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at, and he was a completely normal all-American sort of guy. Maybe he would be good for her track record. And with Emma’s eyes practically bulging from her head, Kira knew she needed to say yes. So she took his open hand and let him lead her to the dance floor, which resembled more of a mosh pit than anything else.

"You look amazing," he whispered in her ear as he put his hands on her back and pressed her body against his.

The base rumbled through her. She found the rhythm of the music and decided she just needed to enjoy herself. To forget about Luke and Tristan, to forget conduits and vampires, and just be a normal hormonal teenage girl dancing with one of the most attractive guys at the school.

Carter wasn’t one for words, she quickly realized, as they continued to dance in silence. The music blared, the crowd of dancing students moved as one, and soon Kira began to get really overheated in her leather jumpsuit. Even the skin-showing cutouts weren’t enough to keep the sweat from gathering, so after a few more songs with her body pressed firmly against his rather tall and broad chest, she and Carter went to get some punch.

Kira looked around while he waited in line, noticing the jealous stares of her fellow classmates and pointedly avoiding the table all the way in the back. She was ignoring him tonight and not thinking about how his black suit set off the stark blue of his eyes so nicely.

Shifting her focus, Kira quickly drank the few glasses of punch Carter retrieved and then headed straight to the dance floor again. Carter managed the crowd easily, pushing them closer to the center and away from the tables, so other dancing couples surrounded them.

After a while, Kira started to feel dizzy. Looking up, the white lights and glowing cobwebs above her seemed to move, spinning. Carter’s actions were in slow motion, and she giggled without any reason. When he started kissing her neck, Kira wanted to pull away, but her muscles wouldn't cooperate, and she had to lean on him just to keep from falling over. He looked down at her, smiling, and she laughed loudly, as though his kiss were the funniest thing in the world. Spinning her around, he held her waist when she wobbled and pressed her back against his stomach.

Kira leaned her head against his chest, closing her eyes to block out the twirling lights around the room. Carter stepped back suddenly, and she almost fell, but his arm came around her again, lightning fast. She was pressed against his chest once more, but this time he wasn't moving. The music still played, but their dance was abruptly over. Opening her eyes to ask what was wrong, Kira found herself gazing into Tristan's sapphire eyes instead of Carter's honey irises. She giggled at the unexpected, but welcome, turn of events.

"Hello," she said and leaned her head back against his chest, this time spotting Carter on the floor, doubled over and clutching his stomach. "Did you hit him? That wasn’t very nice." She tried to scold him, but Tristan just rolled his eyes.

"C’mon. You need some fresh air."

"No, I’m fine. Let’s just stay like this." Kira leaned her head against his chest again, stopping her spins and balancing issues in one deft move. Tristan wrapped his arm around her waist and slowly led her through the mass of people, gripping tighter when he felt her balance wane.

After a few minutes, they had slipped free of the crowd and were exiting the humid gym. The blast of cold breeze felt fantastic, and Kira let Tristan lead her away from the school and past the football field to the big tree overhanging the school’s manmade lake. He sat down and leaned against the tree, motioning for her to sit with him, but Kira ignored it and started dancing to the quiet strains of music they could hear coming from the gym.

"Kira, sit down." He sounded frustrated.

"No! I want to dance." She started jumping up and down to the beat of the music and almost lost her balance, but Tristan stood up and caught her before she crashed. He slipped off his jacket, and Kira pushed her arms through the oversized sleeves. Finally, she calmed down and swayed with him to the music.

Kira sighed, resigned to the fact that the moment felt completely right.

"What?" he asked.

"I’m supposed to be ignoring you, but it’s not working."

He laughed quietly. "No, that doesn’t seem to be working for either of us."

"Is that why you punched Carter?"

"I just couldn’t stand the way he was touching you."

Kira smiled. "Jelly belly," she said, wishing she could get her mouth to stop word vomiting. She could feel his chin on the top of her head as he pulled her in closer.

"Maybe," he said, but it sounded more like a begrudging yes.

Kira yawned.

"Time to sit down," he told her while helping her down to the spot next to him on the ground and leaning her back against the tree. Kira watched the moon reflect off the water. She looked at the sky and saw it still swerving there, and finally had the realization Tristan must have had in the gym.

"I think my punch was not just punch," she concluded as the world continued to spin.

"I think you’re right." He put his arm around her, letting her head fall to his shoulder. They sat silently in the moonlight, just enjoying one another’s company.

"Are you like one hundred years old?" Kira spat out the first question that came to her mind. She had never even thought of it before, too consumed by his eating habits instead.

Tristan shrugged. "A little older."

Kira sat up, fascinated, and turned to look him in the eyes. "How old?" she asked, feeling like a little girl.

"About one hundred and fifty, give or take a year."

Kira’s jaw dropped and her eyelids widened in complete shock. "Gross!"

She clamped her hands over her mouth before she could say anything else. He just laughed it off.

"I look pretty good for someone who’s more than a century old, right?" He grinned. She blushed, thinking of their kiss, and silently agreed.

"So, what do we do now? I’m seventeen and growing, you’re seventeen and stagnant." Kira finally felt herself coming down from the alcohol Carter had slipped her. The lake still seemed to glow, and the stars still danced in the sky, but she was regaining her mental control.

"I don’t know," he whispered and reached for her hand. Kira intertwined their fingers, amazed at his cool touch against her boiling skin.

Fire and ice, she thought. That really was what they were, complete opposites. Fire could melt ice and ice could douse a fire, but was there any way for the two to meet in the middle? But, she thought, Tristan wasn’t just icy, he was passionate and alive too—more like a flame trapped in the arctic, struggling for the chance to be set free.

Kira snuggled in closer as his arm tightened around her shoulders, and she let her breath slow, enjoying the comfort of these moments where nothing but her feelings mattered, when her mind had shut off for a moment.

A scream sounded, waking Kira from her reverie.

She bolted upright, out of Tristan’s arms, and he stirred beside her, jolted from his quiet slumber. They both heard the second scream loud and clear.

Kira looked to the right toward the woods by the school. She swore it came from that direction.

"Come on, we have to help," Kira said and took off at a run toward the noise. Tristan swore and ran past her, using his supernatural speed to shoot ahead. Kira made it to the tree line, where the moonlight lost its power, and everything was pitch black. She heard whimpering ahead of her, sure that whatever girl had screamed was now in real danger. She crept forward, trying not to trip on the roots and twigs all over the ground.

The blue glow of a cell phone filtered through the trees and Kira hid behind a bush to evaluate the situation. She had to help. What if that girl had been her? But she wasn’t sure what she would face on the other side. She started to stand.

"Stop." Tristan breathed into her ear. She nearly screamed from fear. "It’s Jerome and John. Let me." And without another word, Tristan disappeared around the tree bend toward the noise.

"Jerome. John. Control yourselves." She heard the commanding tone in Tristan’s voice. But there was no reply.

Kira couldn’t help it. She was too curious and too worried that Tristan wouldn’t save the girl. She crept on her hands and knees around the tree and peered toward the light from the cell phone. The LCD cast an eerie blue glow around the forest, illuminating Tristan. She followed his gaze further and could barely make out the shadow he stared at.

Kira inched closer. Then she understood.

A girl in a Cinderella costume lay sprawled on the ground, perpendicular to Kira. Her hair was filled with leaves and dirt, proving a struggle had occurred, and now she wasn’t moving. Jerome leaned over her neck, and John, with his back to Kira, held her wrist to his mouth.

Kira was paralyzed. They were killing her. But instead of feeling powerful and angry, Kira felt afraid. The scene dredged up a memory she had buried long ago, but now it all came rushing back…

Baby Kira looked up into the pale freckled face of a woman with straight pearly blonde hair—her mother. She tugged on the loose tendrils, thinking it a game, and laughed when she caught stray strands flying in the breeze.

"We have to hurry," her father said, and Kira was scared by his tone. She looked over at the tall man with curly red hair, and he strained a smile for her benefit. "Don’t you worry, baby girl," he said and tapped her nose.

She tried to reach his, but her arms were too short. Instead, she used her fire and shot a bolt at his face, laughing as the pretty colors danced across the sky. He looked shocked as the flame landed on his cheek, but it sunk deep into his skin with no harm done.

"I’m going to get you," he said, sweeping her from her mother's arms and swinging her over his shoulder to pat her bum. Kira laughed and shot a bolt at her mother for another reaction. Her mother caught it in her hand and shot it back. Kira clapped her pudgy baby hands and tried to squish the light, but she missed. She tried again and shot a long stream at her mother, who now caught it in two hands. She was about to send it back when seven men burst out of the trees to their left.

"Lana!" her father shouted as the strangers grabbed her mother, who shot the light at them. They fell backward, but kept coming. Her father ran to the side with Kira and lifted her off of his shoulders, hiding her in the twigs and leaves of a bush.

"Kira, baby. Listen to Daddy," he whispered urgently, "be quiet and don’t shine your light. Whatever happens, this is very important. Do not let anyone see your power."

Even as a baby, Kira knew to listen. He kissed his fingers and touched the kiss to her forehead. Then he turned and shot bolts of light from his hands like bullets, slamming them into the vampires nipping at the woman lying on the ground. The vampires stumbled backward, but more came from behind her father and jumped him, biting into his flesh. He screamed and let the light come out in a long wave. Some vampires were thrown away, other’s who were feeding were immune to the effects. Eventually, her father fell to his knees, then his stomach, until he too lay still on the ground.

Vampires circled both bodies, lying over them, not letting a single drop of blood escape their lips.

Kira sat in the bush, still not able to crawl. She didn’t release her fire. She wanted to make her father proud. Kira cried silently, until a minute later another crash came, this time from behind her. Arcs of light soared over her head toward the vampires. At first nothing happened, but slowly the vampires moved back against the onslaught of light, not totally immune. Someone grabbed Kira and lifted her from the bush, but she listened to her father and didn’t show anyone that she could make flames as well.

The vampires moved from her father, but they could not be pushed from her mother. The woman was still surrounded and dying.

"Let’s go. We must hurry," Kira heard.

In an instant,