Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) (10 page)

"Mistletoe?" She heard Tristan behind her.
She turned in time to see him jump deftly on the stage.

"I hadn’t noticed." Kira tried to play it
cool. Tristan pulled a strand of green plastic leaves from his
pocket with a smirk. "I knew there had to be a reason you wanted to
meet here. But you’ll have to catch me first." Kira teased and
started backing away.

His smirk turned into the half smile she
loved and a little dimple sprouted on his cheek. Tristan strode
confidently forward, and when he got a little closer, Kira jumped
behind the fake tree and used it as a defensive wall moving left
when he did and right when he did. She laughed when his frustration
grew and jumped out from behind the tree to try to leap off the
stage, moving the chase into different territory. But, strong arms
gripped around her waist, lifted her off the ground, and swung her
around in circles.

"You’re mine now," he whispered into her ear,
and Kira couldn’t decide if the shiver that raced down her back was
full of excitement or fear. He let her feet drop to the ground and
she turned in the circle of his arms.

"Changed your mind about that we can never be
nonsense?" She smiled in victory.

"Not completely, but you are doing a great
job convincing me." Tristan lifted the corner of his mouth again
and she laid her hand on his cheek, capturing the dimple in her
palm, before sliding it up into his hair to push his ebony bangs
back so she could see his eyes better.

"You have to tell me something first."
Tristan nodded, looking at her with concern and she almost thought
a hint of dread. Kira bit her lip, thinking about how to phrase her
question. "What happened when you looked at me before, in class I
mean? I swear I couldn’t move and then something happened to me I
didn’t understand. And I know you know." She held his face still,
making sure he didn’t look away from her to hide his secrets
again.

Tristan hesitated for a moment. His face was
frozen in a grimace—the expression of someone with nowhere left to
run.

"I do know." He sighed, and Kira thought it
sounded as though a weight that had been holding him in place had
suddenly been lifted free. "There’s something about me… about who,
no what, I am that you need to know, and Luke will have to fill you
in on the rest. I’m so tired of hiding, Kira." She could read the
anguish written all over his face and she let her hand fall to his
chest, to his heart, trying to give him some comfort in what he was
going to admit. "I’m-"

Tristan stopped talking and they both turned
to the sound of clapping that was coming from the back row of the
auditorium. Diana, John and Jerome sat with grins on their faces
and stood when Kira and Tristan finally noticed them. They strode
down the aisle, slowly with complete confidence, clapping at a
leisurely pace and staring only at Tristan. Kira was scared. She
didn’t understand what was going on or the more than venomous looks
on his friends’ faces.

"Well done, Tristan. You had even me
believing that performance." Diana gracefully jumped on stage in
one smooth motion that shocked Kira. Jerome and John stopped
clapping and followed suit.

"Don’t listen to a word they say, and please
stay behind me," Tristan whispered to Kira as he turned around to
face his friends. "This isn’t what it seems," he told his friends
in a confident voice Kira hoped he wasn’t faking.

"And what is it?" Jerome’s deep voice seemed
to reverberate off the walls.

"I brought her here to talk, and that’s it."
Tristan angled himself in front of Kira, as his friends seemed to
close in on them.

"To talk? And what, if I may ask, do you
possibly have to talk about?" Diana sneered and walked closer to
Tristan, stopping just barely a foot away from him. John and Jerome
came up beside her, and Kira hoped she was forgotten as they
continued to stare at Tristan.

"You may not ask," Tristan replied
coldly.

"Then I demand," Diana hissed. Kira saw
Tristan tense in front of her and a few seconds of strained silence
passed before he started laughing very obviously in Diana’s face.
Kira thought he had gone mad, surely there was nothing funny about
this situation, and she watched as his friends’ faces darkened with
anger.

"Demand? Diana, you get ahead of yourself.
You know you can’t threaten me." Tristan used his height to look
down at her, proving his dominance.

"Maybe I can’t alone, but even you can’t take
on three to one odds." Diana angled herself back, so she, Jerome
and John looked like one solid, impenetrable wall.

Kira watched as John and Jerome shuffled on
their feet, getting ready to move at a seconds notice. She hoped it
wouldn't become a fight. She had no idea Tristan’s friends would
react so harshly to seeing them together. For a moment, she
wondered if she had done the right thing in trying to pursue him.
Maybe it would have been better for him to draw her in secret and
for her move on never knowing or wondering what could have been.
But, Kira knew it was too late for those thoughts.

The fight she expected didn’t start. Instead,
John placed his hand on Diana’s shoulder. "Perhaps we should let
him explain," he questioned, relieving some tension.

Diana nodded, not breaking her gaze. "Can you
explain, Tristan? Why are you here with this girl when we said we
would kill her together or not at all? When we said we would wait
and watch to see how much she knew?"

Kill? Kira sucked in her breath. They thought
he meant to kill her? They all had planned to kill her?

"I was greedy, I admit." Tristan began and
Kira could hardly believe her ears. He couldn’t have meant to kill
her. They had met here because he wanted to be with her, or that’s
what she thought at least. Kira backed up a few feet, away from
him. After all, how much did she really know about Tristan? What if
he had been fooling her all along, fooling her into falling for him
so she would be easier to catch? But, why did he even want to catch
her or to maybe kill her? None of it made any sense.

Tristan started speaking again, and Kira
tried to shut her questioning mind down to listen. "I wanted the
power for myself, and for that I apologize. Let’s go and forget
this happened. Let’s go to a different town, one not swarming with
conduits to confuse us and place us against each other."

Conduits? Kira thought. What were conduits
and why would they try to split Tristan from his friends. And what
power?

Kira looked at Diana and saw one very
prominently raised eyebrow, displaying her doubt. The black haired
beauty didn’t believe Tristan’s story. But, Kira noticed, it wasn't
the killing or the conduits she questioned, but Tristan’s belief in
his own words. For the first time since moving to Charleston, Kira
wasn’t sure if she wanted all of her answers, especially to the
question of Tristan’s real intent. She couldn’t believe the kiss
had been a lie, but what if he was just a very good actor. She had
heard it in his voice during class. He could play the part of Romeo
very well, so why not that of seducer?

"Tristan?" Kira couldn’t help herself, she
had to ask, to know what was happening. She was scared of his
friends and maybe of him too. She needed reassurance that she would
be safe with him.

Tristan looked back at her, silently begged
her to be quiet, and Kira instantly knew she had made a mistake.
All eyes turned in her direction and Kira saw hunger written in
their faces. She watched the transformation as all of their eyes,
even Tristan’s, turned to a crystal blue. Their pupils expanded and
their top lips began to puff. It was the same look as Tristan’s had
been back in the classroom, but now Kira understood his was meant
to keep her away and this look was meant to kill. Fear raced
through her veins. She had never felt so much like prey. Time
seemed to stop as Diana took another step closer to Tristan without
taking her eyes from Kira.

"If you came here to kill, by all means, take
the first bite." Diana leaned over and whispered in Tristan’s ear
while running her hand down his arm. Tristan closed his eyes slowly
and Kira read the pain there. She had ruined whatever control over
the situation he had had.

Despite his best effort, Kira saw a trace of
hunger even in his expression and she wondered just how much
control Tristan had lost, not only over his friends but also over
himself. Diana, John and Jerome all stared at Tristan, waiting for
him to move towards her. They hunched over on their toes as if
ready to pounce and she saw the hunger for the fight in their eyes.
It was a challenge, that much was obvious. It was also obvious that
Tristan was losing.

Kira couldn't process anything fast
enough—killing and biting and conduits. She felt she was on stage
in a play but had forgotten all of her lines. She backed away
because her gut told her to go, but she couldn't go far because her
heart told her not to leave him. Tristan mouthed to her, and at
first she didn’t see what he said, but after a second time Kira
made out one word: run.

The next instant, Tristan turned and used
both of his hands to shove all of his weight and strength into
Diana’s stomach. Kira gasped as the other girl flew through the
air, landed in the seats below the stage and stood after a second
without a scratch. Diana jumped impossibly far and, in one leap,
was back onto the stage to face Tristan.

Tristan wasn’t waiting for her though. Kira
tried to follow his movements but could only see Jerome fly into
the stage curtain and John slam into the wall causing the brick to
crack apart. By the time Diana had returned from her initial punch
only seconds had past, but Kira saw Tristan wind up and punch her
in the face, sending Diana towards the back of the room again. To
her right, Jerome tore through the curtain and reemerged with death
in his icy blue eyes. He charged Tristan, only to be picked up and
shoved head first through the stage floor, creating a hole in the
wood. Jerome reached his hands beside the hole and pushed his head
from the floor. Instead of a bloodied mess, Kira saw Jerome
untouched by the landing.

She was frozen. Kira had known Tristan had
secrets, but watching him now made her realize she never should
have tried to uncover them. He wasn’t human, none of them could be.
Vibrations rumbled through her as their bodies slammed into the
walls and the ground, causing the entire auditorium to shake from
its very foundations. Not wanting to attract attention, she
continued to watch as Tristan stood like a titan throwing his
friends around as though they were dolls. She saw the building
start to fissure with the force, saw dents where their bodies
smacked, and she slowly back away while their attentions were on
each other rather than her.

When Kira reached the backstage door, she
tried to slowly turn her body to face away from the battle and she
groped for the door handle. Kira knew it was her only chance to get
away and get Luke. She was sure he understood what was happening
and that this was the gruesome revelation he had been warning her
about. If she didn’t leave now, Kira wasn’t certain she would be
able to escape with her life. She finally found the door handle.
But just as she slipped her hand around its contours, a loose brick
hit her in the leg, slammed her into the wall and almost knocked
her unconscious. Kira fell to the ground and there was silence.

All four of the misfits stared at her. She
felt her thigh, felt the warm liquid seeping from a newly formed
cut in her leg, and met Tristan’s eye. Now his hunger was obvious.
The sliver of his iris that was still visible seemed to glow blue,
and Kira wondered what horror story she had just become apart
of.

With Tristan still under the spell of his own
wants his friends jumped him. Jerome and John grabbed his arms,
twisting them and breaking each one before pulling them securely
behind his back. Kira tried to stand and run away now that she
couldn't hide, but Diana got to her impossibly fast and pulled
Kira’s hair to stop her. Kira screamed at the pain and Tristan
jolted awake, struggling to escape his friends and ignoring the
pain from his crooked arms.

"Not so fast," Diana said into Kira’s ear as
she dragged her around to face the boys. Jerome and John pulled
Tristan back to the stage and Diana forced Kira to face him, but
Kira wouldn’t meet his gaze. Diana let her go, but Kira knew there
would be no point to even try to run.

"She’s pathetic Tristan," Diana spat from
behind Kira. "She couldn’t fight. She doesn’t know what she is. She
couldn’t even run away properly. And this is what you fancy
yourself in love with?" Diana circled around to face Kira, and Kira
met her cold, almost crystal, eyes with the little courage she had
left.

"Diana," Tristan growled.

"Shut him up," Diana yelled back, revealing
the depth of her anger, and Kira watched as Jerome held Tristan
while John ripped his shirt to gag him.

"Your faux confidence is amusing," Diana said
and grabbed hold of Kira’s chin. "I’d rather see you beg though."
Kira remained silent. Diana slapped her across the face and Kira
fell to the ground holding her cheek, knowing it would bruise but
trying to ignore the pain. "Have you figured it out yet, little
Kira? What we are? How you’ll die?" Kira looked at Tristan. Her leg
had almost stopped bleeding. She wondered if it would clear his
head. Was it her or her blood that called to him? Kira looked at
Diana and saw her smile. She finally noticed the two pointed teeth
sticking slightly over her lip and Kira couldn’t help but wonder
when monsters had become a reality.

Kira was amazed at her own eerie calm and
acceptance of the situation. Vampires? She thought to silently
answer Diana, and as the word circled in her head, she knew it was
true—the blood, the teeth, and the strength. But she thought of
them on the beach, basking in the sunlight, thought of the humanity
in Tristan’s eyes when he had looked at her in the steeple, and
wondered what from the stories was really true.