Crave (Harlequin Teen)

making my muscles twitch.
    Time stretched. The walk took only minutes, but it seemed like hours before we made it past the woods to the cement ramp and then into the foyer. We were both breathing hard as we hurried inside. Now I just had to get her home safely.
    On the way up the stairs, I showed her the flame inside my fist before I put it out. Then I told her what Emily had said.
    Savannah turned pale. “But…they can’t be.”
    “Trust me, Sav, vampires really exist.” At Mrs. Daniels’s office now, I stowed the equipment in the closet.
    She frowned. “I know. But why would they be here?”
    “You’re still a descendant by birth. That means you can reach out and pull the earth’s energy into yourself if you need to. That makes you like a big, limitless generator for vampires. They need energy. We’ve got it. Most of us know how to protect ourselves. But you were never trained. So the temptation must be irresistible to them.”
    Hands free at last, I walked over to hold hers. They were cold and shaking. Oh, good job making her feel protected, Cole man. “Hey, listen, you’re going to be fine. Between your family’s magic and mine, we’ll have you covered 24/7. No vamp would try to attack you here with so many descendants around to witness it. And for the times when we can’t be with you, your family can get you set up with some vamp wards for protection.”
    “No, they can’t.” Her eyes widened, as if she’d given away some secret.
    “Why not? Don’t they know how to make them?”
    “No, it’s not that. It’s…we’re…forbidden to do magic.” She nibbled the inner corner of her lips, and I was a little distracted by the movement.
    After a few seconds, I blinked and remembered what we had been talking about. “Okay, I guess that makes sense. No big deal, Emily should know how to make them by now. And until then, I can teach you how to make fire.” I reached for her hand.
    She jerked it away. “No, I can’t!”
    Huh? “Sure you can. It’s one of the first things we learn how to do when our abilities start showing up at puberty. Just hold out your hand…”
    She shook her head, her eyes wild and panicky.
    A short laugh escaped me. “Come on, Sav. There’s no reason to be afraid. The fire is a part of you, like a natural extension of your willpower. You just will it to life, like this.” I held out my hand, willed the fire to life, and blue flame popped up from my palm.
    She froze.
    “Seriously, I promise you it doesn’t hurt. And the Clann won’t find out. I swear.”
    She stared off into the distance. After a long hesitation, she licked her lips and held out her hand palm up.
    She stared at her palm. The seconds ticked by. Nothing happened.
    “Are you picturing the fire coming to life in your hand?”
    Her lips pressed together into a thin line as she gave a single, sharp nod. “It’s not working.”
    Maybe the Clann had cast a spell on her family to somehow block their abilities. Sighing in frustration, I closed her hand. “Okay, don’t worry about it. We’ll just go with plan B and get some vamp wards from Emily. Until then, let’s get you home.”
    She nodded, her eyes bleak. And she wouldn’t really look at me. She was scared. And maybe embarrassed about the lack of magic abilities.
    “Do we have any fundraisers coming up?” I asked, trying to refocus her.
    “The Fall Ball on Saturday. After that, none for a while.”
    “And you’ll be with me there. Okay, so we just need to worry about preventing alone time during team practices—”
    “Um, you know, I think it’s going to be okay, Tristan. Let me lock up, and I’ll go home and tell Nanna about this. I’m sure she’ll know what to do.”
    She finished her locking-up routine, her movements jerky.
    As she locked the downstairs foyer doors after us, she murmured, “Maybe we’d better walk separately from here.”
    Was she crazy? “I don’t think so. I’m not leaving you alone for those vamps to go after.”
    She frowned, her shoulders stiff as we hurried across the dark campus toward the front parking lot. At her truck, I leaned in through the open driver-side door, intending to kiss her cheek. She sucked in a fast breath and ducked back inside the truck. “Tristan…they might see us.”
    “Who?”
    “The…” She looked at me for a moment, her eyes unreadable. “Anyone still on campus.”
    Before I could argue that we were all alone except for the vamps, she shut the door and started the