Not That Kind Of Witch • Kai Parker #1

35: he cares

The sun was slowly dragging the dreaded night closer as it fell from the sky. Valerie had been putting off thinking about the inevitable, she knew Kai had been trying to keep her mind from wandering to... that.

Her feet were rested on the dashboard and her hand swayed in the breeze as it hung out of the open window. The drive was silent yet weirdly it wasn't awkward. She wasn't sure how to explain the current atmosphere, it just was. She guessed it was almost acceptance but that didn't feel right, she would never condone or accept what Kai was about to do. Risking his life for more power just wasn't something she could comprehend.

"You're frowning." 

Schooling her features, Valerie turned to meet Kai's intense gaze. "I'm not."

"You were. What's running through that pretty head of yours?" Kai admonished.

"This and that."

Pulling his lips between his teeth, Kai rolled his eyes ever so slightly and looked back to the road, repeating her, "This and that."

Humming his disbelief, Kai questioned, "Valerie, I'm going to be fine. Stop worrying."

Valerie couldn't tear her gaze from him. What did he mean to her? She couldn't lose him before she finally answered that question.

"How can I not?"

"You said you trust me, right?"

Nodding, Valerie pulled at the cotton threads of her shirt.

"Well, trust what I'm saying. I'll be fine."

"Then what?"

"Then what? What do you mean? I'll have my own magic and won't have to siphon, I won't be an abomination anymore. Won't be a disgrace to my coven, not like that matters, they won't be alive for long to bask in my greatness." Kai spouted, glee spreading across his face and humour in his promise.

"So what you're going to merge and then what? Go kill all of your coven? All of them Kai? I doubt they all had a part to play 18 years ago, some of them probably weren't even born then."

Shaking his head, Kai ground out, "Look, you don't understand-"

"No, clearly I don't. Isn't the merge enough?"

Whipping his head to face her, Kai revealed, "No. No, nothing will ever be enough. They'll pay for sending me there and when and only when I say it's enough will it be enough."

"This path your intent on going down, it doesn't end well Kai. You'll see that, but it'll be too late and then what? You can't take it back and start again Kai. You won't get this chance to leave and start anew ever again and you're just wasting it on revenge for something a lifetime ago."

Kai let out a harsh laugh. "Yeah, a life time ago... my life time ago. My life wasted."

"That was your fault." Valerie found herself shouting, spinning to face him fully, she felt her chest rising and falling heavily. "You murdered your siblings, your family."

Kai's eyes were fixed ahead. Valerie didn't realize they'd stooped until he pulled car to an abrupt halt, looking around she saw he had stopped at his apartment building. Slowly turning to meet her stare, Valerie saw the shadowed hurt in his eyes.

Her words had hurt him. Good, she thought. Maybe they were enough to drill into that thick head of his. Even as she thought that, she knew that wasn't true and she regretted her words. He quickly masked the pain, his eyes turning hollow and emotionless. She'd seen this look many times, usually when he was trying to kill Damon. Never aimed at her.

"Get out."

"What?" Valerie heard him perfectly.

Kai punctuated every word, slowly and harsh. "I said get the fuck out."

"Kai." She felt like he'd just punched her in the gut. "Kai-"

Turning his face forwards, he dismissed her that easily. "Get out Valerie."

"Why? Where are you going? What are you going to do?" Valerie spoke quickly, her words panicked.

Kai ignored her, his eyes never leaving the empty road ahead.

Valerie looked to her door, giving his stoic form one last look, she swung the door open. "Fine. I'm done."

Slamming the door shut, she began walking down the sidewalk. She could feel Kai's eyes drilling into the back of her and she hoped maybe he'd seen the error to his dickish ways when he pulled up slowly beside her and moved with her. That hope was destroyed however when he growled out, "Go into the apartment."

"Fuck you."

"Valerie." His voice came out strained and almost painful. Looking to see him, she saw he was leaning as much as he could so that he could meet her eyes through the passenger window.

The next second, his demeanour changed completely. Stopping the car, Valerie peered back over her shoulder as she carried on walking further away from his apartment.

"Go into my place or I'll get out, throw you over my shoulder and lock you in there myself. I'll tie you to the goddamn bed if I have to."

His words stopped her dead in her tracks. Spinning on her feet, Valerie met his eyes defiantly. Despite his words, and despite the glare on her face, she was feeling relief. He clearly still cared or maybe he wanted her to wait for him come murder her later, but she didn't truly believe that. Plus, his warning was kind of turning her on.

His face was serious and stony and she knew that he would follow through with the threat. For fuck's sake. Walking past his car, she headed back to his place, giving him the bird as she stomped past. When the building's door slammed behind her, she heard his car peel out of the lot.

Now what was she supposed to do? Just sit and wait for him to return, if he even did that. Maybe he wanted nothing more to do with her, had come to his senses and wouldn't be returning. God, he was gone 5 minutes and her brain was already travelling down some dark roads.

Taking the elevator up to his room, she cursed when she realised she had no key to get in. Could this night get any worse? Seriously? Pushing on his door, she frowned when it opened on its own. There was no way he'd left it open all day, was there? Maybe he opened it with magic, could he even do that?

She had no clue. But what she did know was that she had nowhere else to be and the shower was calling for her. Her hair stank like river water and Kai wouldn't be back for a while.