#nys30

“Bon, why is your mom offering to go engagement ring shopping with me?” Kai says suspiciously, a hint of accusation in his voice.

Bonnie covers the magazine over her face, slouching down on the sofa. “Uhh…because…um.” She dry chuckles. “It’s a funny story actually.”

“Bonnie.” He pushes the magazine down. “I’m not laughing.”

“I may have…sort of…answered the phone when we were drunk last night…”

“And…?”

“…Told my parents we were dating?”

“What?!”

“Okay! Hear me out here. They were ripping into me about school and the stupid statistics of how many people actually make it out of art school and I was drunk and I was angry and – I don’t know, okay? I was just feeling really shitty and arguing with them wasn’t helping.”

“So telling them we’re engaged did?”

“Well technically, I said we were dating.” 

Kai rolls his eyes, groaning heavily.

“They were talking about how I need to buckle down and be serious.” She sighs. “So obviously dating came up and since I’ve been noticeably and chronically vacant in that department – they arranged a date…” She pauses dramatically, trying to settle the disdain and disgust. “…with Jeremy Gilbert.”

“Wait – Miranda Gilbert’s son?”

“Yes.” She shudders.

He looks at her incredulously. “Your ex who used to eat glue?”

“Exactly! That is the level of desperation and concern they have for me. So I panicked – I couldn’t say no because there is no one else and you were the first name that popped into my head.”

He lets out a low groan, rubbing his hands down his face.

“Come on, Kai. We just have to pretend for like, ten days. You took an improv class…that one time.”

He flops on the sofa and covers his face with the throw pillow.

“No one’s gonna buy it – Liv and Luke will figure it out. They have that creepy twin ESPN thing.”

“It’s ESP, dummy.” She takes his hand and rests it on her cheek. “Malachai Joel Par –"

“Oh, so we’re doing government names?”

She swats his face with his own hand. “Don’t interrupt. Malachai Joel Parker. Will you pretend to be my fake boyfriend so my parents don’t marry me off to a crack dealer?”

They both burst into a bout of laughter.

Kai looks at the bright, tired and soft little face of his best friend. He sighs, shaking his head with a grin. What the hell?

“Bonnie Sheila Bennett. It would be my honour.”

 “Great!” She gets up and stretches. “Now everyone thinks we’re dating, they’ll forget to ask us if we’ve completely nose-dived our lives into the crapper. So, you know – you’re welcome.”

After what seemed like an eternity, there was a groan from inside the circle. Coven members dropped to their knees in gratitude that their prayers had been answered, some actually cried tears of joy. The nightmare that many had feared would not come to pass and they could breathe easy once more.

Until another sound was heard.

The sound was quiet at first, only a few huffs, but before long jubilant laughter could be heard throughout the clearing. Slowly, the robed members backed away from the circle, fear and horror etched in their faces.

“Impossible!”

“How can this be?”

“Joshua, explain this!”

The demands fell on deaf ears. The former leader was dumbstruck. All of his precautions, all of his scheming behind the scenes, all for nothing.  He watched in despair as his oldest child, his shining star, and the one he had been so sure of, rise to her feet. He watched as she ignored his presence in favor of her brother. Him. The abomination, the very reason he had secretly taught her how to all but guarantee a win. 

He watched as they could hardly stand for laughing so hard. A little too late, the veil lifted, and he was able to finally see her for what she really was.

A daughter that preyed on her fathers’ desperation.

A sibling more loyal to her womb-mate than the coven.

A leader that would share power with a siphon instead of sticking to tradition.

“What have you done?” The words came out as a broken whisper.

“What I’ve done,” she sneered, “is taken what’s rightfully ours.”

“It was only supposed to be yours!” His yell echoed across the clearing.

“Yeah, well,” he spoke then, “somebody learned to share along the way, didn’t you, sissy?” The two exchanged a look and cracked up again.

“I won’t let you ruin this coven,” the man threatened.

He was met with twin looks of derision. “Now, why would you think we want that?” she asked.

“We don’t want to ruin it, pops,” he agreed with his twin. “We only want to run it the way it should be run. Your time is over, yet ours is just beginning.”

“I’ll die before I let you —” The words had barely left his mouth before his neck was violently wrenched to the left.

“Anybody else have any objections?” She asked, nodding once when her question was met with silence. “Good, we have a lot to discuss before our coronation.” She turned to her brother who was simply staring at their father’s prone body on the ground. “You staying out here all night, or?”

He rolled his eyes. “So bossy.”

She linked her arm with his, the rest of the coven following obediently behind their new leaders. “And don’t you forget it, little brother.”

10 Years Later

Kai watched expressionlessly as his opponent writhed on the floor. He often wondered what it felt like when he siphoned somebody, if it really was as painful as it seemed. If the yells that were currently echoing around the studio were any indication, the person on the ground certainly seemed to think so.

“Kai!”

Sighing heavily, he relaxed his grip, “Yes, sissy?”

“Walk with me.” It wasn’t a question.

Kai waited until they cleared the exercise area, before he asked, “What can I do for you this fine morning?”

“Two things,” she started. “First, we’ve located the ascendant.”

Kai stopped walking and turned to his sister expectantly, “Point me in the right direction.”

She groans, “It’s in Mystic Falls.”

Kai’s sly smile was instantaneous. “Well, I guess I’m heading to Virginia.” His mind was instantly bombarded with memories of soft brown skin, beguiling green eyes, and a lush mouth that was made to be wrapped around his-

“For fuck’s sake, focus, you idiot.” Jo snapped him out of his reverie. “The goal is getting the ascendant, not getting your dick wet again.” She stepped closer. “Or do I need to remind you of what could happen if it falls into the wrong hands?”

“No, Josette,” Kai snapped, “You don’t need to remind me that our continued existence in this world and as coven leaders are tied to a hunk of metal that could send us both away.”

Jo shot him a saccharine smile, “Glad to hear it, don’t want you getting distracted and losing another Gemini artifact.” With that, she flounced off.

“Bitch.” Kai muttered.

“I heard that!” Jo yelled without turning around.

When Kai landed in Virginia, he’s met by a Gemini scout that had been tasked with making sure that Bonnie was still in the vicinity. Although at this point, he knew it was all for show. She would be there, waiting for him like she always was. He ignored the man’s nervous babbling as he drove them to the outskirts of Mystic Falls, choosing instead to focus on his upcoming reunion with the witch that had managed to somehow get under his skin.

The first time she had taken something from him, furious didn’t even come close to describing how he felt. His rage had shaken the walls of the Gemini stronghold. Compounded by Jo’s ‘I told you so’ smirk that was ever present. Kai knew his sister had taken a strong dislike to Bonnie from the beginning, hating the way Kai’s focus would pull from her over to the green-eyed girl. So when her deceit was discovered, he knew his sister would be happy to have him to herself once more.

Except that didn’t happen. Kai was angry, yes, but more than that he was intrigued. So much so that when it came to retrieving the artifact, he broke protocol and went by himself. He had been expecting to find her shaking in fear, after all, he and Jo had built up quite the fearsome reputation.

Instead what he found was a witch hopped up on Expression, a handful of vampires, a few hunters, not one but two originals, plus a Hybrid thrown in for good measure. He didn’t know what kind of menagerie she was running in Mystic Falls, but damn if he didn’t want to stick around and play for a bit.

So he did.

He spent a week in Mystic Falls and in that time he managed to incapacitate all the vampires and wound the hunters bad enough to leave him alone. Although he doubts he made a dent in the Hybrid and Originals, he did manage to retrieve what was stolen.

He also got to fuck Bonnie Bennett into the mattress, but that was neither here nor there.

Jo had assumed his smug demeanor was due to him successfully completing his task, and most of it was. But Kai could admit to himself that he couldn’t wait to see what Bonnie’s reaction would be when she discovered that he had stolen her Golden Daggers.  

Sure enough, one night upon returning home, he’d just barely cleared the door when he was thrown against the opposite wall. Despite his back screaming in pain, he chuckled, “Hey Bonster.”

“You have something of mine.” She emerged from the shadowy corner.

Kai put on a shocked face, “Shit, that wasn’t your first time, was it? I’m not usually in the habit of taking people’s virginities, but in your case—“

“That’s not what I mean, and you know it!” She stalked closer. “Where are my daggers?”

He pretended to think. “Daggers, daggers, nope. Doesn’t ring a bell.” A smile lit his face and he held his hands out. “You can search me if you want.”

Thus began a bi-coastal cat and mouse game of one stealing from the other, forcing the other to come “retrieve” what was stolen. They both insisted it was nothing more than the thrill of the chase, the knowledge that each one of them could let loose with the other in a way that was normally prohibited. Kai’s ability to wield magic as well as siphon was the perfect foil for Bonnie when she blended her ancestral magic with Expression. More often than not, every encounter left the two not only sporting a collection of scrapes and bruises, but also very satisfied smiles.

Kai jolted back to awareness when the car came to a forceful stop. “What the hell?”

“I’m sorry sir, we seem to have hit a barrier. It wasn’t there yesterday, otherwise I would have noticed—”

Kai held up a hand, bringing the man’s babbling to an abrupt stop. Bonnie must have had her own spies waiting for his arrival as well. He shrugged out of his coat and rolled up his shirt sleeves. It seemed Bonnie wanted to widen the playing area this time; he could work with that. He’d been in Mystic Falls more than a few times at this point, and could easily navigate his way to Bonnie’s place.

He stepped up to the barrier and knelt down, placing his hands in the dirt and began to siphon up enough magic in order to allow him entry.