Ding.
Kira's phone beeped—a signal from Luke that they were almost there. And sure enough, Kira felt the car slow. The suitcase she was in slid forward, banging against the front of the trunk as the tires squealed.
Muffled voices grew louder and Kira heard the pop of the trunk through the slightly opened zipper to the left of her ear. Holding onto the foam lining as much as possible, Kira braced herself for lift off. Squeezing her body inside of a large suitcase was one thing, but having someone lift it was an entirely different story. She may not be large, but she wasn't a waif either.
Someone moved her, bringing the suitcase back toward the opening of the trunk. Or at least that was the direction Kira thought she was moving, but that could be—
Holy crap, she was airborne. Same as before, her hipbones pushed against the sides of the suitcase as it painfully dug into her skin. And slam, Kira's body shook as she was dropped on the pavement. Her teeth bit into her lip, almost drawing blood. Now she was reclining, moving so her back shared the burden of holding her weight, and she was moving, rolling down an uneven path.
Stop. More muffled voices. More movement. Until finally, Kira heard the metal at her ear jingle and zip.
"I'm going to kill him!" Were the first words out of her mouth, followed by the quick clamp of her lips to keep the sweet smell of Sonnyville from overwhelming her. Breathe, just breathe, Kira repeated to herself, slowly inhaling and exhaling through her nostrils. She felt the darkness weaving around her senses, felt it call for the smell of blood drifting through the air, felt it ripple along her canines.
Breathe, Kira said again, calming herself. She kept her powers locked tight. The smell slowly ebbed, getting less and less noticeable. Control, she thought, she just had to keep it controlled.
"Who?" Kira was pushed back to reality…to her pained limbs. She stood.
"You!" Kira spun toward the sound of Luke's voice and shoved his chest. "Fifteen minutes? More like an hour! And that foam stuff was crap, I have bruises everywhere."
"I'm sorry," Luke said holding his hands up as if to fend off another attack, but then his eyes sparkled, "but it was your idea in the first place."
Kira's eyes widened and she went in for another shove. "As a joke!"
"I still wouldn’t have thought of it if you hadn’t put the idea in my head," he said, slipping laughs out between the words and continuing to step backward out of Kira's reach.
She lunged for him anyway.
"Enough," a deep voice boomed behind her. "As much as I side with my granddaughter, there are more important things to discuss. Like why you're even here."
Kira turned around with a sheepish grin. "Hi Grandpa," she said, waving, and then looked to the side at the smaller, but still white-haired, woman next to him. Leaning over to kiss her cheek and offer a light hug, Kira added, "Hi Grandma."
Luke nodded formally to both of them, regaining his composure and Tristan reached out for a handshake.
"When I spoke with Luke on the phone, he said you wouldn't be coming."
Yeesh, Kira thought, she had forgotten how down to business he could be.
"I know," she replied, "but there was a slight change of plans. I just, well, there's a lot to fill you in on."
"Tea?" Her grandmother asked. Everyone, even Tristan, responded with 'yes' and a prolonged sigh. "Why don't we all sit down?"
A few minutes later, five steaming cups were placed on the dining room table, now occupied by Kira, Luke, Tristan and her grandparents.
"So you think the vampires are gathering outside of our walls for an attack? Led by this man Aldrich? Luke mentioned so much to me over the telephone, which was why we used the UV emitting car to pick you up at the landing strip. But why the secrecy with Kira?"
Luke looked at her, questioning. Kira wasn't sure how much she wanted to reveal.
"We heard the Punishers had gathered strength around here, that a lot of people might not be so welcoming if they saw Kira arrive," Luke said, not lying but not telling the whole story either.
"Is that true?" She asked. He nodded gravely.
"The Punisher Council has done a very good job at making their case, and your running away didn't help things either. A lot of people think that their accusations might be true…" He narrowed his eyes, peering closer at his granddaughter, almost as if he could sense the change in her. And maybe he did, because he was offering her the perfect opportunity to speak up. If she could buck up and take it.
"They are," she said quietly, quickly so she couldn’t back down. Staring at her cup, Kira watched the steam rise from her tea in silence, wondering if maybe that was what the smoke inside of her looked like. But hers was dirtier, more like a shadow than steam.
There was a gulp, but Kira couldn't say who it was.
"They are right," she said again, sitting up straight, stopping her cowardly behavior. It was the truth, and she had to keep facing it. "I'm turning into an original vampire, but Luke and I think we found a way to stop it." Or at least she hoped they did, that choosing one power over the other was key.
"How?" Her grandmother asked, in her sweet singsong voice that even then seemed somehow happy and hopeful.
"That's not important," Kira paused, not important or just not explainable? Forget it, she pushed past the thought, "what matters is that it is happening, I am falling, and Aldrich knows it. That's why he attacking Sonnyville, in the hopes that I'll fall and bring every other conduit down with me."
Her grandfather met her eyes, transferring some of his strength into her with a meaningful nod. He understood. He knew what was at stake, but wouldn't give up. "I assume you have some sort of plan?"
"Of course, Sir," Luke leaned forward, "it's unorthodox, but, we made an alliance," he paused to look at Kira, "we made an alliance with vampires."
"What?" Her grandfather's loud voice boomed, reverberating off the walls of the small dining area. Kira reached out, grasping his hand—to comfort him or to hold him in place, she wasn't sure. Her grandmother held his other hand and the two of them locked eyes, almost in an inside joke even though it wasn't the right time for that. Kira held her eye roll back, but her grandmother didn't, and it gave Kira strength—maybe she could change his time-fortified beliefs.
"Just listen," Kira tugged on his wrinkly hand, getting his unsteady attention, "I made an exchange. They'll fight for us, help take down Aldrich, and in return I will turn them human when all of the fighting is over. They know the risks and they want to help."
"I will not willingly allow vampires inside these walls, it's an out—"
"Don’t worry," Kira interjected, almost happy Pavia had the same thought, "they don't want to come inside. They'll stay beyond the wall, they'll fight from the outside." Kira leaned forward on her thighs as the bigger picture expanded right before her eyes, reminding her what so much of this fight could really be about. More than personal vengeance, or vendettas. It could be about a whole new world.
She glanced at Tristan as he silently sipped his tea, listening intently but knowing it was not his place to speak. He was the future. He was the proof that not every vampire was as evil as conduits had always believed.
"Don't you see," Kira continued, "I saved Tristan. And you said it before, we can save more vampires. We don't have to be enemies with all of them. And this fight can be the start of that—the start of Protectors doing what they were always meant to do—Protect. Not kill."
Tristan stared at her from across the table as a small blush rose to his cheeks. He didn't know that, Kira realized. He never knew what his life meant, what his redemption could mean. She crinkled her eyes, letting appreciation light her irises.
Her grandfather pursed his lips, rubbing his palms together. Luke's foot tapped under the table, impatient. This needed to work.
"What's the rest of the plan," her grandfather grunted, giving his unofficial agreement to the first part. Kira smirked and Luke squeezed her thigh reassuringly—so far, so good.
"The rest is
business as usual," Luke chimed in, getting excited, "the conduits gather in the town square, ready to face whatever vampires manage to make it over the wall. We form normal ranks, and put the children under lock down, guarded with our best fighters and half of the Punisher Council." Her grandfather nodded, but Kira had a slightly different idea.
"Or we evacuate them," she said slowly.
Her grandfather looked at her slowly, eyes widening as understanding took over. "The escape route under the wall."
"That's the one," she agreed happily, "send them with a protective guard and get them as far away from the fighting as possible."
"Funny you never mentioned that idea before," Luke said under his breath, sensing her ulterior motive.
"It came to me while I was stuffed in the suitcase with nothing but my thoughts to ease my pain," she replied sweetly, a little too sweetly. His eyes narrowed. Dang it, why could Luke read her so well? She couldn’t stop now though. "Do we by any chance know where it is?" His eyes shrunk to tiny slivers.
"Yes, one second…" her grandfather eased slowly out of his chair, his body betraying the strength his voice evoked. He returned with a large scroll and rolled it out on the table.
Blueprints.
"It starts here, in a hidden passage in the basement, in what has been the house of the head Councilman since the day Sonnyville was created."
Kira followed her grandfather's finger as it rubbed against the paper, tracing a thin line that began under this very house, ran straight along the main road, under the wall and emptied right beside the first intersection, at least three miles outside of Sonnyville.
Bingo.
She looked at Tristan. This was his salvation. A way for Pavia to come in, a way for her to erase his memories, a way for Kira to save him from the darkness that haunted his vampiric life.
"What?" Kira asked, shifting her gaze. Someone had asked her a question.
"Is that the whole plan?" Her grandfather asked. Kira nodded. "I'm calling an emergency Council meeting. Luke, come with me to the town square, tell everyone what you told me over the phone. Do not mention the vampires or the fact that Kira is here, just the imminent attack." Luke nodded, all business.
"Lana, come with us. Lead the children and their guards to the passageway when the time comes, you remember the entrance I showed you long ago?" Her grandmother smiled yes, partly proud of her grandfather for being such a strong leader, but also proud that she could help.
He looked at her. "Kira, stay here and stay hidden. Keep Tristan and yourself out of sight, and whatever happens, do not join in the fight. If what you say is true, and you really are falling, we cannot risk it."
Luke's eyes bored into the side of her head, focusing hard on her response. "I'll do what you say." Almost, she thought to herself, almost.
"Then there is nothing more to discuss. Let's go." He stood up, rolling the parchment paper back into its original tube, before striding from the room. Her grandmother stepped after him, lightly on her old feet.
Luke turned, but paused, looking back at her.
"How much am I going to hate whatever you're planning?"
"Not much," Kira said, her lips popped open, widening of their own accord. She wasn't just saying goodbye to Tristan, she was choosing Luke once and for all. Because she loved him, because he was her best friend, and because she refused to take away Tristan's newfound peace, his second chance at life. "In fact, you'll love it."
Luke brought his eyebrows together, tilting his head and plumping his cheeks to the beginning stages of a grin. Excitement was brewing on the other side of their bond. A sort of hope had sprouted in the corner of his mind but there was also confusion as to what had started it, a sense of doubt. "Then why won't you tell me?"
"I'm waiting for the right time," Kira said, using her fingers to push his chest toward the door. "And two seconds before a big Council meeting isn’t it. Go." Kira nudged him again, thinking for a second that his indecision was cute, in a totally loveable and easy way.
She kissed him quickly, barely brushed his lips, but still a warm tingle flowed slowly down her body. He leaned down for more, but Kira turned him around and pushed again. Didn’t he ever listen? She said it wasn't the right time.
Luke took a second look and ran a hand through his messy yellow locks. Then with a slight shrug, a sign he would let it be, he followed her grandparents out the door.
For a moment, all Kira could appreciate was the fresh air, the clean scent, the almost complete absence of sugar filling her nostrils. The conduits were gone. She had made it through her first interaction in Sonnyville. And she could control it, at least a little, enough to see Luke again before the fight. Because that would be the right time, finally.
Realizing she hadn't moved, Kira peeked out the curtains, following Luke's movement down the block and around the corner.
Go time.
"Tristan?" Kira spun.
"Yes?" She looked over toward his voice.
He was still at the table, sitting quietly and sipping his tea. The black hairs her fingers could trace by memory were in disarray, slipping over his eyes, messy in a way that could only look good. Those lips, ones that had one traced their way down her body, were flushed, hot from the tea. His skin was smooth. His forehead unmarred with concern, despite the chaos that had been surrounding him the past couple of days. And his eyes, brown, but not plain, a rich warm chocolate laced with caramel. She could lose herself in those just as easily as in the deep blue sea that was once in their place.
He would never be her Tristan again. But he was still Tristan, still someone she would always love and could probably love again.
"Kira?" He asked, confused at her prolonged stare.
She had intended to tell him that Pavia would be dropping in, but different words tumbled out, "What do you want to do when you grow up?"
He smiled, tilting his head in surprise. "I'm not certain. I feel like an adult already."
"But you're not," Kira said, sitting back down at the table, "you're only seventeen. Heck, you're younger than me now. You have an entire life ahead of you." And he did. He had an entire human life, a new life not plagued by his past, because he didn't really have one, not a long one anyway.
"I have always loved art, so I suppose something with that."
Kira smiled, "that sounds perfect for you." She looked at him again, imagining age lines along his perfect face, maybe a pair of glasses perched on the rim of his nose. An art history professor, she could see it perfectly. All the girls in his class would come for office hours, gossip about him as soon as they walked out the door. But he would be good at that, history and art. They had always been his favorite things.
"What about you?" He asked.
"A chef, I've always wanted to be a chef." And she could be one, Kira realized, if she could split her powers. If she became a Protector, her life wouldn’t be totally ruled by her powers, by vampires chasing her down.
Kira had a choice.
And she realized something she had never thought of before, Tristan deserved one too. He deserved to decide his own fate. She couldn’t bear to see that haunting look return to his eyes, to watch him retreat back into the recluse he had been before they had met—the one who never let anyone get close, never let his walls fall. She loved him too much for that.
But it was his life—his choice.
"Do you want to remember, Tristan?" Kira asked softly, staring down at her fingers rather than at him.
"Yes," he said. Kira sucked in a breath. "And no." She exhaled. "There are things I wish I did remember, things like you, but there are other things too. Watching this entire town prepare for a fight against the thing I used to be, hearing how they attacked you before, how they attacked your mother, it makes me question who I became. And if it was a bad person, who did bad things, I don't think I want to know that that part of me exists."
"You were never a bad person," she said and looked up.
"But I did bad things…" Kira didn�
��t say anything. There was no denying the truth in that statement.
"I fought in two battles during The Civil War. In the first, I was so frightened that I never fired my weapon. I was saved only by luck. And in the other, I shot a man in the shoulder. I was so overcome with shock that he had time to fire back, wounding me, and I fell. That is my last memory before waking up next to you, and I can live with that. Some might say it was cowardly, but I would rather be named a coward than a killer."
"You're neither," she said gently, "you're a good person." You opened my eyes to love, she told herself silently, you made everything seem somehow possible and I will always love you for that even if you don't remember it.
And she would. Even as her love for Luke grew, a small part of her would always belong to Tristan.
Kira pulled out her phone and scrolled down to Pavia's name. She couldn't delay any longer. It was time.
"Hey, Kira. What's up?"
"Where are you guys?"
"Close. We're hanging back until we get word from you. Nothing's started yet, right?"
"No this is about something else. About something we spoke about earlier, back in Charleston, by the marsh…"
"Oh?"
Kira waited for her to understand. She didn’t want to say it out loud, to alert Tristan.
"Oh…" Realization dawned. "Oh, that. What about it?"
"We need to do it now, before the fight. I need to know that he'll," Tristan squinted at her, listening in, and Kira gulped down the words, "that everything will be okay, you know, in case the worst happens."
"The worst being you die or you become an original vampire and kill everyone?"
Kira rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Really?"
"Just asking." Kira felt the smile and shrug through the phone.
"Either."
"On a scale from one to ten, ten being you turn into a vampire, what are the chances of me becoming a human after all of this?"
"If you keep teasing me? Eleven."
"Alright, alright, ruin my fun. How do you want to do this?"
"Do you remember that secret tunnel Luke mentioned? Its entrance is right out at the end of the road, I'll text you the address. Just follow it until the end and I'll be there waiting."
Scorch (Midnight Fire Series) Page 15