Chapter 19: Kai Finally Free
[Malakai Parker POV]:
[Fort Valley, Georgia]
Kai was bored.
He has been bored. For 17 years. In that blasted prison world! For 17 years!
In his irritation, Kai accidentally siphoned magic from one of his special rocks and ignited his captive on fire, the strangely dressed guard screaming and thrashing in his final moments.
Calming down, Kai fixed his gaze on the soon-to-be dead, currently writhing corpse with an unfeeling, almost amused gaze. "That's odd. Did I tell you you could die on me, little guy?"
With a wave of his hand, he drew power from the flame. Unfortunately, the guard didn't make it.
"Well, there goes my ride out of here," Kai lightly laughed, taking in the parking lot around him, the strange 3 triangles of Triad Industries hanging proudly on the building he had muscled his way out of. "Looks like I'll have to break back in and get another one, huh? That sucks."
Looking around him, he saw two more corpses who had been shown the same fate, for the same purpose. "I should really take some anger management classes," Kai chuckled, shaking his head dismissively. "Now, to get back in…Huh. What's—?"
In a swirl of a vortex, a boy appeared before Kai — One with a face Kai could never forget. He had dreamed of this face, even during the time periods where he hadn't seen it in years. The first person to show him actual decency and treated him as a human being and not an abomination. He's still an abomination, of course, but at least this face wasn't one that made him seem like one. It was a nice sentiment.
The boy was roughly his age, maybe a year younger. He wore a black shirt, grey jacket, matching grey jeans and a pair of black combat boots. He had black-brown hair curly that was faded at the sides and his hazel-green eyes seemed to take in the three bodies around Kai, causing Kai to hold his breath subconsciously. The boy even turned to the building, slowly hearing the alarms blaring.
[Reference Image]:
Then he turned back to helplessly grinning Kai Parker, who was doing his best(and failing) to look innocent. "I leave you alone for a couple hours and you're already getting yourself in trouble with Triad?"
"Intruders."
"Get them!"
"Over here!"
"Get them!"
Seven guards of Triad Industries had arrived before Kai could respond to the boy's snarky comment. They were armed and looked ready to use them. Kai set his jaw, preparing to react, when the boy did it first. Hands raised on either side of a down-facing head, the darker skinned boy chanted an unfamiliar incantation:
"Menedek qual suurentaa!"
Instantly, the necks of the seven guards snapped unnaturally to the side. "Holy m—" but Kai didn't get the chance to appreciate the artwork that was the dead bodies, as immediately afterwards, the boy rushed forward with inhuman speed and strength and firmly grasped Kai's hand. "Apparate!" he exclaimed, and the world folded in on itself one minute and unfolded the next. And they were no longer in the stronghold parking lot of Triad Industries.
No, now they were in the middle of a forested area, with tall, thick trees. A road with singular lanes was located a few hundred feet to the right, with a black sports car parked beside it. The sky was blue and cloudless.
"You couldn't have waited until after the full moon to use the Malivore Pit to escape? Well, at least, now everyone who did know know, don't remember you anymore, so, I guess, there's that plus," whined Kai's rescuer, surprising Kai.
'I thought he'd be annoyed by me breaking our deal,' Kai thought to himself. 'Instead, he seems more annoyed that I didn't break it a tad bit later? What an intriguing guy…'.
Quicker than most would even be able to react, Kai pushed the younger teen up against the nearest tree, clearly starting him with the unexpected move. Then, learning in close enough to breathe in each other's breath, Kai took note of the younger adolescent's film-like sequence of expressions: the confusion, the puzzlement, the realization, the widening of eyes as well as the way his eyes darkened, his pupils dilating, the quickening of breath and the increasing heart rate.
He had the 17 year old's arms pinned at the his sides, which, ironically, only served to increase the younger male's heart rate even more. Kai even noted the adolescent's eyes darken even more somehow.
Kai, wanting to elicit more reactions out of the other male for whatever reason, leaned a head forward, noticing how the male instinctively leaned in closer, inhaling Kai's scent. Kai, getting almost drunk off the way the other male was looking drunk from just a whiff of his scent, leaned his head back, smirking arrogantly. Then he spoke "It would be rude to not be given my benefactor's name, wouldn't it, Buttercup?"
"My…nam…e….?" It took a moment for the other man to realize he was spoken to, and another to fully digest and comprehend Kai's words —- A reaction that had Kai wanting to absolutely devour more of from this teen. Instinctively, Kai had gotten the other male to moan briefly as he rubbed the male's growing erection with his leg while simultaneously siphoning a surprisingly prominent amount of magic from the 17 year old teen. 'He's powerful,' was a thought that Kai had. "M-max. My name is Max," Max said at last, breathing slightly heavier.
This answer was followed by an invisible force propelling Kai sideways into a tree with a low THUNK.
Getting to his feet, Kai noticed a second individual — slightly older, maybe 19 or 20 , possibly 21, in dark coloured clothes, a few amulets around his neck and talisman bracelets on his arm.
'Another warlock?' questioned Kai.
"If you ever lay a hand on the coven leader again…" the warlock took a protective stance before Max. "I'll kill you!"
In response to his anger, the surrounding wind violently rippled its way through the trees and the man himself seemed to vibrate with power — more power than he's ever seen on anyone. Even the Gemini coven leader didn't have this level of raw power output on his own.
Kai, not being one to step down from a fight, however, took a step forward in response, his hand already siphoning magic from one of his stones Max had gifted him so long ago. "Sorry, those weren't very friendly words. They almost sounded threatening, but I might just be hard of hearing. Say it again? A little louder this time, for the ones in back."
The two warlocks were in arms reach at this moment, the wind rushed around them like a cyclone, and the air itself began shimmering intensively, like the summer heat on an asphalt road.
Honestly, Kai wasn't sure why he was following through with this emotional stupidity. Wait, scratch that. He actually does. He was bored. And this seemed like fun.
Unfortunately, his handler didn't seem to think the same.
"Ventō Repellō!"
Suddenly, a greater wind than either of them could've generated pushed both men until they were on their bums and backs.
"Wha—" When Kai looked up, he saw hazel eyes as firm as steel looking down at him. The feeling that gaze ignited inside him had him speaking the first thing that came to mind. "Well, hello there. Is it just me…or was that kind of hot?"
Max smirked, causing something in Kai to do a flip. It was an intriguing feeling, one Kai Parker wasn't familiar with. "If you wanted to pick a fight with someone, Parker, couldn't it have waited until we got done with things here?"
"But that's so boring," Kai grinned in amusement, watching from the corner of his eye, the third warlock of the coven. "Isn't that right, Beefcake?"
"Don't call me that," the man glowered. "And you need to show the coven head more respect."
'What a loyal dog,' Kai thought privately, never once losing interest in riling the black man up. "And who's gonna force me to? You? I'd laugh, but that'd be rude and I'm a good samaritan." Looking briefly at Max, he gave Max a once-over and said, "I've been told I'm even better in bed," before returning his gaze to the fuming warlock before him. "Why the rage, bro? We're all friends here… like Luke and Leia and… what's their friend again? Oh, right. Jabba the Hutt."
At this, he took two threatening steps forward, but Max merely stood in his way, his hand on his chest to hold him back.
"Would you chill, Marcus?" Max tried. "Remember, he's part of the coven, so you cannot kill him."
"He's infuriating," Marcus pointed out. "Just one punch or a just mild curse, nothing deadly. Just one. I'll straighten him out."
"Yes, he can be annoying. Yes, he is instigating conflict. And yes, it can be infuriating, but that is his nature," Max explained, causing both Kai and Marcus to blanch for a moment, eyes turning to Max in puzzlement. "Besides, placing a curse on a siphoner is basically like giving them an all you can ear buffet. It isn't wise if you're meaning to harm them. It would just be strengtheninig them, Marc."
'So he's aware of my siphon nature and he still wants me in his coven?' Kai thought as Marcus calmed down. 'Based on that wind spell earlier, he's clearly not lacking in power, and the little dog is more powerful than a typical coven head on its own, so the quality of members aren't a prospect either. Why me? Why would he want me? I'm a sociopath who has tried to kill my former coven and family— and something tells me he knows that as well somehow.'
"Kai!" Max's voice brought Kai from his thoughts.
"Huh? What?" Kai looked up. "You say something, beautiful?"
Max seemed to blush, almost adorably so. The sight caused Kai to experience that feeling in his stomach from earlier.
"I was saying, now that you're out, how do you feel about joining the coven?"
"I'm still for it," was all Kai said. "Does it come with a place to live, because I'm almost certain no one remembers me, if what you told me before is true. Also, since I can't return to Parker House yet, I have to have somewhere to plot my family's demise."
"Of course, so long as Josette, Luke, and Liz Parker are exempt from your 'kill list,'" Max's grin a great facade, but Kai could feel the wrath and power beneath the Cheshire surface.
Kai paused, contemplating his answer. He sensed, if he lied, he very well may be discovered and something told him he'd die most definitively. As a sociopath, he trusted his gut first and foremost; Kai wasn't one to act against it, so he compromised.
"They aren't the reason for my imprisonment. I still have some bitterness towards my twin siter, but I can be civil with it, so long as everyone else in the coven is fair game," Kai smirked maniacally.
"Good," Max nodded, gesturing to Kai to come here. "Take off your shirt."
"Whoa there, buttercup. If you wanted my body all you had to do was ask," Kai grinned slyly.
"I need to apply the Verbatim Coven crest onto your skin," Max gestured to the stone around his neck. "You'll be able to draw power from the stone in times of emergency, dimwit."
Kai's eyes widened in exasperation as he digested the words. 'My own source of power?' Kai thought, incredulously. Taking note of Marcus' raised shirt and the crest to the right of his abs, he realized Max was serious. Within moments, Kai was already moving to remove his shirt.
As he did, he noticed how Max appraised him, turning a light shade of crimson as he took in his forming muscles. Kai wasn't buff or even too athletic, but he was toned and he had a light dusting of body hair. "You want a closer inspection, Buttercup? Stand there any longer and I'm going to start to think that you're transfixed."
"Ahh, shut it, you underdeveloped eel," Max shot back, but he had gone a deep shade of red as he walked up to Kai, outstretching a hand to Kai's abs, pausing before he could even make contact.
"I don't bite, you know," Kai grinned, suddenly grasping Max's hand and making Max gasp as his palm touched Kai's treasure trail. A sound that briefly sounded like a moan came out Max's mouth briefly, causing Marcus to frown and Kai to chuckle. "There we go, Buttercup. That's it."
Choosing to ignore everything around him, Max began work, carving into Kai's skin with a stone that somehow left ink in its wake. The pain was barely bearable and the process wasn't long, and Max remained laser-focused the entire time—it was adorable.
When Max finished, Kai noticed a sharp oval shape, almost exactly the same shape as the stone Max slung around his neck. It was to the right of his abs, over his right kidney, and Kai subconsciously could already feel the power it gave off. 'Incredible,' he thought.
"Now that we are finished with that," Marcus noted the moment, eyeing the setting sun and the already out moon. "We need to find the groove right, Max? For the ritual?"
"What ritual?" Kai couldn't help but ask. "What groove?"
"An Original ritual," Max smiled. "Tell me, Kai, what do you know about the Original family? 'Cause we're about to un-dagger one."
'Well, shit,' Kai thought. 'What have I gotten myself into?'