Devil in Disguise (Kai Parker)

Chapter Nine: An excess of Pork Rinds

Meg screamed as fire erupted around Kai. He looked at the witch with dumb, stupid shock – an act, as Meg knew for certain, but a convincing one. Bonnie looked at him smugly. ‘Giving up so soon? I’m embarrassed for you.’

Yeah… should probably explain.

Four months had passed. Four dreadful, dreary months, in which Meg was locked in a hotel room morning to night. Kai had found it on the outskirts of Mystic Falls, miles away from any of Damon and Bonnie’s usual haunts, and decided to stuff Meg there like a discarded toy, so she didn’t mess with his plans. Namely his plans to spy on the other half of the population.

He came back every four hours, to check on her; to give her food, like some pet rabbit; and to break the mind-numbing boredom that had become her daily life. This would have been considerate, if not for the fact Kai made it one hundred times worse.

She hung off the bed, legs hooked over the head board so she didn’t fall. Her hair swung limply beneath her, still wet from her afternoon bath. Another plaid shirt – it was a favourite of her’s and of the 90s – clung to her midriff where she hadn’t dried off properly, and a ragged skirt fluttered above her knees. Grunge music pounded out of a shabby set of speakers, chipping away the boredom with its angry beat, and some cheesy cop show on a tape punctuated every few lines with a gunshot. Meg wasn’t really paying attention to either of them. As always, her eyes were on her watch.

It was 11.34 AM. Kai was going to be back soon. Oh, and the TV show was going to change in three, two, one…

Boom. Bye bye, stupid cop thing, hello home design show.

Ugh, she needed to get out of here!

This was all she had done, for nearly four months. Tried some adventurous gymnastics on the bed. Timed the taped TV shows, using her memory for numbers to pinpoint the exact second. Had a bath about three times a day. Chosen about seven different outfits, so she didn’t feel too tedious. Tried to create something new out of cold porridge and cereal bars. Kai only had taken away anything she might cook with, so she couldn’t burn the building down or send smoke signals, or anything like that. Shame.

"Damn you, Malachai Parker." she muttered, flipping over and getting to her feet restlessly.

"Nice to see you too." said Kai’s voice, from where he leant against the doorway. Meg looked at him in surprise, and he chewed his lip as he smiled.

"Kai." she said bluntly, looking at her watch. "You’re not supposed to be here for another seven minutes."

His eyes glittered. "Wow, you must be bored. Poor girl."

She bit back a sarcastic retort. Boredom didn’t suit her. After getting out of the Other Side, she’d really hoped that would mean the end of this dullness. It left her to dwell on things she’d really rather not. Since Kai was behind a number of those things, she didn’t exactly want to see him right now. "Why are you early, Kai? You’ve never come here before twenty to twelve."

"Special circumstances. C’mon, I’ve got a job for you to do." he grinned, rushing forwards and grabbing her hands. She cringed, a knee-jerk reaction from years of him taking her magic, before remembering she had no magic to take. It still felt weird, though.

"What kind of job?" she asked suspiciously, letting him pull her out of the room.

He shrugged. "I’m sure we’ll find a use for you. It’s always good to have back-up. Besides, you’ll be good for… moral support."

"Kai…" she said warningly, "I don’t know what that means when you say it, but it doesn’t sound good."

"Hey. I mean it the way everyone says it. You’ll be nice to have around."