Simmer (17 page)

But Kira understood. As much as she wanted to
deny it, his words rang true. A sense of peace and pride leaked
into her mind, bubbling over from Luke's head into her own. For the
first time in a long time, Kira knew he was speaking from the
heart. Part of her wished she could turn her ears off, but the
strength of Luke's conviction kept her from blocking him out.

"She doesn't have to worry about being in
control around me," he kept going, impassioned by Tristan's lack of
retort, "because I'll always be there to ground her. You might be
Kira's boyfriend, but I'm her other half. I'm her rock. When she
goes into that dark place inside herself, you need to run into the
other direction to save your own life, but I can run towards her to
bring her back home. And that's what I meant by keeping her safe.
Not from vampires and not from you, but from herself. Now you admit
it, Tristan. Admit that I'm the only person who can do that."

The silence in the car was deafening and it
cut like a knife piercing Kira's heart. Tristan would never admit
that he agreed with Luke, but his lack of response was all anyone
needed to hear. She loved him, really loved him, but Luke's words
were undeniable.

She wanted to reach out for his hand and tell
him she didn't care, that she didn't need Tristan to save her. All
she needed was more control and she would get that and they could
be together. It would all work out, Kira had to believe it. Tristan
was too important to her and their future together was too
important to just drop without a fight.

She wanted to say all of those things, but
instead Kira let her pulse race and turned over with a sleepy
groan.

"She's waking up," Tristan said just to say
something — just to keep Luke from having the last word.

Kira let her eyes open and played dumb.
"Talking about anything interesting?" She asked, fooling herself
with the scratchy, sleepy pitch.

"Just your obnoxiously loud snoring," Luke
said, instantly carefree again. Kira could feel the change in her
mind, the thoughts of his she had been trying to ignore just
disappeared entirely. Sometimes, she wished she could flip the
switch like that. Even now, her mind was running at a mile a minute
because of what she had overheard.

"I do not snore," she said indignantly,
playing the part as best she could.

"My bloodshot, sleep deprived eyes totally
disagree with you. Look at them. I look like a creepy zombie or
something." Kira looked back and choked on her own breath when she
met his eyes. She did not snore, but something must have kept him
up all night because he looked like crap.

Her eyes wandered to Tristan, who, she was
happy to see, was still wearing the puppy shirt. He looked slightly
defeated with hunched shoulders and a hollow straight-ahead stare.
She reached over and entwined their fingers together, comforting
him as best she could without giving anything away.

"So, what's the plan?" Kira asked as a sign
that read 'Baltimore — 30 miles' flashed by the window.

"Unfortunately," Tristan started, "I need to
leave early to meet with the head vampire in this region. I need
permission for a prolonged stay and I want to question him. It's
possible he may have seen Diana recently and could tell us where
she is."

"And where is this guy?" Kira asked.

"An old plantation, of course. Vampires are
nothing if not slightly old fashioned, but it's only five or ten
miles outside of the city."

"Okay," Kira said reluctantly. "And Luke,
what's our plan?"

"Well," he said and Kira knew instantly that
he was about to say something she didn't want to hear. His voice
always sounded slightly sweeter as if needing to sell her on an
idea.

"Spit it out," Kira said with a sigh.

"I'm going to reach out to the local branch
of Protectors to see if they've heard anything."

"Sounds fun!"

"Yes, but you can't come."

"What!" Kira turned around in her seat to
stare at him with an open mouthed expression. "You can't be
serious. Why can't I come?"

"It's full-blood Protectors only. That's just
the way it is, I'm sorry."

"So what am I supposed to do then? Sit in the
car and twiddle my thumbs?" Kira glanced from boy to boy, and she
had the sneaking suspicion that Tristan was silently communicating
with Luke through the rearview mirror.

"We were hoping you could figure out the
hotel situation..." Luke said slowly, trying to gauge her anger as
the words came out.

"Need me to iron your clothes and cook some
dinner too?" Kira snapped.

"That would be awesome," Luke said, jumping
out of the way of the punch he had anticipated.

"Seriously, I feel like I've been transported
back to forties. The boys go fighting while the girl stays at
home." She sat back and crossed her arms. "This sucks."

"But, we'll both be back later tonight and
hopefully we'll have enough information to start working on a
plan," Tristan told her.

"A plan that I'm part of." It wasn't a
question.

Both boys nodded.

She placed her feet on the dashboard and
settled in for the rest of the car ride. Tristan pulled off of the
highway about seven miles outside of the city and swerved through
country roads before pulling to a halt outside of a gated estate.
He promised to call Kira with updates and forced them to leave
before he notified the vampires of his presence outside.

Twenty minutes later, Luke directed Kira
towards a row house closer to the inner city. To her, it looked
more like a movie-style frat house than a secret hideaway for
conduits, but she trusted Luke and sent him on his way, only eighty
percent jealous that she couldn't go.

Okay, completely and totally jealous that she
couldn't go. But, he had given her his credit card for the hotel
room. And, all that came to Kira's mind was the saying, 'while the
cat's away, the mice will play.' Well, while her cats were off
doing manly things, Kira would have a little fun, female-style.

She followed the signs towards the inner
harbor and drove around trying to find the glitziest hotel in the
city.

Brick after brick building greeted her, until
she finally broke through to the harbor, which was lively and
bright compared to the rest of the city. There were sculptures, a
fountain and crowds of people wandering around an outdoor shopping
area directly next to the harbor's edge. The water glistened in the
sun and made Kira feel like she wasn't in a city at all.

And, right along the road was a humongous,
glass-enclosed building that looked like the perfect hotel for her.
She pulled in and let the valet take the car to the hotel parking
lot.

"Welcome to the Hyatt Regency, may I take
your bags for you?" A bellhop said when she walked in and
approached the concierge. Very classy, Kira thought and started to
hand over her luggage.

She looked down at her and Luke's
dirt-encrusted duffels, wondering what she herself must look like,
and declined the bellhop's offer.

Kira walked past him towards the front desk.
A hot shower was suddenly all she could think about.

"Hello, how may I—" a woman started cheerily,
but stopped when she looked up from the desk and actually saw Kira.
With a small cough, she continued. "Eh, how can I help you?"

"I'd like a room," Kira said and reached her
hand up to her hair self-consciously. Was that mud hardened against
her curls?

Another small cough. "Of course, of course.
How many beds?"

"Two please. Doubles."

"Harbor view?" The girl asked dubiously.

"Yes," Kira responded. She wanted to splurge.
And, this woman was so prissy that Kira just wanted to slap her
nose down to a normal angle.

"We do have one room available, but it will
be four-hundred dollars a night." She looked at Kira with a tilted
head and placed her hand under chin, staring Kira down.

"I've got it, thanks," Kira said and slipped
the credit card across the counter top. She tried to cover her gulp
and silently hoped Luke would be okay with this. They had a private
jet for Pete's sake; a little hotel cost was probably nothing.

"Yes, well, I just need to check this card
quickly—"

"Look," Kira paused, searching for a nametag,
but she couldn't find one. "Look, lady, I've had a very long day
and I just want to take a shower and a nap and I don't need any
attitude from you. If you have a room, great. If not, I'll take my
loaded credit card somewhere else."

"Just following protocol, miss," she said and
continued checking the card. Kira sighed and rolled her eyes, so
much for a stab at bravado.

"And will there be anyone else staying with
you?"

Ah, crap, Kira thought, there goes my last
hope of maintaining any shred of dignity against this woman.

"Um, yes. Two other people."

"Names please, just so we know when they
arrive."

"Tristan Kent and Luke Bowrey," Kira mumbled.
The woman's eyebrows shot up to the sky.

"Two men?" She said with a smirk. "I just
need to confirm their gender for when they come in."

"Yes, that's right. Two boys, each about
twenty years old." Kira said with a dismissive wave. Think what you
want, she hoped the gesture said, I don't care.

"Room 12B." She slid a room key across the
desk. "Have a nice stay."

Kira took it with an overly sweet smile and
caught the glass elevator up.

As soon as she opened the door to her room,
the view took her breath away. She could see the entire harbor, out
past the city even, to where the horizon faded and it was too hard
to tell what was ground and what was cloud. When she looked down at
the harbor below, Kira noticed a giant wooden ship floating in the
water, like something out of a pirate movie, and an awesome
triangular shaped building, the famous aquarium from a brochure
downstairs. Her gaze followed the water to a raised hillside park
and she itched to look at that view too. Being so close to the
water reminded her of Charleston. It almost felt like she was
home.

While the view was mesmerizing, Kira dropped
her bags and retreated to the bathroom. In the fluorescent mirror,
she looked even more terrible that she hoped she had looked
downstairs. But, hey, what could she expect when she had fought a
deranged vampire, got in a car crash and went on a slightly insane
killing spree? Kira was amazed that all she had was a little dirt
in her hair. Okay, clumps of mud in her hair and swipes of it
across her face. All right, she would admit it, it was downright
nasty. She bolted to the shower to wash off before taking a long,
steaming bath.

Maybe staying behind wasn't the worst thing
ever.

It was only a few hours later, after she had
cleanup up, gazed at the sunset, watched oodles of television and
ordered room service that she realized waiting sort of stunk. She
wasn't worried per se, mostly just impatient, but it was a relief
when the knob turned fifteen minutes before midnight and Tristan
walked through the door.

"Hey!" She sat up from her spot on one of the
beds to give him a hug.

"You look comfy," he said with a laugh. Kira
looked at her outfit — plush robe, hotels slippers and her favorite
pair of fuzzy socks. Sexy lingerie, Kira thought wistfully, why
don't I own any sexy lingerie?

"Oh, yeah. Well, you know," she said with a
shrug. "Anyway, how was your day?"

He ran a hand through his silky black hair.
"You know what?" He said, meeting her eyes quickly. "Let's get out
of here. Let's do something fun and let all of this go for a night.
Luke will want to hear about everything I learned anyway. Let's
just leave that for tomorrow."

He grabbed Kira's hands and she felt giddy
from his energy. His blue eyes flashed with excitement.

"Let's do it!" She said and retreated back
into the room to quickly change into jeans and a blouse. Tristan,
she had noticed when he walked in, wore a crisp white button down,
something she was sure he had borrowed from the head vampire.

When they walked out of the hotel, Kira
secretly wished the annoying concierge woman was there to drool
over Tristan and feel immensely jealous of Kira. But, she
unfortunately wasn't.

Instead, Kira walked hand in hand with
Tristan towards the harbor, which was still perfectly amazing to
her.

The night sky was full of stars that twinkled
in the soft waves lapping up against the harbor walls. The sound
lulled Kira to a peaceful place and she felt her heart beat slow to
the soothing pace.

Tristan watched her as she stared out at the
water, as far down the harbor as she could.

"Come on," he said, pulling her hand, "follow
me."

Kira walked with him around the bend,
ignoring a sleeping homeless man who was sort of ruining the mood.
Instead, she looked at the moonlight on Tristan's face, how it
glistened in the dark circles of his pupils, all the while casting
an incandescent glow on his pearly skin.

They stopped outside of a latched gate that
led down a short dock towards bicycle boats. Tristan dropped Kira's
hand to grasp the lock.

"Tristan!" She whispered harshly, looking
around for anyone who might see them. "What are you doing?"

"We're just going to borrow a boat. No one
will even notice," he said sneakily while crushing the lock
open.

She followed him down the pontoon dock, her
adrenaline pumping with a mix of nerves and excitement.

"Your chariot, my lady," he said while
arching his arm over to one of the paddleboats. Kira laughed at the
grand gesture but took the hand he offered to help her into the
boat. She sat down, placing her feet on the two pedals and waited
while he untied it.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"We'll be fine. Have I ever been caught?" He
didn't wait for her answer, "Nope. Not when I snuck you into the
church or to the Angel Oak that one night this past spring. Or what
about when I took you to the aquarium after hours — how much
creepier was the shark tank at night when no one else was
around?"