CHAPTER SIXTY SIX
[66]
song: west coast by missio

"COME ON." Daisy nodded firmly, but Bonnie was already rushing back towards the grocery store.

"Who are you?!" Bonnie asked as she ran, glancing to the side towards Daisy as she kept up with her.

"I'm Daisy." She responded, breathing heavily as she was not prepared to run this fast.

Bonnie came to a halt in the parking lot as she caught glance of what was happening inside, Daisy stopping shortly behind her. "What the hell..." Bonnie mutters, as they watched Kai wipe out an entire shelf of alcohol with an umbrella, crashing it all on Damon.

"He's gonna kill him!" Daisy shouted, picking the pace back up again and running inside, Bonnie behind her.

The doors automatically open for them and they rush inside, charging towards the aisle where the action took place. Kai had snapped the umbrella in half, and was about to plunge it into Damon's chest, who was laying on the floor, chemical burns of some sort all over his skin.

Daisy and Bonnie both came to a quick half at the end of the aisle. "Stay away from him." Bonnie said angrily.

Kai lifts his gaze up to her, giving Daisy a quick glance before returning his attention to Bonnie. Damon weakly looked up to see what was happening.

"The useless one is here, thank God." Kai sighs. "I've watched you try to do magic for months now. What are you gonna do, fail at me? It's embarrassing." He says. Daisy watches Bonnie as Kai continues, her eyes angrily fixated on him as she began to tremble with rage. "I'm embarrassed for you."

Daisy's heart was racing, knowing that these moments could make or break whether or not they had a chance to get home. Kai once again exchanged knowing glances with Daisy, before bringing the snapped in half wooden umbrella back up, and in the position to plunge it down and kill Damon. She unknowingly held her breath, bracing for impact, or whatever else was about to happen.

Suddenly, a candle that was on a shelf ready to be sold lit on fire. Daisy felt her heart drop, in excitement and in fear. She turned to Bonnie, who's eyes were glued on the candle with a smile and then rose back up to meet Damon's.

"Uh-oh." Kai muttered.

"Run." Bonnie spoke, Damon smirked and before Daisy could even process it, he was gone in a flash. Daisy spun around quickly as she felt a breeze rush past her, confused as to how he had run off so quickly. Bonnie returned her focus to Kai. "Phesmatos incendia." She said, pleased with herself.

Heat rose from the ground, and as Daisy turned back around to find the source, a ring of fire spread across the floor, around Kai.

She tried not to let any panic show on her face as Kai dropped the umbrella, holding his hands out in reassurance. "Okay, okay." He pleaded.

"Giving up so soon?" Bonnie narrowed her eyebrows at him. "I'm embarrassed for you."

The heat was becoming unbearable, and she couldn't even imagine what Kai was feeling as he was the one standing so close to it. She turned to Bonnie, beginning to open her mouth and suggest they just knock him out or something, but Damon had beat her to it.

A loud thud redirected her attention back to Kai, as he was flung out of the ring of fire and into the wall, Daisy brought her hand to her mouth to hide the gasp she was about to let out. Damon stood where Kai previously was, that same umbrella he was just holding in his hands. "Sorry I called you the most annoying person in the world." Damon sighed, fire crackling all around them. "Hadn't met him yet."

The flames immediately disappeared, the heat vanishing with them. Daisy turned to Kai who was fully knocked out on the ground, her mind racing with every possibility that would follow. They really hadn't planned this far out, and now it was up to her.

Bonnie wiped the sweat off her forehead, "Are you okay?" She asked Damon, who's eyes were confusedly fixated on Daisy.

"Fine." Damon responded, then gestures towards Daisy. "Is she?"

Bonnie turned to face Daisy, as she stood there, breathing heavily and not sure what to say. "I'm good." She nodded quickly. "I'm okay."

"Great." Damon nodded along with her. "So who are you?" He looked to Bonnie like she would have the answer, but she was just as confused as him.

Daisy glanced back and fourth at the both of them. "Daisy." She said. "Hendrix."

Bonnie turned to Damon. "She found me outside. She was the reason I came back— she knew you were in trouble." Bonnie explained, Damon continued to eye Daisy suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, I should've warned you both sooner." Daisy began. "But he's been..." she turned to look at Kai on the ground. "He's been after me and I couldn't get a chance."

Bonnie narrowed her eyebrows. "After you?" She questioned.

Daisy swallowed, looking back up to face them. "I told you he was crazy."

"Yeah, I picked up on that." Damon scoffed. "So what now?" He looks up at Bonnie, and then to Daisy.

"We can't just leave him here." Daisy says. "When he wakes up he'll just come for you again."

Damon nods, stepping over the broken glass towards Kai. "We'll take him back to my place." He says. "Tie him up and prod him for answers."

—

"Oh my god." Bonnie says, sitting down on the couch besides Daisy and handing her a cup of warm coffee. "Twenty two years?" She looked at her, a disheartening look on her face.

Daisy nods, accepting the mug from her. "I didn't even realize it'd been that long. But, I guess so, yeah." She shrugs lightly.

Bonnie looks up at Damon, his arms were crossed as he stared down at Kai, who was bound to a chair in the middle of the living room the sat at. Daisy tried not to let her eyes falter to Kai too much, and to the fire poker Damon held in hand, ready for when Kai wakes up.

Daisy could tell that Bonnie looked defeated, especially after hearing how long Daisy had been here. Her eyes stayed glued to the ground, processing Daisy's words.

Damon brought the firepower up and pointed it at Kai. "And you knew him before all this?" He questioned, as he then grabbed the half eaten bag of pork rinds off the table.

Daisy swallows, then nods. "Yes. He was sent here in 1994, four years after me."

Bonnie turns to Daisy with soft, concerned eyes. "And it's just been you two... this whole time?"

Daisy shook her head slightly. "I wish." She scoffed, then looked back up to meet Bonnie's eyes. "The coven that sent me here uses this realm as a place to dispose of their enemies." She shrugged a little bit. "So, every once in a while I'd bump into the wrong crowd. But I've been laying low for a long time."

"Why would my grams put us here?" Bonnie narrows her eyebrows, speaking her thoughts out loud.

Daisy opened her mouth to continue, but stopped when she heard a sharp inhale of breath come from Kai. Everyone turned to look at him as he woke up.

His eyes slowly adjust around the dim room, that was only lit by the fireplace he sat near. He glances at Daisy, his eyes dark and almost unnerving.

"You're awake. Good." Damon begins, as Kai turns to meet him. "Now for the Q and A portion of the evening."

"Let me guess." Kai began. "Answer right, I get a pork rind. Wrong, I get the poker."

"What?" Damon scoffs, looking at the bag in his hands. "No no no, these are for me." He hides them behind his back as he spoke sarcastically. He then points the poker at Kai's chest, tapping him with it. Daisy felt her breath hitch. "You just get the poker."

Kai glances at it then back up to Damon. "Yeah, you don't have to do that."

"No?" Damon questions, tapping him with the fire poker again.

"We're on the same team." Kai responds.

"Really?" Bonnie stands up from the couch and walks over to him. "Do you always try to kill your teammates?"

Kai raises his eyebrows at the two of them as he speaks. "The important thing is that you have your magic back. It worked."
He begins, and as Bonnie and Damon exchange confused glances he continues. "What? You really didn't think I'd kill Damon, did you?" He laughs. "I knew Bonnie would show up. She always comes back. All thirteen times." He says. "And I knew with the right motivation she'd be able to access her magic. Although, I did get a little worried with all of your bickering that- Damon's life wouldn't be of enough motivation. But, turns out it was!" He shrugs happily. "I guess that's just how you two show your love."

"So, you did all that, just so I could get my magic back?" Bonnie questions.

"Of course I did." Kai says. "Because your magic is the key to getting the hell out of here."

"What?" Bonnie says, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yup." He nods. "Bennett magic. Works wonders, apparently."

Damon turns around from being focused on Kai to look at Daisy who was still sat on the couch watching him. She looks at him and shrugs and he turns back around, a suspicious look on his face.

As Bonnie looked just as confused as before, Kai continued. "The only way we can all get home is if a Bennett witch does the spell." Kai says. "Lucky for me, I now have a Bennett witch on my team. Aaand even luckier for you, I know the spell."

"Then what's the spell?" Bonnie asks.

Kai inhales sharply, teetering his head from side to side before he spoke. "Oh, I'm not an idiot, Bonnie." He says. "I know how you work." He nods towards Damon. "And him. I'll tell you the spell once I can assure that you won't just up and leave me here." He smiles proudly. "And, it's not that easy. We'll need more than a spell."

Bonnie and Damon exchange knowing glances. "And what else will we need?" Bonnie asks, growing annoyed.

Kai took a breath before he began. "Can opener, shower drain, grinding wheel, pocket knife, volume O of the encyclopedia—" he quickly began to list everything off.

"Okay, okay. We get it." Bonnie cuts him off. She slowly turns to face Daisy, and Kai followed her gaze straight to her as she sat on the couch, unsure when to butt into the conversation.

Kai's eyes spoke so many words as his gaze lingered on her. She knew it was all a front but still, she grew nervous.

Bonnie turned back to face him. "I have a little suspicion that the last thing we should do, is trust you." She says.

"What'd she tell you?" Kai asks, not lifting his gaze off of Daisy once.

Daisy felt her breath hitch again, and she her eyes began to avoid his. She had no idea where this sudden uneasy feeling was coming from. He was too good at this.

Damon stepped in front of Kai, blocking his view of Daisy. Kai sighed heavily as he returned his eyes to Damon. "Doesn't matter what she told us." Damon shrugs. "I see crazy from a mile away." He pushes Kai's shoulder back with the fire poker as he spoke.

Kai shrugs. "I don't think it's in the cards for you both to pick and choose your way home." He began. "There's one person in this room that knows the spell. And it's not you, you, or her." He gestures past them.

Bonnie inhales deeply, weighing her options. She crosses her arms as Damon walks over to her, and they whisper a few things amongst each other.

Daisy could feel Kai's gaze on her and she couldn't help the nerves that rapidly increased. As Damon was now out of the way of blocking their view, they were now fully facing each other.

His eyes burned into hers and she looked at him with a knowing look. "Stop." She mouthed, trying not to smile as he knew she was making her nervous.

"What?" He mouthed back, shrugging innocently.

She swallowed harshly and returned her attention to Damon and Bonnie as they withdrew from their hushed conversation. "Fine." Bonnie says. "We'll get everything you need for the spell in the morning. Until then, you're staying here."

"Not my first choice of sleeping position, but I think I'll manage." Kai stretches a bit, showing his discomfort as he was still bound to the chair. He then nods towards Daisy, "However I do feel I'm being treated quite unfairly." He begins, "I don't see her duct taped to a chair?"

Daisy tries not to look too annoyed by his comments when she knew he was doing this on purpose.

"She didn't try to kill me two hours ago." Damon says. "You did."

Kai nods in agreement. "You got me there."

Bonnie shakes her head, annoyed and frustrated. "Come on." She says, beginning to walk out of the living room. "We'll figure this out in the morning."

Damon points the fire poker at Kai one last time before he walks out. Daisy rises from the couch, feeling inevitably awkward. "I—" she begins, glancing at Kai and back to them. "I'll be next door or something." She says.

Bonnie shook her head, "There's a ton of empty rooms in this house. You can stay here if you want." She suggests. Damon looks at Bonnie like she was crazy, but Bonnie just sent him a stern look in response.

She really was just planning on spending the night next door, but she also didn't feel comfortable leaving Kai bound to a chair and alone here all night.

"Okay," she smiled awkwardly. "Thanks."

Bonnie returned the smile, before she not-so-subtly nudged Damon. He sighed deeply. "There's a bedroom down the hall you can use." He says, gesturing towards his left.

"You know I might be in a better mood tomorrow if I could also sleep in a bed." Kai suggested, everyone turned to look at him as he spoke but no one responded. "O-kay."

"Thank you." Daisy nodded, as she turned back to Damon and Bonnie as they lingered at the bottom of the stairs. "Good night."

Bonnie smiled a bit, "Good night."

As Daisy turned and walked down the hall that Damon had previously directed her towards, she heard them whisper amongst themselves as they head upstairs for bed. "Are you crazy?" Damon whispers, but that's all Daisy could pick up on before they were fully upstairs.

She opened the bedroom door with a creak, before shutting it probably louder than was necessary, only to alert Bonnie and Damon she was in the bedroom, and not still in the hallway about to return to Kai.

She looked around before slowly and quietly walking back down the hallway towards the light of the fire that still lingered in the fireplace.

Daisy stood at the edge of the wall and peaked around the corner to see Kai, his head leaned back against the top of the chair he was bound to, his eyes closed. She felt herself begin to smile at the sight but it immediately fell when he spoke.

"You're enjoying this way too much." Kai spoke quietly.

Daisy almost jumped, not sure how he had any clue she was standing there. She fully came around the corner, quietly stepping back into the living room and towards him. "I wonder why." She whispers, as he lifts his head back up off the chair to watch her.

He tilts his head to the side. "You're gonna get us caught." He says.

She shakes her head, resting her hands on each arm rest of the chair he sat in and leaned towards him. He inhaled deeply, leaning back and stretching his neck as she watched him. "What?" Daisy questions, hiding her smirk.

Kai clenches his jaw before he turns back to face her. "You know what you're doing." He says.

She shrugs innocently. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

He lets out another deep breath as she leaned closer, he quickly changes the topic. "It's working so far." He says.

She narrows her eyes. "What is?"

"My plan." Kai responds.

"Our plan." Daisy corrects.

He shakes his head. "...That I came up with."

She tilts her head to the side as she speaks. "Mm and I'm the one doing the dirty work so...?"

"Are you the one bound to a chair right now?" He questions.

She shrugs. "Good point."

The corners of Kai's lips slowly rise into a smirk as he watches her lean on the chair. The way she stood above him made her think she was the one in charge right now, but he knew the truth just as much as her.

He tilts his head a bit. "I made you nervous earlier." He said in a hushed tone.

Daisy's eyes quickly faltered back towards him and he smirked. She shook her head. "No you didn't."

He raised his eyebrows at her, before he glances back down at the duct tape that bound his wrists to the arms of the chair she leaned on. "Why don't you take these off?" He suggests.

Daisy leans up, glancing at the tape before shaking her head again. "Hm." She let out. "Why?"

She could see Kai was getting frustrated, and it was amusing. He stretched his neck, clenching his jaw as he readjusted in the chair.

When he didn't answer, Daisy spoke again. "Why?" She asked, quieter this time as she leaned closer towards him.

He met her eyes, tilting his chin up towards her. Doing anything he could to be closer. "Because I want to touch you." He spoke quietly.

Daisy's breath hitched, and she tried hard not to let it show on her face, but it was impossible when he was inches away from her. His lips subtly twitched into a smirk as he continued to tilt his head up closer to her.

She picked her hands off the arm rest and instead put them against his wrists where the duct tape lie. His eyes trailed down towards them, a satisfied breath escaping his lips as he thought she was about to take them off.

Instead she slowly brought her legs up onto the chair, one on each side of him as she straddled his lap. His eyes met hers, and the smirk on her lips grew as she felt him underneath her.

He didn't even care, he just brought himself closer to her. His lips against her cheek, brushing it lightly— and still that light touch sent shivers through her nerves, shivers that made her whole body tremble. She breathed heavily against him, ghosting his lips as she felt his skin graze against her nose. His insistent mouth parted her lips, taking her by surprise.

He kissed her slowly, taking in every moment he got as she rocked her hips against him. He wanted nothing more than to grab her waist and hold her down, but he couldn't.

She brought a hand up to his cheek, using her thumb to gently tilt his head back. His face was sharp and angular, and his jaw tensed, as though he was worried she'd stop. She arched her back in an effort to bring herself closer to him. He inhaled sharply as she moved against him.

She pulled away for a moment, and he leaned his head back against the chair, breathing heavily. "You're killing me." He whispered with a slight laugh.

Daisy brought her hand back up to his cheek, pulling his face back to face her. His eyes were dark and full of lust, his lips were slightly parted as he awaited her next touch.

The feeling of knowing how much power she held over his head in this moment was indescribable. The way he looked like he'd do anything just to touch her again was enough for her.

She leaned towards him, purposefully rocking her hips against him again. His breath hitched as she did it. Leaning his head back as he readjusted himself in the chair.

She grazed her lips against his cheek, then slowly up to his ear. "I'll see you in the morning." She whispered.

Kai quickly leaned his head back up, in disbelief as to what she said. "Hey—" He says, looking at her with scattered eyes as she climbed off him. "What are you doing?" He whispers.

Daisy plants a quick kiss on his lips before pulling away once again. "We have a big day tomorrow. I think we should both get a good nights sleep." She suggests.

Kai let's an unsatisfied breath escape his lips before he clenches his jaw. "I fully disagree." He says.

Daisy smirks, running a hand through her hair before she spoke again. "Good night." She says, as she turns to leave him.

He shuts his eyes in dissatisfaction. "Daisy." He huffs.

She smirks again as she walks back towards the hall. "Good night." She repeats.

a/n

8/4/21