Blaze (19 page)

“I admit it. I was mad at you—I mean really
furious—after you left me in that airport. I didn’t want to think
about you or even look at you after that happened. When I finally
got home, everyone kept asking where you were and why you didn’t
come back with me. I told the Council that our plans had changed,
made them think I was in on it, but I was really seething.” He
clenched his fists with the memory. The slight movement made Kira
wince. She didn’t want to remember how badly she’d hurt him or the
coldness she heard in his voice little more than a week before.

“As you can see,” he put his arms out wide,
“that all changed. My sister knew something else was up. She’s got
this like freakish sixth sense. Anyway, she pulled me aside and
made me tell her what happened. I thought she would hate you—I
mean, you two weren’t on the best terms during your last visit—but
instead, she was happy when I finished telling her what happened.
And that’s what she helped me realize. If we had just been friends,
if you really didn’t feel anything for me, you would have told me
what you were up to. You would have explained that it was for my
own safety, you would have given me some sort of heads up, and
maybe still sneaked off, but it wouldn’t have been a complete and
utter lie.

“No, you weren’t afraid that telling me
would make me want to follow you and come along. You were afraid
that if you told me the plan, you wouldn’t be able to leave me
behind. You sort of love me, and if you had told me the plan, you
might not have been able to go somewhere alone with Tristan. You
might have wanted me to come along instead.”

“That’s a great theory,” Kira whispered. Her
ears were drowned out by the thumping of her heart.

“That’s what I thought too,” he said
happily, turning to Kira in his normal teasing manner. “And, not to
sound too self-confident, but one kiss ought to show you I’m
right.”

“So when does this kiss need to happen?”
Kira asked, looking at the wall behind Luke rather that at his
face.

He looked down at his empty wrist. “I’ve got
some time right now…”

Kira wanted to throw a pillow at him. But
getting a pillow would mean she had to reach over his stretched out
body, and she wasn’t sure if she could deal with the proximity.
Something in Luke’s words rang uncannily true to Kira, but she
couldn’t get Tristan out of her head. The cold, accusing chill to
his words when she mentioned Luke’s name still stung. She owed it
to everything she and Tristan had had to turn the conversation back
to Aldrich, back to what she had actually come here to discuss.

“We have more important things to talk about
right now,” Kira said softly, letting a foreboding deepness lace
through the words.

“What? Did Tristan lose a fang?” He threw a
playful pout in Kira’s direction.

“No,” Kira paused and took a deep breath,
“but I might gain some.”

“What?” The grin was gone from his face and
he reached a hand out to touch Kira’s arm. His lips were drawn in a
tight line.

“Aldrich said he can turn me into a
vampi—”

“You can’t be serious!” Luke interjected,
tightening his grip on her bicep. “Kira, it’s not, that’s crazy,
what are you even saying?” She rolled her eyes.

“Would you let me finish?” Kira said with a
shaky laugh. “Aldrich said he can turn me into a vampire, but I
obviously don’t want to become one.” Luke leaned back a little,
loosening his hold. “That’s not exactly what I told Aldrich
though,” Kira continued and began telling Luke everything that had
happened since she had landed in London.

Kira started with his castle, with Aldrich’s
bizarre sense of style, which got an expected grimace and “creepy”
from Luke. Without stopping, Kira moved onto meeting her mother—the
shock of believing she was a vampire and Aldrich’s notion that the
ability to resist was the only reason conduits were never turned.
Kira had to stop Luke from interrupting. He kept shaking his head
and trying to explain how it was not possible for conduits to turn,
how some had tried before and failed, that they had run extensive
experiments with conduit and vampire bodies and blood. Eventually,
Kira slapped her hand over his mouth to stop him.

“I know,” she said firmly, going on to
describe the look in her mother’s eyes that had told her she was a
fake. Kira skipped over the night with Tristan, wanting to keep it
private and to herself. Luke didn’t need to hear about his
shattered dreams or Kira’s brief belief that being a vampire
wouldn’t be as horrible as it sounded. Better for Luke to think
that Kira never swayed, never faltered in her desire to keep her
powers.

Kira rushed past the next few days of
sitting with her mother discussing the transformation and talking
with Aldrich about his past.

Eventually, she reached that morning,
reached the glass tunnel system within the house. Luke nodded when
Kira confirmed that the woman was not her mother, but was a old
vampire only pretending to be Lana. She described the dungeon she
found, telling Luke that finding out Aldrich’s plan wasn’t the only
thing they needed to figure out. A rescue mission was also in
order. She told Luke about the female vampire, Pavia, and how she
thought the girl knew a lot more than she was letting on.

But then Kira hesitated. Thinking back to
the flaming red haired man and his accusation that Kira was already
falling, had already taken one step toward turning into a
vampire.

“What?” Luke asked, sensing that Kira was
holding back.

Did she really want to hear what Luke had to
say? Kira remembered the way Luke looked at her when her eyes had
first turned blue, the way he’d stepped back, shocked and like a
stranger. It had only lasted a second, but fear tainted his
expression in those few moments after Diana’s death. What if he
couldn’t deny the Punisher beliefs? What if all he did was make the
possibility that Kira’s soul was blackening seem all the more
real?

“Nothing,” Kira finally said. Luke put his
hand on her knee reassuringly.

“You can tell me,” he said. Kira looked at
him and smiled weakly.

“I’m just a little scared, you know? I don’t
know what to do.” She shrugged.

“Why don’t you just leave? We can treat this
as a normal rescue mission and send the trained conduits in. I
promise they won’t come shooting through the windows this
time.”

“I can’t. Part of me knows that Tristan and
I should have both left that castle the minute I realized it wasn’t
really my mother waiting for me, but a bigger part of me knows I
needed to stay. I can’t fight this feeling that whatever Aldrich is
planning is huge, and definitely involves me. We just need a mode
of attack.” Kira started chewing on her lip, lost in thought about
how they could corner Aldrich and get the information out him. How
do you trap someone who can move any object in the world just by
thinking about it? He would bring the house down on any conduits
who tried to trap him. He could easily knock Kira out, kill Tristan
and escape without straining a muscle.

“This is really important to you? Important
enough to not run away?” Luke asked. Kira nodded affirmation. “Then
the only thing to do is let him try to turn you.”

“What?” Kira blinked. Those were probably
the last words she ever expected Luke to say.

“Delay him for one night, make some excuse,
and tomorrow let him go through with whatever ceremony he has
planned. When you’ve learned what he is up to and why trying to
turn you is so important, you and Tristan can attack. Aldrich will
be vulnerable. He won’t be expecting it and I’ll bring a team of
conduits, so we can enter the house while he’s distracted. Half of
us will go save the prisoners and the other half will help you
destroy Aldrich. It’s risky, but I don’t see any other option.”

“But,” Kira started. It was a solid idea,
and the only solution to finding out what Aldrich wanted. Tristan
would be fine, Kira knew, Aldrich would never hurt him. He viewed
Tristan as more of a son than an enemy. And when all of the
conduits arrived and his plan was thwarted, Aldrich would probably
do the smart thing and run. But there was a knot in Kira’s throat
preventing her from agreeing to Luke’s idea. Realizing what her
real hesitation was, Kira quietly asked, “But what if I do
turn?”

“Kira, it’s not possible, I—”

“But what if it is,” Kira interjected, “What
if I heard somewhere that mixed breed conduits can turn?” She still
didn’t want to go into the depths of the Punisher beliefs, but if
she was offering herself to Aldrich, Kira needed to be
prepared.

Luke took both of her hands, forcing her to
look him in the eyes. “Do you really think that I would ever
suggest this plan if there were the slightest chance that you would
turn? Conduits cannot become vampires. It is just not possible. I
believe it with every fiber of my being.”

What if I’m more than a conduit, Kira
thought to herself, what if I really am some sort of angel? But the
word sounded ridiculous to her, silly even. An angel? Who was she
kidding?

Kira took a deep breath and clenched Luke’s
fingers, which were sturdy and warm. “Okay then, let’s do it.”

“Excellent,” Luke said, then turned towards
the door to shout, “Jack! Mary Beth!”

“Yeah, mate?” An intermix between male and
female voices shouted back at them through the door.

“Get in here.”

The door opened a moment later and Mary
Beth’s blonde head peered nervously around the bend. When she saw
Kira and Luke sitting a comfortable distance apart, her features
brightened and they walked in.

Kira looked toward Luke and could
practically see the wheels spinning in his head as he started
formulating a plan with Jack and Mary Beth. Paper and pens were
soon supplied to all four of them, and Kira drew plans of Aldrich’s
home, describing each room and remembering the secret tunnel system
as best she could. To slightly shocked gazes, Kira asked them to
let the vampire Pavia go free when they reached the prisoners.
Vampires caught by conduits were usually bound and questioned, but
Pavia had already been imprisoned for too long. And Kira had a
feeling that Pavia would happily join the fight if given the
chance.

Before long, conversation switched to
conduit tactics and Kira lost track in the jumble of names and
strategies she had never gotten the chance to study. They started
talking about the part of the fight Kira wouldn’t be involved in
and she turned away to look out the window at the gray London sky.
Her mind began to wander, and eventually she found herself
glassy-eyed and thinking of Tristan.

His presence was vital to the plan. Aldrich
had to think everything was going his way, that Kira wanted to
turn. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell Luke what happened,
that Tristan had run away. She didn’t want to face the fact that he
might not be coming back. The minute doubt in him was there—heck,
had Kira and Tristan switched places, Kira probably would have run
away and never looked back.

But Tristan knew that if he didn’t return to
Aldrich’s with her, it would probably cost Kira her life. She tried
to picture his muscular frame, walking slowly down the side of a
country road, mind lost in thought and body immune to the damp air.
He was out there. He had to be waiting for her somewhere.

“Uh, Kira?” Luke asked. His open, honest
eyes looked at her with concern.

“I have to go,” she said and stood abruptly,
ruffling the papers by her legs. She needed to leave. No one needed
her here any longer, and she had to find Tristan. Things would be
better, somehow.

Remembering her manners, Kira turned to Jack
and Mary Beth, thanking them and saying how please she was to meet
them. Kira told Luke to text her tomorrow, updating her on his
progress. And then she was following her feet as they led her to
the hallway, out the door and over toward the rickety elevator.
Kira pressed the down button and waited while ascending numbers lit
up above the door.

“Kira!” Luke careened out of the apartment
and walked determinedly towards her. Kira turned and waited for him
to keep talking. He stopped a foot away from her and looked down at
his feet, jumping on his toes a little bit.

“So I was thinking, I don’t really like
being in charge.” He grinned.

“Really? You seemed to have it all under
control in there,” Kira said, eying him warily.

“Still,” he said, letting the word drag out
as he stepped closer. Kira could feel the heat gathering in the
small space between their bodies. “I think it’s high time I do
something really stupid.”

“Luke,” Kira said and turned away from him.
He grabbed her hand. Kira felt a zing zip up her arm at his touch.
She tried to ignore the electric charge spreading throughout her
body, flushing her cheeks and setting her nerves on end. Luke
gently pulled her around so she faced him and slipped his free hand
up to her face. Gently, he rubbed his thumb along her cheek,
tilting her head up ever so slightly, forcing Kira to finally meet
his eyes. They burned her skin.

“Luke,” Kira said. It came out as a whisper
and not in the stern, commanding way Kira had meant it to.

“You can yell at me after,” he said softly
and kissed her.

Chapter Twelve

As soon as Luke’s lips touched Kira’s, a
torrent of emotions rushed through her body. The barrier she had
spent so much time building up crashed, letting Luke’s thoughts
flood into her like a tidal wave. Her mind was consumed with his
excitement, his happiness, his fulfillment.

It was Luke’s pulse rapidly beating through
her veins, his heart bursting with the perfection of the moment,
his limbs that tingled with each touch of her hands as they trailed
up his chest.

But his feelings were Kira’s. They were one,
completely matched in the moment. One of his hands found its way to
her back, burning a path along her skin. He pulled her closer, or
was it Kira who pulled him closer? Her fingers stretched into his
hair, playing with the short, soft strands at the base of his neck.
He matched her movement, running his hand up into her curls,
bringing her lips even firmer against his.