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Ignite Midnight Fire Book One

By Kaitlyn Davis

 

eBook Edition

 

 

 

 

Copyright 2011 Kaitlyn Davis M.

 

Cover Art: Covers by Juan

 

Interior Art:

Chapter symbol manipulated by Kaitlyn Davis with photoshop brush by DusterAmaranth.

 

The right of Kaitlyn Davis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

 

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the author, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be direct infringement of the author's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

 

This is a work of fiction and any resemblances between the characters and persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

 

 

 

 

All Titles by Kaitlyn Davis

 

Midnight Fire

Ignite

Simmer

Blaze

Scorch

Burn

 

Midnight Ice

Frost

Freeze

Fracture

Shatter

 

Once Upon a Curse

Gathering Frost

Withering Rose

Chasing Midnight

 

A Dance of Dragons

The Shadow Soul

The Spirit Heir

The Phoenix Born

Leena’s Story – The Novellas

 

 

 

 

To my family for their unconditional love,

my friends for their overwhelming support,

and my fans for their incredible enthusiasm.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

All Works by Kaitlyn Davis

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Epilogue

Bonus Scenes from Luke and Tristan's POVs

Simmer Preview

About The Author

 

 

Prologue

 

Kira watched as he languidly stood, flexing his muscles as though he had just awakened from a long dream. He stretched his arms over his head and cracked the bones in his neck before finally settling his gaze on her. She hardly recognized him, the boy she had fallen in love with. Where minutes before there had been light and emotion in his eyes, now there was only a black hole, a seemingly endless abyss. Kira had never seen him look at her that way, like less than food, like vermin, even since the first time they met.

"Aren’t you going to run?" he asked with sinister humor coloring his words. The smirk on his face may as well have been a knife cutting through her heart. The darkness had always called him, but Kira thought that being with her would be enough to keep him from crossing over. She saw now that he had surrendered to his nature, and for the first time, she felt real fear when he looked at her.

Kira stepped backward on shaky feet, trying to digest the question. She didn’t have an answer. How could she turn her back on him and run away? The man she loved was trying to kill her. There were no options. Could she forget it all—all the nights they had shared kissing and swapping secrets—and fight to kill? Or would she run and admit that there was no hope he would return to her?

Kira said his name and reached out her hand, searching one last time for the man she had lost.

"Yes, honey?" The words hit her like a slap in the face as they rolled off his tongue, drenched in sarcasm.

Kira looked up at the sun, still hidden behind the shadow of the moon, and sprinted into the tree line behind her. She couldn’t give up on him now. But when the eclipse was over, maybe she would finally find the strength to fight.

 

 

Chapter One

 

As Kira waited in line for a parking spot, she studied the sprawling two-story building that took up her entire line of vision. A stone engraving read "Charleston County High School" and Kira sighed at the daunting brick walls before her. Already she could tell it had a layout much different from the private school she had attended in New York, with numerous buildings sandwiched between corporate skyscrapers and spread out over a few city blocks. The students wandered here at a pace much different from the bustle she had grown used to during the past five years spent at the boarding school that she had begged her parents to attend. But last year her father had been laid off, and Kira knew she would be back home for her senior year.

Her family had lived in Charleston for about four years, but Kira had never met anyone during her summers home. This would be new for her—a huge school that she would definitely get lost in and tons of people who had probably never even heard of The Met.

A car honked behind her, and Kira continued moving at a slow pace down the parking lot as students took turns swinging trucks into super-sized, yellow-lined spaces. As she took her turn pulling the eco-friendly car her parents loved into a spot, she knew she wouldn’t quite fit in here. Kira looked to her left at the person sitting in the passenger seat of a pickup truck, a full two feet above her, and felt as tiny and invisible as she probably seemed to him.

But enough, she thought, straightening her shoulders.

Kira hated self-pity more than anything, so she grabbed her shoulder bag and made for the front door with the rest of the crowd. She did give Charleston one thing, the smell of marsh and pine was a heck of a lot better than that of car exhaust and garbage.

"Name?" the secretary asked as Kira entered the main office for her schedule.

"Kira Dawson."

"Year?"

"Senior." Kira ran her hands down the sides of her royal blue sundress, smoothing out the wrinkles to make a good impression on her new classmates.

"Here you go, honey."

She took the folder and pulled out a schedule. Advanced Calculus, room 253C. Kira walked out to the hallway and looked around for a sign, anything to point her in the right direction, but saw only bare brick walls. After a few minutes, someone finally took pity on her.

"Are you new?" A handsome blond guy with a lanky build stood behind her looking over her shoulder at the paper. "Oh, 253C, not an easy walk from here. Come on, I’m next door to you." She followed, having no real other choice. "So you are new, right, or have my great looks made you speechless?"

Damn, Kira thought, hating to be called out. Time to prove she wasn't a wallflower. "Yeah I’m new, and what good looks? You’re so tall I can’t even see your face."

"Touché." He studied her for a moment, and Kira finally got a good look at his face, which she had to admit wasn’t too shabby. He had wispy hair the color of summer corn, a slightly crooked nose spotted with light-brown freckles, and a wide, friendly smile full of perfectly white teeth. There was something about his eyes, green with flecks of yellow, which she found familiar and almost comforting.

"I’m Luke Bowrey." He extended his hand, naturally tanned from a summer in the South, and she shook it.

"Kira Dawson. Nice to meet you, and thanks for the help."

"Not a problem. When I see a damsel in distress I just can’t help but act the knight in shining armor."

She laughed despite herself. Kira knew he was cocky, but she also instantly knew they could be friends.

"Here’s your stop. Hope to see you later," he said and rushed into the classroom next door right as the bell rang.

She hurried to do the same and quickly sat in the first seat she could find. The math was easier than she was used to, as were chemistry, biology, and Spanish. Her morning passed smoothly as she followed people from classroom to classroom and eventually into the cafeteria big enough to hold all fifteen hundred students at the school.

Kira had packed her lunch, so she made her way down the rows of tables, searching for an open seat in a friendly crowd, almost giving up until a huge hand landed on her shoulder.

"Need saving again?"

She smiled to herself—it was Luke coming to the rescue once more. "I wouldn’t mind it."

He nodded to the left and she followed him to one of the smaller tables where two boys and another girl sat. "Everyone, this is Kira. Kira, this is everyone."

The girl rolled her eyes, pointing an exasperated look at Luke.

"Luke, truly amazing introduction," the slightly goofy looking boy with shaggy brown hair and black-rimmed glasses said, and extended his hand. "Hey Kira, I’m Miles, this is Emma and that’s Dave." He pointed to the girl—who had dyed blonde hair, more makeup on than Kira was capable of applying, and was wearing Lily Pulitzer—and the boy—who had one tanned arm around her chair back and was sporting a baseball cap for the Dallas Cowboys. "We all moved here last winter, but thanks to you we’re no longer the new kids. Not much change happens here. I think five students in one year must be a school record."

"Wow, so everyone is pretty set in their ways then?" Kira adjusted the curly red ringlet falling over her eyes, slightly nervous in front of this new crowd. "Good thing I found you guys, or good thing I looked lost enough that Luke felt some pity for me."

"We would have found you eventually," Emma added. "We’re some of the only kids not here since birth and probably the only ones not here since middle school, so it was almost inevitable that we’d adopt the new kid and not upset the balance."

"The balance?" Kira asked, a little confused. Her school in New York had been a constantly changing atmosphere with girls dressed in anything from Gucci to Forever 21 to leggings with holes in them from a flea market.

"It’s like this…" Luke put an arm around Kira’s shoulder and steered her gaze to the left side of the large, open room. "First, the cafeteria is divided into four with freshman in the front near the grotesque processed food smell, and older kids filling in the back until you get to the seniors around us who have the best window view of the lake and the biggest tables. Then, each year is divided into your standard groups. The jocks have a table." He pointed to the corner that was a sea of blue jerseys full of boys and girls in uniforms. "Next are the football players and the cheerleaders who fawn on them, the next table over is the just plain popular because of good looks and in rare cases a stellar attitude. In the middle are the average uncategorized and the most down to earth people you’ll meet. And finally, rounding out the senior class, we have the drama nerds mixed with the emos, because who really can tell the difference there."

She stared at the groups, sort of seeing the distinction in clothes and stature, black leotard looking garments versus regular jeans and a T-shirt or pompoms, but not totally understanding it. She wasn’t used to groups, except for rich and scholarship, which had been the only divide at her private school. But even then, it was sometimes hard to tell just from looks, because the wealthiest students would come to school wearing oversized sweaters with moth holes, and the poorest students might spend a month’s income on one dress.

"Luke, you forgot the misfits," Miles added and turned his head out the window.

"Meaning us?" Kira asked, certainly feeling like this