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"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 taut 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 toward 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."

His eyes peaked out from nearly closed lids. His fingers moved against grass, inching closer to hers. Kira grabbed his hand and moved to rest his head upon her lap, brushing damp hair from his forehead.

"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. She 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 she got home, Kira 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 later that week. But before she could even finish the thought, sleep embraced her.

Chapter Eleven

Everyone’s eyes were on Kira as she and her friends walked into the barely recognizable gymnasium. A blush crept up her cheeks, and she thanked god for the oversized cat mask—complete with ears—that accompanied her costume. Emma and Dave were holding hands and giggling, completely unaware of the crowd, while Luke and Miles had already headed for the snack table, leaving Kira alone and uncomfortable by the entrance. She was used to the stares she got because of her voluminous strawberry blonde hair, but she had never felt so exposed.

Kira wanted to curse Emma for convincing her to wear the skintight getup and for cutting extra cat scratches up the sides of her legs. Flashes of her skin were exposed all the way up her thighs, and one scratch cut across her entire back. Kira avoided making eye contact with the senior boys who had all but started drooling when she walked in.

Twenty minutes before, when Luke’s trusty pickup had stopped outside her house, Kira had sprinted from her room, down the stairs, and out the door to keep her mother from commenting on her outfit. When she sat safely in the car, Emma kept talking about how she loved the extra black glittery eye shadow and mascara Kira had put on, but the boys had been mysteriously silent. Kira was starting to understand why, and she didn’t like it. It was one thing to feel sexy but another to actually have guys openly staring at you.

Kira took one more look around the room, and all the way in the back of the gym, she spotted him. Tristan sat with Jerome, John, and Diana at a table nestled in the corner of the party, away from the crowd and completely separated from the fun. All three of the boys wore suits, and Diana was dressed in a floor-length black ball gown. They looked like they had missed the memo on the costume party and had instead dressed up for a black-tie affair. But even though Diana was sitting down and in the wrong theme, Kira begrudgingly thought she looked amazing.

Of course, Kira mused, the one guy who I actually want staring at me is completely absorbed in his own world. And Kira left that thought at that, leaving Tristan behind to go find her friends.

Emma had snatched a table right next to the dance floor, so Kira sat with her to wait for the guys who were gorging on hors d'œuvres.

"Aren’t the decorations just amazing?" Emma gushed, while gazing around the room. Kira had to admit that the party committee had done an awesome job. Cobwebs hung all over the ceiling and walls, filled with plastic spiders and white Christmas lights. Carved pumpkins lined the floors and acted as centerpieces. They had even found black lights to make the room and cobwebs glow a creepy purplish color.

"Very mysterious looking," Kira agreed. She looked over at Emma, who was shifting her weight on the seat while going back and forth between speaking and keeping quiet. "Spit it out," she told her friend, more curious than anything.

"I just have to ask about Tristan. What is going on there? I’ve been keeping my distance and waiting for you to talk, but I just can’t wait anymore. And the way he stared at you when we came in. I mean, even I flushed."

Kira snapped her head around to Tristan’s table. "He was looking?"

"Looking like he wanted to devour you! So, spill."

"It’s complicated…"

"Because of Luke?"

Kira silently thanked Emma for the way out. "Yeah totally, because Luke would hate it." Not exactly a lie, but definitely not the real reason for her hesitation.

"You have to let that go. Luke can handle it. And I know you really like Tristan. Your eyes just lit up like stars when I said his name." Kira blushed, hating her obviousness. The boys came back, saving her from the rest of the conversation.

"We are definitely the best dressed here," Luke said as he sat down and Kira couldn’t help but agree. Dave made a great Batman, and Emma looked like the perfect Poison Ivy evil girlfriend. Miles was, well, Miles in his Robin costume, the forever geek, and even Luke had the maniacal charm of the Joker when he wanted to. He had even let the girls cover his face with costume makeup.

As Kira watched Luke, he met her eyes, and for the first time she thought his gaze held more than just friendship. She quickly denied it, blaming her ridiculous costume, and looked away.

"Hey." He grabbed her hand. "Let’s go be evil and mischievous together."

Kira leaned in while they discussed what villainous act to attempt, and in the end, Luke went the easy route and pulled Dave’s mask off his head and ran away with it. Kira followed with Miles and Dave hot on their tails. The chase only lasted a few minutes until Dave tackled Luke behind the bleachers. So, Luke tossed the mask to Kira who quickly found herself cornered by Miles. She threw the mask as far away as she could before Miles jumped on her, hoping the recovery at least would be difficult. Then, out of nowhere, Emma appeared, snatched up the mask, and teased Dave until he caught her up in his arms and stole it back.

"No one can beat Batman and Robin, fools," Dave and Miles yelled triumphantly while the whole group walked back over to their table.

"Hey, Kira."

She jumped at the unfamiliar male voice saying her name and turned around. Carter Evans, the school quarterback, was talking to her. Typical, Kira thought, put on some leather and the guy commonly referred to as the most gorgeous person to ever attend this school suddenly wants to get to know you.

"Want to dance?" he asked.

Kira honestly wasn’t sure what to do. He was definitely nice to look