Bonnie scuffed a boot against the ground, cringing as a groan ripped from the car and she could hear one of the two struggle to open their car door. She wanted to help them, to make things easier and check on the manager. She didn't, and backtracked guiltily, walking away from town, sticking close to the road, forcing herself to put some distance between the wreck and herself. She preoccupied herself with the phone, checking to make sure it turned on, smiling slightly, happy that one thing appeared to be doing right and that she didn't need a pin number.
She wanted to call Caroline, to assure her everything was all right, to let her know that Bonnie had fallen asleep, an excuse she premeditated but didn't have the energy to relay as she sluggishly walked along the black highway. She should be scared of what was out there, what she knew could jump out at her in the middle of the night, and truth be told – she was. She shuffled along angrily, eyeing the road for cars, making sure to hide as they came along, not wanting to be picked up by some stranger or to pull any more people than was necessary into it.
She had only had to do it once, and by the second time, her heart leapt into her throat as the passing car made a U-turn and headed back for her. Bonnie was shaking, an onset of the cold night air and a medium of fear.
"You coming?" a familiar voice asked, eradicating her terror and making her angry all over again. "Or you like the idea of being stranded on the highway with a loony manager?"
Bonnie considered telling him to go to hell and to shove it where the sun didn't shine, but considering how literal Kai was, how quick to seemingly take her for her word, she wasn't going to risk it – not again.
Kai watched her in the side mirror. For a moment there, she looked like she was about to tell him to go fuck himself. Then she ran toward the car and quickly climbed into the passenger side, setting the phone down on the dashboard to toy with the car's heat. She didn't say thank you, didn't yell at him, she merely twisted a few knobs and pulled on her seatbelt, patiently waiting for him to drive them back to the motel.
Kai murmured a spell. The back door clicked and swung open; the still unconscious motel manager flew over the road leisurely to and into the car. The door snapped closed.
"That's not yours," Kai noted, pointing a finger at the cell. It trembled and dashed out the window to reunite with its owner in their steaming car.
"Hey!" Bonnie interjected in outrage, attempting to catch the device mid-flight. She missed. She sprang free of the top of her seatbelt and leaned over him slightly, trying to see where it landed. It was too dark.
Kai pressed on the accelerator, leaving them behind. "Just so you know, you're dealing with this," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the manager in the back. "Tying him up before you tackle it might be a bright idea."
She wanted to slap Kai, bruise or possibly break another limb of his. "I thought we established that we'd keep this simple and that you'd compel him. There is no need for ropes or tying him up."
"I thought we established that I would help you locate his ass and bring him back. Compulsion wasn't part of the deal."
She leaned back into the chair, sliding her arm back beneath the black sling, dismissing the notion to rub her palms up and down her bare legs, pushing her iced toes up under the dash to best steal of the heat. She couldn't trust that he wouldn't take off without her again if she went looking for the phone – not when he'd managed to escape her. And how? With the link that shouldn't have been conceivable.
Kai snuck a glance at her, smiling teasingly. "Aw, don't pout. I'm sure a badass witch like yourself is capable of doing some juju to make his brain go blank."
"And why would we go through all that trouble when you're capable of making eye contact and telling him to forget everything he's witnessed? Why do you insist on making this hard on me?" Not that she expected him to make things easy on her, but he was so bipolar with his help that she didn't know what to do or how to react, anymore. All she knew was that she was frustrated.
He only smiled wider, staring at the road ahead as they neared the motel. He could see the blinking sign ahead. Bonnie's frustration added to his good mood, charged it.
"Which brings me to another question," she refused to give up. "How did you run away? How did you break the link? Is everything a game to you?"
He laughed. "It's more than one question. But fine, why don't I throw a bone here. Your magic is slacking with the way your emotions go every which way every time shit happens – shit you make happen, one way or another. You're an absolute failure at keeping your energy focused, Banzai. You need to work on that. Fear of going too far with your magic tenses you, then you try to chain your magic, and that goes whacky. That link spell went whack the second I pulled the spine-snap illusion with your buddy there. You freaked out and – bingo! – I was free. That's sloppy casting, if you ask me."
She knew Kai was pointing out from where he believed the issue came from, yet she couldn't help but feel irritated and a touch offended. Sloppy casting? No. Emotional? Yes. Then again, those two were going hand in hand with her lately. How was it she could do these things for years around her friends, that she could set herself up for death—not once but twice—and somehow Kai was the first to read it so thoroughly?
"And I do indeed like games. You could use some in your life. So uptight! If you treated your life with a bit less strain and seriousness, your thinking would be sharper, Bons."
He pulled up on her car's former spot, and killed the engine. It hadn't taken them too long to get back, Bonnie noted, and surprisingly, the place looked undisturbed still. She was thankful for that. She unbuckled her seatbelt as he half turned toward her, clearly not finished with his lecture.
"Think about it from a different angle. The simple task of making a dude forget stuff you take as a mission impossible and demand I take care of it while it's easy enough for a witch of your level. With that attitude, you and your loved ones are dead meat when the heretics hit the world with their best." Kai gave her a hearty I-just-wanna-help smile and exited the car, heading for their room.
So this was all just some kind of obstinate test to strengthen her casting? Bonnie stared after him, watching as he headed back inside, sparing her not even a single glance back. In some way, she was frustrated, in another way—she couldn't recall the last time someone had pushed her to make her stronger for the sake of being strong.
She turned slightly—same way Kai had—and peered into the backseat where the manager was still out cold, throwing a quick glance in direction of the closed motel doors, making sure there wasn't anyone watching them. She pulled the keys out, considered, then shrugged and threw them into the glove compartment. Hardly anyone would steal this sorry car tonight. She shut its door, and temporarily killed the stream of lights that ran along the outside of motel. She wanted to make sure that no one would be able to see her magically guide the man from the car and into their room. And she did, with some difficulty.
Kai had just settled in front of the TV, sprawled on the bed like before, when Bonnie came in with the manager floating on her magic like some weird robot on air bags from the future. Kai barely spared them a glance, busy searching for some new movie to hook up on. There was something familiar on the same channel where he watched The Hitcher. The night was good.
Bonnie set the manager down in the bath for now—a duplicate of the one she had used to burn the corpse. She magically pulled a sheet from under Kai lounging on the bed and ripped it into strips, paying no mind to his look as she weaved herself some rope.
She wet the material, and once Gris started stirring, was quick and thorough in tying his arms behind his back, and his legs for extra measure, using his belt around his neck, something she anchored to the bath tap to make sure he wouldn't get any funny ideas. She had seen that in a movie once – a scary movie.
"Has no one ever told you never to shit where you sleep, Bons?" Kai called, eyeing the screen and smiling subtly to himself. However clumsy, she was fun to watch as she worked. "You could've just immobilized him, why the hell you took our sheet?"
"Because as you've already stated: my casting is sloppy," she responded, flashing Kai a grin over her shoulder, not wanting to focus on too much at once. Besides, why traumatize the man any more than he already was? "I'm not dependent on magic for everything. I do know how to tie a knot. I used to be a girl scout." She made her way out of the bathroom, crouching to retrieve her grimoire and joining him on the bed. She wanted to see what there was on wiping someone's memories.
The biggest question being, would Grams even have written a spell like that? Bonnie didn't think so. But then again, it had been passed down from generation to generation.
"A girl scout, a cheerleader, a witch, a martyr…" Kai smiled, eyeing her profile, suddenly wanting to draw her to him and brush his lips against that cheek. And that neck. "You're a girl of many talents. Makes it more flabbergasting how undervalued you are by your friends."
She drew her gaze from the open pages on her lap, fixing him with a focused look. She saw no mischievousness on his face this time, none of the usual mirth or mocking when it came to talking about her relationship with her friends.
"They've a lot on their minds," she said, choosing—for the first time—not to disregard his comment and the tentative compliment. She didn't get those very often. "It's been a busy few years for all of us. Elena and her Klaus issues, Caroline and her Klaus issues. I don't blame them for being preoccupied." How could she? "Don't suppose it matters now anyway. Elena's is out of the picture and I—well, I'm trying to find my footing. An anchor, really—" She left it at that as she turned to the pages, scanning them for information, moving to the next one when she didn't see or read anything that pertained to her current problem.
Kai let out a tired sigh. "There it is again. Don't you notice? Every single time you have that need to justify things they shouldn't have done as your friends."
Bonnie had lowered her expectations in a lot of things, especially in relation to her friends and where she stood. She didn't say that, though, didn't voice aloud the facts that would reopen that jagged scar.
"Weren't you preoccupied? Had you not a worry in the world while they had plenty? Were you lounging on a sunbed in Hawaii while they were battling Klaus and his minions? What right did they have to disregard you in favor of their troubles when it was mostly you who'd been solving those on your life's expense? You died for them how many times, now? Three? I lose count. And what was the most significant thing any one or all of them ever did for you? For your sake? For your safety? Not because they needed you alive to perform a ritual or spit out a spell, but because they were afraid to live in a world without you?"
She stared at Kai in deep thought, unable to grant him an answer to any of his questions, feeling herself sway between irascibility and something like wretchedness. How was it that he was able to rip into her insecurities so effortlessly? How was it that after two years and being her assumed enemy he was one of the first people to recognize how alone she was? And how much was constantly pushed onto her shoulders? Caroline recognized her loss, saw what happened to her family—to her—where others didn't, yet she had been unable to do anything, unable to keep Bonnie from screwing up. What other choice was there though? Caroline was stubborn and she had boyfriend troubles of epic proportions. Bonnie couldn't hold it against her.
"How is it you know so much about this?" she asked him. "About me? About my friends? About our past issues?" She rested a hand upon the open book, keeping a hold of it as if it were a security blanket of sorts. She had never spoken to Damon about these things back in the prison world and never voiced her insecurities aloud.
Kai smiled a little. "I watch and learn. After months of watching you two, I knew your every expression, every tone you used in your voice to deliver one mood or another, every gesture, every look. Funny how no one would tell you were friends by the way you communicated. More like, you seemed to have had a secret crush on him and thus forgave every despicable thing of the dozens he dealt you every single day. Sure, you snapped every now and then and left to steam alone for a bit, but then you came back, and it was all over on repeat. It amazed me how he, being the sorry-ass loser of a vampire, made you believe there was no one below your level of failure. He took his moods out on you, shaming and mocking, while expecting to ride out of his trap on your back. And you let him!"
Bonnie would admit that there was an instance were things were getting cozier, far easier than she had ever imagined or felt it would be when she realized they were stuck in some abandoned hell together. That when trouble arose, Damon was the first person she sought to go to talk about it and hopefully figure things out. And yet, all of that died when he deliberately walked away from her and left her to choke on her own blood. It was logical to be mad at Kai, that because of the life link and him hurting her in the first place, she'd hate him or perhaps want to see him dead. But in some way and in the middle of all this chaos, it almost felt like Kai was trying to help her, that he was pushing her to be better and giving her the leeway to do so.
It sounded silly even thinking about it.
"The rest of your friends wasn't a particularly complicated deduction, either – you gave me some scenes to listen to from the basement, and I didn't need to see it to know what face you made or how you felt. You're not a professional spy, nor a swindler used to keep utter and constant control over their body and face. Your body language is an open book for those who'd bother to learn it."
That observation gave merit to what he had admitted to her in the barn. Bonnie didn't believe him capable of love. She didn't think Kai was prepared for it – not after everything he'd undergone, but he was steadily crafting a believable story of support, action that seemed to contradict his revenge plot and made her question things.
Kai offered her a sly smile as if confiding a secret. "I'm not so dangerous because of my fangs and magic, Bonnie, but because I pay attention. The past issues, however, I did research."
And her blood in his system sharpened his empathic link to her, but he wasn't going to inform her of that. She didn't need to hear it from him. She had to learn to feel it herself – then she would accept it as her own without resistance.
She smiled, not bothering to ask how he'd managed that research. She didn't need to know and nor did she want to give it any more power to manifest itself. She couldn't let those insecurities control her anymore, she couldn't let those reminders fester and breed. She needed to focus, to tackle the task at hand and take things day by day.
The fact that it was Kai at her side now and not Damon – well, that was a different problem entirely, one she wasn't sure she was ready to tackle quite yet herself.
A surprising smile that touched her lips elicited his own in return – unwitting as Kai once more thought of wishing to pull her closer and kiss those lips…
He yanked at his mind's leash and nodded towards the bathroom, "You better take care of your little nuisance. I really hope he's not spending the night here. Strangers in my sleeping place make me uneasy, and thus more dangerous." He winked at her and returned his attention to the TV screen.
Bonnie chuckled softly. "I'll do what I can. I won't make any promises though."
She raised her legs and averted her eyes back to the grimoire's pages, thumbing through it silently. She stood half an hour later and carried the book into the bathroom, setting it down on the closed lid of the toilet.
The manager was awake, wide eyed and terrified.
"What are you doing?" he asked as she slipped onto the edge of the bath, sliding her feet in beneath him, her arms coming to rest on the tops of her knees.
"I'm trying to erase my face from your memory."
"Y-your w-what?" he sputtered, drawing back as she reached to take his head into her hands, pressing the index and middle fingers of each to his temples.
"Just relax," she instructed, feeling him do the exact opposite. "This won't hurt. It shouldn't."
"You're crazy," the man stated without thinking, yanking his head from her hands. She licked her lips, feeling her patience wane somewhat and irritation flare to life. She got it. She'd kidnapped him and he was scared.
"Maybe," she reasoned, drawing him to her with no more than a moderate beckoning motion, watching as his face paled. She reestablished her position, closed her eyes and concentrated. "Mundatis hoc slate," she repeated over and over again, her voice becoming lower and more resolute. Gris made no sound at first, his breathing labored from fear and becoming more noticeable as time passed, his sounds of discomfort alerting her that the spell was working – it was taking effect. She opened her eyes, watching as a grimace of pain washed across his face. She removed her hands from his temples, giving him a minute to settle back to the norm.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"What… what am I doing here? Why am I here?" he began, his widening as he realized there was a belt across his throat, his eyes darting to his tied legs, his wrists already thoroughly numbed. "Let me out of here!"
Bonnie swung around, climbing out of the bath, and moved to crouch beside him, grabbing a hold of the rim for support. "I will," she said, offering him an amiable smile. "But first you need to calm down. To listen to me, and tell me what you know of the last twenty four hours."
"My wrists are killing me," he said instead, tugging upon them, struggling against the binding with zero effort and choking as the belt pulled tight around his throat.
"Please stop. I don't have a particular wish to see you strangle yourself. This is all just a precaution—"
"Precaution for what?!" Gris spat. "What's going on?"
"Nothing," she met his eyes, trying to assess whether or not he was playing her or whether or not the spell had worked. Would there be any real way of telling? How could she be sure? She cast a glance at Kai, he appeared absorbed in his newest movie. "Just tell me what you know and what the last thing you can remember doing is."
He said something about watching a show, booking some lady into C16 and calling his mother. She immobilized him, removing the bindings from his legs and wrists, and helped him out of the bath. Then she braced him against the wall with a hand against his chest, closing her eyes, once more muttering the incantation and mentally diving into his head, feeling his muscles bunch unpleasantly beneath her hand. Bonnie could tell that, unlike compulsion, this wasn't a fun way of erasing someone's memories, let alone compelling him. By the time she stopped and released him altogether, he looked as though he was a tenth of a second away from having a stroke.
"Well, err… thanks for coming to check things out," Bonnie said, taking his arm, leading him out of the bathroom—he stumbled slightly—and for the front door.
"Check? What did I—"
"A lightbulb blew," she answered, thinking fast, seeing his brows draw down in a frown as she nudged him outside. He looked as though he might be sick. "You might want to take something for that headache and get some sleep."
"Sure," he muttered, still sounding confused and out of it. She felt bad for him and watched for a while as he headed toward the office, a place that surely looked vandalized. They would have to leave by morning. "So?" she asked, taking a step back from the door, easing back around to face Kai. "Can you rest easy now?" Not that he looked to be having a problem with that. Not at all. In fact, she was almost jealous of how relaxed he appeared.
"Not that I was bothered much before," Kai said, never taking his eyes off the screen. "But who knows, I might've gotten territorial if he tried to sneak between you and I in our bed."
"And what makes you think there is a 'you and I' and a bed deserving of an 'our'?" she inquired, only now taking into account our meager sleeping arrangements. She collected her grimoire, setting it down on top of her bag out of harm's way. "I know space is limited, that there aren't twin beds, but um… that couch next to you appears to be comfortable. I guess you'll have to make do with it." She eased onto the bed beside him once more, using her left hand to fluff the pillows behind her head and to make herself comfortable. It was late already. It felt very late.
Kai gave her an exaggerated look of mocking disapproval as she lay down beside him. "I'm not gonna sleep with my legs dangling off it, nor would I stop you from trying to fit in there. I'm staying right here." He patted the space beside him.
She shook her head, fighting a smile as she envisioned his tall frame trying to make itself comfortable in the short couch. She didn't think she'd accomplish anything but it was worth a shot.
"Oh, and just so you know, I like sleeping naked. So you might wanna refrain from cuddling into me too much, I might misinterpret in my sleep."
"You're keeping your clothes on. We both are," she added firmly, flicking her gaze from the TV and to his face to see if he was kidding or deliberately trying to make things awkward. She assumed a bit of both. "You know I have twitchy fingers when the occasion calls for it, so let's try to keep the next few hours civil and spasm-free. Deal?" She didn't expect him to argue as she turned back to the screen to tried and figure out what they were watching. Was it a horror night or something?
"I don't command you to change your sleeping whims, and I ain't changing mine to suit yours without a marital contract to force me. As for your twitchy fingers, I suggest you mind them or don't complain when they're bitten off."
She paid no mind to his threat. And far too familiar with his bite. "Then let's pretend we're married. We're already halfway there," she retorted with fake cheer and a dotting smile that was almost affectionate. "I've no desire to see you naked and all this stress has given me a headache. It's like we've been at it for forty years." Or maybe she was just that exhausted. The other side and all this drama wasn't helpful. "We can even seal it in blood, too." She rolled over onto her side and displayed her wrist for lazy reference, cutting short whatever argument he had to negate her sarcasm. He'd need to feed at some point, anyway.
He glanced at it, then back at her, his smile widening as he slipped his shirt off over his head with one move and discarded it on the couch.
Bonnie lowered her arm as he pulled off his shirt, her eyes automatically darting to his chest, taking only a second to admire it before meeting his gaze. He looked as if he were up to no good.
His eyes never left hers, gleaming slyly. "Don't try to predict your desires – they seem to jump all over the place. And don't you know the best cure for headaches? Works wonders." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, and next second, he was upon her, his hands restraining her wrists to either side of her head.
"Is—" she began, his rapid moving body seemingly cutting short her witty retort as he appeared over her.
His face hovered over hers; he wore a barely-there inscrutable smile. "I like my meal the way I like it. Not any other way."
"That's not what I was referring to," she responded, slightly breathless, his hot breath on her neck sending a burst of titillating zings to more nurtured areas. She hated Kai for it. She hated that he'd overridden her dread and turned their all-inclusive interaction into something beholden, something her body unwittingly hankered for.
He leaned in, breathing out against her jawline, nuzzling into the spot under her earlobe, enjoying the way her heart quickened and her own breath clicked in her throat. He dabbed tingling kisses along the side of her neck, laved at the pulsing vein. Her chest heaved as her breathing grew uneven. The familiar crawling sensation woke below his belt while Kai teased himself with the wondrous scent of her skin. It tasted salty and sweet at the same time. He felt her thigh between his legs and grinded slightly against it, suckling at her skin, her vein beating against his tongue. He let the fangs elongate, his gums itching like crazy, and smoothly sank them in her flesh. His eyes closed, a quiet groan vibrated in the very base of his throat – he barely noticed. Her taste rendered everything secondary.
It had been months since Bonnie had been with someone – with Jeremy – and yet, she couldn't recall feeling this on fire, this aware of everything he was doing. That was probably why he wasn't on his ass yet or wedged between the couch and the bed. She stiffened in response to her thoughts, curling the tips of her fingers into the backs of his hands, fighting the urge to moan in gratitude as his lips and tongue continued to tease her neck, his body briefly and subtly assimilating their movement. She automatically lifted her leg to press it tighter against his crotch in a meager attempt to forestall his movement and distract herself as his teeth broke skin. She gasped, unable to restrain herself, her eyes threatening to slip closed. She didn't permit it, forcing herself to concentrate on the ceiling and to detach herself from the situation. It wasn't working wonders.
"Not a lot," she murmured, sure he'd understand, and struggling with the words, hoping to keep it all business all the time.
Kai didn't take much, having had his fill earlier today – if he was frank, he didn't need it. He wanted it. He drew it out, drinking leisurely, savoring the taste and the vivacious, sparkling energy it sent through his cells and nerves. He withdrew his fangs, aware of becoming even harder with every passing second of her being too damn close, smelling like she did, as warm and bothered as she was. Kai flicked his tongue over the bite and blood collected there, then bit into his tongue and caught her mouth with his.
Bonnie felt an intrinsic loss as he stopped feeding and momentarily laved the spot with his tongue, pleased he seemed to take her request into consideration. She could breathe easier, or at least she did for all of a second before his lips swiftly found hers.
He kissed her harder than intended, but it was too tempting to resist. His tongue embraced hers, coating it with healing blood, while he felt he was nearing the red point of no return. It was too damn easy now to just step over it and let it rain magic. He tested himself distantly with that scenario, toyed with it in his mind and for a moment, he almost decided to give himself a go. But what he truly desired was better than that, after all. It was worth the restraint. He knew it was.
She was dazed for a second or two and molded into human putty, not because she wasn't expecting the kiss—she was, to some degree—but because of how passionate it was and how effortlessly she seemed to react. Their tongues dueling while his blood coated the inside of her mouth, fighting each other for dominance in a way that their stark power imbalance didn't always allow. Or it felt that way to her.
When Kai at long last pulled back, licked his lips and released his hold on her, Bonnie was frowning softly. What in the hell was wrong with her? What happened to 'I've no interest in seeing you naked'? Other parts of her anatomy were opposing that statement and turning her into a liar, a hypocrite. I don't need this! Ugh!
"That's a royal treat, Bonbon. You're spoiling me."
"I'm glad it's to your taste," she retorted, flashing him a tongue-in-cheek smile. "I live to bleed."
She relinquished the idea of struggling with the sleeping arrangements as she rolled off the mattress, needing to temporarily rid herself of his closeness and to break the ineffective spell that had taken a hold of her.
'Get it together, Bonnie. Stop acting like a juvenile,' she chided herself on the inside. She lifted the pillows, pulled back the duvet, uncaring that he was lying on half of it and crawled in beneath it, satisfied with the idea of trying to get some sleep. And blot out the rest of this day.
She could use a fresh start. She could do with less drama and conflicts constantly making her question herself.
"That's not polite to get in bed with me without a shower and still wearing the dead man's underpants," Kai remarked, waving a finger as if flicking a crumb off an invisible table, sending her out of the bed to the floor. A patient smile curved his mouth. "You may thank me for being considerate after you get refreshed." He made a shoo gesture inviting her to move her bullocks before it began to dawn.
Bonnie glared at him from where she lay on the floor, considering the idea of throwing him out of the window. She wasn't looking to change, to shower—not until morning at least—all she wanted now, was sleep.
"You're kidding me, right?" she asked, making no move to get up, using her elbows to prop her upper body so that she could well and truly glare at him.
He shook his head slowly two times. "Nope. Go get cleaned up. I might throw a bonus kiss on the cheek if you do." He looked back to the TV, inwardly willing himself to forget about the tight fly. Maybe it was he who needed a moment in the shower.
What I really need is a longer moment on top of her.
"Jerk," she uttered as she sat up, swiping a hand through the air listlessly, sending the small barrage of pillows she'd been trying to get comfortable on flying at his face. She didn't even watch them meet their mark. She stood up, dusted herself off and collected her bag, carrying it into the bathroom, deliberately slamming the door behind as she did.
In spite of herself, Bonnie appreciated the shower, scrubbing the day's drama from her skin, wishing she had some relaxing soaps and shampoo. She'd have to look at getting some tomorrow. She emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later, wearing a purple pair of sleep shorts and a tee-shirt.
He gave her a quick once-over and an approving smile. "See? All better. Now that you're clean enough to lie with me, c'mon in." He flipped the covers' end away, patting at the mattress next to him. "Do you need to cuddle to sleep? Or spooning works better? But I gotta warn beforehand: that spooning might get a bit uncomfy in the morning if I'm the one behind, you know." He displayed a smile that aimed for an apologetic one but with his eyes glimmering slyly, it wasn't quite making it.
"Just stay on your side of the bed," she replied, walking toward the bed, refraining from asking him if he was wearing pants beneath those covers. She wasn't in the mood to fight anymore. She climbed in, fluffed her pillows and turned to face him, tucking one hand under her head. "That goes for your feet, too," she added before he could think to shuffle them over to her side, cutting an imaginary line down the center of the bed with her free hand. "Imagine that there is a twenty by twenty foot wall between us, no in, no out and no awkward spooning."
"That's a waste of my wonderful imagination," he played back in a reproachful tone, grinning nonetheless.
She fought a smile and rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling to keep from laughing. Communicating with him wasn't supposed to be easy or even comfortable. She was mad at him or at least she should be.
"And the spooning's more likely to be okay for now, since it's not morning yet." He cocked his head to one side, eyeing her with a coquettish slyness. "I won't bite, cross my heart and hope to die."
"You've already bitten me. Twice," she deliberated. "So don't go getting any midnight snack ideas. Service is closed."
Kai watched her turn on her other side and away from him. "Don't pretend you found my bites unpleasant. I believe, with my current abilities, I'll know a lie from truth. You know, all those pulse changing et cetera signs."
Bonnie burrowed deeper into her pillow, pulling the duvet up under her chin as a silent means of dismissing him. She refused to admit anything, denying him any more ammo to use against her.
He shifted closer dexterously without letting her feel his movement through the bed, and tickled her ear with his breath, whispering, "How about midnight dessert? There are treats that don't require biting…"
She blinked, acutely aware of the heat radiating off his body. "No," she said, forcing herself to sound firm and determined. She didn't like—or appreciate—how easily he seemed to be breaking through her defenses.
He killed people, hordes of them, some in her name.
"I'm not a fan of dessert," she mumbled. Careful not to lean into him, she nudged him with her right elbow back to his side of the mattress. "Not the type you're referring to, anyway."
Kai gasped in fake shock. "Here it is! A big fat lie. A girl as hot as you is made for that kind of desserts. And to justify the silliest thing you just said, I can only assume you haven't met a guy capable of delivering the kind of dessert a girl like you deserves. Plus, all those problems and deaths you were forced to deal with – no time for fun, was there? But now you're here, and your pesky friends and problems stayed behind. Like, you're on holiday. If anyone in the whole world deserves a holiday, it's you, Bonnie Bennett." He leaned in closer, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear while his hand sneaked to her waist, caressing.
She closed her eyes while he spoke against the shell of her ear, her heart skipping a beat as he unexpectedly stroked her waist, implanting an impulsive image in her head that made Bonnie blush. Part of her wanted to pretend he was some unknown complimenting her, some random charming stranger capable of revving anyone's engine. But he wasn't, and there was something markedly wrong with this situation, something beyond her control.
"You can have anything you ever wanted," he whispered, ignoring how she stiffened slightly at his touch, as if expecting a bite to spite her warning.
His whisper seemed to seep into her brain, tempting to take the plunge, to push aside the bullshit and live free. Life was too short, too complicated and too terminal.
Did she really want it to end this time without having tried things she feared? Without falling into old habits? No, but at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to relax, couldn't un-see or forget how he'd gnawed at that stranger, linked Elena to her or massacred his coven. Also, Damon would never let her hear the end of it. And why was she even thinking about it as if she would ever let it happen? As if she wanted it to happen?
He smiled and left a gentle kiss on her temple before rolling onto his back away from her. "Goodnight, Witchling."
She swallowed, feeling his lips against her temple, a contradiction of every bad thought and excuse she'd just summoned to the forefront of her mind. "Goodnight, Kai," she murmured, pulling one of the two pillows from beneath her head, easing it behind between their bodies to supply them with a makeshift wall. "It's a precaution. I roll a lot."
"I hope you don't snore a lot," he muttered in a perfectly feigned sleepy voice, shifting to a more comfortable position, and closed his eyes. The TV switched off as if on its own accord to considerately let them sleep.
Soon enough, they did.
"How long did Lucy say you have to wait?" Caroline asked while anxiously chewing her fingernail. She wished the woman would hurry up so that they could take to the road already.
"She didn't."
"Bonnie does locator spells in five or ten minutes."
"And it's been two hours," Damon countered, fighting his own impatience and need to call the woman back.
"Not by my watch," Caroline snipped and sat back, tossing him a blood pack. Bonnie had left but she had forgotten to remove the barrier spell from the basement.
"What's with you?" Damon asked in a weak attempt to distract himself, unfamiliar with Caroline's pessimistic behavior – generally that was his beat. "Usually you're all sunshine and sickening positivity."
And then my mother died, Caroline thought to herself miserably. I went on a killing spree, had my best friend and might-be-lover do the same and now my other best friend, my sister, whom I only just got back, has gotten herself into a situation I'm not entirely convinced she can get herself out of. Also I am worried she'll inadvertently do the exact opposite of what she's expecting and get herself killed, or into even more trouble.
Caroline removed her index finger from her mouth without a word, studying the jagged nail, and found a point on the floor to focus on. Damon scowled but chose to bite his tongue, he wasn't in the mood to talk.
Stefan made his way downstairs a little bit later, pulling on a black sweater over his wet head. He hadn't slept enough and needed a shower—which Caroline said he had enough time for—to wake himself up a bit more.
"Any news?" he asked once he entered the parlor, darting a look between the three people spread out around it. Jeremy sat away from them, sharpening a knife, looking far too deep in thought.
"Think we'd still be sitting here if there was?" Damon played back.
Caroline presented another blood bag, wordlessly asking if Stefan was hungry. He nodded, bringing his hands together as if to say 'throw it'. She did. He caught it and walked over to the bar for a glass.
"How's Ric doing?" Damon asked as the room sloped into silence.
Both Jeremy and Caroline looked attentive, too, as if they remembered they had even bigger issues.
"He's still sleeping. That cocktail will have him out of it until morning. Or so the nurse says."
"And if he wakes up?"
"She'll call us."
"Is there a possibility of that happening?"
"I—" Stefan began, rudely cut short by Damon's ringtone and his brother's swift dismissal as he answered.
"You got something?"
Jeremy rose from the floor in front of the fireplace, leaving his weapons to move in closer on the vampires. Caroline sat forward in her chair and Stefan filled his glass to the rim, taking a small sip as he walked around the bar and came to stop in front of Damon. Both Caroline and Stefan strained their ears and listened in.
"I think—"
"You think?" Damon parroted, restraining himself, trying not to snap at the woman for no good reason. "Aren't these things a bit more conclusive than that?"
"There seems to be something blocking me from making a direct connection to her."
"Like what? A voodoo bracelet? A spell?"
"It could be unintentional. I can't single it out. All I know is what I can sense."
Damon clenched his free hand into a fist. Why was Bonnie doing this? Or was it Kai? Did Bonnie even know?
"Are you still there?"
"Yeah," Damon responded, uncoiling his fingers. "So what did you get? Anything I can work with?"
"Maryland."
"As in the state?" Who did Bonnie know that was out there? And how far could she have gotten in the last few hours? Lucy forewent the obvious answer and pressed on after a few seconds of toying with her phone.
"I'm sending you a picture."
Damon removed the device from his ear, turning Lucy on loudspeaker, and waited. It wasn't long thereafter that the mms appeared and reflected as a 'new message' on the screen, blinking red for all of a second.
"How sure are you about her being here, if you're struggling to make a link?" Damon asked, reviewing the piece of the map she'd sent him, eyeing the area around the blood trail that sliced through the center of it.
"I might not be able to precisely pinpoint where Bonnie is, but… it's there, she's there somewhere."
"Alright," Damon said, accepting their unsatisfying manhunt. "I guess we'll have to make due. Thanks."
Caroline frowned, disturbed by his amiable manners and seeing Damon thank someone for something. That was an anomaly, an occurrence she'd never witnessed or seen over the last few years of dealing with him. He was constantly short, snide and to the point with her. He seldom treated her like an actual person.
"Just get her home safe and sound and have her call me as soon as you do."
"You got it," he said and hung up. He took a minute to study the map, figuring out what he could remember about the area and the rife names scrawled here and there. She couldn't have used a road map? Caroline came to stand at his side, as did Stefan who was finishing off his blood.
"What are we waiting around for?" Jeremy asked eyeing the three of them with annoyance, bending to pick his knife and crossbow off the floor. "Let's get on the road."
"Not so fast, Mulan," Damon retorted, shaking off his brother and prospective sister-in-law, pocketing the phone as he put some distance between them. "We can't all go rushing off after her. What about Ric?"
"You're not going without me," Caroline piped up before Jeremy conjure a response. She looked unwavering and as if she were prepared to throw a punch if there was to be some unnecessary debate.
"I'm not staying, either," Jeremy seconded.
"Yes, you are," Damon said as he dragged his eyes away from the determined blonde. "She's a vampire with assortment of heightened senses that are useful in a fox hunt. You're not."
"I'm a hunter," he bristled, insulted, as if that title alone should have given him merit.
"You're also Elena's baby brother."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, that if I get you killed now, she'll kill me when she wakes up. And I'm picturing our reunion going a whole other way."
Jeremy pulled a face. "Spare me tales of your reunion and let's go. We're wasting time."
He started towards the door, but Damon blocked his way, his eyebrows pulled together.
"Don't make me knock you out, little Gilbert, 'cause it's gonna be hard not to overdo."
Jeremy stepped into him, his eyes flashing with a cold rage frosted with hatred. Damon couldn't tell whether he or Kai was the focus of it. "It's Bonnie. I'm coming whether you like it or not. Try to stop me and I'll kill you."
Something imperceptible shifted in Damon, enough to refrain from stopping Jeremy this time when he strode to the door and out. Perhaps, it wasn't such a bad idea to have him in – he felt the same way about Kai as Damon did. Damon wasn't as sure about Stefan and Caroline, let alone Bonnie herself. That one was seriously screwed up in the head, which Damon had to fix somehow. But first thing's first.
He turned to focus on Stefan and Caroline. "Let's not waste any more time, shall we? We'll talk on the road."
"What if Lily comes back?" Caroline asked as they headed for the garage. "What if, in her madness, she decides to go to Ric this time to use him as a leverage on us?"
"I'm not sure she knows where he lives or even remembers about his existence," Stefan said, wishing he were more certain about it.
"Enzo does," Caroline said. "And he's her go-to man now, whatever he knows we should assume she knows."
"We should just busy her with the very thing she's eager to rip her nails into," Damon responded, sliding a hand into his pocket to retrieve his car keys.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Stefan asked.
"By giving her what she wants," Damon stated as if Stefan was being dense, as if he'd missed something.
"Those heretics? And how do you expect we'll do that?"
"I'd go with the next best thing."
Even Caroline struggled to follow along. What did they have to offer that was even going to get her attention?
"Kai," Damon explained as though they were dense, reading the look of temporary misperception on both their faces.
"And what makes you think Bonnie is going to go for something like that?" Stefan asked.
"She's not," Caroline stated, shaking her head, remembering how fierce and determined she was.
"I don't care what Bonnie wants," Damon particularized. "I'm bringing her home kicking and screaming."
"That's not why we're going there. That's not why we're following her. I just want to make sure she's okay," Caroline said as though it were the most apparent concept in the world.
Damon didn't appear to be listening anymore.
"Damon," Stefan stopped and grabbed his key-holding hand.
"Get out of my way," Damon snapped, feeling his temper rise and exasperation get the better of him.
Stefan released his wrist and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Before we do anything, let's talk about this—let's formulate a half decent plan. Bonnie's scared of Lily. That's why she left. You think driving Lily there is going to help our situation? We want Bonnie on our side, don't we?"
Damon appeared to think about it, nodding pensively. Stefan relaxed and flitted his eyes to Caroline. Damon lashed out before Stefan could think to read the fire in his eyes, his neck snapping with an effortless and sharp twist, his body crumbling to the floor at his feet. Caroline gaped, confused and barely able to make sense of what was going on when all of a sudden a pair of garden shears slipped through her abdomen and dropped her to her knees. She coughed, her mouth parted in shock.
"Sorry about that, Blondie. But Bonnie needs help making the tough choices and obviously I'm the only one to help her do it. Let my brother know I'll call him later."
Caroline stared up at him, tears in her eyes, blood pooling in her mouth. He watched her take her last breath, feeling not even a stitch of remorse as he picked up the keys and made to slip in behind the Camaro's steering wheel.
"What the hell?" Jeremy inquired, observing the bodies, then directing his eyes to Damon, either with confused indignation.
"They'd let our witchy have her way with Kai, didn't you get it?" Damon said. "And I say our witchy needs to get her shit together, which I'm willing to help with. What is your business, Gilbert?"
Jeremy eyed the two on the floor, considering, then nodded grimly and gave Damon a brisk beckoning wave. "Let's use my car."
Damon shrugged and went to claim shotgun as he dialed Lily.
"Who're you calling?" Jeremy asked, pulling from the Boardinghouse.
"My mother. We need Kai distracted to snatch Bonnie away."
She didn't answer the first time he tried to call, and by the fifth the line opened up.
"Your mother's indisposed at the moment, mate. You might want to call back later. Or never."
Enzo.
"Actually, I think she might want to talk to me this time," Damon said. "She's still looking for her family, right?"
There was a snort on the other side of the line and he could hear her say something exasperated and unladylike.
"Well, what if I can give her the siphon-sucker that promised them to her and didn't deliver?"
There was a scuffle, and then Lily voice crossed the line.
"Where is he?"