Covet (Clann)

“But don’t tell Mom, okay? She thinks I’m letting her keep it because my schedule’s too busy for a pet.”
    One corner of Dad’s mouth twitched. “I thought that might happen.”
    “Really? Why?”
    “You are half vampire. Animals do not generally take to us all that well. They sense the predator within us.”
    “And yet you suggested Mom get me a dog.” Then I read the truth in his mind. “It was never really for me, was it?”
    Dad shrugged. “Your mother has always wanted a little dog. But her pride has never allowed her to buy one. She felt having one would be too much of a personal indulgence. However, her tone when she calls you has held a certain note of loneliness of late, and she is in need of some protection while on the road. A small dog seemed the perfect solution. So I simply…manufactured an opportunity for her to finally have one at half the cost.”
    “Why not just buy her one and be upfront about it?”
    “She would never accept such a gift from me. She would not even allow me to pay for the dog outright when it was supposed to be your gift.”
    “Yeah, she mentioned you two went in on it together.” Leaning a hip on the counter, I crossed my arms and studied him. “You still love her, don’t you?”
    He did not look at me, intently focused on taking down the crepe paper looped through the antique chandelier over the banquet. “Love does not necessarily die just because the other person involved no longer wishes to be with you.”
    A wave of longing swept over me, so intense I couldn’t tell if it was my father’s heartbreak or my own I was feeling.
    Swallowing hard, I said, “You know, I think I’m tired after all. I’m going to bed.”
    “Good night, Savannah. And happy birthday.”
    On the way out of the kitchen, I spotted Gowin’s gift on the counter, still gleaming in its silver-and-pink wrapping. After a couple seconds’ hesitation, I grabbed the box of high-tech gear and took it upstairs. At least I had one birthday gift that wouldn’t try to eat me.
    * * *
    As soon as my dreams began later that night, I found myself in Tristan’s backyard.
    I looked around, knowing he had to be here somewhere. The dream felt too real, too sharp and vivid to be anything other than a connected dream. I could practically feel his presence on my skin.
    But even though I could feel him watching me, Tristan was nowhere in sight. I sat down on the grass, pulled up my knees to my chest under my long nightgown, and used my legs as a pillow for my cheek. I closed my eyes, wondering how long it would take for him to lose his patience and show himself.
    A mouthwatering smell drove my dream self’s eyelids open again in fear. Descendant blood?
    Nope. It turned out to be a birthday cake, round and several layers thick, sitting on a silver platter to my left in the perfectly trimmed grass. And I knew just what kind of cake it would be.
    I poked a finger into the top layer, scooping out a little. Red velvet cake with vanilla frosting. My favorite. Tristan had remembered.
    But he obviously hadn’t remembered something else…I was a vampire now. I couldn’t eat this stuff anymore without barfing it back up.
    Except…in real life my birthday cake had smelled awful.
    Hesitant, I took a small taste and moaned. Just the way red velvet cake was supposed to taste.
    I imagined a fork, and one appeared on the plate’s rim. “Thanks Tristan,” I whispered to the cake’s creator before digging in.
    * * *
    On Thursday at lunch, Anne was acting weird. I put it down to her argument with Ron at my party last night. Tempted as I was to read her mind for confirmation, I resisted the urge. My patience was partially rewarded when she walked out with me at the end of the break.
    As soon as we reached the catwalk, she grabbed my elbow to stop me. “Listen, there’s something I’ve got to tell you. Or at least I want to, but I can’t. See, it’s someone else’s secret, and I promised I’d keep it….”
    Pinpricks of pain erupted along my neck and arms, and Anne’s voice faded away from my mind. Tristan must be around somewhere.
    I half turned in time to see Dylan start up the ramp that led from the cafeteria’s sidewalk up to the catwalk where we were standing not ten yards away. Great.
    Instinctively my shoulders began to hunch up toward my ears. I forced them down, lifted my chin, and worked to stay calm.
    He stopped not six inches away from me, his height forcing me to crane my head back to