Simmer (23 page)

Screw it, Kira thought. She scooted over next
to him and wrapped him in her arms. "You can't think like
that."

"But you don't know Kira," he whispered, "you
don't know what it was like to wake up covered in blood with no
memory of what happened and to see your best friend lying dead on
the ground next to you. You don't know what it was like for me to
see you so pale, to see you asleep and attached to machines for
three months, to see what life would be like without you. That's
when I realized I loved you, that we were so much more than best
friends. Even if you were still in that hospital bed I would be
there holding your hand, just waiting for you to open your eyes and
wake up."

Kira really didn't know what to say, but she
guessed sometimes that was the point. Sometimes people moved beyond
words. She kept her mind closed, not wanting to read his tumultuous
thoughts, but hugged him closer. It was strange to feel heat drain
into her skin. Tristan's was normally cool, but when she pulled
Luke close he was hot to the touch, just like Kira — always a few
degrees warmer than everybody else.

What was she going to do? Now that everything
had been said and let out into the open, she wouldn't be able to
pretend. She wouldn't be able to ignore the moments when his desire
leaked into her own mind. If she caught him looking at her and
Tristan, she would know it was jealously and not annoyance. When
they were alone together, joking and laughing, it would always mean
something else to him.

Kira knew she was being selfish, but she
wouldn't be able to let him go. He was her rock, just like he had
said before, and she needed him. But, was it possible to need two
people — to have two people she couldn't live without?

"Kira?" He moved away from her and sat up,
but Kira didn't drop her arms. Instead they moved with him,
changing places from around his waist to over his shoulders. Luke
looked at her arms around his neck and followed the trail back to
her face. Shifting his gaze left and right, he tried to read her
expression. Kira suddenly found herself not just looking but gazing
into his heavily lidded eyes. Realizing how close they were, Kira
unlatched her hands and slowly pulled them away, but the more she
retreated, the more her heart began to hurt. At first, it felt like
a dull twinge, but as she rested her hands in her lap, it felt as
though someone had taken a hammer to her chest.

Looking into his eyes, Kira couldn't deny
that the pain she was feeling was purely her own. Was it the pain
of knowing their friendship would never be the same? Or the pain of
knowing that eventually she would lose him, that eventually he
wouldn't be okay with second place? Or was it something deeper, an
idea she had buried so far down in her heart that it needed to
forcefully dig itself out?

Ever since she had met Tristan, she had
thought of no one else and hadn't allowed her mind to even stray in
that direction. And maybe it was only because Luke finally admitted
his feelings, but Kira couldn't lie to herself anymore. Here she
was, staring deep into the fiery depths of Luke's soul, finally
admitting that she couldn't survive without him. Finally admitting
that when she saw him lying dead on the ground and risked her life
to save his, there was far more than just friendship in her
heart.

Inside the house, a light turned on, sending
bright rays deep into the forest where Kira and Luke sat. The
sudden spotlight filled the darkness, blinding them. Kira dropped
her gaze, the spell broken, and rubbed her eyes.

"Ow," she said nervously.

"I think that's our signal," Luke said. He
stared into her face for a moment, burning Kira with his gaze,
before standing up. "We had better go."

Kira stood too, looking towards the house
just in time to see a shadow pass through the light in the open
window: Tristan, her boyfriend, the love of her life. She needed to
stop spending so much time in the woods, Kira thought while shaking
her head. The insects were getting to her brain.

She focused back to the mission. Tonight was
not about deep conversations or professions of love, it was about
payback. To Tristan and Luke, it was maybe about keeping her safe
and keeping the people around her safe. But to Kira, this was sweet
revenge. She wanted that battle with Diana, the one that should
have happened months ago. And nothing, not even Luke, would
distract her. Which is why Kira stopped paying attention to the
dirt and the muck and the bugs and started paying attention to the
house. What was going on inside of those walls was the only thing
that mattered.

When Kira and Luke reached the edge of the
forest, they stopped to think of the best approach. Would a mad
dash across the open field work best? Would going slowly make them
less noticeable? The vampires in the ballroom could still see out
of a few windows, might have even been able to spot Kira and Luke
where they stood. But the two of them needed to get the study, and
the sooner the better.

"What are you thinking?" Luke asked. Kira
eyed the distance. It couldn't be more than twenty yards.

"I say we make a run for it. And hey, it's
not like that approach hasn't worked for us before," she said,
thinking back to the airport. The run from the parking lot worked
out perfectly fine and this one would too.

"Okay, you ready?"

Kira nodded. With his fingers, Luke counted
down from three. As soon as his hand balled into a fist, Kira
sprinted for the house, bee-lining to the open window. While she
ran, her sneakers sank into the grass, creating divets with her
toes.

Sliding in the mud to a halt, Kira slammed
against the side of the house, smacking the wood, and Luke banged
beside her a moment later. Not my finest, Kira thought and touched
her temple to feel a slight bruise. That was when she realized that
the first floor of the mansion was raised. Arching up, she saw that
the window was two feet above her head and completely out of
reach.

Luke scanned the tree line, making sure
nothing had come out after them. Then, he knelt down and cupped his
hands together. Understanding the move, Kira stepped one foot into
the pocket he created and Luke lifted her up. She reached for the
windowsill, clutching the opening with both hands and pulled
herself in with a little help from Luke.

Grace had never really been one of her strong
suits and Kira rolled head first into the study. After a somersault
and slight crash on the floor, she stood up and dusted herself off
to make room for Luke, who easily slid through the window a minute
later.

Nicely done, Kira thought, impressed by
Luke's stealth. She was about to point it out to him, but before
she could, someone else spoke.

"Well, well. Bronson really will let anything
inside these days," a high-pitched voice laced with iron spoke from
the other side of the room. Kira immediately flipped around.

On the far end of the study, sprawled out
lengthwise along a mahogany desk and draped in pearly necklaces,
was Diana.

Chapter
Fourteen

Kira tried to still her beating heart, not
wanting the vampires in the room to feel her nerves. She had been
waiting for this moment for a long time. Tonight she would find out
the truth about her mother and tonight she would end Diana once and
for all.

"What's a party without some crashers?" Luke
said smoothly. He walked past Kira to stand next to Tristan. Both
boys leaned casually against a tall bookshelf, but Kira saw the
aggression in their eyes. They were alert as ever and ready to nab
Diana if she tried to run.

For her part, Diana looked completely at
ease. She wore a long, midnight blue shift dress that fit snugly
against her body, leaving very little to anyone's imagination.
Strings and strings of pearls dangled from her neck and a feathered
headpiece decorated her hair, clipped to keep the long black
strands from falling over her face. Mostly, Kira took in her
attitude. Diana exuded arrogance and smugness, like everything was
going her way rather than the other way around. Even the manner in
which she reclined over the desk suggested she was in control. And
all Kira wanted to do was wipe the smirk from her face.

So, she got right down to business: no witty
comments and no games. Kira stretched out her hand, sending a wave
of Protector flames at Diana. Immediately the vampire catapulted
off the desk and slammed against the wall, cracking the painting
that had been hanging there. Kira walked slowly across the room,
not letting up until her thighs hit the curved edge of the
desk.

Finally, she dropped her powers and let Diana
crash to the floor. "Where is my mother?"

Diana stood slowly, smiling as if nothing had
happened. But, Kira saw the angry flash in her eyes, how the blue
of her iris lit up for a moment.

"Oh Kira," Diana sighed. "You got a little
bit of training and now you think you're my worst nightmare. Well,
don't get too full of yourself sweetie because tonight I am
untouchable."

"If I were you, I would listen to my own
advice. You have no idea what I'm capable of, Diana." No one does,
Kira thought remembering the pages she had read. No one in the
world, not even Kira herself, knew what she was capable of. Diana
may have Punisher blood running through her veins, but that was not
the same at being invincible.

"Yes, well, whatever you say," Diana smiled
sweetly at Kira, looking down on her like a child before turning
her gaze to Luke. "You look wonderful for a corpse, Luke. Didn't I
kill you months ago?"

"People just can't seem to stay dead anymore,
can they? It's an epidemic," Luke replied with a nonchalant
shrug.

"I have always liked a challenge," Diana said
while twirling her beads around her pointer fingers.

"Drop the attitude Diana and tell us what we
want to know," Tristan said, "it is three against one if you can't
see that already."

"And what? We can do this the easy way or the
hard way?" Diana said, laughing. Tristan crossed his arms and
raised his eyebrows, responding to the challenge. It was Diana's
choice how all of this went down.

"Do I need to throw you against another
wall?" Kira asked while placing her palms on the desk and leaning
over in an attempt at intimidation. "Tell us what we want to know —
where is my mother?"

"I'd rather not say."

In the blink of an eye, Tristan had grabbed
Diana by the throat and lifted her against the wall.

"Spit it out, Diana," he yelled. He squeezed
her throat tighter. At first, Diana pulled against his hands and
kicked at him, struggling against his grip. But the tighter he
squeeze, the stiller she went, until his fingers dug deep into her
body ready to rip her head off. Just as Kira was about to speak out
and tell him to stop, tell him that they needed Diana alive,
Tristan dropped her.

From the floor, Diana breathed heavily and
looked up at Tristan. She stood, still looking him in the eye, and
ran her hand up the length of his arm. "I love it when you play
rough," she whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear and soft
enough to come off as sensual.

Tristan shirked her hold and stepped back,
blinking away the lethal look in his eyes. Kira clearly wasn't the
only one who wanted Diana to pay.

"What is it going to take for you to tell me
more about my mother," Kira asked and ignored the lusty look Diana
was throwing in Tristan's direction. They didn't have time for all
of this. A group of immensely powerful vampires was in the room
next door and they could bust in at any moment. All it would take
was for one of them to notice that Diana and Tristan had
disappeared, for one of them to go searching, and then the jig
would be up. She needed answers now and all three of them needed to
move fast if the conduits in the woods were going to have any shot
at a surprise attack.

"The only thing I want is to ruin your life,"
Diana said. Kira rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I got that from all of the vampires
you've been sending my way and by the fact that you tried to kill
me. Is there anything else you want?" Kira hated this, she wanted
to burn the answers out of Diana, but Diana was immune to those
flames. Her Protector powers wouldn't be enough. Tristan had told
her one time about how different the two flames felt. Punisher
fire, he had said, burned him to his very core, lighting his body
up like a bomb about to explode. Protector powers felt different
though, less painful and more solid. Rather than burning a vampire,
it acted like a wall pushing the vampire away — weakening but not
lethal.

If her flames weren't burning Diana from the
inside out, they wouldn't be effective in getting answers. All
three of them had been naive to think that Diana would just give
everything up without a fight. And a physical battle wouldn't
accomplish anything right now. Well, Kira thought, at least
throwing Diana against a wall again would make her laugh. But no,
Kira stilled her hand in midair, she just had to play whatever game
Diana wanted to for the time being.

Diana sat down in the desk chair, lifting one
leg over the other and folding her hands in her lap. Kira's stance
over the desk hadn't affected Diana at all. She was the picture of
ease. "I want to play a game."

"Darn," Luke said with a smile, "I knew I
should have brought Monopoly with me."

"A game?" Kira asked, ignoring Luke. She did
not like where this was headed. Why wasn't Diana a little more
afraid? Sure, she knew they wouldn't kill her right away, not until
she told them what Kira wanted to hear, but the girl didn't even
look frightened at all. It was like she knew they couldn't touch
her.

"How about a game of truth or dare? Girl to
girl? I'm sure the boys wouldn't mind."