Simmer (15 page)

"Hi," she said breathlessly, still exhausted
from her fight.

"Would you follow me?" He asked. Kira nodded
and walked next to him in silence as he led her back to his
house.

Of course, Kira thought, the minute she
decides to leave is the same minute her grandfather finally wants
to talk to her.

He opened the door to his home and let Kira
inside. Showing her to a seat in the dining room, he asked if she
wanted tea and then disappeared into the kitchen. Kira waited on
the hard wooden chair and looked around. Again, there were no
personal photos really, just one of her grandparents at a much
younger age playing in the waves at a beach somewhere. They were
smiling and happy. For once, Kira thought, there was nothing
mystical about anything. Just two people in love caught on
camera.

"Here you go," her grandfather eased into a
chair and set a transparent brown liquid in front of her. Kira
caught the smell. It hinted of chamomile and she took a long
soothing sip, letting the leaves do their work to calm her.

"So, Councilman, what can I help you with?"
Kira asked, trying her hardest to stick to decorum.

"First," he leaned forward and took hold of
her hand, "you can call me Henry." Kira smiled back at him and let
the name roll around in the back of her mind. It wasn't 'grandpa'
or 'pop-pop' but it was a start. "Second, I want to talk about you.
None of us knew you had such raw power. Luke mentioned something
like it, but without seeing it for ourselves, no one on the Council
ever imagined. Taking on almost two-dozen vampires on your own is
something to be proud of, but I sense that you are frightened
too."

"A little," Kira responded, wondering how
much she could open up. He was her grandfather, but he was also
nearly a stranger. Although it would be nice to talk to someone who
wasn't Luke or Tristan, someone with more authority. Once, Kira had
tried to talk to her mother about her powers. All she ended up
getting was a strained conversation about nothing. And her father
was still in the dark about her double life. Come to think of it,
Kira realized, her relationship with her parents was almost back to
normal, as long as she pretended that nothing had changed. It might
be nice to have a family she didn't have to hide her true self
from.

Kira placed her attention back on Henry. "I
used to be much more frightened. Now the only thing that really
scares me is what happened today — when I lose control completely.
It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I don't know if I'll
make it back to myself."

"That's what I thought," he said and patted
her wrist in a subconscious affectionate gesture. "I don't know how
to make you feel better. There hasn't been a mixed breed conduit in
thousands of years, but I do have something that might help."

Reaching over to the chair next to him, he
slipped a folder out from a bag Kira hadn't even noticed was
there.

"I wasn't sure I would ever give these to
you," he said while sliding the folder across the table. "I don't
think anyone on the Council knew what to make of you at first,
least of all me. We have an entire world to protect, and to be
honest, I'm still not sure where you fit into that plan."

Kira nodded. The words were hard to hear but
she would rather have the truth. Taking the folder, she flipped it
opened.

"The missing pages," Kira said in surprise.
She recognized the chapter heading and writing instantly. They were
from the book she had been reading so many months ago about the
conduit history, the same one that led her on a journey to Luke's
home on the night before the eclipse. He had said all of those
pages had been destroyed. "But how?"

"The council has always held onto this
information in secret. But I have to warn you, after reading what
is inside, you may not think I'm doing you a favor. Some of that
will be hard for you to read and hear, but I think it's better you
know what you are and what you may potentially cause, especially
after what I saw today. People say that having too much power is a
curse and that it brings the bearer to the brink of madness. I
think some extra knowledge might help you control yourself."

"Thank you," Kira said and closed the folder
with the gulp. She would save that for later.

Now, she had something else to fess up to.
Her grandfather had presented her with the truth and it was her
turn to do the same. He had a right to know. "Henry?" She said,
noticing that he had been about to stand back up and show her
out.

"Something else you want to discuss?" He
asked and sat back down fully.

"My mother, Lana." His eyes darted up to hers
instantly. "I think she might be alive and I'm leaving tonight to
go find her."

"Kira," he sighed, letting his forehead drop
into his hands. "I used to think that all the time, but your mother
is gone."

"A vampire told me she was still alive, held
prisoner somewhere." He looked up now, eyes scrunched in confusion.
"I have to try and I don't want to lie to you and sneak out. I'm
leaving and I want the Council to know why. But, I'll be back.
Can't get rid of me that easily." She ended lightly, trying to ease
the sense of dread emanating from Henry's face.

"A vampire told you?"

"It's a long story," Kira sighed, still not
ready to talk to him about Tristan and what happened last year.
"But, I'll be traveling with a friend and I'll be perfectly
safe."

"But—" He started and then stopped when he
saw the tenacity written in her features. "Stubborn, just like your
mother," he said quietly, almost like it slipped out without him
noticing.

"Like my grandfather too, I think." Kira
smirked. She squeezed his hand and then pulled her fingers free.
She had a lot to do and she sensed that he needed some time alone.
Tonight was huge for their relationship, Kira thought, but they
still had a long way to go and it would happen one step at a
time.

"Be careful," he said as she left. Kira
looked back to see he hadn't moved from the table. He still sat
sipping his tea and thinking silently to himself.

She clutched the folder tightly in her hands
before stepping out into afternoon sun. The breeze had picked up a
bit, but she enjoyed the cool touch. Kira imagined that all the
conduits were still in the town square waiting for Luke and his
search party to come back and tell them it was safe to go home. The
UV wall, Kira knew, would be left on for a few days. Keeping the
vampires out was the town's number one priority, so Kira knew she
would never be able to sneak Tristan inside. The only way was to
meet him past the wall. She sent him a text telling him to meet her
by the gate in an hour and continued walking to Luke's home.

It was eerily silent when she stepped through
the front door. Kira may have only been a resident for a handful of
days, but the house, like Luke, seemed to always be alive and
active. Whether it was TJ running around or Vanessa talking on the
phone or Mrs. Bowrey cooking dinner, something was always going on.
Now she walked up the creaking steps in silence, her feet like
thunder on the floorboards.

When she got to Luke's room, Kira pulled her
duffle from underneath the bed and started reloading her bag — the
one she unfortunately had only unpacked the night before. Typical,
Kira thought while stuffing her clothes back inside.

She didn't know how long she would be gone,
so she gathered all of her things on the bed, placing them not so
neatly in her bag. Tristan didn't know about her plan, but he had
to see it coming. Kira had been anxious to find her mother ever
since she had woken from the coma. A meeting with Diana was
inevitable and there was no time like the present to go on a wild
goose chase. But, where do you find a vampire who is faster than
the wind? She asked herself. Hopefully Tristan had some thoughts,
because Kira for one was fresh out of ideas.

Once her clothes were packed, Kira turned to
the two drawings by her nightstand: one of her with Tristan and one
of her with her parents. She pushed the framed sketch deep into the
middle of her duffle bag so it was surrounded by clothes and safe
from breaking. Gently, she slid the one of her and Tristan into the
folder her grandfather had given her. She wouldn't be losing either
any time soon. But, Kira thought wistfully while reaching for the
chain against her neck, part of her wished she hadn't given her
grandmother the locket. She had the foreboding sense that she might
need its small yet calming influence in the future, but it was too
late for that now.

All Kira had left to figure out was how she
would get out of Sonnyville. She wasn't in love with the idea of
theft, but stealing a car from someone was probably the only
option. And hey, she had saved their butts this afternoon — a car
wouldn't be a big deal, right?

Kira chewed on her lip, then slung her bag
around her shoulder and left Luke's room. He hadn't come home and
that made her decision easy. She would be leaving without him,
which was probably for the best. Three's company didn't seem like
such a great idea, especially when she would be smack dab in the
middle of it all. She pushed any lingering doubts out of her mind
when she reached the staircase and saw her exit so near at
hand.

But, halfway down the steps, the front door
burst open.

"Yeah, that was so cool. I want to take
fencing now! I want to chop a vampire's head off!" Kira heard TJ's
excited voice and then saw the entire Bowrey family walk through
the front door behind him.

She froze up, like a deer caught in
headlights. Luke saw her as soon as he stepped through the door.
His features lit up then fell into a mask of confusion. She dropped
the duffle from her shoulder, letting it fall down the steps with a
thud. He watched as it cascaded to the ground floor.

The rest of the family was oblivious to what
had just passed between the two of them, but Kira could already
feel Luke's anger in the back of her mind. She tried to push it out
of her head, but it was like a festering wound that wouldn't go
away.

"Kira! That was so cool the way you burned
those vamps to a crisp! You were like, 'Die! Die! Die!'" TJ
completed his thoughts with an all-too-real evil laugh, then ran
over and pulled on her wrist so she would come downstairs. She
tried to smile at him, but it was hard when someone else's thoughts
were commandeering her brain.

"Kira." She turned to the sound of Luke's
voice, not sure if it was said aloud or in her head. "The porch?"
He jerked his head to the side and she grabbed her bag to follow
him outside.

"Hey Luke. What's up?" Kira said, trying to
act casual now that they were alone outside. The warm air and
stillness of the night only heightened her nerves. The porch light
amplified the groves etched in Luke's skin and his pupils seemed to
glow in fury.

"Were you really going to leave without
telling me?" He asked. The strain in his voice grated at Kira's
heart.

So no small talk then, she thought with a
grimace.

"You weren't home..."

Luke raised both eyebrows in astonishment.
"Really? That's the story you're sticking with? At least be
imaginative. Say a voice in your head told you that you had to go
this instant or something."

"Well, technically you're the only voice in
my head...so are you telling me to leave?" Got him, Kira thought
happily when he cracked a smile. She almost never caught Luke in
his own jokes.

"No, I'm just telling you that I'm
coming."

"Do you really think that's a good idea? You,
me and Tristan — just the three of us — together on the hunt?"
Sounds like a complete disaster to me, Kira ended her thoughts
silently.

"What would the Flaming Tomato be without her
trusty sidekick?" Luke asked and Kira laughed at the nickname he
had given her a few days ago. She would definitely miss him if he
didn't come.

"If you think you can handle it, then go get
your stuff. I'll wait out here." He nodded in agreement and
disappeared through the door.

Fifteen minutes later, Luke reappeared with a
duffle in one hand and his entire family behind him. His mother
looked notably depressed while TJ looked extremely jealous. His
father's features were clouded with concern and Vanessa just glared
in Kira's general direction.

Luke shrugged, as if to say sorry, but Kira
should have expected the prolonged goodbye. After another ten
minutes of hugs and kisses, tears from his mom and a final hushed
speech about not messing with her brother from Vanessa, the two of
them were off. And in a shiny new sports car no less.

Word got around quickly in this town, and
Kira wasn't sure how, but almost every conduit family was outside
of their house to wave goodbye to Kira and Luke as they drove away.
She waved back. It wasn't goodbye forever, Kira reminded herself.
As soon as things were figured out with her mother and Diana, she
would be back. A little taste of Sonnyville wasn't enough. Just
like Luke had predicted, the town and its inhabitants had gotten
under her skin and Kira knew she would be back for more.

When they reached the last house on the
outskirts of the town, Luke sped up a bit and Kira sent another
text to Tristan. He would be waiting for them by the gate. The
minutes ticked by in silence, as both Kira and Luke were lost in
their own thoughts, thankfully each in their own minds.

When they reached the front gate, Luke slowed
to a stop just before the invisible wall. Tristan appeared almost
instantly on the other side, materializing out of the trees. Yet
again, his shirt was in shreds and his pale, almost marble skin was
showing. The hard lines of muscle along his stomach were unmarred
with cuts and Kira let out a sigh. She knew he could handle
himself, but seeing Tristan whole and unhurt was still a
relief.