She rolled her eyes. "You and I both know that's not true."
Love her or hate her, Kira was who she was. And Luke knew that sweet and polite were probably no one's first words to describe her. Strong-willed, stubborn, confident, defiant, and hopefully kick-ass, but never sweet and polite.
"For some reason, the old nickname Demon Witch is coming back to me right now…" Luke commented.
Kira snorted. Of course.
Demon Witch. The name Tristan had called her when he woke up a human for the first time in a hundred and fifty years, not remembering anything that happened since his turning during the Civil War. At the time, Kira happened to be covered in blood, dressed in a gaudy red silk dress that Aldrich forced her to wear, spouting flames from her hands while the English manor they sat in was practically burning down around them.
Couldn't exactly fault Tristan for the description.
But she could fault Luke for bringing it up.
All. The. Time.
Instead of humoring him with a reply, Kira just made a face and spun on her heels, turning around without waiting for Luke to catch up. But he did have about a foot on her, so ten seconds later he was back by her side, placing his arm around her waist, holding her close.
Her anger disappeared just like that.
Because being nestled against Luke was too perfect to allow for annoyance…most of the time.
"I have a surprise for you," he leaned down and whispered in her ear, trying to coax her forgiveness, or at least replace it with intrigue.
"What?" Kira replied gruffly. She'd already forgiven him, but he didn’t need to know that. Not if it meant a little extra attention and affection.
"I said surprise," he teased, slipping his arm from her waist to hold her hand instead, tugging her down the sidewalk a little faster. "And we're almost there."
"There?" she asked, latching on to the clue. "So it's a place?"
Luke frowned. "Nope. You're not getting any other clues."
She squeezed his fingers. "Come on."
"My lips are sealed. Even Professor X couldn't get this out of me."
Give me five minutes, Kira thought wryly, but she kept her mouth closed and let Luke pull her along, secretly excited. Where was he taking her? What was he planning?
And just when she thought she might burst from the curiosity, Luke stopped and dialed an access code into a keypad, pulling the front door of a building open after the welcoming beep.
"Luke…" Kira trailed off, mystified.
But he just shook his head, guiding her toward the elevators.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"Not yet," he shook his head, giddy. But there was something else too, an edge of nervousness she couldn't for the life of her understand.
When the elevator doors opened, Luke pressed floor number four and then turned to her, eyes suddenly serious.
"Kira," he said, voice deeper and more heartfelt than usual.
"Luke, what? What’s going on?" she asked, shaking her head, totally confused.
"It's just," he paused, sighing. Then he took each of her hands in his, gently rubbing his thumbs against her skin. "I love you, you know that, and I have for a long time. But there's also something I've been wanting to say, something that's been on my mind just as long as we've been dating, something I've been afraid to ask, but something I need to before…well, just before."
Kira gripped his fingers, pulse quickening as a fear she'd never experienced flashed over her. Rationally, she knew he wasn't, would never, break up with her. But something about him felt so off, so wrong.
"What?" she practically screamed, and then swallowed, trying to calm her sudden nerves. "Anything, ask me anything."
"It's just, I know that before you met me, you had other dreams, other passions. Before you found out you were a conduit, you wanted to be a chef, you wanted to go to culinary school, you had a whole life planned out for yourself. And then I came along and screwed it all up, taking all those dreams away and replacing them with a life you may not have wanted, a destiny you were forced into."
Do you regret it?
That was Luke's unspoken question, the words he couldn’t force through his lips. And they shattered Kira. The very idea that he'd been wondering this for so long ripped her to pieces inside.
She stepped closer, dropping his hands so she could place her palms on his cheeks, forcing him to meet her gaze and to know that every word she said came straight from her heart. "That doesn't matter to me, Luke. You are everything I want. And you never screwed anything up. I got older. My priorities changed. I learned about a family and a culture I never knew I had, and I chose to stay with you and to stay with my people. No one forced me into it, and I wouldn’t change anything even if I could. You saved my life more times than I can count. I don't know what I'd do without you, and I don't even want to think of another life or another destiny if you're not in it. I love you."
The edges of his lips perked up. "I was hoping you would say that."
Kira laughed, expelling the concern in her chest at the relieved sound of his voice and doing her absolute best to resist the urge to punch him for scaring her so much. "What the heck is going on, Luke?"
His grin widened. "Well, even if you don't regret anything, I've still been working on a way to make some of those old dreams come true. And I finally came up with something I think you'll love."
He stepped back and reached into his pocket, hiding whatever he pulled out behind his hand.
Kira scrunched her brows, waiting for the reveal.
What had this impossible boy been planning?
And then he unfurled his fingers, and Kira sucked in a breath, fighting the way her throat immediately clogged and the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes.
It was a business card.
But not any old card.
It was her business card.
Kira's Kitchen.
The words were written in a style that looked so much like her handwriting she wondered if Luke had maybe caught her scrawling them in a notebook one time. Right below the name was a website address. And the whole card was bordered in tomatoes—of course. But they weren't on fire, and they weren't goofy. They were adorable doodles that she knew had to have come from Tristan's artistic hands.
"Luke," she gasped, unable to find the words as she snatched the card.
He shrugged, keeping his shoulders up nervously and putting his now empty hands in his pockets, watching her beneath hooded brows that seemed self-conscious almost. "I'd been thinking about it for a while, some way to bring cooking into your life at Sonnyville. Obviously, there aren’t any great restaurants in the middle of the woods, but then the idea of a food blog came to me, and I sort of went with it. Tristan helped with the business card. I bought the domain name for your website and played around with different tabs and styles for the page. We thought maybe you could blog about all the recipes you're always creating, maybe even start a little restaurant in Sonnyville and write about that. But if you don't like it, you can change anything you want, or we can just delete it. Or we could do something else entirely. We could move, follow your dreams for a few years. The conduits would just have to deal with us taking a break from healing vampires for a little while. They'd adjust. And—"
"Luke," Kira interjected, cutting him off. "It's perfect."
He paused, inhaling slowly. "Really?"
At that moment, Kira thought her smile might have beamed brighter than her flames ever could. And before Luke had time to process, she was leaping into his arms, hugging him close, and kissing him.
"It's amazing," she murmured against his lips. Then pulled away. "So thoughtful, so perfect, so you." And then she slammed her lips against his again, ready to forget words for a while.
But a second later the elevator dinged, and the doors slid open.
"Seriously guys, the PDA, it's out of control," Pavia drawled.
Kira sprang out of Luke's arms, pressing her lips together to contain her
smile. But it was no use, there was no holding it back.
"You don’t even know the half of it," Luke retorted.
But Pavia was already turning to Kira, holding out her arm. "If I have to wear one of these, you do too."
"One of what?" Kira asked, and then paused, looking around. They were in a kitchen—an incredibly fancy kitchen. There was a man waiting next to a sink in a coat that looked suspiciously like a chef's jacket. Tristan was wielding two large steak knives with a wicked and somewhat concerning grin across his lips. And Pavia was wearing an apron, probably for the first time in her life. "Where are we?"
"At the second half of your surprise," Luke said, holding up his hand and gesturing around. "A private cooking lesson with a Michelin-starred chef."
Her jaw practically dropped to the floor.
Chapter Four
Luke leaned over as he offered Kira his arm, scanning the ornate ballroom and taking in the many blazing blue eyes surrounding them. His gaze was sharp, but his voice was light with feigned incredulousness as he asked, "Why are they all looking at us like we're food?"
"Because to them, we are food," Kira grumbled but smiled despite the lame attempt at a joke. Still, though, Luke's words did nothing to alleviate the awareness tickling the hairs at the back of her neck. Being surrounded by so many vampires was giving her the heebie-jeebies. All the hungry eyes. The questioning stares. The discreetly flashing fangs.
A shiver ran up Kira's spine.
Yeesh.
And to add insult to injury, she'd had to ditch her comfy jeans and flats for a floor-length gown and high heels. They'd only been at the charity ball for half an hour, and her toes were already screaming for release.
But it's not all bad, Kira mused, glancing sideways at Luke, unable to stop from noticing how handsome he looked in his tuxedo, much different than the T-shirts he normally wore. The black and white played beautifully off his naturally sun-kissed skin, tan with freckles from a summer spent completely outdoors. And when her eyes caught a mirror, Kira couldn't help but straighten her spine a little, impressed by how the brilliant emerald dress Tatsuya had sent brought out the deep green of her eyes.
"It's sort of nice to be inside for once, not hiding in the woods, watching from a distance," Luke murmured, eyes still flicking warily from vampire to vampire. The humans here were clueless, of course. Rich donors Tatsuya invited to raise money for a seemingly great cause, the Red Cross. Too bad so many of those blood bags ended up in the hands of vampires rather than hospitals. But it was better than the alternative—eating living victims.
"Come on." Kira grabbed Luke's hand. "We never got to do this the last time."
"Do what?" he asked, following her lead.
"Dance." Kira stopped, twisting around to place one of her hands on Luke's shoulder, still holding his other. "If they're going to look, we might as well give them a show."
He just grinned, stepping closer to put his warm palm on her waist. And then he leaned in, whispering, "I couldn't agree more."
A moment later, he twirled her to the side, spinning Kira so her dress flared off the ground, swishing around her legs, fluttering like butterfly wings. Then he pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her back until their whole bodies touched, holding for a prolonged moment before sending her flying again. Kira laughed as the room spun, trusting Luke to catch her before the ground did, forgetting for a little while that they were here for business. Because sometimes, having fun was a little more important.
"So was this part of conduit training?" Kira teased as she landed softly against Luke's chest, still dizzy from spinning in endless circles around the dance floor.
"Nah." He shook his head. "This is from my mother's obsession with old musicals. Fred Astaire was a god."
Kira barked out a laugh as Luke flung her to the side again, unable to stop the image of Luke as a little boy twirling his mother and sister around the living room. And yet, she wasn't complaining.
Under the soft light of the chandeliers and the gentle hum of the orchestra, Kira sent a silent thank you out into the world. Because this moment, with Luke's golden hair framing his shimmering eyes, making the glittering stars deep in his irises stand so starkly against his black suit, this moment was perfect.
Until just like that, it wasn't.
"Excuse me," a man mumbled, grabbing on to Luke's arm, stopping them both.
Kira frowned, turning and realizing it was Ferdinand. "Your master needs us?"
He nodded.
Luke squeezed Kira's hand gently, giving her strength, as they followed the vampire through the crowd, away from the dance floor and into the shadows at the edges of the room where the head vampire of New York waited.
"Follow me," he said quietly.
They listened, trailing after as he led them through a discreet door and into a staging area full of all the items available for auction, stopping beside a long narrow box.
"This is the item I hired the thief to steal," Tatsuya said, reaching for the top of the wooden box and sliding it free.
A long, awkward pause followed the reveal.
Kira stared at the item, then glanced at Luke, then back at the box, then at the vamp, until finally, Luke broke. "Is that a Samurai sword?"
"The correct term is katana, but yes. And a very ancient one at that, from my private collection. Is there a problem?"
"Of course not." Luke swallowed. "It's just that I was envisioning a necklace, a ring, maybe a nice broach. Not a deadly weapon I've only ever seen in comic books but am pretty convinced could chop my head off with one clean slice."
Kira frowned, then glanced at the vamp, cocking her hip. "I think what Luke means to say is, why on earth would you ask the thief to steal this? He's already a vampire with the power to disappear. Did you really have to throw a sword into the mix too?"
"Hmm." Tatsuya paused. "I'm not used to thinking of such things. My skin is unbreakable, after all."
Oh, silly me…jerk, Kira thought, crossing her arms. "Yes, well, ours isn't."
"Then I guess you'll have to work quickly." The vamp sighed, glancing down at his gold watch. "It's almost time for my speech, and the auction begins after that. Do what you need to do and then return to the ballroom. All the items will be placed on the stage, and that's when they'll be most vulnerable."
"And what about your public support for the cure for vampirism?"
Tatsuya glanced at Kira, annoyance brimming. "I'll hold true to my word if you hold true to yours. When I have the thief, I'll begin making my viewpoint known through all the right channels. I'm nothing without my honor."
Honor? Amongst vampires? Amongst enemies?
But Kira let it go, just nodding. Tatsuya disappeared, using his heightened vampire speed to hastily return to the party, and she watched him go, holding her gaze for a few moments longer, trying to push her lingering doubts aside.
When she turned back around, she was greeted by the sharp edge of a blade swinging precariously close to her nose.
"What the?" Kira jumped back, stomach in her throat.
Luke dropped his arms immediately. "Sorry!"
Kira lifted a single brow. "What were you doing?"
Luke pursed his lips. "Nothing…"
"Luke."
"Kira."
"You were pretending it was a light saber, weren’t you?"
He coughed out a puff of air. "Uh, no. Of course not."
"You totally were." Kira held his stare, not backing down, knowing he would break in five, four, three, two—
"Okay, okay," Luke confessed, smile widening as his face gained the giddy expression of a young boy with a new toy. "But come on, this thing is so cool." And then he raised the katana in his arms again, humming a noise as he swished it through the air.
Kira held out her hand. "Give it to me."
Luke ignored her, continuing to slash through make-believe targets.
"Luke, give it to me before you hurt yourself."
Again, no response.
/> "Luke!" Kira snapped.
He paused for a moment, breathing heavily, and mumbled in a raspy voice, "I am your angry girlfriend."
Kira rolled her eyes.
"Come on," he grinned, finally relenting and handing her the sword. "You sort of set me up perfectly there."
"We need to put the tracking device on before the auction," she said, ignoring him. But when she met his gaze, she was unable to stop the corners of her lips from twitching. "And fine, yes, I did set you up nicely there."
"Ah ha!" he shouted triumphantly.
Kira reached into her bag, searching for the little tracking device she had hidden inside. It was government issued, half a centimeter wide, and nearly translucent. "Where should we stick it?"
"Here," Luke said, taking the tracker from Kira and adhering it to the underside of the hand-guard. "You'd think a vampire strong enough to control New York City would have thought of this handy little trick already."
"Modern technology and the ancient undead don't really mix, lucky for us," Kira said, stepping back and pausing for a moment. "Uh, how does this thing work anyway?"
Luke grinned. "Modern technology and girls named Kira don't really mix either."
"Hey," she responded. "For all you know, a girl named Kira built this thing. I just don't happen to be her."
Luke opened his mouth as if to retort, but then the music floating in from the ballroom vanished, leaving them in silence. A moment later, Tatsuya's voice filled the room.
"We've got to go," Luke murmured, slipping the sword back into its box. With one more longing glance, he secured the lid and then pulled out his phone. "The tracker is set to an app on my cell. Fancy, right?"
"You're totally James Bond," Kira deadpanned.
But Luke's eyes lit up. "I am James Bond."
What have I done? Kira thought, yanking on Luke's arm before the idea had a chance to linger, and tugging him from the room.
"Where can I get a martini, shaken not—"
"Come on," Kira cut him off as they reentered the ballroom and headed for their seats at one of the tables directly to the side of the stage. Steak dinners sat uneaten on their plates, so Kira and Luke dug in while Tatsuya gave his speech thanking all of the donors and reminding people to let the cash flow during the auction. A few survivors took the microphone after him, revealing how blood donations saved their lives and thanking the Red Cross for all of its hard work. And then an auctioneer stepped up to the pedestal, and the first item was brought to the front of the stage.
The Complete Midnight Fire Series Page 82