Simmer by Kaitlyn Davis

voice was a complete sham, but the
other blonde girl slipped by her and took the seat next to
Luke.
    "Sure," Kira sat down, ignoring the
victorious smirk on Vanessa's face.
    Luke revved the engine, letting it growl into
the silent morning air. Everyone else in town was already preparing
for their return and thinking up plans for every possible
worst-case scenario. But the four of them, for a short while, could
try to have a little fun. At least, Kira knew Luke would definitely
try to lighten the mood — something that was confirmed when he
backed up and went from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye,
shooting down the empty streets.
    "Luke!" Kira said, grabbing onto the
handhold. He just laughed and slowed down, but only a smidge. Last
time they were in a car alone, Kira was tethered to the bed of a
pickup fighting a hoard of angry vampires. Somehow she felt less
safe right now, especially with Vanessa's stare boring a hole into
the side of her skull.
    "So, Kira. Have you met Casey yet?" Kira
shook her head.
    "Hi," the girl said shyly from the front seat
before turning around to wave. She had a sweet look. Her face was
round and open and her hair was cut pixie short. She had on baby
pink shorts that no evil immortal would find intimidating in the
least. In fact, Kira felt almost like a biker chick compared to
her, with her black leggings and cobalt blue blouse.
    "Nice to meet you," Kira said. Quickly she
checked her phone. No response from Tristan yet. She had texted him
on the way to the car.
    "You know," Vanessa said quietly, leaning in
towards Kira as if to make small talk. "Luke and Casey were sort of
a thing back in high school—"
    "Vanessa, now is not really the time for
that," Luke said shortly from the front seat.
    "What?" She replied, wide-eyed and
innocent.
    "Actually," Kira interjected before Vanessa
could open her mouth again, "I did know."
    "What?" Luke and Casey both said from the
front seat.
    "Uh, yeah," Kira said, sinking into her seat
and wishing for once that her somewhat big mouth would stay closed.
"I wasn't snooping, exactly. But, I saw a photo of the two of you
on Luke's desk."
    "You still have that photo...there?" Casey
asked in a meek voice. Kira almost felt sorry for the girl. She
knew Luke and the two of them never would have lasted. Luke's
personality was too strong for her. He needed someone to keep him
humble, not someone who would hang on his every word. At least,
that was how Kira's mind was rationalizing the entire thing.
    "Yeah, Luke. You still have that photo up?"
Vanessa chimed in. Kira wanted to kick her.
    "Actually," Luke said in strained voice as he
gave his sister the evil eye through the rearview mirror, "I
thought I put that away."
    "Apparently not," she smirked back. Kira
realized what was going on. It was a show, probably for her
benefit. Luke's sister must have put that photo back up in his
room, anticipating that the four of them would be together at some
point in Kira's few weeks with the conduits. She's good, Kira
thought. It was a very well laid-out plan. Except that Kira could
see Casey's reflection in the side mirror as they sped down the
road and she looked about to cry. She must have seen through
Vanessa's idea too.
    "What's your high school like?" Kira asked,
hoping to change the subject.
    "Same basic format," Luke answered for the
group. "Hormonal teenagers, boring classes and a mix of good and
bad teachers. The only major difference is the classes we take.
Instead of gym, we have training sessions. Instead of advanced
math, we have conduit history lessons. In English, we study
mythology rather than Shakespeare. We take religion classes, sort
of like at a Catholic school. But, conduits have their own
interpretation of the bible, and it varies from Protectors to
Punishers. We study a lot of science, biology and chemistry, to
figure out how we operate and to try to understand how the vampiric
virus works. You know, nothing crazy."
    "Yeah," Kira said. Nothing crazy?