Covet (Clann)

kidding.” Her cheeks turned pink.
    Remembering Dylan’s twisted thoughts about her today, it was my turn to look away now. I couldn’t believe he was that messed up.
    “Did you know about…his dad? That he’s using magic to abuse him?”
    I shook my head. “I swear, he never told me.” I wished he had, though. The Clann could have stepped in, either forced Mr. Williams to stop or maybe even taken Dylan away from all of that.
    “I feel sorry for him. His dad’s the reason he keeps going after us. The Williamses want to make you break the rules bad enough to force your dad into a decision between protecting you or upholding the Clann rules. They figure he’d choose you over the Clann, and then they could push for a change in leadership.”
    I shook my head. “What his dad is doing is wrong. But don’t make excuses for Dylan. He still makes his own decisions. He doesn’t have to play into his dad’s political games.”
    At the main hall’s exit, I pushed the heavy metal door open, holding it for her so she could go through first.
    Scowling, she ducked under my arm and outside. “Oh, so he should just refuse to obey his parents and take the constant punishment instead?”
    “No, of course not. He needs to either stand up to his dad or else leave home.”
    “What if he can’t? What if his dad’s too strong and he doesn’t have anywhere to go? You know, not everyone has gobs of money and power at their disposal.” She walked faster, arms crossed, headed for the catwalk.
    Easily keeping pace with her, I ignored the jab about money. “Dylan’s a descendant. He has the entire Clann to turn to for help. All he has to do is ask.”
    Not to mention he could have talked to me about it instead of stabbing me in the back.
    She shook her head in silent disagreement.
    “What, you think the Clann wouldn’t help him? Come on, Sav, they’re flawed but they’re not that bad.”
    She shrugged and turned onto the ramp leading down to the cafeteria’s sidewalk. “They didn’t seem to have a problem kidnapping and torturing my grandma.”
    “That was a mistake. My parents were desperate and freaking out and weren’t thinking straight. Otherwise my dad never would have allowed that to happen.”
    Pressing her lips together, she walked down the ramp in silence.
    Though I had no intention of eating lunch today and having to deal with the ticked off hordes of Charmers and descendants, I followed Savannah to the sidewalk, wanting this conversation with her to last as long as possible even if it wasn’t the happiest of discussions. If fighting with her was all I could get, I would take it.
    As we circled the cafeteria’s brick exterior to the nearest entrance, I couldn’t resist saying, “Speaking of mistakes, do you want to talk about how you nearly vamped out and bit Dylan?”
    She rolled her eyes. “I was just messing with him. I never would have bitten him. I don’t do that.”
    “Ever?”
    “Never.”
    “You’ve never bitten anyone.”
    “No!”
    We stopped at the doors. “And yet I never see you eat anything in there.” I jerked a thumb at the cafeteria.
    “My dad gets me donated blood once a week. I just go to lunch every other day to see my friends since we don’t have any classes together this year.”
    “Donated blood? I guess that’s not so bad.” Maybe being a vamp was a lot easier nowadays than her dad had made it out to be. They might even have their own blood bank system by now, complete with delivery boys. Ordering blood was probably as simple as calling out for a pizza.
    She snorted. “It’s still bad, Tristan. Living off of other peoples’ blood comes with a lot of complications.”
    “Yeah? Like what, deciding which blood type tastes best?”
    “No, more like the fact that every time I feed, I take in that person’s memories. Good, bad, crazy, boring, all of it hits me like a flood, and I can’t control it for hours. It’s definitely nothing I would ever wish on anybody. Even Dylan.”
    “Or me?”
    “Especially not you,” she whispered.
    “Shouldn’t you let me make that decision?”
    Her chin lifted. “No. Because even if by some miracle the turning process actually worked for you, you couldn’t possibly understand the consequences of that choice until after it’s too late. No matter how much you might regret it later, you can’t undo this.”
    “I would never regret getting to spend forever with you.”
    Swallowing hard, she looked away. After a minute of