Scorch (26 page)

Her hand came up and clamped over her mouth,
catching the gasp she had let escape.

Unable to look anywhere else, Kira caught his
eyes, the one part of him that remained unharmed. And they looked
at her, calculating and full of hatred.

"What's wrong, Kira? You don’t want to look
at your masterpiece?" He asked coolly, shuffling closer to Luke's
body.

She shivered. "I never meant for that to
happen." And she didn't.

"No, you just meant to kill me and be done
with it," he said, smiling.

"No worse than your plans for me." Kira
returned his overly sweet grin, pushing any feelings of sympathy
for Aldrich to the side. He was a monster, and now his body just
reflected what was in his heart.

"No matter," Aldrich shrugged, "a decade from
now I will be fully healed and back to my former self. I don't
think you'll be as lucky."

He knelt down, and brushed the hair off of
Luke's face.

Kira's body jerked forward in protest, "Don't
touch him."

Aldrich's head snapped in her direction, and
his eyes flashed an icy blue, "Make me."

Kira stepped forward, closing in on the edge
of the wall, but then she stopped. She couldn't go any further
without losing herself, without falling. She was trapped.

Frustrated, Kira lifted her hands, flinging
Punisher flames at Aldrich. She could kill him from here. She
didn’t need to move.

But a tree branch smacked her forearms,
throwing her palms to the side and her flames exploded aimlessly
into the trees opposite Aldrich, useless.

He cackled, sending a shiver of pure anger
down her spine. One way or another Kira would end him. Her fingers
crunched into a fist.

"This is too much," he said, glee evident in
his voice, "our dear Kira trapped in the very fire she yearns to
hold onto to, unable to fight for her love." He slid a nail down
Luke's cheek, staring Kira straight in the eye as he rubbed a
stubby finger over the cut and brought it to his mouth, tasting the
blood that leaked from the fresh wound.

Kira bit her lip, trying to not to lose
control. The power inside of her surged, begging for release. But
it was clear that Aldrich was goading her. He wouldn’t kill Luke,
not yet, not before he was done playing games.

Aldrich stood quickly and walked around
Luke's body, closer to the wall. "I wonder what will make you
break?" He asked, reaching out as if to touch her cheek. His hand
stopped just shy of the invisible line, not crossing into the UV
radiation currently burning into Kira's skin, filling her with hope
and strength. She may be trapped, but it was a cage that Aldrich
couldn’t break into.

She remained silent, not giving in to his
taunt.

"You know," he said, drawing his hand back.
His eyes lost focus as his brain sifted back, bringing up a memory.
"I knew what was happening the moment you let me go. I saw the
fight in your eyes, the battle raging inside your veins, I could
feel the shadows flood your heart. I knew in that moment, that no
matter what happened, I had won. Because there is no going back,
Kira. Once you've tasted the darkness, there is no stopping
it."

"But there is," she said quietly, not really
believing it herself.

"What? Are you talking about Tristan? Yes,
yes, I've heard all about how you saved him," he drawled, "I'm
afraid it's all anyone can talk about. I'm rather sick of it, to be
honest."

"Because you lost that battle," Kira said,
smug, letting a grin curl her lips.

Aldrich's eyes flashed, his crackled flesh
tensed up. "What battle? Tristan is a fool who fell in love with a
girl who could never love him back."

Kira's hand shook. Fire pressed against her
palms, aching to be let out, but she held it steady, letting her
powers bubble up and strengthen, waiting for the right time.
"That's not true."

"It’s not? Then where is he? Why is Luke our
special guest and not Tristan?"

"I loved him enough to let him go, something
you'll never understand."

"Such sentimental drivel," Aldrich said,
chuckling to himself, "you still don't understand, Kira. I tried to
tell you before, but you just don’t understand."

"By all means, enlighten me." Kira crossed
her arms, trying to keep the conversation going as long as
possible. In the back of her mind, Kira was just waiting for the
right moment to strike. Because he would falter, he would lose
control, and the moment he did, Kira would attack. She had to.
There was no other way for this to end, there never was.

"You're a realist, Kira," he sighed and Kira
rolled her eyes. Not this again, she thought.

"So what?"

"Realists can't chose love, they don't know
how. Love is for the believers, love is the ultimate faith—that
invisible idea people will build their lives on. But a realist just
doesn't understand that—they need the facts, the logic—they can’t
take the leap. They don't know how to put love first."

"While I'm really enjoying the psychobabble,
can you just get to the point?" Kira asked.

"The point is that I know you will fight me
because if you don’t I will kill this boy," he stepped closer, his
voice deepening, "The point is that I know you will fall because as
much as you say you are in love, you don't really know how to
believe in it," he looked at her, his eyes turning black, his burnt
face glowing in triumph, "The point is I will win and you will
lose, as much as you tell yourself differently."

Kira leapt forward, rage pushing her
movements. Fire flew from her hands, surging toward Aldrich in a
wave of crushing heat. He was wrong. Kira had loved Tristan and she
loved Luke now, and no one would use fancy words to try to take
that away. She wasn't some unfeeling robot. She wasn't.

And Kira would show Aldrich just how wrong he
was.

But as soon as Kira crossed the line, her
fire wavered, losing its heat and the darkness crept forward,
breaking through her skin, pushing the teeth back out, spreading a
numbing cold throughout her body.

Her anger rolled away, replaced by a deep
hunger she had yet to give into. Luke's blood surged into her
thoughts.

She wanted it.

She wanted one taste. Just one.

No!

Kira threw herself backwards, back into her
prison, and fire surged through her body. She panted and let the
flames take over, let them chase the shadows away, another
temporary fix, but a fix nonetheless.

The blood pounding in her ears began to
slow.

A high-pitched squeal replaced it, flooding
her senses, and clapping hands brought a surge of hatred back into
her heart.

Slowly, Kira stood and turned around, meeting
Aldrich's smirk with a glare. That didn’t prove anything, no matter
what he said.

But he didn't try to speak—his eyes did the
talking for him. Hot white with barely a hint of blue, they were
practically alight with his excitement. Aldrich thought he was
winning.

And in the back of her mind, Kira agreed.

To her right, the passenger side door of the
car broke off, screeching loudly. Kira couldn't help but stare as
it scraped along the ground in her direction, lifting up over her
head to land behind her, just inside of the wall.

Her gaze raced back to Aldrich, to his wide,
victorious eyes.

The metal behind her crunched, bending in on
itself, making a semicircular cocoon.

Kira's heart began to race. There was nowhere
she could run. She was trapped.

The scuffle of metal on concrete sent fear
into her heart—it was getting louder, closer, until a coolness
stung her arm.

She was being pushed forward. The door had
her trapped and all Kira could stare at was the almost invisible
line of the wall, the slight quiver of heat that showed where the
blast of UV ended.

The spot expanded, growing larger until it
took up her entire line of vision.

Kira tried to reach for her back pocket, for
the knife she had kept hidden, but the metal was too close, was
closing in on her, trapping her.

And then the hunger lurched in her stomach, a
craving for the conduit blood resting just a few feet away, waiting
for her.

Digging her feet in the ground, Kira tried to
resist. But she couldn’t fight it—none of it.

Luke's finger twitched. He was waking up.

Waking up just in time to feel Kira's
bite.

But then the door dropped to the ground,
clanging loudly, stopping Kira millimeters from the edge of the
wall.

"It would be so easy," Aldrich said slowly,
"but I want to see you break yourself."

Luke moaned and rolled to the side. His eyes
remained shut. His body stilled. It was almost as if he was
reminding Kira that he was still there, still alive, still worth
fighting for.

She stepped back into the fire, her mind
running on overdrive.

It was time.

She whimpered.

Kira wasn't ready to say goodbye.

Not to life and not to Luke.

But Aldrich was right. She was a realist. She
would fall. She couldn’t make that leap. She had tried giving up
her Punisher powers and it had failed, because some part of her
really didn’t believe that happiness was in her future, really
didn't believe that love would cure everything, really didn’t
believe that her life could be one dream come true.

The moment she was born, she had been doomed.
Her life wasn't a fairytale, it was nightmare. She was a force of
destruction, a killing machine, death to any vampire who dared
cross her path.

And the last thing she would do on this earth
was destroy this man who had taken so much away from her.

Aldrich stepped back, kneeling over Luke's
body, keeping eye contact with Kira the entire time. He lifted
Luke, holding his slackened body upright. Luke groaned in protest.
His eyes started to flutter.

Aldrich tilted Luke's head to the side,
exposing his neck. Fangs extended, pushing through his closed lips
and a sinister grin widened his mouth.

He was goading her, urging Kira to make her
move, to fall.

Kira brought her hands behind her back and
reached into her pocket, flicking the knife open and letting the
cool metal touch the fragile skin at her wrist.

She was going to die.

But she was taking Aldrich with her.

Breathing deeply, Kira bit her lip, trying to
keep the pain from her face as the razor blade cut deep into her
skin, searing flesh and veins. Blood dripped down her fingers,
slipping to the ground below, and the shadows followed it. The
moment she chose death, made the ultimate sacrifice, the vampire
inside of her vanished, leaving only fire in its place.

Aldrich raised his brows, confused, pausing
for a moment as the smell of her untainted blood drifted into his
senses. He hesitated, dropping Luke an inch.

And Kira attacked.

Flames soared from her palms, blasting into
Aldrich so hard that his feet lifted and he flew backwards,
smacking the ground with his burnt and bald skull. Surprise was
etched into his features.

But Kira couldn't stop. Already she felt the
life fading, felt her fire flicker. Her body was running on
adrenaline, so she pounced, jumping free of the wall to land on
Aldrich's chest.

Her fire sunk into his skin, burning already
charred flesh. And he was weak. Her powers had sapped his strength.
His eyes were glazed over, unfocused from the heavy fall he had
just taken.

Kira pressed on, wrapping her hands around
his neck, focusing all of her strength on that single spot. Her
fingers burned, the lava pouring through her veins was starting to
hurt, but she didn’t pay attention to that. Her eyes scanned
Aldrich's face, at the cracks spreading along his features, at the
life leaving his black eyes.

It was almost over.

A branch flew from the trees, bumping into
her arm, but it was barely a nudge, barely strong enough for Kira
to feel let alone be hurt by.

Another hit her back.

Kira remained where she was.

The blood from her wrist poured over
Aldrich's melting skin, dying it red, mixing with the charcoal
flaking off of his neck.

Her fire was starting to slow. But not from
the shadows—not from the darkness, which had disappeared. Her life
was leaking away and her power was going with it.

Kira's vision started to spot.

She blinked. Not yet, she urged, hold on just
a little longer.

Pushing one last time, Kira felt her power
surge. The unstoppable mix of Punisher and Protector sunk into
Aldrich.

And it worked.

Her fire severed his neck, melting his flesh
away, burning bone so severely that it cracked in half. His eyes
widened, realizing his death was inevitable. He was frozen in place
as the shadow crept up his neck, a wave of darkness that wasn't
vampirism, but was ash—the smoke of his skin flaking away into
nothing.

Kira dropped a few inches, landing on the
ground with a thud.

Aldrich was gone.

He was finally gone.

Kira had won. But at what price, she
wondered, rolling to the side. The blackness had left her body, and
for the first time in ages her fire felt pure, untainted. Her skin
felt exactly like her own.

But even that awareness was fading.

"Kira?" Luke's voice filled her ears. Her
heart lifted. She would get to say goodbye.

Shuffling feet. Clothes scraping asphalt. And
then a hand touched her cheek, a warm hand, hot against her cooling
skin.

She was lifted, moved so her head rested on
his lap. Kira looked into his fiery eyes, at the emerald green
around the edges, adoring how they glowed with love.

"You did it," he said, his voice filled with
awe, "you killed Aldrich. We won." He wiped his thumb along her
cheek, brushing away the tears. Confusion clouded over as she
remained silent. He scanned her face, looking for injuries, moving
down her body, searching for the problem, and then he froze, eyes
widening in horror.