Scorch (23 page)

Luke, she said to herself, she was in love
with him and finally, finally, Kira could tell him how she felt—how
she might have felt all along.

Luke, she sighed, letting his name send a
sense of calm around her body.

Luke, she repeated, forcing the slight pain
of the knife in her shoe out of her mind.

He was here.

Chapter Fifteen

As soon as Luke opened the door, Kira jumped
on him—arms thrown around his neck, lips landing tightly on
his.

Instinctively, Luke caught her around the
waist, securing her with his lean but strong arms. Without
question, he returned her kiss, moving his mouth naturally against
hers, as though the two belonged to each other.

He stepped farther inside, bringing Kira with
him, but she didn’t notice. Her thoughts were completely consumed
by Luke. Making her choice, finally knowing once and for all that
Luke was her future, had awakened something within Kira. Her
inhibitions were gone—any urge to stop, to hesitate, had
vanished.

Instead, she ripped apart the wall she had
built in her mind, letting Luke fill every part of her, mirroring
every one of his emotions with her own.

I love you, she thought and hugged him
tighter, forcing the thought with her actions because she didn’t
want to break for words.

But Luke pushed against her hips, gripping
them with his hands, and pulled her toward the far away floor. Kira
lifted her feet. She didn't want to stop. But Luke pressed, leaning
his head back to break their contact.

Kira dropped her hands, slipping slowly down
his body until her feet landed silently on the floor. Their breath
mingled in the small space between their lips, heavy and ragged.
Kira looked up into Luke's quizzical eyes.

"Kira?"

She nodded. He continued breathing heavily,
trying to regain some brainpower.

"Do you know why I stopped us?" He asked,
brows furrowed together in true confusion.

Kira shook her head—she didn’t feel like
talking. He shrugged.

"Me neither." He lifted her back up, pulling
Kira into his chest to seal their lips together again. She smiled
against his mouth, grinning wildly, as he walked both of them to
the couch.

He half-sat, half-fell and Kira landed on top
of him, straddling his hips, actually taller than him for once.

Luke pushed her back. "I remember," he
panted.

Kira leaned forward, trapping his lips. She
didn't care.

"It's," Kira kissed him, "about," she
interrupted him again, "the Council."

Kira paused, but Luke's fingers were reaching
under the hem of her shirt, skimming the bare skin above her shorts
and she couldn't think of a response. There was a battle raging
inside of his head. She blocked it out. Her resolve was very much
fixed in one direction, and for once it wasn't business.

His palms landed on her shoulders, pushing
her back. "Okay," he said, trying to be firm but his voice was
airy. Kira met his eyes—his sparking, dancing eyes. She traced the
line down his freckled nose, following the slight curve to the left
side of his lips. Her fingers inched up, twirling a lock of blond
hair between her fingers.

Her gaze traveled back to his eyes. His
resistance was adorable.

"I love you," Kira said, her voice strong and
steady, despite the lack of oxygen in her lungs.

Luke groaned, reaching for her again. He
cupped her cheeks, bringing Kira close, and reached his fingers
back around to the base of her neck, gripping her hair.

Then in one swift move, Luke pushed Kira onto
the other sofa cushion and stood up, completely separating their
bodies.

Panting and pacing, he started to speak, low
at first and then louder. "No, there is an imminent battle outside.
A whole town of conduits depending on us, not to mention a whole
troop of children heading this way. We can't, I mean, that was
awesome, amazing, not that I'm complaining, although I guess
technically this is complaining, and now I'm mumbling…" He stopped,
finally turning in Kira's direction, where she sat innocently with
her hands crossed. "What in the world has gotten into you?"

Kira smirked. Where there had been pain
associated with the words before, there was now only excitement.
"Pavia erased Tristan's memories."

"How did she…" He shook his head, a grin
slowly spreading, "Wait, he doesn’t remember anything?"

"No," Kira said, "I told her to erase all of
the memories of his life as a vampire. All of them."

"Why?" He said cautiously. Hope glimmered in
his fiery eyes.

There were a few reasons, she knew there
were, but in that moment Kira could only think of one. "You."

Luke closed the gap, kissing her again,
before quickly pulling away. He shook his head, clearing his glazed
over eyes. "God, you are driving me crazy right now."

"Don’t I always drive you crazy?" She asked
sweetly.

"In more ways than one," he said wryly.

Kira stood and Luke took a step back. She
walked forward. He veered around the other side of the couch, using
it as a barrier, and pointed at her. "You, stay back."

Kira rolled her eyes and shuffled her feet
forward.

"Kira, I'm serious. We have a lot to figure
out." He didn’t sound very serious. In fact, he sounded a little
torn. She lifted her foot…

"Obi-Wan never had to deal with this," Luke
mumbled and shifted backwards.

Kira sighed and crossed her arms. "Fine, go
ahead."

"Okay," he nodded and looked around, grabbing
a chair from the dining room. "You sit on the couch," he said,
jerking his head in that direction. Once Kira obliged, he set the
chair down a good five feet away and sat.

"So, what do you need to tell me?"

"Aldrich started his attack."

A cold pitcher of water landed on Kira's
head, breaking the trance that had fallen over her body. The battle
was here. "Why didn’t you say that earlier?" She demanded.

Luke's entire body slackened and he raised
his eyebrows in disbelief. "I can't win with you," he whispered to
himself after a minute.

"Nope," Kira teased. "What's going on out
there?"

"It actually was pretty great timing," he
leaned forwards, resting his tan forearms on his knees, "your
grandfather was trying to convince the Punisher Council and the
entire town that an attack was coming, but there was a bit of
resistance. Even after last time, people think Sonnyville is
impenetrable. And right as he was about to lose the crowd entirely,
one of the Protector's he sent to guard the gate came running up,
screaming about the hoard of vampire's outside. After that,
everyone shut up and started paying attention."

Kira ran a hand through her hair, getting
stuck in the tangled curls. "Have any vamps made it inside?"

Luke shook his head. "Not yet, but I suspect
with so many they'll be able to figure something out
eventually."

She nodded her agreement. "What's the plan?
What did the Council decide?"

"A first line of defense has been deployed.
Protectors armed with swords and half of the Punisher Council set
up base at different intervals along the wall, to watch for any
vampires breaking through and to start burning any vampires who get
close. All of our security cameras have been turned on and we have
a team monitoring them. The other conduits have been divided into
squads, waiting for words about where they're needed."

"So, not like last time with that whole
circle set up in the town square?" Kira asked, thinking back to the
other time she had witnessed an attack on Sonnyville. Half of the
conduits would have died if she hadn’t been there to put an end to
the group of vampires that had managed to jump over the wall.

"No," Luke said, a glint in his eye, "this
time we're ready. This time, the vamps won't have it so easy. The
UV wall is fully amped up and it'll take them a while to figure out
how to get through. And hopefully a Punisher will be there to burn
them before they even touch Sonnyville soil."

"Good," Kira snorted. "What about you? What
will you be doing?" A sense of concern tickled at her chest, but
Kira tried to quiet it. Luke could handle himself. He would be
fine.

"Well, first I was supposed to check in with
you and Tristan…hey, were is Tristan? And actually, back to that,
how did Pavia get inside?"

Kira bit her lip. "I might have told her to
use the top secret tunnel connected to this basement."

"Kira," Luke gasped, "did anyone see her? Was
she followed?"

"Relax," she wished she could reach out and
comfort him, "do you see any vampires around? No one saw her. And I
told her to take Tristan with her, to keep him safe since I…" She
trailed off, looking at the ground. Since I can't, she finished the
thought silently.

Luke misunderstood. "Don't tell me you're
going to go hunting for Aldrich? Kira—"

"I'm not," she interjected, quickly cutting
him off and smiling. "I love you, you idiot, I'm not going to throw
that away. I won't give Aldrich the satisfaction."

"You know, you could have ended that like, I
love you Luke—I would never make you worry like that. Or, I would
never do that to you."

"Or you could just smile sweetly and say,
thank you. I love you too, Kira." She raided an eyebrow, letting a
little diva attitude flow into her face.

"Thank you. I love you too, Kira." He pursed
his lips, holding in a Cheshire cat sized smirk.

"I would shove you if I could."

"Too bad your arms aren't long enough."

"Too bad you needed to sit five feet away to
fend off my advances."

Luke opened his mouth, then shut it
quickly.

"Ha!" Kira perked up, "gotcha."

"You know I really do love you, don't you?"
He asked, tone turning just serious enough for Kira to sense his
earnestness.

"I really do."

"Good, because I need to go lock you in a
closet."

"What?" If she had been drinking water, it
would be all over Luke's lap at the moment. "You don't trust me to
stay put?"

"Trust is such a harsh word," he said
slowly.

"Harsh and accurate."

"Do you even trust you right now?" He asked,
wincing while he did. But Kira didn't want to hurt him, and more
importantly, she couldn't deny it. The shadows were there,
swirling, strengthening even just in his presence. Being locked up
for the duration of the battle might not be such a bad idea.

"You're right," Kira sighed, "let's do
it."

"Good, because—"

But Kira didn’t need to hear the end of
Luke's sentence, couldn’t if she even wanted to. The banter had
ended. The professions of love had ended. The moment for kissing
was long gone, or maybe it had gone on too long.

Her gut punched inwards, hit by some
invisible force, and Kira doubled over.

Luke had mentioned it earlier, but Kira
hadn't been paying attention, she wasn't listening. She couldn’t
ignore it now.

The children were coming.

Their innocence, their sweet, succulent
innocence—it hit Kira like a wall, slamming through her senses,
blocking out everything but smell.

Her canines began to ache. Saliva gathered,
pooling beneath her tongue. The need to taste it was overpowering,
was undeniable.

The darkness swirled into her vision,
creating spots in her eyes, so all she could focus on was the
desire slivering down her throat, encasing her heart. The shadows
awakened, and Kira shivered from the cold traveling to her limbs.
The vampire inside of her was coming out.

No.

No.

Kira dropped to the floor, slamming her fists
into the ground as she landed. There was no way this was happening,
not now, not when she had finally chosen a path, a dream, a
life.

Fire warmed her fingers, traveling in from
the outside, spreading warmth to her dying body.

Luke. It had to be.

Kira welcomed his pure, untainted flames, and
pulled them into her, cracking the shadows around her heart so the
Protector powers could flood her core, urging her hiding fire
awake.

Kira squeezed the fingers wrapped around
hers.

"Get me out of here," she gasped.

Arms scooped her up, lifting her high into
the air. Kira let Luke carry her away, anywhere other than the
floor, right next to the crack under the door where that scent was
pouring through.

They moved farther away. The thud of Luke's
steps was all Kira could process. Her mind was easing just a little
as his fire continued to charge in. Apprehension flooded her
thoughts, spilling over the wall. Luke was scared—not for himself,
but for her.

Kira's bottom touched a cushion, sinking into
a seat somewhere else in the house.

"I'll be right back," Luke urged. His flames
retreated, pulling away and Kira's body went on overdrive. Her own
powers tried to push out, pressing against her skin as though a
bomb was about to explode, but she held on. She couldn’t release
it. She would burn the entire town down—because Kira knew deep down
her powers were being pushed out, being forced out, and she refused
to let them go.

Luke's burning fingers touched her skin
again, sending peace and calm to her senses, spreading a golden
warmth that had nothing to do with blood, just with fire, pure and
untainted fire.

Something pushed against her nose, but Kira
turned away. She couldn’t open those senses again, couldn't breath
through anything but the slight opening of her lips, the barest
hole to let air flow stiffly in and out.

"Kira, just smell it," Luke soothed, running
one flaming hand up and down her arm.

Trusting him, she did what he said, reopening
the path to her nose.

A putrid floral scent infiltrated, stinging
its way down the back of her throat, itching her tonsils.