Devil in Disguise (Kai Parker)

Chapter Twenty-One: A lot of luck

Maybe it was meeting mad Meg again for the first time in years, but Kai was feeling nostalgic.

He clucked his tongue impatiently, drumming his hands against the wooden coffee table in the Salvatore Boarding House. The two girls were sprawled across different sofas, still completely knocked out. Bonnie was alive, but she seemed to have fainted. Meg was… to be honest, he had no idea what was up with her. She was just sleeping, really, really heavily. He supposed getting that much magic back – and she said it wasn’t even all of it – for even a small amount of time had to be draining.

The witch let out a groan, and he sprung to his feet like he’d been electrocuted. Finally, something was happening. Kai knelt by her sofa, face hovering over her’s in a bizarre grin that he knew would shock her.

‘Morning.’ he whispered, and Bonnie let out a yelp of surprise.

Laughing, he retreated from her startled face and fell back onto his sofa. There was a rubix cube he had been trying to solve for the past few hours, and he picked it up, tossing it from hand to hand absent-mindedly.

‘What am I doing here?’ Bonnie asked, furrowing her eyebrows

‘I carried you. Couldn’t stand being in that tunnel a second longer.’

‘What… what happened?’

He rose his eyebrows. So, she didn’t remember anything about mad Meg. Interesting.

‘I got mad at you and kind of gave you a concussion.’ he lied casually.

‘A concussion?’ she repeated, looking at him.

‘Yep.’ he popped the ‘p’ happily.

‘Oh, god.’ she spotted the sleeping Meg on the other sofa, and fell off her chair to kneel by her head. ‘What’d you do to Meg?’

‘Nothing!’ he defended; why did she always think he did something to her? Oh, yeah…

‘She wasn’t well… something was wrong with her…’ Bonnie struggled to remember, and Kai thought it was a good time to change the topic.

‘Yeah, her magic tried to come back, but it was too much at once, so she kind of fainted.’ he explained quickly, before getting to his feet again. ‘C’mon, we’re gonna go on a trip.’

She eyed him warily. ‘Why?’

‘Because, I’m feeling nostalgic. No idea why.’ he shrugged. ‘It’s not exactly an emotion I get often, so I’m gonna humour it.’

‘That doesn’t mean I have to.’ she pointed out. ‘Going on a road trip with a psycho isn’t high on my list of things to do.’

‘Who said anything about a road trip?’ he laughed. ‘Planes, all the way.’

‘Still don’t want to go. You seem to have forgotten; I have no magic anymore. So, your little magic suction trick is useless.’

‘You seem to have forgotten why I was put in here in the first place.’ he said, getting annoyed. ‘I’ve got some more… mundane methods of making you come.’

‘Do what you want to me, Kai. I don’t care.’ she flopped back down on the sofa, glaring at him and crossing her arms.

‘Oh, Bonnie.’ he sighed patronisingly, looking at her from the corner of his eye. ‘You’re so stubborn. If you would just humour me,’ he fished in his hoodie pocket as he paced, and leant on Bonnie’s sofa’s arm.  ‘I wouldn’t have to do this.’

With a rush of vindictive pleasure, he plunged the needle into Bonnie’s arm and pushed the plunger.

‘Good night, witchy.’

***

It took five needles before Bonnie finally went to sleep, and stayed asleep. It was ridiculous how persistent that witch could be. Whenever he to put her down, so he could go get Meg and take her to the car, she seemed to stir and start protesting. So, when he finally got her to sleep, he hesitated.

 It was less likely that Meg would wake up in the time it took him to take Bonnie to the car, and then get back. Little Nut-Meg had barely stirred in all this time. If he took Bonnie first, then locked her in the boot or something, then came back, she’d probably still be asleep. It made more sense. Rolling his eyes, he carried Bonnie out the door and started towards the driveway. If Meg woke up before he got back, he was not going to be happy.

As soon as she heard the door close, Meg squinted one eye open and breathed out a sigh of relief. Kai seemed to have forgotten the lessons he had given her on pretending to be asleep.

Getting to her feet quietly, she jogged gingerly through the living room and through to the kitchen. For the last hour, ever since she had heard him talking to himself about going on a trip, she had been discussing tactical ways of getting out without Kai seeing her in her head. The trouble was, he was so unpredictable. Right now, she needed another stroke of luck. And the key to the front door.

He was in the driveway. OK, then she’ll go there too, but around the back way, just out of sight. That’ll give her the advantage of him going inside, so she could run into the neighbouring forest. Gritting her teeth, she crept to the side of the house. Kai was just visible through a thin patch of bush, rolling Bonnie into the boot and locking it with undeniable relish.

There was a smile on his face as he went back to the front door, unknowing of Meg tailing him silently. When he opened the door and disappeared behind the plank of wood, she slammed it shut and locked it as swiftly as she could with shaking fingers. Trying not to hear his outraged yells, she started to sprint into the forest. That door wouldn’t hold him back for long, he knew where the Salvatores’ kept the axes.

Indeed, the moment she reached the safe shade of the trees, there was a crash that spoke of metal being shoved into thick wood. Her heart was beating like a jackhammer and she was hopelessly conscious of how loud her breathing was. This was where luck came it. If Kai realised she’d go to the forest, she was doomed. He’d always been faster than her. If not…

There was an almighty crack of splintered wood as the oak door fell to pieces and Kai forced his way through the wreckage, looking murderous. Meg couldn’t help gulping when she saw the rusty axe in his hand, and thinking that may very well be the weapon used to kill her. Well, she couldn’t die here, in theory, but that didn’t mean she wanted to try it out.

She saw him frown, saw him hesitate. For one moment, his eyes flicked to the forest, and her heart jumped in her chest. It was obvious he thought she’d go there. But then he looked at the car. It would have made sense to take the car – that way, she’d get to save Bonnie, too – but Kai always overestimated her bravery. He’d definitely think she’d try to save as many people as possible.

There was one more tense moment, then he turned and started running to the driveway. Meg sighed in relief, heart slowing. He wasn’t coming this way. This was her chance to run. Thanking the luck that let her escape, she turned and started sprinting through the forest before Kai could realise what a mistake he had made.