Covet (Clann)

was Clann blood.

CHAPTER 19
    The blood wasn’t Tristan’s, or I would have recognized it instantly. But this blood definitely had a strong common thread. It had to be descendant blood. No donor blood ever smelled quite this irresistible.
    Pain exploded in my mouth. Whimpering, I opened it and checked my reflection in the mirror.
    My incisors were longer and sharper than before.
    Holy crap. Fangs again.
    I had to get rid of the Clann blood.
    I tried to scrub the blood off. The soap dispensers were all empty, so I was stuck using plain water and my hands to get it off, feeling like Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth , which we’d studied last year in English. Out, damned spot, out I say! The blood was stubborn, refusing to come off at first. Had Dylan or the Brat Twins put some kind of spell on it to make it stain my hand?
    By the time I finally got my skin clean, I was breathing fast and on the edge of true panic. The Clann was darn lucky there was a peace treaty between them and the vamps, or I would have hunted them down for this.
    If they kept this up, I’d have no choice but to put a protection spell on everything I came into contact with.
    And maybe hex them with a wart or zit curse or something while I was at it.
    Ron was waiting by my locker. “Hey. I found a janitor to help me clean it up. It took a bit of work, but I think we got it all.”
    I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Thanks, Ron.”
    He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Somebody really ought to put those descendants in their place.”
    Exactly what I was thinking.
    Distracted, I nodded and headed for the library doors. “Too bad they run half the friggin’ world.”
    “And all of East Texas,” he added.
    I returned his grin. “Yeah.”
    In the library, we sat at the same corner table as before, taking seats opposite each other. Which reminded me…
    “By the way, you left that book here yesterday. You know, the one about the East Texas myths and legends?”
    He shrugged. “I’ve read it so much I’ve just about memorized it anyways.”
    “You’re into that stuff?”
    “Sure. Some of it’s actually true. Or pretty close to it.”
    I snorted. “Oh yeah, like what?”
    He leaned back in his chair, and I caught the thought, Maybe Mom’s wrong and she knows after all. Her mom still could have told her. “Well, for instance, they got some of the facts right about the monster black cats that run around in the woods outside Palestine.”
    “Monster black cats. Here in East Texas? Yeah, right. Panthers are jungle animals, aren’t they?”
    “Not this kind. They came over hundreds of years ago with the Irish and Scottish settlers.”
    Okay, now I flat-out knew he was joking. “And why would the settlers have great big exotic cats for pets?”
    “Not for pets. For protection. Originally, Scottish and Irish lords relied on them to guard their castles from attack and to battle at their side against the English and other enemies. By the time they came to America to settle the new land, it was only natural to bring those protectors with them for defense against bears and other predators in this area.”
    “And now they run around wild in the woods.” I didn’t bother trying to hide my lingering skepticism in my voice.
    He nodded, returning my stare. “Over the last century, those settlers turned to technology and weapons for protection instead.”
    After a long moment of silence, I shook my head. “I’ve lived here my whole life and never heard about these so-called monster cats. Why didn’t we ever talk about them in history class?” Growing up, we’d had to take Texas history not once but twice in elementary school. The teachers had covered the Alamo, Davy Crockett and Sam Houston, bluebonnets, mockingbirds and the yellow rose. We’d even had to learn how to sing “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and recite the pledge of allegiance to the Texas flag. But not once were any legendary black cats mentioned.
    Nope, Mom’s right , he thought. She doesn’t know.
    I wanted to growl in frustration. What didn’t I know?
    “Not everyone knows about them. The cats prefer to stay deep in the woods out of sight. But some people have seen them while out hunting. Including me.”
    “Seriously?”
    He grinned. “Yep. In broad daylight, not twenty yards away from me. It was huge, at least six feet from head to butt, and massive.”
    I leaned forward. “What did you do?”
    “Nothing. It didn’t come