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Tristan

It was a long hour and a half before practice neared an end and I could go for ice I stopped by the practice gy the varsity cheer squad as I waved their captain over

"This better be good," Eave her a rundown of the problem and possible theories

"Well, they can&039;t be like us," she said when I finished "We&039;d both feel it if they were using power"

"Then who are they?"

"You ainst all kinds of scary things rushed through the back of ?"

"Shape-shifters Vampires Ghosts Deh shape-shifters can&039;t make themselves invisible at all, so cross thehosts and demons almost like a use of power"

Which left vampires Vampires here at JHS Unbelievable "What do they want?"

"Why don&039;t you ask your girlfriend? Because I can guarantee the Clann would never have sent them You knoe don&039;t ic leeches Just because the Clann has a peace treaty with theerous to every descendant alive"

Our eyes widened in unison

"Sav She&039;s a" I started to say Fear on a level I&039;d never felt before exploded inside me "Emily, she&039;s completely untrained She wouldn&039;t kno to protect herself at all"

"Be careful," she yelled as I sprinted out of the gym and back to the practice field And felt ain when I spotted Savannah cal at the side of the field with a dancer

"Hey Where&039;s the ice?" Savannah secured the dancer&039;s bandage with a ainst her ear, "Don&039;t go anywhere or let theht back with the ice Promise me"

She nodded, her dark blue eyes wide even as she tried to fake a slare toward the end of the field where I assu around They&039;d better not even think about getting near Savannah while I was gone, or so help me, I&039;d stake every last one of them, and to hell with the peace treaty between our worlds

Then I ran across cas of ice I&039;d ever thrown together

I was on the last bag when Dylan strolled over to the locker-rooing out in the field house?" he said

Just what I needed right now Normally I came here before football practice ended so I could avoidback to warn Savannah had thrownout the Char faster Through the field house&039;s open front door, I could see the ca darker as the sun set behind the trees and houses in the nearby neighborhood, throwing long shadows over the practice field

"Ruirl ht Oneice, the next I&039;d dropped the metal scoop in the ice machine and had a softball-size fireball fully for to be thrown

A ht hand He growled, "Careful, Coleet kicked off yet another team"

As ticked off as I was, part ofas I could shut him up once and for all about Savannah But deep down inside, another part of , Don&039;t be stupid, Tristan! This is exactly what he wants!

Footsteps at the locker-rooic before Ron Abernathy walked in "Hey, guys, what&039;s up? Oh, hey, Tristan Haven&039;t seen you aroundat Dylan, Iout the Charirls wearing nothing but leotards all the tiht have to join the teah it felt like I was having to chip the expression out of stone to pull it off "I&039;ll let you know if any coet lost so I could finally take care of an old proble as he stood there watching us Was he hoping to see us fight again, or trying to stop the fight before it began?

As the seconds ticked by in silence, the anger eased back down to so shot Dylan would have to be dealt with eventually He was like a bulldog once he saw so, and obviously he wasn&039;t ready to let our issues go But tonight, I had bigger proble , then closed it up with a metal twist tie As I headed for the door,to cool the blood still boiling beneath my skin, I told Ron over my shoulder, "See you later" He raised a hand in answer

"See you later," Dylan said, his toneforward to it" I smiled, and this time I didn&039;t bother to try and make it look nice

Once outside the field house, I took off at a jog through the fading light across caot there, the tea up practice But now the sun had fully set The field and surrounding track were lit by several stadiuhts But the wood-lined walk between the field and sports and art building had no lights at all And after we got through that section, I would still have to get Savannah out of the building and across the dark ca lot and her truck

Once practice ended and she and I were headed toward the practice-field gate, I tried a different plan "Listen, I think I should lock up the dance rooht frolanced attoward the campus road and the shadowed section by the woods Hardheaded woman "I can&039;t It&039;s my job to make sure the sound system&039;s secured and the dance floor&039;s locked up Our equipment costs way too ot stolen or da is locked up properly"

"That&039;s really sweet of you, but you have no idea how et if she found out I duet this done so we can go hoht arht hand I&039;d at least have my left hand free I clenched it into a loose fist and willed a tiny fla came at us, I was as ready as I&039;d ever be

Savannah rubbed her ar"

"Just keep walking please I&039;ll show you later, I pro the worry in my tone, she nodded and walked faster

As we drew closer to the dark section of the road, I put myself between Savannah and the woods at our left For added uided her to the opposite side of the street, using the brick backside of theat a near jog

"Where are they?" I lanced behind us and whispered, "Still back at the practice field"

My ears strained for any little noise froravel crunched beneath our feet, seeirl shrieked then laughed in the front parking lot,my muscles twitch

Time stretched The walk took only minutes, but it seemed like hours before we made it past the woods to the ce 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 "Butthey can&039;t be"

"Trust me, Sav, vampires really exist" At Mrs Daniels&039;s office now, I stowed the equipment in the closet

She frowned "I know But ould they be here?"

"You&039;re still a descendant by birth That y into yourself if you need to That enerator for vaot it Most of us kno 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 jobher feel protected, Coleto be fine Between your faic and mine, we&039;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 tiet you set up with some vamp wards for protection"

"No, they can&039;t" Her eyes widened, as if she&039;d given away some secret

"Why not? Don&039;t they kno to make them?"

"No, it&039;s not that It&039;swe&039;reforbidden to do ic" She nibbled the inner corner of her lips, and I was a little distracted by the movement

After a few seconds, I blinked and reuess thatdeal, Emily should kno 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&039;t!"

Huh? "Sure you can It&039;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&039;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&039;t hurt And the Clann won&039;t find out I swear"

She stared off into the distance After a long hesitation, she licked her lips and held out her hand pal happened

"Are you picturing the fire coether into a thin line as she gave a single, sharp nod "It&039;s not working"

Maybe the Clann had cast a spell on her fa in frustration, I closed her hand "Okay, don&039;t worry about it We&039;ll just go with plan B and get soet you home"

She nodded, her eyes bleak And she wouldn&039;t really look at me She was scared And ic abilities

"Do we have any fundraisers co to refocus her

"The Fall Ball on Saturday After that, none for a while"

"And you&039;ll be withalone ti tea to be okay, Tristan Let o home and tell Nanna about this I&039;m sure she&039;ll knohat to do"

She finished her locking-up routine, her movements jerky

As she locked the downstairs foyer doors after us, she murmured, "Maybe we&039;d better walk separately from here"

Was she crazy? "I don&039;t think so I&039;o after"

She frowned, her shoulders stiff as we hurried across the dark ca 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 "Tristanthey ht see us"

"Who?"

"The" She looked at me for a moment, her eyes unreadable "Anyone still on caue that ere all alone except for the vaine With a quick wave, she was gone, driving fast like she thought she could somehow outrun the vampires

Savannah

Vah my head the entire way home On its heels cameWhy?

Obviously the council had sent them to watch me Which was probably why the term watchers had come to me in the first place My father had used that term to refer to council spies back when I&039;d first started changing But why had the council sent watchers? Because they knew about Tristan and me?

Well, if they hadn&039;t before, they had to suspect now

But if they knew about us for sure, why hadn&039;t they done anything about it, instead of just standing around all day watchingto stop us froet away from Tristan?

They must be there only to ensure that the peace treaty wasn&039;t broken Maybe they aiting for me to lose control around him first, then they planned to step in if I attacked hi to be disappointed, because I didn&039;t have the slightest interest in his blood

It was his heart I craved

He had run all over the caht, so confident that he could protect me from the vampires And then he&039;d tried to help ic, despite the rules forbidding it

If he&039;d known Ia vampire and that I&039;d only pretended to try to create fire, ould he have done?

I had to tell him the truth He deserved to know the risks Especially since he was breaking the Clann&039;s rules by dating ht not want to see hwe&039;d just started actually dating Who bared their entire souls right after they started seeing each other?

I should wait awhile, see how long we lasted before I started sharing more family secrets with him Tristan was notoriously coet tired of irlfriends and break up with me after a feeeks

In the meantime, I would just have to be extra careful not to let the watchers see us doing anything ros, either Public dates were evenas the vampires or anyone else could see us, it would have to be strictly a working relationship, nothing more

Never mind how torturous that would be for me to endure

I pulled into the driveway, parked behind Nanna&039;s car and restedwheel No public dates No public displays of affection No eating together at lunch or walking together between classes How long would Tristan want to keep seeing me in a relationship like that? Did that even count as a relationship?

Tristan

I overslept the next house" Eoing to be late for practice"

Groaning, I dragged ht explain why I&039;d failed to dreah energy for it

"Do soive you-knoho this to hen you see her this "

A braided ribbon bracelet dropped into ht?"

"Yep It should work even if she gets it wet So tell her not to take it off for any reason See you at lunchtime"

"Thanks, E, she went back inside the house

Hy boost Quickly, I spread y intoa scorched hand shape on the grass I winced, then shrugged it off It would grow back Eventually

I rushed through o to school et hair so I wouldn&039;t be late for practice I barely reached the sports and art building before Savannah arrived

From where I stood at the entrance doors, I could watch her every step of the way froot out of her truck until she reached the ceood co her have some freedom Soave in to the urge to hover over her every second of the day just to protect her fro for her with clenched teeth and a racing heart

As she headed up the celanced behind her at the woods and turned pale She started walking faster

"Still there?" Ihands