Covet (Clann)

least he took pity on his kids and shared his stash with us.
    “Oh good,” Mom said, her hands filled with the straps of multiple plastic bags. “You can help me unload.”
    “I thought you were just going for Sprite and crackers.”
    “In this household? Impossible!”
    I went to the car and grabbed the remaining six bags from the trunk, using my elbow to slam the lid shut before I hauled the load to the kitchen.
    “Your father,” Mom muttered as she put away the new food. “He gave me the longest list of junk he wanted. Look at this! Cupcakes, oatmeal cookies, crème pies. I swear, if he keeps eating like this, he’s going to die of a heart attack before he’s sixty!”
    “Nah. Dad’ll never die. He’s going to be the first descendant who lives forever.” Grinning, I handed her more boxes to put away. “But if you’re worried, you could always try putting him on another diet.”
    “Ha! Like that ever works. You know how pigheaded he is. He’ll just sneak in more stuff and hide it in his desk in the study where he thinks I won’t know about it.” She glanced at her watch and frowned. “It’s getting late. I’d better start on dinner. Go ask your father what he wants to have with pork chops.”
    “Okay.” I went down the hall to Dad’s study and knocked on the closed door. No answer. Just to be sure, I opened the door and checked. No lights on, and no Dad after I turned them on.
    I went down the hall and looked in the living room. Everything was quiet, the TV off, the lights off. I turned on a lamp just to make sure Dad hadn’t fallen asleep on the couch like he did sometimes on the weekends.
    No Dad in sight.
    Maybe he’d gone upstairs to change. I ran up, knocked on my parents’ door, checked inside. Again, Dad was nowhere to be found.
    I went back downstairs to the kitchen. “I can’t find him. Was he still outside when you got home?”
    “No. It’s forty-five degrees outside. Why would he be out there?”
    I shrugged. “Earlier I saw him talking with Emily and some guy. I thought maybe he was a business buddy of Dad’s or something. Emily seemed to know him, too.”
    “Well, there was no one out there a few minutes ago. Just your father’s car.”
    I opened the kitchen door and looked out through the garage door windows. Dad’s car was still visible in the lights from the garage. “His car’s still here. Maybe he went somewhere with that guy?”
    “And not call me and let me know he’d be late for dinner? He knows better than that.” Sighing, Mom grabbed the cordless kitchen phone from the wall and dialed. After a moment, her frown deepened. “Samuel Coleman, that phone of yours better be dead. And if you don’t either call me back or get home right now, you’re gonna be! Where are you?” She hung up, paused then snapped her fingers. The sound was like twigs breaking. “Grab a flashlight and your coat and go check the clearing. I’ll bet he’s out there.”
    I glanced at my watch. “Kind of late for spell work, isn’t it?” I pulled on my coat and a pair of Dad’s boots he’d left in the garage.
    “Oh, you know your father. He likes to go out there and practice his boardroom speeches. Says the pine scent helps him think clearer. Maybe he lost track of time.”
    And the clearing was notorious for killing all incoming cell phone signals. “Right. Be back in a minute.”
    “Hurry up. And don’t forget the flashlight. Wait! You need a vamp ward.”
    Sighing, she took hers off.
    “Mom, I’ll be fine.” The only part of our property not protected by vamp wards was the backyard, which took all of ten seconds to cross at a walk.
    “Put it on. Your father is safe enough out there, especially with all the wards around that clearing, but you won’t be until you reach the clearing. And I know you think you’re just as tough as your father, but you’re still learning. So wear it and quit arguing and go find your father please.” She huffed out that last part all in one breath, not even trying to hide the snap in her voice.
    I took the stupid cuff and snapped it around my wrist, then went out back, stopping to open one of the garage doors before jogging across the backyard. Once I hit the edge of the woods, I slowed down and turned on the flashlight. Usually enough moonlight trickled down through the pine branches to light the path. But tonight there was no moon at all to see by.
    Which was why I nearly stepped on his hand.

CHAPTER 31
    He was lying across the