"Yeah?"
"Promise me you won't go hunting for anything, in season or not, until I say it's okay? Dad says things are about to get really nasty between the Clann and the vamps. I don't want you in the woods if he's right."
"Okay," she grumbled. "Stay safe and keep your heads down."
"Will do."
I ended the call though I hated to have to do it. I wished there was some way to keep Anne and the others safe. But short of making some protection spells for them, which I couldn't do from a distance, they were on their own and at the mercy of the Clann.
Just like us if we didn't get out of here.
I snapped the phone closed and handed it to Dad. "Okay. Let's go." I turned to the Coleman siblings. "Um, guys?"
Emily sniffed and wiped her nose, stepping back from her brother. He turned away to drag his forearms over his face before turning to face us again, as if ashamed to be seen crying.
I told myself it was my father he was trying to hide his tears from. After all, I'd seen him cry before, like the night we dream-connected after his father's death. That time it had been me who had held him while he dealt with the shock and loss.
But a knot still managed to form in my throat, making it hard for me to say, "My mom's going to pick us up, but we've got to run awhile longer on foot and meet her halfway."
Tristan nodded, keeping his eyes lowered while Dad picked up Emily again.
Tristan? I asked silently this time. Are you okay?
"Let's go," Tristan said, his tone gruff.
Dad took off again, Tristan right behind him, leaving me to follow them with a sinking feeling deep inside the pit of my stomach.
CH A P TER 11
Five minutes later, we neared the highway. We ran parallel to it within the woods for a while, risking crossing roads when necessary, carefully skirting towns. I lost track of time, grateful for the chance to stop thinking about everything else and just focus on the job of putting one foot in front of the other and avoiding obstacles like trees, bushes and entangling weeds in the ditches and fields.
Then we saw Mom's truck and trailer waiting at the side of the highway up ahead.
We slowed down to a human jog, allowing Mom to see our approach in the headlights as we ran up the side of the road toward her. By the time we reached the trailer door, Mom was there to usher us all inside. In the kitchen area, she gave me a quick, hard hug, checking me over for injuries before turning to do the same with Dad.
His hard features softened for a moment. Finally he spoke up. "Joan, I told you we are all uninjured."
He stepped away from her to stow the blood bags in the fridge.
"Oh, please, Michael," Mom replied, rubbing at her eyes with a shaking, weather-roughened hand. "You and I both know you always say you're fine whether you really are or not."
From the main bedroom at the other end of the trailer came an endless, piercing yapping from Lucy, the Yorkshire terrier who was supposed to have been my birthday gift last November. At least until we'd discovered the dog hated vampires. From the frantic, fierce pitch of her barking, it was obvious she hadn't changed her opinion of our species yet.
"Stop it, Lucy!" Mom shouted with no success. The dog kept right on barking her little head off in an attempt to destroy both my supersensitive vampire hearing and my already frayed nerves.
"Tell me everything," Mom insisted once she was sure we were okay.
Dad told her the short version. She grabbed the edge of the nearby kitchen counter when he told her about the Clann's attack on the Coleman house. When he got to the part where they tried to burn us inside Dad's house, she had to sit down on the couch beside Emily.
"I can't believe the Williamses would do all of this," she murmured. "I grew up with Jim. He always hated vampires, but this..."
"Believe it," I said, trying to keep my focus on her so I wouldn't stare at Tristan, who still hadn't said a word. "Dad's right. This was way too coordinated not to have been planned ahead of time."
"He's taking over the Clann," Tristan said. "He'll declare war on the vamps next."
"Not until he's officially voted in as leader," Emily said.
"Which'll take, what, a couple of days to round everyone up for an emergency vote?" Mom said.
"We must warn the council." Dad stepped outside for a few seconds, reaching for his phone in his pocket even before his feet touched the ground. The door swung shut behind him, only to jerk open again ten seconds later. He reentered the trailer, shut the door behind him and cleared his throat. "They...have requested a meeting with us."
"Why?" The word squeaked out of me.
"They want to hear a firsthand account of what happened. They..."
I read the rest of it in his thoughts. "They think we started this? That we lost control or something? Didn't you tell them about Mr. Williams and his hit team of descendants?"
Dad nodded. "My words did not matter. They demanded to meet with both of you. Immediately. They are sending a jet to the nearest airport for us."
"Absolutely not!" Mom snapped. "Savannah had nothing to do with this."
"Neither did Tristan," I told her. At least, not the part where his mother died.
But he had lost control and killed Dylan.
He turned his head to look at me, his eyes narrowing. I didn't lose control tonight.
I swallowed hard and looked away. "We can't go right now. Tell them Mom and Emily need us here."
"They will not care," Dad said.
"Fine. Then we'll go with you-" Mom began.
"No," Dad said. "I will not take you or Emily into my kind's territory. You will be safer here in the States for now. You will hide together in this RV in some remote park far from the Clann until we return."
Emily moved behind me and grabbed her brother's arm. "Please. Please don't do this. Tristan." She looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please don't go. You're all the family I've got left. What if you get there and they keep you prisoner or...or..."
Tristan looked at my dad. "What if we refuse to meet with the council?"
"Then they will consider us as having sided with the Clann and will treat us accordingly."
We would become enemies of both the Clann and the council.