Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) (25 page)

On the drive home from Luke’s, Kira had tried
to think of a game plan, and like a typical girl, the outfit was a
huge part of that. Would she go hardcore like Buffy the vampire
slayer in nineties cargo pants and a tank top, maybe with a bomber
jacket? Would she play it innocent to make Diana think of her as
helpless and maybe gain some small upper hand? Or, would she appeal
to Tristan and the human parts of him she knew existed? He was her
last hope. Unless Tristan could fight Diana, Kira knew she was
doomed, so she decided to wear the same thing she had worn when
they had shared their first kiss and when he had first decided to
open up to her and to let her inside his secret world.

By the time Kira had finished brushing her
hair and getting ready, Luke had arrived. He came dressed in jeans
and a sweatshirt, deciding to down play the situation just like she
had. Kira tried to change her morose mood, but when she saw his
face and the worry lines creasing his forehead, she allowed herself
to be sad.

"What did the council say?" Kira asked as she
led Luke through her house and out to the back steps where they had
decided to wait for Diana to make her move.

"They said we should run. Ordered it in fact,
because of how dangerous your capture would be. I told them to go
to hell."

Kira laughed. Luke always had been a charmer.
"I bet they loved that."

"Actually, I hung up as they were screaming
at me. Assuming we survive, we’ll definitely have some things to
answer to."

"No point to live if not dangerously," Kira
replied as she sat down to wait.

"When did that become your motto?"

"About the time I moved to Charleston," Kira
let her tone become darkly humorous. Had she listened to Luke in
the beginning, none of this would be happening. But, it still all
seemed worth the risk. She knew Tristan would be trouble from the
start, but she guessed with boys, you never really could know how
much trouble until it was too late and you loved them enough not to
care about the consequences.

"If you could take it all away, and go back
to New York, would you?" Luke shifted his gaze from one of her eyes
to the other, earnestly searching for the truth in her answer.

"No. I suppose I would have been a target no
matter where I was. At least, down here in South Carolina, I had
you."

"Have, you have me." He reached out his hand.
Kira squeezed it, letting him know she loved his support, but then
released him.

"I wish you would go and save yourself Luke.
We don’t know what’s going to happen here, and I don’t want you to
die for me. Please, just go."

"You know I won’t." He settled down,
stretching his hands up towards the sky, acting brave and like he
had no worries in the world.

And, just like that, there were no words left
to say. Kira knew Luke loved her, and he knew she loved him too.
She could beg him to leave and fall into hysterics, but it would be
useless and mentally draining. So instead, the two of them sat in
silence, watching the sun rise higher, waiting for it to
disappear.

Before long, Kira heard a rustling in the
trees. Luke did too and he sat up from the hammock, instantly
alert. They moved as one person to the edge of her porch, four
hands resting on the white painted banister, searching the woods at
the back of her house for any movement.

Out of thin air, Diana appeared in the middle
of her yard. She was dressed in a sequined, black party dress, one
that reminded Kira of the pictures she’d seen of flappers in her
history books. Her black hair was flowing freely in the breeze, and
her skin seemed like a harsh marble, starkly white in the sunlight.
Her sudden appearance struck Kira more like a magic trick than a
natural movement. Kira had little experience with the special
powers vampires possessed and Diana seemed faster than even the
wind. She felt Luke’s muscles tense beside her. Diana was far
quicker than they could hope to be, but Kira knew a lot of it was
for show, to intimidate her and Luke before the real fight even
began.

"My dearest little Kira, how are you on this
fine winter’s morning?" The words rolled from Diana’s tongue. She
knew she had complete control over the situation, and she lazily
walked forward, trying to stir fear in Kira’s heart.

"Diana," Luke said tersely. Kira remained
silent, not wanting to give Diana the satisfaction of a
response.

"Well, what a welcome. I hardly think you’re
even excited to see me."

"What gave us away?" Luke let the biting
remark out evenly. Kira recognized his self-defensive sarcasm, and
used it to give her strength. She would resist for as long as
possible, just like Luke planned to do.

Kira let a small little flame rise on her
palm, letting her power heal any weakness Luke and her carried,
before firing it at lightning speed towards Diana’s face. It struck
before Diana had time to move, and she was thrown backwards as if
punched. Kira let herself have a moment of satisfaction. She and
Luke knew some cool tricks, too.

Diana stood slowly, her hand to her cheek and
malice in her eyes. Kira watched her battle to keep her emotions in
check and Diana’s weakness became all too clear. She wanted to draw
this out and make Kira suffer. So Kira wanted to make it as quick
as possible. She fired another shot, a long stream of fire she knew
in her bones was meant to kill. She heard Diana whimper in the
onslaught and watched as Diana retreated back into the trees and
out of Kira’s range.

"Bitch!" Diana yelled from the forest. "Do
you have a death wish? I’m here to kill you, you know. Do you
really want to egg me on?"

"I think I’m the one who almost killed you,
Diana. Care to come out for another go?" Kira found her voice and
her defiance. She was ready to fight, eager for it almost.

"I hope you don’t think your boyfriend is
going to save you, little Kira." Diana rushed out again, her calm
demeanor returned but her hair clearly worse for the wear. The
imperfection gave Kira a jolt of pleasure.

"I can handle myself, thanks."

"And what about when you can’t spit that
little flame of yours and chase me away? What then?" Kira shrugged,
playing it cool, but was actually wondering the same thing
herself.

As if on command, Jerome and John walked out
of the forest slowly, with Tristan chained between them. Kira
gasped. She couldn’t help herself.

Tristan was shirtless and covered in blood.
The streaks started at various points of his chest and arms,
flowing from wounds that had since closed up because of his quick
healing. Kira knew only another vampire’s nails or teeth could have
caused that damage. Jerome and John had broken his arms, the same
way they had in the auditorium so long ago, and Kira knew they had
only been able to catch him with those cheap tricks. They had
twisted Tristan’s limbs free of their sockets, tying his forearms
to the stick they were using to carry him forward. His feet were
chained too, but Kira could see that he tried to put some weight on
them and not let them drag along the ground. He was trying to be
strong, even though his face was the only thing not trapped in
constraints.

Kira wanted to rush to Tristan when his eyes
met hers. They were full of pain, both physical and emotional, and
Kira knew he was killing himself over his failure. He had been her
last hope and even now Kira felt the fight leave her a little bit.
Diana saw the opening.

"What? Did you think he would come in and
save the day? I told you already, you stupid girl, he is going to
kill you and he is going to like it. Isn’t that the promise I
made?" Diana walked in front of Tristan and held his chin in her
hand, forcing him to look at her. With her other hand, she slapped
him across the cheek and Kira heard the crunch of his neck breaking
and saw his limbs go fully limp. Jerome and John didn’t even
flinch. Tristan groaned, trying hard to clench his lips together to
keep a scream from escaping. Even vampires could feel pain,
especially at the brutality of their own kind.

A minute later, his neck snapped back in
line. Diana leaned back for another slap.

"No!" Kira yelled. Diana stopped her hand,
just barely. More than anything, Kira wanted to throw her fire like
a huge blanket, smoldering them, but it was too risky with Tristan
so weak and close to the others.

"How sweet. A lover’s plea." Diana clapped
like a little child playing with her favorite toy. Everything was
working out just as she had planned.

And, as if on cue, Kira noticed the sky
darken just one shade, but it was enough. All six of them looked
up, despite the blinding light, to take note of that small sliver
of black piercing the sun's surface. There wasn’t much time before
her powers would be useless. Five minutes, maybe. Kira started
forward, but Luke grabbed her hand, stopping her.

"You can’t save him now. We have to get out
of here," he whispered.

"Yes, run. It’s so much more exciting that
way." Diana responded, hearing Luke’s request and playing off of
his fears. Kira looked up again; already more of the sun had been
covered. She needed to use the time she had.

With all the control Kira could gather, she
shot flames at Diana, John and Jerome, and amazingly pushed them
back. Jerome and John dropped Tristan in their shock, and Kira
broke free of Luke to run to Tristan’s side. He managed to get onto
his knees and she sunk down to her own, all the while keeping her
arm outreached, creating a wall of flames behind the two of
them—one that was weakening with each passing second.

"I can’t hold it for long. Undo the chains,
now Tristan!" She cradled his face with her free hand, trying to
split her attention.

"It’s no use. I can’t. I’ve been trying. You
have to run Kira, now, before Diana has the chance to grab you. Go
to your car and just start driving as far away as possible."

Kira shook her head. Tristan opened his mouth
to argue, but she covered it with a kiss. Kira broke it off when
she felt her power weaken further and pulled Tristan into a hug
instead, looking past his shoulder at the three cowering vampires
waiting for her shield to fall so they could pounce. Kira shifted
her gaze to the sky, where the sun was now more than half-covered
by the black hole of the moon. The earth was being seeped in
shadow, and even her light was dimming in the process. Slowly, like
a ticking time bomb, the power seeped from her, until finally it
winked out and Kira knew the total eclipse had come.

"I love you," was all Kira had time whisper
before hands grabbed her shoulders, throwing her like a rag doll
away from Tristan. She landed, hearing the crunch of her ankle as a
fierce shot of pain traveled up her spine, and let out a scream.
Kira was satisfied that she at least had a moment with Tristan, a
small sliver of time to say goodbye and to tell him she loved him.
It was the first time those words had passed her lips and Diana
could never take that away.

"Kira, Kira Kira," Diana purred and stomped
her foot down on Kira’s chest, holding her to the ground and
crushing her. "You should have listened to them both, because now
it’s too late to escape." Luke ran over, jumped at Diana and reach
out his hands to strangle her, but Diana backhanded him like a fly
and he sailed backwards, smacking into the porch and landing on the
ground with a thud. He didn’t stir from the spot where he landed,
and Kira screamed. She stared transfixed at his immobile body,
flailing her limbs like a mad woman to try and escape Diana’s foot.
Luke was dying, she was sure of it. She needed to hold him, to help
him somehow.

Kira used all her strength, but she couldn’t
budge Diana’s foot. It was useless, and instead of helping Luke,
she was just hurting herself. Kira prayed, for what seemed like her
first true prayer in ages, that Luke was alive—knocked unconscious,
but alive.

Diana seemed to sense Kira’s fading hope,
because she reached down for a fistful of Kira’s hair, and used it
to drag her across the yard, dropping her in front of Tristan. Kira
refused to make a sound even though it felt as though her head were
ripping free of her body. The pain was excruciating, but even
still, she wouldn’t let Diana win.

Jerome and John were holding Tristan again,
but this time Jerome’s hand was clenched over Tristan’s mouth to
stop him from uttering a word.

"Time’s up, Kira." And before Kira could
move, Diana’s teeth sank into Kira’s neck, at the precise spot
where it met her shoulder, and her blood flowed freely into the
vampire’s system. She heard the gurgling of her own blood, felt the
warm liquid seep down her spine where droplets spilled free of
Diana’s lips. She heard Tristan struggle and scream protests even
through Jerome’s hand, but Diana wouldn’t stop.

"Enough." Jerome’s deep voice startled Kira
from the pain and the weakness spreading through her body from
blood loss. Diana’s head jerked up, freeing Kira. "The time for
games is done. We must use her to fix Tristan."

Fix him? Kira thought. He doesn’t want to be
evil, she wanted to scream at them, but she couldn’t find the
strength to speak. Her limbs felt like butter, they wouldn’t do as
she commanded, and Diana held her still.

John pulled a glass cup from his pocket and
Diana took it. Kira barely registered the cool touch against her
skin, but when they pulled the cup away a minute later, it was full
to the brim with her blood. Jerome reached his hand down, soaking
one of his fingers, and licked it clean with a flash of pleasure.
Kira’s only hope was that they would lose control, that one of them
would end her quickly before they had a chance to change Tristan.
If all hope was lost for her, she hoped at least he could be
spared.

But as quickly as that thought came, it
passed, because John took the cup, jerked Tristan’s head back by
his forehead and let her blood flow freely into his forcibly opened
mouth. Kira saw him struggle, shaking his limbs against the chains,
trying desperately to escape, and she wondered if he could fight
the pull of her blood. Maybe all this time, Diana had been right:
Kira would be Tristan’s undoing.