♡ 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲 ♡

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 four

monster among men.

─── ༺♥༻ ───

THE SKY ABOVE DARKENED WITH THE REMAINS OF DYING STARS AND THE EVERLASTING ECLIPSE.

Damon sat slouched on a rock, fumbling with his hands as his glance pulled up to the sky every so often.

Freya, however, felt sick to her stomach. She deeply disliked Kai, sure, but his absence grew reminisced. Wanted, almost.

She forced her eyes up to Bonnie who slid the ascendant across her palm. Moments passed by before she poured the shimmery liquid onto the blade. There was a quietness to the woods she hadn't noticed until then. There were no bird chirps, no crickets, and no sign of wildlife at all. The closest thing to Avian was the wings that sat on her own back.

"Okay." she turned towards the two, her breath trembling. "It's time."

Damon met her side first, intertwining hands with her before lazily extending another to the angel. She avoided their hopeful stares. "I can't leave unless he does. You know that."

Bonnie pressed her lips together. "You can try."

"It doesn't work that way, Bonnie, we're bound. Unless you can get him to fall in love with the dirt patch you buried him in, I'm not going anywhere."

Bonnie Bennett had a tendency to pick fights with the universe. Freya had become a friend she never expected. A warmth she didn't realize she needed. Leaving her alone in a Hellmouth with Malachai Parker as her only companion was a cruelty she didn't deserve. "We're trying."

Bonnie grasped her hand tightly, pulling her up to her side and wincing her eyes at the bright illumination of the eclipse. Freya was unsure of what meddling with the metaphysical would achieve. She was unsure of why she felt guilty for leaving Kai to begin with.

Damon huffed loudly, catching the attention of both girls. "I'm sure there are about a billion people you guys would rather be here with..." he watched as Bonnie chuckled and Freya sent an uneasy smile.

"Let's go ho-" Bonnie was interrupted as she cried out in pain, a giant arrow sticking out of her abdomen. Freya's arrow. The angel's eyes widened in panic as she turned around to see Malachai Parker standing proud with her bow in his hands.

"Forgetting someone?" he taunted, placing another wooden bow between his bloodstained fingers. "Did you guys really think I hadn't tried to kill myself before?" he chuckled to himself, walking closer to the group. "Because I have - lots of times, lots of ways."

Watching the light twinkle beside her thighs as she hid the ascendant behind her back, he lowered the arrow and gave her a stern look, hand extended. "Be a good girl and give that here."

A lump caught up in her throat. Her hands worked their way beside her head in a weak surrender. However, a glare stormed up her eyes until a pink glaze fogged up the iris like a storm passing through a sunset. "No idea what you mean."

Bonnie barely dodged the floor creeping up on her as Damon caught her mid-fall.

"It's okay, I got you." He promised, ignoring the roaring tension between Cupid and the Sociopath as it practically shook the ground.

Kai, however, approached the angel with a fearless swing of his shoulders. The veins poked out from his arms as he carried the bow easily. The hair fell before his eyes with each aggravated step. Before she knew it, his hand pressed against her throat, not hard enough to restrict her breathing, but hard enough for her to be forced to look up at him. The Pinetree brushed against her back. The needles fell in her hair. It wasn't normal to be as calm as she was.

"Give me the ascendant."

She leaned forward and closed the inches between their faces. "Yeah, or what?"

He pressed his lips together, eyes strained, and felt a little bit of a tug at the side of his mouth. "I'll dull my chances of getting into Heaven by sending their angel back with clipped wings."

Freya would love to see him try. From the way he leaned with hands gripping her waist, fingers digging inches in her shirt, and an unfair height difference that he took enough advantage of that it was slightly intimidating, she realized he probably would.

"Freya." Her name was like venom on his lips. A sweet one, like arsenic at the bottom of a sugary tea.

Her eyes flickered to Damon, who wore a worried look as Bonnie's bloodied hand grasped his. His teeth sank into his wrist before settling the drainage above her lips and pulling her from death's door. Freya, however, had it staring her in the face.

"You can't leave here without me, Rey. Think about it." Kai's voice blew chills up her spine. "You need me."

Freya squeezed the ascendant behind her back, taking another quick look at Damon with a firm nod, before laying her hand on Kai's shoulder with a wince. He tensed up beneath it as if all his cogs and wires malfunctioned at the very same moment. He was almost a man possessed when she said his name.

"You're right, Kai, I do." Her eyebrows folded inwards and her lips pursed peach. "But they don't."

The ascendant leaped out of her fingers and glittered underneath the split streams of eclipse light as it flew across the forest floor. Damon barely caught it, a hand keeping Bonnie upright and the other clutching the metal close to his side. Kai was a few seconds behind.

Kai blinked. Once, twice, three times. Perhaps he was too distracted by her words, her gentleness, or her existence. Her whole being was a blot on his vision -- and god, how he hated it.

"I'll get you out, Cupid, I promise."

Bonnie was hitting against his chest, eyes wide and brows narrowed. That wasn't the plan. It was archaic. Cruel. Undeserved.

Kai Parker was admittedly, faithfully, and horrifically the Devil himself. Freya was an angel who didn't deserve punishment for his sin.

"Damon, no!" Bonnie was tired of begging, hitting, and pleading. Her blood was still pooling across her fingers, albeit less each minute that went by, but her anger was still enough to keep it boiling on her skin.

Freya felt Kai's hands slip from her waist. The bark against her back didn't bear much pain. A numbness overcame her like a green wash of falling leaves. A thicket of clouds surrounded her head. Sometimes the biggest act of love towards another was the biggest act of hurt against yourself.

The lion's den would be lonely, sure, but his meal would at least be reduced down to one.

"No!" Kai yelled, his only way out disappearing into thin air. His fist clenched as the skin on his knuckles grew white. His chest rose and fell like the hammering of broken cogs inside of his system. Anger rusted the metal. Veins bulged with rust. Kai had a greasy haze over his eyes that made him see nothing but the undertones of red.

Damon and Bonnie vanished into the brightness, a flash blinding the remainder's eyes with bolts of ecliptic light. The Ascendant shattered as soon as it hit the dusted soil, the shards shattering underneath the leaves and laying by the roots of the pine trees. Freya let out a breath of relief and laughed consolingly,  taking her attention away from the sociopath for a moment.

He used that moment to his advantage.

Her heavenly laughter was cut short as Malachai swung a heavy tree branch to her head, watching her body turn limp and fall to the ground.

"You should've just given me the ascendant."

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Freya had a killer headache. Her clouds had turned stormy. The green wash had turned red. It barely took her a few moments to muster up a glare at Kai while her hand cradled the new bump on her skull.

Kai didn't look at her, however, must've noticed it from the entertained grin he wore. "Morning, Aurora." he sang to her, his eyes focused on the road as his stolen truck came to a halt. "Feeling more loving this morning?"

"Can you start driving so I can throw myself out?"

"A no would've sufficed."

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head until she was sure they'd gotten lost in the tubes of her brain.

"Listen, if you help me, I'll consider not massacring my entire coven." he joked, cocking his head to the side. "I know you think I'm a monster. I mean, I did murder or heavily maim most of my immediate family, but after a long period of self-reflection, I've concluded that I could've handled my anger better."

Her eyes fluttered shut and her head lent frustrated against the rest - but he kept talking anyway.

"Mhm."

He watched as her eyes didn't even peek open. He could be pouring his heart out to her right then and there and a passenger seat headrest would still get more attention. Good thing he never had one to begin with.

"I would do anything to get my family back, and the thing I'm most scared of is trying to figure out how to live in the world again. You've been a positive influence on me. You're a good person, Rey. You're brave, righteous, and.. loving. I want to be more like you."

Freya blinked her eyes open and turned her head to the side, eyeing him momentarily. "How long did you rehearse that for?"

He slotted the keys into the ignition, jerking open the door with a huff. "Long enough to know that it was in vain." Kai hissed. "Come on, out."

The brunette groaned, being pulled away from her comfortable darkness and sending him a firm glare. Farmland stretched for miles and trees shadowed every corner. She was thankful for the silent afternoons, however, and the fresh smell of nothing but grass for miles. Even if it was a little eerie. "So how'd I-"

"Get so lucky to arrive here on a private flight piloted by yours truly? Oh, you would have been super-impressed with my flying skills. You could've even given me pointers if you weren't unconscious."

Her eyebrows instantly furrowed as her memories flooded back. "Did you kill me?" She hissed up at the boy in front of her. "With a branch?"

The sociopath simply nodded. "Hit it like a big bell."

Freya could feel the lining of his hands on her waist as she stepped out, one to keep her from fleeing perhaps, two just to keep her at arm's length, three.. he was just affectionate. Oddly.

"I know, hurts like you did." She swatted his hands away. "Which sad corner of the earth have you dragged me to, anyway?"

"Portland, Oregon. The stomping grounds of Courtney Love, Tonya Harding, and tons of other awesome people." he breathed in with pride.

Freya crossed her arms and sent the boy a peculiar look which he cocked a brow at, "Why Portland, specifically?"

"This is where I grew up."

"Explains the eeriness."

The words barely fumbled their way into a sentence before he pulled at her wrists, slicing at the ropes she hadn't realized were there until they clattered silently to her feet. They were loose, she noticed. Almost like Kai was smart enough to tie them, but odd enough to think about being gentle.

"I've been counting eclipses since I was imprisoned on this empty planet and according to my running tally, I've been here for 6,771 supernaturally repeating days, so in the real world, today's my favourite day of the year."

"And what day is that?" the girl quirked a brow, rubbing her sore wrists.

"Thanksgiving. I'm cooking you dinner," he quipped before dragging her towards the porch by her wrist. Just a few inches above her hand, yet, a few inches below her arm.

It was a weird spot that felt affectionate enough to give her stomach ache that could've been either butterflies or sickening dread.

While her lips parted in protest, his erratic behaviour made her knit her brows and all the words suddenly became jumbled up and out of order in her mouth.

"Ah. Memories." Kai huffed, breathing in the country air. "The Pitter-patter of little siblings' feet, Witchy-woo, chanting in the air, Mom and Dad calling me an abomination."

Freya tried not to think about how her heart ached as she heard the last part and frowned slightly. Sam was all she ever had and vice versa. Love and Death. Heart and Soul. If love wasn't found in those who bore you, where else could you find it?

Rey's shoulders fell. Love was never a priority because it was never an option.

"Why would you want to come back here?"

"- Because I can finally show it to someone. My coven goes out of their way to make sure no one finds us, but since they're not here to be paranoid freak shows, mi casa es su casa. Come on." He pursed, grabbing her hand and lacing his fingers in between hers.

That's when Freya decided to call it the sickening dread she felt -- and not the other completely ridiculous thing.

Kai led the hesitant angel in the kitchen, but she pulled against his grip causing him to turn around and face her. "Kai, look, Bonnie's gone and I can't do anything here, which means we're stuck here forever. Why don't we just divide the world in half and go our separate ways?"

"I get it. I killed you, knocked you out, kidnapped you against your will. Can't you see I'm trying to apologize?" Kai glanced down at his palms as she wriggled her hand out of his.

"Malachai, I will never trust or like you. Ever." She stared up at him with doe eyes that were more hurtful when they weren't trying to be. "No amount of time together will ever change that."

"Fine. Can we at least have one last dinner conversation before my eternity of loneliness resumes?" his face hardened as he turned back to the fridge. Yet, when his eyes ripped from hers, a breath escaped her lips and her body absent-mindedly de-tensed.

Freya swallowed dryly and leaned against the doorframe silently. "So you agree? One last dinner, and then we peacefully go our separate ways."

Kai nodded, turning to face the suspicious angel one more time. "I'll even give you my car, as a parting gift."

Cupid blinked. "Generous."

"Maybe one day you'll find my qualities aren't all bad, Rey."

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Kai had finished his dinner, while Freya sat across the table from him, her own plate untouched. There was the slight worry of poison lingering in her mind. Another was the knives Kai seemed to have recently sharpened at barely an arm's length.

"I had Thanksgiving dinner with you." Her hand rested beneath her jaw as she leaned forward on the table. "Now you keep up your end of the deal and give me the keys."

He looked up at her, resting his own chin on his hand, and narrowed his crystalline eyes curiously. "Do you even know how to drive?"

"I may look twenty, Kai, but I've been around long enough to learn all that," she stated, taking her hands off the dining table and onto her lap.

"I should probably teach you how the clutch works. It's finicky."

"I can figure it out."

"You'd hurt yourself."

"Quit stalling and give me the keys."

"Fine. I'm stalling, but don't you want to hear how my story ends?" he leaned closer, tone splitting into a wicked smile she couldn't glance away from.

Freya shook her head in dismay. "I don't need to. You killed your siblings in cold blood and your coven sent you to live in this prison world for all eternity." She grimaced. "That pretty much sums it up, right?"

"My family sent me to this prison world. My father, the great coven leader... He treated me like crap for 22 years and then locked me here. It's like his... Like his kids didn't even matter. The Coven always came first no matter what." he spat, a pained emotion lingering on his features. "I tried to merge with my twin sister, Jo, but she tricked me. They all did."

Rey furrowed her brows. Okay, maybe she did want to hear how the story ends. "-And they tricked me good. Instead of using the power of the eclipse for the merge, my dad used it to send me here, and where'd Jo's magic go? You know, it made zero sense. Magic doesn't just, like, disappear. Then it hit me, my sneaky little twin sister hid her magic." he finished, his gaze locked onto the window. "And I'm gonna show you where."

Kai erupted from the table and pulled Freya along with her hand, despite her many efforts to tug herself out of it. This time, it really was sickening dread she felt.

They reached a pile of leaves that sat in front of the house as he finally released the angel from his grip, rummaging through the dead leaves instead.

Freya could see her reflection glimmer in the blade as he snatched it from the pile. Goosebumps wriggled under her skin while a lump formed in her throat. Despite it all, Freya's gaze remained unshaken.

"She hid it in this." he stared down at the dagger with amusement before dragging his eyes back to the Valentine with a coy smirk.

"It's still here." She muttered, furrowing her brows.

"Still here and still full of magic," he muttered, running his finger along the tip. She eyed him up as she watched him huff loudly and let go of the knife, leaving it floating in midair.

"Well, it was. I just sucked it out." the sociopath grinned to himself. Despite her confident stance, the angel had become a beacon of anxiety. Her stare was uneasy as she glanced between them, not trusting one any more than the other.

"You have magic, congratulations." Freya rolled her eyes as he let out a gruff chuckle.

"I have the ascendant too," he whispered, taking a step towards her. "If you're looking for a time to be alarmed. It's now."

She scoffed at him and crossed her arms while leaning towards his face and challenging the boy. "I would be, but you still don't have a way out. You still need a Bennett to do the spell."

The witch clenched his jaw, looking back down at the floating knife and then back at Cupid. "As Damon said, they'll come back for you - and when they do, I'll be ready."

✧ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 3,092. ✧

a/n: whenever kai calls freya rey i scream a lil