The Reset

Chapter Sixteen: For The Dogs

~ 2013 - Portland, Oregon ~

When she'd woken up the following morning, Bonnie was greeted with an undamaged hotel suite and no Kai. Instead, there was a note on the pillow next to her. He told her he was going to get them checked out of the hotel, to gather up all of her things and packed and to be ready to head to the airport in the afternoon. He was going to meet her for lunch later. All of Kai's belongings were already packed and sitting by the door. She pulled out her phone and saw that it was half-past nine in the morning. Most hotels needed patrons to vacate the room by eleven.

There had been a few other missed calls and text messages from the gang back in Mystic Falls. Worried ones from Elena and Stefan. An erratic but concerned voicemail from Caroline and Damon had sent a few colorful texts of his own along with an equally colorful voicemail. Something akin to bringing her annoying little witch head back to Mystic Falls soon or he'd hunt her down, hog tie her and drag her back kicking and screaming if necessary. It made Bonnie laugh both from sheer amusement and from aggravation.

As she slowly rolled over onto her back to stare at the ceiling, she pressed the phone against her chest and savored the coolness it brought to her skin. A slow inhale and then an equally slow exhale followed, her eyes focusing on the details of the ceiling that she hadn't bothered to truly take in since they'd first arrived to Portland. Fingers moved to press against her lips and then smoothed back down her body to rest on her stomach.

Suddenly, a wave of panic smashed into Bonnie and she flew out of the bed. She slipped on the discarded bathrobe on a nearby chair, bare feet padding frantically into the kitchenette as she searched for a kettle. Her mind was going a mile a minute, but the strongest thought at the front of her mind was that she had had sex with Kai for the third time. She'd had sex with Kai three times.

Without protection.

Bonnie's hands shook violently as they hovered over the boiling kettle on the stove. Her hands then moved to the cabinet, grabbing a black ceramic mug and setting it onto the counter with a clatter. Her purse was sitting on the counter-top beside her and she quickly began digging through it, hands grasping a glass jar with a thick cork stuffed into the mouth of the opening. There were green and purple herbs inside - dried and picked with such scrutiny that Bonnie knew her Grams would have been proud of her and how well she'd kept the old witch's garden.

Wringing her hands together to stop their trembling, she pried the cork loose and shook several of the dried contraceptive herbs into the mug. She tipped a few more in for good measure. Bonnie took another deep breath and reached out to grasp the handle of the kettle and began pouring the steaming water over the herbs, her other hand shaking as she closed her eyes and started softly chanting a spell.

Setting the kettle back onto the eye of the stove, Bonnie reached out to cradle the mug between her palms and whispered another spell. She winced when the mug was burning hot to the touch, but she resisted the instinct to pull her hands back. After a handful of seconds, the mug began to cool and she quickly took several gulps of the tea. The flavor was earthy with just a hint of sweetness chasing the bitter taste at the back of her throat. Once she'd completely drained the mug, swallowing the herbs with it, Bonnie fought against the bile building up in the back of her throat and she set the cup into the sink - turning on the water to rinse and clean it and then setting it on the drying rack. She splashed cold water on her face so she could ease back the heat that was building up along her neck and cheeks.

A new thought blanketed over Bonnie as her hands settled on the counter-top. When was the last time she'd had her period? She had been bouncing back and forth from prison worlds and between being dead and risen and then trapped, she knew she had to have been behind some months.