Bonnie pointedly ignored Kai for the rest of the morning and afternoon, keeping busy by acquainting herself with the house. There were blood splatters and smears staining many of the walls, along with random puddles of blood that had soaked into the hardwood floor. This, coupled with the bloody handprints on some of the doors and windows, made the house look like something straight out of a horror movie.
Despite the evening sunshine that brightened the house as Bonnie reheated Kai's "Thanksgiving meal" leftovers, she still felt a sort of darkness around her. She rubbed her hands together and held them close to the flame of the stove as she waited for the spaghetti sauce to boil – despite the fact that she was plenty warm enough in the jeans and blouse she'd gotten from the store last night.
Once the leftovers were heated up, Bonnie filled her plate, grabbed a fork and a drink, and sat at the kitchen table. She ate alone and in silence, which didn't bother her for the first time since she'd sent Damon back to the real world. She was happy to have a quiet moment to herself after what had happened earlier that morning.
She'd known she should've listened to the terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her 'don't do this' when she'd begun to unbind Kai from the wooden bed posts. The prospect of having to replace urine-soaked bedsheets, however, had been too revolting to consider.
She had known Kai was going to try to overpower her. That was the one thing he was positive he had the advantage of – his strength and his size. But he'd underestimated her. Again. And while Bonnie felt a twinge of guilt when she remembered the pained look on Kai's face as she'd stunned the ever-living crap out of him, she also had to admit that it'd been pretty hilarious.
She smiled to herself as she finished her food and began setting the dirty dishes on the counter beside the sink. It wasn't surprising that this house had a nice dishwasher, given that Kai was one of eight children. Even with a dishwasher though, Bonnie couldn't imagine having to handle the amount of dishes that ten people created. Either Kai's siblings took care of their own mess, or his mother was a stay-at-home mom if the house was as clean as it was now – well, excluding the splatters of blood here and there.
As Bonnie was nearly finished setting the dirty plates, cups, and silverware inside the dishwasher, she heard what sounded like a groan of pain from upstairs. Her eyes widened for a moment as she waited, gaze flickering to the large kitchen knives displayed on the counter beside her.
"I can smell the food, Bonnie!" Kai yelled.
Bonnie let out a breath of relief and relaxed. He was still tied up.
"Hey, I'm starving up here!" Kai continued. "And I know you're eating my leftover spaghetti. Admit it, Bon. I'm a great cook."
Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"Or maybe I just didn't feel like cooking and decided to take my chances with this!" she called back. "Are you sure those tomatoes you used weren't rotten?"
"I don't know," Kai retorted, "why don't you bring me up a bowl so I can taste it and find out for myself?"
"I'm not entirely sure you deserve it," Bonnie retorted. "Especially after you pinned me down and threatened me."
She could practically feel his annoyed glare.
"Oh sweet innocent Bonnie, you forgot to mention the part where you tased me. You owe me."
Bonnie bit her lip and thought for a moment, allowing herself to grin one last time at the memory of watching Kai convulse from the stun gun before sighing and getting a bowl. She filled it with spaghetti and grabbed a fork, and then made her way upstairs and into Kai's bedroom. He sighed with relief and visibly relaxed as he saw her enter.
Bonnie cocked an eyebrow at him.
"What, you missed me?" she sassed.
Kai grinned and attempted to shrug. "Nah, I'm just really happy to see my spaghetti. I'm starving. Apparently being tasered not only makes a mark on your skin, but also on your appetite."
Before Bonnie could scoff at him, she glanced at the side of his neck and noticed the two dark red marks the stun gun had left. Although she pressed her lips together to keep from laughing, the corner of her mouth screwed up into a smirk.
"First of all, it wasn't a Taser, it was a stun gun," Bonnie informed him. "Stun guns are much less painful than Tasers because they aren't as powerful."
"Oh yeah? Well it still hurt like a mother– "
"Oh stop whining," Bonnie teased. "I bet it hurts way less than being shot with a crossbow."
Kai laughed once.
"Can't argue with ya' there," he answered, his eyes suddenly glued to the bowl Bonnie held. "Hey, since my hands aren't exactly useful at the moment since you're surprisingly an expert at tying knots, you're gonna have to feed me. Again."
Bonnie huffed and pushed the same chair she'd used this morning towards Kai's bed until it nearly touched the edge. She sat cross-legged on it before twirling some of the spaghetti onto the fork and giving Kai an expectant look.
"Are you gonna open your mouth or just stare it?" Bonnie asked.
Kai's stare was unrelenting, his dark eyes twinkling with mirth as he smirked.
Bonnie's expression fell as she realized where his mind had gone with that. She huffed in annoyance and rolled her eyes.
"Can you stop acting like a perverted teenager for once so I don't actually slap that stupid smile off your face?" she snapped.
Kai feigned shock.
"Bonnie Bennett!" he gasped. "My thoughts were entirely innocent, but yours were obviously in the gutter. Or no, worse! In the sewer."
Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him and dropped the fork into the bowl of spaghetti. "You're a dick."
"There you go again," Kai said. "First you give me a hickey, then you tie me to my bed and do unspeakable things to me with your hips and your mouth, and now you're thinking about the D word. You really need to purify your mind, Miss Bennett."
Bonnie shot him a smile, uncrossed her legs, and stood up, causing Kai to look mildly concerned.
"You know what? On second thought, I don't think I need to feed you after all," Bonnie stated, stepping away from the bed. "You seem content enough listening to your own voice, so you must not be very hungry. I guess I'll just take this back downstairs and – "
"Wait," Kai hissed, clearly annoyed that Bonnie was winning at their little game yet again. "I'll shut up. I promise."
Bonnie shrugged and made her way back to the chair. Kai watched eagerly as she sat back down and picked up the fork. She held it above the bowl, tilted her head, and waited.
Kai swallowed and said, "Ya' know, it's pretty annoying that I'm being fed like a baby, and yet kind of a turn on since you're the one feeding me. I actually think I kinda' like it."
"Well that's because you are a baby," Bonnie answered.
Kai shot her a hard stare before finally opening his mouth. Bonnie grinned victoriously and laid the fork on his tongue, watching as he closed his lips over the metal and slid the spaghetti off of it. She pretended not to notice the way his mouth looked as he did it, and would deny it to the grave that she'd leaned forward, feeling warmth coiling in her stomach.
But the mischievous grin tugging at the corner of Kai's lips had Bonnie worried that he didn't need a confession. He could tell that she was enjoying having control over him. The only thing Bonnie had to concern herself with now was not letting him realize the full extent of her delight.
After about three more bites of spaghetti – which Kai chewed excruciatingly slowly and stared at Bonnie the whole time – he swallowed and said, "You're crazy for accusing me of using rotten tomatoes in my cooking. I mean, what kind of person do you think I am?"
Bonnie twirled the fork until enough spaghetti was dangling from it and sighed, saying, "So much for your promise of shutting up."
Kai gave her a doubtful look and grinned. "Come on, Bon. Neither one of us likes awkward silence."
"It wasn't awkward," she retorted, giving Kai another bite of spaghetti.
"Mm, true," he said while chewing. "You know you're truly comfortable with somebody when the silence isn't awkward."
Bonnie paused and narrowed her eyes. "You heard that from Pulp Fiction, didn't you?"
Kai swallowed and gave her a slight nod.
"In the trailer," he said. "That movie didn't come out until October. I was trapped here in May. See the problem? Which means that not only was I trapped here all alone, but I also missed one of the best movies of that year. Shameful, isn't it?"
"Not really," Bonnie retorted, twirling the fork again. "I've never been much of a fan of that movie; too many overdoses for my tastes."
"Hey, hey, no spoilers!" Kai exclaimed before getting another mouthful of spaghetti. "What about Dirty Dancing? You must've seen that one."
Bonnie smiled – genuinely smiled – a bit at the mention of the movie.
"Of course I've seen it," she told him. "It's a classic."
"We should watch it sometime," Kai suggested. "But like, ya' know, sometime when my legs and arms aren't tied down to my bed. I would've escaped already, but I really wasn't kidding about these knots, Bon."
Bonnie rolled her eyes and stuck a large amount of spaghetti into his mouth to shut him up.
After another ten minutes or so of hand-feeding Kai and then going to the kitchen to clean up, Bonnie began turning on lights as she made her way back upstairs. It had just gotten dark outside, and despite the fact that no one else was on this planet, the silence grew eerie.
The night had just begun. Bonnie needed answers from Kai, and she intended to get them before the sun rose.
Bonnie waltzed into the room with a confidence that caught Kai's attention. She spun the wooden chair she'd sat in to feed him so that it faced away from the bed and sat backwards on it, facing Kai. Her legs hung off either side, toes touching the floor and feet arching up. Bonnie crossed her arms and relaxed them on top of the chair, then rested her chin on top of her forearms.
Kai observed her with interest.
"Ya' know, it's a really good thing I haven't drank much today, or else I'd really have to use the little boys room right about now," Kai stated, chuckling as he tugged at the ropes around his wrists.
"And I really wouldn't let you even if you did need it," Bonnie retorted with mocking smile.
Kai watched her for a moment before snorting. "Right, I forgot you're supposed to be torturing me. Sorry about that. It must've slipped my mind while we were reenacting Lady and the Tramp."
"Aw, that's shame," Bonnie taunted, pretending to pout. "Maybe we should reenact The Silence of the Lambs to get you back on track. How does that sound?"
Kai bit the tip of his tongue and smiled, staring at Bonnie mischievously. "You don't have it in you."
"Haven't we been over this already?" Bonnie countered, narrowing her eyes at Kai and cocking an eyebrow. "I'm not afraid to hurt you."
"Oh, I know you're not," Kai answered. "What you're afraid of is that you'll like it too much."
Bonnie pushed herself off of the chair, making it scratch loudly across the floor. She shoved it away and it toppled over with a loud bang.
Kai eyed it with raised eyebrows.
"Really?" he snorted. "You think that's supposed to – "
Bonnie was climbing onto his stomach – a disgustingly familiar position to her now – before he could finish speaking. Kai inhaled sharply and gaped at her for a moment before catching himself. That is, until she yanked the stun gun out of her pocket and held it against his neck with one hand, while her other hand grabbed his hair. Hard.
Kai grunted, his jaw clenching and the veins in his arms straining as he fought to remain still. He chuckled softly.
"What, that little old thing again?" Kai teased. "You really need better scare tactics than a little bit of electricity, Bonnie."
Bonnie watched sweat form at Kai's temple, though. She allowed herself a small, wicked smile.
"You're pretending to be tough, but I can see how worked up you are," Bonnie said. "Maybe you're afraid, maybe you're not. But it looks to me like you have so much frustration pent up from spending eighteen years alone that you're not sure what to do when there's a girl on your lap."
Kai choked out a laugh.
"Sex and girls have never been very appealing to me, if I'm being honest," he admitted with a shrug. "I tried kissing a girl once when I was twelve, but I decided it was much more fun to push her into the creek instead." He paused to giggle – genuinely giggle – at the memory. "Girls are fun to look at, don't get me wrong. But I've never found one that I really wanted in my lap."
"Hmm," Bonnie hummed, releasing Kai's hair to graze her fingers over his jugular. His pulse was racing. He was lying. "Until now, right?"
"What?"
"You've never found a girl you've wanted in your lap until now," Bonnie repeated. She let her weight rest fully on his stomach, still holding the stun gun to his neck with her right hand.
Kai breathed in slowly and watched Bonnie like she was a bomb that was about to go off.
"You act like it's one-sided," Kai replied.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I don't need to," he said. "You already know the answer. You just wanna hear me say it out loud. Which doesn't make sense considering the amount of times I've hit on you. So then you just wanted to hear me say it then, didn't you, Bon? You wanna know all the dirty thoughts I have about you. I guess your naughty side only comes out to play when Damon isn't around, huh?"
Bonnie ground her teeth, removed her fingers from Kai's pulse, and pushed the button on the stun gun. The resulting sound of static was drowned out by Kai's ridiculous yelp of shock and pain. Bonnie only shocked him for a moment, but it was enough to leave two red marks on his neck below the ones from this morning.
A few seconds later, after Kai recovered, he began to laugh – soft chuckles at first that became louder and shook his whole body. Tears formed in his eyes as he smiled up at Bonnie in sheer delight.
"I gotta' admit, Bon Bon," Kai said, smirking as the sound of Damon's nickname for Bonnie brought a dark fire into her eyes, "that one actually surprised me. I guess you could say I was shocked."
Kai closed his eyes and continued to chuckle at his own joke. As he laughed, Bonnie dropped the stun gun onto the bed beside her and reached into her other back pocket. She pulled out a pocket knife she'd found earlier in the day and had decided to keep for instances just like this one.
Bonnie had the two-inch blade opened and pressed against Kai's jugular in half a second. The cold metal of the blade made Kai's laughter pause. He opened his eyes and glanced down. While trying to look at the offending object, however, Kai caused it to push further into his neck. He hissed at the sensation and instantly jerked away from it, but Bonnie leaned forward and pressed it against his neck harder.
"I was going to insult the size of that thing," Kai began, glancing at Bonnie's hand, "but then I figured you'd turn it into a dirty joke. Besides, I know firsthand not to underestimate what a knife can do, regardless of size."
"Then you know how many ways I can slice you open with this," Bonnie retorted. "So tell me, Kai. Where's the magic you planned to use? It's obviously not inside of you, otherwise you would've already used it to get out of these ropes."
Kai chuckled darkly. "I always knew you were smart."
"Where is it, Kai?" Bonnie demanded, leaning closer towards him.
"You say that like I'm gonna' get intimidated and tell you everything," Kai said with a disbelieving smile. "Sorry. I'm not that easy, Bon."
Bonnie's lips curled back over her teeth in a snarl. She lunged forward until she was inches away from Kai's face and suddenly gripped the hair at the base of his skull, pulling it hard enough that he gasped and his head whipped backwards. Then, as his neck was exposed and the muscles were straining, Bonnie dug the knife into his skin. Kai inhaled sharply and let out a groan as the blade broke his skin.
Bonnie felt blood trickle over her fingers as she stared him down.
"I will gladly spend tonight slowly tearing through your skin until you give me something," Bonnie growled. Kai's chest rose and fell heavily with his quickening breaths. "I'm not messing around, Kai. I'll take my time slicing through every single muscle and tendon until I hit bone. Then I'll move to the other side."
Bonnie slowly dragged the blade through his skin, leaving a trail of dark red blood seeping from the cut as she moved the knife to the other side of Kai's neck. Kai panted and squirmed beneath her, wincing as he let out a long groan of pain.
"And then I'll do the same to this side," Bonnie hissed. "I know you can't die permanently, Kai. But the truth is that I'm glad you can't. Otherwise this wouldn't be nearly as much fun."
Kai's pained expression immediately vanished at her words. He was suddenly beaming, his chest shaking as he shut his eyes and laughed. Bonnie glared at him and pushed the knife deeper into his skin, feeling more blood trickling onto her fingers.
She glanced at the wound; it went from one side of Kai's neck to the other, a bright red line with streams of blood trailing down to his collar bones. So much blood came from the wound – which Bonnie was now pushing on rather roughly – that it disappeared beneath the collar of Kai's Brooklyn T-shirt. Dark red stains formed on the fabric covering his chest, and Bonnie reveled in the sight of so much color – so much red. It sent a shiver up Bonnie's spine and brought her back to reality.
Kai was still laughing.
"Fun, hey?" he repeated her words, letting out another laugh. "I was right."
"What?" Bonnie demanded.
"About you," Kai answered. "You enjoy this; hurting me. And it scares the hell out of you, doesn't it? That's why you didn't wanna torture me – really torture me, at least. Because you're afraid you'll like it. You're afraid that while you try to make me pay for all the horrible things I've done to you, you'll turn into me. A monster."
Bonnie flinched.
"And you're right," Kai continued, a smirk on his lips. "Once you get a good taste of what it feels like to be in control of someone, to do whatever you want while they're helpless, you'll never want the feeling to stop. You'll search for it and you'll always come back for more because it's an addiction."
Bonnie wanted to throw up as she felt a thrill at Kai's words. She pulled the knife away from him and clutched it tightly, her breaths coming faster.
Kai noticed her inner struggle and smiled, his eyes twinkling with delight as he asked, "You sure you're ready to become a monster, Bonnie?"
I am SO SORRY for the cliffhanger, but I had to cut this chapter in half due to its length. The rest of it will pick up right where this one left off and will be up in a few days. Thank you guys soooo so much for being incredibly supportive and urging me to keep writing (and not getting mad at my slow updates!) :)