Covet (40 page)

Did she really not know that Tristan thought they were just friends?

Part of me wanted to warn her. But what good would that do? Everyone knew she was crazy about him. She was headed for heartache no matter what, and she might not believe me or appreciate it if I said anything anyways.

So I stayed out of it. It was Tristan’s mess to clean up, not mine.

But I felt sorry for Bethany all the same. What girl could resist those smiles of his, the way he laughed or touched the small of your back while leading you into a room, how he tilted his head down closer to you when you talked to him…

When the dance was nearly over, I told her I was going to go start the cleanup process in the dance room. She nodded without speaking to me, busy screwing the lid back onto a giant plastic tub of pickles.

The cavernous back room was dimly lit by only strobing, color-changing lights on the stage. A fog machine working overtime in one corner to fill the dance floor with billowing clouds of smoke that clung to my ankles as I skirted the dancers. Even at a distance I could tell the dessert table by the wall was a wreck, littered with empty soda cans and food cartons. Might as well start cleaning there now and get a jump on things so we could all go home quicker after the dance ended.

But before I could reach the table, my friends spotted me and grabbed my arms.

“One dance!” Carrie yelled over the near deafening music and the crowd. “It won’t kill you!”

They tugged me into the center of the dance floor as a song was ending, and I wondered where Ron was. Then a fast-paced country song began, one that I recognized as Anne’s favorite, and we shared a grin. The lyrics were infectious as the male singer sang about life going from bad to worse and walking through Hell. All four of us wound up singing the song at the top of our lungs while shaking our butts to the beat.

For three brief minutes, I let it all go…the stress, the sadness, the loneliness and missing Tristan all the time. I pushed it all to the side and pretended I was just a normal girl jumping around and singing at the top of my lungs with my best friends in a barn in the middle of nowhere.

And man, it felt good.

But all too soon, the DJ announced the last song of the night, and it was a slow one full of heartbreak and longing. My cue to beat a hasty retreat.

I moved over to the dessert table by the wall to do my job, grateful there was always work to turn to for a distraction. But then out of the corner of my eye I saw Ron walk over and ask Anne to dance. She agreed, and I couldn’t help but stop cleaning and watch them. They were so completely and thrillingly
cute
together. It was like watching a romantic movie, only more intense because they were both my friends and I so desperately wanted them to be happy together.

Then I saw Tristan and Bethany swaying together, her cheek pressed to his chest, his chin resting on top of her head.

The same way he used to hold me.

As if he could feel my stare, Tristan looked at me, squinting under the moving lights over the dance area. Despite the darkness of the area where I stood frozen, our eyes met.

TRISTAN

The collar of my prince costume tightened like a noose around my neck, and my hands were sweating inside the too-tight gloves. Why had I ever agreed to wear this thing?

I jerked the gloves off behind Bethany’s back and stuffed them into a pocket in my slacks, then unbuttoned my collar one-handed. But I still felt like I was choking.

I couldn’t do this anymore.

That look in Savannah’s eyes, so filled with accusation, was like being slapped awake.

Not to mention Bethany had her arms wrapped around my waist tightly enough to squeeze the air from my lungs.

What was I doing?

All these months, all the signs had been there, and I’d been too messed up over getting my heart ripped to shreds by Savannah to see how I was breaking someone else’s.

Bethany was head over heels for me.

I’d believed we were just friends and that Bethany understood that, too. I should have broken my personal rule about reading others’ thoughts and checked hers to be sure we were on the same page right from the start.

Both Emily and Savannah were right. They’d tried to warn me, and like an idiot I hadn’t listened.

Bethany was a great girl and a good friend. But I could never feel for her the way I still felt about Savannah, even if trying to fight the Clann and the council was hopeless.

Even if we could never be together again, Savannah was the one. She always had been, and she always would be.

I looked down and found Bethany staring up at me, her eyes shiny with tears.

She knew. Somehow, tonight, she’d figured it out. All night, she’d been quiet and unsmiling, completely unlike herself.

I had to find a way to fix this. “Maybe we should go somewhere and talk.”

Her eyes rounded, and she shook her head fast. “No. Let’s just stay here and keep dancing. Everything’s fine—”

“No, it’s not.” I stopped dancing, my hands resting on her shoulders left bare by her pale blue Cinderella gown. “I think you might have gotten the wrong idea about you and me. It’s my fault. I haven’t been thinking right for months. I thought you understood we were just friends. But I should have explained things to you that first day you showed up at the hospital.” I took a deep breath. “I can’t be the guy you need, Bethany. I’m still trying to get over someone else.”

“You mean Savannah.”

I hesitated then nodded, hating how the truth was hurting her, wishing I’d told her the truth from the start and avoided all of this.

A tear slipped down her cheek. She reached up and wiped it away with a shaky hand. “You still love her. That’s why you’re always staring at her. I heard you were at her house last night, that you and your sister stopped someone from throwing a brick through her window. That’s where you ran off to, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t go over there to see her.” At least not at first.

“Did I do something wrong? Did I talk too much, or not enough, or—”

My gut clenched. “No. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“But I’m not the right girl. I’m not Savannah.”

I nodded. God, I’d screwed this up. “I’m sorry—”

She stepped back, her chin quivering. Looking away, she blinked fast a few times then shook her head. “I’ve got to go.”

“Bethany—” What could I say to make this right?

Obviously nothing she wanted to hear. Turning, she gathered up her long skirt and walked away, pushing through the crowd at the edge of the dance floor so she could escape to the foyer and her friends.

CHAPTER 26

The Monday after the masq ball was a long day thanks to all the ticked-off Charmers who had sided with Bethany and believed I was the worst jerk on the planet. Since they were probably right, I didn’t bother to try and defend myself when they huddled in glaring, whispering groups in the halls and cafeteria. I just kept my head down, sat outside at my old grounding tree during lunch, and waited for the backlash to blow over.

At the end of the day, I was only too happy to go home. All I wanted was to eat, tackle a little homework and then crash.

After parking inside my family’s four-car garage, I got out of my truck and crossed the dim space toward the door leading into the kitchen.

Halfway across the garage, I heard it…the worst kind of wailing I’d ever heard.

I ran the rest of the way to the steps and threw open the door, sure I would find someone on the floor bleeding to death or something.

Instead I found Dad standing with one arm around Mom while his free hand furiously dialed numbers on his cell phone. What the…

He looked up as I opened the kitchen door, relief the barest flicker in his eyes. “Tristan, you’re home. Good. Call your sister for me, will you?”

He tossed me his phone. I caught it out of reflex.

“What’s—” I started to ask.

“They’re dead!” Mom cried out, her bony fingers clutching Dad’s beefy arms like claws. “Cynthia, James, the girls. They were slaughtered like animals by those murderous undead filth. I’ll
kill
them. I’ll kill them all!”

Dad shushed her, hugging her to him and rubbing a big hand across her back. After a few seconds, he looked over her head at me, his expression intense.

“The police found Cynthia and James and your cousins dead at their home. It appears they were murdered—”

“By vampires,” Mom hissed, spit flying from her mouth, her eyes round and rolling wildly. I’d never seen her like this. She looked unhinged. And dangerous.

Then their words fully registered and I had to grab the doorjamb for support.

My aunt and uncle and cousins were all dead. Maybe from a vampire attack.

We saw them once a year, so I wasn’t that close to them. But still, they were family….

I pictured Katie and Kristie the way I’d seen them the New Year’s Eve before last, all smiles and freckles and bouncy blonde curls and giggles.

They would have been ten this year.

“Are you sure it was…”

Dad nodded. “When your mother couldn’t reach Aunt Cynthia all day, she asked one of the other New York descendants to go check on them at their apartment. They found them, called 911—”

Mom wailed again.

“Come on, honey, let’s go upstairs for a while,” Dad said, trying to steer Mom toward the hallway.

“I want to go to New York,” she said. “I have to see them.”

Dad and I shared a look. Mom leaving Jacksonville like this was a bad idea. Mom was almost equal to Dad in magical abilities, if not stronger in some areas. That made her a loaded gun nearly impossible to disarm. Normally her sense of propriety and desire to protect the Clann’s secrets held her abilities in check.

But now her only sister’s family had been murdered by a vampire. I couldn’t see how anything could possibly keep her from literally going nuclear all over New York.

Dad was going to have his hands full this week keeping Mom’s temper reined in and under control.

“I’ll call Emily and let her know,” I said to Dad’s back as he led Mom upstairs.

Emily picked up on the second ring. “What’s up?”

“Uh, I’ve got some bad news. Aunt Cynthia and Uncle James and their girls…” My throat convulsed and I had to clear it before I could finish. “They’re…they’re gone, Em.”

“What? What happened?” she gasped.

“They think it was a vampire attack.” Just saying the words made me feel sick. I braced a hand against the cold granite island, dropping my head.

“Oh my God,” Emily whispered. “Are they sure?”

“Dad says they’re pretty sure. A descendant found them first.”

“Could it have just been made to look like a vamp attack?” In the background, horns blared then quickly faded. Emily must be driving through Tyler like even more of a maniac than usual.

“Maybe. Are you coming home?”

“Yeah. I should be there soon.”

“Okay.” I started to hang up, hesitated. “Listen, drive careful, okay? I don’t think Mom could handle you getting into a wreck right now.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be home in thirty.” With a sniffle, she ended the call.

I dropped down onto a barstool at the island and rested my head in my hands.

This couldn’t be happening. As far as I’d heard, the Clann hadn’t had anyone die in a vamp attack in decades. How could a vamp have taken out an entire family of descendants like that? And especially my aunt and uncle. Aunt Cynthia and Uncle James were almost as powerful as my parents.

Twenty-three minutes later, Emily’s car roared up the driveway and into the garage. She must have broken the speed limits and then some to get here that fast. Seconds later she burst into the kitchen, giving me a quick, hard hug before heading upstairs at a jog.

“Emily,” Mom wailed as my sister opened our parents’ bedroom door. “They’re gone!”

Emily murmured something, followed by our mom’s sobs before someone shut the bedroom door again.

A few minutes later, Dad came back downstairs. He dropped onto the barstool beside me, his heavy frame making the metal creak in protest.

“Well, looks like we’ll be going to New York.” He sighed. “There’s no talking her out of it, not with the state she’s in.”

“You’d better at least keep her drugged or something then,” I said, not joking in the least. “Otherwise there’s no telling what might happen.”

“I know. I’ll take some sleeping pills with us. While we’re gone, Emily will stay here—”

“Dad, come on. I’m seventeen. I don’t need a babysitter.”

“No arguments, Tristan. It’s the only way your mom and I are going to let you stay here. Your mom would already prefer you and Emily come with us. But to be honest, I don’t think you two need to be anywhere near New York. If there’s a rogue vamp in that area, the farther you two are from it the better. Furthermore, an adult descendant will be coming to stay here with you.”

“Are you serious? I’m probably more advanced than any of them now!” That wasn’t cockiness, either, and we both knew it. Dad had been training me to become the fifth generation Coleman to lead the Clann someday, and the weekly practice sessions over the last couple of years had taught me almost everything he knew about magic. Even Dad sometimes had trouble blocking my practice spells.

Not that he seemed to remember that right now.

“Son, do you have any idea how serious this situation is? We’re talking about a possible total breakdown of the peace treaty if we don’t get a hold on this thing right away. The Clann leader’s in-laws were just taken out by one or more vamps in direct violation of the treaty. We’ve got to find out what’s really going on before the Clann makes up its own mind and starts calling for another war.”

War? We hadn’t had a battle with the vamps in decades.

I searched his face, gauging the hard glint in his eyes and the grim set of his mouth. He was serious.

“You don’t think it was just some random vamp who accidentally lost control?”

Dad shook his head. “I wish I could believe that. But you know how big New York is. What are the odds that a vamp would lose control in a city of that size and only go after your mother’s family? Plus, it was too clean a hit. They were attacked at home with no witnesses and no sign of a break in.”