Letting her hand fall back to her side, Kira walked over to where Diana had been standing. Kneeling down, she picked a few of the silky rose petals from the grass, wondering if Tristan would know what the peculiar invite had been about.
As late afternoon approached, Kira knew it was time to head home and slip back into the hotel room before either of the boys showed up. She picked up a snack and happily walked through the lobby. Once inside, Kira ran back over to the chair and quickly stuffed all of the papers she had been reading back into her folder. Carefully, she slipped the folder inside a T-shirt in her duffle, keeping it completely hidden from view. She placed the rose petals in a pile on the table and hunkered down to wait.
And wait.
And wait a little more until Kira just about thought she would go crazy. Patience was so not a virtue. It was torture, especially when she had two boys with hero complexes chasing after evil vampires.
When the doorknob finally clicked, Kira zeroed in on the entryway, shocked to see Luke and Tristan enter at the same time, chuckling with one another.
"What the heck?" Kira said and stood, staring at them angrily. It was one thing to leave her at home and go their separate ways, but it was a whole different thing to leave her behind and go adventuring together. They didn't even like each other! Though Kira supposed she should take it as a good sign that they were laughing and not at each other's throats as per usual.
Tristan walked over to pull her into a tight one-armed hug and said, "Oh, nothing. Luke's friends tried to kill me," which caused another burst of guffaws from Luke.
Kira shirked out of the hold to turn and look at him. It took all of her will power not to angrily point in his face. "What?"
"Dude, they weren't trying to kill you. They were just trying to throw you off the roof."
"What!" Kira spun to face Luke now.
"Trying being the operative word."
Kira spun to Tristan again. Being the third wheel was utterly dizzying. She couldn't stop from spinning around to try to edge her way into the conversation.
"They sort of succeeded." Luke grinned.
Enough, Kira thought.
"Stop!" she yelled to finally make the boys pay attention to her. "What is going on?" Each boy stopped smiling as if noticing Kira's frustration for the first time. Was steam coming out of her ears yet?
"It's not a big deal," Tristan said while lightly rubbing her arm. "Luke texted me to meet him on some roof because he'd found information, so I went. But by the time I had gotten there, a few other conduits had joined in and thought I was trying to attack them, so they fought back—"
"Ah," Luke took over, "don't skip over the best part! When Tristan landed on the roof, my friends tried to blast him off of it with their power, but they just sent him flying right into a water pipe that burst like a geyser. It was just like one of those cartoons. Tristan was butt-smacked off the roof by the blow!" Luke could barely finish the story before he doubled over in another fit of laughter.
"Are you okay?" Kira turned back to Tristan, finally taking in the slightly damp quality to his clothing.
"Yeah, it was awesome. I haven't been surprised like that in a while. One minute I'm standing on the roof, the next I'm flying." He grinned boyishly.
"Getting catapulted off of a roof was fun?" Kira asked, deadpanning. Tristan shrugged and she rolled her eyes. Some things she would just never understand.
"Kira, you would have died if you were there. I can't stop playing the picture of him somersaulting through midair," Luke voiced while he collapsed into an armchair.
"I'm glad you two had...fun..." Kira said and sat down on the couch, shaking her head. "I had a good day too," Kira started, not sure how to tell them she had sort of broken their rules and gone outside.
"What did you do?" Tristan asked and settled on the couch next to her, dropping an arm around her shoulder.
"A little of this, a little of that—you know, some reading and well, some spying on Diana—"
"What?" Tristan sat up and turned to face her.
"I swear, I didn't mean for anything to happen. I really didn't go out looking for Diana. But, you didn't really expect me to stay inside all day, did you? I was bored out of my mind."
Both boys shrugged to say, "Yeah we sort of did think you would stay inside." But in Kira's mind, they should've known better.
She continued, "Anyway, I was sitting on a bench out by the water when I saw her." Both boys sat up straight, about to ask the same question, but Kira cut them off. "No, she didn't see me. Relax, I was completely incognito."
Kira told them about the meeting on the hill and how Diana had been acting strangely, like some sort of love stricken puppy. Finally, Kira ended with the invitation and pointed to the roses on the table.
"You saw Baltimore's head vampire. His name is Bronson," Tristan said with a sigh. "His nose is the unfortunate monstrosity you described, but it's said that he can smell anything a mile away—even the sun on a conduits skin. It's a miracle you weren't seen."
"How can we be sure?" Luke asked.
"The fact that she is sitting in this room completely unharmed means she wasn't seen," Tristan whispered, and Kira couldn't suppress the gulp that slid down her throat. "Bronson is not one for leniency, and out in the open like that, he would have taken her for sure. Or at least tried."
"And this is the same guy you had tea with?" Luke asked in disbelief.
Tristan nodded.
"But what was with the invitation and the strange back and forth between them?" Kira asked.
Tristan leaned forward in his seat to pick up a stray rose petal. He rolled the red strip between his fingers, lost in thought.
"Unfortunately, I know exactly what this is—the Red Rose Ball." Kira and Luke looked at each other, both scared by Tristan's ominous tone.
"Why is this ball so important?" Kira asked, not a hundred percent sure she wanted an answer.
"Not important, but elite—very elite. I've never been invited, but I know what it is. Once every generation, the head vampire of a region will take his or her turn hosting the ball. They invite every vampire who meets one single requirement—immunity."
Kira squinted, not liking where this was going. "Immunity...to conduits?"
Tristan nodded. "There are two balls—the Red Rose Ball and the White Rose Ball. In order to be invited to the Red Rose Ball, a vampire must own a captive Punisher. For the White Rose Ball, a Protector." Tristan ended quietly. Kira and Luke looked at each other like they were going to be sick.
"How have we not known about this?" Luke asked Tristan.
"It's kept very private and it's a very rare event. I can't believe that this is what Diana is here for. I don't even know if more than three have been held in my lifetime."
"And is it true? How can you guys be certain all of the vampires invited actually have enslaved conduits?" Luke leaned forward, his brow furrowed in concern. Trapped conduits were the exact thing he had been taught to fear for his entire life—the one thing every conduit was told could mean the end of the world.
"There's a test. The host will welcome each guest with his own enslaved conduit, in the case of the Red Rose Ball, a Punisher. If the guest can walk through the conduit's flames, they live and enter. If not, they die. It's not a gamble most vampires would be willing to risk."
"Which means Diana found herself a conduit?" Kira asked.
"I don't think so," Tristan said, "but there's no other explanation is there?"
Kira thought back to the way Diana had been acting. Before Bronson showed up, she had been nervous. When he got there, she acted sort of like a lovesick girl and as soon as he left, Diana had become calculating again. And what was it he had slipped into her hand at the last moment?
"What if she doesn't have a conduit? What if she's just made friends with the right people?" Both boys looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "I think Bronson gave her a vial of Punisher blood to cheat the system, so she could come to the ball. I think mayb
e they've been dating."
"Isn't she, you know, a little too evil to date?" Luke asked while pretending to act like the killer in a slasher movie.
"It makes sense in a way," Tristan said. "She must have gotten wind of the ball and come up here after everything happened that day last year. We stopped John and Jerome, so she had no one left to run to. Why not cozy up to a head vampire with connections and means of protecting her?"
"And means of sneaking her into the ball," Kira added.
"But why? I mean, I get that this ball is some huge macho vampire event," Luke chimed in. "But why go to so much trouble for a party?"
Kira and Tristan shrugged.
"That's exactly what we need to find out," Tristan said.
"How?" Kira asked.
"I need to go to that ball," Tristan said while looking over at Kira sadly. At first she didn't understand why he looked so distraught, but after a moment Kira got it.
"My blood," Kira said softly. "My blood will get you inside."
This is not a big deal, Kira thought quietly to herself, Tristan's a vampire and I'm his girlfriend and it's just a little blood. But sometimes Kira found herself forgetting Tristan was a vampire. Well, not forgetting, but pushing it from her mind. The super strength and reflexes, even his age and immortality never bothered her. In fact, she found it sort of cool and definitely sexy.
But the blood thing was a little too much to think about, a little too disgusting sometimes. She would make excuses, like he never ate around her because he wasn't hungry. They had even turned the fact that he couldn't come over for a meal with her parents into an inside joke. But now, with the thought of him sucking her blood staring her in the face, Kira couldn't help but feel a little queasy. Or maybe, she thought hopefully, it was just Luke invading her brain again.
Realizing she had been quiet for a little while, Kira nodded an affirmation in Tristan's direction to let him know he could of course have her blood. It was no big deal. Everything would be completely fine, but she couldn't keep another thought from creeping into her mind, a lingering doubt from months before.
"Can I ask you one question first?" Kira said hesitantly. Tristan nodded, telling her to continue. "Well, I thought conduit blood was supposed to affect vampires and make them lose control, you know go a little crazy, but you seem to be fine with it..." She trailed off, not sure what question she was even asking. All she could picture was the sight of him chained up, swallowing her blood as Diana looked on with glee. Kira never understood why he hadn't been affected that day, why he didn't go crazy, and there had never seemed to be a good time to ask until now.
"Oh that," Tristan said quietly, unable to meet her eyes. "Conduit blood only affects vampires if they aren't used to it. But, I've had it before."
"What?" Kira said in disbelief. She fought the urge to jerk away from him.
"Not like that," he said quickly. "Aldrich forced me to when I was newly turned—he wanted me to be strong enough to help him capture new conduits when the time came. I left before he could use me like that, but I've been exposed to enough conduit blood that it will never affect me like that again."
Kira understood, she really did, but she couldn't quite fight the sense of betrayal in the back of her mind. He had drunk the blood of other conduits and enough of it to last a lifetime? It just seemed wrong. But could she really be angry with him for something that happened more than a century ago?
No, it wasn't fair to be mad at him, Kira realized. The only reason any of them survived the eclipse was because her blood hadn't turned him. I won't let it affect our relationship, she promised silently, I won't think of him differently. But still, Kira found herself purposefully looking across the room to avoid meeting Luke's eyes—to avoid facing the disgust she knew they held.
"Just one problem," Luke said from his chair, speaking into the silence and smoothly changing the subject. "We have no idea when the ball is."
"I think I do," Tristan spoke up. "Bronson has been lying to me for the past two days, not really unheard of in my world, but he mentioned he would be gone this weekend. I think it was to keep me from unexpectedly dropping in. Saturday at sundown—that'll be when it starts."
"I need to go," Luke blurted out while jumping up from his seat, like a slingshot finally being released. "I'm calling an emergency convention. If Tristan's crashing the party, we can too."
"What do you mean?" Kira asked.
"Protectors, we need to go in. We need to find out where all of these trapped Punishers are and rescue them."
"You'll need every conduit in the area to trap these guys, Luke," Tristan warned. "They're some of the most powerful vampires in the world. I'm not sure you know what you're up against."
"Don't worry about me," Luke said while grabbing his cell phone. "I'll be back later." He disappeared out the door with a determined expression. Kira could almost see the wheels spinning in his head. Luke had three days to amass an army and it definitely wouldn't be easy.
Kira leaned into Tristan's chest. He responded by hugging her closer and absently rubbing her arm with his fingers. Kira held his free hand, letting her fingers dance along his palm, but her mind was elsewhere.
At best, her mother was being held captive by some vampire, and at worst, she was dead. Or maybe it was the other way around. Should she be hoping to find out her mother was really dead—that she had been spared that sort of slavery? Kira couldn't help but wonder if her own mother had been the ticket to get someone in to a white rose ball, some sort of meal and display of power.
But she didn't want to go down that path of thought. The endless wondering would get her nowhere.
Instead, Kira focused on Diana—the vampire completely determined to destroy her life. From the moment Diana had laid eyes on Kira, she hated her. The feeling was definitely mutual, but Kira would've never acted on it had Diana not made the first move so long ago, all the way back in their high school auditorium.
In the time she had known her, Diana had attacked Kira, almost killed Luke, nearly turned Tristan bad, and risked the lives of all of her friends. Like it or not, Kira knew there was no other option than to kill her at the ball. This time, Kira couldn't hesitate.
But it all came down to one thing—what did Diana want? They had to figure that out first, because if Kira was right, Diana was concocting a plan that would haunt Kira long after Diana herself had died.
"Tristan?" Kira asked. He murmured in her ear to let her know he was listening. "What do you think she's up to? Is this really just about telling powerful vampires who and what I am?"
"I was thinking that too," he said, "but I can't imagine that is the only reason she went to so much trouble. If that were the case, all she would need to do is visit the homes of head vampires and spread the word."
"There's something we're not seeing, like with the eclipse last year. I'm worried we won't realize what it is until it's too late."
"Whatever it is, we'll make it through together. I'm sure of it."
Tristan gripped her hand and she smiled up at him. They would make it through, they always did, but at what cost?
Kira still vividly remembered the first time Diana had attacked her. The feel of Diana's teeth grazing her neck still sent shivers down her spine. She could still remember the moment her powers burst forth for the first time. She would never forget how her blood boiled, how her powers felt like lava melting her skin apart when it rained from her palms. That moment was also when Kira first found out what Tristan was. The sight of his eyes flashing in pleasure at the slight taste of her blood still haunted her thoughts. Now she understood it was involuntary, but back then it had almost torn them apart.
And what about the eclipse? Before that day, Kira had never killed anything. She had never known what it felt like to drain a vampire of its very life force, burning it to ash. Before that day, she had also never really seen the darker side of Tristan, the past he tried to keep hidden from her. She loved the man he was now, loved how he understood her and how h
e saw her. She loved the way they laughed and the way they could tell each other anything. She loved that he never judged her and always let her make her own decisions. But for a minute on that afternoon so long ago, Kira had seen something else, something only Diana could bring out in him, and she never wanted to see that side of Tristan again.
Which was why Kira couldn't help but feel dread as she thought of the coming Saturday. A face-off with Diana had been a long time coming and it was inevitable, but what would she, Luke, and Tristan walk away with? What scars would they carry this time?
Chapter Thirteen
Seriously, Kira thought, why are we always in the woods?
In the movies, spies were always in glamorous dresses attending society affairs while sipping cocktails and scoping out the scene. They had professionally applied makeup, super high-tech gadgets, and of course airbrushing. In reality, Kira was ankle deep in the mud for what felt like the millionth time in her life. The head vampire of course lived in another old plantation estate on the outskirts of Baltimore. And the ball was of course happening in his home rather than some glitzy downtown bar. Kira was beginning to wonder how the North even won the Civil War when so many vampires seemed stuck in the plantation era.
As a waft of skunk, or maybe animal feces, filled Kira's nose, she couldn't help but sigh in frustration. It was safe to say the wonderful smell of twenty-dollar-a-bar soap had worn off. She just hoped she had time to shower before life threw her another curve ball.
"Kira, come on," Luke whispered and waved her over to his tree. Kira walked over, trying not to let her sneakers squelch in the mud. Yesterday, as she gazed out of the hotel window to watch the rain fall into the harbor, Kira had thought it looked beautiful. Rain, she reminded herself now, was never beautiful—at least not the next day when you were, for all intents and purposes, off-trail hiking.
"Do you remember the plan?" Luke asked when she got closer. Kira rolled her eyes—they had only gone over it one hundred times.
The Complete Midnight Fire Series Page 35