Blaze (3 page)

“Everything okay?” She whispered.

Tristan nodded, turning away from her to
smile at her mother who had just plopped a bowl of potato salad on
the table in front of him.

“Looks delicious, Mrs. Dawson.” Kira grinned
at the formal use of her mother’s name. He was a hundred years
older than her, but he still wouldn’t call her by her first
name.

“Delicious enough for you to eat?” Her
mother asked hopefully.

“Not today,” he apologized, “I ate before I
came. Special gluten-free diet and all.” Tristan peered at Kira in
his peripheral vision, meeting her gaze with a grin. It still
amazed Kira that her mother didn’t realize what Tristan was, having
grown up around conduits. But it seemed like she had truly blocked
out that entire part of her past and was choosing not to notice
what was right in front of her.

“One of these days you will eat something I
cook, Tristan, one—”

“Mom,” Kira interjected, changing the
topic.

“Right, right. Let me run inside to grab the
coleslaw.”

“She might force feed you, you know,” Kira
joked once her mom was out of earshot.

“I can handle it,” Tristan said and placed
his arm around her, hugging her to his chest.

Kira let her head rest on his shoulder. Soon
enough, things would go back to normal between them. There was no
telling how long they would be in England and some time away from
Luke would be good, even if it was in Aldrich’s castle.

She missed being alone with Tristan. He made
her feel at peace and helped her step away from the conduits. With
Luke it was always about conduits—teaching her how to be one and
teaching her about them. He was a constant reminder of the future
she couldn’t walk away from—one supposedly full of death and
destruction. But with Tristan, even though he was a vampire, she
felt human. He let her escape her powers, so that, even if only for
a small moment in time, she was just a girl with a boy—nothing
more, nothing less. And when you’re seventeen, Kira thought,
sometimes that is all you need.

But she was eighteen now and Kira wasn’t
quite sure what that meant yet.

Chapter Two

“Go, go! Before they make me hug them
again,” Kira said to Luke while she clipped her seatbelt securely
into place.

“Relax.” Luke revved the engine to life. He
was right. Her nerves were on overdrive right now and she felt
jumpy. Maybe it was the note burning a hole through her pocket or
the fact that she would be leaving for England in an hour, but Kira
couldn’t sit still.

She opened her window to let some fresh air
inside Luke’s truck and called goodbye to her family. Sticking her
hand outside, she waved one last time before Luke swerved around
the bend.

“Lots of memories in this car,” Luke said
and Kira knew exactly what he was referring to. Their last drive to
the airport had been a little different, more so than Luke
realized. Last time, they had been running away together, but this
time Kira was running from him. She tried to stop overanalyzing and
instead managed a reply.

“At least a hoard of blood thirsty vampires
isn’t on our tail.”

“You can’t deny it—that was sort of
fun.”

“If you think getting thrown around the bed
of a truck is fun…” Kira trailed off, goading him.

“You know what I mean—the rush of using our
powers, the thrill of the fight. I know you’ve felt it,” he said,
taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look in her direction.
“I’m going to talk to the Council about letting you join me on a
mission this summer—a full-on Protector mission with a team and
everything. I know you’re ready.”

“Luke,” Kira said with a strained voice.

“I know you’re a little scared of your
powers right now, but you can trust me even if you can’t trust
yourself: you’re ready.”

Kira turned away from him to look at the
trees flying by the open window. She didn’t want to listen to him
talk about Sonnyville and all of the plans he had for her—no, for
them. Late last night, after Kira had amazingly finished packing
and Tristan was fast asleep on her bed, Kira had returned to the
note. All of her previous drafts—the pile of trash now below her
desk—had been drawn out goodbyes, full of explanations and
apologies. But Kira had realized none of it would matter. Whatever
she wrote would make him hurt and angry. There was no way to
explain her actions on paper, but she couldn’t tell him to his face
even if it was the right thing to do.

Instead, she wrote him a short and to the
point note saying she was sorry for ditching him but it was just
something she needed to do. When she arrived in England, maybe she
would call Luke and try to explain herself. When she was all the
way across the Atlantic, Kira might be far enough away that his
pain wouldn’t invade her mind and cut through her resolve like a
knife.

Worried that her eyes were beginning to
water, Kira prematurely rubbed at them. Crying would get her
nowhere—she just had to believe that Luke would eventually forgive
her.

“Kira? You okay? I don’t think I’ve heard
you this quiet since you stopped talking to me in protest of my
short-lived popped-collar phase.”

“Oh God, don’t even mention that ever
again,” Kira rolled her eyes. Preppy douche-bag was not a good look
for Luke. Clean cut polo shirts were fine, but the popped-collar
had to go.

Kira shifted in her seat, pulling her gaze
from the window to Luke’s side of the car. She needed to act like
everything was normal or he would definitely be on to her.

“It’s just these contacts. They’re itching
my eyes.”

Luke shrugged. “Take them out.”

Kira eyed him quickly, watching the bob of
his Adam’s apple as he swallowed a nervous gulp, before reaching up
to follow his instructions. Luke still wasn’t completely
comfortable with her new look. But Kira understood it. Her eyes had
been the one thing that was exactly the same as every other
conduit—the one thing Luke probably considered relatively normal
about her.

No going back now, she thought and popped
one lens off of her eye. Once done with the other, Kira flicked the
small discs out the window.

“Wait!” Luke called just a second too
late.

“What?” Kira asked. She was just following
his instructions.

“Aren’t you going to need those in
Sonnyville?”

“I have more,” Kira said, quickly covering
her tracks. The truth was she wouldn’t be needing them again for a
long time. Aldrich already knew her secret—there would be no reason
to cover the color in England.

“Since we’re alone,” Luke started and Kira
immediately tensed, “there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask
you.”

Please, she prayed, nothing too serious.
Kira couldn’t handle it now. Any intense conversations and she
might just blow her cover. Her palms were already sweating and they
hadn’t even reached the airport.

Hesitantly, Kira asked, “What?”

Luke took a deep breath and his tan hands
tensed around the driver’s wheel. “Would…” he began but paused to
glance at her. “Would you rather fart in front of me or have me
fart in front of you?” And then he burst out laughing as Kira
shoved him into the door.

“Luke,” she said, totally exasperated. “You
scared me.”

“That was the point.” He smirked. “Answer
the question.”

Kira wanted to yank his pretty blonde hair
from his head. A bald Luke—now that would be funny.

“Well, since I’ve smelt your farts, I would
rather fart in front of you and give you a taste of your own
medicine!”

“Touché,” he said and leaned back into his
seat, relaxing with the low-key conversation.

“My turn,” Kira said, following his lead.
She lifted her feet to the dashboard and tried to think of an
equally annoying question to ask him. “Would you rather… see my
grandfather’s old wrinkly butt or accidentally flash our entire
senior class?”

“Hey, your grandfather is a fine looking
older man—”

“Council suck-up,” Kira muttered under her
breath.

“Okay, okay—I’d rather our entire class see
me in the nude. My turn again!” He said, and Kira smiled because
for the first time in a long time things felt almost normal between
them. Strange that having a conversation about her grandfather’s
behind would bring their friendship back around.

The two of them continued pestering one
another with ridiculous questions until Luke pulled around the
airport and dropped Kira off curbside with the bags before parking
the car.

Kira took the free moment to check her
ticket to Atlanta and the connecting flight to London. She and
Tristan had checked-in online the night before and he should
already be inside the airport waiting for her. Terminal B Gate 3,
Kira thought, that is where it will all go down.

After memorizing the flight number, Kira
stuffed the ticket back into her purse, grabbed her duffle and
Luke’s, and walked inside. Checking the flight statuses, she saw
the Atlanta flight was on time and boarding in half an hour. She
would have to act fast to figure out a way to ditch Luke before
security. Last time, the private jet had left from Terminal A—her
entire plan hinged on that happening again.

“No need for that,” Luke said, sneaking up
behind her and grabbing both of their bags. “Our plane won’t be on
the departures list.”

“Are we flying the same one?”

“Kira,” Luke said, turning around to stare
at her with a ‘do you really doubt me?’ expression on his face. “Of
course we’re flying the same one. Rule number one—okay, maybe not
rule number one—but remember, conduits fly in style.”

“Right, cause we’re so secret-agenty,” Kira
said while elbowing his side.

“Hey, the name’s Bowrey… Luke Bowrey,” he
said and wiggled his eyebrows in what Kira could only assume Luke
thought was a sexy way.

“Come on, double-oh-seven.” Kira grabbed his
arm and pulled him forward.

They continued walking through the small
airport until Kira spotted the pre-security bathrooms. Halting her
step, she took a deep breath and realized the point of no return
had come. So, right outside the ladies room, she whined to Luke
that she had to pee. Throwing her duffle in his direction, she told
him to wait for her. Before he could answer, she jumped inside and
left a shell-shocked Luke behind her.

Inside the restroom, Kira splashed a little
bit of cold water on her face and pulled her cell phone free of her
purse to text Tristan.

“In the bathroom—phase one is complete.”

A second later she got his reply. “I’m
sitting outside the gate with all of our stuff. Love you and see
you soon. Good luck.”

“Love you too.” Kira texted back and clicked
her phone off. She took one last look in the mirror, trying to will
the nerves away. Then, like in an old Victorian era movie, she
pinched her cheeks to bring some color back to her face before
drying her hands.

You can do this, Kira told her reflection,
you are strong and you have to do this.

“Your turn,” Kira said to Luke when she
emerged. “I’ll watch your stuff for you.”

“I don’t really need to, you know, go,” he
shrugged.

“Just get inside,” Kira said and pushed him
in the direction of the men’s room. Luke looked at her with raised
eyebrows, but slipped through the door anyway.

Quickly, Kira knelt down and unzipped his
bag. Pulling the letter from her pocket, she dropped it through the
opening and shut his duffle. Her hands were shaking the entire time
and Kira forced herself not to envision the crumbling of his face
when Luke discovered the note. Breathing deeply, Kira stood up and
pushed her shoulders back, trying to display a calm exterior even
though her insides roared.

No turning back now, she thought as Luke
reemerged.

“Okay, ready to go?” He asked, shouldering
their bags once more.

“Actually,” Kira said in one drawn out
syllable, “I had another idea.”

Luke cocked his head to the side impatiently
and Kira sensed that he was starting to realize something was going
on. Thankful that the airport was compact enough that all of her
excuses were in the same place, Kira pointed to the newsstand.

“I could really use some gossip magazines
and candy. Why don’t you go ahead and make sure the plane is all
ready to go, and I’ll stack up on munchies for the trip?”

“I could use some Good’n’Plenty’s,” Luke
murmured and Kira wrinkled her nose at the mention of that candy.
Black licorice… even as a chef she didn’t understand why Luke
adored the stuff. “Okay,” he finally said, “See you in ten
minutes?”

“Perfect!” Kira said. He turned to leave,
but suddenly stopped and dropped his bag.

“Wait!” Kira jumped on the zipper to keep
him from opening it. His hand was trapped below hers and Kira’s
heart began to thud in her chest. Was it his touch or the
precarious moment hanging in the air? Kira blamed the fear of
discovery and looked into his warm green eyes, praying he wouldn’t
notice her rapid pulse.

“What?” He asked, looking at her like she
was a mental patient, “I need to give you your ticket. Are you sure
you’re feeling okay?”

“Yeah, of course,” Kira shook her head to
refocus, “I’ll grab them.”

“It’s fine,” Luke said and freed his hand
from hers. The sudden cavity created by his absence felt cold
against Kira’s palm, but Luke continued talking, completely unaware
of her tumultuous thoughts, “I kept all my personal stuff in the
side pouch.”

He opened the side pocket to pull out her
ticket. Letting a heavy sigh escape her lips, Kira sat back on her
heels and accepted the piece of paper. Keep it together, she
cursed.

Luke stood up, smiling at her and shaking
his head. In that instant Kira knew he had no idea what was about
to happen. He knew she was acting a little strange, but he never
once imagined she was about to leave him. Why did the nice guys,
the trusting ones, always seem to be the ones who got hurt? Kira
asked herself, but quickly stopped that line of thought. It would
only lead to the one question she didn’t want to answer: why did
she need to hurt him in the first place?