Simmer (27 page)

(Cover art manipulated by Kaitlyn
Davis from attribution licensed flickr creative commons photos
by:
Andrea Rose
,
Ali Smiles :)
and
William Warby
.)

Chapter One

Kira ripped another page from her notebook
and crumpled the thick paper between her fingers. Frustrated, she
threw the ball into her wastebasket. Quite the collection, she
mused as she glanced down at the paper pyramid by her feet. Kira
had been sitting at her desk for nearly an hour, but still the
right words had eluded her. How could she explain it to Luke, her
best friend and ever-faithful protector? No matter what, he would
be angry. No matter what, he would feel betrayed. But it was the
only way to keep him safe from Aldrich.

Kira sighed and leaned back in her chair,
slowly swiveling it from side to side as she thought back a week
and a half ago to the night of the Red Rose Ball. Kira could still
picture it perfectly: The fear on the vampire Diana’s face when she
realized she was about to die. The way both of Kira’s arms lit
entirely on fire, pushing her power further than it had ever gone
in order to break through Diana’s immunity. The moment Tristan’s
maker Aldrich burst into the room only to be interrupted by a swarm
of conduits exploding through the windows. The minutes Aldrich
spent calmly evaluating her without any hint of fear, knowing his
power to move objects with his mind was unbeatable. And of course,
the feel of his hand when he slipped her a note with his address,
promising that her birth mother would be there, waiting for the
daughter who had been taken away from her more than seventeen years
ago.

Kira remembered watching the mansion collapse
in on itself after the conduits had set it on fire, remembered
holding both Tristan and Luke’s hands while the three of them
observed in silence. She remembered how the note Aldrich had given
her seemed to burn a hole through her pocket and the moment a plan
popped into her mind. Most of all, Kira remembered the moment she
had decided to act on it.

After destroying the mansion, the conduits
retreated to a safe house to question the vampires they had
captured. Luke followed, but Kira stayed behind feigning
exhaustion. True, she had desperately wanted a shower and a soft
bed, but the promise of a few hours alone with Tristan was what she
had really needed. That night, while Luke was off on official
business, the lie had begun—the lie that made this letter to Luke
so difficult to write. Kira and Tristan were going to fight
Aldrich, and they were leaving Luke behind.

Kira dropped her pen and glanced at the photo
of her and Tristan sitting on the corner of her desk. Taped to the
back, hidden behind the blue plastic frame, was the note Aldrich
had slipped her before he had escaped. Kira didn’t need to look at
it to know what it said—she had the address memorized by now. Her
mother was waiting in some cold castle in England and Kira needed
to find her. But it wasn’t that simple.

When she first told him, Tristan had been
furious. It was the night of the ball and they had just gotten back
to the hotel room after ditching Luke. Kira tried to casually let
it slip that his maker Aldrich had invited them to his castle, but
Tristan wasn’t fooled by her light tone. His eyes had flashed an
ice-cold blue that stabbed at Kira’s heart and he yelled at her for
the first time. Kira knew it was his own fear and insecurities that
fueled the outraged response—his own issues with Aldrich—but Kira
suspected Luke’s response wouldn’t be any better, which was why she
had decided to keep it a secret.

After calming Tristan down and firmly stating
that she would be going to England with or without him, he had
finally started listening to her. They worked out a plan to get her
birth mother back, but it was a two-person plan. And tomorrow Kira
would be ditching Luke at the airport to secretly fly to England
with Tristan.

Oh yeah, Kira thought, this will go over very
well… not!

She reached for her pen again, ready to
finally write a coherent note, when strong arms enveloped her from
behind, circling her shoulders and sending a chill down her spine
with the suddenly cool touch.

“Hi,” Tristan whispered in her ear as he
pressed his cheek against hers and placed a soft kiss on her
neck.

“Hi,” Kira said, letting her head fall back
against his shoulder. Perfect timing, she thought, thankful for the
break from writing this note. A little procrastination never hurt
anyone.

“Ready for your party, birthday girl?” He
asked.

“Crap—no!” Kira shot up, suddenly energetic
with surprise. “What time is it?”

“Almost five.”

Tristan laughed under his breath, not at all
surprised that Kira was running late. Never one for shorts, even in
the middle of summer, Tristan had on his classic dark blue jeans
and a crisp white button-down. Kira didn’t have time to admire how
the stark ivory brought out the twinkling blue of his eyes: she was
too concentrated on being on time for once in her life.

“No, no no…” Kira buzzed while pulling her
t-shirt off and reaching for the yellow cotton dress hanging on the
back of her door. She had been so focused on writing the note that
she had completely forgotten about her birthday barbecue—the one
happening in roughly five minutes. The only reason she was still at
home in Charleston was her birthday, otherwise Luke would have
shipped her back to Sonnyville already. Kira knew he was eager to
keep training her in order to see what her stronger powers meant.
He had already forced her to light the wooden table in his backyard
on fire, so she didn’t even want to know what he was preparing back
in Sonnyville.

“Don’t worry. No one’s here yet,” Tristan
said while he watched Kira tug her shorts off and smooth out her
dress. Had Kira been less pressed for time, she may have felt a
little self-conscious about changing right in front of her
boyfriend but, as it was, she didn’t have any time to be
insecure.

“Are my parents outside?” Kira asked and bent
over to pull the fuzzy socks off of her feet.

“Your dad is starting up the barbecue and
your mom is setting plastic plates on the table with Chloe.”

“Perfect,” Kira said, yanking one last time
on the stubborn sock. Tristan put a hand on her back to keep her
from falling over and she slipped her feet into a pair of sandals.
“How do I look?” Kira said while twirling around a few times.

“Beautiful as always,” he said, catching her
hand and guiding her towards him. Kira spun right into his arms and
quickly kissed his lips, loving how familiar yet exciting his touch
was. The slow exploration of her body, sexy in its restraint, made
Kira feel delicate—something she direly needed when most of the
time she felt too powerful, too uncontrolled, too… everything.

Tristan pulled back, breaking the kiss, to
say, “I hear Emma’s car out front.”

“Just when we were getting to the good
stuff,” Kira cursed, making both of them smirk. Her best girl
friend was nothing if not prompt.

“I’ll go get everyone to the backyard,”
Tristan slipped free of her arms, “you still need to put your
contacts on.” Kira grimaced thinking of the bulky, itchy lenses
that had become part of her daily routine. She nodded regretfully
and pushed Tristan towards the stairs while she stepped into her
bathroom.

Only Luke and Tristan knew about the change
in her eyes. On their way home after the ball, Kira bought color
contacts and had been using them ever since. It wasn’t the perfect
solution, but it was something.

Looking in the mirror, Kira still had trouble
recognizing herself. Bright cobalt blue irises stared back at her.
Orange-yellow flames danced around the edges, pushing into the
cooler color and fighting for a place, but the shockingly saturated
blue overwhelmed everything else. Sometimes, Kira liked how the
blue popped against her red-blonde hair, but mostly she missed the
warm, comforting green that used to be there. Her hair was already
over the top with its bright hues and voluminous curls, she didn’t
need even crazier eyes to get noticed in a crowd.

Nothing else had physically changed about her
since the night of the ball, but something stirred inside Kira,
making her feel stronger. Luke and Tristan had no explanation for
her new eye color, and Kira didn’t want to harp on it when there
was so much more to worry about. She had barely used her power
since that night, only practicing when Luke forced her. She was
more in control of her body and her fire, but the flames she
commanded had changed. It was more than just the difference between
her softer Protector powers and her rage-filled Punisher flames.
Everything was stronger. All of her fire burned brighter, scorched
hotter and practically exploded with heat. When Luke had challenged
Kira to light his wooden table on fire, it had come easily, like
flipping a switch. The destruction was almost too welcome, too
natural to her.

A high-pitched screech pulled Kira from her
thoughts.

“Kira!” Her younger sister Chloe yelled from
the bottom of the steps, “Where are you?”

“Yeah Kira, where are you?” A deeper voice
laced with mirth called after. Luke, Kira thought, hearing his
laughter mix with Chloe’s a second later.

“Coming!” She yelled and quickly pulled on
her eyelid to slip in one contact. More squeals echoed down the
empty hallway and Kira followed the sound after quickly putting in
her second contact.

When she looked down the steps, Kira saw the
source of the noise. Luke had trapped little Chloe in his arms and
was tickling her mercilessly while she giggled and squirmed to get
away. Kira raced down the steps two at a time to free her
sister.

“Kira!” Chloe yelled again before bursting
into a new round of giggles. Kira smiled to herself, she knew
exactly what to do. Reaching for Luke’s stomach, she squeezed her
hands against his abs and gave him a taste of his own medicine.

“No!” Luke laughed against Kira’s attack and
released Chloe, who followed Kira’s lead and jumped on Luke to
tickle him. He fell to the ground in mock surrender, chuckling
helplessly and begging Chloe to stop.

“I win!” She screeched and raced out the back
door, leaving Kira and Luke alone. Suddenly, Kira didn’t know where
to look. Between his confession of love the night of the Red Rose
Ball and her plan to go to England behind his back, things were
more than a bit strained. At least, it felt that way to Kira.

She offered her hand, doing her best to
ignore the electric jolt his touch caused, and helped pull Luke to
his feet. He dusted his khaki shorts off and tugged his navy
t-shirt back down below his waist.

“Happy birthday,” he said after a moment.

“Thanks,” Kira responded, briefly glancing at
his disheveled blonde locks and slightly strained gaze.

“So, Sonnyville tomorrow? I challenge you to
get through an entire meeting with the Council without burning
their completely wooden dais to the ground,” he joked, trying to
lighten the mood.

“Yeah, can’t wait,” Kira hurriedly replied
before heading for the door. She couldn’t stand lying to him. At
least that would end tomorrow. Even if he hated her for it, at
least the lying would finally end. “Everyone’s waiting, I better
get out there.” Kira nodded in the direction of the kitchen
window.

Luke followed her gaze to the spot where
Dave, Emma’s silent but loveable boyfriend, and Miles, their geeky
on-his-way-to-Harvard friend, stood next to her father around the
grill. “Yeah,” Luke agreed and walked outside behind her.

“Happy birthday!” Everyone shouted when Kira
stepped into the sunlight. It was a small party, but it was
perfect. Kira smiled at the streamers hanging in the trees
surrounding her backyard and the freshly painted sign wishing her a
happy eighteenth birthday. Chinese lanterns hung from the porch
railing, ready for the sun to set so they could sparkle in the
darkness, and raspy strains of the local radio station struggled to
be heard from an old boom box sitting on the table.

“Thank you!” Kira smiled and stepped lightly
down the porch stairs, practically dancing with her movements.

“Now, Kira, we know you’re the chef in the
family but tonight the men are making steaks,” her dad said while
standing beside an already smoking grill. Even though Kira knew he
was really just her uncle, not even related by blood, the familiar
image of him behind their family grill made it seem like old times,
before Kira had known anything about the conduits or her real
parents. “Luke, did you grab the aprons?”

“Got ‘em, Mr. D!” Luke said, stepping past
Kira to rush over to the grill.

Kira was more than happy to let the men do
the work tonight. She loved cooking, but on her birthday she was
allowed to relax. Especially since all she had been doing since she
got home was make food—cooking was a serious stress reliever and
all of the lying had her pulling her hair out. The Dawson family
fridge was currently full to the brim with praline pecans,
chocolate mousse, patience-trying risotto, and, one of Kira’s
favorites, homemade spaghetti. Her fingers needed the night
off.

Kira turned towards the foldout table her
adoptive-mother had put up in the backyard. She was really her
aunt, her birth father’s sister, but Kira tried to forget that
sometimes. Especially on a day like today, with everyone around,
Kira wanted to feel happy, not anxious about how much her life had
changed in less than a year. She had gone from being a normal
teenager to a mystical half-breed conduit who could potentially
mean the end of the world. And the recent events at the Red Rose
Ball had changed her again—she felt that in her bones even if she
didn’t know what it meant yet.