Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) (12 page)

"But I thought-"

He interrupted. "I know, I just said the sun
won’t kill them, not like how it is in the movies with spontaneous
combustion and dust and Hollywood effects. The sun slowly kills a
vampire every time one is exposed, but the length of a year is like
the length of a second to a vampire. So, it would take thousands
and thousands of years for the sun’s toll to have any effect.
That’s where we come along. When we channel the sunlight, it
shortens the distance and makes the aging happen faster, so within
minutes we can kill or harm a vamp. Are you understanding this at
all?"

"I think so," Kira shrugged. She was a
superhuman conduit of sunlight—a protector against vampires that
would otherwise be unstoppable. In a weird way, she thought it
almost made sense. The sunlight had always warmed her, not only
physically, but also mentally, like she had a special tie to it.
And there was no other explanation she could imagine to describe
what had happened before. It was comforting to know she wasn’t a
monster but a savior. "But Luke, I don’t understand how I’m
different. Why I wasn’t raised with you."

"Just have a little more patience, I promise
I’m almost there." Kira swallowed her next words to let him
continue, and looked back out towards the ocean. The constant churn
of the waves, the monotonous pushing and receding of the water,
helped her maintain a sense of calm, something she figured she
would need as he went on.

"Amongst ourselves, there is debate about how
vampires, and therefore ourselves in response to vampires, evolved.
Many believe vampires were sent by Satan after his fall from heaven
to take over God's creations on earth. They think that we were
God’s response: that we are heavenly avengers meant to kill the
evil and rid the earth of them. They call themselves Punishers.
Many others think vampires evolved like parasites, and that the
parasite needs a host and changes the human body for its own
survival. They think there is something human, something redeemable
within the creature, and therefore swear not to kill, but only to
harm a vampire if it attacks a human. These conduits believe they
naturally evolved as nature’s response to the parasite, and call
themselves the Protectors.

"This debate, this question of purpose, has
been around as long as history can remember. It caused a huge split
in the conduits and separate species, if you will, formed because
of it. Punishers practiced only killing and sprouted red hair that
myth says is a sign of their inner anger. Eventually, they lost the
ability to use the light only in defense and became killing
machines. Protectors practiced only defensive tactics and developed
almost white hair, as a reflection of the purity they see deep
within a vampire’s soul. They lost the ability to kill."

"And you’re a Protector?" Kira asked, trying
to follow along and knowing that Luke’s blonde hair marked him as
such. He nodded. "But I’m…neither?" She still didn’t understand,
thinking of her own strawberry blonde. She didn’t fit either
category.

"Never in the history of both our people have
the Punishers and Protectors been able to have children. It's been
forbidden, because there is something else I haven’t mentioned yet.
Vampires can become immune to us."

"I don’t understand. I thought we were some
super race created to stop them." Kira gripped the pier’s wooden
railing as dread formed in the back of her mind. She was different
somehow, and it couldn’t be good.

"In a way, but then we would be all powerful
over them. There’s always a catch, and it’s another reason the two
races split. If a vampire drinks the blood of a conduit, he or she
becomes immune until the blood leaves their system, which varies
depending on the amount taken. If a vampire drinks a Punisher, he
becomes immune to their killing light and could theoretically move
from Punisher to Punisher, killing each and becoming stronger with
each kill. It’s too dangerous to even imagine. So, when the debate
began, the sides decided to split—not only to harvest different
powers, but to make sure no vampire could become immune to both
powers at the same time, which would mean he or she could wipe out
both races. If a Protector gets caught, Punishers must be able to
kill the vampire responsible. And if a Punisher gets caught,
Protectors need to trap the vampire until the blood leaves his
system. Otherwise, vampires could become unstoppable. It would be
chaos-"

"Which is where I come in?" Luke’s look told
her she had guessed right and Kira tried to figure out what she
was. "I’m a child of both races? I can aim to kill or to harm?"
Luke nodded. "And I’m forbidden to exist?" Luke nodded again. "I
could mean the end of the world?" Luke looked away from her this
time, and she felt tears form in her eyes again. "Am I evil…like
them?"

"No, God no, Kira." Luke pulled her in to his
arms, so she was smushed against his chest, and they sat for a
while as she tried to absorb all of this new information. She was a
thing of good, but could also mean the end of the world. So why had
they even let her live? Why hadn’t they forced her mom to have an
abortion as soon as they found out? Kira thought of her mother and
father—they didn’t seem like rule breakers. Her mother’s sweet red
hair, her father’s rather dull brown—brown? She thought. Had he
died it? But her sister’s hair was brown too? Was he not really her
father?

"Luke? Do you know about my parents?" She
looked up from the spot on his chest she had been crying into.

"Are you sure you want to hear everything
right now?" He looked down at her with concern, and Kira tried to
swallow the choke in her throat. The fact that he hadn’t said no
meant she had been on the right track. Her whole life was changing
in one afternoon—was she ready for more?

"Yes, I have to." Kira nodded into his wet
t-shirt.

"I’m so sorry I have to be the one, but,
Kira, well, the person you think is your mother is really your aunt
by blood, and the man you think is your father is really your
uncle." She looked at him with blank eyes. She felt empty inside.
Her entire life had been a lie. She felt as though reality were
sand slipping through her hands, like someone had played an evil
trick and was suddenly showing all of his cards before the game was
over. Kira moved away from Luke, to the other side of the bench and
hugged her knees to her chest. She tried to let her tears fall as
silently as possible, and knew she couldn’t tune Luke out even if
she wanted to.

Kira looked over at Luke before he continued,
saw the hurt in his eyes for her—his eyes that were so like her
own, a hint of green engulfed by yellow and orange swirls flecked
with red. He was good, unquestionably. Although, she had always
known that. The twinkle in his eye when he made someone laugh was
enough to show that he only cared about spreading joy and he had
only ever been a best friend to her. Even if everything was
changing, she knew she would have him to rely on. She nodded to him
to keep talking.

"Your real mom was one of my people, a
Protector, and your father was a Punisher. They secretly fell in
love and ran away together when they were found out. Your mother
had you in secret and when you were discovered, your father’s
people wanted to kill you for being an abomination, but mine took
pity because you were innocent and we promised to watch over you.
Your aunt, as your only blood relative, watched over you when you
were young, but when you moved to New York we set up parameters and
guardians. When you were fifteen, you started sneaking out with
friends and becoming reckless, so we had to send someone in…"

"Cy? My first boyfriend?" She guessed,
remembering how she had thought Luke looked like him the first day
of school. She thought of how Cy had been overprotective and always
called her. It hadn’t been for love at all. For all she knew he
never even liked her. Her first kiss was a complete sham. It stung
more than Kira realized it would. "And then you when I moved here,
somewhere where vampires went to my school and my moth-aunt
couldn’t watch me all the time." Luke nodded. She couldn’t talk
about her family anymore, not with Luke, not as though her life
were some textbook story he had had to study and memorize. "I need
a break, I can’t do this anymore right now. I’ll talk to my…aunt
later. It’s just too much." Kira looked at Luke, really looked at
his features, and wondered if her mother would have looked like
him. Did her real mother have the same sun bleached hair and fiery
eyes? The same warm compassion? Was she alive or dead? Mostly, what
Kira wanted to know was why neither of her parents had ever come
looking for her. If her father was a Punisher, was he only full of
anger or did he love too? Did either of them love Kira, or was she
just a mistake that never should have been allowed to survive?

Kira stood and walked to the pier’s railing.
Her mind was more tumultuous than the waters below her. She almost
felt that if she jumped in right now, it would calm her to be
pushed around a bit, that it would show her that the world
continued on despite the madness in her brain. But, those thoughts
just made her think of Tristan, who wouldn’t be there to save her
if she got overpowered by the ocean again. Kira couldn’t think of
him yet. It was too much to think that the boy you maybe started to
love was really evil. Not just a bad boy, but actually a
monster.

"I wanted to tell you," Luke said from behind
her, and she was happy to have him interrupt her thoughts. "A
thousand times I wanted to tell you, but I took an oath. You had to
discover your powers on your own. I wasn’t allowed to tell you
about anything in case the mix of Punisher and Protector canceled
each other out and left you just a normal human girl. When I saw
your eyes, I knew it couldn’t be true. I knew you weren’t a dud,
and that you were incredibly strong. But still, I had to be idle. I
know I may joke a lot, and break some of the school rules, but
there are some rules I know I can't test."

"I wish you had," she said, speaking to the
ocean because she couldn’t turn and look him in the face.

"I know."

"But I understand why you didn’t." Kira still
spoke to the wind. Knowing his intentions helped, but she still
couldn’t get rid of the small sting of betrayal.

"Really?"

She heard the creek of wooden planks as Luke
stood up from the bench and moved right behind her, like he needed
to be closer to Kira to believe she really meant her words.

"I know you and I know you’re good. You hoped
there was a chance I wasn’t supposed to be in this world where
vampires and conduits exist, and that there was a chance you
wouldn't have to be the one to turn my reality upside down."

"Can you forgive me?" Luke reached to put his
hand over the one she had rested on the rail. Kira tried to smile,
but couldn’t. Instead, she squeezed his hand in her own, trusting
he would understand what it meant, and finally met his sad,
puppy-dog looking eyes. Luke pulled her into his chest for another
hug. "I’m still your best friend even if everything else has
changed. I promise, that was never contrived." She nodded against
his body, not wanting to move from his comforting embrace. She knew
he was telling her the truth, and Kira knew she needed him. She
needed someone she could trust completely and someone who could
help her survive whatever journey her life had just turned
into.

"Can we leave the Tristan talk for another
time? I know you’re curious, but I just can’t."

"Of course."

"Luke, I can't go home yet. I can't face it.
When I see my parents, it’ll all become real. When I look at their
faces for the first time and don’t see a family resemblance…." Kira
cut off, trying to choke back the sob that had risen in her
throat.

"Come on," he tugged on her hand, pulling her
from the rail back towards the beach. "Let’s grab some ice cream.
You can stay on my couch for the night."

"Your parents won’t mind?"

"Kira…I’m your guardian. I’m twenty and I
live alone. I’m only pretending to be in high school."

"Oh." She shut up. One more surprise might
send her over the edge. There was only so much a girl could endure
before the fake calmness wore off and all the feelings she had
pushed down bubbled back up to the surface.

They walked down the boardwalk holding hands
and Kira relished the contact. She thought it darkly humorous that
passersby might think they were sweethearts. How many people had
she walked past who were secretly watching her and guarding her?
She bet she had passed vampires before and had never looked twice,
never even dreamed something like this could be true.

Luke bought them two ice cream cones and Kira
listened as he spoke of trivial things like Miles’ school craze and
class assignments. She knew he was just providing background noise,
that he knew she was lost in her own thoughts. He didn’t try to
intrude. He just tried to give her some semblance of normal, to
maybe make her laugh. Kira wondered when she would laugh again, as
she remained stone faced at Luke’s attempts.

When they finished, Luke steered Kira around
to his car and drove her to his house. It was small and he
explained that it had been given to him when he moved here to start
watching over her. She wondered if he was getting paid and how much
of a job this was for him. Was it a normal thing for a conduit to
have to do? To act like a babysitter? Or did they all stay in their
safe havens, not even trying to go out and search for people to
help? She knew nothing about her culture or her own people. It was
an odd feeling to have barely any idea where you came from. Her
mother had always told her she had an Irish heritage, and when she
was little, Kira used to spend hours reading about the druids and
old Irish folklore. She liked having a sense of history and it was
important to her to be able to connect to the past. But now, she
was part of this ancient secret society she knew almost nothing
about.