InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Just ruin him forever"

Kai Parker (feelingsarehard) wrote in thecityof,
@ 2017-09-04 15:55:00

Entry tags:

claire danvers, kai parker

Kai & Claire

backdated to yesterday

Glass House apartment

Warnings: language, healing.

Status: Complete

who names a kid malachai, it's like they expected me to be evil

Things had been eventful since he had left Claire’s apartment that day. His ears continued to ring as if the world was plotting against him. Maybe they were. He really didn’t care. Kai didn’t give into his fears. It wasn’t the way that he was made. It was also what made him so fucking dangerous.

Things in his apartment were still on edge after he and Kol had turned Harry. He was actually a little surprised that the pirate was so angry at them. Eventually they figured that he would get over it, but he knew it would take time. Things were different now in more ways than one. But the kid had more than a sword and a hook to protect himself. That was all that really mattered.

He had run into Uma on the way into the building and his cheek still stung from the little sea witch’s slap. Guess she was pretty angry at them still too. It amused him, which was really the only reason she was still breathing. That and he had plans. He had just come back from picking up lunch and he was heading up to Claire’s apartment. There was much to discuss and Kai wanted to find out exactly what Claire and Bonnie had talked about.

“Claaaire.” He called out as he walked right in and shut the door behind him. He already knew no one was home and really he wouldn’t have cared if they were. He set the sack of burgers down on the kitchen counter and moved to the fridge like he owned the place lifting his head when he heard her feet against the floor. “Hungry? I brought lunch as promised.”

“Come on, sit down. I promise I won’t bite.” He even passed off an innocent look with a grin to match. Clearly Kai was easily amused and maybe if she gave him what he wanted he’d leave without leaving her any new marks.

If Kai thought his apartment was tense than he clearly hadn’t spent time in the Glass House apartment. The tension could be cut with a knife it was so thick. Screaming matches were prone to break out randomly, but the worst was the random bouts of silent treatment that occurred. Claire was feeling like she had destroyed what ever alliance they all had. They were forming a new one against her because she had been so amazingly stupid. She often just hid in her room instead of dealing with the anger from her friends.

She couldn’t even really blame Kai for what happened to her. Oh, she wanted to, like really wanted to blame him, but both Michael and Shane had pointed out that it was her fault. She had never been great at leaving things along and that meant shit like this happened. She could have ignored the vampires on the network and none of this would have happened.

It was too late now.

Claire didn’t know how to repair the damage she had created. Today her roomies seemed to be off doing things and that meant she had ventured out of her room. She was sitting on the couch wearing a pair of bright pink sleep shorts and an oversized t-shirt plastered with some horrid chemistry pun. She picked at her brand and barely looked up when Kai pretty much walked into the apartment like he owned the place. She only slid off the couch when he entered the kitchen. A frown appeared on her face as she walked closer, but she did take a seat at one of the stools in the kitchen. Her elbows ended up propped on the counter island as she let her gaze wander to the bag of food.

“Are there onions on them?” Claire was weird, she didn’t like raw onions on her burgers. She could eat raw onions in salsa, but otherwise she had to have them cooked. The taste was just too overpowering for her enjoyment. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand as she stared at the bag as if it might be full of snakes.

Claire looked like the sullen teenager as she tried not to look at Kai. She would have looked normal if it wasn’t for the scaring mark on her neck and the brand on her arm. Parts of the scab were missing because she couldn’t leave it alone, kind of like she couldn’t seem to leave dangerous things alone.

Claire had brought a lot of attention to herself on the network and she had on intensified that when Kai had met her in person. There was something about a spark inside some one that drew him in and Claire definitely had spark. Had she been boring he would have snacked on her and went on his way, but Claire had pulled out all the stops to try and defend herself. There wasn’t many who would stand up to someone like him like that. He liked her. Therefore she was screwed.

If Kai knew the whole situation he would have claimed that Michael and Shane were being a little too hard on her. If wasn’t like she asked for Kai’s attention. Kai was just drawn to a certain breed and unfortunately she was it. They should have been thanking her. She had saved them all. Where was the fucking gratitude?

Oh well, that wasn’t exactly his problem now was it?

Grabbing one of the beers from the fridge he twisted the top off and tossed it into the trash with perfect aim before moving to open the bag. He started pulling the burgers and fries out and pushed one in her direction. “What if there were? You wouldn’t just pick them off?” He unfolded his burger and took a quick bite, “There isn’t.” He finally answered her, giving her a look.

She was sulking. Still. Kai didn’t understand it. The whole teen sulking thing. She was still alive, right? What was there to sulk about? Taking a drink from the bottle he nodded toward the stool. “Come on. It won’t kill you to sit and eat something, sulky.” He leaned his back against the counter near the fridge so that he was across from her. “So you talked to Bonbon, huh?”

Claire made a face at him when he suggested there might be onions. He only informed her that the burgers were safe after he had taken a bite of his own. A vampire eating a burger, that was just weird to her. She thought vampires just drank blood, but she seemed to be wrong. She shifted onto the stool he pointed at and pulled the burger towards her. The wrapper crinkled under her fingers and she found she had no appetite.

“You mentioned her name,” she said as she peeled the wrapper off the burger in what seemed like slow motion. It smelled like grease and it turned her stomach. Claire finally picked up the burger and made a big show of taking a bite. It tasted like nothing to her, but she still chewed as she glared at Kai.

“She really hates your guts,” she remarked once she had swallowed her mouthful. “She pretty much said you are just going to kill my friends anyway and I am just some toy.” The angry Clairebear on her arm was clear as she moved to grab the container of fries. She gave him a pointed look as she ate a fry. The next fry she grabbed she pointed at him. “Oh, and I know the blood leaves my system after a few days. Thanks for the lack of the head’s up.”

Claire focused on eating the fries, her burger pretty much untouched except for the large bite she had taken out of it.

“You aren’t here to talk about Bonnie, are you?” She didn’t trust him even if he was bringing her food. She supposed she was thankful he hadn’t bought her a Happy Meal or something. She figured Kai was here for some other nefarious reason, she just hadn’t figured out quite what it was yet.

There was a lot that Claire had to learn when it came to the vampires that were running around LA. Maybe if she was lucky Kai would fill her in. Or she could trick him into spilling because let's face it, Kai loved to fucking talk. Especially when he had someone who was actually there to listen to him. The burger helped curb some of his cravings. Especially when she was right there and he knew exactly how she tasted.

He watched as she toyed with the burger with the speed of a one year old who didn’t know how to unwrap yet and narrowed his eyes. She was doing that shit on purpose and Kai sighed in annoyance. When she finally bit it Kai gasped dramatically in response. Yes, he was an asshole and two could play at that game. “I mentioned her but did you really have to talk to her?” He raised a brow in question at her, “She’s not as perfect as she seems to be.”

In fact Bonnie Bennett was Kai’s ultimate enemy. He hated her with a passion. “No kidding.” He said as if he was saying tell me something I don’t know. “Bonster’s only speaking from personal experience. But she’s a different story. And she likes to twist how things really went down between all of us. Of course I’d be the monster in her story because it makes her look good.” In fact, Bonnie was the reason he was the way he was now.

He rolled his eyes and snarled, “Bonnie has a big mouth doesn’t she?” He shrugged. “Oh well, that was probably keeping you safe. Thinking if you did something stupid you’d end up one of us.” And he was probably right about that one.

He took in a slow deliberate breath at her question. “You probably have questions about me. I’m here to answer them.” For once Kai was just being friendly, but he wasn’t sure how long that would last. He was crazy after all. He flipped back and forth between moods on the drop of a dime.

Kai could gasp all he wanted to like some asshole, but Claire wasn’t going to stop being sullen. He had messed up her life.

“You didn’t tell me not to,” she said with a faint smug look on her face. Kai had never mentioned she wasn’t supposed to talk to people, so she had done what she wanted. The deal was her blood for her friend’s lives. There had been no rules about how she had to handle the whole thing. That was Kai’s mistake. “I don’t know her, she seems kind of intense.”

Bonnie was probably a nice person. Claire had no idea. She had never actually met the witch in person, they had only chatted over the network. It wasn’t like she was going to be able to go out for a cup of coffee anyway. She was grounded to this apartment for the rest of her life. As much as she hated Kai it was kind of nice, in a twisted way, to have someone to talk to that wasn’t yelling at her.

The remark about Bonnie twisting the story had Claire intrigued. Kai was a dangerous person, but something had to have made him the way he was. Bonnie had mentioned something about him being a Siphoner, which she didn’t fully understand, but she wasn’t about to just ask. She finished off the fries and kind of gave her burger a look that said she wished it would catch on fire. With a faint sigh she picked it up and started to eat it slowly again.

His snarl was actually kind of scary. She swallowed her mouthful of burger hard and gave a little cough. “What happened,” she blurted out. Claire could never help herself when it came to learning new things. “I mean why did you end up in a prison world...twice?”

Just how dangerous was the devil she had sold her soul to?

Smartass. Kai smirked and nodded his head as he shook his finger at her. “Touche.” She had a point and clearly he was going to have to remember to make things clear next time. Claire would look for the loopholes at every opportunity and he really couldn’t blame her. “She’s kind of a bitch.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and then he made a face.

Kai took another long drink of his beer. “Well, Clairebear.” He started with a grin, “That is a long story.” But Kai would tell it anyway because that was something that was incredibly important to him. And quite frankly there was never anyone who asked him about him. They were just quick to judge and think he was a complete monster for no reason. Sure it was all fun to him now but clearly there was things that made him that way.

“Growing up in my family was kind of..complicated. My father was the leader of our coven and when my twin sister Jo and I were born it was clear that we’d eventually have to merge one day.” He knew she wouldn’t know what that meant but that didn’t stop him. “I guess I was kind of the defective twin? See, I was a witch but I didn’t get any powers. I couldn’t generate any magic like Jo could, god she was such a glenda, but I had this nifty little power where I could siphon. Anyone or anything I touched I could suck the magic right out of them.”

Just thinking about it made his mouth water.

“You have any idea what it’s like to walk around like an addict craving for another hit?” He shook his head. “My family called me an abomination. I was isolated for years. Couldn’t touch anyone. Never got that love my brothers and sisters got. It was enough to make anyone go a little mad. And I did.” He nodded. “It turned me into a sociopath and I killed my family, well some of them. Big no-no. The Gemini coven didn’t take kindly to what I did in Portland so they got together and banished me to a prison world. I spent 6,771 days there alone. Eventually tried to kill myself but it just wouldn’t stick.”

Her jaw ticked when he called her Clairebear, but she settled on just eating her burger instead of pissing him off. She had learned that angering Kai resulted in extreme pain. She would live with that reminder for the rest of her life thanks to him. When she was old enough she was going to try to get a tattoo to cover it up, which was funny because once upon a time she would have balked at the idea of a tattoo. The proper little Claire had loosened up just a bit by living in the Glass House.

As he spoke she slid off her stool to pad over to the fridge. She yanked out a can of coke and made her way back to her stool. The sound of the can opening seemed amplified for some reason and she winced. She started to lift the sweet caffeine to her lips when she just kind of paused. Her eyes were wide as she really looked at Kai.

His family had created a monster.

“And they didn’t even give you books or stuff to watch?” She set the can down without taking a drink as she tried to comprehend a childhood like that. Bonnie hadn’t said anything about Kai’s family being jerks too. “Fuck,” she breathed out as it all kind of sunk in. Kai was broken, twisted, and she was now pretty sure she was never getting out of this deal.

“Okay, so why does Bonnie hate you? I mean killing your family is kind of a jerk move, but she isn’t family- right?” Somehow she had managed to finish off her burger and found herself wondering when she had actually kept eating. Kai’s story had really distracted her.

6,771 days.

He had counted every single day and that was just so wrong.

“I think they kinda thought it was funny because I literally had to live the same exact day over and ovar and over again.” The day of the merge. The day he had killed his siblings. The day never changed. There was nothing to do but slowly go insane. No one to talk to. Time didn’t move. It was the worst thing imaginable for someone like Kai. But he was the monster. Because no one else would take credit for him. No one wanted him. No one cared. Shit like that fucked you up on a hardcore level.

“No, she isn’t. Her and Damon ended up showing up in my prison world one day. Just outta the blue. All, poof.” He flexed his fingers to make his point. “I guess it was something about Bonnie being an anchor to the other side in our world. Her and Damon died and they ended up in my hell. So I watched them. Eventually figured out Bonnie was what I needed to get back home.”

He sighed and downed a good portion of his beer. “I forced Bonnie to get her magic back by attempting to kill Damon, and it worked. But she found out what I had done to my family and took me out. Planned to use the ascendant to get her and Damon home and leave me behind. But hey, I couldn’t die so when I woke up I tried to catch up to get out. She sent Damon home and her and I were stuck in the prison world together because she decided to stick her magic in a fucking bear and send it home.”

“She’s clever.” He chuckled darkly. “So we bonded..i remembered the nifty little trick my sister used to hide her magic and i found the knife she stuck it in thanks to Bonnie. I siphoned the magic out. Stabbed Bonnie and went home without her. All I really needed was her blood and she had betrayed me so I kinda returned the favor.” He shrugged. “Back home I merged with Livvy’s twin brother and won. It was kind of fucked up because along with his power I got his empathy too. I cared soooo much about everything. Bonnie eventually got home. And they needed her to go and get Stefan and Damon’s mom from a 1904 prison world. But they needed me to get there.”

“Long story short i only agreed to do it if I got to see Bonnie because I wanted her to know how sorry I was for what I did. She ended up stabbing me and leaving me there to die. That’s where I met the heretics. Half vampire half witches. We.made a deal and eventually I got to go back home and...well here I am.”

As far as Claire could tell everyone was the villain in Kai’s tale. Everyone had wronged each other in one way or another. She had trouble grasping the fact that people were so quick to just kill someone. Sure, Monica had tried to kill her several times, but that didn’t mean it was normal.

The whole story Kai was painted was messed up. A world where he was alone, a place Bonnie and some guy Damon showed up in, and they betrayed him. She didn’t know what it was to merge with someone, but she kind of got the idea it meant someone had to die.

She didn’t know where it came from, but she never did know where it came from, but tears started to actually slide down her cheeks. Claire sniffed hard and quickly rubbed at her eyes. God, she was not crying in front of Kai! She didn’t feel for him, she didn’t think he had been treated unfairly, and she didn’t think his world was messed up. She didn’t say a word as she picked up her can of coke and did her best to chug the whole thing in one go. Carbonation burned her nose and throat, but she kept going to distract herself.

Suddenly she slammed the can down on the counter and wrinkled her nose hard. That hadn’t been the wisest idea and sure enough she slapping a hand over her mouth just as a burp escaped.

“Excuse me,” she blushed a nice shade of pink before propping her elbows on the counter again. Her chin rested in her hands as she frowned at Kai.

“I’m honestly kind of surprised you haven’t killed Bonnie here, I mean I don’t want you too, but it sounds like...she is kind of cold hearted.” She didn’t know Bonnie’s side of the story. An apology wasn’t enough to make a person forgive mass murder, but it had kind of sounded like Kai was trying to change. He was still a psycho in Claire’s eyes, but she kind of understood him now. Oh shit, Shane would kill her if he ever heard her say that!

“Have you...talked to your sister, the one that is here? I mean like talk not stabby stabby, Kai.”

Kai wasn’t looking at Claire when he spoke. It was mostly all coming from memory and the words just spilled out the way he saw it all. Kai wasn’t sure what could have happened had he not been locked away the second time but now no one would ever know. Now Kai was this person standing there in Claire Danvers’ kitchen. A psychotic monster who kept all those feeling buried. God, imagine if he ever flipped his switch?

When he finally heard her sniffle Kai's eyes snapped up to look at her and he raised a brow questioningly. Was she crying? Holy shit, she was crying! That was honestly the last thing he expected here and he wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. He frowned for a moment and then he watched her try to save face with the coke and he chuckled softly again. She had saved them both from an awkward moment right there. But something about seeing her cry had pulled at him. Fuck.

“I wanted to. I was paired up with her in the death match thing, but she won.” Because Kai had underestimated the fucking witch. Bonnie had changed. She was more ruthless and he had to remember that. “The thing about the people of Mystic Falls? They have a habit of looking the other way when it comes to the people they care about. They’ll make up a million excuses to justify how fucked up they are. But if you’re an outsider? Like the Mikaelsons, or Katherine, or even me? You’re the devil.” But Kai kinda was so they weren’t that far off.
“No. Not yet. She doesn’t know me or know that I killed her brother in the merge but she does know I tried to kill her when she was younger..before prison world number one. That might be an awkward conversation don’t you think?”

“So you are saying they are all hypocrites?” Claire toyed with the tab on her coke can. Her fingers worried at it until it finally popped free with a loud noise. Bonnie had made Kai out to be the devil and she agreed. The problem was now she saw a human side to him. Monica had been human, painfully so, but she was still a different type of devil. Monica was the type of devil who wore a tan like a weapon and used her daddy’s influence to make sure the world burned.

Kai was a devil made from a lack of love.

She let out a faint sigh as she flicked the tab across the kitchen. It bounced off the wall before landing in the trash can. Score for Claire! “Mm, pretty awkward, but at least you’d be having a conversation? This is the first calm conversation I’ve had since…” Her words trailed off as she let her gaze wander to the glaring brand on her arm. How fucked up was it that she was talking to the person who could kill her at any second? She wondered when she had become so starved for an interaction that wasn’t laced with tension and anger.

“You know,” she kind of quirked her lips to the side for a second before pointing a finger at him. “You could just ignore people. I mean I’m not exactly good at it, but I hear it stops problems from happening. I get what they did to you was jacked up, but why keep it going? You could be doing so much more with your time! You have years of books, movies, and videogames to catch up on.”

He’d probably ignore her advice, but she gave it anyway.

“I honestly want nothing to do with Mystic Falls. I have enough problems in my life when it comes to Morganville, but it is like I attract vampires. I guess the one plus side here is the fact no one has tried to burn me alive yet? That sucked the first time around.”

“There’s a few people who would agree with that statement.” More than a few actually. But Kai was keeping his distance from that lot. Especially after the death matches. Bonnie had won and he had a feeling if she tried to take him out again, this time he wouldn’t be coming back. Kai was safer playing in his own playground away from the self righteous. Things didn’t end up well for him around them, but that didn’t mean he was rolling over. Just biding his time.

That was the thing about not knowing someone's story. Sure Kai deserved to be judged and his actions kind of backed up Bonnie’s statement but everyone had a reason for being they way they were. Kai’s was just taken to the extremes. His family had molded him into a monster and then punished him for becoming one. Such was his life. Kai hated it at one point but now he embraced it. If you were constantly called an abomination you kind just wanted to go along and prove someone was right after so long. Kai couldn’t be saved now.

“That’s not going to be a conversation. She’ll just freak out and try to find a way to kill me.” He twisted his lips to the side as he watched her look to her arm and she thought for a moment. Kai hadn’t cared when he branded her. He wanted her roommates to see what happened when they stuck their nose into his business. But maybe there was a part of him that kind of felt a hint of guilt there. Fuuuuck you, Luke. Keep your pansy ass feelings buried. Turning he reached for a glass inside the cabinet and turned to moved back close to her. His fangs showed for just a moment as he bit into his palm and filled the cup with some of his blood. “Drink this.” He told her as he set the cup down in front of her. “It’ll heal the marks and it won’t scar.” She had cried. That had been the most anyone had ever cared when it came to him and while he knew she didn’t care he was just doing the kid a favor.

Snorting softly at her advice, Kai shook his head. “Where’s the fun in that?” He asked her. “I mean, I could do a lot of things that would probably keep me off the radar but why? I tried to be all team player and I just got screwed over in the end. Again. I’ll be that constant reminder. That when I get bored something bad could and probably will happen.”

“Burn you alive?” Well now look who was intrigued. “Who the hell tried to burn you alive?” Even Kai hadn’t gone to that extreme. Although it did sound like a fun idea to use on someone.

Something weird was happening in the kitchen. Claire wasn’t entirely sure how to feel when Kai bit his own hand so he could let blood fill up a glass. Oh God, there was no way she could keep that glass around. No amount of runs through the dishwasher was going to get rid of the mere thought there had been blood inside the thing! Her eyes widened in pure surprise as she focused her gaze on the glass now sitting in front of her.

It would heal the mark.

If she drank that blood she’d heal, but she’d also have his blood in her system again. The gears started to turn in her head as she just kept staring at the red liquid. This had to be a trap. She could almost feel the jaws closing around her and the mere idea of having his blood again made her stomach turn.

“Wait,” she looked up from the glass and fixed him with a look that screamed she was so not impressed. “You do all of this for fun?” He was as bad as Monica, probably even worse. If Monica ever became a vampire she was pretty sure all of Morganville would die because of the popular girl. She could already picture the streets running red with the blood of anyone that Monica thought wasn’t pretty enough, popular enough, or had just annoyed her. That was a disturbing thought.

Claire flicked the glass with her fingers slightly, but made no move to pick it up. “Okay, so, back home I pissed off the Queen Bee and a bunch of vampires. I think like half the town wanted me dead at one point, probably still do.” She let out a faint sigh as she tried to shove the memories down. “I found this book, that had been hidden forever, and I refused to hand it over to the toughest group in town….so they tried to burn the house down with me and my friends in it. Problem was the house is kind of magic, so it didn’t really work. All I ever wanted to do was go to college, but instead I kept almost dying. New town, same story, I guess.”

Kai would never admit that he had some real feelings. He liked to keep those buried deep down because they interfered with his fun. Kai needed something to hold on to though. Sure he was a monster and kind of fucked up in the head but he didn’t want to lose himself either. Kai just didn’t know how to do normal. He was made that way. Things just continued to escalate and he went with the flow. Plus, he was great at this whole crazy thing. Fucking with people came naturally. He enjoyed it. It kept him entertained.

But Claire had already endured his wrath when they first met and really he was trying to attempt to be civil this time around. That wasn’t saying that he was trying to be her friend, that would never happen, but he was trying to understand things. And he wanted her to understand him without someone else’s interference. Like Bonnie’s. Because Bonnie would twist things around and make him look like the fucking devil. Which he kind of was but that wasn’t the point right now.

He eyed the glass and then Claire again. He offered it but it was her choice if she would drink it or not. He wouldn’t force her to heal herself. If she wanted to walk around with his brand on her that was her call. “Sometimes.” He shrugged. “I get bored easily and people make things really easy for me.” At least he was being honest. “A lot of the stuff I did was really for revenge and getting what I wanted but here? I don’t know. Different time and place and things could always be worse.”

He finally took a seat on the stool beside her and snagged a fry of hers. “You know, it’s your spunk and stubbornness that really gets you in trouble.” He eyed her. “If you were like, boring? I would have totally left you alone. Not saying that Kol would but I would have.” He popped the fry into his mouth. “But that’s not how you’re made. It’s a good thing.”

The glass of blood sat there as she tried to decide how much trouble she would be in if she drank the contents. The brand would vanish, her neck would heal, and her roommates would notice. Unless she like hid in her room for days, but Claire was pretty sure they’d notice the lack of scars.

”This is why we don’t make deals like this, Claire!”

She pursed her lips together as she stared at the blood as if it was going to start talking to her. “Maybe you need a hobby, like knitting.” Claire snorted faintly at the suggestion and her mind was already picturing Kai plunging the knitting needles into some poor person. Yeah, a not good hobby for him. What did it say about her that her mind went to that first? She was losing it. “I’d say you could be different here, but I’m not that stupid. I’m pretty sure you are going to do whatever you want here, no matter what anyone says.”

A little glare appeared on her face when he ate some of her food. Rude. That glare kind of wavered when the words sank in. Vampire were attracted to her because of her stubbornness and spunk. Those weren’t traits she could just turn off! Even when she tried hard not to be stubborn, well, it just kind of happened. She had been so used of being on her own that it was just natural at this point. Sure, she was getting a little better at including her friends into things, but she still tried to do nearly everything on her own.

“I think your definition and my definition of a good thing are vastly different,” she remarked as she picked up the glass of blood. Claire held it up and kind of looked at the light through it. “I say I am almost eighteen to get people to take me seriously, I take more college classes than I really should, and I put myself in danger without thinking about how my friends will feel. I’d say that isn’t a very good thing.”

Why not add one more stupid decision to her list?

She saluted him and knocked the glass of blood back. It invaded her senses and she coughed hard, nearly dropping the glass. Gross, just as gross as the first time. A strange tingling started on her arm and she couldn’t help watching the letters start to fade as they healed up. Claire sat there, blood dripping out of the corner of her mouth, and just stared at her arm like it was going to solve all her problems.

“They are going to kill me,” she whispered.

“A hobby isn’t going to cure me.” He told her as if he really needed to be cured. Kai had spent 18 years in isolation. His father deprived him of his family’s love. His mother had left him alone. His siblings had normal lives and he, was just fucked over in the end. Everyone left him. Everyone hated him. Part of him loved that now. They had pushed him over the edge of no return. “I get distracted easily anyway, so.”

He watched as she threw back the glass of his blood and arched a brow. “Maybe it is.” He told her and then paused. “Or maybe you’re friends need to stop treating you like you’re five.” And as if a lightbulb went off in his head he reached into the bag and pulled out a small blue grumpy bear care bear with a grin. “I thought this was fitting.” He told her as he planted the stuffed bear in front of her.

His eyes drifted down to her arm and he almost felt bad that it wouldn’t be there anymore. But then he remembered that he could do it all over again if he really wanted to and his face lit up again. He chuckled darkly and cocked his head. “For which part? The fact that you drank my blood to heal yourself. The fact that my blood is now in your system again, or the fact that you’re sitting in the kitchen eating burgers with the psycho they think will kill you?”

Kai didn’t really care about the answer. Claire was a big girl. She could make her own decisions but really who could stop Kai from doing whatever it was that he wanted? Kai would literally kill anyone who got in his way. This was the safest he had been in awhile.

For someone who thought people should stop treating her like she was five, well, he sure was treating her that way. Claire stared at the grumpy care bear in surprise before giving Kai a look like he was the dumbest person alive. What was she supposed to do with a teddy bear? Growing up she had never watched that cartoon, or really any cartoons, and it was lost on her. Some girls grew up with pink and princesses, she had grown up with beakers and books. God, Claire hadn’t even gotten to go to prom because she was so young when she graduated high school. Not like she had ever wanted to and no one would have asked her. She was a freak.

“....thanks, I think?”

She poked the bear with a finger and had no idea how to react. “And to answer your question. All of the above.”

Claire was not looking forward to explaining what had happened in the apartment to her roommates. She knew talking with Kai was stupid, but he had just blown into the apartment on his own. Telling him to get out wouldn’t work because he’d just stop her, plus it would piss him off. Making him angry tended to end in pain so she was walking a thin line now. She was on a tightrope and trying not to fall into the tank of sharks below.

Kai could flip at any moment so she was trying hard to treat him like she treated her friends. Keep him talking, actually listen, and know where her exits were.

“Hey,” she patted the bear on the head as she glanced at Kai. “What happens when you get bored of me? Are you just going to kill me?” She couldn’t help the question that left her mouth. Part of her really wanted to know and another part was just the curious part. She always wanted all the facts.

The bear was more for Kai’s amusement than hers. He knee how she would take it and when she did as he expected he just smirked in return. He was an asshole. “Carebear. Clairebear.” He lifted his hands up and down like he was weighing something as he eyed her and then his face fell. “It’s the grumpy one, like your twin or something.” He didn’t care what she did with it, it was just amusing to him.

Claire had played her cards right here today. Explaining things to her roommates was going to be another shit storm for her but really if they were smart they would have just left her alone about it all. Kai had no family. He had killed his. He liked Claire. She reminded him of a stubborn little sister. Maybe Jo. He wouldn’t exactly say it. And he knew that if he saw her frustrated because of Shane or Michael one of them would pay.

Talk about being adopted into a family you didn’t want, Claire.

He shrugged at her question. “That’s what everyone expects, right?” He asked as he moved around the counter and started to clean up the wrappers from their lunch. “You know, I killed my roommate. Well, Kol fed him his blood and then I killed him. Maybe I’ll just turn you.” He was saying it as if it was the sanest thing in the world. And for him maybe it was. “Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. At least your roomies wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore.”

“You’re soooo funny,” she rolled her eyes at him. Claire was not a Grumpy Carebear. She’d probably just end up putting the stupid bear on the back of her bookshelf and forget about it. Without thinking she squished the bear’s belly with her fingers as she waited for Kai to answer her question.

Her head wiped up fast and she stared at him. “You killed your roommate? What the Hell, Kai? Did he piss you off or something?” She had no idea who his roommate was, but that was pretty intense. It was the next thing out of his mouth that had her actually staring at him like he had grown six extra heads or something.

“....turn me?”

That was the last thing in the world Claire wanted. She didn’t want to be stuck at sixteen forever! People already didn't’ take her seriously and often asked if she was like thirteen. To be stuck with a baby face for eternity sounded awful, plus there was the whole having to drink blood to live. “They’d hate me. You don’t understand, vampires have destroyed their lives. They’ve lived in Morganville their whole lives, I’ve only lived there like...a month. You can’t, Kai. It would break them.”

There was actually faint hint of panic in her tone. There went Claire worrying more about others than herself again.

“I know, right?” Kai grinned a full mouth of teeth. He really was sometimes. Of course he knew she was being sarcastic but he let that one slide on purpose. He even chuckled at the fact that she was mindlessly playing with the bear in her hands.

“What? No.” He answered with a shake of his head. “I actually like my roommate.” He admitted. “He had some trouble so we fixed it. I mean it’s not like he stood dead or anything now he’s just..better.” Stronger, faster. Way more lethal. Kai seriously thought they had done Harry a favor when they turned him. The kid would get the hang of things soon enough.

Kai actually had to stop and stare at Claire. Was she fucking serious right now? He was standing there talking about turning her and all she could do was tell him how it would affect her friends. Was she really that selfless? “Are you listening to yourself?”

He finally placed both hands against the counter and leaned in closer, “I’m over here saying that I’m going to turn you and instead of like telling me all the reasons you don’t want to turn you’re giving me reasons why I shouldn’t turn you for them!” He made a face, “You do realize it was easy as fuck to get you to agree to let me feed from you because of them, right? Maybe you should start worrying more about you.”

“You fixed his trouble by killing him.” Claire felt like she was just repeating what he said, but she was dumbfounded. “You turned him into a vampire! Did he even ask?” It hadn’t taken long for it to click in her head and once it did she couldn’t help how her heart beat just a little bit faster. Kai clearly didn’t care about people’s lives if he just went around turning them.

She had made such a big mistake.

Okay, she may have jumped slightly on her stool when he leaned in close. Her eyes widened in fear and she tightened her grip on the bear. What was she supposed to say? Before moving to the Glass House she had one friend, but the two of them had drifted apart as Claire jumped through the grades. Everyone in the Glass House had just accepted her for all her quirks and it mattered to her what they thought.

“What am I supposed to say? Grovel, beg? Let you know who I have all these plans for my life?” She slammed a hand down on the counter in anger as everything she had been holding back kind of welled up. “I’ve been bullied my whole life so excuse me if I am trying to protect people who matter to me! I didn’t ask for any of this to happen to me, Kai, but I am smart enough to know the world isn’t fair. No one is going to just swoop in and save me, I have to work for it. I will work to protect the people I care about as well.”

It smarted to hear him say things she had heard out of her roommate’s mouths.

“I don’t want to die. I want to learn to drive, fall in love, travel to new places, and see my next few birthdays. It be super if I actually made it to twenty one so I can drink beer legally, but I will accept seventeen at this point. Is that all the stuff I am supposed to say?”

“No, he didn’t ask. But he didn’t need to.” Kol and Kai swore they did the right thing by Harry and they were going to stick to that. Besides, they really couldn’t take it back now could they? Was he supposed to say sorry? He wasn’t. He lived by his choices and threw the guilt out the fucking window.

Kai’s eyes narrowed when she slammed her hand down and that smirk of his grew dark and sinister. “Well there you are.” He told her. “Finally not sulking and trying to take some control of your life.” Kai had watched the apartment and knew that Claire wasn’t leaving it. He didn’t see the real point considering he could come and go any time that he liked but she had given into their will and played the role of being grounded.

“You don’t need anyone to save you. Save yourself. But not at the other’s expense. For you.” Kai tilted his head and looked her over as he chuckled softly. He had struck a nerve and he was enjoying the outcome. Claire had a fire inside of her and if pushed too far she would let it free. It was nice to see.

“I finally struck a nerve, huh?” He teased as he lifted both brows in her direction. “Alright fine. Maybe I won’t turn you. I’m pretty sure I’ll figure out other ways of amusement. My imagination is pretty chaotic. We’ll see where it goes.”

Claire had accepted the grounding because she didn’t want to upset her friends more. There was nothing wrong with trying to keep the peace in the apartment. She had to live there and she did care what her friends thought.

The reaction she got was like a bucket of cold water in the face. She was confused and the look on her face clearly said that. Claire wanted to yell at him, but it was like he was enjoying her lashing out. That was unnerving! It was also kind of weird to hear advice like that coming from his mouth. It was almost like he cared, which couldn’t be right. Kai was a psycho, why would he care whether or not Claire stood up for herself?

“...what?” The question came out confused because she was honestly feeling that way. “Why do you care if I save myself? I mean no offense, but I was under the impression you kind of wanted to make my life Hell.”

She couldn’t figure Kai out. It was hard to fight an enemy when she couldn’t figure out how they ticked. She focused on his remark about finding other ways to amuse himself. Shit, had she just thrown herself straight into the fire now? Claire didn’t want to be a vampire, but she also didn’t want to be tortured. She had agreed to being a walking blood bank in order to save her friends and she knew she’d fall into that trap again if Kai pushed. He knew her weakness.

“In the end you are just going to do what you want,” she pointed out. Her friends were trying to find a way to get her out of the deal, but she wasn’t sure they’d be fast enough. Kai’s mood seemed to change faster than Monica changed nail polish colors.

“I did. Well, I kind of do.” He answered but for a moment that amusement was gone from his face as he watched her. Kai was a complicated person. And then again he wasn’t. He did what he wanted and didn’t care about the consequences. But there was a certain point where he wasn’t exactly a monster. Kai rarely showed that so in a sense Claire was lucky.

“I care because I’m not the only monster out there.” He told her as a way of warning. “And maybe if I push you enough you’ll actually have a chance here.” The words left his mouth and then he realized what he had said and he shook his head.
“You’re right. I will. It’s best you don’t know what that will be.” He finally told her as he trashed the garbage from the counter and turned to face her. “In a way I kind of like you. You remind me of someone. But you’re not going to remember that part.”

And before Claire could figure out what he was saying Kai was in front of her and forcing her to look up at him. His eyes locked on her as he compelled her. “I came , you listened to my story and I fed from you and then I healed you. Forget the last bit of this conversation.” Kai didn’t want to leave her with knowing that he cared and he wouldn’t admit it again. He reached out and checked her arm making sure the name was completely gone. “You can go back to sulking now. Hey, maybe the boys will actually let you leave the apartment soon.” He popped one last french fry in his mouth and winked as he moved around her and headed for the door.