Bonnie and Kai deal with the aftermath of Enzo's death and Lucy Bennett being in shambles. Valerie loses her connection to Stefan, after learning that her lover killed her best friend. And to top everything off, an old foe from Kai's past returns to haunt him.
Kai was getting nervous. He knew it was probably nothing and that he should just stop worrying, but he couldn't shake the bad feeling in his gut. He'd lost Bonnie before, and he made the mistake of leaving her behind. Kai couldn't live with himself if something happened to her. The fact that neither she nor Lucy were answering his call made him sick.
Kai did a locator spell and found them in North Carolina in some rural area. When he pulled up to an excluded mansion. He pulled out his phone to call Bonnie once again. He heard the familiar ringtone roaring through the large acre of land.
Walking up the pathway, he found Bonnie sitting on the porch, staring into space, tears streaming down her face. She was silently crying. Kai gasped, jogging over to her, before he could open his mouth, his eyes staring at a disturbing sight.
Enzo's dried-up corpse with his heart detached from his chest. Lucy curled up by his side, looking as though she were unconscious. Tears mucked up her face, snot dripping off her chin.
"Bonnie, Bonnie, what happened?" He moved towards her, resting his hand on her shoulder.
Bonnie shook slightly with silent sobs.
Kai began panicking. The worst-case scenario popped up in his head.
"Who else is here?"
Bonnie took a deep breath and then finally answered him, her voice thick from crying. "Stefan, Stefan was here. He did this. He killed Enzo." She started crying again at that, hot tears flowing down her haughty face, lips sealed to fight back loud sobs that were threatening to burst out of her mouth.
Kai sighed. "Why would he do this?" he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Bonnie flinched away from it, only relaxing after a few seconds, letting Kai hug her. Her body was shaking from the cold.
Kai ran his hands through Bonnie's hair. "I gave Stefan the cure." Her face pressed against his chest. "It was the only way to keep him from killing us. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, Bon. It's okay." He said against her head, a few strands of hair getting stuck on his lips.
Kai kept humming sweet nothing in his girlfriend's ear, just to calm her down so they could discuss everything that had happened. After a while, Bonnie was no longer shaking, and her tears had stopped flowing. Kai pulled back, sitting on the porch step beside her.
"Lucy won't wake up. She's been like that for hours."
"Fuck. Where the fuck is Stefan, Bonnie?" he asked gently, trying to ease the sudden tension that filled him.
"He ran off. He ran after I gave him the cure." Her voice cracked a little, but she kept going anyway. "That was our last shot. We're screwed, and Enzo's dead."
Kai kept his gaze on Lucy behind them. She was breathing, barely, and Kai considered that a miracle unto itself. Kai reaches over to poke her shoulder, and Lucy rouses, her eyes fluttering open.
"Enzo…" she blinked once, twice before her eyes remained closed. "I should have stopped him."
Lucy was unconscious again before Bonnie could reply.
Inhaling softly, Bonnie stood up from the steps, glancing up at him through her eyelashes. "We need to get her out of here."
"I'll bring the car around."
As he reaches for his car keys, he notices his hand were trembling. He held both hands in front of him, turning them palm down and then palm up, almost as if he's never seen them before. His body shakes and then his phone rings, causing him to leap. More from habit than desire, he answers.
"Hello?" The line was silent for a second. Kai pulled back to check the number. He didn't recognize it.
"Kai, I can't find Stefan anywhere, and Elena isn't in the storage unit. They said a British guy took her." The sentence comes so fast it would have been difficult for Kai to hear, if it wasn't so painfully familiar.
"Enzo brought Elena down here."
Damon huffs into the phone. "Here? Where is here, Kai?"
"Look, Damon..." Kai rubs his forehead and notices how Bonnie turns around, a small frown on her face.
"Kai, cut the shit. I need to find Stefan. I don't have time for this." Damon said, his voice more of a bite than a bark at this point.
"Your asshole brother found out Enzo took your little sleeping beauty from New York and brought her down to North Carolina at a safe house. Stefan showed up and killed Enzo." Kai manages, while Bonnie looks like she's pretending not to listen intently, and it's not working.
They were both quiet for way too many seconds, for it not to be awkward. It's Damon who finally breaks the silence. "Let me fix this, okay. I'm on my way, just give me the address."
"You can't come here."
Damon's breath hitched as he said, "I need to make sure Bonnie is okay. I need to…"
At that, Kai's expression changed drastically to a nonsense one. "I don't care what you need. What Bonnie and Lucy need is for you to stay away from them." Kai retorted, almost flinching at the defensive tone of his words. "I will deal with the mess your brother made. I will once again clean up after the Salvatore brothers."
Damon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm going to find Stefan and keep him locked up."
"Bonnie gave him the cure."
"She did what?" Damon hissed, fighting down the choking wave of fear that clenched his gut as he comprehend what Kai was saying.
"It was the only way to keep him from killing her and Lucy," Kai tried to keep the pain out of his voice, but he choked a little on his words. "Could you please pass the message onto Val? I'd call but…"
Damon cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'll let her know," he finally said, his voice so quiet. "What about Cade? You think he still wants Valerie and Elena dead?"
Kai reached for Bonnie automatically, pulling her to him. "I can't think about that right now, not while I'm here."
"I'll deal with Cade then. It's the least I can do." The earnestness in Damon's tone made Kai's eyes burn, his brow furrowing. He wanted to cover his face with his hand.
Kai let the call drop, and he shivered to force his thoughts away from that direction. It would do him no good to think about that now. Not with Bonnie and Lucy with him.
Bonnie tightens her hold on Kai's shirt, eyebrows furrowed in sorrow and confusion. Kai brought her even closer to himself, gripping his girlfriend's waist strongly; her tears gathered up in her eyes before she could try to think and stop them.
"Is Valerie going to die?" she inquired, running her thumb along Kai's jaw.
"I don't know, Bon, I don't know." Kai buried his face in her head, allowing a single tear to slip through the corner of his eyes. Holding back a wrecked sob, as he held Bonnie closer to him.
The phone rang for what seemed like forever. Valerie held her breath and waited, trying to decide whether she wanted someone to answer. Then the decision was taken out of her hands.
"Enzo is dead."
Valerie's mind stutters over that piece of information. "Excuse me?"
"How?" Caroline asked warily, her probing gaze finally leaving Valerie.
"Stefan found out Enzo took Elena to his new house in North Carolina. He went there and murdered Enzo."
The line goes quiet, and Valerie slows down her breathing to keep from crying. She's not ready to face such emotion, even over the phone.
Caroline frowns, her jaw sharpening as she clenches her teeth. "Why would Stefan do this? Why kill Enzo?"
Damon lets out a bitter laugh. "I don't know. He tried to kill Bonnie and Lucy too."
"Are they okay? Is Bonnie…"
Damon swallows audibly, the sound thick and heavy over the line. "Bonnie gave Stefan the cure."
"Fuck!"
"Right now, I need to find Cade. We only have another hour before he comes looking for Valerie."
When Valerie's stomach finally stops rebelling against her so strongly, she could actually hear Caroline's worried question, "Where's Stefan, Damon?"
Damon was quiet, worried radiating from the phone. "No clue. He took off. Valerie, I need you to track him and bring him home. I'll deal with him once I get back."
"We'll track him down, Damon."
Damon hung up, Valerie remained silent the entire time.
"Okay, just use the locator spell and we can bring Stefan home. Make sure he's safe until Damon can talk to him."
Valerie remained frozen in her seat.
"Val, locator spell, Stefan could be in trouble…"
"Enzo is dead," Valerie mumbled under her breath, just loud enough for herself to hear. "Stefan killed him."
"Val, it wasn't his fault. His humanity was off, Cade wanted him…"
"Cade told him to kill Elena or a hundred evil people. He made the choice to kill Enzo, no one forced him to do that." Valerie replied, with a shade of vexation. "Enzo was our friend, and Stefan killed him in cold blood."
"That's not true, you know what it's like to be like this." Caroline offered, her voice light, but oddly stiff. Her eyes were too apologetic already for Valerie to look at her for more than a split second.
"I would never, I would never lay a hand on my friends," Valerie swallowed. She was in for a scolding alright. "Enzo was like a brother to me. I cared for him, I wanted to see him and Lucy wed. Now that will never happen. My boyfriend killed my best friend."
"I know this sucks, believe me. I know. But right now Stefan is a mortal, he is flooded with emotions and guilt. We need to find him before something else happens. We will deal with everything else once we do."
A jolt of nasty guilt pained Valerie, but she pushed it away, figuratively. "I'll go do the spell. You should probably check in with Bonnie, see how she is."
"I will. Once we get Stefan." Caroline said almost too fast. She didn't dare flicker a gaze towards Valerie. She was a terrible liar.
Valerie gave Caroline a shifty look before moving away to do her spell.
Enzo was gone.
Bonnie has lost count of how many hours passed since Kai drove them back to Mystic Falls. He left her downstairs on the couch while he took Lucy up to bed. And while Kai used his anger to anchor him down, Bonnie was unbelievably, deeply sad, and a little pissed off as well.
The small noise seemed to jolt Bonnie as she turns and sees Kai standing there. She leans up onto an elbow; the blanket falling from her shoulder as she uses her other hand to wipe at her wet eyes.
"Kai," Bonnie softly speaks, a tinge of confusion laced in her tone. "Is she okay?"
"Sound asleep." He walked over, situating himself next to her on the couch as he grabs her delicate hands in his. "Had to use a sedated spell to get her to calm down."
She stared at him, stunned. "You used magic on her?"
"Bonnie, she tried to fight me twice when I removed her from Enzo." Lucy didn't want to be separated from Enzo. Kai had to wrap the vampire up in sheets and put him in the truck off his car. Which was outside in the driveway now. "She'll be out of it for a while."
Bonnie shifts her hands so she could stroke his hands in small circles.
"I'll have to plan a memorial for him in the morning." She finally says, sniffling to clear her nose. "I have to call Matt and tell him."
"How about I do all of that? You just worry about yourself and Lucy."
Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she shook her head. "I can't, and you have to stop Cade."
It falls silent with nothing but the sharp wind blowing against the house. Kai simply sits there with Bonnie, letting her stroke the back of his hand.
"We'll deal with Cade after the memorial. After I know you and Lucy are both okay."
Bonnie doesn't hesitate to bury herself into his arms, pulling both of them over her waist as she presses the side of her cheek against his chest before wrapping her arms around him. "Enzo was the love of her life. She'll never be okay again. He was her forever. He was the reason being a vampire was okay. How is she going to move on from this?"
Kai inhaled deeply before he allowed his arms to wrap back around her as he buried his face in her hair. "I'm not going anywhere, and she has us. We'll get her through this." Kai said, the back of his throat burning as he holds her tighter. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."
His lips caught hers, and he could taste salty tears on her tongue. He let his swipe across her upper lip. Kai pulls back, clenching his eyes shut.
But suddenly, Bonnie's hands were under his shirt, gripping at the fabric. She gazed at him. Grabbing the edge of her shirt, she pulls and lifts it off her body, her back arching as she does. Kai about ready opened his mouth to protest. Bonnie never really gave him a chance to talk. Instead, she pressed her lips on his.
Kai returned the kiss. He smashed her lips into hers. Kai's tongue eagerly sought Bonnie's mouth. She rotated her hips against Kai when her pants had been pulled down. Her lacy panties clung to her pussy. He touched his fingers between Bonnie's needy pussy lips. She gasped the more Kai played with her dripping slit towards her panties.
"You can tell me to stop at anytime," Kai said against her skin, kissing her gently, and Bonnie just wanted to burst with an unknown emotion.
He went to kiss the skin underneath his lips again before using his fingers to hook her panties, pulling them down her legs. The cold air hit her bare cunt, causing her to shiver. Kai pushed her back against the couch and straddled her hips. His top was off and he began unzipping himself. She watched as his cock sprang free from his pant.
Bonnie shook her head but realized she needed to speak. "I need this, please Kai." She whispered, trying to lift her hips up.
Kai drags his tip down at her entrance, rubbing the head up and down her wet slit, teasing her for a few moments, before stuffing her pussy with a few hard thrusts. The sounds the woman made were beautiful. He buried himself into her waiting heat, which caused Bonnie's breasts to jiggle.
When she wrapped her legs around him, he moaned in her mouth, and it made Bonnie feel aroused that she could make him feel this good, too. The timing of this was all so wrong in ways so right and so sorely needed by Bonnie, and with the thick, aching cock pushing into her, this all came together perfectly.
A hand over her mouth helped contain her, as Kai grabbed hold of her, dominant and aggressive, as he made his case as hard and as firm, as he could. She felt herself burning up with a powerful need to just give in to it all.
"I'm… I'm so close..." Bonnie's breath hitched as her body shook from his drives and her attempt to meet his rhythm.
He trembled as his chest heaved. "Me too," he whispers in her ear, biting at her lobe and earning himself another moan.
His cock throbbing powerfully and erupted, gushing forward with thick shots of hot, gooey cum that made Bonnie shriek in ecstasy. She yelled and bucked, pressing against him as she came from the sensation of him cumming in her pussy.
Kai kissed her again, eagerly pressing more affection still into her kiss. "I'm not done with you," he rasps against her. "Just give me a moment."
Without a second's wait, Kai grabbed Bonnie's ass with both hands and hoisted her up, impaling her on his cock. Bonnie was bouncing on his cock, crying out in excitement. Kai leaned up and took her breast into his mouth, while Bonnie made him cum again.
The locator spell found Stefan at the Rockland County Police Department. The younger Salvatore got himself arrested. Valerie traveled down to get him, with Caroline by her side. The other blonde spoke of Stefan the entire ride down, coming up with plans to help him and break him out. Meanwhile, Valerie couldn't get over what Damon told her. Enzo was dead.
Inside the police station, Caroline went to the front desk to compel the officers and get Stefan's name out of the computer system. Valerie watched as they escorted Stefan out of his cell and out into the station's front. Her lover's eyes were on a little brown-skinned girl talking to an officer.
"When was the last time you saw your mother?"
Valerie noticed Stefan's eyes flickered at her. Valerie felt a punch in her gut. Stefan must have killed or kidnapped that child's mother.
Caroline wrapped her arm around Stefan, her face curled up in his neck, whispering sweet nothing to him. Stefan focused on Valerie at the doorway and back to the little girl.
"Val, let's get out of here."
Maintaining outward calm, she lost herself to fury as she pushed her way out of the station. Stefan, not hesitating, trailed after her, leaving Caroline behind with the cops.
"Valerie, let me explain?"
"Where is that girl's mother?" Valerie bellowed, her face hot and flushed red.
Caroline joins them with her brow cocked. Stefan hovered mutely, staring at Valerie. As she studied him patiently, deciding to silently wait through whatever this was. He kept a passive, straight face, but was internally rolling through the silence.
Eventually, Stefan spoke up. "Enzo bought the house from her. She was the one that had the original deed. I found her and forced her into the trunk of her car out in the woods."
Caroline stopped and gaped at him. "Fuck Stefan."
"We need to find her. Maybe she's still alive."
Valerie turned away from both Caroline and Stefan.
Not wasting any time, the three of them hopped back into Valerie's Prius. And drove out to the local park forest. When they arrived, they all headed toward the woods and took out their flashlights once the trees swallowed them. Valerie didn't have a specific direction in her mind, she need to stay away from Caroline and Stefan, who were both walking around between the trees, looking for anything suspicious.
Caroline's eyes darted around the woods until they settled on Stefan. "It's getting late. What sort of car did you say we were looking for?"
"Silver Benz." There was no emotion on Stefan's face, and that wasn't something Valerie was used to.
Valerie shook her head and willed herself to continue this mission. Almost ten minutes passed since they had split up, and still found nothing.
Caroline sighed while she stalked forward. "Maybe one of us should take Stefan home to Damon."
Valerie could feel her face contorting in rage. "And the other one cleans up his mess?"
A defiant scowl befouled Caroline's features at that. "Val, don't be like this. Stefan is going through a lot."
"He murdered Enzo…"
Despite everything, Stefan didn't even bat an eyelash. And for the moment, there was nothing that Valerie found more irritating.
"It wasn't his fault."
Valerie met Caroline's eyes, impassive, curling her fingernails into her palms as she set aside her anger. "Why are you defending him?"
Caroline's face changed, and she looked Stefan up and down in what Valerie took to be some sort of assessment. "Because I've been down this road and he saved me."
"I watched his mother do some pretty fucked up shit. Lily, at her worst, was a monster, but she would never harm one of us. Enzo was family. He was there for all of us." Valerie hugs one arm around her torso, hoping to get rid of the chill and wishes she put on her jacket before heading out here. "I'm just supposed to forgive and forget."
"No, you're not supposed to do anything but grieve for your friend." Stefan's eyes blazed. "Val I'm so…"
"Don't, don't say you're sorry when you don't even know why you killed him in the first place." There was a cold pause as Valerie's gaze met his again. "Is it because he's finally gotten everything you and your brother dreamt of having, to marry the love of his life and have a peaceful life away from all of this."
"That's not fair. Stefan has atoned for many of his mistakes, and I doubt he'd be jealous of Enzo, of all people."
"Caroline, do you ever shut up?" Valerie shook with anger. "We all know the only reason you've been so bloody helpful is because you're hoping Stefan wise up and takes you back. I guess therapy with Alaric isn't working out so well."
Caroline's lips tighten.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, Valerie. You've been so good to me, to all of us. I don't know where I'd be without you for the past few years. I haven't been a fit partner to you. When it comes to my family, I always put Damon first. That's how I lost Elena and Caroline, it's why I'm losing you."
Valerie inhaled, trembling. "You need to make a choice Stefan, why is that so hard?"
"I made that choice, and I'm sorry Valerie."
Valerie blinked back tears. "Well, Caroline, I guess I'm no longer in your way." Stefan turned away from both women. Caroline also looked away, misty eyes herself. Valerie took this time to exit out of the forest. Stefan was now Damon and Caroline's responsibility.
Sometime later that evening, Kai and Bonnie were laid up, spooning against each other. Kai's half-hard cock pressed to the cleft of Bonnie's round ass. His arm around her middle, not groping anything, just holding her close. His face, buried in her disarrayed hair, nuzzled against the crook of her neck.
"I felt something when Enzo died," she said sleepily after moments. "It felt like a powerful energy force."
"You got your magic back?" Kai asked with a little smile, his eyes firmly closed.
"That's the thing. I didn't get it back." Bonnie huffed out deeply, searching for words that could even explain her thought process. "I tried to do a simple levitation spell but nothing."
"Grieve can mess with a witch's powers, you know that Bon," Kai said quietly, raising a hand to Bonnie's forehead to smooth the skin there. "His death heightened your emotions. There's a chance that you're just burned out."
"I can't give up. Not now, I have to get my magic back."
He moved forward, and tipped his head, touching his forehead to Bonnie's and exhaling a shuddering breath. "Bon…"
"Enzo's burning in hell, Kai." Bonnie sighed against him. Tentatively, she took his face in her hands and leveled their eyes. "He's the last person who should suffer like that. I need to get him out."
A soft, unreadable shadow fell across Kai's face. "If you're thinking of reviving him, you know it won't work. I couldn't bring Jo back."
"Not bring him back, but maybe we can let his spirit rest and find peace."
Kai clutched her reassuringly, nodding against her cheek. "It won't be that easy."
Bonnie gave Kai a hard, disapproving look. "Lucy needs to know that her fiance isn't suffering in hellfire. If I can do at least that,"
"What about us?" Kai asked. He looked physically pained. "You gave Stefan the cure. We can't use it on Cade anymore and I can't take the cure."
"Maybe I can turn, after we defeat Cade and get Enzo's soul out of hell," Bonnie said in a not-so-convincing tone. "I'll become a vampire."
There was a prolonged pause. "Will you want to give up your powers again?"
"For you and Lucy, absolutely."
Kai didn't want to lose Bonnie. He didn't want to have to walk this world without her in sixty years. He knew Lucy felt the same, even if she never said it. With the loss of Enzo, Kai wasn't sure how his friend was going to cope with all of this. Being the last living Bennett with no way to procreate. And as much as Kai would love to have a family with Bonnie, they just lost their one shot of having a human life. Immortality was the only way for them, unless. Kai didn't want to think of the other option that loomed over them.
A smile crossed Bonnie's lips. "We rescue Enzo, kill Cade and we focus back on us."
"That's fine with me," Kai told her after another long moment and wrapped the warm blanket more tightly around her body. He leaned down to kiss Bonnie once more, and she stroked his cheek in return.
The hot water from the shower helped. It was everything else that bothered her. She let herself cry in the shower as the hot water cleansed her body. When she stepped out, Bonnie grabbed the fluffy, blue towel folded neatly on the rack without thought and dried herself off with it. Using her hand, she cleared the steam off the mirror and stared.
What will happen next? Bonnie was sure this war with Cade would lead to more death. Tyler and Enzo were both casualties of this fight. Valerie was probably dead by now. Who's next, Lucy, Alaric, Caroline, possibly even her, and what about Kai? Would he survive without her? How can they kill the devil now without the cure?
It was all very frustrating, and she had no answers, not yet.
Bonnie left the bathroom and headed to the closet. She pressed her lips together and moved to the large dresser in the room. Yanking open the doors, she shuffled through the clothes that were folded at the bottom and came up with an old sweater her Grams had made her for Christmas, though she couldn't recall what year by looking at it, and a ratty old shirt with paint stains on it. A pair of grey sweatpants were easier to find, crumpled on the floor of the closet. Bonnie dressed quickly and felt instantly better.
Once deciding she had no choice but to face Kai to continue their conversation, Bonnie headed out of the bedroom. Her feet led her easily back to the front of the house. Instead, she faced Matt, who was perched by the large window in the room, and turned to look at her, clearly amused when she stepped in.
"How long have you been waiting here?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Not long. Kai let me in before he left. Said there was an emergency at the armory." Matt told her, sliding off the windowsill.
"So you heard what happened?"
Matt sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Yeah, how is Lucy?"
Bonnie bit down on her lower lip so hard she nearly drew blood. "Awful. Kai had to use magic to calm her down. She's sleeping this nightmare off."
Matt looked over at her and something, a thought or feeling, flashed across his face.
"Neither of you deserves this."
Something bitter flared within Bonnie's chest. "Enzo doesn't deserve this."
Matt didn't respond. Instead, he took a seat in a large lounge chair by the fire. Another one was across from him, and a tiny table sat in between them.
"I used the only dose of the cure we had left on Stefan. There's no way for us to get rid of Cade now." With an inward sigh, she took the seat opposite Matt. "Kai and I had a solid plan. We'd use the cure on Cade, defeat him, and then Kai would take the cure from him to use on himself to be human again."
Matt wets his lips. "Wait, Kai was going to take the cure?"
Bile tried to rush up Bonnie's throat, and she had to swallow several times to stop it from coming out.
"Yeah, go back to being a human witch again and try to restore the coven with Valerie." It hits her like a fist to the gut. "Enzo wanted them to turn the armory into a school for supernaturals. We'd take in runways and any kids looking for help to control and master their abilities."
Matt's forehead creases and his mouth firms. "Holy shit."
"I'll never forgive Stefan and Damon for this. They've crossed the line too many times and I've had it with them."
The words slipped from her mouth before she could help it. He met her eyes and held them.
"Bonnie…" Matt's face took on a horrendous, sympathetic expression. "This isn't you to go against your friends."
"Maybe it's time that I do." Bonnie said, not quite able to keep the bitter undertone out of it. "You were right all along, Matt. None of us wanted to listen to you. Damon and Stefan are dangerous. Far too dangerous for us to keep defending."
"I never wanted things to go this far." He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "Last thing I wanted was for any of you to go through what I did when Penny died. Jeremy was so cut up over Tyler, and now Lucy is in the same boat over Enzo."
"They were going to travel the world together, recruit young kids for our school. He even purchased a mansion in the country for Lucy."
Her cheeks flushed an angry red, and she couldn't hold his eyes. He shifted in his seat and, after he was silent for too long, she looked at him. Matt's eyes were wide, and he looked unsure.
"We'll get through this. We always find a way to survive, especially us two." Matt responded briskly. "After this is all over, we'll deal with the Salvatore brothers, but right now we still have to work with Damon since he's the only one connected to Cade."
There was a long pause, and when Bonnie spoke up again, her voice had adapted to a vicious undertone. "When this is over. I want Damon and Stefan out of Mystic Falls."
The rocks felt rough and uneven underneath his fingertips and they scratched his hands. Kai tried his best to stay focused on where he was going. He knew the vault chambers and the tunnels he had escaped months ago. It wasn't that hard to find his way back in.
Once he entered another part of the cave, Damon Salvatore greeted brightly him.
"Why the fuck did you want me to meet you down here?" he asks sardonically, and it clearly doesn't come out as sharp as he means it to, because Damon just snorts.
"I made a deal with Cade," Damon grinned at him, but the smile faltered somewhat as he took in Kai's expression. Instead, he raised an eyebrow. "He won't be after Valerie anymore."
"You could have sent me that in a text message." Kai looks at him steadily, pinning him in place. "In fact, I'd prefer it if you never called me or addressed me directly again."
This seems to flummox Damon. "We still need to work together and take out Cade."
"You have no right to demand anything from me." Kai tries not to grind his teeth. "Stefan ruined Lucy's life. Do you have any idea how fucked up you and Stefan are?"
"That's pretty rich coming from you." Damon's doing the unvarnished dislike thing again, and he squares up to Kai in a way that Kai presumes he thinks is menacing, and continues. "It's interesting how you can forget that you killed your family and coven."
Something in Kai snapped at that. "You and Stefan have done the same. First with your father, then your uncle Zach, and let's not forget pregnant Gail, your niece's mother, who you recently tried to kill too. I know who I was, I know what I've done. I'm not that person anymore."
A painful smile split the vampire's lips. "Because of Bonnie, because you love her so damn much that you just decided to not be a sociopath."
Kai just shook his head, and his eyes fastened on Damon with a cold assessment. "Because I don't wanna be a lonely loser with no friends or family. I have everything I've ever wanted with Bonnie, Josie, and Lizzie. I have a life and friends here. Why would I give that up?"
Damon chuckled darkly from where he stood cross-armed, leaning against one of the monoliths. "You think it's that easy. I've been at this for years, man. You'll fall off. You'll kill again. You'll spill innocent blood, and it could be Bonnie's."
A sigh rang through the air, and it wasn't pleasant. Kai rolled his head back, closing his eyes for a moment. "Why am I here, Damon?"
"Because I can fix our little devil's problem." Damon spat, in an obvious attempt at conciliation. "I know how to kill Cade."
His eyes fluttered open at that. Despite the disdain and desperation rolling in his gut, Kai's curiosity got the better of him.
"Sybil told me about this little insurance policy she had against Cade. It's not a hundred percent, but it's a relic of Cade's creation." Damon pulled out what looked like a dagger.
"So this could backfire on us and we all die," Kai murmured while leaning sideways as much as he could.
Damon crossed his arms and jutted his chin at him, eyes dark and serious. "Look, I'm willing to take the risk, and I figured you would be as well. I'm sure you want me out of your life so that you and Bonnie can walk off into the sunset without me lurking in the shadows."
The thought, the mere idea of his future with Bonnie, made Kai's stomach churn. His jaw tightened. "Damon, after this mess with Cade. I want you and your brother far away from all of us."
A bitter light filled Damon's eyes. "You're going to throw me out of my home." He let out a long breath through his teeth, sounding similar to a snake. "Or would you kill us? Stefan is merely an innocent mortal these days."
Letting out a soft breath and praying it would take the anxiety that filled him along with it, Kai shrugged. "I promised I'd never spill innocent blood again. However, you and your brother are far from innocent. So don't test me on this."
There was silence at that.
A sigh rolled off Damon's shoulders. "Fine, Wolverine. Stefan and I will be out of sight soon enough." Damon stuffed the dagger in the waist of his jeans. "Let's make a plan to kill the devil."
Kai noticed smoke billowing around the cave. The heretic heard coughs echoing around them. He knew immediately that something had gone wrong. Damon froze next to him. There was someone else down here with them.
Once the smoke finally cleared, revealing the shadow of a man in the center of the cave with them, hunched over and coughing violently into his elbow.
Kai let out a gasp when he finally made out his face.
"Hello son," that wicked grin Kai knew so well. "I think I have a better idea."
His world might as well have stopped then… strange, when all his heart wanted to do was beat in sync with the man before him. His body was ready to explode and freeze at the same time.
Joshua Parker stood tall before them, before letting out a bark of laughter and running his hands through his hair.
AN: Surprise, Joshua Parker is returning... Coming up next, Joshua will try to bargain for his freedom, Bonnie will work with Valerie to gain her powers back, Kai tries to learn why his father was in hell, and Cade returns to finally meet the infamous Bonnie Bennett.