CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE
[85]
song: only ones who know by arctic monkeys
IT WAS THE SLOW CRASHING OF WAVES THAT KEPT HER ENTERTAINED. Waves come, transient yet always there, rising, falling. They scatter the light, the hue of the water ever changing yet always familiar, always blue.
Yesterday the sea was laid flat and her emotions also, as if one were a reflection of the other. Today, likewise, yet the waves are choppy, the surface like a mirror turned half liquid, breaking and flowing all at once.
She had been leaning over this tall stone wall, watching as the dark sea dispersed itself around the harbor. She could go down there herself and sit on those rocks, and truly enjoy the feeling of the waves- but it was this wall- though one she could easily climb over- that held her back.
The moon highlighted the water, creating golden specks against the unsettling darkness. She lifted her chin up and closed her eyes, as if the moon would warm her skin much like the sun did.
Her boredom expands as a nothing, as if she could reach out into the world and the hand would return empty. It is a painful disconnect, a stalling of passions that need their time in the sun.
The problem, however, was the lack of passions. She hadn't any time for passions, not until now. All of her free time in the past was either spent running, hiding, getting hurt- or wandering aimlessly. There was no use for passions in a prison world. But she felt that need now- she felt the boredom and she felt the loneliness.
"What are you doing out here?" Kai asks, almost making her jump by the sudden interruption in ocean sounds.
Daisy turned around, watching as he approached her. He was dressed in a nice suit, one not formal enough for something like a wedding, but poised enough to wear to work. Daisy wore a big t-shirt, one that nearly went farther than her knees. It was unflattering, given her scrawny figure- but she didn't really expect to be seen by anyone today.
"When'd you get home?" Daisy asks, leaning her back against the wall she was just looking over.
Kai sighed before speaking. "A few minutes ago." He nodded. Daisy watched as the house lights behind him illuminated the silhouette of his face. "I'm sorry the meeting ran a lot longer than I thought it would." He said.
"You were supposed to be home two hours ago." Daisy says, the waves crashing behind her loudly.
Kai unbuttoned his suit jacket. "I'm trying to get this coven to respect me, Daisy." He says, slight annoyance in his voice.
"Is that why you never bring me to your meetings?" Daisy scoffs.
Kai clenches his jaw. "It's for Gemini only. You know that."
Daisy tried to stifle the laughter she so badly wanted to let out. If she had to hear the word Gemini one more time she thought she might actually implode. However, it appeared she was unsuccessful to hide that laughter on her face, as Kai didn't look too happy.
Daisy didn't mean for this to turn into an argument- or whatever this was- whatever this has been for the past few weeks. She leaned up off the wall, her bare feet making their way off the grass and onto the cold concrete he stood on.
"You smell like alcohol." Kai says as she walks past him, and towards the stairs that led up to the back patio.
Daisy doesn't bother to turn around to respond. "That would be because I've been drinking alcohol." She says.
"Daisy I saw him already." Kai says from behind her.
Daisy's lips turned up into a smile, she bit her tongue slightly as she turned around to face him. "He was creeping me out." She shrugged, leaning against the stairway railing.
Kai didn't look even slightly amused. "There's blood all over the living room." He says.
Daisy shrugs again. "Have the cleaning lady get it in the morning."
"She was upstairs when you did it- Daisy. And I had to kill her before she told anyone." He says, frustratedly. "We don't have a cleaning lady anymore."
Daisy hides her smile, feeling amused by his unease. "Do one of your fun little spells and clean it up yourself."
"Do you want attention, or something?" He shakes his head, annoyed and confused. "Is that why this keeps happening?"
Daisy's eyebrows stitch together in an immediate anger. "You know what- yeah." She nods, stepping towards him again. "Attention would be nice since the only time I ever see you now is when you wake me up in the morning getting ready for another fucking 'coven meeting'."
"I know it might come as a shock to you but I actually have some responsibility here." Kai says, gesturing towards himself. "You however sit at home all day and when you get bored- you pick a random person up off the street- bring them home and kill them."
Daisy narrows her eyes, her chest rising and falling as heat grew in her stomach. "What do you suggest I do, Kai? Get a job? I don't know if you remember but I'm supposed to be dead! I don't have a citizenship or whatever you fucking need to get a fucking job!" She raises her voice, flailing her arms out. "All I can fucking do here is wait around for you to get home and talk to me but you can't even do that."
"Maybe you would have some friends to hang out with by now if you hadn't killed them all." Kai responds, not hearing anything she was saying, just waiting for the next break in yelling to get his own jab in.
"Oh, right- 'cause you just have so many friends." Daisy says sarcastically, stepping closer to him. "I don't know if you realize this- but all of those people you spend your days with are just kissing up because they're scared of you." She raises her eyebrows and looks up at him once she was close enough to his face.
He looked down at her with emotionless eyes, ones that couldn't tell her anything about what he might say or do next. It was like he had paused the moment in time to try and feel what she was feeling. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, but not in a way that would usually comfort her, if anything, the hushed tone made it all the more intimidating. "Are you scared of me?" He asked.
Daisy knew it was more of a rhetorical question. Something to throw her off the course of the argument. But she couldn't help but mull over it and respond. "Not right now." She responds, just as quiet.
Kai clenches his jaw, before turning to leave. Daisy doesn't move, not until she hears the back patio door shut. She lets out a breath, letting her head fall back up towards the sky as she stood alone in the dark- the sounds of the waves once again taking ownership of her silence.
—
"Who is this?" The masculine voice says over the phone.
Daisy sat at the kitchen counter, her feet up on the chair with her as she held the phone to her ear. "Mmm who is this?" She questions back, lifting an eyebrow.
The guy waits a second before speaking. "Alaric Saltzman."
Daisy's mouth gapped open as she realized, she then let out a quick sigh before responding. "Right." She says. "Can you hand the phone to your girlfriend then?"
"She's—" Alaric's voice tunes out for a second as if he stepped away from the phone. "She's not feeling very good right now. I'm sorry- what'd you say your name was?" He asks, confused.
"I didn't." Daisy says, then catches the sound of vomiting in the background on the other line. "Is she okay?" She questions.
"I have to go." Alaric says, and before Daisy could pry any further- he hung up.
Daisy leans back in her chair, letting out a deep groan of annoyance. She'd spent hours trying to find a place that even still sold phonebooks, and then spent even more time trying to find Josette's name. She knew she wouldn't want to talk to her, but at least that would be some sort of entertainment.
She leaned up and started to search through the phone book for someone else to bother when the door to the garage opened- and Kai stumbled inside.
She hadn't really even realized how long it'd been since he'd been home at this time of day. It was strange seeing him in the sunlight.
She leaned back in her chair, looking at him confusedly. "Why are you here?" She asks, but the answer soon came obvious as he looked like absolute and total shit. He shut the door behind him, stumbling inside.
His eyes were deeply sunken in against his pale, sweat drenched skin. He looked like any slight breeze could topple him over.
Daisy got to her feet, any anger or resentment she felt for him right now was gone completely and replaced with the urge to care for him. It was an unexplainable draw- but it was needed, clearly.
Looking at him concernedly, she hung back to let him regain his footing. "What happened?" Daisy asks.
Kai leaned against the wall slightly, his eyelids heavy. "I'm sick." He says.
She raises her eyebrows, usually this would be a perfect time to say no shit- but given his state she knew he wouldn't be in the mood for jokes. "You probably need to go see a doctor." Daisy suggests.
"Are you feeling okay?" Kai asks, forcing himself to lean up off the wall.
Daisy shakes her head slightly. "What- yes I'm fine?" She says. Kai takes a deep breath, rubbing his eyes. It looked like every movement he made hurt- and it was hard to sit and watch.
She quickly walked over to him, holding her arms out for him to latch onto for support. When he touched her, he looked up at her with soft, apologetic eyes as he studied every inch of her face. There was a tinge of regret, or guilt- but the longer he looked at her the less he became readable.
Daisy fell confused as he examined her, but accepted this as some sort of gratitude of thanks despite his attitude lately. She helped him along to the couch that was nearest them. He clung to her arms for support as he sat down, then let go with a deep exhale.
Daisy stayed standing, watching him concernedly. "I'll go to the store and get medicine." She says.
Kai shook his head. "No, no." He took another deep breath, letting his dizzy eyes focus on the ground. "I'm already feeling better."
"You don't look better." Daisy says, shaking her head.
Kai didn't say anything, he was too busy trying to get himself to heal. That, and trying to not throw up all over the marble floors. There was a feeling inside of him so unfamiliar and distinct, that a part of him knew this was not fixable in the way most things were for him. That reigned true when the urge to vomit quickly became too much to bare.
He sprung to his feet, holding it in as best he could before he toppled over to the trash can in the kitchen. Daisy stepped back, her mouth gapped open slightly as she realized what might be happening.
Kai stumbled back, blood staining his lips. Her eyes widened at the sight and Kai wiped his mouth. Shaking her head quickly, she spoke. "Something's wrong." She says. "With you- and Josette—"
Kai cut her off. "Josette?" He says.
Daisy nodded. "I was just on the phone and she was throwing up too—"
Kai looked more concerned than before. "You were talking to Josette?" He says. "What did she say?" There was a hint of urgency in his voice that Daisy didn't have the energy to confide in.
"No- I—" Daisy shakes her head. "That's not the point. The point is- she was just as sick as you."
Kai breathed heavily, still feeling uneasy from the literal blood he just puked up. "So Josette and I are sick at the same time? It's February a lot of people get sick in February-"
Daisy shakes her head again, frustrated he wasn't letting her finish her train of thought. "No it's more than that—" Daisy says. "Don't you think this could have something to do with the merge?" She shrugs. "You were supposed to merge with her- and you didn't. You don't think that has side effects?"
Kai looked at her as he processed her words. He knew she was right, he knew he wasn't going to heal himself this time. There was something deeper at play that neither of them could fix themselves.
Daisy knew he wouldn't say it himself so she spoke for him. "We have to go back to Mystic Falls." Daisy says.
Kai shook his head. "No, I have to back to Mystic Falls." He says as he leaned up off the counter and struggled to make his way towards the stairs.
Daisy clenched her jaw annoyedly. "Kai you can barley walk on your own and you really think I'm gonna let you travel across the country by yourself?" She asks, following after him. "I know you're on some weird secretive kick right now, and not telling me anything, and keeping me out of the loop on all this magic stuff— but I'm still your girlfriend." She says, getting in front of him and staring concernedly into his eyes.
Letting Daisy near Josette again was about the very last thing Kai needed right now- but he would be an idiot to assume that he'd last a cross country trip without her. Clenching his jaw, he nodded slightly.
Daisy let out a slightly relieved breath, raising her eyebrows. "Okay?" She says quietly, trying to understand if that was what he was communicating with her or not. He nods again. "Okay." She sighs, rubbing her eyes. "I'm gonna get us a flight- and pack our stuff- just go rest, please." She says, urging him to turn around and go back to the living room.
Kai was too weak to argue any further with her, his body was telling him to stop and sit down- but knowing the events that might occur on this trip back- his mind would never let him rest.
He looked up at her, once again examining her face. Not in a way in which he would stare into her eyes, but it was the way his eyes trailed over her cheeks- full of sorrow. He did it only for a second before turning around, but long enough for her to notice.
Confused, much like she has been for months now, she waited for him to sit back on the couch before she turned around and quickly went upstairs to their bedroom.
As she reached the top of the stairs, she caught glance of herself in the large floor to ceiling mirror that sat against the wall. She'd gotten so used to it being there that she barely noticed herself in the reflection anymore, but she did this time- and she didn't recognize the girl looking back at her either.
She retraced the few steps she'd made past the mirror and returned her gaze to her reflection, examining her own skin. The faint white scars that had remained lined on her face, were now completely healed and gone.