Some context for this chapter:

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you."― Friedrich W. Nietzsche


Nora is gone.

She made her grand reveal shortly before she made her exit.

After revealing herself as the girl behind the curtain she stuck around for several moments more to assure him she would be back with a more thorough explanation; then she took hold of his hands, held his gaze, and leaned in to hug him for longer than he thought she would. It felt nice, tenderness like this was rare for Kai and he leaned further into the embrace allowing himself to savor it. Soon enough the exchange was over and she pulled away from him, leaving confusion and a small emptiness behind.

He needed time to parse out these feelings for Nora, but he knew he would have it later on. He looked over as she casually made her way to the demon girl and kissed her sweetly on the cheek before speaking, whatever they were saying was clearly private because their voices never raised above a whisper. Their conversation was brief and Noa hugged her as she had hugged him before letting go and walking back to the same spot where she arrived. He watched as she began to disappear from the bottom up.

While her torso was still visible she shot him a kind glace then shared a heated look with Bonnie before she left them completely. Bonnie continued to wave at the empty space several seconds after the witch's head totally disappeared.


Nora's departure inspires the hellion to make an announcement of her own.

"Do you want another confession?"

He's shell shocked and doesn't think he can take any more, he's not even sure how he's still standing. She continues anyway.

"I'm not as old as you think I am."

Kai wonders if this is supposed to mean something to him. Is she being cryptic? He always just figured she was some ancient being, he figured she predated the calendar.

But, fine, he'll bite.

The sigh he lets out is nothing short of exasperated. "What are you talking about?"

She looks annoyed at having to explain this to him as she hops down from his bed, "Earlier, you said I was 'some sadistic 4,000-year-old succubus' I'm nowhere near that old. I'm also not really a succubus."

He realizes that by 'earlier' she does not mean this evening, she means since they've met, as in months ago.

He stares at her agitated and on the edge of something, about to dive from the steep height and into the void below. He thinks back to the philosophy courses he took in college and muses to himself that Nietzsche was right; he could feel the abyss starting into him right now and he wanted, more than anything, to trade places with the darkness.

Bonnie's voice parts his thoughts, "Truth be told I'm about...40, maybe 43 tops?"

Kai is confused and his face must reflect it.

"You see, Malachai, I used to be just like you, believe it or not, I was once a young, savvy, resourceful witch ." Her smile beams as she recalls her life with pride, but there is something more to the saccharine tone, it hides something else beneath the surface. The dulcet sweetness belies something sharp and sinister.

"Wait, wait, you're a witch? But-"

"Excuse me, Kai, don't you know that it's rude to interrupt? The question asking portion of the evening isn't until later on."

She stares into his eyes until she can see his question die in his throat; when she's sure the floor is hers again she speaks. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, that's right- see, like you, I was once the martyr, the lamb, the sacrifice."

This is the first time he's ever seen her show genuine sinister emotion, the first time he's seen her face twist up with something other than ridicule or taunting or mockery. The space around her feels electric, he can feel the chaotic energy seeping from her pores and into the world around them.

"I was once the one everybody used and drained and left to bleed- the good, sweet girl who saved everyone."

The way she says 'sweet' is like it's disgusting to hold in her mouth, like it's the foulest thing she's ever tasted. She spits it out the same way. Her face is wrapped in a vicious snarl.

This is the true demon he thinks. Kai bets if he moves just right he'll be able to see those rows of teeth, just barely hidden behind her lips, glinting in the light. She is revealing more of herself.

"I gave everything I had to The Bennet Coven and what did I ever get to show for it, huh? Pain, despair, misery..." her voice trails off and he thinks he can see tears glistening in her eyes. He barely catches the last word "...death."

She pauses for several moments and turns away from him, staring out of his window. When she speaks again it's clear from her voice that she is choking up, which is perhaps why she's chosen to face away from him.

"They took everything I ever loved from me, everyone. They took my Mother, my Father, Lucy...they even took my Grams-" whatever she means to say she cannot finish. What sounds like a strangled sob leaves her, he can see her body lightly heaving in front of the window, but he knows better than to interrupt the moment she is caught in. He knows all about being used by the people closest to you, by those who claim to love you only to take and take and take.

Slowly she collects herself and turns back around towards him, there is a beat where she says nothing, just takes a sobering breath and lets out a grounding exhale. It must do the trick.

Suddenly her tone has changed entirely, she's reined herself in and it's back to light and playful. "So, when I finally got sick of that I decided to teach them all a lesson. I killed most of my immediate coven, but there were a few pesky survivors."

She speaks as if she is talking about literal insects.

"Anyway, the ones who remained tricked me, bound my powers, sent me to an alternate dimension, yadda, yadda, yadda, you get the idea; and that's how I became this." She gestures to herself enthusiastically, that same pride she used to describe her former life as a witch back in full force.

Kai isn't sure how being sent to some kind of...prison world transforms a regular witch into a succubus, but he decides not to press her further about it. From the pensive expression she now wears he can tell Bonne has still got more to say.

"The more I think about it, 40 isn't really accurate either. I'm technically about... 22? 23?"

Her inflection rises at the end, but it's not a question for him to answer, how would he know anything about her weird magical stunted age? This is the first he's even hearing of anything like this and it barely makes sense to him as it is. Information overload is putting it lightly.

"I was there for around 18 years and I was 22 and 1/2 when I went in and I finished my little stint about 7 months ago, well, I broke out. Thanks to the help of our girl, Nora! She called me up and told me alllll about your little martyr complex. Told me she'd help spring me from the hoosegow if I could…refocus your priorities."


So this was by Nora's design, but how did she manage to find out about Bonnie let alone summon her? How did she even come up with it? Why did she even come up with it...

Before he can work through it himself his fiend pipes up again.

"I had tried to escape before, of course, but when she hit me up I knew I finally found my real ticket outta there. I liked the idea of escaping myself, but who am I to turn down free assistance? I figured the help of some random witch couldn't hurt; classic 'you flick my clit, I flick yours' or whatever they say. Nora actually ended up being a bigger help than I thought, she must really hate seeing you suffer."

The two of them did this for him?

Kai is as floored as he is touched. Truth be told he barely felt like anyone ever noticed him. Apart from being used and summoned for spells by Damon and Elena or poked and prodded to perform by his Coven he didn't think anyone felt concerned for him.

Apparently, there were at least two people on his side.

He thinks back to his date with Nora, the way she laughed and smiled with him. Was that part of her plan too? Was it all just a ruse? Or were her feelings genuine? He had honestly never thought of Nora in that way before she asked him out and, while their dates had been fun, he really just enjoyed her company most of all.

He tried not to think about it too much, but after dealing with the likes of the Scooby-Doo crew for so long he was hard up for real friendship; more than what he thought had been the promise of romance. Nora was fun because she understood him; she was someone to talk to and not someone who demanded anything from him.

She is once again attuned to his thoughts and she takes the opportunity to assuage him.

"Don't worry, I don't think what she feels for you is like- romantic or anything. I mean don't get me wrong, she likes you, but she doesn't like like you, ya know? I'm pretty sure she's strictly-chickly. More than anything she just couldn't stand seeing you slut your craft out for your loser friends. Plus, she really hates vampires and I mean really. I thought us Bennett's were bad, but you Gemini... whew..." She takes a moment to contemplate something to herself staring off into space as if comparing his experiences against her own.

He does not know what Nora has shared with her about his relationship to the Mystic Falls clique, but he can only imagine how she must have made it sound. He's complained to her himself of course, but he never actually thought she was listening. One of the main reasons he liked venting with Bonnie was because she never deigned to respond, it eased his guilt when he thought she couldn't care less about his problems. Realizing she had clearly been paying attention all the while makes him feel something he cannot put into words. Its embarrassment wrapped up in gratitude and... vindication?

He will have to consider it later because the monster across from him has become a really Chatty Cathy tonight, as he's been spaced out she's been continuing her monologue. Now her eyes are back on him and he can tell she is waiting for him to focus on her again as she gets to the tail end of her speech.

"Anyway, I've never been one to deny a pretty girl, plus the two of us get along great, she's actually pretty fucking twisted. Surprisingly, I think we are going to be good friends. But yea, I'm 23 even though by the calendar, it's been about 40 years."


How Bonnie can maintain her casual tone is beyond him, save for her short outburst she maintained her composure through it all. You'd think recounting being used by everyone you ever trusted, slaughtering them in a fit of crazed rage, and subsequently being entrapped in a pocket dimension by the survivors would inspire more feeling. It's certainly inspiring something within him. His dream girl crosses the room to him and looks thoughtfully into his eyes before cupping his cheek, he leans towards her palm and nuzzles it, mistaking the action for comfort.

"My powers may be gone, but while I was locked up I learned this neat little trick. She takes a sharp inhale and her cheeks hollow as she mimics sucking through a straw, "I take magic and I just suck it right up."

He soon feels the familiar sting and recognizes the action for what it is, another theft. The stinging ends as quickly as it began and she goes back to her tender stroking before she lets her hand fall away, perhaps it was a bit of both after all. She steps away from him as she waves her hand through the air and mutters something too low for him to hear, but he can feel the familiar tingle of his own magic as it permeates the air. She's casting.

"Check me out, babe."

A newspaper materializes suddenly out of thin air and Kai gingerly reaches to the floor to pick it up, as he reaches for the slightly crumpled paper he notices the date, 'May 10th, 1994'.

Though he quickly sees the date is not nearly the most interesting bit of info on the page.

Family Burned Alive in Virginia

A community is in a state of shock after a local family perishes in a mysterious four-alarm blaze. Sources say several members were gathered together to mourn the loss of family matriarch Sheila Bennett when the fire broke out. Doors to the Moira Rose Funeral Home were apparently locked from the outside preventing escape from the inferno. Firefighters fought back the flames for hours before it went out; Fire chief Tim Robinson says it was the worst he has ever seen in his thirty years with the force. There have been at least twelve confirmed casualties and authorities suspect arson. The sole survivor is the grandchild of the late Sheila Bennett, Bonnie, who has since disappeared. Police ask that anyone with leads or information contact-

He tries to focus on his breathing and not the feeling of his shifting insides and rising nausea as he confronts the reality that he's been boning someone responsible for so much chaos and destruction. Sure, she admitted to him earlier that she did murder or heavily maim most of her immediate family but seeing it this way made it all the more real, all the more concrete. Staring at the page in front of him he couldn't compartmentalize the information and file it away for future Kai to deal with.

He no longer recognized himself; how could he- the pious, respected, Dudley-Do-Right, Wonder Boy have been so wrapped in... this? In her?

The thing that shakes him most is that this newfound info isn't doing too much to dissolve his attraction, he thinks if she pushed him down to his knees right now he would be as enthusiastic to worship as ever.

Maybe even more.


He's broken.

There has been a fracture, a schism in his fragile psyche; the fascia in his body vibrates as though he is electric. His brain is rewiring in real-time and he can feel it; the muscles and sinews lift and pull and tear themselves apart, destroying his present self and mutating him into something uncanny. He is completely helpless to stop the change that is occurring. He peered into the darkness and it peered into him; he's become monstrous.

All this time with Bonnie has culminated in this night, in this very moment. It's not that she's rubbing off on him, it's that she's changed him, completely, totally, irrevocably.

Kai is not who he was when she first found him, or he first found her, or when Nora first sent her his way, or whatever the fuck happened.

Despite how it feels in the moment he can recognize this has been a long time coming, even before this weird Nora/Bonnie situation. He'd been growing sick and tired of his friends, sick and tired of his coven for longer than anyone else knew, that must have been what Nora saw in him.

He always considered himself hapless in his life, despite how most people saw him as a protector, as a do-er; he always felt like he was someone things happened to.

He had shitty 'friends', he had a shitty 'family', and all of it was beyond his control, just part of the shitty deal he was dealt. So it had always seemed and so he thought it would always be, but now he knew that was false. Kai was born with power, he held it within his body and deep within his veins. Power is what his friends always wanted from him, power is what his lineage had imbued in him, power is what drew Bonnie to him.

Kai was power and it was high time he tapped into it, and on his own terms. He feels overwhelming gratitude for the woman in front of him and the one yet to return, they gave him the push he needed to become who he was destined to be.

'No' he thinks- to reveal who he has always been.


Kai decides to ask her what he probably should have the moment she first appeared.

"What do you want from me?"

His voice sounds distant and tinny as it rings through his ears.

"Well, Kai, isn't it obvious? We want to help you of course!"

He recalls her previous words from when they spoke about Nora, 'refocus your priorities' is what she'd told him, it echoes through the shell of his mind and he finally snaps for good. The change he has been experiencing seems finally complete.

Something in him gives way- 'ego death' is what they call it.

He smirks in his mind- the halo is gone and the Good Boy has died. 'Rest in Piss' he thinks haughtily.

Kai feels his smile pulling slowly at the corners as his mind delves into madness until he's returning Bonnie's devilish smirk right back to her.

The blood simmers under his skin, charged with the power and promise of something entirely new.

"I've got some wonderful ideas about revenge."


Whose Line Is It Anyway?

I don't usually love open endings because I feel like I spend Too Much Time wracking my brain with the possibilities...yet, here I am writing one. Go figure! Honestly, I think it's kind of fun to wonder who makes the point- is it Bonnie taking the lead as she has been? Or is it our newly unhinged Kai finally giving voice to his deepest and darkest desires?

To quote a wise prophet of our time, R. L. Stein, "Reader beware, YOU choose the scare."

I hope you got something from this story. I had a really fun time writing it! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this, they really brighten my day. Anyway, that's my time folks. Peace out, girl scout.