Consumed » Kai Parker

Sixty

Kai's POV

"Okay, let's see..." My eyes intently scan the textbook that I'm studiously keeping hidden from Charlie's eyesight, to prevent any attempt at cheating. Though I knew my academically inclined girlfriend wouldn't dare, but it was hilarious watching her scowl when I pretended to be suspicious of her wandering eyes. "Typical symptom of psychosis?"

"Hallucinations, delusions of grandeur, social withdrawal, difficulty concentrating," She answers without taking a moment to pause for thought. "To name a few."

I squint at her, a smirk itching at the corner of my lip. "I said typical symptom, singular, but thanks, Einstein. You're the teacher's pet in class, aren't you?"

Wordlessly, she tosses the white straw wrapper that she's been fiddling with between her fingers at my chest. I promptly laugh, reaching across the table to intertwine my free hand with one of hers.

"Next question," She says sternly, while playing with the silver ring on my index finger.

The two of us are sitting in the Whitmore College coffee shop, tucked into a table in the corner for a bit of privacy among the various other students occupying the seating area. She had insisted that I stay at the apartment to modify today's training plan, but I'd already gone over it for what felt like a hundred times and I'm convinced that if I looked at another line of Latin today my brain would become deader than the language itself. Eventually, she relented, taking me up on my offer to help her study instead. We both took our respective cars separately, since unfortunately, I have to be at the boarding house soon and Charlie has to stay on campus for the rest of her classes.

I've been training with the Geminis everyday for a week now at the Salvatore house, much to the chagrin of the bloodsucker brothers. Stefan typically made it a point to go see Caroline or tend to some other business of his (probably devouring some bunnies deep in the forest) when I came over, which was more than fine with me. I still got the underlying urge to wring his neck whenever I had the misfortune of running into him recently, but elected to ignore the guy. For the sake of keeping my sanity.

When Damon wasn't sucking face with Elena, he would occasionally stick around, to "keep an eye on me and my freakshow students", or whatever. I told him he was free to sit back and learn something about real fighting in supernatural world, to which I received another empty threat about my heart getting torn from my rib cage. Or maybe it was another head detachment threat. You'd really think he'd be more creative with those, having over a century to practice them.

Despite the doubts I'd unabashedly voiced when the three witches first showed up in my apartment, I had to admit I was now harboring a subtle appreciation for their dedication to the craft. No matter how many times I'd instruct them to reestablish a forcefield or recast an offense, they'd try again until improvement was blatant.

Complaints were scarce, aside from Isaiah's never-ending supply of sarcasm. I've realized even he means well, despite the cool facade he wears like armor in the face of my teaching and criticism. He's as talented as the rest of them, with a persistence that I value under our taxing circumstances. Still irritating as shit, sure, but absolutely not lacking in power.

I had to hand it to Alistair. He was careful in his selection and it showed in the individual skillset each Gemini was demonstrating. Maybe I'll send the old man a muffin basket.

Popping another piece of my chocolate chip muffin into my mouth, I briefly review the notes in the margins of the chapters for reference. "Which category of psychological disorders is most commonly treated in the U.S?"

"Mood disorders," she states confidently, sipping her caramel macchiato. "Kai, are you sure you want to be doing this right now? I know you have the Geminis to worry abou–"