Simmer (16 page)

She jumped out of the car.

"My, my — another shirt torn to pieces? What
will the neighbors think?" Kira said while putting on fake airs and
walking closer to him. She laughed when he looked down as if only
realizing for the first time that his clothes were cut up. He
recovered from his surprise quickly.

"The better to ravish you with," Tristan
replied with a grin, "it's all part of the plan."

"Which plan is that?"

"The one to make you fall hopelessly in love
with me, of course."

"Well, I'm sorry to break your heart but it's
not working at all," Kira replied and passed through the threshold
of the UV wall, letting the light warm her for a final time.
Tristan waited for her right on the edge, as close as was safe for
him. Kira put her hand on his chest and he breathed in as her hand
singed his stomach. "See? I'm not attracted in the slightest."

Clearly not true, Kira thought. Her breath
became slightly more labored when she took one final step closer to
him. And icy blue flash passed through his irises.

"I guess I'll have to try harder," he said
softly and took hold of her arms. Kira loved this part: the
anticipation of waiting was almost as good as the kiss itself. The
moment hung between them, excitement bouncing back and forth
between them, building a sizzling electric current between their
bodies.

Beep!

Kira jumped about ten feet in the air before
realizing that it was just Luke honking from the car. Her pulse
raced, but for a completely different reason, one that wasn't
nearly as fun to think about.

"Luke," Tristan said tersely and waved in his
general direction. Kira had a feeling he had been wishing he could
have used a different gesture, one with four less fingers involved,
but Luke just waved back cheerily from the front seat.

"Oh," Kira changed the subject, realizing
that the playful moment between she and Tristan was over. "Luke
wanted me to ask if it was safe here. Have the vampires all
fled?"

He nodded and shouted for Luke to pull
through the gate.

When the car shuddered to a halt, Luke shut
it off and walked over to Kira and Tristan.

"Dude, your dry cleaning bills must be huge,"
he said to Tristan, taking note of the lack of clothing. "Luckily,
I have a spare. Here you go," he said and tossed a blue cotton
bundle in Tristan's direction.

"Thanks," Tristan said when he caught it,
surprised at the gesture. After stripping off what was left of the
black T-shirt he'd had on, Tristan pulled the new shirt over his
head. It pulled tightly across his chest, which was slightly
broader than Luke's and had more muscle tone. But, that wasn't what
made Kira bark out a laugh as soon as he put it on.

"What?" He asked. Kira shook her head with
uncontrollable giggles and Luke let out a chuckle too. Tristan
looked down at what he had thought was a plain, blue crew neck.
Boy, had he been wrong.

Ironed on to the front of the shirt was a
puppy in a Darth Vader costume and the slogan, 'Do I look evil to
you?'

Immediately, Tristan started to tug it off.
Kira reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Stop, I think it's adorable," she said with
a smile, still not totally able to control her mirth. "Besides, we
have more important things to discuss, like where we're going and
how we're planning on finding Diana."

Hoping the boys would follow, Kira turned
back to the car, but no so fast that she didn't catch the smirk
Luke threw Tristan's way. It was going to be a very long drive, she
sighed as she pulled the passenger side door back open and stepped
inside.

"So, where to?" Luke asked and started the
engine.

"The last place I tracked Diana to was
Baltimore. She's been heading north, but I'm not sure what her
final destination is."

"Baltimore it is then." Kira reclined her
seat, trying to get comfortable. "That's what, a fifteen hour
drive?"

"Probably sixteen," Luke put the car into
drive. The sluggish engine mirrored his mood.

"Cool," Kira said, looking from boy to boy.
Well, this is going to be fun, she thought into the complete
silence of the car. Sixteen hours and not a single thing to talk
about...bring on the party.

She looked over at Luke's tight grasp on the
steering wheel, and then flicked her eyes back to Tristan's crossed
arms. As always, it would be up to her to make peace.

"So, how was the fight out here?" Kira asked
finally, trying to break the tension.

"Fun," Tristan said, the memory lighting up
his features. "You guys really have something going with that UV
wall. I was amazed it worked so well."

The image of Tristan catapulting vampires
came to Kira's mind and she couldn't help but smirk. The idea that
Tristan didn't mind killing his own kind comforted Kira in a
strange way. She knew he wasn't evil and he would never be killing
anything that had a shred of goodness in it. So, it must be all
right for her to be doing the same thing. Truthfully, it had become
all too easy to kill vampires at a moments notice. There was a
numbness about it that she didn't like, an almost cruel lack of
remorse or pain on her part.

The emptiness reminded her of the one fear
she had when she found out what she was, the fear of being evil —
of being destined to do terrible things. She had pushed those
thoughts to the side since coming to Sonnyville, but her loss of
control had reawakened those doubts and they had slowly been
invading her thoughts during the past few hours. Like her
grandfather said, with the power came the moments where she lost
not only the hold over her power but over her senses as well. What
would she have done without Luke to break the spell? Would she
still be in the center of the square throwing flames at nothing, or
would she have passed out and maybe even died?

"Kira?" Luke asked

"Hm?" She looked over at him, distracted
enough to force her questions away again.

"What's up? I just made an awesome joke and I
didn't even get a laugh out of you. You okay?"

"Maybe she just didn't think it was funny,"
Tristan said under his breath.

"Eh, not possible." Luke responded
cavalierly.

"I didn't think it was funny." Tristan
shrugged.

"Yes, but you're more than a hundred and
fifty years old. You still think knock-knock jokes are funny. Kira
and I, on the other hand, have a more modern sense of humor."

"Knock-knock jokes, huh?" Tristan questioned,
egging Luke on.

He took the bait. "What, still too 21st
century for you?"

"No, I just have a good one, come to think of
it." Luke rolled his eyes in the rearview mirror, glancing sidelong
at Kira in the process.

"What's your joke?" Kira asked, slightly
nervous for what was about to happen. Her palms started to sweat a
little.

"Knock-knock," Tristan said, a smirk starting
to gather on his face. Kira caught the mischievous glint that
always appeared in the corner of his eye when he was about to do
something troublesome.

"Who's there?" Luke asked.

"My fist."

"My fist who?"

"Don't you get it?" Tristan asked, full on
grinning at this point with dimples puckering on his cheeks. "I
just metaphorically punched you in the face."

"Tristan!" Kira tried to reprimand him. But,
he caught the twitch of her lips. It was only there for an instant,
but Kira knew any chance of lecturing him on treating Luke nicely
was over for the time being. She couldn't help it though — the joke
was funny!

"Yes, well," Luke retorted, "clearly we're
just on totally different wavelengths because I didn't find that
funny at all. That shirt, however, is hilarious." He looked
pointedly at the adorable puppy on Tristan's chest.

Kira rolled her eyes and pushed the radio on
with her toe, too lazy to sit up and do it.

"Hey, watch your feet. This is a nice car,"
Luke slapped her foot away and fussed with the radio until he found
a station to stop on.

"Whatever, I'm going to sleep," Kira said and
rolled over, turning her back on both boys and reclining her seat
the rest of the way. If there was anything her new, slightly
insane, life taught her, it was sleep whenever you got the chance
because you never knew when a vampire was going to come along and
try to flip your car over.

Tristan put his feet up and stretched them
between the front seats. His hand appeared next to her face and she
reached hers up to clasp it. It was cool to the touch, but Kira had
gotten used to the sensation. The freeze balanced out her normally
scorching temperature.

Maybe this would be good for them, Kira
thought hopefully. In Charleston, Tristan and Luke barely spent any
time together. Luke could run off with Dave or Miles while Kira
hung out with Tristan, and Tristan could easily disappear whenever
he wanted to. Unless there were big school functions, like
graduation or senior beach day, the two of them stayed pretty far
apart. Come to think of it, even at those functions, they kept
their talks down to grunted hellos and forced pleasantries. If they
were both her best friends, then it only made sense that they were
similar enough to like each other.

She squeezed Tristan's hand and he
reciprocated. Too tired to turn around again, she pictured his
relaxed face as it leaned against the back of the seat. He was
always the first to wake up when he snuck in and spent the night.
Tristan always blamed it on his heightened vampire senses — he
always knew when her heart was speeding up to wakefulness. But,
Kira liked to think that he just enjoyed watching her sleep. Not in
a creepy way, just for the few moments before she woke up: the few
moments where her face was completely free of worried stress lines
and she was undeniably safe in his care. In all of his drawings,
she looked so happy and at peace, and Kira guessed she only looked
that calm asleep.

But that wouldn't happen this time because
when she woke up tomorrow it would be all business. And well, she
thought of the two men next to her, playing referee.

Chapter
Ten

At the sound of loudening voices, Kira's eyes
fluttered open. Bright light stung her pupils, so she instinctively
closed her lids again. Upon hearing her name, Kira made sure to
keep them shut. Conscious of her quickening breath, Kira counted to
four and breathed out, held it, then counted for four while
breathing in - a meditation exercise Luke had taught her. She
wanted to hear what the boys were saying without Tristan picking up
on her quickening pulse. It wasn't like eavesdropping was illegal
or anything.

"Oh, come on Luke!" Tristan said with
frustration evident in his tone. His voice came from the front seat
and Kira realized he was driving now. She must have slept through
the last rest stop.

"What?" Luke responded, feigning
ignorance.

"Just admit it, will you?

"I told you, I'm here to keep her safe.
Nothing more."

"We both know Kira can hold her own in a
fight."

"Maybe that's not what I'm keeping her safe
from..." Luke said in an accusatory voice.

Tristan laughed darkly under his breath.
"From what, me? Do you honestly think Kira would still be with me
if she was at all afraid of me? She's stronger than that. Just
admit you're here to try and win her over."

"Why, are you threatened?" Luke asked and
Kira could hear the slight strain of hope in his voice. He was
trying to be tough, but it wasn't in him to be intimidating. He was
too good-natured.

"Kira and I share something you'll never
understand. We're both outcasts, and as much as I hate to admit it,
we're both beings that sound bad on paper but strive to be good,"
Tristan said sadly.

"Are we talking about the same person here?"
Luke asked incredulously.

"Come on, a vampire that needs blood to
survive? Evil. But add a soul and the line isn't so clear: not
good, but not evil either. Mixed-blood conduit that could mean the
end of the world as we know it? Not good. But add Kira's will and
heart and strength, and it becomes far more complicated." Tristan
paused, trying to find the correct words. Kira hung on his breath
like a lifeline, wondering whether the sentence that followed would
push her off the edge or carry her to safety. "We both know what
it's like to not fit in, to strive to change the destiny that's
been set for us. Kira means everything to me because she gets it
and she's the only one who ever has. You look at me and see a
vampire, but she looks at me and sees a person."

Kira couldn't contain the smile that widened
her lips, but thankfully she was still turned away from them so
neither boy noticed. Conduits look at me and see something
dangerous, she wanted to say, but you look at me and see something
beautiful. She couldn't help the sense of warmth blossoming in her
chest, but Kira tried to still her senses. She wasn't ready for the
eavesdropping to be over. It was just getting interesting.

"Yeah, well, I happen to think Kira and I
share something special too, something you'll never understand.
Mortality, for one. And, how about a penchant for home-cooked
meals? She does want to be a chef, you know. Pretty hard to test
out new recipes with a boyfriend who can't eat food."

All the bitterness Luke never showed her was
starting to seep out. He tried so hard to be the happy, go-lucky
best friend who could always cheer her up, which she loved, but she
wished he wouldn't keep so much inside. Sometimes, it was all right
to be real and emotional.

And then the tone of his voice changed. Kira
sensed that something inside of him was finally letting go.

"We'd be happy, Kira and I. I know you make
her happy, but I would too. We're always laughing and together we
can make any situation a good one. I may not be alone in the world,
but that's only part of what she is. The other part is all fire and
that's something you'll never understand, Tristan."