CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
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A SERIES OF KNOCKS HAD LED MILA to crawling out of bed and putting a pin in her depressing thoughts. She had spent the day replaying her and Kai's encounter over and over again, trying to decipher what everything meant. The last thing she expected was to have filthy sex with him on a bar countertop. Shame and guilt intertwined in her conscious, because not only did she feel taken advantage of, but Mila also felt like she betraying Kai by getting off on a hollowed version of himself.
Needless to say, things were at their most complicated. And yet, another surprise had been evidently thrusted upon her when she opened up the door.
"Hey." Hope Mikaelson's greeting was interwoven with unsureness, as if she couldn't quite believe she had shown up here, either.
"Hope. Wow. You're..." Mila spoke, not bothering to hide her shock at the unexpected arrival of the supernatural prodigy. They weren't exactly on a close friends basis.
"The last person you expected to see?" Hope filled in, nodding in agreement. "Yeah. I wasn't expecting to come here tonight, either."
Mila pulled herself together and stepped aside. "Uh, well, come in."
Hope entered the simplistic space of Mila's hotel room. She scanned the minimalistic furniture, the plain white walls accented with the occasional mediocre artwork, and the patterned floor that had the faintest hints of vacuum lines. Mila closed the door behind her.
"Surprised you don't have a suite. Since you're a hot shot lawyer and all," the tribred commented, turning around to face Mila after she stopped in the middle of the room.
Mila leaned against the bathroom door frame, folding her arms over her robe and nightgown. She manages to form a humorless smile at the reminder of a life that seemed to be eons away from the one she had now. A hand briefly raises to sweep some disheveled hair out of her face.
"Was. I haven't called to see yet but I'm pretty sure once you miss a month of work out of nowhere, you're very fired."
"Well, they didn't remember you were even gone until yesterday. Maybe can you still salvage it and find a work around."
"Maybe, but that's the least of my concerns."
"Right. That's why I'm here," Hope replied. She took a few steps forward in Mila's direction.
Mila closed her eyes for a brief moment, sighing with the premise that her already complex situation was going to get a lot harder. "Let me guess: you wanna take down Kai, too."
"More so use him to our advantage," Hope answers carefully, and this response gets Mila completely alert again.
"What do you mean?"
"Obviously I don't condone any of his horrible behavior as of late, but all of us, including him, have a common enemy."
"The Necromancer." Mila rolled her eyes as she filled in the blanks. There was no one who wanted to get rid of him more than her.
"Yes. And since you can get through to him in ways no one else can," Hope continued, her gloriously blue eyes coaxing the notion she was named after, "you can convince him to help."
While Hope's visit hadn't meant what she originally thought, Mila wasn't necessarily thrilled by the girl's true intentions. It wasn't that it wasn't a bad idea. Having Kai as a ally rather than on the wrong side would be a good thing. It was just that it seemed impossible to motivate him to do it.
"His humanity switch is off. He doesn't care about anything," Mila reminded. Her gaze flickered away from Hope for an instant to scan the mini fridge, tempted to delve into the mini, overpriced bottles of alcohol.
"He doesn't have to care. He just has to be interested. Make him interested."
"In the concept of killing someone who's been a pain in all of our asses once and for all?" Mila chuckled gently at her own wording. "When I put it like that, it sounds easy. But, trust me, nothing about it will be. Kai and I have never had it easy. Our whole relationship is one explosion after another."
Sniffling slightly, she shuffles over to the queen-sized bed and sat down on the edge. A few breaths are taken, trying not to let her emotions overwhelm her. It almost seemed like Kai's feelings weren't lost, that they were just transferred over to her, and she was feeling everything for both of them. Or maybe she was just starting to do the unthinkable and forfeit to the cruelty of their fate.
Hope, picking up on the emotional turmoil, the very thing practically built into her DNA, moved to sit down next to her. Lately she has been the one that's needed comforting, but she was willing to dip a toe into the forbidden lake of her privacy to try to bring some ease.
"Yeah, well... I had sex with my boyfriend and then he literally disintegrated."
Mila's eyebrows perked up at confession, deciding to join in. "I had sex with my brainwashed husband like I was his slutty mistress instead of his wife."
Harmonized laughter reverberated around the thin walls of the hotel room, the outrageous details of their lives leaning into comical territory once said aloud.
"I thought I'd never see the day, but looks like Lizzie Saltzman has it more together than we do," Hope noted. The remark was teasing but there was fondness written over her face at the mention of her best friend.
"She's thriving," Mila agreed, shaking her head up and down.
"And our lives are-"
"A total train wreck."
A few more giggles were induced at the conclusion they came to. Sparkling teeth were displayed, heads tipped back, and an unlikely understanding blossomed between the vampire-turned-human and the heroic savior of Mystic Falls.
"I never thought we would have anything in common," Hope admitted, tucking the sleeves of her shirt over hands that rested on her lap. "The few times we met, you were so above everything. So out of touch with the supernatural. You were so... normal. I would've never suspected you were a vampire."
"As a vampire, I was kind of in denial all the time. I mean, I tried stick to my original plans for my future. Go to college, get a job, meet someone compatible," Mila clarified, diving back into a more serious, almost wise mindset. "And I did all those things. But most of the time I felt like I was just playing human. Like none of it was real. Like I was constantly pretending. I was so busy trying to understand the world that I didn't take the time to understand myself."
Hope twisted a bit so she could see her more clearly. "And do you now? Understand yourself?"
Mila met Hope's attentive, influential stare with a ghost of a grin. It was almost as if she was talking to one of the twins. For the first time, Hope appeared to be her age of nineteen, ready to soak up any advice and use it to make sense of a world filled with so much perversity. Hope had grown into something remarkable, someone purely selfless and good — a total contrast from what Mila remembered her father being most of the time.
But then, Mila supposed, that was the point. Your kids are supposed to be better than you; that's your goal as a parent. You put the best of yourself into your children, even when you think the best may not be enough. Hope Mikaelson is living proof that it is.
"I'm getting there. But I learned that the first step is asking yourself what you want. I mean, really asking. I know it's played off as a selfish thing, but if you're not true to yourself, you end up not being true to other people. And that hurts everyone more."
"Yeah. I get that," Hope says softly. Mila could tell that her words fully sunk in.
Slowly, Hope stands up. "I should probably get going, but you'll get back to me? About Kai?"
"Yeah, I'll let you know how it goes," Mila responds while she walks Hope to the door. It takes a few seconds after uttering the sentence for her to realize that she just agreed to Hope's plan.
"Goodnight, Mila."
A polite smile is paired with Mila's dismissal of Hope. Her fingers curl around the edge of the door, almost hiding behind it, as she allows her to stride out into the hall. "Goodnight, Hope."
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SHUFFLING THROUGH THE MAZE of empty pizza boxes, discarded beer bottles, and the occasional blood bag sucked dry, Kai made his way to the door of his apartment. However, when he swung it open, he immediately went to slam it back shut. A worn boot blocked him from doing so.
"Unbelievable. You had the opportunity to end the life of your wretched spouse and instead you engage in profane intercourse!" The Necromancer barges in, right past Kai and his unmissable scowl.
"Maybe if you got some 'profane intercourse' you wouldn't be up my ass 24/7," Kai muttered. He left the door open in hopes that the persistent monster would take a hint and cut his visit short, and returned to his seat on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table. "Is that why you're such a prude? Been having some trouble with the ladies? Or men? Don't know what you're into, but I'm sure we can find a burn victim that's at your level of attractiveness."
"Enough with the absurd assumptions! Tell me why you didn't kill her."
"Well, when I said consider it done, what I really meant was I'd think about it. And I did. For, like, two seconds before I realized I don't need to listen to anything you say," Kai tells him with a shrug, and soon his fingers found the neck of a bottle, taking a swig with puckered lips.
The Necromancer swung his head back, baffled by the scorned member of the Gemini Coven who refused to align himself with him. He thought if he could reduce Kai to the most cold-blooded, apathetic state he could possibly be, that he could mold him into something legendary. Someone not held back by foolish bonds and toxic empathy. But it seems even now, void of all feelings and dear memories, he still had a sense of resilience drilled into him. As if he somehow knew on some level he didn't have to prove anything to anyone, including the frustrated, putrid creature before him.
"You're making a mistake. That seductress already has you in her clutches," the Necromancer growled, grimacing at the thought Mila and how affected Kai still unknowingly was by her.
"We're just having some fun. Really good fun. She's harmless," Kai clarified. For the first time since the Necromancer's arrival, Kai's expression showed remnants of interest.
"She'll ruin you once more."
"Not if I ruin her first."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying she's not the only one able to influence. I just have to say the right words, do the right things, and she becomes putty in my hands." Kai pauses, recalling every riveting details of their last meeting. He got ahold of himself before he got too carried away in tempting thoughts; he snapped his head up to see the Necromancer's wilted face. "Like you said: she loves me, and that's her greatest weakness."
"Ah, so you're making her suffer before you off her? How devious of you. I approve," the Necromancer hums. He finally thought they might be getting someone.
"Something like that. But there's a few more things I need to make clear."
Abruptly, the bottle in Kai's hand smashes against the table. The bottle turns into jagged, sharp glass with a handle — a weapon that becomes embedded in the decomposed skin of the Necromancer's neck. A dark liquid slithers from the wound and branches over tattered clothes.
Pursed lips tug up into a satisfied grin, the kind that would result if you smashed an alarm clock to pieces. Kai's taunting eyes follow the arm that lifts to where the broken bottle and the amber shards were plunged into his throat. There's a flicker of twisted pleasure from watching him suffer.
"First, I don't need your approval. I have and will never join your pathetic cause. You could drop dead for all I care," Kai announces, ignoring the fervent glare sent his way. "Second, do not get involved with Mila and I. She's mine to do whatever I want with and you have already done enough. Fail to follow these orders, yada yada yada, insert threats, and you get the gist, right?"
The Necromancer yanks the bottle out of his flesh with a grunt. "Astounding. You have no recollection of her, no capacity of emotion, and yet still your instinct is to protect her."
"I'm not protecting her. I'm protecting myself from your petty attempts of gaining control. It's been embarrassing, quite frankly, watching you try to win me over. No version of me would stoop that low, and, believe me, I invented low. So stop whatever form of manipulation you think is working. That means no longer using Mila as your chess piece."
"Tell yourself whatever you want. I'll keep out of your business, but that won't matter. You're your own worst problem." There's venom in the monster's reply, but also something else, something that communicates there had been an evident change to his way of thinking. Like he knew something he couldn't quite grasp before.
"Way to quote every authority figure in my life. Since you've been stalking me, I'm sure you know how they ended up. Now get out." Kai's voice is sharper with this response, and finally the Necromancer retreats.
There was a time where he would have jumped at the chance to to take part in a revenge scheme, no matter whoever he had to briefly partner with. Kai remembered that part of himself more than anything else, but he had been relinquished of the insecurities that fueled those motives, and he believed that it was because he'd flipped his switch. The Necromancer had a different theory, one he was willing to test to its extent.