Simmer (22 page)

Before the two of them could talk, another
car — now a Lamborghini — stopped in front of the house. A male and
female vampire stepped out, he in a tuxedo and she in a chiffon
ball gown that seemed to float over the sidewalk. Even from the
woods, Kira was almost blinded by the gleaming diamond jewels
draped on the female vampire's body. Apparently when Tristan had
said it was an elite party, he wasn't lying. These people not only
had conduits, they had money — lots and lots of money.

Twenty-seven more vampires made it past the
front door before Kira clenched Luke's shoulder hard enough to make
him wince.

"Hey, Incredible Hulk, lay-off," he said
while grabbing her fingers to make her let go.

"Sorry," Kira muttered, not taking her eyes
from the car now approaching the mansion. "It's Tristan," she said
and nudged her head in his direction, forcing Luke to focus on the
mission again.

Panther-like in his smoothness, Tristan
emerged from the car. Kira's breath caught in her throat. He looked
pretty darn good in a tuxedo, even if they had found it at the last
second and couldn't get it tailored. The diamond cufflinks Tristan
had bought — yes bought not stolen — were like stars twinkling on
his wrists. Unlike the other male vampires that had arrived, he
hadn't gel his hair back. Instead, it fell naturally over his
forehead, casting shadows over his eyes.

Thinking of his eyes, Kira flashed back to a
memory two hours earlier, all the way back in the hotel room. Luke
had already gone to gather the conduits leaving Kira and Tristan
with a few private moments, just enough time for him to take her
blood and prepare for the ball. Kneeling down in front of her,
Tristan gently cupped her wrists and looked up into her face.

"You're nervous. I can feel your pulse
racing." Kira shrugged in response and tried to calm her furiously
beating heart. "You trust me, don't you?" He asked, suddenly losing
the confident bravado.

"I do," she said, smiling at him warmly.
"It's just... It's a little weird," she said for lack of a better
word.

"Don't I know it." He smirked, letting two
pointed teeth press into his lower lip.

"It's fine though. Go ahead," Kira said,
pulling one of her hands free from his hold. Tristan took the hand
she left him and lifted it to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on
her vein.

Kira became instantly alert. Her entire body
buzzed, making her feel even more nervous, but for what she didn't
know. Maybe because it was the first time he was doing this, but it
was so intimate — far more intimate than the kissing they had done
and she had nothing else to compare it to. It wasn't fear because
Kira knew without a doubt that she could trust Tristan. But,
handing over the controls and putting her life in his hands was
still a little nerve-wracking. It was one thing for him to swoop in
and save her life, but quite another for her to offer it to him
willingly.

Kira's heart about dropped to her stomach
when he flicked his cool tongue across her skin. And then in one
drawn out second, with her breath caught in her throat, he bit
down.

At first, all Kira felt was the screaming of
her body as it jumped into protection mode. The sunlight gathered
inside of her and she forced it away, trying to convince her
instincts that Tristan was not an enemy.

She caught his blue eyes while the fire
started raging inside of her and held on to them. She had seen
vampires aggressive and hungry before, but this was different. The
blues of his irises were warm and not the icy cool she was used to
seeing in a hungry vampire. His pupils had gotten smaller rather
than aggressively dilated. And when she stared into their depths,
she felt perfectly safe. The power inside her calmed.

And before she realized it, Tristan was
finished. He slipped his teeth from her skin and kissed her wrist
one more time. Subtly, so Tristan wouldn't notice, Kira used her
power to heal the puncture wounds.

"Not so bad?" He asked quietly.

"No," she smiled and gently held his cheek
with her hand, running her thumb along the bone. She held his gaze
for a minute, letting him understand that she was fine and they
were perfect. "It wasn't what I was expecting though," she said,
changing her tone to playful and standing up. She had to get him
ready for the ball.

"Oh yeah? What were you expecting?" Tristan
asked while following her into a standing position.

"I don't know. In all of the books, a
vampire's bite turns the heroine into a raging sack of hormones.
But, you know, it didn't do anything for me," she grinned and
walked over to the bed to get his tuxedo jacket.

He raised his eyebrows, accepting the
challenge. "That's because I wasn't trying. If I turned it on, you
would be like putty in my hands." He turned around so she could
slip the black coat over his shoulders.

Turning him to face her, Kira adjusted his
bow-tie before responding, "Oh really?"

"Hey, I've got moves you've never seen," he
said with a smirk.

"Really? You're going with that line?"

"How about this one?" He said and took a step
closer, gripping her hips. "When I hear your heart flutter or skip
a beat or speed up like it is right now, I want to know it's
because of me. Not because of what I am, but because of who I am."
Kira opened her lips to speak, but the words caught in her mouth
when he leaned his forehead against hers. "When I feel your skin
heat up or hear your breath shorten," he said while moving his lips
closer and closer to hers, "I love to know that I made it happen."
He kissed her, making Kira feel all of those things, before pulling
away with a lopsided grin. "Better?"

"Much better," Kira breathlessly told
him.

"Kira," Luke said, jolting her out of her
memories and back into the stink of the woods. Dang, Kira thought,
talk about a one-eighty. She waved Luke off to focus back on
Tristan. Bad Kira, she chastised herself. She was not allowed to
think of kissing when her boyfriend was about to face a test that
could kill him.

She watched Tristan walk towards Bronson,
holding her breath the entire time. When Bronson reached his hand
out in greeting, Kira let the air out. The plan was going to work.
Tristan shook Bronson's hand and walked onto the porch, letting the
conduit's flames engulf him. Halfway to the door, he looked out
into the woods, searching for her in the darkness. But, before Kira
had the chance to do anything or even smile at the gesture, he was
through the entry and inside the ball. Tristan had passed the
test.

"Come on," Luke said, motioning away from the
house.

"Shouldn't we wait for Diana?" Kira asked,
still eying the mansion.

"Something tells me she's already inside,"
Luke said. The two of them watched Bronson sliver through the front
door and close it shut behind him. But, something felt wrong. If
Bronson had given Diana the blood, than why hadn't she used it to
get into the party the correct way? Why would he just let her rest
inside?

Luke grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper
into the forest. Time for phase two — Kira tried to quell the surge
of impatience already rising in her chest — time to wait.

They circled around to the backside of the
house. Kira looked at the third window on the left, the one Tristan
had said was the study. Now, she and Luke just had to hunker down
and wait for the sign. When he had Diana, Tristan was supposed to
flip on the light, open the window and make his presence known.

When they reached the far side of the house,
a spot in direct sight of the study, Kira stopped walking next to
an uprooted tree. She could see the house from here, well enough to
know if it was time to move in, so why not sit down for the wait?
Diana had been evading Tristan for weeks and Kira didn't think she
would give in so easily. No, it would take a while for him to
convince her that they needed to talk privately.

Looking down at her shoes, sunk half an inch
in the ground, Kira plopped down on the trunk. Her feet were
already a disaster; she might as well let her butt get covered in
mud too. The wet bark dampened her shorts almost immediately.

Luke turned to the sound of crunching leaves
and sat down next to her.

"What do you think is going on in there?"
Kira asked. From the seat she could also glimpse into the ballroom.
Gorgeous chandeliers twinkled against the windows. Sweeping
curtains kept most of the room from view, but Kira could just tell
it was extravagant.

"The usual I'm sure — sipping on cocktails
and," he leaned closer while deepening his voice, "plotting to take
over the world."

"I'm serious," she nudged him.

"Hey, me too. It's like an evil mastermind
convention in there."

"I bet they're dancing," Kira smiled
wistfully, imagining some sort of orchestra playing a waltz while
couples twirled along the dance floor. The vampires inside might be
evil, but something told her the ball was all about fun, about
remembering an older time all of the ancient vampires missed. At
least, Kira thought, she would not have been able to plot anything
in those outfits. Ball gowns were for spinning around, not
complacently sitting and talking.

"We could be dancing." Luke said after a
moment. Kira rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, the sound of insects buzzing in the
air really sets the mood."

"It's like music to my ears, especially that
obnoxiously loud croaking noise behind us," he said while turning
around, "what is that? It sounds like something is dying."

Kira listened for sound, cringing at the wail
when she finally heard it.

"So what now?" Luke asked. Kira shrugged.
There wasn't really anything for them to do except wait for
Tristan's sign, which could take who knew how long. "Well, if we're
stuck here anyway," Luke continued, "There's sort of something I've
been meaning to talk to you about."

Kira heard the quiver in his voice — the one
that told her this was something heartfelt and not another joke.
Kira shifted on the trunk, looking at him but putting more space
between the two of them in the process.

He took a deep breath before he started
talking and the tingling sensation of nerves crept into Kira's
mind. She forced it out, putting extra effort into blocking his
thoughts and making sure he stayed out of her head. "First, I want
to say sorry for the whole vomiting situation the other day."

"The one where you totally abused our
friendship and made me feel physically ill with your thoughts?"
Kira asked, knowing she was being a little petty in not accepting
the apology outright. But, he hadn't been acting very Luke-like
recently. She wanted her carefree friend back.

"The one where I was insanely jealous and
didn't handle it very well," he told her quietly, not taking his
eyes off the ground. Kira forced herself to shut up so he could let
whatever he was holding inside out. "The truth is, I know I've been
a little mean sometimes, but I told myself it was justified. You
and Tristan were wrong for each other and it was only a matter of
time before you broke up. I was just doing my part to move the
process along."

"But?" Kira said, making him continue.

"But, I realize now that it's something you
need to see on your own."

"And why do you care so much?" Kira asked.
They had avoided this conversation for so long, it was inevitable
they would need to talk about it. Maybe in the woods, alone,
waiting to charge a house full of powerful vampires wasn't the
ideal time, but it was all the two of them had. There was no going
back now.

"Because you're my best friend." He shrugged,
still not looking at her. Kira watched him, watched as he finally
met her gaze. His fiery eyes were so like her own, but she didn't
recognize them now, not when they were so filled with hope and
pain. "Because I'm in love with you," he finally said, letting the
words float up and fill the empty space of the forest, making it
feel both cramped and vast at the same time. There it was. The six
words that Kira had been dreading since graduation. The six words
that could never be taken back. The six words that would change
their friendship forever.

"I love you too," Kira said, hating the pity
in her voice.

"But you're not in love with me," Luke
finished the sentence for her, visibly deflated.

For some reason, she couldn't get the words
'no, I'm not in love with you' out of her mouth. She tried, she
wanted to give him the closure he needed, but her throat closed on
the sounds, trapping them inside her body. Instead, Kira just
quietly responded, "I don't know what you want me to say."

"Like I do?" Luke said with a snort. "I know
you're with Tristan. I mean, hello, road trip third wheel talking."
He pointed at himself and widening his eyes. "But I just thought
you would see reason and you would break things off. I kept telling
myself to just wait until graduation and then we'd be in Sonnyville
together and everything would right itself."

"Luke," Kira said, shocked by the crack in
her voice at seeing him so vulnerable. "I'm in love with Tristan. I
mean I'm only seventeen so I can't say it's forever, but it feels
that way to me now. And I don't want you to waste your life
waiting. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, let alone my best friend."
She stretched out her hand, wanting to place it around his shoulder
or across his back or even in his own hand, but she stilled herself
in midair then let it drop. The inches between them on the damp
fallen tree were too long to cross right now.

"But I will be waiting," he said and dropped
his head into his hands, letting out a long ragged breath. He ran
his fingers over his blond hair, flattening it to his head. "I," he
started to say but then needed to swallow the breath that caught in
his throat, "I have this feeling deep in my gut that even if I tell
myself I've moved on and I start dating other people, a small part
of me will still be waiting."