MONSTER, stefan salvatore [2]

Woke Up With a Monster

CHAPTER 41: WOKE UP WITH A MONSTER

The Mystic Grill

Twice. That was the number of times Kai had knocked Natalie out cold only to keep her tied up in a chair with the help of vervain. And, frankly, she thought it was twice as many times as there should have been. She had many times told herself that she was going to break her rules of trying to avoid killing anybody when it came to him, but when they were finally reunited, she always so weak. She hated that, feeling weak. 

And what was even worse, was that she was once again stuck with his constant yammering. "See, we never went out to dinner when I was a kid, so, I always had this fascination with chefs and fine dining. Dad actually let me cook... Taught me to measure by eye. Seasonings to taste, all that stuff, but it's different now in the restaurant world. Everything's on time. It's like, the fries go in, you push a button, it dings and you take 'em out. Literally no guess work."

"Kai, why am I here?" Natalie asked, hissing as she felt the burn from vervain ropes as she tried to struggle her wrists out of them. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, trying to not only lie to him, but also to herself, by acting like she wasn't terrified. 

He smiled at her, but not the sincere one you give to people you like and have friendships with. No, that was the kind that said that you're about to hurt them real bad. "Uh, well I spent eighteen years in abandoned restaurants and now I'm showing off the fruits of my labor."

As he started digging into the eggs he had prepared for himself, Natalie suppressed the urge to roll her eyes because she knew that he was more dangerous than ever now that he suddenly had magic. "Not the Mystic Grill."

"Oh, you mean like, here here, in Mystic Falls," he realized, laughing as he saw her try to look for a way, any way to get out of there, get away from him. He didn't care, because he knew that she wouldn't be able to. He would win, like he always did. "Sorry, I'm nervous. You're like, really pretty."

"Why am I here?" she repeated, narrowing her eyes at him even if she knew that being a bitch probably wouldn't help her at all. She knew that he knew that she disliked him, even if she had no idea how he felt about her. 

He raised his hands in surrender, acting surprisingly civil. "Well, I took the spell that was keeping supernaturals out of Mystic Falls and I- I, like, absorbed it... like, ate it, I guess. It's cool, huh? First I eat magic, and then eventually, I lose it. But a huge spell like that? I mean, come on. Magic's oozing out of me, it's all over the place."

"You know, I didn't quite realize I was out of control until I met the manager of the Grill a few hours ago. And he was all like: hey, you can't come in here; we're closed. And you have an unconscious girl over your shoulder," he seemed to find it amusing, laughing as he remembered it, and she laughed sarcastically with. 

"And then I was like: don't judge me. And then I gave him a heart-attack, tried to, but all I did was make him vomit uncontrollably, which was like, ugh, let's stop that. So then I tried again and I think I broke his spine? I mean, I'm not, I'm not really sure, because the third time I tried the spell, he kinda exploded in blood. Whoops," he shrugged as he took a sip of coffee as if it was no big deal. 

Natalie had known some pretty sadistic people during her three lives. Hell, she had even become friends with a few of them, but she still couldn't help but be surprised at how bad someone could be. She only stared at him in disgust. "There's something seriously wrong with you. You know, other than you being a sociopath."

"I just told you, I have too much magic," he responded, speaking as if she was a three-year-old, making her shake her head at him. "You know, it wasn't until after my test run with the manager that I realized, if I start to merge with Jo and my gushing fountains of magic turn her into that guy, then I'm not gonna have a twin for the merge."