Simmer (11 page)

As she followed Luke, his sister and his ex
to the car, all Kira could think was this was probably going to be
a pretty unforgettable car ride. Unfortunately, Kira feared, it
would be burned in her mind for all the wrong reasons. But, she
wanted to start the drive in a positive mood. Especially since she
had the feeling it would not stay that way for long.

"What, no car and driver this time? You guys
are slacking," Kira joked when Luke walked to the driver's seat of
the speedy sports car they would be using. Apparently conduits
really liked traveling in style, because Kira knew this car was
nice; black leather seats and a shiny black paint job. At least it
had four doors, so they wouldn't be ridiculously squished
inside.

"No. This car I like to drive," Luke said,
with eyes wide and mesmerized, like a little boy with a new toy. He
ducked his head under the doorframe and slid behind the wheel. Kira
started to walk to the passenger seat, but the back door flew open,
stopping her.

"Come sit next to me," Vanessa chirped. Kira
instantly knew the glee-filled voice was a complete sham, but the
other blonde girl slipped by her and took the seat next to
Luke.

"Sure," Kira sat down, ignoring the
victorious smirk on Vanessa's face.

Luke revved the engine, letting it growl into
the silent morning air. Everyone else in town was already preparing
for their return and thinking up plans for every possible
worst-case scenario. But the four of them, for a short while, could
try to have a little fun. At least, Kira knew Luke would definitely
try to lighten the mood — something that was confirmed when he
backed up and went from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye,
shooting down the empty streets.

"Luke!" Kira said, grabbing onto the
handhold. He just laughed and slowed down, but only a smidge. Last
time they were in a car alone, Kira was tethered to the bed of a
pickup fighting a hoard of angry vampires. Somehow she felt less
safe right now, especially with Vanessa's stare boring a hole into
the side of her skull.

"So, Kira. Have you met Casey yet?" Kira
shook her head.

"Hi," the girl said shyly from the front seat
before turning around to wave. She had a sweet look. Her face was
round and open and her hair was cut pixie short. She had on baby
pink shorts that no evil immortal would find intimidating in the
least. In fact, Kira felt almost like a biker chick compared to
her, with her black leggings and cobalt blue blouse.

"Nice to meet you," Kira said. Quickly she
checked her phone. No response from Tristan yet. She had texted him
on the way to the car.

"You know," Vanessa said quietly, leaning in
towards Kira as if to make small talk. "Luke and Casey were sort of
a thing back in high school—"

"Vanessa, now is not really the time for
that," Luke said shortly from the front seat.

"What?" She replied, wide-eyed and
innocent.

"Actually," Kira interjected before Vanessa
could open her mouth again, "I did know."

"What?" Luke and Casey both said from the
front seat.

"Uh, yeah," Kira said, sinking into her seat
and wishing for once that her somewhat big mouth would stay closed.
"I wasn't snooping, exactly. But, I saw a photo of the two of you
on Luke's desk."

"You still have that photo...there?" Casey
asked in a meek voice. Kira almost felt sorry for the girl. She
knew Luke and the two of them never would have lasted. Luke's
personality was too strong for her. He needed someone to keep him
humble, not someone who would hang on his every word. At least,
that was how Kira's mind was rationalizing the entire thing.

"Yeah, Luke. You still have that photo up?"
Vanessa chimed in. Kira wanted to kick her.

"Actually," Luke said in strained voice as he
gave his sister the evil eye through the rearview mirror, "I
thought I put that away."

"Apparently not," she smirked back. Kira
realized what was going on. It was a show, probably for her
benefit. Luke's sister must have put that photo back up in his
room, anticipating that the four of them would be together at some
point in Kira's few weeks with the conduits. She's good, Kira
thought. It was a very well laid-out plan. Except that Kira could
see Casey's reflection in the side mirror as they sped down the
road and she looked about to cry. She must have seen through
Vanessa's idea too.

"What's your high school like?" Kira asked,
hoping to change the subject.

"Same basic format," Luke answered for the
group. "Hormonal teenagers, boring classes and a mix of good and
bad teachers. The only major difference is the classes we take.
Instead of gym, we have training sessions. Instead of advanced
math, we have conduit history lessons. In English, we study
mythology rather than Shakespeare. We take religion classes, sort
of like at a Catholic school. But, conduits have their own
interpretation of the bible, and it varies from Protectors to
Punishers. We study a lot of science, biology and chemistry, to
figure out how we operate and to try to understand how the vampiric
virus works. You know, nothing crazy."

"Yeah," Kira said. Nothing crazy? That
sounded like the strangest environment ever.

"You grow up a lot faster," Vanessa said,
"knowing that you have a higher purpose and all. I mean, by the
time I graduated, I knew how to, I don't know, treat my best friend
with respect for example." She stared pointedly at Kira.

"No," Kira said under her breath, "I think
you learned how to be a total bit—"

"Okay!" Luke interjected from the front seat.
"Let's make peace, not war people."

Kira crossed her arms and looked out the
window, letting an uncomfortable silence form in the car. The only
sounds were the purring engine and the wind in the trees outside.
There weren't even people or other cars to distract anyone.

"Where are we going?" Casey said. Her face
was bright red from blushing.

At that exact moment, Kira's phone buzzed.
She flipped it open and quickly read the text.

"It's Tristan. He said he would meet us on
the road?" Kira said aloud, finally breaking her silence.

Luke just nodded.

"Who's Tristan?" Casey asked.

Kira and Luke answered at the exact same
time.

"Our informant."

"My boyfriend."

Their eyes met in the rearview mirror, but
Kira pulled hers away quickly.

"Wait, your boyfriend is involved in all of
this? How? He's not a conduit, is he?" Vanessa questioned, sitting
tall now that her curiosity was piqued.

"No," Kira laughed. As far from it as you can
possibly get, she thought, but instead replied, "he just knows a
lot about this stuff."

"How?" Vanessa pressed the issue.

"Oh, you'll see," Luke said.

Kira couldn't tell if he was disgusted or
laughing at the thought. But, she didn't mind. She did wonder why
he wasn't telling the girls what Tristan was — why he wasn't
preparing them. But, that was his call.

Kira looked out the window and tried to keep
her legs from bouncing too much. She was excited, so much that she
couldn't contain it. The best she could do was look the other way
at the trees flying by and hope she was covering her glee with an
appearance of boredom.

Was it completely crazy to be so excited to
see your boyfriend when it really had only been two and a half
days? No, she decided. Not when the last time you had seen him, you
had both been running for your lives.

"Hey Kira?" She turned at Luke's voice. "When
Tristan said he would meet us on the road, did he mean literally on
the road?"

"I don't know..." Kira said and followed
Luke's pointing finger to a black blob in the distance. It
definitely looked like someone standing on the side of the road.
Kira dug her hands into the chair, hoping it was him.

Luke started to slow down and as they
approached, Kira could clearly make out the swoopy black hair and
pale skin she knew belonged to Tristan. His tall, muscular frame
was hidden behind dark-washed jeans and a black t-shirt, but his
eyes were on the car.

"Luke! Don't stop!" Vanessa jerked her
brother's shoulder. "Do you know what that is?"

"Luke!" Casey yelled at the same time. She
started rolling down her window, preparing to fire a shot. Luke
stopped her when Kira didn't bother to interject. She was already
unbuckling her seatbelt and grasping the handle. Pushing the door
open, she ignored the shocked cries of the girls in the car and the
darkening look on Luke's face.

Before Kira had time to fully stand up,
Tristan's arms were around her. His hands pulled her firmly against
his hard chest, and all she wanted to do was hold on tight and
never let go.

Chapter
Seven

Kira completely forgot about the three
conduits in the car when Tristan cupped her face with his palms and
kissed her. It was short, too short, but strong and full of
passion, sending a lively bunch of butterflies right into the pit
of her stomach and an electric jolt down her spine.

She wished she could say she had been the one
to end it, for Luke's benefit or the sake of the two jaw-dropped
conduit girls, but it was Tristan who cut the kiss short as per
usual. He pulled off modern teenager very well, but he was still in
a lot of ways a product of the 19th Century. At school or at
parties, all Kira got was a quick peck or maybe a kiss on the cheek
paired with mild handholding. But, the advantage of having a
supernaturally speedy boyfriend was that he could sneak into her
bedroom very, very quietly and very, very often.

"Hi," he said with a lop-sided grin. Kira
smiled back.

"Kira, what are you doing? Get away from
him!" Vanessa's angry and fear-filled voice shouted from inside the
car.

Tristan's face fell slightly. The movement
was almost too subtle for Kira to notice, but she had expected it
to happen. Who wouldn't be saddened by the fact that his girlfriend
had not told anyone about them, or more specifically about him? He
probably thinks I'm ashamed, Kira thought sadly. But it wasn't
about what he was, it was just that no conduits would understand.
She didn't want to go through everything all over again. It would
be like reliving her first conversation about it with Luke, but
tenfold with an entire community.

Before she could say anything, Tristan put
his game face back on and adjusted Kira to the side so he could
peer into the car.

"Judging by their utterly shocked faces, I'm
guessing you failed to mention what I am?" He said quietly to Kira,
letting sarcasm soak into the words.

"I told them we were meeting up with my
boyfriend..." Kira smiled apologetically. "C'mon, I'll introduce
you."

Grasping his hand, she turned around to face
the car. Luke lazily relaxed in the front seat, Casey leaned as far
away from the window as possible and Vanessa stared at Kira in a
deep rage.

"I know this is probably a bit of a shock,
but Casey and Vanessa, I would like you to meet my boyfriend
Tristan. I swear he would never ever hurt either of you. You have
absolutely no reason to be afraid."

"Hello," Tristan said and reached forward for
a formal handshake, but both girls shirked away from his touch.
Kira glared at Luke until he finally moved to speak.

"Kira's telling the truth," he said and got
out of the car. He walked around to Tristan and shook his hand.
"Hey, man. How've you been?"

"Good," Tristan responded a little stiffly.
Nicety was not something Luke usually threw his way.

"Okay, now you Vanessa," Luke said and
reached into the car to pull on his sister's hand. She slid over to
the window seat and slowly reached her hand out.

"Hello," she said. The words were so tense it
sounded as though they had been forcibly pulled out of her body
with a pair of pliers. Tristan quickly shook her hand up and down
once before she jerked it out of his grasp and back into the
car.

"And now Casey," Luke turned towards her with
an easy smile on his face. Kira wondered how hard it was for him to
look so calm when he probably hated having Tristan there as much as
those girls did, just maybe not for the same reasons.

"Hi," she said almost too quietly to hear.
Tristan greeted her in return and motioned to shake her hand, but
as soon as his fingertips touched hers she pulled away.

"Well, now that we've dealt with this vampire
problem, let's go deal with the second one," Luke said while
hopping back in his car. Kira rolled her eyes and tugged Tristan
into the car behind her with a sigh. She took the middle seat,
loving that her right thigh was pressed up against Tristan, but not
so much loving that her left one was smashed against Vanessa.

As Luke pulled away from the curb, a
monotonous silence filled the car: no music, no other cars and no
trees rustling in the wind. All they heard were tires on asphalt
and the rumbling engine.

But, Kira didn't mind. Tristan's thumb gently
rubbing the side of her hand provided more than enough distraction.
With her head resting on his shoulder, Kira was completely at
peace. At least she was until Vanessa spoke.

"Okay, sorry to disturb whatever weird pact
the three of you have, but I just can't ignore it. He's a vampire.
I'm sitting in the car watching a conduit cozy up to a vampire.
It's unnatural. It's...it's...just gross, alright?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you feel left out? I can
hold your hand too," Tristan said, acting completely innocent with
wide blue eyes. Kira elbowed him in the ribs, not like it did
anything. Sweet Tristan was being replaced with defensive and
slightly edgy Tristan.

But Vanessa was fully prepared for a verbal
battle. "If you so much as try to hold my hand, prepare to fry...
Or is that how you like it? Kinky."