♡ 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲 ♡

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 ten

stick season.

─── ༺♥༻ ───

"ARE YOU INSANE?"

Kai widened a bright smile, dimples at each side, and scrunched up his nose with a laugh. 

He didn't answer Freya. Instead, he let his head lay on the graphite of the gravestone and let his bound hands fall to the cold dirt. He noticed the sky-blue emptiness behind her and how her skin was a beacon of warm light against the cold November forest. She had a worry line two inches above her forehead, smile lines deep like tire tracks in the desert sand, and two lips formed in a frown that curled around themselves like the petals of a pink tulip.

"Are you even bothering listening to me?"

"Do I have to correct you the difference between psychopath and sociopath again?"

She gave him a stern look. "Malachai."

Oh, how the sandy smile turned frosty.

Kai opened his mouth to speak but jumped slightly when a pebble smacked against the side of the tombstone he rested upon. He didn't do much but lean slightly to the side, turning away from Freya to pester Damon, who had the rocks in hand. 

"So, this whole anti-magic thing, is it like a dome or a bubble? Like, say, you were in 747 flying over Mystic Falls, would you die? You know, that could be dangerous, like if you're headed to New York and your pilot reroutes for the weather." Kai's voice echoed, his tone haunting her like subtle sweet symphonies hidden in funeral music.

Damon threw another stone, narrowly missing Kai's head. "How's this? I kill you, and when you're in Hell, you can ask a bar full of dead travelers who cast the damn spell."

Freya hissed when fragments of rock hit her shoe, sharp like the ridges of her heart, and kicked another back at him before kneeling back in front of Kai. "What is this? What are you doing?"

"I'm just saying, Rey, that's a lot of travelers. Must be a pretty big spell." He tried to hold up his hands in defense but felt a little too restrained as a devious smirk worked its way to his lips. "Like.. a really big spell. So big.. it covers every inch of an entire town."

There was a quick moment of silence. So quick, it barely lasted more than a couple of seconds. Yet, somehow, felt like he'd been looking at her for hours. 

 "Freya, angel face, my little cupid, I'm parched." 

Freya tore her eyes away and forced them to roll like honey-brown dice. "So parch."

Kai dropped his deviant look. "You can't make me fall in love if I die of dehydration, can you?"

She was growing a little tired of that angle he played. Still, the angel scowled and sat up to retrieve some water out of Alaric's truck. Hesitantly, she resisted the urge to poison it.

"I won't move a muscle," Kai yelled out with a faux grin, eyes lingering on places they shouldn't.

"Gotta have 'em, first."

He huffed and his eyes diverted. Kai liked it much better when she was far away and just out of reach. She was much like the sky she fell from in that way. Like the planets, he could ogle from her from afar without worrying how breathless the surrounding space made him.

She ducked one of Damon's flying pebbles and continued the muddy path adjacent to Alaric, who gave her a look just as dirty, before climbing into the passenger seat of the dust-ridden mobile. His and Alaric's arguing shook the air and by the sounds of it, Alaric's left tire with another pebble as she ignored the two. The frustration? She could understand. The testosterone? She was choking on it.

It didn't help that his car was such a mess. Or her mind. Or the entire situation she'd found herself lodged in with her own sticky arrows.

And it certainly didn't help that while she spent her time rummaging through newspapers and cigarette butts, Kai was rummaging his hands through the cold grass and ancient power beneath it. 

If only she'd seen that part coming.

As she leaned over the seat, her hands fumbled over the bottle as heavy static erupted from the radio. Then the headlights began to flash, the windshield wipers swerved left to right and above it all, the aching sound of the spluttering engine made her claw her way out of the vehicle.

"He stops talking."  While they were covered with her warm palms, she could faintly hear Damon mutter as Alaric packed the car through the heavy wind. "He never stops talking." 

"What happened to his chains?" Alaric took a hesitant step forward.

"What did you do?" Freya found herself hissing at Damon. Even if it wasn't warranted. She felt protective of a man she had too many reasons to be scared of.

"Me? I didn't do anything. What did you do?"

Kai's chanting murmured lowly beneath the sharp wind and loud bickering. It was dangerous, subtle but powerful as each word seemed to guide each particle in the air. Freya had her arm covering half of her face as she watched him rise to his feet. His eyes, red, wide, and watered, blinked wildly as the howling currents made him look godly. 

"It's the traveler magic, isn't it?" She managed to mutter out from beside Damon. "You siphoned it."

She spoke the words like they were too rotten on her tongue to spit out. Almost as if it could poison the air around them. Almost like she wished it weren't true, that the man she was always excusing was proving everybody right without a second thought.

Power is my true love and she's all over me.

The thought made her sick. 

"You little magic sucker." Damon's voice broke their stare - and somehow, that seemed like the biggest tragedy at hand. 

Freya blinked. Then blinked again. And before she could even breathe between moments, Alaric's stiff body hit the tree beside her. Kai's demeanor was cold. His posture chilling. Even worse, his eyes couldn't help but hold the small flicker of warmth like a snuffed-out campfire.

"A lot of magic, actually." 

She could barely keep her eyes focused on him. They were turning downwards into a frown. Her lips were melting into a slant and her eyebrows hung heavy over the brown irises that he swore were heart-shaped at times. "Kai-"

It seemed like her voice was triggering. Or causing his trigger finger to shake, anyway. 

"Motus."

She could barely keep her breath in her lungs as she felt the stiff car door pierce her back. It dislodged her wings, those buried deep within her back, and left her hands muddy from her second fall to the gritty ground. This descent, however, was much quicker than the last. 

Freya could feel the dint her body had caused into the frame. It was a much softer landing than he had offered her inside the prison world, though, so it was a welcomed metallic mattress.  She stumbled to her feet with a gentle wheeze that sounded like a thousand avaries trapped behind her ribs. Still, she stood. The same couldn't be said for Alaric, who was still coughing and groaning.

Kai parted his lips. Was it to apologize? To taunt? No, jeer. That was more like him.

Yet, before she could hear the words, they stumbled their way from his lips as Damon pinned him against the oak tree. Pointed and rough bark stabbed their way through his clothes while the vampire tightened his grip around his collar. Even now, when his life was at risk, he couldn't help but steal another glance. 

With all the strength he could muster, Kai fought Damon off with a hard shove to the chest and a frustrated hiss. He could feel the punch incoming. He could feel the angelic stares that turned demonic with one twist of a scowl. He could feel too many emotions at once for a self-proclaimed sociopath.

"Damon, don't!" 

Damon pulled his fist back, clenched and ready, just to bust through innocent bark.

Kai had disappeared.. and Damon was standing over the line. For a moment, he wasn't sure if her sudden worry was directed at Kai or him. A part of him didn't want to ask, especially since she wouldn't even know the answer herself. 

"God, I really, really hate that move!"

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Samael was panicking. Truly. His blue Cerberus stickers were muddled all over his page -- he was a perfectionist, of course -- and his handwriting had gone sloppy. Surely humans didn't die this much. He'd rather be looking for his sister than spending time explaining the afterlife to men who thought him the devil and always ran first. He was a messenger, a guide, an angel with a book who cried at Marley and Me. 

But he'd always be evil as long as he was associated with death.

But alas, that was his job. And his sister, well, better had a good explanation. Besides, Thantanos was too scary to say no to.

Especially when he blocked the very little sunlight he got. Again. 

"That's the third week without Freya." A list of unchecked names dropped before his brown eyes. Eyes too soft for this line of work. "How long is this melancholic holiday going to last?"

Samael swallowed thickly on his drink and stuttered. "Ah, well, how long does one typically mourn for? Because if we're taking it into account, Queen Victoria had a good four decades. Achilles, however, never stopped. I think it's more of a spectrum. A spooktrum, if you will-"

He felt hands grab his collar and the excuses spluttered out quicker than he could think them through.

"I mean it, Samael. You are a weak, small, pathetic excuse of an immortal. You're no god. Even death can't escape itself. You find her. You help her complete this obviously impossible task, or so Hades help me, you'll be the one she mourns."

Sam swallowed thickly. Fear lit up his eyes. It had never taken his sister long to pull and shoot an arrow. Why was Kai Parker's name still haunting her?

"Yes sir." He stuttered, straightening out his jacket. "I'm sure it's just a bump in the system. I'll fix it. I swear."

However, despite everything, he felt more fear for Freya than he did himself.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Freya had a pain in her spine. It felt like each ridge of the bone had sharpened into daggers that tore her muscles underneath. Each breath was as shaky as the hands that sharpened her new arrows. They didn't work, evidently, but it helped pass the time and keep her mind from wandering into blue-eyed territory.

She set another arrow down. A knife in one hand and widdled sticks in the other. If her dodgy woodcarvings weren't enough to give her anxiety, Damon's stare was.

"Do you need that many?"

No. Any other love deity would only need one. Any other love deity would've had this finished by now. Any other love deity would be worthy of the title.

"It helps me focus. Like knitting, or reading, or whatever people do when they're overridden with complicated emotions that make them want to vomit... Or so I imagine."

Smooth, Freya.

If her own complicated emotions weren't obvious then, they were now. 

Damon took a seat beside her on his sofa. This time, they weren't in the prison world. This time, they had the chirps of nearby crickets and cooing owls to soak up much of the silence. "Magic sucker or not, at least I can set foot back into my own home again.

"We should be extra careful. He has magic. He was psycho without it. Imagine him with it-"

"Why does it sound like you're specifically warning me?"

He gave her a look at was nonsensical. As if her words were formed just to tempt a chuckle. "Because it is. You're too trusting. One puppy-dog look and you're at his whim."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Oh, please, baby, just a sip of water. I'm parched!" He mocked Kai. "My sweet angel- ow!"

Freya's smack was loud enough to echo through the living room. Her hand, now aching and slightly burnt from the harsh impact, collided with a good chunk of leather across his shoulder. Her voice was stern. Defensive. Maybe he was pulling the right strings...

"How am I the one that got motus'd and you're the one with the obvious brain injury?" she scolded. "He was thirsty. What am I supposed to say? No?"

"Oh, but Kai, I definitely can't let you dehydrate! Not when you're so handsome-!"

"I will put one of these in your neck." Freya twirled an arrow between her fingers with a scowl. "And it will not be pleasant to pull out."

Damon rolled his eyes. Despite his teasing, he hoped that's all it was. Harmless teasing. A fleeting look between the two that meant nothing. That surely, despite the intriguing irony, the angel wouldn't fall for the devil.

"Well, regardless, can you move the pointy stab sticks? I'm planning a romantic dinner for my girlfriend and the arrows aren't matching the mood."

She gave him a reluctant huff before scooping them up and putting them in her bag. She tried not to think about the mud stains on her palms or the fragments of autumn leaves in her hair. No, one breath at a time would do just as well.

A stiff knocking tore her from her thoughts. Damon's too.

He jogged to the door with a stupid smile that made her heart ache. She knew that smile. She'd worn it when it wasn't meant to fit her figure.

However, when he opened it, there was nothing but streetlights and empty pathways staring back. He stared forward, eyebrows furrowing in a usual sour look.

Elena, on the other side, knitted her eyebrows in a slight laugh. "Mistletoe. Nice."

He kept quiet.

"Damon? Are you gonna let me in or what?"

With a curious look, he tossed the door shut and let out a disappointed sigh.

Elena stood on the other side, swallowed thickly, and fought back a frown before hearing a man behind her clear his throat. Not that it helped. Kai was never one to sound intimidating without laughing.

"I put a cloaking spell on us." Kai readjusted the crossbow against his shoulder, a smirk playing on his lips that aided his handsomeness. "Smart, right?"

With a quick snap of his fingers, he watched her neck twist and her body to the floor with a sadistic smile.

 Oh, they made it too easy. 

✧ 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 2,426. ✧

a/n: kai: breathes freya: stop being fucking hot