Scorch (9 page)

For what felt like the first time she could
remember, Kira didn't understand what was going through that pretty
head of his. The wrinkles framing his frowning eyes were familiar,
the purse to his lips was something she had seen before, his
straight determined nose was nothing new—but it was like a painting
that had been replicated. Almost the same as the original but not
quite. There was nothing specific Kira could pinpoint, but
something intangible had changed.

She assumed he was thinking about his life as
a vampire, what may have happened, but she didn't know the way she
used to. Though Tristan had only been human for a few days, he had
already started drifting away from her. And Kira wasn't sure if his
memories would bring him back, if anything could bring him
back.

His eyes moved in the side mirror, looking
for hers. Kira hesitated, holding his gaze for a minute, before
looking away. A self-conscious bubble expanded in her chest,
blocking her breath.

Maybe it was selfish, but she wanted to look
into those eyes and see her Tristan again, just for a minute, to
feel connected to him again. And Kira knew exactly how to do it,
she just needed Pavia to play along once they got to
Charleston.

When they got home, it would all work itself
out.

"Only one question left!" Luke taunted,
making his words come out as a song that caught Kira's
attention.

Pavia looked annoyed and determined. She bit
her bottom lip while she thought.

"Are you thinking about Catwoman?" She asked
slowly.

"Nope! I win!" Luke started chanting from the
front seat. His joy was contagious and Kira let it bubble up in her
chest, flowing through their bond secretly. He really was like a
drug, a little happy pill she could take whenever she wanted
it.

"He's thinking of Wonder Woman," Kira told
Pavia, fighting the grin that was widening her lips.

"Bingo! And that's why we're best friends,"
Luke said, and reached back to squeeze her knee.

Best friends or something else? Kira thought
as the warmth from his hand traveled up her leg.

Charleston, Kira let the word keep her
afloat. Maybe it was a pipe dream, but she had to believe an answer
was coming soon.

Charleston.

Chapter Six

"Can you take a right up here?" Kira asked.
They had been in the car for hours, taking shifts driving through
the night, but finally they were almost home.

"Here?" Luke asked, confusion clouding his
words.

"Just trust me."

He made the turn and continued driving until
they reached the end of the road, which broke off right next to the
Ashley River, a few miles away from Charleston City. He stopped the
car and turned to her with an eyebrow raised.

"What are we doing here?"

"Tristan, Pavia—will you guys wait for me
outside?" Kira asked, unbuckling her seatbelt to shift her
attention to Luke. They were eye level, well almost, and both
sitting in the front seats.

"You're not going to like this, but I have
something to do before we go home and figure out the whole vampire
meeting thing." His expression darkened, and a knowing look glazed
over his eyes.

"You mean the whole keeping you alive and
defeating Aldrich and changing the course of conduit history in the
process thing?"

"When you put it like that, I see why this
might annoy you, but it's just something I have to do."

Luke lifted his hand, rubbing the spot
between his eyes. "Kira, I'm being patient and I'm giving you time,
but I'm not just going to sit around while you try everything you
can think of to bring your ex-boyfriend back—I'm just not."

Kira reached out, dropping her hand on his
leg, trying to make him understand. "I'm not going to lie, I'm
confused—about Tristan, about you, about myself—pretty much about
everything. But I have to see if there is a way to bring his
memories back, and it's not for me or about me. Can't you see how
confused he is?"

"I do, I mean, I had to help the guy put on a
pair of jeans," Luke laughed quietly, "the old Tristan would have
probably slugged me for that. But, I'm being selfish this time,
because I've been understanding for a long time. I thought that
kiss meant you chose me, meant you wanted to be with me—"

"It did," Kira said, and at the time, it
really did, but she had to resolve things with Tristan…a small part
of her was still holding on, still refusing to let go, especially
when he was so in need of a friend.

"Well, you have an interesting way of showing
it."

He pulled the car into reverse and reached
across the seats to open her door. But then thought better of it.
He paused, looking at her, vulnerable.

"Does he, I mean, can you…?" Luke trailed
off, but Kira knew exactly what he was asking.

"No," she said quietly, "no, I don’t feel his
thoughts. I'm not sure why, but we’re not connected that way."

The ghost of a smile crossed Luke's face, and
then faded as questions flowed back into his mind. He quelled
them.

"I'll grab some food. Let's meet back here in
an hour," Luke said, his voice heavy. Kira stole one more look,
keeping her mind locked tight so she didn’t have to feel the pain
coiling on his face, before stepping out of the car.

Without looking back, Luke made a u-turn and
drove away. Kira kept watching the car until it disappeared down
the end of the road—a big part of her heart went with it. He was
right. Why was she holding onto the past when her future was right
there, had been there all along keeping her happy and grounded and
sane? What was she waiting for?

"Kira?" Tristan asked. "What are we
doing?"

Kira spun on her heel. "Right. Sorry," she
shook her head, clearing the fog Luke had created, "I'm taking you
home, well, sort of."

"And what am I doing here?" Pavia asked. She
had stepped closer to Tristan while Kira had been watching Luke,
close enough to touch him.

"I need to borrow your expertise," Kira said,
"but for now, follow me."

Only a few months before, a few months that
seemed like a millennia, Kira had wondered the same thing—where was
Tristan taking her? What was the secret place he was trying to show
her? But now it was her turn to lead them off the road, through the
low shrubs that lined the ground until they reached a marshy
riverbank.

Kira kept walking, letting the two of them
trail behind. Her memory was pulling her forward, was urging her up
the river and against the current, until in the distance Kira
spotted it: a low hanging tree branch that extended past the
marshes, all the way until its branches licked the river.

Behind her, Tristan gasped.

Kira stopped moving.

Tristan sped past her, running toward the
first place that seemed familiar to him since his reawakening.

Kira hardly noticed, a different more
confident Tristan sprouted in her eyes—one that led her by the hand
and kept looking back to see if she was alright, one that helped
her hop on the tree branch, one that looked at her with an almost
hungry passion in his deep blue eyes.

This was their spot to Kira, the place where
he first told her all about his life as a vampire, the place where
he first opened up, the place where their relationship really
began.

But not anymore.

The new Tristan hadn't even looked back to
see if Kira was still alive. He was speeding around the opening,
running his fingers along the tree bark, marking this spot as his
alone.

"Well, he's perked up, hasn't he?"

"Yeah," Kira said sadly. She didn’t know why,
but part of her had thought that bringing Tristan back here would
make him remember. They had been here countless times together,
from lazy Saturday afternoons in the spring to the midnight picnic
he had prepared for their six-month anniversary.

Part of her had obviously been wrong.

"So what's the deal?" Pavia asked, nudging
Kira with her shoulder.

"I want you to look into his mind, to see if
there is a way you can make him remember." Kira didn’t look at
Pavia. Her eyes were still on Tristan as he climbed onto the
overhanging limb and scooted out beyond the marsh to dip his feet
in the water. He looked younger, like a little boy somehow.

Pavia eyed Kira, making a chill run down her
spine.

"Is this for him or for you?" The vampire
asked.

"I don't know," Kira said honestly, feeling
better for finally letting the truth out.

"Fair enough," Pavia shrugged, pushing her
sensitive side back undercover. "It'll be easier if I bite
him."

Kira hesitated before nodding her approval.
She would do anything for an answer.

The two of them kept walking together,
letting a silence settle over the clearing. Tristan had finally
noticed them, had finally remembered he wasn't alone.

"How did you find this place?" He asked Kira,
wonder etched into his words. "I used to play here as a boy. It was
my secret oasis."

"You brought me here," Kira said softly,
trying to hide the pain in her voice. He was gone.

"Really?" He asked, "I never even allowed my
mother to follow me here."

"I know."

He settled his gaze on her, but Kira looked
out at the river. She could feel his eyes as they traveled down and
back up her body—she was a puzzle he was trying to figure out, a
mystery he couldn't solve.

After a minute, he stood up on the branch and
walked toward the trunk, jumping back down to solid ground. He took
a step toward Kira, his eyes questioning, careful.

Pavia, who had been leaning against the bark,
looked at Kira.

Kira nodded.

Pavia stepped forward and grabbed Tristan's
hand, swinging him back toward her. In a flash, Pavia's teeth were
diving for his neck, slamming into his veins before Tristan even
had the chance to struggle. His body stopped moving when Pavia
began to drink. His eyes glazed over and a silly smile spread
across his lips.

Kira kept her eyes averted, hardly believing
she was standing there doing nothing. Her fire itched her palms,
scalding her muscles for their inactivity. A sucking, slurping
noise sounded in her ears and Kira covered them, letting her flames
seep into her skull, trying to drown out the sound with the cackle
of her fire.

Tristan was being eaten and she wasn't doing
anything.

Her knees gave out and Kira fell to the
ground, still clutching her head.

A rock hit her shoulder and Kira spun,
flinging her hands out.

Pavia jumped back with a yelp. "Watch
it!"

"Sorry," Kira said, winking out her fire.

Tristan was a ball in the dirt. His eyes were
closed as if in slumber and Kira knelt beside him, cradling his
head in her lap. She healed the two puncture wounds in his neck,
sealing them closed.

"What'd you do?" She asked, her voice sad
rather than accusatory.

"He won't remember being bitten. He'll think
he fell from the tree."

"But what did you see?" Kira asked, looking
at Pavia. Tristan stirred underneath her, shifting the head resting
on her thighs.

Kira ran a hand down his cheek while his eyes
flicked open, struggling to refocus.

"Are you okay?" Kira asked.

He nodded and sat up, clutching his head.

"Did I fall?"

"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone," Pavia
said with a grin. He looked to Kira to confirm.

"Yeah, but don't worry about it," Kira said
and stood up, brushing the dirt off of her legs, "happens to the
best of us." She offered her hand, yanking him to his feet.

He rose, his body a few inches from her own.
Kira looked up, holding her breath at his proximity. Tristan lifted
his hand, reaching in her hair. He shifted, running his fingers
through her curls. Kira held back a sigh, but couldn’t step
away.

He pulled a leaf out of her hair and let it
fall to the ground.

"Whoops," Kira said, finally moving away from
the warmth of his body to feel for more leaves, but Tristan had
found the only one.

He grabbed her hand to keep her from moving
any farther away.

"I feel as though I know you, as though this
has happened before," he whispered, "like maybe I have lived it
once before in a dream."

Or a nightmare, Kira thought and snapped her
hand out of his, moving a few feet away. He was haunting her, like
a phantom of what had been. But Kira needed to wake up. This wasn't
Tristan, not yet, and she needed to keep her distance. "What else
do you want to see before we head back?"

"Is my house…?" He trailed off when Kira
shook her head. No, his house was long gone. Tristan nodded. "Then
I will just check one more spot, alone if you do not mind." Kira
nodded and he walked away from them, vanishing around the curves of
a few large oaks.

"What'd you see?" Kira asked without turning
around.

"His memories are all there," Pavia said
slowly, walking into Kira's line of vision.

"So why doesn’t he remember?"

"His humanity is like a wall, blocking them,"
Pavia said, stepping forward until she was close enough that Kira
couldn't ignore her, "Do you remember what I said? Those other
vampires are after you because this is exactly what they're afraid
of. The human Tristan can't bear to remember what the vampire
Tristan did, it would break him."

"So you can't bring them back? Not even
one?"

"Not even one little memory of you?" Pavia
asked, looking down at Kira with a knowing smile. "I could show him
one of your memories, but his are an all or nothing deal right now.
Bring one back and all of the others will follow. And I don't know
what he told you, but there are some pretty dark things hidden in
that very cute head of his."

"Don’t," Kira said, fighting the urge to
smack Pavia across the cheek. The vampire was here to help, she
tried to remind herself, here because they had a friendship of
sorts.