Covet (Clann)

Carrie didn’t usually unless she was pretty tired. All three were sawing the logs loudly this morning.
    I carefully stepped over Michelle and Carrie on the floor and tapped Anne on the tip of her nose where she was ticklish.
    “Mmph?” she asked, one eye cracking open as her hand flopped up to rub her nose.
    “I’ve gotta go. Family stuff.”
    “Mmkay,” she muttered.
    I started to turn away, then remembered. “Oh, can I ask you a huge favor? Could you burn my dress for me please?”
    Her eyes squinted open at that. “Huh?”
    I checked to make sure Michelle and Carrie were still snoring, then whispered, “It’s got you-know-who’s blood all over it.” It was black so you couldn’t really see the bloodstains. But if I brought it home, Dad would definitely smell the blood and know I’d been around Tristan right after his wreck.
    Her nose wrinkled. “Well, that sucks.”
    I started to reply, then caught her grin. Vampire jokes. “Oh ha ha. Think you’re funny?” Grabbing the corner of her pillow, I gave it a quick jerk out from under her head, then dropped it on her face.
    Her snicker, along with her promise to get rid of the evidence, came out muffled.
    As I eased out the front door and down the sidewalk to my truck, I tried to hold on to last night’s sense of relief and gratitude that Tristan was okay. But those question marks at the end of Emily’s message kept bugging me.
    Tristan had nearly died last night. If Emily and I hadn’t gotten there in time, or if Emily hadn’t known how to heal him, he would have.
    Could someone actually have tried to kill him? And if they had, would they try again?
    When I arrived home, Dad was waiting for me in the kitchen with a mug of hot chocolate. He must have nuked it as soon as he heard the sound of my truck in the driveway.
    “Thanks,” I said and took a sip, grateful for the warmth. Then I peeked at him over the cup. “Did you hear about the wreck?”
    He nodded. “I have a connection at the hospital.”
    I didn’t even want to know what for. I focused instead on keeping my tone calm and even. “Emily texted me this morning. She said he’s okay other than a few stitches and some broken bones the Clann will help to heal faster. But he said his brakes failed and that’s why his truck wouldn’t slow down for the curve in the road. Also, there might have been somebody in the distance, watching.”
    It wasn’t a lie. I just didn’t clarify who actually saw the watcher in the distance. Everything Dad knew, the vamp council would too the next time he was called to Paris to report to them. They would read his mind and pick up everything whether he wanted them to know it or not.
    If Dad suspected I wasn’t telling him everything, he chose not to question it.
    “This is disturbing news,” he muttered. “Is there any reason to believe the brake failure was an accident?”
    “Emily doesn’t seem to think so. Tristan’s truck was new, and he was serious about taking care of it.” He’d even nagged me a few times about getting my truck’s oil changed for winter. “If the brakes quit working, it’s either some kind of manufacturing problem, or…”
    “Or someone is attempting to start another war,” Dad finished, going still as only the older vamps could. “I will alert the council.”
    He disappeared into the living room. I stayed in the kitchen at the small table, letting the heat from my mug seep into my hands. I was so tired of being cold all the time.
    He caught me shivering when he returned to the kitchen. “Cold?”
    I nodded. “I was thinking of getting a little heater for my room.”
    “You are anemic. It is a symptom of the change. We must train you how to hunt and feed soon.”
    The small amount of hot chocolate in my stomach threatened to make a comeback. “Gross, Dad. Forget it. I’m never going to…feed.” Even saying the word was utterly repulsive.
    “Savannah, it is what you were born to do.”
    Yeah, thanks to him and Mom deciding to break the rules and hook up.
    He sighed. It was one of the few human things he still did. “Resisting your nature is both foolish and unnecessarily dangerous to any human you come into contact with.”
    “Giving in to my vamp side is what’s dangerous,” I argued. “I don’t need blood to survive. I’m still half human.” So far.
    “And yet you continue to lose weight,” he said.
    “So my jeans are a little loose lately. It’s just stress. I’ll gain it back