Simmer (3 page)

"No, Kira," Luke spoke forcefully. "Tristan's
right. He needs to do this. It's the best way to make sure you
don't get caught."

Kira turned to Luke angrily. "It's not like
you wouldn't gladly watch him die." She hissed, then looked away,
instantly sorry for the remark. Luke was better than that — she
knew he was better than that.

"This isn't about that, okay?" Luke replied
softly, while staring at the ground to try and hide his involuntary
wince. "Everyone at this party is at risk right now and you being
here only amplifies that. Tristan's plan is the best way to keep
everyone safe. So, let's go." He grabbed her hand and started
pulling her from the kitchen, towards the front door of the
house.

"Wait, Luke. Wait!" She tugged against his
hold and stopped walking to glance back at Tristan. Drenched in
shadow, he stood in the kitchen alone, turned slightly away from
her and Luke as though he knew this was goodbye but couldn't bring
himself to say it.

"Meet me at the car," Luke said and dropped
Kira's hand to leave the two of them alone. He disappeared out the
door, and before Kira could blink, Tristan was by her side. His
hands gently cupped her face while he stared into her fire-laced
eyes.

"It's going to be alright," he said, urging
her to believe him. Kira tried to quell her racing heart and
believe his words, but even if it was alright tonight, neither one
of them knew what the future would hold in these next two months
apart. He would be chasing down Diana, and though Kira knew he
could take care of himself, even vampires could die.

Kira rested her forehead against his,
enjoying the brush of his cool breath on her cheek in this one
moment of peace.

"I love you," she whispered.

He leaned in to kiss her and Kira pulled him
closer, not wanting to let go and lose the touch of his soft lips
on hers. Tristan lifted her off the ground, hugging her close to
his body, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Everything felt
perfect at least for an instant, before Kira felt his body stiffen.
He broke their kiss, pulled her in even tighter for a final hug and
then set her back down, still holding her.

Kira stared into his sapphire eyes, reading
the sadness tinted longing in his irises, and knew the vampires
were here. Tristan let her go and stared, moving his eyes so he
could take in every inch of her face. She ran her hand through his
hair, pushing the ebony locks off of his forehead one last time,
breathing in the moment.

In the time it took for Kira to blink away a
tear, Tristan had vanished, leaving just a memory, and she was left
alone holding only the air.

Chapter
Two

Kira dashed through the house, sprinting out
the front door and down the driveway, racing to beat not only the
vampires but also her own emotions, which were threatening to burst
forth.

Before she rounded the street corner, Kira
saw headlights and heard the familiar rumble of Luke's pick-up
truck. Really, she thought, the truck?

"Let's go, Kira," Luke yelled from the
driver's seat and the passenger door popped open. Kira jumped
inside and slammed it closed while Luke pushed the gas pedal all
the way down, throwing her back against the seat with the
force.

"Where are we going? Do we even have a plan?"
Kira dragged her seatbelt around and clicked it into place.

"Yes," Luke said, not looking away from the
road. His hands were white from gripping the steering wheel so
tightly. "All we need to do is get to the airport. No vampires
would dare attack us there, not in front of an audience and
security cameras."

"How far away is it?"

"About half an hour."

Thirty minutes, Kira thought. It didn't seem
like a long time, especially not with Luke zipping through the
empty, fog-filled roads as he was now. And, after five minutes,
Kira was beginning to think they were in the clear. Tristan must
have diverted the pack, or, she thought darkly, they had reached
the party and decided to drop their chase. Kira searched the night
for the sound of sirens. Twisting in her seat, she looked out the
back window, just in time to see the faint outline of a body
rapidly approaching.

"Luke!" She yelled, grabbing his shoulder. He
flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror and Kira saw his brows
tighten into a frown.

"They're here." He said it like a sigh, as if
a faint hope had been denied. "Okay, Kira, listen. I want you to
kick out the back window—"

"What!" She jerked her head to the side and
knew her eyes were just about popping out of her skull.

"Okay...that might have been a bit drastic,
but it would have been really awesome." He smiled. She rolled her
eyes.

"Luke, be serious!" She wanted to shake him,
but she looked out the window instead. The vampire was gaining
speed and fast.

Luke reached back with his arm, unlatched the
window and slid it open. "Kira, you're going to have to fight them.
Remember to keep moving quickly and, whatever you do, don't lose
control. You need to make speedy movements. Do not concentrate on
just one vampire because we're probably already surrounded."

Kira nodded and stuck her head out the opened
window. The wind whipped her hair around and the trees swooshed by
quicker than her eyes could follow. Of all the ideas they had had,
this was probably high on the list of the worst, she mused and
started pulling herself through the tight space. The vampire
disappeared from the road, but Kira wasn't stupid enough to think
they had lost him.

Finally, Kira made it through the window. She
tried to stand, but got knocked over by the wind and slammed
against the metal bed of the truck. There was no way she would be
able to stay up when every bump in the road sent her flying. She
noticed a rope in the back, and crawled over on her stomach,
grabbing the string. She looped it around her waist, and tied it to
a hoop in the bed of the truck. At least she couldn't be sent
flying over the edge.

The wind still whistled in her ears, making
it hard for her to hear anything else, and she was so concentrated
on not toppling over that she didn't see the vampire jump through
the trees until Luke shouted her name.

Blindly flinging her hand to the side, Kira
shot flames into the night.

"Control!" Luke screamed from inside the car.
Kira could only just hear him over the cackling of her fire. But,
she stopped; realizing the vampire was long gone and she had been
wasting energy on open space. Think, she thought and leaned against
the back of the truck for stabilization. Finally adjusting to the
rhythm of the road, Kira scanned the trees, waiting for something
to jump out.

She saw a blur of blonde hair before
registering the female vampire that jumped out from the right side,
and she shot a short controlled flame right at her face, sending
the vamp in somersaults back into the trees. To her left, another
blur, and Kira fired again. She watched as the vamp circled in the
air only to land on stable feet. He kept charging from the road,
and Kira concentrated again, putting a killing force behind the
blow. He retreated back to the woods.

A tingle in the back of her neck made Kira
turn around seconds before Luke bellowed "in front!" The blonde
female stood in the middle of the road with her hands outstretched,
ready to stop their car. Kira sent a stream of light arching over
to encase the female from above. She put all of her concentration
into the kill and by the time Luke and Kira had reached the spot,
all that remained was a pile of dust that scattered in the
wind.

Kira was amazed at her own power. She had
never been this accurate or this fast before. It might have been
the extra adrenaline, but she took a moment to look at her own
hands. The scars glowed in the darkness like coals still cooling on
the grill.

The sound of boots slamming against metal
jerked Kira awake. She stuck her hand toward the sound, letting her
power go, and only saw the glowing blue eyes of the vamp as it flew
off of the car.

Another jumped from the left and she shot it.
One more from the right, and Kira knocked it down. Next, two
vampires planned an attack together and she threw her arms wide to
the sides, shooting both at once. But, hands grabbed her neck from
behind and she felt the tightly knotted rope slip free from her
waist. Kira swung her hands back and latched onto the vampire's
head, burning it. A high-pitched scream pierced her ears, but she
refused to let go. Soon, the squeal came to halt and Kira's own
hands slammed together. A cloud of dust swooshed in front of her
and she knew the vampire had imploded.

Something howled from the forest and before
she could process, Kira had been lifted up and thrown down against
the bed of the truck. A brown haired vampire with blood dripping
from his lips stared down at her, growling. He crouched, ready to
pounce, when the truck came screeching to a halt.

Before Luke had time to turn around in his
seat and fire, a new blurred figure slammed into the huge vampire,
sending him over the side and into the thick trunk of a tree with a
slap.

"Go, Luke! Drive!" Tristan shouted and
smacked his hand down on the roof of the car. Kira looked him over,
noting the rips in his shirt and the blood seeping out of fresh
wounds. He met her eyes and winked. Then a smile rose on his lips
causing his dimples to appear.

"Love you," Tristan shouted over his shoulder
as he jumped from the speeding truck and slammed into yet another
vampire that had come flying from the trees. He's enjoying this,
Kira thought, flabbergasted.

But, Kira still felt her heart sink when she
scrambled to her knees and watched Tristan disappear from her sight
locked in a death grip. She couldn't shoot the other vamp without
risking Tristan, and before long, the two vampires had disappeared
altogether.

The faint sound of beeps and rumbling engines
caused Kira to turn around and she saw the highway ahead. She and
Luke were finally free from the country roads. They had made
it.

"Get inside," Luke said and slowed the car to
make it easier for Kira to crawl through window and slip back
in.

"Are you alright?" Luke asked when Kira was
safely seated and buckled in. She took a moment to survey the
damage, and besides a bump on the head and a few scrapes, she was
fine, just tired. She raised her hand, and let her palm glow,
sending the light inward to heal herself. Almost instantly, Kira
felt revived. She sighed and rested her head against the back of
her seat.

"So, let's agree to never do that again,"
Kira said.

"I don't know. You were pretty awesome up
there. That move where you twisted your arms and burned that
vampire chick's head apart. I mean, that was like comic book
amazing."

Kira smiled. "That was pretty badass."

"Kira, the Vampire Slayer...no...Kira, the
Avenger...nah, still not right...Kira, the Human Flame
Thrower...eh, maybe—"

"Luke?"

"Yes?"

"Stop."

"Okay."

Kira looked over and saw that his lips were
still moving. "Luke, you are not giving me some fancy nickname.
Stop."

"Oh, come-on. I just thought of something
amazing."

"No," she laughed at his persistence.

"Please?"

"No," she stood strong.

"Pretty please with a cherry on top...?" Kira
finally looked him in the eyes, meeting his puppy-dog pout, and
couldn't resist.

"Okay, fine, but keep your eyes on the
road."

"Alright, here goes," Luke said, adding a
dramatic pause for effect, "Kira...the Flaming Tomato." He grinned
widely, super proud of himself. Kira snorted almost against her
will.

"Luke, that stinks. That is actually the
worst super-hero name I have ever heard. I prefer the human flame
thrower."

"Too late," he cheered. "Kira Dawson, the
Flaming Tomato. I think it has a nice ring to it. You have red hair
like Shaun White, but you flame while he flies. It's perfect."

"It's terrible. If you ever call me that
again, I may have to hurt you."

"You, hurt me? Never." Luke was doubtful,
clearly.

Kira turned to look at Luke, grinning, and
finally gave in. "Hey, I'm the Flaming Tomato, mister. I could kill
you with the simplest flick of my finger."

He smiled triumphantly, and Kira let the
conversation fall away as she noticed the exit sign for the
airport. In an hour or two, they would probably be seated with
their seats up and tray tables secure, flying off into the night
sky, away from everything...and everyone.

"Do you think he's okay?" Kira didn't have to
clarify.

"Yeah, you have nothing to worry about," Luke
said as he switched lanes onto the exit ramp. They rode in silence
for the next five minutes, enjoying the peace, until the lights
from the parking lot came into view. They had arrived.

The clicking of the turn signal filled the
silence as Luke made his way through long rows of empty spaces
speckled here and there with a car. He pulled his truck to a halt
in the last space of the longest row, the spot closest to the
garage exit.

"Do you think they followed us?" Kira asked
while peering around the fluorescent lamps and through the slight
fog that stilled danced along the ground.

"I'm not sure," Luke responded. He reached
for the handle on his door, and then hesitated. "On the count of
three, we make a run for it, okay?"

Kira nodded. The entrance to the airport was
maybe fifty yards away. They could definitely make it. She reached
back for the duffle Tristan had stuffed full of her clothes and saw
Luke take hold of his. She fixed the strap over her shoulder and
met Luke's waiting eyes.

"One," Luke started.