bend to her will
May 2014
Mystic Falls
"Why did you come back?"
At first the question didn't register in Bonnie's head.
She and Matt were in the 'War Room' – the nickname they all gave the guestroom-turned-armoury in the Salvatore boarding house. Crossbows, Molotov cocktails, magical weapons of all variety were lined up and stacked, filling practically every inch of space except for the table in the middle of the room, where there was just room enough for six people to stand around. The table itself was usually used to hold maps or scrolls or the occasional spell book and candles for what Damon called 'witchy juju stuff'.
Some witchy juju stuff was in progress now. Seven candles arranged as the points of a heptagram around the complicated box of machinery placed in their centre. It was one of many Gilbert devices that Jeremy had sent over. Unable to come in person because he and his group of hunters were currently wading through a nest of vampires in Brooklyn, he had sent what help he could.
The device was a slightly different version of the same one that Bonnie had pretended to de-spell so many years ago. Now, she was tampering with Emily Bennett's magic for real – modifying the embedded hexes so that when they were set off on the heretics, they would harm only the intended targets, and not her own vampire friends. Bonnie had just put the finishing touches to her magic, and extinguished the candles when Matt asked his question.
He was whittling a stake at the small lathe machine. He, Bonnie and Enzo who was loitering somewhere in the cellar, were the only ones in the house. The other four had gone on reconnaissance.
She repeated Matt's question, trying to understand it.
"Why did I come back… to Mystic Falls?"
Matt shook his head. "Mystic Falls, yeah. But this whole …" He tilted his head to gesture at the whole room. "I sort of got the impression that this was behind you."
You and me both, she thought ruefully but all she said was: "Did I ever say that I was never coming back?"
He gave her a look, his blue eyes skeptical. "Bonnie, during Thanksgiving weekend, those nomad werewolves tried to eat what was left of your campus, and you packed your bags and went to your Mom's."
"Because it was Thanksgiving?"
"Last Christmas, Demon Santa came to Mystic Falls and you spent your entire Winter break with your cousin Lucy."
"Give me Silicon Valley, California over snowy Virginia any day. Lucy is a blast. She taught me all sorts of cool magic and hacking stuff. Plus we went to Disney World."
"Bonnie…"
"But yeah, look at me choosing to spend time with the only family I have left. How incredibly selfish."
"I'm the last person… I would never…" He groaned, and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. That made the stake wobble, and he quickly turned off the machine, then turned to face her fully. "Look, that's not what I'm saying at all. When Ty and I would come over to your place and talk shop, you were OK when the topic was mundane crime, but the moment it switched to supernatural stuff, you made some excuse to take off. I didn't even dare bring it up on the phone when I called. You didn't want us telling you about this stuff."
"Maybe because there was no need to? I mean, not to sound completely desensitized, but none of those cases ever ranked up the body count of the Originals, or Silas, or heck even Stefan and Caroline when they turned off their humanity switches. I was sure you guys could handle things, and – guess what? – you did."
He folded his arms. "Fine, then. So what's changed now?"
"It's Summer and I couldn't get an internship anywhere. You guys don't pay much, or at all, but still…I figured you could use my help."
He stared at her in disbelief. "Come off it, Bon. You can do that misdirection thing with everyone else but this is me, OK? Matt. We've known each other forever."
Her smiled wavered slightly. She looked away. "There's no big, dark secret reason why I'm here. What you see is what you get. I couldn't help before and now I can. That's it, Matt."
"No, that's not it. Sure, you never actually said you weren't coming back to Mystic Falls… but I helped you move your stuff to your new apartment and I knew you took everything you didn't want to come back for. Then remember just after you got back from Europe? That time some old friends of Damon rolled into town, looking for trouble? I tried to tell you about it and you just shut down the whole conversation. Acted like you had no idea what was going on. Like it wasn't any concern of yours."
"It wasn't."
"I know. You kinda … made it clear, without actually saying anything that you didn't want to get involved anymore and I respected that. Tyler didn't understand. Damon and Stefan were pissed…"
Bonnie snorted.
"But everybody got used to not having you around anymore for the fights. And then suddenly, you show up for this."
"Are you complaining, Matt?" Bonnie asked, exasperation creeping into her voice. "If you think you don't need or want my help-?"
"Good heavens no!" He all but shouted. He walked over to her, and placed the stake on the table, then put a hand on her arm. "Are you kidding? We'd have all been dead the first time we went up against them. Well, except me, maybe." They both glanced at his hand and the familiar ring on his finger, then he turned his blue eyes back to her. "We need you, Bonnie. I just… I guess I'm just worried about you, OK? You made some kind of resolution or something when you got back from Europe and now you seem to be backtracking and all I want is to be sure you're in this for the right reasons. That Damon or Stefan isn't pressuring you and Caroline isn't guilt-tripping you…"
Warmth filled Bonnie's chest. "No one's making me do anything I don't want to do, Matt," she said gently. "I'm doing this for me, for my own reasons."
"Is it because of April?" he pressed, but his voice was softer now, his hand warm on her arm.
Bonnie said nothing.
"I cared about her, too. We all did. She was a good kid, and what happened to her and the Grove Hill kid was sad but Bonnie… it wasn't your fault."
"I know that," she said half-truthfully. "And I'm not here because of her. At least, not onlybecause of her."
He squeezed her arm slightly. "So what is it? Come on, Bonnie. You can tell me."
His concern was touching – but it was also beginning to feel invasive and she tried to edge back, but his hand on her was firm. "I… Matt, I have my reasons. OK? Just … just take me at my word that no one is making me do anything." She sighed loudly. "And that's all I'm ready to tell you."
"Sure, of course."
"I'm sorry," she said, lamely.
He grinned quickly, covering the clear disappointment on his face. "Don't be. Just wanted to be sure that you're OK."
"I am," she said quickly. Then they looked around – at the weapons, the stake, the candles and the device – and they laughed. "Well, relatively speaking…"
"So touching."
Matt stepped back, his hand falling from her arm to the table, as they both turned to face the spiky-haired vampire who was loitering in the doorway.
"Bugger me, did I interrupt you lovebirds?"
Bonnie snorted as she turned back to the table, and started gathering the candles. "What's up, Enzo?"
"Nothing much. Just drank some blood bags downstairs but I still have a thirst for vein. Anyone care to help a mate out?"
Matt spun around, stake in hand but Bonnie was faster – her hand was out, her spell loud – and the vampire flew up into the roof, and came crashing down on the floor.
"Ow! Can't you muckers take a joke?"
"A joke?" Matt growled, still holding out his stake. "I still remember when you used to torment my life on a daily basis."
Enzo got to his feet, and gave both of them an exaggeratedly hurt look. "OK, Donovan, I haven't even looked at you funny in yonks. Quit whinging already. As for you, Witchy, I'll give you a pass because you've been out of circulation. But we're all mates now. While you were busy playing at being Little Miss Perfect College Student, I was saving your friends' lives over and over last year."
"You mean after putting us in danger first?" Matt retorted. "And don't pretend you didn't do half of that to impress Caroline. You don't give a damn about anybody else."
"Sorry that I hurt your feelings, mate," Enzo mocked, putting his hand on his chest and everything. "What do you think, Witchy? Is this a good time to tell Detective Gadget here that I think he's really fit but he's not my type?"
It took a while for him to grasp the meaning of Enzo's words but the evil leer on the vampire's face finally clued him in. Then Matt's face turned into such a picture of mingled horror and disgust that Bonnie couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.
"Bonnie!" Matt cried, pained.
"I-I'm sorry, Matt," she said, trying and failing to stop.
He rolled his eyes, and moved sulkily back to the whittling machine.
"Don't give up so soon, it's a bloke's prerogative to change his mind-" Enzo started over the roar of the machine but Bonnie shushed him. She had felt the wards of the building change – and in a moment, the other two felt it – the magical alarm of sorts that Bonnie had set up to protect their houses.
The others had returned. Matt turned off the machine just as Caroline, Damon, Stefan and Tyler poured into the War Room.
Bonnie gasped at the sight of them. They all looked worse for wear. Being vampires and werewolf, their wounds had healed, but there was still blood on their ripped clothes. Caroline's blonde hair was streaked with red. Damon was limping, leaning on his brother. He spoke with a hoarse voice.
"Pieces of stake in my leg. Wicked evil spell. Bonbon, can you-"
She was already on it, guiding Stefan to position Damon so that he could lift the leg onto the table. His pants were torn from knee down. Even though his skin had closed, she could tell where the pieces of wood were from the lines of dessication that had formed where veins should have been. It was an easy enough spell to pull the wooden splinters, but she had to be careful not to split them further as they tore through vampire flesh and bone in their exit. It also didn't help that Damon yelped and jerked with every passage.
When it was done, Enzo was already at his friend's side with a blood bag.
"Thank you so much," Damon said earnestly to Enzo.
Bonnie gaped at him.
Damon gave her a wink. "Put that on my IOU tab."
She shoved at him, and he laughed. "You're too easy, BonBon."
"And you're a lousy spy. You all are," she added, turning to include Stefan, Caroline and Tyler in her reproach. "You were supposed to have been silently observing and gathering intel, not engaging."
"I wanted to leave when he spotted us," Tyler muttered. "But Carebear went 'come on guys, we can take him'." His voice went high-pitched.
"Shut up, Tyler," Caroline retorted but there was no sting in it. She hung her head. "I'm sorry, Bon. It was my fault. I thought since there was only one…"
Bonnie sighed. "You didn't mean any harm, Caroline. But we have to stop forgetting that these guys aren't… hybrids. They're witches, vampires and syphons. They were raised in the Gemini coven and they have skills in spells that I haven't heard about. Their vampire nature gives them an endless supply of magic. Their syphon nature feeds from everything that has magic. All three combined has given them some form of immortality that we haven't figured out a loophole to. Everyone in this room is vulnerable to them."
"Triple threat," Damon piped. "Top of the supernatural food chain. Got it."
"We can't tackle them like a football team. We can't ever win against them without a planned method of attack."
"Good talk, Bonnie," Stefan said quietly. "Just one little thing… we don't have a plan, do we?"
She bristled. "I'm working on the Gilbert devices that Jeremy sent. Once I can re-spell them so they can't be used against you, we can come up with some strategy to use them on the heretics."
"How long will that take?"
"As long as it takes, Stefan. You know, I could probably work faster if I didn't have to add your blood to the antiserum that I use on the devices? What do you say to that? It's for a good cause, right?"
He returned her furious look with a cool glare of his own.
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.
"Oh-Kay…" Damon declared, clearing his throat noisily. "I move the motion that this was a successful day since no one actually died." He pumped his arms in the air and hooted. Ignoring the baleful stares he received, he continued, "I propose that we all go downstairs and get thoroughly wasted on some excellent bourbon that I have been keeping for just this occasion."
"What occasion, Damon?" Tyler murmured. "Celebrating your continued existence?"
"Rats! I forgot. You're still here. So no, this has not been a successful day! I propose we all go downstairs and get thoroughly wasted mourning the continued existence of Tyler Lockwood."
Matt and Enzo snickered at that – which made Tyler look at his friend in outrage and made Matt in turn look horror-stricken at the realisation that he had been in agreement in any capacity with Enzo.
Bonnie was hiding her smile behind her hand when Stefan spoke again.
"I have a better proposal: We petition the Gemini Coven for help."
June 2014
Portland
Bonnie paused at the kitchen doorway and peeped in.
Liv was sitting at the counter; a can, a laptop and a box of pizza were open in front of her. She sat on the kitchen side of the counter so that she was looking into the living area. Rachel was playing a game with herself that involved rolling, sitting and rolling again.
"Kai's gone. You can come in." Liv's voice was extremely wry.
Bonnie pretended not to notice as she stepped inside, and poured herself a glass of water.
She said after a gulp, "I got a text from Damon. Apparently he got caught up downtown."
Liv rolled her eyes. "Caught up between someone's legs?"
Bonnie started chuckling, then she checked herself, remembering. "What he said about Luke earlier." Liv froze but Bonnie pushed on, feeling horrible. "It was out of line. I… I'm sorry." She felt angry even as she said the words, apologising for Damon's insensitivity – and probably making herself a target for Liv's anger.
But damn it, Bonnie couldn't not say something.
Liv looked up – and Bonnie braced herself for the other girl's acerbic wit.
But Liv just shrugged, completely calm. "Oh please, spare me the Elena Gilbert Kid Gloves treatment. Have you texted Damon back?"
Bonnie half-laughed, relieved enough to let the dig on her friend slide. "I texted back that he was a liar, some more censorable words, and finally that he owed us both. Full disclosure though: Damon's not good for much except maybe if you need someone's head ripped off…?"
Liv snorted. "I'll bear that in mind."
Bonnie checked the box of pizza and put two slices on a plate. "I thought there were two boxes?"
"Have you met my brother?" Liv said, glibly, then winced.
Bonnie tried to crack a smile, but her face wasn't quite working. She concentrated on the microwave, considering very carefully all her reheating options before popping in her plate.
All the while she could feel Liv's eyes boring through her back.
"So, you and Kai…"
Bonnie's shoulders stiffened.
"Is there something…"
Rachel wailed. The both dashed to the parlour. It wasn't anything serious, to their relief. The baby's rattle had rolled out her reach. Liv fished it out for her and Rachel thanked them with a beaming, toothless grin. Liv's eyes softened despite herself and Bonnie stroked the bald little head, grateful to the little girl in more ways than one.
The microwave beeped and she dashed back to the kitchen. She yanked its door open and grabbed a bite of the pizza, steaming hot and all. She walked around Liv's PC to sit on a counter stool and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be blueprints.
"What are you working on?" she asked, genuinely curious but also to keep the conversation away from its earlier topic.
"Some stuff from work." At Bonnie's raised eyebrow, Liv continued, "Believe it or not being a professional Gemini witch doesn't pay much. I freelance for this Architecture firm downtown. I'd probably get paid better if I did a proper 9 to 5 job but this way I get to pick and choose only the stuff I find interesting. And the money's not too bad. I can afford a place of my own, in case you've been wondering. I'm not just freeloading on Jo. I have a room here and everything because it's the easiest way to help out with the twins."
"I never thought that," Bonnie said, honestly. "If I had a big sister with kids, I'd probably move in and help too." She felt a little sad thinking about that. Most of her life, that had been her one wish. And of course, that would be a wish that no spell could grant.
If she had other siblings, her life would have been so different that she couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like now.
Liv laughed. "Trust me, you won't say that if you really had a big sister with kids." She looked across at Rachel with a rueful smile. "The little brats aren't half bad but it would be nice to deal with them only once a week. Heck, I'd probably still show up every day. I love them. I'd just like some me-time, you know? I haven't gone on a date in months."
"Oh."
"Mmm… hmmm… I was sort-of seeing someone in the office but you know how guys are. You aren't there 24/7 and they move on. Although, Tom started getting boring in the end. So maybe that worked out for the best."
That explained her disposition, Bonnie thought wryly as she chewed her pizza, but kept that little observation to herself. She was rather surprised that Liv was opening up this much to her.
"I'd kill for a weekend abroad," Liv continued. "I could afford to go on my own with all I've saved living here. Not Europe though. That's for Trust Fund babies from Virginia."
Bonnie raised an eyebrow at the last, and the snide glance that accompanied it. "Let me know when and we'll start a charity in your name anytime," she snarked. "We'll call it the Olivia Parker Tourism Fund."
Liv snorted. "Don't think I won't hold you to it. And while we're on the subject, how was Europe anyway? Saw your pictures on Facebook. It looked rad."
Bonnie gave her a look askance and took a pointed bite of her pizza.
"Oh, come on!"
"Whatever happens in Europe, stays in Europe," Bonnie said in between chews.
"That good, eh?" Liv asked enviously.
Dancing on every bar from Dublin to Vienna and back. Bicycle racing through den Hagg with Caroline. Bungee jumping with Elena in Ticino. Hiking through magical hotspots with Freya and Nora.
Wild parties. Wilder sex.
Bonnie shrugged. "It was OK."
"Liar!" Liv shouted. "Besides, if it was just 'OK', doppel-Gilbert won't have upped and left everything behind to stay there for good. What exactly is she doing there?"
"Finishing her medical degree at a hospital that has a residency program for trauma surgeons, specifically combat situations. That's what she's going to do," Bonnie said with no small pride.
Liv rolled her eyes. "I knew all that. Jo is bursting at the seams with pride at her little protégée. Makes me check Elena's online presence and everything. Which by the way has been silent for a while. Is she at a warzone or something now?"
Bonnie sobered. It had also been a while since she heard from Elena; they hadn't spoken on the phone in ages – time zone differences and school made that hard – but they exchanged emails once in a while. The periods of long silence usually meant that Elena was somewhere incommunicado. Liv's flippant comment wasn't far off from the truth.
"I don't know," she said quietly.
Liv gave her a quick glance. "Well I can't see any holidays or dates in the near future for me," she continued breezily, clearly picking up on Bonnie's mood and deciding to lighten the topic. "Not until the twins are pre-teens, probably. Jo practically begged me to move in here after I finished from Whitmore. Our stupid coven treated her like a pariah when she and Alaric came here and she needed someone in her corner. Kai was too busy playing impartial Coven Leader in the beginning, and Dad was too busy playing the noble ex-coven leader to be of much help."
Bonnie tensed at the mention of Kai's name and she hoped Liv missed it. She doubted it, if the flash in the other woman's sharp blue eyes was any indication.
"Why didn't the coven welcome Jo?" Bonnie asked hastily, trying to keep the conversation away from any dangerous topics. "They all turned out in mass for her wedding."
"And miss the free food, free booze and a chance to gossip about the Parkers? Or watch the snobby families cat-fight over who got to gloat about being in a Parker wedding?" Liv asked drily.
Vaguely, Bonnie remembered that there had been some kerfunkle about the last minute changes to the wedding train.
"That it turned into a massacre didn't do Jo any favours. Then the inquiry after and the whole business of the heretics being let out in the first place." She gave Bonnie a pointed look. "They didn't want to blame Kai who was, you know, responsible."
Bonnie's heart thumped. "They knew?" She gasped. "That he let out-"
"Lily Salvatore?" Liv finished, her eyes glinting again. "It was kind of obvious since usually, only the Praetor truly has access to the Ascendants. You know, Jo thought she stole the 1994 Ascendant but the truth was that she was bribed with it. If my father wanted it back, he could have got it anytime. But even then, the Ascendants are kept secret from one Praetor to the next, and for good reason: Prison Worlds are built to last for eternity. The 1903 World was breached because Kai went looking for something he shouldn't have. When Lily escaped, it was only a matter of time for the rest of the heretics to follow."
Bonnie felt the familiar guilt churning inside her. She reached for the pitcher, poured herself water with shaky hands and tried to drown it some.
"But, of course, the Council wasn't going to indict its own leader for something like this. Like my father argued it was a stupid, dangerous mistake, but no real malevolentia[1]. But they had to blame someone, even if it was someone they couldn't actually punish, so they latched on Jo. She was the closest Gemini around him at the time so she should have known better."
"What? And he let them?"
"Of course not. And he didn't let them blame you, either, which was something a few Council members also wanted." At Bonnie's gape, she grinned. "Besides the part you played, the Gemini don't trust or like other witches. And even more compelling, it would have been awesome for us to have something on a Bennett. Oh, the possibilities." Her eyes twinkled rather maliciously. Then she shook her head. "But Kai overruled all their recommendations, declared it immo iudicium[2] and closed the case." She reached for Bonnie's pizza and took a bite. "I'm guessing you have no idea what half of any of that means?"
"Whatever, Liv." Bonnie rolled her eyes. "I get that Jo wasn't abused by the coven and that's all that matters."
"Who said she wasn't?" At Bonnie's sharp look, Liv shrugged, and some of the mirth fell from her face. "The Praetor can overrule Council iudicum[3]. But he can't go into people's minds and overrule the way they think. Lots of witches still blamed her. Weirdly enough, Kai not being a horrible Praetor is part of the problem. Some witches are now wondering exactly what was the big deal after all about the twins merging 18 years ago? Kai would have turned out alright back then, too. My father having to be Praetor way past his prime has been bad for the coven. Then there are the witches who aren't comfortable that Jo exists at all."
Bonnie was in the middle of a sip of water and she choked. "What?"
"Yep. She copped out of the merge. Twice."
"That's not what happened. Jo was going to merge with Kai. Luke stopped her."
"No one cares about Luke," Liv said, flatly. At Bonnie's shocked stare, she shrugged. "All they care about is that it's unusual for the Praetor and his twin to be alive at the same time. Some say it's unnatural.
"And finally, there are those who still don't care how good a Praetor he is. He will always be a syphon. They freak out over the fact that the coven leader is one sip of vamp blood and one broken neck away from being an actual heretic. Things have changed since he actually started doing the job. But back in the beginning of his reign, if Kai's life hadn't been in danger in the 1903 prison world, the council would probably have voted that he be left there for as long as it took Jo's twins to grow up, merge and take the coven leadership from him."
Bonnie felt a cold hand run down her spine. "That sounds so-"
"Cruel? Cold?" Liv smirked. "Is this coming from you? Really?"
Her temper rose, red and sharp. "You tried to kill him, too. Even though you knew it would have murdered your entire coven. So don't you sit there and judge me," Bonnie snapped.
Liv made a face, as if attempted murder and genocide was a bad hair-cut she had grown out of. "My twin just died. I was pissed. I'm over it now."
Bonnie's temper fizzled. "Yeah, I can see that." They were all apparently over everything – Luke's death, four murdered siblings, Kai returning from the prison world and terrorising them.
"I want to give the Gemini coven an excruciating death."
It sure put her mad determination to keep him locked up in 1994 to protect these people into perspective.
Liv left the baby playing on the mat and went back to the kitchen counter and her open laptop.
"So I guess what you're saying is that all is not well with the Gemini coven, and I shouldn't feel too bad that you guys aren't going to help us?" Bonnie asked.
Liv shrugged. "I won't go as far as to say 'all is not well'. It's more like: we're still kind of in transition right now and too many anomalies are existing at the same time. Many in the coven went into hiding after the merge because, you know, the abomination became King. Then Kai made up with Dad – I still have no idea how that happened – and Dad called them back. Saving our collective asses at Jo's wedding helped a lot, too. But still... Kai's only been leader for a year and he started out by making a spectacular mess of things with the 1903 prison world fiasco. Since then... Well, no one can't say he doesn't get things done, but he's not very orthodox. Witches need constant reassurance. He may be Praetor, but if the whole coven revolts against him they can do some serious damage."
"So this is politics, then. He's protecting himself?"
"He's protecting the coven. We're literally only as strong as our Praetor, and the Praetor is only as effective as the rest of the witches' loyalty to him. We can't do any good if we fall apart or are destroyed, can we?" She asked pointedly.
Grudgingly, Bonnie nodded. Of course, Kai had tried to say the same thing to her mere moments ago and it hadn't sounded reasonable then.
She pushed that errant thought from her head.
"Do you have any idea how many enemies the Gemini have? You've been a witch for a few years and how many have you picked up?"
Bonnie actually started counting mentally before she gave up, shaking her head.
Liv nodded. "We've been around for two millennia. We've stepped on a couple millions of toes. The last thing we need is our enemies knowing that we're vulnerable. We're not, by the way," she said with a sharp, warning look at Bonnie.
Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"Our father supported Kai one hundred per cent and that got the Council on his side. All the exiles that count are back. Jo's twins were born and there's a clear succession plan. Kai's methods may not be popular, but he's got some great results. The coven's back to being revered in the supernatural world. It's actually been a good year for the Gemini."
"Chill, Liv. I'm not going to tell anyone about your coven's problems. I just wish Damon and I knew all this before we made the trip."
Liv shrugged. "You got to see us all again, didn't you?" she said cheekily. "And Kai."
Bonnie gave her another warning look and Liv winked in a way that was so like her oldest brother that Bonnie felt her stomach hurt.
She looked instead at the baby, who had now somehow got hold of some book and was gumming at the edges. Bonnie dashed over to take it away. Rachel tugged a little, but there was not much fight in her, especially after Bonnie dangled a toy in front of her.
She went to put the book out of the child's reach and an idea popped into her head.
"Do you have a Grimoire here that I can take a look at?" Bonnie asked, casually.
"I have a few upstairs," Liv said casually. Then her voice sharpened with curiosity. "Why? What are you looking for?"
There was no point hiding it. "How to kill a heretic."
Liv laughed. "You won't find that in a Grimoire."
"Let me be the judge of that," Bonnie retorted.
Liv hesitated.
"Liv, if there's information there that can help-?"
"There isn't," Liv insisted. Then she shrugged, even though her eyes were still wary. "Fine. I'll get you some and you can knock yourself out."
"Thanks. I don't suppose if you knew how to kill a heretic, you'd tell me?" Bonnie asked, one last ditch effort.
"Nope."
"No, you don't know or no, you won't tell me?" Bonnie asked, exasperated.
"Both. I'll tell you this much: the only person I know of that has ever killed a heretic, is my brother."
Bonnie raised her chin. "I'm a Bennett. Believe it or not, Liv, I can be a pretty bad-ass witch, myself."
"My point exactly: You're a witch."
Her words were ominous and the look she gave Bonnie now was loaded with meaning. Then she went back to work, leaving Bonnie to chew on her pizza and her worries. And for the first time in a year, Bonnie finally let her mind go back to that night. To that time, when for a short time, she had been something more than just a witch.
May 2014
Mystic Falls
And there it was, just like that, the one possibility that Bonnie had refused to even let herself begin to consider.
She opened her mouth to shut it down at once – but Damon did it first.
"Not happening, bro."
"I'm serious, Damon."
"No, Stefan, I'm serious. You clearly have been inhaling too much of Caroline's nail polish."
"I'm on Stefan's side in this," Caroline snapped.
Damon looked skywards. "Colour me shocked!"
"Not because it's Stefan," Caroline continued, glaring at the brothers in turn, "but because it makes sense. The Gemini fought and won against four of these heretics a year ago. I brought this up the first time we figured out what these guys were. I really don't understand why we haven't asked them already."
"They also lost a lot of their witches fighting the heretics," Tyler said quietly. "They might not be so eager to take the heretics on again, especially if they remain in Virginia, far away from Oregon."
"We'll never know unless we ask," Caroline insisted. "Bonnie, don't you think so?"
Many thoughts were churning through Bonnie's head right now and she stared at her friend, struck dumb because she couldn't decide which one she could say out loud.
"If the Gemini come to Mystic Falls, I'll leave."
Everyone turned to the spiky-haired vampire.
Enzo's voice was hard, all trace of his usual irreverent humor gone.
Caroline looked betrayed. "Enzo, don't you think-"
"No, Care, I do not. Their leader locked Lily up like some kind of animal," he said through gritted teeth.
"She was a ripper, unstable, out of control…"
"So is Stefan," Enzo roared. "Didn't see anyone throwing him in the clink. Her sons didn't lift a finger to save her, act like it's no big deal" – he gave Stefan a particularly poisonous look – "but I do. I'm not asking help from the same people that locked her up. And none of you duffers should, if you have a lick of sense. You've all forgotten what happened with the Travelers. You don't want to mess with the Gemini. They hate vampires on principle. Their idea of fixing problems like this is taking everyone out, good and bad. There's no telling that after this whole thing goes down, they won't decide to throw us all in the same clink. Or hang us from the same noose." Pain crossed his face. "At least we'd keep each other company which is far better than the deal your mom got."
Bonnie, Damon and Stefan glanced at each other in turn, secrets in their eyes, and then looked away.
Caroline's eyes were shining. "We'll get Lily back someday, Enzo."
He scoffed, bitter.
"And what happened with the Travelers was a long time ago," Tyler added. "It was a war between the two covens. We just got caught in the crossfire. The Gemini won't betray us this time."
Enzo's lips curled in mockery. "Think your girl will protect you? Like how she did at the wedding?"
"I stayed to fight while the rest of you turned tail and ran and you are mocking me?" Tyler sounded more amazed than insulted.
"They should consider themselves lucky. If I knew what I did about Lily then, I'd have joined the heretics to fight against them," Enzo snarled.
"You-"
"Tyler," Bonnie interrupted. "I know I've asked. You've probably been asked a dozen times already by all of us. But I have to ask again. You outlasted me in that fight. Do you remember anything about that night? Anything at all that can help us?"
He gave her a helpless look. "I'm sorry, Bonnie. I've gone through this over and over in my mind. Liv and about half a dozen witches were battling against two heretics. They had managed to flank Liv on either side, and a third was bearing down on her from the rear. I blocked the spell, knocked it down, tore out its throat. I rolled to attack the other two. Then suddenly, it went dark. It shouldn't have been a spell – I was in wolf form, immune to magic – but who knows with these heretics? Whatever they did to me, turned me human, and knocked me out. This was probably about an hour or so after Kai returned. When I came to, I was with the rest of the people they had ported to safety. Liv was still at the battle. None of the other witches told me anything. If the battle was over. If she was safe. Nothing. Just gave me some clothes, patched me up and put me in a cab home. I didn't get to see Liv until days later. She didn't tell me anything much then, too. Guess we'd said all we had to say already to each other." A shadow passed over his face, but he shrugged it off with a patently fake smile. "At least this time, she didn't knock me out and leave me lying on the ground."
Bonnie sighed with disappointment. It was the same story he had told her already. Not even one iota of information was new.
"Knocked you out?" Damon asked, latching on, in his typical way, to the creepiest things. "What kind of kinky stuff were you and Goldilocks into?"
Tyler scowled. "Won't you like to know, Damon?"
"So, if I get all you said right: you got your ass kicked, your girlfriend had to save you, and then she dumped you, probably because of all the above?
"Is this coming from the guy whose sorry-ass Elena dumped the minute she turned human and free from his sire-"
"We're wasting time," Stefan said, quickly cutting off the soon-to-be ugly altercation. "If we can't agree on this, then we vote." Everyone started talking at once but his voice overrode them. "They're seven of us so we can decide on this here and now. And everybody has to stick to the plan."
"Except me," Enzo growled. "I'm bloody leaving."
"Everybody except Enzo," Stefan amended, indifferently. "I vote Yes. We need them. We eat humble pie and ask for help."
Damon had gone back to glaring at his brother. "You're willing to work with Kai Parker? After everything?"
And there it was. The name. It was like a kick in her ribs, making her breaths shallow. Bonnie's fingers knotted together painfully.
Stefan glared back at Damon. "Kai Parker is not the one I have a problem with."
Even the others picked up on the sudden tension between the brothers, the load of unspoken resentment in Stefan's words. They probably even thought they knew the reason for it.
They were wrong.
With a small shiver of surprise, it hit Bonnie then that somehow, impossibly, they had all four of them– Damon, Stefan, Elena and Bonnie – actually managed to keep that little secret for over a year.
"Well, I vote No," Damon growled, then looked at everyone in turn with bulgingly menacing eyes, as if daring them to vote otherwise.
Caroline threw him a contemptuous look and flipped her hair. "I vote Yes, for all the obvious reasons. Put your stupid eyes back in your stupid face, Damon."
"No," Enzo said brusquely. He looked away from Caroline's hurt face.
"Yes," Tyler said quietly. He shoved his hands into his pocket, and his gaze was unwavering. "Stefan's right. There's no guarantee that they'll agree to help us. But we have to ask. We have to put our differences aside and reach for help."
"And you get your old girlfriend back, maybe?" Damon sneered.
Tyler didn't deign to reply. He looked at Matt, who had been quiet all this while.
Bonnie turned to look at him, too, and was surprised to find him already staring at her. She couldn't make out the look on his face, but after staring at her for a heartbeat, he nodded to himself as if he was deciding something.
"No," he said firmly. "We don't need the Gemini. They're more trouble than they're worth."
He was still staring hard at Bonnie when he finished, and she had a feeling that he was trying to tell her something with that stare but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out what it was.
It took her a moment to realize that all eyes were on her now.
"It's a tie, Bonnie," Caroline said. "Three-Three. You break it."
Oh no.
"Bonnie, we need the Gemini," Stefan said sternly. "You've done your best but it may not be enough."
"Stefan," Caroline said, warningly.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Bonnie said testily.
"If you say Yes, I'm walking," Enzo repeated for the zenith time.
"No one cares, Enzo," Bonnie murmured.
"It's down to you, Bonnie B," Damon sing-sang. "Class of '94 reunion or no?"
June 2014
Portland
An hour after Rachel joined her twin to sleep, Liv was still downstairs, working against her deadline and Bonnie was upstairs, cross-legged on her bed, skimming through four leather-bound books with the double figure crest on their spines – Gemini Grimoires.
Liv's earlier reluctance made sense when she asked Bonnie to keep her use of the books to herself.
"Coven gets weird about sharing our stuff with outsiders," she said. "Let's not damage your already shaky standing with them."
Bonnie rolled her eyes but agreed, more for Liv's sake than her own.
The earliest entry in all four books was dated in 480BC. Before now the oldest Grimoire Bonnie had seen was dated from 1429AD. Spread before her on top of her patterned duvet was over a millennia and a half worth of chronicles of magical discoveries, incantation, experiments and major events; and she knew that these were probably not the oldest, not for a coven that had been in existence since a few centuries BC.
For the first time, it dawned on her just how old and ancient and permanent the Gemini were. Of course, she had known this before – academically. But now, the reality hit her with full force. She had got so used to Liv and her family – most of them – that she had forgotten that they were part of an institution that was older than many major religions in the world.
A shiver ran up her spine as she cracked open the first book. She wondered how she had ever imagined that she could waltz into their home base and bend them to her will.
Kai staring her down across the kitchen counter, sharp-eyed, scruff jawed, with his rings of power and authority glinting in the low light. Every resemblance to that Peter Pan-like creature she had first met almost two years ago almost entirely erased from him.
Praetor.
"Not them," her inner voice said treacherously. "You only need to bend one."
She shook her head to silence it.
There was a spell tailor-made for searching through magical text like scrolls and spell-books for specific information. She chanted it now, and asked for any record of heretics in the first book. She came up with nothing. She repeated the spell for the remaining three.
Nothing.
She searched for syphons. Siphoning. Syphon magic. The ability to draw out magic from living or non-living sources or both. Records of children of witches who had been born without magic.
Nothing.
She groaned and covered her face with her hands. She needed help with this. She picked up her phone and called Damon. It rang to the end. With a half-sigh, half-curse, she dialled Caroline's number.
Her bestfriend picked on the first ring. She sounded perky, despite the late hour and Bonnie quickly filled her in on the events of her disastrous day.
"What's the big secret about killing heretics?" Caroline asked once Bonnie was done.
Bonnie tugged on her hair. There was something – an idea – that had started taking shape in her head. But it was little more than a nebulous thought, tangled up in even murkier memories.
She shook her head. "I have no idea. What about you guys? Have you found anything?"
"We've already checked the entire Salvatores' library twice already, your Bennett grimoires, the collection you got from the Martins's. We've got nothing, Bonnie."
"We can't. The Gemini aren't going to help us with this, Care. We're going to have to wait it out until the vervain drives them out of town."
Caroline said nothing.
Bonnie knew her friend well – too well. Alarm bells immediately started ringing in her head.
"What are you keeping from me, Care?" she asked at once.
"It's probably nothing."
"We made a deal when this thing started, when I came back to Mystic Falls. No secrets, lies or half-truths. No back deals, no hidden agendas. I want all cards on the table at all times or I walk."
"Bonnie, chill."
"Caroline…"
Caroline sighed dramatically. "Fine. It's something Stefan and I thought of when we started painting the town with vervain. We hoped we'd be wrong but it looks like…"
"Just spit it out."
Bonnie could almost see Caroline narrowing her eyes and bracing herself to give the bad news. "A vampire can build a tolerance to vervain. It usually takes years and years of small doses and we hoped that the heretics, being hybrids would take longer, may not even be able to…"
Dread formed at the bottom of Bonnie's stomach. "But they have."
"That's why I didn't want to say anything. We're not sure… But they were spotted in the Park. It has vervain shrubs all over its boundary. But they were both there, strolling through the Park like if they were normal people, not blood-magic sucking monsters. They didn't stay for long though. Barely ten minutes. Maybe they're still…"
"… building tolerance? But that's it, isn't it Care? They are building tolerance." She ran an agitated hand through her hair. "We thought we'd found a way out of this. Something far from perfect, but at least something we could fall back on if the Gemini turned us down. Oh god, Caroline," Bonnie said despairingly. "What do we do? When does this ever stop?"
"Don't give up now, Bonnie," Caroline said gently.
"I haven't. It's just… I fooled myself into thinking that this was over. That… I'd put this part of my life behind me."
"Bonnie…"
She forced herself to get a grip. "I'm sorry Care. I just… I just don't know what to do right now."
"You'll talk to him again. You'll make him see reason."
"I've talked to the Council. I've talked to K… their leader. I mean, I could ask Damon to go talk to him but that would probably end with someone's head on the floor."
"You've got to try harder."
Bonnie rubbed her eyes with the back of her free hand. "I'll talk to Jo tomorrow. I'll ask her… beg her to make a case for us."
"You're better off talking to Kai yourself."
Bonnie swallowed her impatience. "Care, I already told you-"
"Or maybe more than just talking…" Caroline's voice was so quiet that Bonnie barely made out her words before they trailed off.
Bonnie almost wished she hadn't. "What are you trying to say, Caroline?" she snapped.
Her old and usually dear friend exhaled noisily, then started speaking very quickly. "Maybe if you and Kai worked out your issues with each other…"
"Caroline…"
"…you could get him to help us. Whatever he felt for you is clearly still there and I know you…"
"Caroline!"
"…care, too. Just think about it, OK, Bonnie?" Caroline spoke louder, clearly determined to finish what she had to say. "It's a win-win for everyone. You make up. He fixes the heretics. Everyone lives happily ever after. Except, of course, the heretics."
"Caroline."
"It's for a good cause."
"Caroline, are you out of your-?"
"Oh, look at the time. I have to go."
The line ended abruptly.
Bonnie covered her mouth with her hands and screamed into them. The urge to call Caroline back and rip her a new one was overwhelming. Instead, she channelled it into furiously searching through the Grimoires, her spell-work so erratic now that the pages of the books flew as the magic flipped through them, some of the loose sheaves rising into the air.
"To find the 1903 Ascendant, I have to navigate ancient texts, undo layers and layers of cloaking spells…"
She shook her head again and asked for any mention of Lily Salvatore.
Nothing.
Kai sitting across from her in the café, his eyes hard as he sipped his drink and dared her to turn down his offer.
Kai's eyes burning through her as she stood before him in that room, daring her to leave.
Any mention of the 1903 Prison World.
Nothing.
Her own hands running through his thick hair, tracing with awe the zig-zag line of white strands that had sprung across his head.
Any mention of any prison world.
Nothing.
Kai catching snow with his tongue.
His tongue. His mouth.
"Running away, Bonnie?"
"Get out of my head," she whispered out loud.
But he was in her head. Had never quite left, if she was to be honest with herself. And now that Caroline had planted this insane idea, it had taken root, it was growing. The more she tried not to think about it, the more it filled her mind.
"It's for a good cause," Caroline's voice whispered in her head like a snake.
"Damn you, Caroline," Bonnie muttered, spelling the books shut. She wasn't thinking this. She wasn't considering it.
"Whatever he felt for you is clearly still there…"
Caroline didn't know that. How could she from a terse and edited summary of a thirty-minute conversation? How could she when Bonnie didn't know that? All she knew was that it had been a mistake calling Caroline. It had definitely been a mistake the first time she had broken and confessed to her and Elena.
Desperately, Bonnie picked up her phone and dialled Damon again. He had been the first person she had wanted to talk to over the Gemini's refusal to help and when the phone rang to end without him picking, she nearly threw it on the wall.
Her fingers trapped between Kai's wrist and the leather wristband, his other hand sliding along the hem of her shirt, his rings brushing lightly against her waist and setting off tiny explosions under her skin.
She thought she had pushed the memories into the furthest recess of her mind, forgotten for all time. But now they came flooding back in such clear detail, she felt she would go insane.
His salty skin. And his blood… she could have died happy drinking it.
Damn Caroline's suggestion. Damn her.
She was actually shivering, Bonnie realized, her arms coming around to hug herself. She picked up her phone again and her fingers hovered over the keypad. A thrill of shock ran through her. She didn't have a number to call. Didn't know the number to call. But she had picked up the phone with every intention of calling him.
"It's for a good cause."
She could ask Liv for his number. Liv would give Bonnie a knowing look but she'd give Bonnie the number all the same.
Oh god, am I truly considering this? Bonnie thought to herself as she started walking towards the door.
The moment she opened it, she heard the baby crying and then Liv's footsteps rushing up the stairs.
They met at the door of the nursery.
It was only one twin. They bundled her out before she set off her sister.
"I thought you were asleep," Liv said, almost accusingly as she looked at Bonnie with tired eyes.
"No," Bonnie replied. They were standing near the top of the steps and Liv was carrying Martha, swaying as she did so.
"Let me take care of her," Bonnie said desperately. "I'm not anywhere near sleep and you have work to do."
Liv literally dropped the baby into Bonnie's arms faster than a hot potato. Bonnie clutched the child to herself as if she were clutching her salvation.
The next few hours were so busy with feeding, changing and entertaining Martha – who apparently had a more cantankerous personality than her easy-going twin – that she almost succeeded in chasing away the insane idea that Caroline had planted in her head.
Almost.
Martha, after all, was the child that her uncle had been rocking to sleep a few hours ago.
May 2013
Whitmore
If not for the sudden silence that surrounded her, she won't have even been aware that they had ported. Her body was still locked in Kai's arms, his broad shoulders blocking out both light and air.
His body was heavy on hers, his bloody, brooding face inches from her own. For a moment, they were both still, staring at each other. Then her brain kicked in and she shoved hard with her hands and with magic. She was a little surprised that he yielded, falling back to a crouch before her. She skidded backwards as fast as she could until her back hit something hard.
That was when she managed to look round and register the familiarity of her surroundings. They were in her college dorm room. She had backed into the foot of her own bed.
The room was empty of everyone except Ms Cuddles who was sitting on Bonnie's pillow, and Bonnie could swear that the bear was staring with a "what the fuck is he doing here?" look on her face.
Which was a very good question.
"What the hell, Kai?" Bonnie gasped. She glared up at the man who had brought her here against her will. Kai was already on his feet and she could feel the magic he was drawing into himself. He was getting ready to ditch her.
The bolt of power she sent at him was propelled with more anger than finesse, but it did the trick – literally tripping him up, and stopping his portation spell.
"Woah!" he yelled, hopping.
"Take me back, Kai!"
He smirked – he actually smirked – as he righted himself, smoothening down the black tuxedo that fit him like a glove, stained as it was with soot and blood. The blood on his face had dried there, his eyes were lit from the effort of recent magic, his jaw was set and Bonnie couldn't help thinking that his bloody face was reflecting the madness of the mind within. Between his face and his suit, he looked lethal, more so than usual.
Her dorm room was large, luxurious really by any standard, but with him inside it, the room suddenly seemed very small, constricted almost like if his very presence had consumed all the air.
Bonnie swallowed hard against the sudden dryness in her throat.
"You can drive yourself. Should take you about an hour in this weather. Oh wait, your car's stuck at the venue. Uh oh."
She glanced out then, and through the open windows, she could see the storm churning across the sky. And now that she was listening for it, she could also hear the rumble of distant thunder. All the stations had predicted clear weather this weekend. That was the whole point of the wedding being fixed for today.
But of course, none of the meteorologists could have predicted tonight's magical showdown.
"I will Uber my way there if I have to," she vowed.
Kai's smirk wavered. "Is that some kind of portation spell?"
Bonnie blinked at him, and it took her a moment to realize that he wasn't joking. Of all things to almost make her laugh now: Kai Parker, man out of time, still figuring his way around 21st century jargon.
It was her turn to taunt. "Possibly. Phaesmotos uber. Also, I'm a Bennett, remember? And no one can MacGyver as good as me. You go ahead, Kai. I'll see you in five."
His face hardened. "Don't you dare go back there, Bonnie."
Bonnie rolled her shoulders casually, infuriatingly. "Hurry along now. Don't you have a wedding to get to?"
He took a step towards her, his face menacing and her smile slipped off, her heart jumping as she scrambled to her feet quickly, magic rushing to her fists.
He halted. His face twisted. "I'm not going to hurt you," he growled.
"I believe you. Do you know why? Because I'm not going to let you."
"Did you miss the memo, Bonnie?" His growl was now tinged with exasperation. "The one in the form of Headless Horseman there re-attaching his head? In case you hadn't figured it out: it wasn't PWR that made those things indestructible back in 1903."
PWR. Prison World Resuscitation. That had been the explanation, back in 1903, for how a heretic that they had watched get blown into pieces before their eyes, had been up and running mere moments later.
Apparently, they had been way off the mark.
For a split-second, Bonnie wasn't in her warm dorm-room but in a winter wasteland, staring down into nauseating whorls of gold.
She couldn't hide her shudder and Kai nodded grimly. "I know this is impossible for your brain to comprehend but I'm trying to keep you safe here."
Her hackles rose at once but she held her tongue. The less she said, the sooner he'd leave and she could figure out her next move. But if he imagined she was sitting this out, he had another think coming.
His eyes narrowed at her silence. "Comprehend is another word for 'understand', or in case that's also too hard, it's also a stand-in for 'get'. Do you get me, Bonnie?"
Bonnie almost hated herself for rising to the obvious baiting but she simply couldn't help it. He did that to her. "You're right. It is impossible for me to understand that you're up to any good. I get that much."
Kai advanced on her, his taller and larger build clearly intending to intimidate her. But Bonnie stood her ground, lifting her chin defiantly.
"This. is. not. your. fight," he grounded out. His face was bent so close to hers that she could see the blood on his face was dry and flaky. "You know, the IQs of all your friends put together can barely make one functional brain but even they figured out that much. They all took off first chance they got. They left you," he added, for good mocking measure.
Bonnie recoiled, stung. "They didn't know I was there! I was coming to warn them and your coven." And to warn you, she added in her mind and that made her even more furious. That she had actually been worried about him – for his coven's sake, yes but still – this was the thanks she got?
"Yeah, I noticed," he said, surprising her because at the time she got to the ceremony, she could have sworn he had half a dozen other more pressing concerns at the time.
A literal half dozen – six heretics all hell-bent on destroying his coven.
"Your timing could have been better but hey, it's the thought that counts. By the by, however did you know they were out and coming to the wedding?"
And the question made Bonnie wary for a totally different reason. "What does it matter?" she muttered.
But he was already figuring it out, realisation fast dawning on his face. "Were you…? But of course, you had to be… What were you doing in my apartment, Bonnie?"
The question should have been intimidating. And it was, Bonnie insisted to herself. But it was also – the way he asked, his voice going low, his eyes glinting as he stared hard through her own eyes, as if he wanted to pull out the memory from her head, so that he could replay for himself the image of her in his house.
She had a flash of memory from earlier that day – her own self, running her hands over his clothes, his bed. For ingredients for a spell! She snapped to herself. But it didn't stop the sudden heat from rising in her face, or her own feet from stumbling as she took a step back, suddenly overwhelmed by his proximity.
He followed, closing back the gap and then entering her space. The back of her legs hit the bed and there was nowhere else to move. His scent filled her nostrils – a strange mix of blood, wood and brimstone that should have been repulsive but was strangely … not.
"Bonnie," he said again, his voice still low. His eyes were now flickering from her face to the bed behind her and back.
The already thin air between them became even thinner. Feeling like if she needed to distract him from whatever was going through his mind, she burst out quickly: "They were looking for you. To kill you. We tried calling ahead to warn everyone but…" She shrugged helplessly. "So I drove like hell to get to the ceremony on time to warn you."
His face softened. "Well, on behalf of my coven, I thank you."
He sounded genuine, even smiled a little, tentatively; he was so obviously mocking her.
A sarcastic retort was already on the top of her tongue when Bonnie caught his eyes and it died there.
His eyes were shining with something that in another person, she would have sworn was gratitude.
Warmth mingled with confusion rose inside her. He was mocking her, she told herself; he had to be. Because even if – and it was a very big IF – Kai was ever going to thank her for anything – why for this? It was such a stupid thing to be grateful for – her attempt to help that hadn't even succeeded; she hadn't stopped the heretics from getting to the wedding; she hadn't even got a warning to him in time.
In the past, she had done far more tangible things for her friends than just a botched warning; and all she had to show for that was Elena's increasingly absent-minded appreciation or a back-handed compliment from Damon.
Thankfully, this train of insidious, confusing thoughts was cut short by what he said next.
"But now, this is Gemini business and you're going to stay out of it."
Bonnie's spine snapped straight, that momentary warmth chilled at the imperiousness in his voice. "No, I won't. Not when I'm needed. Do you even know how to kill those things?"
"Do you?" he mocked.
Bonnie clenched her fists. "Stop getting in my way and I'll figure it out."
He looked like if he wanted to shake her. "I said no, Bonster! I know you get a turn on from putting your life in danger, but you're going to look for cheap thrills somewhere else today!"
"Look the other way if you must, Kai but I am coming. And stop pretending that you give a damn about my safety."
"I don't give a damn about you in anyway," he retorted.
"Perfect," Bonnie said, baring her teeth in a mock grin. "So I'm coming."
"I don't want the bad karma of a Bennett, no matter how misguided this particular breed is, dying at my sister's wedding."
Bonnie couldn't help it – she burst into laughter. Even to her ears, she sounded half hysterical and she could tell from the way he was looking at her, that he thought so too.
"You're up against something you don't know how to kill. I would have thought a coven leader would be desperate for any help he can get at a time like this. But instead, you've been wasting time here while your people are fighting, trying to persuade me not to help. Makes me wonder what you're really trying to achieve here, Kai."
For the first time since they got to Whitmore, his face lit up with fury. "What's that supposed to mean?"
His tone was ominous, a clear warning to Bonnie not to answer – and obviously, a challenge that she wasn't going to back down from.
"I'm beginning to wonder if you really want to save your coven. You've only been plotting to destroy for them for the past two decades. Maybe that's why you're so determined I'm not there to save them. Maybe that's what this is really all about – an excuse to abandon them. Are you even going back there?"
His chest was heaving now; he looked angry enough to breathe fire. "I won't even dignify that with a response. I don't give a damn what you believe, Bonnie, but you stay out of this or I swear, I'll-"
"You'll what, Kai?"
If it were possible for a look to burn, his furious eyes would have turned her into ashes by now. She probably looked the same. For a long moment, they just glared each other down, neither giving an inch. They were so near now, they were breathing the same air. She could see the torn skin under the line of blood that ran from his temple to his chin. The incongruous thought flashed through her mind that he really ought to have that seen to.
Then his eyes narrowed, the fury giving away to something cold, calculating. He stretched out his arm then, silent magic whispering, and Bonnie tensed, her own magic ready to set him on fire. But his hand went over her head – and Ms Cuddles, who had all this while been sitting on Bonnie's bed minding her own business, came flying from her pillow into his grip.
Bonnie stared incredulously as Kai grinned at the bear. "Betcha thought you'd seen the last of me, huh?" he snarked, something like real fondness spreading across his face. Then his eyes fell back at her, hard and still calculating.
It hit Bonnie then, horror rising inside her.
"No," she shouted – and the silent, automatic Motus sent him flying across her dorm. She vatosed the beds after him for good measure.
She scrambled to her feet and ran to her door, yanking it open and rushing down the corridor.
It was like something from one of her dreams. Her running down the dark corridors of her dormitory and Kai chasing her. She was looking back to see if he was following – and that was when she bumped into something tall and hard that had suddenly appeared in front of her.
Her breath went out in a whoosh at the impact, cutting off her scream. She tried to backtrack but his arm whipped round her waist, yanking her against his hard body. Panicked, she slammed her hands against his chest, pushing back for some much needed breathing room. She barely got an inch. His grip on her had absolutely no give.
She tried another motus but he was ready this time, and it fizzled away into the air.
"No," she panted, despairingly. "No."
He waved Ms Cuddles in her face; the little bear had never looked so menacing. "You'll get it back," he said, his voice as hard as his grip. "It may not look like to your righteous mind but I'm doing you a favour. Consider this a freebie."
Then her magic was rushing out of her pores. The first bolt of pain sent her reeling into him, and she felt his arms draw her close. But after that, the pain sank into a muted throb, to be replaced by a dizzy nausea that made her feel like if she was slowly dying.
He was saying something, his words fast and angry, but she couldn't hear over the roaring of blood in her head.
When the darkness beckoned, she stepped into it gladly.
June 2014
Portland
The text message must have come in sometime in the early hours of the morning but by then, Bonnie was fast asleep – finally – and dead to the world. She didn't see it until early the next morning.
There was news from Matt. Someone who looked very likely to be a witch had been found dead in a motel near Mystic Falls.
[1] malevolence/ ill intention
[2] no judgment can be passed as no offence has been committed / a non-trial that shouldn't have happened in the first place
[3] judgement / decision
A/N: Thank you so much to all my dear reviewers! I am so pumped to read all your lovely, lovely feedback. I'm so glad you're getting a Season 7 feel about this before that's pretty much how the plot bunny entered my head. pennytree said in the last Charade update (y'all reading that fic, right? hot!sexy!Kai and magical makeouts galore!) said that perhaps it was a good thing Kai was killed off on the show so the writers couldn't ruin him or ruin Bonkai. A lot of times, I feel the exact same way.
A BIG THANKS to my dear betas thenameismaynard and magicsuckcr! You guys are the greatest! And if you haven't checked out By and Down by keenan24 here or any of killerwarlock at tumblr's RPs, you don't know what you're missing in your lives.
Finally, keep the BonKai flag flying!
