Covet (Clann)

We’ve already covered all the reasons why you need to. You have to, Tristan. This isn’t about you and me or what we want anymore. It’s way, way bigger than that now.”
    I closed the distance between us. “We can make this work. We’re good together.”
    She took a deep breath then looked up at me, letting me see the tears in her eyes. “How? Are we going to live in a tent with a hole in the floor so you can draw energy every time we kiss?”
    “I’ll find a way to make the vamp turning process work on me. Then we’ll be the same again, two vamps who can’t hurt each other.”
    Her jaw clenched. “And then the Clann will choose Dylan’s dad to be their leader. And then what will our life be like together while all the descendants and vamps and innocent humans die in another pointless war?”
    I opened my mouth to argue. She shut me up the only really effective way that she could.
    “Goodbye, Tristan. And good luck on Saturday.”
    Then she kissed me, psychically draining me despite the physical distance separating our actual bodies, until I didn’t have enough energy left to keep the dream connection going.
    * * *
    I woke up in my room. Yelling out a curse, I rolled over and punched the mattress beneath me.

CHAPTER 34
    SAVANNAH
    The next morning, as soon as I ended the dream with Tristan I ran downstairs, found Dad in the living room reading a newspaper and told him what had happened to Tristan’s father.
    He jumped to his feet then froze, losing the few humanlike traits he had. Finally he breathed and blinked again. “This is…quite disturbing news.”
    “Has the council made any headway in tracking down the New York Clann killer?” Restless and needing something to focus on, I started looking around for the paperback I’d dropped here last night when Tristan called.
    “They have Gowin working on it.”
    That explained why I hadn’t seen him around much lately.
    “I do not believe they have any new clues,” Dad continued. “I have not spoken with him in some time, though, so I am not sure. He has been quite busy with the investigation and reporting to the council. Whom I must now call with this news regarding the Clann’s leader.”
    “Um, while you have them on the phone, maybe you could see if they want to keep in contact with Tristan, just in case he gets chosen as the new leader?” I dropped down onto my knees and peered under the couch. No paperback book. “It might be a good idea for them to start working on some kind of friendship. Or maybe the council has an official ambassador or something who could represent them in talking with the Clann?”
    I stood up again in time to catch Dad’s frown. “No, we do not have anything like that. Peace was created only a few decades ago.”
    He was kidding, right? I rested a hand on one hip. “Okay, I know you’re hundreds of years old, so to you maybe a few decades doesn’t seem that long. But to a descendant, that could literally be over half a lifetime. You really need some kind of official rep who can meet with the Clann elders every so often to make sure everything’s all good between the groups.”
    He continued to frown at me. “We always assumed any vampire who attempted to make contact with the Clann leader would be set on fire or staked.”
    What a drama vamp. “I’m pretty sure the tradition of killing the messenger went out of style a few centuries ago.”
    “You would be surprised.”
    “Well, I’m just saying Tristan might become the new Clann leader in a week, and it would be smart if the council made some kind of official outreach effort to him. His dad was just murdered by what looks to be a vamp attack. Not to mention the tiny fact that the council kidnapped Tristan last spring. They haven’t exactly made the best of first impressions on him and his family, you know.”
    Dad had covered the couch with pages of newspaper, making it impossible to sit down anywhere. I began gathering it up.
    After a minute, I heard him say, “Perhaps you would make the ideal ambassador.”
    I whirled around in horror. “Me? No way. Leave me out of it. I hate that vampire politics crap—”
    “Though I did not actually speak those words, that is indeed what I was thinking,” Dad muttered, his face darkening into a scowl.
    Oh crap. I’d read his mind. Not good. And now he knew it, and soon the vamp council would too…
    There went any hope of a normal life I might have ever had.
    “Forget it, Dad. I don’t care what the