders, his body slouching. "Centuries ago, there was this seed that allowed for people to see Fair Folk."
She paused, hardening her stare. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Abruptly, Kai let out a snort of incredulity, shaking his head at her. "It makes little sense that a mundane like you, can see me." Before Bonnie could question him again, he continued. "Mundanes are people from the human world, like yourself."
"Aren't you human?" she remarked, heavy with bitterness.
"Not like you, I'm something extra special." Kai made a face at her, high levels of insufferable expectancy drowning over his features. "But I think you might be special, too. That's why I told Alaric about you. He thinks you might be dangerous, but I doubt it, no there's something special about you, Bonnie."
She accidentally let out a soft chuckle, heavy with her own sarcasm. "I'm as ordinary as any other human being on this planet." Bonnie pointed out sharply, instantly earning a scoff from the other man, but she carried on. "And who's Alaric?"
"My mentor." Something tugged him forward, a force he could never explain, and his feet led him to a few steps away from her, a curious look on his face. She turned her gaze slowly, shock clear in her features, though anger pulsed through her eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments before Kai opened his mouth. "Let me see both of your arms."
She blinked. She held both hands out grudgingly. She just wanted him to go away. He took each hand and turned it over.
Instantly, a new expression cascaded over his features, like he had just swallowed something too large for his throat to handle and had naturally forgotten to chew. "Nothing here, maybe you are ordinary."
Bonnie snatched her hands back. "I've been trying to tell you that."
Kai shrugged, eyeing her. "Most Shadowhunter children get marked on their hands when they are young." He showed her the back of his left hand. For a second it looked completely pale, but as she stared at his knuckles, a long joint of fingers, she suddenly saw a black design on the back of his hand.
Bonnie stopped, her mouth forming into a perfect O. "Is that a tattoo?" she questioned once she could locate her voice.
"No, it's a rune, we have it burned into our skins." Bonnie raised an eyebrow in question. "It's like our superpower, different marks do different things. Some are permanent, others just vanish after it's been used."
That explains so much. Like why Kai was all marked up yesterday when chasing down that demon.
"Now that I know you have the sight, I think it's time for us to go." He said, and he almost reached up a hand to brush a thumb across her cheek. "Alaric wants me to bring you to the Institute with me."
She blinked again, clearly confused and baffled.
Bonnie paused, a laugh leaving her, one that was dripping with displeasure, echoing throughout the questioning alley. "You must be out of your damn mind if you think I'm running off with you."
"Aren't you curious about what's going on?" Kai took a breath, a gritty facial expression crossing over him, leaning forward and narrowing his cold eyes. "You know the truth now. Can you really go back to your boring life when you know there's something bigger out here. Vampires, warlocks, werewolves, even zombies. All the legends are true, Bonnie. I can show you a whole other world." He declared, sucking in a sharp breath, and just like that, he was back to his regular self.
Bonnie's lips pursed, tightening into a straight line on her mouth, and Kai knew he had her. But the jarring sound of Bonnie's cellphone interrupted them. She turned away to answer it.
"I'll be home soon." Her upper lip coiled into a snarl.
"Bonnie, listen to me..." her mother's voice sounded panicked. This scared Bonnie. "Do not come home," Abby's voice was raw. "Stay with Jeremy until…" There was a shrill noise in the background.
"Mom!" Bonnie shouted into her phone. "What's going on?"
"Stay at Jeremy, and call Mason," her mother roared. "Tell him, they found me…" her words suffocated by a shattering fall.
Instantly, Bonnie's green eyes went wide. "I'm calling the cops."
"Don't, just get in touch with Mason, he'll handle it." Bonnie didn't understand what was going on. "And remember, everything I've done, every mistake I've made was because I love you more than words."
The phone went dead.
"Oh my god," Bonnie felt a single, solitary tear drop escape from her emerald colored eye, it rolling down her cheek.
"Bonnie, what's up?" Kai's voice cut through Bonnie's thoughts.
She was shaking uncontrollably. She tried to get in contact with Mason, but no answer. There was a double-tone busy signal. "Dammit," she dropped her phone on the pavement, hard. When she retrieved it, there was a long crack on the touchscreen.
In contrast to their animated bickering from before, Kai's expression had fallen into a state of sincerity, a soft frown to his lips. "Bonnie, let me help you."
Without thinking, she attacked immediately. Her clenched fist met with him. And with a well-placed elbow in the ribs, she made him let out a pained groan. Bonnie's eyes flew open, and she jumped away from Kai. With no time left to waste, she took off running until she made it home.
AN: In this fic Bonnie will be biracial (Like Kat Graham is), so her father isn't Rudy Hopkins and my fan cast for Abby Bennett in this fic is Lisa Berry, who starred in Shadowhunters and Supernatural. Abby is a gorgeous dark-skinned woman (No offensive to Persia White or anyone who loves her as Abby) and Bonnie's father is white. Mason Lockwood will be Luke Garroway. Who do you guys think should be the High Warlock of Brooklyn aka Magnus Bane?
Also, thank you to everyone who commented and liked this fic. I'll try to make this a weekly post.