“Yeah… I was just thinking about how sweet it was that everyone came back for your birthday. I mean, Tristan came all the way back from backpacking around Europe just for the weekend—talk about dedication! I’m going to miss this… you know, having the gang together.” She ended softly, concentrating on her napkin rather than the people around her. Kira pulled the linen from her friend’s fingers, forcing Emma to concentrate on her words.
“I thought we got all of that talk out at graduation! We’re still going to be ‘the gang’ no matter what.”
“I know, but it won’t be the same. You and Luke were only gone for what? Three weeks? And still, things felt off. Sometimes I just don’t want things to change, you know? Like I don’t really want to grow up.”
You’re telling me, Kira thought but quelled her inner-monologue. Emma was almost never like this. Sure, was emotional at times. But normally she was the calm, collected one—not the vulnerable, nervous one. Only one thing would bring this side out in her.
“Did something happen with Dave?” Kira asked, taking Emma’s hand to comfort her. Dave and Emma were the perfect couple: they were classic southern sweethearts and they would both be going to college in Texas come Fall. Kira couldn’t even imagine them apart.
“No… I don’t know. I’m just nervous I guess. People always say that when you grow up you grow apart, but what if I don’t want that to happen?”
Kira couldn’t suppress a sidelong glance at Tristan, who was still trapped by her sister Chloe. She couldn’t deny that her birthday had made her think the very same question—for her and Tristan, growing up literally meant growing apart.
“If you don’t want to grow apart, you won’t,” Kira urged, turning her attention back to Emma and leaving her own thoughts for another time. “Nothing will change if you don’t want it to. I mean, Dave is head over heels for you! You’re all he ever thinks about and that won’t change.”
Both girls took a moment to look over towards the grill where all four boys—yes, including Kira’s fully adult father—were taking turns dropping lighter fluid into the flames to make them explode. Definitely Luke’s idea, Kira assumed. “Well, when he’s not playing with lighter fluid, all he does is think about you…”
“I know that,” Emma said, “it’s just that we’ll be going to different colleges… they’re only two hours away from each other, but still, it’ll be different. And people always say that high school relationships never last, that they are sort of your first taste of love before the real thing comes around.”
A sudden tingle stirred at the base of Kira’s neck and she knew, before shifting to meet his gaze, that Tristan was watching her. His eyes were hidden beneath the shadow of his hair, but the tense muscles in his neck told Kira he was listening—waiting to hear what her response would be. She loved him and he her, but both of them had sensed the change in their relationship. He was a vampire. She was a conduit. They were supposed to be enemies, and the more prominent Kira’s powers became, the more impossible their future seemed. That wasn’t enough for Kira to give up on them and forget her feelings, but it was enough of a crack for a few small, almost imperceptible doubts to seep through.
“I don’t believe that,” she finally answered her friend. “Love is love, no matter how old or young you are.”
“You’re right,” Emma said and let a slow smile spread across her face, lighting her features. She broke her long stare in Dave’s direction, ready to tackle napkin folding again, but saw the gloomy expression on Kira’s face. “Oh God, I’ve totally ruined your birthday! I don’t know what came over me!”
“You haven’t ruined anything,” Kira said, casually waving the air away. “It’s my party and I can cry if I want to!”
“Cry?” Luke’s voice interjected from above Kira’s shoulder. Kira spun in her seat, completely forgetting the apron Luke had on, and came face to face with the exact part of a nude male she did not want to be staring at.
Quickly shielding her eyes, Kira muttered, “Can you take that thing off? I can’t take you seriously.”
“You never take me seriously,” Luke laughed, stepping even closer to Kira, who leaned further away. Do not blush, she thought, do not blush.
“Luke.”
“Fine, fine. Ruin my fun,” he said and untied the apron before slipping it over his head. “I came over here to talk anyway.”
“And that’s my cue,” Emma said, ducking out of the way and over towards Dave and Miles by the grill. Luke took her vacant seat and Kira instantly felt the space around them thicken. Her throat tightened and she took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly to calm her speeding pulse. She felt nervous around him—something she had never felt, not even since the first time they had met.
“What’s up?” Kira said, hoping her voice had come out calm and strong.
Luke reached in his pocket and pulled out a small black box decorated with a white satin ribbon. “It’s not much, but I got you a birthday present,” he said and clumsily shoved his arm in her direction.
Slowly, Kira reached out and lifted the box from his hand. Using the power Kira had only discovered a few weeks before, she skimmed his thoughts, unable to stop the impulse to dip into his mind. The buzz of his nerves calmed her. His mind was hesitant, stopped on a breath and waiting. An expectation hung in the background, surrounded by a glimmer of hope and a tinge of excitement. But Kira could tell by the bright green hint in his eyes that he was energized—she didn’t need the mind reading for that and she retreated from his thoughts to tug the ribbon free from its bow.
Kira lifted the lid and sitting inside, gently resting on a white satin cushion, was a tiny golden sun sparkling in the daylight.
“Luke,” Kira said, breathing the word out like a sigh.
“I saw it in a store and thought you might like it.” He shrugged.
“It’s perfect,” Kira said and set the box down on the table. Reaching around her neck, she unclasped the thin chain holding her father’s wedding ring, an heirloom her adoptive mother had given her months ago when Kira had found out the truth about her star-crossed parents. The locket with her family portrait was still with her grandmother back in Sonnyville and the chain had felt uncomfortably light recently.
Kira untied the charm and slipped it through the chain, letting it fall to the bottom where it easily landed inside her father’s ring. The two golden trinkets fit together perfectly, one slightly more aged than the other, but both brilliant against the late afternoon sky.
“So, you like it?” Luke asked quietly. His head was bent towards the ground and he looked at her under hooded eyebrows.
“I love it,” Kira told him and pulled him in for a hug. Maybe things could get better between us, she thought hopefully. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close, and breathed deeply into her hair. Kira willed herself to ignore it and not ruin the moment, but when she opened her eyes they met a hard, blue stare and she instantly retreated from Luke.
Kira knew Tristan couldn’t help overhearing. His magnified senses were hard to turn off, but sometimes she wished he wouldn’t listen in on conversations he knew would hurt him. The downturn of his eyes and straight line of his mouth told her all she needed to know, even if they disappeared a moment later when Chloe pulled him back to her toys.
“Food’s ready!” Kira’s mother called from the kitchen.
“The steak is being taken off the grill as we speak,” her father added.
Luke quickly stood and put the apron back on to help her father, and Tristan walked over to take his place. She grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers through his, and pulled him down into the seat next to her.
“Everything okay?” She whispered.
Tristan nodded, turning away from her to smile at her mother who had just plopped a bowl of potato salad on the table in front of him.
“Looks delicious, Mrs. Dawson.” Kira grinned at the formal use of her mother’s name. He was a hundred years older than her, but he still wouldn’t ca
ll her by her first name.
“Delicious enough for you to eat?” Her mother asked hopefully.
“Not today,” he apologized, “I ate before I came. Special gluten-free diet and all.” Tristan peered at Kira in his peripheral vision, meeting her gaze with a grin. It still amazed Kira that her mother didn’t realize what Tristan was, having grown up around conduits. But it seemed like she had truly blocked out that entire part of her past and was choosing not to notice what was right in front of her.
“One of these days you will eat something I cook, Tristan, one—”
“Mom,” Kira interjected, changing the topic.
“Right, right. Let me run inside to grab the coleslaw.”
“She might force feed you, you know,” Kira joked once her mom was out of earshot.
“I can handle it,” Tristan said and placed his arm around her, hugging her to his chest.
Kira let her head rest on his shoulder. Soon enough, things would go back to normal between them. There was no telling how long they would be in England and some time away from Luke would be good, even if it was in Aldrich’s castle.
She missed being alone with Tristan. He made her feel at peace and helped her step away from the conduits. With Luke it was always about conduits—teaching her how to be one and teaching her about them. He was a constant reminder of the future she couldn’t walk away from—one supposedly full of death and destruction. But with Tristan, even though he was a vampire, she felt human. He let her escape her powers, so that, even if only for a small moment in time, she was just a girl with a boy—nothing more, nothing less. And when you’re seventeen, Kira thought, sometimes that is all you need.
But she was eighteen now and Kira wasn’t quite sure what that meant yet.
Chapter Two
“Go, go! Before they make me hug them again,” Kira said to Luke while she clipped her seatbelt securely into place.
“Relax.” Luke revved the engine to life. He was right. Her nerves were on overdrive right now and she felt jumpy. Maybe it was the note burning a hole through her pocket or the fact that she would be leaving for England in an hour, but Kira couldn’t sit still.
She opened her window to let some fresh air inside Luke’s truck and called goodbye to her family. Sticking her hand outside, she waved one last time before Luke swerved around the bend.
“Lots of memories in this car,” Luke said and Kira knew exactly what he was referring to. Their last drive to the airport had been a little different, more so than Luke realized. Last time, they had been running away together, but this time Kira was running from him. She tried to stop overanalyzing and instead managed a reply.
“At least a hoard of blood thirsty vampires isn’t on our tail.”
“You can’t deny it—that was sort of fun.”
“If you think getting thrown around the bed of a truck is fun…” Kira trailed off, goading him.
“You know what I mean—the rush of using our powers, the thrill of the fight. I know you’ve felt it,” he said, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look in her direction. “I’m going to talk to the Council about letting you join me on a mission this summer—a full-on Protector mission with a team and everything. I know you’re ready.”
“Luke,” Kira said with a strained voice.
“I know you’re a little scared of your powers right now, but you can trust me even if you can’t trust yourself: you’re ready.”
Kira turned away from him to look at the trees flying by the open window. She didn’t want to listen to him talk about Sonnyville and all of the plans he had for her—no, for them. Late last night, after Kira had amazingly finished packing and Tristan was fast asleep on her bed, Kira had returned to the note. All of her previous drafts—the pile of trash now below her desk—had been drawn out goodbyes, full of explanations and apologies. But Kira had realized none of it would matter. Whatever she wrote would make him hurt and angry. There was no way to explain her actions on paper, but she couldn’t tell him to his face even if it was the right thing to do.
Instead, she wrote him a short and to the point note saying she was sorry for ditching him but it was just something she needed to do. When she arrived in England, maybe she would call Luke and try to explain herself. When she was all the way across the Atlantic, Kira might be far enough away that his pain wouldn’t invade her mind and cut through her resolve like a knife.
Worried that her eyes were beginning to water, Kira prematurely rubbed at them. Crying would get her nowhere—she just had to believe that Luke would eventually forgive her.
“Kira? You okay? I don’t think I’ve heard you this quiet since you stopped talking to me in protest of my short-lived popped-collar phase.”
“Oh God, don’t even mention that ever again,” Kira rolled her eyes. Preppy douche-bag was not a good look for Luke. Clean cut polo shirts were fine, but the popped-collar had to go.
Kira shifted in her seat, pulling her gaze from the window to Luke’s side of the car. She needed to act like everything was normal or he would definitely be on to her.
“It’s just these contacts. They’re itching my eyes.”
Luke shrugged. “Take them out.”
Kira eyed him quickly, watching the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed a nervous gulp, before reaching up to follow his instructions. Luke still wasn’t completely comfortable with her new look. But Kira understood it. Her eyes had been the one thing that was exactly the same as every other conduit—the one thing Luke probably considered relatively normal about her.
No going back now, she thought and popped one lens off of her eye. Once done with the other, Kira flicked the small discs out the window.
“Wait!” Luke called just a second too late.
“What?” Kira asked. She was just following his instructions.
“Aren’t you going to need those in Sonnyville?”
“I have more,” Kira said, quickly covering her tracks. The truth was she wouldn’t be needing them again for a long time. Aldrich already knew her secret—there would be no reason to cover the color in England.
“Since we’re alone,” Luke started and Kira immediately tensed, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
Please, she prayed, nothing too serious. Kira couldn’t handle it now. Any intense conversations and she might just blow her cover. Her palms were already sweating and they hadn’t even reached the airport.
Hesitantly, Kira asked, “What?”
Luke took a deep breath and his tan hands tensed around the driver’s wheel. “Would…” he began but paused to glance at her. “Would you rather fart in front of me or have me fart in front of you?” And then he burst out laughing as Kira shoved him into the door.
“Luke,” she said, totally exasperated. “You scared me.”
“That was the point.” He smirked. “Answer the question.”
Kira wanted to yank his pretty blonde hair from his head. A bald Luke—now that would be funny.
“Well, since I’ve smelt your farts, I would rather fart in front of you and give you a taste of your own medicine!”
“Touché,” he said and leaned back into his seat, relaxing with the low-key conversation.
“My turn,” Kira said, following his lead. She lifted her feet to the dashboard and tried to think of an equally annoying question to ask him. “Would you rather… see my grandfather’s old wrinkly butt or accidentally flash our entire senior class?”
“Hey, your grandfather is a fine looking older man—”
“Council suck-up,” Kira muttered under her breath.
“Okay, okay—I’d rather our entire class see me in the nude. My turn again!” He said, and Kira smiled because for the first time in a long time things felt almost normal between them. Strange that having a conversation about her grandfather’s behind would bring their friendship back around.
The two of them continued pestering one another with ridiculous questions until Luke pulled around the airport and dropped
Kira off curbside with the bags before parking the car.
Kira took the free moment to check her ticket to Atlanta and the connecting flight to London. She and Tristan had checked-in online the night before and he should already be inside the airport waiting for her. Terminal B Gate 3, Kira thought, that is where it will all go down.
After memorizing the flight number, Kira stuffed the ticket back into her purse, grabbed her duffle and Luke’s, and walked inside. Checking the flight statuses, she saw the Atlanta flight was on time and boarding in half an hour. She would have to act fast to figure out a way to ditch Luke before security. Last time, the private jet had left from Terminal A—her entire plan hinged on that happening again.
“No need for that,” Luke said, sneaking up behind her and grabbing both of their bags. “Our plane won’t be on the departures list.”
“Are we flying the same one?”
“Kira,” Luke said, turning around to stare at her with a ‘do you really doubt me?’ expression on his face. “Of course we’re flying the same one. Rule number one—okay, maybe not rule number one—but remember, conduits fly in style.”
“Right, cause we’re so secret-agenty,” Kira said while elbowing his side.
“Hey, the name’s Bowrey… Luke Bowrey,” he said and wiggled his eyebrows in what Kira could only assume Luke thought was a sexy way.
“Come on, double-oh-seven.” Kira grabbed his arm and pulled him forward.
They continued walking through the small airport until Kira spotted the pre-security bathrooms. Halting her step, she took a deep breath and realized the point of no return had come. So, right outside the ladies room, she whined to Luke that she had to pee. Throwing her duffle in his direction, she told him to wait for her. Before he could answer, she jumped inside and left a shell-shocked Luke behind her.
Inside the restroom, Kira splashed a little bit of cold water on her face and pulled her cell phone free of her purse to text Tristan.
“In the bathroom—phase one is complete.”
A second later she got his reply. “I’m sitting outside the gate with all of our stuff. Love you and see you soon. Good luck.”
Blaze (Midnight Fire Series) Page 2
