Covet (41 page)

He scrubbed both hands over his face, his palms rasping over his beard. “Your mother’s convinced it’s a message, that they’re all but openly declaring war on us.”

“What do you think?”

“I think it was planned ahead of time. Beyond that, I don’t know. We’ve got to find out if this was a rogue attack or a council-sanctioned hit. And we’ve got to do it fast before mass hysteria breaks out within the Clann.”

He stared ahead at the kitchen without seeming to see anything. “I spent my whole life, and my father half of his, working with the council to create that peace treaty. There’s no way I’m going to make any rash decisions to destroy all that hard work without knowing exactly what’s going on and seeing if we can stop this train from going off a cliff.”

“Can you talk to the council?”

“I’m going to try to reach out to them. But with your mom around, it’s not going to be easy. She doesn’t want to hear anything short of an immediate declaration of war on all vamps.”

I blew out a long breath, running a hand through my hair. This was getting crazy fast. “You’ve got to calm her down, Dad. And everyone else, too.”

“I know. Our cell phone provider’s gonna love us this month.” One corner of his mouth hitched in a halfhearted attempt at a smile. “In the meantime, I need to know you and your sister will be protected. So do you think you could help your old man out and put up with a babysitter just for a few days till I get back?”

“Yeah, okay.” If it made him feel better so he could focus on his job in New York, I guessed I could put up with a babysitter. I just wished he’d change his mind and let me come with him to help him get some answers.

Emily returned downstairs, joining us at the island, her face pale and splotchy beneath its usual tan. “Mom said to call the airlines. She’s already packing.”

Dad nodded. “I’d better grab the Clann address book while I’m at it.” He headed down the hallway off the kitchen toward his study.

“Don’t forget your phone’s charger cord, too,” Emily called out.

“Right. Thanks, Em!” he yelled back.

In the kitchen’s silence, Emily and I stared at each other without having to say a thing. She couldn’t believe this was happening any more than I could.

Emily sighed. “I’d better go check on Mom, make sure she’s packing clothes instead of weapons or something.”

She trudged back up the stairs, not bothering to keep her footsteps light and graceful like she usually did.

Unsure what to do, I headed upstairs to my room, opting to lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. Like everyone else in the house, I left my door open. As a result, my parents’ unguarded thoughts drifted throughout the house like radios left on in other rooms They must have been pretty upset to let their mental guards down so completely, even at home. Usually they tried to protect Emily and me more.

I couldn’t hear Emily’s thoughts, though. Apparently she’d learned how to keep her mental guard up no matter what. Probably because she didn’t want our parents to ever learn just what their perfect princess really had been up to over the years.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d found a way to keep her mental guard up even during her sleep.

Between our parents, Mom’s thoughts were the most unguarded and definitely the loudest, her mind a painful mix of wondering how soon she and Dad could get to New York, how she might track down the killer, memories of growing up with Aunt Cynthia.

And surprisingly, memories of an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere that Mom seemed scared to death to enter.

Later Mom came into my room like a small tornado, her ebony hair once again secured in a harsh bun low at the back of her neck, her outfit all black.

The wrist cuff she carried was also black leather and stamped with a Celtic border along both its edges. In the center was stamped some kind of circular Celtic knot.

“Give me your hand,” she demanded, her eyes and cheeks dry now, her lips set into thin lines.

Sitting up, I held out my left arm.

She wrapped the cuff around my wrist and snapped its buttons closed to secure it.

“What is it?” I turned it around so I could see the Celtic knot. On closer inspection, it looked more like some kind of crest.

The Clann’s group crest. I recognized it from the same design that had been carved into the back of the stone throne Dad sat in for all the Clann gatherings in the woods.

“It’s a vamp ward,” she explained.

CHAPTER 27

I reached for the snaps to take it off. No way was I wearing this thing.

Her hand darted out to clamp over mine. “You
will
wear this, Tristan. Do not make me add a locking spell to it. I
will
have you safe.”

She stared at me, her fingers digging into the back of my hand. She looked right on the edge of crazy.

“Okay, Mom. If it makes you feel better, I’ll wear it. But you have to promise me something in return. Don’t do anything crazy in New York.”

Mom scowled. “Oh please. Do be sensible. Do you think your father lasted this long as Clann leader by having a stupid wife?”

Right. “Be careful.”

At that, her scowl faded. “You, too, dear.” She bent over to press a cold-lipped peck on my cheek, then turned and walked out of the room, her heels clacking on the hardwood. A few minutes later, Dad and Mom exited the house, the wheels on the suitcases adding to the clattering of Mom’s heels before being cut off by the closing kitchen door.

Emily came in and sat on the edge of the bed, her face drawn. “Can you believe this is really happening?”

“Yeah, I know. Feels like a bad dream.” I hesitated. “Dad said Mom thinks this means war with the vamps again. Is she mental or…?”

“I don’t know. Let’s hope she’s just overreacting. I heard things got really scary before the peace treaty was signed. At the very least, I’d guess vamp wards will become the new fashion accessory again, at least for a little while.” Staring at the open doorway, she didn’t seem to notice as her left hand grabbed a tiny section of my bed’s black satin comforter and rubbed it between her thumb and fingertips.

She caught me staring at her hand. “What?”

I nodded at her fidgeting hand. “I haven’t seen you do that since we were little.”

Smiling crookedly, she let go of the comforter and clasped her hands tightly in her lap. “I haven’t been this worried in a while.”

My smile faded. So it really was that bad. “Did Mom ever tell you anything about an old farmhouse?” At her confused look, I added, “I saw Mom thinking about it tonight. She seemed absolutely terrified of it for some reason.”

“I don’t remember her telling me anything about that. But you really shouldn’t have listened in on her thoughts.”

“I couldn’t help it. She was practically yelling. And you know how loud she can yell when she gets riled up.”

Emily sighed. “Yeah, I guess I see your point. I couldn’t fully block her out tonight, either.”

“Oh, but you could block her out a little more than me, huh?”

She gave a half smile and shrugged. “Don’t hate me because I’m the gifted one.”

Downstairs the front doorbell rang, interrupting the great comeback I was about to deliver.

Emily stood up. “That’ll be Mrs. Faulkner come to stay with us for the week.” She glanced down at me. “Dad did tell you, right?”

“He told me someone was coming, but not who. Why the heck did he ask
her
?” Mrs. Faulkner was a polished Texas trophy wife on the outside. But on the inside, she could give the Wicked Witches of the East and West a run for their money. She’d taught the Brat Twins everything they knew about bigotry and then some.

“Dad didn’t. It was Mom’s idea. She was the one who called and asked Mrs. Faulkner to stay with us.”

The doorbell rang again. This time Mrs. Faulkner laid on it so that the chimes kept pealing.

“Better answer that before she wears it out,” I muttered then rolled away to face the far wall.

“You’re not coming down to say hi?”

“No way. Make any excuse you want.”

As soon as Emily was gone, I yanked off the cuff then slipped downstairs and out the back patio door to the Circle. The clearing’s magic buffering wards would prevent Mrs. Faulkner from sensing me while I worked a little late-night magic. If Dad was right, then the Clann kids would be on the warpath tomorrow.

Time to make a few protective charms for Savannah again.

* * *

The next morning, I made the mistake of stopping by the kitchen for a bowl of cereal, figuring I’d be out the door long before either of the females in the house woke up.

But apparently Mrs. Faulkner was an early riser. She was waiting for me at the island in the predawn light, a steaming mug of coffee already in hand like she owned the place.

I switched directions, aiming for the door to the garage instead. No way was I having breakfast with a grown-up version of the Brat Twins.

“And where are you going?”

Oh man, she even had the same high-pitched, sugar-sweet voice as her daughters. The sound of it was way worse than fingernails down a chalkboard.

“Football practice. We start early in the mornings.” I answered her without turning to face her, my hand on the doorknob to freedom now.

“Not without your mother’s vamp ward, you’re not. She warned me that you might try sneaking out without it.”

I faced her now, my teeth clenched. “I don’t need it.”

She smiled sweetly. In combination with her overtanned leathery skin, she reminded me of an alligator. “She feels you do.”

“Well, she’s not here.”

“No, but I am.” She took a slow sip of coffee, her eyes never leaving mine.

I actually caught myself considering using magic on her. But then my mother would really blow a gasket.

Letting out a long, slow breath, I headed back upstairs to grab the wrist cuff then stomped downstairs again.

“Put it on, please,” she said.

I stared at the door, so close to escape. From my own home. “You know I’m supposed to be the next Clann leader, right?”

“Yes, well, until that day comes, you are still expected to obey your elders. And your mother gave you a direct order to wear that ward.”

Working hard to keep my energy level under control, I slapped the leather shackle around my left wrist then snapped its buttons. “Happy? Can I go now?”

“Drive safely. We wouldn’t want you to get into another wreck on my watch, either.”

Implying what, that she thought she had the power to make me want to drive off a cliff?

Royally ticked off, I headed for school, hoping
she’d
find a cliff to drive off before I returned home tonight.

Along the way, I stopped and flash burned the cuff on the side of the road before continuing on to school.

I’d texted Savannah to ask her to stay home from school till things calmed down, but got no response, and she didn’t answer when I tried calling her, either. I was hoping that, after talking to my dad, the vamp council would order Savannah to lay low. But just in case they didn’t, or she decided to come to school today anyways, I was packing some pretty ingenious charms.

I waited till the end of first period football practice then made sure I was the first one out of the field house so I could get to the main hall before Savannah. As I entered through the main hall’s rear doors, I spit out the charmed piece of gum I’d just chewed and slapped it onto the brick wall just above the doorframe. Then, instead of going straight to second period English lit, I went to the other end of the hall, pretended to exit the front doors, and slapped another chewed-up piece of gum above them.

I headed for class, figuring I could tag the cafeteria exits at lunchtime and the sports and arts building after school when no one would be there.

SAVANNAH

“You are not going,” Dad said Tuesday morning. “I forbid it. They will most likely be wearing wards in full force.”

“I have to, Dad.” I tried to keep my voice calm as I stood in the foyer, Charmers duffel bag’s strap gripped in one hand, the keys to my brand-new, just-delivered-last-night car in the other. “You don’t understand. I may have never physically fought back, but at least I’ve never run away from a descendant. If I don’t go to school—not just this week but
today
—they’ll think they’ve won. They’ll be even worse. They’ll think they can run me out of school permanently. And then where would it end? Next thing you know, I won’t be able to go to the store because some descendant might be there wearing a ward. And then they’ll run me out of town or else make me a prisoner in my own house.”

Dad stared at me, his silence proof that I had a point.

“I
have
to do this.”

“I do not like this.”

“And you think I do? I didn’t say I
wanted
to go. But I have to, or they’ll never stop. I just have to prove I’m tough enough to wait them out until Tristan’s dad gets back and yanks them all into line again.”

Dad sighed but stepped out of the way. “Call me if you need me to come get you.”

“Right. Thanks, Dad.” But of course I had zero intention of actually calling him. Not today. No way was the Clann going to get the upper hand, not now that I’d finally come into my own magical skills and had a sleek new mode of transport.

We’d bought me a new car Sunday morning. Well, new to me, at least. News of the silver 1971 Corvette Stingray hadn’t made Mom too happy when she heard about it by video chat. She didn’t like how fast it could go or that its body was made of fiberglass instead of steel. But the moment I’d seen its gleaming curves out on the car lot, every cell in my body had yearned to make it mine.

To appease Mom, Dad had had a protective roll cage installed, paying a local body shop an insane amount of money so it would be done and delivered to our house by this morning. He’d also had them put in a new stereo system, though I hadn’t thought to ask for one, with a jack where I could plug in my MP3 player and listen to all my favorite music while I drove.

As a result, driving my new car to school for the first time was a real kick, and it was hard to resist the urge to floor the gas pedal just to hear the engine growl. The only thing that kept me at the speed limit was the fact that, despite my show of confidence with Dad, I really wasn’t looking forward to school. I had no doubt he was right and the Clann kids would be at their nastiest.