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  "I’m done," Kira said to the empty clearing she stood in the middle of, knowing all four of them were close enough to hear. To keep herself going, she had to think of Tristan as a thing. Not as the human she knew, but as the vampire she needed to kill.

  "That’s no fun." Diana pouted and emerged from the shadows.

  A hand clenched down on Kira’s shoulder and spun her around. She stared directly into Tristan’s face. He fangs popped out and he leaned down to her neck to finish the job. Kira pounded her fists against his chest, trying in vain to hurt him, but he stilled her easily.

  Kira waited to feel his teeth puncture her skin and drain the life from her. She knew that the real Tristan would never go through with it and hoped he was in there somewhere, fighting the bloodlust her cells had created within him.

  Her body involuntarily jerked when instead of teeth, his cheek gently caressed hers and he breathed in the smell of her hair—something he loved to do when they were lying side by side in her bed and he thought she was asleep. Kira bit her lip to keep from smiling. If this was a trick, it was the cruelest one of all, because before she even realized it, Kira let herself believe Tristan had been fooling them all the entire time.

  When his lips brushed against the sensitive skin just below her ear and she heard him say, "I love you, too," Kira allowed herself to smile.

  A moment later, Tristan pushed her to the side to punch the now charging Diana in the face.

  Kira’s legs collapsed and she sank down to the ground, all her strength gone. For the next minute, all Kira could do was watch as Tristan, rejuvenated and fortified by her blood, threw three vampires around like rag dolls. They all ignored Kira, too caught up in their anger at Tristan for tricking them. Thunder sounded every time one of their bodies flew into a tree trunk, snapping the bark and causing the forest to wobble on its foundations.

  Kira looked up, past the tallest branch, through the swaying leaves, at the sun. An ebony circle covered the suns surface, but a halo of light stretched past the shadow, fighting to touch back down to earth. After the excruciating wait, the few minutes of total eclipse had passed. Kira felt more than saw the moon move a fraction to the side. No visible change had occurred, but with Kira’s connection to the sun, everything had altered within her.

  With her hands behind her back, Kira brought a flame to life and used her power to heal her. The electric current raced through her veins, multiplying her blood cells, closing the cuts that streaked across her skin from the branches she had struck while fleeing, reconnecting the bones that had shattered in her ankle. And, most of all, the two little puncture holes at her neck sealed shut without a scar.

  Kira jumped up, bringing her hands forward, and shot flames at John, who had failed to taste her blood. He would not be immune in the slightest, and quickly, Kira let the stream arch up in the sky and circle down, encasing him from above. For John, there was nowhere to run. Kira stopped paying attention to Tristan’s fight, letting John have her full attention. She still lacked the control over using her protective powers versus killing powers, and before Kira knew it, John had collapsed into a pile of burning ash.

  Kira looked at the sky. There was no evidence of an eclipse anymore. As usual, she had lost track of time when using her powers and she assumed Tristan had kept them away from her. When she turned, Tristan and Diana had hold of each other’s necks and were squeezing, racing to see who would be decapitated first.

  Kira started forward to help Tristan but tripped over the body she hadn’t noticed at her feet. Jerome lay still, with a gaping hole in his chest, next to the crushed remains of his heart. Kira stifled a scream and jumped over him to escape the gruesome sight.

  Diana squeezed free of Tristan, realizing he would have killed her first, and Kira used the open opportunity to shoot a blaze right at Diana’s heart, crushing her against a tree, not letting her escape. Kira wasn’t sure if enough time had passed. She feared that Diana’s immunity hadn’t waned, but Kira’s emotions put extra force behind the punch, and Diana had nowhere left to run. The fight was over, but Kira was not playing nice this time. Diana was evil, pure and simple, and evil needed to be destroyed. Kira stepped closer, slowly, until her palm laid flat against Diana’s chest, killing her all the faster.

  "You don’t want to kill me, Kira." Diana forced the words out, struggling to make a sound.

  "Why not? You tried to kill me. You tried to turn my boyfriend against me. You might have killed my best friend. Give me one good reason." Kira leaned in with each word, staring into Diana’s clear blue eyes, letting her meaning sink in.

  "Your mother is alive, and I know where she is."

  Kira jumped back, too shocked to maintain her control, and in that split second, Diana disappeared.

  "No!" Kira screamed, trying to run after her. Tristan grabbed her around the waist, picking her up off the ground.

  "It’s useless. Don’t hurt yourself. Diana has the gift of speed, even I couldn’t catch her."

  "But, my mother?" Kira let Tristan hug her close to him.

  She had given up on her parents ever since she learned of their existence, but now Kira felt the loss all over again. She imagined the woman in her vision, with long golden hair that almost sparkled in the sun, and she wanted nothing more than to know her. She still wore the locket and ring around her neck, and even now its weight seemed heavier, seemed to weigh her down, until Kira broke free of Tristan’s hold and reached into her shirt to bring it out. She opened the picture, the sole image of her real family, and felt like she had been punched in the gut. That was the most horrendous trick Diana had played, because now Kira would never stop wondering.

  "Come on." Tristan lifted Kira up as if she weighed nothing and started walking through the trees back toward her house.

  "Tristan?" she asked, trying to push thoughts of her mother to the back of her mind. He looked down at her, waiting for the question she had prompted. Hoping it wouldn’t hurt him, she said, "That was all an act, right?"

  He stopped walking, set her down, and cupped her face in both of his hands. Staring into her eyes, he said, "I swear it was. I hated every second of it, I promise. Never, ever doubt that. For thirty years, I did evil things under Aldrich’s control. All I did there was show you a part of my past that I never wanted to let resurface." Tristan wiped her cheeks clean of the salty tears she had let streak down and kissed her softly. "I love you. If I had lost you, I don’t know what I would have done."

  "I love you, too." Kira reached her arms up around his neck as he picked her up again. They both knew she could walk, but it was much more comfortable this way, she thought as she played with the short hairs at the base of his neck.

  When they emerged from the forest into the freshly cut but now blood covered grass of her backyard, Kira told Tristan to let her go. She surveyed the damage, wondering how she would clean it up, when she noticed the body, Luke’s body, slumped under the porch where he had fallen from Diana’s throw. She screamed and threw her hands up to cover the sound as it escaped her mouth.

  Instantly, Kira darted forward, dropping to her knees beside him, leaning her ear down to listen for a heartbeat.

  "Tristan, on my god, Tristan! Is he dead? I can’t hear his heart. I can’t hear his heart." Kira was yelling, but she couldn’t stop. Tristan forcibly moved her to the side, leaning down, listening.

  "I forgot about him," Kira said, hardly understanding herself.

  How had she forgotten about Luke? Her guardian, her best friend, her protector for all of these months? Kira couldn’t breathe. She tried to suck in a breath, but she was hyperventilating from the shock. His eyes were closed, and the normally healthy tanned glow of his skin had been replaced by the ash gray now covering his body. She cradled his face in her hands. His body felt warm, but cool compared to the normal heat of a conduit’s skin. She pushed open one of his eyelids, but his pupil had rolled back into his skull.

  "Tristan!" she yelled again, and he sat up, shaking his head.

&n
bsp; "He’s not dead yet, but Kira, it’ll happen any moment. His heart stopped. I don’t know for how long."

  "No!" Kira wailed, and then repeated the word over and over again, cradling Luke in her arms. He couldn’t be dead. It wasn’t possible.

  Kira thought of how he jumped on Diana, risking everything to try and help her. She wasn’t worth it, she realized, and she hugged him to her, letting tears fall freely.

  Without even meaning to, her whole body began to glow, not just her hands, and Kira encased herself and Luke in her power. Tristan was catapulted away, thrown onto the other side of the yard and Kira kept her eyes closed, chanting, "No, no, no, no," as if it were a prayer.

  Her power seeped out and melted into Luke’s body. She was draining everything she had into his corpse, her very own life force.

  "Kira!" she heard Tristan shout, distantly. "Kira! You’re killing yourself. Stop!"

  Hands grabbed at her, but she resisted, not allowing anything to move her from Luke. She kept her eyes closed, swaying back and forth, using all of the power she possessed.

  Time passed without her realizing and before Kira even had the chance to let her power go, she was long gone. Her body fell back, and hit the ground next to Luke’s—burned out, limp and lifeless.

  Epilogue

  Kira’s eyes fluttered open, stinging from the unfamiliar sensation of light, and everything was blurry. Slowly, the blobs of color sharpened, becoming more defined, and Kira recognized her mother’s face. Her lips were moving. Kira tried to force her ears to register the sound. She felt as though she was underwater, that a barrier was catching the sound waves, until it finally broke.

  "Kira, oh Kira, my baby." Her mother was crying, holding her by the shoulder and searching for recognition in Kira’s eyes.

  "Mom? What happened? Where am I?" Kira looked around at the sterile walls, the get well balloons in the corner, the beeping and blinking machines with tubes sticking into her arms, at her hospital gown, and started to remember. She sat upright. "Where’s Luke? Is he all right? And Tristan?"

  "Calm down, honey. Everything is fine." Her mother hugged Kira close and ran her fingers through Kira’s curly and probably knotty hair.

  Images from that afternoon flashed through Kira’s brain at a mile a minute—Luke running at Diana, Tristan drinking her blood, Diana laughing in her face, Jerome’s body mutilated on the ground, John burning to ash, Tristan whispering that he loved her, and Luke’s crumpled body on the ground.

  It was all too much. She felt dizzy and leaned back against the pillows while her mother called in the doctors and sent for her father and sister. The rest of her morning and afternoon was spent being pushed from room to room in a wheelchair and performing different tasks or enduring different procedures to make sure her neural functioning was completely normal. Chloe sat on her lap, enjoying the ride and making fun of the silly outfits and robes the doctors were wearing. When the procedures were finished, Kira forced her family to leave her side to go eat dinner, not allowing them to settle for hospital food. She asked them to bring back leftovers and let a nurse take over her care.

  When the nurse finally rolled Kira back to her room, she had a visitor waiting. Tristan. Kira tried to stand to hug him, but he ran to her side almost before she had the chance to move. His arms encircled her, pulling her up to a standing position. His lips kissed her neck sweetly while he smelled her hair. His mouth widened into a smile and she leaned back, staring into his soulful blue eyes that were searching hers for recognition and love. Kira grabbed his face, pulling him in for a kiss.

  The nurse left in a hurry, with a little cough and an "excuse me," making Kira laugh against Tristan’s lips. She let her fingers sift through his silky black hair, and they pressed their foreheads together, sitting in the most comfortable silence she had ever experienced. They loved each other and it was obvious even without words.

  "Sorry to break up the moment—"

  "Luke!" Kira had turned around, reaching her arms out for a hug before he had the chance to finish. He gripped her around the waist, lifting her up off the ground before setting her down and helping her back onto her hospital bed. Tristan sat beside her, grabbing her left hand, and Luke leaned on the mattress to her right.

  Kira looked from one boy to the other—her two loves—one friendly and one romantic, but both meaning the world to her.

  "So…what happened?" Kira looked over at Luke. "The last thing I remember is trying to heal you. I thought you’d died." She had to grin now, happy beyond belief that he was all right.

  "You healed me, maybe even brought me back to life. But, you almost killed yourself." He looked down at her, concern clouding his features. "And when I sat up, Tristan was leaning over you, shouting your name, but you weren’t responding. We rushed you to the hospital and you’ve been in a coma ever since."

  "How long?" Kira looked from one boy to the other.

  "About three months," Tristan said and squeezed her hand in comfort.

  Kira's body slackened in the cushions as she thought about that. It felt like she had been asleep for a while, like taking a really long nap, but three months? That was a long time.

  "Are you guys friends yet?" she questioned, hoping three months of worrying about her might have done the trick. Luke and Tristan stared across her bed, sizing one another up, and finally Tristan replied, turning to Kira.

  "I think we’ve come to an understanding."

  Kira smiled. It was something. She asked about everything she had missed, about Emma and the boys, about school in general, and about her family. Tristan and Luke told her stories, all three of them smiling and laughing together, and a warm glow started inside of her, not from power, but from pure happiness.

  After a while, a doctor told them visiting hours were almost over for non-family members, and Kira knew her own family would be back from dinner soon.

  "Before I go," Luke said, poking his head through the door he had just vacated. "I just wanted to let you know that the council semi-forgave us, but they want you to visit Sonnyville with me…immediately. Okay, bye."

  Luke jumped out before Kira could even mutter a protest. Coward, she thought. He knew she had no interest in the council, but she guessed seeing the conduit society could be interesting.

  "What do you think?" she asked Tristan, liking how he rubbed her palm with his thumb while they held hands.

  "It’s probably inevitable," he sighed. If she went to the conduit society, he would not be able to see her or visit her for a long time.

  "Well, there’s still plenty of time to figure it out." Kira pulled on his arm so he would lie down next to her. Seeing Luke had been great, but having some intimate moments with Tristan out of Luke’s watchful eye was amazing.

  Tristan's fingers trail down her arm, dancing light circles on her soft skin, tickling her a little. Kira hugged her arm around his waist, turning to mold her body to his and resting her head on his chest to listen to the gentle thud of his heart.

  Her thoughts shifted back to the fight. Kira couldn’t forget what Diana had taunted, that her real mother might still be alive. And she didn’t want to imagine what sort of hell she had been living in all these years, probably trapped in a dungeon, the feeding toy of an evil vampire. Kira silently vowed to hunt Diana down and get the truth. She would find her mother and she would free her mother, no matter how many vampires she had to kill along the way to do it.

  As if sensing her dark thoughts, Tristan started to hum a tune quietly in her ear. Kira recognized the jazz song. He had made her listen to it in the car one time, promising Kira she would fall in love with the sounds. She didn’t love the song, but she loved Tristan and she loved the sound of his voice, a deep tenor that reminded her of rolling waves. Kira let her body relax and drift off into a deep sleep, content to push all thoughts of the future aside for the moment, to lie safely in the arms of her lover.

  ###

  Bonus Scenes!

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usive Ignite bonus scenes told from both Luke and Tristan’s perspectives! What was Luke thinking the moment he met Kira? How does Tristan remember his daring rescue by the sea?

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  ###

  Simmer

  Midnight Fire Book Two

  By

  Kaitlyn Davis

  Description

  "Slowly, like a whisper almost blown away in the wind, two words streaked across her mind. Kiss me."

  Kira may have survived the eclipse, but her troubles are far from over. She's headed to Sonnyville with one goal in mind: to learn more about her parents. But with Luke and Tristan competing for her heart and Diana gunning for her head, time is running out on the search for her mother. And the closer Kira gets to answers, the more terrified she becomes. The conduits fear her, the vampires fear her, and Kira is starting to wonder if maybe they're right...

  ###

  Chapter One

  "I hate packing," Kira whined and collapsed onto the heap of clothes piled high on her bed. She did not want to move another muscle.

  "Just pick out some outfits." Tristan chuckled, not looking up from the pad of paper he was scribbling on.

  Kira arched her head, glancing in his direction. He sat with one leg outstretched and one knee bent, leaning against her headboard in relaxed concentration. With squinted eyes, he focused on rubbing in the graphite pencil marks he had just made with his already blackened fingers. If she wasn't so tired, Kira would have crawled a little closer to see what he was drawing, but instead she dropped her head with a sigh.