Devil in Disguise (Kai Parker)

Chapter Three: Be alone when it ends

Pain. Darkness. Screams in the distance. A roaring in her ears, like the sea beating against the beach. A flash of heat across her arm. The distinct smell of charred flesh. Silence.

And then, a burst of colour.

Meg gasped as her brain kick-started. Oxygen rushed into her empty lungs, shockingly icy; blood continued its expedition around her body; and her nerves suddenly tingled with life.

Everything ached. She felt like she’d been used as a punching bag. Groaning, she got to her feet, relying on the lamppost for support. There was a puddle of something on the ground, and Meg looked into it apprehensively. Her reflection gazed back at her, barely recognisable.

Blood had dried into a crusty collar around her neck. Bruises, the shape of fingerprints, were blooming against her collarbone. Her eyes were blackened, the tawny irises abnormally bright against the darkness. Gravel had encrusted itself in her plaid shirt and denim shorts, and mud had found its way into her dark hair. Meh. Meg was more worried about her neck. It felt disturbingly limp, like overcooked spaghetti, and there wasn’t a square inch of skin that was its normal colour or not covered in drying blood. Pain lanced through it with the slightest movement, making her want to throw up.

What on earth had happened to her? Her memory was so blurry… She rummaged in her memory for a while, frowning. She remembered the vortex… she should have died… been sucked up by the cracks in the world… crack.

The sound reverberated in her ears as she remembered it, and everything that had happened snapped back into place.

Enzo had killed her. He had killed her. But then… how was she still moving? How could she see, hear, smell, feel, if she was dead? How could she breathe – even though she, technically, didn’t need to – if she had been killed?

She frowned. Could you die when you were already dead? If someone broke your neck when you had already choked to death on your own blood, would you die, or would you just break your neck and pass out for a while?

Meg laughed once, in surprise. She was alive! Well, not alive, not yet, but still – she hadn’t gone anywhere! She was still on the Other Side.

As she laughed, the street seemed to break in half. Debris flew into the sky as the asphalt cracked, revealing sewer pipes below, which also seemed to flicker out of existence. There was a scream in the distance, and her eyes flicked up as she watched the vortex claim another victim. Meg’s smile wiped away as she remembered the current state of the Other Side, and she checked her watch. It was 9.54 pm.

Oh, crap. All colour drained from Meg’s face. It was over two hours since the spell started. Would it still be going on? Was she too late? No, she couldn’t think that. Not while there was still a slightest chance. Hopping over a broken lamppost, Meg started sprinting to the graveyard.

It was not a pleasant journey. Her neck jarred as she ran, and the sensation was like nails being jabbed into her carotid artery. Huge parts of the world were drifting off, no longer held by the magic that once bound them to each other. There was one tense moment when the ground at Meg’s feet started to tilt; she only managed to stay on her feet by leaping onto another section of land. Since she didn’t need to breathe, her breathing remained normal, but she was starting to tire. Even ghosts can’t run for miles without rest.

By the time she had reached the woods outside the graveyard, her legs were melting and her neck kept up a steady, painful throb. Pure desperation was all powering her right now. She couldn’t be too late, she couldn’t. She couldn’t have missed the one chance she had at regaining her life. That would be too cruel, even for reality.

"Bonnie!’ a voice echoed through the woods, ‘BONNIE!"

Jeremy came sprinting into the woods, running right through Meg and not even stopping to shiver. His eyes were wild, his voice racked with pain and Meg’s heart skipped a beat. If Bonnie had told Jeremy she was going to die, then it must be nearly over. The end of the Other Side.

Perhaps there’s still time… she thought desperately, maybe the spell hasn’t ended yet. Maybe something happened to make the spell go on longer than planned…

Meg jogged aimlessly around, looking with increasing panic for the Bennett witch. She had to be here somewhere. Somewhere discreet, judging by the fact Jeremy hadn’t found her yet. In the trees, then? Thorns and leaves got caught in her hair as she forced her way through the wildlife, eyes darting from one space to another as if her life depended on it. Which, really, it did.

The hazy colouring of the Other Side spiked, nearly blinding Meg. She stumbled, tripped over a tree root, and fell face-first into a large clearing, shaded by a leafy canopy overhead. The wind was whipping through her hair; the light shining blood-red through her closed eyes; and the ground was getting disturbingly shaky beneath her. Meg let out a tearless sob, too terrified even to remember to cry.

There were voices in front of her, and she made herself look up.

"This place is going down, isn’t it?" Damon said, walking slowly to stand next to Bonnie. There was an unreadable expression on his face. A numb feeling spread over Meg, from her toes to the tips of her hair. The spell was over. If it wasn’t, Bonnie would be trying to get Damon back.

"It is." Bonnie said firmly, turning to look at him. "I’m sure there are a million people we’d both rather be with right now, but…"

And she took Damon’s hand, smiling up at him. "Couple of thousand, at most." Damon said. Meg felt as though a shard of ice had been plunged into her heart; they, at least, had each other. Meg had nobody.

"Wait!" she croaked, getting to her feet and staggering towards the two supernatural creatures.

They looked at her, unbothered. They were about to die. There could be no enemies to make it worse now, and besides, this girl looked half-dead already.

"I just – I just don’t want be alone when it ends." Meg choked out. Bonnie gave the stranger a rueful smile, and extended her hand as well. Meg took it gratefully, and felt determination seep through her body. She stopped crying, stopped snivelling. She could face what was about to happen.

"I’m Bonnie." said the witch.

"I know.’ Meg said without worrying. ‘I’m Meg."

"Damon." said the raven-haired vampire. Meg nodded his way.

They stood there for a while, three unfortunates on the edge of destruction, just holding hands and staring at the place the sun had been – now, just a blinding white light. Then Meg spoke up, loud so they could hear over the wind, "Any regrets?"

Bonnie’s eyes fell. "Leaving Jeremy." she whispered.

Damon glanced over at the cemetery. "Leaving Elena," he looked pointedly at Meg. "You?"

"Just one." she said, as white light enveloped them, "his name was K –"

The brightness swept down upon her like a cloak, and she didn’t get to say more.