"Let me at least do the Rex," he said once they started up the stairs and into the national museum. It was the one place they'd chosen to do by foot. And the last on their list. "Come on, everybody saw the movies, it'd be fun!"
"Fine," Bonnie answered once they reached the top, the bony structure looming before them in all his prehistoric glory, far larger than she remembered it being when she was a kid. She flashed him a grin to let him know she wasn't kidding. "But no one gets hurt," she stipulated in a conspiring whisper, making sure he wouldn't overstep the boundaries of the last few hours. "And be gentle. It's old."
She broke away from him, heading for the information board at the bottom of the bones to read up on its history—to refresh what she already knew. The place was busy, even for a weekday.
Kai watched her back as she strode away towards the show glass with information, wondering if she was daring him or simply didn't believe a second that he would pull this off. He wasn't sure which one was more insulting or exciting.
A boy about nine years old stood there by the show glass next to his dad who was eagerly reading aloud, peppering it with Get this, get this!, while the boy himself was making faces and sneakily tapping at the oversized glowing screen of his cell phone. His back was strategically turned to his excited father to cover the phone and pretend he was gaping at the bones while dad got the educational part covered. A group of a dozen Japanese chipped something in return to their guides' tale, flashing their cameras and grinning as they posed at the feet of the dead bones collection. A few loners and two couples strolled slowly around the hall, reading info tablets and gazing at the items.
There came a rattling sound, one you get if you shake a bag with dominoes. No one knew where it was coming from, and few heard at first. The Japanese middle-aged couple posing at the T-Rex did; their smiles slipped off slowly as they observed the guy that was about to take their picture. His face turned into a caricature of their favorite anime characters in a moment of fright: his face got paler, his eyes grew unnaturally wide along with the mouth where high-pitched wheezes were coming from.
One of the museum managers, a sturdy woman of forty-something, happened upon the room at that moment, and now stood gaping and making a sound that was somewhere between squealing and yelling, as if undecided which way to tilt.
The rattling sound got louder, adding a few squeals the connections between the bones gave when the skeleton started to move as though stretching its legs and tail to shake off the long-time stiffness. It shook its big head a little like a dog fresh from a pond, raised it up and gave a startling, screeching roar every fan of Jurassic Park knew so well. That dropped the museum manager down, fainted.
The kid with the cell phone tore his eyes from the screen at once, gaped, then broke into a genuine grin, whispering, "Cool!" His dad wasn't going to back him up on that – his face white and childlike frightened as he scooped his offspring into his arms, backing away in jerks like a spooked crab. The other few observers in the back screamed, a few broke into a run, the others kept standing, unbelieving there is anything that could go wrong in a public place in America that was a magic- and all UFO shit-free. Everybody knows that!
Bonnie dragged her gaze from the fine print and looked up when the bony rattling started above her head. She didn't know whether to smile or grimace. She should have expected it – should have known Kai would accept her tongue-in-cheek challenge. She backed away from the T-Rex as it stretched, awakening like faceless puppy with enormous teeth, expelling a roar so loud and ferocious that she involuntarily lifted her hands to her ears.
How was he even capable of doing things like that? How could he effortlessly just fix and destroy all at once?
The T-Rex waved his tail and stepped off the pedestal, observing the squealing Japanese group and the crabwalking dad with his kid in the scoop with its empty sockets and eternal grin. It strolled between them, claws clacking loudly against the waxed floor, and turned to Bonnie who froze at the show glass, wide-eyed.
The Japanese realized the monster wasn't after them, and started clicking their cameras, flashes blinking, imprinting the gigantic skeleton shadow upon the viewers in the vicinity like a magical cage.
Bonnie took another step back, mimicking the T-Rex's advancement and winced as someone ran into her, nearly knocking her off her feet in their haste to escape. Bad, bad idea!
She looked back in search of Kai, briefly losing him in the chaos, and watched in awe as the skinless frame stomped across the marble floors, a perfect mimic of the graceful and predatory creature it had once been.
It was headed directly for her now, overlooking the people around and the enthusiastic photographers. Bonnie fought the urge to run. Instinct, she supposed.
The skeleton canted its head left and right, like an inquisitive dog, observing the girl. She smiled softly, a measure of joy that faded when something hard barreled into her side and knocked her off her feet. She grunted as her body collided with the floor, wincing as pain radiated through her left elbow and knee. The man might have been a hero—her assumed savior—but vampire finesse he did not have. A few astonished gasps broke over the small Japanese crowd as the heroic American dad made a diving jump, sweeping Bonnie in the flight and landing a couple of feet away from the show glass.
"Wow!" his son commented, aiming his cell at dad's heroism, then back at the dinosaur that seemed amused, his tail waggling lazily.
"Run! Run now," the father ordered Bonnie, trying to get up and beckoning his son at the same time. "Come on, Justin!"
Justin would have none of his dad's bullshit. He forgot himself, filming the wonder on his phone, grinning like a kid who got the present of his life from Santa personally. The Rex clacked his claws towards him, its head inquisitively low as though to sniff the boy.
Bonnie drew her gaze from the two, frightened that Kai might get some twisted idea and have the thing attempt to eat the child. She could never tell which way he'd go and if he'd take it too far. It was already beyond repair.
His dad gave a yell of a gorilla and lounged to fit between his son and the monster, but the monster's tail caught him around the waist and sent him flying under another installation. His son paid little mind.
Kai approached Bonnie from behind, wrapped an arm around her waist. "I think we better make ourselves scarce now before cops or SWAT arrive."
"You couldn't have kept him on the podium?" she asked, rubbing at her elbow for emphasis before enclosing a hand over his wrist.
"Would you stay on the podium you've been stuck on for years when you could walk around and stretch a bit?"
It didn't seem like a good idea from the common sense perspective to leave the T-Rex to its own devices until the magic in it ran out (Kai had no idea when that would be – in a few minutes or hours), but from his point of view it wasn't bad. Bonnie, in her overexcited and tipsy mind, seemed to be missing the cleaning-up part, which was okay with him.
She jerked him toward the entrance and into a jog, easily assuming the role of frightened and skittish museum-goer fleeing an impossible dinosaur attack. It wasn't hard—not for either of them as no one was paying attention to anything or anyone else. T-Rex had the floor.
They circled around the museum to get their Segways. There was another roar behind their backs as they hurried along the Mall. More people headed to where they were fleeing from, attracted by the sounds and hoping for fun. Kai wondered if that was what they were going to find there.
Enough was enough – the joke had reached it pinnacle point. "Would you stop that already," Bonnie chided once they reached the side of the building and approached their Segways. She reached for her helmet, inspecting it for bird poop. "How are you even able to keep controlling it from here?"
"Well, I could, but I don't. Not anymore."
Bonnie stopped toying with the straps of the helmet and gave Kai a contemplative look. He had to be kidding.
Kai weighed the helmet in his hand, not in the mood to put the stupid thing on, then hung it by its strap on the Segway steer. "The magic soaking it will evaporate sometime soon, and he'll be dead relic again, but for the moment Mr. Bones is on his own. I'm not sure what's driving him now… maybe his memory – you know, it's stored in his bones even if they're dead for ages. Information never truly disappears, like any form of energy."
"What are you saying?" she snapped, setting the helmet back on the Segway, ignoring it as it pelted off on the other side and rolled to the ground. She couldn't care about the deposit now. "Are you saying that thing is alive? That you went above playing puppet master and gave it life?"
Kai observed her with a smile both sheepish and wicked. Inside the museum, the screams grew louder and more alarmed. Glass was breaking, people stomping as they ran, the Bones' claws clicking against the floors as it tried to pick which human ant to pursue.
All the blood drained from Bonnie's face, her ears settled on the noise in the distance. Was it just her or were the screams getting louder? More terrified.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" she shook her head disbelievingly as she backtracked away from him, running back toward the museum, but then the reason of the havoc emerged from its former prison, threw back its head and gave another roar of triumph.
Bonnie gawked at the skinless creature in horror as it broke free of the museum, scattering glass and screaming people in every direction, a few dawdling just long enough to take blurred pictures and videos alike.
'Run you idiots!' she wanted to scream. She instead tried to focus, to conjure up a spell to render the beastie useless without drawing too much attention to herself. She didn't want this to turn into some big x-men reveal and spend the rest of her days living in a sewer running from the government or the equivalent of SHIELD.
Some people screamed, some took pictures. Children pointed, parents grabbed them tighter and retreated as rapidly as they could. The Rex directed itself to the nearest ice cream tent – the terrified dealer was sprinting across the lawn with some other visitors – and sent it flipping over onto the grass with a push of the side of its head. The screams drew its attention back to the living things around, and it started towards the closest group of a few that were aiming their iPhones at it.
Bonnie cringed as the faceless creature sent the ice-cream stand sailing and turned its ferocious care on the populace again. Her heart hammered in her chest, growing to deafening proportions as she absorbed the scene before her. It was unreal. Bonnie raised an impulsive hand to the air, aiming to send the lethal animal reeling and those bones sprinkling in the wind like leaves when all of a sudden a hand clamped around her elevated arm to deter her. She gasped.
Kai pulled her against him. "Come on, Bonsy, it's too good to be a puppet. Didn't you ever want to see one in its natural glory? I mean, yeah, it's bony, but it's real. And it's free, even if for just a bit. It's finally free, and you, the compassionate one, want me to kill it again?"
She struggled against his censured hold, bringing her heel down upon the top of his foot repeatedly, elbowing him for emphasis and until he'd released her. She put space between them as soon as she was free, glaring at him.
"This isn't some perverse metaphor you can use to relate to your life, Kai!" she hissed crossly, picking up on the miniscule undertones and similarities. She wasn't even sure it was intentional on his part. "These are innocent people!"
Kai looked at the T-Rex; up from its hinder legs, it started to gain flesh, like in a computer 3D simulation. Sinews, muscles, skin covered the aged bones within seconds. People gaped as it approached, forgetting to run for a few dangerous moments. The Rex itself felt a change and gave another roar, sending the closest humans scattering and celebrating its newly gained power.
Bonnie shook her head with disgust and turned back to the creature, her eyes widening as flesh sprouted from bone like a well-watered plant and grew to cover every square inch of its oversized body. It gave another roar, an animalistic sound that made her blood turn cold. She shook off her shock and raised a hand again, directing it at the animal, keeping it from being able to move before muttering, "Illucescente!"
Its neck snapped—much like she craved to do to Kai—and went down, landing without grace in the middle of the enormous courtyard.
Kai pulled Bonnie to him once again, restraining her arms gently with his hands, her back pressing into his front. "Did no one ever tell you that simple thing? You cannot kill something that's already dead."
The dinosaur picked itself up with effort – having no normal front legs to help must suck, Kai thought – and cast a bird-like gander around, in search of a prey.
Bonnie glowered as the briefly unconscious dinosaur stirred and tried to stand up, wriggling like a fish out of water, his tailing swishing to and fro wildly, his teeth gnashing at the air. It was back on his clawed feet far too quick for her liking.
"No one is innocent, Bons," Kai said into her ear. "But if you wanna restore the world's balance, you can do it easily – we both know it. This is not a living creature – not in the way you perceive it. It thinks it is, but in fact, it's like that Energizer bunny from the ads. The power I gave it is the battery. You can't pull it out, but you can use it and deplete it in the process. You can channel nature and its power – you can do the same with this lizard. Go ahead." He released her and stepped back, curious whether alcohol in her blood would enhance or cripple her execution.
Bonnie exhaled as his arm fell away from her waist and he took a step back. She raised her hand, neglectful of being seen, and immobilized the creature before it could think to charge or bend down to snack on someone close by.
No one else appeared to notice.
She could feel a hallow pain build behind her eyes, an onset from either the alcohol she'd consumed for breakfast or the strength of the magic that bound the creature. She couldn't tell. She gritted her teeth, walking the T-Rex away from the ground like a dog on a leash, driving him toward an open expanse of grass away from people.
How long would this magic last and who would win? She or it?
Bonnie made no response and tried to restrain her emotional turmoil to focus. Kai could sense his skin prick with goosebumps as she collected herself and held a hand out, connecting to the energy driving the T-Rex. She was straining – due to all the factors like alcohol in her blood and emotions running rampant – but she got a lock-on and the T-Rex froze, then started to move where she directed.
"Put him back on his pedestal and pull the battery out," Kai said into her ear, leaning in from behind. "You can do it, we both know you can."
Bonnie inhaled as if she'd absorbed a little strength from the creature, and towed him from the grass, ignoring his noisy animalistic sounds of objection and the way his thick nails raked the earth, leaving thick furrows in the soil. She guided him across the cement, past the flashing camera lights, away from the destruction of the ice-cream tent and back up the array of stairs. She trailed after him, being careful, gentle even, trying to avoid the people still standing around in wonder, too stupid to even consider the danger they were in and that what was happening was unnatural. Still, no one got in her way, no one even looked at her, and it was as if they didn't see her at all.
The dinosaur raised its head and roared, a rigorous disturbance that no longer held ferocity but distress, as if it could sense that things were inches away from drawing to close on its untimely chapter.
Bonnie could even allow herself to feel a hint of guilt.
"Recedemus," she commanded, ignoring the animal's startling growl of pain as flesh smelted off the bone, followed by the muscle and other finer tissues, outwardly dismantling it the same way it'd been created.
Though Kai let Bonnie handle it herself just as he intended, he could sense her straining as she tried to tame the power animating the T-Rex. It wasn't her usual exercise in channeling energy, he reckoned, and having been drinking before didn't help, either. His nerves tingled as he watched her at work, like some wonder-girl from a superhero movie that suddenly came to live around him. It excited him that she never gave up, and it excited him to see she managed – even though he had little doubts she would, he was prepared to lend a hand, even if a secret one.
Before long, it was back on his pedestal, lifeless and held together by an assortment of different ropes and doohickeys to make sure it didn't fall apart again. The only indicator that it'd even moved, that there had even been a disturbance was the video clips on a few random phones, the trussed up lobby and bad mow job outside. But at least no one was seriously injured or dead. Bonnie lowered her arm, feeling a touch lightheaded once done and a semblance of pain building behind her eyes. Could nothing be easy?
"Let's go," she said, assuming Kai was close by or at least within hearing range. "Getting out of here is going to be worse than getting in." People fleeing, cars riding into one another in their attempts at escape, humans where at their worst amidst chaos.
Some gawkers followed the dinosaur from outside and were now snapping shots and talking. The Museum's workers gathered in another part of the room, consulting with each other. No one minded the witches.
Kai stepped closer to her in case her legs betrayed her, and observed the aged skeleton on the pedestal it had been lucky to leave for some half an hour. A faint smile twitched in the corners of his mouth.
"Wow, Bonnie, you open up from quite a new perspective. With your sky-high morals and compassion that could make a maniac cry, you have just tortured a dinosaur out of his skin, literally! Who knew you had it in you! I mean, I suspected there had to be a quirk like that hiding beneath all layers of good and kindness – there always is with a power like yours flowing through one's system – but making a giant predator scream in pain while peeling its skin and tissues off? And draining it of life? God, that's…" Kai looked at her with fascination that could easily be mistaken for morbid rapture. "That's scary. In a weirdly hot way."
Bonnie faltered a tad, taking a moment to consider what she'd done to that animal at its insistence. It hadn't been the T-Rex's fault it was revivified, yet there hadn't been time to convey a less painful method of shutting it down. She threw Kai a sidelong look, shuddering softly. She didn't like the way Kai was looking at her in light of the creature's torture or the fact that he appeared pleased with it. His insinuation frightened her.
"I did what I had to do to keep that thing from hurting anyone else," she retorted defensively, bending to lift her helmet off the ground once they'd reached their abandoned Segways again. She toyed with the strap and eased the silly thing back on her head, securing it under her chin. "There is nothing underlining about that."
She narrowed her eyes as if to silently dare him to prove her otherwise, hardly giving him the time as she moved to reclaim her ride. Bonnie checked for the key and started it up, steadily making her way back to the car. People were still running, car horns honking like crazy in the distance and the nearer they got to the parking lot.
"Of course there is," Kai disagreed. "Whatever the way you picked to deal with him, you gained all the power that was left there to drain. See, no blood's coming from your nose."
She gave him a look and impulsively lifted a hand to her nose. She was almost expecting blood to appear, to prove both him and her wrong and split her head open like a ripe melon. That was the way of her luck.
"Oh, and I kept you cloaked while you were playing dinosaur exorcist, so there'll be no YouTube videos of Bennett the Wonder Woman saving Washington form Jurassic Park invasion. You're welcome." He started rolling along the Mall's pavement to where they left the Ford.
She blinked after him as he started rolling his way toward the car, speeding up to ride side by side.
"Thank you," she said in spite of the fact that everything they'd dealt with in the last hour was his fault. He took her challenge far too literally. She was going to have to watch what she said. "I mean… for err… shielding me."
She left it at that, unsurprised to find that once they reached the cordoned-off station for the Segways, there was no one there to receive them. She bounced off the machine, removed the helmet, and headed for the car.
"Any idea how you're going to get us out of here before the sunsets?" she said. There was an accident in the middle of the lot, two people yelling at each other, others paying no mind to anyone else trying to gun for the exit.
"Piece of cake."
Bonnie arched a brow, a lopsided smile curving onto her lips. The congestion ahead of them was tight and she doubted they'd be able to leave their parking spot in the next hour to come. People didn't do well with panic, nor did they think when their lives were on the line.
Kai revived the engine, put his hands on the steering wheel, and closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, concentrating. Then he threw Bonnie an impish grin, and jump-started from the spot, tires squealing. The road was packed with vehicles stuck flank to flank and nose to butt like sardines in a can, and they went through them as though the panorama around them was no more than a ghostly vision. Or perhaps in this scenario it was them who had become ghosts in the middle of the living people's drama. Soon enough, the noises died out behind them as they neared the outskirts of the city, already obeying the traffic rules. Kai tightened his fingers on the wheel, grounding himself as he felt a trifle dizzy. The cloaked jump had taken its toll. He wasn't going to have a nose-bleed, but he could feel weakness crawl in like a shy snake and coil in his solar plexus morphing into hunger.
Bonnie didn't return his impish grin, frowning slightly, and jerked in her seat as they leaped forward and straight into the crowd of cars and yelling people. She wanted to scream, to put on her seatbelt and close her eyes, but she didn't, far too enthralled by what he'd done and how quickly he'd managed to remove them from the chaos. She knew he was powerful, she knew he was capable of far more than she'd ever dreamed – he grew up in that life, after all, he'd studied magic, spells and various other things while she was scratching the surface on her own. She didn't even dare regard anything Shane had taught her as something she needed to revisit. She was to start from scratch.
Kai shot her a smile. "Any new destination in mind yet, Miss Tamer-of-Dragons?"
"Let's drive until we hit the open road and then we'll pull over and decide." She reached for the phone he'd bought her earlier, checking to make sure it was okay and charged enough, and toyed with the idea of calling Caroline.
Kai fell a faint nudge of irritation rooted in the aftermath of the spell he had endured. "We're already driving. Start deciding."
"I don't have a place in mind yet," she snapped back. "I wasn't exactly expecting to leave that motel so soon." She needed time to think, to breathe, and perhaps have another drink. "Let's just find a place and stop for a while. There must be a diner or something along this road."
Kai couldn't help a spike of annoyance. She'd had more than half a day since they left the abovementioned motel, and she was still stalling, undecided on what she wanted and why. He wasn't sure why it irked him – since he wasn't really having a bad time himself – but somehow it did. He ascribed it to the wariness after the spell and her moodiness. She lacked the sense of direction, and it annoyed her, too, turning the fun girl he knew she could be into a party-pooper.
Bonnie decided she could wait a little longer and forewent making the phone call as the atmosphere in the car was too tense. They'd gone from happy sunshine partners in crime to sulky sullies. She toyed with the new device, brought up the web browser and searched the internet for another motel or nearby hotel in the next big city. She needed to figure out where they'd be the safest. Where she would be the safest. Among people? In light of Kai's Jurassic remake, she wasn't so sure, although if he stuck to feeding on just her, then it would be okay. But what if they had another misunderstanding? Bonnie closed her eyes and craved another drink or three. The only positive to come out of all of this was that Lily didn't know her way around modern stateliness and wouldn't show up on Bonnie's doorstep uninvited. Not that she would need an invite if she did. Hotels, motels and resorts were all public areas.
Kai made no response and kept driving until they went out of the city limits and saw the first roadhouse flanking the highway. He parked between two trucks, one of them shielding the Ford in its vast shadow from the sun that was inclining towards the horizon.
He accompanied Bonnie inside and to the table she picked.
As they settled, he regarded her grim face. "Not the best place for cocktails, I admit, but staying in Washington wasn't the best direction for tonight – not after the Night at the Museum incident. So we'll fix you with good drinks once we hit the next civilized spot of your choosing, princess."
"Beer will do for now," she said without looking at the menu that had been placed in front of her. She was still full and in spite of their adventure, she hadn't worked up an appetite yet. "And maybe an oversized milkshake."
Kai smiled at the contrast of her desires. She didn't seem sure she wanted anything at all.
The waitress caught the tail end of their discussion once she returned to table, coffee pot in hand. "Can I get you two anything?"
"Just a milkshake. Vanilla," Bonnie said before she could ask about the flavor.
The waitress nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Kai. He shook his head and she went away. Bonnie removed her phone from her pocket, scanning the few links she'd bookmarked.
"There is a motel in Monroeville three hours away that doesn't sound too bad. It's cheap, too," she began before he could think to ask her if she'd made up her mind yet.
He restrained a scoff, a small simper touching his lips. Why she would still care about money was beyond him.
"We'll stay there for tonight."
"Or we could drive on to a next big city and enjoy the level of comfort you really deserve. Or are you a trucker-diner-motel-roaddust girl while I thought you were born for luxury?"
"Is that your way of saying you didn't sleep comfortably last night?" she retorted, ignoring his jibe, aware that the evidence poking into her backside this morning stated otherwise. Bonnie didn't wait for his answer and leaned her forearms on the table in front of her to talk with him conspiringly. "As cool as your money-grows-on-trees thing is… after your reincarnation act with big T and the blatant attention that is bound to sprout, it might be better to do away with your temptations and stick to my low trucker-diner-motel-roaddust girl routine."
He narrowed his eyes at her, reprimanding, and clicked his tongue. "So uptight! If you weren't so scared of having fun and stepped outside your little box of fear and limitations for a bit, it wouldn't be such a disaster as you saw it."
"Uptight?" she murmured. There really had to be something deeply wrong with him if he thought she was being too restrictive after their roarsome floor show. That wasn't fun and games, nor was the impromptu cremation the night before.
"Besides, if you think keeping me from big cities would tame my desire to entertain myself, you've got another thing coming." He gave her a grin of wicked mirth to force his point. "It doesn't have to be a struggle for you. Just loosen up a bit. It'll do you good."
The waitress returned with a milkshake, put it before Bonnie and left after making sure Kai didn't change his mind about ordering a drink or snack.
Bonnie reached for the straw, ripping the paper off each end, and shredded it, mulling over what he said. "And what is fun to you? Dinosaurs potentially ripping off people's heads? Nibbling on some random stranger? Leaving another on the side of the road to bleed out? Please, define the fun I'm supposed to be having."
Kai tipped his head slightly to one side, eyeing her with a faint inscrutable smile, wondering if she really needed him to answer that question. She did want him to – sure – as well as she wanted him to do all the things for her she could have done herself before. But did she need him to? He didn't think so.
The afternoon had been good, Bonnie decided, the Segways, the museum, their brief race and even their wino breakfast. For a moment–if not a few hours–it permitted her the chance to forget why they were even on the road. "Just how much looser are you expecting me to get?"
"Well," he drawled, smiling wider. "Let's say, as looser as you need to get to stop being so damn grumpy most of the time. Despite all the problems weighing on your mind every so often, your life right this moment ain't so bad – just as soon as you let yourself realize it. Come on," he waved an encouraging hand at her, leaning back in his chair, and folded his arms. "I'll wait."
Wasn't so bad? Was Kai kidding? How could he and Damon dismiss the bad as if they hadn't been on the verge of turning a group of innocent museum goers' day from bad to worse only a few short hours ago? There might have been a hint of damage control amidst their prehistoric chaos and no one got seriously injured—that she knew of—but the what-if of the entire situation hung in the air like a bad odor that assassinated her buzz. It was stupid and Bonnie was far stupider for even encouraging the challenge to begin with.
She slipped her straw into her milkshake and took a sip without answering him, letting him stew in his provocative declaration. No matter how much they tried to convince her what they did didn't matter, the more she knew it was bullshit. She had tried to let loose this morning, to have a good time, and someway the museum stint reminded her she was way in over her head with Kai and that she couldn't afford to flounder with her indecision for too long. Not unless she planned on playing witness to another massacre. Bonnie took two deep sips of the milkshake, subtly checked for her phone, and stood.
"I'm going to use the restroom," she said, keeping to herself the fact that she intended to call Caroline at the same time. "I'll be right back—don't uh…" she trailed off, confident he'd understand her unvoiced implication as she gestured around at the patrons eating, drinking and chatting with one another. "I won't be long and then we'll go."
Kai waved a dismissive hand. "Whatever you say, Boss. Don't do anything I wouldn't do out there." He tipped her a bawdy wink and saw her off, his smile slipping off gradually as she walked away. She was probably going to call her blondie friend, and he wasn't sure if they could afford it at this point. If her friends would try to interfere, there might be casualties among them by his hand, and it wasn't the best way to steer Bonnie where he needed her to go. However, keeping off the radar was something Kai did well. Perhaps there was no harm in that little call. Time would tell.
He paid the bill like the good boy his witch wanted him to be and waited for her to get back to her melting shake.
Bonnie eased into the narrow hallway, squeezing past a man exiting the nearest restroom, falling in line behind a chubby woman with fair skin, plaited blonde hair and a mile-a-minute mouth. She was conversing with another whom Bonnie couldn't see, and from the sounds of things, was rinsing and drying her hands. Bonnie waited until the two were finished and smiled as they brushed past her a minute later, uttering an apology for blockading the door so rudely.
"No problem," Bonnie murmured in passing, briefly meeting their eyes as she disappeared inside, the door swinging closed behind her. Luckily, she found herself alone and the two stalls empty.
She checked the counter for water, removing her phone from her pocket, and eased herself onto it. She looked her reflection over in the mirror, taking note of the evident bags under her eyes. Then again, maybe the poor fluorescent lighting was playing tricks on her? She didn't care to mull it over, didn't care to give into her ego. She dialed Caroline's number, praying that all was in order while it rang in her ear and that the contract Kai had set up for her would work.
"Bonnie?" Caroline's distinguishable voice asked as the line opened up. Bonnie guess she hadn't been getting many calls and was waiting for her witch friend to fulfil her promise.
"It's me," Bonnie confirmed, aware that the blonde had probably been stressing.
"Oh thank God!"
"I'm sorry I couldn't call earlier but things have—"
"A-Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Caroline interrupted before she could think to justify her actions. Bonnie sensed Caroline hadn't expected to hear from her at all and that she must have been imaging the worst.
"Hurt? No, I'm fine," Bonnie said with a small apologetic laugh, feeling guilty for not having called her sooner. As much fun as she'd had this morning—at least while it lasted—that had been selfish. "I'm whole. In one piece."
She heard Caroline give a short-lived sigh of relief and relay to Stefan that she was okay as if he didn't possess vampire hearing.
"Where are you?" Caroline pressed, sounding desperate and out of breath as if she feared they'd lose connection.
"At a roadside diner outside of Washington DC," Bonnie said, figuring she was far away enough to not worry about her appearing on her, Bonnie's, doorstep. Care deserves a little peace of mind.
"And where is Kai?"
"Waiting for me inside. Probably aggravating the poor waitress with one of his many off-center jokes."
"Bonnie, what's going on? I thought you were holed up, that he was tied up or—"
"I didn't get that far. I suspect he isn't all that juiced to play the part of probable prisoner again."
"You mean he's free?!" Caroline's voice raising a few octaves to accentuate her surprise. Had she missed Bonnie's mention of the waitress?
"Well, yeah… I guess you could say that. He hasn't left and he isn't feeding on anyone else." Not today, she refrained from adding, feeling her wavering buzz plummet. She didn't want to think about yesterday's drama.
"Bonnie—" Caroline began, spinning from the news, uncertain of what to make of any of it or how to proceed.
"It's okay, Caroline," she said, not at all feeling that way but not wanting to give her anymore reason to hassle. Bonnie wasn't even going to mention the dinosaur crisis. "There were two incidents but they've been taken care of."
"What two incidents? What's been taken care of?"
"I don't really want to get into it over the phone." Not if she didn't have to and not at this very minute in time.
"Is it Damon?"
Bonnie grimaced, dissevering why she'd asked that and not appreciating her own imaginings.
"No," she said after a lengthy moment. "Why?"
"I—I don't… Don't get upset, okay? I'm—" Caroline rattled in a way Bonnie knew had to do with nervousness and very little to do with her ability to articulate things. She was a pro talker. Something was wrong, very wrong.
"Spit it out, Care," I retorted, trying her best to keep the bite from her tone. She was seldom short with Caroline but something about her apprehension and this conversation was starting to upset her.
"Damon's there with you. I mean… not 'there' there, but he's looking for you."
Bonnie chuckled to herself softly and smiled at her grim reflection. She hadn't expected anything less from Damon.
"And how would he even know where 'there' is? I hadn't told anyone else from Mystic Falls until this second."
"Lucy," Caroline explained, wiping the smile from her friend's face unknowingly. "He got the idea last night. When you didn't call me back and your phone kept going to voicemail… I, we… got worried—"
"You did a locator spell?"
"Yeah, but—"
"Fuck!" Bonnie hissed and pushed off the counter, fixing the door with a heavy look as it abruptly swung open, permitting a brunette woman and small child the chance to push their way inside. Bonnie was half and half expecting Damon or Kai. "I've got to go. I'll call you back later."
"Bonnie? Bonnie, wait—"
"I'm okay, Caroline. I promise. I'll call you back."
She didn't listen for anymore of Caroline's explanation and hung up, starting out of the bathroom without using of the toilets, stuffing the phone back into her pocket, waiting to put as much distance between herself and Damon as possible. Who knew how close he was and if they'd managed another locator?
"Sorry I was so long," she said, refraining from sharing the news about Damon. Kai didn't need that particular piece of information. They weren't in this together – not in this sense, anyway. She was the one running, he was her tagalong. "There was a queue and an overzealous kid with water." She smiled, hoping her friendliness would speed things along and he wouldn't think to question her.
The smile smelled fake throughout to him, but Kai flashed her his own sweet one in return. "Nice try but totally unnecessary. I know you've called your friends." He got up and invited her to lead the way out. "What's new? Damon chasing us yet?"
He knew she called her friends but didn't know about Damon?
"You seem to know so much, why don't you tell me," she responded, my shoes crunching upon gravel as they started toward the car. "Don't have a handle on your vampire hearing yet?"
"I was giving you privacy in the ladies' room, and you're spiteful about it? Wow, Bon, rude. Just rude."
She refrained from burbling an apology and kept on walking. He couldn't blame her for thinking he'd intrude. That was his way. Hiss smile, however, in spite of her darkening mood, was infectious. She hated that. She avoided looking at his face, instead focusing on the back of the car and where they now needed to go.
He trotted up behind her to keep up. "So? How bad is it? Was Mama Salvatore there and he cracked just like I said he would? Or is it the Save Bonnie crusade without any extra difficulty levels?"
"No. He wouldn't—He wouldn't get her involved," she protested with a tinge of annoyance as she approached the Ford, stopping short of heading to the passenger side, detouring toward the driver's. She extended a hand before her, wordlessly relaying that she wanted to drive. Bonnie needed something else to focus on, something to take her mind off one of her nineteen-ninety-four ex-inmates unwanted game of pursuit. "But he is coming and he's going to make life significantly harder. As always."
Kai ignored her mute request for the keys. "Are you gonna run all the time, looking over your shoulder like a thief with a city guard on your tail? Or we can actually do something about it?"
What did he expect her to do about it? It wasn't as if Damon and she were at war. Bonnie just needed time to figure things out—peacefully—and prepare herself for the next step. Space neither party appeared to want to give her.
A small, tentative, wily smile played across Kai's mouth. "We could… put him to sleep. Temporarily. Once you've had your time and peace of mind, you would lift the spell. It's a win-win, and you know it."
"You mean pull a sleeping beauty the sequel?" she snapped, hating the reminder of what he'd done to one of her best friends – to her. It made being here and this moment feel treacherous. "I'm not trying to hurt him—I'm just… it's complicated, okay? You are complicated—this entire mess is fucking complicated."
Not that Kai didn't know that already. Bonnie took a step back from him, forging the car keys, and propped herself against the back of the Ford's boot to catch her breath a moment. She was a step away from having a breakdown or crying – she couldn't decide which was going to come first. She closed her eyes and then peered heavenward, relishing in the feel of the sun, the light breeze in the air and the second's reprieve to calm down.
Kai made no response, observing her.
"Maybe I can mask myself. Take myself off the radar completely," she said after a couple seconds' quiet deliberation, once more meeting his eyes. "If Damon is trying to locate me with a spell, who's to say someone else won't?" Like Lily. Not that she had anyone else at her disposal with the ability to do such a thing, but who knew what that woman was capable of?
Kai shrugged and folded his arms, keeping a serious face except for the tiny humorous glint in his eye. "And how are you gonna pull that off? I mean, masking – or cloaking – oneself is a pretty above-medium spell. You feel you have the capacity for it, like, right now?"
"No," she answered honestly and without thinking. Taming the savage prehistoric beast had taken it out of her and she didn't feel the need to push it, to cross a line she might not return from. "Let's just go. The more distance we put between ourselves and him the better."
She pushed away from the back of the car, rounding along the side of the passenger door, leaving him to drive since he'd already designated himself their personal chauffer.
Kai wasn't too hot on driving again, but climbed behind the wheel, nonetheless. "Where to now, witchling?"
"Monroeville," she answered, reminding him of her earlier suggestion. There was no need to change their plans or destination. Damon might have used Lucy for the location spell, but one phone call would end that. If only Bonnie knew her number. She'd only met her cousin once and their talk outside the Lockwoods mansion that night three years ago hadn't given them the chance to exchange numbers. She was in a hurry to escape, to distance herself from Katherine and the Salvatores' revenge. Bonnie didn't blame her.
Kai grimaced, turning the key in the ignition lock. "Some rat hole again. Gee, Bons, why do you insist on lower standards when you can do so much better? Besides, if you wanna hide somewhere – best place is a big city. Like New York. How would Damon find you in there? Or we can go south and make a stop in Malibu. Cocktails and swimming pools…"
As worried as she was about Damon catching up to them, there was also the concern of what Kai would do surrounded by so many people. Sure, he appeared to have control of his bloodlust to some degree—and there was their deal—but what if they had another falling out, what if, for some reason, he decided to massacre an entire orchestra of people? Bonnie knew he was capable of murder and excitement, things she let herself enjoy for a few hours.
Kai started to grin, eyeing her. "You requested something like that earlier, so I think it's my duty to grant your wish, since I promised. I do keep my word."
"I don't suppose I have to remind you that most of what I said and did, had to do with my breakfast wine," she murmured, sinking into her seat, lips twitching slightly to return his pleasant grin. Perhaps with enough distance covered he'd reconsider or might she have to make him. Accidentally, of course. "Just get us back on the road. I don't want to give Damon any more room to catch up than necessary."
Anger was spreading fast and irrevocably, like an avalanche. Kai had to take a few discreet deep breaths to pull the mask of serene joker back on. He did it with a smile that you give to let them know you've discovered their secret agenda. "You're so eager for another motel so we'd be stuck on the same bed again, hey, Bonsy?"
She flushed, powerless to ward away the Technicolor image of the two of them locked together so intimately this morning. He was trying to bait her. Trying to impart another reason for her motive.
"Don't worry your pretty head. Whatever hotel there is in any spot of this world, we'd still be stuck on the same bed, I can promise that. You almost don't snore at all."
She opened her mouth to tell him he was being ridiculous and that if there was an opportunity for twin beds, they were going to take it. She couldn't have him creeping any closer into her space. She was already struggling to keep him at bay. She needed to remain neutral, especially if she planned on getting through to him.
He smiled radiantly and sneaked a peek at her. "Now that we have that settled, we go for luxury and comfort this time. I got it."
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Bonnie argued, pulling on her seatbelt. "If we stay off the radar, they'll have a harder time finding us. Putting ourselves in a crowded place is exactly what Damon would do. Besides," she reached for the radio, turning it on, wanting to end their debate, "we're not on vacation, Kai." Although this morning it had felt like it, this morning had felt as though they were in the twilight zone. She loved it, she almost loathed to admit that she hated how soon it had ended – it had felt that good.
"That's exactly what we're on here, Bennett."
She frowned lightly in confusion. That's not what they were doing at all, not in her head, at least. The guy kills his overly pregnant sister at her wedding, an entire coven, and resigns one of her best friends to an everlasting nap anchored to Bonnie's state of living, and she rewards him by taking him on vacation? She must be giving him mixed signals, either that or her efforts were long lost before she'd even gotten a chance to start or figure out what it was exactly she was trying to do in the first place.
Kai turned his shrewd smile to her once they settled back into the highway traffic. "There's trouble back at home, and you're here, away from it and haven't even started on figuring out how to deal with it and where to even start. Instead, you took me as an excuse to skip your town – like, to keep me away from it and your friends and thus make Mystic Falls a safer place – and we've been having good time for a change. Which, by the way, totally favors your complexion – you look really gorgeous when you're having fun, and no amount of sleep deprivation can seep through that smile of yours."
He had parts of his speech right, but others were completely and utterly wrong. Bonnie hadn't taken him away from Mystic Falls to protect the place. She took him because she refused to have Damon or anyone else kill him. They'd tried that, failed, and Bonnie wasn't going to test that will again – not unless she really had to. But she hoped it wouldn't come to that, that she wouldn't be forced into a corner where she needed to make such a rash decision again. Not like yesterday, and not like she did with the whole 1903 debacle. She couldn't even muster a smile, couldn't bring herself to encourage what he was suggesting.
He made a dexterous arc around a slower car in front of them, sliding in before it. "So now comes the question of the day: why are you pouting now? If it's the absence of cocktails – they're coming. I keep my word."
"I'm not pouting," she responded, rolling down her window to allow fresh air into the car.
Kai noticed she found it hard to keep still whenever he hit some uncomfortable topic. Which was probably every topic he touched.
"I'm thinking." Which coincided with her serious face. "It's been a rough week. I scarcely feel like I'm able to breathe most the time and to be honest, you're right. I was having a good time. I needed the break and I enjoyed our touristy walk—" Until it exploded with a roar and the t-rex made his appearance. He hadn't seriously hurt anyone, thankfully, and she hadn't bothered to listen to the news, no doubt it was all over it, and that the government was already trying to figure out what the hell happened. They were probably blaming it on aliens or Hollywood mechanics as they spoke. "But it was stupid, irresponsible and… dangerous." That's what being with Kai was. Hazardous. Bonnie couldn't trust him, couldn't trust that he wouldn't push things too far. He was like Damon in that respect.
She expelled a soft sigh, falling silent as she turned to the watch road, letting him drive them wherever. They had many miles to cover and a couple more hours of daylight left to make a rational decision.
Kai laughed. "See? That's what fun is for you – stupid, irresponsible and dangerous! Any fun. Bennett, it's not a way to live! No wonder you die all the time. You can't live being only responsible – you end up like… well, you. Do you like how you ended up? And where, and how? It doesn't seem that way. Sometimes we do need to do something very stupid, irresponsible and dangerous to feel alive. When was it the last time you felt alive and glad to be so? Let me guess – today. You tried to live a little, and you did. And you liked it. So don't diminish it by explaining how irresponsible it was, 'cause that's what I'd call stupid and dangerous."
He swiftly circled another car in front of them and cast a wily glance at her, his lips spreading in a wicked smile.
"C'mere, straddle my lap and let's do it. Right here, right now. You desperately need to release that tension you managed to pick back up. I'll show you what the spark of life feels like when it flares into the life itself. No one's ever shown it to you." He looked at her, grinning wider.
Bonnie chose to ignore his invitation as it didn't merit a serious response and instead gazed at him as he turned to concentrate on the road. Was it that easy? Could fucking him wipe away the loneliness, grief and self-loathing she'd accumulated over the last three years? She doubted it, yet a part of her remembered the state of mind he'd reinvigorated this morning and how good it had felt. At times she was convinced he saw her for who she truly was– more so than she even saw of herself. It frightened her and exasperated her simultaneously, but in this moment she wanted more, she craved to accept and lose herself in that feeling and stamp out the trouble she knew was only a couple miles behind and closing in.
"Pull over," she demanded, startling herself out of her musing.
He ousted a soft laugh of incredulity. "What? So you can throw me out of the car? I know it's a hard concept to grasp, Banzai, but the last time you sheltered this much unreleased tension you snapped and went on a mini one-woman murder spree. The sooner you realize I'm right and how unnatural that is, the better off you'll be."
She unclipped her seatbelt, shrugging off the strap, and pulled her shirt up over her head, disposing of the cotton material to the backseat before she could reexamine her actions.
Kai looked confused, shaken even, as Bonnie struggled out of her jeans, and like he thought he might have lost his hold on reality. He was watching her as if in a dream, barely remembering to mind the road.
There was something intoxicating about brandishing that kind of influence over someone that wasn't easily shaken down, of knowing she could make a small crack in that facade of his and cut through the bullshit. Bonnie smiled and took a hold of her headrest with one hand, keeping an eye on the road as she rose off the passenger seat and maneuvered a leg over the gearshift to straddle him. He moved his arms to accommodate her body as if on automatic, meeting her eyes before glancing at the road over her shoulder to make sure they wouldn't veer off. For the first time since she met him he was speechless.
Bonnie leaned in to kiss his neck, disregarding the aches and pains produced by the steering wheel and door panel biting into her lower back and right leg. She wanted to laugh, finally understanding what Caroline had been complaining about – cars were not conducive for seduction. Kai made no move to touch her, his eyes fixed on the road ahead almost as if he feared his participation would break the spell. She rolled her hips lightly and ground against his lap, relishing in the friction and the soft thrumming that pulsed through her. She sensed him shudder beneath her.
"Unless you really aim to kill me," she began with bated breath, drawing her tongue up the side of his neck to nip at his jaw playfully, "I suggest you find somewhere to park and pull over."
She could tell he was barely holding onto restraint, that it wasn't something he was used to practicing. She relaxed against him so that he could concentrate and get them—or at least her—somewhere in one piece, sliding her fingertips along his sides and between their bodies to brush his evident erection.
The car jerked to a sharp stop that sent her reeling into the steering wheel slightly.
"Hey," she protested as she met his eyes, pain circling the small of her back, shooting down into her legs. He smirked, cupping the back of her neck, silencing her with a thorough kiss that washed away his raw eagerness. Bonnie grappled for the handle to open the driver's door, seeing the brief misperception in his eyes as he pulled back. "It's crushing my knee. I need space to move."
"You seem to be doing just fine to me," Kai responded, circling an arm around her waist to thrust against her.
"Could be better," she countered and sighed with pleasure, emphasizing her point with a slow roll of her hips, meeting his next provocative thrust. He groaned and closed his eyes. She concentrated on the chair, undoing the slide at the bottom of the cushion to send them skating back a couple extra inches from the steering wheel, creating more space. A proficient jerk of the second handle to the left of the chair and he dropped into a reclined position.
His eyes snapped open to stare up at her, as if he was still disbelieving of what was happening and wasn't used to having such little control. She didn't harbor the same sentimentalities, she couldn't, knowing that as soon as she let herself think about the pros and cons of what they were doing, it would end far sooner than her body would like. This was about finding a recourse for the both of them amidst the chaos and about briefly stepping over that gray and white line she'd delineated between the two of them months ago.
Bonnie gazed down at him, watching as his one hand steadily slid across her stomach as if to make sure she was real, and travelled upward, stopping to knead her breast and tweak the nipple. She slid her hands inward from their position, along the waistband of his pants and began to pull his shirt free, sliding her hands beneath to undo the button on his jeans and to unzip him.
Time seemed to slow to an immeasurable pace as she pulled him free, their lips meeting in a furious kiss, tongues dueling, hands clutching, scratching and kneading as if they were starved for one another, as if trying to creep beneath each other's skin.
When breathing became an issue, Bonnie pulled back from the kiss, grasping a firm hold of him, squeezing lightly to make sure he was ready for her, and used the other hand to push the damp fabric of her panties' crotch to the side. She raised herself up on her knees, her left foot resting other side the stick shift as added leverage, running the tip of his erection between her folds, around her clit before positioning him where she most needed him. She lowered herself down onto him, the two of them gasping in unison.
"Jesus," he uttered, sounding almost as if he were in pain.
"I didn't think you the religious type," she murmured with a panting chuckle, allowing herself a second or two to accommodate his girth.
"Witch," he growled once he got himself under control, using unnatural speed to circle an arm around her waist, pulling out and thrusting back into her with such delicious precision Bonnie all but lost it. He repeated the action, punishing her in a way she never wanted to see end. She groaned and took a hold of his shoulders, winding her arms around his neck, the two of them falling into a quick and hard rhythm.
Head reeling along with every cell and nerve in his body, Kai distantly became aware of the heated tingling saturating itself in his palms, like every time he used them to siphon magic. It would hurt her, but he couldn't make himself let go of her hips.
Bonnie hadn't ever imagined it would feel like this, that one person could make you feel so whole. She opened her eyes, surprised to find he'd done the same and was watching her, as if he wanted to record every detail to memory. She claimed his mouth in another kiss, less bruising than the last, swallowing their shared moans. Ecstasy that was on the very tip of her tongue, a feeling that spread throughout every part of her body like liquid fire and was seconds from being released when all of a sudden—
Thump-thump!
—something hard hit the car's roof. They jerked to a stop, equally disorientated.
"Ma'am… Sir, I need you two to exit the vehicle."