Chapter 25

                                    

                                          
Kai overestimated Jo's generosity.
                          
"Are you freaking kidding me?" hissed Vivianna when he returned that night, saying that Jo had not wanted to give him the 1903 Ascendant. "What the hell did you tell her?"
                          
"I said I wanted to um... have it," said Kai awkwardly. "As a souvenir."
                          
"A souvenir?"
                          
"I didn't think telling her the truth would put us in a good position."
                          
"So you lied and now she's gonna know we're up to something sketchy."
                          
"Jo doesn't know who's in the 1903 prison world."
                          
"But she's probably gonna try to find out now."
                          
"Well what if I lie about something?" asked Kai, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small vial of red liquid. 
                          
"Put that away!" said Vivianna, shoving his hand down. "We can't tell them we have that! No one can know, Malachai, because we don't know how good they are at keeping secrets. We don't need a flock of vampires coming our way."
                          
"But this is the perfect excuse!" said Kai. "Jo wants me to prove I'm being good, right? So what if I say I want to go on an expedition in 1903 to get another version of the cure? The one that existed in this reality is gone for good. I can say that I want to give it to Elena and Caroline for all their help. Elena gave us the message to go to Nova Scotia, and Caroline is the one who fed you her blood when you were dying. Chances are, it's because of her that you're still alive. The Salvatores probably would want us to offer it to those girls before anything. If they don't want it, then they can figure out what they'd like to do with it."
                          
"This is a risk, Kai," said Vivianna. "What if she figures out that you're lying? What if she doesn't buy it?"
                          
"Well, she should! A part of me kinda does want to offer it to them."
                          
"What's the other part wanting to do with it?"
                          
"Keep it for you."
                          
She blinked. "Malachai, I'm mortal. I don't need that."
                          
"But we might be mortal forever, Vivi. If... if something happens and we end up choosing to turn into vampires at some point, and we don't like it, then we should probably have this on standby so that we can undo it."
                          
"Are you thinking of turning?" she asked slowly.
                          
Kai bit his lip. "Yeah, I've been thinking a lot about it today. Because... because one of Jo's patients didn't make it. Not even with my magic. But I knew that if I had vampire blood, I could have healed them. And I was thinking... my magic would be so much stronger if I was a heretic. We're planning on letting them out, anyway. If I turned once we get to know them, I'd have people... real heretics... who can teach me how to use my powers."
                          
"You don't know how that's gonna affect you. What if you become a Ripper like them?"
                          
"We'll deal with that if it happens, that's why the cure is our backup plan."
                          
"But... but if you turn and you're fine with it, what then? I thought you wanted to give me a chance to do Traditional Magic. I can't do any magic if I'm a vampire."
                          
"I know. Which again, is why the cure is important. Until we break your spell, you won't be able to do any magic unless you're holding a Traveler's dark object. Breaking the Gemini Merge Curse could take months if not years. Only once that's done can we help you. So... maybe becoming a vampire is something we have to talk about."
                          
"What about kids? What if we decide we want to have kids when it's been way too long for us to age normally with the cure? Because if we both turn and one of us takes it, the other has to drink it from that person. And then the one who loses the cure will start to age a lot. We're not sure when we're gonna feel ready for kids. It could be tomorrow or it could be in the next century once we've had a chance to... to explore the world and take advantage of compulsion and all that."