Ignite (Midnight Fire Series Book One) (19 page)

Kira looked around while he waited in line,
noticing the jealous stares of her fellow classmates and pointedly
avoiding the table all the way in the back. She was ignoring him
tonight and not thinking about how his black suit set off the stark
blue of his eyes so nicely.

Kira quickly drank the few glasses of soda
Carter retrieved, and then headed straight to the dance floor
again. Carter managed the crowd easily, pushing them closer to the
center and away from the tables, so other dancing couples
surrounded them. Kira started to feel dizzy, like the white lights
and glowing cobwebs above her were moving around with them.
Carter’s actions seemed to be in slow motion and she felt herself
giggling without any reason. When he started kissing her neck, Kira
wanted to pull back, but her muscles weren’t cooperating and she
had to lean on him just to keep from falling over. He looked down
at her, smiling, and she laughed loudly, like his kiss was the
funniest thing in the world. He spun her around, holding her waist
when she wobbled, so that her back pressed against his stomach.

Kira leaned her head against his chest,
closing her eyes to keep the room from spinning, and almost fell
when she felt Carter step back suddenly. His arm came around her
again and she was pressed up against his chest this time, but he
wasn’t dancing anymore. Kira opened her eyes to ask what was wrong
and instead of Carter’s honey irises she saw Tristan’s blue ones.
She giggled at the unexpected, but welcome, turn of events.

"Hello," she said and leaned her head back
against his chest, this time spotting Carter on the floor, doubled
over and clutching his stomach. "Did you hit him? That wasn’t very
nice." She tried to scold him, but Tristan just rolled his
eyes.

"C’mon. You need some fresh air."

"No, I’m fine. Let’s just stay like this."
Kira leaned her head against his chest again, stopping her spins
and balancing issues in one deft move. Tristan wrapped his arm
around her waist and slowly led her through the mass of people,
gripping tighter when he felt her balance wane. After a few
minutes, they had slipped free of the crowd and were exiting the
humid gym. The blast of cold breeze felt fantastic and Kira let
Tristan lead her away from the school and past the football field
to the big tree overhanging the school’s manmade lake. He sat down
and leaned against the tree, motioning for her to sit with him, but
Kira ignored it and started dancing to the quiet strains of music
they could hear coming from the gym.

"Kira, sit down." He sounded frustrated.

"No! I want to dance." She started jumping up
and down to the beat of the music and almost lost her balance, but
Tristan stood up and caught her before she crashed. He slipped his
jacket off and Kira pushed her arms through the oversized sleeves.
Finally, she calmed down and swayed to the music with him.

Kira sighed, resigned to the fact that the
moment felt completely right.

"What?" he asked.

"I’m supposed to be ignoring you, but it’s
not working."

He laughed quietly. "No, that doesn’t seem to
be working for either of us."

"Is that why you punched Carter?"

"I just couldn’t stand the way he was
touching you." Kira smiled to herself.

"Jelly belly," she said, wishing she could
get her mouth to stop word vomiting. She could feel his chin on the
top of her head as he pulled her in closer.

"Maybe." He said, but it sounded more like a
begrudging yes.

Kira yawned.

"Time to sit down," he told her while helping
her down to the spot next to him on the ground and leaning her back
against the tree. Kira watched the moon reflect off the water. She
looked at the sky and saw it still swerving there, and finally had
the realization Tristan must have had in the gym.

"I think my sodas were not just soda," she
concluded as the world continued to spin.

"I think you’re right." He put his arm around
her, letting her head fall to his shoulder. They sat silently in
the moonlight, just enjoying one another’s company.

"Are you like one hundred years old?" Kira
spat out the first question that came to her mind. She had never
even thought of it before, too consumed by his eating habits
instead.

Tristan shrugged. "A little older."

Kira sat up, fascinated, and turned to look
him in the eyes. "How old?" She asked, feeling like a little
girl.

"About one-hundred and fifty, give or take a
year." Kira’s jaw dropped and her eyelids widened in complete
shock.

"Gross!" She clamped her hands over her mouth
before she could say anything else. He just laughed it off.

"I look pretty good for someone who’s more
than a century old, right?" He grinned. She blushed, thinking of
their kiss, and silently agreed.

"So, what do we do now? I’m seventeen and
growing, you’re seventeen and stagnant." Kira finally felt herself
coming down from the alcohol Carter had slipped her. The lake still
seemed to glow and the stars still danced in the sky, but she was
regaining her mental control.

"I don’t know," he whispered and reached for
her hand. Kira intertwined her fingers with his, amazed at his cool
touch against her boiling skin. Fire and ice, she thought. That
really was what they were, complete opposites. Fire could melt ice
and ice could douse a fire, but was there anyway for the two to
meet in the middle? But, she thought, Tristan wasn’t just icy, he
was passionate and alive too—more like a flame trapped in the
arctic, struggling for the chance to be set free.

Kira snuggled in closer as his arm tightened
around her shoulders, and she let her breath slow, let herself
enjoy the comfort of these moments where nothing but her feelings
mattered, when her mind had shut off for a moment.

A scream sounded, waking Kira from her
reverie.

She bolted upright, out of Tristan’s arms,
and he stirred beside her, jolted from his quiet slumber. They both
heard the second scream loud and clear.

Kira looked to the right towards the woods by
the school. She swore it came from that direction.

"Come on, we have to help," Kira said and
took off at a run towards the noise. Tristan swore and ran past
her, using his supernatural speed to shoot ahead. Kira made it to
the tree line, where the moonlight lost its power and everything
was pitch black. She heard whimpering ahead of her, sure that
whatever girl had screamed was now in real danger. She crept
forward, trying not to trip on the roots and twigs all over the
ground.

Kira saw the blue glow of a cell phone
through the trees and hid behind a bush to evaluate the situation.
She had to help. What if that girl had been her? But, she wasn’t
sure what she faced on the other side. She started to stand up.

"Stop." Tristan breathed into her ear. She
nearly screamed from fear. "It’s Jerome and John. Let me." And,
Tristan disappeared around the tree bend towards the noise.

"Jerome. John. Control yourselves." She heard
the commanding tone in Tristan’s voice. But there was no reply.
Kira couldn’t help it. She was too curious and too worried that
Tristan wouldn’t save the girl. She crept, on her hands and knees,
around the tree and peered towards the light from the cell phone.
The LCD cast an eerie blue glow around the forest, illuminating
Tristan. She followed his gaze further and could barely make out
the shadow he stared at.

Kira inched closer. Then she understood.

A girl in a Cinderella costume lay sprawled
on the ground, perpendicular to Kira. Her hair was filled with
leaves and dirt, proving a struggle had occurred, and now she
wasn’t moving. Jerome leaned over her neck and John, with his back
to Kira, held her wrist to his mouth.

Kira was paralyzed. They were killing her.
But, instead of feeling powerful and angry, Kira felt afraid. The
scene had dredged up a memory she had buried long ago, but now it
all came rushing back.

Baby Kira looked up into the pale freckled
face of a woman with straight pearly blonde hair. She tugged on the
loose tendrils, thinking it a game, and laughed when she caught
stray strands flying in the breeze.

"We have to hurry," a man said, and Kira was
scared by his tone. She looked over at the tall man with curly red
hair, and he strained a smile for her benefit. "Don’t you worry,
baby girl." He said and tapped her nose. She tried to reach his,
but her arms were too short. Instead, she used her fire and shot a
bolt at his face, laughing as the pretty colors danced across the
sky. He looked shocked as the flame landed on his cheek, but it
sunk deep into his skin with no harm done.

"I’m going to get you," he said, sweeping her
from the woman’s arms and swinging her over his shoulder to pat her
bum. Kira laughed and shot a bolt at her mother for another
reaction. Her mother caught it in her hand and shot it back. Kira
clapped her pudgy baby hands and tried to squish the light, but she
missed. She tried again, and shot a long stream at her mother, who
now caught it in two hands. She was about to send it back, when
seven men burst out of the trees to their left.

"Lana!" The man shouted as the strangers
grabbed the woman. She shot the light at them and they fell
backwards, but kept coming. The redhead man ran to the side with
Kira and lifted her off of his shoulders, hiding her in the twigs
and leaves of a bush.

"Kira, baby. Listen to daddy," he whispered
urgently, "be quiet and don’t shine your light. Whatever happens,
this is very important. Do not let anyone see your power." Even as
a baby, Kira knew to listen. He kissed his fingers and touched the
kiss to her forehead.

Then he turned and shot bolts of light from
his hands like bullets, slamming them into the vampires nipping at
the woman lying on the ground. The vampire stumbled backwards, but
more came from behind the man and jumped him, biting into his
flesh. He screamed and let the light come out in a long wave. Some
vampires were thrown away, other’s who were feeding were immune to
the effects. Eventually, the man fell to his knees, then his
stomach, until he too lay still on the ground.

Vampires circled both bodies, lying over
them, not letting a single drop of blood escape their lips.

Kira sat in the bush, still not able to
crawl. She didn’t release her fire. She wanted to make her father
proud. Kira cried silently, until a minute later another crash
came, this time from behind her. Arcs of light soared over her head
towards the vampires. At first nothing happened, but slowly the
vampires moved back against the onslaught of light, not totally
immune. Someone grabbed Kira and lifted her from the bush, but she
listened to her father and didn’t show anyone that she could make
flames as well.

The vampires moved from her father, but they
could not be pushed from her mother. The woman was still surrounded
and dying.

"Let’s go. We must hurry." Kira heard. In an
instant, she had been turned from the scene and a new woman was
holding her and telling her everything would be all right.

"No!" Kira shot up from the ground, propelled
back from the memory into the present day. Jerome looked up. His
pupils had expanded so his eyes were ivory with bloodlust. Kira was
furious. Quick as it had ever come, as though the vision had fully
awakened her powers, Kira shot fire at John’s back and right into
Jerome’s face. Both were instantly flying through the air, slamming
into and breaking tree branches with the force of Kira’s power.

Somehow, she kept the light from Tristan and
it curved around him. He was safe. He was not evil and not the
force of her rage.

When Jerome and John had been flung
completely from her sight, Kira winked out the fire, fast and easy,
as though turning off a light bulb.

"Well, well. Someone has certainly learned a
thing or two in the past few weeks." Diana spoke, emerging from the
trees behind Tristan. "Can’t hit me without getting lover boy too.
Such a shame." She pouted, still glaring at Kira.

Diana was angry. She must have known where
Tristan had gone when he disappeared from the school dance. Kira
thought about trying to shoot around Tristan again, but her initial
anger was waning, and she wasn’t sure if she could control it.

"Get out of here, Diana." Tristan tried to
move out of the way, but Diana just followed, protected as long as
she remained two feet behind him.

"Oh, Tristan." She placed an arm over his
shoulder. "I’ve been letting this go for far too long, letting you
suck on your plastic bags, letting you get more human with each
passing day. But, it ends here." He made a move to escape her but
she held steady. "Oh, not right now. I’ll let you live in this
dream world, where you and our mortal enemy live happily ever
after. But, I’ll be back and you’ll be my Tristan again. And when
you are," Diana let him go and forced him to look Kira in the eyes,
"she’ll be the first one you kill." Diana pushed Tristan from
behind, and he stumbled into Kira with a look of horror marring his
features.

Kira caught him, distracted enough to miss
her chance to weaken Diana. Instead, Diana disappeared into the
woods, probably following John and Jerome, concocting a plan for
revenge.

"This is all my fault," Tristan swore to
himself. Kira hugged him, closing her eyes and comforting him for
the moment he needed, before standing up and walking to the girl
lying on the ground. She looked so small in her torn and now
bloodied Cinderella costume. Kira figured she must be a freshman
who was excited by Jerome or John’s interest, never once suspecting
anything bad would happen. Kira knelt down and lifted the girl’s
head onto her lap. She had healed herself before, now it was time
to try the skill out on someone else.

Kira placed her palms over the girls ears,
holding onto her head, and let her power melt into the girls skin.
She could feel it travel through her veins, sealing wounds and
healing bruises. After a moment, the girl stirred and moaned in
pain, and Kira stopped. She would be safe. The girl would live.