Simmer (2 page)

"Well," Emma began and Kira knew there was a
saga of a story about to begin. "I wanted to go out to a fancy
dinner and the boys wanted to play video games. So we decided that
we needed to meet in the middle. You know, not go too fancy but
still have fun. So, we thought about it and thought about it—"

"We're going to my place," Miles voiced up,
knowing Emma could have easily talked for another ten minutes
without reaching the point. She shot daggers at him through the
rearview mirror.

"So, yes, we're going to Miles' house. His
parents had to leave right after graduation, so we'll have the
place to ourselves. And, not that we really need to, but we thought
about it and—"

"Now we can throw that rager we've always
wanted to!" Luke cheered. Kira rolled her eyes when she heard the
slap of a high-five. Dave and Luke were clearly excited by the
idea. Kira, not so much.

"Wait, you threw a party?" She turned to look
at the three boys in the back seat, each with a goofy smile
plastered on his face. She had been hoping they would have some
time just the five of them, not a crazy high school party.

"Not my idea," Emma threw an apologetic look
in Kira's direction.

"C'mon. It'll be awesome. We'll be leaving
with a bang," Luke said. His hand landed on Kira's shoulder and he
shook her a little, trying, she assumed, to shake her into the
idea.

"So, where's Tristan?" Emma asked, clearly
trying to change the topic. Kira knew Emma was on her side. She
could already envision the two of them chatting by the punch bowl,
watching Luke and Dave try to convince Miles to talk to some girl,
knowing that it would fail miserably. Kira hoped he would have
better luck at Harvard; a fellow nerd would really love him, much
more than the cheerleaders or Goths that Luke and Dave antagonized
him into asking out.

"I didn't realize we were having a party, so
I told him to go home for a while. He has some packing to do. You
know he leaves for his backpacking trip around Europe tomorrow..."
Kira said, ending with the cover story she, Luke, and Tristan had
all decided on — Tristan was spending the summer in Europe, while,
totally randomly, Kira got a job at a restaurant in Orlando and
Luke was working at Disney World.

"Don't worry, I told him before we left. He's
going to stop by, I think," Luke said quietly from the back
seat.

Kira turned around, shocked, and heard Dave
mutter "dude" under his breath.

"What, what? I'm a nice guy," Luke said and
shrugged. Kira turned back around in her seat, stunned. It was no
secret that Luke hated Tristan; it meant a lot to her that he made
the gesture. Maybe, she thought ruefully, he was only being nice
because he knew she would be with him and not Tristan for the next
two months.

By the time Emma pulled over outside of
Miles' house, the party was already in full swing. His house had
been closed off, but his family owned an old plantation, so their
backyard was gigantic. With one look at the parked cars on his yard
and ring of headlights, all Kira could think was that his parents
would freak out when they got home. She couldn't imagine those tire
tracks would go away very fast. And, it looked as though their
entire class was there, dancing on the grass to music blaring from
a ton of cars set to the same radio station. Plastic cups already
spotted the ground and Kira saw that the football team had set up
multiple kegs in the beds of their pick-up trucks. She almost felt
strange as they approached the house she had visited so many times
before.

"We barely know these people," she whispered
to Emma. The two of them were arm in arm, a few feet behind the
boys who were rushing to join the fun.

"I know, but it'll be fun! And now, we'll be
the people who everyone remembers for throwing an awesome party
after graduation." Emma grinned at the thought. Kira started to
smile too; she could get on board with this. It would be far better
to be known as a member of the party-throwing brigade than the
weird coma girl.

Yeah, the last few weeks of school had been
fantastic with her friends and Tristan, but everyone gave her
strange looks. No one in the school really knew what happened on
the night of the eclipse except for Kira, Luke and Tristan. When
Tristan had rushed her to the hospital, Luke stayed behind to clean
up as much of the blood on her yard as possible. The cops still
came to her house and they had found traces of human blood despite
Luke's attempts, so they started investigating. There were rumors
that Tristan had beaten her up and Luke had to stop him, or that
Tristan and Luke tried to kill each other. The three of them had
tried to play it off as an animal attack, but it was still the town
gossip for weeks. After a while it became old news, but, in high
school, old news almost never disappeared completely. Going out
with a bang suddenly didn't seem half bad, and Kira let Emma lead
her forward to party.

They both grabbed diet sodas and walked over
to the boys who were stationed on Miles' porch, looking out over
the party surveying who they could get him to dance with.

"I say Susie Harp," Luke pointed at the
small, pixie-like girl with brown hair. Kira slapped his hand down
when she and Emma got closer.

"Stop pointing," she chastised and rolled her
eyes. Maybe Miles wasn't the problem; Dave and Luke could easily be
holding him back.

Luke ignored her and pointed at Susie again.
"Come on, she's cute and this is the last night I get to watch you
in action."

"No way man," Dave put his arm around Miles'
shoulder, steering him in the opposite direction. "Amy MacDougall,
she's the girl you should go for."

All five of them looked over at Amy, who was
dancing on the hood of a car while one of the basketball players
stood at the ready in case she fell over. Her dress had wet spots
from where she spilled her own drink all over herself, as Kira had
witnessed five minutes before. They all looked back at Dave — he
was clearly going for the 'she's drunk so she'll definitely dance
with you' approach.

"David," Emma started, pulling him away to
reprimand him for basically telling the group that Miles' only hope
was someone who had no control over her senses.

"So, I win. Susie it is," Luke said, pushing
Miles forward. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say okay, shook
his head to get in the zone, and then straightened his glasses
before walking over.

"This is going to be good," Luke put his arm
around Kira so they could watch together.

"Why? What do you know?" Kira asked, not
liking the mischievous glint in Luke's eye.

"Nothing, nothing," Luke shushed her.

"Luke," Kira said harshly. He looked over at
her, slightly deflated, as though Kira were totally ruining his
fun.

"Okay, so I might have already told Susie
that Miles had a crush on her, and she might have already told me
she would love to get to know him better, if you know what I mean."
He wiggled his eyebrows and they watched as Miles led Susie to the
pseudo dance floor that the circle of cars created. He shot both of
them a not-so-discrete thumbs up and Kira silently prayed he didn't
screw it up.

"You're quite the matchmaker," she
laughed.

"I do what I can," Luke said and looked over
at her. Their faces were close together, and Kira could almost feel
his pulse quicken. Not for the first time, she thought maybe she
was reading his mind, because Kira knew, before Luke even made a
move, where his thoughts were going. She broke his gaze, pulling
away, and Luke released his hold on her arm to step a few feet
backwards. When she heard his shuffling feet pause, Kira turned her
eyes around to face him, and eased her body back to rest against
the railing. The small space between them might as well have been
miles.

"So, what about you?" She asked, trying to
break the tension. "Amy's up for grabs, you can always try for one
last high school hurrah before we leave tomorrow."

Luke grinned at the joke, trying to ignore
the fact that Kira had very clearly just blown him off. She
wondered what would happen when they went to Sonnyville. He had not
been overtly obvious about his feelings for her, and sometimes Kira
thought she was making it up in her head, but at moments like this,
when she caught a glimpse of his small tendrils of longing, Kira
wondered what really went on behind his goofy exterior.

"So, are you excited for tomorrow?" He asked,
crossing his arms and leaning against the wall opposite her. Under
the porch lights, Kira thought his bleach blond hair seemed to
glow, and she realized she would be the only person for the next
few weeks who didn't have almost white locks.

"It's strange, to think about being
surrounded by conduits. I'm excited, but it's a little
nerve-wracking too," she said honestly.

"Everyone will love you, don't worry. My
little brother can't wait. I think he thinks you're a shiny new toy
for him to play with."

Kira smiled, already picturing a miniature
version of Luke running around with a wide smile on his face,
fascinated by everything around him. Luke's family would be
interesting to finally meet. Kira wondered what his sister and
parent's would think. Had he told them about Tristan?

"And," Luke continued talking, recognizing
that Kira still needed reassurance, "the Council really isn't that
bad. Everything is going to be great, you'll see."

"I hope so," she said and glanced back out at
the party. Miles and Susie were still dancing, getting friendlier
and friendlier Kira thought, and Dave and Emma had disappeared. So
much for the five of them hanging out. Everywhere she looked, she
saw her classmates, but they seemed more like strangers to her now
than ever before. She wasn't sad to be leaving this town, just the
few amazing friends she had made there.

Kira looked back at Luke, ready to ask more
questions about their travel arrangements for tomorrow, when she
saw him focus on something beyond her shoulder. The muscles in his
face tensed, his usual laugh lines disappeared, and Kira saw his
whole body stiffen. It could only mean one thing.

"Lover boy is here," he said and Kira turned
to see Tristan weaving his way through the crowd. Like a shadow
sneaking between the rays of the headlights, he molded into the
dark. Every part of him was hidden except for his pearly skin. Kira
tried to smother the smile threatening to spread across her face,
and turned back to Luke to silently let him know she wouldn't
abandon him to spend time with her boyfriend.

"I'll leave you two alone," Luke said,
pushing against the wall to straighten his body and prepare to walk
away.

"Luke, stay. I want to hang out with both of
you."

He shrugged, as if to say that's not
possible, and started to leave. Kira heard the porch steps creak
behind her, knowing it was Tristan, and spun around.

"We need to talk," Tristan said, his voice
full of concern. Luke stopped walking and looked back, alert.

"What's going on?" He asked. Kira could tell
he had transitioned to business mode and had let the personal drama
go for the moment.

"Privately. Can we get inside?"

Luke nodded and walked over to the door.
Reaching above the doorframe, he pulled out a spare key Miles must
have told him about and opened the locked door.

Tristan grabbed Kira's hand, entwining their
fingers, and quickly kissed the top of her head before following
Luke inside.

Luke shut the door behind them. The kitchen
was eerily dark and the soundproof glass dulled the strains of
music coming from the party. Heavy shadows crept around the lines
of light peeking through the windows making the three of them seem
very alone. Kira shivered with a sense of foreboding and dropped
Tristan's hand to lift herself onto the granite countertop. She
knew she would need a seat to hear the news Tristan clearly felt
was urgent.

"What's going on, Tristan?" She asked.

With traces of sadness lining his clear blue
eyes, Tristan looked at her and responded, "You and Luke need to
leave now. Immediately. I brought Luke's car and packed your
stuff." He ended quietly, as if not wanting to believe the truth in
his words. Kira reached out to grab his arm, pulling him closer.
There was something else, something he didn't want to tell her. In
the corner of her eye, Kira could see Luke pacing around the
kitchen, thinking.

"They're here, aren't they?" Luke stopped
walking and faced Tristan, who just nodded.

"What?" Kira asked, feeling left out, before
realizing Tristan of course meant vampires. "Wait? They're here? As
in Charleston or the backyard?"

Tristan ran his free hand through his hair
and turned to Luke in full protection mode. Kira had seen this act
before, and she didn't like it. "The pack of vampires I sent away
last time, they're back. We have five, maybe ten minutes before
they reach the party and tear this place apart. You both need to
leave now."

"But, what about everyone else?" Kira jumped
from the countertop, not allowing them to ignore her. She could not
leave these people to fend for themselves.

"We need to do something," Luke said, walking
closer to the two of them in order to figure out a plan. Tristan
nodded in agreement. "Okay, Kira and I will just have to face them.
We're powerful enough to bring down a few vampires, this will all
be fine."

"No, that's way too risky," Tristan said,
looking Kira in the eye. "You have to leave. You and Luke get in
the car and start driving. I'm going to lure the vampires away,
pretend I'm with them and that I saw you leave. Hopefully, I can
lead them in the wrong direction for a while so you and Luke have a
chance to escape."

"Oh, and your plan is totally foolproof,"
Kira smarmily replied. "I would rather fight them. It's what, eight
or nine vampires? Luke and I can handle it. You can't do this on
your own, Tristan." She reached her palm up to cup his face,
letting her finger brush against his hair. She wouldn't let him do
this alone.