Losing Your Memory ° Kai Parker

Chapter 37

The wind howled against the old windows of the Salvatore house, but it wasn't loud enough to mask the tension inside.

Kai stood in the center of the room, jaw set, eyes dark—not taunting this time. Demanding. "Someone explain to me how my sister's kids are breathing," he said, voice low and razor-edged. "I killed her. She was pregnant. That should've been the end of the Gemini bloodline."

Caroline stepped forward, protective by instinct but controlled by experience. "It wasn't the end," she said. "Before the coven collapsed, the Gemini witches performed a transference spell. A last-ditch survival ritual. The twins were magically extracted from Jo's womb before she died."

Kai's expression flickered—confusion cracking through the shock. "Extracted? Then where were they supposed to go?"

"To me," Caroline answered. "I carried them. And I gave birth to them. Alaric and I raised them. Not Jo."

Silence.

Not the loud, sarcastic silence he usually filled—this one swallowed him whole. His lips parted, like a remark was loading in his head, but nothing fired.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "Why aren't you gloating? This is prime insult material."

Kai shrugged once, slow. "Because I'm still processing the fact that you played magical surrogate to my sister's legacy."

Caroline crossed her arms. "Don't make it sound poetic. It was a spell. A choice. And it worked."

Kai stayed quiet again, gaze drifting toward the staircase for half a heartbeat too long before snapping back to the present.

Elena cleared her throat. "So you got your answers. Now ours. What do you know about Damon?"

Kai exhaled, shifting into something smoother, almost casual. "I know a siren named Sybil has him. Puppet strings, mind control, sex." He smirked faintly. "She tried to take me first."

Bonnie scoffed. "And failed, obviously."

Kai leaned in, enjoying the reaction. "Not failed. Backfired. Turns out immortality + sociopathy isn't her ideal seduction cocktail. She couldn't get into my head. Couldn't twist my desires. That frustrated her." He tilted his head. "And intrigued her."

Caroline blinked. "You're telling us the ancient psychic siren got emotionally invested in you?"

Kai smiled. "I'm saying she didn't leave me alone after that."

Bonnie's eyes sharpened. "And you know where Damon is now?"

"Sure," Kai said lightly.

"Then tell us," Elena pressed. "We haven't been able to track them. Every locator spell hits a wall."

"Yeah," Bonnie muttered. "Like someone scrubbed the map clean."

Kai raised a finger. "Ah, but that's where the leverage talk begins." His voice dipped again, darker—not dramatic, honest. "After Jennifer, something in me snapped sideways."

Nate's warning from the previous night echoed in Jennifer's mind.

Kai continued. "Vampire, witch, hybrid disaster—I get it. But the real kicker?" He tapped his chest once. "I've got a blood problem. A ripper mentality. I don't feed—I lose control. And I hate control being optional."

Caroline stepped down the stairs at that, grim. "You want help controlling your bloodlust."

"I want a cure, a dampener, a spell, a leash—pick your metaphor," Kai said. "But you don't get your precious Damon GPS coordinates for free."