Bonnie didn't want to be so close to Kai's room but she found the one next door to be her new bedroom away from bedroom; the place where she could fall asleep comfortably and not wake up in a disoriented daze not knowing where she was. The main problem with the room is that the door didn't come with a lock and the guy who's having random outbursts was on the other side.

"I'm not letting you in," she said sitting down with her back pressed against the door, refusing to make it easy if he did try and walk in.

"I just want to talk to you for a minute."

"Nope," she chirped, "maybe another day."

"Bonnie please, I don't... know what happened. I saw-"he hesitated. "You know this would be a lot easier to do if I wasn't talking to an inanimate object.

"Too bad," she huffed.

She heard him sigh; a small thud of what was most likely his forehead leaning on the door.

"My head felt like it was exploding with aneurisms, and I couldn't see, let alone think, and when I turned back I saw my dad. And then he was standing five feet away, staring me down with his arms raised and the pain wouldn't stop. I was just... trying to stop him."

She reached up to her throat, her trembling breath giving away how shaky she really was. Her mind tried to process how the person who just put his hands on her so violently could be the same person who she spent half the night in the cave with. How his eyes that she's gotten used to seeing in shades of fire from simmering to scorching with hunger could change to ice cold; distant and cynical. She felt a shiver rack her body and pulled her knees up.

He tapped his fingers lightly against the wood.

"Open the door."

She squeezed her eyes shut, resting her cheek against her knees playing out flashes of what just happened. She shook her head and felt his hands trailing across her body and between her legs, letting out a groan as she squeezed her eyes tighter.

Her memory went back farther, pausing on a memory of her discussion with Joshua Parker about his intentions against his son.

"I can weaken him from the inside; nightmares and voices in his head, hallucinations and outbursts to break him down physically."

She bounced her forehead off of her knee a few times at her carelessness; being warned about what was coming but doing nothing about it because she thought she would have more time. What's worse, she was so wrapped up in her own worries she never informed Kai of his father's threats.

"You still there?" she mumbled.

"Yes."

"Your dad said something to me before, I forgot to tell you with what's recently been going on but his plan for you... it starts by breaking you down. Nightmares, voices in your head, and... hallucinations."

"What else did he say?" his tone sounded more jaded.

She tried to run through their conversation as best she could.

"That he had a plan, and needed a little more time to complete the spell. He was trying to weaken you mentally with nightmares and hallucinations so he could get to you physically. He said you were too dangerous, and that if I tried anything to help you then there's a chance neither of us would make it out of here."

"Fantastic," he grumbled. "Anything else you feel like sharing?"

"Yeah, you just looked scary as hell and not making me feel too great about my attempt to bring you back to Mystic Falls." Her adrenaline and prickling sense of fear had her thoughts scattered.

"I didn't mean to do that, I didn't know it was you," he sighed. "I'll leave you alone for the night."

She heard him linger before stepping away and walking into Damon's room. She left out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and tried to reign in her thoughts from spiraling into a frenzy.

Bonnie wasn't sure what she was going to do about the situation with Kai, but for now him being two doors away sounded pretty good to her.

--x-x-x-x-x--

Bonnie thought she was going to have to spend the day trying to avoid bumping into Kai but he seemed to be doing a well enough job for the both of them. She spent most of the day bouncing between the living room and her garden outside but she never heard his door open.

By the time the stars came out she found herself in the kitchen grabbing random things like saltines and poptarts and stopping for a water before heading to his room.

She didn't bother knocking, turning the handle and pushing it open with her foot hearing the shower running around the corner. She moved towards the bed to put the food on the end table and glanced over her shoulder into the bathroom - almost tripping over her feet.

The shower curtain had been thrown to the side and Kai stood with his back to her; water cascading over his head and down his back. His arms stretched straight out and rested against the tiles as his head hung low. His back wasn't bulging with muscles but was certainly defined; broad shoulders tracing down to a lean lower back and what may have been the nicest ass she's ever seen.

She stared a minute longer, long enough for her feel like she went into a momentary daze and shot her head back in the opposite direction. Her eyes tried to adjust as it took in an entirely different sight - an absolute mess. The usually made bed had the sheets and comforter thrown about like Kai had been rolling around on it.

She put down the food on the end table, picking up the clock and lamp that had been knocked over and glancing around the rest of the room. Little things were scattered about, seemingly harmless but she knows Kai can be a bit of a neat freak and her eyes landed on the small dresser.

"Jesus," she mumbled as she stood, the mirror smashed on impact from something being thrown at the middle of it.

She was halfway across the room to it when Kai stepped out of the bathroom in a towel.

"You look-"she let slip, her mouth drabbling out words that she hadn't fully processed.

His stare was icy, his posture ridged, and his overall look giving off a sense of danger. She fought the urge to back away as he walked to the other dresser and grabbed a pair of pants, slamming it shut before opening the top drawer for a pair of boxers.

"You can't be here right now." He said still facing the dresser.

She looked at him and the open door off to his left, debating taking his word and running out without a second thought. She leaned forward to move but her feet stayed planted.

"What happened to the mirror?"

"It broke."

He turned to her and she felt the anxiety radiating off of him.

"You have to go."

"Why?" she asked stubbornly.

"Because I don't want you to."

"Well - wait, what?"

She glanced at the hand gripping his clothes and his tense stance; giving her the impression he was fighting the urge to walk towards her the same way she was fighting it to back away.

He gritted his teeth, trying to keep everything bottled up tight with no sudden movements like he could burst at any second.

"Say something!"

"I can't be around you because all I'm thinking about is being with you and it's getting mixed into all kinds of other shit my dad's filling my head with," he rushed out.

She tried to ask what he was seeing or hearing but the question got caught in her throat.

"You're afraid to be alone with me?" she asked baffled.

"I don't know what I'll do." His dark intent behind the sentence had her believing him.

She took a step towards the door, which happened to be in the same direction as him and watched his torso lean forward while the rest stayed in place. She took a breath and took quick steps in his direction, staying closer to the left in the open area of the room than where he was standing and stood in the doorway.

"I'll... see you tomorrow?"

He nodded without looking back at her and walked back into the bathroom.

She let out a huff of breath and leaned against the doorframe, her inner feelings fighting a war with her subconscious and neither were too fond of what her heart had to say. She put her hand over her stomach, feeling queasy at her racing thoughts and headed back downstairs.

--x-x-x-x-x-

A drawer slamming shut in the kitchen woke her from her spot on the couch wrapped up in a blanket. She opened her eyes still lying on the pillow and watched Kai walk past her and towards the fireplace. She inhaled sharply when she noticed the knife in his right hand and leaned up to look at him clearer.

He stopped in front of the fireplace, both hands at his side and started mumbling something. Her eyebrows crinkled and she slowly stood trying to get closer to hear what he was saying. She stepped around the now broken coffee table and inched her way towards him, the mumbling sounding like a verse of Latin.

She stopped when the flames started to rise with force, her train of thought stuttering to a halt as she tried to process how Kai was using magic before her eyes. Red caught her eye-line and she looked at the mark heating up against his wrist, lifting it and the knife in front of him and slicing the four lines on the symbol.

"Kai!" she ran to him and tried snatching the knife out of his hand but he had already finished, lifting his arm out palm down towards the fire.

"What are you doing?!"

His other arm held her back as a few drops of blood fell into the fire, his symbol flashing a charred black before sizzling to his skin-tone.

He dropped both arms and she reached for his wrist, running her thumb over the symbol and feeling heat underneath.

"Kai... what did you just do?"

She looked up to his calm smile and her gut told her something was wrong.

"Go back to sleep, it's almost over."

She stared into his eyes and a vacancy looked back at her. Her heartbeat felt like it was in her throat as she tried to swallow past it.

He picked up her hand that was holding his wrist and put it at her side, walking past her and out the door without another word.

She followed him to the entrance and watched him walk down the hall, slow and somewhat sluggish and not at all with the usual pep in his step. Walking back over to the fire she tried to see where the blood had fallen or for any other drastic changes but nothing stuck out.

Rubbing the back of her head in frustration she walked over to the couch, plopping down and turning on the TV; sleeping now apparently out of the question.

Five hours and three movies later, she found herself in the same position trapped in the same headspace.

What in the world is going on right now?

She had spent at least forty minutes walking the halls from the living room to where Kai was; resting her head against the door and walking back to the couch before huffing out another failed attempt. All the while her thoughts spiraled from wondering how she ended up here, in this predicament, with this person.

When she first met Kai she was intrigued and felt an instant pull between the two of them, him never letting up on it the entire time they've known each other. The more she pushed away the harder he fought to get closer with unguarded strategic moves that had her lowering the walls that kept him out.

She thinks back to the kid who she stabbed with a pen in a sheer panic to escape from and shudders to process how it is the same person she spends every day with. The guy that she eats her meals with, makes fun of movies to, fills hours of endless conversation with; the one she's come to expect to be in her day to day life.

The only thing that could make this new found dilemma more problematic is the man himself. She isn't sure if she would call it ironic or a twisted sense of karma that the moment she lets Kai in - so to speak - he pushes away. It feels like a tug-of-war between the two and one is always trying to pull the other closer; or flee in the opposite direction. How she ended up as the former is still a mystery among many.

What has kept her a safe hundred foot distance away is the same feeling she got when she looked into his cold angry stare and heard his idle warning - 'I don't know what I'll do.'

If Kai didn't trust his own intent and actions then there was no chance Bonnie was going to test it out. The one and only thing that had her wanting to see him and talk at all was to get the reason behind what she saw him doing in the middle of the night.

She heard a bang and crash on the floor above her and knew exactly where it was coming from. She walked to the end of the hall and stood on the first step, listening for any other chance of sounds. His loud yell was followed by another shatter and she tiptoed up the stairs and down the hallway hovering outside of the door.

"Stop it - stop it -"she heard him mumbling in an angry tone like he was arguing with somebody.

She cracked the door open and saw him holding onto his head with his back to her, anxiously moving around in place before picking up the closest thing to him and whipping it at the wall in front of him.

"Leave me alone," he gritted. "I said-"he spun around and Bonnie froze when he locked in on her, moving towards her before she could step back and pulling her in by her upper arms.

He clenched his teeth as his eyes searched her face frantically, shaking his head then gripping her tighter and pushing her back next to the doorframe.

"It's me, it's Bonnie - I'm not a hallucination. Hey," she said in a calm voice, placing her shaking hands against his chest and feeling his rapid heartbeat.

She tried to hold onto her strength over her sense of fear and kept his gaze until she saw a shift in his eyes and his demeanor changed. He moved his hands up her arms until they landed on either side of her head and leaned against them.

"Run."

It was barely a whisper, his breathing fast as his head hung for a beat. She stayed frozen in shock, her feet halfway down the hall like her mind expected her to be. Her hands were still on his chest and slowly started to grip the fabric in her fists.

"GO!"

His open fist slammed against the wall next to her head and she ducked under his arm before stumbling out the door.