June 22, 2010
Mystic Falls — 2:30 p.m.
I arrived in Mystic Falls after spending nearly two days driving one of my many cars. I didn't take the fastest route.
I switched vehicles twice, changed roads at irregular intervals, and stopped at different gas stations to fill up. I didn't need to do that because of the police.
I did it because of the Gemini Coven; they must have already realized I'd returned. The first tracking spell was cast just a few hours after I left Portland. The second came before I reached the main highway.
By the time I crossed the state line, they had already tried to find me dozens of times. By the time I reached Mystic Falls, the number had surpassed a hundred.
I could feel every attempt. Not as pain, but as a light pressure against my skin. Each spell sought out my magical signature, touched the barriers I had placed around my body, and was deflected in another direction.
I had created three layers of protection.
The first scrambled my signature. To any spell trying to locate me directly, I would appear as an unstable magical source, similar to a broken artifact.
The second created false trails. Each attempt by the coven was diverted to a different location: a road to the north, a motel to the south, a small town on the coast.
The third didn't hide my presence. It split it up. That was the most useful one.
Instead of a single Kai Parker, the spells encountered dozens of magical echoes scattered across different regions. Some disappeared after a few minutes; others lingered for hours.
The Coven probably believed I was traveling in several directions at once, and that was good. Confusion was a cheap form of security.
I pulled into a motel parking lot and turned off the engine.
Mystic Falls looked exactly as I remembered it from the show. Small, pretty, and built on a ridiculous number of corpses, secrets, and magic. A lovely combination.
I grabbed the suitcase from the back seat. Inside were clothes, fake documents, cash, a few portable cores, and the drain knife.
And most importantly, the Ascendant. Before getting out of the car, I created one last layer of protection. I touched two fingers to the center of my chest and whispered the command.
The matrix surrounding my body closed in; if anyone tried to locate me magically, they'd find only an echo. If they tried to force their way through my defenses, they'd sense the signature of a containment spell and would likely back off.
After unpacking my things at the motel, I went out to explore the city a bit. I took the opportunity to buy a modern cell phone.
The world has changed, I thought, watching people walking down the street fiddling with their cell phones. I'm out of practice with all this technology, even though 17 years have passed since my other life as an addict.
Maybe it's the effect of spending 22 years in this universe, I thought, finally.
[...]
At Night — At the Salvatore Guesthouse
Loud music was playing at the Salvatore Guesthouse. Earlier, while I was walking around, I overheard some young people talking about Elena's eighteenth birthday party.
I quickly realized what season I was in.
"My first party in sixteen years… how exciting," I murmured, entering the guesthouse and weaving my way through the people dancing.
My gaze fell on a young woman with wavy blonde hair that fell just below her shoulders.
She was wearing a tight black dress that reached halfway down her thighs; it hugged her body, accentuating her curves. It was tight around her bust.
Caroline, I thought, watching her. She was holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand, leaning against a wall as she glared at Tyler dancing with a girl.
I walked over to her and saw that Tyler and the girl were dancing very… intimately. They were practically having sex right in the middle of the party.
"Jesus, go to a room…" I whispered softly next to Caroline, but loud enough for her to hear.
She slowly turned to me, looking me up and down.
"You know you look like a stalker staring at those two, right?" I asked, pointing at Tyler and the young woman.
The blonde vampire rolled her eyes and replied, "I'm not staring at them." Then she took a sip of her drink. I smiled slightly.
"My name is Kai. Kai Parker. Nice to meet you." I introduced myself, holding out my hand to her.
Caroline, already irritated, with jealousy and pent-up excitement making everything else worse, snorted.
"I didn't ask your name," she retorted, looking my hand up and down and then glancing back at Tyler. I didn't let it faze me.
"Stop being so mean, blondie," I said, keeping the smile I knew was annoying her. "You like him, don't you?" I looked at Tyler. "You're not going to get anywhere just standing here watching those two."
She remained silent, watching the two of them dance.
"So, how about you put that drink down and come dance with me?" I suggested, making her finally look at me and narrow her eyes. She thought about it for a couple of seconds, then finally decided to give me a chance.
"My name is Caroline. Caroline Forbes." She finally introduced herself, taking one last sip of her whiskey and setting the glass bottle down on a table. "Let's go, before I change my mind." She pulled me into the middle of the crowd, and we started dancing.
She wrapped her arms around my neck, and I took the liberty of holding her waist with my firm hands.
Shit, just feeling her touch turns me on, I cursed inwardly. Sixteen years without sex had been torture; not even the porn magazines I read helped in the long run.
"Are you new here? I've never seen you in town," Caroline asked. I nodded.
"Yeah. I got here last night," I told her—a half-truth—as I slid my hands down until they reached her soft buttocks and squeezed them lightly.
I heard Caroline gasp softly.
I remember that on the show, her teenage vampire hormones were driving her crazy. She needed to have sex right away—maybe I could take advantage of that.
I put one hand in my pocket and discreetly siphoned magic from one of the portable reservoirs.
Through my touch, I cast a nonverbal spell that would heighten her arousal. I knew it was working when I noticed the faint blush on her cheeks and the bead of sweat trickling down her forehead.
She turned her back to me and began grinding, her hands gripping the back of my head. I clenched my jaw as I felt her soft ass moving around my throbbing erection.
My right hand slid across her stomach as I buried my face in her neck, breathing in the scent of her perfume.
She turned her face toward me and attacked my lips, unable to contain herself. I held her waist with both hands as she kissed me, caressing my face with her hand.
My tongue entered her mouth, exploring every part of it; our tongues became one inside her mouth.
I broke the kiss, letting a thread of saliva connect our mouths.
"Do you want…?" I was about to say, but she cut me off by grabbing my mom and hurriedly leading me to a guest room.
As soon as the door closed, Caroline pulled me against her with an urgency I hadn't expected. Her lips found mine again, hungry, desperate. I could feel the heat radiating from her body, her warm skin through her black dress.