Rise

Chapter 3

By V.C. Turner

Bonnie's eyes flickered open as the sun peeked through the curtains of her hotel room. Still disoriented, she noticed that her face was pressed against a warm, cream-colored chest. His soft breathing soothed her and almost rocked her back to sleep. Instinctively, she wrapped her right arm around his chest and squeezed him. A pair of lips kissed her forehead as she closed her eyes again. It was the closest to heaven she'd ever felt.

She wanted nothing more than to lie in his arms until the world ended.

Then a warm exhale tickled the sensitive skin between her shoulder blades as an arm pulled her backward - from one warm chest to another.

Until that moment, she hadn't fully realized it. The night before hadn't been a fantasy. She had actually slept with both Kai and Enzo.

Her heart began to beat furiously. She wasn't afraid of them. She was afraid of herself. Her behavior was completely out of character.

She could blame it on the intoxication of her magic. She could tell herself that after killing the Mercury Vampires, she was overwhelmed by the seduction of her magic; that she truly hadn't settled down from the fight.

But that would have been a lie.

While the magic made her powerful, it didn't impair her judgment. She knew exactly what she was doing when she invited both men into her shower and eventually her bed.

She never expected they would agree to it.

She expected a snide comment from one and a disgusted comment from the other.

She received neither.

Instead, she'd spent the evening enjoying every moment of the attention they'd given her.

It was selfish, she knew, but she'd never been allowed to be selfish in all her life. She'd sacrificed. She'd lost so much. How could it be wrong for her to allow herself one night of sin?

Kai turned to face her, his eyes opening slowly. He frowned for a moment, and then mouthed the words "Come here," to her.

Bonnie immediately slid from Enzo's grasp and nestled herself in Kai's arms. His touch was surprisingly tender. She was worried he'd be angry with her, but if he had been, he hid it well.

Enzo rolled off the bed, grabbed some clothing and changed before heading outside to leave Bonnie and Kai alone.

She was thankful for the privacy, but she didn't know how to address Kai, or how he would feel about her.

Bonnie looked up into his half-open eyes and finally found her voice.

"Are you okay?" she asked him in a meek voice.

"I'm fine," he said, giving her what had to be the shortest response the history of their relationship. His brief response meant he was anything but "fine."

Bonnie bit her lip and began to turn away from him when he pulled her back to his chest.

"I'm sorry about last night," she added.

"I don't need you to be sorry," he said, "I need you to be happy. Just pissed that I'm not enough anymore, that's all."

She turned his head so she could look him in the eyes.

"You're enough," she attempted to assure him.

"If that's true, explain last night to me," Kai insisted, attempting and failing to keep his jaw from clenching while he waited for her to speak again.

"I don't know how to explain last night in a way that's going to make sense. It wasn't just about my magic. It was about feeling so overwhelmed by everything around me that I needed a release. I needed to misbehave," she told him.

Kai paused before speaking again. It was a long, pregnant pause that was very much unlike the boisterous man she knew all too well. He looked away from her for a moment, biting his lip as if to level his emotions before talking again. Kai rarely considered his words before speaking. She considered it an annoying, yet appealing characteristic of his. She appreciated his honesty, even if it was raw and brutal.

"Do you love him?" he winced as the words left his mouth.

"Like a good friend, yes," she told him. It was true. What she felt for Enzo was friendship and sexual attraction. He'd been there for her when she was alone, but it wasn't the same as being with Kai. What she felt for Kai was stronger and deeper.

Kai shook his head, regret crossing over his face.

"I knew I should have taken you with me to Portland," he told her, squeezing her tightly.

Bonnie understood Kai's reasons for leaving her behind. Gemini Coven members were not fond of outsiders, despite her Bennett name and the shared history of their covens. Bonnie's loyalties couldn't be trusted in their eyes. They hated that she'd befriended vampires, even risked her life to help them on countless occasions. It would be hard to accept Kai back into the fold now that he'd become a heretic.

They agreed search for ways to suppress his vampire nature as long as Kai relinquished his title as coven leader.

So he did.

For months, they sought out spells, experimented, vervained him, drained him, and used psychological techniques in order to turn off his thirst.

It didn't work. They finally placed him in temporary exile until they could figure out a way to suppress his hunger.

"Kai, it's you," she insisted, "It has always been you. It will always be you. Understand?"

He nodded, but she knew he only half-believed her.

He needed proof.

Bonnie didn't ask him what he needed to be convinced.

She sat up in bed, looking down at him and allowing the thin pale blue bed sheet fall from her tiny frame.

"Bon," he started, gazing at her with lust. His restraint was about to break.

Bonnie didn't let him finish. Her plan had nothing to do with sex. It had to do with trust and love.

She placed her hands on his chest and chanted quietly as a distinct reddish glow emanated beneath her outstretched hands.

Kai's breathing picked up as his vampire veins started to show, then withdrew almost immediately.

Bonnie continued to chant as the lights began flickering on and off throughout the room.

She pushed, pulled and intertwined their magic. Power surged between them as the bed began to vibrate.

Kai's eyes widened as he clasped her hands and shook his head. He'd finally figured out what she was trying to do and he worried it would kill her if she kept going.

"Bonnie, stop!" he pleaded, "You can't."

She could hear him speaking, but his voice sounded distant. She was focused on her magic; channeling each of their powers and connecting them. Touching her magic had been dangerous lately. Purposely combining it with Kai's could be deadly. She didn't care.

Blood sharing was personal among vampires. Magic sharing was just as intimate between witches.

Bonnie began to feel a sweet intoxication again – the familiar sensation that she could not control several months earlier and which sent into the institute.

It was different this time, though. She tingled all over, her arousal soon scenting the air.

Kai felt it too. Drunk and aroused from the sensations of their magic, he pulled her on top of him, seating her on his already rigid length as they both groaned. The intimacy of their physical and magical connection drowned out the rest of the world.

She dug her fingernails into his chest as she rode him slowly, leaving a trail of bright red marks that immediately disappeared after she'd left them.

Kai seized hold of her waist, pulling her down into a fierce kiss as he plunged deeper inside of her. His right hand dug into her dangling tresses while his left clasped her right hip.

He wanted more of everything: her tongue, her lips, her touch, her sweet nectar, and her magic connecting with his and surging between them both… He wanted and needed all of it.

Wild with lust, he flipped them over so he was on top.

Kai continued to slide in and out, as each of her moans accompanied the whispers of his name.

Neither of them could contain it much longer. They exploded into one another, panting loudly.

"I love you, Kai," she told him, exhausted and battling sleep again, "Only this. Only with you."

Bonnie fell back asleep with his name on her lips.

"I love you too, my wild little Bonster," he said.

Kai kissed her, then took a shower before heading out to find food. Room service just wouldn't be good enough after such a thoroughly tasty morning treat.

Still reeling from the intensity of their lovemaking, Kai grabbed a bottle of liquor from the mini fridge and headed outside.

Enzo walked down toward the hotel pool, yet he could still hear them. He moved to the edge of the parking lot. No luck. Even without vampire hearing, he was certain the entire hotel knew exactly what Kai and Bonnie were doing.

Every groan echoed. Every thrust vibrated. She was coming undone at Kai's hands. Not his.

The dark haired bastard eventually emerged from the hotel room as Enzo made his way back. Kai looked happy.

It was annoying.

"A bit early in the morning to be drinking, isn't it mate?" Enzo asked, leaning against the iron railing outside the room.

Kai only barely glanced at Enzo before taking another swig of the liquor and answering him.

"I'm just trying to wash away the image of your hairy ass from my brain," Kai joked with only a minimal amount of humor in his voice.

Enzo nodded, understanding that regardless of what happened the night before, he was still the third wheel. Bonnie would never love him the way she loved Kai. She may enjoy his company, but he wasn't her first choice.

It still didn't stop him from wanting to torment the competition.

"Well, that's what a real man's ass looks like, boy wonder," Enzo teased, "I'm certain Bonnie enjoys it quite a bit."

Kai took the liquor bottle, smashed it against the railing, and placed the jagged bottleneck against Enzo's throat. His sinister smirk actually caused Enzo to feel a justifiable amount of fear.

"It would be easy, you know, killing you," Kai began, as he pressed the glass deeper into Enzo's throat. The blood trickled down his neck.

Kai's vampire strength, coupled with his witch powers, made him more lethal than any other enemy the elder vampire had ever faced. Enzo held still, waiting for an opportunity to strike. It never came.

"You know a psychopath is?" Kai began, pressing the glass further into Enzo's vein, "I'll tell you: Psychopaths have no feeling, no remorse. Most of them are prone to violence. They also have a this sense of superiority, which, I have to tell you, that in my case, really is justified."

"You think that killing me is going to make things easier for you?" Enzo choked out.

"I spent 22 years being treated like shit by my family then 18 years in a prison world where I tried to kill myself on a daily basis. Believe me, not a damn thing in my life has been easy," Kai told him, finally releasing Enzo from his grasp and discarding the broken bottle in a nearby trashcan.

Enzo planned to snap Kai's neck the moment was free, but he didn't do it.

"I get it, Kai," Enzo said.

"What the hell do you think you get about me?" Kai asked.

"The torture. The solitude. You see, for decades I was imprisoned; locked away in a damned underground cell by this Augustine Society. These people found new and interesting ways to experiment on and brutalize me," Enzo told him.

Kai's expression softened; but still held no empathy.

Enzo continued his story.

"So then one day, this beautiful woman – Maggie – showed up. She was an observer. She took notes. She talked to me. She was the only one that seemed to care. I fell in love with her. She may have even loved me back. Then I lost her," he said.

Kai leaned against the wall outside of their hotel room. The rage had dissipated.

"She just left you there?" Kai asked, seeming interested.

"I compelled her to get the hell away from that bloody place, because she was in danger. She died a few years later," Enzo said.

"How," Kai asked.

"Damon killed her," Enzo answered, the bitterness still lacing his voice.

"Damon…" Kai began, "Let me guess: you forgave him, just like everyone else does? Like Bonnie has after everything the bastard has done to her over the years."

"I've made peace with him the best I could. Never thought I could love another woman until Bon-," said Enzo.

"Not what I want to hear," Kai cut him off, clenching his jaw.

"Fair enough," Enzo told him, "So, what's our next move? Has our lovely companion said anything?"

Kai smirked, but tried to restrain his pride.

"She's a little too tired to make plans right now," Kai said.

"No one likes a bragger, Malachai," Enzo teased.

"Well, when you have so much to brag about…," Kai added.

He waited a few more minutes before speaking.

"You know, I've decided not to kill you Enzo."

Enzo placed his hand over his heart.

"I'm so touched. So tell me young one: Who do you want to kill?" Enzo asked.

"Oh, I have a list," Kai stated.

"I figured you did, and I'm sure it starts with Mercury," he responded.

"They're at the top of it. They're up to something that could kill Bonnie and I'm not going to let that happen," Kai insisted.

"Wow, something we can agree on," Enzo said.

"Oh, I think we can agree on one more," Kai said, looking into Enzo's eyes for the first time.

Enzo considered Kai's suggestion. He knew what Kai was asking and it was almost as if he wanted approval.

"He needs to die, Enzo," Kai told him.

Enzo thought about it for a moment. He nodded, realizing the truth of it.

"I know. I know. You're right," Enzo agreed, "Damon needs to die."