Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) (18 page)

Slowly, Kira’s vision began to return. She
focused on her slightly glowing fingernails where they pressed up
against soft cotton. Strings of light danced between her knuckles,
trying to escape the suction cup hold of her hands against Luke’s
chest. Kira noticed for the first time that the light was sinking
into him, weaving into his chest and leaving her body.

"Kira, you have to stop. It’s too much."

She looked at him, at the strain on his face
and the rough lines of his taunt lips. Not her smiling Luke—this
Luke was in pain. He squinted his eyes to squelch the feeling,
trying to act like a man, but Kira could hear his raspy breath.

She stepped back and folded her fingers into
her palm, willing the torment to stop, and her light obeyed. It
winked out almost immediately.

Luke turned away and with a loud grunt,
released the sunlight he had absorbed from Kira out towards the
forest. For the first time, Kira understood how beautiful it was.
The flames illuminated even the darkest corners of the forest, like
a firework exploding at eye level. Red, yellow, orange and blue
swirls circled Luke and the yard around, leaving everything
unharmed. Flowers turned almost immediately to catch the new rays
and blooms opened as if commanded.

But then, Luke crashed to the ground and
crumpled against the grass, letting his light wink out and leaving
the yard shrouded in darkness once more.

"Luke!" Kira screamed and ran over to him.
She landed on her knees beside his immobile body and turned him
over so his back touched the grass. She cupped his face in her
hands.

"Luke, please, I didn’t mean whatever
happened."

His eyes peaked out from nearly closed lids.
His fingers moved against grass, inching closer to her own. Kira
grabbed his hand and moved to rest his head upon her lap, brushing
damp hair from his forehead.

"Luke?"

His eyes fluttered and Kira heard his
breathing lengthen.

"Hi," he said quietly, squirming in his
drowsiness. "Give me a second," he asked and tried to sit up. Kira
let him gather his thoughts and regain his composure, but she
needed to know what had just happened. Did she almost kill him?
Kira thought he had said it wasn’t possible.

"I’m sorry," Kira said. He looked over at her
and shook his head.

"What are you sorry for, Kira? It was my own
fault."

"What happened, Luke? I thought I couldn’t
hurt you."

"You didn’t." He sighed and tried to stand.
Luke wobbled on his feet, but took a few hesitant steps, as though
he were trying to remind his legs how to work. Kira followed him
back to his porch and sat beside him on the stoop.

"I overexerted myself," Luke said finally.
Kira looked at him, completely blank in the face. "I tried to take
your power into my body. You looked completely lost, like you were
drowning, and then you fainted and I had no idea what to do. So, I
let your light flood into me to calm the storm and wake you up, but
I guess it sort of backfired." Luke looked sheepish. Some teacher
he was.

"But, why did it hurt you?"

"It was just too much power. You have no idea
how strong you are. Once your body realized what I was doing, you
kept pushing more and more light into me and I just got full I
guess. Like a water balloon that gets filled too much: I just
needed to release it."

Kira nodded, finally understanding. She felt
horrible.

"At least it worked," Kira tried to be
optimistic, while she mindlessly pulled little grass strands from
the ground.

"What did you think of? To trigger your
power?"

"I pictured Diana and the scene in the
auditorium." Kira shuddered, not wanting to start up again. Luke
just nodded.

"So, we’re probably done training for the
day. You fainted…then I fainted. I’d call it a successful session,"
Luke said, making light of the situation like always. Kira nudged
him with her shoulder.

"What are you going to tell the council? I
assume you have to send some sort of report this week."

Luke shrugged. "Not much. I’ll let them know
you inherited the power, that you have finally started learning to
channel at will and that I’m training you. Nothing about the extent
of your abilities." Luke looked away from her as he finished
talking, trailing his words off into silence.

"What are you hiding? What would happen if
they found out?"

"I honestly don’t know."

"But, it wouldn’t be good."

"No, probably not." He agreed, almost
silently, reminding Kira that this wasn’t all fun and games. It was
serious.

Luke grabbed her hand, pulled her from the
stoop and led her inside to his kitchen. Kira grabbed her backpack
and noticed a small bookshelf in the corner of the room. She
couldn’t remember ever seeing it before.

Kira walked over, scanning the titles. Some
were classic fiction novels. She spotted a copy of
Dracula
with a worn cover and binds that had started to disintegrate.
Vampire novels, even current girly romances, were all stacked in
perfect alphabetical order. And then, on the lower shelf, Kira saw
a book on conduits—on their history and culture. The binding was
old, filmed with a perpetual dust, and gold script displayed the
title but no author. Kira heard Luke in the kitchen. It sounded as
though the refrigerator had just closed and, before she realized
what she was doing, Kira grabbed the book and stuffed it in her
bag.

"Ready?" Luke said as he rounded the corner
with a water bottle, which he threw in her direction. Kira caught
it and followed him out to the car.

When Kira got home, she ran up to her room,
ignoring the family dinner set up in the dining room. She dropped
her book bag, locked the door to her bedroom and pulled out the
text she had stolen from Luke. Kira turned off her lights, leaving
only the reading lamp by her bed on, and situated herself in her
comforter.

She looked at the index:
Chapter One – A
Brief History, Chapter Two – Vampires With Souls?, Chapter Three –
Protectors vs. Punishers, Chapter Four – A Mixed Breed, Chapter
Five – The Prophecies
.

Kira ran her hand down the thick paper,
fighting the urge to jump right to the fourth chapter. She let her
head fall back onto her pillow.

Kira never thought she would be the type of
girl that needed an entire chapter of an ancient text devoted to
how dangerous she could be. The book had no copyright or
publication information. The pages were bumpy from the thick ink
that rose off the page, and a thin string was all that held the
binding together. Kira almost feared she would wreck it. Had Luke
meant for her to find this? She was positive there had been no
shelf when she had stayed the night, positive there were no books
visible in his home.

Training had drained her. So Kira stuffed the
book under her mattress, where even her sister couldn’t reach it,
and vowed to start reading it that week. But, before she could even
finish the thought, sleep embraced her.

Everyone’s eyes were on Kira as she and her
friends walked into the barely recognizable gymnasium. A blush
crept up her cheeks and she thanked God for the oversized cat
mask—complete with ears—that accompanied her costume. Emma and Dave
were holding hands and giggling, completely unaware of the crowd,
while Luke and Miles had already headed for the snack table,
leaving Kira alone and uncomfortable by the entrance. She was used
to the stares she got because of her voluminous strawberry blonde
hair, but she had never felt so exposed.

Kira wanted to curse Emma for convincing her
to wear the skintight getup and for cutting extra cat-scratches up
the side of her legs. Flashes of her skin were exposed all the way
up her thigh and one scratch cut across her entire back. Kira
avoided making eye contact with the senior boys who had all but
started drooling when she walked in.

Twenty minutes before, when Luke’s trusty
pick-up van had stopped outside her house, Kira had sprinted from
her room, down the stairs and out the door to keep her mother from
commenting on her outfit. When she sat safely in the car, Emma kept
talking about how she loved the extra black glittery eye shadow and
mascara Kira had put on, but the boys had been mysteriously silent.
Kira was starting to understand why and she didn’t like it. It was
one thing to feel sexy, and another to actually have guys openly
staring at you.

Kira took one more look around the room, and
all the way in the back of the gym, she spotted him. Tristan sat
with Jerome, John and Diana at a table nestled in the corner of the
party, away from the crowd and completely separated from the fun.
All three of the boys wore suits and Diana was dressed in a floor
length black ball gown. They looked like they had missed the memo
on the costume party and had instead dressed up for a black-tie
affair. But even though Diana was sitting down and in the wrong
theme, Kira begrudgingly thought she looked amazing.

Of course, Kira mused, the one guy who I
actually want staring at me is completely absorbed in his own
world. And Kira left that thought at that, leaving Tristan behind
to go find her friends.

Emma had snatched a table right next to the
dance floor, so Kira sat with her to wait for the guys who were
gorging on hors d'œuvres.

"Aren’t the decorations just amazing?" Emma
gushed, while gazing around the room. Kira had to admit that the
party committee had done an awesome job. Cobwebs hung all over the
ceiling and walls, filled with plastic spiders and white Christmas
lights. Carved pumpkins lined the floors and acted as centerpieces.
They had even found black lights to make the room and cobwebs glow
a creepy purplish color.

"Very mysterious looking," Kira agreed. She
looked over at Emma, who was shifting her weight on the seat while
going back and forth between speaking and keeping quiet. "Spit it
out," she told her friend, more curious than anything.

"I just have to ask about Tristan. What is
going on there? I’ve been keeping my distance and waiting for you
to talk, but I just can’t wait anymore. And the way he stared at
you when we came in. I mean, even I flushed."

Kira snapped her head around to Tristan’s
table. "He was looking?"

"Looking like he wanted to devour you! So,
spill."

"It’s complicated…"

"Because of Luke?"

Kira silently thanked Emma for the way out.
"Yeah totally, because Luke would hate it." Not exactly a lie, but
definitely not the real reason for her hesitation.

"You have to let that go. Luke can handle it.
And I know you really like Tristan. Your eyes just lit up like
stars when I said his name." Kira blushed, hating her obviousness.
The boys came back, saving her from the rest of the
conversation.

"We are definitely the best dressed here,"
Luke said as he sat down and Kira couldn’t help but agree. Dave
made a great Batman and Emma looked like the perfect Poison Ivy
evil girlfriend. Miles was, well, Miles in his Robin costume, the
forever geek, and even Luke had the maniacal charm of the Joker
when he wanted to. He had even let the girls cover his face with
costume makeup.

As Kira watched Luke, he met her eyes, and
for the first time Kira thought his gaze held more than just
friendship. She quickly denied it, blaming her ridiculous costume,
and looked away.

"Hey," he grabbed her hand, "let’s go be evil
and mischievous together." She leaned in while they discussed what
villainous act to pull, and in the end, Luke went the easy route
and pulled Dave’s mask off his head and ran away with it. Kira
followed with Miles and Dave hot on their tails. The chase only
lasted a few minutes until Dave tackled Luke behind the bleachers.
So, Luke tossed the mask to Kira who quickly found herself cornered
by Miles. She threw the mask as far away as she could before Miles
jumped on her, hoping the recovery at least would be difficult.
Then, out of nowhere, Emma appeared, snatched up the mask and
teased Dave until he caught her up in his arms and stole it
back.

"No one can beat Batman and Robin, fools."
Dave and Miles yelled triumphantly, and, laughing, the whole group
walked back over to their table.

"Hey, Kira."

She jumped at the unfamiliar male voice
saying her name and turned around. Carter Evans, the school
quarterback, was talking to her. It was bizarre, Kira thought, put
on some leather and the guy commonly referred at the most gorgeous
person to ever attend this school suddenly wants to get to know
you.

"Want to dance?"

Kira honestly wasn’t sure what to do. He was
definitely nice to look at, and he was a completely normal
all-American sort of guy. Maybe he would be good for her track
record, she figured. Emma’s eyes practically bulged from her head,
and Kira knew she needed to say yes. So, she took his open hand and
let him lead her to the dance floor, which resembled more of a
mosh-pit than anything else.

"You look amazing," he whispered in her ear
as he put his hands on her back and pressed her body against his.
Kira felt the base rumble through her. She found the rhythm of the
music and decided she just needed to enjoy herself. To forget about
Luke and Tristan, to forget conduits and vampires, and just be a
normal hormonal teenage girl dancing with one of the most
attractive guys at the school.

Carter wasn’t one for words, she realized, as
they continued to dance in silence. The music blared and the crowd
of dancing students moved as one, and soon Kira began to get really
overheated in her leather jumpsuit. Even the skin showing cutouts
weren’t enough to keep the sweat from gathering, so after a few
more songs with her body pressed firmly against his rather tall and
broad chest, she and Carter went to get some punch.