Cold Hearted | Damon Salvatore

eleven

11. Woke Up With A Monster

"See, we never went out to eat when I was a kid" Kai informed Aria, as they sat in the empty Grill, waiting for Elena to wake up, "So I always had this fascination with chefs and fine dining".

"Remind me to teach you how to talk to humans" Aria said, feeding the chef Kai tried to kill her blood, and then compelling him to leave the Grill.

"Oh, come on" Kai complained, "I thought we were torturing people".

"We are here to torture Elena, not innocent people" Aria said.

"Boring" Kai said, causing Aria to roll her eyes.

Aria and Kai turned their attention to Elena when they heard her groan in pain, the vervain ropes Kai tied on her wrist burning her, "Why am I here?".

"Uh well, I spent eighteen years in abandoned restaurants and now I'm showing off the fruits of my labor" Kai replied.

"I don't mean the Mystic Grill" Elena said, as Aria walked over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of bourbon.

"Oh, you mean like--like, here, here, in Mystic Falls?" Kai asked, "It's simple, I brought you here so Aria can torture you".

"Cheers to that" Aria said, taking a swing out of the bourbon bottle.

"You're really pretty" Kai told Aria.

"Thanks?" Aria said, unsure of what else to say.

"No problem" Kai said, taking another bite of his food.

"Okay, can we can get on to the torture part now?" Aria asked, putting the bottle of bourbon down.

"But we need a bigger place then this" Kai complained, "Ooh, I know, what about your high school?".

"You want to torture my arch nemesis at my old high school?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Kai asked, "According to you, Elena and you became enemies when you two were in high school, so I like that irony".

Aria sighed, "Fine" she said, "But if we move places one more time, I'm ditching you".

 "Deal" Kai said, while a terrified doppelganger looked between him and the clearly unstable tribrid, having no idea what their plans for her were.

***

"About time" Aria said, seeing Elena finally wake up.

"We're in our high school?" A confused Elena asked, as two chains tied to the roof held her up by her hands.

"Yeah, plenty of restrooms, no flammable surfaces, and everyone's on winter break, still" Kai replied, throwing Aria a chocolate he got from one of the vending machines.

"Thanks" Aria said, opening the chocolate and taking a bite out of it.

"You know, it's no wonder America got dumb while I was locked up, they're never in school" Kai said, looking at the showcase wall, where a picture of Aria with the cheerleading squad was placed, "Aww, look at you Aria, you look so innocent here, smiling like nothing back could ever happen to you".