Sparks and Flames (14 page)

Rukia winched and yelled back. “Give me a second, Mom!” She turned to him. “Never mind, Kian. I think you better go before anyone finds you.”

“I’ll save my stories for another time then,” he said. “I’ll tell you why I’m known as the Dragon of the Velt.”

“Ooh, you actually have a nickname? It sounds ferocious.”

“You’ll learn all about it soon,” he went over to her window and got one foot out of it. “When will I see you again?”

“Hopefully, we can see each other tomorrow,” she leaned over and kissed him on the lips. “That’s to keep you warm tonight. It’s cold out there.”

Kian could feel his face growing hot. “How about that Elemental you found? Has he gone back home to his family?”

“He’s in hiding now. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you where he is,” she whispered, running her fingers through his dark hair. “I hope you try and understand this. I can’t reveal much about his whereabouts even if I do trust you.”

“No, I get it,” he said, taking his other foot out the window. “You want to keep him safe from hunters. He doesn’t trust me, does he?”

“I’m sorry. He can sense that you have something that you’re hiding,” she said. “I didn’t tell him anything, but he asked that you don’t ask about him.”

“All right, I won’t,” he decided, giving her a kiss now. “That’s to keep you warm as you go to sleep tonight. Dream about me, okay? Dream about our life together.”

“That’s all I ever dream about anymore,” she whispered, giving him a hug. “Hurry back home, okay? I have to answer my mother now.”

“She’s not going to find out I was here, will she?”

“I highly doubt it. You still need to get out of here though, okay?” She gave him one more kiss. “That’s for good luck. Now go!”

He blew her a kiss as he started to climb down. “I’ll be thinking of you.”

“Right back at you,” she whispered as he got to the ground, gave her one last look, and ran off into the night. She hoped that he would get back home safely.

As she sat down on her bed, she began to think about him and what he was. It was like the story Romeo and Juliet from back in the past. Her only love had been sprung from her only hate. The difference was that their families didn’t hate each other. They just happened to be born on different sides. She had powers and he didn’t. She was wealthy and he was poor. She was keeping secrets from him while his were now in the open. They might have been different in many ways but the one thing they had in common were their feelings for each other. They knew they wanted to be together.

One day, we will be together.
She decided.
Hang in there, Kian. I’m yours for now. I’ll be yours forever. I promise you that.

Chapter 16

Once again, Kian felt like he was floating around on a cloud. If he could, he would have been flying through the air. Her kisses were so sweet and soft. He could still feel them on his mouth. Reaching up, he touched his face and could feel how hot he was. She knew just what to say and do to warm him up again. She knew how to get his heart beating. He turned the corner, ready to go home and think about how he would propose to her. It would be simple, but she would not expect it. He would have to do it in a way that she wouldn’t see.

That was when he saw them. They were showing off their powers to each other by making small fires and waterfalls. He bit down on his lip and hid behind the building. Those were fire and water-manipulating Elementals that didn’t seem to have a care in the world. They were just laughing and playing around with their powers.

He was looking over at where the Elementals had gathered and felt his blood boiling. He hated them so much that it made him wonder about what he told Rukia. Would he truly be able to get over a close friend being an Elemental? It would just depend on what that close friend was doing. If it was something like hurting children, then that friendship would be over between them. If it was nothing, he could probably overlook it.

They were just having fun so he decided to let them go. Killing them would just be a waste of time and they seemed to know what they were doing. He turned around and decided to take the long way home. He was going back without hunting a thing, but it felt right. He didn’t want to jump those Elementals for no reason. They weren’t doing anything to hurt anyone.

What is wrong with me?
He asked himself.
I would have killed them all by now, but I let them go. Am I okay? What am I feeling inside now? If I don’t want to kill them, then why am I a hunter?

His mind went back to Rukia and the mystery that surrounded her. She had asked him the strangest question ever. She wanted to know how he’d react to being friends with an Elemental. It was something that he had never thought about before.

Why would she even ask me that?
He wondered.
Why does she want to know my reaction?

He figured that she wanted to know because he was a hunter. Calensa had their share of Elementals and maybe she knew some of them. She didn’t want him to get hurt or them to die. It made perfect sense why she would ask him such questions. She wasn’t about to lose anyone that she loved.

Oh, Rukia, why didn’t you just tell me? I wouldn’t hurt anyone that you care about.

Then again, he couldn’t tell who was an Elemental and who wasn’t. He got the briefings from the higher ups that told him about certain people. Elementals looked like regular people when they were walking down the street. They didn’t like to use their powers out in the streets since they knew hunters were lurking about. He made a vow that he was not going to attack anyone just because he felt like it. As a hunter, he had to be careful and thorough with everything that he did. He had to follow his briefings all the way through or else he could risk losing his job.

“Well, she doesn’t have to worry about me hurting anyone she loves. Not unless they’ve done something wrong,” he said to himself.

Of course, he had no idea if his targets knew who Rukia was. He had no idea if Rukia knew them in return. All he knew was that he had to get rid of his targets. As he promised, he wasn’t going to go after the Elemental that had been frozen in ice. He had no idea where to start looking for him in the first place.

He ran his tongue across his lips and felt Rukia’s kiss. It was so warm and soft and it made him feel better from his toes to his head. He hugged himself and imagined that he was hugging Rukia. She smelled so good when she leaned over and he could smell her perfume. He could still feel her fingers going through his hair as she stroked it. Her nails were gently scraping against his scalp. Her hands were so silky smooth and smelled like vanilla from the lotion that she rubbed on them.

Rukia’s hand was so warm against his skin. In her dark eyes was a flame that danced anytime she was happy. He couldn’t help but love that fire inside of her. He wanted to see the flames go higher and keep her happy for the rest of his life. He didn’t care about anything else now. He could give up being a hunter and that would be fine for him. Rukia would be his everything. Rukia
was
everything right now.

“I should stop being a hunter,” he said to himself. “There’s no reason for me to keep doing this. She’s all I care about now.”

He had no idea who he was trying to convince with this decision. At the moment, hunting was where he got his money from. His parent didn’t pay him for looking after the front desk at their motel. He felt that this was unfair, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. They had to keep their money for more important things. One thing they had really wanted to do was go on a trip but they didn’t have either the time or the funds. Kian had been saving some of his hunting tips over for them. It was all in a jar under his bed and it was almost filled to the brim. A few more dollars and he would have enough to send them overseas. This was going to be his present for them since their anniversary was coming up. They had done plenty for him. It was high time he did something for them.

Now he was wondering if he should save up money for his trip with Rukia. That would be a wonderful thing. The two of them could see everything they wanted and then some. For that to happen, he needed to earn more money. Everything he earned, he would put away in a new jar and hoped that would fill up soon too. They both needed this vacation. They needed to get away from the hellish lands that they had grown up in. Calensa might have been a nice place, but it was boring. It was the same old thing for miles. She needed to see something new and so did he. They both needed to explore what was beyond their gates.

Chapter 17

Kian had been dreaming of nothing but Rukia. He was almost certain that he was infatuated with her. He didn’t know why, but there was something about that blue-streaked hair, those gorgeous eyes, and that figure that made him want to dive into her. She had a beauty that no one in the world could compare to. He had seen some people claimed to be the most beautiful and they didn’t hold a candle to her. They never could.

A part of him wanted to tell his family everything about her. His parents had suspected that he had fallen in love and he admitted that there was a girl. He didn’t tell them that she had come from Calensa so they assumed it was another girl from the Velt. The only thing he assured them of was that it wasn’t Dominica. He liked Dominica just fine, but he adored Rukia. He wanted no other girl but Rukia. The time would come when he could let the whole world know about their relationship. For now, they were going to have to keep it between themselves.

He had asked Rukia if she had any secrets and she admitted there was one. She wasn’t ready to divulge into it now, but he would learn the truth soon enough. He was so excited to know what that truth was going to be. She had wanted to tell him tomorrow, but he couldn’t meet up with her. He had a hunt that was going on at the same time. Some Elementals were causing trouble in the Velt and he wanted to wipe them out once and for all. He was hankering to hunt something for a while and was glad that this was coming up. It would be something that could take his mind off Rukia.

Not that I really want to take my mind off her.
He thought.

When he was younger, he never dreamed that he was going to be a hunter. He had never expected that his hands could be used to kill anyone. He was a strong young man, but he had never been violent. It was a strange thing that took over him when he was fifteen and decided to join the hunters. No one had asked him to do so. He just felt like he had a duty to protect the innocent people in the cities. His job took him to various places from up high in Calensa to the lowest parts of the Velt. However, all that traveling was for work, not play. He didn’t know what a vacation was supposed to be.

As time went on, he proved himself to be a worthy hunter. He was intelligent and quick even though he lacked power. He was also very intimidating for someone so young. It was no shock that he ended up being a Lieutenant by the time he was eighteen. Most adults thought he had done something to get that rank, but he hadn’t. This was pure work that he put into himself. He’d had plenty of kills and they knew it. After setting a couple of Elementals ablaze, he earned his nickname; the Dragon of the Velt. They said he came down on them and blew fire into their faces like a fire-breathing dragon. He might not have had the ability to bend fire, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use it as a weapon.

However, Rukia was starting to take his mind away from the hunt. He didn’t seem to care about getting Elementals anymore. All he wanted was to make her happy. He wanted to take her to all the places that she asked to go to. He wanted to ride on his bike with her and go up and down hills that led them far away from cities and towns. He was willing to drop everything and just run away with her.

Oh, how I wish I could take you over the hills.
He thought as he pictured her riding on his bike, her blue-streaked hair blowing in the wind. It was such a beautiful sight for him. He imagined that she would be laughing and throwing her head back while he pedaled far away from Calensa and the Velt. That was the kind of dream he had been having for the last few days. It was a good dream as it made him forget about the fact they were from different worlds. So far, he hadn’t told anyone that Rukia came from Calensa. Everyone else would be jealous that the special girl hailed from a nice house in the city.

The reason he wanted to go over the hills was because he wanted to go out of the city limits. He wanted to see what lay beyond the horizon and if it was as good as people claimed it was. He wanted to see the trees and the mountains on the other side. He wanted to bike down the beaches and lay upon the sand with her. He wanted to swim in clear blue ocean waters and hike down trails together. Those were the dreams he had and he wanted them to come true. He needed them to come true.

One day, I will take her over the hills.
He promised himself.
We will spend our time outside and watch as the sun goes up in the morning. We’ll stay out until the sun goes down.

Chapter 18

Rukia looked down at the clothes that she had taken out. Kian had seen her wear all of these so she wanted something special. She finally settled on a light blue dress that had tiny blue flowers sewn onto it. For shoes, she chose some flats that would be easy to walk around in. They were planning to walk around for their date today because it would give them some time to talk. The night air was warm and her parents wouldn’t be around tonight. If she wanted to, she could bring Kian up to her room. Maybe it would be better to speak to him about her powers than to show them off.