Thank you dear madeunmexico, for all your support, from beta-ing to brainstorming to encouragement! I won't have been able to finish this story without your help.

15

Mercury and Venus

Liv wasn't there that afternoon. She didn't call, and she never showed up. But it still took another day before Bonnie realized that the other girl might not be avoiding her.

So she went to Luke.

When she finished, his face was a mask of disapproval. "You should have told me this sooner."

Bonnie cringed. "She said she would explain everything. I wanted to give her a chance to come clean." Now that she said it out loud, her thinking sounded stupid.

"You gave her the chance to go into hiding."

Bonnie blinked. "Is that what you think? That she's hiding ?"

"What else could it be?"

Wasn't it obvious? "K-Kai has her. He might be hurting her, Luke."

Luke's eyes widened. "I thought you said they were working together."

"He realized she was going to turn on him, so he turned on her first." Bonnie's mouth twisted bitterly. She would know.

After a long silence, Luke sighed. "You know what we have to do."

Bonnie sighed too. "We have to tell your father."

The good thing about coming clean to Joshua about (almost) everything, was how quickly the Coven got to work. In a few hours, the best envoys had tracked Liv's movements over the past few weeks, and discovered that she'd been paying visits to a Jane Doe in the coma unit at Whitmore Hospital.

The prodigal daughter, Josette Parker, had been found.

"This is Bennett magic," Luke said, staring down at the peaceful face of his older sister with a mix of awe and resentment. Bonnie didn't look. Josette Parker was almost twenty years older than her twin but their resemblance was uncanny.

He, Bonnie, and his father were in the room with Josette. Luke had done most of the spellwork to give them access to the patient. Even without knowing what she did, Bonnie sensed from the aftermath of magicks in the room, that they weren't the first of Josette's family to visit her.

"Now I know why he took the Grimoires," Bonnie muttered.

Joshua said nothing. As soon as she and Luke video called him with their news, the Coven Leader had directly ported to Virginia. It was barely a week since the last time Bonnie saw him and she was shocked at how much he'd changed since then. His formerly pepper-gray hair was completely white and his face was as lined as crumpled newspaper. But more than the physical signs of age, it was the way he stood: the usually proud, composed posture was bowed with worry and grief.

He looked like he'd aged twelve years in twelve days.

"Are you OK?" Bonnie had asked.

"Just tired, Bonnie," he said gently as he hugged her. "I've been doing this for much longer than I have to."

"Liv goes missing a few days before our birthday. What are the odds?" Luke said bitterly.

"We don't know why she's working with him-" Bonnie said, and ignored Luke's scoff. "He could be coercing her in some other way." She tried not to think of the ways Kai coerced her.

Tried not to remember how it felt to be in that bed, in his arms, his hands, his mouth…

Now, in Josette's room, she faced Luke. "The easiest way Kai can stop the Merge is by taking out one of you."

For the first time since he heard the news of his sister, Luke's face flickered with worry and not just irritation. He turned to his father.

"She's alive, Luke," Joshua answered the unspoken question. "If she wasn't, I would know. As the coven leader. As her father." He whispered the last, and the sorrow in his eyes deepened.

Luke sighed.

But for how much longer? Bonnie wondered, but didn't have the heart to ask.

"We have to move Jo from here," she said instead. When Joshua frowned, she nodded firmly. "She's not safe here. He can get to her at anytime."

Joshua shook his head. "There's no need. He can't do anything to her while she's in this state."

"Why risk it?" Luke said.

"Exactly. He's determined." You have no idea how determined he is. "It's only a matter of time before he figures out how to break her Sleeping Curse." She nodded at the sleeping woman.

"Jo won't wake until Kai is dead."

Bonnie felt her heart slam in her chest.

Dead. Dead. Dead.

That's what she wanted, wasn't it?

Lips painting her skin, hands worshiping her body…

She only paid half-attention as Luke talked about possible loopholes. Could a temporary death be enough to trigger the Curse? No. What about a death inside a Prison World? No. What harm would moving Josette to a more secure location cause? Nothing but-

"It was Sheila Bennett's magic," Joshua said heavily. "Made for precisely this purpose. It can't be broken."

"Then he can't Merge with Jo. Now what? Do you really think he'll murder Liv, risk destroying the entire Coven including himself, out of spite?"

Both Bonnie and Joshua exchanged the same incredulous look, and then turned it on Luke.

"He's murdered your siblings before," Joshua said. "He's a parasite, a monster. He has no emotions, no capacity for love and loyalty."

A monster… A monster…

Kai hadn't sounded emotionless when he had whispered promises into her ears. He didn't feel like a monster when he moved inside her, coaxing out her desire, filling her with his seed and pleasure.

Joshua ran a tired hand over his hair, oblivious to the shame spiral his ward was going through.

"There's only one thing to do now." He reached out and took Bonnie's and Luke's hands, and squeezed. They squeezed back by instinct, glancing at each other in surprise.

"Dad, what-?"

"How do you two feel about getting married today?"

When Kai came to, he was on the shore. Already the details of his night with Her were fading from his memory. Had that really happened? Had he made love with the embodiment of Expression, enfleshed in the object of his obsession?

Whatever had really happened to him, the result was undeniable. He could feel the Power coursing through his veins, magick unlike anything he'd ever felt in his entire life. He splayed his fingers and chuckled with delight as a single flame hopped from knuckle to knuckle. Then he moved his arm in an arc and watched the flames on the sand mimic the same movement. His internal monitor didn't even flicker. This power was infinite.

But not endless.

A pang of bitterness marred his joy. Even if Expression herself had blessed him with her power, she hadn't changed his nature. Kai was still a syphon. Still unable to hold magick indefinitely.

But he still had more than enough to get his sister, break the Sleeping Spell, and Merge. And then he would never have to beg, borrow or bargain for magick ever again.

Or he would die. There was always that. He thought of Bonnie. Of their night together. Her skin, her mouth, her hands reluctantly, then eagerly returning his touches. He had done his best to leave something for her to remember him by.

He wondered if she would mourn him.

There was the sound of a distant foghorn, and he stared at the horizon until he could make out the dot that was the ferry returning back to the island.

I'm coming for you Josette.

Then I'm taking everything that's mine. My magic. The Coven.

Bonnie.

The mundanes had various rituals – secular, religious, common law – and the witches had their own. Each coven was different, but with the Gemini no marriage was binding unless the words of the Matrimonium Ligare were uttered with the Praetor's blessing at the zenith of a celestial event.

Weeks, months, years of preparation were just window dressing. Joshua promised Bonnie she would still have a big wedding party – a late reception. But the only thing that she needed to be bound to Luke Parker and him to her was the Full Moon this night, and the blood flowing from their palms as they clasped them together and whispered the sacred vows.

"Are you sure?" Luke asked her. They waited in the clearing, watching his Father prepare the herbs and arrange the stones for the ritual. "You don't have to do this"

"Do you not want to do this?" Bonnie said, turning the question back at him.

He smiled softly. "Despite everything, I do. I love you, Bonnie, in my own way. And there are worse ways of fulfilling my duty to the coven. I just…"

"What?" She prompted after his long silence.

He sighed. "I just never expected to do this without Liv by my side," he said sadly.

Tears filled Bonnie's eyes, and she hugged him. "Oh, Luke."

His arms tightened around her. "Bonnie, if you want more time, we can stop. Father won't like it but we'll find another way. I promise."

She leaned back so that she could put her hands on his cheeks, stand on her toes to kiss his forehead. "I don't need more time. I want to do this now. With you."

When Joshua had brought it up, she'd been the first to agree. She wanted it, more desperately than Luke knew.

Perhaps by binding herself to Luke, she could exorcize Kai Parker from her body and soul.

Luke smiled at her and her heart filled. In her own way, she loved him more than anyone.

"It's time," Joshua Parker intoned.

Holding hands, the couple walked towards the Praetor. In the light of the full moon, his face was white and hawk-like. For the first time, and with a sudden smite of apprehension, Bonnie noticed the strong resemblance between the coven leader and his firstborn.

The ritual passed in a blur. She had been practicing the vows for what felt like all her life. She cut her palm on auto-pilot, and watched Luke's blue eyes shine as he did the same.

Did she let herself imagine that the eyes of the man looking at her were darker blue? That he was taller, with darker hair? That when she looked at him, she didn't feel warmth but fire?

It didn't matter.

Then it was over. She and Luke hugged each other again, and maybe a few tears were shared between the two childhood friends.

"Congratulations, Mrs Parker," Luke whispered.

"Congratulations, Mr Bennett," Bonnie choked back and they both laughed.

Then it was the Praetor's turn to congratulate each of the coven's favored children in turn. "Well done, son," he told Luke so proudly that Luke blushed, never too old to take profound praise for granted.

Joshua's eyes were shining as he held Bonnie's shoulders. "I've wanted to say this for a long time, and now I finally can." He enfolded Bonnie in a tight embrace that almost smothered her. "Welcome to the Gemini Coven, Mrs Bennett-Parker."

He found the manilla envelope exactly where he'd instructed Liv to port it too. In it was a letter, and a flash drive. The first confirmed what Katherine Pierce had already told him. What he had started suspecting a few weeks after Bonnie Bennett ended up in his Prison World.

He mused over it for a little while, weighing possibilities. Then he made up his mind. A short trip to the nearest USPS and a new envelope with the contents of the original were on its way to the Sheriff Department in Mystic Falls. He whistled as he walked out of the store. Who didn't love a little chaos?

It had been one week since Liv Parker vanished from the face of the Earth. Or at least from the scope of any tracking spell or locating spell that the entire Gemini Coven was capable of.

They were in the Praetor's own war room. Everyone who mattered in the Gemini Coven was there - the coven leader himself; the Chief Envoys and the best of their lieutenants; Consuls; the most important Elders including, to Bonnie's surprise, the MacMillians from Orlando.

And of course, the Heirs - Luke and Bonnie. Despite the current crisis - Liv's disappearance, whatever in Hell Kai was planning - they had taken their time to share their congratulations - and disappointment with Bonnie and Luke.

"There'll still be the Wedding Party," Luke said smoothly to Jude MacMillan. "That's in one week."

"If Malachai doesn't Merge with Josette and kill us all," MacMillian said darkly.

He'll have to find her first, Bonnie thought darkly.

Josette Laughlin was gone.

And Kai would have raged at the doctors, nurses, and set the entire hospital floor on fire, but they were gone as well.

Where the hospital had stood was now an empty lot.

"WHERE IS SHE?" He yelled at the sky.

"Where you'll never find her."

He whirled around.

The sight of her was like a blow to his plexus. She stood in her trademark denim shorts and loose-fitted blouse, the same spark of righteous defiance in her green eyes. She was both identical and completely different to Her with a gaze that gleamed with chaos, a mad smile. Yet the memories of the two were so intertwined in his mind that for a long moment, he wondered: Was this Bonnie or the icon of Expression?

She snapped her fingers towards him. "Have you finally lost it?"

He charged at her.

She stood her ground, tilting her chin. He stopped a breath from her face. Every inch of her shouted arrogance, and he felt his stupid cock twitch even as his hands folded into fists. "Where's my stupid twin, Bonnie?"

"Someplace safe. Someplace where you'll never find her."

Safe from whom? Me or the coven?

He grabbed her wrist. Or tried to. His hand closed around empty air, and she laughed. "Give me some credit."

Damn. The darkness in her laugh did something to him. "Smart girl," he murmured. "You know what happens when I get my hands on you."

She tried her best, but the lovely flush that painted its way down her cheeks and neck gave her away. He wished he could grab her, see how deep that flush went.

Or strangle her. Right now it could go either way.

"Don't make me hurt you, Bonnie."

"Like you hurt Liv? Where is she, Kai?"

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes and took a step forward. He instinctively took one back. "I know she was working with you. And the moment she wants to come clean, she conveniently disappears. Don't play games with me, Kai."

"I…" don't have Liv was what he was going to say but he hesitated, and let the gears turn.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked instead. "One of the Golden Twins is missing. I should have expected the might of the Coven to be waiting for me, and instead I see little old Bonnie Bennett. Not that I mind," he let his eyes travel her length, and was gratified to see another flush, "but I'm a bit busy at the moment, tracking down my missing twin."

"It's Bonnie Bennett-Parker to you."

The flash of fury was so visceral, it literally saw red. It took a moment for his head to clear. "What?"

Her face flickered with something - fear? He hoped so. If he looked anything like he felt , she should be afraid.

"What did you do, Bonnie?"

"I got married," she said. She lifted her left hand and he could see the markings of the Matrimonium Ligare . "It's done."

He could feel his eyes burning. If she was really here, he would have set her skin on fire.

"You're never going to have me, Kai." Her whisper drew his gaze back to her eyes. Her words were defiant, but her eyes were pleading.

For a long moment, they just glared at each other.

Kai's face broke into a sardonic smile. "We'll see about that."

He balled his right hand into a fist, filled it with a curse, and vanished.

"Is Liv alive?" Luke asked Joshua for what might be the hundredth time.

They were back in the war room again. It was less crowded - no one could be at 'High Alert' indefinitely.

For the hundredth time, Joshua nodded. "She is."

Luke frowned at the map on the table. There was a dot of blood on the spot where Whitmore, Virginia was drawn. It hadn't moved since they first cast the tracking spell to find Liv. She never left Whitmore. But they'd scoured every inch of the town and still hadn't found her.

"Where are you, Liv?" Luke whispered.

Bonnie took his hand. "She's still alive. Your father would know if she wasn't."

"I know, I just wish-" He blinked.

Bonnie imagined what he was thinking right now: I wish I had been kinder to her, taken her more seriously, paid more attention to her…

Because they were the same thoughts that were running through Bonnie's head.

Luke sighed. "I wish we'd find her already."

Bonnie squeezed his hand. "We will."

"Good work, Mrs Parker, on cloaking Josette," said one of the Chiefs, nodding at Bonnie, which seemed to be the signal for the others to also compliment her.

Luke smiled softly. "My wife's brilliant, isn't she?"

Bonnie blushed. She had just taken a leaf from his book. As she explained to Joshua when he confronted her: "He hid Liv to stop Luke Merging with her. So I hid his twin so no matter what he tries, he can never Merge with her."

Joshua hadn't been pleased with his daughter-in-law's initiative.

Even now, he frowned, thinking about it. "You should have run that by me first."

Bonnie had shrugged unrepentantly. "I will next time."

Beside her, Luke choked a laugh. They both knew she was the only one who could get away with sassing the Coven Leader. Ever since they got married, Joshua had doted on Bonnie even more. Which was nice except the doting came with a reminder to both of them to 'do their duty'.

"We're working on it," Luke would mutter, embarrassed beyond belief. Neither he nor Bonnie were in a hurry to consummate their marriage, although they knew it was inevitable. By silent agreement, they both decided to 'work towards it'.

As if on cue, Jude MacMillian declared. "Joshua let these two go. They should be on their honeymoon. Making Gemini babies."

The others laughed while Bonnie and Luke tried not to visibly cringe.

"Leave them alone, Patrice," Joshua said, although his gaze at his son and daughter-in-law showed his true feelings. "This is more important."

Luke's hand slipped out of hers, and he mimed making a phone call.

"That's convenient," Bonnie mimed back, but he just shrugged and stepped out of the room.

"Bonnie," Joshua said quietly, drawing her towards him. "The Matrimonium Ligare is only halfway done with the blood ritual. There is still the other -"

"I know what remains!" Bonnie shrieked quietly.

He looked as uncomfortable as she felt. "I'm sorry I have to bring this up, but I have to. You and Luke-"

"It won't have been easy under normal circumstances. But Liv is missing. They fight a lot, but he adores her. We can't plan for anything until we know she's OK."

Joshua's eyes looked infinitely sad. "I know."

Bonnie stared at him, a horrible thought creeping through her head. "Please tell me she's still alive."

He stared back at her. He opened his mouth to say something when-

He cried out, gasping, his hands lifting up to clutch his head as if he was holding his skull together. Only Bonnie's arm around his shoulder stopped him from falling to his knees.

Everyone turned to the coven leader in alarm.

"Joshua?"

Joshua lifted up despairing eyes.

"Lucas!"

An alert beeped on Kai's phone. A message that was one sentence only - an address.

But he was already on his way to face his destiny, and he wouldn't see it until it was too late.

"Where the hell is my twin?"

Luke's port had been stealthy, and the only sign Kai had of his brother's arrival was the motus that shoved him halfway across the campus football pitch.

Damn. He could see what all the fuss was about. Little bro packed a magical wallop.

"Didn't know you cared," Kai said, righting himself up smoothly as a healing shooter worked out the knicks and bruises of the blow. He started walking towards his brother, projecting his voice so that it reached the other man. "The way Liv talked about it, you couldn't wait to get rid of her."

Pain flashed through Luke's eyes and Kai cringed. He expected a better poker face from the coven's golden boy.

"Where is she?" Luke said in a tone that warned he won't ask again.

Kai raised his hands in a 'search me' gesture. "I have no idea. We're both missing our twins."

"You said on the phone-"

"What I needed to get you here without running your mouth to the coven. And here you are."

"You liar. What game are you playing at?"

"No game, Lukie Poo. I really don't know where either of our sisters are."

"We're never going to let you merge with Josette," Luke warned. "You do anything to Liz, you stop the Merge from happening and Dad dies, and you're dead, too. You might think you hate the coven but are you really going to throw away your life just when you got it back?"

Kai laughed. "Keep the Psych 101 bullshit for your professors, Luke. I have no intention of dying." He was close enough to his brother that they could speak normally. "The last time I saw Liv, she was perfectly fine. If you want to know what happened to your twin, ask Daddy dearest."

There was a pause, before Luke scoffed. "Enough with the mind games, Kai. What do you want?"

But Kai had already seen that glimpse of misgiving on his face. "You really don't know, do you? Guess the Praetor Magus is playing that card close to his chest."

They were close enough that if Kai stretched out a hand, he could give the younger man a good shove. Luke stood his ground, raising his chin in a familiar gesture of defiance.

Kai glanced at his brother's hand, and the ink marks that he had already seen on someone else's.

His smile turned into a sneer. "I hear congratulations are in order. How's the Missus?"

Luke replied with a blank stare.

"Most men in your position will be on their honeymoon, but I suppose most men in your position would be married to someone with the right body parts."

"What do you want, Kai? If you didn't call me here to trade Liv with Jo, why am I here?"

Kai glanced up at the sky. "It's a Mercury-Venus conjunction. And you're going to Merge with me."

For a long moment, Luke just stared at him. Then his face broke into a smile, then a roaring laugh.

Kai folded his arms, bit back his irritation and waited it out.

"Oh I needed that," Luke said, resting one hand on his knee as he wiped his eyes with the other. "You really got no disciplina , did you, Big Brother?"

Kai kept his face expressionless or at least tried to. Luke's eyes glinted. "Did I hit a nerve?" He snarked. He straightened up, and waved his hands around in a futile attempt to explain his point. "How do I break this down in mundane terms that you can understand? We're not twins. The Merge doesn't work that way."

"Well, we share the same parents, the same bloodline, and thanks to me doing time in magical jail, we're the same age." Kai snapped his finger and a pocket-knife materialized into his grip. Luke's eyes widened at the silent use of magic and Kai grinned. He tossed the blade at Luke who caught the handle. "So why don't we give it the old college try?"

Luke hurled the knife right back, and Kai caught it with a laugh before it took out his eye. "Thanks," Luke snapped. "But I'll pass."

The younger man turned around. Then swallowed a gasp, when he found himself facing his brother again.

Kai tut-tutted. "I thought you were the smart one, Luke? Or did you really think that after spending the last eighteen years in prison, thinking about how Josette screwed me over the first time, that I was going to let her choose to Merge with me?"

"Lucas! No!"

For the first time since meeting his oldest brother, Luke felt a flicker of apprehension.

Malachai was as crazy as he always was. And yet-

"You can't force a Merge. It doesn't work that way. Only the Praetor can do that and I don't see Dad co-signing on this madness."

"'It doesn't work that way'" Kai sing-sang, doing a mocking little jimmy. Then his face hardened. "There's more to magic than your Gemini Disciplina , Lucas. Big brother is about to teach you a lesson." He stretched out his hand.

" Motus !" Luke shouted, expecting Kai to grab him, to paralyze him with siphoning. But Kai didn't touch him. Luke's magic just fizzled into an invisible force-field.

Luke tried to cast another hex - an aneurysm that would fry his brother's brain - but he couldn't move his hands.

What? He gasped. Or tried to. He couldn't move his mouth either.

But his hands and mouth were moving. His right hand rose in front of him, palm upwards; his left rose as well, curled into a fist as if he was holding…

A knife.

He looked at his brother then and Kai was already looking back, eyes burning with malice. In his right hand he held the knife. His left hand was held up in the same manner as Luke's. It was like watching a demented mirror.

And that was all Luke could do - watch. He couldn't move his hands. He couldn't utter a spell. He could only scream silently in his head, as Kai's hands - and his hands - moved in sync. As Kai stabbed his palm with the knife and as the pain ricocheted through Luke's hand. As Kai dragged the knife across his palm, tearing a line of blood and skin, and as the same cut opened in Luke's hand.

The pain was excruciating and Luke tried to use it. Tried to focus on the agony and break the hold of this mimic hex and gain control of his body. But there was nothing he could do.

Kai dropped the knife and reached for his hands. Luke's hand reached back, and he would have hissed with pain when their fists tightened around each other if he could control his words.

He could control his thoughts though, and they buzzed through his mind, trying to find an out, or at least an explanation. If he had this much power, why was Kai forcing this faux Merge? He could use his magick to go after Jo, to break the Sleeping Curse, and force her instead to Merge. Why risk it for something that might never work?

He stared at their clasped hands, at the lines of Matrimonium Ligare inscribed on the back of his hand, and he drew a blank.

"I can hear you wondering what's happening." Kai said, and Luke echoed his words. "How the Golden Boy can be overpowered by magic. What kind of magic is making me curb-stomp all those years of disciplina into the dust." He smiled and Luke felt his own lips stretch. "But What's the point of explaining, Lucas? One way or another, you'll soon find out."

Luke opened his mouth to curse his brother one last time; and instead:

Sanguinem desimilus! Sanguinem generis fiantus!

Kai's eyes glinted with triumph.

Joshua clutched his heart. "Lucas!"

"Praetor, what is happening?"

"Luke… Where's Luke?"

Bonnie looked around with wild eyes. Two envoys ran out to check. Then ran back looking wild.

"He's gone."

Joshua stumbled into the arms of the Envoy. "Lucas, what have you done?"

"What's going on?" Bonnie cried.

"Your husband… He's Merged with Kai. I can feel it."

As they all gaped at him, still trying to process the outrageous claim, Joshua's eyes closed futilely. "It is done."

They ported to the football field.

On the floor lay the two men, their shoes touching where they fell.

Joshua and the envoys ran to Luke. Bonnie hesitated, staring at Kai's still body. His chest wasn't moving. Oh God, was he…?

"Luke!" Joshua cried, and Bonnie ran to her husband. She fell to her knees and stared at Luke's still face in his father's arms.

"Is he?"

"We don't know yet."

"How is this possible?" One of the Envoys whispered. "They're not twins."

"Why would Luke even agree to this?" Another Envoy asked.

"Kai forced it," Joshua said hollowly.

"How's that even possible?"

Luke inhaled, and his eyes opened.

Later, Bonnie would remember how she felt this moment - grief - and she would curl into a ball with shame.

But the moment passed quickly. As she watched, the life leeched out of Luke's eyes. She was holding a shell.

"Luke!" She wept, tears filling and spilling out of her eyes. "Oh Luke!"

Her grief now was less, but it was no less real. She mourned for the loss of her husband, her dear friend, the closest she had to a brother. A good man, who would have been a great Praetor, and did not deserve to die like this.

Did not deserve to die married to a woman that couldn't help feeling a sense of relief at his death.

"You win some and you lose some."

Joshua and Bonnie stayed on the ground, mourning their loss. It was the Envoys who rose to their feet to face the new threat.

Kai loomed over them. Bonnie expected to see triumph on his face - a smile, a smirk, a glint in his eyes.

Instead, his eyes were stark. His face was expressionless.

"Not me though," he said tonelessly. "I always win."

The envoys rushed towards him, and reached empty air.

Malachai Parker, the new Praetor Magus of the Gemini Coven, was gone.

A/N: If you enjoyed this, please let me know! Thank you. :)