Scorch (25 page)

"Get out of here." Kira croaked. Her voice
was harsh, unrecognizable.

"It's me. TJ. Luke told me to come after the
meeting, he told me to go with all the other kids. I tried to tell
him I'm not a kid, that I can fight, but he wouldn't listen. But I
couldn't leave, not without Patrick's teddy bear. He's my best
friend, Patrick, and I know how scared he gets, I know he needs his
teddy…"

Kira tuned him out. She couldn't listen to
anymore. Couldn't bear the strength in his little voice. It called
to her. It would taste so good, such earnestness, it would
sing.

But it was Luke's brother, the part of her
that was still there yelled, Luke's little brother.

Her palms twitched. Her fingers stretched,
getting ready to strike.

But as she whipped around, ready to grab him
by the throat, another person Kira was afraid had died awakened
inside of her.

"Get out," she bellowed, screamed at TJ,
instantly falling back down, crawling away from the look of
confusion and fear written all over that little boy's face.

And before she knew what she was doing, Kira
jumped. She pushed off of her feet, springing through the window
behind her, not caring as glass cut deeply into her skin.

Instincts took over. She landed cat-like on
her feet and took off at a sprint, running for the wall.

The conduits were there. Their blood swam
into her senses, pushing her forward.

But another girl pushed her forward too, a
conduit girl struggling to get free, pushing her toward a wall of
fire that would burn her alive or save her.

Kira didn’t know which.

She just knew she had to keep running.

And she did. She flew—her feet moving faster
than ever before, pounding against the pavement. Trees swished by
her, blurred and barely there except for the variations of green in
the peripheral of her eyes.

She saw no one. No conduit teams, no
vampires. Was the battle still raging? Had someone won? Was she the
only wild card left?

And then she was on the main road, charging
farther and farther out of Sonnyville, closer and closer to—

Blood.

A giant pool of blood.

It drifted into her senses, pulling her
forward, enticing her. Kira could sense it at the wall—conduit
blood, Protector blood.

And without a doubt, she knew one taste was
all it would take. One taste and she would be gone forever. But the
vampire in charge of her body didn't care, had no thought except
for the blood, had no goal except to drink it.

Kira was trapped. She fought against it, but
her efforts were futile. She had lost control. Her only hope was
that the blood lay outside the wall, beyond Sonnyville.

As she approached, her laser vision took
over, zooming in on the blood, locating it.

Just beyond the wall, there was a car resting
undamaged in the middle of the road. Burnt tires mixed with the
sweetness of the blood, filling Kira's senses. And the blood was
there, pooling next to the driver's seat, dripping free from two
holes in a blond man's neck. He was leaning upside down, draped out
of the car and onto the pavement, dropped there by a vampire who
wanted to leave Kira a message.

The conduit inside of her screamed, cried
out, prayed please no.

The vampire controlling her kept
running—vision slipping in closer, focused on two puncture wounds.
Her teeth ached to fill the void.

And then the wall was there.

Kira slammed into it, lifting off of her
feet, flipping over onto her back with the force of the blow. The
sun dug into her. UV burned her skin until it started to flake, to
crack with the heat.

Her voice cried out, whimpering in pain.

Her soul sang, triumphant.

The flames awakened inside of her heart,
called out by the wall, almost like a familiar friend. The conduit
inside of her started pushing, fighting the vampire away.

The blackness started budging, more resistant
than usual, leaving a permanent residue inside of her limbs. Kira
couldn't clear it all away. The shadows were lurking, and her fire,
even with the wall, wasn't strong enough to remove them
entirely.

But it was enough for the moment.

Kira was in control again.

The teeth biting into her lip shrunk,
slightly at first, until they were dulled down, only somewhat
sharper than normal. The strength in her arms ebbed and she dropped
completely limp to the ground. Her skin, cackled from the fire, now
called for the sun and began to seal closed, smooth and tanned once
more.

But it was only temporary, and Kira's heart
sank with the truth of that statement. Her own fire wasn't enough
anymore. Her fire, which had been strong enough to kill any vampire
that crossed her path, to break through their immunity even, wasn't
strong enough to crush the one vampire she needed to end—the one
inside of her.

Without the wall, she would fall. And there
was no magic cure, no way to save herself. There was only death.
Maybe that had been her only option all along—she was just too
stubborn to see it.

And then Kira remembered—the boy, the car,
the blood.

She stood, slowly, achingly, fighting against
sore limbs. But she preferred it to the zip, to the lightning
speed, because this was human—almost.

Blinking, Kira tried to bring back her
vision, and it came slowly, but the world looked fuzzy. The clarity
was missing. The perfect sight was gone. But she could see
enough.

"Luke?" Kira cried, her mind running on
overdrive. The boy in the car was dead, but was he Luke? The blond
hair could look familiar. His back was to her, but his long build
could be Luke's. His neck looked a little too stocky, his fingers a
little too fat, his stomach a little too soft.

And then Kira took note of the collar around
his neck, the buttons running down the center of his shirt, and she
breathed, sighing in relief.

No way was that Luke. And when she said that
to herself, she could finally see this man, see all the ways he
definitely was not her Luke.

But he was someone's friend, someone's
husband, someone's father even. And now he was dead. And it was all
Kira's fault.

The battle, the one she was hiding from, the
one she couldn’t fight, it was all about her. It was about her
saving Tristan, about her potential to fall, about her fight with
Aldrich.

And staring death in the face, she yelled in
frustration, because she was even more trapped now than ever
before. Four feet forward, three feet back, fifteen to the left and
five to the right. The wall. Her box. Her prison.

"Aldrich!" Kira cried out.

No answer.

"Aldrich!" She yelled again, ripping her
vocal chords with the force of her scream. She wanted him there,
wanted him to watch her die, wanted him to know that in the end
Kira was strong enough to do the only thing she could—to keep the
shadows at bay, to keep herself from falling, and to keep the
conduits safe from her destruction.

But before she did, Kira closed her eyes,
holding back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Before
she let death take over, she wanted to say goodbye. Her mother and
father would still have Chloe. Tristan hardly remembered her, and
Pavia would keep him safe.

But Luke, he would be alone. And she chose
him, she wanted to be with him, but fate had never been on her
side.

So Kira opened her mind, feeling for the path
inside his head. She didn’t want to be alone when she died, she
wanted to be with him, safe and sound in the comfort of his
love.

But he wasn't there.

Confused, Kira searched for his thoughts, for
their connection. Had the darkness broken them? Broken their bond
like it had broken everything else inside of her?

But no, the path to his mind was open, but
where was Luke? He was blank. There was no love, no strength, no
resolve bubbling down her limbs, bringing her joy like it normally
did. There was just eerie silence.

Her heart began to pound as a sinking fear
settled in.

What had happened to Luke?

Eyes shooting open, Kira scanned the ground
around her, but there was no sign of him. She walked around the
perimeter of the wall, as far out of the UV radiation she dared
move, but he wasn't there.

And she couldn't leave without saying
goodbye. He was her strength, her rock—she couldn't do this without
him.

Reaching into her pocket, Kira dialed his
number.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

Click.

No voicemail. No message. Not even the sound
of his voice to make her feel better.

Kira tried again, but it was more of the
same.

She clicked on the keypad, texting him, but
she had very little hope of any response. She looked up again.

The car. The conduit.

It was odd. The two of them there, on the
other side of the wall. Strange. Why would any conduit have driven
through the wall, willingly bringing himself into vampire
territory?

The answer was simple. He wouldn't.

But something else could—someone else
could.

And Kira remembered the smell of burnt tires.
She looked closer at the ground, where black streaks stamped the
concrete.

This car wasn't driven over the other side of
the wall, it was forced there, kicking and screaming. And there was
only one person in the world who could do that.

Aldrich.

Aldrich with his telekinesis.

Kira's head snapped up, alert. He was out
there somewhere, she was sure of it. He was watching her, silently
laughing at her struggle, gleeful with the knowledge that she was
at the point of no return.

And Luke had to be with him—unconscious, but
not dead, because she could still feel him on the other side of the
bond, still knew he was breathing, but his mind was still.

Just like a movie was playing in her head,
Kira could see what had happened. Luke had run from her
grandparent's house, searched the town square and his own home for
TJ. But TJ had been at Patrick's house, had been getting his best
friend his teddy, and Luke would have never thought to look
there.

No, he thought his brother wanted to join the
fight with the grown ups. So Luke found a Protector with a car and
hopped inside, driving aimlessly through the town looking for TJ to
no avail. And then the two of them decided to search closer to the
wall. And as soon as they hit the main road, Aldrich sensed them,
and took control, using his mind to drag the car across the
barrier.

He knew exactly who it was, exactly what he
was doing. And somehow, he knew that Kira had chosen Luke, that
Luke would be the key.

Kira envisioned it. Luke must have known.
They probably tried the car door, but the stubborn locks remained
shut, held by Aldrich's mental control. The glass wouldn't break.
The windows wouldn't roll down. They had been trapped, knowing that
death was near.

As soon as they crossed the wall, Aldrich
struck, killing the Protector and knocking Luke unconscious,
waiting for Kira to come. Probably arranging the car and the
conduit's body just for her. And Kira had played right into his
plan, but she had no other choice.

And now Luke needed her.

"Aldrich," she said softly, calmly, "I know
you're there. Come out so we can end this."

There was no answer. He wanted her to
beg.

Kira knelt down, seemingly tying her shoe,
and pulled out the pocketknife. She would need this soon. Hiding it
in her palm, she stood again, tucking the knife into her back
pocket.

Time to start the show.

"What do you want?" She called into the
trees, "I'll do anything to save him!" The crack in her voice was
real. The shake in her hands was real too.

"Please, just let me see him," Kira
whimpered.

But there was still no response.

"Aldrich," she cried, letting the tears fall
down her cheeks. Her body mirrored their movement as she slipped to
her knees, a beggar.

"I'll do anything," she said one last
time.

And then she heard it. Leaves rustling,
branches breaking, footsteps.

A body flew from the trees, landing roughly
on the asphalt with a smack. And this time, it was Luke—limp,
immobile. Dead almost, but the bond in her head gave Kira hope that
somehow he was still alive.

She started to run for him, but stopped
herself. She was in a cage, trapped inside the fire. But he needed
her, Kira struggled, she had to do something.

And then a voice sounded.

"It's simple," Aldrich said, still hiding in
the forest, "I want you to try to save him."

Kira searched for the vampire, but Aldrich
was nowhere in sight. And she refused to fight a ghost.

"Show yourself," she demanded. Her hands had
balled into iron fists and the sun had already started
strengthening, gathering in her core. The shadows were there too,
just waiting to strike.

And then more leaves, more branches
breaking.

Kira followed the sound.

Aldrich stepped free of the woods and Kira
stepped back in horror.

Chapter Seventeen

This was not the Aldrich Kira remembered.

Not the tall, elegantly dressed, arrogant
jerk. Gone was his slicked back light brown hair, his calm and
cruel demeanor. The only part of him she recognized were the cold,
almost black, midnight blue eyes.

The man before her was a monster.

And Kira had made him that way.

His skin was burnt, charred black and crusted
over. His hair was singed off, replaced by blood-red scalded flesh.
His nose had melted away, turned into a stub, and his ears looked
completely gone.

His body hunched over, unable to stand
straight because his back was so terribly injured. He moved with a
limp, his vampire strength seemingly tapped out. And his clothes
were baggy, ill-fitting, hiding what Kira knew was a broken
body.