4

Strange Bedfellows

"Nothing? Really?"

"How many ways do you want me to say this, Kai? There's nothing I can use to find Jo. You think I haven't tried before to get hold of my big sister? You think our father hasn't tried?"

"Let me guess, she threw out all her stuff and burnt down her room."

They were in Liv's dorm room. Also known as the last place in the world she wanted a family reunion with her murderous oldest brother. But neither of them wanted to risk bumping into certain people. And where else could one discreetly perform a locator spell?

"Nearly. The whole house was scoured through with blood magic. You know, on account of the massacre," she snarked. Kai just stared at her blankly. "And she did some kind of cleansing spell on her things. There's no magical trace of her, Malakai. Not a shirt, not a brush, not a strand of hair. There's absolutely nothing anyone can use to track her down. Believe me, we tried for years before we gave up."

"Sissy got her magic back to do the spell?"

"No, she got old Sheila Bennett to do it."

Kai's fist, propping up his chin, wavered and his head thudded against the chair he was straddling. In seconds, he righted himself.

Liv stared.

"What?" he asked, and his voice was laced with menace.

Liv looked away, swallowing. "Josette walked away from our coven and never planned on coming back. If you can think of a way to track her down… be my guest."

He pursed his lips. Then he crumpled up the bag of chips he had been eating and stood up, tossing it into the trashbin and walked over to her. Liv skidded out of the way, giving him view of the table across which the map of the United States was spread. He stretched his hand to her, palm up, like a surgeon to a nurse.

"Knife."

She gave him the blade. He nicked his finger and shook it carefully until the drop landed on the map.

"Magic."

Liv recoiled. "Tell me the spell and then I'll do it."

"Not possible."

"Why?"

Kai heaved a longsuffering sigh. "Because you're an idiot. And because it's a spell that I made myself for the express purpose of using my blood to track, find and murder my dear twin sister."

"You're going to m-murder her?"

"Eventually. I believe the technical term is 'merge'. This is just a tracking spell." He waggled his fingers. "And you're wasting our time. You're not getting any younger standing there. Your twenty-second birthday is when? One month from now, right?"

Cursing silently, Liv stretched her hand out to him.

"Good girl," he cooed.

It never got easier. By the time he was done, she was on her knees on the floor, tears pouring out of her eyes.

"Did you need that much?" she gasped.

"When you start needing to reach out and touch someone every time you want to light a candle, let me know when enough is too much."

Liv cursed him in her mind then concentrated on getting enough strength to stand. After a while, she was able to hobble to the table, and peer at the map.

He was still chanting, his hands forming charm arcs over the table. The candle flames wavered in step with his words. Liv watched, fascinated, as the unfamiliar spell took shape. The drop of blood started travelling across the paper.

"We're going to need a bigger map of Virginia," he said, in between chants.

Liv printed one off as quickly as she could. Not quick enough for Kai who was glaring when she hobbled back. Still chanting, he snatched it from her hand and superimposed it over the map already on the table. The blood from the older map leeched through the paper and started travelling across the state.

The magical energy in the room was building. Goosebumps broke out across her skin. Kai's voice was getting louder and louder, and the flames of the candle were rising in tempo. A trickle of blood was pouring out of his nose.

And then abruptly it stopped. His hands went down and so did the flames.

Wordlessly, Liv handed him a tissue.

He grunted his thanks. She peered at the map.

"She's … here?" she asked, confused.

"Somewhere in Whitmore. Somewhere very close to Whitmore college, apparently."

He stepped back from the table and tossed the used tissue into the bin. Then he turned on Liv, grabbed her arm and twisted.

Liv fell to her knees with a scream. "What the Hell?"

"Sissy just happens to be in the same vicinity as your campus. You two aren't trying to play a fast one on me, are you, Livvie-poo?"

"No, Kai, I swear!"

"Because if you are," he twisted harder and she saw stars. "I will dismember you, piece by piece."

"I swear Kai! I want you to merge with Jo as much as you do!"

"Yeah, I heard. That's why I came to you. That's why you're still alive. But the thing is this… I don't believe anyone would pass up the chance at coven leadership. So you'd better spit out the true reason why you're helping me, Olivia or I might just kill you and make sure you're not going to be a problem."

"You don't believe me because you're a sick psychopath!" She spat, tears pouring freely now. "You can't imagine that I don't want to be responsible for my twin's death. Or die for the chance of being President of our creepy ass coven. I've been trying to get out of this merger for years now. Why the Hell do you think I got Bonnie Bennett to get Expression magic?"

He let her go – or rather, he shoved her off. She rolled to her side, favouring the arm that would be black and bruised by morning. Her whole body was shaking with sobs.

He stepped over her to the small mini-fridge.

"Gosh, I'm hungry," he said cheerfully, as he rummaged through her food. "I'm thinking two pizzas to start with, and then tomorrow, you're going to go grocery shopping. I can't live off this…" He shook a bottle of stale milk and tossed it into the bin. "Call the delivery guy and then come teach me how to use the Int-er-net."

"Y-you're st-staying here?" She sputtered.

Kai turned a big, bright, glaring smile at her. "I know. Isn't it exciting? It'll just be like old times."

A/N: Yes, I know it's short, barely worth the wait and I'm so sorry. But it's been so hard to write this chapter since I watched the finale. I've never been this badly affected by a show before. I mean, it just hit me that this chapter is about two people who have been killed by canon. And I still don't understand why. And it's not just Bonkai. It's the Parker family. It's the Gemini coven. It's all the rich wealth of myth-lore that could have been mined - heck, they could have made a spin off of the Parker family and Bonnie and it would have had enough to get three seasons of stories, at least. And it's all just gone to waste in one fell swoop and for what?

So, please if you're reading and enjoying this, can you just drop a few words? I am so discouraged right now. I'm almost ashamed at how personally I'm taking 6x22. I'd really love to hear from you guys. Bonkai forever!