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Kai had been wandering around Mystic Falls aimlessly for a few days. He’d absorbed all the magic from the Traveler’s Spell, and it was almost impossible to control. Kai had stolen the chance to practice on Elena for a little while, but her stupid boyfriend and his twin sister managed to get her back. He’d have to wait weeks before the magic dwindled, delaying the merge he’d been denied for decades. He was done waiting. He was burning for revenge, and he wanted it now.
He'd been having a lonely lunch in the Mystic Grill and people-watching when his gaze fell on a girl. She seemed very focused, typing away on some device that looked like a slim typewriter with a TV screen. Kai had been in a prison for eighteen years, but before he left, bringing pagers to sit-down restaurants was considered rude. She fascinated him, whoever she was. Before he could go talk to her, she was joined by Alaric Saltzman – a vampire and Josette’s fiancé. The typewriter-with-a-screen was finally set aside. He couldn’t hear them from this far away, but he could’ve sworn she’d greeted him with a “Hey, Dad!”
Raising his eyebrows, Kai took a sip of his soda. Alaric Saltzman seemed far too young to have a near twenty-year-old daughter. This opened up a very interesting set of opportunities. Muttering a spell under his breath so he could listen to their conversation, he settled into his seat, finally feeling like he wasn't sitting here alone. It was illicit company, but company, nonetheless.
“How’s school going? You keep your academic life surprisingly secret from your dad.” Alaric flipped through the menu, teasing Rosalie as she put her laptop away into her bookbag. She smiled, shaking her head. “It’s not a secret if you have chats over coffee with all of my professors in staff lounges.”
“Fair, fair. I’d just like to hear it from you sometimes. Did you order anything yet?” Rosalie shook her head, perusing the menu herself. “Not yet, I was working. Looks like they added some new mains.”
There was nothing important Kai would learn from this mindless chatter, but some part of him liked listening to it. It was… well, normal: a normal lunch between a dad and daughter. Funnily enough, normal was the most abnormal for Kai.
It took one week for Kai to find out the girl’s story. Rosalie Saltzman was a witch. Though not his daughter by blood, Alaric was her only family. They’d found each other ten years ago when Alaric was just starting as a middle school teacher. He’d been heartbroken over his ex-wife, Isobel, for many years, and the hole in his heart couldn’t be filled romantically. Rose was an orphan. When she was old enough, she ran away from her abusive foster home and was living by herself in the school. Alaric found her sleeping in the library one night and took her in. Soon enough, Alaric became Rosalie’s legal guardian, her friend, and eventually, her parent. When she discovered her magic, Alaric knew exactly what it was and how to help her learn.
Rose had befriended the Mystic Falls gang when she moved there with Alaric six years ago. She’d lost him, and Rosalie almost lost herself in those years. She didn’t like to talk about it. Now, she was on the same path as her dad. She was majoring in Occult Studies with the hopes of becoming a professor herself.
From what Kai had seen, it seemed like Alaric tried to keep her away from the crazy happenings in Mystic Falls. It was the only point of strife between the two. Now that he was back, Alaric was determined to protect Rosalie, not wanting her to get involved until she had to. The problem was that she’d spent years without him, now – years when she was one of the only trusted witches Elena, Caroline, Damon, and Stefan turned to. She wasn’t about to abandon them because her dad wanted her to.
Nevertheless, Alaric had managed to protect Rosalie. He hadn’t let a word of Kai or who he was slip to his daughter. This worked in Kai’s favor miraculously. He wanted to get close to Rosalie. She was the glue that held the messed-up Mystic Falls family together, and she was exactly who Kai wanted to destroy. The game was about to begin, and he’d found a new piece to play with. It would take time, but this wait would be worth it.
Every Sunday, Rosalie spent the day studying away in a tiny coffee shop a few blocks from Whitmore’s campus. At first, Kai started showing up there with something random: a book, a sketchpad, and even a typewriter-with-a-screen he’d bought himself (he finally learned they were called laptops and were portable computers).
They didn’t even make eye contact for the first week, but Kai observed her very carefully. She tended to order black coffee and then go into work mode. By the time she went back for her second sip, her beverage would be untastefully cold. Then, she’d request ice and turn her order into an entirely new concoction with cream.
During the second week, they truly saw each other for the first time. Rosalie smiled and nodded politely as one does to strangers and went back to her work, sipping her iced coffee and ignoring him as well as everything around her.
When the third week came around, he finally spoke to her. “Hi.” Rosalie glanced up at the sound and removed her earbuds. “Hi?” She hadn’t failed to notice the very attractive guy who’d suddenly begun frequenting her favorite coffee shop, but she hadn’t imagined he’d come to talk to her. “Um…” Kai was very rusty with face-to-face interactions. “Lovely weather we’re having.”
Kai almost facepalmed. Rose raised an eyebrow and looked out the window. It was pouring outside, and the wind had just blown away some poor fellow’s umbrella. “Sure, if you’re into storms.” He seemed adorably nervous, and Rosalie decided to take the lead. “I’m Rosalie, Rosalie Saltzman.” She stood, reaching out her hand in greeting. Kai’s palm slid against hers, surprised at the comforting warmth. “I’m Kai Parker. Are you related to Professor Saltzman by any chance?”
“Why, yes. He is my dad.” Kai already knew that, of course, but he needed an in with her. “I’ve been thinking about taking one of his courses next semester. Any chance you could tell me about them?”
Rosalie, very patiently, began talking about Alaric’s Introduction to Occult Studies seminar. Kai just continued to watch her. He was learning more about her every day; for a witch, she was surprisingly open. Most were always so secretive and quiet.
Before they knew it, they’d spent hours chatting the day away. “Thanks for being so patient with all my insipid questions.” Kai was feeling oddly cheerful. It wasn’t a common emotion for him. “Aw, they weren’t all insipid questions. Maybe a few.” Rosalie teased brightly, and Kai couldn’t help but return her wide grin. “Well, Rosalie, I had a lot of fun today, and I was wondering if you maybe wanted to… get coffee sometime.”
“Well, considering we’re in a coffee shop, that shouldn’t be too hard to arrange. How about the same time and place next week?”
“Great. It’s a date.”
One date turned into four, and before he’d even planned it, Rosalie was spending much of her time with Kai. He didn’t mind one bit. Of course, Kai had to convince himself it was all to get close to her and then break her – break them all. The more time he spent with her, however, the more he was starting to think he’d picked the wrong girl. The more time he spent with her, the more he didn’t want to have to break her. But he was in this now. He was in it, and there was only one way out.
Despite planning to meet at their usual coffee shop, Kai didn’t show up today, and he wasn’t answering his phone either. Perhaps it would seem pathetic or clingy, but Rosalie was worried about him. She made her way to his place, only wanting to see if he was okay. He was a quirky guy who had grown on her. He loved his food. He was strange at times, but she chalked it up to this naivety he had about their world. It was almost like he’d come from another time.
Rosalie knocked on his door. “Kai? Is everything okay?” There was no verbal response, but she heard shuffling on the other side of the door. The door handle did not turn, but she could feel his breathing on the other side. Pressing her palm to the door, Rosalie spoke softly, knowing the words would reach him. “Kai…” There were many things she wanted to say, but she didn’t know where to start. She didn’t know what he was going through, and she didn’t want to push him to open up to her.
“I don’t know what is bothering you, so I can’t say it’ll get better. People always say it will, but maybe it won’t. That is okay. I promise you, even if it doesn’t get better, it will become easier to live with. It always does.”
Kai closed his eyes. His temples were throbbing from dehydration, his eyes sore. He hadn’t cried in years, and it wasn’t catharsis – it was torture. How would she know it would become easier? She was unbelievably kind, and the kinder she was, the harder it was to stay on track. He wanted to forget all this. Kai couldn’t bear to use her as a catalyst for his revenge. Not anymore. Not like this. “How do you know?”
His raspy, broken voice hurt something within her. It sounded lifeless, devoid of hope and meaning. “Because I’ve lived through it. Please let me in.”
His shoulders slumped over. The weight of worlds may have rested on them. The weight of his identity certainly did. Weeks ago, he’d claimed the only way out of this was through. Could he give up his revenge, the one thing that sustained him? Could he give her up? He sank to the floor and leaned his back against the door. He said nothing else, but Kai hoped she didn’t leave.
She didn’t leave. Mere inches away, separated by the wooden door between them, Rosalie sat on the other side. She listened to his breathing, his muffled sobs. Her heart broke for him. Something was tearing him apart, and all she wanted to do was hold him together…
When dawn struck, Kai woke. His back was stiff from the strange angle he’d been sleeping at, and he stretched forward. He shot up, then. There was no way she was still here, was there? Very slowly, he opened the door with a shaking hand. She was asleep against the wall. Kai wanted to wake her, but that would be a poor way to repay her compassion.
Biting the inside of his cheek, Kai lifted her and laid her on his bed, tucking her in. He was done with all of it. He was done with lying to her. He’d tell her everything very soon, and if she wanted to tell him to leave her life and never return, so be it. Kai would leave her life and never return.
No matter how he wanted to, Kai couldn’t do it. He couldn’t tell her, not when that would mean admitting how horrible he was. Instead of telling her when she woke the next morning, he crossed another line. He kissed her. It didn’t take much thought on his part, and she returned the kiss after a few moments of surprise.
As their lips meshed together, Kai couldn’t understand how she’d become so important to him so quickly. It seemed she felt the same way. “Kai… I don’t know what is going on with you, and I won’t force you to tell me, either. I want you to know I’m here for you. I’ll always be here for you.”
Her words rang with sincerity, breaking Kai’s heart more and more. He had to come clean. If she left him, he’d deserve it. The only problem was… Malachai was a coward. He’d always been a coward, and he would always be a coward.
After that one kiss, Kai vanished. Rosalie hadn’t heard from him or even seen him around campus in weeks. She got no texts, no calls… no sign he’d ever existed. The first week had hurt badly. She stayed up nights, staring at her dark ceiling trying to comprehend why he’d disappeared. The second week brought about the best performance of her life; Rose acted like she was over him. She figured she could fake it until Malachai was solely a memory. By the third week, the act was up. She couldn’t hide behind a screen of emotionlessness. It was standing on a feeble foundation, and sooner and later, it would crumble.
Thankfully, a distraction had presented itself. Alaric had been dealing with yet another villain in Mystic Falls for the past few weeks, and this time, he’d called upon his daughter to come help. Despite the pure annoyance their life had become in recent years, Rosalie knew asking her to come step was a solidifying step in the relationship she had with her dad. She journeyed down the highway, not knowing she was speeding towards the man she’d spent weeks trying to forget.
Kai had spent the last three weeks trapped in the cellars of the Salvatore Boarding House. The first week had hurt badly. He stayed up nights, staring at the granite ceiling trying to make sense of the uncomfortable whirlwind of emotions inside him. The second week brought about starvation, weakness, and a moment of painful clarity. Malachai somehow felt the aching and confusion Rose must have been feeling all those miles away. By the third week, something had awoken within him. Something hard. Unbreakable. Unyielding. He’d snapped again, and the Kai Parker they were so terrified of had returned.
He'd been dragged out of the cell and tied up to a chair in the living room. The moment was all too reminiscent of an interaction in the prison world, where he’d been tied up to the exact same chair. The fireplace crackled to his left, and Damon stood in front of him with a poker in his hand. “Man, no one thought to change up the furniture since 1994? No wonder this place went out of business.”
Damon smirked without mirth, passing the metal rod between his hands. “I forgot how annoying you can be. Bonnie couldn’t stand to be in the same room as you again, so we’ve got another friend coming to help out with whatever little secrets you’ve got in there.” Kai raised his eyebrows, internally indignant but outwardly cool. His gaze fell on the glass of water on the coffee table. “Let me guess. I answer the question, I get the water. I refuse, and I get the poker.”
“Oh no, no, no. That’s mine. You just get the poker.” In his exhaustion, Malachai genuinely chuckled. “How original, Damon. Tell me, how’d you get Rosalie to agree to help out?” That was the ace in his back pocket – the card he hoped he’d never have to play. At the mention of his daughter, Alaric zoomed into the room, holding Kai by the throat while he tilted his chair backward. A few more inches and his head would slam against the brick fireplace. “How do you know my daughter?”
As quickly as he’d come in, Damon got Alaric off of him. “Easy, Papa Bear. Kai’s going to cooperate.” The metal poker rested on Kai’s chest, the sharp tip separated from his heart by mere inches of flesh and blood. “Talk. Now.”
“Didn’t you know? I’ve been dating her for a while. Here I thought she told you everything, Alaric.” Alaric blanched. There were consequences to keeping Rosalie in the dark, and here was one. In the process of trying to keep her out of these messes, Alaric had enveloped Rose into one with repercussions he couldn’t yet imagine. “Of course, she thinks it’s real, which is sweet, really. At least someone among us has a heart.”
His words betrayed his thoughts. Truly, he’d be taking her heart and crushing it, but this was about his survival. If there was one thing Kai Parker knew how to do, it was survive. “She’s just so welcoming… it was so easy to step into her life. I could get into all of yours and take what I’ve always wanted. But you really didn’t need to torture me to get that out of me, did you? I think I’m an excellent communicator.”
Nothing had announced Rosalie’s arrival. Her car pulling up to the driveway had reached Damon and Alaric’s ears, but not Kai’s. He kept talking, spreading lies and making them sound like nothing but the truth. Rose was standing just ten feet behind him, and her dad looked up at her. His eyes were swarming with a myriad of emotions in stark contrast to Rosalie’s. Her eyes were simply empty. There was nothing to be found in her anymore. There was no more pain, no more darkness, and no more joy.
Damon forcefully swiveled the chair around, and the movement nearly knocked Kai to the ground. When he looked up, he saw the numbness in her eyes. He’d broken her. Rose didn’t scream at him. Not one tear slipped past her eye, even as her throat closed up with emotion. She just turned on her heel and walked away. Kai had thought he was destroying her heart, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.
She no longer had a heart that could be destroyed. Now, there was just nothing.
Kai had come to ruin the lives of those who’d tortured him. He thought he deserved the vengeance, and perhaps he still did. He just had no right to ruin the one soul who’d shown him an ounce of kindness along the way. After giving Damon whatever information he’d wanted, Alaric had let him go with the promise that he’d stay away from his daughter. That wasn’t a promise Kai would keep, and even Alaric knew that. She may not have seen it, but Alaric had seen the flicker of remorse in him, even if it lasted a fraction of a second.
Rosalie had gone about life just as she had before Kai ever came into it. She studied. She had dinners with her dad. She spent her Sundays at the same coffee shop. In his weakness, it took Kai weeks before he could step into the coffee shop and approach her. When he finally did, he wished he hadn’t. It would’ve been much more acceptable if she yelled at him, even thrown her hot coffee in her face. Instead, she glanced up at him and began packing up her things. Not a word was exchanged.
Kai trailed after her, not knowing what to say or how to start. Snow had begun to fall, and the chill settled into his bones. Instead of calling out her name, he ran up behind her, grabbing her wrist to get her to stop. She did stop then, wrenching her wrist from her grip. “What do you want, Malachai?” The words did not reflect her turmoil, because none came up to the surface. He’d shattered her beyond repair.
“Rosalie…” He didn’t have the words to begin. Just saying her name did something to him, closing up his throat and stealing his air. “I’m so sorry. I know that doesn’t begin to cover it. I had no right to use you the way I did. But I swear to you, I wasn’t lying. I really began feeling… something for you. I don’t know if it was love because no one’s loved me before. I don’t know what love is. But I felt something for you… something that made me sick and dizzy and light and happy. Just being around you…” Kai rambled on. Once he started, he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
“Just being around you healed me. I need that. I promise you, no moment we spent together was a lie. It may have started that way at first, but now…” What finally silenced him was not his own tiredness or overwhelming emotions; it was her smile. It was a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, didn’t even seem like a smile. It was empty, reflective of the shell of Rosalie he’d left behind.
“I’d rather you lie.”