Covet (33 page)

Well, everyone but my dad, Anne and Ron, that is.

At some point, Mom left to join Dad in cleaning up the kitchen, and I noticed Anne and Ron were missing. Movement outside the parlor windows drew my eye to the front porch. They were out there talking, the streetlights turning them into featureless silhouettes as Ron braced his hands against the front railing and Anne paced. Unfortunately the windows and front door were all closed, blocking me from hearing their voices or their thoughts.

What was going on? Were they finally working through their issues?

Part of me wanted to go outside, see if they needed a mediator. Especially with Anne’s hotheaded temper.

“Oooh, let’s do this one!” Michelle jabbed a finger at the back of a CD case in Carrie’s hand.

“What do you say?” Carrie asked, turning to me with a smile. “Ready for one last number before we have to leave?”

“Leave?” Michelle whined. “But…”

Carrie held up a hand. “Don’t even start! You know I’ve got to study for that test, and you promised you’d help me with the flash cards.”

Grumbling, Michelle bent over to start the new song.

This time, I had to force myself to go through the motions of singing with them. Halfway through the song, the shadows at the window disappeared, and seconds later Anne and Ron came back inside, Ron staying back to shut the door.

“What’s up?” I whispered to her.

She shook her head, her lips pressed together, her arms hugging herself for either warmth or comfort. She entered the parlor but didn’t join us at the karaoke machine, choosing to flop into an armchair by the window across from us instead.

Ron hovered in the parlor’s arched doorway, leaning against the shiny white molding with the worst frown I’d ever seen on his face.

I focused on Anne’s thoughts. She was already replaying the tail end of the conversation and regretting it.

You can’t be serious!
she’d snapped at him then instantly wished she’d said it in a nicer tone.
Savannah doesn’t need to know this stuff any more than I did.

Well, my parents and I all think you’re wrong, Miss Know It All
, he’d said.
They gave me permission to tell her. And I think it would help her feel a lot better about herself.

And just when and where do you plan on springing this crap on her?

I don’t know. Maybe tomorrow where I always go? Why?

So I know when to expect her totally ticked off phone call, of course!

Anne…
He’d reached out to her, touched her bare arm, made her shiver before she’d turned away from both his touch and that yearning in his voice.

Just stop. It’s never going to work between us, and you know it. I was never the right girl for you. You should…you should be with someone like you. One of your own kind.

And though Anne hadn’t said it out loud to him, she’d thought to herself,
someone who isn’t so plain and boring and hopelessly clueless about all of this stuff. Someone who could possibly be interesting enough to keep you from getting bored with her.

And that’s when she’d headed inside with Ron on her heels.

Oh Anne
, I thought, shaking my head and wishing I could admit I’d heard her thoughts so I could cross the room and give the both of them a hug.

Why were they so determined to be stubborn?

And what the heck was Ron planning on telling me that worried Anne so much?

Ron slipped away to the kitchen. I heard him murmuring something to my mom, but they were too far away for me to pick up their thoughts.

“Okay, that’s it, pack it up,” Carrie ordered Michelle when the song ended a few seconds later. “Study time.”

Grumbling, Michelle took the CD out of the karaoke machine and returned it to its case.

The machine seemed heavy, judging by the grunt Carrie made when she tried to lift it by its handle. Smiling, I said, “Here, let me. You guys get the CDs and the mike.”

Carrie rolled up the microphone’s cord while Michelle collected the CDs. Then we lugged our respective loads toward the foyer.

“Don’t mind us doing all the heavy lifting here,” Carrie called out to Anne as we passed her.

Lost in thought, Anne muttered, “Okay.”

Carrie, Michelle and I looked at each other, eyebrows raised, then continued on through the foyer and out to Michelle’s car. I thanked them for everything, watched them leave, then headed back inside just as Ron was leaving the kitchen.

“See you tomorrow,” he murmured to me while glancing through the parlor doorway at Anne. “And, uh, happy birthday.”

“Thanks. Bye.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, he left through the front door.

Anne twisted in her chair in time to watch him through the window. I waited till the throaty rumble of his car had faded away before saying her name.

She jerked back to face me with a scowl. “Crap, you scared the crap out of me!”

“Well, crap, sorry about that,” I teased, hands on my hips. “And sorry about the unexpected guest.”

She shrugged one shoulder, her fingers drumming on the arm of the chair. “It’s fine. Sooner or later we would have been stuck in the same room together anyways.”

“Are you okay?” I murmured.

“Sure,” she answered automatically. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

I didn’t have to read her mind again to know that was a lie. But I didn’t press her.

After a minute of silence, she sighed and seemed to realize where she was again. “Hey, where’d Carrie and Michelle go?”

“They left to go study for Carrie’s next big test.”

She frowned. “Oh. Guess I didn’t hear them leave.” She rolled up to her feet. “Well, happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

I walked with her to the front door. She paused at the threshold, turning back with her mouth parted as if to say something.

“Yes?” I prompted her. She looked like a robot that had run out of batteries.

“Um, nothing. G’night. See you tomorrow.” With a little wave over her shoulder that reminded me of Ron, she slowly walked out to her truck.

Several minutes after she’d climbed into the cab, Anne’s truck finally backed out of the driveway into the street, the back right tire running up over the curb before she pulled forward toward her home.

Wow. That was the most distracted I’d ever seen her. Whatever was going on between her and Ron was really messing with Anne’s mind.

Blowing out a long and loud breath, I went back inside the house to see what emotional destruction my parents might be wreaking upon each other in the kitchen.

They were sitting at the banquet opposite each other. And they looked…peaceful.

It was way more shocking than if I had walked in on Mom throwing plates at Dad again.

“Er, what’s up?” I asked them, searching Mom’s face then Dad’s, unsure I dared to go a step further and check their thoughts. I might not like whatever I’d find there.

“Hmm?” Mom asked. “Oh, nothing dear. Just reminiscing about the day you were born.”

Dad smiled. “You were so beautiful, so…”

“Amazing,” they both said at the same time, then grinned at each other.

Okay. “That’s…nice. Um, Mom, shouldn’t you be…?” I jerked my head in the direction of her RV.

“Oh! Right. That reminds me, we have one more present for you!”

A creak of the front door was our only warning before we heard Gowin call out from the foyer, “Hey, did I miss the party?”

Dad and I exchanged horrified looks.

“Mom, you should go,” I hissed. “Out the back. Quick!”

Too late. Footsteps announced Gowin’s arrival in the kitchen. I turned to face him, my heart hammering like mad in my chest.

Two vamps, one half vamp, and a descendant all in a room that suddenly felt way too small.

It was like the beginning of a bad joke. Unfortunately, this was no laughing matter.

“Oh, I interrupted a family moment!” Gowin rocked back on his heels, fidgeting with a silver-and-pink-wrapped present he’d brought in. “My apologies. I just wanted to drop this off for Savannah.”

He held out the present, staying where he was in the doorway.

I crossed the room to him and put on a smile. “Thanks. You shouldn’t have.”

He shot me a quick grin. “It’s the latest tablet. I figured you could use it for doing homework or tweeting or something.”

“Oh. Great! Thanks.” I sounded like an idiot. Or a cheerleader robot. But it was all I could do not to throw myself in front of my mother for protection. Not that doing any such thing would save her if Gowin lost control.

Mom rose to her feet. “Wow. That was very generous of you,” she murmured as she crossed the room with her right hand extended. “I’m Joan Evans, Savannah’s mother. You must be…”

Oh geez, she had to be Miss Manners
now
?

Visions of Gowin lunging for Mom’s throat, followed by Dad either trying to fight him off or else joining in on the bloodbath, robbed me of the ability to breathe. Mom couldn’t do magic, so she’d be completely vulnerable. And even if Dad tried to step in and save Mom, Gowin could simply order him to stop and Dad would be helpless not to obey the older vamp’s command. Which would leave one wimpy half vamp with only minimal magic skills as Mom’s sole protector.

Dad was at her side in the same instant Gowin accepted her hand between both of his. “This is Gowin. My sire, and currently a council member.”

Mom froze. “Oh! Uh…it’s nice to meet you, Gowin.”

“I have heard so much about you,” Gowin said, his voice soft and low.

Was that the faintest bit of a wolfish gleam in his eyes, or was it my imagination?

Gowin turned to me, but I noticed he still held Mom’s hand captive between his. “I thought I might be still early for the party since your truck isn’t outside. Did your father gift you with a new car?”

“Um, not exactly,” I said. “My truck died. My friend took a look at the engine and said the electrical system is fried. He had to give me a ride home.”

Gowin made a face. “Now that stinks. And on your birthday, too.”

Mom smiled, but it looked a good deal less warm this time. “That’s what I told her earlier. Well, no worries, I’m sure your father can have it towed to a repair shop tomorrow.”

“Or to a junkyard,” Dad muttered.

Mom scowled. “Don’t start, Michael. It’s a perfectly decent first vehicle for any teen.”

“It was a rust bucket long overdue for retirement,” Dad replied. “And I for one am glad its life span has finally reached its conclusion. It makes the perfect opportunity to get her a proper vehicle. Perhaps one of her own choosing this time?”

“That is so like you,” Mom snapped. “Why fix something perfectly good when you can simply throw it away?”

Dad stared at her. “I believe that is more your usual method, actually.”

Silence filled the room as Mom’s face turned bright red and she glared at him. I was blocking all three of their thoughts as hard as I could right now.

After a long moment, she said, “Fine. You’re in charge now. Do whatever you want. But no motorcycles. At least give me that much. She doesn’t have a license for them. And she’s only seventeen.”

Dad nodded as formally as if this were some kind of major vamp/Clann negotiation. “Agreed. No motorcycles.”

I took a deep breath then let it out slowly. And my friends wondered why I didn’t want my parents to get back together. If I had to deal with this kind of crap on a daily basis, I’d have to run away from home!

I cleared my throat. “Um, thanks for the gift, Gowin. Mom was just headed out. She has to get on the road for a sales meeting early in the morning. Right, Mom?”

She glanced at me, then Gowin, then my dad. “Right. Sav, will you come with me for that one last present I promised? It’s in the RV.”

“Sure!” I tried not to wince at how overly bright and chirpy that came out.

“It was a pleasure to meet you.” Gowin gave my mother’s hand a quick squeeze then released it. Finally! I thought he was going to chop it off and keep it as a souvenir or something.

“And the same to you,” she said. She looked at Dad, and a wave of sadness and regret projected from her to add its weight to my shoulders. “Good to see you again, Michael.”

“You, too,” Dad murmured, his eyes warm. Then he stepped aside so we could pass between him and Gowin.

As Mom and I headed for the foyer, I glanced back at the kitchen. The vamps were still facing off in the doorway. Were they about to fight like territorial animals?

My rising panic allowed the vamps’ thoughts to slip through.

Still in love with what you can’t have, old friend?
Gowin thought with a smile and a shake of his head.
You always were a bit of a masochist.

Dad sighed.
Do not worry, I have learned my lesson amply. I will not risk giving in to the bloodlust around Joan. And with her mother gone and all traces of her bloodlust dampening spell along with her…

Mmm,
Gowin thought in sympathetic regret.
Such a loss, that one.

I hustled Mom out the front door and down the porch steps.

As Mom stepped onto the lawn, she hesitated, and I caught her thought. I’m in the dark alone with a new vamp and no protective charms.

I froze, glad she couldn’t read my mind or see my face as the hurt from her fear slammed through me.

No, she decided a second later. She is my daughter, Michael said she has good control, and I will trust them both.

She continued across the lawn and up the steps of her camper trailer, pausing at the door to look back at me in confusion. “You coming, kiddo?”

Smiling, I made sure I walked human-slow across the lawn to join her.

As soon as we entered the RV, I heard the yapping. “Is that…a dog?”

Mom’s face turned mischievous. “That, sweetie, is the surprise.” She hurried past the wall containing an electric fireplace and flat screen TV combo to the master bedroom, scooping up a furry brown-and-black miniature missile as it attempted to careen past her feet toward me. “Meet Lucy, your birthday gift!”

The dog wouldn’t stop barking. I worried Mom’s arms were in danger while holding it, but the thing seemed to want to eat only me for now. “Wow. You, um, shouldn’t have.”