by W.J. May
Chapter Ten
"I can’t do this!" Kira shouted at Luke in frustration.
"Just relax. Think about lighting the rock on fire. You can do this, I know you can." Kira looked at Luke, wanting to strangle him. Real easy to feel so calm when you’ve been practicing since birth, she thought as she wiped the sweat from her brow. All the mental exertion was draining her.
She and Luke had been practicing for almost an hour and nothing was happening. Kira was almost beginning to think everything had been a dream; clearly she had no special powers.
Kira stopped for a moment to look around Luke’s backyard. They stood in a small patch of grass, surrounded by dense forest. Kira couldn’t make out his neighbor’s home through the bushes. Even in the sunlight, the trees were dark and Kira knew that if she walked ten feet into the bushes it would be pitch black. A perfect place to practice, Luke had told her when he picked her up from her house and brought her over to his place. No one would see anything and they would be completely safe.
An entire week had passed before Kira had brought practicing up with Luke again, and since her parents had left for church without her this morning, she had called Luke right away. Things were still awkward at home when her parents were around, but when she was alone, left with nothing but her thoughts, home was excruciating. Now, Kira wondered which was the lesser of two evils.
"Come on, try one more time and then we can take a break."
Kira sighed and re-focused her energy on the boulder Luke stood next to. He told her it wouldn’t actually burn, that vampires were the only things affected by the light, but she was a little afraid of hurting him if she couldn’t rein it in once started.
"Kira," he brought her back to attention.
Just focus, he had said, it’ll come to you naturally. Well, Kira stared at the rock thinking, light on fire, light on fire, please God give me a little flame—but nothing. Her palms didn’t even feel warm. She threw them up in the air.
"This is just never happening! I can’t keep staring at a rock and pointing my hands in front of me, I might as well say abracadabra and try to make your house float away. This is ridiculous!"
Luke shook his head. "Let’s take a break. I need to think of something. I don’t know why this is so hard for you. When we were all young, using the power felt like using another limb, it was always easier than this. And I know you’re strong. I’ve seen it."
"Well, good for you." Kira huffed and collapsed on the grass where she was standing. He walked inside his house, clutching his forehead with one hand; clearly trying to make a better lesson plan than the one they were currently following.
He’s as new at this as I am, Kira thought. She let her back fall flat against the grass so she could stare up at the blue, cloudless sky.
Come on, she thought.
"Dear sun, please give me the power to channel your rays through my body, thereby allowing me to inherit my apparent birthright and kill some vampires…love, Kira."
I’ve officially gone insane, she reflected while rolling over onto her side to stare at the few brown leaves dusting the ground. Autumn was a lot different in the south, a little too green for her liking. Kira wondered what it would be like to have a Christmas without snow. She would miss the New York blizzards, the slushy streets and the cursing pedestrians slipping down the subway steps or marching Prada boots through inches of snow. Rockefeller lit up at Christmas. The city came alive when the lights on the gigantic tree were switched on, and the ice skating rink was crowded at every hour of the day. She had always come home for a week during Christmas break, to visit with her family, but hanging ornaments on a plastic tree never felt right. Kira used to love coming home to her dorm where her roommate Sarah and her would decorate a blue spruce pine tree.
But, Kira sighed as she sat up, she had more pressing concerns.
Luke said it would be easy, like breathing, eventually. She wondered if maybe it was just too late. She took psychology back at boarding school and she remembered learning about human development. The first few stages of life are the most important. If you don’t learn to speak by the time you’re four, you probably never will. Babies are born curious and learn far more than adults do. Maybe she had just missed out on her chance.
Enough ruminating, Kira mentally shook herself. She needed to learn this.
Luke finally re-emerged from his home and carried over two lemonades. Kira gladly accepted. The mix of cold and sweet instantly refreshed her, and she turned to Luke, waiting to hear his thoughts.
"So…basically, you’re a freak."
"Hey!"
He threw his hands up in defense.
"Kidding! I just don’t think the way I was taught as a boy is going to do anything for you. Your body doesn’t react, doesn’t know it’s own potential. We need to like awaken you first."
"Okay, creepy much?"
"I just mean, we need to find some sort of trigger so you can start to remind your body how it’s supposed to work."
"Well, how did you learn? Maybe if you tell me a little bit about the procedure, I’ll understand."
Luke sat down next to her on the grass, sipping his lemonade and staring deep into the ebony woods.
"It’s hard to explain I guess."
"Try." She said, not letting him off the hook at all. This was all his idea anyway. Well, not technically, but still.
"When you’re little, the teaching is less about learning how to bring the fire out and more about learning how to stop it and control it. Ever since I can remember, I would think of the fire and it would come. Easy as pie. The hard part was controlling it."
"So, it’ll be doubly difficult for me." She ran a hand through her hair, exasperated. "Fantastic."
"One of the main reasons conduit communities live in such seclusion is to protect the children who have no control. The fire doesn’t hurt humans or even inanimate objects, only vampires. So, theoretically, it would be safe to live anywhere. But babies just release energy all the time without any warning and suddenly there’s a streak of fire soaring through the air like a cannonball until an adult catches it and sucks it back into themselves. Obviously, if we lived in human communities, people would start to catch on to the strangeness."
"Will I ever be allowed to see that?" Kira asked, vulnerable. She wished she could have grown up in such a place, totally accepted by everyone.
"I hope so. Sonnyville was like nothing you’ve ever seen. I miss it sometimes."
"Why’d you come here, Luke? Why’d you take on this mission?" Kira had wondered it for a while. Who would willingly enroll in high school to basically baby-sit the one person who could potentially destroy the world? Nobody wanted that kind of pressure.
"Because it was my duty."
"That can’t be the only reason. You’re not one to blindly follow orders. Remember I dated a Protector in New York, and he was nothing like you. Had he said duty, I would have believed him, but you don’t like to always follow the rules."
"You mean Cy?" She nodded. "I spoke with him before coming here. He told me how little you knew, how he suspected you would need someone to look out for you. He did care about you, in his own extremely stuffy way."
"And you pitied me?"
"A little." Luke shrugged. He was trying to be completely honest with her. "A lot of it was the fact that this was such an important duty, and important missions are hardly ever granted to someone as young as me. Part of it was my competition. One other boy in my town, Nick, fit the bill. But, he was a hard ass and no fun. I knew he’d never befriend you unless necessary. I knew he wouldn’t provide the support a girl in your situation would need. And, you know me," he broke his far-off stare to smile at her, "I can’t resist a damsel in distress." He lowered his voice to spooky imitation of Dracula. "Now, try to light me on fire if you dare...mwahahaha."
Kira stood, ignoring Luke’s impression of an evil mastermind, and got right back down to business.
"So, I need a trigger."
"Yup."
"Any idea what kind?" Luke shook his head with a sly smile. He waved her closer and she hesitantly walked over while he turned around. She moved closer to his back, wondering what the heck was going on, when he turned around and lunged at her.
Luke grabbed her by the throat, knocking her to the ground, and she saw teeth protruding past his lips. He sunk his head closer, so the teeth started to poke her neck and Kira felt trapped. She couldn’t move under the weight of his body and had no weapon to fight him off with. Desperation heated her veins and she felt the flood of warmth surge through her body. She started shivering from the temperature difference between her molten core and the cool breeze brushing her skin. Kira willed the fire to seep out, anything to stop the unbearable scorching of her heart.
Suddenly, she burst, the same way she had in the auditorium. She felt the burn on her hand and opened her eyes despite the pain. Luke smiled and the waves of sun rolled past him, leaving him unharmed. Kira felt like a river that had just been set free from a dam. There was no way to stop the waves of power bursting forth.
"Control it!" Luke yelled over the cackling fire.
Kira told it to stop. The flood started slowly calming and she curved her fingers towards her palm, trapping the light in her vice-like grip. Finally, the last bit of light burnt out and Kira almost expected smoke to seep from her palms.
Instead, Luke trapped her in a hug and swung her around. "That was incredible! I was even pushed back a little from your power, which is really hard to do, trust me. You’re really strong. You don’t even know how strong. It’s like there’s no limit to how much light you can channel. I never felt it waver until you wanted it to. People usually only last for five or ten minutes, maybe less at full force. "
Kira swiveled. "How long was I going for?"
"Like half an hour. It was incredible."
"Oh my god." Kira sat down. "That felt like thirty seconds to me."
"It’s okay, the timing will come with the control. But, for now at least, we know your trigger." She looked up at him expectantly. "Well, duh. No offense, but clearly being scared is the only thing that brings the power out in you. We’ll fix it. Don’t worry."
"How?" She looked up at him, noticing how the sun silhouetted his features, almost looked like he wore a golden crown.
"I mean, I can’t always run around jumping on you with fake fangs. That was just a one-time deal. You’re okay, right? I got a little into the moment." His eyes peered towards her throat.
Kira reached her hand to her neck. She felt completely fine. There was no bruise even though it felt like he had choked her pretty bad. "Is it possible that channeling also acts as a cure?"
"Not that I’ve ever heard of." He was intrigued, she could tell.
"I never mentioned this before, but in the auditorium, I was hit with a brick and my leg was bleeding really badly and Diana cut my face. But afterwards, when I came back to your place, all the cuts had closed. They seemed to have disappeared. I just assumed it was another side effect, like the burns."
Luke grabbed her shoulders, staring her down. "Are you certain?" She nodded. "Don’t tell anyone. I don’t know what it means, but it is most definitely not normal."
"I promise, I won’t tell. I don’t even have anyone to tell." She shook free of his hold and tried to laugh it off. Just another way she was different, dangerous. Kira sighed.
"So what now? How do we keep practicing?"
"Try to think of things that scare you, and see if anything happens."
"Like what? Spiders?"
"Maybe? I don’t know. This is new to me too. Just try to make yourself scared to death." Kira rolled her eyes. She just had to scare the life out of herself, how simple.
Kira tried thinking of spiders, but nothing happened. She thought of their hairy legs, the clicking of sharp mucous covered fangs and sticky webs trapping her alive. Nothing.
Next she thought of flying, picturing turbulence so rough her butt picked up off the seat and the overhead compartments fell open. She pictured oxygen masks falling from the ceiling, the plane spinning circles in the air to eventually crash in the Pacific Ocean where she would drown in the cockpit or escape to be eaten alive by great white sharks.
Not even a flush developed on her skin.
Finally Kira thought of the worst thing possible, a scene out of Scream where a knife waving psycho chased her through her house killing off her friends and popping out of closets.
Nada. All Kira had managed to do was give herself the heebie-jeebies since her and Luke were totally alone in the middle of nowhere, a place no one could hear her scream. Kira shivered.
"This isn’t working. I’m just freaking myself out."
"Keep trying. This has to work. It’s the only way you’ll learn any control and be able to do anything aside from fending off a vamp right when it’s about to bite you. That method is way too risky."
Suddenly, Kira had an idea.
She looked back at the rock, focusing on the lines of color formed by sunlight and shadow. Towards the bottom, the hard surface turned black and she stared into the abyss, letting her eyes lose focus and start to blur, until an image from her subconscious took over—Diana.
Kira imagined the moment when Diana leaned in to sink her teeth into Kira’s flesh, the uncontrollable fear she had felt as death crept closer. How she looked at Tristan and in that moment realized he could do nothing to save her, that each of them was helpless. Kira waited for the pinprick of teeth on her neck, felt the tiniest pinch before…and then Kira felt it: her strength was gathering.
Heat flowed to her palm, and, for the first time, it felt as though she called it. She pulled at the tendrils of fire with her mind, willing them to surge through her veins, accepting the pain and focusing on the darkness she was trying to dissipate. Kira felt a burn as the flares broke through the skin of her palm and flooded Luke’s backyard.
She lost whatever hold she had had for those few seconds and started sweating under the relentless surge. Distantly, she heard a man’s voice calling at her, telling her to stop, telling her to rein it in, but some sort of monster had awoken inside of Kira. Like an out of body experience, she felt her legs give out, felt the grass crunch against her cheek, all the while her hands aimed out towards the rock. New hands lifted her, surrounded her. Kira felt her palms press against something hard, felt the light drain away and seep into a different source.
Slowly, Kira’s vision began to return. She focused on her slightly glowing fingernails where they pressed up against soft cotton. Strings of light danced between her knuckles, trying to escape the suction cup hold of her hands against Luke’s chest. Kira noticed for the first time that the light was sinking into him, weaving into his chest and leaving her body.
"Kira, you have to stop. It’s too much."
She looked at him, at the strain on his face and the rough lines of his taunt lips. Not her smiling Luke—this Luke was in pain. He squinted his eyes to squelch the feeling, trying to act like a man, but Kira could hear his raspy breath.
She stepped back and folded her fingers into her palm, willing the torment to stop, and her light obeyed. It winked out almost immediately.
Luke turned away and with a loud grunt, released the sunlight he had absorbed from Kira out towards the forest. For the first time, Kira understood how beautiful it was. The flames illuminated even the darkest corners of the forest, like a firework exploding at eye level. Red, yellow, orange and blue swirls circled Luke and the yard around, leaving everything unharmed. Flowers turned almost immediately to catch the new rays and blooms opened as if commanded.
But then, Luke crashed to the ground and crumpled against the grass, letting his light wink out and leaving the yard shrouded in darkness once more.
"Luke!" Kira screamed and ran over to him. She landed on her knees beside his immobile body and turned him over so his back touched the grass. She cupped his face in her hands.
"Luke, please, I didn’t mean whatever happened."
"Luke?"
His eyes fluttered and Kira heard his breathing lengthen.
"Hi," he said quietly, squirming in his drowsiness. "Give me a second," he asked and tried to sit up. Kira let him gather his thoughts and regain his composure, but she needed to know what had just happened. Did she almost kill him? Kira thought he had said it wasn’t possible.
"I’m sorry," Kira said. He looked over at her and shook his head.
"What are you sorry for, Kira? It was my own fault."
"What happened, Luke? I thought I couldn’t hurt you."
"You didn’t." He sighed and tried to stand. Luke wobbled on his feet, but took a few hesitant steps, as though he were trying to remind his legs how to work. Kira followed him back to his porch and sat beside him on the stoop.
"I overexerted myself," Luke said finally. Kira looked at him, completely blank in the face. "I tried to take your power into my body. You looked completely lost, like you were drowning, and then you fainted and I had no idea what to do. So, I let your light flood into me to calm the storm and wake you up, but I guess it sort of backfired." Luke looked sheepish. Some teacher he was.
"But, why did it hurt you?"
"It was just too much power. You have no idea how strong you are. Once your body realized what I was doing, you kept pushing more and more light into me and I just got full I guess. Like a water balloon that gets filled too much: I just needed to release it."
Kira nodded, finally understanding. She felt horrible.
"At least it worked," Kira tried to be optimistic, while she mindlessly pulled little grass strands from the ground.
"What did you think of? To trigger your power?"
"I pictured Diana and the scene in the auditorium." Kira shuddered, not wanting to start up again. Luke just nodded.
"So, we’re probably done training for the day. You fainted…then I fainted. I’d call it a successful session," Luke said, making light of the situation like always. Kira nudged him with her shoulder.
"What are you going to tell the council? I assume you have to send some sort of report this week."
Luke shrugged. "Not much. I’ll let them know you inherited the power, that you have finally started learning to channel at will and that I’m training you. Nothing about the extent of your abilities." Luke looked away from her as he finished talking, trailing his words off into silence.
"What are you hiding? What would happen if they found out?"
"I honestly don’t know."
"But, it wouldn’t be good."
"No, probably not." He agreed, almost silently, reminding Kira that this wasn’t all fun and games. It was serious.
Luke grabbed her hand, pulled her from the stoop and led her inside to his kitchen. Kira grabbed her backpack and noticed a small bookshelf in the corner of the room. She couldn’t remember ever seeing it before.
Kira walked over, scanning the titles. Some were classic fiction novels. She spotted a copy of Dracula with a worn cover and binds that had started to disintegrate. Vampire novels, even current girly romances, were all stacked in perfect alphabetical order. And then, on the lower shelf, Kira saw a book on conduits—on their history and culture. The binding was old, filmed with a perpetual dust, and gold script displayed the title but no author. Kira heard Luke in the kitchen. It sounded as though the refrigerator had just closed and, before she realized what she was doing, Kira grabbed the book and stuffed it in her bag.
"Ready?" Luke said as he rounded the corner with a water bottle, which he threw in her direction. Kira caught it and followed him out to the car.
When Kira got home, she ran up to her room, ignoring the family dinner set up in the dining room. She dropped her book bag, locked the door to her bedroom and pulled out the text she had stolen from Luke. Kira turned off her lights, leaving only the reading lamp by her bed on, and situated herself in her comforter.
She looked at the index: Chapter One – A Brief History, Chapter Two – Vampires With Souls?, Chapter Three – Protectors vs. Punishers, Chapter Four – A Mixed Breed, Chapter Five – The Prophecies.
Kira ran her hand down the thick paper, fighting the urge to jump right to the fourth chapter. She let her head fall back onto her pillow.
Kira never thought she would be the type of girl that needed an entire chapter of an ancient text devoted to how dangerous she could be. The book had no copyright or publication information. The pages were bumpy from the thick ink that rose off the page, and a thin string was all that held the binding together. Kira almost feared she would wreck it. Had Luke meant for her to find this? She was positive there had been no shelf when she had stayed the night, positive there were no books visible in his home.
Training had drained her. So Kira stuffed the book under her mattress, where even her sister couldn’t reach it, and vowed to start reading it that week. But, before she could even finish the thought, sleep embraced her.