9

Bloodlines

"Hello Jo, believe it or not I missed you. All that time in 1994, I wondered what I'd say and do when I see you again. And now here we are. Me with my hot twenty two year old bod and you… well, looking like Mom. Who says Prison World didn't have any perks?"

Dr. Jo Laughlin, formerly known as Josette Parker, was silent.

Kai tipped his head to the side, as if he was listening, then nodded. "Yep. It seems like it was just yesterday you were stabbing me in the back, shattering all my dreams. I planned on returning the favour, you see. Not your literal back, of course. An ear, some fingers… I really wanted to yank out that lying tongue of yours, too but then you won't be able to say the merging spell."

Liv made a horrified sound.

Kai glanced over at her, then turned back to Jo, shaking his head. "I know, right?" he said. "What a brat this one turned out to be. Bet you wish you had let me bash her brains in with that bat."

"This is creepy," Liv hissed. "You are creepy."

Kai sighed. "Do you mind, Liv? I haven't seen my twin in eighteen years. We have a lot of catching up to do."

"She's in a goddamn coma! You're talking to someone who's been on life support for," she grabbed the patient chart at the end of the hospital bed and shook it at him, "two months!" Her voice was trembling.

"Hey!" Kai gasped in a false whisper. "Do you mind not throwing around words like coma at Sissy, right now?" He turned back to Jo. "So insensitive!"

Liv seemed to choke on a retort. Or a scream.

Kai supposed she had some cause to be frustrated. To be honest, he had been at first. But he had got over it. So Sheila Bennett decided to screw him over one last time? Good for her. But every spell had a loophole and magical siphoner that he was, he was going to suck this one right out.

At the moment though, he just wanted to hang out with his long-lost sister. Jo had always been a good listener while awake but now that she was in a coma, her listening skills were unparalleled. With a little of Liv's magic and a little of Kai's ingenuity, the two siblings had wriggled unlimited access to Jo's private ward in the intensive care unit.

Looking down on Josette, who to all intents and purposes just looked like if she was having an extended nap, Kai almost felt sentimental. He had always been fond of Sissy. It would have been nice to catch up with her life. Her MedPlus profile page had been full of glowing, exciting accomplishments. It looked like she did pretty well for herself after abandoning her magic and her coven. While he was reliving day after identical day circa 1996, Jo was was living her life on her own terms and having a ball of it.

Almost felt sentimental.

"This was a waste of time." There were actual tears in Liv's voice. "I've betrayed my coven, my father, my brother to help you and for what? You two can never merge. I'll be forced to merge with Luke and I'll almost definitely die so that he and Bonnie can rule the coven together."

There was a cheap complimentary pen lying by Jo's beside, Whitmore Hospital engraved on it. It was a good weight, he felt as he tossed it in the air and caught it. It tapered to its tip. Not as good as a throwing knife but Kai had perfected the art of weaponizing ordinary house-hold objects. He tossed it again and threw it at Olivia's head.

It cut across her cheek and drew a line of bright red blood.

"What the hell?!"

"Now that I've got your attention," he said calmly. "Kindly shut up."

"You don't get to treat me like this, Kai," she shrieked.

"Your negativity is fogging up my mojo."

Liv narrowed her eyes and only a sudden spike of magic alerted him in time to shift out of the way as the pen came flying back.

His eyes followed it and then he turned to smirk at her. "You missed, Liv-" and dodged a little too late. The second pen nicked his ear, and he felt wetness drop down his face.

He stood up at once and Liv raised both hands, freezing him.

Her blue eyes were sparking with anger and fear. "You keep forgetting that we're supposed to be a team. You're useless without my magic. And if I decide to walk out of here and tell Luke or Dad, it's over for you! So I mean it – stop treating me like some minion you can kick around when -"

Her words trailed to a gasp as he broke through her spell, faster than she had clearly expected.

Kai walked menacingly up to her and she backed away, her eyes scanning the room frantically for another weapon, her hands curled and ready to throw a desperate defensive hex.

He backed her right past her seat, then – he threw himself into it. Then he looked up at her and sighed heavily. "You know, Livvie, of all the kids you threw the worst tantrums. It used to drive me abso-effing-lutely insane. So let's do this. Give yourself a timeout. Go to a rave. Go to an orgy. Do whatever it is you need to do to get your head back in the game. And when you come back, we can talk strategy."

Liv glared at him, warily.

"Or better yet," Kai said with a wide grin, "I'll talk and you listen?"

He laughed out loud, watching her walk side-ways like a crab, as she tried to get to the door without turning her back at him. Smart girl, this one.

She finally reached the door, and he could practically read the thoughts emoting so strongly from her.

He stretched out his hand, paused long enough for Liv to tense, and then reached with magic. The two weaponized pens flew into his grasp.

He trailed the blood-stained tip of one down the side of his face. "Oh, and one last thing. Before you go running to confess all to your twinnie, I might need some of your notes on that Gemini Merge and Expression cocktail that you were planning on cooking last year."

Liv froze. "How did you know-"

"That you were going to use Bonnie Bennett to harness Expression magic to invoke a spell powerful enough to alter the Gemini twin merge spell so that twins can merge without one dying?" He sing-sang the question even as cold rage built within him, and he imagined using the two pens to shred Livvie's face into bits.

He let just a little of his anger show on his face and watched with satisfaction as Liv swallowed hard.

"Big brother is always watching."

Florida was a warm respite after the cold Virginia spring. The MacMillians lived in a palatial mansion right next to the waterfront. An intimidating looking steward received Bonnie and Luke and ushered them to the outdoor dining area. The two made themselves comfortable in the canopied dining table, and looked out the sea just a few metres away from them. A small group of waitstaff were standing in attendance. Their glasses were filled the moment they sat down.

Their hosts would arrive shortly, the steward informed them, and handed them a pair of menus.

Bonnie sipped on the glass of white wine and tried to avoid Luke's probing gaze.

"You OK there, Bon?" he asked now, reaching over to squeeze her hand reassuringly. "During the flight, you were really spaced out."

"I was just tired," she murmured. "It was a long drive from Mystic Falls and we made the return trip in less than a day."

"Yeah, it's crazy just how much you have to do," he said. It had been bugging him for weeks. "Look, I can put pressure on Dad to shift this thing. You just got back for heaven's sake. You need time to –"

"No," Bonnie said, slamming her glass firmly on the table, her voice raised to almost a shout.

Then she threw a nervous glance at the well-trained quartet of servers who were standing a discreet distance away, and sank low in her seat. "Sorry," she muttered.

Luke had to fight the urge to laugh. It was endearingly how easily embarrassed she was. "Well, since you're so eager, I'm not going to put a damper on things," he said easily. He reached for a menu and flipped through it. "Can you believe there's an actual menu?"

Bonnie shook her head, eyes round. "We've been to some fancy coven houses but this one really takes the cake. What do these guys do? Alchemy? Treasure-seekers? Or," she made a face, "regulations?"

"Oil."

Her glass was half-way to her lips and it stayed there as she stared at him in surprise. "Oil?"

Luke laughed. "Yeah. They got their money the old-fashioned mundane way. Of course, it helps if you've fine-tuned the spellwork for finding the best reservoirs. Not very exciting, is it? Now," he turned back to the menu at hand, "what do we eat?"

Bonnie opened up hers, pretended to give it some serious thought. "I'm feeling like … the most pretentious and expensive thing on the menu?"

"Mmmm… Now I know we're meant to be. Because I was thinking of exactly the same thing."

They grinned at each other across the table.

It was a running joke between them. As part of their official Gemini-approved courtship, the pair went on weekly 'dates' which were completely funded by the abundant coven cash accounts. They took turns looking for the most outrageously expensive places to eat. Bonnie, at least, made it a point of duty to go clothes-shopping for every date.

(That aspect of her engagement at least was fully Caroline-approved.)

"We really have to try and finish it this time, you know," he said mock-seriously, after the server who took their order had left, "this isn't coven funds we're wasting away."

"Speak for yourself," Bonnie said brightly. "I don't see a problem here. I have lots of room to put it all in."

He grinned uneasily as he sipped his own drink. It had been months since she returned and she was a far cry from the drenched, skinny creature they had found in that cave. But she was still underweight, fragile-looking, and a far cry from the vibrant yet gentle girl that he had grown up with.

One of the stewards popped open a new bottle.

Bonnie jumped.

Luke covered her hand with his own. "It's OK, Bonnie. Deep breaths."

She had closed her eyes when the cork popped and she kept them closed as she did as he said, her fingers clenching around his own. After a while, she opened her eyes.

At the sight of the stark pain in her face, it was all Luke could do not to walk around the table and hug her tightly. He squeezed her hand.

"It's OK, Bonnie. You'll be OK," was all he could say.

Bonnie bit her lip. "H-has there been any word of … your brother? Is Joshua any closer to getting him?"

Luke shook his head. "Not yet. But he's drawing power from all the Elders. All eyes are on the ground, hunting for him. We have members in continents across the world. We're going to find him, Bonnie."

"There were spells that he invented. He… he showed some to me. I think he knows a way of cloaking his presence, not just physically but magically as well."

Luke tried not to start at that. Once in a while, she'd say something like that. Something that would pique his curiosity, make the need to poke and prod and find out more about her experience in the 1994 Prison World.

Of course, Bonnie had given the Elders a full account of what happened after she died on Halloween. Stripped of Expressions magic, flung into a Prison World – with the vampire Katherine, by accident not design. Survived a month alone with the vampire, then three months with the Prisoner. Then she recovered her magic and tried to find a way to escape from the Prison World without carrying back two mass murderers.

She hadn't.

Katherine Pierce had escaped by trickery a full month before Bonnie – and the Prisoner – left the 1994 Prison World.

That was her story, painted with broad strokes. But the shadows in her eyes, the way her formerly bright, avid personality had become quiet, melancholy, and the nightmares that had plagued her while she recovered in Portland – that, Luke would swear, still plagued her back in Whitmore… They all hinted at a larger story, a darker story buried beneath those strokes.

And he'd have known this even if he hadn't already heard Katherine's version of events.

But he needed to be patient. He couldn't push her to confide in him before she was ready. He believed that one day, she would. In their own way, they loved each other very much. Of course, Bonnie was not his type – a constant source of amusement to both of them. And even though she never came out to say it, he'd observed enough of her crushes in high school and college to know that his medium height, bleached blonde everyday looks did not match up to the string of tall, dark-haired, broody boys she seemed to fancy.

But they had known each other since they were twelve and ten. Luke still remembered the skinny, sad girl clinging fiercely to her beloved Miss Cuddles during that first family luncheon between the Parkers and the Bennetts. The twins had lured her into the garden and tried to get her to do magic. She thought they were making fun of her and had burst into tears. Her tears had turned into peals of laughter when Luke made Miss Cuddles dance the Hammer.

After that, she was always in their lives. And they had quickly discovered that not only was she a quick study and had easily become better at magic than both of them, she was also kind, sweet, funny and loyal.

Luke was happy with who he was. But once in a while, he wished he could have been someone different. Someone who could have fallen in love with Bonnie Bennett and whom she could have fallen in love with.

But all the same, Luke didn't have to be in love with Bonnie to love Bonnie; and love her, he did. He always would, and he would always protect her.

So now Luke gripped her hand tightly and promised her, "Malachai is not going to get anywhere near you, Bonnie. I promise."

She nodded, her eyes shining and turned her hand in his grip so they were holding hands.

They both felt the auras of the two older witches at the same time.

An elderly couple who were a study in contrasts – the man with a shock of white hair and dark brown skin, the woman with ravenblack hair, streaked with grey, and white skin suffering from a bad sunburn – appeared before them.

"Oh look at them, Jude," the woman cooed, ignoring Bonnie's and Luke's outstretched hands to swoop down and envelope them in a hug that smelt of perfume, seawater and flour, "Aren't they just adorable?"

The food came promptly and they tucked in with gusto – it did taste amazing – and Jude and Dinah Macmillian quizzed the younger couple about all manner of things from their college majors, to their easiest mental spells to their sports teams.

Or rather, Dinah did most of the quizzing. Jude was of the strong and silent variety. Although his eyes did brighten up and he went on a ten minute rant about the superiority of the Orlando Rockets when Luke said he supported that team.

Bonnie wondered if Luke did support that team, or he had done his homework on Jude and just said what would score points.

Like the twins, and every other young Gemini witch, Bonnie had been initiated into council duties from the moment she turned sixteen and her engagement to Luke had been made official. Up until she had moved across the country to attend the same high school with Caroline, Bonnie had sat in during council meetings, participated in mage conventions and magical games, been invited to coven social events and even partaken of the occasional hunt or battle between the Gemini and other supernatural elements. She had not done a lot of the latter, though, because Joshua Parker did not want to risk her. At least not before she had given his lineage heirs.

But unlike every other young Gemini witch, Bonnie and the twins had been trained specifically to lead. So they didn't just learn magic, they learnt politics. So long before she was officially initiated at sixteen, Bonnie already knew the names and roles of the major houses and clans in the coven, their strengths and weaknesses, old conflicts, old alliances, and the importance of managing forever shifting loyalties and interests. She didn't do too badly. Joshua and a few Elders had singled her out for praise several times the few time she had had to preside over the council and handle a particularly delicate situation.

But neither she nor Liv were as good as Luke.

The MacMillians had never shown up on her radar because they technically were not a powerful family – at least no magically. They were also a rather eccentric lot. Unlike most of the Gemini who were based in and around Portland, the family had been in Florida for almost a century and showed no signs of moving soon. Now that she was here, she could understand their importance though. They were stinkingly rich.

"My family has Bennett blood, by the way," Di said apropos of nothing. "That's the reason why Jude was so eager to marry me, you know, don't let his little speeches deceive you. Your family is lucky to snag yourself a Bennett," she gave Luke a wink.

Bonnie choked a little on her veal.

Luke tapped her back encouragingly. "You OK?"

"Yes, of course," Bonnie murmured and sipped more wine.

"You can see it in our kids, too. Our Josie is amazing. Smartest witch her age. You can see that her bloodline is strong. So is Marcus and Don."

"We're one of the few families to marry a Bennett witch. The only other ones were the Huangs and the Cramers. They've outlived some of the oldest Gemini families. Now you know why."

"Because of their Bennett lineage," Bonnie said dully, unnecessarily.

Luke shot her a worried glance.

"Damn straight," Di cooed. "I'm betting your Dad is over the moon that he snagged Sheila Bennett's grand-daughter. Must have been like Christmas and his birthday when Abby showed up with Bonnie, right? Just fell into his lap like that."

"If you see the hoops her Daddy made me go through," Jude grumbled. "And the Bennett blood is so far up her line… I mean look at the woman, she doesn't even look black! But there's no hiding Bennett magic, is there? You can always sniff it out."

As if on cue, both of them sniffed in Bonnie's general direction, their nostrils flaring.

Bonnie, who had long stopped eating, just stared at them in mute rage.

"Is it true that your dad, Rudy Hopkins also had some Bennett blood in his line?" Di prodded. "Because if he did, that would explain so much…"

Bonnie stood up at once. Without a word, she marched back indoors.

"OK, well that could have been a disaster, but I salvaged it," Luke declared when she returned half an hour later.

The MacMillians had cleared out. Something to do with a board meeting, although he suspected that Bonnie's abrupt disappearance hadn't helped. Luke managed them well, if he said so himself, and after finishing the meal, they had left an invitation for the couple to visit their home with their first born as soon as possible.

Yeah, Luke was going to keep that particular request to himself.

Bonnie sat down at the table, grabbed her glass and gestured for more wine.

Luke covered her hand on the glass with his own. "Bonnie, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Bonnie sputtered. "Did you hear the way they were talking about me? Like I'm some sort of brood mare?"

"And like I'm some sort of stud. It's not the first time, Bonnie."

"So? That makes it OK?"

"It's our job to manage the Elders. You've never had a problem with it before now please tell me what's going on Bonnie."

Her hand was shaking under his grip. She tried to pull away but he held firm.

"It's all rather crass and barbaric, I know, but hey, it could have been worse, right?" He tipped his head, tried to make her share his grin. "At least we have each other. We've got each other's backs in this."

"I know."

"So spit it out. What's really going on in that head of yours?"

She pulled her hand out of his, looking up, and in a moment, he too shifted back to make room for the server who had appeared. Luke waited impatiently as Bonnie's glass was filled, she took a large gulp, and then had her glass refilled again. Luke raised his eyebrow a little. He had never known her to drink this much.

What was going on?

She finally put the glass down, placed it carefully on its holder, her head bent over the table.

When the server had slipped back into the corner, she finally lifted her gaze.

Her eyes were like the sea in a storm.

"I want in."

Luke blinked. "In what?"

"The plan to catch and imprison Kai. I want in."

Luke sat back, shock rippling through him. "Why would you…? I thought you wanted to stay as far away from this as possible." Was this it? What had been bothering her? Revenge against Kai?

"Why?" Bonnie lashed at him. "What did Katherine say?"

"Nothing I haven't already told you. There's not much difference between your story and hers, although she did significantly play down her betrayal of you. Made it seem more of expedience than cold-blooded abandonment."

"You're lying. She told you something more, didn't she?"

Sadness washed over him. "What more could she have told me?"

Her eyes wavered with indecision and he tried to reign in his own impatience. He wished she would just open up to him…

"I saw Kai in Mystic Falls."

"What?" Her words were like a bolt of lightning and he sat up in shock. Of all the places, they expected his brother to be hiding out in, Virginia had not crossed their minds.

Bonnie went into a brief narration of encountering Kai in her grandmother's house. When she finished, Luke stared hard at her, noticing the way she refused to meet his eyes, and wondered at what she had so obviously left out.

"He has my grandmother's grimoires now."

"That's bad. That's really bad," he said heavily, feeling worry fall on his shoulders and rest there.

"How bad could it get?" Bonnie asked, her face wreathed with anxiety. "What could he be planning to use them for?"

"I don't know. They're Bennett spell-books. Covens would kill – have killed to get their hands on them. Who knows what Kai is looking for in there? Who knows what Kai could find?"

"I want in," she said again, and her voice was as steely as a gaze. "In the plot to catch him. Because clearly whatever the coven is doing, it's not doing enough."

"Bonnie…"

"I mean it, Luke."

Luke gave her a level look. "There are talks that imprisoning him might not be enough this time. They may not just catch him. They may…"

"Kill him?" Something rippled in her face. It looked like fear. But for whom?

"Still want in?" He pressed. "Would you have the stomach if it came to that?"

The ripple, whatever it was, cleared. Bonnie returned his gaze with one that was even grimmer. "Yes. Whatever Katherine may or may not have told you, there's nothing I would want more than to see Kai Parker gone, one way or the other."

They were waiting to pick up their luggage at the Whitmore Airport. Luke kept shooting Bonnie worrying glances and after a while, she asked him to help her claim hers while she went to the restroom.

She freshened up at the sink. Halfway through washing her hands, she stopped and pressed her hands flat on the sink, taking in deep shallow breaths, as nausea threatened to overwhelm her.

They may not just catch him. They may…

Kill him.

She stared at herself in the mirror for a long moment. Then she took another deep breath and splashed cold water on her face. In a few moments, she was done and she stepped out of the room.

Waiting behind the door was a tall dark-haired man with eerily light blue eyes. The cold aura radiating from his skin would have been enough to send her hackles rising, her defensive shields locking into her skin and magic pouring into her hands.

"Hello BonBon," he said.

The last time she had seen the vampire Damon Salvatore, he had almost murdered her to 'demotivate' her from finding the Cure for Elena Gilbert.

He took a step towards her – and landed on his knees. Her hand was raised up as she split his skull with a series of the most powerful, blood-curling aneurysms she could muster.

"Hey! Hey, wait, stop!"

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't just snap your neck and find a good stake."

Bonnie had been having a bad day. Actually a bad couple of months. The Salvatore vampires had once been the bane of her existence. Staking one of them would not solve all her problems. But it sure would make her feel better.

"Caroline sent me!" He managed.

She paused hurting him, so that he could hear her next words. "Then I guess I'll go give her a headache, after I kill you."

He raised his hands frantically. "OK, wait. She didn't exactly send me. I'm not actually supposed to talk to you at all but…"

Bonnie raised her hands threateningly, and he yelped. "Wait! I can help you! I know you have questions. I can get the answers for you."

Her hand was still up, but only to keep him frozen. "Questions to what?"

"Your father's death."

Her magic swept at him like a storm, picking him up from the ground and crashing into the wall, hanging there. "What the hell is wrong with you? That is not even funny."

"I'm not lying. I swear. Ask Caroline. I can help you."

Bonnie snapped her hand and he fell to the floor with a broken neck.

Then she stormed out of the bathroom.

A/N: Surprise! Betcha thought you'd seen the last of this fic, hadn't you?

LOL. Anyway, thanks every single person that has reviewed this fic since the months it's been updated and kept sending encouraging words, asking for more and letting me know that there are so many readers who are invested in it. It wasn't easy but you guys motivated me to finally, finally figure out a way to detangle the knot I had written the story into. So now it's all steam ahead for this baby. Once again, thanks everyone and please keep the reviews coming. They do make a difference.

Also for Original Sin readers: I'm really sorry for the 'false' update. I was doing some housekeeping for that story because I'll need to take it all down and repost it soon. I didn't know that FFnet would still send alerts for chapters I was deleting. I did finish the story a few months back, but I realized that it lacked something, so I'm in the process of re-writing now which I hope to complete this year so … fingers crossed.

And for Long Shadows – thanks so much to everyone who's read and enjoyed and reviewed the last chapter! 16K words is no joke but I felt it was the least I could do after the long month's wait and you guys really made me feel it was worth it. Just a reminder to anyone who missed it that there's an outtake from chapter 8 that I posted as 'Chapter 13'. For those who like keeping tabs of clues and stuff, it's important plot-wise, so if you missed it, now you know. J

Thanks again, dear readers. Let me know what you think of this chapter. Until the next time. (Hopefully next week). Cheers!