The Complete Midnight Fire Series

by Kaitlyn Davis

  On her left, the other vampire started to panic. He pushed against the flames, trying to breakthrough but retreating when puffy boils sprouted along his arms.

  Kira crushed him easily, still ready for more fight.

  Then finally, the fifth and last vampire entered the clearing. His movements were slow, as though he had no fear. He confronted Kira openly, not trying to gain the element of surprise.

  Almost curious, Kira pushed her fire out. Immediately she sensed something different from his body, and her power was met with resistance, almost like an invisible shell encased his torso.

  Conduit blood, Kira thought at first, but this shell was different. It wasn't a bubble around him that could be popped—it was in him, part of him. But his hair was a ruddy brown, his eyes the cold, icy blue of a vampire. Suddenly, Kira realized that she had seen that hair before, on her younger sister. He must be a half-conduit, a mix of human and maybe Punisher, one that had been turned bad.

  Kira switched her strength, testing her Protector flames, which sunk deeper into his skin, burning his marbled flesh to a bright red.

  He kept coming closer, slowed by her powers but not stopped by them. Kira pushed further, letting a sliver of her killing Punisher powers seep out. Simmering with heat, they sunk in, creeping closer to his heart, forcing their way through every inch of his skin.

  But he kept approaching, getting closer and closer to Kira's body, closer and closer to a place where he could attack.

  His skin began to blacken and flake off where the Punisher flames took hold. His features hardened into a grimace as the pain of death took its toll and Kira smiled, pressing her advantage. Finally, someone was paying for what had happened to both of her mothers. His hurt was her strength. His fear was her drug. And as he crept closer, the emotions fed into Kira. Every wince made her feel empowered.

  Then without her even realizing it, the blackness crept out of Kira's heart, flowing into her flames rather than pressing against them, and her fire darkened. The bright orange, yellow, and red flames became tainted. A river of black flew with them, encircling the vampire in a mix of fire and shadow. The hot lava flowing through her veins became slick and oily, a searing tar that bubbled with a heat that came not from lightness but from anger—a sea of cold fury that felt somehow hot enough to burn.

  Her flames wavered.

  The darkness pressed inward, suffocating her.

  Kira's fire winked out, fading quickly away, and before she knew enough to fight, something else had taken over. Something that welcomed the shadows, the evil. Something that pushed her over the edge, made her fall, spiraling down, down, down.

  The conduit was gone.

  The vampire hiding underneath her skin took over.

  Kira's eyes shot up, locking on the dying man before her. His fear pushed out in waves, and he retreated. Kira stepped forward, closing in on her prey.

  And before she realized what she was doing, Kira pounced, sinking her teeth into his burning flesh.

  Chapter Four

  His blood was dark, not filled with enough light to satisfy, and Kira dropped his lifeless body to the ground. Against the rough dirt, his frame finally combusted, but Kira wasn’t paying attention. Her nose was filled with the scent of the sun—a golden honey sweet enough to make her sigh.

  She wanted to taste it.

  So she ran, light on her feet, and almost flew through the forest, following the sugary trail of conduit blood, the small droplets that sang to her senses.

  When she broke through the trees, Kira saw it—a body resting on the ground, glowing with the sun. A halo of gold sparks surrounded the figure and Kira sniffed, drunk on the elixir running through those veins.

  Without thinking, she ran and dove for the woman.

  And then she burned, screaming out in pain as the sun assaulted her body, burning the vampire away, boiling the ebony oil in her veins until it evaporated in wisps of shadow that seeped out of her pores. Her every nerve was on fire. Pinpricks that felt like knives stabbed her limbs.

  Kira curled onto her back, writhing in agony. The smell of honey still haunted her nose, but instead of a sugary sweetness, it was a searing iron, melting her insides as the fumes traveled downward.

  But deeper down, the conduit praying for escape welcomed the pain, begged it to come in faster waves. Her flames were trapped—swirling in a sinking abyss, hoping the sun would come release them.

  And when a burst of light finally broke through the darkness, Kira erupted.

  The force of her conduit power returning lifted Kira off the ground, throwing her farther into the heat of the UV wall surrounding Sonnyville. Her hands lifted toward the sun, shooting long waves of flames into the sky. A current of light shot through her body, sending fire through every nerve and lighting Kira up from the inside out. Against the onslaught, the shadows retreated. The vampire left Kira's body in waves of smoke.

  A minute later, Kira was on the ground, completely still, basking in the warmth of the sun and muddling through her returning consciousness.

  She sat up, rubbing her sore head.

  "Wha…?" Kira looked around. How did she get out of the forest? Was there another vampire after her?

  Looking around, Kira spotted the body on the ground.

  "Mom!"

  She crawled over. Her mother was breathing deeply, but looked unharmed. Kira remembered healing her, remembered sending her back with Pavia, remembered fighting a few vampires.

  Her mom blinked and sat up on her elbows, waking from a daze.

  "Kira? What happened?"

  "Nothing, Mom." Kira held her hand. "There were some vampires, but we got away. We're safe. I'll be right back."

  She tried standing, took a few slow steps, and then crossed through the barrier again.

  "Pavia?" Kira asked. Twirling around, she scanned the forest. Her nose picked up a strand of sugar passing on the breeze. What was that?

  She followed the smell as it reeled her in. The mangled door was still on the ground. Drawn to it, Kira stopped a few inches from the torn metal. Why did it smell sweet?

  And then she saw the pool of blood through the cracks in the windshield. Stumbling backward, Kira fell to the ground, landing painfully on her bottom as the memories flooded back.

  She bit someone.

  She bit a vampire.

  Bit.

  Tasted blood.

  Kira started hyperventilating. Her entire body began to shake, a slow tremble that grew to a frantic pulse.

  She had tried to bite her mother.

  She had wanted conduit blood.

  The blood still teased her senses.

  Turning, Kira stared with wide eyes at the gate. The barrier, it had to have been what saved her. The UV light had burned the darkness from her skin—she vividly remembered the pain.

  But part of the vampire was still lodged inside of her, was still drawn to the conduit blood spotting the ground, still pulled in by its sweet scent.

  Iron melted in her mouth, sticking to her dry tongue, and she flipped over to spit out the vomit curling in her stomach.

  It came out red.

  Kira scrambled away, ripping her palms on the rough concrete as she struggled to escape. Her back sank into the UV wall and Kira collapsed, letting the sun sink into her pounding head. Tears fell in long streams and she rolled to the side, pulling her legs into her chest, letting the shakes wrack her figure.

  "I bit someone, I bit someone," Kira said over and over again, a low whisper that was too soft for even her ears to hear.

  "Kira!"

  She didn't register her name.

  "Kira!"

  Again, the words were lost to her.

  "I've been saying her name for five minutes," a woman's voice called from a few feet away.

  "Kira!"

  Hands grabbed her shoulders, rolling her over, but Kira's eyes were wide and full of water. The world was a mix of brush strokes that didn't make sense to her overloaded brain.

  "Kira, it's Mo
m, what's wrong?"

  She didn't move.

  "What happened?"

  A deeper voice asked from over Kira's shoulder.

  She heard the words around her, but didn't understand them. Her mind had turned red—she was drowning in the blood settling in her stomach.

  A fissure broke through, cracking along her brain, forcing foreign thoughts into her frozen senses. They were white and airy, flecked with yellow. Like balloons, they floated higher, forging a path through the crimson droplets raining down on her.

  Kira's mind started to settle. The tremble in her body slowed and a sense of peace settled over her—a borrowed sense of peace.

  "I think it's working," a low voice said.

  "Luke?" Kira whispered, reaching her hand out aimlessly, striking gold as her fingers brushed his warm skin. A hand clutched hers, trapping her small fingers in a worried grip.

  "I'm right here, Kira."

  Trusting those words, she blinked and his face, silhouetted in a halo of gold, smiled down on her. Kira pulled up, or maybe Luke reached down, but within seconds she was wrapped in his sturdy arms, letting her cries disappear into the soft cotton of his T-shirt. His hand ran soothingly through her curls and he rubbed small circles into her back. He whispered soft, secret words into her ear, stilling the chills running down her spine.

  "Kira, what happened?" he asked after a few minutes, when he felt her heartbeat return to normal.

  Kira shook her head against his chest. "I can't."

  "Kir—"

  "I can't!" she shouted, jumping out of his arms to pace across the street. She didn't want to think of it ever again. She refused to acknowledge the smell still tantalizing her senses, the new awareness of his warm pulse, the shadows dancing around her frightened heart. She refused to acknowledge that the hunger was still there, even as the UV wall penetrated her skin.

  Luke cocked his head, trying to understand what was going on inside of her. Above him, with one hand on his shoulder, her mother stood, looking just as perplexed and concerned.

  "Pavia," Kira said, abruptly changing the subject.

  "Over here."

  Kira turned. "Where were you?"

  "Relax, I just took a quick look around. No more vampires, well, except me of course." She grinned and shrugged.

  Kira breathed a sigh of relief, glad that the vampire hadn't witnessed the sun scorch her body.

  "That guy mentioned Aldrich. He was here, waiting for me, because of Aldrich. What do you know?"

  "I told you we needed to talk," Pavia said casually while sweeping her long hair back over to one side of her head, "but it can't be here."

  "Fine." Kira spun on her heels. "Luke, we're leaving. Let's get Tristan and go."

  "Are you serious?" her mom squealed.

  "Deadly," Kira said. And it might be. She needed to get out—away from the Punishers, away from the conduits—before she went crazy.

  "Kira, you can't just leave and run away all the time. What about the councils?" Her mother stepped forward, ready for the challenge. But Kira knew her real concern; she saw the panic settling in her mom's eyes, the deep-set fear running way back to her father's death.

  "Mom, I can handle myself. And the Punisher Council doesn't even want me to speak. I need to end this—I need to find Aldrich, and I need to kill him. And," Kira paused, her eyes flicked over at Luke, "and I need to take Tristan home. There's nothing for me to do here."

  "Kira, I forbid—"

  "Mom, I know you're the parent, but I just saved your life and I think I deserve a little credit."

  "She'll be fine," Luke said, putting his hand on her mom's shoulder reassuringly. "I would never let anything happen to her."

  "But—"

  "I swear," Luke said and squeezed her muscle, forcing her to relax.

  Kira took it as her cue to press the advantage.

  "Pavia, we'll be back soon," she called over her shoulder without bothering to look back. Her eyes were on the Jeep Luke had driven out to the front gate. In a few strides, she was at the door and jumping into the front seat. "So, how'd you know to come out here?"

  Kira looked at Luke, who was buckling his seatbelt and putting the key into the ignition.

  "Is that a joke? It looked like a bomb went off—your fire lit up the entire sky."

  Kira squirmed in her seat, not responding to the question totally apparent in his words. Instead, she pressed the seat back, forcing it as flat as it would go and curled up on her side to stare out the window.

  Her mother ran her fingers through Kira's hair, trying to calm her, and Kira stared unblinking at her changing surroundings, trying to still her trembling fingers. Luke sensed the mood and remained quiet, but Kira suspected the silence was more for her mother's benefit. As soon as they were alone he would burst, but what would she tell him?

  That she had been pushed to the brink? That she had tasted…that she had almost fallen…had almost turned into a…that her powers had actually burned her? What could she tell him when she didn't even want to admit it to herself?

  Kira emptied her mind, focusing on the wash of green flashing by the window. Trees were so much simpler to think about—trees and the bright cloudless sky and the vastness just outside her window, a place where she could disappear.

  A chimney poked into her eyesight and Kira sat up, unsure of how much time had passed. They were in town, close to her grandfather's home.

  "You guys explain it to the council," Kira said, her voice scratchy. "I'm going to sneak in to grab my things, and then I'll meet you at the hospital."

  Luke looked over at her. Kira saw the movement from her peripheral vision, but was afraid she would break if she looked into his warm emerald and golden eyes. They were too familiar, too comforting, too willing to take away her fears.

  Instead, Luke reached across the seat and entwined their fingers. He pulled her hand over, touching his soft lips to the topside of her fingers, resting them there for a moment.

  His fire swirled into her palm, warming her hands and traveling up to her heart, where it settled like a hot spring flooding into an arctic pool. A good shiver, a loving tremble, shot through Kira's body, and she leaned her head against the back of her seat, letting the tips of her lip curl up.

  If her mother noticed Luke's more than friendly behavior, she stayed silent, letting the two of them have their moment. But it didn't last long, because Luke pulled the car to a stop and Kira reluctantly slipped free, leaving the car to put her plan into action.

  First stop? Getting her locket back.

  Kira circled the house until she reached the trellis next to the backdoor. Her grandparent's bedroom was only one short story above her head, and Kira knew her locket was in there. The day before, she had watched her grandmother wrap it in a silk handkerchief and place it lovingly in her jewelry box.

  But that's not where it belonged.

  It belonged around Kira's neck, with her father's wedding ring and the sun charm Luke had given her as a gift. Her three most valued possessions in life needed to be kept together, safe and close to her heart.

  Kira stepped forward, reaching through the vines to grasp the slightly soggy wood that she hoped would remain standing long enough for her to scale the wall and somehow get back down. She couldn't be seen—she couldn't face the council right now knowing everything she said would be a lie.

  Kira lifted her foot, stepping sideways on the frame, propelling her body weight off the ground. Using it like a ladder, Kira continued creeping up the wall until her fingers brushed against a whitewashed window frame.

  Sticking her hand up a little farther, Kira breathed a sigh of relief—it was open. She knew they slept with the window open, that they liked the fresh air and the sound of birds in the morning, but still, Kira was satisfied—something was finally going right.

  As she pushed up, throwing the upper half of her body into the house, her senses jumped. A waft of sugar tantalized her nostrils, sending a hunger into the pit of her stomach, an ache tha
t only knew one cure.

  Kira pinched her nose, cutting off her sense of smell, and gasped, using her mouth to breathe. The house smelled overwhelmingly like conduits, like their blood—a forbidden fruit Kira just wanted to taste. She could almost feel the power of the council below her feet thrum through her body, a syrupy elixir.

  The wooden walls of the suburban home were a Pandora's box in disguise, teasing Kira to just let go, to let herself fall.

  She made a gas mask out of her fingers, cupping her lips so as little air as possible seeped into her system.

  She needed her locket and then she needed out.

  Stumbling to the bedside table, Kira threw the top of the jewelry box open with one hand while she kept the other one pinched around her nose. The locket was easy to spot, and Kira pulled it free of her grandmother's handkerchief, stuffing it in the pocket of her jeans.

  With no time wasted, Kira fell back through the door, gulping down fresh air. Her lungs burned in a good way, a human way.

  She sucked in a breath, holding it while she retreated into the bedroom to climb out feet first. She landed on her knees, clutching the mud with her hands while her breath slowed. Sonnyville was not a haven anymore—it was a trap.

  Sitting up slowly, Kira unclasped the chain around her neck and slipped the locket back down. It landed with a chink next to her father's ring, and Kira looked at the three little charms, resting side by side in the sunlight.

  Time to find the missing piece—Tristan. Kira had no charm, no trinket to symbolize their past, but that didn't mean she was about to leave him behind. Instead, she took off at a run down the mostly empty streets, not pausing to say hello to any conduits she passed.

  Kira didn't stop until she stumbled to a halt in front of the automatic doors of the hospital. She waited for half a second for the glass to slide open, and then took off at a sprint again, not letting her nose process any smell around her, not giving her brain enough time to register how many conduits were in the building.