Scorch (6 page)

Conduit blood, Kira thought at first, but
this shell was different. It wasn't a bubble around him that could
be popped—it was in him, part of him. But his hair was a ruddy
brown, his eyes the cold, icy blue of a vampire. Suddenly, Kira
realized that she had seen that hair before, on her younger sister.
He must be a half-conduit, a mix of human and maybe Punisher, one
that had been turned bad.

Kira switched her strength, testing her
Protector flames, which sunk deeper into his skin, burning his
marbled flesh to a bright red.

He kept coming closer, slowed by her powers
but not stopped by them. Kira pushed further, letting a sliver of
her killing Punisher powers seep out. Simmering with heat, they
sunk in, creeping closer to his heart, forcing their way through
every inch of his skin.

But he kept approaching, getting closer and
closer to Kira's body, closer and closer to a place where he could
attack.

His skin began to blacken and flake off where
the Punisher flames took hold. His features hardened into a grimace
as the pain of death took its toll and Kira smiled, pressing her
advantage. Finally, she felt like someone was paying for what had
happened to both of her mothers. His hurt was her strength. His
fear was her drug. And as he crept closer, the emotions fed into
Kira, every wince made her feel empowered.

Then without her even realizing it, the
blackness crept out of Kira's heart, flowing into her flames rather
than pressing against them, and her fire darkened. The bright
orange, yellow and red flames became tainted. A river of black flew
with them, encircling the vampire in a mix of fire and shadow. The
hot lava flowing through her veins became slick and oily, a searing
tar that bubbled with a heat that came not from lightness but from
anger—a sea of cold fury that felt somehow hot enough to burn.

Her flames wavered.

The darkness pressed inwards, suffocating
her.

Kira's fire winked out, fading quickly away,
and before she knew enough to fight, something else had taken over.
Something that welcomed the shadows, the evil. Something that
pushed her over the edge, made her fall, spiraling down, down,
down.

The conduit was gone.

The vampire hiding underneath her skin took
over.

Kira's eyes shot up, locking on the dying man
before her. His fear pushed out in waves, and he retreated. Kira
stepped forward, closing in on her prey.

And before she realized what she was doing,
Kira pounced, sinking her teeth into his burning flesh.

Chapter Four

His blood was dark, not filled with enough
light to satisfy, and Kira dropped his lifeless body to the ground.
Against the rough dirt, his frame finally combusted, but Kira
wasn’t paying attention. Her nose was filled with the scent of the
sun—a golden honey sweet enough to make her sigh.

She wanted to taste it.

So she ran, light on her feet, and almost
flew through the forest, following the sugary trail of conduit
blood, the small droplets that sang to her senses.

When she broke through the trees, Kira saw
it—a body resting on the ground, glowing with the sun. A halo of
gold sparks surrounded the figure and Kira sniffed, drunk on the
elixir running through those veins.

Without thinking, she ran and dove for the
woman.

And then she burned, screaming out in pain as
the sun assaulted her body, burning the vampire away, boiling the
ebony oil in her veins until it evaporated in wisps of shadow that
seeped out of her pores. Her every nerve was on fire. Pinpricks
that felt like knives stabbed her limbs.

Kira curled onto her back, writhing in agony.
The smell of honey still haunted her nose, but instead of a sugary
sweetness it was a searing iron, melting her insides as the fumes
traveled downwards.

But deeper down, the conduit praying for
escape welcomed the pain, begged it to come in faster waves. Her
flames were trapped—swirling in a sinking abyss, hoping the sun
would come release them.

And when a burst of light finally broke
through the darkness, Kira erupted.

The force of her conduit power returning
lifted Kira off the ground, throwing her farther into the heat of
the UV wall surrounding Sonnyville. Her hands lifted toward the
sun, shooting long waves of flames into the sky. A current of light
shot through her body, sending fire through every nerve and
lighting Kira up from the inside out. Against the onslaught, the
shadows retreated. The vampire left Kira's body in waves of
smoke.

A minute later, Kira was on the ground,
completely still, basking in the warmth of the sun and muddling
through her returning consciousness.

She sat up, rubbing her sore head.

"Wha…?" Kira looked around. How did she get
out of the forest? Was there another vampire after her?

Looking around, Kira spotted the body on the
ground.

"Mom!"

She crawled over. Her mother was breathing
deeply, but looked unharmed. Kira remembered healing her,
remembered sending her back with Pavia, remembered fighting a few
vampires.

Her mom blinked and sat up on her elbows,
waking from a daze.

"Kira? What happened?"

"Nothing, Mom," Kira held her hand, "There
were some vampires, but we got away. We're safe. I'll be right
back."

She tried standing, took a few slow steps and
then crossed through the barrier again.

"Pavia?" Kira asked. Twirling around, she
scanned the forest. Her nose picked up a strand of sugar passing on
the breeze. What was that?

She followed the smell as it reeled her in.
The mangled door was still on the ground—drawn to it, Kira stopped
a few inches from the torn metal. Why did it smell sweet?

And then she saw the pool of blood through
the cracks in the windshield. Stumbling backwards, Kira fell to the
ground, landing painfully on her bottom as the memories flooded
back.

She bit someone.

She bit a vampire.

Bit.

Tasted blood.

Kira started hyperventilating. Her entire
body began to shake, a slow tremble that grew to a frantic
pulse.

She had tried to bite her mother.

She had wanted conduit blood.

The blood still teased her senses.

Turning, Kira stared with wide eyes at the
gate. The barrier, it had to have been what saved her. The UV light
had burned the darkness from her skin—she vividly remembered the
pain.

But part of the vampire was still lodged
inside of her, was still drawn to the conduit blood spotting the
ground, still pulled in by its sweet scent.

Iron melted in her mouth, sticking to her dry
tongue, and she flip over to spit out the vomit curling in her
stomach.

It came out red.

Kira scrambled away, ripping her palms on the
rough concrete as she struggled to escape. Her back sank into the
UV wall and Kira collapsed, letting the sun sink into her pounding
head. Tears fell in long streams and she rolled to the side,
pulling her legs into her chest, letting the shakes wrack her
figure.

"I bit someone, I bit someone," Kira said
over and over again, a low whisper that was too soft for even her
ears to hear.

"Kira!"

She didn't register her name.

"Kira!"

Again, the words were lost to her.

"I've been saying her name for five minutes,"
a woman's voice called from a few feet away.

"Kira!"

Hands grabbed her shoulders, rolling her
over, but Kira's eyes were wide and full of water. The world was a
mix of brush strokes that didn't make sense to her overloaded
brain.

"Kira, it's Mom, what's wrong?"

She didn't move.

"What happened?"

A deeper voice asked from over Kira's
shoulder.

She heard the words around her, but didn't
understand them. Her mind had turned red—she was drowning in the
blood settling in her stomach.

A fissure broke through, cracking along her
brain, forcing foreign thoughts into her frozen senses. They were
white and airy, flecked with yellow. Like balloons, they floated
higher, forging a path through the crimson droplets raining down on
her.

Kira's mind started to settle. The tremble in
her body slowed and a sense of peace settled over her—a borrowed
sense of peace.

"I think it's working," a low voice said.

"Luke?" Kira whispered, reaching her hand out
aimlessly, striking gold as her fingers brushed his warm skin. A
hand clutched hers, trapping her small fingers in a worried
grip.

"I'm right here, Kira."

Trusting those words, she blinked and his
face, silhouetted in a halo of gold, smiled down on her. Kira
pulled up, or maybe Luke reached down, but within seconds she was
wrapped in his sturdy arms, letting her cries disappear into the
soft cotton of his t-shirt. His hand ran soothingly through her
curls and he rubbed small circles into her back. He whispered soft,
secret words into her ear, stilling the chills running down her
spine.

"Kira, what happened?" He asked after a few
minutes, when he felt her heartbeat return to normal.

Kira shook her head against his chest, "I
can't."

"Kir—"

"I can't!" She shouted, jumping out of his
arms to pace across the street. She didn't want to think of it ever
again. She refused to acknowledge the smell still tantalizing her
senses, the new awareness she felt for his warm pulse, the shadows
dancing around her frightened heart. She refused to acknowledge
that the hunger was still there, even as the UV wall penetrated her
skin.

Luke cocked his head, trying to understand
what was going on inside of her. Above him, with one hand on his
shoulder, her mother stood, looking just as perplexed and
concerned.

"Pavia," Kira said, abruptly changing the
subject.

"Over here."

Kira turned, "Where were you?"

"Relax, I just took a quick look around. No
more vampires, well, except me of course." She grinned and
shrugged.

Kira breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the
vampire hadn't witnessed the sun scorch her body.

"That guy mentioned Aldrich. He was here,
waiting for me, because of Aldrich. What do you know?"

"I told you we needed to talk," Pavia said
casually while sweeping her long hair back over to one side of her
head, "but it can't be here."

"Fine," Kira spun on her heels, "Luke, we're
leaving. Let's get Tristan and go."

"Are you serious?" Her mom squealed.

"Deadly," Kira said. And it might be. She
needed to get out—away from the Punishers, away from the
conduits—before she went crazy.

"Kira, you can't just leave and run away all
the time. What about the Councils?" Her mother stepped forward,
ready for the challenge. But Kira knew her real concern; she saw
the panic settling in her mom's eyes, the deep-set fear running way
back to her father's death.

"Mom, I can handle myself. And the Punisher
Council doesn't even want me to speak. I need to end this—I need to
find Aldrich and I need to kill him. And," Kira paused, her eyes
flicked over at Luke, "and I need to take Tristan home. There's
nothing for me to do here."

"Kira, I forbid—"

"Mom, I know you're the parent, but I just
saved your life and I think I deserve a little credit."

"She'll be fine," Luke said, putting his hand
on her mom's shoulder reassuringly, "I would never let anything
happen to her."

"But—"

"I swear," Luke said and squeezed her muscle,
forcing her to relax.

Kira took it as her cue to press the
advantage.

"Pavia, we'll be back soon," she called over
her shoulder without bothering to look back. Her eyes were on the
jeep Luke had driven out to the front gate. In a few strides, she
was at the door and jumping into the front seat. "So, how'd you
know to come out here?"

Kira looked at Luke, who was buckling his
seatbelt and putting the key into the ignition.

"Is that a joke? It looked like a bomb went
off—your fire lit up the entire sky."

Kira squirmed in her seat, not responding to
the question totally apparent in his words. Instead, she pressed
the seat back, forcing it as flat as it would go and curled up on
her side to stare out the window.

Her mother ran her fingers through Kira's
hair, trying to calm her, and Kira stared unblinking at her
changing surroundings, trying to still her trembling fingers. Luke
sensed the mood and remained quiet, but Kira suspected the silence
was more for her mother's benefit. As soon as they were alone he
would burst, but what would she tell him?

That she had been pushed to the brink? That
she had tasted…that she had almost fallen…had almost turned into
a…that her powers had actually burned her? What could she tell him
when she didn't even want to admit it to herself?

Kira emptied her mind, focusing on the wash
of green flashing by the window. Trees were so much simpler to
think about—trees and the bright cloudless sky and the vastness
just outside her window, a place where she could disappear.

A chimney poked into her eyesight and Kira
sat up, unsure of how much time had passed. They were in town,
close to her grandfather's home.

"You guys explain it to the Council," Kira
said, her voice scratchy. "I'm going to sneak in to grab my things
and then I'll meet you at the hospital."

Luke looked over at her. Kira saw the
movement from her peripheral vision, but was afraid she would break
if she looked into his warm emerald and golden eyes. They were too
familiar, too comforting, too willing to take away her fears.

Instead, Luke reached across the seat and
entwined their fingers. He pulled her hand over, touching his soft
lips to the topside of her fingers, resting them there for a
moment.