Not That Kind Of Witch • Kai Parker #1

10: i'm not a monster

Rubbing her eyes, Valerie frowned seeing the vintage black leather right in front of her face. What in the world? Yawning she reached her hands straight up and located the bench of a seat in front of her.

"Good, you're finally up. I was getting extremely bored." Kai shared from the driver's seat of the car.

Valerie couldn't remember what had happened. Why was she with Kai? And where were Damon and Bonnie? Swinging her feet to face forward, she leaned on the seat and demanded, "Where are we going?"

"Oregon." Tapping his fingers on the wheel, he spared her a quick glance, "Portland to be exact."

"Why exactly?"

"Because I need to find my sister's stored magic to get us both home," Home. Valerie remembered now. It all came flooding back. Damon and Bonnie had gone home, they'd left her. "They left me."

Diverting his attention, Kai allowed, "I guess they did."

Tapping his fingers again, Valerie began getting motion sickness from not being able to see where they were going. Climbing over the seat panned, she slid into the passenger seat. "So if you find this magic, you can get us home?"

Surprise flickered across Kai's face as he nodded, "That's the plan." Leaving it for a moment, Kai continued, "You're being oddly calm about all this."

Sitting forward to see out the front windscreen, she got comfortable and pointed out, "I want to get home to, I don't care how we have to do that. Even if it is driving over 40 hours."

Swinging his arm out of his open window, Kai admonished, "That's the spirit."

"Just out of curiosity, how are you going to get us home?"

"Well, if I find my where my sister Jo stored her magic before betraying me, I can absorb it and get us home."

Still confused, Valerie questioned, "I thought you needed Bonnie."

Reaching down beside his legs, he began rummaging for something, "Nope. I don't need Bonnie if I have her blood. Ahah." Retracting his arm, his hand came up with a bloodied arrow. He is not holding the arrow he shot Bonnie with.
Valerie internally grimaced. She'd seen way too much blood for one lifetime.

After ten minutes of wildly peaceful silence between the two, Valerie realized, "Wait. Why the long drive? You could just take my magic to do the spell. I don't know how to use it and don't think I ever plan on learning so, do-"

"I can't"

"Why can't you?"

"Because the amount of power needed to do the spell would kill you." Kai admitted.

Scoffing, Valerie turned up her nose, "And that would bother you?"

Rolling his eyes, Kai began drumming his fingers on the outside of his door and took his eyes of the road. It wasn't like he had other drivers to worry about. "I'm not a monster."

Letting out a startled laugh, Valerie criticized, "You just shot Bonnie with an arrow."

Shaking her head, she didn't believe a word of what he said, "I knew Damon wouldn't have let her die. It wasn't a fatal shot, she'll live."

"You better hope so or Damon will kill you."

***

Valerie had dozed off about 4 hours ago and they were now sat in the empty parking lot of a highway dinner. He'd been trying to catch some quick shut eye himself instead of waking her. He needn't have bothered however as she woke up minutes later.

Groaning, she stretched her arms up and scraped them on the low ceiling, "Where are we?"

Kai had to use all of his willpower not to stare at her chest, they were just pushed up for all the world to see. And the whole world just him. She wasn't even wearing anything revealing, but the modest blue jumper she wore didn't hide her form.

"We're getting something to eat and going to sleep for the night so we can continue early in the morning." Nodding her head, Valerie looked at him expectantly. "Let's go then, I'm starved."

Pushing his heavy door open, Kai made his way around the bonnet of the car to where Valerie was stretching her legs. He was used to the long journeys; he'd done this particular drive over a hundred times. Popping his neck, he made his way towards the diner whilst cracking his knuckles.

He chuckled hearing Valerie object, "Ew. Gross, don't do that. It's bad for your bones."

Trying his hardest to not patronize, he told her, "Valerie I've been in this world for 18 years, I've been doing that for just as long. Plus I can't die, so it doesn't really matter." Opening the door, he held it open for Valerie to pass through. He nodded his welcome when she thanked him. Time to eat.

Even though she'd been asleep for the majority of the journey, Kai didn't think the rest of their time there would be too bad.

Sluggishly making her way, Kai gestured to one of the booths and confirmed, "Go get comfy, I'll grab us some edible food."

Too tired and warn out to reply, she threw herself into the seats and leant her head against the window. The neon lights outside the diner lit up the empty lot and cast shadows in all directions. Valerie slowly opened her eyes when she saw a shadow dart across her vision, blocking the neon light from piercing through her eyelids. Scanning the shadows, she placed her forehead against the cool glass to get a closer look at what she thought was a shadow darting behind the rows of stationary trucks.

"What are you doing?" Dropping canned food and bread onto the table, Valerie almost jumped out of her skin. Placing her hand over her racing heart, she began looking through the cans. Sliding into the opposite seat, Kai waited for a reply.

"I thought I saw something moving by the trucks." She admitted.

"It was nothing, trust me. We're the only two here." Pointing at the food, he declared, "Dig in."'