Earlier that day, the warmth of morning light filtered softly through Julia's window, casting golden streaks across her sheets. After an intense and pleasurable night, the peaceful moment was short-lived.
As Julia stirred awake, she heard a voice, smooth and teasing, say,
"Good morning."
It was Kai. His voice sent an involuntary shiver down her spine. She rolled over to face him with a sleepy smile.
"Hey," she replied.
"Hey," he said back, a smile forming on his lips.
There was a pause between them, a comfortable silence charged with the memory of last night's delicious activity.
"So… last night was… um," Julia murmured.
Kai chuckled, "Yeah."
Leaning in, Julia kissed him gently. As she pulled away, Kai began to move in for another
BANG!
The door to the apartment flung open.
"Jules? You in?" someone called out.
Julia's eyes went wide. "Shit, shit, shit!" she cursed, scrambling off of the bed in panic.
Kai blinked, still processing. "Who the hell is that?"
"That's my sister Mackenzie!"
Kai muttered, "Ohhhhh right, she has*ma sister."
Julia groaned. "I forgot to put up the boundary spell last night."
In a frenzy, both of them rushed to grab whatever clothing they could find. Footsteps approached as her sister continued calling out. A beat later, the bedroom door swung open.
"Oh," Mackenzie said flatly, her gaze dropping to Julia's panties lying by the doorway before moving to the pair with Kai already in his boxers and Julia clutching the blanket around herself.
Mackenzie looked from Kai to Julia and raised an eyebrow.
"Uhhh... hello?"
Julia smiled awkwardly. "Kenzie, hey. Uh... how are you?"
Kai waved casually. "Hi. I'm Kai, nice to meet you." Then with a sarcastic grin, he added, "You really know how to ruin a moment."
Kenzie blinked at that and cleared her throat. "Can I talk to you, Julia?"
Kai stood, picking up his shirt and pants from the floor. "I'll excuse myself," he said, slipping past Mackenzie. "Nice to meet you."
He gave Julia a subtle glance. "I'll see you later."
Julia nodded, "Yeah."
Kenzie gave her a long, loaded look. As the door shut behind Kai, she arched a brow.
"Well, that's a surprise."
Julia frowned.
"I mean, I expected hangover sweats and empty pizza boxes. Not... a booty call," she added.
"By the way, he's very hot."
Julia sighed and flopped back onto the bed.
—
Some time later, Julia sat across the table from Mackenzie, both with mugs in hand.
"You look good," Kenzie said. "Much better than I expected."
She paused for a moment, studying her.
"I got a call from the station."
"Yeah?" Julia replied, voice even.
"You're holding up well," Kenzie said, with slight disbelief.
"I am doing okay."
Kenzie gave a dry chuckle. "Yeah, I can see that."
She leaned back. "James told us he's worried."
Julia let out a bitter laugh. "Really? James? Well let me bring you up to speed James doesn't even remember me at all."
Kenzie blinked, skeptical. "He called last month. Said the reason you dropped out was recovery."
Julia rolled her eyes. "So much for anonymous. Besides, as you can see, I'm doing okay."
Kenzie folded her arms. "Are you, though? Or are you just on a rebound?"
Julia frowned. "Kai isn't a rebound."
Kenzie gave an unimpressed look. "Funny, I never mentioned Kai."
She sighed. "I left you eight messages with no response, Jules. What the hell?"
Julia rubbed her forehead. "Sorry. I was… caught up with something."
Kenzie leaned forward. "Mom knows you got arrested. She's trying to keep it out of the paper. She just got elected to the board of the Met and is closing on a new co-op."
Julia looked at her calmly, then nodded. "Of course she is."
Kenzie didn't stop. "She said you need help. But clearly you think you don't."
Julia's voice grew colder. "Mmm. So she wants to stick me somewhere like she stuck Daddy, huh?"
Kenzie's face tightened. "You confessed to being on drugs. You got arrested. You think she doesn't go to the opera with ten judges who'd happily commit you? She'Mom."
"I said I'm okay, Kenzie," Julia snapped. "You've seen for yourself I'm good. So let her know I love her, but she's not going to dictate what's good for me anymore."
Kenzie exhaled, giving in. "Alright… I love you, Julia. But you need to stop getting into complications."
Julia smirked. "Life is all about complications. Can't avoid it."
Kenzie paused, then laughed softly. "That actually makes sense."
Julia grinned. "Kai said that."
Kenzie rolled her eyes. "Of course he did. Did I mention he's got…"
"—a Smoking hot body?," Julia finished.
They both laughed.
"I love you too, Kenzie… for coming."
Kenzie smiled. "What are sisters for?"
—
Kai sat at a wooden desk in Brakebills, trying not to fall asleep as the Dean lectured from the front of the room.
"Your first semester at Brakebills was dedicated to the fundamentals of magic," the Dean said.
Kai half-listened. His attention shifted the moment Penny entered the room. His thoughts drifted to Kady. He had been trying to reach her over a day now. Nothing, no returned calls and no locator spell materials either not that he could get any without flagging someone.
"Starting today," the Dean continued, "your course load will double. Look inside your bags."
Kai groaned internally and looked into his bag, pulling out four thick books.
'Great. Because this is how I want to spend my time.'
The Dean rambled on, "Alchemy, Astronomy, Botany just to name a few."
'Fantastic,' Kai thought sarcastically. 'All this extra workload when I could be training my minions, figuring out what the hell's up and tracking Kady before she gets pulled into that cult of weirdos worshipping some Underground Lady or whatever.'
Everyone started moving toward their new study groups. Kai looked at the paper with his assigned partner.
"Great. Now who the hell are you?"
—
Later, in the library, he spotted a girl with oversized glasses sipping from a thermos.
"Mary?" Kai asked.
She looked up with a grin. "Oh! You must be Kai."
"Yep. That's me," he replied, sliding into the seat across from her.
As he sat down, his vampire-enhanced senses were immediately assaulted. A waft of body spray hit his nose.
Kai blinked. 'God, what is that smell?'
His sharp hearing picked up Penny's voice across the library.
"Hell is real, and it smells like Axe body spray."
Kai shook his head. 'Quentin must be trying again. Poor guy.'
Mary tapped on her open book. "So, for botany, we're starting with studying the vine species' growth rate and its natural absorption properties. If cultured right, it becomes a conduit for body-based spells. Really delicate work."
Kai blinked at her, sighed, then muttered internally 'I hate school.'
---
After finishing up with Mary, Kai made his way back to his dorm room. He opened the door and stepped in only to freeze mid-step. There, lounging in Leo's bed, was a half-naked girl, a bong in hand, exhaling a cloud of smoke that smelled vaguely like cherries.
Kai turned to leave, hand already on the doorknob, then paused and said with dry sarcasm, "Wait… this is my room, right?"
Just then, Leo emerged from the bathroom, a towel slung lazily around his neck. He looked up and grinned. "Oh hey, dude."
Kai gave him a blank stare, then glanced back at the girl on the bed.
Leo waved a hand toward her casually. "That's Susan."
Kai rolled his eyes. The irony wasn't lost on him. He was officially in the same exact situation as Julia's sister walking into something he did not want to see.
"Your girlfriend?" Kai asked dryly.
"Nah," Susan chimed in, blowing out another puff of sweet-scented smoke. "Study buddies."
Kai thought to himself, 'Oh yeah, study buddies… and getting high together, it would seem. Probably other things I definitely do not want to know.'
He dropped his bag on his bed and turned right back around, stepping out of Brakebills once again.
The scene shifted to Kai standing in front of his newly created hybrids.
Travis narrowed his eyes. "Wait… what did he just say?"
Kai looked at the group, holding up a photograph. "I said I need someone found."
Devin frowned, crossing his arms. "Why are we on search duty? Can't you just do a tracking spell or something?"
Kai gave him a deadpan look. "If I could just find her with a spell, I wouldn't need you now, would I?"
Larry tilted his head. "Who is she?"
"Someone important," Kai replied. "Someone who needs to be watched very closely."
He handed them the photo. "I want eyes everywhere."
Then, shifting gears, he asked, "So how's the spell training going?"
Julius shrugged. "Telekinesis spell's easy enough."
Michael muttered, "It's the invisique spell that's giving me a headache."
Kai nodded slowly, noting their progress. "Good. Progress is progress."
He pulled out a folded piece of paper from his coat pocket and opened it. "There are three new spells here for you to learn the maiming spell, the pain-inducing spell, and a boundary spell."
Tom raised an eyebrow. "Why the attack spells?"
Kai glanced up at him. "They'll come in handy in the very near future. Especially the boundary spell."
The group nodded in agreement, accepting their new assignments.
"Oh," Kai added, "you're free to move as you wish now… until told otherwise."
Julius stepped forward. "We could use a little more freedom."
Kai turned his head slowly to look at him, expression hardening.
"The only extra freedom you'll get is when I decide to release you from this earth."
The tone was sharp and calm, but with a cold finality that cut through the air like a blade.
They all froze, not expecting that edge from him.
Kai turned on his heel. "Now get to it."
He left them standing in silence.
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