Nightmares ; Bonkai

chapter 5

Her eyes felt so heavy she could barely keep them open. She stayed in the library flipping through countless books trying to keep her entertained, and waiting for the wine to take over. She dragged her feet down the hallways and turned a corner, realizing a hallway or two too late that she was walking towards Damon's bedroom, not the one she's been staying in. She looked back down where she came from, groaned, and continued walking down the hall, passing his room with a flip of her middle finger, and going into the next room. Her head barely hit the pillow before everything went dark.

I opened one door on the left side of the hall and looked around, then the one across from it.

"Kai? Where are you?" I didn't go into the rooms seeing how that would waste time, continuing my way down the hall opening each door. I rounded the corner and was hit with another aimless hallway.

"Oh come on. Damn it Kai, where are you!" I have so much pent up rage inside that I start kicking open the doors and twice as fast. I'm halfway through when I heard a lightbulb burst behind me, and then another. Darkness is engulfing the hallway, smothering the artwork on the walls, the décor on the ground and anything else in its path and it seems to be closing in on me fast. Breaking into a run I fight my way to the end of the hallway where Damon's room is but find it going farther and farther into the distance. In a last ditch effort to not be swallowed by the darkness, I throw myself into the closest room and find myself standing at the foyer of the main door. Looking around, feeling a slight resemblance of de ja vu, I yank open the door handle and land face to face with Kai Parker; knife and ascendant in hand. Fear claws at my throat as I watch him take me in from the feet up, locking in on my eyes. His intense gaze doesn't waver as he smiles and nods behind him for me to follow. Slowly but surely the shadows that are trying to trap me in this house are the same ones wafting up and around his legs, pulling him farther in. He's disappearing from view and I know it's now or never so I take a deep breath, grip my teeth, and reach out for him arm as I step through the entryway onto the porch and land directly in front of the cave entrance, Kai's shirt still gripped tight in my hand.

"Oh," I say dropping my hand. "What's going on?"

He turns and walks into the cave with slow but deliberate moves and places himself directly in the circle of light where Damon disappeared during the eclipse. He looks over at me and raises his hand palm up with the knife towards me, a gesture for me to take them both. I grit my teeth and quickly grab the knife out of his hand and cut the palm of my hand, grabbing the ascendant out of his other hand to spill the blood over. I look into his smiling eyes and can't shake the anxiety of letting him loose in the real world; in my world where everyone I love is currently located. I start to mumble through the first verse of the chant, his eyes never leaving mine and feel my vision starting to blur; the spell mixed with the anxiety of this quick decision physically weighing down on me to the point I feel I may pass out. He grips my forearm to support me up and I look into his eyes, a calm wave washing over me; he killed his family, he was locked in here for a reason, and he can't leave.

"I - " I look at his arm that's holding onto mine and trail up to his face, still not understanding how someone so attractive can be so twisted. "I'm sorry, Kai."

Without hesitation I plunged the blade keep into his abdomen, his hand gripping my arm and yelling out in pain, the first noise I've heard him make. I yanked it out and pushed back in aiming closer to his heart and he fell to his knees, his hands closing around mine on the knife. I looked into his eyes and watched his gaze turn cold - sinister - as he slowly shook his head.

"Wrong - choice." he puffed out between breaths before falling backwards with a hard thud.

Trying to catch my breath and keep moving I grabbed the ascendant that fell near him and continued the chant as quickly as I could. I heard the ticking and whirs that came out of it last time and looked up as the moon almost completely eclipsed the sun - and felt a searing pain shoot through my stomach. Gasping, I dropped the ascendant and my head back down directly into Kai's gaze, an enraged look etched across his face and he pushed the knife deeper into my stomach. I backed up trying to get away from him and the pain but he followed my steps until I was against one of the walls.