CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Kai Parker Screwed Us

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     THEY WERE IN a Prison World. An actual Prison World. Ryan wanted to say that he was surprised by the revelation, but after recent events, he found that his usual shock failed to surface. Of course he would find himself banished to a magical, alternate dimension by his sister's evil roommate.

     In all honesty, Ryan should have expected something to go wrong. He and his friends were like the poster children for Murphy's Law. Nothing ever seemed to go their way. Why would the creation of a new Prison World be any different?

     Ryan blew out a breath, lowering himself to sit on the small variation in the floor. His forearms came to rest on his jean clad knees as he listened to Lizzie berate her father about the sudden reappearance of Sebastian. He wanted to know how the centuries old vampire ended up in the twins' murderous uncle's Prison World as much as she did. After all, they believed Sebastian decided to leave the school of his own free will. Turns out, that might not be the case.

     "You lied to me?" Lizzie exclaimed after her father, who moved toward a makeshift bar setup behind one of the two couches in the room. "You told me that Sebastian chose to leave the school."

     "I said he made his choice," Alaric replied, grabbing a liquor bottle filled with a dark liquid. He poured it into a glass and lifted it into his hand. "He refused to respect our rules." He took a drink of his alcoholic beverage.

     Lizzie gaped at her father in disbelief. "So you sent him here?"

     "He had help."

     Ryan looked to where Sebastian claimed a chair a few feet away. The vampire lounged on the cushions with an unbothered expression on his pale features. Ryan's brows creased when an uneasy feeling settled in his stomach. A feeling that told him not to trust the immortal.

     "There was a witch who did the spell," Sebastian revealed to Ryan and the Saltzman twins. "Dark hair, kind eyes. Amazing accent."

     Ryan sighed. He knew exactly who helped Alaric.

     "Emma," Josie answered for the Mikaelson boy.

     Betrayal consumed Lizzie. "How could you, Dad?" she shouted.

     Alaric's flat stare did not falter as he set his drink onto the bar. "You can yell at me after we arm ourselves," he stated, moving around his daughters.

     Josie's confusion deepened. "Dad, why do we need weapons so bad?"

     Alaric stopped and turned back to the twins. "All you need to know is that we're in danger, and we need to find a way out, now."

     Sebastian sped out of his chair to pause inches from the headmaster. "We're in a new world, now. Perhaps you're no longer the one in charge."

     Ryan froze at the vampire's comment, ready to act if necessary. But he did not need to. Alaric's arm shot out, stabbing a wooden stake deep into Sebastian's stomach. Ryan stood to his feet when the vampire collapsed to the ground in a groaning heap. Lizzie gasped from the sight.

     Alaric glared down at the injured vampire and said, "to be clear, my daughters, Ryan, and I are leaving. You're staying behind, and yes – I am in charge."

     Ryan blinked, having never witnessed such a volatile reaction from the man. Alaric was scared of something, and not a lot of things managed to do that to the former vampire hunter. Ryan needed to find out what worried him so much. It could not all be because of Josie and Lizzie's Uncle Kai.

     Ryan did not hesitate to follow Alaric out of the room and through what he came to realize was the old Salvatore Boarding House. The home of Damon and Stefan Salvatore, before it got turned into the Salvatore School. He hurried after him, entering a smaller version of the library. Josie was hot on his heels.

     "What's got you so spooked?" Ryan questioned, spotting the Saltzman man near a table with a duffle bag opened in front of him. "Is this all because of your daughters' Uncle Kai?"

     "It has to be, isn't it?" Josie added, stopping next to her father with wide eyes. "That's why you're so worried?" Alaric did not answer as he stuffed several wooden stakes into his bag. "I know this has to be hard for you, but you said he was desiccated."

     Alaric paused in his actions and turned to the two teenagers. "You don't know what he's capable of. And until I'm positive no one's set him free, I'm not taking any chances."

     Josie's brows furrowed. "Dad, who could've set him free?"

     Ryan nodded, coming to stand at the Saltzman girl's side. His eyes narrowed toward Alaric and asked, "yeah, who's all here?" He began to think his headmaster and former counselor banished more than just Sebastian to the Prison World.

     Alaric leaned forward and snatched a crossbow from underneath the table in front of him. "I'll explain all that later." He set the weapon down, moving over to the closet bookcase. "Right now, I need you two to go to the meadow and get the Sandclock before anyone else finds it." He ripped books down from the shelf to reveal a sword the length of his arm. He pulled it down and turned back to hand it to Josie. "Then I need you guys to come back here and hide. And stay hidden," he said with a pointed look toward the Mikaelson boy.

     Ryan scoffed. "Hide? You can't be serious?" He did not believe that Alaric wanted him to hide. Him. A Mikaelson tribrid. He did not hide.

     Once Josie took the sword from his hand, Alaric whirled on him. "Yes, Ryan, hide. You have no idea what this man has done. You might be a tribrid, but Kai is a Heretic who found a way to come back from the dead." He turned away from them to snatch his duffle bag and crossbow from the table.

     Josie stared down at the sword in her grasp, before she spun to where her father headed for the exit. "Dad," he stopped to look at her, "this is all my fault. If I hadn't done Black Magic in the first place, we'd have never been in this mess."

     Alaric met his daughter's gaze and said, "we all make mistakes." He left the room without another word.

     Ryan released a long breath and shifted his attention to Josie. The girl's expression fell as tears filled her eyes. He hated the fact that she blamed herself. If anyone was to blame for what happened, it was Clarke and Alyssa Chang. "Your dad's right," he voiced, drawing her eyes to him. "You made a mistake, but this isn't your fault."

     Josie shook her head, adjusting the sword held between her palms. "Easy for you to say. None of your mistakes ended with you entire family being in danger."

     Ryan quirked a brow, following her as she headed for the exit. "Uh, Hope and I accidentally created a hurricane that almost wiped New Orleans off the coast," he stated, bringing Josie to stare at him in disbelief. Ryan simply shrugged. "Trust me. I know a thing or two about monumental mistakes."

     Josie pressed her lips together and turned a corner to continue toward the entrance of the home. "And just when I think I have you figured out."

     A grin formed on Ryan's lips as he reached the front door, pulling on the handle to open it wide. "I could say the same to you, considering you have a secret, homicidal uncle trapped in a Prison World."

     Josie stepped across the threshold first and nodded. "Touché."

     __________

     It did not take long for Ryan and Josie to reach the meadow where they performed the Prison World spell in the real world. The place differed from its future counterpart, not yet being transformed into the land around the Salvatore School, but they were able to locate the Sandclock amidst the calf-high grass without issue. To their luck, the Black Magic filled glass remained intact, except for the few cracks that ran along the surface. Not anything to worry about. At least, not yet.

     Ryan shoved his way back through the front door of the Salvatore Boarding House and strode toward the living area. He glanced around, expecting to find Lizzie and Sebastian somewhere among the aged décor, but they were nowhere to be found.

     "Lizzie?" Josie questioned, swiping her gaze across the large room. "Sebastian?" Her grip tightened on her sword. "Where are you guys?"

     Ryan groaned when he did not spot the blonde and her vampire boyfriend. "Great. They're probably off having sex in one of the bedrooms, leaving us out here to face your crazy uncle and whoever else Dr. S dropped in here over the years."

     "We need to find them," Josie stated, pivoting on her heel to start searching for her sister.

     Ryan followed her lead, but he froze when a girl with dark, blonde hair stood at the edge of the room. She wore a black, leather jacket and a furrowed expression. Ryan did not know who she was, but he figured she had to be one of the others Alaric and Emma sent to the Prison World.

     "Quick question," the girl voiced, raising her hands to rest on her hips. "Who the hell are you two?"

     Josie, on the other hand, seemed to recognize her. "Jade?"

     Ryan looked to the brunette and gestured between her and the blonde. "You know her?"

     Josie swallowed, meeting his curious gaze. "Uh, yeah. She was an upperclassmen when I was younger. I used to follow her and her friends around a lot before she disappeared when I was seven."

     The mystery girl, Jade, huffed when her explanation registered. "Little Josie Saltzman all grown up. I'll be damned." She smiled toward Josie, before her eyes drifted to Ryan. "And who's this cutie? Your boyfriend?"

     Ryan gave the girl a tight grin. "Ryan Mikaelson," he replied, not liking the way she blatantly stared at him and Josie. It appeared as though she were a predator sizing up her prey.

     Jade pressed her lips together and hummed. "A Mikaelson, huh? I didn't know the Original vampires could have children."

     Ryan maintained his grin as she stepped toward them. "Yeah, well, I'm a special case."

     Jade smirked. "I'm sure you are."

     "Jade," Josie spoke, drawing the girl's attention back to her, "what're you doing here?"

     Jade continued in their direction, causing Ryan to position himself between her and Josie. "If it's okay with you, can we have this conversation after I eat? Because I am starving, and you guys look delicious," she drawled as her eyes darkened to a crimson red and dark veins pulsed beneath them.

     Ryan's own eyes widened. Jade was a vampire. He raised his hand at her and shouted, "motus!"

     A blast of unseen magic slammed into Jade, tossing her back across the room. She did not move far, before a sharp object ripped through her chest covered in blood. Ryan held out his arm in front of Josie, watching Jade collapse to the ground. Her skin began to lose its pinkish shade as grey veins trailed up her cheeks.

     Ryan snapped to where a man replaced the vampire. He stood tall, several inches taller than the Mikaelson boy with dark, brown hair and a beard of equal color. He wore a thick, green jacket and backpack on his shoulder, clutching a wooden stake in his hand. Ryan would have questioned who the man was, but he paused when he got a better look at his face. The brown eyes, the round cheekbones. They were similar, if not identical, to the Saltzman girl's behind him.

     Kai Parker looked between them and breathed, "come with me if you want to live."

     __________

     "This is completely insane. We're just gonna follow your psychotic uncle to the Old Mill because he spouts some old dated movie reference about him being our only chance of survival? Seriously" Ryan exclaimed under his breath to Josie.

     After Jade's dead body dropped to the floor of the Salvatore Boarding House, Kai Parker made his presence known and claimed that he could keep Ryan and Josie safe from the others who roamed the Prison World. Without much of a choice, they followed the man out of the home and in the direction of the Old Mill.

     Ryan did not think it was a good idea. After all, Kai killed his twin and Josie and Lizzie's birthmother, Josette Laughlin. If he could do that to his own sister, he would not hesitate to do the same to them.

     Josie sucked in a harsh breath as they strode toward the hollowed out structure in the middle of the woods. "We do if we wanna know what's going on around here," she muttered back to him.

     Ryan sighed, knowing that she was right. They did not know what they were up against. Jade turned out to be one of Josie old classmates and wanted to drain them of their blood. And if Ryan's trusted his assumption, there were more of them out there. They needed some idea as to what they might face as they tried to find a way out of there.

     Kai shoved a mesh curtain away from the Old Mill's entrance and entered the decrypted building. "Welcome. I call it Fort Parker." He gestured to the cluttered place filled with shelves of various kinds of items and multiple strings of Christmas lights. "It's a – it's a bit moldy, but also rent-controlled, so I try not to complain." He moved over to a shelf, grabbing a handful of small, glass bottles. "Flavored vodka? It's, uh – it's no Zima, but then again, nothing is." He laughed, tossing the bottles toward the teenagers.

     Ryan caught one of them and turned it to read the label. Cherry vodka. The mere thought of what it tasted like almost made him gag.

     Josie did the same, before her stare lifted to the strange man. "You're Kai Parker."

     Kai released a large gasp as he moved to the other side of the room. "I am. And you are one of the Saltzman twins." His tone grew deeper as he said, "I can smell the Gemini on you. The real question is: are you Linda or Joanie?" he questioned, heading for a solitary chair placed on an elevated platform. He laughed. "I can never tell you two apart." He then pointed to the boy at her side. "You are the mystery. Another one of Ric's rejects, I take it."

     Ryan's nose scrunched. "Definitely not. I'm Ryan."

     "And I'm Josie," Josie retorted as her expression hardened. "Named after my mom, who you killed."

     Kai rolled his eyes, picking up a long machete from mass of mix-matched items around the open space. "Okay, here we go. Look, technically, I was trying to kill you and your sister," he stated, pointing at her with the end of the weapon. He paused and tossed the machete aside to clap his hands together. "Uh, but that's all over, now, so I say we just move on." Kai chuckled, moving to where a small refrigerator next to the lone chair.

     "Move on?" Josie questioned with narrowed eyes. "You're a monster."

     Ryan looked to the her and hissed lowly, "I don't think you should be insulting him, right now."

     Kai paused in his movements. "A monster would've let you both die. That vampire who tried to turn the two of you into her own personal Capri Suns? She's the real monster," he said as he plundered through the contents of the fridge. When he got what he wanted, he shut the door and stood to face them. "She and her cronies run this world. They revived me from desiccation just so they could have a little plaything." He ripped off the cap of his beverage and tossed it away. "Every day, like clockwork, they hunt me down and kill me. But sin – since I'm magically bound to this world – I can't actually die. So, I pop back up only to be hunted and killed all over again, every day. Welcome to the Supernatural Hunger Games," Kai quipped, pouring the contents of his chosen drink into his mouth.

     If Kai were any other person, Ryan might feel bad for him. Ten years desiccated in an empty Prison World would drive anyone crazy. And that was without a few unstable, supernatural teenagers. Too bad Kai Parker deserved everything he got.

     "That girl used to go to my school," Josie told her uncle. "Why is she here?"

     Kai made a buzzer noise with his mouth. "No answers for free." He slammed his beverage down onto the floor, causing the glass bottle to shatter, and dropped into the chair behind him. "Information for information." He relaxed into the dusty cushions and pointed between the two of them. "What're you two doing here?"

     Ryan glanced toward Josie, who met his gaze in return. A silent agreement flashed in their eyes. If they wanted to get anywhere with Kai, they would have to tell him the truth. Anything less, and they would receive no answers to their questions.

     Ryan looked back to Kai and sighed. "One of our classmates is a real bitch."

     "And I, uh, I used a mora miserium," Josie added.

     Kai deadpanned. "Sandclock? Oh, don't tell me. It degraded, and you just decided to drop it over here without a thought for my safety."

     "I tried to create a new world, but a witch tricked us and we got pulled into this one instead," Josie explained in further detail.

     Ryan pointed to her and said, "like I said, our classmate's a bitch."

     Kai laughed. "Classic double cross." His expression fell as he pressed his lips together. "And, uh – who's we?"

     Ryan paused. Kai did not need to know who came with them. It was not important. "We answered your question. Now, you answer one of ours."

     Kai's head tilted and appraised the Mikaelson boy.

     Josie did not give the man a chance to reply and asked, "why is Jade here?"

     "Yeah," Kai drawled, leaning forward in his chair with his amused gaze on the teenagers. "I'm not the one you should be asking."

     __________

     Of course Ryan's assumption had been correct. Not only were there others, more former students from the Salvatore School, inside the supposedly vacant Prison World, but they were banished there by Alaric Saltzman. Ryan wished that the revelation surprised him. In truth, his headmaster's actions were right on par with the his previous mentality. A mentality Ryan thought ended after Triad invaded the school and tossed Alaric's supernatural-subduing contingency plan in his face. But it seemed that Alaric still thought of his students as dangerous creatures who needed to be controlled.

     Against Ryan's better judgement, he and Josie informed Kai that they were not the only ones sucked into the Prison World without their consent. Something Kai found more than amusing when he heard Alaric's name slipped through their lips. When it registered, he wanted to find the man. Maybe for revenge for imprisoning him there, or to hear Alaric confess his offences to his own daughter. Either way, the three of them left the Old Mill and headed out to search for the headmaster.

     Kai led Ryan and Josie to the heart of Mystic Falls. He explained that they could most likely find Alaric inside a small bar near Town Square where he had been desiccated for more than ten years. Without anything else to go on, the teenagers decided to trust his suggestion.

     Ryan paused when he heard loud growls erupt inside the small bar. He made a move to rush toward the entrance, but Kai beat him to the punch. The Parker man sped into the building, leaving the two of them on their own. Ryan raced after him, barreling through the door to enter a blanketed by dim, red lighting. His stare fell to Alaric stood at the edge of the space with a crossbow held in his grasp. Kai faced him with a devilish smile as his skin turned ashen and dark veins trailed over his face. Once he dropped to the floor, Ryan noticed the arrow that stuck out of his chest and the half transformed werewolf next to him.

     The door banged open behind Ryan and Josie ran inside. "Dad!" she shouted to the man when she spotted him.

     Alaric spun around, flicking his gaze between his daughter and the Mikaelson boy. "Josie, Ryan." He set his crossbow onto a nearby table and moved to pull Josie into his arms. "Oh, God." He released her and did the same with Ryan.

     Ryan pressed his lips together, reaching up to pat the man on the back before they separated.

     Alaric stepped back and his stare fell to a temporarily dead Kai. "What're you doing with him?" he questioned the two of them. "He could've killed you."

     "He saved our lives, actually," Josie replied with creased brows.

     "I don't care. He's a liar. You can't trust him. You hear me?" Alaric retorted.

     Ryan quirked a brow as he asked, "did he lie about you sending a bunch of your students here as a punishment?"

     Alaric's expression fell flat and looked to the Mikaelson boy. "I told you, we all make mistakes." He turned, moving over to where Kai remained on the floor. "I'm not about to make the same one twice." He leaned down and removed the machete secured to the Heretic's waist.

     Josie watched her father, understanding his intentions before he even raised the weapon. "Dad, you can't kill him in this world."

     Alaric paused. "Well, I'm sure as hell gonna try."

     Ryan shook his head. "Yeah, we kinda need him to reanimate sooner rather than later," he voiced as his headmaster lifted the machete above him. "Ad somnum." His hand faced Alaric, forcing the spell to take affect when he formed a fist.

     Alaric could not react. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his body dropped to the ground. The machete clattered from his hand, skidding across the linoleum out of his unconscious reach.

     Josie gaped at him. "Why'd you do that?"

     Ryan looked to her and said, "we need to figured out how to get out of here. To do that, we need Kai. He escaped his first Prison World and actual death. He should know of a way. And to do that, we can't have your dad interfering. He hates Kai and isn't gonna let him help us."

     Josie pondered his words for a long moment and sighed. "If we're gonna do this, we need to make sure he can't follow us when he wakes up." She glanced around the room until her attention settled on a lone chair set on a stage in the corner. Silver chains laid around it, most likely having been left behind after Kai slipped out of them. "Help me get him up there."

     Ryan followed her gaze to the stage, nodding when he realized what she had in mind. "I like the way you think."

<June 4, 2020>

KAI PARKER HAS RETURNED! I love him so much!

What do you guys think is gonna happen in the next chapter?

Don't forget to vote and comment.

-Jordan

P.S. Unedited chapter.

P.P.S. I debated on whether or not to post this chapter with everything going on in the world, but I realized that a lot of people need an escape right now more than ever. Please don't think I'm overlooking the severity of recent events. I still support Black Lives Matter and will continue to do so.