Covet (50 page)

Finally Dr. Faulkner brought the chalice to rest on the seat of the stone chair.

He tapped the chalice once, twice, three times, and a fourth, each time at a different compass point on its rim. Then he turned to face the gathering.

“And now for the results of the vote!”

SAVANNAH

It had been the single longest week of my life, made complete by the longest day today. I hadn’t been able to sit still. Dancing for hours hadn’t helped, though it had taken the edge off and kept me loose and warm. As a last resort, I’d even tried grounding in the woods behind my house. But all that did was leave me panicky that I wouldn’t have enough energy in case the vote went wrong and Mr. Williams’s first act as the Clann’s new leader would be to come after Dad and me. So I ended up drawing more energy instead until I felt like a cup ready to overflow.

Listening in on Dad hadn’t helped, either. He’d been on the phone speaking in French to someone all day. The problem was, he was also thinking in French. Since I’d taken Spanish instead of French in school, I was beyond lost as to what he was up to.

At six o’clock, my phone rang and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Was this it? Had they voted already, and Tristan was calling to let me know?

“Hey, how you holding up?” Anne asked.

The breath whooshed from my lungs. “Um, fine, I guess. Kind of nervous. Sick to my stomach. Can’t sit still.” I’d told Anne about the Clann’s vote earlier in the week.

“Want to come outside and kill time for a while? I’m in your driveway.”

“Why didn’t you just knock on the door?”

“Because your dad’s home and he’s got that whole mind-reading thing going on, too, and I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to know about him and the Clann and the Keepers and the vote, and yet it’s all I can think about today!”

Oh. Right. “Okay, I’m coming out.”

I ran downstairs and told Dad I would be in the front yard talking with Anne. He waved and nodded, then went right back to arguing with someone in French.

Ron was sitting on the far side of Anne on the tailgate of her truck when I joined them.

“Having car problems?” I joked.

“Nah,” he said with a grin. “We just needed the truck to go hog hunting earlier.”

“Without me?” I gave Anne a pointed look. Did this mean she’d finally taken my advice and called him to apologize, and I had been right?

Anne cleared her throat, her cheeks turning pink beneath their tan. “I needed a safety buddy, and I didn’t think you’d be up for it. But don’t think you’re getting out of that hunt you promised me. You owe me one.”

Oh. So he hadn’t taken her back immediately.

I read her thoughts.
Yes, I finally got the nerve to call him and apologize. But he insisted we meet and talk about it some more face-to-face over lunch the next day. So technically he didn’t accept my apology until a day later.

“Ah,” I said. “Then I guess I do owe you a hunt.”

She grinned. “That you do.”
And by the way, thanks for helping me yank my head out of my butt.

I returned her grin. “Anytime.” I sighed, happy that at least someone around here was finally getting their happy ending. Then I winced as a pungent stench wafted up my nose. “I take it you guys had a successful hunt?” I pressed the back of my hand to my nose to try and block some of the smell.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Ron said. “Yeah, we caught one and delivered it to the butcher so they can process it. They donate their services and the meat to local food banks. The thing is, Anne’s not supposed to go hunting again without telling her parents first, and it was kind of unplanned today. So we were hoping…”

“That maybe you’d loan me the use of a garden hose and some water?” Anne finished with her best hopeful smile.

“Ugh. Fine. Have it. I’ll get some bleach.” I headed around the side of the house, entering through the back kitchen door where I thought I remembered seeing a bottle of bleach under the sink.

Dad blurred into the room, his face phone free for the first time in days. “Savannah. We have a problem.”

Great. Now what?

I sighed. “What’s up?” Had he read Anne’s mind or something?

“I just got off the phone with the council. They are coming here.”

“Here, as in to Jacksonville and the Clann’s
headquarters
?” It came out as a squeak.

He nodded. “They have already landed outside of Rusk and are on their way by car.”

“What for?” Oh crap. Oh crappity crap! Had they figured out somehow that I could do magic now?

“They heard about the Clann leadership vote. However, they have been led to believe that the vote is a cover. They think the Clann is actually meeting in order to strategize the beginning of the next war.”

My jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Unfortunately I am not. I have been attempting all day to convince them that their intel is wrong, but none of the council members are listening to me.”

So now the council was headed out to meet the Clann in the Circle. And Tristan was there….

CHAPTER 36

I vamp blurred out the back door, around the house and down the driveway, stopping at Anne’s truck. “Sorry, guys, gotta go. Tristan’s in trouble at the clearing.”

Then I took off running before Dad, Ron or Anne could try to stop me.

I reached the edge of the Coleman property a few minutes later, my hands and face numbed by the cold wind I’d just run through. Carefully I climbed over the wooden fence that surrounded the property, and immediately my skin began to crackle. Either they were using magic to take the vote, or I was too late and the battle was about to begin.

The backyard behind Tristan’s house was quiet, the front yard and circle drive filled with too many vehicles to count. When I reached the edge of the woods, I slowed to a crawl, choosing each step carefully so I landed on soft moss instead of pinecones or twigs that might give me away.

When I could see the clearing, I realized the fighting hadn’t started yet. The Circle was filled with descendants, all turned toward the still empty stone chair in the center.

A familiar man’s voice boomed out. “And our new Clann leader is…Tristan Coleman!”

I froze, my throat locking tight. So he’d gotten the majority vote after all.

Now I had to help him stop the war from starting here tonight.

I saw Tristan give the crowd a tight smile and sit down in the stone chair I’d once seen his father resting in.

“Good job, baby,” I whispered, a tear slipping down my cheek. Tears of pride, I told myself as I wiped them away.

Then, beneath all the cheering of the descendants, I heard twigs snap close to the edge of the clearing.

Gowin approached the Circle with at least twenty vampires behind and at his sides. But I didn’t recognize any of the other vamps with him. Had the council sent him and a small army to represent them instead of coming themselves?

And more important, how the heck were Gowin and the other vamps able to reach the edge of the Circle?

I understood that my Clann blood had allowed me to get past the vamp wards. But there was no way Gowin and his vamp buddies should be able to. Not unless a descendant in that clearing was consciously allowing them to.

Maybe I was panicking for nothing. If the council said they were personally coming here, they must be. So either Gowin was just leading the advance team to scout out the area for the council or…

Wait. Gowin was supposed to be investigating the descendant murders. Had he been invited here to reveal the identity of the killer to the entire Clann?

Hopeful that he had come with good news, I focused on him, working to read his thoughts.

He spread his hands palm out at his sides and thought, Vamp wards down now.

Familiar pinpricks of pain exploded along my neck and arms, and I joined all the rest of the descendants in a gasp of shock.

Oh my God. Gowin had just taken down the vamp wards. But how? He wasn’t a descendant. He shouldn’t have any Clann abilities.

While the descendants looked among themselves for the source of the use of power, I focused harder on Gowin, working to block out all others’ thoughts. And when I succeeded, I almost wished I had failed.

Gowin was the killer.

He was preying on descendants because filling himself with their powerful blood also temporarily gave him Clann abilities. He was trying to turn himself into a hybrid like me. But why? The effects of drinking descendant blood was only temporary. Even if he drained every descendant alive, eventually he would run out of Clann blood. And unless the council had sanctioned his plan, they would kill him for this.

I dug harder through his memories, seeing each like a random movie scene…the descendants he’d drained, the walk-in cooler full of vials of Clann blood he’d amassed. His “armory,” as he thought of it. I also saw shelves filled with the genealogy records he’d taken from Ron’s mother, which he’d covered by making it look like an act of vandalism on the genealogical society offices. Those records were going to help him locate future descendant victims all over the U.S.

The shelves also contained numerous Clann spell books he’d stolen from his victims and studied to learn how to use power. He had been practicing spell after spell for days now. The fire spell was his favorite because it didn’t burn him for some reason no matter how close it got to his skin. He planned to use it tonight on Caravass after the fighting began so he could blame the leader’s death on the Clann and then take over the council with less resistance.

It wasn’t the entire plan. Instinctively I knew I was missing a crucial part of it, but it was enough to warn the Clann with before the council showed up and the situation got out of control.

But then several yards to the right of Gowin’s group, a larger second group of vamps, led by Caravass, approached the clearing. They moved in a more organized, almost military-like way, with more than a few hulking vamps in bulging suits within their force.

I was too late to warn anyone.

But I could at least reveal the truth and hopefully turn the spotlight on the real problem.

I ran into the clearing ahead of the vamps. The descendants all turned toward me, saw the vamps behind me. Hands rose up to throw spells at me.

“No, don’t!” Tristan yelled, his hands flying out. I felt his magic form a wall between me and the descendants seconds before the others’ spells flew. Fireballs bounced off Tristan’s shield in showers of sparks like rockets hitting an invisible force field.

Everyone stopped throwing spells at their new leader’s command.

“Please listen to me,” I called out. “I know what you believe, and the lies you’ve been told. But the real killer here isn’t all the vampires, and it’s not the council. It’s him.” I pointed at Gowin. “His name is Gowin. He may be on the council, but he has not been acting with their approval. He hasn’t been investigating the murders—he’s been causing them, gathering descendant blood to give him the ability to use magic, not just against the Clann, but against his own kind, too.”

“She’s lying,” Gowin answered calmly. “Obviously the witch boy has pulled her over to the Clann’s side. Why would I want to act against my own kind? I’ve been a vampire and a council member for centuries.”

“Because you’re trying to create an army of super vamps,” I said, picking the words out of his mind even as I spoke them.

“Obviously a Clann ally would lie against a vampire,” Gowin said, still calm, even smiling. “I am here in support of my council. Unlike you. Exactly whose side are you on, Savannah?”

“Everyone’s,” I said. “There’s no reason to fight, unless it’s because you want to take out—”

Gowin moved so fast I never saw it coming. One second he was yards away with the others. The next second he was at my back, one of his hands wrapped around my throat, the other around my waist to hold me still.

“Gowin, let her go!” Dad shouted as he appeared at the edge of the clearing.

“But she’s sided against us, Michael.” Gowin sounded so calm. “She’s making wild accusations against me that are completely unfounded.”

Dad looked at me, his eyebrows pinched together.

“Dad, I read his mind and I swear to you he’s the one killing the descendants.” I had to fight for control over my emotions. Losing control would only make me look like an emotional teenage female, especially in the eyes of these centuries-old vampires. “He’s using Clann blood to temporarily give him the ability to do magic. It’s how he got through the vamp wards into this clearing and then took down the wards for everybody else.”

“Or you could be the one who took down the wards,” Gowin said. “You should be careful, little one. The council knows we can’t force you to tell us the truth, nor can anyone here read your mind.” He cocked his head and smiled. “Of course, you’re probably betting on exactly that, aren’t you? You know you can tell wild lies about anyone here, and no one will be able to read the truth in your thoughts.”

My heart raced with panic. He was right! It was my word against his and his small army. Unless…

“I can prove I’m telling the truth.” I held out a forearm toward the council. “Drink my blood. The blood memories will prove that I’m not lying.”

Gowin froze behind me, and I smiled.
Called your bluff. Now what are you going to do?

Dad turned to the council. “Well? My daughter is freely volunteering to allow you to feed upon her to support her claims. Surely one of you will accept this offer in order to prove or discount what she says about one of your own council members?”

“Gowin, please, don’t do this,” Emily cried out, pushing through the gathering, tears shining on her cheeks. She looked awful, with black circles under her eyes and her skin too taut and pale over her bones.

But Gowin didn’t see her that way. He saw the possibilities she had given him, that first drink of blood that had allowed him to sneak up on his initial Clann victims. And the baby she carried within her now, his, the first of the true super army he was building. No, not building…growing.

This was the missing piece of the puzzle. He wasn’t sharing the descendant blood with other vamps, and drinking Clann blood for the magical abilities wasn’t his goal either; it was a means to an end. He planned to use the Clann’s magic against its own members in order to force all the female descendants to bear his children. Children who would be hybrids like me but raised to obey him for all eternity. And then they would be bred together, and on and on in an endless hybrid army factory while he took over the entire world.“Oh my God,” I whispered. He’d gotten the idea from my dad and mom. He’d originally hoped to make me fall for him as his first hybrid broodmare, but when my heartache over the breakup with Tristan made me resistant to his charms, he’d gone for another Clann member young enough to still be impressionable to his flattery. One who would give him the first descendant blood needed so he could overpower other descendants for their blood. One who would also be smart enough to know about the Keepers’ geneological records that would map out the location of the rest of his victims.